Waking of Saturday, July 28, 2018 ~ 3
I was still dressed as a vai when I
pulled up to the island of rock in the desert sands—the Eastern Lookout Post. I
wanted to look around a bit myself first, and found a Gerudo named Sudrey
inside. Guess she was there to man the place.
She said she hadn’t expected the
Chief would call for the help of someone so.... short.... as I was.
Ouch. XD
Maybe it was this affront to my
physique that reminded me to change into something a bit stronger—I ditched the girl clothes, and decked myself out for maximum strength.
Outside the outpost was a ladder up
to a high platform. I found Riju up there and spoke to her as the late sun cast
everything into red fire.
“So that’s what you really look like,”
she said upon seeing me. And I don’t know why it should have, but it took me by
surprise—she had only seen me as a
vai before then after all!
Riju set to explaining her plan,
and I wondered.... Would it be hard
and fast with speed on our side, like with Prince Sidon? An approach on foot
from a safe distance, and a volley of heavy ranged attacks, like with Yunobo?
What
would Riju’s plan be?
Vah Naboris drew energy from the
earth through its feet, she
explained. If we could disrupt that process, we could subdue it. We would go
out by sand seal, Riju wearing the Thunder Helm to protect herself and anyone
near her, and I employing Bomb Arrows—Riju
supplied these as well, twenty of them—and they would be for Vah Naboris’ feet.
The Divine Beast would rain
lightning down on us once we drew near. But if I could stay close enough to
Riju I would be safe. However, if at any point I felt it would be better to
retreat and regroup, Riju told me not to hesitate to say so.
....So that was it then. Just....
Up close and personal.
We readied our sand seals back down
on the ground; I was afforded one of the redder, tamer, faster ones to use. But before we got going, Riju asked me to back
up a bit first.
She was wearing the Thunder Helm
(which was a little big, she had
conceded). But she wore it confidently now and offered aloud an unashamed
prayer to her ancestors and the great Champion Urbosa. She called on their aid
in her time of need—her people’s time
of need—and asked for their protection in the dangerous endeavor we were about
to undertake....
And a crackling, shimmering field emanated from the Thunder
Helm—pale, energetic yellow—a wide, protective bubble.
And then....
We started.
“Stay close,” Riju had told me, and
I tried to now. Our sand seals plunged ahead through ancient ruins and between
tottering towers of stone—easy enough to dodge. But it was more difficult to
stay inside the Thunder Helm’s protective circle. The conflicted weavings of our passage aside, it seemed
that Patricia was slightly faster than
my own sand seal....
And then we entered the dust cloud.
Arizona
Fog I would have called it.
The horizon vanished, distance
disappeared, and we were inside the night.
I could only stay close to Riju; at
least she seemed to know where she was going.
What
were we doing? We couldn’t see anything, the world had closed around us, we
were shooting off into the oblivious
blank of an ocean of tiny grit, all
the while nearing a Divine Beast that
was FREE ROAMING where it would—
Brreep-brreep!
Brreep-brreep!
I shut off my shrine detector.
The boundaries of the universe only
swirled darkly around us in an impenetrable sphere.
What
were we doing?
Chief Riju stopped by the ruin of
an ancient stone wall, and I followed suit. The dust thinned a bit and we could
see Vah Naboris tromping gigantic through the gloom.
So
big....
We started our run—it was so difficult to make my seal keep
pace with Patricia—too far forward,
too far back—A chill burst over
the screen in a cloud of cold and I switched to my Ruby Circlet—blasted desert climate—The Divine Beast
walked, left legs, right legs, left legs, right legs,
paying such little regard to two insects
like us—but as we pursued after its massive, slow meandering with all our tiny
and furious might, we could feel its attack charging and incoming—a powerful,
precise reticle centering on my position—my
position—come on, seal—and still the
Divine Beast walked and we two tiny worms dared to charge closer—
Kra-KKAAOOWwww!
