. . .

Urbosa

It must have been almost one hundred and twenty degrees today. A scorching, stale humidity stretched through the air and the sun beamed brightly at the top of the sky. No matter how hot the days were now, it was only the start of May—A frown crossed thirty-four-year-old Urbosa's face at the thought of what July could have looked like. With the slowly increasing intensity of such blazing heat, she couldn't help but find concern in the act of preserving ice to keep it from melting. The Gerudo heavily relied on the transport and keeping of ice for beverages like water and alcoholic drinks to sustain cool temperatures, so it was something that was easily considered within the heat. Eliminating a task on her to-do list for the midday second of May, Urbosa set off from her home of Gerudo Town towards the Northern Icehouse a couple of minutes to the North to check on progress.

Urbosa's high-heeled shoes crunched over the sand, sinking slightly with every strolling step. Sweat beaded along the rim of her forehead, which she ignored. Her attire jingled with gold adornments with every step that she took, a particularly elegant array of Gerudo-typical clothing. Urbosa herself wore a luxurious set of attire, partly in wraps around her chest as well as draping in a light-fabric skirt that brushed her ankles while she walked, a sheathed blade like a sword tucked into a golden velvet sheath, and jewels lined up along her shoes. Her hair was more of a vivid red than the most flavorful berries, yanked back into a ponytail at the base of her head as it tumbled down her back, and her skin was dark like many of her desert-dwelling acquaintances.

Urbosa held up a well-tended hand, shielding her eyes from the merciless sunlight as she analyzed the area to entertain herself. Sand concealed the ground farther than the eye could reach, swirling in the distance as the breeze toyed with it. Lopsided trees with fluttering leaves were scarce, scattered seldom across the sand where the melons grew. The profile of a massively sized being still lurked from miles away, blanketed in the rim of the cloudless blue sky. Travelers had gawked and sometimes escaped at the sight of such an immense mechanical creature of a camel situated amidst the desert with no clear reason as to why or how or what it even was, but Urbosa was familiar.

The creature donned the name of Vah Naboris, a creature designed by the Sheikah Tribe thousands of years ago to someday battle Calamity Ganon once it struck in battle. Naboris harnessed the ability to control and manipulate lightning to its will—A skill that Urbosa had adapted to share, coincidentally. Because of this, a swelling sense offered the subtlety of connection, almost like it was calling out to her or waiting for her to act in joining their lives together somehow. This sensation was clarified even more now that Princess Zelda Hyrule had sent word of her arrival later that day to discuss the presence of the Beast. It seemed that their lives were bound to become united after all.

The icehouse could have been spotted from several yards away, almost from the town itself. A sizable, knobby rock carved indistinctly into the shape of a camel or another four-legged desert inhabitant stood guard, embellished with colorful flags that fluttered in the breeze. Shadows buried the sand beneath the risen belly. Amidst the shadows lay a thick trap door that marked the entrance, drawn back in the service of the morning. It was already a good sign. Transportation was still in good shape.

Burgundy-tinted blossoming safflina flowers swayed from their dwelling in the sand as Urbosa emerged into the shadows. At the entrance of the trap door, she was greeted with a descent of chiseled rock steps encased by bouldered walls, which yellow lights draped from. If the lights were on, somebody was present to supervise the ice. Urbosa dropped a hand onto the wooden rim of the trap door for balance, ducking down into the enclosure and descending the steps with an echoing click at every one. The shift in temperature was drastic and almost sudden, searing her skin one moment and exposing her to a shuddering chill the next. Compared to the dense heat, the coolness was a fresh breath of air. air.

The end of the steps gave way to a larger, yet modest space. A cave-like room contained the brisk air and blocks of ice leaking with chill-steam piled up against the walls, some on their own and a stack positioned on a flat cart to assist in transportation. As she promptly became aware of, Urbosa was not alone in the space as leveling out from the stairs brought her to the side of Anche, the Gerudo vai lead administer of ice storage and transportation. She lingered at the rocky wall and scribbled notes onto a clipboard with a ballpoint pen, a crimson ponytail decorated with gold gems sprouting out from the very top of her head swinging abruptly as she stole a glance at Urbosa in her arrival.

"Lady Urbosa, I hadn't expected that you would be stopping by today," Anche confessed, pausing in her writing to absentmindedly wrap her jewelry-adorned arms around her clipboard. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, this will be a very brief visit today," Urbosa explained. "I've got quite a day ahead of me. I just wanted to come around and make sure that the deliveries would be expected in their usual fashion."

"Oh, yes, everything's working fine," Anche explained. "In fact, I was just about to send the next load off to Gerudo Town. It's about that time, you know? I'm just checking that everything is in order and that we've got enough to last us through the week."

"As long as everything is arranged how it should be, I shall be on my way back with the good news," Urbosa replied. A rhythmic drip of water served a constant in the background of the conversation. Perhaps it was best to shut the door and keep the terrible heat out. "Princess Zelda is arriving later today to discuss the presence of Vah Naboris. She won't be able to enjoy our finest drinks, as she doesn't come of age for another four years, but a cold glass of water should suit her nicely in this heat."

"I've heard that she's bringing company along, so they'll do well with refreshments as well," Anche agreed. She tapped her fingertips lightly against the back surface of the clipboard. "She's bringing a Sheikah vai and... Well, a voe as well, one of her soldiers. I figured that it wouldn't be much news to you. We've already verified that he's trustworthy. I'll have some guards looking after him in case he steps out of line, if you wish."

"No need," Urbosa assured her. "I know the boy. She's bringing Link, I presume. He's very quiet, very obedient. He's always had a special connection with the princess. I trust him wholeheartedly. He'll be causing no trouble. Thank you for letting me know. I'll have to make the necessary arrangements to offer a comfortable visit for the three of them. Is there anything I can do here to assist you?"

"I believe there's nothing, but I'll reach out if problems arise," Anche said. "As long as you're out and about, you should go and visit the bazaar. There's a wide selection of fruits and melons that you can bring back to the town to help keep cool. With mornings like this, it's especially important to fight the heat."

"A brilliant idea. It's most definitely out of the way and Princess Zelda's group will most likely be arriving before I return, but hopefully walking in with tasty snacks would make up for it," Urbosa replied. She dismissed herself back to the steps in departure, but a thought dawned on her after ascending no farther than two stairs. She snuck a glance over her shoulder to address her acquaintance. "Oh, Anche?"

At first, only the sound of rapid scribbling arrived in response, and then Anche appeared in the opening of the room. "How can I help you, my lady?" she inquired curiously.

"You should close the door today. I want to eliminate the risk of the ice melting from the heightened temperatures," Urbosa pointed out.

The sweltering temperatures blazed once more. Urbosa ventured off over the endless sand alone, not for the town from which she had come but for the likes of popularity where the Kara Kara Bazaar would be near. Journeying across the sand, Urbosa gradually receded from the sights of civilization and farther emerged into the empty desert. The walk may have been considerably longer than the first had been, but she eased concerns by reminding herself that she was making the extra effort to ensure that the princess and her friends would be well-fed.

Urbosa's embellished skirt rattled with every step she took across the baking sand. The fuming temperature hanging in the air nearly sizzled against her skin in the peak of the morning. During the walk, she crossed paths with a few Gerudo vai, greeting them courteously on her way and making brief comments on the unbearable springtime temperatures. The intensity of which had not ceased by the time Urbosa approached a particularly large and round pocket of clear water—The very same that the bazaar displayed—And desert-hued market tarps that had been positioned around it.

There were no visitors lingering around the shops. Two shopkeeper vai engaged in a discussion beside a yellow tarp. Another sat beneath a reddish brown tarp to supervise an assemblage of green melons, tucking something away into a small and intricate golden box. Urbosa first drifted closer to the water, fingers itching to outstretch into the coolness of the sensation of dipping into the water, a breath of relief amidst the heat. Urbosa lowered herself into a kneel at the edge of the water and her fingers submerged the water barrier, sending a jarring ripple along the surface, but it pinched her fingers with heat.

"I don't know. As far as I know, there was nothing," one of the shopkeepers offered urgently in conversation.

Urbosa rose to standing once more, flicking her hand to rid the water. The seated shopkeeper was no longer tucking objects away but fishing through the box, proving the presence of small items that clicked against each other. Her innocent emerald eyes darted to meet Urbosa's as she shuffled across the empty sand to reach her modest shop.

"Lady Urbosa!" The shopkeeper vai latched the box shut and set it aside, ducking her head briefly to do so before returning her focus. "I appreciate you making the walk out here. I know it's quite a ways from the town. What can I do for you today?"

"Princess Zelda and a couple of her friends are stopping by today to discuss Naboris," Urbosa explained. The shopkeeper was carefully climbing up to her feet to address the chief. "I'd like to purchase a hydromelon to provide for them."

"My lady, you don't need to give me your money. I'll send a melon on your way," the shopkeeper insisted, dropping into a crouch in front of the assemblage of melons. Her fingers danced across the green surfaces, tapping them and knocking on them as if to find the most robust one.

"You see, I've got a wonderful collection here. You can pick out any one you like," the shopkeeper explained in her fidgeting. "Most of these were just picked yesterday and early this morning. There's a trick to finding the most ripe ones. I'll send the best one I have with you. You kind of have to feel around and—"

"My lady!" A different shopkeeper instantly broke in. Urbosa raised her head to discover that the two remaining vai had ceased in conversation and had taken notice of her presence. Both pairs of eyes had been plagued with the shadow of dismay, but it was the closest shopkeeper to speak up. "What are you doing out here?"

"I beg your pardon?" Urbosa prompted.

"You've issued a defense against the intruders. Out here, you're much too far from the town to supervise the order," the shopkeeper pressed. "You should be where the conflict is occurring to follow the direction of the motive."

Bewilderment descended sharply onto Urbosa. Issued a defense? She had done no such thing. The only tasks she had fulfilled this morning were general responsibilities amidst the town, checked on the progress of the ice delivery, and now she was here to collect a hydromelon for the princess. Furthermore, she had most certainly not been made aware of the arrival of intruders. For as long as a heartbeat, Urbosa questioned whether it was some elaborate joke, but the alarm on the shopkeepers' faces informed her otherwise.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

A ringing like a bell punctured Urbosa's ears. The scorching air seared against her skin as sweat beaded across her hairline and gathered in a thin layer on her palms, but the heat was no longer an important issue. She needed to get back to the town. She could have been wasting time just standing there.

"Please hold the order for now," Urbosa said to the melon shopkeeper before her shoes crunched briskly across the sand back the way she had arrived.

The sun's rays were piercing and brilliant as Urbosa hurried back across the sand to return to the town. In her hasty speed and brutal sultriness, strangled panting breaths escaped from her throat and sent a crack of aching across her chest. Energetic exertion was risky under these temperatures as it was, but now the idea of being separated from her home during a critical period of time hung over her head. She might have soon had to struggle to keep herself upright to restrain from passing out, but it hardly mattered. She was going to lay eyes on the walls of her town again quite soon; soon to reabsorb the familiarity of what was known to her.

