Hello folks! Chapter 150 is here! I'll leave all my comments for the end this time, so let's get right to it!
It was supposed to just be a fun outing for the night, so everyone could unwind and relax.
For Foluma and Esolu to spend some quality time together and hopefully rekindle their bond as friends.
"Well, looks like we've hit the jackpot girls!"
"Yeah, the reports were true. This place is a goose ripe for the plucking!"
But their fun time had suddenly turned to danger, as Foluma, Ragome, Leivuri and Esolu had just heard a loud noise, followed by the entrance of the tavern being filled with Gerudo wearing black clothing and wielding weapons.
"Th-The Ebony Sisterhood?" Ragome exclaimed, "What do those rebel losers want?!"
"If I know their boss, it's most likely they're here for the resources and supplies this place has, not to mention recruiting our sisters to their cause." the former rebel Foluma narrowed her eyes, "Whether they want to or not."
"Girls!" Ms. Fareafu shouted running up to them, "They have the whole area surrounded, I do not think we are just going to be able to sneak out of here!"
"Go on and hide for now. We'll handle this ourselves." the tavern owner Remo assured them, the five of them nodded and ran off.
"Heh heh heh, so dis is the place I'm hoid about!"
The rebel group all stepped back, allowing two more particular Gerudo to come walking in.
The first one was a rather muscular woman with a gruff face. She wore traditional Gerudo attire but rather then the black color the Sisterhood had, her outfit was colored in green camouflage print. She wore a matching camo-print cap, as well as a pair of sunglasses despite it being night at the time, and she was smoking a cigar in her mouth. She also had long straps with multiple tiny arrows attached to them around her body. The straps led to two miniature crossbows on her hips.
The rebel looked down to a Gerudo guard they had knocked over and kicked her in the side, making her yelp out in pain.
"Hmph. Lazy sons-of-bitches." scowled the Gerudo, puffing on her cigar, "Wasting their time here when they outta be working to improve the Gerudo's future! When I'm through with em they'll be doin' push-ups from sunrise to sunset!"
"I don't cares 'bout anythin' like dat, I just wanna get my hands on all da grub they got here!" said the second one in a heavily masculine voice. She was in the middle of eating a large sandwich with one hand while tossing a small egg-shaped object in the other, "The soldiers need their vitals after alls."
She was a large, obese Gerudo, with a round face and nose, and was wearing a white chef's hat and apron over the usual black rebel Gerudo garments. The apron was stained in various sauces, and she had a meat cleaver attached to it. She also had two straps around her own bloated body lined with many more of the small egg-shaped items attached to them.
"It's Sargent Rairiku and Chef Mamouta!" Foluma spoke as she hid behind a poker table along with Fareafu, Ragome, Leivuri and Esolu.
"Do you know them?" Fareafu asked.
"They were my subordinates back when I was part of the Sisterhood." Foluma nodded, "When I appointed Sister Gieoli to take control of your schoolhouse, I had also sent those two to the archery grounds and the livestock ranch. Mistress Aviel and Togau took them down and they were arrested. But they recently escaped from Gerudo Town shortly after King Link and Mistress Nabooru left to Hyrule!"
"To think they'd come here of all places..." Fareafu muttered.
"...!" Esolu just stared out at the rebels, her gaze focusing on one in particular...
General Rairiku held up her weapon, a miniature crossbow, aiming it at any guards who tried to attack her to make them back off. She marched up to the bar counter where Remo and Usaulu stood. The young bartender nodded to his wife, who stepped back to give him distance.
"Greetings, what can I get you folks...?" spoke Remo, calmly cleaning a glass.
Rairiku brought her boot up and slammed it into the bar counter, "Listen up, you puny maggot." she spoke with her crossbow aimed right at him."I'm gonna make things clear; we're with the great Ebony Sisterhood, and we're taking ownership of this tavern in the name of the great Mother Imono!"
"Any resistance and you'll be put to death!" said another rebel beside her with a demented grin.
"..." Remo said nothing, but kept cleaning at the glass.
"Got anything to say, maggot?" Rairiku sneered.
"...this must be the first time you've come here." spoke Remo calmly, "Otherwise you'd know this isn't the place where you can just barge in making threats like that. A lot of our patrons consist of warriors and adventurers from all around the kingdom after all, and they wouldn't take too kindly to people making trouble here."
There was the sound of steel grinding and clicking as well as bow strings stretching, as Rairiku slowly looked behind her to see numerous people in the tavern sitting at tables were aiming their bows and holding out their weapons at the rebels. One large muscular man with stitches all over his body was tapping a spiked club against his palm, while an elegantly dressed woman in a mask aimed a musket rifle at one of the rebels.
There was complete silence in the tavern, as a small drop of sweat ran down Rairiku's head.
"So tell me... do you really want to take that risk?" spoke Remo, looking up at Rairiku with a friendly smile.
Usaulu was looking at her husband from a distance, enamored at his ability to keep a cool head even in this situation. This wasn't the first time someone tried to come in and takeover the tavern, including former members of the Wyvern Keepers who once owned the place, and it usually ended with the raiders being forced to leave.
But in that particular moment, she was so preoccupied that she didn't notice a presence coming up behind her...
Then a large explosion went off, blowing up an abandoned poker table and sending cards and chips flying through the air. Everyone quickly turned to see Chef Mamouta grinning as she was tossing one of the egg-shaped objects she had called a 'grenade' up and down in her hand.
"Heh, don't tink you can scares us." Mamouta said with a grin, as she pointed out at Usaulu, "Youse better surrender if ya don't wants anythin' to happen ta her!"
Everyone turned to see Usaulu was now standing stiff and scared, as one Gerudo rebel had managed to sneak up and was currently holding a knife to her pregnant stomach from behind her.
"WHAT?!" Remo exclaimed.
"R-Remo..." trembled Usaulu. She could have easily crushed the rebel normally, but due to the fear of the immediate danger her child was in she couldn't move a muscle.
"U-Usaulu!" Remo reached his hand out, but an arrow shot past him and shattered a liquor bottle on the counter. He glared at Rairiku with small tears in his eyes, "Y-You damn dirty cowards..."