Lightning shattered down—but at that very
moment I was safe inside the Chief’s protective aura. Nothing happened. We
were untouched. Invulnerable.
Excellent.
But it wasn’t always so easy.
I was pulling backward and forward
of Chief Riju’s position as if connected to her by a yo-yo. Vah Naboris tromped ahead so slowly, so deliberately—so hugely—I couldn’t keep up unless I made
a dash for it with my seal, but Riju held Patricia in reserve—The Divine Beast was gaining—
And the lightning loomed again and
I had to fall back—and I didn’t always make it.
Kra-KKAAOOWwww!
My hearts vanished by more than half. Gone. In a flash.
Lost my sand seal—it popped up out
of the sand a little way ahead and stood still, waiting.
Riju wheeled round and came back to
me—the protective field was there.
“Link! Do you want to fall back for
now?” Or some such words she said.
But I never gave up.
My stocks were plentiul; a few well-prepared
dishes saw me strong and on my feet again—and then it was the rush of reality
back in my face as I dashed beyond the Thunder Helm’s protection to reclaim my
sand seal once more.
Riju and I charged closer, and closer.... and I fired Bomb Arrow after
Bomb Arrow—but I was a poor judge of distance and my shots always came up short—the monumentality of this thing—how far did I have to dash toward it before
it stopped growing in my view?
But some of my shots connected—in
the rushing, tumbling push-and-pull between me and Riju, I let fly my
explosives and two of Vah Naboris’ house-sized feet went dark—please tell me they
wouldn’t regenerate if I delayed....
And lightning reduced me to a
sizzling heap again.
How
many times did it strike me down like that?
“Do you want to fall back for now?”
No.
This
Divine Beast....
This Chief....
What were we doing?
We two humans—well one human, one
Gerudo—but she was short enough—but technically I was a Hylian—
WE
TWO tiny things.
We were using what was at our
disposal.
The Chief was using what was at her
disposal. And what was at her disposal were sand seals and nerve.
She felt like that shot from the
old Xena opening sequence, standing unafraid
on the rocky shore and crying defiance
at the rising Poseidon, the Force that could crush her in a heartbeat....
We two tiny things.
She was surely the bravest child I
had ever met.
Vah Naboris was far away now, but I
came back to my sand seal, and we surfed through the dark sand once more, in
pursuit.
I stayed close to Riju and waited this
time for lightning to strike.... and only after it did, and immediately at that, did I shoot my sand seal forward, stopping for
nothing and spurring it onward until I was at
the monster’s very feet—not
house-sized—HILL-sized—They
pounded into the earth all around me, the sand exploded, one step equalled
death, and they moved—so far and fast they moved at one stride
from the beast—but my arrows caught
them—
Kra-KKAAOOWWwww!
Riju circled to my position and
kept me safe until I could regain my feet....
The
strategy was sound.... but.... and I
had the meals to spare.
One more run waiting for the Divine
Beast’s attack to deplete itself of energy, and another mad dash forward.... another brush with ten thousand tons of
crushing, beigebronzy death.... Bomb
Arrows away....
And the last foot went out, and the mighty Divine Beast
Vah Naboris sank to the earth—we had literally brought it to its knees.
....It had the same face as that on the Thunder Helm....
What followed then were some of the
most beautifully animated and charged cutscenes I had seen thus far: the two of
us, the Chief and I, surging the final
distance to the subdued Divine Beast, Link swinging
off his sliding shield as his sand seal came to a halt, leaping deftly into a
run to join the Chief where she stood, and imparted a few final words.... There
was only so much Chief Riju the leader of the Gerudo could do—the rest was up
to Link now. And Link as he hurried to
board Vah Naboris.... clinging fingers
and toes in a kneeling position to that slanted surface as the beast began to
rise again.... I could feel the
strain and balance in his muscles oh if he could just hold on....
These
were the best cinematics.
