In the past-state part of this old, sandy cavern was a single chest, containing what looked like a large, crystal feather, which I was quickly corrected into properly naming as a Goddess Plume. One of a number of those treasures I keep not mentioning because there are almost more of them than there are rupees. Still, our intrepid young God had to find some way to mix things up a bit.
The area of effect the most recent Timeshift stone had was actually quite large. It reached even over to the shaft of light I'd seen before, that entire rocky ridge having become completely grassed over, and where there was sand, either more grass or just exposed earth.
Rather than take the same route back to reach there, I just leapt off the rock spire with the chest and glided down, much to the vegetative frustration of another Quad Baba that snapped irritably at the end of its stem, futilely trying to eat me. More because I was curious than anything else, I put it out of it's misery by tossing a bomb at it. Which it stupidly snapped up and, in my next mistake, splattered plant bits over me.
Once I'd got them off, I returned my attention to the past-state area. Just beyond the edge of it there was the cart I'd seen before. Two good heaves dragged it across the blue line into the past where it activated and took me along the rail, swiftly passing the remains of the boulder that had been on the track before I blew it up, and through the next cart-activated door, taking me back out into the blasting heat of the desert.
The Timeshift stone's effect reached out here just enough to cover the end of the track here, and in it's reach sun-bleached yellow stone was pristine white and sand was once again grass. The arid desert air still reached into the past area though, making it swelteringly hot.
"We appear to have arrived at the Lanayru Desert itself," Fi informed me. "The terrain in this area changed dramatically as climate forces rapidly turned it into a desert. I have confirmed numerous areas of quicksand in this area, increasing risks of bodily danger by thirty-percent. Readings also indicate that Zelda has already passed through this area also. I recommend pursuit of reunion with alacrity if we are to discover the motivations of her actions at the Earth Temple before she must depart this region also."
As if I didn't already have that on my mind. I stubbornly refused to admit that my various detours even before then had not been justified, and I wasn't going to let Impa tell me otherwise. But finding out why Zelda had just said those few words and then left...
At any rate, the Lanayru desert was, if anything, even more vast than any other Hero has ever encountered it, and that was just by consulting my own map. From where I stood overlooking what I could see of it, it was a rough, sandy and hot region with little to recommend it to anyone – this was before the Gerudos took up residence, after all.
Before I went anywhere, and also while Fi was still around, I posed a question that would prove to be very useful.
"Fi, your readings, however you get them. Can you detect the Timeshift stones and direct me to them too?"
"Of course, Master. My apologies for not presenting you with that option in advance. There resides one within the boulder to your right," she added, then once again disappeared. Triggering this stone naturally un-triggered the previous one, but that was fine – this one re-activated the track, door and cart in case I wanted to go back inside.
More of the area was taken back to its earlier green and white state, in the process revealing some vines that scaled one of the chalky white rock faces. I could have climbed them myself of course, but for some reason the idea never occurred to me.
Oddly enough, aside from a peculiar looking flower that only appeared to grow in the past, this didn't actually do anything else. I assumed as I mentioned, it was there for if I wanted to go back inside.
I did get a better vantage point of the area, however. In the sands of the desert there now appeared to be walls, even the remains of structures. Odd creatures in large shells wandered about, sometimes stopping to examine the sand. And off to my left, high above everything else, the winged crest of the Triforce – yes, I know I didn't know that name back then – rose up. It didn't gleam, but it definitely got the attention it seemed to need.
On my way down I caught the attention of one of the shelled beasts, which quickly hid in its shell and started rolling toward me. That wouldn't have been a problem if it hadn't also started sparking with electricity too, of course!
I got out of the way simply by scrambling quickly up the side of a stone spire. The beast unwittingly followed, ramming the spire only to fall back having stunned itself. It was the work of only a few moments to drop back down and take my sword to it, defeating it. It probably hadn't been necessary, but it made me feel better about having been chased up there.
