SessKag; Breath of the Wild

FORTY

The Death Mountain's boiling hot. Or as the stable hand Gaile said, "Death Mountain is hot. And when I say hot, I mean really hot! It'll burn your flesh to ashes, leaving you with your bones. Then it burn those to ashes too,"

Very cheerful, that girl...

However she's not wrong, as the group has come to understand. Even the Gerudo clothes, made to withstand the sweltering heat of the Gerudo Desert can't withstand the burning air of Death Mountain. If anything, the exposed skin felt like its well-cooked. Also, there's a Stalker in the middle of the path. So now they have to go around a different path. Bandaging their hands, they aimed to cross the hot spring and climb up the side of the mountain that will lead them straight to the Sheikah Tower. Of course, they found a Korok seed while doing so. Kagome wondered how the vegetable-like race can stand the burning heat of the mountain without combusting. They don't even look like the heat trouble them.

The whole group envied the little guy...

Scaling the mountainside was both safer and more dangerous than just facing the Stalker. But Sesshoumaru's sharp ears caught sounds of another Stalker just a head of the Sheikah Tower that they were climbing, luckily they're out of its sight. Once they reached the top, Sesshoumaru's greater height can see the Stalker patrolling the path that will lead them to the tower, now named Eldin Tower after Link activated it.

Kagome groaned, "Well...I'd rather climb up a skin burning mountainside than face two Stalkers,"

When Purah had heard their plan, she advised them to carry as much ice based weapons as possible. So that evening Link had teleported to the Zora's Domain since Sesshoumaru remembered that part of the items sold at Marot Mart included ice arrows. Sure there's still the ice rod taken from the Ice Wizzrobes that they killed on their way to Eldin. Strapping the rods and ice arrows help take off most of the heat but they still sweat buckets. Kagome saw a very sweaty Sesshoumaru for the first time and laughed her head off, much to the Daiyoukai's annoyance.

Usually he's not affected by weather or temperature but ever since ending up in Hyrule, he's affected as much as the Miko. He had not felt as undignified as he did since coming to Hyrule since the day he's declared a proper Heir by his Mother. She'll have seizures if she saw him now....or maybe not, she's too 'proper' for seizures after all.

After reading the topography and waiting as Link headed towards the Shrine in the middle of the lava that he spotted from the Eldin Tower with his paraglider, Sesshoumaru decided that the best way to get there will be by using the path with spots of hot springs since there seemed to be a steep incline on the normal path and from what he can see, the lower ground has lava all over the wall of the incline. They slowly climbed down when Link return.

Death Mountain's infested with fire based monsters, explaining the need for ice based weapons. It wasn't long before they reached what appears to be a mine with Goron miners. Kagome sighed, bone tired of the heat, before she saw Link grabbing a black colored lizard with dark red underbelly that skittered by him.

At that moment a man, who introduced himself as Kimo, asked Link, "Can you help me gather 10 of those?" He explained that he wanted to bring back some souvenir from Goron City but forgot to buy anything, so now he wanted to make a killing with the Fireproof Lizards. However, his exchange for the lizards was the best; a Flamebreaker Armor that looked a lot like a firefighter's coverall to Kagome...if a firefighter's coverall took on an armor-like design.

When Link managed to grab more than ten, Kagome being too slow and Sesshoumaru too annoyed by the heat to care, he received the top part. When Kagome asked if he can give them the helmet too, Kimo shook his head violently, "Nope! This cost me a pretty rupee! You can get your own at the town's armor shop!" With that he dashed off. Kagome didn't even get to ask for the lower part of the armor, to her annoyance. Then again, the guy walked around with only the helmet on, maybe there's some sort of magic weaved into the armor that making wearing even a part of it help fight off the mountain's deadly heat?

Link looked at the bulky armor and looked at Kagome before handing it to her. She looked at it, "What? Why are you giving that to me? You paid for it...somewhat..."

Link grinned, "Yeah, but you look like you could use it more than I do and...Sesshoumaru doesn't look like he'll fit," He shrugged, glancing at the sweaty Daiyoukai.

The two argued about who wear it for a while until Sesshoumaru grabbed the armor and stuffed it over Kagome's form. She shrieked, "KYA! Sesshoumaru! What-?!"

He growled, "Silent!" He glared at the troublesome priestess, "As a lady, you need to take care of your skin more than we do," Before she could argue further, he grabbed her under his arm and carried her that way. She struggled for a moment, swinging her legs violently as they dangled off the ground, "KYA! Sesshoumaru, it belongs to Link!"

"And he gave it to you happily, so just take it,"

Link chuckled at the sight as Kagome griped that she can walk just fine, so please put her down...only to be ignored by Sesshoumaru who said, "You're too slow,"

Gasp, "AM NOT!!"

She spent the rest of the trip to Goron City's entrance being carried by the moody Sesshoumaru who suddenly froze as a violent sound ripped through the air. With a speed that only he can perform, he grabbed Link and leapt to a rock that curved over their head just as hails of lava rocks fell from the sky. He made sure to cover the two smaller members under him as he braced against the earthquakes that rocked through the volcano. Some molten stones managed ricochet towards the sheltered group and burned Sesshoumaru's skin. Kagome stared at his pained grimace, Link quickly taking out a bottle of salve from his travel pack, intending to treat his friend the moment the lava storm ended.

When all calmed down, Sesshoumaru slid down as he hissed in pain. Link looked at his burned back and bit his horrified gasp at the painful sight. Using a fairy tonic instead of the salve, he poured it over the open wounds. Thankfully it closed, healing at a rapid rate and Kagome wiped the sweat on Sesshoumaru brow as the pain subsided. He looked at her concerned eyes as she asked, "Will you be alright?"

He breathed easier once the tonic does its job, thanks to the traveling merchant Beedle at the stable who saw that Link have a rare Energetic Rhino Beetle on him and bartered for the critter with a Fairy Tonic. He then nodded, "It's best we get there before nightfall," He let the two help him to his feet.

When they finally reached the entrance, Goron guarding it greeted them, "Well, lookee here! Welcome, Master Link!"

Link froze, "How did you know?"

The giant Goron tilted his head curiously, "What do ya mean? Most importantly, I hope ya made it past all those magma bombs without injury!" He then sighed, "To be honest, we haven't had too many visitors here since those magma bombs started fallin' from the sky. I'd be bored to tears if I didn't past the time pretendin' to greet the long lost Hylian Champion, heh," He chuckled before adding, "Oh, incase ya didn't know, Link is the little Hylian who fought alongside the Goron Champion, Daruk," He didn't notice the wince of pain on Link's face as he advised, "If you want to know more, talk to the Boss in the city,"

Kagome looked at Link after they walked past the cheerful Goron guard, "Are you okay?"

Link shook his head, blinking rapidly against the pounding pain, "Not so good..." It had taken Sesshoumaru weeks to break the boy's habit of hiding his pain behind a grin, saying that it won't do them good if he hid his pain because they need to watch each other's back. If he lies about his condition, it will one day bite him back, like if he's suddenly attacked by his injuries when he needed to watch their backs in a fight. It would put not just him in great danger but also Kagome.

Sesshoumaru did not include himself because he's too proud to say that he'll get caught unaware by anything...Hyrule notwithstanding...

So the group quickly headed for the only inn in Goron City, Rollin' Inn...