Crossing of the Paths (New Rewritten 2nd Edition)

by MMMAJ

Mewtwo can no longer stand living with humans, so he creates a dimensional portal and goes searching for a new realm to call home. What he stumbles into proves to be far more arduous and fateful than he ever expected. Rated M for violence/gore. Part 1 of 3 of my crossover series "The Travelers Trilogy". This is a new and fully rewritten version, read it instead of the old original!

18. Book 2: Darkness & Light - Chunk 3

The Crossing of the Paths
Second Edition
By MMM/AJ
Part II: Darkness & Light

A/N: Hello again dear readers! I apologize for the fact that this chunk took a whopping 6 months to post, as I had some IRL difficulties once again spring up that caused significant slowdowns. I also spent a ton of time and effort on other projects that I post under other names. Still, I did notice at least one user asking if I was still alive. Fear not dear reader, this is just how slow I can often be. After all, this is now fresh work right off the presses, not pre-written stuff that just needs a quick format.

I do expect that there may be another few months of delay before the next chunk too unfortunately. I have many irons in the fire right now, including side content for this very trilogy that I plan to post once COTP is 100% finished. Fortunately this chunk is super beefy, clocking in at 32K+ words according to my word processor. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4 - On the Importance of Small Gestures of Kindness

It took Mewtwo more than an hour of practice before he finally felt comfortable enough to walk in public with his new plantigrade legs. He wobbled around the interior of the Clock Tower in the center of town until he finally felt fully accustomed to balancing himself without a tail. He then took the extra time to sneak out of town briefly and approach one of the guards to properly, legally register his magical items before re-entering. It was a massive pain in the ass of course; the guard seemed quite distrustful of what appeared to be a Gerudo woman entering the town even without any gear that would visibly identify her as a member of Aveil's crew. He dealt with a battery of suspicious questions and then spent the better part of another hour filling out forms to register all his items. He had to do it all by candlelight too, as night had finished falling now and darkness had draped itself over the town fully.

By the time all that annoying prep work was done exhaustion had really begun to set in. Mewtwo sorely needed sleep but now he realized that he had no place to go. The town was quiet save for the guards standing at their posts and a few night owls wandering the streets. Feeling increasingly desperate, Mewtwo spotted a pair of women practicing a dance routine in the western quarter of Clock Town and approached them, hoping to ask them for help. They were wearing matching white one-piece dresses and silver jewelry, and had short red hair bound in buns on the tops of their heads. They were slightly irritated when he interrupted them, but fortunately they pointed him to a place where he could stay: an Inn they called the Stock Pot Inn.

There was just one problem. When Mewtwo finally arrived at the Inn in question the front door was locked and the sign next to it indicated that they had closed for the night at 8:30PM. According to what the dancers had said, this was the only Inn in the entire town and there were no other places where he could legally lay down and sleep. If he tried to just pick a corner and curl up on the ground to rest, the guards would harass and wake him up again and again. In his sleepless state Mewtwo could think of nothing else to do other than to wander around and explore the town, hoping to find someone who would take pity on him. He knew he could take off the mask and fly out into the wilderness to find a secluded spot to sleep, but after so many months of living with the Gerudos he had lost his taste for wilderness camping. Having a roof over his head to protect him from the elements was too much of a comforting luxury anymore and he no longer wished to deal with the unpleasantness of sleeping on the cold, hard ground.

Luck finally seemed to favor Mewtwo as he explored Clock Town's Eastern Quarter. He found a narrow passage in the town wall on the Northern end of the quarter that descended down into a sewer tunnel. That at least satisfied his desire to have a roof over his head, but the stony brick floors were still too hard and unpleasant to bunker down on. He decided to venture deeper, eventually crossing a smelly, contaminated waterway and climbing a ladder. He found himself emerging into a small, cozy circular storage room filled with crates. There was a tiny little sleeping bag arranged by the crates, as well as scattered personal effects and some dried rations. Strangely enough there was also a roughly human-sized straw scarecrow leaning against the wall. He also saw a wooden staircase to his right that was built into the wall and led up to the floor above. He could hear the faint sound of someone or something moving around up there. Without considering the fact that he might be trespassing on someone's private property he began to quietly climb the stairs.

The room above turned out to be a beautiful, if run-down old observatory complete with a massive telescope in the center. Its dome-shaped ceiling was made of what appeared to be some sort of dark black stone like obsidian or black marble and was divided into a grid of square segments by silvery metal framework. The floor was covered in colorful painted ceramic tiles, though these were grimy, dusty, and often cracked and chipped. The room was mostly dark, save for a couple of torches set in sconces by the single sheet metal door in the far wall. Everything in the room was covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs, and the telescope looked equally rusted and neglected. A sense of sadness came over Mewtwo as he took a few quiet steps into the room; the neglect of such a beautiful place was depressing. He didn't even notice that he wasn't alone in there until a young woman's voice shouted out from behind him.

"Freeze! Don't you dare move!"

Remembering how poorly his powers worked in this Gerudo form, Mewtwo did as instructed. He didn't know whether a weapon was trained on him at that very moment and didn't want to try to take off his mask and risk getting skewered or shot before he could finish changing back. He halted in his tracks and closed his eyes for a moment as adrenaline pumped through his body.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" The voice shouted.

Mewtwo was again caught off guard without a previously chosen name to use in this form. He didn't like the idea of reusing the names of his friends, but he had little choice here. He needed to answer quickly to defuse the suspicion of his captor so he used the first name to come to mind.

"My name is Kalana. I'm not here to cause mischief, I'm just looking for a safe place to go to sleep."

"Uh-huh, a likely story for a Gerudo pirate." The voice sneered back.

Mewtwo felt his blood begin to simmer in his veins. Gods above, was everyone in this wretched little town a bigoted asshole? His nerves were already frayed from sleeplessness and stress and this made his temper far shorter than normal.

"Listen, if I was a pirate here to loot this place I'd have huge bags to carry it all off in. Do you see any such bags on my person? Moreover, I'm not wearing the typical outfit or gear of a member of Aveil's crew. I'm not with them." He said insistently.

There was a brief pause and then Mewtwo heard footsteps circling around from behind him. The source of the sound came around to face him head on, and he could see that she was a human woman of average height with short purple hair and a modest peasant's outfit in white and brown. She looked to be a young adult around the age of 18-20 and seemed disheveled and a little dirty, as if she hadn't been taking care of herself or eating properly. She was pointing a small dagger at Mewtwo and scowling mistrustfully. Her eyes trailed over his entire body as she examined his Rakeshan-style outfit and eventually she began to slowly lower her weapon.

"Why come here for shelter? Why aren't you staying in the Stock Pot Inn like everyone else who comes for the Carnival?" She asked.

"I arrived too late, the Inn was already closed for the night. I can't exactly camp out in the field either, there's too many monsters out there." He replied.

The purple haired woman knitted her brow as she listened. She eventually heaved a heavy sigh and sheathed her weapon with a frown.

"Damn my conscience. Alright, let's say I believe your story and let you stay the night, will you at least willingly give me your weapons so I can know you won't try to stab me when my guard is down?"

"Certainly, that makes sense. For what it's worth, I understand your suspicions. Aveil's crew give my people a very bad name. They're why I'm here actually. Tomorrow I plan to go to their fortress and infiltrate it so I can take Aveil down." Mewtwo replied.

"All by yourself!? I don't know much about you yet Kalana but even if you were a masterful warrior this idea strikes me as more than a little bit suicidal. You do realize there are dozens of them, right? And that they have literal cannons mounted on their ships?"

"Yes, that's why I'm not going in with a battle cry. I'm going to pretend to join them, lay low for awhile, and wait until I can get Aveil alone so I can knock her out and capture her. After that I'll use magic to carry her out and bring her to Clock Town to turn in to the authorities."

"That's... an ambitious plan, to say the least. Where are you from, Kalana?"

"A village named Ven'rakesh. You wouldn't know it, it's from another land all the way across the sea to the west."

"Hmmm yeah that doesn't really ring a bell. But alright, I'll take you at your word. Just hand over your weapons."

Mewtwo nodded and slowly drew the Vatorsa Spear and Hadara's dagger before handing them to her.

"I don't believe you told me your name though." He said as he handed them over.

"Ah, sorry. I'm Aliza Shikashi. I own this old observatory, or at least what's left of it." She replied.

Aliza took the weapons and looked over them curiously. She seemed genuinely perplexed by them for a moment, then her expression resolved into one of acceptance. "I guess it kinda makes sense that you're not a member of Aveil's crew, these look absolutely nothing like the weapons they use. I take it these are all Ven'rakesh designs?"

"Correct. The spear was forged by the tribe's Arbiters and the dagger belonged to the chief. They're precious heirlooms and hold extreme sentimental value to me, so please handle them respectfully." Mewtwo replied.

Aliza seemed to understand the importance of the items; she gently stowed them on her person with new reverence in her motions. She then turned to look around the observatory with an embarrassed frown.

"Alright, will do. Feel free to curl up anywhere you like. I'm sorry about the sad state of the place, life's been more than a little hard on me in the years since my father passed. He didn't exactly teach me how to maintain his machines before we lost him and well, I've admittedly not had much time to do more than keep the first floor livable. There's not been a lot of new jobs in town ever since the whole Moonfall incident; people don't want to come and start new businesses in a place that was nearly ground zero for the end of the world."

"Moonfall incident?" Mewtwo asked.

"Huh? How can you not know about that? That's literally the most important event to have happened to the world in centuries! Is your Ven'rakesh really that far away?" Aliza asked in genuine shock.

"That seems to be the case, yes." He replied with a shrug.

Aliza gave him an exasperated look and then turned to examine the room again. "I don't have the mental energy to describe that crap to you right now. It's late and I want to sleep. Look, I know it's really dirty and run-down up here but if you're going to stay in my home, I'd rather you sleep up here while I sleep in the bottom floor so we can both have some privacy, alright?"

"That seems perfectly reasonable. Do you mind if I use a broom or something similar to clean out a spot to sleep on?"

"Sure, hold on let me go fetch you one."

Aliza turned and walked back down the stairs, leaving Mewtwo alone for a few brief moments. He heard her rustling around in the stacked belongings she stored down there, so he idly walked up to the telescope and peeked into the lens. Unfortunately the lens must have been blocked by something, as there was nothing to see there but solid blackness. Apparently he lingered longer than he thought, as he heard Aliza call out to him before he finished.

"Please don't touch that. My father's stuff does mean a lot to me, even if it doesn't seem like it by the way I've failed to maintain it."

"Apologies, it was mere curiosity. I've never seen something like this before." Mewtwo replied.

