At the moment, companies like Google are developing brain chips. There is no good that can come of this. These chips may be pitched as beneficial, maybe as a cure for PTSD or depression, but it's not a stretch to see that they can and will be used to control people's minds. These chips are meant to be a new kind of slave collar, a thousand times more effective than the slave collars of the past because it won't be possible to rebel against the ones holding the whip. It's better to suffer for your freedom than to live comfortably as a slave.
Patricia was fast. It didn't take long before the two of them had almost caught up with Vah Naboris.
"I am Makeela Riju!" Riju shouted to the heavens. "Descendant of the royal line and leader of the Gerudo! Ancestors of the Gerudo—hear my call. Aid me in this task that I now face. Lady Urbosa, I pray you help me calm Divine Beast Vah Naboris!"
As she cried out, something began to change about the Thunder Helm. Small sparks of electricity began to jump between the golden lightning bolts on the vertical halo. Link held his breath as the power manifested, arcs of blue-green electricity coursing over the surface of the helmet, ultimately gathering in the halo, forming a web of lightning that flickered and flashed.
She snapped her fingers, and a blast of lightning from Naboris's storm changed direction, striking a small hill thirty meters to their side, revealing the corpse of a whale-like monster (a Molduga, he would later be able to identify it as). Link realized the beast had intended to attack them while they were distracted by Naboris.
Link's eyes drifted back to Riju. Suddenly, she didn't seem so childlike anymore.
Riju took the reins back, and they entered the storm. Several lightning bolts attempted to strike them, but they all changed direction and hit the ground.
They had no such protection from the sand, though, and even with the goggles Riju had provided, seeing became a difficult task. Combined with the lurching of the sled beneath him, Link was having trouble lining up his shots.
Still, a few arrows connected. Ice arrows and fire arrows were both equally ineffective, but a bomb arrow seemed to do a bit more, upon hitting Naboris's foot.
"Get us closer!" Link shouted to Riju. She did, and he hit the same foot a second time with a second bomb arrow, but three others missed.
To their alarm, they realized they could actually see Kara Kara Bazaar in the distance.
There had to be a better way than this. Then Link realized what it was. "Get in front of it!"
"I hope you have a plan!" Riju said, as she turned the sled to race in front of the Divine Beast.
Using his remote bomb runes, Link dropped bombs in front of Vah Naboris, detonating them as its feet fell near them. The lights on one foot went out, followed by the next, and then by the other two in turn.
It wasn't long before the Divine Beast stopped walking entirely, and the sandstorm went quiet.
"It's never been this easy," Link said. "Could this be a trap?"
"We both know it doesn't matter," Riju said.
"You could head back," Link offered. "This time, we have the Master Sword, and I hear Shez's blades are also highly effective against Malice."
"I will be accompanying you," Riju insisted. "Gerudo Chiefs do not let others go to battle in their place. Lady Urbosa fought, my mother fought, and I intend to fight as well."
Link nodded. "I won't argue with that."
"Do you...remember Lady Urbosa?" Riju asked. "She was my grandmother, but I never knew her. My grandfather died in the Calamity as well, and my mother died when I was young as well. My father still lives, but according to him, mother rarely spoke of her to him."
Link nodded. "She was one of the wisest people I knew. But she was also...playful. She was one of the few people who encouraged Zelda to relax and have fun, to not push herself so hard."
Riju was surprised at that. "Really? I've read her diary. She seemed rather serious in it."
Link shrugged. "Her diary must not tell the full story, then. That's how she was."
Riju fell silent, staring off in the direction of the Divine Beast. Finally, she said, "I always feel like I need to be more serious."
"No… Take it from me. It's better to be honest about who you are, Riju. Trying to fit the mold of who you think you need to be…doesn't work." He reached back, unsheathing the Master Sword, turning it over in his hands. "For the longest time, I thought I had to act a certain way to be…worthy. Urbosa was instrumental in teaching me that I didn't have to be like that. Watching her and Zelda with each other…I realized that heroes didn't have to be stoic, serious, or infallible. Sometimes, it's okay for heroes to like rock-climbing and making bad puns."
Riju's lips split into a wide grin. "Sealiously?"
For a moment, he was confused, but then he noticed the embroidery on her skirt—a simple depiction of a sand seal. He smiled. "Sealiously."
Seconds later, a second sled dropped off the other five members of the strike team. "Let's do this," Dimitri said.
Link and Riju both nodded, and the seven of them entered Vah Naboris.
"And you are sure this will not be a problem?" Buliara asked.
"Relax. They probably already beat the thing controlling Naboris already," Caspar said flippantly.
Mercedes shivered. "Something is wrong."
Everyone looked to the sky, as the moon began to turn red.
"No! No, no, no! Why tonight?" Buliara shouted. "We have to go in after them!"
However, Naboris decided it was able to stand once more. It got up, denying anyone the chance to board save for the seven who already had.
"We have to trust them," Dorothea said. "They can do this."
"Pray, if you will," Linhardt said. "There's nothing else we can do for them now."
