The Crossing of the Paths
By MMM/AJ
Part II: Desert Wind

A/N: I decided to split this book up and put it up it in chunks. This is the EIGHTH chunk. This chunk was not as good as I had hoped, there are some gaps here and there that I plan on filling, some editing here and there, the basic crop and grow procedures. This is going to be a major turning point, and the next few chunks after this one are going to be super awesome! The only thing is, they will take extra long. I plan on pouring on some excellent stuff here, so be patient with me.

Chapter XXIV

"Destiny comes from the sky. It always has. Ancient tales of the Day of Great Evil tell of the Empire's arrival in this world. They say of great monstrosities hovering over the land in the east, the hordes of the Empire flowing out of their black bellies, ever belching bursts of flame to the Ruin of the East. But it is only a legend. Gerudos have never been too deep into the East. The Legend of the Wanderer is also remembered to say that the Wanderer falls through a hole in the sky, but such passages of that olden poem have been lost to time."

-Seventh Elder of the Blue Tribe

"One week…" An echoing dark voice whispered, "But one week and the world shall fall…"

Two burning red eyes flared in the darkness, piercing Mewtwo's mind and soul effortlessly. Two red hot pikes stabbed his mind. He cried out in pain and cried for the torture to stop.

"Come to the East in one week…I have been lenient, one week, or the world shall fall."

Horrific images of terror, destruction, death and gore flashed through Mewtwo's mind, he saw all his friends being ripped to shreds and burned. He saw the silhouette of the desert erupt into a maelstrom, gouts of fire belching out of the ground as the sand slipped away into cracks into the Earth, what remained was burned to glass and the Towers stood dark and tall, looking down at the grim scenes in malevolent laughter.

"You've evaded me long enough, now come to me…" The voice whispered, and then, in a voice of a million decibels, shouted "COME!"

Mewtwo bolted awake in his bed, sweating cold buckets. He panted as the ghastly images faded from his mind and reality phased back in. The voice still rang in his ears, and he tasted blood in his mouth. He had bitten his cheeks in terror. Darkness and silence wafted in through his hut's entrance, and the moon glimpsed over the horizon. As Mewtwo pushed the rest of the dream out of his mind, he guessed it must be in the neighborhood of four in the morning. The Gerudos were sleeping for once, and the biblical bonfires were nowhere to be seen. Guards with torches moved like fireflies in the soupy darkness, and the stars hung in a beautiful mesh in the sky.

Mewtwo sat up and walked out of his hut for a breath of fresh air. This time he wouldn't let himself fall asleep until he got back into bed. Still the two red eyes left a stinging sensation in his mind, and the thought of sleep seemed the most unpleasant thing in the world to him. He continued to walk towards the square. There he found that a few Gerudos were hard at work fixing the stone of the square since he had used the Hyper Beam. The stones had been magically reassembled and now four lonely Gerudos were putting them back in place. Mewtwo recognized Madiri and W'diri hard at work along two other Gerudos he could not recognize. He decided to avoid them and walk around the square.

Thoughts of his lecture with the two Elders drifted back to Mewtwo's mind, and he mentally winced. He could sense that there were no hard feelings between him and the Elders, mainly since they knew that they had been pressing him hard enough to bring on this reaction. But he had still gotten a firm proverbial slap on the bottom and sent to his room. He hoped that today was going to be better, and worried how difficult the Test of Armed Combat would be. His arms were skinny and malformed, not fit for holding a staff or scimitar. He considered just throwing his first match on purpose in order to avoid embarrassing himself any further. At this point, he was sure none of the Gerudos liked him much any more. A black pit of depression grew in his stomach as he walked back around the square towards his hut. He wished he could just sleep through the next couple of days and let the Elders cool off.

As Mewtwo climbed back into his bed again the image of the two piercing eyes haunted his mind. He felt a foreboding sense of dread and sorrow, almost as if that he knew that the world was going to end tomorrow. But he knew better than that, the voice had told him it would be one week. He fell asleep feeling emotionally shattered and damaged.