The longer that the journey crept on, the higher the number of possibilities tumbled into her mind as to what was happening. The best-case scenario was likely to be a misunderstanding or even a lie of the situation in Gerudo Town—Urbosa hardly wished anyone to lie to her about something so serious, but it would have meant safety. And considering the potential of it being true, how could it possibly have all come about while she was away? Had someone known or figured out she would be away for a short period of time? It wasn't uncommon to come a time where Urbosa planned to be absent and instructed her closest assistants to direct counterattacks as necessary, but this was something they did and only did when asked. They were following orders. So who was making them?

Shouts corrupted the former quietness before Urbosa had even emerged into the town again, and they most certainly were not of warning. Urbosa could spot the gritty, sand-colored walls enclosing her town and the vibrant flags it donned from a far distance, but in her approach, she began to notice more quickly Gerudo soldiers appearing and disappearing through the main entrance at the speed of a run. Each one carried the same lengthy blade which glimmered in the sunlight. Both by the determination in the sprint implying firm knowledge of the destination and the commanding shouts that escaped from the area, they were clearly on a mission, as Urbosa had theorized. Urbosa, who had bested enemies in lively and energy-draining combat more times than she could accurately recall, was accustomed to the sights of soldiers dashing through the area in the engagement of a battle, but knowing that she had not been included in instruction threw her for a loop.

I can use this to my advantage, Urbosa realized as a cluster of five or six soldiers vanished through the main entrance. Since she was soon to be right in the middle of active combat, confronting her peers about their decisions to pursue a fight behind her back wasn't high on the list of priorities. She could have even excused it as necessary if it was an unexpected ambush and they were left with no other line of defense. With this in consideration, the enemy, no matter who or what they were, would have no way of knowing that she was amidst the scene once more. She'd take the route of stealth, holding a low profile within the battle to enter the town and reach the source of the conflict. With her defense previously absent, the enemy would have first gone for the throne.

Urbosa adjusted her approach, breaking off into a run across the sand towards the back entrance of the town. It might not have been deserted, but probably significantly less populated. The cloth sheath of her blade hammered against her hip with every step that struck the sand, adornments jingling restlessly. Once she could get inside, this was something she would need to be wary of. A move too quick, a dinging rattle, and her entire plan could have been at risk for being completely demolished.

As Urbosa neared the turn of the wall leading to the back entrance to the town, the area had been emptied, offering a smooth entrance. She was seconds away from crossing the arched open entryway before a shift in movement from inside sent her leaping back behind the bend of the wall. The scorching heat in the wall stung at her back like a million insects as she pressed herself against it, locking her mouth shut to keep any sounds from leaking out. From the moment she concealed herself, the rattling of Gerudo attire came and went as a soldier emerged from the area and receded somewhere over the sand. For several seconds as the sound drew softer, the only breaths that escaped Urbosa were thin and silent, waiting for clarity on her ability to enter.

Once the sound no longer rang in the air, she finally removed herself from the wall, latching herself at the opening for hardly a heartbeat to scan the area. The space she peered into had been completely abandoned, presumably the quietest place in the town at the moment as walls bordered pale sanded floors holding nothing but a few chairs at the side in case a rest at the exit was wished for. The heels of her shoes were known to click distinctly against the floors, but she would have burned her feet if she emerged barefoot. Without another moment of hesitation, Urbosa allowed herself through the town's back entrance.

Urbosa took advantage of the cover of the second wall, sneaking a glimpse of what lay past the next entrance. There in front of her remained a wide alley, giving way to more openings in the sandy-toned walls for homes and shops. She was not alone here. Soldiers scouted the passageway from front to back, eyes prying for a deviance of normalcy. Several vai poked their heads out from the openings to their dwellings, some adults and others children, all tense by the arrival of danger. Urbosa needed to time her escape perfectly to make it work. If she failed to slip out of the area at just the right moment, she could have been located by a villager or a soldier and have attention brought to her. She not only needed to sneak around her enemies, but also her friends.

Urbosa's eyes carefully followed the movements of the soldiers, tracking patterns for the optimal moment to move as she dropped down into a crouch to remain hidden. Pausing in wait, she stole the chance to remind herself of where she needed to go in order to reach the throne room. There would be a dark-wooden door at the back of the alley, which would open up to the tail end of the main square. Urbosa risked a shift forward to peer out and check on the status of the door. It was unguarded, positioned almost across the way from her. Once through the door and in the main square—Which, while considering it, was probable to be the most heavily swarmed area—A prominent flight of stairs led right up to the throne room where she had spent countless hours of her days. The distance was nothing to awe at, but even then, all odds stood against her.

Urbosa returned her focus to the creeping soldiers, considering the act of ducking through the wooden door without making a sound, not to mention avoiding getting caught. It was a challenge for certain, but this would have been the easy part of her plan. The beaming sunlight overhead nearly blinded her where she crouched, struggling to determine accurately if she would have been looked at or not if she tried to move. Murmurs crept along the residents as the soldiers thoroughly probed the area, leaving no spot unchecked as if actively awaiting a second ambush. It could have been three entire minutes that Urbosa sheltered herself in a crouch behind the wall, hunting for any signs that the soldiers would make a departure, or at least engage in a discussion amongst themselves long enough for her to make an escape. It might have even been five minutes of wait. It was no use. She needed to perform a diversion somehow.

Urbosa locked in her breath again and rose to withdraw from the wall, silencing her movements as efficiently as she could manage. Even now that she was farther from the action, she hesitated to allow herself a breath deeper than shallow, soundless gasps of air. She hastily scanned the floor around her, the surface of which holding nothing evident to the eye except for the two chairs she had noticed before and heaps of sand that had been kicked into the room. In a heartbeat, she dove down onto the floor, brushing aside the clumps of sand until the pale floors peeked up at her for something she could have used. The sand proved to be mostly empty with the exception of a particularly pointed brown shard of glass that she had quite nearly sliced open her hand with and nothing more. There was no distraction that could have been caused by a shard of glass that didn't result in the bloodshed of her own allies.

A sort of numbness dipped into Urbosa's chest, similar to that of defeat or failure. Whoever had invaded the town had surely made it to the throne room by now and it was her only option to get there in time to stop them from creating complete ruin, but she couldn't figure out how to even begin. Urbosa inspected her surroundings once more, searching floor and walls. The two chairs occupied a generous segment of the modest room but served no purpose towards the task at hand, the wall reaching its highest point in a flat sill perhaps six feet above the cushions. She could have reached the tops of the walls if she stood atop the cushion. The observation had struck as a general perception in the first moment, but it instantly swelled from an observation into an idea in the next.

Urbosa grabbed ahold of the back of a chair, dragging it softly and cautiously back against the wall it had been positioned near to. Once the chair was in place for her to stand sturdily on top of it, she paused to confirm that she had not generated attention towards herself, absorbing in the quietness of subtlety before she started off on the move. Clenching the back of the chair, she stepped up onto the cushion—One foot then, more shakily, the next—And climbed to her full height. In doing so, it became clear that ascending to the flat ledge atop the wall wouldn't have been much of a challenge, as the wall only reached her chin when she stood on the chair.

Urbosa gripped the edge of the wall, hoisting herself up and onto the ledge. The scorching heat of the surface pinched at her arms as she dragged herself up and onto the top. Now that she was in place, ready to crawl on her hands and knees across the top surface of the wall, she noticed that the width she was working with was hardly a foot long. It was inconvenient, but doable. Her flaming-red ponytail hung from her shoulder as she began to inch her way across the surface, fingers clamped tightly over the corners with every move.

Just like that, Urbosa was right above the action, no more than twenty feet from the soldiers and twenty-five from the main square. The farther that she crept across the area, the more tightly her chest squeezed, like a spring winding up until it would snap. The amount of exposure she had surrendered to from escaping this way was immense, but now that she was there, it wasn't an option to turn back. The sudden pressure easily snatched her breath away and she sensed the rapidly building tension and risk at every moment she took to cross.

The murmuring amongst the residents had quieted. A discussion between the soldiers had arisen and Urbosa caught words of revenge and staying on their guard, but her focus to continue blocked the majority of the conversation from reaching her ears. Quieter than the depths of the desert where no one dared tread, she crept forward pace by pace, her one peace that she was moving so slowly so that her skirt wouldn't jingle and give her away. Every soundless grab at and inch over the wall brought her closer to the fork bordering the main square. The continued chat that the soldiers had engaged in served as a fine example to buy her the time she needed to get across. By miracle, she had arrived at the end without raising a lick of suspicion, shifted her legs to the other side of the wall—This earned a soft rattle in her attire which, after a brief scan, was lucky to have avoided being noticed—and dropped down into the square.

The impression of danger tingled on the back of Urbosa's neck before she had even struck the floor, coiling into a crouch at the landing in a precise strategy to limit the sound of her heels making impact. Once steady in a crouch on the floor, she didn't take her chances in rising fully and making herself seen as she scrutinized the area to determine the situation. She had dropped into the back of the most decorated place in Gerudo Town and, as she had suspected, the most populous. Scattered fountains with trickling waters defined a wide raised pathway directing through the square, from the front open archway down the middle to the rising stairs towards the throne room. Wooden emblems across the walls marked the presence of various shops, much like a more provided-for market than the one she had visited earlier, though each had been cleared out under the influence of the attack. Several Gerudo guards had already begun to cover the area in protection of the room located up the stairs, assembled at multiple points in the room. Their weapons had not yet been drawn but each hand rested upon the sheath, strictly alert and at the ready to initiate attack, and the source of their focus was not disturbed by Urbosa's arrival but instead lingering on the front opening in case of further ambush. If she could manage to keep herself out of sight, it proved to be a certain advantage in her case.

Urbosa's gaze drifted up the set of stairs to her right, up the steps and to the exterior landing in front of the exit. That was where she needed to get to somehow, but she wouldn't have been able to get anywhere while the guards remained. It appeared that someone had evidently reached the room before her, as while she crouched on the floor in the essence of silence, she picked out voices leaking from inside that were a bit too distant to identify. Time was not as much on her side as she had hoped.

And then there was a voice that was not limited to the walls of the throne room. "It has been almost half an hour since the defense was first ordered," a guard towards the right side of the room spoke up in a sturdy, determined voice. Due to the towering flight of stairs beside her, Urbosa was unable to sneak a glimpse of her face, which likely remained the same on the other account, but by instinct, she shrunk further against the back wall to further conceal herself from sight. "The work is usually completely finished at this time. I'd say there must be some disruption in the strategy."

An official statement had been issued for retribution. Someone really was making commands. Urbosa's eyes pried the scene, attentively taking in the new information.

"Are you sure?" An inquiring voice responded. "She's just up the stairs. If she needed extra help, she would have come out and asked for it, or at least would have risen from the throne."

The throne. The unknown enemy hadn't come for slaughter or destruction. She had reached Urbosa's own throne. A nerve thrummed abruptly somewhere in her stomach, but she didn't dare move from her place at the wall.

