//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18: Across the Desert 
// Story: Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers [Parallel Quest] 
// by Cyrus Colter 
//------------------------------//

The heroes left behind Kakariko Village, which the inhabitants had already begun to rebuild. Thanks to Sheik, the fires had been put out rapidly, the village didn't take too much damage, and nobody died. Kakariko should be back to normal in a few days. Sadly, Sweetie Belle, Link and the Bages couldn't help them. They had an evil overlord to defeat after all!

After calling Epona, they traversed Hyrule Field to the West where the valley leading to the desert was. After a long journey, the green gave way to brown as they arrived in the hot area of the valley. After walking on a wooden plank that let them pass above some water, they finally reached the bridge leading to the fortress of the Gerudos.

Only to discover that the bridge had been destroyed.

"Just our luck..." muttered Link as he looked down at the Zora River far below.

Sweetie Belle pointed at the other side. "I think that you can use the Longshot to reach the other side."

Link nodded. "I could, but..." He looked down at Epona and petted her mane. "You think you can do it, girl?"

Rota grinned, Marko facepalmed and Sweetie Belle tilted her head in confusion.

“Uh… What?” The filly asked.

"Let's do this!" said Link before he led Epona back to the bottom of the wooden plank.

"Wait! You won't do what I think you are about to do, right?"

"I absolutely will! YAH!" shouted Link, and Epona galloped on the plank as quickly as she could before she ran toward the remains of the bridge.

"Wait! Are you sure?! Wait!"

And Epona jumped, Sweetie Belle shrieking on her back, before she successfully landed at the other side.

Sweetie Belle hit Link on the back of the head as Rota and Marko flew over to them. "You are crazy!" She then giggled. "That was fun! Can we do it again?"

Link chuckled. "We had nothing to fear. I knew that Epona could do it. And if she missed, I knew that I could count on you three to save us."

"Good point, but warn me next time you decide to do something as crazy as this so I can prepare!"

"No promise," replied Link with a grin at the filly. "I'm not sure this is revenge enough for what you did at the graveyard."

“In her defense, it’s a solid plan. I would have gone along with it, at least. No problem with avoiding unnecessary fights,” Marko said with a side eye to Rota. “The Gerudo’s Fortress is bound to be fairly well-secured, considering its proximity to the desert, so entering won’t be easy.”

"Did I hear right? Are you planning to enter the Gerudo's Fortress?" asked a voice coming from their right.

The four heroes turned to look at the burly old man with a white mustache who just talked as he approached from his tent, and Link nodded. "We do."

"You must be crazy, son, if you expect to win against the Gerudos. They are very skilled warriors, from mother to daughter, and there are dozens of them. And as you probably already know, they don't like men. Especially men barging into their fortress."

"We know, but we have no choice," said Sweetie Belle. "To continue our quest and defeat Ganondorf, we must enter this fortress."

"You want to defeat Ganondorf? You must be fools! Or do you really mean it? Well, if you think that you can do it, I have something to ask of you. I am a master craftsman! And I plan to fix this bridge! The Gerudo Thieves destroyed it to not be perturbed, but that's not counting on me! However, my guys are gone. They thought that being craftsmen wasn't cool enough, and so, they went to the fortress to become thieves. You can guess what happened to these idiots. But they may be idiots, they are still my guys. Despite all my skills, I can't hope to fix this bridge by myself. So, if they are still alive, and if you really can face the Gerudos, can you save them? There are four of them."

Both Sweetie Belle and Link nodded. "You can count on us. If they are still alive, we will save them," said Link.

"Thank you! And if you manage to save them, then we will repair that bridge before you know it! Good luck to you!"

And the old man returned in his tent, letting the heroes continue to the fortress.

They eventually reached the stairs leading to it, and left Epona not far from them before they climbed them, getting a good view of the fortress.

It was a large structure of stone with many entrances at several levels. Already, from the outside, the heroes could tell that it was built to be a maze so any trespassers would get lost in it. Many Gerudos armed with naginatas were patrolling a little everywhere, making infiltrating it very difficult.

Well, they weren't intending to infiltrate it anyway. As soon as they climbed the stairs leading to the court in front of the building, they were spotted by the guards here.

"Intruder!" yelled one of the guards.

The Gerudos were like described. They were all women with tan skin and crimson hair tied in a long ponytail in light clothing, not even wearing a single piece of armor. And like the old man said, Sweetie Belle could see that they had skill with their weapons.

