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 NINTH chunk. Here we go, almost done with Book II! Only one more chunk left after this! Then we start into Book III! But anyways, this chunk is just as long as I promised. 18 Pages, bringing our total to 100 pages straight up! Read and enjoy!

Chapter XXVI

The six sages of ancient Hyrule each represented their own elements; fire, water, forest, spirit, shadows, and light. They imbued their powers into six medallions, which together could bring about the coming of a hero. Legends say that Nabooru, the first Honorable Mother of the united Gerudos of old, was the Spirit Sage and possessor of the Spirit Medallion. When the wicked Gerudo king rose up to conquer the land, she and the other sages gave their Medallions to a small boy who would then become the Hero of time. After he smote down the Wicked King, the Hero traveled from these plains, never to be seen again, taking the Medallions with him.

And so Mewtwo and Kalana set out towards the East. Following no direction save a tugging sensation in the back of Mewtwo's mind, they flew the first miles out from the village until they reached the range of the next tower. Afterwards, they begrudgingly took to complete the rest of the journey on foot. A full moon illuminated the ghostly flat sand with a watery, pale-blue light. The stars twinkled unmovingly while the moon glowed down at them like a beacon. The air was completely still as they trudged through the sea of sand, and the silence was only broken by the padding of their footfalls and their steady panting. The sand came and went under their feet for hours, and neither of them spoke. They were keeping a pace so that neither of them were tiring quickly, but Kalana knew they would need to rest soon after the hours of walking they had done so far. She was used to these types of endurance stretching tests, but Mewtwo wasn't. They needed to keep moving though, or the sandworms would attack them. It was starting to get close to dawn, and the worms would be just waking up hungry right now. Mewtwo and Kalana pressed on.

As the moon neared the horizon and the stars dimmed in the sky, a blotch appeared on the landscape in front of them. As they kept walking, faint pink light began filtering into the dark dome of sky. They had walked the entire night now, and Kalana was surprised that Mewtwo had lasted this long. She could tell he was tired and in need of sleep, his panting slowly became rougher as they continued walking. The blotch slowly grew into a stone structure jutting violently up out of the sands, and Kalana marked it in her mind as their resting point for the coming day that was about to break. Then, something familiar caught her attention.

"Wait," Kalana whispered, stopping in her tracks. "Listen."

Through the thick, syrupy silence, the low, dull sound of a sandworm's roar rumbled over the now uneven sands. "Hurry!" Kalana shouted, knowing their secrecy had been lost.

Mewtwo tried his best to keep up with Kalana as they sprinted towards the stone structure ahead of them. The sound of the sandworm was not very far behind, and safety loomed only a couple hundred feet away. Mewtwo's body screamed at him, pain and fiery exhaustion would forcibly shut him down soon, but salvation was so close. When the sound of the sandworm was now deafening, they made a final full strength sprint towards the solid rock plaza in front of the structure. They dove onto it as the sandworm erupted out of the sand a few feet behind of where they bad been standing. The worm angrily turned away from the plaza, which was effectively a big wall around its prey. Safety had been found by a hair's breadth.

As Mewtwo and Kalana slowly recovered themselves, Mewtwo examined the area around them. He looked around to see that the stone plaza was about 15 by 15 feet, and that there was a single rough stone arch. The structure rising above them was a carved statue in the form of a Gerudo-like woman, holding her hands out as if offering 2 things. There was a doorway into the base of the statue.

"Where are we?" Mewtwo said, still gasping for breath.

"I haven't looked yet," Kalana said, pausing for a moment to recapture her breath, "Let me look."

Kalana slowly lifter her exhausted neck muscles to look around the area. Immediately she recognized worn Hylian script on the bases of the arch, and she nearly shrieked in shock when she saw the statue. It was the Desert Goddess, the Desert Colossus statue constructed thousands of years before the Age of Hyrule, the most powerful tribute to the eternal ways of the Gerudo. Kalana fell to her knees and prayed in Hylian.

"What? What is it?" Mewtwo asked bewilderedly, but Kalana ignored him and kept on praying in a hushed tone. After Kalana had finished the entire prayer, she sat up and stared in awe.

"I never thought I'd ever see the lost Colossus, the ancient and powerful dedication to the power of Spirit and the Spirit Sage. The desert is cruel and destructive with its erosive winds, and yet this shrine has remained intact for over 10,000 years." Kalana whispered. "Only the desert Goddess herself can have kept it strong for this long."

"It looks like there's a hole in it." Mewtwo said, pointing to the squarish doorway.

"That's the entrance to the temple itself. The Sprit Sage used to dwell within the Temple during the Age of Hyrule, and it is one of the Gerudo's most revered legends. To find the location of the Temple itself, this is not mere fate directing us here. We were meant to find it." Kalana said.

"Should we go inside?" Mewtwo asked.

"If the inside is in as good of a condition as the outside, then it should be safe and intact, but who is to say what we'll find in there. It is said that the Stepmothers of the Wicked King himself also dwelt in the depths of the Temple. What wrath we may invoke is beyond my mind. Only the Elders can tell if it is wise for us to even sit on this plaza." Kalana replied.

"Well, we haven't been smitten by any angry god yet, so why not go in?" Mewtwo said. "It might be a safe haven for resting."

