Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers [Parallel Quest]

by Cyrus Colter

Chapter 19: The Spirit Temple; Shaded Ambitions and Elemental Rage.

They entered the Spirit Temple for the second time and went toward the small hole they could crawl through (destroying the floating jars on the way), only to find a Gerudo in front of it, looking down at it on a knee. When they approached her, she heard them, got up, and turned around. She was obviously surprised to see a child in this place as she stared at Link.

"What is a kid doing in this place? How did you even reach this place?"

Link shrugged. "Long story."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter in the end how you came here, you came just in time. I have a favor to ask you. But first, I have to ask. Are you a follower of Ganondorf?"

With the woman being a Gerudo, the heroes would be tempted to lie and say that they were to avoid a fight. But they easily detected the anger and hate hidden in her voice when she pronounced the name of the Dark Lord, and they immediately understood that this Gerudo didn't seem to have a great respect toward him, contrary to the others.

"No, we aren't," Sweetie Belle, Link, Rota and Marko answered at the same time, showing as much hate toward the man in their voice as they could.

The Gerudo eyed the filly upon discovering that she was a sentient being too and not just a pet, but still talked as if it was nothing.

"You have got guts. I think I like you. Very well. First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Nabooru of the Gerudo. I'm a lone-wolf thief."

"Oh, we heard about you! We were told that you were Ganondorf's second-in-command!" Rota blurted out. She then more sheepishly continued, "So... We were expecting to eventually fight you... But it seems like we had nothing to worry about."

Nabooru let out a chuckle at this. "So not only are you not followers of Ganondorf, but you are enemies of him? Uhuhuh. That's perfect. As you guessed, I'm not on his side either. We may be both thieves, but I'm completely different from him. With his followers, he stole from women and children, and he even killed people! Kids and foreigners like you may not know this, but the Gerudo race only consists of women. Only one man is born every hundred years... Even though our laws say that the lone male Gerudo must become King of the Gerudo, I'll never bow to such an evil man! I'm only his second-in-command because I have no choice!"

"Well then, give us seven years and we will get you rid of him," stated Sweetie Belle with a big grin.

Link and the Bages nodded with a determined look.

Nabooru eyed the group a few seconds at this, determining that they were serious. "What are your names?"

"Link."

"Sweetie Belle!"

“Rota Bage.”

“Marko Bage.”

This time, the Gerudo eyed them with a "Seriously?" expression. "What kind of names are these?!"

"Hey!" shouted both kids while Rota shrugged and Marko facepalmed.

Nabooru shook her head to recover her focus. "Well... Anyway... Like I said, I want to ask you a favor... Will you go through that tiny hole and get a treasure that's inside? The treasure is the Silver Gauntlets. If you equip them, you can push and pull very heavy things!"

Sweetie Belle and Link exchanged a glance at this. It was exactly what Link needed to pull that big block.

Nabooru recognised their expression however. "No, no, no, kids! Don't even think of taking this treasure for yourself! The Silver Gauntlets won't fit a little kid like you if you try to equip them! So I want you two to be good kids and to give them to me or your elders here! Ganondorf and his minions are using the Spirit Temple as a hideout. Only the Silver Gauntlets will allow one to sneak deep into the temple. Once there, I'm going to steal all the treasures inside and mess up their plans! So, can I count on you?"

Sweetie Belle glanced at Link and raised an eyebrow at him. Link answered with a shrug before replying "Alright. But let's make a deal. If you somehow fail to mess up their plans, then I want you to come back in front of the entrance in seven years, and once we come back, you will give us the gauntlets so WE can go into the temple and deal with Ganondorf and his minions. You should recognise us easily."

Nabooru let out a small snort. "It would be hard to mistake a young man with a little white winged and horned equine, to say nothing of your other companions. Very well. But I don't doubt that I will succeed. I am not the second-in-command for nothing. Now, let's give Ganondorf and his followers a big surprise, shall we? If you can successfully get the Silver Gauntlets... I'll do something great for you!"

The heroes nodded, and Nabooru moved out of the way to let them enter the hole.

So Link and Sweetie Belle crawled through it, finally beginning their exploration of the Spirit Temple while Marko waited outside with Nabooru, both to save on room like the well and to chat with the Gerudo, if possible, and Rota followed the kids in with Instant Transmission.

The first room they entered had a small path with a Spike Trap leading to a small curved staircase. However, they didn't have to follow the path as they could just climb on the ledge at the right and reach the main part of the room, where there was another Spike Trap circling an Armos Statue. Some Keeses, normal ones and fire ones, were also flying around. When he saw the Fire Keeses, Link immediately replaced the Deku Shield he was using with the Hylian Shield. The Hylian Shield was too big for him and he could only use it as a back shield, but at least, it won't burn if one of the Fire Keeses or any other fire enemies that may be in the temple managed to land a hit.