As the sun slowly split itself from the horizon, Gerudos with scimitars clashed and battled in the Blue Village Square. Amazing displays of proficiency with the blade and staff played out for all to see except one. Mewtwo remained in bed, fighting off the sun as he tried to shove the world from his mind. He was still recoiling from the horrors he had seen the night before, and a twisted wad of dark scum churned in his stomach. When he could no longer grasp the last fleeting tendril of sleep, he dragged himself out of his bed and looked out his door at the Square, which was alive with cheers and the sounds of battle. He felt sour at the thought of watching the battles, or even being around anyone. For the first time since he had left the Pokemon World, Mewtwo felt the need to be alone.

Mewtwo found his solitude on the roof of the Red Elder's stone house. He sat and looked to the East, staring intently at nothing while dark thoughts raced around his mind. He knew that whatever this thing was, "The Eyes of the Empire", it was real. It wanted him to come to the East, and soon. He wondered what lied in the East, and what that strange stone structure was. And no matter how hard he tried, Mewtwo could not purge that voice from his mind. It echoed and rung in his mind, and he felt a pull on him. Not a physical pull, but a slight mental tug to find out what truly lied in the East. He floated down off of the roof and wandered out of the Village's limit. The sand was hot beneath his feet and the sounds of cheers from the contest were still going on strong. He was almost happy that he had been disqualified for sleeping in that morning, he would have made a complete fool out of himself in armed combat without using his powers.

As he casually circled the village, Mewtwo's thoughts turned back to the Western horizon. He felt a sense of longing, a want cried out to return to the Red Village and to get away from his shame. He also felt a tinge of loss, he almost felt like he would never see the old Village again. As he tried to put these thoughts out of his mind, Mewtwo's gaze drifted North. The tip of the mining tower was visible barely above the horizon, and a strange haze was rising from the sand but a few miles away. He squinted and recognized it as a cloud of sand and dust being kicked up by something moving across the desert. His heart jumped as two possibilities raced to mind; either these were Gerudos returning from the tower, or things had gone from bad to worse and these were Imperial soldiers. Either way, he felt he needed to alert the other Gerudos. He jumped into the air and flew at breakneck speed back to the village.

When he arrived, Mewtwo quickly found a Warning horn sitting in a opening on a guard tower. All the towers were empty for the events, so nobody would notice the dust in the distance. Mewtwo raised the horn to his mouth and gave a mighty blow. The blast resonated throughout the village and echoed across the desert beyond. The cheering and fighting stopped almost immediately, and Gerudos armed with scimitars raced up to Mewtwo with serious looks on their faces.

"What is it?" One of them asked, "Why did you blow the horn?"

"Someone approaches from the North!" Mewtwo said frantically.

Several Gerudos scoffed and growled disapprovingly, and the crowd around Mewtwo began to tremble as if about to explode in anger when the Blue Elder spoke up.

"I have given specific orders to all my women not to leave the tower, even if it means death." She said dramatically. There was a short pause garnished with electrified silence.

"The Empire cometh to bring their wrath upon us." The Blue Elder whispered in a shocked tone. Whispers and shudders filled the congregation before the Blue Elder erupted; "To arms! Prepare for battle!"

Battle cries filled the village as the Gerudos dispersed and gathered all their armor and weapons together and distributed them. As the minutes passed, the sand in the distance seemed to make leaps and bounds closer to the village. After finishing the task of equipping every Gerudo capable of fighting, they all moved to the outer perimeter of the village. A few machineguns had been captured from the Empire a few weeks ago, and these were set up facing the incoming enemy. Mewtwo could now see the small, egg shaped Imperial vehicles racing across the sand. Bows were knocked, scimitars readied, and psychic powers brought to full charge.

Mewtwo flew up to stand on top of a hut and get a good view of the attackers as they slowly but surely moved towards the village. He saw four egg shaped transport vehicles, which he recognized as the same type of vehicles that the Red Elder had hitched to their wagons. There were also two of what appeared to be tanks, bulbous monstrosities floating a foot off the sand as the approached. There was a large gun turret on top of both of them. When they were only 100 feet away, they turned and aimed at the entrenched Gerudos. Mewtwo would have nothing of it. He flew out into their line of fire just as blasts of dark energy exited the muzzles of their turrets. Mewtwo powered up his shield and the dark energy hit him hard, much harder than he had expected. His shield held, but he was flung through the air in dizzying spirals.

