Chapter 26: Storm Over The Desert
Upon exiting the dungeon of the Gerudo's base, Link and the others saw a large legion of monsters that were glaring angrily at the group ready to destroy anything that was in their path in order to please Urien and Ganondorf's need for destruction.
"Whoa, that's a ton of monsters, we're in for quite a workout," gasped a Gerudo.
"You're right, we've got Bulblins, Darknuts, Wizzrobes, Kargarocs, Helmasaurs, and Goriyas to worry about here," stated Link.
"All right everyone, let's go!" exclaimed Aveil to her troops as one of the Bublins blew a horn and the legion he was with charged forward at the same time the Gerudos did. Link and company followed suit to make sure there would be no casualties among the Gerudos. A series of Bulblins charged forward on their Bullbos ramming some of the Gerudos and sending them flying into some of their wooden crates. Aveil unsheathed her curved sword and jumped up and slashed at a Bulblin knocking it off of its Bullbo. Another Bulblin prepared to shoot an arrow into Aveil's back when another Gerudo chucked its spear at the beast piercing its chest and making it disappear in a puff of smoke.
"Don't let up, keep going!" yelled one of the Gerudos
A group of the Goriyas all chucked their boomerangs at some of the Gerudos which nailed them and stunned the female bandits, when the dog like monsters ran forward to try and capitalize on their opportunity, Alex charged forward with a Slash Elbow knocking the Goriyas back and quickly stomped on one with an Air Stampede making it go up in smoke as the Gerudos recovered from being stunned and resumed their attack.
A flock of Kargarocs flew started to swarm another set of Gerudos and start pecking away at them as the bandits desperately tried to get the foul feathered fiends away from them. Zelda quickly rushed over and threw out Nayru's Love knocking the birds back and allowing the Gerudos to pull out their swords and began slash away at the Kargarocs. More of the birds swooped down and started to peck yet again. Zelda threw a Din's Fire up into the air and let it explode which fried some of the fowl while the Gerudos dispatched of the remainder of the flock that was attacking them. Some of the Helmasaurs charged forward and tackled Zelda and the Gerudos to the ground, Link quickly ran over and pulled out his Clawshot stripping the Helmasaurs of their armor and delivered a Spin Attack dispatching the nearby Helmasaurs as the Gerudos finished the ones that evaded Link's attack.
A Darknut went after Aveil yet again and swung his massive blade down at the second in command of the Gerudos, Aveil barely dodged the swing as a Wizzrobe materialized behind her and prepared to fire off a blast of fire into the bandit, Chun-Li spun at the Wizzrobe with a Spinning Bird Kick disorienting the Wizzrobe as the Darknut bashed Aveil across the face with his shield stunning her, he prepared to strike again however, Ken ran into the fray and hit the Darknut from behind with his Shoryuken sending him flying into the air and knocking it's chest plate off as it hit the ground.
"Thanks for the save," said Aveil.
"We're not done here yet, save the thanks for when we finish off the rest of these beasts," replied Ken.
"He's right, let's get back to the task at hand," said Chun-Li as she dodged a tackle from a Helmasaur and kicked its exposed backside.
Ryu found himself face to face with a Darknut, as the Darknut swung his mighty blade at the Japanese karate man, Ryu leapt back to avoid the sword slash. A couple of Wizzrobes fired off some fire blasts behind Ryu who jumped out of the way as the Darknut blocked the Wizzrobes' spells with his shield. Ryu rolled behind the Darknut and also used a Shoryuken to knock its armor plate off of its chest.
"With all these monsters roaming about, I'll need some extra agility," said Zelda as a magical field surrounded her and her body was soon clothed in a blue and white body suit with a white wrap covering her face aside from her eyes as a few tufts of her hair poked out of the wrap. Emblazoned on her body suit was a red eye symbol as Link looked over at Zelda and instantly recognized what she was doing.
"Ah, your Sheik transformation, yeah I'd say this situation calls for that," said Link as he shot an arrow at a Kargaroc trying to swoop down at him.