"There's always the possibility that something is holding her back," the first guard reminded the second. "Even if it's just paranoia, we have to help her if she needs it."

"What are you suggesting?" A different guard urged to know.

"We'll split into two groups," the first guard declared. "Six of you will remain here and guard the entrance. I'm going to take the other six to the throne to offer our support."

They planned to return to the throne. Several guards were seconds away from turning around and discovering Urbosa crouched down at the back of the room in plain sight. Urbosa reeled to form a plan in the breath of a moment that she would have had left, scouring her mental image of the room for a place to hide and whether or not there was time, and her subconscious seemed to fall to a reaction far more swiftly than she herself could have.

The guard had just ended her sentence when Urbosa's hand instantly shot out in front of her as if straying from her own accord. For no longer than the second turning to face elsewhere would have called for, her eyes glazed over, her mind submerged in a state that blurred her reality in front of her, her hands prickling with shock as sparks flung within her fingers from the knuckles to the very tips. The fruits of her labor had already birthed by the time she sank back into herself, awakening at the rumbling shock wave trembling the ground and the collective and nearly deafening claps of lightning striking the ground. Coils of smoky clouds had stirred into motion, looming against the otherwise cloudless blue skies over the four corners of the town, and had jolted Urbosa back to her senses with the streaks of lightning they shot towards the ground. It had not caused harm to the residents of the town—This was not something she prioritized in the use of lightning control—But was just what was needed to provoke a distraction as a flurry of alarm and bewilderment settled across the group of guards.

"What was that about?" A voice exclaimed shrilly.

"Come on, let's move," a different voice commanded. An outbreak of high-heeled shoes clicking briskly against the floor followed the direction without hesitation and the guards hustled as a cluster to each file through the open entryway. A dense collection of soldiers moving towards the doors, the receding melody of jingling attire, and then Urbosa was alone.

Freed from the tension of stealth, Urbosa finally rose to her full height. The smoky clouds twisting through the air had already begun to fizzle out as her shoes clicked against the pavement, carrying her to the base of the stairs before she began the ascension to the throne room. Her mind had settled under the intention of confrontation, driving her motive as she climbed the stairs, but not even halfway to her destination, a voice bouncing from the room utterly rattled her off her guard and jerked her to an involuntary halt.

"I will not be hearing your pleas for mercy. The fact that you barged in here after I made it clear that you weren't welcome annoys me enough. As long as I'm here, you won't be getting any further."

Without a second thought, Urbosa's fingers flew to press firmly against her lips as if to keep her voice inside. Her voice, fully and wholly identical to the one that had just spoken. It was as if something had ripped her voice from her and packed it down into some other being. It was far too surreal for the shock to set in, though possibilities fired through her mind as to what could have made something quite like this true. A recording? An illusion? A hallucination?

"Oh, don't look at me like that," the voice retorted as Urbosa resumed her travel up the stairs, drawing nearer and nearer to the source of the situation. "You all knew what you were getting into when you showed up to attack."

Urbosa emerged onto the landing, arriving at the open entrance. A rocky ceiling hung over a generously wide room lit fairly dimly by scattered lanterns. A strip of elegant red carpet stretched from the opening all the way to the throne at the back of the room. As a blockage of sight to the throne, Urbosa's eyes first jumped to a group of three standing near the throne with their backs to her. It appeared that the expected visitors had already arrived, but the tension that thickened the air was certainly not what had been hoped for. Princess Zelda Hyrule, dressed not in her formal gown but instead in her travel attire, was ushered back by her knight, Link, as he stood in guarding her and clutched the handle of a silver blade between his hands. Beside them stood Zelda's advisor, Impa who, by her stubborn stance, was clearly somewhere between frustrated and nervous. A little mechanical friend had joined them on their travels, restlessly clicking metal legs against the carpet as an eye in the presence of a round blue orb darted between the princess as well as her friends and she who sat upon the throne.

"But I don't understand," Zelda confessed. An anxious tremble crept into her youthful voice. "I can see that I've done something wrong, but I've truthfully no idea what it is. I'm terribly sorry. Were you not aware that we would be arriving today?"

The metal friend, who was attentively following the scene with its animated blue eye as Zelda spoke, tapped its feet against the carpet to turn back towards the opening and realized Urbosa's presence. A whoop! of an alerting beep escaped from it, stealing the attention of the group by the interruption. Every head turned to shoot a glance back at Urbosa in the opening, each face exchanging baffled and uneasy expressions as Link shifted to better shield Zelda, and a glimpse of the throne was revealed. Seated upon the raised crimson cushion of the throne, the throne which shimmered in gold tones and belonged to nobody other than Urbosa, remained a precisely identical copy of herself.

Urbosa was instantly fixated on the sight, struggling to tear her focus away from the face she had only seen in the mirror. The vivid red hair that tumbled down her back in a thick ponytail, the luxurious Gerudo attire and jewels, the sharp facial features and the green eyes that were now laced with resentment. There wasn't a single flaw in the design.

Is my nose really that pointed? Urbosa thought to herself before the reminder resurfaced that there were more crucial priorities to be made.

For the fraction of a second that the copy hadn't yet taken notice of Urbosa's arrival, a smug smile subtly flicked up the corners of her blue-painted lips. The trio and their mechanical friend turned to discover who had appeared through the entryway, Link moved aside to guard Zelda, and the identical green eyes met one another. In the blink of an eye, the smile was wiped clean off the copy's face.

"Oh, I'm screwed," the copy murmured in the sudden stretch of silence, as if to herself.

"Well, well, what an interesting situation we have here," Urbosa said, sensing her confidence reinforce itself at the advantage being handed to her as she approached the scene. Her copy tracked her every movement as she walked, eyes smoothly following her approach as a faint scowl of annoyance crept onto her face. "I do hope you haven't been mistreating my friends, whose arrival I've specifically arranged for and had no intentions of intercepting."

"What?" Impa broke in, still immensely perplexed as she glanced between the two images of Urbosa. The same bewilderment had begun to drain further into Link and Zelda's uncertain faces in turn, though neither could manage a word. "I don't understand. This doesn't make—"

"You be quiet," the copy sharply cut off her sentence, her adornments jingling as she abruptly turned her focus. "Nobody asked you for your opinion, Sheikah."

If anything, the rudeness was just another reminder for Urbosa to keep her temper, now and in the future. Now that she was hearing it in her own voice and witnessing it on her own face, it wasn't exactly a flattering scenario and would create her unseemly. Even now, a curdling of second-hand embarrassment sprouted within her stomach.

"Just because you've been caught doesn't mean you cannot be civil," Urbosa urged, drawing back the attention of the room. "So, why don't we resolve this as adults?"

"Which would be how?" The copy retorted. "Taking this outside and leaving the kids out of this so you and me can battle this out one-on-one?"

"Like most adults, I don't always have the time for a fight," Urbosa argued. "Why don't we handle this a little more responsibly? You reveal your true identity and I'll have my soldiers refrain from tearing you apart the minute you step out into the daylight to leave this place forever. It's a fair trade. I advise that you take it. The alternative is certainly less than pleasant."

"The alternative is that I destroy you all and this place becomes mine for the taking!" The copy shot back, her raised voice bouncing from the walls as her hands clenched into fists on the armrests of the throne. "But if you've been listening, you'd know I'm not here for the stupid town."

The mechanical friend was chattering to itself again in soft, whimper-like beeping and couldn't seem to stand in the same place for longer than three seconds as its blue eye lingered on Urbosa for protection.

Urbosa refused to stoop to the level of yelling back. "All right, then. I see how this is," she replied, making a point to perch her hand upon the sheath of her blade to show that she was nearing the need to use it. "I'll say it one more time. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is the opportunity I just gave you and the one you're getting very close to losing. Should you refuse, I'll call my soldiers right into this room and we will kill you right in that seat which, dare I mention, belongs to me. Are we clear? Which is it going to be?"

The copy gave a cough of a laugh—Though it was more of a scoff than a laugh—and pressed her palms into the armrests to push herself up to standing.

"Funny," she said as she straightened up again, turning her eye to lock with Urbosa's gaze once again, the beckoning for a challenge glistening in the dark colors within. "I thought you said you didn't have time for a fight."

That was it. After what was clearly a jab at the existence of Urbosa's prolonged patience, there was no way around it. The metal friend spat out a flurry of whimpery beeps and Link instantly stepped up at Urbosa's side, eager to defend, but Urbosa jolted out a hand to keep him back. The situation was under control.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Urbosa warned. The copy was certainly not as pleased to be put in her place as an irritable grimace overtook her smirk and she folded her arms impatiently. "Trust me, I've done you a favor keeping you out of a fight. Not one contender has stood against me and walked away unharmed—If they can still walk away, that is. But if that's the way it must be, you still have your end of the bargain to hold up."

"What bargain?" The copy countered shortly.

Urbosa didn't bother wasting time with explanation. She raised her hand up in front of her, the pads of her fingers meeting lightly and just for a moment before the sound of her snap hurled an echo through the spacious room. Precisely on cue, the thunderous crack of a lightning bolt flashed through the air with a brightness that stung Urbosa's eyes for only a second, fracturing into a million sparks as they completely engulfed the identical image of herself. Barely to harm, only to uncover the face that was concealed. A strangled yell broke free from the glare of light, her own entangled now with a different one—Somewhat deeper than her own and sent a distinct flicker of remembrance. Rather than a jewelry-decorated arm, a scarlet-sleeved scarlet-gloved arm escaped the gleam as its owner hastily brushed the sparks away. Having done its work, the streak of lightning vanished into the carpeted floor, leaving not a trace of its presence behind with a new figure standing at nearly eight inches shorter than Urbosa herself. All of a sudden, she was looking down into the masked face of somebody she should have suspected to be behind the turmoil from the very beginning.

It must have been something around the hundredth occasion of him trying to involve himself in Gerudo affairs to spill some blood or for some other violent reason, and noticing his presence had become such a bother that a genuine headache throbbed in the core of Urbosa's head from time to time. Standing before her—Now swinging his gloved hands in exasperation—Was a particularly homicidal individual who referred to himself as Master Kohga, a voe residing somewhere deep in the desert with a faction he led, known as the Yiga Clan. The Yiga Clan was supported under the foundation of those who had devoted their lives to serving Calamity Ganon after splitting off from the Sheikah Tribe many years ago and, for whatever reason, were almost the spitting image of one another as the mask and scarlet bodysuits they donned were nearly identical to each other to conceal their identities. The mask in question concealed the entire face in a dense white foundation, painted in thin red strokes of the inverted Sheikah symbol to prove their contempt towards the tribe. It was a wonder how anyone could have found out about Zelda's arrival, but with such a big personality, especially when murder was involved, it was no question that he would have gone after her.

"What is the matter with you?!" Kohga snarled, his hands still hovering in the air in annoyance as he raised his head to look up at Urbosa in front of him. "You could've killed me!!"