He stepped down from the raised dais that the telescope was hanging above and reached out to take the broom Aliza had brought him. He began to sweep the dust and grime off the tiles in his chosen corner of the room.

"It really is something isn't it? My dad designed and built it when he was much younger. It was finished before I was even born. I wish he'd taught me how it works or how to maintain it, but he was always the sort who never really planned too far ahead. He was always too immersed in his astronomy work to do much else. I know he had design documents for it somewhere in his things but he never told me where. None of us expected it when we lost him, or else we would have asked." Aliza said.

"I'm sorry for your loss. It seems to me like you've been needing someone to talk to about this stuff if you're telling a stranger like me about it already." Mewtwo observed as he swept.

"Ugh. Yeah I guess you're right. Sorry, you've probably got bigger stuff on your mind if you're about to head off on a suicide mission, I should leave you be." Aliza replied and turned to leave.

"No no, it's alright. I didn't mean any offense by it. To be truthful it's nice to have someone to talk to. While I should technically be getting to sleep, I'm glad to have someone treating me like a person. Ever since I arrived in town everyone has treated me with nothing but fear and mistrust."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about contributing to that too. I should know better than that, dad didn't raise me to act this way. I-"

"It's alright, I forgive you. You're already letting me have a place to stay, don't worry about it. Here, do you want to just sit down and talk?" Mewtwo asked as he set the broom aside.

He had fully cleaned out the corner and now there was room for them both to sit down side by side. Aliza nodded and joined him, and for a few brief moments they sat together in peaceful silence. Mewtwo felt happy to not be the center of emotional turmoil again; he always felt at his best when helping others. So when Aliza began to speak again, he quietly listened and gave her the space to tell him as much as she was comfortable with.

"I still feel kinda weird talking about all this with someone I just met. But there's something warm and gentle about you despite the fact that you strolled in here uninvited with a huge goddamn spear strapped to your back." she said with a laugh.

"I take pride in trying to help others, Aliza. It's one of the few ways I have to silence my own demons." He replied.

"That's a really poetic way to put it. You sure you're not some sort of counselor in disguise?"

"If only. I may try to help others but I'm not always good at it. Oftentimes the best I can do is just listen. I have spent far too much time in my past relying purely on fighting and I haven't exactly built much skill in this outside of simply letting people speak."

"Well, I appreciate your willingness to listen. It's gotta be weird wandering through a goddamn sewer only to find an abandoned observatory and a messed up purple haired chick desperate for a therapist inside it."

"I've seen much weirder, believe me." Mewtwo chuckled. "But I am curious, you seem quite fixated on your father, what was he like?"

"His name was Agus. Agus Shikashi. He was a brilliant man. A genius really. He designed and built so many fantastical inventions, not just this observatory. You know the clock tower in the center of town, right? He helped design that too. He even built the mechanical portions that run the clock." She said with a smile.

"That is truly impressive. I actually passed through it while looking for a place to stay. Using a water wheel to power it indefinitely is brilliant." Mewtwo replied warmly.

"I know, right? I always envied his intellect when I was a kid. Wanted to grow up to be just like him. I was always pestering him to teach me everything he knew about machinery, but he was always so busy. In truth his work as an artificer was just a means to an end for him. His true passion was astronomy and he used his mechanical skill to raise the funds for this observatory. His life's goal was to unlock the secrets of the stars above us in the heavens and it dominated his every waking moment outside of work."

"I see, and I suppose it probably felt difficult for you to compete with that passion for his attention didn't it?" Mewtwo surmised.

"Sometimes yeah. But honestly I never let it bother me too much. His work was so well renowned that it brought considerable respect and adoration to our entire family. For years we were never lacking for wealth and respect."

"Wealth and respect are no replacements for a proper parental figure though." Mewtwo pointed out.

"Oof. Yeah, I mean I guess that's true. You don't gotta put such a sharp point on it though!" Aliza retorted.

"Apologies, no offense was meant. I suppose that the wealth didn't last long though?"

"Yeah. After dad died we managed to get by for awhile on mom's income from the laundry business, but the economy took a huge dip after the moonfall incident as business fled the town. Before long she didn't have enough clients to support the place and we were living off of the family's savings. That lasted several years but it was finite after all and eventually ran dry last year. The only reason I haven't yet had to sell the observatory now is because mom moved to Goron Village at Snowhead to work as a tailor. She sends me a monthly stipend which is just enough to pay the local taxes and cover some measly gruel for me."

"I'm so sorry. Have you considered leaving town too if things are so bad here?" Mewtwo asked.

"Yeah but I can't bring myself to do it. Without someone here to pay the monthly taxes on the observatory the government will put a lien on it and eventually repossess it. Even if I trusted someone well enough to handle this stuff for me, I couldn't bear to leave father's stuff here to rot even worse than it already has. I think I'm just too attached to this place and the memories rooted here."

"I understand. Leaving Ven'rakesh was hard for me too. The longer you live in a place the deeper your roots grow into it."

"That and I hate snow and cold weather with a goddamn passion so you couldn't make me live in Snowhead for all the Rupees in the world." Aliza added with a dark little chuckle.

Mewtwo smirked. "I am used to hot weather myself, as I'm sure you can understand."

"Hah, you probably hate the snow even more than me then!" Aliza laughed.

They both shared a moment of pleasant mirth which felt genuinely therapeutic to Mewtwo. He hadn't been gone from Ven'rakúl for very long but he had already begun to feel isolated, and this was a wonderful antidote to it. He was already forgetting the exhaustion clinging to him.

"I'm glad I wandered randomly into your observatory, Aliza. For someone who just held me at daggerpoint, you seem alright."

"Yeah yeah, sorry. I'm not the most polite when I'm hungry."

Mewtwo was then struck by the fact that she was probably slowly starving herself and reached back to dig around in his backpack. He produced some dried trail rations and reached out to offer them to her.

"Here, I have enough food to last a long time."

"Nah it's alright. If you're going after Aveil then you'll need anything you can get."

"What I'll need for that is more weapons. Some extra jerky won't kick Aveil's ass for me." Mewtwo retorted. "Besides, if you've been subsisting on dilute gruel then that means your diet has been dangerously lacking in protein. I insist, it's for your health. Besides, this is Leever jerky and it tastes absolutely awful so I'll be glad to get rid of it."

"Jeez thanks." Aliza replied with sarcasm, but then took it anyway.

She eyed the mottled green coloration suspiciously for a few moments and then bit down on it anyway. Mewtwo prepared himself for an angry barb or two in response to the sour taste, but she seemed to be surprisingly unperturbed by the flavor. In fact, after she swallowed a bite she shrugged.

"I dunno what you're on about, this is honestly pretty decent. Certainly kicks the shit out of the gruel I've been eating."

"I suppose when you're that hungry even the worst foods tastes good. Here, have some more. I can save the good stuff like the Molduga and Lizalfos jerky for myself." Mewtwo said, then dug out all the rest of his Leever jerky to give to her.

"You sure? This is an awful lot!" She said, looking surprised by his sudden generosity.

"Consider it payment for my stay tonight. It's the least I can do. I don't really have any money after all."

"Alright fair, and that's relatable." Aliza chuckled, then began to devour the jerky at a voracious pace.

Mewtwo sat back and watched her eat with morbid fascination. The realization struck him that he was probably saving her life by doing this, and then another thought came soon after. The mask salesman had urged him to rest around town for awhile and he did have two more days left. Since he now knew where to look next and didn't need to search blindly, perhaps he should do something to help this woman out before he left. He needed a little more information first though, so he waited for her to finish eating before launching into more questions.

"So are you the only one left living here in the observatory now? Does Mayor Dotour charge you a lot in taxes?"

"Yes and yeah, 50 Rupees a Month for property tax. It wouldn't be a problem if I could actually find work, but like I said, there ain't a lot of jobs left around town."

"Hmmm, did your father personally know Mayor Dotour?"

"Of course, they were best buddies. Dotour was the one who paid him so lavishly to build that clock tower alongside Mutoh and his carpenters."

"I'm surprised he's let you languish in poverty like this ever since your father died."

"Well ever since the moonfall incident he's had his hands full trying to keep the town together. Managing the town economy and reputation hasn't gotten any easier even so many years later. Plus he tends to dote on his son Kafei a lot ever since he nearly lost him those years back. The skull kid apparently de-aged Kafei during the incident and it nearly ruined his marriage, and the trauma of that event fucked up their family pretty badly. I think it's less malicious neglect on the part of Dotour and more just him having his hands full with all the shit in his life."

"Hmmm, I see." Mewtwo replied.

Internally Mewtwo decided that the first thing he'd do tomorrow morning was to go pay a visit to this mayor before he left for the Pirate's Fortress. Before meeting Aliza he already had the idea that he wanted to arrange to deliver Aveil personally to him and his guards, but now he wanted to speak to him about the observatory too. If he could talk Dotour into waiving or discounting Aliza's taxes then her monthly stipend could at least cover sufficient food for her to survive off of. He just needed more information about the late Professor Agus first so he could use it to tug at the Mayor's heart strings.

"Can you tell me more about your father? How did he pass?"

"Ugh, that's not exactly a pleasant topic, but I guess I can tell you if you're this determined to try and play therapist anyway. It was a heart attack. It happened the night when the moon nearly fell. He was here in this room when it happened. He was watching the moon through his telescope when it started to fall much faster than before. The shock of seeing it coming was too much for his aging heart and it struck him dead right there at the telescope."

"I'm so sorry. Do you think he was watching the moon during its fall so he could pass a warning on to the town?"

"Nah. We all knew that no amount of warning time would have saved anyone if the damn moon had actually hit the town. A heavenly body that huge striking the Earth would have destroyed the whole world. Nowhere would have been safe to hide. He was already at peace with the coming doom, he just wanted to see it coming head on. I just think he wasn't truly mentally prepared to actually look the reaper right in the eye at that last moment."

"I see. What caused the moon to fall anyway, and what stopped it?"

"Mayor Dotour wasn't exactly forthcoming about the real reasons, but the rumor was that that little asshole Skull Kid was responsible. Around that time he was running all over Termina stirring up trouble, including here. Damn kid tried to blackmail my dad into giving him a treasured piece of meteorite from the moon that he had been keeping in his collection. As for what stopped it, rumors also abounded that it was some strange blonde kid who came to town right around the same time when the Skull Kid was causing trouble. Dad even met that kid too, if only just briefly. But in truth I don't know for sure, I was only 8 years old at the time after all."

Mewtwo perked up at this information. There was the mention of the blonde child again. If this was truly the person the mask salesman wanted him to find then he needed to know more.