But he didn't have to worry as Rota quickly killed the Keeses as she came out of Instant Transmission. When the two other doors in the room remained barred, they understood that the Armos Statue was actually a real Armos, and Link threw a bomb at it. The explosion caused the statue to animate, taking on a more monstrous form, before it erratically moved around until it exploded. Then the bars on the doors disappeared.

Now, they had to choose between the two doors, one left and one right, and another hole to crawl through between them. They first decided to crawl through the hole, only to find out that they couldn't go far because they were blocked by a locked door. So they returned to the room and decided to take the left door.

The room behind it was separated in two by a bottomless pit, and they were immediately assaulted by a Stalfos that Link had some more difficulty to kill. Thankfully, he could count on Sweetie Belle and Rota’s help. Once they dealt with the Stalfos (with Rota simply tossing its head down the pit), Sweetie Belle then quickly killed the Green Bubble that was flying above the pit, in front of what seemed to be a grating bridge that could be lowered thanks to a crystal behind it. Link used the boomerang to activate it, and they traversed the pit. At the other side, they destroyed a couple of floating jars before opening a chest that only contained a blue rupee.

Passing the door at the right, they entered the next room, only for the door to be barred behind them. The room itself had a Z-shaped narrow path above a bottomless pit, the exit being just at their right in the bottom of the Z. However, it was barred too. In the middle of the Z, in a round part, with a Spike Trap circling a jar, and behind it was a new enemy named Anubis. Navi warned them that it was only vulnerable to fire, and they also remarked that it repeated Link's every move and that it sent a fireball each time that Link used his sword to destroy the jars on the way.

“Of all the times Marko would come in handy,” Rota grumbled as she peppered the creature with rapid fire beams, alongside Sweetie Belle using fire beams. The thing was dead before it knew it, opening the way. They could have also hit the crystal at the right to activate a circle of fire at the North end of the Z before tricking the Anubis to move into it, but it was faster with the beams and Fire.

Passing the exit, they entered another room separated in two by a pit, only, this time, a fence fully stopped them from crossing the pit. Navi warned about the presence of Wallmasters, and Sweetie Belle immediately fired above her, killing one that dropped on her before she slapped it to the side. While Sweetie Belle and Rota dealt with the Wallmasters, Link quickly killed a Fire Keese before he went to grab the five silver rupees in this part of the room. To get some of them, he had to climb on the fence. When the last rupee was grabbed, the middle part of the fence lowered to become a bridge for them to cross the pit. After killing a few more Keeses that were at the other side, Sweetie Belle and Link then each lit a torch here, making a small chest containing a key appear.

Finally, they passed the last door which led them back in the room where they destroyed the Armos. With the key in their possession, they were able to open the locked door at the other side of the hole, entering a vertical passage with a wall that they could climb. However, they first had to kill a couple of Skullwalltulas.

In the room at the top were two more Skullwalltulas as well as two Lezalfos, the first ones that Sweetie Belle and Rota encountered, tall bipedal warrior lizards, not hard to kill thankfully. Activating a crystal on a ledge at the South dropped two chests, one containing a blue rupee and the other some special mouse-shaped bombs named Bombchus.

They weren't sure what to do next as the exit was barred, but there was a sun in the middle of the floor that was very suspicious. They then remarked a part of the wall partially covered by boulders out of which some sunlight was coming. However, the boulders were too high to be destroyed with a normal bomb.

So Link used one of the Bombchus he just got, and Sweetie Belle and Rota witnessed a bomb mouse running up a wall by itself for the first time in their lives. The Bombchu successfully exploded on the boulders, blowing them up and revealing a big hole through which more sunlight came. The sunlight reached the sun on the ground, which began to glow and... smile very creepily before the exit opened.

“Well… that happened,” Rota idly quipped.

"Okay. Let's note this. The weird suns need sunlight," Sweetie Belle instructed.

Link and Rota both nodded.

Passing the now unbarred door, they entered what seemed to be the main room of the temple. It was very huge, with a big statue of a snake woman looking like the colossus outside. An exploration of the room led them to see that they couldn't do much however.

They came from a door at the West in the middle level of the room. Two sets of stairs were leading to another door just above, but said door was barred. There was a similar path in the East, with an East door in the middle level, two sets of stairs, and another door, this time locked, above. Between the two paths, at the top of a staircase accessed from the bottom level of the room, was another barred room. In the bottom level was also a blue switch that had to be held down to maintain the West door of the upper level open. To do this, they had to push an Armor Statue that was beside the middle level West door on it. Another switch was on a ledge in the upper level, East, but couldn't be reached yet. Finally, at the bottom of the statue, in front of it, were two torches that had to be lit to materialize a big chest containing the map.

With nothing else to do, they returned to the middle level West path by climbing a wall, then climbed the two sets of stairs to the opened door in the upper level. In the following hallway, they rounded the raid stairs and entered the next room, the door getting barred behind them.

