Pirates' Fortress (BP/Tsu)

Pirates' Fortress

- Thria, ill-tempered female Guard of Jabu-Jabu. (3/3/3) [Blonde Panther] Reward: +40 Rupees.
- Kasumi Gallota, the Aqua Knight of the Silver Stage. (1/3/4) [Tsubori] Reward: Longshot, -30 Rupees.

Two splashes resounded through the narrow hallway as two Zora females leapt out of the pond simultaneously. The oldest one, with the toughest build, immediately leapt to her feet, stretching one arm in front of her with a fireball forming at the tip of her outstretched index finger. After turning and aiming in a couple different directions, she came to the conclusion that there was no one who had heard them emerging and she dispelled the fireball, looking at her friend. "It's safe," she whispered.

The same could not be said for the women guarding the fortress at the other end of the hallway. They were all of the Gerudo race, although they were called the Gerudo Pirates for the sake of simplicity and to distinguish them from their normal thieving or even benevolent counterparts. The Zora women currently planning an invasion into their home and treasure hoard were Thria, a member of the guard protecting the Zora's patron deity, and Kasumi Gallota, her friend who had insisted on accompanying her.

Thria was beyond mad. Not even ten minutes ago, she and Kasumi had been in the home of their dear friend Ariel, who had recently given birth to triplets; three Zora eggs, kept safe and warm by her and her husband. The problem was that Ariel was impossible to comfort after said three eggs had been stolen by the Gerudo Pirates, who thought they could turn a profit off of them. Being a mother herself, Thria set out for the latest in a long-standing and ongoing series of failures to contain her rage. She'd eaten before she left, and she was more than ready to kick pirate ass.

"You know the plan, right?" She whispered to Kasumi.

Kasumi wasn’t a bad fighter, but she knew she’d be relying on Thria for most of this trip. She was probably just ranged support. She was almost as outraged as Thria was when they found out about Ariel’s eggs. She followed her guard friend to the Pirate’s base, conveniently located in water. Kasumi leapt from the water as well once Thria gave the word, aquarang up her sleeve as usual. She chuckled when Thria asked if Kasumi knew the plan.

“Plan? What plan? If I came to this fort with the right Zora, the plan should just be ‘Smack up all the bitches and grab Ariel’s eggs.’.” She then looked around the room. “Seriously Thria, you don’t DO plans.”

"That's what it comes down to," Thria said. "But we want to be careful. If even a single one of them sees us and we don't kick her lights out, I run the risk of being reported to Jabu-Jabu and His Reverence will NOT be happy." Being careful was hard for Thria. She was very used to using disproportional violence to solve all of her problems. "Additionally, we're going to need something to carry the triplets in. The Pirates might have something though. Let's go."

The guard walked out of the hall, immediately crouching. In front of them was a large basin of water, at the far end of which lay the enormous structure that was the Pirates' Fortress. For a Hylian or a Goron, getting in would have been nigh impossible. There were boats not too far from where Thria and Kasumi were standing, but if they took those they would undoubtedly be seen by the four women patrolling the water. Knocking them out would be no good- Thria's fins could only at most hit two at the same time, and the other two would attack them.

Fortunately, Tria and Kasumi were not Hylians or Gorons, but Zoras. Thria had asked around the squad and learned that the fortress had an underwater entryway rigged with traps. Still, traps were better than Gerudos, and with that thought, she waited until the patrols were far away enough before she dove into the water they were patrolling, waiting for Kasumi to catch up. "Here's the plan:" she said, "We go in through the sewageway. It's rigged with traps, so look before you swim. Once inside the fortress we're gonna take care not to be spotted, because that will just make this journey more trouble than it's worth. Once we have the eggs, we go out the same way we came. When attacked, we default to Electric Aura. Any questions?"

Kasumi looked confused as Thria jumped away. “Wait, what? These pirates can file complaints to Lord Jabu Jabu? That seems off.” She then quickly followed. When Thria told her the plan, and about the traps, Kasumi nodded. “I’ll make sure to keep an eye open.” As the two swam forward, the actress quickly noted how many fish were under here... You’d think with an advanced trap system, fishies would be kept out.