"Do you remember anything about this blonde adventurer? Anything at all?" He asked.

"No, I never met him personally, I just remember Dad mentioning him once or twice. Said he was a really polite, sweet little fella who had absolutely no sense of danger. Kinda reminds me of you, in personality at least." Aliza chuckled.

"Hah, oh I understand the danger I'm heading into. I'm just too prideful to care."

"A woman after my own heart then!" Aliza laughed, giving him a firm slap on the back.

"Hah, you remind me of one of my own friends too actually, a Gerudo woman named Ruisa. She used to smack me on the back like that all the time. I miss her a lot."

"Well, if you finish kicking Aveil's ass you can always get back on the boat that brought you here and sail back to Ven'rakesh, right?" Aliza asked.

"Yeah, I could. There's still other stuff I need to do first, but I will go back eventually." He replied warmly.

"See? I'm happy for you. You at least have a place to go back to and people waiting for you. All I have is, well, this." Aliza said, her tone shifting to sadness as she gestured to the dusty old observatory around them.

That was finally too much tragedy for Mewtwo to bear. His conscience couldn't let him just standby and leave, even though he had already given her food and planned to speak to the mayor on her behalf. He pondered something for a few moments, then an idea hit him.

"Hey, Aliza, if I told you I knew a little bit of magic that could help you, but I'm not quite Sanctioned to cast in town yet, would you, well…"

Aliza turned to give him a curious look, followed by a wry smile.

"I suppose I can look the other way. Why, what are you going to do?"

"Well, I've never tried this spell before so it might not work. But hey, worst that can happen is it fizzles out and nothing happens. Alright, here goes nothing."

Mewtwo took a deep breath and then reached one hand up in front of himself. In truth he'd done this before plenty of times but he didn't know how well it'd work while he was in this Gerudo body. After the way his Recover ability had barely crept along earlier there was a good chance that he'd only be able to produce a few flickers of light and he needed a cover story just in case. He was trying to create a psychic illusion, one specifically of the observatory lighting up and filling with beautiful stars and planets all over the dome above them. At first there were only a few flickers of starlight, but the longer and harder he focused the clearer they became. Aliza followed his hand and saw the starscape taking shape above them. She gasped softly and her eyes fixated on the twinkling pinpoints of light.

"This may be all you have here and now Aliza, but it's no less special to you. Don't feel guilty or ashamed of it, you deserve to be proud of your roots." Mewtwo said softly, trying not to break his concentration.

"Kalana! I..." she replied, trailing off as words failed her.

Then Mewtwo decided to try something else that was just as equally unlikely to work. He knew he didn't have a magical instrument that he could use to play it, but he wanted to give the Song of Healing a try in order to soothe the pain in her heart. He used the only method he had at his disposal; he began to softly hum it wordlessly with his own voice.

At first nothing seemed to happen, but as the illusory starscape continued to grow brighter and clearer across the dome above Mewtwo began to feel something starting to stir. Some sort of magical resonance was beginning to form in the air around him. It felt the same as when the mask salesman had played the song for him before. He realized this was a sign that it was working and smiled. He hummed louder and gently swayed his hand to the tune of the song as he worked, adding more and more stars as the song progressed. He didn't dare divert his eyes away from his work long enough to look back at Aliza though, he knew that it would break his focus on the illusion and cause it to fail. Instead he just kept working and singing, taking confidence in the growing magical energy he felt in the air around them.

Then something happened that truly told him that his song was working. He felt one of Aliza's hands slide down to grab his free hand and give it a tight squeeze. That gesture communicated everything he needed to know with just as much power as a meaningful gaze. He had to stifle back his emotions now as he worked. Once again he was reminded of just how much he had missed showing kindness to someone even if it hadn't been long since he'd left Ven'rakúl. Sumati really had been right when she said that helping others was the best way to banish his demons. He resolved to himself now that he would always stop to help those in need that he encountered on this journey, regardless of how much extra time it would take. Every good deed, no matter how small, was meaningful, both for others and for himself.

He kept singing for awhile longer until eventually he felt Aliza's grip on his hand begin to soften. Slowly he let the song and the illusion fade away to their natural conclusions. When he returned his gaze to Aliza he noticed that she had gently drifted off to sleep leaning on the wall next to him. Yet he wasn't insulted by this at all. Some might have taken it as a sign that their work had bored them to sleep. But Mewtwo remembered Aliza saying she was tired and wanted to go to bed, so he took this as a sign that his music and illusion had comforted her so deeply that they had allowed her to gently slide into a natural slumber regardless of the cold, hard tiles they were sitting on. It warmed his heart immensely. He then made a snap decision not to wake her, instead choosing to settle down and go to sleep alongside her. The exhaustion was still lurking in the back of his mind and he knew it wouldn't take long for him to join her in slumber.

---

The fact that Mewtwo had fallen asleep in such a pleasant mindset was unfortunately not enough to protect him from the hellish dreams that his subconscious mind had in store for him that night. It didn't take long before the soothing fog of dreamless sleep gave way to the ominous prelude of yet another disturbing vision of hell from the back of his mind. He found himself standing in what appeared to be a semi-futuristic city in the middle of the night. The sky was choked with thick, churning black storm clouds that were dumping torrential rains all over him. The swollen underbellies of those menacing clouds were briefly illuminated by periodic flashes of terrifyingly familiar red lightning.

The city itself was encircled by a 30 foot tall concrete wall on all sides and was barely illuminated by sparse, dim white street lights and the faint glow cast out of various windows on buildings. All of this contributed to a dark, foreboding atmosphere that permeated the entire area. Mewtwo wasn't alone here though, he was surrounded on three sides by a motley assortment of human soldiers wearing military armor and camouflage. They were wielding advanced looking rifles of some type and were ignoring Mewtwo while staring fixatedly at the city wall on the opposite side of the clearing. It looked like this clearing used to be some sort of small park or plaza since it was crisscrossed by paved sidewalks and filled with neatly trimmed grass and flower beds. But it had been converted into a military choke point now instead. It was surrounded by half a dozen entrenched machine gun nests that were fortified with heaping sandbag barriers. All of their guns were trained on the wall with expectant certainty and Mewtwo had a sinking gut feeling that he knew why. A feeling of crushing, inevitable dread was burgeoning on the other side of that wall. The dread was so overwhelmingly strong that Mewtwo was certain the humans here could sense it even without any psychic powers. Something terrible was coming.

It didn't keep them waiting very long either. Just as Mewtwo had finished taking in his surroundings he heard a deep, Earth-shaking BOOM roar out from the other side of the wall. Something about it sounded different though; rather than the sharp, staccato bang of an explosive weapon, this was a deep, bassy, reverberating boom that sounded like a large mass striking the wall. It caused the wall to visibly rattle and shake as spiderwebs of cracks laced through its concrete rapidly. The sound caused all of the humans to raise their rifles and take aim at the wall while flipping their safeties off.

There were a few seconds of tense silence, then the boom sounded again. The wall shook harder than before and the cracks spread so much that a few chunks of concrete were dislodged. The third boom send dozens more chunks flying, including some huge ones that tumbled haphazardly to the ground.

"HOLD!" One of the humans shouted.

One more gut-churning pause followed. Then the fourth boom finally caused the wall to give way. It exploded violently into the clearing with a crashing cacophony. A hail of concrete pebbles and chunks rained down on the defenders, while billowing black dust puffed out in a choking cloud. Mewtwo and all the humans were almost instantly blinded by the cloud, but fortunately the dream didn't replicate the stinging sensation of dust getting into his eyes. This didn't stop the human commander from shouting at the top of his lungs though.

"OPEN FIRE!"

A deafening din of ear-piercing gunfire roared out as every single machine gun and rifle opened up all at once. A withering hail of lead tore through the air and pounded the gap that had been blown through the wall. The sheer quantity of fire lashing through the air caused the dust cloud to rip apart and twist into tattered, dancing shreds. Glowing orange tracer rounds darted through the maelstrom, briefly illuminating the cloud with blurry flashes. There were brief lulls in the intensity of the barrage as some of the soldiers stopped to reload, but there were simply so many shooters that it never truly came to a complete stop. Then Mewtwo saw something in the gap that made the sinking dread in his belly rise up through his chest. A diffuse, blood red glow was appearing in the haze and growing steadily brighter. Fearing for his own safety, Mewtwo tried to raise his telekinetic barrier, but his powers failed to respond. He kept trying for several seconds, but stopped when he saw the dust cloud rapidly parting. The enemy was here.

Mewtwo had never actually seen one of Darkest's Immortal soldiers in person before, but his dream did a scarily good job of painting a picture out of what he knew. Four of them appeared out of the dust walking side by side with one hand raised each. They all had their own telekinetic barriers of translucent red energy raised in front of them, blocking every single bullet that the humans were firing. Orange sparks danced constantly over those barriers as hundreds of rounds of varying calibers exploded against them. Mewtwo could still see through all this clearly though; he saw that the Immortals were black-furred clones of him just like Darkest and Shadetalon were. They wore similar black steel armor like Darkest's, though this type wasn't as thick or protective. Their gauntlets each had four long serrated knife-like claws extending from the backs of their hands, and their helmets had those characteristic large steel control bolts sticking out of the backs. Glowing red eyes shone menacingly through their black glass visors and their armored tails swished steadily as they marched through the gap into the clearing. They spread out as they cleared the breach, broadening their shields into a much wider single collective barrier. This made room for the inevitable arrival of the terrible and familiar figure that Mewtwo had been dreading. He arrived out of the darkness beyond the wall and floated through via telekinesis behind his troops. For some reason his entire form was wreathed in deep shadow such that Mewtwo could only see his silhouette. There were no visible distinguishing features to him other than his glowing fiery eyes, otherwise he looked like a solid dark shape cut out of pure blackness. But despite this obscuring darkness, Mewtwo could still recognize those demonic horns and bat-like wings with ease. Here was Darkest himself, staring down ruthlessly at the gathering of hapless defenders.

The first thing Darkest did was raise one hand and conjure up his telekinesis from behind that barrier. His armored hand began to glow bright red, but only in outline. The actual dark silhouette that composed his physical form remained pitch black even despite the red light emanating from him. Then all of the guns that the humans were firing were suddenly ripped out of their hands and sent rocketing up into the sky, never to return. Many of the humans then drew side arms and combat knives, but these too were torn from their grasp and banished to the heavens. All at once the roar of gunfire ceased, leaving only the rumble of thunder and the pattering of rain all around them.

