Midna did not know what to think of this supposed 'Sacred Beast' who deemed himself superior so easily. He certainly proved himself intelligent, his escape from the cell and subsequent adventure with the Shadow Kargarok evidence of that, but he was rash and arrogant, demeaning her for no reason other than that he could.

Midna huffed and conceded to herself that maybe she was a bit rude to him, but that was just part of her charm. What's this guy's excuse? His eyes were riddled with anger and loathing, seemingly at everything he saw! Well, one eye was like that. His left eye was a sickly pinkish color, devoid of sclera, iris, and pupil, and it unnerved her that she found more comfort in the dead eye than the real one.

Still, he proved that he was capable, judging from how he took down a Shadow Beast on his own with only a sore back to show for it. Midna shuddered at her shame; when Ordona mentioned a Shadow Beast approaching, she seized up and nearly passed out from sheer terror. If not for Orochi, Midna would have become a quivering mess on the floor. It was only when she felt the beast disintegrate that she regained control of herself and found Zach glaring at her.

Midna granted him the right to be frustrated, since he was at a disadvantage in his wolf body and she sympathized with fighting Shadow Beasts, but she was not going to tolerate him mocking her temporary weakness. He had no idea what she had been through! So, when she pulled him through the wall of Twilight, she may have squeezed harder than she should have, and she may have thrown him on the ground instead of laying him down gently.

"Ow," Zach grumbled. Midna summoned the sword and shield and plopped down on Zach's back, wearing the shield as a battle mask.

"Hmm!" Midna shook her head distastefully. "So these are the weapons you use in your world?"

Zach shook his head sharply and said, "Absolutely not, my world does not use such archaic and admittedly awesome weapons like swords and shields." He took a few steps forward and then stopped and tilted his head up quizzically. "Ironically, we've popularized lightsabers and energy swords, both of which are probably infinitely useless in the warfare of the modern age." Midna nodded even though she tuned him out when he started talking, then unsheathed the sword and swiped it around, nearly cutting Zach's ears off. "Hey, watch what you're doing with that thing!" He turned and looked up at her. "And get that shield off your face!"

Midna harrumphed and tossed the shield onto Zach's head, blocking his vision. "You really think this thing can slay the creatures of Twilight?" She stabbed the sword into the ground and crossed her arms.

Zach nodded and shook the shield off his face. "If I can take down one with my bare hands, I think a sword will work just as well."

Midna briefly considered telling Zach that he did not currently have hands, but decided against it. Besides, he did have a point no matter how much Midna wanted to deny it. "Well, I won't use them, but I'll hold on to them for you." The sword and shield turned into Twilit particles and vanished into nothingness. Zach shook his head and snorted derisively at her and dashed away, nearly knocking Midna off. She gripped the fur on his neck tightly and ground her fingertips into his skin as she demanded, "Slow! Down!"

Zach did not do so. He ran as fast as his injured paw would allow him as he shook his head. "And why should I do that?" he asked as he finally slowed his pace. "I'm in a very big hurry to get out of this body and back into my normal two-legged self."

Struck by a random ping of sympathy, Midna sighed and patted his head. Me too, mutt. Me too.

The imp pondered about Zach once more, about his knowledge of her (former) royal status and situation. Did he know her inner secrets? Her fondest childhood memories? Did he know about Burak? When the imp appeared in his cell, he barely even looked at her and seemed as though he was expecting her. And his attitude! Midna fumed at his insolence, rolling on top of her and covering her in his despicable pine-scented fur. She absent-mindedly plucked a stray hair from her arm and tossed it away, then shuddered at the idea that it could have been worse; he could have licked her. If he did, Midna was sure that the world would need another hero to take his place.

"Midna." His mental voice shook her out of her thoughts and brought her back to the present. They were standing in the second spring, only this one had a small orb of light hovering above the short waterfall.

Caught off guard, Midna could only blurt out, "Huh, whazzat?"

Zach growled and quickly moved his body left and right in an attempt to shake Midna loose. "Pay attention, dammit!" Midna smacked his head hard but he continued growling. "Faron, the light spirit at this spring, needs me to go around and hunt some bugs because they contain Faron's light essence. Once I do that, I'll return to normal, and then I can look for the Fused Shadow that's around here." He snorted and sat down, causing Midna to slide off his back. "Unfortunately, I can't track them, so you have to point the way. I'll take care of the rest once we find them." He turned his head and looked down his snout at her as she picked herself up from the ground. "Try not to drift off into La-La Land again."