As Kasumi reached the first obstacle, she sighed. A wooden board? Even she could destroy that... She lashed out her arm, flinging the aquarang at the middle of the skull and crossbones pattern. The wood snapped easily, worn and weak from being underwater. Swimming through the barricade, Kasumi saw a large block with the typical “Slide marks” around it. “Oh, a block puzzle.” She said, landing and pulling on the block. “It’s a good thing Triton brought me to that -Urrrrg!- Block puzzle seminar.”

"Not normally," Thria said when Kasumi didn't understand why she'd be in trouble, "But they tend to yap when they're caught at the entrances to our homes when they come in to kill our kids for revenge. I've been suspended once before for going outside of my jurisdiction." Ohhh, boy. Lord Jabu-Jabu had really not been happy about that. "So you don't snitch, I don't snitch, and we make sure these thieves don't snitch."

Kasumi mentioned that Triton had instructed her on block puzzles, to which Thria perked. Triton was her twin brother, and she knew that he and Kasumi had been... involved... in the past. In fact, that was how Kasumi and Thria had met. The main reason Thria didn't approve of Kasumi's habits wasn't that she herself wanted to set the right example for her daughter, but that her dumping him had left Triton heartbroken and to this day he wasn't over her.

"Speaking of Triton," the guard said, coming loose from the seafloor and slowly floating down the path that Kasumi had freed up, "Have you seen him recently? As in, spoken to him?" As she floated, she double-checked her Siblings' Stone to ensure it wasn't active. This wasn't a conversation she wanted her brother to hear. Then again, he had been working on something familiar (or somesuch- Thria could never hear him clearly once he started researching) and that ate his attention almost completely, so even if he did hear her he probably wouldn't pay attention to her...

Turning towards Thria confusedly, Kasumi followed, pulling a different block to open up more of the pathway. Triton had made her happy, but there was only really one major reason she broke it off. At least the two still kept in touch and hung out sometimes. He seemed to be over her too, from what she could tell. “Umm... Yeah, I still chat with him pretty often. We’re still friends. Hence the seminar; we did that after the break-up.” She saw a desbreko swimming towards them, but a throw of her aquarang defeated the undead with a five hit, mental control burst of slashes. After this, she looked back at Thria. “So... Why do you ask?”

Thria sighed, shaking her head. For someone who had so much experience with men, Kasumi was terrible at reading people. "No reason. Let's go, showoff." she lazily gestured her friend as she noted the current, because of which she swam more slowly. The current was going with them now that Kasumi had opened up the path, and while not very strong, she felt it against the webbing on her feet and she felt it slightly pushing her.

More importantly, above them was a large, open space. They were inside. "You stay here," Thria said to her friend, "while I check for patrols." She swam up slowly, cursing the size of her head when she poked her eyes out of the water to look around. Hammerhead sharks were probably not common around here. Fortunately, the Pirates were overconfident. Not bothering to switch back to her underwater breathing apparatus, Thria gestured with one hand that Kasumi had to come up, while she grabbed on to the ladder that took her up to the steel balcony giving her a good view on the tunnel through which she and Kasumi had just entered.

"They must think the patrols outside are enough to keep intruders out," she whispered, "I don't see any." She looked around the area they were in. "Looks like a storeroom," she muttered, "I'll start looking around for the eggs, Kasumi. You find something we can carry them in."

Kasumi knew what Thria was getting at, but she wasn’t really up for talking about her and Triton, especially not now. It saddened her just as much as it had him, but she had her reason. When Thria had her wait under the water, she didn’t really do much. Mainly she was planning on what she’d do if they were found out. Would they be killing any Gerudo who found them?

When Thria called her up, Kasumi joined her, looking around the storeroom. “So... What’s the plan on if we get caught? Cut down on the Great bay piracy?” She then found it. It was perfect but... how did the pirates HAVE one of these?! There are many stories of people finding this legendary, important treasure. Maybe once a person, but tales speak of the Hero link having about FOUR... It was amazing... Kasumi held it up, turning to Thria. “Hey, would this bottle work?”