In this room: three Beamos, three Spike Traps moving back and forth here and there, a window through which sunlight was coming, several torches off, five silver rupees, and four blocks with a sun on one of them. They began by destroying the Beamos. Then, they took the silver rupees, lightening one of the torches. With Link not able to use the bow as a child, he had to use the newly lit torch to light the others with the help of a Deku Stick (and Sweetie Belle using fire powers). Lightening all the torches made a small chest containing a key drop. Finally, they pulled the block with the sun to the sunlight, making the sun glow and smile and unblocking the exit.

After climbing two successive sets of stairs in the next corridor, they unlocked the door at the top and entered a throne room with several pillars at both sides of a carpet leading to the throne. Throne on which an imposing armored figure armed with an axe was sitting without moving. Behind the throne, on the walls at both sides, were crossed pairs of axes, and the exit, barred, was between them.

"Uh oh..." Navi began upon spotting the figure on the throne. "An Iron Knuckle... Those guys are forces of nature. Be careful. Thankfully, their heavy armor makes them very slow. As long as you avoid their weapon, you should be alright. Hit it to wake it up."

Link nodded, carefully approached the throne, and hit the Iron Knuckle with his sword before quickly running back. Now awake, the Iron Knuckle slowly got up before it swung its axe, destroying the throne as if it was nothing before slowly approaching the heroes with heavy steps. Between the heavy armor entirely covering its body and the fact that it was towering above them, the Iron Knuckle was very intimidating, but it didn't stop the heroes from approaching to battle it.

As Navi said, the Iron Knuckle was very slow, so it was very easy for the heroes to avoid its axe before counterattacking. But the battle was a long one because of the heavy armor, and Link's Kokiri Sword didn't do much damage. Still, little by little, hit by hit, the heroes managed to wear it out. Then, with a lucky hit, Link was able to knock the armor from its body, which was good and bad. Good because the Iron Knuckle was more vulnerable. Bad because it was now moving faster.

But it didn't change much in the end, the heroes still were able to avoid its weapon without problem. Deciding to end the poor thing's suffering, Sweetie Belle eventually sliced the axe, leaving the Iron Knuckle with just the handle to use as a staff. It was proof of the monster's skill that it immediately adapted to its 'new' weapon without even being shocked by the fact that it had been sliced as easily as butter, but it was much less dangerous, and Sweetie Belle continued to cut it piece by piece. Thanks to Sweetie Belle dealing with the weapon, Link had less problem approaching the monster to attack it, only for the Iron Knuckle to suddenly throw what remained of its weapon before grabbing Link by the head. Link immediately reacted by piercing the arm with his sword, forcing the Iron Knuckle to release him before finishing it with a few quick swings.

As it died, the Iron Knuckle didn't even fall on the ground. It just dropped on its knees and stopped moving. To ensure that it wasn't a trick, Rota beheaded it with a Ki blade around her hand..

The death of the Iron Knuckle opened the door behind what remained of the throne.

The filly smiled at her friend. "You really have gone far to be able to fight such a brute despite being a kid. If we encounter another Iron Knuckle once we're back to the future, I'm sure that it will be nothing to you."

"Thanks," Link replied with a smile at the compliment before they passed the door and traversed a passage leading outside of the temple, on the colossus' right hand.

Here, an old acquaintance of Link, none other than a giant talking brown owl that Link told Sweetie Belle and the Bages about, was awaiting them, much to the boy's surprise. Link hadn't expected to see the owl again. He hadn't seen him in a long time.

"Hey, what's up, Link? Surprised to see me? A long time in this world is almost nothing to you, is it? How mysterious! Even I thought that the tales of a boy who could travel back and forth through time were merely legends. And now, you are accompanied by a pair of strange creatures who aren't of this world. Sweetie Belle and Rota Bage, if I am not mistaken? Hoot!"

The named pair nodded, Sweetie Belle replying, “Uhuh! It’s nice to meet you, Mister Owl!”

"Hoo hoo hoo hoot! You are so innocent-looking. It is hard even for me to believe that you are hiding such immense power that could rival with the Gods themselves. And yet, you tone it down to let Link follow his destiny and mature as a hero, just following him and helping him in his quest. You have all my respect. I just hope that this power won't eventually blind and corrupt you like it blinded and corrupted so many people."

Rota sneered at that, noticed by the owl who cleared his throat. (Which was weird to hear.)

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "I can count on my friends to make sure that it doesn't happen."

"Yes. We can always count on true friends. It's very sad that many tend to forget it. And now, you can include Link as one." The owl then looked back at Link. "Link, you have fully matured as an adult. From now on, the future of all people in Hyrule is on your shoulders. Maybe it's not my time anymore. Here is my last piece of advice. Two witches inhabit this temple. In order to destroy them, turn their own magic power against them. Hoo hoot! Do you want to hear what I said again?"

"No thanks."

"I will continue to watch you... Hoo hoo hoo hoot!" The owl then took off and flew away into the desert.

“Not as talkative as you said he’d be,” Rota quipped once the owl was out of eyesight.

"You got lucky. He can really go on and on when he wants," replied Link.

Just after that, they found a big chest containing the Silver Gauntlets that they searched.

