Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers [Parallel Quest]

by Cyrus Colter

Chapter 16: The Water Temple: A Trial of Courage and a Show of Power.

Link stared dumbly at the giant mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke in the distance. One moment, he had been about to fight some black and transparent doppelganger, and the next, he was back on top of Death Mountain, on a cliff, watching as about a fourth of Hyrule suddenly exploded and most of the rest was ravaged by the force of the explosion.

Rota then came out of Instant Transmission, with Marko in tow. “What the hell was that!?!” The Saiyan demanded.

Sweetie Belle groaned loudly before answering.

“Pretty much what would happen if I decided to stop caring who or what gets hurt or worse when I go all out…” the filly answered morosely. “That double of me used one of my most powerful attacks, and this is the result…” she said, waving at the disaster. “Bright side? Monster’s dead. Down side? So are the Zora and anyone within about five miles of the Water Temple, including everyone in Lon Lon Ranch, a good chunk of Kakariko village, and-” She pointed at the crater with a hoof.- “Lake Hylia is now Crater Hylia.” She groaned again. "Why did there have to be a fight against a double? If I had known, I wouldn't have entered that room! I just wanted to help!"

Link looked sadly at the filly as tears began to show in the corner of her eyes, and he began to pet her while Rota suddenly took Sweetie Belle into a hug to calm her. "It isn't your fault. We just got unlucky to encounter such a challenge," the Hylian said.

Then, suddenly, everything flashed and they felt themselves floating as the ground disappeared under them. Not long later, they felt the floor again, and the world came back to them.

To their shock, they were back inside the Water Temple, in front of the door leading to the place with the doubles, as if all this disaster never happened.

"It must be the Goddess of Time!" Navi immediately understood. "She brought us back in time! It must have really been bad if she intervened personally."

Marko snorted with annoyance. “That’s an understatement,” he quipped while giving Sweetie Belle a side-eye.

At this moment, they began to hear a divine feminine voice speak to them in their mind. "I personally apologize for what happened," she said, sounding VERY annoyed. "Farore placed this challenge to test the four of you without thinking or taking precautions concerning your power." They quickly understood that she was mainly talking to Sweetie Belle while including Link and the siblings in the conversation. "I will have a word with her. If you still wish to pass this challenge, then pass this door with the Hero of Time and you will each be transported this time to different pocket dimensions instead of an illusionary room. If you don't, then just let the Hero of Time pass the door alone and wait. May the rest of your quest not have further incidents like this one." And at this, the voice stopped talking to them.

Sweetie Belle sighed in relief. "Thank you, Goddess of Time! And slap Farore for me, please!"

Link rubbed his head. "Huh... So I guess that we can continue our quest. So, will you three go fight your doubles?"

Marko shrugged as he answered, “Doesn’t seem to be much else to do, so I guess.”

Sweetie Belle gave it a moment of thought. “Hmmmm… Alright, I need to let off some stress from that incident, anyway.”

Rota stayed silent as she crossed her arms. Marko, understanding her problem, simply came up to her and gave her a hug. “You don’t have to do it, if you don’t want to.” The human said to his Saiyan sister.

Rota took a deep breath as she steadied herself. “I can’t let my fears control me forever. I need to face it at some point.”

The Saiyan then turned toward Link and Sweetie Belle with her resolve steeled and told them, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

So the four of them passed the door, and Rota found herself back on the infinite ocean with ruins and the small island. Only, this time, there was no fog, Link, Sweetie Belle, and Marko were somehow gone, and the entrance and exit door weren't here.

She walked toward the island, but stopped before fully crossing it. There, she closed her eyes, took a big breath, and started charging her power subtly.

She took her next, near-hesitant steps forward, passing the Island. Once past the tree, she opened her eyes, revealing them to be glowing with power.

When she stepped back on the water, she immediately remarked that her reflection had disappeared, but she didn't mind it as she continued to advance and build her power, fully slipping into a pseudo Super Saiyan state..

Upon feeling her dark double (categorized in her mind simply as ‘Dark Rota’) rise from the water, Rota turned to face her.

As one, the two Rota’s dashed toward each other, meeting with a clash of fists.

Dark Rota then twirled around, grabbing Rota’s arm and tossing the true Saiyan over the Shadowy reflections shoulder, only for Rota to land on her feet and reverse the grapple into a slam, sending Dark Rota crashing into the surface of the water as if it were stone. The double kicked herself free, then flipped to her feet while Rota recovered and returned to her stance.