"Perfect." Thria nabbed the glass bottle from Kasumi, although she had not yet found any eggs. "I guess they're not stupid enough to leave the eggs in the obvious place," she said. "Either that or they realize that they're worthless if they get broken." She looked at the bottle a second time, knocking on the glass. "Sturdy," she said, "and big enough to hold all three eggs, unless I'm mistaken. Good find, Kasi!"

Seeing no other way out of this room, Thria dove off the balcony right back into the water after she'd tossed the bottle in. She held on to it as she followed the current. After all, the water had to pool somewhere if it was strong enough to continue here. As she swam underwater with the current, she realized that she hadn't done her preparations well enough. She should have sent Kasuul ahead to scout and make a map of the fortress so she could figure out the most likely places for the eggs to be.

Why had that idiot not offered? She kicked a little harder against the water as she thought of it, but soon found herself standing on the floor again. She sighed. These were the first of the traps, she knew, as she looked at the chains dangling in front of her. They were attached to floating mines, but the constant stream of bubbles ahead told her she'd have to swim near the surface to not get blown off course.

Kasumi scoffed as the two passed the trap, ensuring that they didn’t get exploded. “These pirates must have really not expected any zora attackers... Or... At least none with fifteen IQ points.” She swam with Thria, but her mind was back to her asking about Triton. That was obviously fully about when she broke up with him. That was a year ago! The zora brought it up every now and then, so obviously she thought a lot about it too.

Kasumi navigated by the trap, swimming right in Thria’s wake. “So... What if one DOES see us? I can guarantee that we won’t get through all of this without being seen once...”

"I wouldn't jinx it if I were you, Kasi." Thria carefully made her way around the mines, knowing that if they were to detonate, the blows would hurt. "Just take it, roll with it, and don't question it. Don't forget we don't even have one of the eggs yet. Things can still go to Death Mountain later."

Once past the mines, Thria dove under water again in hopes of not being seen. Kasumi caught up, asking what they were to do if they did get spotted by Gerudo Pirates. "Isn't that obvious?" the guard answered, "We stomp them into next week. Ideally, we don't get spotted at all, but we can't guarantee that won't happen."

The current stopped, and just like that, there was no way to go underwater. "See?" Thria said, surfacing, "You HAD to say it. Now we have to go further on foot until we have the fortune of finding another waterway." She climbed onto the floor, putting her hands on her hips and looking around. "Now... if I were a Gerudo, where would I stock baby Zoras?"

Kasumi shrugged. "No idea. Then again, I don't really understand the Gerudo Pirates. Surely there's gotta be a faster, more profitable, safer thing to sell than Zora eggs. I mean... What could anyone want with those, other than their mother?" Kasumi's eyes instantly went to the door as she heard voices. 

Kasumi dove behind a crate, making sure she wasn't seen. The door opened and two Gerudo warriors emerged, chatting calmly. "So I says to him, 'Look, either you pay me the 500 rupees, or you'll be paying a visit to the bottom of the lake!'" 

Both burst out laughing as Kasumi facepalmed. Oh god, it was as bad as some of the scripting in a low class play... She immediately looked to where Thria was hiding, hoping a plan was being hatched. 

Thria didn't answer Kasumi, although it was an interesting question the answer to which she would certainly have to investigate She'd heard the Gerudos approaching and dived behind a barrel opposite the crate Kasumi was hiding behind.

While the actress was busy lamenting the words of the Gerudo, the guard was more occupied figuring out what they were carrying on them in the way of weapons. Looked to be the standard fare- two scimitars, each. After a few seconds of observation, she concluded that was all they were carrying, and she showed herself.

"Five hundred rupees is far too much for any services someone cheap like you could offer," she said, stepping into the path of the two women and raising her hand, a fireball forming at the palm she directed at the two of them. "I'm here for the Zora eggs you women stole. Tell me where they are and I won't have to wring it out of you."

Of course, the women reached for their swords, but Thria recognized the motions for what they were and launched the fireball at them, assuming an attacking stance. Defense was for fishpeople like Kasuul. "Fine. Be that way then."