Midna glared at the wolf and clenched her fists. "You do not order me around!" She crossed her arms and declared, "I am Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, and I deserve more respect than this!"

"That's awesome," Zach boredly drawled. "Absolutely fantastic. By the way, great job defending your kingdom, I'm sure it worked out really well."

Midna's eye twitched. "Be careful what you say, boy," she warned. "I have the power to fold you in half six different ways without getting creative."

Zach tilted his head mockingly and said, "You have the power, girl, but if you kill me, you'll be just as screwed."

"I don't have to kill you," Midna retorted, not bothering to ask what 'screwed' meant. "I know a technique that can transfer information from one mind to another." She reached out and clamped her fingertips into Zach's skull. "Just a few magic words, and everything in your puny little brain will belong to me." She decided to leave out the detail that she had no experience with said technique and would probably hurt herself just as much as she could hurt him.

Zach's eyes widened for a moment before he glared harshly at the imp. "Go ahead. Make. My. Day." Midna was sorely tempted to do just that, to pillage the wolf's mind and take what she needed, but something held her back. With almost lightning-fast clarity, Midna found that it was not Zach or Orochi that stayed her hand, but Zant. The imp seethed with anger as she realized that Zant would do exactly what she threatened without any hesitation or provocation. He would happily and painfully extract all the juicy bits of the fruit of the mind and leave the remainder as a quivering mess on the floor.

I refuse to be like him, Midna affirmed to herself, then quickly decided that she would also not allow Zach to get away from his insolence unscathed. She grabbed his head with her hair and slammed him into the ground, digging his nose into the dirt. "I wanted to try and be nice, but nooo, you had to be such a bad boy!" She lifted his head and brought it down once more, punctuating her words as she said, "Such! A bad! Boy!" Letting go before he suffered serious brain damage, Midna stepped back and pointed a finger into his snout. "Let's get one thing straight, Zach. As far as you're concerned, I control everything." She caught the flash of inspiration in his eye but ignored it. "My wish is your comma-"

"Stand back everyone, nuthin' here to see," Zach interrupted, his mental voice bursting into song and catching Midna completely by surprise. He stood up and turned as if facing an audience. "Just imminent danger, in the middle of it," he spun around and shoved his face into Midna's, "ME! Yes, Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze!" The wolf pranced about gallantly, raising one brow ridge charmingly. "The day needs my saving expert-" He stopped his musical number when Midna lifted him up with her hair hand and swung him around like a shotput. After several twirls, she slowed down and plopped Zach on the ground, where he swayed about on his paws before finally collapsing.

Midna felt three emotions because of this strange outburst: Anger, Amusement, and Fear. She was outraged that he dared not to take her and the situation seriously, she was amused because the song, Zach's horrific voice aside, was quite catchy, and she made a mental note to ask about it once they both were in better moods, but ultimately, she was severely unnerved at just how quickly his attitude and mindset changed from angry and standoffish to whimsical and playful. Midna never had the best track record with mood swings but even she understood that whatever just happened was not a sign of good mental health.

"Alright, lightening the mood was a no-go," Zach muttered as he finally shook off the dizziness. He looked up at Midna and she was again startled because of the change in his demeanor. "We got a job to do." Unsure of what else to do, Midna seated herself on the wolf's back as he continued, "Fourteen shadow insects, all containing small pieces of Faron's essence. They're scattered about the forest but I can't smell or track them until they're right in front of me."

"We can feel the shadows crawling,"Orochi said. "Fear not. Your hero cannot hear Us."

Left with little choice but to work, Midna listened to Orochi's instructions and nodded. Out loud, she said, "I can sense them. There's four directly ahead and the rest are clustered to the east."

"Got it." Without further ado, Zach walked up through the wooded passage leading to a hut and bathhouse hut, but then slowed down to a stop.

"What is it now?" Midna asked. She reached up and rubbed at her temple to stow a coming headache, no doubt brought on by Zach's behavior.

"Something's not right..." Zach glanced back in the direction of the spring. "We were supposed to be ambushed by Shadow Beasts back there..."