"Oh, I doubt that very much," Urbosa disputed. A shift of movement in the corner of her eye flicked into her focus as Impa's hand had shot up towards her face. She was fidgeting with a spurt of white bangs across her forehead, trying to efficiently cover up a tattoo in blue ink of the Sheikah eye dripping down onto the bridge of her nose, but she didn't have nearly enough hair on her face to hide it. As her thin eyebrows slowly crept together, she had crossed the line from nervousness to genuine discomfort. Urbosa turned her attention back to Kohga in front of her. "If that were true, you'd be weaker than I thought."

Kohga reeled at the statement, instantly bursting into enraged sputters that only developed into coherent words seconds later. "How dare you!" He lashed out. "How dare you speak to me that way! Everything was going so smoothly until you decided to show up, so who's the nuisance here? I could have done a whole lot better if you and your stupid face hadn't have interrupted me!"

A soft squeak escaped from the little mechanical friend. Not another sound struck the room until Urbosa's voice broke the dense quietness.

"It truly astonishes me how you could have pulled off my disguise," Urbosa retorted. "You might have had the identity, but there's no way that nobody suspected the differences. That's not to mention the disturbing fact that anyone, especially you, was going about the day in my own body."

"Believe me, it was as pleasant for me as it was for you," Kohga grumbled, still shifting irritably in his stance, but something seemed to catch his eye as his focus locked onto something behind Urbosa.

Urbosa snuck a glance behind her, scanning the area for what could have taken his attention. The bright sunlight from the opening bled out onto the red carpet, where tense voices engaged in conversation leaked in from outside. It took a moment for Urbosa to realize that Kohga was actually looking at Zelda—More specifically, something she clasped tightly in her hand. It was a relatively small, rectangle-shaped device, retained in a brown casing engraved with the Sheikah eye as she held it close. Urbosa had never laid eyes on such a device before, but given its arrival with the group, it was clearly a prominent addition and likely something that couldn't fall into the wrong hands. Seeming to take notice that she was drawing Kohga's attention, Zelda must have had the same idea as Urbosa as she silently shifted to shelter the device behind her back instead.

"Listen," Urbosa broke in at once to redirect the focus of the room, facing Kohga again to find that he was hesitant but willing to tear his focus from Zelda's device to the discussion at hand. "You've wasted enough time by being here. You've been caught, and now it's over. I don't want to chase you out of here again and again and again. Isn't this tiring? Wouldn't you rather just give up?"

Kohga appeared to have been reminded that he was upset, abruptly closing some of the distance between him and Urbosa with a sharp step forward and irritably throwing up a finger to get her to listen. "Now, wait just a minute here," he snapped, but the sentence quickly trailed off and lost motive as if it had slipped his mind what he was about to say.

For a lengthy pause, Kohga had nothing more to say, his anger melting right before Urbosa's eyes. He had realized something, piecing said realization through his mind, an idea that was evidently enough to soothe the blow of failure. Seconds later, when he spoke again, his tone was calm. While the tension had loosened, it was worse than when he was shouting.

"No," he said, finally lowering his hand. Nothing more than a touch of eagerness had crept into his voice. "No, you're wrong. This isn't over. This is just the beginning. You wanna know why I say that? I'm still standing here, right in this room, right smack in the middle of this town. You were too slow. I'm gonna destroy you all."

Urbosa struggled to take the threat seriously—It was true that he was still in the middle of the town, but he was alone and completely surrounded by Gerudo soldiers, so there was nothing left he could have turned to as a last resort. "This better not be another one of your games," Urbosa shot back, her hand closing over the handle of her blade in the sheath once again in case he launched an unanticipated attack.

"It's not a game," Kohga told her, confident in his plan of action. "It's victory."

A sudden whooshing like a gust of wind nearly sent Urbosa jolting out of her skin. A panicked yelp escaped from Impa from the burst of noise. Red-tinted eruptions of smoke shot up from the ground, leaving a sort of surreality in the air like an artificial atmosphere. Urbosa took an involuntary double-take at the movement that broke through the coiling smoke, figures shifting amidst the vapor as it trickled away—Something was there that hadn't been a second ago. The room cleared, a strained gasp slipped from Zelda, and at every angle around the group stood, at the ready for an ambush with the same curved blades clutched between gloved hands, a convergence of Yiga soldiers. Urbosa, Zelda, Link, and Impa were completely surrounded.

Yes, that was another ability that the Yiga Clan had harnessed—Each and every one of them could teleport to any location at any given time. Urbosa's heart wrenched into her stomach at the unanticipated sight. By the time she had captured the chance to steal a glance around at the identical soldiers, Kohga was already speaking again.

"This is it," Kohga declared. His demeanor had fully changed when his soldiers had arrived, undaunted in his success as his voice boomed across the room. "This is the day where I finally defeat you. Your lives are mine. All of them! We're gonna rip you to pieces."

Urbosa staggered to strengthen grasp on a plan as she tugged her own blade from its sheath by the handle, outstretching it in front of her on her guard. Between the Yiga soldiers which surrounded her, there were no spaces in which to escape. Not anything wide enough that she could lead the entire group through in time. It seemed that they wouldn't be leaving this room for a while. Fending off the soldiers would have been necessary for any kind of evasion, but once through the soldiers, they would have their master left to face. It wasn't good.

But it was just as quickly that Urbosa was proven wrong.

"Oh, by the way," Kohga interrupted himself in announcement. "If you're thinking about running away right now, good luck with that, because you're not gonna get very far if you do. Now that I've made it into this town, I've got soldiers at every corner ready to kill anything that moves, all by my command. There's nothing left you can do. You lost. I've won. You can't shock your way out of this one. So long, you brainless losers!"

The same red-toned smoke erupted from the carpet, right where Kohga stood in front of Urbosa and her friends. No. In a second flat, Urbosa was on the move, launching herself towards the blast of smoke. The smoke had dissolved before she had even reached it, dying out into the dim air, and Kohga was gone. Before Urbosa could hardly process what had happened, the next moment abruptly tumbled upon her like the strike of a bullet.

"Now!" A voice barked. A shriek burst from Zelda behind her, blades clashing against one another. Urbosa whipped around on her heel, her jewel-adorned ponytail whirling at the sharp movement. The two groups of Hyrule allies and Yiga soldiers had merged, weapons lurching in ambush. A soldier had even reached Urbosa, curved blade jerked high across their shoulder, ready to slash open her skin.

Urbosa dropped down to the floor at precisely the right moment. Her fingertips brushed the carpet as the blade whirred above her head. She had sprung back up to her feet after barely skimming the carpet with her fingers and the soldier was reeling at the missed swipe, readying themself for a second attempt. This time, Urbosa had earned herself the chance for mental preparation, jolting into her next move by instinct once the soldier took their move. The curved weapon shot down, the sword locking in place by means of shielding. The blades clattered as one, edge grinding against edge, and Urbosa utilized the pressure to thrust the soldier away from her with a stiff growl climbing up from her throat. The soldier staggered back a few paces from the push, flailing to stay upright, and Urbosa had bought herself almost five entire seconds to survey the room.

Zelda and Link had become a group of two, split from Impa's presence in the swarming of the Yiga soldiers. Urbosa's focus first jumped to Impa, dodging and weaving through swipes of weapons, her thick sheet of white hair swinging from her shoulders with every jolt. Urbosa could only piece out glimpses of her face, but the fear was prominent in her shining amber eyes. Link and Zelda were situated further away in the room, closer to the entrance. Zelda huddled close to Link's side, clutching her device to her chest like a shield, while he never hesitated in playing a part in the battle with his own sword clashing against blades with every step. He likely could have managed the entire room.

An idea descended sharply into Urbosa's mind. Her heart hammered against the casing of her chest at the strained effort of the battle. The soldier that had claimed a battle with her had regained their footing, sending Urbosa's blade up in front of her as they sprung back into a fight as if the action had not been brought about by herself. She needed to get out of this conflict. It was a dense blockage in the process of composing a plan. The curved blade flung to wound her, lifted by the gloved hands of the clenched grip of the soldier, but it only sliced the air once more as Urbosa relied on the promising plummet towards the carpeted floor. She blinked and found herself propped up upon her palms on the floor, having collapsed into a tumble to evade the strike, but the work was not done. Urbosa hardly breathed before she lurched into action, slinging out a pointed heel and catching it on the ankle of the soldier standing above her. The thudding impact of the soldier's back colliding with the floor was enough for her to allow herself a slim breath of gratitude that it had not been her back. A breathless groan of pain leaked from the soldier as Urbosa climbed to her feet, leaving them where they lay in immobility.

Urbosa snuck a pause of wait, eyes prying the red swarm of soldiers for a pair of young adults in sky-blue shirts. The sight of Link and Zelda amongst the battle had slipped away. Shouts spilled into the room from outside in the square. The remnants of a plan tingled on the tip of Urbosa's tongue as she let free a shout that carried across the room.

"Link," Urbosa yelled out.

One last clatter of a blade on a blade and the group divided by the young knight demanding himself through with nothing but the words of the sword's violence. Link slashed his sword against the blade of a soldier at the ready to leave a red streak across his throat, heaving the soldier back and away from him before his eyes, wide with perseverance, met Urbosa's.

"Can you hold them off?" Urbosa urged to know, voice raised to be heard over the fighting.

Link answered with only a firm nod before he was already engaged in the midst of combat, fearless as he emerged back into the cluster with a vigorous slashing of his sword.

With Link dominating the fight, the focus had been removed from everyone else. Urbosa, Zelda, and Impa now had the chance to slip out unnoticed. The clattering of weapons rang between Urbosa's ears as she removed herself from the side of the injured soldier at her feet, pressing her weight out of her heels to restrict the sounds she created as she advanced almost silently to the other end of the room. Proceeding through the entrance into the daylight offered not just the blazing brightness from being contained in a dimmed room which sent her hand flying to shade her eyes, but the baking heat of the midday which seared against her skin. She had only descended a couple of steps before the scene breaking out amongst the square brought her to a halt.

Struggle had set in here, too. Gerudo and Yiga soldiers had weaved as one, commanding exclamations and weapons clinking amongst the square as the fight broke out. Kohga had certainly warned her. There were so many more soldiers to get past, engaged to attack at every corner of the town, and her own soldiers had stumbled upon them first. Impa appeared at Urbosa's elbow to witness the situation, having taken notice of the cue to leave, and the scuttling of metal legs implied that the little friend had come around as well.

"This is not how I expected my morning to go," Urbosa grumbled, gazing down at the ever-moving sea of conflict within the moment when she'd expected to be standing before the towering beast of Vah Naboris.

"What do we do?" Impa urged to know from beside her. Her eyes still shimmered with fright. "This is dangerous. We need to get out of here."

"No." The word slipped from Urbosa's lips before it had even reached her brain. 'Getting out of here' was not a move that she ever stooped to. She needed to see the situation through in order to resolve it. "We're ending this. We need a plan of action."

A screech, thick with blood, struck the air from behind her. It wasn't recognizable, which told her that Link was doing good work behind in the throne room. Urbosa did not turn around to witness his triumph but followed the movement of the battle at the bottom of the steps, drifting across like a fish through a river. What could have been done? What was left to be done? They most definitely needed to locate where Kohga had run off to. To overpower the soldiers who served him was a high priority as well. They could have knocked off two tasks at once by eradicating the soldiers to proceed through the search.

