The Crossing of the Paths
Second Edition
By MMM/AJ
Part I: Desert Wind

A/N: Good afternoon faithful readers! We're still on our weekly schedule despite me still being on vacation with my folks and I'm quite proud of that. This chunk is where the tension of Mewtwo's conflict really begins in earnest. We're starting the first steps of his journey to confront his foes, and there's both bittersweetness as well as a big intense action scene. There's some more violence in this chunk too, so just like before I'm going to put a big ol' CONTENT WARNING into the A/N on the bottom of this chunk. If you're sensitive to violence please heed this! Otherwise, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 23: Sav'orq

Disappointment. Bitter, crushing disappointment. That was what Mewtwo felt now as he sat down at the feasting table set up in the central square of Ven'vha. It didn't make sense either, he had won all his matches in the Trials of Magic, he should be happy. He was about to be declared the Rakeshan Champion of Magic. But there was a horrible pall hanging over his head that only grew stronger the more he basked in the celebrations that were unfolding around him. It was a dark cloud of sadness that was caused by his lingering grief for Ruisa and the dread-filled anticipation of leaving Ven'vha and all his friends behind that night. Sunset was fast approaching, bringing with it the stark deadline that Kalana had set for their departure. Mewtwo didn't want to leave these people behind for obvious reasons now, and the fact that he had to hide their plans and miss the chance to say goodbye to people like Ruru and Madiri was gut wrenching. The dread had been a terrible distraction throughout his last few matches and had nearly lost him a couple, but he had somehow managed to pull through. Now he was invited to sit at the feasting table along with the other champions while Chief Lasheera stood up to speak. She clapped her hands loudly to silence the chattering throng and gave a prideful grin.

"Attention! Attention everyone!" Kamilia shouted out.

Most people quieted down, though a few mildly tipsy Vha'an revelers in the back of the crowd laughed and shouted something indistinguishable. Kamilia scowled at them briefly but continued with her speech.

"It is my continued, cherished honor to once again announce the results of this year's Taji Alirha Festival Games. Everyone who participated put on an excellent show just as always, though I think we had some true standouts this year. Since I still have much to do this evening with the other chiefs I will not bore you with any long speeches; instead I will leap right into announcing this year's Champions. First, our Champion of Skill, with 15 victories in the pole jump race, is Nahli Tantari of the Vha'an Tribe!"

The Vha'an woman sitting to Mewtwo's left stood up and bowed to the crowd with a smile. She was tall and thin, rivaling Nereti for height but not nearly as muscular. She had a longbow strapped to her back and wore her hair tied tightly in a bun on the back of her head. Cheers billowed up from all the blue-garbed Vha'an people in the crowd, drowning out all other sounds. The uproar was practically enough to give Mewtwo a headache. Thankfully it only went on for a handful of seconds before Nahli sat down.

"Next, our Champion of Combat with 19 victories, Nereti Teléma of the Vha'an Tribe!" Shouted Kamilia.

Nereti was sitting on Mewtwo's right and she jumped to her feet and struck a victorious pose. The crowd cheered even louder for her, with several people slamming the bases of their spears and staves on the stone of the square. Still smiling, Nereti then shouted out to the crowd.

"Hey, don't damage those weapons in such a frivolous way or I'll have to charge you for your next repairs!"

Laughter tumbled through the crowd in response, causing Nereti's smile to shift to a satisfied smirk as she sat back down.

"Finally, our Champion of Magic, with an impressive perfect win streak of 20 victories, Mewtwo of the Rakeshan Tribe!" Kamilia shouted.

Mewtwo forced himself to stand up for this, though his lingering sour feelings were preventing him from truly enjoying the experience. The Rakeshan people still cheered for him though, and the sound of it helped to ease his sadness a little. When he looked around at the crowd he could also see people from the other two tribes cheering for him, a fact that both surprised him and buoyed his spirits a little bit more. Just a few scant days ago a lot of these people had been ready to kill him. It really seemed like Indiru had been correct about the importance of these games for rebuilding trust and unity. He gave them a brief, respectful bow and then sat down.

"I am now proud to announce that, with two champions of the three, the Vha'an Tribe are once again the overall winners of the Festival Games! Let the feast in our honor begin!" Kamilia finished, a welling of pride coming through in her voice.

With that the crowd of Vha'an tribeswomen swarmed up to the table and sat down to eat. Mewtwo picked at his food slowly at first, but then reminded himself that this was perhaps his last indulgent meal before going on a diet of Leever jerky rations again during the upcoming journey. A big plate full of roasted meats had been laid out before him, and even though he didn't have much of an appetite he had to admit that the seasoning gave them a divine flavor. He was just starting to really tuck into the meal when Nereti grabbed a stein from a passing server and set it down in front of him.

"Hydromelon Rum for you, Champion. You earned it!" Nereti said, her tone filled with pride.

"I've never really been one to imbibe..." Mewtwo began to say, but his train of thought was derailed.

He had looked up into Nereti's face and saw her with a flushed, exuberant smile that threw a monkey wrench into the machinery of his emotional state. There was a pure, untainted jubilance in her eyes that struck him with a poignant mixture of bittersweetness and warmth that drove off his inner demons for at least a moment. Even if the prospect of drinking alcohol wasn't that appealing to him, he couldn't refuse the offer from someone smiling like that.

"But I will make an exception for a special occasion like this." He finished, taking the offered stein from Nereti.

The rum was of course as sugary and cloying as Mewtwo had expected, albeit with a sharp alcoholic burn that kicked at his tongue and throat on the way down. It was much stronger than he expected and he immediately planned to sip very cautiously from that point on, but Nereti gave him a firm, encouraging slap on the back along with some rousing words.

"That's the spirit! A champion should celebrate as fiercely as they fight!"

"Sa'veela!" called out Nahli and several of the other Gerudos at the table around them.

Feeling a little bit of peer pressure to continue drinking, Mewtwo took another gulp and then tried to space out future drinks with mouthfuls of food. Before long he felt his head begin to swim a little bit as the alcohol kicked in.

"Your battles today were quite impressive! Perfect 20-win streaks are practically unheard of, even for Chiefs!" Nahli said, trying to strike up a friendly conversation.

"I told you Indiru was right! Only someone like the Traveler could win that many games." Nereti replied.

"I'd have thought perfect streaks were your specialty Nereti, you still have weapons left that you haven't given away." Mewtwo remarked, trying to join in on the conversation.

"Hah, I don't just offer wagers to every opponent I face! Just the ones I think stand a chance to beat me." Nereti laughed.

"You don't seem very festive though Mewtwo, you have the look of someone trapped in a Like-Like's mouth. What's bothering you?" Kamilia asked.

Mewtwo struggled for a moment to come up with a reply. He couldn't just tell them the truth, that he was growing more and more depressed about leaving them and their warmth behind. He had to come up with something on the spot. The alcohol lessened his inhibitions at this point though, causing another uncomfortable truth to come spilling out instead.

"I am...still struggling with my grief for my friend Ruisa. She was taken by a Molduga during our trip here and I've been unable to move on as quickly as the rest of my Rakeshan comrades. You must understand, death is a much rarer occurrence for people in my world, so I am not as practiced with controlling the grief. Therefore throwing a party like this so soon after losing her feels...just...hollow."

Sober looks crossed the faces of the gathered Vha'an people. Nereti set down her stein and reached down to grab Mewtwo's free hand. She gave it a firm squeeze as she spoke next.

"I understand. We aren't born with a magic ability to shed our grief either after all; the only reason you've seen Gerudos move on so quickly is from years of learning to cope with hardship and losses. Even that thick layer of protective callous on our emotional skin isn't perfect, sometimes it cracks and allows old sorrows to break through. There's nothing wrong with that and you shouldn't be ashamed of it."

Nahli nodded in agreement before chiming in next. "Even then, not all of us manage to achieve that level of adaptation to the feelings of sorrow and loss. Some souls just aren't born with that level of strength. Life on the vile desert is bleak, and very often it weighs so heavily on the soul of a person that they are trapped in a haze of sadness and darkness for months or even years. The loving kindness of others who try to help may pierce through that darkness, but all too often it's only a brief flash in the pan that illuminates their lives before the shadows settle back in. The most they can do is grasp onto that flash of light and hold it tight in hopes that the fire will burn just a little bit longer. That is why the rest of us fight against that darkness so strongly, we want to be pillars of strength and optimism in a world that tries its best to snuff us out. It's worth it for all of our sisters, regardless of how strong they are."

Nereti nodded in agreement and gave Mewtwo's hand another squeeze. "We each have our own battles to fight, some of these are just internal battles rather than external ones against the beasts of the wastes. There is just as much honor in the fighting of your own inner beasts as there is in fighting the Lizalfos. Some of us may never have the strength to persevere in either of these fights, and some of us may only waver for a moment. Those moments of weakness do not make them any less of a Gerudo. "

"Exactly. The oath of kinship has no exceptions. Oh, and speaking of the oath!" Kamilia said, then stood up from the table and walked over to Mewtwo. "I want to honor the request you made earlier. We don't have time for a full ceremony, but I can at least formally declare you an honorary member of the Vha'an tribe now."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to steal the thunder from the other two champions, this party should be about the victory of the Vha'an people." Mewtwo replied, feeling embarrassed by the sudden shift of attention to him.

"Oh I won't make a big production out of it, don't worry. Half of the tribe is busy eating as is. Just lower your head for me please."