But they weren't Meta Knight, so this should be easy for her. For Link, however, it may be harder...

Speaking of, one of the guards, seeing that they weren't surrendering, attacked, only for Link to use his shield before counterattacking. He missed however as the Gerudo dodged backward. Then, another guard attacked him, and this time, Link dodged to the side, grabbed the handle of the naginata, and pulled strongly, making the Gerudo stumble toward him before he used the pommel of the Master Sword on the back of her head to knock her out.

This only caused more Gerudo Guards to come and circle them, weapons ready.

"Still not regretting not following my plan?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Yes."

All the Gerudo surrounding them then lunged at the group from all sides, leaving no escape. Rota flared her aura, sending a wave of pressure that stopped them dead, then, with a powerful shout, sent the Gerudos flying back. However, all of them managed to land on their feet except the ones who were unlucky to be propelled toward the stairs where they fell down them. Rota then lunged at the nearest Gerudo and swung an overhead punch coated in energy. The Gerudo tried to block the blow with the shaft of her naginata, only for Rota’s strike to break it on impact. The Gerudo stumbled from both the blow and the shock of her weapon being broken, before being kicked in the torso by Rota, sending her flying onto her back.

Marko, meanwhile, caught one Gerudo’s naginata by the blade as she slashed at his neck. Grabbing the shaft with his free hand, Marko then used the weapon as a lever to throw her into another Gerudo who tried to attack him from behind. Throwing the weapon to the ground, he wrapped his arms in energy as another Gerudo tried to stab him. Beating the blade aside, Marko then rushed at the Gerudo and grabbed her by the face before practically shoving the warrior at another pair of Gerudo.

Sweetie Belle was facing off against five Gerudo at once, dancing between their blades before teleporting and giving one a strong buck to the face, sending her flying into a spinning kick to the cheek from Rota that sent her spiraling to the ground. Another two were sent flying by the filly punching them while they were distracted by that. 

Link used the Longshot on another Gerudo, wrapping it around the handle of her naginata and pulling to disarm her. Without her naginata, the Gerudo was vulnerable to Link's following assault, only for another Gerudo to defend her by parrying Link's attack. But Link kicked the second Gerudo on the belly, sending her on the first one and making the two stumble and fall on the ground.

Then, one by one, each hero was confronted by a Gerudo that wielded dual scimitars.

Link began an intense duel with his, the two warriors exchanging attacks that were either dodged or parried. That was until the Gerudo did a jump attack, and Link dodged with a roll to the side before immediately attacking, managing to hit the warrior under the shocked eyes of the observing Gerudo Guards.

Rota covered her hands and forearms in Ki, blocking and deflecting her opponent’s flurry of slashes, then grabbed onto the Gerudo’s hand on a downward cut with one hand, lifting her hips with the other shoulder, and tossed her over. The Gerudo recovered with a one-handed flip stand, but was effectively disarmed of one of her weapons. Rota looked at the sword for a bit, then twirled in her hand before tossing it at the Gerudo’s feet. Picking up the weapon while keeping a cautious eye on the Saiyan, the Gerudo once more took up her stance, Rota doing the same as the two began to circle around one another.

Marko summoned his sword and, much like Link, engaged his opponent in a duel. Marko fought far more defensively than Link, mainly parrying and only striking out with kicks and pommel strikes. The Gerudo attempted a jump slash, only for Marko to Flicker-step at the last second, dodging the attack and seemingly vanishing from the Gerudo’s view. An illusion quickly revealed by the blade of Marko’s sword at the Gerudo’s throat. Pressed against the flesh, but not drawing blood.

Meanwhile, another Gerudo with two scimitars came to attack Sweetie Belle who had been easily knocking out the guards one after another. Materializing a second sword, Sweetie Belle exchanged with the Gerudo for a few seconds before she managed to disarm her by knocking the weapons out of her hands. Sweetie Belle then headbutted her, knocking her out. More of these Gerudos armed with scimitars then came and began to attack the four heroes, helped by the guards who stopped observing.

However, the Gerudos were starting to look at the heroes with respect as they fought them. It seemed that they respected skilled warriors, and Sweetie Belle, Link and the Bages were clearly proving themselves to be above average. Not killing the Gerudos certainly helped too. But, despite this, they weren't stopping from attacking, even as more and more Gerudos were ending on the floor, even the scimitar-armed ones. Link was starting to get the hang of fighting them, and even though he had some difficulty and received more than a few hits, he was winning fight after fight. But he wasn't on the level of Sweetie Belle and the Bages, knocked out Gerudos now littering the ground around the three of them with the filly having not taken a single hit.