Then, out of the once calm air, there was a shout from the Gerudos and the air was filled with the twang of bows. Arrows peppered the sky and shattered harmlessly against the hulls of the vehicles. Mewtwo righted himself and frowned, the Gerudos weren't doing any damage at all. The turret on one tank whirred and sighted a small hut that was filled with Gerudo troops. Mewtwo acted without thinking, he teleported himself in between the Gerudos and the tank, and absorbed the blast of darkness the tank had spat. He was better prepared this time however, and he didn't lose his balance. He held strong and charged a shadow ball to full power in his hands. The tank didn't have time to let its weapon warm up before Mewtwo lobbed his own attack. The shadow ball struck its target directly on the top of the turret, burrowing through the armor of the tank's top. When it reached the tank's power core, the entire vehicle was engulfed in a purple explosion. The other tank turned and fired. Mewtwo expected another dark energy attack, but instead he found a missile streaking off the tank's side to meet him. It detonated on his shield and blew him backwards into a hut, which promptly collapsed. A wooden beam fell from the hut's ceiling and knocked Mewtwo out cold.

And outside the remains of the hut, the Gerudos now had no-one to take their blows for them. Never once in their history had the Empire used such force against them, and they were unprepared. The transports opened up and mindless slaves poured out carrying guns of varying sizes. The machine guns that the Gerudos had captured burst to life, mowing down ranks of mindless soldiers. Then the tank sighted one of the guns and fired. The Gerudo arming this particular gun was able to jump out on time, and the gun itself turned instantly to molten slag. Then the slave troops broke through the Gerudos' defensive line and gunfire barked throughout the village.

Through this violence, the Red Elder walked right up to the remnants of the outer line, carrying a single bow and a quiver with a single arrow. The passing slave troopers seemed to pay her no heed as they chased after other Gerudos retreating inward. The Red Elder climbed to the top of one of the remaining huts and pulled the one arrow out of her quiver. She knocked it into the bow and aimed at the remaining tank.

The tank spotted her and brought its gun to bear. The dark energy drive hummed to life as its driver pushed it to overcharge. The Elder drew the bow tight, and the arrow began to glow.

"For the Honorable Mothers. For my daughters." She whispered, and let the arrow fly.

The tank let loose a deluge of dark energy from its turret and the two projectiles met in midair. Instead of burning up and disappearing, the light arrow cut right through the dark energy and flew directly into the tank's gun barrel. There was a flash of bright white light, and electricity sparked around the tank before it detonated in a ball of white flame.

"The light arrows, show evil no mercy." The Red Elder said, recanting the line from Hylian history. The troops in the village suddenly fell limp and unconscious, and the remaining transport vehicles turned and fled. The tanks had been sustaining a radio incantation to control the drop troops. The battle was over with one arrow.

Chapter XXV

"A greener land where life prevailed,

Cool breeze, cold stream and prosperity unveiled,

A place where hope had never failed,

Darkness suddenly exhaled.

Malevolence poured down from the sky,

Violence from worlds gone awry,

A valiant few made a battle cry,

But the land's life was soon sucked dry.

Shadow settled upon the land,

As if grasped by one dark hand,

Expanding oceans of bright orange sand,

Ignorance is a powerful command.

A Hero rose and fell in turn,

The very sky did boil and burn,

For freedom then no-one did yearn,

Against rebellion fear doth spurn.

Yet the towers may yet fall,

A wanderer answers destiny's call,

Walking through darkness' hall,

Toppling the oppressive wall.

Despite what seems set destiny,

There will always be opportunity,

Where one will still accept journey,

A caged bird may still fly free."

-Poem discovered in Hylian Ruins, author and date of creation unknown.

Mewtwo awoke with his head throbbing again. He looked up to see the ceiling of his hut and cringed at a pulse of pain in his neck. He followed his instinctive reaction of using his recover ability on himself. When the pain was gone, he sat up to see Fara sitting in a chair next to his bed.

"Impressive. A blow like the one you got would have kept one our warriors down for a few days." Fara said.