Mewtwo didn't argue. The booze was making his emotions harder and harder to control and he didn't even know how to predict which one would come to the surface next. Kamilia produced a small ceramic jar from her pocket and opened the lid, revealing a blue ink or dye of some sort. She dabbed her thumb in it and drew a symbol on Mewtwo's forehead, just like the time when Hadara had also granted him an honorary membership. The ink was cold and runny, matting the thin layer of fur that was present on his body, and her finger strokes were quick and skillful.

"I, Kamilia Lasheera, Third Chief of the Vha'an Gerudo Tribe, choose to formally offer to Mewtwo all the rights and responsibilities of an honorary brotherhood with our people. If you accept the mantle of our name then you will be expected to uphold all the duties and laws of our people during the brief times when you come to visit us for Taji Alirha. Though your loyalties would lie between two tribes, it is with the Gerudo people as a whole that your spirit will be bound. Do you accept?"

"Yes, without hesitation."

"Then so it shall be, my brother." Kamilia replied, then closed the lid on her jar decisively before returning to her seat.


In the aftermath of the feast Kamilia left to find the other chiefs for their next planning meeting. Now the sun was sinking much lower, marking the end of Mewtwo's final day with the people he had come to call his friends and sisters. The feast was over and most of the Gerudos were now laughing, dancing, and singing together to celebrate and mark the end of Taji Alirha. The feasting tables had been taken down and the square was filled with throngs of tribeswomen from all three tribes who were dancing together to music played by the same troupe that had played before and after each Trial. Sumati's velvety voice mingled with the troupe's instruments and carried all throughout Ven'vha. Guards were setting up torches all around the square and starting to light them as the sun's rays faded through the full spectrum from orange to red and purple. The atmosphere was one of jubilance and carefree merriment as the three tribes took one last opportunity to enjoy each other's company. Nobody had decided yet if they were going to split back up again or not, so the people were acting as though they were going to split and were taking the opportunity to dance together while they could.

Mewtwo wished he could enjoy that jubilance, the warmth of the brotherhood he had been shown during the feast was already wearing off. He hadn't really had many belongings to gather for his upcoming journey with Kalana, so it had barely taken him a few minutes to pack after his meal was finished. Now he was delaying the inevitable and trying to bask in the last vestiges of togetherness with the Gerudo people that he could before he and Kalana were to slip away in secret. The Chiefs were soon going to make the final decision about the splitting up of the tribes and Mewtwo was expected to attend, so he and Kalana needed to make do on their escape before then in order to have a chance to make a head start that they could maintain. Indiru had warned Kalana that she had foreseen no possible future where Kamilia and Lamira would agree to willingly allow them to leave and confront the Sulaaq due to the dangers presented, even with all the points Mewtwo could make. They simply wouldn't be willing to gamble their survival on the green patch being arable land that they could farm on after a theoretical fall of the Sulaaq, assuming it was even possible to win at all.

Mewtwo wanted to believe that he could still convince them, but Kalana had agreed with Indiru's assessment and he trusted her knowledge of the chiefs a lot more than his own judgment of them. So now he walked among the crowds one last time, hoping to himself that they could somehow survive this journey and return to see them all again. There was a fatalistic side of him that knew that it was very likely that he and Kalana could die in the attempt, so he tried to find his friends in the crowd to talk to them one last time. It became all the more bittersweet when he heard Sumati and the troupe beginning to play the Goddess's Pledge again. He'd only learned the song a few days ago but it already felt like something deeply important that he was going to hold close to his heart for a long time, especially thanks to the sentimental nature of the lyrics. He had to squint his eyes up to prevent tearing up when he heard the final line drifting over to his ears, "I'll always be with you."

Mewtwo lost track of time as he searched for Madiri. He looked for her specifically in hopes of apologizing and trying to make amends before he lost his chance, but ultimately the sun sank low enough that he knew he was out of time. He had one more errand he needed to make before he slipped down into the storage garage to meet Kalana.

Mewtwo found Nereti on the edge of the square, dancing and carrying a stein half-full of Hydromelon Rum. She was laughing loudly and joking around with a few other younger guardswomen, her face flush from the alcohol. She saw him coming and called out to him while raising her drink.

"There you are Mewtwo! You wandered off after the feast was over and I thought Kamilia had dragged you away for another planning meeting!"

"She still might, so try not to shout my name too loudly." He replied, gesturing with both hands to keep her voice down.

That just caused Nereti to laugh even louder. "True! Would you like me to teach you the traditional Spin Dance?"

"I was hoping you would have finished the repairs on my spear by now actually."

"Oh! Of course! Sorry, the drink can sometimes make me forgetful."

Nereti slammed back the last of her drink and tossed the stein aside, then gestured to Mewtwo to follow him. She led him away from the square and back down the same alleyway as before. They reached her stall quickly and she opened it up and dug around in the racks until she found the spear and offered it back to him. It was gorgeously restored with fresh, vibrant paint on the shaft and a polished, sharpened blade. The wood that had been chipped or shaved even seemed to have been restored somehow, and the notch on the cap at the bottom had been patched. When Mewtwo took it in his hands he could feel that the weight and balance of it were exactly the same as before.

"What do you think? I spent a little bit of magic of my own to regenerate the wood. A spear this venerable deserves the effort." Nereti boasted.

"Beautiful, the workmanship is fantastic. But I expected nothing less from you Nereti, thank you." Mewtwo replied.

He gave the spear a little twirl, then slipped it behind his back and began to fasten the carrying straps around it.

"We're lucky I managed to find a time slot at the forges to work on it. Just like an alchemist's shop, the forges are manned 24 hours a day during Taji Alirha so that we can make the most out of our limited time with free use of magic. Fuel for running forges is precious and magical fire makes an excellent substitute for it as long as the drain device is offline. I had to give up a little time watching several matches to find a spot to work on this for you; luckily it seemed like some of the other smiths weren't willing to miss your battles."

"I appreciate the sacrifice of your leisure time, Nereti. If all goes as planned I will surely need to use the spear in due time."

Nereti gave him a quizzical look.

"The loss of Ruisa is really eating at you isn't it? Even after all that merriment I can see it on your face."

Mewtwo's hands shook a little as he pulled the last strap tight around the spear, perhaps a little more tightly than was necessary. Once again the alcohol in his system eroded his emotional control and he had to struggle to redirect the urge to mention his departure.

"I will avenge her, Nereti. I can assure you of that. The molduga that took her is already slain, but when I go to fight the Sulaaq again at some indeterminate point in the future I will plant this spear in the belly of the one who sent it."

Nereti furrowed her brow, looking confused. Mewtwo remembered that he hadn't told her of his dreams after all so she had no way of knowing that the Sulaaq could even control the Moldugas. Rather than letting her ask him about it though, he continued to speak.

"Nereti, should the chiefs decide to return us to our separate homes tomorrow morning, will you remember me when I'm gone?"

"Pfft, what sort of question is that? Of course I will remember you! A warrior like me doesn't just forget the one who bested her in the trials. Next time we meet in the ring I will have an entirely different strategy, including a proper countermeasure to your sleeping spell." She laughed, patting him firmly on the back.

Mewtwo smiled a little, wincing a bit from the impact force of the pat. She really was a goddamn powerhouse and the booze was perhaps making her forget her strength.

"Besides, seriously, you took the oath and that means you are my brother now. Plus, it's not like you'll be gone long. Next year you'll be visiting Ven'suul, and the year after that you'll be back here. Assuming the chiefs can figure out a new transit plan for Taji Alirha now that...we can no longer visit Ven'ravé."

Nereti's cheer tapered off as the name of the dead village spilled out of her mouth. Her expression darkened and she looked down at the ground as the conversation came to a sudden halt. She then shook it off and gave him another pat on the back, this time hitting the shaft of the spear where it was tied up.

"Hold onto that spear when you go though, alright? You don't need me to remind you why you need it. But now it'll be just as much of a reminder of me as it is for Q'diri when you wield it, alright?"

"Absolutely."

"Now, are you sure you don't want to come back to the square with me and learn the Spin Dance? It may not cure the grief in your heart but it may take your mind off of it for awhile." Nereti offered.

"I sadly should not, I agreed to meet with Kalana for something important soon and I'm going to be late if I delay any further."

"Alright, if you change your mind I plan to be up almost all night dancing in the square, so you'll know where to find me!"

With that Nereti closed up her stall again and made her way back down the alley toward the throng once more. Mewtwo gave her a bit of a head start and then quietly followed, only stopping once he found a good spot to overlook the crowd one more time. He knew his time was truly up now so he wanted to have one last look at the people who had come to mean so much to him. He still couldn't see Madiri in the crowd, nor could he spot Ruru or Indiru, but perhaps it was for the best. The last thing he needed was to lose his emotional control and admit to them that he was leaving. He could faintly hear Sumati's singing from here despite the din of laughter and talking from the crowd. He took in the sights of the smiling, laughing faces and the sounds of their revelry for just a few minutes longer before finally gathering his courage and slinking off toward the hangar.

It was almost totally pitch black in the chamber when Mewtwo arrived. He had to sneak there cautiously to avoid being seen, and had been forced not to use his psychic cloaking ability in order to avoid Kamilia figuring out where he was going. He was therefore grateful that a thin, faint beam of light shone up out of one of the stored Helmasaurs to light his way. He carefully crept across the room to avoid tripping over unseen obstacles and making noise, swiveling his head constantly to look for Kalana or any other signs of people who might have wandered down there. It was fortunate that he found none. When he reached the helmasaur he paused next to it and gave a loud, controlled whisper.

"Kalana, it's me." He said quietly before even touching the hull in order to avoid startling her.

Kalana's head popped up through the open hatch that had been casting the faint light. She looked down at him with an expression mixed between relief and exasperation.

"About time! I was wondering when you would show up! Come on, climb inside, we really need to leave!"

