New chapter time~ and, as a bonus, extra long!
i have two questions for you all this time around! One, should I skip past the entirety of the mining facility? And two, what should happen with Pittoo? Should he go with Zelda and Impa into the gate, or should Ghirahim capture him again? I'm asking because I honestly can't decide! Both options are appealing in their own ways. I'm just not sure.
Enjoy! I own nothing.
Heat and bright light. Those were the first things to register in my head. My eyes squinted instinctively, my hand coming up to block out the light until they adjusted. I felt the cart stop moving underneath us, but didn't move until my eyes were fully adjusted, hopping out and joining Link on the ground as Fi emerged from the sword with that telltale tinkling sound.
"We have arrived at Lanayru Desert," she said as we looked down upon the large, open areas below us. "The terrain in this area changed dramatically as climate forces rapidly turned it into a desert."
I let out a quiet whistle as we took in the terrain. There were numerous walls and what might have once been buildings, and way in the distance there was a huge statue I couldn't quite make out the shape of. "Impressive," I muttered.
"I have confirmed numerous areas of sinksand," she continued. "Should you step in sinksand, you may be swallowed by the desert. Bodily danger has increased by 30%."
I groaned at hearing that, already thinking of all the sand I'd have to clean out of my feathers. Link chuckled quietly, then quieted as Fi spoke once more.
"As a safety measure, I recommend you check the terrain on your map. My readings indicate that Zelda had passed through here. As previously stated, this area is highly dangerous."
"She has Pittoo and that Sheikah lady with her," I said, "She's protected."
"I suggest reuniting with her quickly to determine the motivations behind her actions at Eldin Province." So even Fi had no idea what happened and wanted to know?
Link nodded at Fi as she returned to the sword. He looked behind us at the range of the time crystal, where it was grassy and colorful, then looks forward at the expansive desert. "Once upon a time it was colorful and safe," he said quietly. "Imagine how beautiful a sight that must have been."
"Must've been breathtaking," I said. "But now..."
"Yeah..." He shook his head. "Let's go. The sooner we find Zelda, the better."
After a quick prayer at the nearby bird statue, we headed down the trail to this open area with large, dead trees an platforms. There was this new creature-kinds of like a hermit crab, but ten times larger and twenty times more dangerous-that would withdraw into it's shell if it saw us and immediately started rolling straight at us with an electrified shell. We ran out of that area quickly and immediately ran into another obstacle-more of those bowl-holding statues we had to get bombs in to lower but couldn't reach by throwing. We did a bit of looking around and discovered some old, sandy cages nearby with a rock pile in one similar to the rock pile that had his the last time crystal. Sure enough, when Link managed to get on top of one cage and throw a bomb into a hole at the top, it exploded and revealed a time crystal. He threw a second bomb, which went off and lit up the crystal. It's magic spread in a far smaller radius than the last two, but it was enough to reveal another of those robot things in another cage and futuristic Bokoblins wielding electrified machetes that immediately lit up as the magic radius spread to include me.
"Help, zrrt!" The robot cried at me, shaking in place.
I nodded at it and brought up my staff, charging up a shot an firing at the closest approaching Bokoblins. The shot went right through him, and he immediately burst into purple mist and disappeared. The second was finished with a quick blow from behind from Link. Once they were gone, the bars of the cages lowered and we approached the robot.
"You okay, buddy?" I asked.
The robot gave what looked like a nod, looking up at us. "Thank you, zrrt," he said. "If you hadn't come along, they would have sucked all of the electricity out of me, vrrm!"
"Good thing we came along when we did," I said, giving Link a slight smile. Link smiled back, nodding.
"Oh..." I looked back down at the robot, who was staring at the gold and green beetle around Link's wrist. "Look at that, zrrpt...you have a Beetle." Link nodded and held his wrist out so the robot could examine it. "It appears to be an older model of Lanayru fabrication." He looked up at Link. "As thanks for saving me, I will upgrade that for you, zwooop! Give it here for a second, phwing!"