"We'll need to split up the group," Urbosa declared to Impa's intently listening expression. "We'll cover more ground that way. It'll be a difficult fight, but it's the best strategy we've got."

It was Link's turn to step into sight at Urbosa's other side, hand clamped over the handle of his sword, closely followed by a still rigidly frightened Zelda. No more sounds occupied the air from the room behind them. The request had been fulfilled. Now, the pair stood at Urbosa's side, carrying questioning eyes for the next action.

"You're safe. Good," Urbosa remarked, realizing their arrival. "I need you two to go off on your own. That one who just disappeared into thin air? Find him."

Link gave a firm nod, but lingered at Urbosa's side as she went on with her command.

"When you find him, he's not going to let you go without a fight," Urbosa informed him. "I've seen you fight. You can take him. I'll be there to help you as soon as I can. But hurry. Time is crucial."

Link hardly wasted a moment. In no longer than a heartbeat, he had broken off into a haste down the steps, Zelda descending swiftly after him with the little mechanical friend clattering behind. Urbosa opened her mouth to instruct Impa to follow them, but a different thought sunk upon her and she held her tongue. Kohga's main target may have been the princess, but Impa was just as threatened in her own way, given her active presence in the Sheikah Tribe. She was just as much at risk. The fact of sending her off with allies who could only do so much to look after her—Link was immensely skilled in battle, but he lacked the application and experience that Urbosa had mastered and had enough focus on defending Zelda—Was something that didn't settle comfortably.

"I must ensure that the townspeople are safe," Urbosa decided, starting off down the steps. Link, Zelda, and the little friend had already vanished through the crowd to escape without drawing attention to themselves. "Impa, I need you with me."

There was scarcely a pause before Urbosa caught the sound of Impa's flats thumping against the stairs as she hustled after her.

"I really don't understand what's happening right now," Impa confessed as the two pushed on towards the bottom of the flight of stairs. A tremble snuck into her voice.

"When you're practically neighbors with the most power-hungry voe around, you learn to expect this kind of thing," Urbosa told her.

A Yiga soldier at the bottom of the stairs appeared to take notice of Urbosa's voice, reeling to shoot a glance back at her. Her approaching first slaughter, it seemed. Urbosa was hoisting her weapon before she had fully descended the stairs, gathering force by speed. The response was instant, the soldier rearing up their weapon in defense. The blades struck with a powerful impact, but the might that Urbosa had summoned easily overtook the soldier's strength. A streak of burning pain shot up her wrists as she thrust the soldier's blade away with the sharpened edge with enough exerted energy to rip the handle from them in loss of their grip. The curved blade clattered against the pavement. Out of the corner of her eye, Urbosa detected Impa leaping away from the conflict to retreat a few steps where she could avoid the lines of danger. Not fighting, once again.

Urbosa could only notice this and not question it as her fingers twirled the handle of her weapon, countering it directly into the range of the unarmed soldier, and plunged the blade through their stomach. A crushing yell broke free from the injured soldier, who was left to crumple down onto the pavement where their weapon lay as Urbosa jerked the blade from their body. Crimson blood smeared across the silver.

"Do you know how to fight?" Urbosa cast a shout back to Impa on the steps as she adjusted her stance, at the ready for her next battle.

"Vaguely," Impa answered. An anguished yell rose from somewhere across the square.

"Do you have any weapons?" Urbosa demanded to know, inching a step up and away from the conflict and towards Impa to resume discussion.

For nothing longer than a moment, Impa's only reaction contained staring at Urbosa, eyes round as if she had just said something in a language she couldn't understand. It wasn't for a second that she grasped what Urbosa had asked her, frantically pawing at her attire in a hasty search. Out of a pair of what must have been indistinct sheaths wound into her clothing, she tugged twin short blades which jingled with beads.

"That'll do," Urbosa told her, turning an eye back to the fight that raged in front of her. "I assume you know how to use them."

"Mostly. I mean, I have them just in case of emergency," Impa admitted shakily. "If I'm attacked unexpectedly or something. Just like a precautionary thing. I sometimes forget I even have them."

"Well, experience is the best teacher," Urbosa said. The command of a Gerudo soldier rang out across the square, though Urbosa couldn't quite decipher it as it struck at the very same moment that two or three bodies thudded to the floor. "If you know the basics, you're already there. Just don't get yourself hurt. The majority of them are not very smart and you're quick on your feet. You can evade attacks and use the moment they spend recovering to go in."

Impa offered a short nod, but the uncertainty painted across her tan face begged the question of whether she was ready for her first genuine act of combat. "Got it," she replied.

Multiple sources of hissing air in the atmosphere, eruptions of red-toned smoke across the bottom line of the steps, and the square was blocked by an array of Yiga soldiers, each clenching an identical curved blade. Word must have gotten out that Urbosa and her allies had escaped from the throne room. The masks held no expression, but a menacing energy oozed from each one. A shallow gasp slipped from Impa and her hands clenched tighter around the handles of her knives.

"It's time," Urbosa commanded, winding up her next strike with her blade, and the two vai took off into the conflict.

The first barrier of soldiers was barely a challenge to get through. Urbosa had already plowed through two of them with sharp swipes of her weapon within the initial five seconds, squirting blood across the pavement and leaving a smear across her arm. Impa had taken instructions well, skillfully dodging swinging attacks and jabbing her attackers with her beaded blades. The moments of pausing, breathing, processing had been yanked from them as a sinking blade was apparent at every turn. A fleeting blur conquered Urbosa's senses. Somehow, she'd reached a place further in the room as a commotion of scarlet-clothed soldiers and rounded silver blades overtook her surroundings. A throbbing ache gripped her wrists like tight bands wrapped around them. Impa was gone, no longer pinpointed amongst the soldiers. Was the group growing in size? It was impossible to tell.

It seemed the action never slowed. The density of the crowd became a constant. Urbosa's mind kept as sharp as her blade, turning a wary eye towards the conflict. The sound of striking weapons knocked through her mind, a forever resonance even as she rounded on her next contender. Here and there she stumbled upon the path of another Gerudo soldier amidst the Yiga, shooting brief check-ins back and forth about the other's safety. The group was thinning. Bodies scattered limp across the floor, streaks of blood leaving stains Urbosa could have been there a minute, an hour, perhaps a day. She didn't know. It was all the same moment.

As the crowd ever so slowly slimmed, she eventually caught the sight of Impa, on her feet even now. The briskness as she leaped between her feet in dodging the attacks made against her was enough proof to tell that she was learning quickly. Urbosa resisted the distraction, but tucked it away in her thoughts. She awakened from the weighty blur of combat to find herself in escape-distance through an open entryway at the end of the room. An opening to lead her to the homes. Now, Impa was just out of arm's-length, still locked in the daze of battle as she swung with her twin blades with low hesitation. For nothing longer than a heartbeat, Urbosa considered calling her name to attract her attention, but restrained herself before she could make a sound. Drawing focus to herself just as she was trying to leave was a disaster waiting to happen. Impa's challenger sank down, Urbosa snagged ahold of her arm, and hauled her away in the advancement towards the opening.

Crossing through the opening, removed from the battle, they emerged into a wide passageway leading towards the next opening. Urbosa's heels clicked against the floor as she crossed the hall, Impa's flats pacing after her, and only a safe distance from the conflict did she release her arm.

"Are you all right?" Urbosa questioned, her voice bouncing from the walls as the resonance of the battle receded behind them. "How do you feel?"

"That was the most blood I've ever seen. I think..." Impa's sentence was broken by a sort of hiccup, or maybe a choke. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"You get used to it after a while," Urbosa promised.

"Wait, but..." Impa protested suddenly, faltering to sneak a glance behind her. She was anxious about leaving the fight unfinished.

"The number of soldiers left alive is enough for my warriors to handle," Urbosa told her. "We have other duties to attend to."

Urbosa and Impa reached the end of the hall, slipping into a significantly quieter part of the town. From there, they made a turn to the left and ascended a narrow set of stairs into a new room above. The room that they found themselves in, an abandoned space occupied by dark magenta couches, matching footrests, and a wide sanded-down counter in the back, was the bar that they would only be passing through. The opening to the descent towards an assemblage of homes was only a short journey to the right wall of the space, but the two vai hardly made three steps into the room entirely.

The abrupt blast of wind and an eruption of red smoke thoroughly rattled Urbosa. She very nearly coughed up her heart when it felt to rocket sharply into her throat. Instinctually, her hand immediately shot out to hold Impa back and away from the danger, but she had had a different instinct kick in. Just as Urbosa was reaching out to take hold of her arm, she ducked right into the conflict, and Urbosa's hand was left empty. She must have assumed that if she managed the first attack, the battle would have been in her favor. The action occurred far too quickly for Urbosa to even raise her voice to warn her.

The very moment that a figure was constructed amongst the vapor, Impa's hand was flinging forward, locked in with the sharpness of the blade. Another hand was thrown out of the smoke as it began to dissolve, snatching a grip of her wrist as a Yiga soldier now stood before her. The curved weapon in their other hand gleamed under the beaming sunlight pooling from the opening. But Impa's reflexes were swift. While one hand had temporarily become immobile, her second blade was thrust deep into the hand which held it.

A distressed, almost inhuman yell filled the space of the room in the soldier's agony. Impa utilized the display of weakness, jerking her wrist from their grip. As they scrambled to wrench the knife from within their hand, she clasped her hands together onto the handle of the second one and drew it back above her head to prepare for another strike. In the split second before the knife came down, Urbosa recognized the two mistakes. Firstly, there would never have been enough time to perform a counterattack after such a brief pause, and secondly, she was allowing herself too much time to do so, rapidly increasing the chance of being struck first. It was too late. The swing of the soldier's curved blade broke into Impa's attempt of attack—First to knock the blade right out of her hands, sending it clattering to the floor, and then a second swipe to the head. Impa had evidently noticed the attack on its way once she had lost her last knife, but not soon enough. She lurched to evade the strike, but not before the blade tore a long crimson line across her cheek.

A strangled gasp loosed from Impa as she reeled. By the time she was staggering to retreat and wipe the dripping wound with the side of her hand, Urbosa had launched herself forward to take her place, pitching her weapon in a reckless swing to drive the soldier away. She had steered for the soldier's own blade, seeking to pull the same move and disarm them as they had Impa. They just as quickly created far more hazard for themself with a hand lashing up, perhaps to attack with Impa's knife. It was too brief to be clear. What was clear was the clean slash across the soldier's wrist and a gloved hand thumping against the floor along with the second clattering knife.

Another scream struck the air, this one nothing short of blood-curdling. Every ounce of the persistence that the soldier had depended on drained away before Urbosa's own eyes as they swayed shakily towards the opening to withdraw. A gush of blood from what used to be their hand showered over the floor across their movement. The scream gave way to a gasp for air before another agonized yell, one that was left unfinished as Urbosa's elbow rammed into their mask to knock them back with all of the force she could muster. The soldier gave a hasty grab for the open frame of the entrance, desperately trying to prevent a fall, but disappeared from sight with a string of heavy thuds in falling down the steps, precisely as Urbosa had intended.

