A Pirate's Prison For Me (BP & Squish) COMPLETE

Sheikah? Sigmund raised an eyebrow at the term. He knew what the Sheikah were, his common knowledge hadn't vanished from his mind along with his personal memories. But that they still existed, and that Silas was one, no less? Must have been very important business he had been on, then. It didn't matter right now, anyway- the Pirate was much more pressing, and once she was out of their way they still had two more eggs to save and to get out of here. He could always ask then, assuming his mission was not classified or need-to-know.

Using the butt of the lance as leverage, he pushed himself out of the Gerudo's way. Her swords had less range than his spear, and he was used to polearms in his hands. It felt familiar, the rush of a duel. He must have done this in the past. Flexing his forearms, he hardened his fins, both to serve as auxiliary weapons and makeshift shields. It was an almost instinctive motion, and the Gerudo nodded in recognition. "Good," she said, "I like fighting actual warriors." With that, she leapt up, charging towards him. Sigmund caught the first blow on his fins, jabbing at her with the spear to gauge her reaction speed and the depth she could step with one leg.

As expected, she made a backflip with the greatest of ease, getting out of his range. Her eyes flitted back and forth between Zora and Hyli- Sheikah. Now assured that his body wouldn't forbid him from fighting period, Sigmund didn't give her time to decide who to attack, instead closing in on her to open his own attack.

Sigmund didn't wait. He immediately leapt on the Gerudo's unprotected back, jamming the stolen spear between her shoulderblades. She screamed in pain and surprise, but Sigmund wasn't about to let her get away- if one thing had become clear, it was that these pirates would not hesitate to kill them if they became a problem. He had to adopt the same mindset, he told himself as he twisted the spear. She fell to her knees, and Sigmund quickly ripped the spear out of her flesh and landed his fist on the back of her head. Now, she crumpled to the floor and stopped moving.

Sigmund didn't bother to check if she was alive after that, instead turning to Silas. "Good work," he said, nodding before turning back to the bottle on his belt, inspecting it for damage and seeing to his relief that the thick glass had made it through the battle unscathed. "So... Sheikah, huh? What brings one of the fabled shadow agents of the Hylian King to this low-life camp?" He smiled. "If it's classified I understand, of course, but I did sort of tell you my mission, so it would be only fair..."

"It appears our missions overlap then, at least for now," Sigmund said. Under normal circumstances, he too would have headed for the pirate captain's quarters to give her a piece of his mind -who did she think she was, kidnapping and potentially killing three unborn Zora?- but, well... his old injuries might not have acted up just yet, but he had not forgotten the battle that had gotten him captured. They would act up again. It was just a question of when. "I must thank you for your help in retrieving the eggs, and I might as well do it by helping you with your own objective." Alone, they were likely no match for the woman, but together... who knew?

Clutching the spear with one hand, he followed behind Silas, turning around and grimacing when people started banging on the door. "No time indeed," he said. "Cross the bridge. I'll hold them off." Contrary to his word, though, he followed the Sheikah down the rope bridge and only turned around when they reached the guard tower it was connected to. Sigmund put down the spear, hardening his fins once more. "I hope you're sure about not needing to go back there," he said, quickly bringing down the fin to slash through the ropes on the left... and then on the right... and severing the bridge from the tower.

Unsurprisingly, the clatter caught the attention of the woman patrolling below the tower, and she started idly climbing the ladder. Sigmund pointed Silas to the other side of the tower. "Choke her out when she comes up," he said, "I think you better know how to do that than I do." Giving orders felt natural to him. It didn't occur to him even once that Silas probably outranked him on land.

Sigmund hurried out front of Silas, gathering his strength to kick the door open. It was a fool's action; as his flipper connected, the door did fly open, revealing a well-lit hallway, but at the same time a sting of pain lanced from his flipper through his entire right side as he strained himself. He winced, though not crying out, and ran inside before the Gerudo could see his pain.

Once inside, however, he leaned against the wall, putting his hand to his abdomen and breathing hard. This was what Helena and Marci had constantly warned him about- this was why they didn't want him doing anything 'stupid.' He knew he should have gotten help for the poor Zora woman instead of volunteering, but heavens only knew what would have happened to the eggs then or how long it would have taken him to find anyone who could and would help. No, he told himself as he grit his teeth, he had to tough this out for those kids. "I'll be alright," he said to Silas, "Let's hurry."