"You will do best to not speak like that again. Wrath is not dealt out instantaneously. The Wicked King ruled the land of Hyrule many years before the Goddesses directed the hands of fate to topple him. Still, we have no other safe place to go, and the sun's harsh rays will not be helpful for us once the day arrives in full force. We have to go inside."

Mewtwo ground his teeth tightly at Kalana's rebuke, but she had a point. He asked his legs one more time to move him, and they dragged themselves into the darkness of the temple's interior. Inside, two torches sat burning on the walls, providing an unnatural amount of light. But Kalana and Mewtwo were to exhausted to care, as soon as they were inside, they took off their cloaks and used them for pillows on the stone floor. Sleep jumped on them both without mercy.

A cold, chilling breeze ran over Kalana, and she slowly awoke. Sunlight was burning in through the doorway behind them, and heat was radiating from it, but the inside of the Temple still felt oddly cool. As she looked around, what little doubt she harbored that this might not be the Spirit Temple was banished. In front of them, the two stone tablets stood, foretelling the Hero of Time's journey through the River of Time. The tablets, shaped in the form of hooded Cobras and their bellies inscribed with the Hylian Prophecies, stared down at them with their unblinking stone eyes. Between them, step lead up into the main hallway of the Temple, after which a maze of passages snaked outward, some of which that even she could not fit through. Again, the ghostly breeze swept over her, and she shivered unpleasantly. Mewtwo remained in his deep sleep on the floor, still tired from their night of walking. And she didn't know how many more nights like this they would both have to suffer through. And again, the same breeze swept around Kalana. She could no longer stand it, so she got up and walked out into the desert sun. The temperature change was astounding, and the heat blasted down at her like a furnace.

After a few minutes, Kalana felt uncomfortable in the unusually strong sun and relented back into the temple's hall. It felt like walking into a refrigerator. She hadn't noticed it last night, since the desert night was just as cool as the Temple's interior. Now it felt like the inside of that magic cool box the Blue Elder had stolen from the tower. Kalana sat down and opened one of her many water pouches. The water was just as cool as the room, and surprisingly refreshing. After she had closed the puch and laid down to rest some more, the breeze returned and whirled around her. She shivered not from the cold, but from fear. This was not a natural draft. She bolted upright and her eyes darted around the room. The torches seemed to dim slightly and there was a renwed chill in the air, more-so than usual. Then Kalana's eyes caught sight of an apparition on the top of the stairs, the form of a Gerudo figure staring down at them inquisitively. It vanished as soon as Kalana looked directly at it, and there was a whistle in the wind. Kalana's pulse was pounding as she reached over and grabbed Mewtwo to shake him awake.

The pleasant darkness of sleep was washing over Mewtwo like a cool tide when he felt his body suddenly vibrate itself back into reality. Kalana was clenching his arms like the ledge of a cliff that she was about to fall from. Mewtwo opened his eyes and saw she was pale and shaking.

"Wha….what's the matter?" Mewtwo asked.

"The spirits of the Gerudos of Old have visited us! They are trying to tell us something!" Kalana said frantically.

Mewtwo paused in disbelief. "Are you sure you're completely awake?" He asked.

Kalana was about to rebuke him when a powerful, gusting wind blasted out of the main hall, blowing past them, carrying on it the sound of metal clashing with metal, a shriek of pain, and insidious cackles like from an old witch. When the air was still again, Mewtwo and Kalana looked at each other without saying a word. And then Mewtwo suddenly felt the presence. Even without his powers, he was still very much away of the entities that dwelt in this temple. They had never been alone, it's just the ones who were there hadn't chosen to show themselves until now. Mewtwo joined Kalana in her shivers. Still the air remained silent, neither of them talked. And then, suddenly, Kalana stood up.

"I'm going into the temple." She said with new resolve. "There's something my ancestors want us to find. I intend to find it!"

Mewtwo felt the activity in the Temple, most of it was benevolent and non-threatening, but he could taste a hint of malevolence in the air as well. "I don't think it's a good idea! It's too dangerous!" He implored.

"I saw what I'm sure to be the form of the great Nabooru herself standing above us here on these steps! You can stay here, but I'm going to find out what she wants to tell me!" Kalana said, and walked off into the main hall of the Temple.

Mewtwo sighed at her stubbornness and followed. The energy in the atmosphere calmed slightly, but there was something at work here. A series of new events had been set in motion now that could not be undone, and neither he nor Kalana could predict what would happen next.

Chapter XXVII

In detail of the Hylian legend of the Apocalypse: "It would start with the slow degradation of the world into a vast desert. Hyrule's vast fields of green and deep forests would slowly give way to the vicious sands, directed by the powerful hands of fate. Famine and starvation would wrack the land, and a plague would sweep the kingdom, taking many lives in its wake. And when Hyrule reached its darkest hour, it grew even darker. Evil would rain down out of the sky, thousands in a mindless army without souls. Then, the Darkest One would appear and take the three pieces of the Triforce for himself, thus bringing about the doom of all who remained in the Kingdom of Hyrule." Many Gerudos have equated this dark army mentioned in the legend with the Empire, but most feel skeptical. The Triforce was a powerful enough artifact that if it had fallen into the hands of the Empire, they would have destroyed the Gerudos long ago.