Kasumi sighed as Thria rushed out to confront the women. What happened to stealth? Thria started fighting the Gerudo until one was staggered by Thria’s hit, falling next to Kasumi. The woman turned her head, seeing the actress, and her eyes widened. Quickly jumping onto her and placing her hands over her foe’s mouth, Kasumi coursed electricity through her body until the Gerudo stopped struggling and fell unconscious. Or… was she dead? Nah, Kasumi was pretty sure the Electric aura couldn’t kill that easily.

Kasumi got off the pirate, immediately throwing an aquarang into Thria’s fray with the other one. It smacked off her head, leaving the Gerudo dazed and perfectly open to attack. “Maybe if you punch hard enough they’ll forget us.”

"Not so much forget us," Thria said, "But we can tie them up and leave them somewhere where they won't snitch." Kasumi had taken out one pirate and stunned the second, suggesting that Thria punch her lights out. However, the Zora preferred kicks over punches and lashed out with her foot instead. She connected her flipper with the chin of the Gerudo Pirate, sending her to the floor hard enough to knock her out.

Tying the Gerudos up and leaving them behind the crates and barrels in the storehouse, Thria patted her hands. "That was too easy," she said. "Must have been grunts or recruits or something. I think this scared the flippers off of them, so I'm pretty sure we're safe. Come on."

She passed through the door that the Gerudos had come from, immediately finding a scimitar pointed at her neck. And on the other end of that scimitar... a Gerudo. Thria whirled out of the sword's way, spinning around and kicking as she did so, only to feel her flipper being deflected off a sword and having to leap back to avoid a sword stroke.

She assumed an aggressive stance, electricity crackling in the palms of her balled fists, looking at the two Gerudos that had ambushed them. She could tell by just looking at them that they were a lot more skilled than the two grunts the Zoras had just trashed.

Kasumi went with Thria when she walked, only to see her friend nearly attacked. Of course, she got out of the way in time, but this was about to be a much harder fight. With a flick of her wrist, she sent her aquarang out at the Gerudo, but the woman blocked it. Kasumi caught her weapon out of the air, but her foe was now rushing her, deadset on ruining her day.

Kasumi jumped back, focussing her magical power to her boomerang. Upon throwing the boomerang, it received the same block from the pirate’s scimitar. This time though, the bladed boomerang went off the sword and danced in the air, returning for another hit from a different angle. Unfortunately, this Gerudo was good, and was managing to fend off every hit the Aquarang made, slowly inching closer to Kasumi.

In desperation, the actress lobbed in a fireball, and though the Pirate blocked it, it sent one of her scimitars skittering across the floor. It also provided enough distraction for the Aquarang to slip in and stun her. Kasumi saw that as her chance and ran in, kicking high to the head. The Gerudo managed to get her wits about her in time though, grabbing her leg and turning, throwing Kasumi into a nearby crate.

Slamming into the wood, she heard it crack and splinter behind her, looking up to see a smaller box about to fall on her. She dove to the side, avoiding it and seeing a small contraption fall out onto the floor. It had a handle and a bladed tip. On the handle was also a small button. Kasumi picked it up, hoping it did something strong, and held the handle, pressing the button. The bladed part flew out, just grazing the gerudo, before flying into a crate behind her.

Little did Kasumi realize that at a very fast speed, she was hurdling toward the crate, fast enough that when her knee hit the gerudo’s shoulder, she went spinning out onto the ground. The Zora found herself looking in amazement at the thing, but she had little time to analyse it, as the wobbly Gerudo was getting back to her feet. Kasumi aimed the thing towards her enemy, embedding it into her chest. After the yelp of pain, Kasumi flew towards her enemy, bringing her leg up for an axe kick to the Gerudo’s head. She was smash backwards, very clearly unconscious as she soared back into a bunch of crates.

One of the Gerudos focused her efforts on Kasumi, while the other pressed the attack on Thria. She wasn't stupid enough to attack the Zora blindly, so Thria abandoned the Electric Aura idea and instead hardened her forefins with the intention to use them as blades to counteract those of the Gerudo. The woman looked up in surprise when the hardened cartilage made the sound of steel on steel as she connected her scimitars with it.

