Link, Lumine, Ivan, and Paimon made their way towards the Yiga Hideout.
"Okay, so let's go over the game plan." Paimon floated ahead, hiding behind rocks and scanning the area for any signs of trouble. "We sneak into Yiga Clan headquarters, infiltrate their lair, steal back the prized mask of the Gerudo people, and escape without anyone ever knowing we were there!"
The two blondes noticed how Paimon was very into the idea of sneaking around like someone from the Sheikah clan. Still, it was indeed a good idea. The Yiga Hideout was known to have many traps and defenses to ward away any intruder or even other Gerudo warriors. The only possible way of success would be to sneak in and get out before anyone would ever notice.
Unlike that explosion in the distance... in the direction... of where the Yiga Hideout... was supposed to...
Lumine and Link looked at each other before they both bolted towards the area.
[Early that day.]
"Ugh? Really?! The Dessert!?" It wasn't like him to abuse the use of his hydro vision to keep himself cold, but Tartaglia, 11th Harbinger of the Fatui, had no choice of the matter after chasing that bizarre merchant that tried to kill him for the most unpredictable reasons.
"Hello, good sir! May I interest you with some Mighty Bananas? The best fruit in Hyrule and possibly Teyvat!"
"No thanks. I'm not in the mood for fruit right now."
"Mighty Bananas are the best fruits in both worlds! How dare you deny their greatness!"
I mean, he was impressed a random traveling merchant could even perform such nimble feats with a dagger and bow. But he wasn't going to turn down a fight. Despite the movements, the guy was pretty basic. But he left before he could finish the fight.
Most people would stare in disbelief at what had happened. Tartaglia?
"Hey! Wait! I wanna know more about your Hyrule fighting styles!"
And so, the Hyrdo user ran through the portal that the guy with an eye mask ran into. He just wasn't expecting it to be a dessert.
"I guess I got too excited. The portal vanished after I went through it, and I don't see another one for miles. But did it seriously have to send me to a Hyrule dessert?" After traveling for a bit, the orange-haired hydro user saw more symbols of the masked merchant used. The further he looked, he spotted a cave at the end with elaborate tags and symbols.
He then heard a horn sounding.
"We have an intruder! Get him!"
If asked later, Childe would prefer to fight a gauntlet than to stay in the heat for too long.
As Link and Lumine turned the corner, they noticed the trail of beaten Yiga clan members leading up to and beyond the entrance.
"Well," Ivan started. "We can still be stealthy if they're all unconscious." Their words didn't pose much encouragement as both Link and Lumine raced to the hideaway.
These Yiga Clan were better than he thought. And with the increasing numbers, Tartaglia was left with little choice but to use his Foul Legacy Transformation.
But this was also a bad move on his part. For some reason, the moment he activated his stronger form, he felt something like a scythe around his neck that moved closer with each passing second. To Tartaglia, it almost felt like being in the Abyss again. Only this time, he felt something watching him.
Two master swordsmen got sent flying after Tartaglia finished an energy swipe. Yet, more and more Yiga Clan members flooded in to surround the Fatui Harbinger.
At that point, Tartaglia knew when to leave.
However, as he made a move to rush for the exit, his instinct screamed at him that he was in danger, and he backed off instantly.
When he did, he avoided a powerful slash that would have cleaved him in two even at his speeds.
"There he is! It's Master Sooga!" As Tartaglia looked up, he saw a behemoth of a man wielding two equally large katanas. Yet, the giant slash on the floor suggested that he was faster with those blades than anyone else had the right to be.
"You... you are from Teyvat, are you not?" Just hearing this voice made Tartaglia ready his battle stance. "It's time your people learned what happens when you defy the Yiga Clan."
His frame was deceptive. Tartaglia did not expect the behemoth of a man to move faster than even Electro Vision users.
The two continued to fight, but the rest of the Yiga Clan watched in awe at one of their leaders. Meanwhile, two blondes were able to sneak in with far more ease than they thought they would.
"Is that Childe?" Paimon started before Link, Ivan, and Lumine motioned her to be silent. "What's he doing here?"
Link took out his Sheika Slate. He showed something to his companions.
"Wait, we can't teleport out of here?" Paimon saw the warp function unable to work in the area.
Link signed their next plan of action.
Meanwhile, the fight between both Sooga and Childe raged on. However, everyone soon saw Childe was losing the advantage. He obviously couldn't hold his form any longer.
Childe knew this as well and attempted to blitz Sooga from behind. However, as if expecting it, Sooga impressively countered the attack and unleashed a flurry of slashes at the Fatui.
From the attack, Childe reverted to his original form and landed square on his black. "Hah! You Hyrulians are stupid strong." The battle-hungry smile on the Harbinger's face faded when Sooga pushed the edge of his blade near the neck.