A cold draft and eerily flickering torches guided the two interlopers through the ancient, musty corridors of the Spirit Temple. Kalana walked through the ancient passages as if she had been there before. The rust colored stone on the walls was practically covered with ancient markings. Hylian script was scrawled across the walls, and there were many pictures depicting Hyrule, the Gerudos of old, and the Six Sages. Most prominent was the Hylian Symbol for "Spirit", appearing on every doorway and archway. Dust whirled around Mewtwo and Kalana's feet as they crept through the hallowed halls. The air tasted thick and stale as they traveled deeper into the Temple, and something rank, foul, and old seemed to be hanging in the air. Mewtwo felt royally uncomfortable, but Kalana pressed onward in dogged determination.

As the stale feeling in the air started to become overpowering, Mewtwo and Kalana turned a corner into an open room in the Temple. There stood before them yet another grand statue, depicting a similar Goddess with both hands outstretched. And to Kalana's horror, there was a hole where the face should be. A small platform was hanging from chains in front of this hole.

"Disgraceful!" Kalana growled. "Such defacement is abhorrent!"

Mewtwo tried to think of something to say about this, but his mind was seemingly encumbered by the atmosphere in the temple. The air almost pulsed with energy, the very air and stone seemed to hold impressions of energies past. They were intruding in upon his mind, and he was trying to push them out. And a rather foul presence seemed to be hanging about the head of the statue.

"Well, we need to keep searching," Kalana said. "Whatever it is that Nabooru wants us to find is still in here somewhere."

So the two of them picked another door, this one to their left, and walked up a series of stairs. At length, they reached a seeming dead end. Two statues stood in front of a grooved wall. At the top of the wall there was a ledge about 50 feet up.

"Looks like we'll need to climb." Kalana said.

Mewtwo frowned. He had never tried to climb with his bare paws before, he was used to flying. The suction cups on his fingers would be useful, but his feet would be unwieldy. Kalana grabbed onto the grooves in the wall and began hauling herself up. Mewtwo sighed, shook his head, and grabbed onto the grooves. His enormous weight right away became more apparent to him than it ever had been. As he slowly struggled up the wall, his skinny little arms screamed in pain. It felt like his shoulders and elbows would come out of their sockets. He grunted in pain as he pressed his fingers into the grooves and slowly pulled. At one point, his large toes lost their grip on the wall and all his weight fell onto his arms. He hugn nearly twenty feet over the ground, and a fall would be seriously injurious. Even worse, without his powers, he wouldn't be able to heal himself if he fell. His legs scrambled to get a hold on the wall and then finally caught back onto the grooves. He let out a sigh of powerful relief.

Kalana had long reached the top by the time Mewtwo reached the ledge. She helped him slowly overtake the ledge. They sat there a few minutes to rest, as Mewtwo could swear that his arms were about to break. Then when they had rested enough, they proceeded through the door that they had worked so hard to reach. Yet more sour smelling halls and rooms passed them by, until they reached a room with various mirrors around the walls. Light was reflecting off of them from a hole in the ceiling, and the light was directed around the room until it came to rest on a small crystal sticking out of the floor. By this crystal there was a hole in the floor. There were no other doors.

Mewtwo and Kalana looked down through the hole to see a platform hanging by chains a few feet below it. They climbed down to see it was the same platform hanging before the statue's head. Mewtwo and Kalana gasped in shock to see that the hole in the face was more than just mischievous graffiti, it was a passageway carved into the stone that led to another door. The strange ambient light that seemed to fill the rest of the Temple was absent here, the door at the end of the hallway was only barely visible through the evil looking gloom. Mewtwo swallowed hard.

"I think we should go back." Mewtwo said.

"Maybe, you're right. I don't like the feeling that this is giving me." Kalana said.

With Kalana's words, the once gentle draft that had guided them here suddenly blew up into a violent gale around them. The platform swayed dangerously in the wind, and the chains began to creak, threatening to give way. Mewtwo and Kalana only had one choice, the jumped from the platform into the dark corridor. As soon as they did, the rusty chains supporting the platform snapped and there was a loud crash as the platform shattered on the stone feet of the statue fifty feet below. The wind disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Mewtwo and Kalana looked at each other with frightened expressions before continuing on. They forged their way through the gloom and opened the thick, rusty steel door at the end of the hall.

The room they opened up was filled with more unexplainable light, and many pillars lined the "L" shaped hallway that it turned out to be. Small chunks of what appeared to be steel armor were strewn across the floor, covered with rust and evidence of sword blows on them. They turned the corner and yet another door laid in front of them. As they swung it open, it revealed an open room with a large elevated platform in the center. On the edges of this solid stone platform were hundreds of Hylian symbols and illustrations, and on the edge of the platform were grooves that were meant for climbing. Mewtwo was thankful that it was only a few feet's climb this time.

When Mewtwo and Kalana stood atop the platform, they marveled at the beautiful artwork that had been etched and painted onto the floor. The two symbols for fire and ice circled around the symbol for spirit, and elaborate swirls and messages were swathed around these three symbols.

"Here resided Koume and Kotake, Caretakers of the House of Spirit." Kalana said aloud, translating the text through the thick air.