Link and I exchanged glanced before Link handed him the beetle. The robot turned it's back to us and started fiddling around with the beetle, then turned back to us after a minute. The robot had added large pincers to the beetle's mouth, decorated with complex designs in orange.
"I've added a pincer modification so you can grab things, brrrrrrrt," he said, "Be careful out there, zrrt!"
Link accepted the beetle, placing it back on his wrist and giving a quiet thanks before tugging me away. He smiled at me once we were out of the crystal's range. "That was interesting. And perfect."
"You think so?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, because as it just so happens..." He pointed at a dead tree growing in sinksand. "There's a bomb flower growing up there."
I looked up, seeing the telltale blue orb. "Oh, wow. Guess we should see how it works, yeah?"
Link nodded and aimed the beetle at the bomb before letting it fly off of his wrist. It flew towards the bomb and grabbed it in it's pincers, and Link maneuvered it to one of the bowls of the statues, somehow managing to get it to release the bomb, which landed in the bowl. The bomb exploded as the beetle reattached itself to Link's wrist, and the stone felt into the sinksand, creating a platform.
"Awesome!" I said, "that'll be handy!"
Link nodded. "Definitely," he said. "Let's go. We've got a lot of desert to cover."
I nodded and followed him, watching as he used the newly-upgraded beetle to open up our path forward, placing bombs in statue bowls. Using the platforms they created, we crossed the sinksand-defeating an electricity-spitting frog thing along the way. Then we moved to the next area of sinksand, avoiding giant rock-spitting birds and more of those hermit crab things. Link got the idea to use the beetle to drop bombs on them and use their shells as platforms on the sinksand and-much to my surprise-it worked. So we used their shells after they disappeared as platforms to take quick breathers between platforms. We entered an area with sand waterfalls, which caused the shell platforms to move as soon as the hermit crabs were defeated. We were able to ride the platforms along the moving sinksand to get to the opening that lead to a small cavern to bring us to out next area.
There were numerous cacti and mine carts and tracks, but cliffs where the tracks broke up. Ahead if us, the statue was easier to see-that bird like symbol that from the statues in the springs, with a formation with three triangles above it's beak, as if being held up by the tips if it's wings.
"I'll bet you anything Zelda and Pittoo are at the base of that statue," I said, moving a bit further and spotting an exposed time crystal on a lone ledge.
"I'll bet the same," Link said, lifting the beetle up and letting it fly and hit the crystal. It let out a metallic shriek as it hit the crystal, rocking back and forth before flying back to Link and reattaching to his wrist as the crystal activated and spread time magic in a short radius, bringing back the futuristic Bokoblins and creating bridges long since disappeared.
We hopped in the minecart before the Bokoblin noticed us, then hopped out. I looked at the giant dead tree, which had a blue shine emerging from between the roots. "I think there's a crystal in there, too."
Link nodded, using the beetle to drop a bomb from on top if a cactus into the tree. It went off and activated the crystal, opening out path once more. Link sent his beetle ahead of the path on a whim, managing to use it to cut the stem of a Deku Baba and clear out path. We climbed into the cart and trailed along, seeing a gate head of us that lifted as I fired a shot from my staff at a crystal similar to the one that opened the temple in Faron woods. On the other side, we found what seemed like a huge temple around the base of the statue, however, the entrance was collapsed, preventing entrance. We also saw a familiar face.
"Gorko?" I asked as we drew near.
Gorko turned to look at us and grinned. "Good to see you, buds. Seems like you two are popping up everywhere."
"You're one to talk," I said, chuckling.
He chuckled as well. "Anyway, bud, there is something I'm dying to tell you. It's the discovery of the century!" He said excitedly. He gestured to the temple behind himself. "This is a sacred place known as the Temple of Time."