"I'd say so too!" responded Sheik as she fired off a set of needles at another flock of Kargarocs disorienting them and then pulled out a large chain whip and whipped the chain at the birds sending them up in smoke as the warrior princess flipped away from a Bulblin who attempted to bludgeon her with its club.
"Wow, I'm amazed by Zelda's magical abilities," said Alex as he Power Bombed another Bulblin into submission, a Wizzrobe materialized behind Alex but before it could fire off its magic, Ryu nailed it with a Hadoken and the Wizzrobe teleported away again.
Another group of Bulblins charged forward on their Bullbos and tackled more Gerudos to the ground, as the Bullbos prepared to stampede over the female bandits, Chun-Li and Ken leapt up and both kicked the Bulblins off of the Bullbos allowing the Gerudos to grab their spears and chuck them at the other Bulblins hitting their mark effectively. At that moment, another flock of Kargarocs carrying bombs began to drop them down near the heroes blasting them back.
"Ganondorf and Urien's minions are sure relentless today," commented Ryu as he got up from one of the bomb blasts.
"Tiger!" yelled Sagat's voice as an orange blade shaped projectile shot into the air and hit the bomb that a Kargaroc was carrying sending it up in a puff of smoke as the others looked over in the area of the dungeon and saw that Sagat had broken free from his cell.
"Hey, the prisoner has escaped!" yelled a Gerudo.
"Who cares right now, we could use his strength in fighting off these unwanted guests!" responded Aveil.
"Don't think I'll go quietly back into my cell once this is over," remarked Sagat as he fired off another Tiger Shot at a group of Goriyas making them scatter.
"All right guys, let's get back in this, can't leave him to do all the work," said Link.
"Or to have all the fun," added Ken.
With that, the heroes along with the Gerudos stood back up and charged back into the battle to help Sagat fight off what was remaining of the monstrous legion that was attacking the base. An unarmored Darknut leapt at Sagat and slashed at him, Sagat dodged the sword, grabbed the Darknut, and started pelting him with numerous knee strikes before tossing him away as Alex finished off the Darknut with an Air Stampede. A Goriya jumped at Sagat ready to toss his boomerang at the Thai titan however he was met with an unexpected surprise.
"Tiger Uppercut!" shouted Sagat as he rose into the air and smacked the Goriya out of the sky with a powerful uppercut, as the Goriya hit the ground, one of the Gerudos drove her spear into the monster's heart effectively dispatching it.
"Hazanshu!" shouted Chun-Li as she spun towards a Bulblin with a leaping split kick which the Bulblin barely dodged. A Kargaroc started to swoop down towards the Chinese beauty, however the feathered creature was met by a Hadoken from Ken which knocked it out of the sky as Chun-Li stomped on it to finish the bird off. When the Bulblin charged forward with his club in hand, Chun-Li kicked the green monster in its face as Ken ran forward and finished the job with his Shoryuken.
Ryu leapt over a Helmasaur that tried to charge him, before the little beast could turn around, Ryu delivered a sweep to the Helmasaur flipping it onto its back as another Gerudo speared the monster ending its life. Shiek threw out a barrage of needles towards a Darknut who lifted its shield to block the needles as Shiek crawled under the Darknut's legs and pulled out a knife and cut the straps holding its armor plate on. The angry Darknut whirled around and struck Shiek with the hilt of its blade as Link ran in and shot a Bomb Arrow at the Darknut making it fly towards Aveil who drove her sword through the Darknut's chest once it hit the ground.
Just then, the sound of a horn being blown was heard and everyone stopped and stared in the direction where the horn was being blown and saw a large Bublin wearing a horned helmet with a tattered blue wrap around its head as well as a dirty brown tunic with a steel armor plate around its chest. Strapped to his back was a massive wooden handled axe and as it lumbered over towards the base, everyone's gaze was fixated on the giant creature.
"King Bulblin, so he's behind this assault," said Link.
"Troops, fall back, I will handle this!" barked King Bulblin to the remainder of the fleet. Without any hesitance, the remaining monsters all departed the base and when they were all out of sight, King Bulblin turned back around to face the heroes.