Darkest floated there in silence for a few moments to inspect his handiwork, and a brief stand-off ensued. Then he turned his raised hand and pointed one finger accusingly at Mewtwo. Even without any words spoken the message was clear. Darkest had come to claim what was his. All of the humans followed Darkest's gesture with their eyes and Mewtwo could feel a hundred fearful gazes aimed directly at him. He didn't need his psychic powers to sense what they were thinking, it was obvious that they were considering handing him over to Darkest in order to save themselves.

By now Mewtwo was so absorbed in the dream that he forgot he was dreaming. Icy horror boiled in his gut as he realized what was about to happen. Darkest was going to split him in order to create himself. Mewtwo tried to use his powers one more time in order to teleport to safety, but still nothing happened. Then, to make his trap totally complete, Darkest spoke to him.

"Give yourself up, Chosen One. If you refuse, I will kill every single human in this city, down to the last innocent child. Their blood will be on your cowardly hands."

Those words echoed loudly around the plaza so that everyone present could hear. All of the humans continued to stare at Mewtwo, but now their expressions took on a fearful and angry quality. It seemed like they already fully expected him to betray them to their horrible deaths. They wanted him to do the heroic thing and sacrifice himself to save them, but they didn't know the hellish consequences that would come immediately afterward.

Mewtwo couldn't do it of course. He knew that even if there were millions of people in this city that Darkest actually spared, countless billions more would perish on other worlds at Darkest's hands. Mewtwo HAD to do everything in his power to prevent Darkest's genesis, no matter the cost. He'd just have to learn to live with all this blood on his hands. Then, as if Darkest was reading Mewtwo's mind and already knew what he was about to choose, he let loose a low, gradual sadistic laugh.

"Good. My troops are hungry and they crave the taste of still-living flesh."

Horror flooded the faces of the human soldiers as they realized the fate that had been chosen for them. The four immortals lowered their barrier and hunched down on their powerful legs as if preparing to pounce. Slots opened up on the bottom of the faceplates of their helmets, exposing their slavering jaws filled with jagged sharpened fangs.

"N-no!" One of the humans stammered at the sight.

That was finally too much for Mewtwo; he quickly turned around and started to run. He couldn't bear to see what was coming next. In a reckless panic he sprinted down one of the streets connected to the plaza. He had no idea where he was going or what he could do next, all he knew was that he couldn't stay in that clearing one second longer. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, but he simply couldn't outrun the terrible sounds that echoed out of the plaza behind him. He heard shuffling, slams, struggling, and then the visceral ripping of flesh and gurgling human shrieks of agony.

"No! No! No!" Mewtwo gasped as he ran.

For a few agonizingly long moments Mewtwo barreled through the labyrinth of drab, samey dark streets and buildings with no sign of pursuit. Even though he couldn't see it happening he still instinctively knew that swarms of additional ravenous Immortals were now pouring through the breach in the wall to hunt through the streets for fresh meat. He could hear more shouting and screaming behind him, then a creepy, distorted, singsong voice seemed to come out of the city from all around him. It sang out a haunting verse as Mewtwo scrambled to escape.

"Doom awaits inside of your subconscious
Doom is all that you foresee
Time will tell if you hold out
Or if you set it free"

The singing voice repeated that stanza a second time before it was interrupted by a different but vaguely familiar voice creeping in. This new one was feminine and too quiet to understand at first, but it rapidly grew louder and clearer. It seemed to be coming from all directions around him too.

"Kalana?! Hey Kalana!"

Then, in a brief and blurry instant, it was over. The dream shattered and Mewtwo jerked awake on the tiled floor of the Shikashi Observatory. Confused and still mired in the fog of sleep, Mewtwo wondered why he was being called out to with his old friend's name. Then he remembered that he was still wearing her likeness via the transformative magic of the Gerudo Mask and it all made sense again. He recognized the worry-covered face of Aliza Shikashi staring down at him and he slowly dragged himself up to a sitting position.

"Kalana! Are you alright? You were shouting 'No' repeatedly and squirming around like you were in agony." Aliza said.

"Yes I'm fine, apologies. It was just a bad dream, thank Arceus."

"Arceus?" Aliza asked confusedly.

"Ah, he's a minor deity that some of my people worship back home. I'm not a follower myself, it's just force of habit."

"Oh, I understand. That dream must have been a really bad one huh?"

Mewtwo nodded grimly and began to dig through his things to find his water canteen while he replied.

"That's putting it mildly. Don't worry yourself though, I've gotten used to them. Just give me a moment." He lied.

Aliza nodded and gave him a sympathetic look. Mewtwo found his canteen and took a deep swig. The water was lukewarm and therefore not particularly refreshing, but it did banish the dryness in his mouth and ground him fully in reality.

"For what it's worth, I know what you're going through. I have nightmares almost every damn night. Mine are always about that gods-forsaken moon though. If you really did never see it from your home in the West then your dreams are probably about something different, yeah?"

"Correct. But I don't think you'd want to know any of the details. My dreams are about a bloody, violent war too terrible to describe in polite company."

A somber pause ensued between them as Aliza nodded in understanding. She didn't have anything to say to that, but her gaze expressed an even stronger sense of sympathy for him. Mewtwo's stomach already began to growl for breakfast so he dug out some more of his rations and began to eat in silence. He normally might have tried to strike up a polite conversation over his meal in order to show her some gratitude for her worry over his well being, but the dread from his dream was still too fresh in his mind. He was too busy trying to beat it down and cram it into the bottle that was his subconscious so he could process it later. Aliza was too worried about him to just sit there in silence though, so she tried starting a conversation herself.

"Sorry for being such a poor hostess. I'd offer you a full breakfast but... well you know." she said.

"You needn't apologize, you've helped me plenty already."

Her expression shifted to gratitude and then she dug out some of the jerky that he'd given her the night before. She sat down next to him to join him for breakfast and continued to talk between bites.

"So what's next for you? You leaving soon for your infiltration mission in Aveil's fortress?"

"Yes, but there is one small errand I need to complete first. I need to visit Mayor Dotour's office and apply for a license to use magic in town first. If I'm going to haul Aveil into town in magical bindings then the last thing I need is to be promptly arrested at the gates for the magic."

Aliza smirked and gave a cynical little chuckle. "No kidding. Well the Mayor's office doesn't open for visitors until 10AM and it's still only about 8, so you have plenty of time. What are you going to do in the mean time?"

Mewtwo finished chewing and swallowing the last bite of his breakfast and then began to gather his things. He hadn't eaten much, but he needed to stretch his supplies for an indeterminate length of time and that meant being conservative.

"I'll probably spend a little time figuring out the actual location of the Mayor's office, then I'll take a relaxing walk around town to take in the fresh morning air. An acquaintance recently advised me to spend some time relaxing and de-stressing before leaving for the fortress and I agree with him."

Mewtwo then stood up to leave and Aliza followed suit. She looked hesitant to see him go.

"May I have my weapons back now please?" He asked her politely.

"Oh! Yeah, sure. They're downstairs, come with me."

Aliza led him down the steps to her cramped little bedroom underneath the observatory and fetched his dagger and spear out of one of the storage crates. As she handed them back to him though, she hesitated as if trying to think of reasons to ask him to stay longer.

"Hey, I want to thank you for that thing that you did with your magic last night. Y'know, the light show in the observatory dome. That was really beautiful and also incredibly thoughtful. I haven't seen the dome light up like that in a really, really long time."

"It was nothing, friend. I could tell that you needed it." Mewtwo replied.

"Yeah, I think you're right. It was really nice having you around, despite that whole almost stabbing you thing in the beginning. Sorry about that, by the way."

Mewtwo smiled and shook his head gently as he replied. "Don't worry about it, you were just trying to protect the last mementos of your father. Anyone in your position would do that. I should be going now though."

"Alright, I won't keep you. But be safe out there on that mission, ok? Aveil's goons don't mess around; they really are as violent as everyone says."

"Oh believe me, I know."

Mewtwo laid one hand on his stomach where Madiri had stabbed him with her glaive as he spoke. He didn't elaborate though, she might start asking questions if she realized it was strange that he was trying to infiltrate them after having already been stabbed by them once before. Then, with nothing else left to do, he bid her farewell and began to climb down her ladder into the Clock Town sewers. She stood at the top of the ladder to watch him go, and once he reached the bottom she called out after him.

"Hey Kalana! After your mission is over, stop by the observatory again and say hi, alright?"

"Alright, I will. I promise."

Then he set off through the sewers and left Aliza behind. He smiled as he walked; the connection they had shared during their brief time together that morning had banished the lingering fear from his dream and salvaged his mood. Not even the musty stench and darkness of the sewers was enough to bring him down again.

Once Mewtwo exited the sewers and returned to Clock Town proper, he was greeted with an idyllic scene. Warm golden sunlight was just beginning to peek over the town walls and bathe its colorful painted buildings in a soft dawn glow. A cool morning breeze wafted through the streets, carrying the scent of petrichor up from the South. Early morning workers like the Postman and the Carpenters were already up and bustling about their business. Even though Mewtwo knew almost none of these people he still felt profoundly peaceful here. If life among the Gerudos before hadn't already made him reconsider his past life as a hermit, then this would have clinched it for him. As Mewtwo walked through town he reaffirmed to himself that if he ever returned to his own Earth he'd never allow himself to fall back into his old life of solitude. It may have been true that a huge portion of humanity was eager to enslave him, but he resolved to find a way to avoid being caught by Pokeballs and to find new friends like the ones he had here.

Mewtwo's rambling walk eventually took him to Clock Town's enclosed Laundry pool area. He quickly noticed that it was less of a pool though and more like a small segment of a stream flowing through the area via two metal grates. He idly surmised that this was probably the same stream that was powering the clock tower and it likely flowed all the way through the town via the sewer tunnels. The area around it was a small walled garden; it contained a single large tree, a nice scattering of colorful flowers, and a tranquil morning atmosphere. There even was a single wooden park bench set in the corner, which Mewtwo immediately sat down on. He slipped off his knapsack and leaned back to soak in the peaceful aura of the place. The stream burbled gently while birds chirped cheerfully and the cool morning breeze made the tree's branches rustle softly. If the town square had felt peaceful before then this was downright pastoral by comparison. Mewtwo nearly dozed off a few times as he rested there. The only things keeping him awake were the discomfort from the hard wooden bench and his own desire to stay awake. He could feel the stress vacating his body for the entire time that he sat there. Knowing the difficulty of the trials coming in his near future, Mewtwo relished in this tranquility as much as he could. The hours passed quickly as he counted his blessings, and before he knew it, it was time to go. The Mayor's office was opening to the public soon and he wanted to be the first one there in order to secure a meeting with Dotour before a queue could form. With fresh determination he dragged himself up off of the bench, shouldered his bag, and made his way across town.