Mewtwo shook his head, clearing his thoughts. There was a slight ringing in his ears that wouldn't go away. "How long was I out?" He asked.

"Four hours, give or take. I was about to give you a red potion, but I was afraid it would choke you if I tried to pour it in your mouth." Fara said. "Your abilities really are amazing. You used that healing ability that you have on yourself, didn't you?"

"It was a reflex." Mewtwo said, sighing. He wondered what had become of the others in the attack. He still had a hard time remembering what exactly had happened.

"That's an amazing power. Something like that would really make my job easier." Fara said.

"What do you mean? Those Red potions you have work just as well, if not a bit better." Mewtwo said.

"It's not like we have an unlimited supply of those you know." Fara said, "The Empire doesn't know how to make them, so we have what little we can make with the limited ingredients. Not to mention you need to use magic to make them, and we don't have a lot of time when the towers are taken offline."

"I see. So you ration them?" Mewtwo asked.

"More or less. Priority is given to those with more serious injuries. You didn't have any mortal injuries, so I hesitated to give this to you at first. Then I decided that we would probably need your power within the next few days and that I needed to revive you. I was about to administer it when you suddenly awoke." Fara said.

Mewtwo sighed and stood up. He could see the sun was setting outside, and a small voice whispered in his head, "Six days."

"Uhh, is there anything I can do for you?" Fara asked, walking up to his side.

"Well, do you know where I can find Indiru?" Mewtwo asked.

"You mean the Blue Elder's daughter? She usually is around her mother's little stone house. It's next to the other house where the Red Elder is staying. Why do you ask?" Fara said, feeling slightly worried about Mewtwo.

"I want to ask her a few questions. She told me that she has the gift of foresight." Mewtwo said, now walking away.

"Well, if you need anything!" Fara shouted.

"Got it." Mewtwo said, strolling towards the two Elder's houses.

A loud, reverberating knock sounded on the Blue Elder's door. She immediately popped out of her nap and walked to the door and opened it. When she saw Mewtwo standing there, she struggled to hold back a frown.

"What is it?" She growled.

"Is Indiru in here?" Mewtwo asked.

"No, why do you want to know?" the Blue Elder said.

"I wanted to ask her about the future. She says she can see it." Mewtwo replied.

"Can't you? After all those other powers you've been touting around here these past few days, I assume you can at least see the future too?" The Blue Elder said. She was still angry at him for injuring the twelve tribeswomen with his fancy beam attack. The Red Potion store was dangerously low, especially after that imperial raid.

"Well, I……I don't think I can do that." Mewtwo stuttered.

"Listen to me. I don't think you're a bad person, but you're arrogant. Too arrogant. If you want to get on my good side, stop acting so proud and pulling foolhardy stunts. And maybe you should try looking into the future yourself, I doubt it's impossible with you abilities. You're the one who proved it to us with your little demonstration." The Blue Elder said, and then shut the door in Mewtwo's face.

Mewtwo stormed away from the blue Elder's house. He was now more angry at himself for not thinking of that. He walked back across the village, which was humming with activity. Despite the Imperial attack, the two days of trading had been going by smoothly. Gerudos of both colors bartered their goods privately and in public display. The Red Elder had even managed to close a deal wherein she traded three fine glass jars for a beautiful silk scarf. Today being the last day for trading, the activity was becoming feverish. More and more Gerudos hastened to unload all the goods they had stolen from the Empire and enjoy the luxuries that they traded for.

Mewtwo bumped into Kalana turning around the corner of a hut on the way back to his. He smiled; this was the first time he had a chance to talk to her in days. She was carrying a large roll of animal skin that she had recently bought. It would make a fine roof for a hut. Mewtwo apologized and helped her carry the cumbersome roll back to one of the wagons.

"It's a good thing we found the replacement parts we needed for these." Kalana said to him as they hefted the roll into the back of a wagon.

"Ingenuity and a little luck prevailed." Mewtwo said. "I myself have not known much luck over the course of my life."

He and Kalana began walking back across the square. "Nonsense!" Kalana replied, "You found us, didn't you?" She said cheerfully.

"Yes, but I'm still worried that people aren't adjusted to me." Mewtwo said in a hazy gloom. He was mildly shocked that Kalana wasn't upset about his stunt a few nights ago.