"We play dirty when we need to, as you'll see when we go to war and take down the Royal Family of Hyrule, as well as that false king!" Rairiku stated, "Alright troops, start taking the cash and rations!"
The rebels immediately went to stuffing bags full of rupees and supplies, even kicking over and breaking the slot machines to gather what was inside. The patrons wanted to do something, but considering Usaulu and her unborn baby's situation they were at a loss to fight back. Even some of the most brutal and hard-bitten warriors of the desert there wouldn't risk the life of a mother and her child.
"Heh, this is going well." Rairiku smirked as she puffed out smoke from her cigar, "With Nabooru and the false king too busy at Hyrule Castle they can't do anything to stop the Ebony Sisterhood!"
"What should we do with these Gerudo?" asked a rebel who had one of the tavern workers restrained.
"We'll take them back to Gerudo Fortress and put them in line!" Rairiku said puffing her cigar, "We need any and all troops we can to wage war on the castle. We'll break 'em in if we have to!"
"Heh heh heh, you hear that girlie?" smirked a rebel, pressing the captive's head against the floor, "Soon you'll be a loyal solider of the Sisterhood, even if it means dying for our cause!"
"This is horrible..." Leivuri gasped in tears.
"It's bad for us too. Being royal child-bearers of King Link, they consider us a high priority to kill!" Ragome muttered, recalling what Mother Imono had tried to do back at the palace.
"They'd go that far?" exclaimed Fareafu in shock.
"The only reason we weren't killed back when they took over the town was because Foluma protected us." Leivuri said trembling, "I don't want to think of what would happen if we got caught here!"
"Beeeewooop... beeeewwooop..." Foluma spoke silently as she looked around the room, using her scanning functions to observe the rebels, "Well aside from Mamouta and Rairiku these rebels don't seem all that strong, we could easily take them if Usaulu wasn't in danger..."
"So what do we do then?" Ragome asked.
"Wait, has anyone seen Esolu?!" Leivuri asked looking around.
Meanwhile, the rebel who was holding Usaulu at knife-point was focusing on the patrons of the tavern, making sure none of them tried anything funny. She was so focused on everyone in her line of sight though, she was unaware of a certain silent figure sneaking up behind her.
"...!"
Suddenly the figure lunged out and grabbed the rebel by the wrist, pulling her back with all her strength as she managed to get the knife away from Usaulu's stomach.
"Wha- hey! Let go!" shouted the rebel struggling with her. It was Esolu, who had used some of her training from back when she was a solider of Nabooru's army to intercept her target from behind.
"Esolu?" Foluma exclaimed.
"Now's our chance! Take em down boys!" shouted a patron, realizing Usaulu wasn't in immediate danger anymore. They all brandished their weapons and attacked the invaders. One man clashed his sword against a rebel's weapon, while a thief woman attacked another rebel with her twin daggers.
"Fine, you maggots want to die that badly, then so be it!" Rairiku shouted, "Sisterhood, to arms!"
The rebels all shouted out, and there was a loud clash of steel and firing of arrows going off all around the place as they all battled against the patrons and guards of the tavern.
Esolu was doing her best to hold back the rebel with the knife, but thankfully Usaulu got her bearings and spun around, decking the rebel across the face and sending her flying into a wall.
"Hey, you okay Miss Esolu?" Usaulu asked as Remo came running up and hugging his wife to try and comfort her, but he was trembling much more, "Thank you so much for helping us!"
"Y-Y-Yes, thank yooou!" sobbed Remo out of relief that his wife and child were both okay.
"..." Esolu nodded as the girls all ran up to her to make sure she was fine.
"Esolu you idiot! You could have gotten yerself hurt!" Ragome shouted as she and Leivuri hugged her, "This is just like what you pulled back when King Link was going berserk from the Fierce Deity before. Yer way too reckless!"
"..." Foluma glanced to Ragome, reflecting on the words she said, she shook it off and looked to Esolu, "Still, that was pretty cool of you to handle the situation." she sported a grin, "Not bad Esolu."
Esolu smiled ever-so-lightly to the maid.
"Well now that we do not have to hold back anymore..." Fareafu spoke, taking out her ruler and pulling it open to expose the blade she concealed inside it, "It is time for me to join in the fight as well!"
Ms. Fareafu ran into battle, swinging out her ruler blade and slashing through the handle of a spear a Gerudo rebel was holding, cutting off the tip, and then slashing across her opponent to knock them out. Two more rebels came at her, but she swung her ruler blade to disarm and take them both out as well.
"Woah, as expected of a former veteran warrior like her!" Ragome said in awe.
A muscular rebel came at Foluma and the three child-bearers with a battleaxe, but the maid brought up her hand to grab the handle, then delivered a punch which sent her flying through the air and crashing into the music band's abandoned instruments, leaving her stuck wiggling her legs around in a large tuba.
"Girls, get to hiding and let us handle this." spoke Foluma as she converted her arms and legs into large cylinder-shaped gauntlets and going into battle mode, "It's rebel smashing time."
She leaped into the air and fired her extendable limbs with pinpoint accuracy and decking two rebels, before landing down and kicking another in the back, while at the same time tripping over a fourth one running by with her leg. Another burly rebel tried to bring down a spiked iron mace on her, but she quickly brought up her arms to block off the attack and kicked her in the stomach before leaping up and doing a spinning punch to rapidly smack the rebel around and send her crashing down.
The rebels all stood in shock at their fallen comrade, as Foluma spun her torso around and tilted to the side, bringing her hand up.
"Now... who else here is in the mood for a smashing?"
The rebels before her all shouted out in terror and ran off, so she went to focus on the others.
"Uh, you wouldn't hurt a cute lady like me, would you?" spoke a Gerudo rebel with a faux innocent smile as she was confronted by a large, muscular male adventurer.
"Ha, don't think I'd go easy on you cause you're a pretty lady!" laughed the man as he cracked his knuckles, "I have enough respect for you Gerudo to acknowledge your strength and not hold back!"