The Mayor's receptionist was unlocking the door right as Mewtwo arrived. She was a middle aged woman with short green hair and a plain white cloth gown. She waved Mewtwo inside once the door was open and he smiled at his own precision and punctuality.

"Do you have an appointment?" The receptionist asked as she walked over and settled behind her desk. Thankfully she was not treating Mewtwo with any disrespect or mistrust over his current Gerudo body; she was instead putting on a cheery customer service demeanor.

Mewtwo shook his head softly as he followed her in and examined the room. It was a T-shaped chamber with the entrance at the bottom of the T, and with the desk located at the top. Two doors were located along the far wall to the left and right of the desk, and along the bottom leg of the T was a large couch for waiting people to sit in. Across from the couch was a small scale model of the town on a table. A clock was hung on the wall alongside a stylized painting of a purple haired, gallant looking man sweeping an auburn-haired woman up off her feet in a romantic manner.

"No, not exactly. I was hoping Mr. Dotour was taking walk-ins." Mewtwo replied in a slightly sheepish tone.

That caused the woman's cheery demeanor to melt into a subtle little frown. Mewtwo couldn't tell if it was purely frustration at his lack of planning or if there was anti-Gerudo prejudice leaking out. He decided not to speculate on such things since it felt like borrowing trouble. He already had enough trouble to worry about as is. She looked down at her large desk calendar to check the Mayor's daily docket before replying.

"Mr. Dotour has an appointment scheduled with Mutoh of the Clock Town Carpenter's Association at 10:30AM sharp, so if you seem him now you'll only have half an hour before you have to vacate."

"That's more than enough time for what I need." Mewtwo replied with naive confidence.

"Very well. Purpose of visit?"

"I'd like to apply for a license to use magic within city limits."

"Alright, did you fill out the necessary forms, specifically 3946M and 7971B?"

Mewtwo balked as he realized just how woefully unprepared he was. "I uhh..."

He was beginning to trail off here when the door to the office on the left cracked open and the mayor himself poked his head out to speak.

"Melinda, is Mutoh here already? It's quite early for that."

"No sir, it's a Gerudo woman here applying for a Sorcery Sanction."

"Really?! How unusual! Please send her in." Dotour replied, sounding excited for a break from the everyday monotony.

The receptionist side-eyed Mewtwo again, causing him to once again feel the urge to question her motives. This time though he suspected that she didn't like the fact that he was being allowed to skip the paperwork. It ultimately didn't matter; she waved him in and he successfully resisted the urge to give her a smug grin as he walked past.

The actual office proper was a slightly smaller room mostly dominated by a huge dark stained oak desk that Dotour was sitting behind. He was a shorter man, barely visible behind the comically huge desk that he used, and his chair was a bizarre affair with a grinning stone mask atop its back and two curled horn-like spires. There was a single window directly behind his desk to provide light, and to the left and right were four huge bookshelves crammed full of old dusty tomes. The mayor himself was a strange little man, he looked to be in his mid 50s despite his tiny stature and he had vivid purple hair with a few grey stragglers. His hair was kept tied into two curled horn-like shapes that matched the shape of the spires on his chair, and Mewtwo quickly realized that he was the man that the lobby painting was supposed to depict. Though the painting had shown the mayor far taller and younger, which made Mewtwo internally smirk. Humans could be so vain.

"Come in, come in! Please have a seat and introduce yourself." Dotour said with genuine charm.

Feeling significantly relieved by the Mayor's friendly demeanor, Mewtwo pulled up the one spare chair in the room and sat down.

"My name is Kalana Quindalo, and before you ask, no I'm not affiliated with Aveil and her crew."

"No worries my dear, I could tell right away by your outfit and attitude. My guards wouldn't have let you into town if they had had any reason to suspect. I fully trust their judgment."

"Alright, thank you. I came here to discuss two matters, the first of which your receptionist already mentioned. I'd like permission to cast spells in town."

"Of course, may I ask the purpose for which you'd be using this magic?" Dotour asked.

"Quite simple. I came here to Clock Town to prove to everyone that my people aren't all murderous thieves like Aveil's crew, and I intend to do it by taking down Aveil herself and hauling her back to town for arrest using my magic."

Dotour had taken a dainty sip of his coffee as Mewtwo replied, and the shock caused by that reply nearly made him spit it out.

"You what?! You mean to tell me that you intend to take on their entire gang by yourself?!"

"Yes, but I'm not going to just rush in and blast away with spells right away. I'm going to pretend to join them and then wait until an opportune moment arises. Then I'll capture Aveil, sneak out, and turn her over to you and your guards to put on trial."

"Your sorcery must be truly impressive if you're this confident about it!" Dotour marveled.

Mewtwo gave him a brash smile as he replied. "You could say that. I'd give you a demonstration but... well, you know."

"Hah! Well regardless of your chances of success, I have to think carefully about the ramifications of this decision. I may not share in the... un-generous opinions of the Gerudos that my constituents hold, but I have to take into account how they will react to this. Sanctioning your magic will not exactly be a popular move among the commonfolk. I have next year's election to consider after all."

Mewtwo frowned deeply in response to this. This shouldn't have come as a surprise to him, but then again encountering any sort of Democracy in this realm was unexpected in general since hereditary monarchies seemed to be the staple among governments on Hypalia. He scrambled briefly to think like a politician and thankfully an idea came to him before an awkward silence could settle in.

"Think of it this way, Mr. Dotour: This is an opportunity to shine up both of our reputations if we play our cards right. You sanction me secretly for now and I won't use any spells until I bring Aveil into town to turn in. Then we can tell everyone that you and I worked together in order to take her down. I get to show everyone that Gerudos aren't all villains and you get to soak up all the fame and accolades as the Mayor who broke up Aveil's crew and saved Termina."

"Huh, you know that's a pretty clever idea! It might just work."

"Thank you. But if anyone asks, you're the genius here who came up with the plan. As long as my people get their redemption then I don't mind just being the muscle who helped make it all possible."

"Hah, of course! I love this plan, let's do it. I trust you filed the requisite paperwork with Melinda?"

"Well, not yet. I only just arrived in Termina yesterday so I'm not exactly well versed in all the local bylaws and ordinances yet. Plus I need to leave for Aveil's fortress soon in order to start my mission."

"Ah, I see. Well it's no trouble, I'll have Melinda fill it out for you in absentia on expedited priority. I'll have it rubber stamped by tomorrow. Now what was the other matter that you wished to discuss with me?"

"It concerns a young woman I met last night in the local observatory. Do you remember Aliza Shikashi, daughter of the late astronomer?"

"Ah yes! She was a real strong-willed tyke. I haven't seen her in a while, is she alright?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I stayed with her in the observatory last night since I arrived too late to get a room in the Stock Pot Inn, and I noticed that she was beginning to look emaciated. She told me that her family has fallen on hard times in the years since her father died and now they can barely afford to pay the property taxes on the observatory. I think she's foregoing food now in order to hang onto the place. I was hoping I could talk you into waiving or at least reducing the tax on that place so that she can afford to eat."

"Hmm. Unfortunately it's not that simple. If I were to just make special exemptions for one person then it wouldn't be fair to everyone else who pays taxes in full. Pretty soon I'd be flooded with requests from countless others to reduce or waive their taxes too. If I refused them then people would vote me out of office, and if I agreed then nobody would be paying any taxes and the town's budget would collapse."

"Well, why not take a page from the philanthropy playbook then? You could start a nonprofit organization, like a charity, to fund science and education in Clock Town, and part of its proceeds could go toward paying the observatory's taxes. Excess could be used to clean it up and remodel it, and if Aliza agrees, you could bring the town's children to the observatory to learn about astronomy and the engineering that went into building the place." Mewtwo suggested.

"Not a bad idea in theory. But the townsfolk aren't exactly keen on astronomy in general after that whole ordeal with the moon a decade ago. Some folks still think that Agus's obsessive staring at the moon through that telescope is what provoked it into falling." Dotour explained in a dour tone.

"I see. That is unfortunate. I did hear that there's a festival coming soon though, is that correct?"

"That's right, it's the Carnival of Time. It happens once a year and it celebrates the yearly harvest and the new year. It's also the anniversary of the moonfall too." He explained, his tone souring as he reached the second part. "It starts the day after tomorrow."

"Here's an idea for you then: why not celebrate the capture of Aveil as part of the carnival and hold a speech? That will maximize the goodwill you earn from the fall of the pirates. Then, at the end of that speech while the crowd is still riding the wave of positive sentiment, you announce a new municipal initiative to revitalize the town economy. I've been told that business around here has been in a slump ever since the moon fell since people associate Clock Town with the Apocalypse. So why not tell the people that you intend to heal the economy by rehabilitating the town's reputation? Your plan could be to reframe Clock Town in the eyes of the world so that it wasn't the cause of the Apocalypse, but the last bastion that had prevented it. Part of that plan could then be a PR campaign to reframe Agus's observatory as the early warning system that forewarned you so that you could set events in motion to save the world."

"Huh! That is also an admirable idea, but this is betting a lot on your success against an entire fortress filled with pirates." Dotour pointed out.

"Not necessarily. You don't have to actually start working on the nonprofit yet. All you need to do first is prepare the speech. The carnival is still going to happen regardless of my success after all. If I fail in my task then all you have to do is simply not deliver the speech. Nobody will ever know that you gave me my casting license or that we planned any of this. You have essentially nothing to lose other than the time it'd take to prepare that speech, and a lot to potentially gain. If I do succeed then you can start working on setting up the nonprofit after Aveil's trial. Besides, you'd be doing one last favor for your old friend Agus. I'm sure he'd appreciate you making sure that his family is well taken care of now that he's gone." Mewtwo replied.

"Hmm, you know, you're right! There's really no reason not to try this. You make a very convincing argument Kalana. You'd make a fine politician yourself, you know!"

Mewtwo chuckled and raised both hands to give a playful dismissive wave. He knew that Dotour was trying to compliment him but the idea of getting into politics on any planet made his stomach turn.

"Us Rakeshan types need action, Mr. Dotour. I'd go stir-crazy if I was stuck behind a desk all day every day. I'll take battles with beasts and pirates over paperwork anyday. Besides, the fact that you've won all your elections even after a near-Apocalypse and a major economic recession means that you must be doing something right. We need people like you behind these desks."

At first Mewtwo immediately regretted laying it on so thick; he was certain that Dotour would see right through such blatant flattery. But the bashful smile that came over the mayor's face immediately banished that anxiety.