"Listen to me." Kalana said, stopping in mid stride, "All you need to do is be yourself. Don't try to show off or impress us. Just show us what you're like on the inside, without all those fancy abilities."

Mewtwo sighed heavily. "Sound advice…but sometimes I doubt that I'm wholly decent on the inside too." He said, remembering back to the hollow evil feeling he had felt now almost half a year ago.

"What do you mean?" Kalana asked, now staring at him with concern.

"I've talked to you about this many a time before, don't you remember? The deaths, Giovanni, the time we were almost devoured by the sandworm?" Mewtwo said, feeling a shudder come over him.

"Of course I remember! I just…feel like I can trust you. That's what friends do! They trust each other!" Kalana said as if force feeding a baby.

Mewtwo was silent for a moment, a tinge of emotion in his eyes. "I've never had a true friend until now." He said. "Only one, and she was taken from me shortly after I met her." Mewtwo said, on the verge of crying at the memory of Ai. Gerudos were now turning and staring at them.

"Come on," Kalana said, "Less sympathetic eyes wash over us." She said, and they walked back to the edge of the village to be alone.

There, Mewtwo related all of his recent dreams to her. He told her of the Eyes of the Empire, the threats and warnings, and of Ai's message.

"No matter what happens, embrace yourself, or all shall be lost." Kalana repeated to herself, after Mewtwo had recanted what Ai had said. "Where have I heard that before?"

"All I know right now is that these Eyes of the Empire are not making empty threats. If I am to reach wherever they dwell in the East in five days, I need to leave, now." Mewtwo finished, placing morbid emphasis on the end of the sentence. "You don't think I am insane, do you?"

"My goddess no! If anything your clairvoyant mind makes you all the more believable. But if what you say is true, you do have to leave……tonight." Kalana said evocatively.

"Tonight?" Mewtwo gasped. "But how am I to know where to go? And what of food and water?"

"We'll go together. We can carry enough supplies to sustain us for a week. We could carry even more, using your powers. But as soon as we travel a few miles out, we'll be within the range of another tower, and that won't happen. Since we have less than a week of time to work with anyway, I say it's a sane insanity." Kalana said.

"And what will we tell to the Elders? Ruru? Won't they be worried and upset about you disappearing?" Mewtwo asked in a now desperate tone. There was a part of him that screamed to stay away from the East no matter what cost, and it was speaking in him.

"They know of your abilities. I will write a concise note explaining how you foresaw the doom in your dream and we will be off." Kalana said, now pacing around the sand.

"But……." Mewtwo trailed off, out of ideas. The inevitable black tide in his mind now shod off any hope of avoiding the doom that laid on the Eastern Horizon.

"We have all of today to prepare ourselves, but we must not be discovered. The Elders would flat out forbid this if they got word of it. Gather many canteens of water, large packs of jerked meats, and a cape and hood to protect yourself from the sun on the long journey. Tell this to no-one, and if anyone asks, you're just partaking in a little trading of your own. Do you understand?" Kalana whispered.

"Yes." Mewtwo whispered, already regretting everything he had told to Kalana. He knew he would have had to have left the village sometime, but he felt bad dragging her into it. He walked off toward the wagons and Kalana wandered over in another direction. They had an entire day to prepare for the long trip, but something in the air made the time fly for Mewtwo. By the time he had gathered all the supplies Kalana said told him to collect, it was well past noon. He stowed them in his hut and spent his last few hours mentally psyching himself for the arduous voyage ahead. He had small chat with all the Gerudos he knew best, hoping that it was a good enough goodbye for him. He had a dark feeling that he would not see many of his friends here again.

And when the sun had finally settled down halfway skewered by the horizon, Kalana pinned the note to Mewtwo's bed in his hut and they pulled their cloaks over their heads. No-one noticed them as they slipped out of the village and into the twilight.

A/N: Bumm bumm bumm! Unexpected twist huh? Well as I said, the next two chunks are going to be deliciously awesome. Just remember they will take more time than an average chunk. And as always, a little time to write a review goes a long way. Yes I'm reading your fics Ud, I'll write a review here soon :P