With that, he brought back his fist and punched the Gerudo rebel right in the face, sending her flying across the tavern and crashing behind the counter and knocking over some alcohol bottles. She got up slowly in a daze with a bottle pouring down on her.
"Gee, how progressive of you..." she quipped sarcastically before collapsing out cold.
"Everyone follow me to the safe room!" spoke one of the casino card dealers, having been trained for this very situation, as she escorted some weaker patrons away from the battle. But they were then stopped by some rebels brandishing swords. The patrons shuddered in fear, but the dealer whipped out a deck of cards from her pocket.
"Heh, what are you going to do with those? Make us take the Old Maid?" taunted one of the rebels.
But the card dealer's eyes gleamed as she flicked a few of her cards swiftly at the rebels. The cards smacked sharply into their hands with such force that they all yelped out and dropped their blades, allowing some warriors to take down and restrain them.
As Ragome, Leivuri and Esolu were trying to escape, one rebel managed to get through the crowd with a sword and point it at them.
"Hold it! You girls ain't going nowhere!" she spoke wickedly, "You're gonna be good hostages!"
As Ragome tried to defend them with a pool stick, Leivuri looked over and spotted a slot machine still intact. She thought to herself and had an idea, pulling out a green rupee from her earnings from the games they played earlier. She discreetly inserted it into the machine, and then pulled the lever.
"Huh?"
The rebel looked over in confusion at seeing the slots stop on a 7, another 7 and a finally third 7, causing it to ring out in celebration before spewing out a large amount of rupees right at the rebel. She was pelted with numerous rupees until she wound up buried under the pile. Her arms and legs were twitching as she couldn't get out from under it.
"Seriously, what is with your luck?!" Ragome asked Leivuri as she grabbed the rebel's sword for defense and helped to escort them both out.
Outside of the kitchen area of the tavern, Mamouta was using her meat cleaver to fight off some warriors that were trying to protect the staff who were held up inside. Despite their skills in battle though, the obese chef proved to be surprisingly strong, knocking them all away, before throwing out some grenades to blast them backwards through the doors.
"Ugh... I've never seen explosives like that before..." groaned one warrior as a cook tried to help him.
"I heard the black market was developing those in another land not too far from here..." said another adventurer forcing themselves up, "What I don't get is how they're coming into Hyrule so easily!"
"They must have some kind of inner connection." replied his friend.
"Heh, Dese punks ain't got nothin' on me!" said the surly chef as she allowed herself inside the kitchen.
"Wh-What do you want with us?" asked a cook.
Mamouta walked over to one large pot that had been cooking some soup. The chefs all watched as she gave the soup a deep smell, then grabbed the pot by both hands and lifted it up, drinking the whole thing down within seconds. She slammed the pot down on the stove and let out a loud belch.
"Nooooo! That was supposed to be part of the house special!" exclaimed another cook in tears.
"Hmmmm... a zesty taste with a hint of tanginess." Mamouta patted her stomach contently, "The meat needed a bit more cooking to draw out the flavor and match with the broth, but not too bad..."
She turned to some meat on a counter that the staff had been cutting up, she reached down and grabbed a fistful of it along with some carefully chosen vegetables, and started piling them all up between two long sandwich rolls. As bad as the patrons and staff had it, they were somewhat impressed at how Mamouta was putting together the sandwich so quickly and precisely without a second thought. She piled up the ingredients until it measured a good three feet tall.
"Now dat's a sandwich!" Mamouta said rubbing her hands together with some drool seeping out from her lips. She grabbed both sides of the bread and squashed them together to make it thin enough to eat, and she started gobbling up her creation. The cooks could only sit and watch as she helped herself to the food.
But then a swing of a blade chopped off half the sandwich, causing it to fall and splatter to the ground. The rebel chef narrowed her eyes coldly and turned to see Ms. Fareafu standing there, brandishing her ruler blade.
"I do not know what is worse, your eating habits or your horrible grammar." Fareafu came in, adjusting her glasses, "But either way you are getting a failing grade from me, Mamouta."
"Youse just made a huge mistake Fareafu." Mamouta spoke narrowing her eyes as she quickly finished off the half of the sandwich she still held, "Never liked yer stuck-up attitude back when we was livin' tagether at the fortress, but now's the time I deal with yas!"
She came at Fareafu with her cleaver, and the two clashed with their blades. While Mamouta had more power to her attacks, Fareafu had enough speed to her movements and attacks that she was able to counter the chef easily.
"Guess youse can still fight at least." Mamouta scowled, she looked over at some kitchen knives on the counter, before grabbing and throwing them straight at Fareafu. The teacher managed to dodge them at the last second and they were impaled into the wall.
Fareafu went on the offense and slashed at Mamouta with her ruler blade, but she countered with her cleaver. The teacher was having a hard time getting at a vantage point to fight her though, as the kitchen's compact design made it tricky for her to move around.
The chef came at Fareafu with her cleaver and brought it down, but the teacher dodged at the last minute and she instead impacted it down on a large piece of cheese, cutting it in half. She then quickly spun around and swung it out at a horizontal angle at Fareafu but she evaded it, instead slicing through a ham on the opposite counter. She gave another swing at Fareafu who evaded again, causing it to instead slash through a large bread loaf.
"Now I'll-!" Mamouta shouted, then realized there was now a ham and cheese sandwich impaled on her cleaver, "Hold ons a sec, I'm getting hungry." as she started eating the sandwich off the cleaver.
"Stop eatin' in the middle of battle ya idiot!" Fareafu shouted in her more natural accent, swinging her blade wildly and scoring another hit on Mamouta.
Mamouta staggered back from the blow, but as Fareafu went in for another attack, the rebel chef brought up her leg and kicked her back to stun her, before going in with a full shoulder charge, bashing into the teacher and sending her flying backward into a wall near a water tank.
"Ugh, I'm getting too old for this." Fareafu groaned. As the chef approached her, the teacher turned to see the tank was full of live lobsters, and an idea occurred to her.
Before Mamouta could bring down her cleaver, Fareafu took her blade and slashed a hole open in the tank, causing the water to burst out from it and spray at Mamouta. She stepped backwards as the water forced her back a bit, and the lobsters were pulled with the current right at her.