"Goodness! I appreciate your kind words Miss Quindalo. Heh you're only proving me right though; a tongue as honeyed as yours could move political mountains. Regardless, I will certainly respect your life decisions. I may be old but I can still remember the fiery passion of youth like yours. I myself wanted to be a sword-swinging hero too when I was a young lad after all. When you're older you may yet learn the value of a nice quiet career behind a cozy, peaceful desk. But I'm digressing. You will have your casting license by tomorrow and I will begin preparing my speech after office hours are done tonight. Is there anything I can do to help you in your quest though? I do genuinely want you to succeed and the odds against you are long indeed." Dotour said.

"Well I don't usually like to fight in heavy armor since it weighs me down, and I do already have all the weapons I'll need. How about some extra food and water rations, and a reserved room in the Stock Pot Inn so I can stay a night or two after my quest is done? I do eventually need to go back home to Ven'rakesh once I've accomplished my goal, but it'd be nice to have a warm bed to rest in for a spell before setting sail."

"Consider it done. My son helps run the Inn so I can simply ask him to hold a room for you. Do you have a boat that you can use to reach the fortress too?"

"Oh, uhh no. I actually hadn't thought of that." Mewtwo admitted sheepishly.

"Not a problem my friend. I'll send word ahead to my staff among the Zoras in Great Bay to prepare a small paddle-boat for you. It should be ready around 2-3PM."

"Thank you, your generosity is most appreciated. I won't let you down."

Chapter 5 - The Spirit of Sisterhood

Rowing that tiny little paddle-boat across the waters of Great Bay was certainly giving Mewtwo some new perspectives on his life. Being forced to spend hour after grueling hour manually slapping at the seas with those flimsy wooden paddles under the hot afternoon sun made him realize just how privileged his life really had been up until this point. Back on Earth his telekinesis had taken care of all of the hard and menial tasks like this. Even when he arrived in the Vile Desert and lost his powers to the drain devices the Gerudos had never forced him to do anything like this. Hell, even during the hardest parts of his journey with Kalana they had still been riding in the comparative comfort of an air conditioned Helmasaur. Now there was nothing between him and the brutal scorching sun for an extended period of time.

Still, Mewtwo found himself counting his blessings in order to pass the time. The sun and heat here weren't even close to how bad they had been back in the Vile Desert. The dark skin he now had in this new Gerudo form handled the sunlight quite easily without burning. Best of all though were the strength and endurance that his new arms had. They were still burning from the exertion of paddling for so long, but even by the third hour he still had the strength to keep going. The experience would have been mind-numbing due to boredom but he occupied his mind by planning out how he would pull this operation off. He already had a general idea of how he could accomplish both his objectives before starting but the hours gave him plenty of time to refine it. There were still plenty of unknown variables that he couldn't account for of course, but by the time he approached the huge swinging gates blocking the inlet he had a good framework for a plan that he could alter on the fly as things changed.

Mewtwo was immediately confronted with one of those unknown variables as soon as he paddled up to the gate. The gate was still standing shut and there was absolutely no visible way for him to open it or get around it. There was a small lookout tower built against the cliff to the left of it though, and as Mewtwo approached he could see one of the pirates standing in the tower. She had already noticed him and was staring down curiously at him with a confused expression. Eventually she produced a crossbow and pointed it down at him in a threatening manner.

"Halt! Who goes there?!" She yelled down at him.

This time Mewtwo had planned ahead how to answer this question. He didn't want to reuse Kalana's name here just in case there was already a version of Kalana here in this realm that was a member of the crew. Instead he had created a new fake name that none of the Gerudos he had known had used, which he easily shouted out to the guard without hesitation.

"I'm Melara Genora, I'm here to join your crew!"

The guard looked absolutely puzzled by this response. She paused to think about how to reply, then lowered her crossbow and set it down.

"Wait there! I gotta call over an officer to handle this!"

Then the guard raised and gave a piercingly loud blow on her alarm whistle. Before long several more showed up in the tower, crowding the first one to the point where it almost seemed like they might overflow and push each other out to fall to their deaths. It was almost comical in a way, if they weren't all armed and pointing their bows and crossbows down at him. Then Mewtwo saw an especially tall and muscular one push her way to the head of the crowd and he felt his stomach sink as he realized her face looked vaguely familiar again.

"You, dingy rat down there! What makes you think you have any business trying to join our crew?" She shouted in a threatening tone.

"Because I've heard you're the meanest and toughest lot this side of the sea and I want in on that!" Mewtwo shouted back.

"Hah, and why would a tough lot like us have any use for a stringy little piece of shit like you?"

"Because I've done my own fair share of plundering, it's how I got this!"

Mewtwo then held up the Vatorsa spear, causing all the reflective polished gold on it to catch the light and glimmer beautifully. He suspected that a trophy as gaudy and valuable as this would be more than enough to catch the eyes of greedy thieves like them. He was immediately proven right, as the familiar officer paused to think, then turned to order her crewmates to open the gate. They scrambled back down the ladder out of sight behind the wall and a few minutes later the gate began to slowly swing open. Swirling eddies of current followed the massively thick gate as it opened inward, and Mewtwo dutifully paddled inside. He rowed over to the docks, where by now a huge swarm of pirates, including Aveil herself, were waiting for him. The onlookers gawked curiously, but Aveil was scowling skeptically.

"Alright new meat, climb up here onto the docks so I can have a good look at you, and make it snappy! I don't like whelps wasting my time!" Aveil barked as he tied the boat to the dock.

Mewtwo hustled as best as he could but it seemed like he was already starting off on the wrong foot with Aveil. She seemed to have been in a bad mood already even before meeting him. His worries were compounded even further when he saw the tall, muscular officer standing next to her. Up close like this he could recognize her as this realm's version of Nereti, which made his gut churn with dread. The Nereti he had known was immensely wise, kindhearted, and fair, so if this version was morally inverted then there was no doubt she'd be exceptionally cruel and malicious.

"Hmmmm. Not scrawny, but you're no Nereti. What makes you wanna join my crew anyway, aside from being impressed by our reputation?" Aveil asked

"Same reason anyone else would want to, I want fame and glory and enough Rupees to swim in, and I don't care what it takes to get it!"

Nereti broke out laughing and then brought her hand down to slap him on the back with enough force to actually make him wince from the pain.

"You're gonna have to work like a fucking dog to get it, new meat. I hope you're ready to scrub out latrines for months or even years before you think you're worthy of even a single goddamn Rupee!" She laughed.

"Whatever. It. Takes." He replied confidently.

Aveil raised an eyebrow and then smirked, as if impressed. She then walked in a circle around him once to examine him from all sides before speaking.

"Ok, I'll let you join our crew. But you're gonna need to pay me a handsome application fee first."

"Well, I don't really have any spare Rupees on me." Mewtwo admitted.

"That's alright, I already know what I want. I want that spear you're carrying."

Mewtwo's gut churned with dread. The idea of giving up such a powerful and emotionally important artifact was agonizing. He almost refused her outright, but then he reminded himself that he was here to rob these people blind already, so why not just steal the spear back when he did. He hesitantly reached back to unstrap the Vatorsa Spear and handed it to Aveil. He also internally whispered a prayer to Nariva in his mind, begging her forgiveness for letting such a sacred artifact spend any amount of time at all in the hands of someone so vile. Aveil took the spear and hefted it with a smug, satisfied grin on her face.

"Not bad. Almost looks Gerudo by design. The gold alone makes it valuable enough to cover the fee. Where'd you get this?" She asked.

"I stole it from a Gerudo village named Ven'rakesh. It's my home village, I was born there. I took the spear when I decided to leave and come join your crew." He explained.

"Huh, never heard of it. It must be really wealthy though if its people can afford to gild their weapons with this much gold. Tell you what new meat, you give me a map to this village and help us to raid it, and I'll give you formal recognition as a fully fledged crewmate. Until then, you're just a lowly cadet on patrol and latrine duty. Understand?"

"Yes Ma'am!" He replied firmly.

"Good. Follow First Mate Nereti here, she'll show you to your bunk and get you on the guard rotation roster. And remember, you're the absolute bottom of the totem pole now, new meat. Do what you're told, all the other crew members are higher up than you. So if they tell you to polish their boots with your tongue you best get to lickin' if you don't want to get tossed to the sharks! Am I clear?!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Good. Get movin'!" Aveil barked.

The crowd of crew members laughed and watched as Mewtwo followed Nereti inside. He would have felt embarrassed and infuriated by this treatment if he wasn't planning to take Aveil down that very night. He would have his satisfaction, it would just have to wait until sunset when everyone was asleep. He kept his head held up high with confidence as he followed Nereti past the laughing and jeering crowd and through a door into the fortress's interior.

Nereti took him to a small side chamber and stopped to turn and give him a scornful look. Uncertain of what was about to happen next, Mewtwo stopped in front of her and furrowed his brow.

"Turn out your pockets." Nereti ordered firmly.

"What?"

"Do as I said! Turn em out! Everything you own!"

Mewtwo hesitated again, knowing that he had some Guardian weapons that absolutely should never fall into the hands of people like her. But he knew he didn't have a choice; Nereti was easily ten times stronger than him even in his new form and he wouldn't have time to get the mask off before she could start beating the shit out of him. So he reluctantly slid his knapsack off and began to empty it out for her.

Nereti immediately began taking all his things and just pocketing them for herself as he unloaded them. She started with his food rations and his water canteen, then went for his bombs.

"You were a loaded little brat weren't you?" she sneered as she blatantly robbed him blind.

"Yes Ma'am." He replied quietly, doing his best to hide his resentment. He constantly reminded himself that he could steal this all back as he unloaded his things and it kept him from snapping back at her.

"What the fuck is this thing?" Nereti asked as she picked up his guardian pistol and examined it.

"I don't know, some silver decoration our chief kept in her house. I snagged it while stealing the spear and figured I'd try to hock it sometime later. It doesn't seem to do anything." Mewtwo lied.

"Huh, must be worth at least a few Rupees." Nereti pondered, then pocketed it alongside all its ammo and the grenades.

Once Mewtwo had finished unloading his bag, Nereti eyed him with suspicion and disdain. He had a feeling she was expecting him to try and fight back against this shakedown and was upset that he hadn't given her the excuse to give him a proper beating. But then she reached down to grab his cloak and yank on it.

"This too. Empty it out." she growled.