With a flicker of movement, the two combatants began exchanging strikes at hyperspeed. Rota slammed an overhand strike into Dark Rota’s guard, only for the shadow to unleash a blast into the Saiyan’s torso, sending her flying. Recovering in midair, Rota Bage felt a sensation, much akin to her natural Zenkai Boost, but… different.

With a roar as Dark Rota slammed a kick into the Saiyans head, Rota transformed, a blue aura overtaking her, sending the double flying before it recovered.

When the light receded, Rota slowly came down to the ground in what seemed to be an altered version of her Super Saiyan 4 form, her eyes, hair and tail now glowing blue, and she could feel her power had grown beyond anything mortal.

Rota Bage then flicker-stepped in front of her shadowy doppelganger, winding up an uppercut to the gut. The blow landed, sending the shadow careening through the air. It recovered and landed on its feet, looking up only to see Rota already in front of it, connecting with an upward swinging kick, sending Dark Rota into the air.

Rota then lifted her right hand, palm facing upward, charging a large ball of blue energy above it.

“I won’t let fear stop me ANYMORE!”

With her cry, she threw the energy ball at Dark Rota, impacting and engulfing the doppelganger and causing it to burst, blowing the shadow apart.

With the death of the doppelganger, the pocket dimension began to fade back into a room within the Water Temple, Sweetie Belle fading into focus beside the Saiyan, the filly having already finished dealing with her double.

Sweetie Belle whistled, impressed by Rota’s new form. “Now that’s interesting.”

Rota, on the other hand, looked at her body, as if astounded that she had this power. The only comparison she had for the power she felt from herself was from…

“I think this may have been a gift… or an attempt at an apology from Farore,” Rota quipped as she receded back to her base form. Noticing she was still only in her bra, she snapped her fingers, and, in a flash of light, the Saiyan was once more clad in her sleeveless shirt and vest.

Within moments, Marko appeared, kneeling on the ground, out of breath and covered in cuts, but seeming more sore than anything.

“I may have overdone it with the Kaioken… just a bit,” the human quipped, but neither Sweetie Belle nor Rota were amused as the latter dug through another pocket on her vest, pulling out a small box-like case.

“Eat a Senzu and leave to dumb quips to me, OK bro?” Rota asked as she shoved the case into Marko’s hands.

“Alright, sis.”

“Quick question,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Shoot,” Rota replied.

“Kaio-what?” The filly asked with a tilt of her head.

“Kaio-Ken. It’s a technique that multiplies the user's power for a time, but the longer it’s used, or higher the multiplier you stack on, the more it’s going to tear at the body.” The Saiyan’s explanation was quick and concise. “Some call it the Kaio-Crap technique because of that last point, actually.”

The filly giggled at that.

It was at that moment Link appeared, himself kneeling and covered in even more cuts than Marko was. As Marko’s injuries healed, he stopped Link from wasting his potions, handing him one of the Senzu Beans as Rota explained them to Sweetie, and Link due to proximity.

“The beans are Senzu Beans, they can heal any non-lethal injuries, while also effectively acting like a very large meal, depending on the appetite,” The Saiyan said, prompting Link to take the bean from Marko and eat it.

The restorative effects were near instant upon swallowing. Though his stomach lurched a bit from the sudden filling effect.

Marko put his hand on the Hylian’s shoulder to help steady him. “Careful. It’s always a bit disorienting for the first few times,” the human said. “C’mon, the exit’s open, now.”

Link nodded and the group advanced through the previously locked door. On the other side, they ended up in a smaller room with just a big chest and a Time Block. Link opened the chest and got a new Hookshot that was longer, the Longshot.

"Now, I will be able to reach all the targets," said Link.

“Alright, now we can reach the door to our next target. But in order to OPEN the door, we still need the key.” Rota pointed out.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle sang the Song of Time, making the Time Block disappear and revealing a hole to jump in.

They all jumped in the hole and dropped in a cavern with a river that they had to jump in to continue. Following the current, they had to avoid many vortexes on the way. At the end, to continue, Link had to climb on a small platform and fire an arrow at an eye-interrupter to open a gate. He then used the Longshot on a chest that was behind the gate to rapidly reach it and open it to get a key as Sweetie Belle and the siblings followed him. Following the path eventually led them back in the room with the statue of a serpentine dragon with a crystal in the mouth. From here, they returned to the main room of the temple.

Now, thanks to the Longshot, they could explore rooms and passages Link couldn't reach before. The fastest to explore was the South passage of the second level that Link couldn't enter because of the gate closing too quickly.