Midna's eyes widened. She wanted to snort and say that Zach had to be mistaken, but... well, he had been correct about the majority of things so far... "Well... we weren't ambushed, so nothing to worry about, right?"

"...Yeah..." Zach slowly faced forward. "Nothing to worry about..." He continued onward, where he and Midna spotted two enormous scarabs scrawling around the grass and dirt in front of the merchant's home. They were easily as big as Midna's Fused Shadow and were colored off-white with red underlining, and a single glowing eye between their pincers.

"I hate bugs so much." Zach crept down low and inched his way closer to the two insects. They clicked and gnashed their mandibles together, oblivious to their hunters until Zach pounced on the nearer bug and chomped down on its abdomen. "Huh, these actually don't taste that bad. Like marshmallows, really." White fluids poured out and coalesced into an orb of light while the insect shriveled up and exploded in a cloud of black dust. The light orb drifted off in the direction of Faron's spring and vanished from sight, leaving Zach and Midna to handle the remaining thirteen shadow insects.

The second insect caught on to the ploy and scurried away, only for a giant orange fist to smash it into the ground. A light orb appeared and floated away while Midna pulled her hair back. "How does that thing work?" Zach asked, seemingly genuinely interested in the mechanics.

Midna ran her fingers through the orange locks and said, "It's an extension of my magic, completely under my dominion." She tapped a finger against her chin. "I suppose it's similar to your tail, Scruffy, I can control it but it tends to act on my instincts more than voluntary actions. I actually didn't will the hair to squash that bug just now, it did that on its own." Zach nodded and wagged his tail. "You'd expect something as frisky as magic hair would be difficult to work with, but it actually helps the process along, since I can just will my hair into a particular style, add some bows or ribbons, and done." The Twilian then pointed at the hut and said, "There's two more in there."

Zach nodded and made to go around the house to the small dirt ramp on the other side, but several columns of Twilian origin stomped into the ground and created a barrier that caged the wolf in. Midna shivered as she looked up and saw a Twilit vortex tear itself into the sky, and three lumbering black shapes dropped from the portal. Three Shadow Beasts... the stench of Burak and Armo's burning bodies... the feel of slimy oily blood sliding over Midna's skin... "Aw..." the imp cooed hastily. "We're penned in."

"We can take 'em," Zach proclaimed.

"R-right," Midna muttered. "Who do they think they're dealing with?" she giggled, though it was a bit more strained that usual. Zant's hideous helmet staring at her... the feeling of being compressed into a box... "No need to take these little pests on one at a time, right? You can take them all at once!"

"Uh... Actually-"

"You can handle this by yourself, can't you?" Midna asked, though she had no intention of listening to the answer. Looking into a cracked breastplate... seeing a decrepit imp staring back at her... "Good luck! 'Bye!"

"No, wait-"

With that, she warped back to Ordon Spring, unwittingly utilizing the portal that was still there. Throwing herself into the ground, Midna dug her nails into the dirt to stem the panicked tears in her eyes. That did not work. She punched the ground and hated it simply because it was there, then punched it again.

"You must go back," Orochi whispered.

Midna snorted and shook her head fervently. "No, I don't." She grew more frustrated at the tremble in her voice. "I don't have to help that... that... Him. I don't have to help him, he knows so damn much he ought to be able to handle those three Sh..." She drew in a deep breath. "Shadow Beasts. I don't need his help anyway."

"Yes, you do." It almost sounded as though Orochi was getting impatient, but Midna paid no attention.

"What would you know?" Midna snapped. "How can that imbecilic, insolent, rude, conceited little wart possibly be any help?" She yanked off the Fused Shadow and glared into its eye. "You're just a pathetic spirit locked away in a stone hat! What would you know about what to do when you very clearly failed at whatever you were supposed to do-"

"DO NOT SPEAK OF WHAT YOU DO NOT KNOW!" The relic flew out of Midna's hands and hovered imperiously above her. "DO NOT PRESUME TO UNDERSTAND HISTORY THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SHARED!" The imp began to cower away from the booming voice in her head, but it grew ever louder. "DID YOU NOT CONSIDER THAT OUR PURPOSE WAS TO GUIDE YOU?"