Fareafu could hear some snapping sounds followed by a loud, "Yeow! Ow! Owowowow!"
When the water came to the stop, Mamouta was sitting on her large butt, twitching in pain as the lobsters were all pinching at her. She scowled at the teacher, grabbing and pulling them all off.
"I'm gonna make dese tings into a fine Thermidor when I'm done with youse!" Mamouta shouted, yanking one lobster still attached to her ear off of her. She then reached to her grenade belt and pulled out two of the explosives, "Now I'm gonna blow yas inta itty bitty bits!"
"Wait, don't use explosives here you idiot!" shouted a cook, "There's gas-powered stoves in this kitchen, you'll blow everything up!"
"Whoops, she's roight...!" Mamouta realized, looking at the various appliances in the kitchen. A drop of cold sweat ran down her head as she looked to Fareafu who was still ready to fight as ever.
Mamouta took her cleaver and the two went back to clashing again, Despite Mamouta's great power, Fareafu was starting to get the upper-hand as the rebel chef was getting more tired. With a powerful swing of her blade ruler, Fareafu scored a slash that sent Mamouta staggering back and gasping for breath.
"It is time you surrender Mamouta." Fareafu spoke with her blade ready, "Give up now and we can help you escape the rebellion. They only wish to use you."
"..." Mamouta narrowed her eyes, before she grabbed both grenades by the pin with her teeth and yanked them off, holding them both up into the air, "Ferget about it, I dun even care anymores!"
"What?! You mad woman!" shouted Fareafu in shock, "Stop this!"
"Heh... heheheeh... hahahahaa!" laughed out Mamouta, "In a few moments all of yas will go boom!"
Fareafu frantically looked around for a way to stop the explosives from going off, or at least a way to contain them. She then noticed behind Mamouta was some barrels stacked on their sides, and she noted the symbols on them.
"That's it!" Fareafu realized.
The teacher sprinted forward, brought up her leg, and with a powerful forward thrust, kicked Mamouta square in the stomach, causing her to stagger backwards towards the barrels. Fareafu then readied her ruler blade and swung it out with great force, slashing across Mamouta's body.
"Grk, what did you tink that'd do ya idjot...?!" groaned Mamouta in pain, "Inna few seconds dis whole place will-"
But then Mamouta noticed an odd fermented smell in the air, and realized a reddish purple liquid was leaking out of the barrels; a finely aged grape wine. When Fareafu had slashed at her just then, she had also cut all the wine barrels' stoppers off as well.
"Uh ohs."
Suddenly all the barrels burst open at once, engulfing Mamouta in wine. The large quality of alcoholic beverage flowed out from the barrels and caused a large flood that carried Mamouta, Fareafu and the chefs all through the kitchen.
"Wooooaaaahh!"
As they were being carried by the wave, Fareafu noted one of the lobsters from earlier was surfing by on a cutting board. But before she could even comprehend that, they were all pushed by the current out into the main area of the tavern.
"What th-?" Remo's jaw dropped, "What happened to the wine?!"
Everyone who had been fighting in the tavern a second ago had all stopped at the sight of the kitchen occupants now all laying around in a daze (and maybe a little tipsy) from the wine flood that had poured out.
"Uuuugh... what happened...?" Mamouta groaned out, feeling a little less hysterical from inadvertently drinking a lot of the wine. She realized something was off and looked down in panic at the two grenades she had activated, only to see in confusion that they didn't go off.
"I figured that would work..." Fareafu groaned as she staggered up to her feet, "The wine soaked into the open grenades, nullifying their explosive capabilities." she too looked a little tipsy from the wine.
"She's right..." Mamouta said, feeling a little drunken herself, "And since wine is only about thirteen percent alcohol it wouldn't be flammable either. Guess she's still got dat warrior spirit after alls..."
"Now..." Fareafu leaned on a poker table, "Ya big oaf... you gonna surrender now... or do I-" she hiccuped, "Excuse me, or do I have to cut you some more?"
"I can... I can handles yas..." Mamouta slowly got up, glaring at the teacher as she gripped at her cleaver, "I can cut youse down and-!"
Pinch.
Feeling a sudden bit of pain, Mamouta looked down behind her to see most of the lobsters that had attacked her earlier were also all drunk from the wine and were collectively pinching her large rear end.
"Y-Yeoooowww!" shouted Mamouta, trying to pull the lobsters off her. Fareafu took that chance and ran at her, delivering one final slash that sent Mamouta crashing to the ground in a daze.
The large chef was sprawled out on the large puddle of wine with her eyes whited out and her mouth hanging open. Some of the lobsters took to pinching and pulling at her facial cheeks instead as she laid there out cold.
The teacher sighed out with relief, "Well... that takes care of-" she hiccuped again, "-her. Now I wonder where those other girls went off to...?"
"Teach, are you okay?" Ragome asked as she ran up and hugged her, along with Leivuri, not even minding that their clothes were getting soaked in wine.
"I... imma fine, thank... thank you." Fareafu groaned, though somewhat annoyed at their massive chests being squashed against her, she was relieved that they were unharmed,
But then despite her drunkenness, she noticed something was off,
"Wait, where'd that Esolu girl get off to...?"
Leivuri was shaking as she spoke to her, "W-Well, you see..."
During the time Fareafu was fighting Mamouta in the kitchen, Foluma was handling the crisis in the casino area. She jumped across a card table, sending cards and poker chips flying through the air, as she brought down her fists to punch away two of the rebels. She landed down on a pool table and accidentally kicked the white ball, sending it forward and knocking the other pool balls into the side and corner pockets.
"Okay, who else wants to fight?" Foluma spoke out with a cold stare at the remaining rebels, "Please form a single-file line so I can give you all a beatdown in an orderly fashion."
"It's no good, that lady is way too powerful!" gasped one rebel backing up.
"She's the automation maid that Engineer Meokuro made, she was even an Elite Rebel to boot, we got no chance against her!" said another.
"I don't get it, why did she turn her back on the Ebony Sisterhood?" asked the other.
But then the two of them were both shot in the shoulders by miniature arrows, making them scream out in pain and collapse to their knees.