Urbosa didn't pause for even a beat. Once she realized the sound, she took off into a haste through the opening that had been exposed. Not even a breath from Impa whispered in the air as she followed suit in utter silence. Urbosa was dropping down the side of the stairs onto an assortment of wooden crates blanketed by a gold-rimmed cloth for a softer landing when the distant sound of rushing air let her know that losing their hand and falling down the stairs was enough cause for the soldier to depart.

Urbosa stepped down from the crates as Impa made a soft landing behind her in pursuit, sinking down into a crouch one after the other in the concealment. It wasn't clear if the Yiga soldiers had come here at all. Were they truly barbaric enough to slaughter innocent bystanders? Undetected in the shadows cast out by the crates, Urbosa stilled to turn an attentively listening ear towards the passageway, waiting for any sounds that would have implied there was struggle. Somewhere down the lane, an infant wailed. A vai who was likely to be its mother hurriedly shushed it in comfort, perhaps frightened of being heard. There was nothing more. For once, it was a little more safe.

Allowing her guard to ease, Urbosa shifted her focus back to Impa beside her. She was huddled down in front of the crate, amber eyes unmoved from her as she keenly awaited instruction. The fusing of courage and anxiety on this poor young vai's face provoked a bitterness within Urbosa towards how the world was designed. Because of the unbroken intent to listen for her next move, Impa's slice across her face had unknowingly continued to drip again, trickling down to her pointed chin.

Urbosa adjusted her crouching stance, sheathing her weapon and reaching out over Impa's shoulder for the dark cloth that rested atop the crates. Impa regarded her movements as she withdrew the cloth from its home, but only seemed to take notice of what she was doing after she had applied pressure to her face with it to slow the bleeding.

"I've got it," Impa pointed out, nudging Urbosa's hand and the cloth away. With the cloth removed from her face, she pressed her hand-wraps to the injury instead. "But my knives are back in that other room. I left them there."

"I'll get them," Urbosa promised, rising to her feet. "If you're feeling well enough, check on the townspeople and make sure they're safe."

The fresh blood splattered across the pale floors of the bar was enough to make one's stomach sour. The twin blades had been abandoned across the floor, one closer to the middle of the room and the second still inches away from the dismembered gloved hand. Outstretching a hand to the floor, Urbosa collected the knives and made her reentrance through the opening. As she descended the steps towards the passageway once more, she picked up on the sound of Impa promoting conversation with the residents.

"Is everyone okay?" Impa asked. She was situated between the rows of openings, glancing around to address all that hid themselves behind them. The infant seemed to have been soothed as its cry no longer struck the air. Urbosa leveled out onto the floor, clicking across the pavement to join her. "Is anyone hurt? You're going to be okay. We're going— Oh!"

Zelda, Link, and the little friend had arrived through the back entrance where Urbosa had started, bursting in at a sprint and practically skidding against the pavement to halt their speed as if they had just been dropped right into the town. Zelda's head whipped around in search, yellow-blonde hair swinging past her waist, before her eyes met Urbosa's.

"Urbosa!!" Zelda exclaimed, breaking off into a rush towards Urbosa and Impa near the middle of the passageway. Link followed close behind, the mechanical friend scurrying at his heel. "He's gone! We can't find him."

"He's gone?" Urbosa echoed.

Taking the time to track down Kohga wherever he had escaped to within the town before he could have caused any genuine harm had been a problem in itself, but his absence was an entirely different issue. It utterly boggled Urbosa to consider that there was actually a chance that he had disregarded the safety of his soldiers and abandoned them in battle to preserve himself. Not only had they just been faced with far more work than it had once appeared to be, everything up to this point was now nullified towards their progress.

Zelda nodded, reaching a halt in front of Urbosa. Fright shimmered in her sea-green eyes. As she spoke, Link, Impa, and the little friend appeared at her side.

"We've checked everywhere," Zelda explained shakily. "Every hallway. Every room. He's not here."

Wonderful.

"Here, Impa," Urbosa whispered, pausing from the conversation to offer Impa her twin daggers. Careful not to slice open her hands, Impa eased the knives from her hand. "Well, I can't see how he could have just left. It's a coward's move. But if he did, saying I'm frustrated will be a vast understatement. It's more likely than not that he's hiding out somewhere nearby to prepare himself for battle, waiting for either us to find him or his soldiers to kill us first. The Gerudo will handle the soldiers that are here, but we must leave this place to continue our search."

Urbosa, Impa, Zelda, and Link departed from Gerudo Town through the back exit, emerging out into the infinite sands of the desert as the little friend scrambled behind. Once outside, Urbosa resorted to her original plan, directing Link and Zelda to embark on a search of the structures nearby to the town, pointing out the structures to be located and how to reach them. Impa stayed behind with Urbosa with the notion of resuming battle if any did arise. Zelda, Link, and the little mechanical friend vanished over the sand, leaving Urbosa and Impa alone in the sweltering heat of the midday.

It soon proved to be an efficient move as the Yiga Clan had seemingly discovered that the party had escaped and gradually began to materialize out of thin air more and more frequently on their way to halt their progress. Urbosa and Impa took the fight outside in an additional effort, resisting the disturbance of routine from the setting change as they jabbed and swiped with their respective blades. Dark blood drenched patches of sand. Bodies were abandoned where they had dropped, left behind either to decompose or for an animal to reach them first. It wasn't long before a throbbing ache clenched in Urbosa's legs from the brisk movement and sweat dampened Impa's hairline above her tattoo—Surely that must have stung when it dripped down over her cut—But every time, they found themselves regaining distance across the sand as if nothing had challenged them at all. It appeared nothing could stop them.

Urbosa wrenched her blade from the torso of a contender as Impa stood close by at the potential of support, sending them tumbling down onto the sand before several pounding footsteps nearing registered in her ears. Impa seemed to have taken notice of this sound as well, sharply turning to examine it as Urbosa flicked the excess blood from her pointed blade and followed the movement. Zelda and Link bounded across the sand to find them, their little friend scurrying behind so rapidly that sand was kicked up at its feet.

"Urbosa, we found him!" Zelda exclaimed breathlessly as she staggered to a stop with her allies at her side. "He hadn't seen us, so I thought we'd come back and let you know. He's not too far from here, but he's definitely waiting for us to come and fight him."

"As expected," Urbosa replied, sheathing her weapon to make room for convenience on her journey to Kohga's location. "Take us there."

It was Link who responded, not verbally as usual, as he gave a firm nod and launched off of the sand again to break off running back the way he had come from.

"It's showtime," Impa muttered, almost like it was meant only for her own ears, and the group quickened their pace to pursue Link's lead.

As a group of five, together they ventured a steady hill of unending sand. The farther that they advanced, the thicker the atmosphere grew with apprehension. Not a word struck the air as they tore off across the sand, feet hammering across the supple surface with every step under Link's guidance. Impa's hands still clenched the handles of her twin daggers, Zelda still with her hands fastened around her tablet, the little friend audibly and speedily shuffling through the sand. Vah Naboris overshadowed the desert in the far, far distance, towering as a distinct figure that watched over the attack with a vigilant and metaphorical eye.

I'll be there soon, Urbosa thought to herself. I promise.

A sanded enclosure arrived in sight over the long hill. Glossed columns and a generosity of large rocks bordered a much smaller area separated from the town. It wasn't a space that was often used, only occupied when a certain event was taking place and even that wasn't a regular occasion. Just for today, it would become a battlefield. A set of high-reaching brownish bamboo doors were held shut in the lack of an event. The doors that Kohga hid behind right at this moment.

"We need a plan of attack," Urbosa declared, easing her pace to a rushed walk as she neared the doors. As one, the rest of the group slowed their speed to keep by her side. "Before anything, we need to consider our own strengths and weaknesses. In combat, you can't thoroughly know anything about your contender until you know yourself. Most of us have weapons to defend ourselves. This is good, but not always a guarantee to win. I've also got my lightning. All of those will only take us so far."

"I might have to be right up in the action," Impa pointed out. "My knives don't have much range. I'm still learning to use them, so I don't want to try and throw them and screw up my shot or hit someone else."

"That would most definitely be dangerous," Urbosa replied. "But you're right. It may be necessary. Link, I'm assuming you've got the act of fighting under control?"

Link gave a short nod, swiftly unsheathing his sword as he went on walking.

"I, um... I understand I'm not very useful in this situation," Zelda spoke up hesitantly. Link's blond ponytail flicked across his shoulders as he turned his head to look at her, this sentence seeming to prick up his attention. "I lack all knowledge or experience of combat and my powers are still being restrained at bay. But I promise that I'm going to do my very best to protect us."

"Your presence is valued, and that is enough to be useful, little bird," Urbosa pressed. "I know with complete certainty that you'll figure something out."

"What about the enemy's strengths and weaknesses?" Impa broke in, redirecting the topic at hand. The five allies were just about close enough to push their way through the bamboo doors, closing the distance by the second. "We need to know what we're up against before we get in there and fight."

"You're learning quickly," Urbosa commended her. "This is not the first time I've had this fight, and as much as it tires me so, it won't be the last. But it's been quite a while. Perhaps some things have changed, or some areas of expertise have improved. It wouldn't be an accurate judgment if I were to give you that answer, even if I remembered it distinctly. I believe our best strategy is witnessing our challenge firsthand and composing a plan of retribution from there."

Urbosa slammed her hands into the doors, heaving them open without much effort. Impa, Zelda, Link, and their little friend were on her trail like a fluttering cape as they all emerged into the enclosed region. The doors flung open and the party stepped into the new area to immediately discover the truth: Kohga was indeed waiting for their arrival.

Kohga was situated at the back of the space, standing in wait, completely alone at that, and yet he still reeled in surprise at the sight of the group advancing through the doors.

"You're alive?! " Kohga blurted out as the party shared a stop on the inside of the doors. "Are you kidding me? Don't you ever die?"

"All the more reason for you to give in," Urbosa retorted. "You've only made it more difficult for yourself by neglecting to keep yourself under the protection of your soldiers."

"So it's one against four, big deal!" Kohga grumbled. Clearly, he didn't acknowledge the little metal being as an opponent. "It's one against four weak idiots. Soon enough, it's gonna be two against four. This is going to be a piece of cake. You've asked for it. You have two choices here. Take your pick. Either you're gonna die or I'm gonna kill you first."

"So be it," Urbosa shot back, disregarding the unsupported claim of a second opponent. She gripped the handle of her lengthy blade, wrenching it from the sheath. Out of the corners of her eyes, she detected Impa and Link shift to stand at the ready with their own weapons. "Do your worst."

"Believe me," Kohga countered. He shifted into a more ready stance, standing his feet apart and raising his gloved hands to hover in the air in front of him. "I will."