But first, they had to lower the water to the second level so they could reach the eye-interrupter and fire at it with the bow. So they first returned to the room where they found Ruto and lowered the water to the first level. Then, they entered the pillar and climbed until reaching the second level where they raised the water. Thanks to this, they will be able to hit the eye-interrupter thanks to the platform floater now being just in front of it. They then circled the pillar to the South part, went on the platform floater, and Link fired an arrow at the eye-interrupter before using the Longshot on the target behind the opened gate to enter the passage before it would close.

In this passage, they just had to push the block they had pulled at the beginning, letting them reach a room that was behind it. In the room was a chest with a key.

This left them only one passage left unexplored: the North one on the first level. With the water already raised, all they needed to do was to jump in the water (Link with the boots) and to enter the passage before popping out of the water in the next room. There, they discovered a Longshot target, and Link had to climb on a ledge to reach it and pass above spikes that blocked the way.

Using a first key to unlock the door, they entered a room where they had to traverse a large pit full of water with strong currents. There were some vortexes, a lot of Blue Tektites, and even rolling boulders at the bottom in case Link had the idea of using the boots to traverse. First, they killed the Tektites, and from there, they carefully swam to the other side where they went to the next room.

It was another room with water, this time in a lower lever. There were some Stingers (small manta-ray-like enemies) that they killed before they could jump out of the water to attack, and they spotted a switch in the water. However, it was one of those switches that were only activated when something remained on it. The heroes remarked that a part of the South wall was cracked, and another part was looking weird (hitting it with the sword confirmed that it could also be destroyed). Destroying the two parts with bombs, they revealed a U-shaped passage with a block. So Sweetie Belle entered the passage by the right to push (or rather kick) the block until a corner. Rota then entered the passage by the left and pulled the block until it was out. After that, Marko kicked the block to make it fall into a hole right on the switch. This had the effect of raising the water level for them to reach the exit.

The door was barred behind them after they entered the next room, and the exit was too. It was rather simple to open and reach it however. They just had to step on a switch to make the bars disappear and jump from water pillar to water pillar that had activated through a pit to reach it before the bars returned. There were two Blue tektites at the end, but Sweetie and Rota quickly dealt with them.

Passing the door, they were back in the room with the rolling boulders, in one of the alcoves from which the boulders (and the water) came. There, they waited for a boulder to pass before they jumped in the water into an underwater passage that led to a locked door, out of water. In the room behind the door was the fancy chest containing the Big Key. From there, it was easy to return to the main room. However, with the water only raised to the second level, the dragon statue with the Longshot target wasn't raised so they couldn't reach the ledge to the final room. So they first had to go all the way back into the alcove with the blue plate to raise the water to the third level.

With the water raised, Link was able to use the Longshot on the statue and to go on the ledge. They then just had to climb a sloping hallway while avoiding Spike Traps on the way, sliding back down before reaching the door with the golden lock.

They opened it and entered the last room of the temple.

The room had a large pit filled with water with four platforms in it. Spikes also were on the walls at ground level all around. Navi immediately felt something wrong with the water and warned them that it wasn't natural, a statement backed by the Bage siblings’ energy senses. So, keeping an eye on the water, they jumped on one of the platforms.

They saw something moving in the water and followed it with their eyes. The thing revealed to be some kind of orb that could not only move freely in the liquid, but that could also control it as it raised some water to form some kind of tentacle with the orb inside. The tentacle then attacked them, but it was easily avoided. It was quickly clear that the orb could only form one tentacle at a time…

“Are you fucking kidding me? Is that all?” Rota complained. “After the Fake Ganondorf and Volvagia, that’s lame.”

Link simply shrugged before they avoided another tentacle. Link then grabbed the Longshot and managed to get the orb out of the water before hitting it with the sword. The orb, however, quickly bounced back in the water.

Marko sighed, bringing up his hands as electricity sparked between them. Once the next tentacle came out of the water, the sorcerer blasted a beam of lightning at it. The electricity quickly spread throughout the water and damaged the orb. The tentacle tried to slam down on Marko, but he easily avoided the attack, with Link taking the opportunity to use the Longshot to pull the orb out of the water.

As it attempted to return to the water, Rota took a stance, pointing her right index and middle fingers at her forehead. This time, however, energy began to spark at the tips of her fingers.

Once the orb jumped beyond the ledge over the water, Rota let her attack fly.

“SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!”

She pointed her fingers at the orb, unleashing a beam of purple energy surrounded by rotating yellow-orange energy that drilled through the orb, causing it to burst like a balloon.

With the orb destroyed, the water in the room disappeared into the ceiling before a familiar blue light appeared in the center.