Once Kalana had ducked back inside Mewtwo crept up onto the hull and lowered himself into the Helmasaur's interior. He could see the consoles were all turned on but the engines were still off, and Kalana had a small oil lantern hanging from the ceiling to provide light. She had brought in blankets and some cushions to lay over the passenger seating, creating two impromptu beds for them to sleep on, and a pile of crates and various items had been laid on the floor between the two. Kalana had been in the process of stacking and tying the crates down with rope when he arrived. The faint orange-reddish light and the soft blankets almost made the cramped little space seem warm and comfy, regardless of the black steel Sulaaq construction.

"Sorry, I needed to get my spear back from Nereti, but now I'm ready to go. How are we going to get out of here without being seen though? The town gates are still shut and there's guards on towers with a complete view of the surroundings in all directions."

"The drain device is still down, I figured you could teleport us just like you did when we brought the tower down back home. Remember using it to bring Ruru and I back to the village?"

"Oh, right. I hadn't even considered that angle. Good idea. I can even use my powers to hide us from sight until we reach the range of the next tower too, though that'd risk Kamilia sensing my energy racing away from the village. Though she might already sense our teleport out as it is." Mewtwo replied.

"Yeah. We'll save more time overall by only alerting one chief as opposed to alerting every guard with the sight of our Helmasaur racing away in the open." Kalana replied, getting back to work strapping down their supplies.

"Are we really taking a whole Helmasaur with us though? That is...quite a considerable theft."

"Do you want to travel through the scorching deep desert on foot? This is not going to be a short journey my friend, we could take months without a vehicle's speed. I may be a guardswoman with years of patrol under my belt but even I don't like the sound of that. Besides, we're taking one of the ones that had its turret blown off already, so we won't be reducing the tribe's ability to defend itself this way. It's also much easier to haul all this."

Kalana then opened one of the supply lockers underneath the seats, showing stacked cans of Sulaaq food as well as some bombs, weapons, potions, and waterskins. She opened one of the crates as well, showing even more food and water. He even saw some strange bottled substances that he assumed to be magical reagents.

"Ah, I concede your point. I guess this means we're ready to go then?"

Kalana tied down a few more boxes with lightning quick speed and then sat up to give him a nod.

"Now we are, yes. Unless you want to have the chiefs come down here and find us, that is."

"Definitely not. But... I'm still worried that we're making the wrong choice. If we leave here and the Sulaaq don't choose to chase after us then the attack I heard about in the dream will roll over Ven'vha unopposed. It feels like we're gambling on a hunch."

"We very well may be. This whole plan hinges on our deductions about the messages you had heard from the Sulaaq during a Gaze dream, but you believed the dreams to be genuine right?"

"Yes, and I do think that the consistency between those dreams and the vision I had earlier make them worth believing. But what if the Sulaaq don't know we've left and roll over the village anyway?"

Kalana hummed and tapped her chin as she pondered the point he had made. An idea thankfully did come to her; she led him over to the cockpit and gestured to the front where the holographic control panel would appear when it was turned on.

"Assuming they don't already have a way to track you that led them behind us during our Taji Alirha trip, then the solution is simple. The Helmasaur's communicator device that we use to coordinate the convoy reaches for a very long distance. It's meant to be picked up by other Sulaaq vehicles, so once we're far from the village, you just use it to announce our location. I can't think of an easier way than this other than walking right up to the door of a tower and waving at them."

"Ah, a good idea indeed. Then we just hope and pray that our theory about their "target" is correct."

"Exactly. Now are you ready to take us out there? I have everything stowed and we're seriously burning time!"

"There is one more thing."

Mewtwo reached into his knapsack and grabbed his cluster of note paper. Using the pen they had taken from Indiru he began to scribble a note.

"I need to leave them a message instructing them to stay in Ven'vha so they don't travel back into the ranges of other towers while we're gone. The last thing I want is for everyone to be killed if the towers are fired while we're out doing this. Hopefully my explanation of what we're doing and the reasoning behind it will help them understand and forgive us, assuming we make it back alive." He explained, writing furiously.

"To my dear friends Hadara and Kamilia,

I am deeply sorry for the way I have disobeyed you and stolen away in the night. I chose this path because I know that my journey to destroy the Sulaaq is a tremendous risk and you would not approve of me betting all our futures on one rash, reckless strategy. That being said, Kalana and I have a plan that may very well be our last best chance at securing the future for all three tribes. I will spare you the details for now since I don't wish for you to follow us, but if we survive and somehow find success, I will give you the entire story and willingly accept whatever punishments you and the arbiters rightly dole out. I only have one request, please keep the three tribes together in Ven'vha for the foreseeable future. Since Kalana and I have destroyed the drain device at the tower closest to Ven'vha it will be unable to fire its superweapon if the Sulaaq decide to try to activate it, rendering all the people within Ven'vha safe from the firestorm. If the Suulan and Rakeshan people return home while we're on this journey, they will no longer have that protection. If the Sulaaq repair the device within the next week, I also ask that you raid their tower and destroy it again, just to maintain that protection.

I beg your forgiveness for my recklessness, and should Kalana and I fail in our task, I only ask that you remember us with kindness.

Yours truly,

Mewtwo."

Kalana put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. "We'll make it alive, I'm certain of it. I'm the best damn warrior in the Rakeshan tribe and your magic is legendary. If we can't do it then our world was doomed from the start, but it's still noble to try regardless."

"Well said." Mewtwo replied.

While Mewtwo worked on finishing the note Kalana double checked their supplies and confirmed they had everything they needed. Mewtwo debated on editing his wording and sat there in emotional turmoil over it, especially as the emotional impact of the goodbye hit him. Kalana finished the field check and leaned over his shoulder to read it over too. When he finally finished he teleported it to a spot where he knew it'd be found, Chief Kamilia's first floor table.

"Well, that does it. I can't stall any longer, we should go." Mewtwo commented, standing up and staring at their gathered supplies.

Kalana nodded and climbed up into the pilot's seat. "Yup, now would you care to sit in the gunner's seat for me? Even if there's no gun to shoot, it should still have external cameras you can use to keep watch in all directions for me. If we get chased down by moldugas again I'd very much like to have someone to warn me they're coming."

"That seems perfectly reasonable. Hold on, I'm going to take us out now."

Mewtwo sat down in the gunner's seat and strapped himself in too. Then he conjured up a surge of psychic power and collected it around the Helmasaur, first creating a cloaking field to hide it and then teleporting it and its contents outside of the wall and downward to the sandy ground. There was a loud, jarring thud as they landed, causing Mewtwo and Kalana to jerk forward in their seats.

"Sorry, I had to target us a few feet off the ground since I didn't know the exact layouts of the dune topography out here and didn't want to end up destroying the bottom hull of the helmasaur by fusing it to the sand as we arrived." Mewtwo explained.

"Fusing it? Ok don't tell me, I don't want to know. Next time I'll just remember to start the engines before you do that." Kalana mumbled.

With a simple beep Kalana hit the ignition and the loud thrumming of the engine filled the entire interior of the cabin. Mewtwo took the control sticks for the gunner and used them to steer the camera around, checking the dunes around them briefly and seeing no signs of any monsters nearby. Pale moonlight was glowing off of the dunes in all directions around them, and the winds were sending little puffing plumes of sand off of the tips of each dune. That ghostly, all-encompassing light seemed to wash out all the orange coloration of the sands, making them appear like diamond dust shimmering in the wind. It was equally beautiful as it was menacing in its endless emptiness. The engines began to rumble louder as they accelerated out away from Ven'vha, heading due east. The plumes of air shooting out of the vents on the Helmasaur's sides kicked up shimmering plumes of sand and dust, and for a moment Mewtwo hoped that this wouldn't attract too much attention from the lookouts in the village. He couldn't exactly extend his cloak far enough to hide the clouds they were kicking up. It was still better than just driving off in plain moonlit sight though, and the helmasaur's speed rapidly began to carry them away before Mewtwo could hear any alarm horns. After a few moments of wordless quiet the towering mesa began to fade into the distance.

"I think we're far enough to be out of sight now Mewtwo, you should end your invisibility spell. If you keep it up much longer Kamilia could follow us like a beacon if she decided to hop into a helmasaur of her own and give chase." Kalana pointed out.

Mewtwo nodded to her and sighed in relief as he let the cloak dissipate. It took significant effort to maintain it around a vehicle that large. Now that he was done with it, he could focus on the next important task at hand. He grabbed the handset for the radio and turned it on, hoping that nobody in Ven'vha was using the Helmasaurs and could hear.

"Attention all Sulaaq who may be listening in on this frequency. I am Mewtwo. If it is me that you truly mean to target, then turn your convoy of attacking tanks away from the Gerudo village and follow me instead. I am departing due east of the village in one of your APCs and coming for you. If you want to stand any chance of stopping me you must divert your forces away from attacking the helpless people living in the desert and send them after me. I am determined to put an end to each and every one of you, from the lowliest of soldiers to the highest authority. This is the only warning you will be given, ignore it at your own peril."

"Sheesh, maybe you could have done that in a way that's not quite as likely to get us immediately swarmed by their armies?!" Kalana protested once he finished and put down the mic.

"I apologize, I needed to be certain that Ven'vha is left untouched. Until we reach the range of the next tower I will at least be able to repel most of them."

"Sa'oten, I hope you're right." She replied, shaking her head.

"I am certain of it. If they stick to their current plan, then it will just be thralls in tanks, nothing more. That is something I can deal with easily."

