The Devil Sympathetic

Waking of Wednesday, June 20, 2018 ~ 3

The Devil Sympathetic

It was the other side. I had come out on the other side. The Death Hole Arena.

And a round-bellied Yiga appeared.

I gasped.

“YOU!” I said. It had to be him.

David was confused, and asked if I’d seen this person before.

No I hadn’t but it had to be him. That traveler, the one I crossed on my way to the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab for the first time, north of Chariots of Fire Beach. She had talked about him. Fawned over him. Gushed about his belly-dancing skills....

I hadn’t bothered to remember the name—Lord Somebody or something—but this had to be the guy.

“What are you doing in my napping spot?” the round-bellied man asked.

I blinked. Well at least he was up for talking....

“Oh! That thing on your hip, could it be...? A Sheikah Slate?”

Yeah.

“Then YOU MUST BE.... that Link guy I’ve been searching for! Oh this is wonderful! My scouts are out everywhere looking for you, and here you come waltzing right into my lair!”

Or some such words. And then he blustered something like, “Oh but I’m getting ahead of myself—I haven’t even introduced myself.” He drew himself up.... “The mighty, the powerful....” and up— “the ONE, the ONLY....”

So many grandiose gesticulations.... and camera angles to match.

“Master Kohga!” he finally finished.

Ah.... I remembered.... That had been the name....

Unfortunately, even after all the niceties, he still wanted to beat me up, and he told me so in as many or more words.

He had a cordiality about him that I rather liked.... A kind of honest openness. I like it when they talk; to me it always seems to signify a measure of refinement, regardless of the tone of the message. Indeed, couldn’t we all try a little civil discourse before resorting to fisticuffs?

Not that there was much discourse I guess. I am a mute.

....

Link is the best Hero.

David suggested I take a pictograph, and I did, phewf. It was distorted as the Yiga Lord had cast a very blue protective shield in front of himself just at that moment, but it was enough for my Compendium to go on.

There were three phases to this battle, and it, like Master Kohga’s banter, was refreshingly light.

In the first phase, Master Kohga conjured above his head a large, round stone with wicked markings on it. These he hurled at me one at a time, and they were blessedly easy to dodge. But I soon found the window wherein he briefly dropped his magical guard, and used it to shove an arrow down his throat. The rock fell and landed on his head, and down he went and in I ran and gave him a hefty what-for.

In the second phase he leapt into the air and HOVERED OVER THE DEATH HOLE. Oh my.... He then readied two rocks, and these he set into an orbit around his person, on a plane that faced me like a clock. At first I just went back to taking potshots at him, whereupon he would lose the spell and the rocks would drop.... But then David pressed the idea into me that maybe if I just waited a little longer....

I did, and didn’t loose an arrow until one of the rocks was directly over his head.... and then fired.

That did a little more damage. ^_^

Between the phases of the battle he just got hoppin’ mad....

In the third phase he forgot the rocks and conjured a giant metal ball with spikes on it.

Metal, huh?

It was a little tricky to catch, but I was able to stop the ball with Magnesis, and then thrust it back in his face!

Down he went again, onto the edge-ground before the Death Hole.

“Ugh, I can’t go out like this... what to do, what to do...”

I almost felt pity. “What do you want to.... get me for so bad, Master Kohga?”

And then brilliance seemed to strike him. “I know!” he said, “I’ll prepare my most powerful attack, the secret technique taught by my father’s mother’s father!”

Not quite against my will, I felt a rush of fondness for the man—well done knowing your heritage!—and thought of my own father’s mother’s father, Silas. I think he was the only one among his siblings to be born in town. The older ones had all been born out on their homestead near Decker Wash. But the Indian attacks were just getting to be too much....

I was pulled back into the game when Master Kohga employed this “technique”, and summoned an ENORMOUS spiked ball of metal, which sank down through the air until it settled ponderously onto the ground in between us, so that we lost sight of each other completely.

Wut.... Is it heavy? I wondered.

Master Kohga went on about his mighty technique, and how it was definitely going to destroy me.... I think. I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly, because it was just so.... ridiculous.... Because as he was talking, the ball very slowly began to roll toward him....

I guess the ground was tilted....

And in a shock he tried to leap out of the way, but there was nowhere left to retreat except backward—into the pit.

“I’ll be remembered!” he shouted as he fell with a howl, giving me Batman Beyond flashbacks.

“The Yiga Clan will track you to the ends of Hyruuuuule!”

Thud.

Distant and muffled.

....

And I wondered.... I truly wondered.... whether I would ever meet Master Kohga again.

A treasure chest poofed into being above the edge of the pit, in that orange glow and cloud of fluttering paper signs the Yiga are so fond of.

It was the Thunder Helm.

Yes.