By now, there weren't many Gerudos left.

"Alright. I think that it's enough," suddenly said a strong feminine voice that imposed obedience and respect, coming from a Gerudo in green clothes who came out of the fortress. Immediately upon hearing her, all the other Gerudos stopped fighting, although some kept an offensive posture, ready to attack.

The new Gerudo stared at the many knocked out women, then at the four heroes who stood ready. "I'm impressed. Not many would be able to face all of us like that. I thought that only the great Ganondorf could do this feat. State your intention! Why did you come to our fortress? It doesn't seem to be to kill us for our relation to Ganondorf..."

Link advanced to face who seemed to be the leader of the Gerudos. "We are here for two reasons. First, we want to save the four men who came here, if they haven't already been killed."

"No, we haven't killed them. They are in cells a little everywhere in the fortress. These fools thought they could become great thieves like us. What is the other reason?"

"We need to cross the desert, and it seems that the only entrance passes by your fortress."

"Mmh... You really have guts. The desert is very dangerous. If you don't know how to cross it, you will get yourself lost and become one of the many dried mummies buried everywhere in the sand before you know it."

"Then we wouldn't mind an advice on how to cross it. I'm sure you know," Sweetie Belle said as she and the Bages moved beside Link.

The Gerudo just grinned at this. "Well, you four proved your worth. Very well, I agree to let the four fools go and to let you enter the desert. I will even give you this..." She then took some brown paper with what seemed to be the Gerudo Emblem and some words that Sweetie couldn't read on it. There were four of them. "A token that will show to us that you are now an honorary Gerudo, which means that you will be able to enter and explore our fortress as you desire, and even participate in our activities."

The heroes nodded in thanks as they took the tokens.

"Now, to cross the desert... You don't know it as well as us, but we marked the first part with flags. But you will first have to pass a first trial, the River of Sand. After that, just follow the flags until you reach a stone building. After that... it becomes more complicated. It's the second trial, the Phantom Guide. You will need what is called the Eye of Truth, but it hasn't been seen in a long time."

"We have it!" Sweetie Belle said happily as she took the Lens of Truth and showed it to the amazed Gerudos.

The leader chuckled. "My... In that case, it shouldn't be a problem for you to cross the second part. Just climb on the stone building, use the Eye, and you will see."

"Thank you," said Link with another nod.

"Yes, thank you. And sorry for everyone we knocked out. I can heal them if you want," said Sweetie Belle.

The leader raised an eyebrow at the filly. "Really?"

"Yup! Look!" Sweetie Belle then used her powers to heal in one go all the Gerudos, amazing them even more! She also took the occasion to heal Link. "There!"

Link gave Sweetie Belle a deadpan look. "You mean that I didn't need to bother with the healing potion and the fairies and the Bages didn’t need to use their supplies? You could have healed me all this time?"

Sweetie Belle looked innocently at Link with a big grin. "Yup!"







They didn't directly go to the desert. Link decided to explore around to see if he could find something useful, and also to ensure that the four men would be freed and left to go.

They found a training ground where Link pretty much needed to use all the items he found in the dungeons to complete the trials and receive the prize. However, he was missing some items, so he wasn't able to complete all the trials. He eventually understood however that he didn't need to complete all of them to get to the prize. He managed to get just enough keys to reach it.

It was worth it because the prize was none other than an arrow in a blue crystal, giving Link the ability to shoot ice arrows!

Then, they found a shooting range on horseback, and Link immediately decided to try it with Epona.

He broke the Gerudos' record on the first try, getting a bigger quiver to let him transport more arrows!

"By the Goddesses! You are a man of many talents!" commented the leader of the Gerudos when she witnessed this. "And I thought that all men except the great Ganondorf were useless... You could become one of our leaders alongside Nabooru!"

"Nabooru?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"She is the great Ganondorf's second-in-command, and the one who put me in charge of this fortress," explained the leader. "Her headquarters are in the Spirit Temple, at the end of the desert. If you follow what I told you, you will find it."

"Alright."

With nothing more to be done (after dragging Rota away from watching some of the guards training), the four heroes went to the gate leading to the desert. With a nod, the Gerudo beside it opened it, letting them pass.