"Hmph, you maggots are worthless!" spoke Sargent Rairiku, she stepped up and glared at Foluma, as she puffed on her cigar, "I'll deal with this traitor myself."
Foluma looked down to the two rebel girls who she had shot. Her scanner told her they'd be okay, but she'd need to get them medical attention soon. She focused her attention on the standing rebel before her, her antennae shifted a bit as she narrowed her eyes.
"Sargent Rairiku... second division of the Ebony Sisterhood." Foluma stated, before jumping off the pool table and landing in a battle pose, "It's been a while since we last saw each other."
"Not since back when we took over Gerudo Town." Rairiku spoke, holding up her dual mini-crossbows, "Now look at you; a pawn of that damned false king."
"The only time I was a pawn was when I was working under Imono. I'm my own person now." Foluma clenched her fists, "Too bad I can't say the same about you, Sargent 'Mud Dog'."
Rairiku sneered as she brought up her crossbows and started firing off arrows. Foluma quickly shot to the side to evade the barrage and came at Rairiku with a right punch. The Sargent sidestepped out of the way at the last minute and fired off both her crossbows at the maid, who quickly did a series of back-flips to avoid them. She jumped backwards onto the bar counter and sprinted along it as Rairiku fired off arrows, destroying many of the glasses on display.
Foluma then suddenly jumped off the end of the counter to go high into the air, and shot out one of her fists, managing to bash Rairiku across the face. The Sargent recovered just in time to see Foluma's left arm come at her, and she retaliated by punching it right back with her own fist, and then pelting Foluma with arrows while in midair, knocking her to the ground.
"Ugh. Those arrows pack quite a wallop." Foluma groaned out.
"As they should maggot! These babies here're called the Mini-Ballistas, compact versions of my pride and joy of Gerudo weaponry, the Ballistic Archeress!" Rairiku said with a smirk, "They fire off arrows so fast they'll even take out your automation defenses!"
"Oh Aviel told me plenty about that weapon you were building back in Gerudo Town." Foluma got herself up and sported a snarky grin, "Namely how she took it down with one shot and captured you."
"You ain't gonna have that sort of luck with these!" shouted Raiiku as she started firing arrows again.
The maid quickly recovered and sprinted forward, stepping left and right to avoid each barrage. The maid fired her fist forward, which Rairiku managed to block off with her fist, but was then punched by Foluma's right fist. Before Rairiku could recover, Foluma swung her leg out at the sargent, impacting into her side and sending her sliding across the casino floor, eventually crashing into some overturned slot machines.
"Had enough, or you want more punches?" Foluma asked.
Rairiku got up, pushing the machines aside with an angry scowl. She started firing off one of her crossbows at Foluma who quickly evaded her attacks by jumping out of the way and hopping across some poker tables. Some of the staff and patrons who had been fighting the rebels had to quickly duck and dodge to avoid getting attacked by the arrows. Even the rebels were having to avoid the reckless shots being fired by their boss.
"Not good, Mud Dog doesn't even care about who she hits with her shots." Foluma spoke, "I better put an end to this quick."
Foluma jumped down behind a slot machine that was still standing and hid behind it, bringing up her hand and turning a mechanism on her head.
"Heh, trying to play defense huh?" Rairiku asked as she slowly walked closer towards the machine, and aiming one of her crossbows out at it, "I'll fire as soon as I see the yellows of your eyes, maggot!"
But then Foluma suddenly rose up from behind the slot machine and Rairiku saw her eyes glowing red, seconds before the maid fired a powerful laser that shot across the tavern and impacted into the Sargent, sending her flying backwards into a roulette gambling wheel.
"GAAAH!"
Everyone in the area stood in shock at the surprise attack, and turned to see Foluma standing with her automation laser visor over her eyes, making her look like she only had a single red eye.
"Bet you weren't prepared for the reds of my eyes, huh?" spoke Foluma with a smirk.
"Wh-What the hell was that?" exclaimed a patron.
"That looked just like a Beamos statue!" said an adventurer with his jaw dropped, she turned to a Gerudo rebel she captured, "Do all you girls shoot lasers from your eyes too?"
"Of course we don't!" the rebel protested.
"Grk, forgot about that stupid laser of hers." Rairiku groaned, hanging off the wheel by her pants and slowly rotating with it, before collapsing to the floor, "I'm gonna need a new strategy..."
Rairiku carefully looked around, and saw a casino worker escorting three Gerudo women to the back who didn't look like warriors of any kind. She smirked a bit and looked up at the ceiling to see a chandelier overhead. Taking one of her Mini-Balisstas, she fired it off at the chandelier's canopy, causing it to come apart and fall straight down at an adventuer and rebel fighting against each other.
"Hey, look out!" Foluma exclaimed, darting forward and knocking the two aside just before the chandelier crashed to the ground. Seeing the two of them were in a daze but okay, Foluma narrowed her eyes as she turned to Rairiku running off.
As Ragome, Leivuri and Esolu were being led to the safe room, Rairiku came up and grabbed at the arm of the closest woman, who happeneed to be Esolu. Rairiku pointed her crossbow at her head to keep the others from retaliating.
"Hey, get your hands off her!" Ragome shotued.
"Heh heh, think you'll do just fine as a P. O.W.!" Rairiku said, forcfully taking Esolu up a nearby starcase that went up tto the roof of the tavern, some rebel allies of her's following after.
"Esolu!" Leivuri called out.
The mute woman struggled to break free and opened her mouth to try and let out sound, but to no avail. Regardless, the commotion got the attention of some adventuers who went running up in pursuit.
This caught the attention of Foluma who went running up after them as well.
The tavern patrons ran up to the outdoor dining rooftop area they were immediately confronted by Rairiku's cohorts, and they went into battle.
One warrior fought off the blade of a rebel that tried to attack from behind and knocked her to the ground, but before he could attack another rebel, he was suddenly struck in the back by a number of arrows, making him double over in pain. The other patrons all looked over to Sargent Rairiku standing across from them, holding out one of her crossbows with one hand with Esolu in the other.