But then, they heard yelling from down in front of the entrance. Looking down, they saw Marko get frozen solid and Nabooru disappearing down a black hole seemingly created by two old witches circling it on their brooms. Before Sweetie or Rota could even act, the hole closed, and the witches returned inside the temple.

"They must be the two witches that we must defeat by turning their magic power against them," said Navi. "I don't think we can do anything for Nabooru right now. We must return to the future if we want to save her."

Sweetie Belle growled. "I guess... Or Rota and I can just go and save her right now. It wouldn't take us long."

"How about no? As I see it, Nabooru seems to be the Sage of the Spirit Temple, and so, it is Link's duty to save her," Rota countered with an authority in her voice that reminded the filly that Rota was the adult in the situation... literally.

"Alright..." Sweetie Belle with a resigned sigh.

After petting the filly a little, Link took his ocarina and played the Prelude of Light to warp to the Temple of Time, Sweetie Belle following him with a teleportation, and Rota going to unfreeze Marko then singing the Prelude of Light to follow as well. They then returned to the future before Link used the Requiem of Spirit to warp back to the entrance of the Spirit Temple.

Back in the entrance hall, Link equipped the gauntlets and pushed the giant block in the right until it fell in a hole, letting them pass. They then entered a mirror version of the room at the opposite side, except that instead of an Armor, there was a Beamos that was easily destroyed. There wasn't a hole to crawl through too, the locked door being directly accessible. Destroying the Beamos, however, didn't open the other doors. Looking around in search of what they missed, they found a crystal in the ceiling that they activated. This time, the doors were opened.

After a brief look at the map, they went left first, entering a room with a sandy area below in the second half, and a lone platform in the back-left corner. After quickly killing a Wolfos, Link stood on a Triforce Symbol and played Zelda's Lullaby, making a big chest drop from nowhere on the lone platform. Link then used Longshot to reach it and open it, getting the compass. After returning in the first half of the room by jumping down on the sand and climbing up a wall, they returned to the previous room.

They took the right door this time, entering a bowled, rectangle-shaped room with three rolling boulders where they had to get five silver rupees. To get the first one, Link had to use the winged boots before they separated to get the four others in the cubbies at both sides of the room. Once they got the five rupees, the door at the end opened, and they were able to enter a small room with a chest that they opened after killing a Like Like dropping from the ceiling, getting a key.

They returned to the room where they destroyed the Beamos again and opened the locked door, entering a passage that went up like on the other side of the temple. They had to deal again with a dropping Like Like, as well as some floating jars, before they could climb the wall (Link using the Longshot to gain time). In the room at the top, they heard the distinct sound of something invisible moving, so Sweetie Belle used the Lens of Truth to discover that there was a Floormaster that was promptly incinerated by Marko. Once the Floormaster was gone, they looked around to see what they had to do.

It wasn't hard to guess. There was a window from which sunlight came. In the middle of the room, in the sunlight, with some snake statue with a mirror that deflected the light, the statue possessed two handles to spin it. Finally, on the walls were several suns.

So, after explaining the puzzle to Marko, they pushed the handles to turn the mirror so it would deflect the sunlight into the suns. Suns number one and two burned and each let a small chest drop. The third sun remained, glowed, and smiled, unlocking the door. The fourth also burned, making another Floormaster drop. While Sweetie Belle killed the walking hand, Link went to open the chests only to get some rupees and... a freezing trap trapping him in ice. He was, thankfully, quickly able to escape from the ice by himself.

“And here I was hoping to avoid trapped chests,” Marko said with a hand rubbing his brow.

“Well that’s a thing we need to watch out for, now,” Sweetie complained.

"Seems like it..." Link groaned.

They passed the door, and they were back in the huge room with the big statue, on the East path this time. The East door at the top being locked, they couldn't continue directly. Instead, after dealing with an Armos, Link was able to reach the switch on the East ledge at the top thanks to the winged boots. The switch being rusted, he had to use the hammer to press it, unlocking the door at the top of the stairs between the two paths. Before passing it, however, Link was able to jump on the statue's left hand from the ledge where a Triforce symbol could be seen. He then played Zelda's Lullaby, making a chest drop on the statue's right hand. Thanks to the Longshot, he was able to reach it, getting a key. Another chest had appeared on the ledge with the rusted switch, but this one only contained a blue rupee.

They first went to the South door that they unlocked with the switch, the door leading to what seemed to be a dead end room where they had to push two giant blocks to reach the end. Nothing indicated that there was something interesting here, not even the compass, but they still went here just in case there was some mechanism that needed to be activated. Instead, they found a rusted switch that, once pressed, activated an elevator that was a shortcut between this place and the entrance hall.

They returned in the giant room with the statue, and this time, after using the Longshot to return to the East path, used the key to unlock the top East door. They rounded another red staircase like the one in the West side, this one having a Beamos, and entered a room with narrow pathways above a pit with three Anubis, a Beamos, and a switch that activated a circle of fire. Sweetie Belle quickly destroyed the Beamos with an explosive ball while Marko, having been informed of their fire weakness, reduced the three Anubis to ashes with a storm of fire lances. With all of the enemies destroyed, the doors opened except one at the right of the entrance that was locked.