Mewtwo's words were filled with the same brash confidence that he used to parade around back when he lived on Earth, but this time it was mostly a facade. He knew that they very well could send a swarm of Immortals after him and they could drown him in Dark Pulse attacks, but he wanted to reassure Kalana, and to a lesser extent, himself too. True terrifying uncertainty was sprawling out over the dunes in front of them and now there was no turning back. Sharp, pronounced fear churned and writhed in the pit of Mewtwo's stomach even as he gave Kalana a confident smirk. Then, seeking comfort, he turned his gaze back to the cameras and watched Ven'vha shrinking into the horizon.

"Sav'orq, my friends."

Chapter 24: Cold, Uncaring Calculations

It struck Mewtwo as funny in a dark sort of way. He'd spent so much time trying to force himself into a diurnal sleep schedule and now here he was staying up all night with Kalana as they made the first leg of their journey into the deep desert. Of course, he hadn't quite managed to fully swap around by this time thanks to the Gaze dreams and the various other sleep disruptions he'd been enduring, but that didn't stop him from feeling miserable and tired as he watched the screen. They had been driving together for several hours now and according to the clock on Kalana's screen it was passing midnight. They had turned on the cabin's internal heater to keep out the icy cold desert wind and the result was an extremely cozy, dark, warm atmosphere that made it all the more difficult for Mewtwo to stay awake. He was beginning to doze off when he felt Kalana gently kick his foot.

"Please stay awake with me Mewtwo. I need you for more than just a lookout; I'm tired too and I fear I may doze off at the controls if I don't have your company to keep me awake."

"A fair point. I suppose some conversation would be wise to engage our minds. What's our plan, if we even have one? Are we going to only travel at night?"

"We'll start searching for a suitable place to park and sleep before dawn so that we don't end up attracting moldugas during the morning hunting hours. We'll sleep about 8 hours and get up around 2PM, then go until dusk. At dusk we'll stop for a rest and dinner while the moldugas have their twilight hunting hours, then go all the way until dawn again. Repeat until we arrive." Kalana replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Quite a grueling schedule, are you sure you have the endurance to drive that long?"

"We have little choice, there's always the chance that mother or Kamilia could decide to take a caravan of their own Helmasaurs and chase after us. We have to outpace them. Besides, driving is nothing compared to the deep desert patrols I've done on foot. I'll be more than capable. But we'll have to ration our food very strictly since the trip could be a long one."

"Very well, that makes sense. But I have noticed that you've been driving due east the entire time without looking at Indiru's map though, do you have it memorized already?"

"I didn't need to, it's not that complex. It basically just directs us straight east. I have it stored in the storage compartment beneath the console if you want to take it out and look at it." Kalana replied.

"I think I will. I didn't really get a very close look at it before you took it."

Mewtwo then reached down to pop the latch on the compartment and grab the map. He tried to generate a psychic orb of light to see it by, but found his psychic reserves totally dry again.

"Ah, unfortunate. We have already entered the range of the next tower Kalana, be aware."

"I figured as much. Grab the lantern from the passenger compartment if you need it."

"Good idea."

Mewtwo unbuckled and climbed out of his seat just long enough to fetch the lantern before sitting back down. He cranked it back up so the light was sufficiently strong to see by, then spread the map open and gazed it over.

The Gerudo text caused him to pause and dig out his language notes. He discovered that Indiru had actually written the words in Common, just with direct letter swaps for Gerudo letters, making it easy to translate. Perhaps she had expected him to read it and wanted to make it easier on him. He was very grateful for the consideration, even if he didn't truly know that was her intent. The translations were mostly simplistic anyway, the mesa on the left side was Ven'vha for example. But some of the meanings were slightly cryptic. The mesa in the center was labeled "Goddess", the strange structures to the right of it were labeled "Only death here", and the craggy formation immediately to the right of that was labeled "Valley". Between the valley and the big blob was the menacing text "Do not go North or South here", and the blob itself was labeled "Green". The ending was ominously incomplete with no label.

"Dare I ask if you have any guesses as to what she meant by "Only death here"?" Mewtwo asked.

Kalana quietly shook her head no. Mewtwo furrowed his brow and returned the map to the storage compartment before returning his gaze to the screen.

"Due to the lack of any sort of scale measurement, there's unfortunately no way to tell how far we're going to have to travel. Since Indiru didn't manage to get us any information about what the Sulaaq headquarters looks like, it may be difficult to distinguish, assuming it's a tower that looks similar to all the others." Kalana noted.

"I have a feeling that their architectural tendency toward the grandiose and sinister will influence its design toward the more conspicuous end of the spectrum." Mewtwo commented dryly.

"Hah! You raise a good point my friend. We probably will know it when we see it." Kalana laughed.

Silence fell over them for awhile at this point and Mewtwo struggled to come up with a topic for conversation. He knew they had to keep talking in order to ward off the dark curtains of sleep but his mind was so fogged by tiredness that he couldn't come up with anything decent. As a result he was only able to recklessly ramble out the first thought that came to his mind.

"I appreciate you coming with me on this journey again Kalana. Following this path alone would have been a stygian nightmare for me; I nearly lost control of my emotions several times at the dinner and dance before we left since I was dreading the loneliness. It can't have been easy for you either. Did you have a lot of friends or a lover that you left behind as well?"

"Plenty of friends, yes, but no lover. I've never really been the sort of person who felt that kind of attraction for others very often. I only ever fell in love with someone once, when I was a young adult, and she broke up with me more than a decade ago. Mother always told me that I might find love again once my heart healed, but I've found my own path and built my own fulfillment without it. The friends I've made, both at home and in the other villages, have been the most important part of that fulfillment."

Mewtwo nodded a little, feeling a sense of empathy for Kalana. He'd never even considered himself the sort of person who could find romance or love, so her willingness and ability to thrive without it gave him a sense of hope.

"I am grateful to have met you Kalana; your friendship has helped give me the first real sense of that same fulfillment that hasn't felt transitory or fleeting. The truth is, back on Earth I never managed to make any lasting friends. I knew a human named Ash who had a selfless heart, but his life was on a path of wanderlust and adventure that I could not follow. I also had a friend named Mew whose spirit was filled with a boundless maternal love for all living beings, but she was trapped in a life of secrecy and sleep that made her difficult to find and spend time with. Being the only one of my kind also meant that I was doomed to never find a life partner from the beginning. So in a way, becoming a member of the Rakeshan and Vha'an tribes has been the closest thing to having a family that I've ever had."

"I am happy to call you brother, Mewtwo. It sounds like your life wasn't much easier back on Earth despite all the prosperity and plenty that you described there. Perhaps you needed a family more than you needed all the riches that world could give you." Kalana noted.

"Perhaps, though I never really felt compelled to use my powers to accumulate material wealth. Gold and baubles have never meant much to me, I've only ever taken what I've needed to survive."

At that point their conversation was interrupted by Kalana's stomach grumbling loudly, causing a mortified look to come over her face.

"Ah, speaking of things one needs to survive. Would you fetch me some rations please so I don't need to park the helmasaur and dig them out myself?"

"Gladly."


Sleeping in the helmasaur wasn't as comfy as it had first seemed. Even while taking up the entire horizontal row of passenger seating while laying down there really wasn't enough room to accommodate Mewtwo's height. He had to partially prop himself up against the metal dividing wall between the passenger compartment and the driver's seat in order to fit, putting him into a highly uncomfortable slanted position. If it weren't for how exhausted he was already it might have kept him up, but the warm blankets in the cold compartment helped immensely. They had parked atop a rocky outcropping as a sandstorm blew in that morning and the sound of the rushing wind helped relax him and put him to sleep. He was awoken by Kalana violently shaking him awake.

"Mewtwo! Wake up! We have a problem!"

"Huh? What is it?"

"Remember when you were taunting the Sulaaq over the communicator last night? I believe the cuccos have come home to roost!"

Adrenaline immediately surged through Mewtwo's veins upon hearing those words. He didn't know what a cucco was but the meaning of the phrase seemed clear regardless. He bolted upright and began to climb out of the covers.

"Get in the driver's seat now, get us moving!" He urged.

Kalana didn't need to be told twice. The two of them scrambled up to their seats and Mewtwo saw immediately that Kalana had already swiveled the camera on the turret around to spot the enemy behind them. Distant plumes of orange dust marked the approach of a large convoy of vehicles several miles away. Mewtwo felt the helmasaur thrum up to life when Kalana hit the start button while he looked. He had to zoom the camera in multiple times in order to see their pursuers clearly, and the view juddered and bobbed a few times as Kalana took off and began to accelerate them away. Once he finally got a clear view of the source of the plumes he knew it was the Sulaaq. Those vehicles weren't captured Helmasaurs from Ven'vha, they were fearsome, bulky hover-tanks built from the same Sulaaq black steel. They were racing directly toward them on an intercept course, kicking up the sand and dust as they went. Mewtwo counted thirty of them easily, and they were accompanied by what looked to be more helmasaurs behind them that were undoubtedly loaded with Ravéan thrall troops. Some of the tanks had a single weapon barrel on their turrets, some even had two. All of them had menacing front-mounted, spiked plough blades designed to smash through barriers and slaughter infantry via collision.

"By Arceus. Their force is larger than I dared imagine." Mewtwo whispered.

"I told you that you shouldn't have been so provocative with your taunt!" Kalana scolded.

"At least this means Ven'vha is safe, Kalana! Now we just need to come up with some sort of plan."

"Well I don't exactly have any ideas right now so if you have one now is the time to share it! I don't know if their vehicles are faster than ours so we may not have much time!"