Link looked up at the collapsed entrance. "Temple of Time, huh?"
Gorko nodded. "I could not believe my eyes when I saw a human who lives on the legendary Isle of the Goddess!" Link and I exchanged glances, but Gorko didn't seem to notice, continuing to speak. "It wore clothes just link the ones written about in the ancient manuscripts! And it looked just like you, bud!"
"Wonder why," Link muttered quietly. Gorko, again, didn't notice.
"It came with another person. Two actually-one of them had wings, like your friend right there, except black! And they entered the temple! I wanted to chase after them...But then there was an explosion all of a sudden! And the entrance..." He paused. "Well, you can see for yourself, bud." He crossed his arms, frowning. "I do not think we are getting past this mess. I just wish we could find out what is happening on the other side!"
Link frowned as Gorko turned away, muttering to himself. "There has to be another way inside. The woman...she wouldn't deny me the only entrance in, would she?"
"Normally i'd say she probably would, but in this case, I don't think so," I said. "We may have to keep looking around."
Which is what we did. We found a time crystal in a small cavern under a ledge and activated it with the beetle, it's magic creating a mind cart path that was blocked by a stonified robot. A bit more exploration revealed yet another time crystal underneath a pile of rocks on a ledge that, when activated, brought the mine cart, robot, and a couple of Bokoblins to life. Link and I were able to quickly defeat the Bokoblins, then approach the robot. "You alright, buddy?" I asked as Link pulled out his map to take a look at the desert and determine where to go from here.
"That was scary, vrrrrrm..." It said. "Thanks for helping me, bzzt." It paused. "This is the Temple of Time. Within it is the sacred Gate of Time made by the goddess, bzzt. It's my job to patrol outside the temple, vrrm! If you want to reach the Gate of Time, you will need to pass through that door, bzzap."
I glanced at the collapsed entrance. "About that...we need another way in."
The robot almost seemed to frown. "Huh? You need another way in, pho-weep?" It paused, thinking. "Well, Lanayru Mining Facility and the Temple of Time are connected underground, dzzt. Lanayru Mining Facility is right here!" It approached Link and wrapped it's large hands around his wrists, pulling him down with a surprised cry take a look at his map. "This map...it looks inaccurate, bzzt. I'm going to fix it for you, zrrm!" It snatched the map from Link's hand, ignoring his indignant "hey!" As it turned away and seemed to fiddle around before handing back a completely different map. All of the sand was green, and an extra small area had been added near the top. A small "x" marked the location of the facility. "Lanayru Mining Facilty is just ahead," it said, "Good luck, vrrt!" Then it turned, wandering away.
Link sighed. "Ugh."
Fi emerged from the sword. "A report, Master Link. The map you possess corresponds to the actual terrain of this area with only 35% accuracy. The robot modified your map to show past terrain that is now submerged below sinksand."
"No, really?" I breathed quietly as she returned to he sword.
Link shrugged at me. "She does have a tendency to state the obvious, but she can be helpful, too."
I stood back as he hopped into the mine cart, watching it move to the edge of the time crystal's radius. "Kind of like Lady Palutena."
Link hopped out and used the beetle to activate the second time crystal, the both of us watching as the first one deactivated while the second one activated, spreading outward to cover the mine cart again so it could continue along the revealed path. "Yeah?"
"Yeah, except she states the obvious less often," I said, approaching the mine cart as Link hopped in. I took his offered hand, climbing in myself. "Of course, she jokes around alo-! Woah!"
The cart jerked suddenly as it began moving, and I stumbled, falling right into Link. He wrapped his arms around me, holding into me and managing to keep his balance as the cart followed the path. "You alright, Pit?"
I blinked a few times, my cheeks heating up a bit. "Y-yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Just kinda caught off guard, it all."
Link nodded, though he didn't release me until the cart came to a complete stop on the other side of the time crystal's revealed path. We both hopped out, him after me, and he looked up the path again. "There was a goddess cube up there," he said. "I'm going to go get it. I'll be right back." He hopped back into the cart, which began moving again.