Mewtwo's heart raced. He had Hadara's dagger and Indiru's drawing stored there. His logical mind kept reminding him that he could steal these back too, but the emotional weight of losing them even briefly was agonizing. He could feel his hands beginning to shake again as he undid the straps of his cloak and took it off to hand to her. The moment Nereti took it, she felt the weight of the dagger in the internal pocket and went right to it. She unsheathed it and grinned maliciously as she examined it.

"Damn, new meat. Between that spear and this dagger, I'd say you have a really good eye for high quality weapons. This'll make a fine addition to my own collection."

"I'd almost think Aveil would want it for herself actually." Mewtwo said bitterly.

"Oh she would, that's why I'm ordering you not to tell her about it. If you do then I'll skin you alive and feed your skin to the harbor bonefish, am I clear?"

"Yes Ma'am." Mewtwo replied.

Of course the irony of all this wasn't lost on Mewtwo. It was his realm's Nereti who had given him the dagger, and now this realm's Nereti was taking it away. He bit back a resentful sneer at the farcical nature of all this and held his breath as he watched Nereti rifle through the rest of the cloak's pockets. He practically felt his heart stop as Nereti found Indiru's drawing and unfolded it to look at it.

"The fuck is this crap?" She growled.

It took all of Mewtwo's self control not to make a biting remark in response. This was a special sort of torture and he could practically hear Flametongue cackling at him from the void outside of reality. He forced back his own bile and rage as he put on a casual tone and replied.

"Dunno, was in there when I stole the cloak. Probably the previous owner's kid drew it or something."

"Whatever." Nereti said, then crumpled up the drawing into a ball and tossed it into a trash can behind her.

Mewtwo's blood boiled in his veins. He kept control over all his voluntary responses, but he couldn't help it as tears of rage formed in his eyes. Thankfully he had a brief window of time where he could wipe his eyes while Nereti slipped on his cloak. He knew she would have mocked him viciously if she had seen it.

"Damn, nice and comfy too. You had all the best stuff. Too bad you got nothing now huh?" Nereti crooned smugly once she had the cloak on.

"I'll make do." He replied, his tone a bit shaky from all the anguish he was suppressing.

At that moment Mewtwo couldn't care less about the cloak. All he wanted to do was get out of this interaction and get Nereti to leave him alone so he could dig Indiru's drawing out of the trash can without her seeing. He didn't give a shit about her mockery and cruelty, any words coming out of her mouth were already disregarded automatically. But even though she had taken quite a haul from him she didn't seem satisfied. In fact, she looked distinctly irritated when he failed to respond to her mockery. She scowled and stepped up so close that they were practically touching.

"What the fuck is up with you anyway new meat? You get robbed blind and you don't even show a single goddamn emotion. You some kind of fuckin' golem?"

"Just obeying and respecting my superiors." He replied softly.

Apparently that was the wrong answer though. Nereti grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him up against the wall behind him. His head throbbed with pain from the impact against the solid stone and he winced visibly.

"Shut up!" She shouted into his face.

He complied and remained silent and motionless in her grip. She seemed to only get more angry at this. It was almost as if he was beating her at her own game and she was confused by it and only growing more angry over it.

"I don't like you, new meat. You think you're so clever, hiding your feelings and pretending to be the perfect little soldier. You don't fool me though, I can see right through it. I think it's time you learned a lesson about life in Aveil's crew. Cadets are the lowest of the low, and even those who behave perfectly are still scum. Until you get your crewmate rank, there's no right answers for you to give. No correct decisions. You're scum no matter what you do. Life isn't fair, and I certainly am not obliged to be fair either!"

Mewtwo nearly replied to her by saying he meant it when he said he'd do whatever it took. But then he remembered that she'd ordered him to shut up, so he remained silent. Still, she wasn't lying when she told him she planned to be unfair, so she raised her other hand and slapped him across the face over his silence.

"You speak when you're spoken to, scum!" She yelled.

"Yes Ma'am."

"I ordered you to shut up!" She shouted, then slapped him again.

Mewtwo's face seared with pain, and it was then that Nereti finally had enough of her games and just resorted to the beating. She kept him pinned and just wailed away at him with her free hand, striking him across the face several times and punching him in the stomach and sides. He coughed and gasped painfully as the wind was knocked out of him. Yet despite the agony of all those blows, his new body was clearly much more equipped to handle it than his original form had been. He also was too used to the mortal blows he'd taken in his various fights before this, so this wasn't nearly as bad by comparison and he was able to endure it in stoic silence. Even as his left eye swelled shut and a bloody tooth was knocked out of his mouth, he stood stock still and took it.

"Dignity through endurance." He whispered inside his mind on repeat again.

Eventually Nereti grew bored of beating on him and stopped. She dropped him on the floor where he crumpled to his knees and gripped his wounds in an attempt to comfort himself. She sneered down at him and wiped the blood off of her knuckles.

"You're getting overnight patrol duty, shit-licker. Report to the guard post in the central square at midnight. I don't care if you're too sore either. Miss your shift and I'll make this beating seem like a cakewalk by comparison. Understand?"

"Yes Ma'am. But where do I sleep?" He asked.

"Figure it out yourself, useless. You can sleep on the cold hard ground under the open sky as far as I'm concerned. Now shut the fuck up!" She shouted, then planted one more vicious kick on his shoulder before turning and leaving.

Mewtwo cradled himself in the fetal position and gently rocked to comfort himself until the sound of her footsteps faded into the distance and vanished. Once he was sure she was gone, he crawled over to the trash can, grabbed Indiru's drawing, and carefully flattened it. Thankfully it was undamaged, aside from the myriad of chaotic creases now permanently imbued into the parchment. His heart ached with sorrow just at the sight of those creases, but he told himself that he could at least reduce them by putting the drawing flat under something heavy at a later date to flatten them out. He carefully folded it along its original fold lines and slipped it into a pocket in his pants, then shakily climbed to his feet. He instinctually reached for his knapsack for a potion, but then remembered that Nereti had taken all of those too. Like he'd said, he really would have to just make do.

---

It was fortunate that Mewtwo had checked out the entirety of the pirate fortress's interior while cloaked the first time he'd come here. He knew the contents of every single room and hallway beforehand, so he knew exactly where he could go to look for the next big piece of information for his plan. He headed down the various hallways at a brisk pace, heading straight for the guard barracks where he could try to figure out which of the guards had those magic detector lenses, if any. He didn't know if it was something restricted to Clock Town's guards or not, but he didn't want to risk it until he had solid proof. He knew there was a good chance that the other pirates would treat him as poorly as Nereti had done, but he didn't have a choice. If he could just get this particular bit of intel then he could at least swap over from the Gerudo mask disguise to a psychic illusion with relative safety.

As soon as Mewtwo arrived he was immediately confronted with the biggest reason why this plan was a bad idea. He came hface to face with yet another alternate version of one of his Gerudo friends from back home. This time it was Ruisa, who looked roughly the same as before but was wearing a ragged, patchwork outfit covered in rips and filth. She looked skinnier than the version he'd known and was pacing furiously along the length of the mostly empty guard barracks. There were a few other unfamiliar Gerudo pirates sitting at a table on the far end of the room past the rows of bunk beds, and thankfully they seemed to be ignoring him for now. But Ruisa noticed Mewtwo as soon as he entered the door and came right up to him with a sour look on her face. She drew a dagger and immediately shoved it into his face without even giving him a greeting.

"Hey New Meat! Gimme all your fucking money!" She snarled.

Only slightly perturbed by the immediate violence, Mewtwo frowned and pointed at his black eye.

"You're too late Ruisa, Nereti got to it first. How do you think I got this black eye?"

"Not good enough! Gimme something or I'll stick you right here on the spot!" She yelled, then grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him against the wall.

Mewtwo was getting awfully sick of being robbed already. He'd barely been here an hour and this was the third time now. He knew that he was supposed to treat all the other crew members as his superiors but he was genuinely sick of this and he knew he was going to lose in this interaction regardless of what he did. The other Gerudos took notice of Ruisa pinning him to the wall and got up to saunter over and watch.

"I have fucking nothing Ruisa. You can reach into my pockets yourself if you don't believe me!"

Ruisa immediately did just that. She found Indiru's drawing and tossed that aside nonchalantly just like Nereti had done, but she soon discovered that Mewtwo hadn't been lying. There really was nothing else for her to take.

"There, see? Unless you want to strip me naked and take the clothes off my back then just leave me the fuck alone." He growled, hoping she'd respect a tough response.

"I ought to gut you now anyway for talking to me like that!" She yelled back.

Mewtwo was so beyond caring by this point that he no longer feared the typical bullshit bravado everyone here spouted. Besides, this Ruisa was so thin that he guessed he could actually overpower her in his new body. So he sneered right back at her and taunted her.

"What's wrong Ruisa? Are you this desperate for a single green Rupee because you keep losing them all in those gambling matches?"

Apparently this struck a raw nerve, as a look of eye-bulging, uncontrolled rage exploded over Ruisa's features. Everyone else in the audience broke out in laughter too, which told Mewtwo that he was right on the money. It seemed like some traits carried over between these timelines. Ruisa recklessly swung her dagger at him, but as he expected she was sloppy and slow due to her weakened state. He caught her arm with one hand, wrenched it aside, and twisted her wrist until it popped, causing her to involuntarily drop the dagger. She cried out in agony from the broken bones and then tried to throw a punch at his face with her one free hand. Mewtwo caught that with his other hand too, and with one fluid motion he hurled her backward off of him and sent her careening into the wooden frame of the nearest bunk bed. The crowd of onlookers parted out of the way and cheered and laughed as they watched Ruisa get taught a lesson.

As Ruisa slowly hauled herself back up to her feet, Mewtwo reached down to grab her dagger and look it over with a mocking expression on his face.

"I'm guessing that you haven't been eating too well lately, since I'm not exactly the strongest fighter in this place and I was able to overpower you so easily." Mewtwo remarked.

"Oooooooooooh!" The crowd gasped in impressed shock.

But even though Mewtwo was so outwardly confident, internally he was a bit shocked at himself for being so callous with her already. After he hadn't been able to bring himself to even defend himself from this realm's Madiri for fear of hurting her, it felt strange that he could be so callous to someone who resembled his other friend. The crowd seemed to be into it though, they continued to laugh and jeer in delight.

"Ruisa you fucking loser, you can't even beat up a cadet!"

"Maybe if you spent your Rupees on food instead of gambling then you might be strong enough to beat a Stalchild someday!"

"I bet a little kid could mug her at this point!"

All this cruel ridicule did eventually awaken some portion of Mewtwo's conscience though. He could see a look of profound hurt lingering in Ruisa's eyes and that was enough to make him feel bad. So he decided to at least reframe this situation into something that could help him.