Mewtwo wracked his brain for any ideas he could grasp onto. He tried conjuring a touch of telekinesis to confirm they were still within range of a drain device and unfortunately discovered that he was indeed still dry. Without his powers those tank turrets were an overwhelmingly deadly threat that they had no defense against. He scrambled for ideas for several more seconds, then grabbed the controls for his turret and rotated it to get a complete 360 degree view of their surroundings. Sunlight was glaring brutally off of the orange dunes and the wind was whipping sand off of the tips of them in powdery streams. As the camera turned South he spotted a huge wall of blowing orange sand indicating another sandstorm many miles off and an idea struck him.

"Kalana, we might be able to lose them in that sandstorm down South! Look!"

He showed her his screen and she furrowed her brow.

"I don't think that will work, remember the Rainbow Vision mode these vehicles have? They could use it to track us just fine."

"Blast, you're right! I completely forgot."

Mewtwo then desperately turned back to the controls and continued to scan the horizon. He saw nothing directly ahead of them in the East, but up North he spotted the thin, dark shape of another Sulaaq tower not too far away. Another idea came to him and he pointed it out to Kalana.

"There, another tower! Turn us toward it!"

"What?! Why?! You want to risk adding MORE Sulaaq forces to our plate?!" Kalana shouted incredulously.

"If we can maintain our lead and get there ahead of the Sulaaq armor then we could fight our way up to the top and destroy the drain device before they arrive. Then I'll be able to destroy the tanks with my powers and liberate all the thralls with almost no effort!"

"Mewtwo, for all we know there could be another regiment waiting for us at the base of that tower! Even if there isn't then there's still a good chance it's filled with Immortals or more thrall soldiers!"

"I know that! But I am more than willing to bet that the drain device works just as effectively on them as it does on us! Immortals should be no more of a threat than the thralls until we destroy the device!"

"That's a lot to bet on a hunch, and even if it is true then it just means we're trading the tank threat for the Immortal threat!"

"Do you have any better ideas?!" Mewtwo replied, anger seeping into his tone.

"Well, not really."

"Then let's go! Every second we waste they could be gaining on us!"

Kalana hesitated for a moment then heaved a weary sigh. She turned the sticks to the left as sharply as she could without sending them out of control and the momentum of the turn pressed them into the sides of their seats. Once the tower was looming in the center of the screen she turned and waved toward the back.

"It won't be long to reach it, get ready. Eat your morning rations quickly and gear up, I give it five or ten minutes at most. And lay out my gear for me too please!"

"Got it."

Mewtwo did as instructed, ripping open crates and horking down the awful jerky as quickly as he could stomach it. He strapped on his cloak and the Vatorsa spear, then grabbed a Sulaaq rifle and a bag of explosives and strapped them on too. He was just in the process of drinking some water out of a canteen to wash down his rations when he heard Kalana yelling at the top of her lungs in a totally panicked tone.

"Sa'oveer! Hold on!"

Suddenly the Helmasaur swerved and began to spin out of control as though Kalana had slammed the steering sticks violently to one side while flying at top speed. Mewtwo was again slammed against the wall of the vehicle violently by the centrifugal force of the spin, and the loose items he had dug out of the crates flew through the air and struck him and the walls around him. He wordlessly yelled in shock and terror as they spun wildly out of control for several seconds, helpless to do anything else. There was a violent WHAM and then suddenly the spin became even worse, hurling the vehicle up in the air and tumbling in spirals. The impact made a horrible crunching sound, and then there were multiple additional slamming and smashing sounds as the helmasaur bounced off of the dunes repeatedly at high speed, bruising Mewtwo all over. He blacked out before they could manage to come to rest.

Mewtwo woke again to the sensation of choking. Liquid was being forced down his throat, nearly cutting off his air supply. He gasped and gurgled, tasting the flavor of a red potion. Agony wracked his entire body as the potion forced him back to consciousness, but he was lucky that it also began to deaden the pain.

"Goddesses please! Come back to me Mewtwo, we need to move!" Kalana begged, her voice sounding desperate and terrified.

Mewtwo choked down the entire bottle, but he had to reach up and grab Kalana's hand to pull it away halfway through so that he could breathe for a moment.

"What in Arceus's name happened?"

"A molduga! It erupted out of the sand directly in front of us as we got close to the tower! I had to swerve hard to avoid it, but I clipped the top of a dune while we were spinning out and crashed!"

"Shit!" Mewtwo gasped, cursing for the first time in Arceus knows how long as he realized the gravity of the situation.

Mewtwo looked around and saw that the basic structure of the helmasaur was still intact. The items that had been strapped down and stowed were intact, but the canteen and food he'd pulled out for Kalana were spilled and smashed everywhere. The cabin's inner lights were out and the lantern was smashed, and the smell of oil was hanging thick on the air. They were laying on the wall of the vehicle since it had come to rest on its side.

"We don't have much time, the molduga could come for us at any second!" Kalana said urgently.

"Then shouldn't we freeze in place and not move?!"

"No, we made plenty of vibrations when we landed and they're smart enough to remember where they last sensed such things! We need to toss a bomb right now!"

Mewtwo nodded and opened the explosives pouch on his belt, producing a small black powder bomb and some flint. He began to push on the hatch on the helmasaur's roof, but their repeated bouncing impacts on the sand had violently contorted the chassis and bent it in such a way that the hatch was crimped shut and immobile.

"The hatch is stuck! Try the rear ramp door while I keep working on it!" Mewtwo urged.

Kalana nodded and crawled over to grab the manual release lever on the wall next to the ramp and yank it down. The hatch made a series of grinding, crunching noises and popped open, but only moved a few inches before stopping.

"Sheer! Sheer! It's stuck too! Come help me with this!" Kalana yelled.

Mewtwo clambered over and planted his feet on the rear door. He braced himself with his arms and tail and put every inch of his strength into shoving the door open. It resisted for several agonizing seconds as it ground against the deformed doorframe, making a metallic squealing sound as it did. Mewtwo felt his leg muscles begin to burn with the exertion and strain but he could see the lip of the doorframe slowly bending and giving way, so he forced himself to press on. Five painful, terror-filled seconds passed before the lip gave way entirely and the ramp screeched free, swinging to the left and banging against the hull. Searing sunlight and heat poured through the open doorway, blinding Mewtwo and preventing him from seeing outside. He wasted no time striking the flint on the steel doorframe, sending sparks through the air to ignite the bomb. Once the fuse began to hiss and spit sparks he heaved the bomb through the doorway with as much power as his arms could muster. It sailed out of the gap and vanished into the scorching beam of sunlight, landing an indeterminate distance away with a soft sandy thump. Mewtwo crammed his fingers into his ears just in time to drown out the ear-shattering bang, then pulled them out again to listen for the characteristic rumbling.

"Now freeze!" Kalana whispered, grabbing her own Sulaaq rifle and flipping the safety off.

A few seconds passed and Mewtwo immediately caught the sound of the telltale rumbles. He unholstered his own rifle and flipped off the safety as well, trying to remain as motionless as possible otherwise. The rumbling got terrifyingly loud and then Mewtwo felt the whole helmasaur rising up underneath him! His life practically flashed through his eyes as he imagined the monster bursting through the sands beneath them and crushing the helmasaur into a tiny little tinfoil ball with its jaws. He could still remember the shocked look on Madiri's face when he kicked her out of the way the last time this sort of thing had happened. Then the sand disturbance passed by beneath them and went beyond them, toward the explosion. Mewtwo heard the roaring sand and the molduga's shriek as it breeched the surface a dozen feet away, and its shadow blocked out the blinding sunlight that had been streaming into the doorframe.

"NOW!" Kalana shouted, dashing out of the door in front of him.

Mewtwo scrambled out of the helmasaur after her, gripping his rifle with two hands. The sun blinded him entirely though, he immediately tripped when his foot sank into the loose sand while he was unable to see. He slammed into the sandy ground at full force and was instantly winded, groaning in pain. He heard a sudden and intense rapid fire series of cracking reports as lasers fired, followed by the agonized shrieks of the molduga and sizzling flesh. He assumed this was Kalana shooting it while it was still stunned from its leap, but then he heard her yelling Gerudo swear words in shock and terror.

"Oveer! Mewtwo stay down!" She yelled, then landed on the sand next to him.

"What's going on?! I'm blinded by the glare!"

"Sulaaq thrall! At the tower's turret!" She shouted.

"Great!" Mewtwo gasped.

A fresh new wave of icy terror washed over Mewtwo and he rubbed his eyes and opened them again, trying to adjust to the light. He saw a blurry outline of the dunes around him as well as the mottled brown scaled shape of the molduga as it thrashed and flopped helplessly. Then he saw blindingly bright red beams flashing through the air and knew why Kalana had told him to stay down. He flattened himself against the sand, struggling to catch his breath, and the image began to resolve in front of him. The beams were coming from the Sulaaq tower which was a few dozen feet away. It had the same balconies on its second floor as the tower he and Kalana had raided before, and the nearest balcony had a manned laser turret aimed down at the molduga and firing. A Gerudo thrall was handling the turret, decked out in full blown Armor of the Iron Knuckle, and the gun was still popping off a shot every two seconds to scour flaming, smoking holes in the hide of the beast.

"Shit, we're pinned down! As soon as the molduga is dead they'll probably start firing on us!" Mewtwo whispered.

"I know! I can't really see a good route to the base of the tower with any cover!" Kalana replied.

"Then I have no choice. I hope your Goddesses will forgive me for this."

Mewtwo then raised his rifle and peeked out over the top of the dune to line up a shot. While the thrall was still busy firing on the Molduga he aimed right for her center of mass and pulled the trigger.

CRACK!

Now there was even more blood on Mewtwo's hands. He felt sick to his stomach as he watched the thrall slump forward onto the turret after the beam carved a hole in her torso. He didn't have time to pine over the deed though, he knew at any moment another thrall could emerge out of the door behind her and take her place.