"Custodians of the Great King, Great Disciples of Fire and Ice. They raised the King and brought him to leadership, yet the power of Spirit waned in his heart and he was wicked. Many die by his hands, and his will is imposed on that of Kotake and Koume. The Hero of Time, on his holy quest in pursuit of the Wicked King, was drawn here to the Shrine of Spirit, where he encountered the Two Sages. The Will of the King imposed them to brainwash Nabooru, and the Hero of Time smote them with the Master Sword. Here still lie Kotake and Koume, and as does Nabooru."

Kalana ended the read and looked around the room apprehensively.

"So they do lie here, the wicked sisters who betrayed the Gerudos of Old. They were only being influenced by the king…." Kalana whispered.

Then, with a loud bang, the door where they had entered slammed shut with a ringing clang. The air suddenly went cold, and Mewtwo and Kalana's breath suddenly became visible in the chilled air. And a dark swirling form appeared over their heads, twirling and twisting in a ghoulish dance. Eerie, spine chilling cackles filled the air, and Mewtwo shuddered with fright. And then, the shadow above their heads split in two and took on shape and form. Two hunched over figures hovered over their heads, yellow eyes agleam and emitting the icy cackles that were echoing around the room.

"Be undone!" The two forms cried in sharp tones, and one dove at Kalana while the other at Mewtwo.

Mewtwo had little time to react, he rolled to the side as the ghostly form whizzed past him. Where he had been, a patch of solid ice covered the stone floor. Mewtwo looked up to see the figure circling around him, preparing to make another pass. He wished dearly that he still had his powers. And then he felt Kalana's hand on his shoulder.

"Begone, Kotake and Koume! Leave these hallowed halls and be at rest!" Kalana shouted. The two ghostly forms simply cackled and hissed back at her.

"A mere child!" one of the witches laughed to the other.

"She thinks she can tell us what to do?" the other replied, shrieking.

"We will show her who we are!" The first replied. Then they both dove down towards Kalana and Mewtwo.

And before the ghostly forms of Kotake and Koume could strike Kalana down, she pulled out a simple bow and arrow from her satchel. She raised it and pointed it at the two marauding ghouls, and a blinding white light shone from the tip of the arrow.

"I am Kalana! Daughter of Hadara, Thirtieth Elder of the Red Gerudo Tribe! You shalt not harm us!" Kalana shouted with extreme force. The two ghouls shrieked in pain and shock at the sight of the Light Arrows.

"No! Not the Arrows of the Light!" One of them cried. They twirled around the ceiling, howling in rage and agony.

"Go now! Leave this place to the ages! Such is the will of the Descendants of the Gerudo line!" Kalana cried. And the shrieking ghosts howled one l;ast time before disappearing into the ceiling.

The light on the tip of the arrow went out as Kalana lowered the noble bow and sighed with relief. The atmosphere in the room lightened dramatically, the evil presence Mewtwo had felt dissolved and the energy in the Temple slowly began slipping away. Mewtwo, who had nearly been paralyzed with fright, slowly let his tense muscles relax. He let out a long, hearty sigh and sat on the floor where the ice spot had been. He was slightly surprised that Kalana had managed to steal the light arrows from her ever watchful mother, but it they had saved their lives, so he didn't give it a second though. And then, as he had just mulled these thoughts over, he felt another draft of wind and nearly jumped with fright. Kalana raised the light arrows again and pointed them around the room, searching for the source of the wind.

Another figure appeared before them, but not of the witches that had assaulted them earlier. A young Gerudo of light, wispy build appeared in the air. Kalana dropped the light arrows in awe. The young figure smiled warmly at them, and pointed at the center of the platform below them. Then, slowly faded away into nothing. Not a sound had been heard except the arrows clattering to the ground.

"It was her….Nabooru." Kalana whispered.

Mewtwo noticed where the form of Nabooru had pointed, the circular symbol for Spirit in the center of the platform. Around it's edges a slot was apparent.

"She, indicated there, that symbol." Mewtwo said, pointing at it.

"This is what she wants us to find!" Kalana said, and then leaned down over the stone carving. Slowly, she and Mewtwo gripped the edge of the symbol and pulled upwards. With enough force, it popped out of the indentation, revealing a golden Medallion set into a slot in the stone. The symbol for spirit gleamed on the golden Medallion's face, winking back up at them.

"And here it lies, the Spirit Medallion." Kalana said, staring at it in admiration. "Never had I dreamed to even enter the Ancient Temple of Spirit, but for my eyes to rest upon the pure manifestation of Spirit's power, laid down into matter by Nabooru herself…….I……It's miraculous!" Kalana said.

Mewtwo reached his paw down and touched the polished surface of the Medallion. It was cold to the touch, but it radiated warmth and goodness of soul. He grabbed its edges and yanked it out of the stone where it laid, and fell backwards, staring at its beauty. And then, a sudden overflow of energy filled his mind and body, the elemental essence of spirit swarmed in and around him, and reality blurred away from his vision. He saw Nabooru and the other Five Sages standing in a great blue lit plane, filled with flowing water and energy. The image shifted to a green, grassy field, Hyrule itself. Wondrous lakes, lush forests, a great smoking mountain, and the familiar orange of the Gerudo desert appeared in front of him. And over it all, a great white castle reached to the sky, edges painted a noble blue and the stone a marvelous white. And the image shifted again. The sky grew black, the forests shriveled, the lakes dried up, and the desert grew like a cancer. The great white castle collapsed into rubble, and a great black tower rose in its place.