Without any further directions I headed more or less toward that giant Triforce emblem. Along the way I got rid of another of those shelled beasts, found a chest that for some reason had a tumble-weed in, and then had Fi direct my attention to three large metal boxes in the sand. Not Goddess Cubes, these had bars on three sides making them look more like mobile prison cells. One of them, the one Fi was nudging my sword toward, had a hole in the top and rocks inside. One bomb cleared the rock to reveal a Timeshift stone, a second one triggered it.
Once again the transformation was suitably impressive, even if it kept mainly to just grassing up the area. I was sort of distracted from anything else as a pair of odd looking Bokoblins gave their shrill cry.
"Fi, I know those are Bokoblins, but what's with them?" I asked quickly even as I armed myself.
"These appear to be Technoblins," Fi told me, ignoring my having to block a blow from a sparking hammer. "These Bokoblins wield sophisticated weaponry created by an ancient and highly evolved civilization."
"Shame the same can't be said about their brains," I grunted, smashing one away with my sword. Annoyingly it didn't die from that and got back up.
"If you are struck with the discharge from one of their electrical weapons, you may experience a shock and become temporarily paralysed. These creatures also wear the latest in Bokoblin fashion."
I stopped dead, stared and said, "What?" Fi didn't answer, possibly because one of the Technoblins took that distraction as a reason to smack me round the head. Fortunately its weapon wasn't electrified at the time.
I gave it a stunning blow to the head, discarded my shield to seize its weapon while I stabbed it, then turned on the other Technoblin, which was slightly more wary. I admit to not being the greatest technical genius in the world, but I figured if that weapon I stole was usable by these blockheads, I could certainly use it. It turned out to be as simple as one button that electrified the hammer like weapon.
The Technoblin backed away further, bumping into one of the metal cages. I threw the sparking weapon, just missing the Technoblin but hitting the cage. The charge sparked into the cage, and then into the Technoblin. Just for good measure I stabbed that one too, making sure the weapon was deactivated before I went too close to the cages.
Which, in the confusion, had opened. Or at least the bars were no longer present, anyway. In one of them was another of the old white robots, which was profuse in its thanks.
"If you hadn't come along, they would have sucked all the electricity out of me!" it buzzed. "And is that-" it broke off. "Do I detect a Beetle?"
"Huh? You mean this thing?" I asked, taking out the useful Beetle I'd found back in the first Temple.
"Indeed! But this appears to be an older model of Lanayru fabrication."
"Wait, you mean you make these here?"
"Of course! Lanayru is the technological centre of the world!" it exclaimed happily. "As thanks for your saving me, I'll give you a free demonstration by upgrading your Beetle for you!"
The little robot took the Beetle from me, using scraps of metal and all manner of other things around, what looked like even a few parts of himself, and gave it back with two large pincers on the front.
"I've upgraded its flight capabilities to handle the extra weight, and even more past that," the robot told me. "This is one of the newer designs, the Hook Beetle. It can carry items it finds while flying! It's not the newest model," the robot admitted ruefully. "But I don't have the parts for that. Maybe you'll find someone who does while you're out and about!"
"Thanks for this, Tails," I said without thinking.
"Tails?"
"Uh- a friend of mine," I covered quickly. "He's something of a mechanic himself. You sorta... reminded me of him. He's forever upgrading things or working on something the rest of us don't understand."
The robot accepted that as a compliment and went on its way, evidently going looking for other robots. Naturally once it hit the edge of the Timeshift stone's reach, he puffed into blue and vanished.
I made use of the newly upgraded Hook Beetle to pluck bomb flowers from the tops of spindly, dead white trees outside of that area, then practised dropping them into the pots on more of those carved stones. It didn't get me much beyond a few more rupees, but it was good practice in a relatively safe area.
It proved useful beyond there too. The quicksand seemed to be practically everywhere, and I needed to use the Hook Beetle to drop those bombs and provide routes to get around - unless I wanted to climb the stones. Which I could have done, but in the heat it would have been harder work, and my tunic already showed dark stains that attested to just how hot the region was. I'm an Echidna, not a Salamander. I don't like deserts, I don't like how hard it is to find cool shade, and I don't like strong sunlight.
But hey – I'm a Hero. I have to ignore those things just to get the job done.