They quickly understood why they needed all these instructions to cross the desert. It wasn't because it was huge (even if there was no doubt that it was huge), but because there was an eternal sandstorm that made it hard to see very far.

At least, they were able to see the first flags until they reached the famous River of Sand. Like its name indicated, it was a large quicksand that stretched in both directions like a river. Nothing problematic, Link was able to use the Longshot on boxes at the other side, and Sweetie Belle and the Bages just flew despite the strong winds. Then, they followed the flags like they were told to do until reaching the stone building, not minding the sign on the way.

The stone building had an entrance that just led to two torches that, once lit, made a chest containing a purple rupee appear between them. With nothing else in the building, they climbed on its roof by a ramp along the side. On the roof was a pedestal indicating that only "one with the Eye of Truth shall be guided to the Spirit Temple by an inviting ghost".

So Sweetie Belle took the Lens and used it, letting her see a Poe who then talked to her.

"I'll be your guide on your way,
but coming back I won't play!
I'll show you the only way to go,
So follow me and don't be slow!"

And without waiting, the Poe began to move away.

"Follow me! Quick!" shouted Sweetie Belle before she jumped from the roof of the building to follow the Poe, Link and the Bages quickly following her.

Following the ghost took some time as it took several detours giving them the impression that they were going in a circle. To make it worse, green creatures that Navi called Leevers began to come out of the sand and to harass the heroes, so they had to avoid or kill them while not losing the Poe. Eventually, they reached two flags after which the sandstorm stopped.

Further ahead, they could see a giant colossus of stone carved in a lone mountain.

Before going to it, they began to look around in this new area, finding a crack in a wall leading to a Fairy Fountain with a Great Fairy (who looked exactly like the other one) who gave Link a new spell: Nayru's Love, a crystallized barrier that enveloped Link to protect him from all sides for a time.

Another point of interest they found was a dried oasis in which Link had the idea of playing the Song of Storms to fill it, making fairies come, and Link took the occasion to fill his empty bottles (used during the little… incident in the Gerudo Fortress) with them just in case.

Finally, there was the now familiar large pedestal with the Triforce symbol that let them warp on it with the right melody, meaning that the colossus was certainly what they searched: the Spirit Temple.

However, all the while, they had to deal with the Leevers who just weren't stopping from coming no matter how many of them they killed!

Finding nothing else they could do, they entered the temple, the entrance being at the base of the colossus.

They were surprised to not see Sheik. They hoped that nothing happened to him.







The entrance room of the temple was pretty much like the one back in the Fire Temple; there was a central staircase leading to a superior level, and nothing else. Two giant snake statues were at both sides of the stairs, and at the top, there were two smaller, strange horned statues with a sword, a shield, and a Goron mark that Link warned were called Armos Statues and that they could actually be creatures called Armos.

After dealing with some floating jars and verifying that the Armos Statues weren't real Armos, they looked at the two passages they could use: one left and one right.

There were two problems however.

The left passage was a hole too small for Link to even crawl through, exactly like in the bottom of the well.

The right passage had a huge block blocking it, too heavy for Link to push or pull.

Sweetie Belle and the Bages could do something about both problems but decided not to.

When he read what was written on the snake statues, it was confirmed what the heroes had already understood by now: they had to return to the past. A part of the temple will have to be explored with Link as a child. They will apparently have to retrieve some "power of silver", certainly to move the block.

Well then, they exited the temple.

And there was Sheik finally appearing, landing in front of them and starting another of his monologues.

"Past, present, future... The Master Sword is a ship with which you can sail upstream and downstream through time's river... The port for that ship is in the Temple of Time... To restore the Desert Colossus and enter the Spirit Temple, you must travel back through time's flow..."

Thank you Captain Obvious! thought Sweetie Belle at this.

"Listen to this Requiem of Spirit... This melody will lead a child back to the desert," Sheik finished before he took his lyre and began to teach Link the last warping melody.

A song that really gave Sweetie Belle and the Bages an ending feeling. It was well named.

Then, when they were done, Sheik disappeared like always, this time the cover of sand blown by a burst of wind.

After that, it was simply a matter of returning to the Temple of Time with the Prelude of Light, placing the Master Sword in its pedestal with Sweetie Belle and Marko singing the Song of Time to return seven year to the past, and then play the Requiem of Spirit to return to the Spirit Temple.