"Nice try, but those girls were just decoys!" Rairiku said puffing her cigar with a large toothy grin, "One false move and I'll fill all of you full of arrow holes like I did yer buddy!"
"Handheld rapid fire crossbows?" spoke one of the adventurers as he tried to help his companion, "I'll give her this, that's some amazing archery technology!"
"I'm glad you're impressed," spoke another adventurer sarcastically, "But any ideas to help that poor woman?"
"Allow me." spoke a voice, they looked to see Foluma walking up onto the roof.
"...!" Esolu gasped out, and tried to get away from Rairiku, but the rebel sargent held her tightly.
Foluma stared out at Esolu silently, then looked down to the man who had been injured by the arrows. She took a moment to scan his body carefully, then used her nimble hands to quickly and carefully remove all the arrows from his body in such a way that it wouldn't cause much pain or blood loss.
"Woah, how did you...?!" spoke one of the adventurers, but Foluma simply dropped the arrows to the ground and walked forward.
"Please see Mr. Pin Cushion there gets medical treatment." Foluma spoke, "I'm going to deal with this rebel."
The warriors were hesitant to leave her alone, but nodded and took their friend back downstairs as Foluma focused her attention on Rairiku. The display lights and the moon overhead lit up the area so both sides could see each other clearly, as the desert wind blew by.
"Hmph. To think even you would betray us, MAGIS-01." Rairiku narrowed her eyes, "You were once Mother Imono's right hand woman, she trusted Gerudo Town to you because of your undying loyalty to her and our cause... Yet you betrayed us and now bow to Lady Nabooru and that false king..." she puffed out some smoke from her cigar and sneered, "What is your major malfunction, solider?!"
"It's just as you said, I had a malfunction that kept me from being able to properly obey her orders." Foluma spoke, "Maybe it was because of some faulty programming... or perhaps the suppressed memories of my past made me want to fight against it to instead protect everyone..."
"..." Esolu stared back at her old friend, recalling the look in her eyes back when she had been given the order by Imono to have her and their children dealt with.
"But either way, it was because of that I was able to get to know King Link, Aviel, Lady Nabooru and everyone else. They all helped me regain the memories I thought I had lost, no matter how painful they were..." she looked to Esolu, "And when it's time to go to war against the Ebony Sisterhood, I swear I'm going to stand by King Link's side to protect everyone!"
"Hmph..." Rairiku scowled, "That look in yer eyes pisses me off... Yer starting to remind me of some punk I knew from a long time ago."
"What do you mean?" Foluma asked.
"A rookie solider in my old army, she was a slacker and weakling. No matter how much I drilled her she couldn't keep up. Yet she always had an attitude that pissed me off." Rairiku puffed her cigar and grinned wickedly, "But then one day one of my best recruits came to me with some very interesting information... About how she had strange feelings for that girl, a huge taboo of our people."
"What...?" Foluma spoke in surprise, as Esolu's eyes widened.
"I knew that was the opportunity I was waiting for to get rid of that slacker. I reported her rear to King Ganondorf, and by my suggestion, he had her and her mother sent off to the mining compound as slaves." Rairiku laughed out, "Killed two birds with one stone that day; I got rid of that worthless maggot, and allowed my star recruit to focus on being a true solider!"
"...!" Esolu stared down in shock at those words, recalling a conversation she had from ways back...
"Greetings cadet, something the matter?"
"W-Well... I think something's wrong with Foluma..."
"Come on soldier, tell me what you know We've trained in the trenches before, so you can trust me!"
"...!" Esolu trembled, suddenly remembering who Rairiku was, and the person she was talking about,
"All I wanted to do was talk to the about it and see things our way... I thought I could trust her with what I had to say. I had no idea she was going to use that has a confession of forbidden love to have you arrested!"
"So... it was you." spoke Foluma in a low voice, the bangs of her hair obscuring her eyes.
"Huh?" Rairiku asked in confusion.
Foluma took a step forward, "You were the one Esolu spoke to about her feelings for me... You used that to tear me away from her..."
"What's going on? Where are you talking Foluma?"
"Silence! By the order of King Ganondorf, these women shall serve him at the mineral mines out in the west!"
She took another step forward, "You were the one who had me and my mother sent off to that hellish slave life..."
"Oh Foluma, you poor thing... I'm so sorry this happened to you..."
"This sucks Mom, it hurts so much... I wanna go back home to Gerudo Fortress..."
"I know sweetie... But there's not much we can do."
"...thanks for being here for me Mom... I'm sorry I was always a pain in the ass to you before, you're all I got now..."
"That's alright sweetie. I promise never to let you go..."
The android maid clenched her fists as she glared up coldly at Rairiku with tears in her eyes,
"M-MOM!"
"F-Foluma..."
"You're the real reason my mom died that day!"
"What?!" Rairiku spoke in shock, "Wait, then you were...?!"
"..." Foluma stared silently at Rairiku as the sargent contemplated this new revelation.
"Unbelievable..." Rairiku chuckled a little, before bursting out laughing, "To think that it was you of all people this whole time!" she looked down at Esolu, "...and that the woman I had been training to be a top elite solider of the Gerudo army would end up like this..." she grabbed at Esolu's breast forcefully, making her shout out in pain, "A soft and weak child-bearer for that damn false king! You're both a complete disgrace to the name of the Gerudo!"
"Let go of her you bitch!" Foluma shouted, bringing back her fist to punch Rairiku, but the Sargent quickly pulled Esolu out in front of her as a human shield, forcing her to stop.
"I don't know much in the way of love, but it seems to me the heart is a fickle thing." chuckled Rairiku, sadistic grin as she licked at Esolu's cheek, making her squirm in absolute fear, "This girl went from loving you, to spreading her legs out to the false king and having his bastard offspring instead!"
"I said let go of her!" Foluma shouted with fury as she was about to attack, but stopped when Rairiku used Esolu as a shield again.
"Maybe the reality is this girl never truly loved you after all." Rairiku smirked.
"..." Esolu stared downwards sadly. She couldn't speak up, she didn't even have her sketch pad to convey her feelings at all.
"N-No... she definitely did..." Foluma spoke up,
"...?" Esolu looked up to Foluma surprised.