Link was the first to jump to the plan. The very second that Kohga had finished his sentence, he had broken off into a sprint in his direction, crunching across the sand with every step and gripping the handle of his sword in one hand. He had barely crossed the area halfway before a thunderous sound of a gust of air sent him lurching to a stop. For a split second, Urbosa's senses passed off the sound as the sensation of more soldiers arriving to assist in the battle. Her eyes told her something immensely different. Three massive spiked metal-constructed spheres had materialized far above Kohga's head, elevated by the influences of his imperceptible force, and glinted off the beaming sunlight as they pivoted through the air. Urbosa's feet rooted into the ground at the sight, eyes locked upon the surreal scene.

"Wh—" Impa interjected, but the sentence lost motive as Link broke off across the sand again.

Link sprinted in a wide circle around Kohga, determining the best approach to harming him. Kohga's white mask slowly turned, closely following his movements as his hands still hung in the air. Urbosa kept herself at the back of the area, hands clamped around her weapon. Just for that moment, an atmosphere thinner than paper, every pair of eyes lingered on Link. It was the first recoiling of Kohga's hand that the thought descended sharply upon Urbosa what he was about to do.

"Link, watch yourself!" Urbosa commanded, freeing her feet to whisk across the sand to reach him.

Link jolted out of the combat mindset, withdrawing to cast a glance at Urbosa. Urbosa had been on her way to guard him, but another glimpse back at Kohga latched her feet to the ground again. The movement like a sudden start had snatched her attention. He had thrown his hand forward and with it, shot the first sphere hurtling through the air right in their direction. He'd been waiting until a group would form.

"Look out!!" The scream instantly broke free from Urbosa's throat. She stepped across the sand and made a short grab for Link's arm. She was going to yank him out of the way and consider herself next. Her hand fumbled in reaching his arm, knuckles slamming against it instead, but she had already begun to leap away again. Her heel caught on his ankle, her arms flailed, and then she was propped up on her elbow on the rocky and scorching sand.

Urbosa hadn't moved a muscle before the sphere made impact. It pummeled into the ground several feet behind her with a powerful thump. Sizzling sand showered over her skin. The digging of feet into sand told her that Link was already climbing back up. Urbosa lifted her head, sneaking a glance at Zelda and Impa to ensure their safety. They had drawn back closer to the entrance, Impa guarding Zelda intently with a dagger in each hand and a tense look stretched over her face. Their little friend was understandably having a hard time remaining still, restlessly pacing back and forth in a small circle with a flurry of panicked beeps.

A hand grasped Urbosa's arm, tugging her to her feet. Link had managed to stand up and was helping her up so that she could start moving again. Urbosa started to express her gratitude, but the skimming of a rapidly-moving object through air muffled her voice. She hardly blinked before the same hand yanked her back, likely away from the path of a spinning sphere. The heave shot a stumble into her stride, arms flinging out to regain her balance. Gleaming metal flashed across her eyes. She couldn't move in time. Once her vision cleared, her hand throbbed deeply with a burning and screaming pain.

A growl of agony leaked through clenched teeth. The sphere hammered against the sand somewhere. Urbosa pressed against her wrist just below the wide slice across her palm, but dark blood quickly welled up in the wound. She could sense Link observing the wound at her side as she was. Running footsteps pounded into the earth.

"Urbosa!" Zelda called out. She had gotten past Impa to dash across the sand towards where Urbosa stood. Pure fright etched into her face. She'd seen the injury. The blood spilled over from the wound, coursing down to Urbosa's fingertips.

"No, stay back," Urbosa urged, halting Zelda in her place. Her heart thumped in her chest as she watched her stare back at her. She couldn't have her worry about her when she needed to focus on herself.

"Princess!!" a shriek escaped from Impa at the back of the area.

Kohga was winding up to hurl his next and last spiked sphere, aim locked unmoved onto Zelda as she stood between Urbosa and the door. A strained squeak escaped from Zelda, frozen stiff as if her feet had become fastened to the ground. It was after a minute that the realization appeared to dawn upon Impa that the princess was far too petrified to move, jolting off to tear across the sand in her direction. It was a determination that nearly took Urbosa by surprise—Such thoughtless courage was genuinely unique. The second that Impa had grabbed hold of Zelda's hand and ripped her out of her place, Urbosa refocused her attention back to Kohga to watch his next moves with an assurance washing over her that her friends would be okay after all.

Everything was happening too fast, a different concern with every blink. Even the fight within the walls of the town hadn't been this much of a scramble. If anything was clear, they were absolutely and completely devoid of a plan. Urbosa re-centered herself, setting her mind on track after losing her footing. A twinge of embarrassment flicked her stomach at the idea of being the adult of the group and still allowing herself to be thrown around. All that she needed was a moment, a breath of a pause to locate her best options and form an idea of how to get out of this situation. That was all. She gripped the handle of her blade between her hands again—One still palpitating with burning agony and trickling with blood—And fixed a firm gaze upon Kohga. The break to decide how to proceed while his weapons were scattered across the space would have been enough time to at least grasp the basics of her options.

Kohga withdrew a few eager steps, hands held high in front of him as he considered the status of the space. The little friend still paced unseen across the sand. A light spurt of footsteps neared Urbosa. Kohga snuck a glance across the area, calculating the end locations of the spheres he had hurled through the air, and did not attack. After he'd stopped moving across the sand, he was more silent than he'd ever been, standing wordless and at the ready for attack. His head whirled sharply as he took in his surroundings. Was he listening for something?

"When should I go in?" a hiss jolted Urbosa out of her intensive focus. Impa had appeared at her side after having transferred both knives to one hand to drag Zelda away from the hurtling sphere. Zelda stood behind Impa, peering past her at Kohga with eyes wide.

"Not yet," Urbosa muttered. "On my signal."

Kohga seemed utterly oblivious to the conversation being hidden from him, almost as much that one could have assumed he thought he was alone. He flung a hand out again, towards the place where Impa and Zelda had once stood. The sphere that had taken their place unhinged itself from the sand, leaving a shadow that shrunk by the second as it heavily ascended farther into the air. Kohga's red-painted mask held no emotion, but the concentration in his movements was clarified in the tension of his stance. The sphere hung several feet above the sand, rolling slowly through the air as if on a sturdy surface. Kohga's mask faced the group, acknowledging their damaged presence once more, and a hand swiftly drew back.

"Impa! Link!" Urbosa's voice erupted instantly from her throat, chucking out a hand to command them forward. "Go!"

In almost perfect unison, Impa and Link bounded into a break for the other end of the space at the same moment that Kohga let loose his sphere. Immediately, Urbosa dove down onto her shoulder on the sand, progressing in a roll to free herself from the weapon's decided path. The scrunching of sand at her left ear as her back met the feverish ground implied Zelda's scurry to escape in a less trained manner.

"Hey, back off!" Kohga barked. "That's not how this game is played."

Urbosa jerked to prop herself up on the sand by her flat, uninjured hand, enduring a half-kneel on the rocky surface to snatch of a glimpse of the occurrence. Link and Impa had reached Kohga at the other end of the space, taking up the open areas in front and behind him to provoke an ambush by distraction. Link patrolled his sight in front, mirroring his steps and guarding the group behind him with his sword raised across his shoulder and ready to strike if needed. Impa wavered behind Kohga, now clenching a knife in each hand but unsure how or where to use them. Coming to a decision after a stretch of reliance on Link's distraction, Impa's hand shot up and punctured his arm from behind.

A roar of what could have been pain, frustration, or even both gave out from Kohga. He reeled, provoking Impa to wrench the blade from his arm, and threw back his elbow, landing a hit precisely in the middle of her face. Impa let out a strangled yelp, staggering back so abruptly that she struggled to regain her balance. A gasp broke free from Zelda, crouching at Urbosa's side. Blood had just begun to gush down Impa's face before her tan-sleeved arm flew up, smearing it away. The yelp that left her promptly attracted Link's attention, withdrawing just long enough to determine what had happened to her and dismissing himself to her side to guard her instead. It could have only gone on for so long.

Kohga swayed slightly from disorientation by being stabbed in the arm, but kept up the speed of the combat as he snatched a hand back to resort to his next move. It was an act that wasn't witnessed as Urbosa climbed to her feet. Her fingers came together in a rigid snap, less conspicuous out of the spacious room, but the effect proved the same. A flash of lightning struck the sand where Kohga stood, showering him in sparks as he spat out another yell. Without hesitation, Link ushered Impa away and closer towards the remainder of the group watching from afar.

"Ow. Jeez. Ugh. Ow. Son of a..." Impa leaked out grumbles of discomfort, squeezing the bridge of her nose with the sides of her hands which clenched her twin blades. Urbosa spotted a deep stain of blood on the surface of her sleeve.

The sparks dissipated into the rugged sand again. Kohga's visible strength drained away in plain sight, buckling and collapsing into the sand. He wasn't dead, as Urbosa had not yet managed to build up that amount of power, but weakened. Zelda cautiously rose to her feet and the two vai drifted closer to Impa and Link as Kohga struggled to sit up again.

"Impa, are you all right?" Zelda pressed as they regrouped. "I hope he didn't hurt you too badly."

"Oh, yeah, not at all," Impa retorted sarcastically, still clenching her nose between the sides of her hands.

Kohga had accomplished sitting up after full seconds of effort. He propped himself up by his hands in the sand and took another scan of his surroundings, this time hesitantly as if processing the little details. Urbosa couldn't shrug off this action a second time. It wasn't just a subconscious reaction to pass the time. He was actively searching for something. Not just that, but he kept searching when and only when he took a downfall, as if he was expecting some kind of backup to arrive. He was waiting for something to come into play, something potentially more dangerous and powerful than himself. It wasn't even his soldiers that he was looking for; Urbosa had mentioned the fact that he was alone and he hadn't said anything about it or called them into battle. But he'd said something else.

"So it's one against four, big deal!" Kohga grumbled. Clearly, he didn't acknowledge the little metal being as an opponent. "It's one against four weak idiots. Soon enough, it's gonna be two against four."

Something perilous was on its way.

Urbosa's stomach hollowed out. Her eyes warily followed the horizon in search of something that deviated from the usual. Nothing. They were alone. Kohga seemed to realize this as well, surrendering the examination to proceed heaving himself to his feet. Instantly, Urbosa's arms lashed out to steer the group back and away from him to keep their distance. She knew what was coming. As soon as he selected his next weapon, it was those three that he would be after, not her.

"He's looking for something," Urbosa determined once they had all retreated back a distance of several steps. Kohga regained his balance, but teetered to keep from falling over again. "Something in his favor. I can't quite tell what."

"Is he waiting for his soldiers to come help him out?" Impa inquired after finally removing her hands from her nose. The bleeding hadn't stopped, leaving wet red lines past her lips and down to her chin.

"No, I've already ruled that one out," Urbosa told her.

A sphere located behind the group crunched against the sand as it was hoisted up and into the air. Kohga had not only gathered control of his strength but his powers. Urbosa dug her feet into the sand, attentively regarding the metal weapon as it slowly drifted through the air. When the time arrived to run, she would have been ready.