"I'm sorry!" Midna screamed, clutching at her ears and trying to stop the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said those things!" Terrified of the icy presence in her mind, the imp began to blubber and her lungs hurt from trying to draw breath, but the spirit was not finished.

For a moment, Midna thought she heard Orochi take a deep breath and sigh before the spirit said, "You are so similar to the Fierce Deity... So unbalanced and prideful. Do you know what happened to him?" Midna curled into a ball and shook her head quickly, still struggling to breathe properly. "He was forced to seal his own child's soul into a mask and send her to a netherworld because he was unable to do what must be done when the time came." Midna peeked one eye open and stared at the relic as it lowered itself to the ground beside her. "We are not that child... but we existed in a physical form when she was banished."

Midna dared herself to speak up. "And... the Fierce Deity? What happened after that?"

The Fused Shadow sounded as though it sighed again. "He split his own soul into pieces, the majority of his power going into a mask that has since vanished from time. The other remnants of his being..." The spirit trailed off and left Midna in silence for a few moments. "This Zach is a stubborn one, to be sure. Arrogant, reckless, and angry as well, but there is hope for him."

"No, there's not," Midna stoutly said.

"You so quickly judge someone based on superficial details. Perhaps there is more to him, and yourself, than what you can see at a glance."

Midna blinked and frowned. More to her? What could that mean? What was there that she did not already know about? She shook those questions from her mind and wiped the tears off her cheeks. "I don't know what to do, Orochi," she whispered helplessly. "I don't know how I'm going to get through this whole... ordeal," she finished with a shrug.

"None do," Orochi said simply. "This is a dangerous journey, and We do not know the path... But one thing is certain: You cannot make this journey alone. For whatever reason the Fates have deemed, you and the Sacred Beast were destined to meet, and to go through this dark time together." There was a short pause before Orochi warned, "If you do not go back and help him, he will die, and you will follow."

Midna stared at the artifact blindly. She wanted to heed the spirit's advice but Zach was just so frustrating that it angered her just to think about him. Then another far more morbid thought occurred to her. "Those are my people, Orochi... I-I can't help someone slaughter my own kind... what if they're people I know? Merchants, soldiers, children?"

"… A life condemned to torturous servitude is no life at all," Orochi said. "You must be willing to sacrifice dozens for the sake of thousands."

"How?" Midna asked desperately. "How can I make that choice?"

"By deciding to free your people from enslavement rather than abandoning them."

The imp's eyes widened and she ground her fists into the dirt. "I cannot- I will not abandon them." She stood up and brushed herself off. "I can't guarantee I'll play nice with Zach but..." She took in a deep breath and sighed. "I have to try, for my people's sake." Nodding to herself, the Twilian donned the Fused Shadow and warped back to the area she left Zach. The wolf was presently in the grasp of two Shadow Beasts, each grabbing either his forelegs or hindlegs and tugging in an attempt to rip him in half, while the third lay motionless on the ground. Zach had several claw marks lashed into his sides and snout, blood dribbling out of one nostril and the corner of his mouth, and his tail was bent awkwardly to one side.

The Sacred Beast glanced over at Midna and she saw genuine fear and panic in his eye as he asked, "Would it help if I said I was sorry?" The imp quickly rammed her hair fist into the mask of one Shadow Beast, knocking it off balance and releasing Zach's forelegs. The wolf dropped to the ground and struggled to claw away from the creature still dragging him by his feet. While Midna tackled and feverishly pummeled the first Shadow Beast, the second hauled Zach through the air and right into the imp, sending them both rolling over each other into the soil. Midna landed harshly on her shoulder with Zach flopping on top of her, his head bouncing on the ground next to hers.

"Are you okay?" Midna asked.

Zach opened his good eye and tried to look indignant but failed. "I'll live," he answered, then struggled to pick himself up. Midna looked over his shoulder and shuddered as the third Shadow Beast shrieked into the air, then its two comrades slowly stood up on their haunches. "Argh, if we leave one alive, it'll keep bringing the others back..."

"Listen, let me help you out here," Midna said as she helped Zach to his feet. "Just move like I tell you."

"I can't move much because my tail is broken," Zach responded, "I can barely stand up straight as it is."

Midna glanced around and found that the three Shadow Beasts were closing in from all sides. She needed an idea, some sort of attack plan, something to get all of them at once... She snapped her fingers and patted Zach's head. "Don't worry about that, all you need to do is jump." Before Zach could reply, she added, "I'll expand an energy field and target them all at once, then you jump at each one in turn."