"I'm down with that," Sigmund said, pressing himself to the wall on one side of the door. The pain in his side had not stopped or gotten better, so he winced with almost every movement he made and had almost dropped the spear he was holding twice. Normally, this would be the point at which he went to bed to sleep it off, but that was obviously the last thing he could do now. Instead, he reached for the small vial at his waist. "Just give me a moment... I have my emergency stash here." He popped the vial open, downing the green liquid in one go and waiting for it to kick in.

By the time he felt his fatigue leaving him, counteracting the pain from his old wounds, the female voices from inside had stopped, as well. A quick peek through the barred window confirmed that the pirates had left. "Right," he said, able to think clearly once more. "Let's go in..." He pushed the door open, cautiously, and entered the room. It was devoid of people, and appeared to be some sort of cafetaria, judging from the large tables with many chairs around them. On one of the tables stood a small tank, in which an egg floated peacefully. Sigmund hurried over to it, fishing it out of the tank and adding it to its sibling in his concoction.

"That's two," he said, crouching so one of the tables would hide him from view in case any pirates came back. "Now... if I were a nefarious pirate, where would I keep the last egg..."

Shit.

Sigmund stayed in his cover, raising one hand and gathering magic power in it. He'd just consumed his Green Potion so really, there was no harm in using his parlour tricks now... and when better to use it than when large groups of enemies were tightly packed together in, say, a doorway? "Ladies!" he cried out as he stood up from behind the table, making a throwing motion with his hand. From it, a ball of water detached, soaring towards the pirates much more quickly than a spherical mass of liquid should.

As it impacted one roughly in the middle, it exploded, sending pressurised, large drops of water flying in all directions and scattering the pirates. Sigmund used this opportunity to leap over the table he had been using as cover and launch his fins into the fray, knocking out a few even as he skidded towards them on the tiled floor, unleashing his Electric Aura as he got within range to get a few more. He shoved a few of the others through the door, to outside, and then shut it, locked it with the latch, and barred it with a few tables.

By the time he was done with that, the Green Potion had worn off and two Gerudo Pirates remained standing in any condition to fight. So he took the spear in one hand, twirled it around, and pointed it at one of them by means of challenge. "En garde then, milady."

Sigmund's opponent appeared hesitant to attack him blindly. She was clearly more level-headed than her enormous sister-in-arms; looking him up and down and trying to gauge the extent of his abilities. Sigmund was doing the same with her, as if on instinct, the two warriors circling each other in silence. She was clearly a combat veteran, but on the other hand, between muscle memory and the number of scars he bore, chances were that he was too. Remembering everything he had learnt consciously was a formality and not necessary to fight... was it?

Realising that the Zora wasn't going to press the attack, the Gerudo clucked her tongue and decided that if he didn't do it, she would. Her twin swords clanged loudly against Sigmund's hardened forefins, and he spun around to get some momentum going with the spear; for a little while, the three weapons clashed repeatedly and quickly. It was a miracle he succeeded in keeping up with her. Finally, he slipped, and he thought he saw a victorious little smile on the woman's face as she leaned in to take advantage of the new opening. It was the first trace of emotion he had seen since he had started fighting her.

Her sword had almost connected with his skin when suddenly a powerful electric current surged into being between them, pushing her back and forcing her to take a few seconds to recover from the literal and figurative shock. He didn't give her those seconds, however, closing the distance between them and this time, he was the one on the offensive. Unfortunately, the Gerudo was no amateur with her twin swords, almost effortlessly blocking every attack he made with the spear. But that said...

She cried out, more in surprise than in pain, and doubled over when he suddenly brought his knee up and slammed his upper leg into her abdominal region, her swords occupied higher up. As she doubled over, Sigmund Lashed out with a sharp forefin, getting her shoulder. Before he could dig deeper, however, she recovered, whirling around and dislodging his fin from her flesh. "Not bad," she said, her smile widening. "I've been dying to fight a worthy opponent. What is your name, Zora warrior?"