I nodded, facing up at the sky and closing my eyes. I thought back to my stumble, my cheeks heating up once more, and I let out a quiet curse. I should have known better! If he hadn't caught me, I could have fallen out and cracked my skull open. Or-even worse-I could have pushed him out, and he'd be the one with a cracked skull, and this world would have lost it's hero!
I was so lost in my thought that the world around me faded away. I don't know how much time passed-probably just a minute or two-before Link's voice startled me out of my thoughts. "I'm back."
I jumped and turned. "Oh, hey. Get the cube?"
Link nodded. "I did. Everything alright?"
"Yeah, of course!" I said, quick to change the subject. "Let's go. The sooner we find this mining facility, the sooner we find Pittoo and Zelda!"
Link nodded. "Right." He followed me into a nearby cavern, dodging past rock-spitting creatures with rocks on their heads as we dashed to the other side.
We came out into a ginormous area of sinksand, with platforms leading to wrecked walls we could stand on. We ran to the first platform, took a quick breather, then began running to the second, pausing in surprise when we realized that:
A) we weren't being slowed down by the sand
B) we could stand in it and not sink.
Fi emerged from the sword as Link and I exchanged bewildered glances. "Master Link, I have information to report. I can confirm that you and Pit will not be consume by the sinksand in this current position. I suggest verifying your location on the map."
Link pulled the map out, and all three of us took a look at it. Fi held out one of he cloak like arms, lightly tracing the path we took before stopping above where I assumed we probably were. "Readings indicate that there is a submerged path beneath the sinksand. It is possible to walk along a route above this path without submerging completely into the sinksand."
"So this entire place isn't a death trap," I said. "Thank goodness."
"Simulations suggest that placing beacons to mark a safe route along these paths before proceeding would significantly reduce risk. I recommend placing multiple beacons."
Link nodded. "I'll tell you when I need you to place a beacon, Fi."
"Of course, master," she said before returning to the sword.
After examining the map a bit more, Link put it away, grabbing my wrist. "This way," he said, dragging me along a submerged path to one of the wrecked walls. We climbed up, taking a moment to catch our breath before walking over to a large machine where the "x" on the map was. Behind it was a ginormous pit of sinksand.
"This...is the facility?" I asked, blinking.
"I don't think so," Link muttered. He took a look around, seeing scattered robot remains, then looked at a rock pile. "Let's ask a local," he said, placing a bomb beside the pile and waiting until it exploded an revealed a time crystal before slashing at it and plunging the small radius into the past. The machine looked much more impressive now, and the robot beside it looked at us weirdly.
"You are not in my memory banks, brrt," it said slowly.
"Yeah, we're kinda new around here," I said. I gesture to the machine. "What's that?"
"This is the power generator for the mechanism that opens the entrance to Lanayru Mining Facility, zrrp," he said, "But it won't budge until you activate the remote power nodes and set those three did to access them correctly."
"Oh, fun," I muttered, "more work."
Fi emerged from the sword. "Readings indicate the materials used to construct the generator are also present in this area. You can now use your dowsing ability to locate them," she said before once more returning to the sword.
Link looked at the generator briefly, then looked at me. "Do you mind waiting here?"
I blinked at him. "What?"
"Waiting here. At the generator. Until i turn on the power nodes," he said.
"But I'm supposed to be helping you!" I said, "why do I have to wait?!"
Link sighed. "Please, Pit! Just to get this done quicker."
I huffed. "Fine," I muttered, turning my back to him and walking over to a nearby stool. I sat down and stared out over the large circular area of sinksand, listening to his footsteps fading slowly. Jerk. Not letting me help. What else am I supposed to do?!
Don't forget to answer those questions at the top! See that little button that says "Review this Chapter?" Click it please! Sayonara~!