"How is that going to kill them?" he asked as the Shadow Beasts took another step towards the duo.

"I'm not going to get into the details of how right at this moment, just trust me, okay?" Zach sighed but nodded anyway. Midna closed her eyes and expanded her senses as Orochi taught her before. Time seemed to slow down for her as she heard the thump thump of Zach's heart, smelled the blood on his fur, then felt the three dark essences surrounding her. Her hair aimed and pointed at the three Shadow Beasts, dotting them with orange tangents of magic. May the Gods forgive me... "Now!" Zach obeyed instantly, shooting at the first in line like a missile. He punched through its torso gruesomely and immediately spun before he landed and shot off the ground again, this time at the second. As he emerged from the other side of its body, the wolf bounced off the ground and tore into the final one, ending its screech before it could draw breath.

This all happened in the span of five seconds, but Midna felt her heart churn at each moment of contact. The three Shadow Beasts slumped to the ground and exploded into Twilit particles that immediately shot into the air and coalesced into a green and black portal. Midna winced and held her shoulder, then gasped when she felt something warm on her fingers. "Zach," she mumbled as she walked over to him. "We need to go to the spring and patch ourselves up."

"Fine," he said quickly, then attempted to walk forward, but his body listed to the left and he collapsed. "Damn it..." He tried again, only to find that he was hovering above the ground and moving quickly in the direction of the spring. "I can walk, you know."

Midna dropped him none too gently into the water and splashed at him angrily. "You'll be able to walk when your tail is back to normal, you..." She tried to insult him but she was just too tired to argue. "Just try to relax. I'll be right back." Before he could say anything, Midna floated through the air and over to the hut, though she quickly diverted her course and moved into the bathhouse instead. Looking around, she grabbed some cloths and headed back to the spring. Setting her assorted items down, the imp took one of the cloths and walked on her knees over to Zach, only to look and see him licking at his wrist wound, the one he made to escape his jail cuff. Reaching over, Midna urged, "Don't do that."

"Mine!" Zach barked and yanked his paw away from her.

Fighting down her own frustration, Midna quietly said, "It'll get infected if you lick it."

"No it won't," Zach protested. "I'll be just fine..."

Midna rolled her eyes and reached for the wound with the cloth in her hand. "Just..." She followed after his paw when he pulled away again. "Hold still..." She surged forward and harshly pressed the cloth against his wound.

Zach howled and glared at the Twilian. "THAT HURTS!"

"If you'd held still, it wouldn't hurt as much!" Midna shot back, entirely too frustrated to tolerate his ungratefulness. Zach huffed and slammed his chin down on his uninjured paw, glaring the world away as Midna tended to his injury. She cleaned the wound and wrapped the cloth around his wrist, tightening it enough to hopefully keep it from getting worse. "There. It should be good for now, just try not to jostle it too much."

Zach glanced over at her and eventually nodded. While Midna treated her own injuries, Zach quietly said, "Thank you... for saving my life."

Midna blinked and lifted an eyebrow, then rolled her eyes and muttered, "You're welcome." The imp groaned and held her temple as she felt a drone in her skull. "I need to get some more of that green potion stuff..." She shook her head wistfully and cupped some of the spring water. It was not nearly as rejuvenating but it would do. She sipped and smiled as the liquid quenched her thirst, then turned to Zach to ask him a question, only to find that he was sound asleep. Looking up at the sky indignantly, Midna folded her arms and muttered, "You don't get to sleep on the job, you lazy bum." She slapped the water and splashed Zach in the face.

He woke calmly and lifted his head. "Yes?" he asked boredly.

"Get up," Midna ordered. "We still have to find the rest of the shadow insects." She shook her head at him and pressed her hands on her hips. "Break's over, get moving." Zach looked at her through half-lidded eyes before shrugging and pulling himself to his feet.

"I can't wait until this is over," he grumbled.

Midna rolled her eyes as she sat on the wolf's back. "Me neither, so let's try to do this quickly." She tugged at Zach's ear. "I'll properly punish you for your insubordination when you have a body worth beating."

Zach chuckled humorlessly and said, "I guess I'm safe then, eh?"