Mewtwo smarted when Kalana's hand struck him over the face.

"Come out of it!" She shouted. "Don't do this to me again!"

Mewtwo sat up, the images suddenly gone from his mind. He still felt power rushing through his veins. "I saw…..Hyrule." He said. "This Medallion, it's power showed it to me."

Kalana stood silent, not disbelieving him at all.

"And….I know where we need to go!"

Chapter XXVIII

There have been many tales circulating through Gerudo History about the First Honorable Mother, Nabooru. Born to be the Sage of Spirit, she lived twice as long as an average Gerudo, a whole 1000 years. It is widely believed that she was around the age of 50 when the events involving the Wicked King took place. When the Hero of Time rose against the Wicked King and collected the Medallions from each of the Sages, each one of the Sages had been carefully hidden and put under control by the Wicked King or his minions. The Hero had to awaken the Sages and restore their memories, and then use the Medallions that they gave him to defeat the Wicked King. Nabooru had been put into submission by the two witches Kotake and Koume, and they used her as their own personal muscle. When the Hero freed Nabooru, smote the witches, and took the Medallion, Nabooru was once again free to lead her people. Once the Wicked King had been vanquished and peace restored, she resumed trade and peace with the Hylians as long as she could. But once the war broke out between the two races, she became a vicious tactician that helped stay the tide of superior Hylian forces. And once the war ended with the slow and silent growth of the Vile Desert, the Gods gifted her with four daughters, each of which whom would grow to become the first Elders of the four tribes.

With the final rays of the sun disappearing over the horizon, Mewtwo and Kalana struck out into the desert once more. Mewtwo had stuffed the Spirit Medallion into his backpack and continued onward, the spurt of power it had awarded him had long gone. Yet he still had a sense that it was there, lingering. He just didn't know how to bring it out. And once more they set a smooth pace through the sands and the hours ticked by. Soon the stars came out, twinkling in the now deep violet sky. The moon peeked over the edge of the sky and a crater on its surface looked almost like an eye staring at them. And the Eastern horizon held a stronger sense of dread for the both of them. With four days left and their supplies slowly diminishing, it now seemed that Kalana's decision to leave had been a rash and stupid one to both of them now. And they had been lucky this morning, finding the shelter of the Spirit Temple. They had no way to know if they could find a similar haven from the worms tomorrow. Their journey could be suddenly and viciously cut short by a hungry sandworm's jagged rows of teeth. Still they walked, letting these horrid thoughts boil and fester in their minds, not knowing that they were both thinking the exact same things.

For the rest of the night they walked and thought like this, both of them worrying more as the sand slowly became courser and thicker beneath their feet. As the moon soundlessly crept across the sky above them, there was a bit of a change in the feeling of the atmosphere. Mewtwo didn't feel it, but Kalana had noticed it the third hour after they had started their trek from the Temple. The air smelled almost, fresher, with a tinge of actual humidity. Kalana felt it, but tried to throw it off as the long hours working on her mind. When the first few signs of pink appeared in the sky and the sounds of sandworms were heard in the distance, the horizon on all sides was completely empty, the desert stretched on for miles.

Mewtwo panted heavily and poured buckets of sweat as he continued his march with Kalana. Morning was coming very soon, and the sound of two sandworms fighting was heard way off in the distance behind them. They were probably fighting over some unfortunate being that had found its way into one of their jaws. Now it was getting dangerous. There was no cover to be seen and the sounds of sandworms were becoming louder and closer the longer they walked. Mewtwo's worry was now blocking out all the pain from his exhausted muscles. And then, the familiar roar of pursuit was heard behind them. The chase was on again, only this time there was no hope lingering in the near distance.

Kalana nearly jumped with fright when she heard the sandworm's roar behind them. It was the same horrifying roar that they all emitted when they had found live prey. Soon there could be another fight between worms, only over their dead bodies instead of some distant beast's. Kalana signaled Mewtwo to run and she doubled her own pace to match Mewtwo's fastest sprint. And it was seemingly hopeless, as the roar of the worm and the rumbling of the sand was coming closer and closer with each of their steps. It was five minutes before they could see the horrible form of the worm flying through the air behind them in pursuit and they knew now that there was no escape. Kalana swallowed hard and whispered a Hylian death prayer as the worm landed maybe 20 feet behind them. The shaking of the sand nearly knocked her off of her feet as she ran. And then, the worm burst out of the sand only a few scant feet behind them. Its huge mouth opened up and it's rows of glistening white dagger teeth shined in a strange Golden light. Kalana saw death about to devour her from the back, and then looked away so not to see her last moments. Then she saw where the Golden Light was coming from.

Mewtwo didn't know how it happened, or how it had occurred to him to take out the Medallion in the last seconds before the worm lunged at them, but he did. His small paws found the glimmering Gold and pulled out of his backpack. And when it's light spilled out of his pack, he felt the same pulsing spiritual energy as he had felt before. He turned to the worm as he rand and concentrated this power the same way he would one of his psychic energy attacks. And then, a Golden beam of power flew from the Medallion and into the worm's mouth. The worm shrieked in surprise and pain and fell back, away as its bite missed their backs. Its tail swelled and burst, and the beam of Gold emerged from the hole it had drilled right through the worm's innards to its tail. It slumped to a stop on top of the sand and emitted a low rumbling moan of pain before shuddering one last time as death gripped it. A silence hung in the morning air.