"We need to find a way to get rid of those things," Urbosa declared as the object sauntered sluggishly over the sand towards where Kohga stood. "That, or tear it out of the air somehow. They're just too big to work with. For now—"

Urbosa's voice abruptly trailed away as the metal object jerked through the air at a much more speedily pace, not towards Kohga but instead lurching to the side as if drunkenly. The spiked object weaved clumsily through the air, its shadow becoming a ridiculous sight as it dashed back and forth across the sand. At last, gravity claimed its place again, and the sphere plunged to the ground with a booming thump and a downpour of sand. The atmosphere was thick with bewilderment.

What in the world was that? Urbosa questioned to herself, but it appeared that even Kohga shared that question. He tossed up his hands in puzzled disbelief, fervently studying the immediate vicinity for what could have disrupted his powers, and his mask faced Zelda as his gaze stilled. Urbosa shot a glance over her shoulder to find her standing with her hands clasped firmly over the sides of her brown-cased tablet, raised high enough for her to see the screen. As if ashamed, she hastily lowered the device once she noticed that all eyes had found their way to her. The bafflement was painted as clear as day across her face as well.

"Might I just ask," Urbosa spoke up after a moment in addressing Zelda. Kohga had lost his focus on Zelda and had his hand outstretched to pick up the sphere another time. "What in the name of the Goddess was that?"

"Magnesis," Zelda said, unnerved and shaken.

A faint groan escaped the metal object as it was raised into the air, catching a glimmer of sunlight as it went. Kohga had realigned his powers. Urbosa gripped the handle of her weapon between her hands again, having been served the reminder that she was still in active combat, and ignored the piercing burn of friction that came with the hold.

"That doesn't exactly clear it up, honey," Urbosa informed her.

The skimming of the sphere tearing off in their direction cut the conversation short. Urbosa broke off into movement, dodging the fire with a flurry of brisk steps. Zelda had learned her lesson from before, bouncing out of the path just as Urbosa did. Impa and Link had not been in the line of fire, but with a swish of sand, they had retreated as well. Urbosa was split from Zelda for only a heartbeat as the spiked sphere whirled past, careening into the sand a ways away at the force of a meteor.

"It's a rune from this equipment I have here," Zelda launched into explanation the second the air had cleared. "It's called a Sheikah Slate. It was given to me by some friends of mine in Hateno Village. Magnesis is one of its abilities. It can control metal objects no matter the weight or the density. Evidently, it can override other sources of control."

"Shut up and fight me, you cowards!!" Kohga thundered from across the space.

A seed of an idea sprouted in Urbosa's mind. Kohga's main source of weaponry was armed metal spheres. Zelda possessed a device that could manipulate metal to her own accord. Kohga was especially sensitive to puncture wounds. That was more subtle, but Impa had proved it by attempting it alone. With the Sheikah Slate, they could have used his own weapons against him.

Urbosa snagged hold of Zelda's arm, leaning closer to offer instructions in a hushed voice.

"The next time he tries to throw one of those spheres, do that again," Urbosa commanded. "It'll be a difficult task, but what you need to do is hit him with it. That'll weaken him enough for me to use my lightning. He'll only be down for a little while, so I'm going to send in Link and Impa to give some damage before he regains his strength."

Kohga was already shifting back into a ready stance, letting out a lengthy and aggravated sigh at the breaks from the battle. Zelda's sea-green eyes darted to look at him, seemingly anxious by how close he was becoming to attacking and they hadn't yet moved, before they darted back to meet Urbosa's gaze. Silently, she forced a nod to show she understood and Urbosa released her arm at last.

A new phase of the battle had begun. With a strategy set in place, they all performed a more coordinated act of combat. Kohga equipped another weaponized metal sphere to pursue a strike, just like every time he had before. Zelda knew what to do and followed instructions to perfection. Urbosa's gaze was in the sky, eyes squinted by the beaming sunlight in wait. The weapon swerved out of reach, hovering in the air for a short pause before it swung sharply across the area, making a direct swoop towards Kohga. The clobbering had driven him right off his feet, sending him crashing down onto his back on the sand. With his temporary immobility, Urbosa found no effort in shocking him with a streak of lightning. As planned, Impa and Link emerged into combat in the break where he was most vulnerable.

It was a steady process. Tedious and endlessly repetitive. Kohga struggled more and more in standing up every time he was knocked down. It might have been slow, but advancement was certain. Victory was laying in plain sight from the very beginning. After a while, Urbosa had begun to question why she had allowed herself to get so worked up about it while all that was needed was the right strategy. Hammering heartbeats. Burning injuries. Moist beads of sweat gathering across hairlines. They were undefeated.

The end crept nearer with every round of attack. The allies remained prosperous. Kohga remained alone. With the increasing number of occurrences in his pauses to search his surroundings, it had begun to seem more and more like it was simply an act. But every time he snuck a glance, his actions sharpened and evolved into something more and more frustrated. At some point during the battle after another look around him, he had flung up his hands in indignation and slipped in a mutter of his displeasure.

"Are you kidding me?" Kohga griped. "Always slacking off."

The atmosphere eased with the dwindling motive and the accumulating damage. Exhaustion wore down every fighter's disposition over time. Kohga's bodysuit was torn in places where his own weapon had scraped him. The shake that developed in his actions told of his growing fragility, even if he would never have said so himself. It was the seventh strike of lightning that had battered him down where he took his time climbing up again. Impa and Link started off hastening in to utilize their respective blades. As they approached, Kohga strained himself up onto the prop of his hand and shot up the other, a silent gesture to hold them back, to ask them to stop. A notion of surrender.

Urbosa released a short exhale of relief at the sight of the hand coming up. The fight against the Yiga Clan had ended, at long last. As usual, the Gerudo and their acquaintances reigned triumphant. Urbosa felt the calmness and tranquility drain through her as she walked to join Impa and Link in front of Kohga in the face of his unmentioned loss in combat. Zelda drifted close as well with the Sheikah Slate tucked away in her hands and even the little mechanical friend, who had resorted to the far rims of the area to avoid the fighting, scuttled skeptically across the sand as they all came together.

Kohga shuddered with frailty as he eased himself up to standing, heavily supported by the sanded column at his back. His hand grabbed at the vertical surface of the column to keep himself upright, but his head swept to glance across the group that stood before him in victory. A spurt of anger erupted through a faceless mask.

"Don't think you've won here," Kohga growled. "This isn't the end of this battle. I'll be back. I'll be back right when you least expect it. Just you wait."

"Oh, I disagree," Urbosa countered. Seeming to sense the need for battle diminishing, Link slipped his sword back into its sheath while Impa did the same with her twin knives. Urbosa, however, kept her lengthy blade outstretched for the potential of any sudden movements. "I'd say it's very clear you've been defeated. You've lost, once again. If you're so stubborn not to die, why don't you just go back where you came from? You're wasting our time at this point."

"You're joking, right? After you went and did so much to all of us unprovoked?" Kohga retorted.

"It was hardly unprovoked and I know you know that," Urbosa told him. "Every minute of this could have been avoided if you hadn't shown up here in the first place."

Kohga's fury was utterly radiating from him, shallow breaths in his resentment entering and leaving him. He struggled for the wall of the column again as if he was about to pull himself to full height and demand a rematch right there and then in his wounded state.

"You know, you've really done it now!" Kohga growled. "I was even thinking of going easy on you the next time we met, but it looks like that's not happening now, is it? All because you had the audacity to talk back to me as if you don't know who you're talking to."

"Now, don't start with that. I will not be manipulated by..." Urbosa began, but her sentence quickly sunk back into itself and dissolved.

Something had washed over her, a sense that prickled to life just after she had raised her voice to speak. It was not the first time this feeling had reached her. In fact, it might have been the hundredth. She'd witnessed it on her way to the bazaar, but it had been such a subtle flicker that she hadn't even completely processed it. Right around the moment when Kohga had first allowed himself into Gerudo Town. It was the impression that a threat neared—More accurately, a Yiga soldier or even Kohga himself. There would be no soldiers arriving for help, both because Kohga had not called for their arrival before now and they would have all been preoccupied in the battle within the town. Whatever he had been looking out for was arriving right now, right at this moment. Kohga appeared to realize this sensation as well and his temper receded with a deep sigh of something long awaited.

"Well," he said. "It's about time."

In the blink of an eye, Urbosa's vision was completely and utterly engulfed in red-tinted smoke. Immediately, she jerked away as if to free herself from the sensation. The clang of a blade against a blade crammed into her ears and with it, the jarring lurch of her weapon being thrust down and away from the situation at hand. Having been unprepared, Urbosa doubled over as she was jostled down with it. A high-pitched scream pierced the air, but whom it belonged to was unclear. A blunt force made an abrupt impact with the side of her head, reeling her back again. The smoke had dispersed after the teleportation, but with the swimming disorientation in Urbosa's head, she struggled to pick out anything but the scarlet color of a full bodysuit. Unwound and shaken up, she cast up her weapon to shield herself and felt it collide with another. With all of the might that she could gather, she utilized the collision to propel the figure away from her, sending it retreating back towards Kohga where she could finally acknowledge it fully.

The figure that stood before Kohga, standing at the readiness of leaping back into combat at any moment, was another Yiga soldier. One that was significantly different from the ones that Urbosa had fought within the town. He would have stood at least an entire foot taller than Kohga—Even taller than Urbosa—When he would stand at his full height, a figure well-suited for battle in a particular heftiness in build and muscle. An elongated thin black sword polished enough to shimmer under the harsh sunlight protruded from both fists clenched over the handles. There was no emotion in his red-painted mask, but the determination and persistence oozed from his ready stance.

"Oh, are you kidding me?" Impa blurted out impatiently from beside Urbosa. "Not another one! Who even are you, anyway?"

"I am Sooga," the soldier introduced himself, straightening to his full height and tucking away his weapons into their sheaths. His voice was considerably deep, a dead-sounding tone captured by a formal-sounding accent. "If you cross him again, I will personally cut you all down into pieces, roast your organs, and force-feed them to your loved ones."

Impa had nothing more to say.

"Yeah, what he said," Kohga added calmly before he turned a seemingly bitter gaze towards Sooga beside him, due to the sharpness of the words he spat out at him. "Also, that's all well and good, but you just missed the entire battle! I needed you here and you left me to fend for myself! Think about how embarrassing this is for me."

Sooga evidently didn't have a word to share on the issue as when he shifted to glance down at Kohga, gloved hands still perched upon the handles of his swords as if he planned to wrench them free again at any moment, what he mentioned was not the battle that had already passed just moments ago.

"Our best option at this time is to retreat," Sooga declared. "We must spend some time determining our next move in this mission. For now, it's time to leave this place."

"Leave? Right now? Just wait a second—" Kohga began, but the rest of his sentence failed to make audible sound, at least reaching Urbosa's ears.

Sooga had snagged a hold on his arm, disregarding the protests that he had attempted to make. Red-hued smoke erupted in a blast from the sand, washing away in the baking heat of the day, and then they had gone.