Next was a room with four Armos Statues around a blue switch and a Spike Trap moving back and forth at the left, and a sun on the wall not far from a window with sunlight. The switch, like all the blue switches, had to be held down. Pressing it opened the barred door at the right, but not the one at the left. To open the left door, they didn't doubt that they would have to find a way to deflect into the sun.

So they went to search for a real statue to push on the switch while destroying the ones revealed to be real Armos…

Which turned out to be all of them.

Which also meant that they had to bait the last Armos to jump on the switch. However, baiting the Armos on the switch and reaching the door in time before it moved from the switch wasn't easy. So Sweetie Belle decided to bait the Armos while Link and the Bages remained beside the door. Then, once the Armos stepped on the switch, she teleported to the door and they all quickly passed it. They then climbed the corridor that followed (opening two invisible chests on the way that contained some rupees) and entered another Throne room with an Iron Knuckle.

This time, Sweetie Belle and the Bages let Link deal with it to see how he would fare. He needed to test himself to face Ganondorf after all. And as the filly expected, the Hero of Time made short work of the armored foe now that he was an adult and armed with the Master Sword.

They then passed the door that the Iron Knuckle was guarding and, like in the opposite side of the dungeon, entered a passage that led outside of the temple, on the left hand of the colossus. On it, they found another big chest that contained a new shield for Link: a mirror shield! A shield that could reflect light and projectiles of energy!

"Exactly what we needed to deflect the light on the sun," Sweetie Belle said.

They then returned to the temple and went back to the room with the Armos. Here, they quickly destroyed the remaining Armos before Link used the mirror shield to deflect the light on the sun to make it glow and smile, opening the left door. The room behind was a small one with just a chest containing a key that they used back in the room where they destroyed the three Anubis.

The room behind was another climbing passage with two Beamos at the bottom of the wall that could be climbed, and a Skullwalltula on said wall. The wall was actually made of several sections that were moving left or right, each section having parts that could be climbed and parts that couldn't. At both sides of the wall were spiked walls all the way to the top.

The trap was intimidating...

But Link was able to pass it thanks to the Longshot.

Sometimes, Courage needs to make way for Wisdom to make your life easier.

At the top, two more Beamos with a Spike Trap between them were present and promptly destroyed before the heroes passed the door behind them.

They climbed some stairs leading to a barred door with the Triforce symbol just in front. More stairs at the left were leading to another door, this one accessible. But first, Link played Zelda's Lullaby on the symbol and unlocked the first door, letting them enter a room with several Fire Slugs, a fancy chest surrounded in fire, doors all over the walls around, and a floating platform above the chest with a switch. There was also a Longshot target on the ceiling, but it wasn't above the platform.

The doors, as indicated by the maps, were all fake ones, so the heroes destroyed all of them after dealing with the slugs. Behind one of the doors, they found an eye-interrupter that, once activated, made another floating platform appear just under the Longshot target. Thanks to it, Link was able to reach and press the switch, letting Sweetie open the chest and get the Big Key in it.

They then returned in the previous corridor and climbed the stairs to the second door that led to the upper level of a room with four big chains and a giant mirror in the ceiling, above the lower level. There was also a sun on the wall, and a crystal on the bottom level. Activating it (after dealing with the many floating jars here) opened the East door in the upper level. Having nothing more to do in this room for now, they passed this door.

Almost upon entering the next room, they were assaulted by a Lezalfos that was easily killed by Link and Rota while Sweetie Belle and Marko spotted a sun near the ceiling. Thankfully, sunlight was coming from a mirror in a neighboring room. Once the Lezalfos was dead, Link used the mirror shield to deflect light on the sun, making it burn and revealing a chest that contained bombs.

They then went to the mirror and dealt with some White Bubbles (they were just Bubbles without fire randomly spinning around with brusque moves) before they blew up a cracked wall. They then spun the mirror so it faced the newly revealed room where there was another mirror. When they then went into this third room, another Lizalfos came, only to be speared by Sweetie Belle. With the Lezalfos now a wall decoration, Link spun the second mirror so it faced the bars separating this room from the one with the giant mirror on the ceiling.

They returned to said room, the mirror on the ceiling now deflecting the light to the ground. Here, Link used the mirror shield to deflect the light on the sun on the wall. As a result, this caused the platform in the middle of the floor to be lowered to the room with the giant statue, stopping just in front of the head. Having an hunch, Link then used the mirror shield again to deflect the light on the statue.

This made the statue's head crumble, revealing a secret passage with the door to the witches visible behind the bars. Link then used the Longshot on the bars to join them, and the bars moved out of the way to let them reach the door.

After opening it, they entered a third throne room where they finally encountered the two witches who were facing an Iron Knuckle on the throne.