"She did love me all that time ago, but I was too much of an idiot to not realize it..."
Foluma thought about the day the two shared their first kiss together, and when she gave Esolu the trinket she still carried the key for,
"But I'm certain that when she thought I had died, she wanted to forget about me and put her past behind her... That's something I could relate to."
She thought about the happy smile Esolu had when she finally gave birth to her and Link's first child,
"It's true I couldn't respond to her feelings back then..."
The maid brought up her foot and stomped on the ground, causing it to crack a bit.
"But right now the only thing that matters to me is stopping you, and saving my friend!"
"...!" Esolu stared out in awe at her words.
"Tsk, what a weak minded fool you've become." sneered Rairiku, "Take another step closer and I'm putting an arrow through her head!"
'Damnit, there's gotta be a way I can stop this woman.' Foluma thought to herself, 'But if I try to do a long range attack she'll use Esolu as a shield, I need to figure out a way to-' then her eyes lit up, 'Wait, long range... I got it!'
This time she brought up her fists, and shot them both out at Rairiku at the same time.
"Ha, that won't work as long as I got this for protection!" Rairiku said pulling Esolu out in front of her.
But instead of Foluma pulling back again, this time she opened her hands right at Esolu, the mute woman panicked and closed her eyes tightly.
"H-Huh?" Rairiku spoke in surprise, "She's actually going to hit her?!"
"...?!" Esolu opened an eye and looked down to see Foluma's hands had made contact with her...
...but rather than being punched, the maid was instead groping at the mute woman's chest.
"W-What the hell you think you're doing?!" Rairiku exclaimed with bugged out eyes.
"Mweeheehee. I take back what I said before at the pool about your smaller chest Esolu, yours are still pretty nice in their own ways." Foluma said with a mischievous smile, "I'd say you grew a whole... two cup sizes since we were younger. Not bad!"
"...!" as perverted as it was, Esolu was somewhat taken aback at how well Foluma remembered her, especially after having lost her memories for so long.
Rairiku was so caught off guard by this maneuver it gave Foluma the chance to smack her in the face, and allowed Esolu to break free of her grip and start to run away. The sargent recovered though and still managed to step forward and grab her arm. Esolu tried her hardest to pull away and put enough distance between her and the rebel woman.
"That's it! Now it's time to say goodbye, this time for good!" shouted Rairiku, aiming and slowly squeezing down on the trigger to send an arrow through the back of Esolu's head.
But then suddenly, a piercing red beam of light energy shot across the rooftop and impacted right into Rairiku's chest...
...and a split second later the beam shot out from the rebel's back.
"G-GAAAARRGGGH!" Rairiku shouted out in intense pain, her legs shook as she slowly looked up at Foluma who had her laser visor on again, "It... it can't be... she used that... distraction... to give herself time.. to power up her... laser..." she grew dizzy as her eyes rolled in the back of her head,
"Solider... down..."
"...!" Esolu gasped out in shock as Rairiku's body starting to stagger backwards, before she grew limp and fell backwards off the side of the building, holding the child-bearer still in her cold grasp.
"Esolu!"
Without a second thought, Foluma jumped over the side of the building after her friend. As Rairiku's lifeless body plummeted to the ground, Foluma managed to grab Esolu into her arms. The maid noticed a tall palm tree not too far away, and shot out one of her limbs to grab onto it. She retracted the limb to pull the two towards it, and let go at just the right time for them to both fall right into the tavern's outdoor swimming pool with a large splash.
Some patrons of the tavern had just defeated the rebels in the outdoor area when they all looked in surprise at the impact. They soon saw bubbles come up from the water, and both Foluma and Esolu emerged out, gasping for breath.
"Hey Esolu, are you alright?!" Foluma asked desperately.
"...!" Esolu nodded happily, giving her savior a big hug, to which she returned back. There was many applause from the crowd now knowing that they were both safe.
"...and so everyone, once again we can't thank you enough for helping to protect the tavern." Remo said from the bar counter alongside Usaulu.
The battle had ended in success for the tavern's casino workers and patrons. The rebels were either forced to retreat or were captured.
"Not a problem, a good tavern brawl is always a great way to handle some stress relief, right boys?" one of the patrons wearing an arm cast laughed out. The others cheered joyfully despite being pretty banged up from the battle themselves.
"We've even taken back a number of our sisters!" spoke a Gerudo, looking to all the rebels that they had captured and tied up. One of the casino workers grinned smugly as she nudged one of the rebels who had harassed her earlier.
"As thanks for your service to us tonight, we've decided to host a celebration. Food and drinks are on the house!" Usaulu stated, she glanced over at all the broken bottle and wine barrels, and sweatdropped, "What's left of it anyway."
With that, the patrons cheered out as they all started to party.
"I can't believe you managed to defeat that crazy chef lady, Teach!" Ragome said in astonishment, as she was eating a plate of grilled cucco wings "You really are a tough fighter!"
"Unfortunately it would seem she managed to escape during the fight." Fareafu lamented, "My apologizes, I was too tipsy to apprehend her after the battle."
"No problem, we'll get her next time! Shiii-shi-shi!" Ragome laughed, hanging herself against Fareafu with her breasts pressing against the teacher's head, "I'm just amazed at how tough you are!"
"Get offa me already with those stupid things!" Fareafu shouted slapping at her.
"Did I beat you up too much? I'm so sorry!" said a former Gerudo rebel sitting beside a young adventurer at one table. The two had been fighting each other during the brawl, but admiring his battle spirit she decided to defect from the rebellion and help him save the tavern.
"Nah, don't worry about it." the man chuckled, he had some bandages on his head and his leg in a splint, but he was smiling sincerely at the desert woman, "You really pack a mean kick. I'm looking forward to having you travel with me from now on!"
"Awwww! You're so sweet!" the Gerudo said cheerfully, tackling him in an affectionate hug but knocking him over in the process
"My leg!" the young man shouted from the floor.
Leivuri smiled lightly as she glanced from that couple over to Foluma and Esolu, who were both sitting and having drinks together.