Thria's fins weren't sharp enough to serve the function of swords, so instead of slashing, the guard brought one fin up to protect herself and swung her other arm back, shooting the fin towards her foe. This took the Gerudo by surprise, but not badly enough to stun her. She effortlessly cartwheeled to the side, not only dodging the fin but also attacking Thria in the side. With only one fin to defend herself, Thria couldn't turn quickly enough and the sword bit into her hip, causing her to cry out and respond with her Electric Aura.

This time it was the Gerudo who wasn't fast enough to get away, and the electricity generated inside Thria's body and released through her skin, extending a few feet out from her entire body, knocked her to the ground, shakingly getting up. As she stood up, however, she was hit in the back of her head by Thria's returning fin, which sent her back to the floor, this time face-forward. Thria caught her fin on her arm, the cartilage immediately re-attaching itself to her skin, and walked closer to her, poking her face with her foot.

She didn't move, so Thria assumed she was out cold and turned around to Kasumi. "Good job," she said, stroking the hammer-ended back of her head in thought. "That wench got a hit in... We better find those eggs FAST. They're probably contained in water, so I'll be able to clean the wound if we find one."

Kasumi saw Thria finish off her foe, so she held up the long-shot, showing Kasumi. “This thing….. Is awesome. I’m keeping it, and I thus dub it the Aqua-shot.” She said with a smirk before putting the thing away and finding a cloth. When Thria said they needed to get to water, Kasumi sighed and threw her Aquarang into the pool of water they’d initially emerged from. Upon catching it, Kasumi tore a cloth off from the Gerudo’s pants, using the water gathered on the boomerang to wet the cloth.

“You don’t always have to overcomplicate everything.” Kasumi then knelt down, dabbing the rag at Thria’s hip where she’d been cut. “We can take our time, the Pirates just got the eggs, so I have no doubt we’ve got at least a few days to get them, not that we’re going to need that long.” Once she’d finished cleaning Thria’s wound, Kasumi threw the rag aside, grabbing a new one to cover it. “There we go, all better?” She said with a small smirk. It was so like Thria to charge in, fins-a-blazing.

"Everything has to be about the Aqua Knight with you," Thria said, smirking. "You're like a ten-year-old fangirl. And I would know, I share my home with one." She allowed Kasumi to clean her wound, although she tore the second rag off her waist. "For future reference, Kasumi. Never go about tearing off parts of clothes to cover wounds with, you don't know how clean they are. I do not want this infecting."

Looking around the room, she saw a small, locked door off to the side. Searching the clothes of the two unconscious Gerudo, she got her hands on a small key, which fit the lock when she tried it. "Bingo," she said, "How much you wanna bet they have an egg behind here?"

In the small room, she was immediately attacked by a big dog. It was clearly trained to fight back any intruders, but it took more than a dog to scare Thria. She pulled her knee up, connecting it with the lower jaw of the mutt and sending it into a backflip. Grabbing it by the throat and dragging it to a corner afterward, Thria ensured that it wouldn't bother her anymore and looked at the far wall.

The far wall of this room was entirely occupied by a tank. The basin was filled to the brim with water, and glistening at the bottom, Thria clearly recognized one of Ariel's eggs. "Found it," she said, "Kasi, I need that bottle."

With a chuckle, Kasumi nodded at Thria’s comment. “Of course everything’s about the aqua knight.” She put on her stage voice when she was playing the armored hero. “After all... I AM the Aqua Knight.” After this display, she went back to normal and chuckled. “Speaking of, I’ve got to get you and Séline advance tickets for AK2. It’s coming out in a few months, and I’d rather not wait too long.”

Kasumi looked a bit freaked out when she saw the dog, as she’d never actually seen one before. It looked vicious as all hell, but Thria took care of it quickly, so everything was okay. Still, the yelp from the dog told Kasumi deep down inside that Thria was a mean lady for doing such a thing, but she quickly shook those thoughts away and handed her friend the bottle when she asked it.

Once Thria had obtained the egg and sealed the bottle, Kasumi let her out of the room, and closed the door. “We don’t want that thing waking up and coming after us later.” Then, as they set off further down the hall, Kasumi grimaced. “Why the hell are they dividing up the eggs? That’s a waste of time and storage...”