"Oh oh oh! Looks like someone is here, Koume," began one of the witches who looked above her shoulder at the heroes, revealing to have a blue crystal on her forehead.

The other, Koume, looked too, this one having a red crystal on the forehead. "Hee hee hee! Looks like it, Kotake!"

“Is it just me or are these two older than Roshi?” Rota whispered to Marko.

“Seems like it,” he replied in an equal whisper.

The two witches really were old. They were two Gerudos, with really big crooked noses and big, round, bulging eyes. Their hairstyles were tied in giant buns. In one word, they were ugly!

"What outrageous fellows they are to intrude so boldly into our temple... Ho ho ho!" said Kotake as the witches took off on their brooms.

"We should teach these outrageous fellows a lesson! Hee hee hee!" finished Koume before they separated and faced the Iron Knuckle, which looked... different than the ones the heroes fought.

"Oh, loyal minion..." began Kotake as they flew to the sides of the armored foe.

"Destroy these intruders on out behalf!" finished Koume before the two witches disappeared.

The Iron Knuckle then rose from its throne and raised its arms... only to see that it didn't have a weapon. It then snapped its fingers, making an axe appear, before it went on the offensive.

Despite everything, the fight was as easy as the previous one against an Iron Knuckle, and even more because, this time, Sweetie Belle and the Bages helped Link. So the fight was rapidly over as the armor was destroyed, revealing that the Iron Knuckle had been none other than Nabooru mind controlled by some piece of clothing that fell too, freeing her.

Nabooru then fell on the floor disoriented. "Unnnh... Where am I...?"

But before the heroes could explain the situation, Kotake appeared. "Well, well... Looks like she's back to normal... Koume..."

Koume then appeared at the opposite side. "She's just a little girl, but she commands a lot of respect among the Gerudo, Kotake..."

"Maybe we should make her work for the great Ganondorf for a little while longer! Ho ho ho!"

"Then we should brainwash her again! Hee hee hee!"

They were then both slammed by a beam that sent them flying into the wall. "Hyaaarg!?"

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Rota said as she and Marko took their combat stances. “We’re still here, y’know? Do you really think we would let you brainwash Nabooru again without acting?"

At the same moment, Link and Sweetie Belle ran to Nabooru to protect her, bow ready to fire an arrow. "As she said!"

Nabooru stared at the man protecting her, then at the filly, then at the siblings. "Wait... You are..." she began, only to be interrupted by two laughs.

"Hee hee hee hee hee hee!"

"Ho ho ho ho ho ho!"

The two witches recovered from the beam, amused.

"You four think that you can face us?" said Koume.

"Us, the Twinrova sisters? Who are feared among the Gerudo?"

"Very well then. We will allow you to amuse us. Nabooru. Be a nice girl and wait for us here."

"You poor fools don't know that you just made the last error of your lives."

The two sisters then disappeared like they appeared.

Sweetie Belle, Link and the Bages immediately went to pass the door at the back of the round, certainly leading to the arena where the sisters were waiting for them.

"Wait! Link! Sweetie Belle! Rota! Marko!" suddenly shouted Nabooru, gaining their attention. "Make them regret having been born for me!"

The heroes all gave her a grin, Rota shooting her a thumbs up while Sweetie Belle said, “Count on us!”

They then opened the door, traversed the following hallway, and entered a large room with several platforms, including a giant one in the center that certainly served as the arena. They climbed on it...

And they began to hear one of the witches talk from nowhere. "Look at these stupid kids! They came on their own to offer themselves as sacrifices to the great Ganondorf..."

Their laughs then resonated all over the room before two circles of magic, one red and one blue, appeared on two of the four platforms surrounding the big one.

Out of the red circle came Koume who said, "With my flame, I will burn them to the bone!" Then, she flew on her broom and spun before, in a small explosion of her, her hair turned into pure fire before she laughed mockingly again.

Then, Kotake came out of the Blue circle and said, "With my frost, I will freeze them to the soul!" Then, like her sister, she flew, spun, and turned her hair into ice in a small explosion of ice.

They then circled above the heroes, holding each other's hand, before they flew to opposite sides of the arena.

"Ready your shield, Link. I think that you already understood what to do," instructed Sweetie Belle.

Link nodded and took his shield.

Just at this moment, Koume charged magic and sent a powerful fire beam from her broom at Link. The Hylian intercepted it with his shield and deflected it toward Kotake just as she passed not far, burning her.

"AAAAAAAHH!!! Hothothot! Watch out, Koume! He has the Mirror Shield!" shouted Kotake.

"That little... AAAAAAHH!!!" Koume was suddenly interrupted by an ice beam fired by Sweetie Belle freezing her.

"Grrrrr... And it looks like the filly knows some powerful magic too. This may not be as easy as we thought. Let's up the game, Koume!"

"With pleasure, Kotake!"