"Now! Go! Run for it!" Mewtwo urged, shakily climbing to his feet.

He and Kalana leaped over the top of the dune and sprinted toward the tower at maximum speed. Mewtwo's chest and sides stabbed with aching pain from the effort and he panted raggedly as he watched that turret with a fixated gaze. If he saw another thrall emerge to take over he needed to throw himself to the ground. He still heard the Molduga twitching and snarling behind them but he didn't care. Finally some luck came to them and they made it to the tower in time before anyone else could take over the guard position. They slumped against the outer wall and took a few seconds to gather their breath. Then Mewtwo realized something else totally chilling, they had forgotten to wear earplugs! There wasn't any incantation playing here for some reason but that could change at any moment.

"Kalana, earplugs! Right now!"

"Oveer, you're right!"

Kalana dug out two pairs and handed one to Mewtwo, who stuffed it in as quickly as he could manage. He wondered just how they were controlling these thralls with the incantation offline, but again events moved far too rapidly for him to have time to ponder it. He heard another muffled CRACK through the earplugs and saw the beam of the turret arc out again and strike the dying molduga. A new thrall had emerged and taken over the turret! Kalana gave Mewtwo the "Follow" gesture and began to climb up the spikes on the side of the tower just like their first raid. This time Mewtwo learned from his past mistakes too, he had brought leather pads with him in his gear that he strapped quickly to his hands and feet before climbing the sharp metal. They were just protective enough that he avoided slicing himself up as he climbed. He surmounted the ledge of the balcony just in time to see Kalana sneak up behind the armored thrall and ambush her.

The fresh thrall was also wearing the Armor of the Iron Knuckle, and this was decorated in beautiful gold trim. Kalana grabbed her by the waist and yanked her backward with enough force to cause her to fall back onto her ass with a series of loud clanks. Kalana then jumped on top of her and began to grab at her chest plate, trying to pry it open to expose a weak point for an attack. The thrall reached for a Sulaaq pistol holstered at her hip but Mewtwo ran over and grabbed her wrist, restraining it and stopping her from grabbing the weapon. Kalana managed to rip a plate free, then drew a dagger and stabbed it down into the thrall's chest with one brutal stroke. Mewtwo's stomach turned as he saw the blood rush out of the wound and the thrall's limbs thrash in agony. Beneath the armor she was wearing fresh yellow Ravéan garb, and disconcertingly enough she didn't even make a yelp as her lifeblood poured out of her. Kalana yanked the dagger out of the wound and then grabbed at her helmet, trying to yank it free. The thrall's head jerked back from the effort but the helmet didn't so much as budge. She tried a few more times before giving up and tugging her upper breastplate free instead to expose her neck for a quick, merciful strike there to put her out of her misery. Blood gushed out of the slash wound and the thrall mercifully fell limp, no longer suffering.

Mewtwo nearly retched from the disgusting display of gory violence. He was too used to kills with psychic power, which were all self-cauterizing and therefore never made a mess. This bloody slashing death was viscerally horrific in a way that killing Gary and the scientists had never been. He started to feel as though he was losing his nerve now that the clean, neat, bloodless world of Pokemon battling had been torn away from him so completely. There was no fainting here, nor was there any mercy. Just the senseless spilling of lifeblood that ended the lives of innocent women who had no control over their actions. Mewtwo almost didn't notice the little black antenna sticking up out of the thrall's helmet. He looked at it for a few seconds before he saw Kalana suddenly reach down to grab the Sulaaq pistol off of the dead thrall's waist. She whipped it up to eye level and fired off six shots rapidly into the open door of the tower.

Mewtwo jerked his head up and saw two more thralls collapsing to the ground dead, having taken Kalana's fire in close range as they rushed down the hallway toward them to join the fray. Mewtwo collected himself and stood up again, staring down that hall and raising his own rifle. No more thalls came, so he allowed himself the time to look out over the desert and check on the incoming threat. The plumes of sand and dust were much closer now, though thankfully he still couldn't make out individual tanks with the naked eye. He turned his gaze to Kalana, who immediately gave him the "Follow" and "Hurry" gestures before sprinting inside.

Mewtwo's eyes once again had to adjust as he transitioned from blinding desert sun to dimly lit steel halls. He might have stumbled over the corpses of the thralls that Kalana had just shot if he hadn't been paying close attention to his surroundings due to all the adrenaline-fueled focus in his mind. He stuck as close to Kalana as possible as she ran down the red-lit hall past multiple doors, checking each one briefly as she went. They were near the end of the hallway when Mewtwo's eyes finally adjusted enough that he caught a glimpse of movement in the corners of his peripheral vision, just behind him. A door he had just passed was sliding open! He spun around and raised his rifle to fire, sending a lancing beam of red into the dark doorway. Another Ravéan thrall wielding a rifle of her own collapsed to the ground through the door, a scorched hole in her hip. Another kill added to Mewtwo's count. His mind coldly calculated out the numbers in a desperate self-defense maneuver to try to distance itself from the trauma. Two thralls, plus Gary, plus however many scientists were on New Island when he detonated it. He couldn't even guess how many had been there, so he abstracted it out to a mathematical variable, X. His kill count was now X+3. He didn't count any of the Team Rocket personnel he might have killed while detonating Giovanni's manor though, considering their horrible complicity in the man's evil. No more thralls emerged through the door, and it tried to slide shut only to get caught on the lifeless ankles of the thrall that jammed it open.

Kalana tried to open the final door that blocked off the hallway but it refused to open. She grabbed Mewtwo's shoulder to get his attention and gestured to the holographic palm scanner on the door. He realized what she meant and came forward to place his palm on the scanner, which chirped and turned green, causing the door to open. As soon as it did though he heard a loud, gut-churning thrumming sound and then a bright red laser beam an inch in diameter fired down at the door, scorching the floor a few inches in front of Mewtwo's foot. Acting purely on instinct he hurled his entire body backward away from the door, colliding with Kalana behind him and sending them both tumbling back. The energy of the massive beam caused gouts of sparks and flame to erupt from the floor, showering the two of them with burning hot shards of shrapnel and sending a plume of smoke through the air. It was fortunate the shrapnel's velocity was insufficient to pierce their skin, all it served to do was burn holes in their cloaks and make small burns on their skin. Mewtwo wordlessly yelled in terror and scrambled back away from the door as the beam continued to fire, staying on and sweeping up the floor toward them. It stopped a few feet short as the angle of its origin point meant it couldn't see them without the top of the doorframe getting in the way.

Mewtwo remembered the huge emplaced turrets that lined the inner balconies of the last tower they had infiltrated and knew that this was one of those. As he climbed to his feet he felt the smoke make his lungs burn and his head swim. Kalana regained her footing and grabbed him by the shoulder, leading him back through the doorway that the dead thrall had jammed open. Thankfully the air was clear there, so he coughed his lungs clear and managed to get some breaths of fresh air as he followed her. They followed the curved hallway for a minute or two completely unopposed until they arrived at another locked door, this time angled parallel to the central shaft rather than toward it. Mewtwo opened it with his palm and jumped back, but no giant beams or thralls ambushed them. Here was a stairwell up, just what they needed. It seemed like Kalana's memory of the tower layout had been vital, she had led them down a longer and more circuitous path toward the stairs in order to bypass the laser turrets. She began to lead them up the stairs at a slower pace, taking the time to check her corners thoroughly and peek up and down for any hiding thralls waiting to ambush them. This cost them valuable time and caused Mewtwo's anxiety to build even more. They didn't encounter any resistance at all in the stairwell, but Kalana stopped him at the last corner before they reached the top. She gave him the "Wait" signal and then poked her rifle around the corner blindly without looking into the scope. After a moment of aiming she pulled the trigger. The report pierced through their earplugs followed by a colossal electric crash!

Kalana then briefly poked her head around the corner and then gave Mewtwo the "Follow" gesture again before walking around the corner and up into the small room where a door was waiting. There was a black charred hole blown open in the ceiling where Kalana had hit something with her rifle, and sparking cables were dangling out of the hole. A mangled, flaming weapon turret of some kind was lying on the floor underneath, surrounded by smouldering wreckage. Kalana must have remembered the exact location of such a turret from past raids. It made Mewtwo grateful for the fact that these towers had extremely similar layouts. He used his palm to again open the upper door and they took off down another shorter, curved hallway. They stopped before an open archway in the left wall and Kalana gave him a "Wait" gesture before rifling through her bag. She produced a small rock and tossed it onto the floor in front of the archway and a blistering hail of laser fire spewed out of it and struck the rock and the floor and walls around and behind it, scouring dozens of smoking, glowing pits into the steel. Mewtwo winced away and put his hands over his ears, as even the earplugs barely dulled the reports from that withering barrage. When the fire stopped, Kalana dug out what looked like a grenade of Sulaaq making and pulled the pin, then tossed it around the corner and backed away from the arch. A thudding BOOM marked the detonation, followed by chunks of shrapnel streaking out of the archway and scattering on the floor. Kalana recovered and tossed another rock, and this time no laser fire came in response. She peered around the corner and then gestured again to Mewtwo to follow her.

They turned through the archway and entered a similar security checkpoint to the ones he'd seen guarding the drain device before. It was an absolute wreck, the grenade had detonated the large laser turret mounted to the spiked wall dividing the room. Three more thralls were lying on the ground bleeding out, perforated by fragmentation and charred by the blast. They were still twitching and writhing, so Kalana quickly shoved her scimitar blade through the seams of their armor at their necks to give them quick, merciful ends. Mewtwo couldn't watch her do this, so he climbed over the cratered barrier and peered into the next room, checking for any threats. The huge energy converter portion of the drain device was intact and humming away and there seemed to be no guards present, so Mewtwo produced one of his bombs and lit it before tossing it inside. He gestured to Kalana to dive for cover and then ducked back over the barrier again.