"..." Sooga remained silent before resheathing the blade. "Despite your power, I noticed that you didn't perform any lethal blows on my people."
Childe's face narrowed. "I mean. I love a good fight, but I'm not stupid enough to make enemies with your clan when we Fatui have our own goals to worry about."
Sooga stilled once more before he pulled the blade away from the Fatui's neck. "... Fine. Leave, and do not return."
Well, Childe wanted a rematch next time, but it was best to let this one slide. True to his word, Sooga left Childe alone as he walked out of the blazing sun.
Ah, right. He's still lost.
Childe sighed as he saw no sign of civilization or portals.
"This might be a problem." Not only was he still lost, but his new frenemies also didn't even bother to give him a direction to the nearest town. Luckily for him, as he exited the valley, he heard the Yiga alarms once more.
He was curious as to why they were ringing again, but then he saw two figures... being pulled by seals? Oh, wait? Childe saw the Traveler.
"Hey, Childe! We saw you getting your butt kicked!" Paimon seemed rather smug despite Lumine and Link doing all the work. "Thanks for distracting the Yiga Clan while we stole from them and rescued their prisoners!"
Childe had this feeling he was being used. Again. He sighed. "Normally, I'd take issue with that, but as you can see, I'm in a pretty sorry state."
Link tossed Childe what looked to be a rope. As he caught it, the Fatui noticed it looked like the harness the two used to ride the sand seals.
Link whistled, and Ivan appeared with a new sand seal rising from the sand.
"Come on!" The fairy told the guy. "We move much faster with sand seals."
Hearing the sounds of alarms getting louder, Childe accepted the help as Ivan strung the harness over the wild sand seal.
With another whistle from Link all three of them were off. However, since Childe did not know what he was doing, the gang got to see the interesting sight of him tripping and getting dragged along by the fast-moving seal.
Link wanted to stop and help. He was the only one as Paimon, Lumine, and even Ivan seemed to snicker at the misfortune of the Harbinger.
Eventually, they arrived in Kara Kara Bazaar. If there was one good thing going for Childe, it was for once he was being treated instead of him paying for someone else. Link had bought him better dessert clothes after his run-in with some of Gerudo dessert's exotic locals.
"As fun as it was being used again," Only Link and Ivan didn't understand what he meant by that. "I guess I'll be off finding a way back to Teyvat. Maybe if I'm lucky, I can find a portal back where I was."
"How about you come with us?" Lumine asked to the surprise of everyone else.
"Really? What makes you think I'll come with you?" Childe huffed as he folded his arms.
Lumine only pointed in the distance towards something that Childe had somehow missed when trekking through the Gerudo Desert: One of the Divine Beasts of Hyrule.
"We're going to infiltrate it. There's bound to be strong monsters, and we could use more help."
Childe thought about it for one moment before he turned over to Link. "Alright, I guess I can stay with you a little longer." He always did want to go adventuring with the Traveler. It's funny that he got his chance now. "But I want one condition."
"What is it?" Paimon leered towards the Harbinger.
Childe looked over to Link with a smirk. "I want to fight him afterward. One on one."
Link turned serious before looking over to Lumine and Paimon. Paimon seemed unsure while Lumine remained calm. With those looks, Link turned around and nodded once.
"Then it's a deal! Hyrule is a great place for me to get stronger. I can't wait to learn more about how your kind fights!"
And so, the 11th Harbinger followed after Link and Lumine (or Aether) to meet with the Gerudo Leader. His aid was a boon in the fight against Thunderblight Gannon. And eventually, they separated when they had found a portal that led back to Liyue.
As for the duel between Childe and Link afterward?
Well, that's a story for another day.
[Author notes]
Sooga is a character that only appears in Age of Calamity/Hyrule Warriors, but since my sense of time in this story is already messed up, I decided to put him here and have him battle with Childe. (Plus after their DLC, I'm not going to kill off Master Koga in this story. So the guy might make more appearances later.) And I do like Childe as a character. Funny enough, I enjoy the Genshin Impact males stories more often than the female ones. Don't ask me why.
There was a lot of fun stuff from Age of Calamity that I liked, so I might include Terrako/Eggy boy in this story. Or maybe write a chapter if the Traveler arrived during that era instead of Breath of The Wild. But I don't want things to get too disjointed in this story's timeline.
Anyway, I'm currently attempting National Writer's Month, but I am very behind with the chapters I'm doing. So instead, I took a break to write this short.
I also really got to do more stories outside of Gerudo Desert. I haven't kept up with Genshin Impact in a while...
Peace out guys, see ya, and be safe out there.