"...Sigmund. Sigmund Caden."

She stood straight, saluting him with both swords. "Regilia. May the best fighter win." With that, she lunged towards him again, determined to continue their battle.

Sigmund held his defensive stance, waiting for Regilia to come within range of him. When she did so, he cast another Aqua Grenade at her, water soaring through what little distance there was between them. However, unlike her sisters, she was focused on him, saw it coming, and dodged out of its way, even rolling forward to avoid the liquid shrapnel that followed its detonation. As she got up in front of Sigmund, she brought up both swords, hoping to take off one or both of his arms in one stroke. Knowing he wasn't fast enough to block, Sigmund saw no other option than to jump back, creating distance between them.

He winced as he landed, his side not yet fully recovered from its painful stings before. Regilia would have had to be blind in order to not see it, and she grinned as she came closer, bringing her swords down towards him. Desperate to distract her, Sigmund attempted to talk to her: "I don't understand, Dame Regilia. What do Pirates want with unborn Zoras? I know you're not holding them for ransom. Why did you kidnap them?"

Regilia only grinned. "Who knows? Maybe if you can defeat me, I'll tell you." With that, she swung out, landing her sword in Sigmund's bad side. The Zora cried out in pain, retaliating with a sweeping blow to her temple. His despair gave him a strength she hadn't expected and she was caught off-guard, landing on one knee and clutching the side of her head, which was bleeding. "You damnable-"

Sigmund took advantage of Regilia's momentary moment of weakness to press the attack, placing another sweeping attack with his spear, this time directed at her feet. She fell over, landing hard on her back, and Sigmund used his weight to his advantage, dropping himself and landing his shins on her chest, knocking the wind out of her and hovering the tip of the spear at her neck. "Answer me," he said. "What do you want with unborn Zoras?"

"Hatch them," Regilia wheezed, "And bring them up as our own..." She struggled for air, with the Zora on her chest. "We Gerudo are... fine warriors on land... but the Zora... outfight us at sea... Captain Aveil..." she coughed, and Sigmund supported himself on her shoulder with one hand to raise his legs just a little bit higher so she could breathe. "The captain wanted to add Zoras to our number... but they wouldn't join voluntarily... that's why..."

"I see." In a sick and twisted sort of way, he supposed the Pirates' logic made sense. However, that didn't make what they had done right. "Where can we find this captain of yours? What of the final egg?"

"They're together," she said. "Captain Aveil... has the biggest room in the fortress. You can't miss it... it's the only room on the top floor."

"Very well. Thank you, Dame Regilia." Sigmund stood up, but before the Gerudo could follow him and catch him with his back turned, he slammed his flipped down hard on her leg. It crashed against the stone floor with a loud CRACK and a scream from its owner. "That's to make sure you won't come after us," he said. "Don't worry, you have no injuries that won't heal." He saluted her. "May we fight again when we've both recovered from our injuries."

He turned around to Silas, holding out his hand to help him stand up. "I know where we can find the captain," he said, ignoring Regilia's pained swearing behind him. "Are you okay?"

Sigmund nodded. As much as he wanted to give Silas time to recover -after all, the Sheikah had done the same for him earlier when his body had acted up- there was no telling if they had that time. They had to find the captain before she was alerted to their presence, had to find the last egg before it was too late, and had to get out of the fortress before they got themselves killed. The sooner they found and defeated the captain, the sooner they could rest. "The captain is located at the top floor of the fortress," he explained. "She's got the final egg. She might have our weapons, too," he suddenly realised, "so we have to go there anyway. I'll help you complete your mission, Silas, but we have to hurry. If she catches on to our presence..."

He didn't bother finishing his sentence, instead opening the door he had bolted before. There were no conscious Gerudos to be seen- perhaps they had gotten to get reinforcements? In that case, getting out of this place was even more important. "I think they might be afraid of us," he said, "News travels quickly in places like this. They probably know by now that there's two men defeating good fighters in here." Truth be told, he had no idea how they kept doing it. They were only two men, injured at that, and they were consistently beating the Gerudos they came across. "If they come with an entire squad, we'll be chanceless. Let's hurry."