The explosion that ensued was much bigger than normal and the lights all immediately went out, which told Mewtwo that the bomb had done its job. There wasn't a blinding column of red energy this time though, so he assumed that the capacitors here were emptier or else hadn't been affected by the blast this time. He waited for several seconds before peeking over the barrier and around the checkpoint. It was done, the converter machine was blown apart into pieces. His psychic energy was already returning to him, giving an incredible tingling rush through every nerve in his body. It almost seemed to be coming back more intensely than before, like some sort of rebound effect was overcharging him. He whipped out his earbuds now that the incantation threat was removed and Kalana followed suit.

"I can't believe we made it! We're lucky there were no Immortals or Chosen here." She gasped.

"We kept a good pace. Come, we need to see how close they are." Mewtwo replied.

He used some telekinesis to lift both himself and Kalana into the air, carrying them out of the checkpoint and past the ruined device to leave the tower through the hole in the roof. They got a stunning view of the orange desert wastes stretching out for miles in all directions. Tens of thousands of shifting dunes reached onward to infinity, pockmarked with the occasional jutting outcropping of sandstone. To the south the ominous wall of flying sand was creeping closer now as it advanced northward at a steady pace. To the east the sands seemed to be flattening out a little, and to the west he could see the column of Sulaaq armor about to crest the final dune and pull up to the clearing around the tower's base. Thirty six tanks in total along with fifteen helmasaurs were decelerating for arrival and none of them had the painted Gerudo flag symbol on their hulls.

"Sheer, they're already here! What now?" Kalana said.

"Now? Now I do my work. Stay here Kalana, I don't want to risk you taking fire while I do this." Mewtwo replied, then set her down on the roof and put his earplugs back in.

Kalana shouted something in protest but Mewtwo didn't hear it as he took off from the roof and flew directly down to meet the threat head on. He could see the weapons turrets on the tanks starting to angle upward toward him and decided to play it cautiously though; he remembered how even a Sulaaq pistol had been overwhelmingly difficult to block and those tank barrels looked to be on a whole different level from the tiny little sidearms. Instead he teleported directly down to ground level before they could fire, choosing his arrival point in the blind spot behind them. Before they could scan the area and find him he raised a shield and a cloaking field around himself too, wanting to be extra-cautious. Then, with a wicked smile, Mewtwo reached out and began to grab the nearest tank with telekinesis. He applied a strong downward force on the main hull and then sheared the turret directly upward, ripping it entirely free of the main body and sending it streaking into the air with a shower of sparks and flame. The lack of other external weapons rendered the tank useless, so he moved on to the next one and repeated the process. Again and again he popped the turrets off of the tanks like the metal caps on soda bottles, and the thralls seemed to lack any sort of psychic sense or scanner that could pick up his location, rendering them incapable of finding him to return fire. As Mewtwo continued his work the helmasaurs opened their rear ramps and dozens upon dozens of Gerudo thralls began to pour out, all wearing yellow Ravéan finery. Not all of them had the Iron Knuckle armor, but Mewtwo noticed that even the ones who didn't were wearing helmets that obscured their heads. Those helmets were different though, being made of black Sulaaq steel and having opaque black glass visors. They swept their rifles around, searching helplessly for targets while Mewtwo finished completely dismantling their tank regiment one by one. Once the tanks were disarmed he began to lift up the helmasaurs and tilt them backwards, dumping out the pilots and any other straggler thralls. The pilots in the destroyed tanks were also climbing out too, abandoning their useless vehicles so they could hunt for any targets to shoot with their sidearms. Mewtwo waited until he'd separated all the thralls from their vehicles, then summarily finished destroying the main bodies of the tanks to eliminate them as incantation sources. He couldn't hear if the incantation was on or not thanks to his earplugs but he was determined to be certain.

Mewtwo decided not to destroy the helmasaurs at first since he planned to use them to send the freed thralls back to Ven'vha. This meant he had to fly over and board them to find and shut off their incantation broadcast sources by hand while the thralls were still milling about trying to find him. He managed to find and rip out big speakers in one of them, but as soon as he started to climb into the second one he was greeted with a nasty surprise. There strapped into the pilot's seat, staring at him with glowing red sinister eyes, was a Zoroark Chosen! It carried no rifle and wore no armor, but its menacing grin and fixed stare told Mewtwo everything he needed to know. Those eyes could see through any psychic's cloak with ease, and Mewtwo heard it speak to him via telepathy the moment they locked eyes.

"You didn't think we'd send them out alone, did you?" It asked, its voice deep, terrifying, and familiar.

"You! You're the same one I fought before!" Mewtwo bellowed angrily in response.

"Aww, you remember me! How charming."

"How could I ever forget what you did?! You murdered all of those innocent people! I suppose you are going to say that our encounter was just an everyday routine of culling for you!" Mewtwo growled, struggling to maintain his cloak as his anger made his powers flare brightly.

"Oh no, that day was quite remarkable, if only for the wound your friend gave me. Fortunately for me our medical technology is quite advanced, I was on my feet again in less than an hour. But I learned something from our last encounter, Mewtwo. I learned just how easily I can wring your heart by disposing of the vermin. I suppose you know what's going to happen next don't you?"

"Don't you DARE touch them!" Mewtwo yelled, now loud enough that the thralls outside heard him and began to rush toward the helmasaur.

"Try to stop me." The Chosen replied, his eyes glinting with malice.

In an instant the Chosen had teleported out of the helmasaur and back out into the open desert air. Mewtwo tracked his teleport and followed him, appearing between him and the thralls with his cloak now gone.

"I will not allow you to harm them!" Mewtwo boomed, his aura glowing unimpeded around him now.

"Oh, I actually won't be doing it this time Mewtwo, you will."

Mewtwo paused as confusion took hold of him. He frowned at the Chosen and then decided to stop wasting time and attack. Talking to his enemy was what had gotten him caught by Giovanni during his encounter at Purity Canyon when he should have just been attacking him directly. He charged and hurled an Aura Sphere at the Chosen, but this time prepared to call it back in case he pulled the same teleport swap trick as before. The Chosen simply grinned and teleported away entirely, leaving no target for the Aura Sphere to track. Even its perfect accuracy couldn't target a foe that was no longer present, so it sailed off harmlessly into the desert sky to eventually dissipate. When the Chosen reappeared Mewtwo tried again only to receive the same result.

"Stand and fight me you coward!" Mewtwo bellowed with an enraged tone.

"Why should I? I don't need to, they will do it for me." The Chosen replied with a cool, amused tone.

Suddenly a loud CRACK filled the air and Mewtwo felt an overwhelmingly sharp needle-like jolt jab at his shield from below. The barrier managed to hold, but it had bent inward and nearly buckled from the impact. He swiveled his head down and saw one of the Gerudo thralls had raised her rifle and fired on him now that his cloak was down. The others were raising their rifles too and preparing to join her! If just one shot could nearly penetrate his shield then Mewtwo knew that two or three would be more than enough to do the job. Desperately he raised his cloak again and tossed himself a few dozen feet through the air, just dodging barely in time. Dozens of searing red beams flashed through the air where he had been, their combined reports still deafening even from this height.

"I'll cloak myself for the entire duration of our battle if I must!" Mewtwo thundered.

"Cute, but you already know I can sense you, or did you forget?"

The Chosen then pointed one clawed finger at Mewtwo and all the thralls suddenly adjusted their aim at where he was flying! More red needles of piercing light flashed through the sky, six of which struck Mewtwo's shield and imparted more than enough force to shatter it. Half of them were spent in the process of breaking the barrier, but three penetrated fully and struck Mewtwo unopposed, carving blackened holes through his tail! Searing hot agony surged through his tail and up his back, causing his cloak to falter and fade. He screamed in pain and shoved himself through the air again with another telekinetic burst, dodging the remaining shots that were aimed at him. He spent more precious energy to bring his shield back up and start healing himself with his Recover ability, but the Chosen tracked his flight path with its pointing claw and the thralls just kept firing.

Desperate to find a way to stop the deadly barrage, Mewtwo made another gamble by telekinetically grabbing the Helmasaurs and flinging them as far away as he could. He knew they could be disabled or destroyed by impacting the sands at high speed like that but he needed to get their incantation broadcasters away from the thralls. He was running out of options and he needed that laser fire to stop. The helmasaurs sailed hundreds of feet away and landed with tumbling crashes well outside of earshot, but somehow the rain of fire kept coming! Mewtwo felt two more beams connect with his shield, shattering it again and allowing a cluster of them to connect with his arm and shoulder. He released another scream of agony and changed direction, picking up speed to throw off their aim. This bought him time to regenerate the new wounds and shield himself again, but he was burning through energy and couldn't do this forever.

"Stop firing you fools! Why are you still obeying him?!" He shouted at the thralls, forgetting the antennae on their helmets.

They continued to fire without saying a word in response, and then Mewtwo remembered what happened last time he had tried to free the thralls during his first raid with Kalana. The Chosen had mind controlled them directly after the incantation was down, and undoubtedly he was doing it again. He needed to focus his attacks on that Chosen to put a stop to this! He turned his flight path sharply and sailed directly at the hovering form of the Chosen and conjured an Aura Sphere in each hand, getting ready to ram them directly into its body in melee if he had to.

"Let them go!" He yelled as he closed in.