At length however, this silence was broken. The sounds of other sandworms were heard. Sandworms that, knowing the plight of their comrade, were undoubtedly coming to feast upon his body. Mewtwo and Kalana needed not to exchange words; they took off as fast as their feet could take them. The corpse of the other sandworm was about to become a buffet for the other worms, and they didn't need to risk the possibility that one might not miss two little appetizers standing nearby. They were miles away from the dead sandworm when the others arrived for the feast. And to put one more iron guarantee of survival into place, Mewtwo and Kalana stayed moving until the sun crept all the way above the horizon like a swimmer coming of a pool. When morning had reached full force and the sandworms had finished their hunting, Mewtwo and Kalana collapsed onto the sands to get some rest. To ensure their safety, they slept in shifts. Because of their intense exhaustion, they found it easy to sleep right through the blazing sun in four hour shifts. They did this for 12 hours, splitting the last 4 into two so that they both got at least 6 hours of sleep each.

By the time the last split shift had ended, the sun was already setting and the sky darkening. They forced their still painful limbs to push onward as they set out yet again. The same dreary night routine by now was wearing on their minds, and neither of them talked for fear of saying something that might upset the other. And now Kalana was forced to acknowledge the distinct change in the flavor of the air. There was definite humidity and freshness, defying the regular atmosphere of a desert. And now, the sand was no longer pristine or even. Small stones and pebbles peppered the rough sandy ground, and here and there she saw a fist sized rock. And during one of the mind numbing hours of routine, she even found a red rock the size of her head lying half covered in the sand. The environment was clearly shifting as they moved across the desert, and Mewtwo soon noticed the change in the air as well. He may have been better attuned to the psychic realm than Kalana, but he was not very observant of the environment. He only noticed it when a sharp rock poked his now raw and sensitive foot. He cursed for a few brief moments but Kalana didn't say anything. The wall of silence re-instated itself with an iron will.

By the time the moon was setting and pink was becoming visible on the horizon, Mewtwo was ready to deal with the sandworms again. He turned the Spirit Medallion over and over again in his paws, waiting to use it. But as dawn became brighter and brighter over the rim of the sky, not a sound of the sandworms was to be heard. The ground was rough and rocky under their feet, and Kalana stopped walking all of a sudden.

"Why are you stopping?" Mewtwo asked as Kalana slowly sat and put her ears to the ground.

"I think…..the ground here is too rough and rocky for the sandworms." She said as complete silence from the ground met her ear. Not even the faintest vibration could be sensed by her trained ear. The air hung still and no roars were heard in the distance. "I think we can stop here for the day."

"Still, we should sleep in shifts again, just in case." Mewtwo replied.

Kalana nodded and slowly lied down. A rock jabbed her in the cheek and she cursed in Hylian and tossed it aside. "I'll sleep first. You know what to do if anything happens."

Mewtwo nodded. As Kalana quickly slipped into a deep sleep, Mewtwo gazed into the Eastern Horizon to pass the time. Off in the distance, he could barely make out the ridge of something in the extreme distance. They were getting close to their goal and Mewtwo knew it. He watched in the distance until the sun's position indicated four hours had passed, and he shook Kalana awake before collapsing into his own catatonic sleep.

Chapter XXIX

Depression has often become a serious condition for Gerudos in the recent years. As life on the Vile Desert drags on at its sluggish pace, young Gerudos often look to the future, hoping to see a bright one. The Elders, knowing this, always make sure to tell the younger Generation tales of ancient Hyrule, and that no matter how impossible it seems, that someday the world will return to that state. It serves to momentarily stay the jaws of despair, but as the years progress more and more Gerudos of all ages have been committing suicide. Some Elders fear that despite all the years of tenaciously holding onto the existence, the Gerudo people may eventually give up one day. And they work constantly to prevent it, passing along these lessons to their daughters so that they tooo might preserve the Gerudo race.

Mewtwo woke slowly as a pain in his side filtered through the inky blackness of sleep. He sat up and pulled a rock out from under his left leg. He saw the sun was halfway set already, and that he would have had to wake up soon even if the rock hadn't disturbed him. Kalana saw him sit up and spoke.

"Awake already? And to think that I once had trouble waking you up." Kalana said.

"It helps when you've been lying on a pointy rock for hours on end." Mewtwo said, lobbing the rock away. It clattered on top of another one and the air was silent a moment.

"You've still got a good half an hour left," Kalana said. "Why don't you go back to sleep a little longer?"

Mewtwo shook his head. "I couldn't get back to sleep if I wanted to. There's too much worry in my mind."

"Funny, you didn't seem to have trouble going to sleep this morning." Kalana replied.

"Sometimes the body can override the mind like cutting power to a light bulb." Mewtwo retorted. Kalana tilted her head in confusion. Mewtwo remembered that she didn't know what a light bulb was and let out a heavy sigh. "Shall we set out again?" He asked.

"We might as well. I'm certainly not going to be able to sleep anymore today when the fact that we have two days left and only one day's worth of supplies." Kalana said wearily. Mewtwo's stomach growled at the mention of supplies.

"What do you say we take a quick bite with our extra time?" Mewtwo suggested.