"Hey, Esolu, you holding up alright?" Foluma asked.
"..." Esolu held up her sketch pad to show an overly buff penguin flexing, and Foluma chuckled.
"Glad to hear that." Foluma nodded, but glanced away.
"?" Esolu put a hand to her shoulder.
"It's nothing, I've... just been thinking about what I've become." Foluma spoke, looking down at her automation hands, "It's strange, I kind of feel bad that I had to go that far to put a stop to Sargent Rairiku. Link wanted to rehabilitate as many rebels as possible, not kill them..."
The mute girl blushed a little as she held up a sketch of Foluma dressed in a mask, spandex and a cape, flying through the sky with Esolu in her arms.
"Heh. That's sweet of you to think of me as a hero..." Foluma spoke, "...but as strong as this body makes me, it's pretty dangerous too. After what Link told me about what he went through with the Fierce Deity, it makes me wonder what would happen if I went too far over the line..."
Esolu went to her sketch pad and started drawing again. Foluma tried to look at it, but the mute did her best to hide what she was doing. Eventually she held up the sketch, and Foluma's jaw dropped.
It was a finely detailed picture of Foluma's mother, smiling beautifully.
"Esolu..." Foluma whispered with small tears forming in her eyes, "Y-You're right... it's because of this power that I finally got to avenge my mother for what happened..." she took the sketch and looked down longingly at it, "You know, even if she disapproved of your feelings for me, she still cared about my well-being to the very end..."
Tears started to spill down Foluma's cheeks as she smiled, and Esolu responded by giving her a gentle hug.
"Jees... after all these years, you're still as clingy as ever." grinned Foluma, patting her back, "I guess being able to protect you and the others makes this power worth holding onto. Thank you..."
Meanwhile, Ragome, Leivuri and Fareafu all watched with relief as the two were hugging it out.
"It was pretty rough for a while, but I guess things worked out in the end." Ragome grinned.
"I'm so relieved." Leivuri said, "But I wonder what will happen beyond this. Do you think Foluma will properly answer Esolu's feelings?"
"It is hard to say, especially if Foluma truly does have feelings for King Link." Fareafu said taking a sip of her drink, "We'll just have to wait and see what she truly wants out of life."
As Foluma laughed at another funny sketch Esolu had drawn, she took a glance over at Usaulu, who was sitting with Remo. She was patting her pregnant stomach, and gestured to her husband to feel it for himself. He placed his hand and ear on it, and looked absolutely astonished. He started getting all teary-eyed with happiness and started crying against his wife, and she hugged him affectionately.
Foluma leaned against the table, staring out at how much in love Usaulu and Remo were, and how excited they were to have a child soon, as she thought about her own mother's care for her.
"...?" Esolu was about to show Foluma her next sketch, she saw the longing stare in the maid's eyes. It didn't take her long to realize what she was thinking of, and she let out a soft sigh, as she went back to her drawing.
As the celebration at the tavern continued, Mamouta was trudging through the sandy terrain. She had barely managed to escape from the tavern after the rebels were all defeated. She was still somewhat groggy from the wine earlier, but she forced herself along, coming up to the back of the building where she had heard some gruesome news from the other escaped rebels.
"You gotta be kiddin' me... the Sarge is..." she muttered.
They all looked down at what remained of Rairiku, her eyes were rolled in the back of her head, and the gaping burnt hole through her chest.
"From what we were told, it was MAGIS-01 that did this." spoke a nearby rebel.
"Dat power she had was supposeds to make the Sisterhoid unbeatable..." Mamouta spoke, her fists shaking with anger.
"But with her on the false king's side..." spoke a rebel, "What do we do against that power?"
"...how fascinating." spoke a quiet voice, as they turned to see a certain Gerudo woman coming up to them.
She had pale albino 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.
"Huh? Ain't you that Dr. Yissa?" Mamouta asked, but the Gerudo seemed to ignore her and kneel down at the body of Rairiku.
Dr. Yissa was a half-Gerudo, half-Sheikah woman, and a genius scientist. She had been a member of the mysterious cult known as the Order of Reyahm, but she defected to join with the Ebony Sisterhood, and took over work of Engineer Meokuro's projects after working as her assistant.
"... … ...this wound was caused by MAGIS-01s Beamos laser." whispered Yissa, putting on a rubber glove and carefully running her hand around the wound, rubbing the leaking blood between her fingers, "To think it would cause this much damage to the Sargent's durable body. How impressive."
"What should we do?" asked a saddened rebel, "Maybe we should have her buried?"
Dr. Yissa didn't answer right away though, as she stared at the red liquid for the longest time.
"Doctor?" the rebel asked.
"It's... still warm."
The rebels were confused at Yissa's words, as well as the distant look in her eyes, but the doctor just stood up and removed the gloves, staring back down at the body.
"...take this corpse with us back to Gerudo Fortress. I believe I can still find a use for it." spoke Yissa, she looked to Mamouta, "Also, Mother Imono wishes to speak to you when we return. No doubt she will have choice words for your latest failure."
Mamouta gulped nervously, as the rebels all looked to each other with an uneasy stare. They said no more words, but simply wrapped Rairiku up in a thick sheet and lifted her up over their shoulders to haul her body off.
The group all followed Yissa back to their headquarters at Gerudo Fortress, wondering what the doctor had planned...
And that ends this chapter, next time we go back to Hyrule Castle, where Link finds himself and a certain old friend caught up in the mystery of the infamous Widowmaker! Can Link help to unravel the truth behind the serial killer's identity and goal...?
So I had to get this chapter uploaded today, as we've hit a major milestone. 150 chapters, over a million words typed, a whooping 600 reviews! I would have never been able to make it this far without the support and comments by all of you! Thank you so much!
Also, this chapter just happened to fall on the day Tears of The Kingdom released! I've gotten the chance to play a bit of it, and as of right now I'm trying to complete the intro area and figure out the game's new concepts. It's very much like BOTW but much more complex in the land and the mechanics. The weapon fusing system in particular is both fun and hilarious.
Thanks again for all your support! Please feel free to leave alike, follow comment or just send me a Private Message. Your feedback is always encouraged!