The Chosen merely laughed and then teleported away, this time covering his path with a burst of dark type energy that clouded Mewtwo's tracking. Mewtwo was left alone with the throng of brainwashed thralls, who by now were pausing their fire to avoid their weapons overheating. A tense pause ensued as they waited and stared up at Mewtwo, who was trying desperately to figure out where the Chosen had gone.

"Here's the fun part of this little scenario I've cooked up for you Mewtwo. I'm not the one mind controlling those slaves. I don't have to. Do you see the helmets we installed on their heads?" The Chosen said, speaking through telepathy.

Mewtwo was at least able to track the telepathy, sensing that it came from a location midair above him and to his left. He responded by hurling one of his Aura Spheres at the direction where he had sensed it, but it had cloaked itself and couldn't be tracked this way either. It stopped talking and Mewtwo lost track of it again, until he heard it speaking from somewhere off to his right.

"Those helmets have control bolts built into them that are fused to the slaves' brains. We don't need to use the audio feed to control them, it's good old fashioned digital control that can't be broken by simple earplugs."

Mewtwo tried again to fire at the location of the sound and failed.

"Damn you! Damn your dark energy hiding you from my senses!" He yelled in fruitless, frustrated futility.

"If you try to free those vermin you will find that removing the control bolt from their skulls proves to be quite fatal. Cutting one out shocks the brain enough to kill, and even if you figure out how to block or jam the digital feed controlling them, they're programmed to explode when the feed fails."

Mewtwo hurled a third aura sphere, this time out of helpless rage even though he knew it wouldn't connect.

"The best part? If you leave them here and flee, I'll just send them back around to the village you left behind since I know how attached you are to those scum. I might even save some video of the slaughter to share with you next time we meet. I won't ever run out of tanks after all."

Tears of rage and horror welled up in Mewtwo's eyes as he fell silent, feeling completely trapped and paralyzed due to the dearth of options he had left. He turned his eyes down toward the group of Ravéan thralls and tried desperately to come up with some sort of idea for how to save them. They were all aiming up at him, ready to open fire again, but the Chosen seemed to be holding them back and relishing this quiet moment of horror and indecision that he had put Mewtwo into. This at least gave him time to come up with one more stopgap idea, he reached down with telekinesis and disarmed the entire lot of them by yanking the rifles out of their hands and hurling them through the air into the desert.

"Hah, so there's at least some common sense in that brain of yours, but that still leaves you with your decision. Do you slaughter them all to stop them from marching on the village, or do you leave them for me to re-arm and deploy to their grisly mission?" The Chosen sneered from a few dozen feet to Mewtwo's right, still cloaked.

"I'll find you and kill you first!" Mewtwo thundered, racing off toward the source of the voice.

What followed next was a fruitless search for several painful minutes as Mewtwo tried to track the Chosen down. He had teleported again and covered his tracks, and now he had gone silent and wasn't making any more telepathic taunts that could give away his location. For all Mewtwo knew he could have left entirely, forcing him to be alone with the terrible choice he had to make. Mewtwo didn't stop searching until he spotted the distant shape of Kalana sprinting out of the tower's doors and across the sand toward him and the thralls. Cold terror raced through his veins and he zoomed down to place himself between her and the hostile throng.

"Kalana, stop! Don't come any closer! These thralls are still under Sulaaq control!"

"Sheer, I didn't know!" She gasped, then ducked down behind a dune for cover, expecting them to open fire.

The thralls did spot them but they fortunately hadn't had the chance to retrieve their rifles. Instead they began to sprint toward Mewtwo and Kalana's position, drawing Scimitars and spears and preparing to leap into melee. Mewtwo simply raised a telekinetic shield around himself and Kalana which harmlessly deflected their blades with absolutely zero effort. Kalana winced as she saw them slamming their weapons repeatedly against the barrier.

"What's going on!?" Kalana asked, staring at the angry horde.

"Their helmets are mind control devices! The Sulaaq have upgraded their methods! A Chosen was in their convoy and it told me the helmets cannot be removed without killing their wearers!" Mewtwo explained.

"That's...that's nightmarish! What do we even do?!" Kalana asked, climbing back to her feet.

"I don't know! It gave me an ultimatum, saying that if we don't kill them then it will just round them up again and use them to attack Ven'vha! I... I don't know what to do!"

Panic and desperation were pouring off of Mewtwo's voice, so Kalana reached up and grabbed his arm to steady him. Ignoring the ongoing sword blows she spoke to him with a calming, steady voice.

"Did you even try yet, or are you just going to take its word at face value?"

Mewtwo gave her an incredulous look, then turned and picked one out of the crowd. He lowered the barrier in front of this thrall just long enough for her to tumble forward, then raised it again to keep others from following. He then yanked her sword out of her grasp and used his power to paralyze her so she couldn't struggle. Then, with shaky hands and ragged breath, Mewtwo knelt down next to the woman and grabbed the helmet with one hand to try and remove it. Her head moved with it, so he scanned over it and located the control bolt on the back, which was fused to her skull just above where it connected with her spine. The flesh was angry red and enflamed around where the quarter-inch metal column penetrated into her head.

"There's the bolt. I don't think I can pull it out safely. The Chosen said there's an explosive charge in the helmet that is designed to go off if the control signal is cut, so stand back. I'm going to try to remove the rest of the helmet and the charge while leaving the bolt intact. Hopefully this will allow me to remove it without setting off the explosive or shocking her brain." Mewtwo said quietly.

Kalana nodded and backed off as instructed. Mewtwo concentrated as sharply as he could now, wiping the tears out of his eyes so he could see clearly. He created a tiny little inch-long blade of psychic energy on his finger shaped like a claw and began to use it as a surgical scalpel, cutting the helmet around the bolt to try to separate it and the charge from the bolt. He was hoping that the radio receiver was located somewhere else inside the helmet so that the charge wouldn't go off once the body of the device was separated from the bolt. He slowly and carefully carved a steaming hot incision through the metal around the bolt and was almost done when a loud snapping explosion sounded inside the helmet! The explosion was directed inward so it didn't harm Mewtwo, but he saw blood beginning to pour out of the helmet as the life left the thrall's body. Mewtwo choked back a sob and let go of the helmet as he stood up. His count was now X+4.

"No good." He croaked.

"Come on, let's try again! There must be something we can do! Maybe you can find and remove the charge itself first before it can go off?" Kalana suggested.

"I... I don't know if I have the stomach for it." Mewtwo replied softly.

"Do you have the stomach to just kill the rest of them then? I do, I've been doing it my whole life Mewtwo! Every time we've raided the towers for food! It's horrible but we have no choice!"

"Fine! Alright!" Mewtwo shouted, then paused quietly before opening the barrier and bringing another one in. He laid her down next to her dead sister and knelt down to work.

This time Mewtwo tried to find the charge first, but the black steel shell was uniformly smooth with no hints or traces of where the charge could be. He used his little psychic scalpel to start cutting around the contours of the helmet in an attempt to open up a panel and get into the interior mechanisms. He wanted to find the charge and sever its detonator, but since he was operating blindly he didn't know where his blade was cutting. After a few seconds he must have stumbled into cutting the wrong connection, as another muffled flash and SNAP marked this thrall's death too. X+5.

"Fuck!" Mewtwo shouted, standing up and burying his face in his hands.

Kalana realized that this was a futile endeavor. She saw more tears rolling down Mewtwo's face and the telltale shivering shakes in his arms and body that signified horrific mental trauma and knew it had to stop.

"Mewtwo, it's alright. You don't have to do any more. Remember we figured out that the Sulaaq are trying to inflict emotional torment on us, we are just playing into their hands. You shouldn't have to do this anymore."

"Then what else do we do?! If I just let you do it then I'm not absolved either, the blood may as well by on my hands by inaction!" He yelled, his voice breaking as tears ran down his face.

"Mewtwo listen to me! We're doing what we have to do. This is no more our fault than the deaths of all the others my people have had to cause to survive! The blood belongs on the hands of the Sulaaq!" Kalana replied firmly.

"No! I can't do this! Kalana you don't understand, I came here to this world to stop the killing! I banished myself for it, not caring whether I lived or died! Now all these useless psychic powers can't do anything to stop it!" He yelled, his voice ragged from the constant exertion.

"Then what do we do?! We're out of options! The more we argue about this the more that Chosen will be getting his sick jollies wherever he's hiding and watching us from! We're letting him win!"

Those words at least penetrated through the anger and trauma enough to give Mewtwo pause. There was still a part of him filled with pride and ego that hated the idea of defeat and Kalana was absolutely correct. Giving in to the emotional torment was letting the Chosen win. He could only win by steeling himself and pushing through the trauma until he could reach their headquarters and plant the Vatorsa spear in every last one of them. He raised his head, closed his eyes, held his breath, and then pointed one hand out at the thralls. A massive Thunder Wave arced out of the outside of his shield, washing over every last one of those thralls and causing them all to fall limply to the sand paralyzed. Then he dropped the shield and began to quietly walk away toward the helmasaurs he had tossed aside earlier.

"I am going to search through their helmasaurs for an intact one that we can take for our journey as a replacement. You may go ahead and do your grisly work, but I will not bear witness to it. They are paralyzed now, they will not fight you."

Kalana didn't verbally acknowledge him, but he could hear her get up and walk over to one of the paralyzed Ravéan people. There was a rustling sound, then a soft, visceral sound of metal cutting flesh. Mewtwo winced. X+6.

X+7

X+8

X+9...

CONTENT WARNING: This chunk contains multiple scenes of graphic violence and death! Murder of helpless, mind-controlled minions is all over this chunk, as well as graphic descriptions of violent deaths via stabbing and slashing. Reader discretion is advised!