At this, both witches circled the arena while raining fire and ice all over it, forcing Link to face upward to deflect them in random direction while Sweetie Belle also used a mirror shield to protect herself, the Bages simply tanking the attack. Some of the deflected projectiles managed to hit the witches, ice hurting Koume and fire hurting Kotake, but not as effectively as the beams. Then, while the heroes were occupied defending themselves, Kotake flew behind Link and fired an ice beam from her broom at him. Link immediately turned around and used the shield to deflect the beam. However, Koume had the good idea of flying where Link couldn't reach her with it. However, Rota flicker-stepped into position to redirect the blast with a Ki shield over to the Flame Witch, freezing her.

"AAAAAAHH!!! And now they use teamwork too!" Koume yelled.

"But our teamwork is better! We are twins after all! There's nothing better than twins!" Kotake yelled back.

Then, both witches began to charge their beam at the same time, Sweetie Belle and Link deflecting the fire and ice with their respective mirror shields. When the Bages went to redirect the beams to the Witches, however, they proceeded to shift their beams to target the floor, causing large areas to become infernos or ice traps. Then, they made the beams follow the grounded heroes, forcing them to run away to not be caught in the burning or freezing areas. Rota struck Koume in the back with a thrust kick, stunning the witch, then sent her into the floor with a flip kick to the head. Meanwhile, Marko hammered Kotake with a barrage of burning punches, sending her slamming into her sister with one final hammer-like blow.

Before Sweetie and Link could attack, however, the sisters erupted in an explosion of fire and ice, the two hags merging to become a very beautiful young woman who was also very tall. The crystal on her forehead was much bigger, left side blue and right side red. Her hair was tied into two ponytails, the left side made of ice and the right side made of fire. Finally, she was holding the two brooms as if they were now magic scepters (ice one in the left and fire one in the right).

And she was glaring daggers at the heroes as she growled in fury, floating up into the air before unleashing a momentary storm of fire and ice with a shriek, Sweetie Belle throwing up a shield to protect herself and Link and forcing Rota and Marko to power up to Super Saiyan and Drake Soul (the wreathed in flames with scaly skin form), respectively, in order to withstand the attack.

She stopped her attack and swept beams of Fire and Ice at the Bage siblings, fire at Rota and ice at Marko, trying to get them to move. Rota did, but Marko simply met the beam of frost with a beam of flame. Sweetie Belle shot an ice beam at Twinrova as Marko’s fire beam overwhelmed the witch’s ice beam, the conflicting energies causing a burst of energy when she tried to even it with her own fire beam, sending her falling out of the air, her magic temporarily shorted out. Rota flicker-stepped above Twinrova and slammed her into the ground with a double foot stomp.

Bashing the Saiyan away with her brooms, Twinrova scrambled to her feet just in time to dodge a swing from Link, only to be met by Sweetie Belle with a spinning kick to the jaw. Rota flicker-stepped to the other side of the witch and the two girls began to beat her back and forth between them, each blow forcing Twinrova to spit up more and more blood.

With a furious scream, the witch’s magic reignited with another explosion of fire and ice, forcing the Saiyan-filly duo back. Before she could do more than float back into the air, though, Marko suddenly appeared behind her and punched her with an energy-infused fist, then sent an explosive energy ball at the witch. The detonation shorted out Twinrova’s magic long enough for Link to engage her up close and strike her a few times with the Master Sword, before impaling her in the gut.

Kicking Twinrova off of his sword, Link stepped back as she faded into two balls of light that turned back into Koume and Kotake.

"Ouch! What fresh kids!" Koume began to yell. "This time we will get serious. Right, Kotake?"

But then, a divine light appeared and enveloped them while a halo appeared above their head and they began to float, the two of them becoming blue.

"What?" shouted Kotaked upon seeing the halo on her sister's head. "Hey, Koume, what is that above your head?"

"I don't know, but you have one over your head too, Kotake!"

It was then that they understood as they looked up at the light and down at their floating, blue body.

"But I'm only 400 years old!" yelled Koume in panic and rage.

"And I'm just 380 years old!" yelled her sister in the same state.

"We're twins! Don't try to lie about your age!" rebuked Koume .

"You must have gone senile!"

"Who are you calling senile?! Is that how you treat your older sister?"

"We are twins! How can you be older?"

"Keeeyaaah! How heartless you are!"

"How can you be so ungrateful?"

"You're heartless!"

"You ungrateful..."

Their bickering was suddenly interrupted by the light glowing stronger as they floated toward it. As they disappeared in it, they yelled a last warning at the heroes. "We'll come back to haunt you!"

And the light disappeared, before the familiar blue light appeared on one of the platforms.

But the heroes were too busy laughing after the scene they just saw. "The two are going to the afterlife, and the last thing they do is bickering! They were sisters alright!" said Sweetie Belle between giggles.

"Is that how all siblings are?” Link asked.

“Yes.” Sweetie and the Bage Siblings said simultaneously.

As they calmed down, they jumped on the platform with the light and entered it, and they were transported to the Chamber of the Sages.

There, as they landed, the yellow pedestal began to glow with the blue light, and Nabooru appeared.

