I don't own the Legend of Zelda

Link was well aware that time was running out, so he suggested that he and Zelda split up and meet in Skyloft later. This was his plan to speed up the search for the materials needed to reforge Ghirahim's sword form. Zelda whistled a long, high pitched note and her blue loftwing swooped down towards the surface and landed beside her, screeching a cry of welcome. Zelda climbed on to the gigantic bird and flew as fast as she could towards Eldin volcano, with Link's digger mitts safely tucked away in her pocket, to find some Eldin ore.

Meanwhile, Link didn't bother to call his own crimson loftwing; he decided that his borrowed one will do for now. He travelled to Lanayru Desert and landed in a clearing near the mine. Rusty heaps that were once the hardworking miner robots lay here and there among abandoned mine carts, which hadn't moved for centuries. The heat was immense and extremely uncomfortable, especially after the coolness of Faron woods, and sweat made Link's clothing stick to him. Sand cicadas chirped irritatingly in Link's ear and Lanayru ants scuttled out from under the stones and shrubs which littered the vast desert. All around this clearing there were ancient statues of the miners, which had fallen into decay and were covered in an inch of sand and dust. In the centre there was a large time shift stone, which Link hit with his sword. It glowed with a bright blue light and gave life and colour to the area around it, turning back the clock to a time long gone and forgotten. Grass sprung up around Link's feet where sand was moments before, the mine carts and tracks looked like brand new and the robots came to life and started to work busily as if they had never been deactivated. The little robots were unlike anything else Link's ever seen on the surface, with their ancient markings, smooth, pale metal, electric blue arms and mismatched eyes.

Several golden quadro babas appeared as well, their jaws snapping menacingly and their sharp fangs dripping deadly poison. Link dealt with them swiftly, with a few well timed slashes of his sword. The threat gone for now, he turned to a near by robot, who was digging determinedly; seemingly unaware of the hero's presence. Link cleared his throat to get the worker's attention and tried to sound polite.

"Um... excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me?"

"Can't you see I'm busy here? Zrrt! Don't get in my way." The robot rudely retorted without even so much as a glance in Link's direction, as his long, metal claws continued to scrape at the earth.

Link began to lose patience and anger seeped into his voice. "Look, this is really important, ok? I need some onyx and I haven't got time to argue with you about it. Do you know where some is or not?"

The robot ceased his frantic mining for a moment. "If it'll get you to leave me alone, dzzt!" He waved one hand towards an ominous looking cave. "There should be some in there, whizzt!"

Link muttered a hurried "thanks" before disappearing into the darkness of the cave. The robots shook his head and carried on in his relentlessly digging.

The cave was much deeper than Link thought it would be; 'it's more like a tunnel' he mused as he travelled further below ground; which was still effected by the time shift stone. The air started to feel colder and smelt strongly of earth. Link could hardly see his hand in front of his face; making him wish he'd thought to bring a lantern. He didn't plan to go back just yet though. He felt his way warily in the darkness, his hand coming into contact with the cool walls of dirt and stone. He kept going until the distant light from the cave's opening completely vanished into the distance. Link made sure to keep one hand on his sword and was prepared to defend himself if anything unfriendly came along to meet him. But it was quiet, a bit too quiet. As he walked in silence a thought occurred to him. 'How am I supposed to dig up some onyx without my digger mitts?' He cursed himself for being stupid and not thinking about this sooner. He heaved a heavy sigh, intent on turning around to see if he could borrow a reluctant robot and maybe a lantern. A sudden noise grabbed his attention and he whipped his head around. He narrowed his eyes in the gloom and tightened his grip on his sword. Hundreds of pairs of tiny eyes stared back at him and in a moment a hoard of keese flew at him in a frenzy from all angles. The hero attempted to fight back but there was far too many of them so, covering his head to protect it from their vicious, sharp claws, he took off down the tunnel.

He ran until he can no longer feel the beat of their leathery wings against him. Before he stopped he turned his head to see if they were really gone, but then he tripped and landed flat on his face.

"Ow." He gingerly sat up, rubbing his head.

"Watch where you're going, whizzt!" A robot angrily waved his clawed hand at the hero, who had clumsily fallen over him.

Link stood up apologetically and dusted himself off. "Sorry... I'm didn't see you. I'm looking for some onyx. You don't happen to have any do you?"

"Onyx? What do you want that for, human? We throw useless ores like that away, vrrt! I might have some though."

Link's eyes lit up, like a man who had just been granted three wishes. "You do! I can have some right? I really, really need it!" He eagerly exclaimed.

The robot looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Sure, take all you want." The ancient robot turned to the large pile of 'junk' beside him and, after a moment's rummaging, presented the boy in green with a large chunk of the pure black onyx ore.

"Thank you. Seriously, thank you so much. This really means a lot to me." Link placeed the ore into his pouch before tearing off down the tunnel.

"Crazy humans, vrrt!" The robot murmured to himself, as the hero vanished into the gloom.