"You guys are quite strong, I wish to face your leader in one on one combat," said King Bulblin in a deep yet hoarse voice.
"I accept your challenge," replied Link as he stepped forward and unsheathed his sword yet again.
"Hmm, do not disappoint me boy!" growled King Bulblin as he wielded his axe.
Link and King Bulblin strafed one another for a brief period, King Bulblin pushed Link back with the sheer weight of his axe and as Link stumbled back he was struck across the face with the butt of the axe. Link quickly rolled back to his feet as King Bulblin swung his axe at the Hylian warrior, Link ducked underneath the swing and and rolled forward stabbing King Bulblin in the side. The large Bulblin let out a groan as he thrust his axe at Link again who flipped back to avoid being hit. Link and King Bulblin circled each other once again, King Bulblin swung again as Link leapt to the side and rolled to the back of King Bulblin and leapt into the air with an upwards slash making the giant Bulblin yelp in pain again as quickly spun around and swung with his axe again. Link blocked with his shield but still wound up stumbling back due to the sheer force behind the swing. King Bulblin started to spin around with its axe sticking outward, Link flipped back to avoid being whacked by his axe and when King Bulblin started to spin the axe low, Link leapt at the monster and slashed King Bulblin yet again making him stagger allowing Link to slash the king a few more times and then finish with a Spin Attack knocking King Bulblin onto his back.
"Man, this beast is quite a durable one," commented Chun-Li.
"Yeah, but Link is definitely making him work though," remarked Ken.
"Your leader in your quest is quite formidable, I admire his boldness," said Sagat.
King Bulblin scrambled back to his feet and parried a leaping slash from Link with his axe, King Bulblin thrust the butt of the axe into Link's stomach making him double over and then the Bulblin whacked Link across the face with the butt of the axe making Link fall on his back. King Bulblin then swung downwards at Link who rolled away from the axe blade just before it connected with him. Unfortunately for King Bulblin, his axe got stuck in the ground and as he pulled it out he stumbled back a bit and Link used the opportunity to strike quickly nailing the king with two slashes followed once again by another Spin Attack. King Bulblin fell again and this time as he stood up he put up his hands as if to say he was done.
"You win this round, I will return for a rematch in the future though. Keep training your sword!" informed King Bulblin as an armored Bullbo trotted next to his master, King Bulblin mounted the Bullbo and rode off away from the base.
"Glad that's all over, for now at least," stated Alex.
"Now that it is, we need to get to the Arbiter's Grounds," added Ryu.
"You proved yourselves trustworthy to me, so I will lead you to the entrance. I'll admit I am worried about Nabooru as well, she's been in there far too long for it to be something minor," commented Aveil.
"Thank you Aveil, you've shown your strength as a leader during Nabooru's absence," said Zelda as she reverted back from her Shiek transformation.
"What about you Sagat what will you do?" inquired Ryu.
"I will stay here in case more beasts rear their ugly heads. It's the least I can do for these ladies," answered Sagat.
"We shouldn't be too long either, and don't worry, we'll get Nabooru out of there alive," stated Link.
"Just one question, do you intend to procreate with these ladies?" asked Alex.
"Maybe a few of them, not the entire tribe though," answered Sagat.
"You enjoy yourself with that, and thanks for assisting us in that battle man," commented Ken.
"If you're gonna save Nabooru, we shouldn't dawdle too much longer, let's go now," suggested Aveil.
Link and company nodded in agreement as the six heroes followed the Gerudos' second in command towards the entrance of the Arbiter's Grounds where Nabooru and a Secret Text were lying in wait.
Author's Note: Another chapter in the books, yeah I decided to give Zelda her Shiek transformation for the hell of it since she had that in the Smash Bros games. Also is anyone else excited about the Zelda 25th anniversary symphony, I am. So far they only have shows confirmed for Los Angeles and London, if they do one in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'll definitely get tickets for that, the Zelda series has some of the best music in video games. Anyways, next chapter our heroes begin their exploration of the Arbiter's Grounds. I'm off to go work on that, but until then, please read and review.