“That was supposed to be one of Ganondorf’s top monsters?” Navi asked in confusion.

"Apparently," said Link. "My double had been harder to fight than that thing."

Stopping thinking about this disappointing monster, the heroes entered the blue light and, like previously, they were transported in a crystal to the Chamber of the Sages. This time, the blue pedestal glowed with the blue light, and Ruto appeared in it.

"Link..." she began. "I would have expected no less from the man I chose to be my husband."

"You have to tell me how this happened by the way," Sweetie Belle said to Link while giving a tap to the back of his leg, making the Hylian blush.

Ruto giggled at the scene before she continued. "Zora's Domain and its people will eventually return to their original state. As a reward... I grant my eternal love to you." She blew a kiss at Link at this, winking, making the Hylian blush even more, to Sweetie Belle's amusement. However, Ruto's expression turned sad. "Well, that's what I want to say, but I don't think I can offer that now. I have to guard the Water Temple as the Sage of Water... And you... You're searching for the princess, Zelda?"

"Uh..."

"Hah! You can't hide anything from me!"

"Waaaait... Do I smell a love triangle?" asked Sweetie Belle as she looked mischievously at Link. "What a lady killer. I'm frankly not surprised."

Rota and Marko both gave Link a look that spoke similar thoughts.

Link groaned at this. “Please… Stop…”

Sweetie, Rota and Ruto all laughed.

"Princess Zelda is alive, I can sense it, so don't be discouraged," reassured Ruto once she calmed down. "I can tell that nothing will stop you in your quest for justice and peace... You must take this medallion... Take it respectfully!"

She then raised her arms, and a blue medallion appeared above Link who took it.

"I guess I won't be able to keep you, Sweetie Belle," Ruto then said to the filly who giggled at this.

Sweetie Belle quickly used her powers to create a plushy that looked like her before she gave it to the Zora princess. "You can't keep me, but you can keep her. Take care of her."

Ruto giggled and took the plushy. "I will. Thank you."

It was then that everything was plunged in light.

"If you see Sheik, please give him my thanks. Ok?"

---

They appeared back on the island in Lake Hylia that was slowly filling back up. There, they found Sheik who was observing the water. They immediately ran to him, and Link passed Ruto's message.

"Ruto wanted to thank me? I see... We have to return peace to Hyrule for her sake too. Don't we?" Sheik waved at the lake as the water finished rising. "Look at that, Link, Sweetie Belle, Rota, Marko. Together, you four and Princess Ruto destroyed the evil monster! Once again, the lake is filled with pure water. All is as it was here."

However, as Sweetie Belle, Link and the Bage siblings observed the beauty of the filled lake, Sheik stepped back. When the heroes turned toward him, he was already gone. They however heard someone plunge in the water.

"And he's gone. So, I guess this leaves two temples. But where do we go now?" wondered Sweetie Belle.

"I don't know," answered Link before he approached a pedestal that read "shoot for the morning light." However, it was starting to get late in the afternoon.

After Link read the pedestal for her, Sweetie Belle wondered, "Do we use the Sun's Song, or do we camp and rest here?"

"I wouldn't mind a rest," replied Link. "And I'm hungry. We haven't eaten since this morning. There's a fishing spot not far."

"No thanks. I tasted meat once and it was horrible. I will install the camp while you go fishing," the filly said

"I'll help you." Rota offered, Sweetie Belle popping a pair of tents in her arms immediately after.

Link nodded and went to fish.

And so, they spent the night on the island. Link eventually returned with some fishes and, apparently, a 'new' song. He met an old scarecrow friend, and now, thanks to a song, he could invoke another scarecrow in some places that he could use as a Longshot target. He supposed that it was the song he should have played back in the Fire Temple to reach that elevator.

As Marko cooked and while the group ate, Sweetie Belle and Rota began to ask Link the story of how Ruto chose him as her husband, and despite the embarrassment, he told them. They then talked about various things before going to sleep early, making sure that they would wake up at sunrise so Link could do what was written on the pedestal.

Author's Note:

For those wondering why I'm showing Rota's fight against her double and not Marko's, let's consider that a hint on which OC is getting equal billing to Sweetie Belle once I've got the whole team (My OC family and the original UME group) all together.

Comments

[Lucar]

So Rota unlocked the Super Saiyan Blue?

[Cyrus Colter]

11886457
In a way.

It'll be better explained/explored in the interim between Ocarina of Time and the next arc.

[Xarmar13]

I hope that someone knows how to grow those Senzu Beans otherwise they will have a very limited supply throughout the story...or unless the siblings find their home dimension.