"Kids, let me thank you. Heheheh... In the end, I really did fail, and you had to come and save me. You really are impressive warriors, you two." She sighed. "I messed up... I was brainwashed by those old witches and used by Ganondorf to do his evil will... But isn't it funny? That a person like me could turn out to be the Sage of Spirit? And now I'm going to fight them as one of the six Sages! Heh heh... I'm going to pay them back for what they did to me!"

"And it won't be long before you will be able to make them pay. Our next target is Ganondorf's castle," said Link.

Sweetie Belle nodded. "We will need the power of the six Sages to reach Ganondorf."

"Then let me give you this, kids... No... Heroes. Instead of keeping the promise I made back then, I give you this medallion! Take it!"

Then, Nabooru raised her arms, and a yellow medallion appeared above Link.

Sweetie Belle grinned at the woman. "We will totally make Ganondorf regret what he did to you."

"I don't think he even has the ability to regret," replied Nabooru with a chuckle.

The area then plunged in light.

"If only I'd known you would become such a handsome man... I should have kept the promise I made back then..."

---

They landed back in front of the colossus.

"Geese, Link! You collect them!" The filly exclaimed

Link blushed, then coughed. "We... We must return to the Temple of Time. I received a vision from Rauru telling me that someone was waiting here."

"Aww... And we weren't included in the vision?"

Link shrugged with a grin. "Hero of Time privilege." He then took the ocarina and played the Prelude of Light, warping to the Temple of Time. Sweetie Belle and the Bages followed him with a teleportation and Instant Transmission, respectively.

---

When they appeared at the usual place in the Temple of Time, on the pedestal with the Triforce symbol, they immediately heard a familiar voice behind them.

"I have been waiting for you, Link."

The four of them turned around to look at the entrance of the temple, finding Sheik here.

"Link, the Hero of Time... You have overcome many hardships and awakened the six Sages. And now, you have a final challenge-a showdown with Ganondorf, the King of Evil... Before that... I have things I want to tell only to you and your companions. Please listen. Another unknown legend of the Triforce passed down by the Shadow Folk, the Sheikah..."

---

"If you would seek the sacred triangle, listen well... The resting place of the sacred triangle, the Sacred Realm, is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart... the heart of one who enters it... If an evil heart, the Realm will become full of evil; if pure, the Realm will become of paradise.

The Triforce... the sacred triangle... It is a balance that weighs the three forces: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. If the heart of the one who holds the sacred triangle has all three forces in balance, that one will gain the True Force to govern all. But if that one's heart is not in balance, the Triforce will separate into three parts: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Only one part will remain for the one who touched the Triforce... the part representing the force that one most believes in. If that one seeks the True Force, that one must acquire the two lost parts. Those two parts will be held within others chosen by destiny who will bear the Triforce mark on the backs of their hands."

---

"Seven years ago, Ganondorf, the King of Thieves, used the door you opened in the Temple of Time and entered the Sacred Realm. But when he led his hands on the Triforce, the legend came true. The Triforce separated into three parts. Only the Triforce of Power remained in Ganondorf's hand. The strength of the Triforce of Power enabled him to become a mighty, evil king, but his dark ambitions were not satisfied. To gain complete mastery of the world, Ganondorf started looking for those chosen by destiny to hold the two other Triforce parts."

Sweetie Belle and the Bages began to eye Link, seeing where this was going.

"The one who holds the Triforce of Courage is... you, Link!" announced Sheik at last, confirming Sweetie Belle's suspicion. At this revelation, Link looked at the back of his hand, discovering that he did have the glowing mark of the Triforce of Courage. "And the other, who holds the Triforce of Wisdom..." then continued Sheik. "is the seventh Sage, who is destined to be the leader of them all..."

At this, Sheik showed the back of his hand, revealing the glowing mark of the Triforce, this one the Triforce of Wisdom.

Then, there was a flash.

And where Sheik stood, a totally different being was now standing. A blond woman in a royal purple and white-pink dress, bearing golden pauldrons and clothing with the symbols of Hyrule, as well as a golden tiara on her head.

"It is I, the Princess of Hyrule, Zelda."

Link, Sweetie and Rota stared at the princess with their jaws dropping while Marko simply bowed his head in respect.

Sweetie Belle then glanced at Link. "See? Even the princess doesn't mind being a boy for who knows how long! How come you made a drama about being a girl for just a few hours?"

Link groaned.

Author's Note:

For those wondering why I'm not having Rota take Marko with her during Instant Transmissions in the past, that's because it would risk leaving part of one of them behind due to her body having the training of herself at 21, when she could only manage herself safely.

Also, if you have better music suggestions for the second phase of the Koume and Kotake/Twinrova fight, I'm open to suggestions.

Comments

[Cyrus Colter]

11888278
That will be sorted in time.

The Senzu's are not going to be limited in supply, though, I'll say that much.

[Lucar]

Ah, next is the big battle. I can't wait to read it with the Bages unleashing their power.

The fight against Twinrova was epic!