Kalana grinned. "I thought you'd never ask. With that, they sat down, sorted out their remaining food and water and compiled it all into just two sacks. The empty sacks were discarded to lighten their load and they slowly savored some of the sandworm jerky that Kalana had packed. Mewtwo finished off his third canteen of water. Kalana was on her second. Together they had originally brought ten, a back breaking load, now they were down to four collectively. Their loads were much lighter, but their anxiety grew heavier. Once they had filled their stomachs, Mewtwo and Kalana stood, facing the East with renewed resolve.

"We're close." Mewtwo said, squinting into the horizon. "I can see something far out in the distance."

"I see it too." Kalana replied. "Wherever we need to be, that's a sign that we're nearby."

The walking now seemed doubly tiring for Mewtwo. After having walked 12 hours straight every night for three days his legs were starting to feel worn and broken down. He had never used this much physical strength in his life. The hours passed by like doves fluttering in the wind. The moon, now seemingly halved in size, hung half-heartedly in the drunken air. Kalana smelled something in the air. It was so unfamiliar to the desert environment that she could not identify it. But Mewtwo could. He remembered spending those weeks in Viridian Forest, and he thought he'd never smell this smell again; trees. When he first recognized it, he didn't believe it. He tossed it aside in his mind as the desert and the routine toying with his mind. But as they passed the hours walking, the smell got stronger and stronger. And the ground was getting less sandy by the mile. The amount of rocks was diminishing as well. It was almost as if they were walking on the beginnings of actual bare soil. When the memory of the soft peat of the forest floor came flooding back to Mewtwo, he pined to feel that feeling again. His feet ached for it, the feeling of yielding yet firm ground that would not slip away under them. And then Mewtwo felt something brush across his leg that he hadn't felt in almost a year. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What? What is it?" Kalana said urgently.

"Grass." Mewtwo whispered. He reached down and found the lone stalk sticking up from the ground. It wasn't living too well on a mix of soil and sand, but it was there, and that was all that Mewtwo cared about.

"What? Here?" Kalana gasped.

Mewtwo hesitated, and then plucked a leaf gently from the slender stem. He handed it to Kalana without saying a word. Feelings spoke louder than any words he could muster. Kalana took the leaf from his hand.

"I….can't believe it! I thought it only grew in the water rooms of the Imperial towers! And…I've never felt a live leaf before; all of the grass we've stolen was dried and used as roofs for huts. It's, so smooth…" Kalana said. After a brief pause, a small, unseen tear found its way out of her eye. No one knew of it in the dark except her. "I knew….that something like this still existed in this world!" Kalana said, her voice raising in joy and excitement. She smiled and hugged the small leaf to her body, briefly feeling giddy before a frightening noise split the night air.

A sheer, hoarse voice called over the sands in the distant East, and Kalana's eyes jolted upward to track the source. Three glowing pods were moving towards them from the East, Imperial hover cars. And slowly, the sound of a warm voice called across the rich ground.

"Incantation!" Kalana whispered fiercely. She ripped two pieces of cloth off of her cape and stuffed them into her ears. Mewtwo did the same and their rushed Southerly to clear that path that the cars were cutting through the half desert. They watched the cars pass off into the distance and out of sight before tentatively taking out their temporary ear plugs.

"I'm keeping these, just in case." Mewtwo said, stuffing his bits of cloth into the robe's inner pocket. Kalana nodded in agreement and they righted their course and continued to plod onward toward the line of objects now visible in the East. It was clearly the edge of something, whether it be a rocky outcropping or a group of tall objects, neither of them knew, but Mewtwo followed the feeling in the back of his head to the letter.

After several more hours of walking, Kalana and Mewtwo were both suppressing a gale of pure shock that had blown through them. They were close enough to this scene on the horizon to distinctly make out trees. And not just any trees, these were extremely large. As they walked, the trees grew taller and taller and the sand finally gave way to moist soil under their feet. They trudged up in absolute awe to the tree line. A slight breeze twisted through the air, and green leaves drifted lazily down from the tops of the canopy. And right at their feet, the trees met the desert like the front line of a war. Only this war was being fought silently over a great amount of years, and the desert was winning. But the majestic sight of the ancient and proud trees was striking. And as the moonlight played off the gently rustling leaves, all was completely calm and beautiful.

Neither Mewtwo nor Kalana knew what to say. They looked at each other questioningly as the silent giants stood watching them. Mewtwo then nodded, and they cautiously walked into the forest. Because the trees were so massive, there was ample space between each tree for them to travel in. Overhead, the wise old trees rustled in the breeze as if conversing about these two strangers wandering about their feet. Mewtwo could almost hear words whispered in the silent and steady sound of the leaves caressing each other. And the mile high trees looked back down at him.

Many more hours passed through the night, and Kalana had a hard time telling when dawn had finally broken over the tree shrouded sky. The foliage was so thick that it seemed like a perpetually dark cave, complete with the trunks as stalagmites and stalactites that connected the roof to the ground. And there was not the sound of any hungry sandworm or Imperial hover car. And when they were about ready to stop to sleep at the roots of a particularly large tree, they turned a corner and saw a clearing. In the center of the clearing stood the tallest, thickest, mightiest tree that Mewtwo had ever seen in his life. It must have stretched up into the sky many hundreds of feet above its companions. But the most distinguishing feature was that it had a protrusion on it's truck that looked like an old, gnarled nose. Mewtwo and Kalana approached this tree and looked upward into it's immeasurable vastness. As they admired its girth, a startling sound made itself heard in the clearing, a pronounced cough.

Mewtwo and Kalana jumped on guard, but saw that the clearing was empty. And then, the sound of heavy breathing slowly began huffing out behind them. They slowly turned to face the tree, and to their horror and shock, two eyes had opened above the same feature Mewtwo had seen as a nose! With a great sigh, a mouth opened underneath the nose and an old, creaky voice came from the tree's depths.

"Who goes there?" It thundered.

Kalana looked a pale as a sheet, but she responded. "I am called Kalana. I am the thirty first heir to the Eldership of the Red Gerudo tribe."

"And, who is your odd looking companion?" The tree asked.

"I am Mewtwo." He suddenly said with renewed confidence. "I came to this world seeking refuge and have found discord. I am on a journey with Kalana to right the wrongs in this world." He said proudly.

"There are more things wrong in this world than you might think, young world traveler." The tree said wisely. "My ancestors and I have watched over this world for nearly five ages. You would not believe the horrors, and heroism, that this world has seen."

"Might we ask, who, what are you?" Kalana said, tripping over the words as to try and avoid offending this wise tree.

"I am the Great Deku Tree, the fifth in my line. I've been watching this world's dark age for nearly 3000 years now, and not once has anyone come this far to the East besides the dark ones and their tools." The Deku Tree said.

"Dark Ones?" Mewtwo sputtered.

"Oh yes. They've had a stranglehold on this world's essence for so long, I'm not sure if I'll survive another decade." The Deku tree said. "This forest is all that's left of the once noble acres of Hyrule. Back then there were trees for miles, followed closely by green grasslands and prosperous farms. Now all that's left is my last few friends and me. The desert is taking them slowly, dragging them down with its sandy claws of death. And ever more the Dark Tower just a bit farther East stands, laughing at me as I try to exert some influence on this wretched world. And now, I can feel it, the day of reckoning for this world is coming." The Deku Tree said.

"What do you mean?" Mewtwo asked.

"There comes a day for every world where it will be decided if it is worthy to go on existing or not. Such a day has came to this world before, but not to such an extent as this. My father before me told me of Ganondorf, the King of the Gerudo people who conquered Hyrule and nearly brought about its end. The Hero of Time had to awaken to defeat the King of Evil, and it is as he said, the world lived on. Now something much more evil draws in the East, and now the true day of reckoning is coming." The Deku Tree said.

Mewtwo soaked these last sentences in with every scrap of memory power he could muster. "Did you say, Dark Tower in the near East?" He asked.

"Oh yes, it is the heart of the Dark Ones' control on this world. If I could uproot myself and walk over there to stop it, I would, but I fear it's nearly time for my watch on this world to end. And so we shall all fall, unless you succeed." The Deku Tree said.

Mewtwo blinked. "What?" He gasped.

"I know who you are, and what your true fate with the East is young one. I have seen your coming in my sleep for the past century. I was merely confused because every time I foresaw your journey, I saw you taking it alone. The princess here was conspicuously absent."

If Kalana looked pale before, she now looked as though she was composed of bleached flour. She opened her mouth to say something but no sound came. The Deku Tree spoke again before she could find her words.

"More than just the fate of one world lies on your shoulders now Mewtwo." The Deku Tree said. "Your essence is sought by many yet wanted by none. Great danger awaits you in the near and far future, but if you succeed, you will earn an eternal resting place among all the universes' cosmic heroes. Now then, I'm sure you're exhausted by you long trip through the desert, why don't you settle down in my little meadow and rest for awhile. And don't worry about your safety. I may not have much influence on most of the world, but the Forest is still my domain. I can will nothing to harm you, and nothing will. Now take some rest. I plan to as well, so do join me." The Deku Tree said. And with that, his great yellow eyes closed and his craggy mouth slid shut. A slow rumble of what had to be a tree snore came from the depths of the wood.

Kalana and Mewtwo slowly betted down in the grass. They needn't take shifts thanks to the Deku tree, and Mewtwo looked forward to a full 12 hour sleep. But before he laid down to take this rest, he asked Kalana one last thing.

"Were there any legends about the Deku Tree that you knew of?" He asked.

"My mother is still teaching me all the tales to this day, so there might be, but I haven't learned it. Surely, he is wise beyond many of our years." Kalana whispered.

Mewtwo nodded thoughtfully and smiled. "Are you ready for some serious rest?" He asked.

"Bet I can sleep in longer than you!" Kalan said on the edge of a giggle.

"You're on!" Mewtwo said and they lowered their heads to the soft soil enthusiastically. Sleep came onto them both quickly, unlike the Deku Tree. He quit his fake snoring as Mewtwo and Kalana drifted off. He cocked one eye open to examine Mewtwo one last time. It was surely the savior he has seen so many times in his dreams. He then closed his woody eyelids and joined the two in the sanctity of safe slumber.

A/N: Wha? I only got 2 reviews for my last chunk? Murmurs sadly. I guess it's the bad Karma I'm getting for not reviewing Ud's fic. I'll do that here soon. Please review, I need to know what you think!