"I bet you need this dagger as your one and only income source at this point Ruisa, you probably rely on it so you can mug people for more gambling money. Since I'm not a total bitch, I'll make you a deal. I'll give you back your dagger if you agree to leave me alone and answer a couple questions for me. Since that asshole Nereti won't help me learn about how to do my job before my guard duty shift tonight, I need someone to fill me in. Might as well be you."

Ruisa took a moment to weigh her options, then finished climbing to her feet and rubbed her back where she'd bruised it falling on the bed.

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

"You know those little magic detector lenses like the ones used by the guards in Clock Town? Do we get any of our own to use here while working guard duty?" He asked.

"Yeah, but only the senior guards get them. You're sure not getting one until you're at least a crewmate." She replied.

At this point the crowd began to break up and disperse when it became clear the fight was over and there was nothing interesting for them to watch. Mewtwo nodded and then continued with another question.

"Alright, can you tell me which guards have one? I have a few spells I might wanna use but I don't want to draw their attention.

"Fuck if I know! I'm the lowest rank a crewmate can be, they don't tell me that shit!" Ruisa snapped.

"Hmmm, alright. I take it then that we don't even get handed any weapons or gear for guard duty either?"

"Of course not, we have to buy everything with our own money. Now are you done? Can I fucking take my dagger and go?" Ruisa snapped.

"You're awfully mouthy for someone who just got her ass kicked. But whatever, it's clear you don't have any more useful information for me, so take it and fuck off."

Mewtwo then tossed the dagger on the floor at her feet, picked up Indiru's drawing again, and turned to leave. He expected Ruisa to try something funny like lunge at him and attempt to stab him while his back was turned, but fortunately she picked up the dagger and slinked off to lick her wounds instead. He sighed and walked off to reformulate his plans. He'd at least gotten one little nugget of information that he needed, but it wasn't enough to make him feel safe with wandering around in an illusion just yet. Either he'd have to keep asking around or he'd just have to make do.

---

It didn't take Mewtwo long to get fed up with the idea of "Just making do." After his shakedown from Nereti and his fight with Ruisa he couldn't bring himself to go around asking random people questions about the lenses, so he tried to go find a private spot to sit down and recuperate. His eye, teeth, and the various bruises on his body still hurt terribly and he expected they'd want him to get at least some sleep so he could be at least partially rested for his night shift. But no matter where he went, his fellow crewmates were always there with fresh ridicule and interruptions. It seemed like the arrival of a new recruit was seen as an opportunity for everyone to bully the new member, as everyone seemed to come out of the woodwork to seek him out and have a go. The Spirit of Sisterhood not only didn't seem to be a thing here at all, but there didn't even seem to be any baseline honor among thieves. The respect he'd won by beating Ruisa apparently didn't buy him much peace, as the mockery and abuse quickly resumed. They scorned him for being new, they joked about the black eye that Nereti had given him, and a few even added their own physical abuse when they tried their own shakedowns and discovered he had nothing of value left for them to steal. After the fourth robbery-turned-assault Mewtwo finally decided that enough was enough. He'd let them have enough physical contact with his mask-created Gerudo form now to prove that there was no illusion in play, and he no longer wished to sleep here overnight given the potential terrible things that they could do to him in his sleep. There was no more reason to keep the mask on and endure any more suffering.

So Mewtwo began to make his way toward the washroom, hoping that he could use an unoccupied latrine stall to get enough privacy to transform back into his original self and replace the mask with an illusion instead. He no longer cared about the risk of running into a guard with a detector lens, he could just put them to sleep with psychic hypnosis if they tried to raise an alarm. If worse came to worse then he could take on the entire crew from a few hundred feet up in the air and win easily. Even if there were mages among them capable of casting impediment curses that could mess with his powers, he was confident they'd never be able to hit him if he was flying 500 feet above the fortress at maximum speed while raining psychic hellfire down on their heads. The pain coursing through his body from all his various injuries made him feel profoundly stupid for not using this method from the very beginning.

Unfortunately for Mewtwo, his path back to the latrines ultimately wasn't unobstructed. He turned a corner to walk up to the washroom door and came face to face with another dreadfully familiar face. This time it wasn't just any familiar face though; this was the one single face that he dreaded running into the most. Here was this realm's Kalana, who was standing right in the middle of the narrow doorframe between him and his goal.

"Well well well, look who it is." Kalana said, her tone a mixture of sing-song friendliness and veiled threat.

"It's not her. It's not my Kalana. It's just an impostor..." Mewtwo repeated to himself privately inside his head.

Deep, terrible dread still churned up in his gut now despite these reassurances. He dreaded the emotional agony of fighting against her and he knew the jig was most likely going to be up the moment she realized that this body was basically a clone of her. He again had to struggle to contain his emotions so that he could give her a reply that wouldn't break his cover.

"Uhh, excuse me Ma'am, I need to use the latrines."

"Sure, sure. Come on in." Kalana replied, stepping inside to let him pass.

Mewtwo awkwardly stepped past her, averting his face from her and hoping she wouldn't notice their physical similarities. As he passed, he saw her swing the washroom door shut behind her and slide a key into its lock with a click. His blood chilled as he realized that that door was the only way in and out of this room. He was trapped in there alone with her now. He began to pick up his pace toward the nearest stall, but then he felt the cold steel of Kalana's glaive reach around and catch his shoulder like a hook to tug him back. The blade didn't break his skin yet, but it did halt him in his tracks.

"Before I let you do that though, I'm gonna need you to stop there and turn around to face me."

"Shit!" Mewtwo thought to himself quietly.

He knew that if he yanked off the mask right there then Kalana would just plant her glaive in his belly before the transformation could finish. Goddesses, this whole infiltration idea had really been stupid from the get-go and now he was deeply regretting it. With no other choice he slowly turned around to face Kalana directly with the best stoic expression that he could muster. She eyed him with a suspicious and piercing glare, then laughed briefly.

"Nereti really did a number on you, didn't she? You know I thought she was just fucking with me when she told me that the new girl was a near identical copy of me. But damn, you really could be my twin beneath that purple hair and fucked up face."

Mewtwo noticed that she was still pointing her weapon at him as she spoke. He had to reply quickly in order to avert her suspicion but unfortunately he couldn't come up with anything convincing. Once again he defaulted to just saying the first lame excuse that came to mind.

"So? People look similar all the time. Maybe we have a common ancestor?"

"Maybe. But you know, something strikes me as fishy about the timing of this whole series of events. Just yesterday two of my best mates, women who I'd trust with my Goddess-damned life, turned out to be secret mutineers. They tried to use magical masks and a summoned monster to kill the Captain in her own damned quarters. And then, in the aftermath of that attack, one of those magic masks goes missing from our inventory. It doesn't stop there either! The very next day after all this insane bullshit, a mysterious new woman shows up at our gates looking nearly identical to me and asks to join our crew. Seems like a lot of strange coincidences lining up all at once, don't you think?"

"If you're expecting me to explain shit that happened when I wasn't here then I don't know what to even tell you. You might as well stab me now and just get it over with." Mewtwo bluffed.

Kalana chuckled and lowered her weapon just enough so that she could hold it with one hand. She then reached the hand that this freed down into her pocket to search for something.

"You got some real chutzpah sayin' shit like that to me, new meat. I kinda like that. I'm not gonna stab you just yet, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook. I want you to stand still there for just a little bit longer..."

Kalana then produced what looked like a small, colorful little monocle from her pocket and raised it to her eye. The metal frame was a vibrant reflective purple and the lens was a mix of purple and orange in the shape of a slitted eye's pupil. Mewtwo assumed that this was one of the magic detection lenses that he'd heard about and began to hold his breath. He had to trust that the Mask Salesman had been telling him the truth when he said that the Gerudo Mask's disguise was undetectable. Several tense seconds passed as Kalana examined him through the lens. When she finished she scowled deeply and slowly lowered the lens to examine him one more time without it. Judging by the lack of a shocked gasp or scream, Mewtwo assumed that the mask had done its job.

"You happy now? Can I go take my Goddess-damned piss yet?"

"You know if I was Nereti I'd order you to stand there at attention until you pissed yourself for mouthing off at me like that. Lucky for you I don't want to smell it. Go."

"Thank you."

Mewtwo's heart rate finally began to calm down during his brisk run over to the stalls. He thought that he was out of the woods now, especially once he stepped inside and shut the stall door. But then a terrifying thought struck him; what if the transformation back caused a deafening sound or a bright flash of light that could shine out of the cracks around the stall door? He hadn't yet tried taking the mask off since he first put it on so he had no way of knowing. He also hadn't heard Kalana opening the washroom door yet, so she must still be lingering out there nearby where she could notice such things. He had to wait until he heard her leave before he could risk taking the mask off, just to be safe. Unfortunately she not only refused to leave, but actually walked over to talk to him through the stall door.

"You know, about ten years ago, almost to the day in fact, we had another unusual infiltration incident in this fortress." She said casually.

"Y-yeah?" Mewtwo stuttered as he internally debated whether to take the mask off now.

"Yeah. Some strange little blonde kid broke in multiple times. He was insanely skilled for a kid his age, and tough too. Almost supernaturally so. He completely humiliated us with his guile and strength, even Captain Aveil herself."

"Is that right?"

"Mhmm. Kid used a fuckin' wasp nest to scare the Captain out of her quarters and then snuck in afterward to steal her favorite treasure. Words can't describe how insanely pissed she was after that." Kalana chuckled.

"She must have come down on everyone like a ton of bricks afterward."

"You have no idea, and that included me too. I was on guard duty at the time too after all. But you know the craziest part? I fought that kid one-on-one, and not only did he beat me soundly, but he did it with a magical mask."

"No shit?" Mewtwo asked, hiding the fresh new batch of fear and tension rising in his gut.

"Yup. Little fucker slapped on a mask that looked like a Goron's face and then fuckin' transformed into a full-sized Goron right in front of my eyes. He then proceeded to give me a righteous beating the likes of which Nereti could only dream of doling out. I wouldn't have even believed it was happening if I hadn't been feeling the force of every single blow myself. But the craziest part of all this was that after I surrendered and retreated up to the rafters, I saw him take the mask off and change right back into that same cute little kid again as if nothing had even happened."

Mewtwo floundered in silence for a reply as he realized the jig was up. There was no other way to interpret the subtext of this conversation; she knew that he was using a transformation mask and was toying with him. The only thing he could do now was try to stall for time and take the mask off.

"Huh, you got beaten nearly to death by a Goron and you still managed to climb up into the attic afterward? Impressive."

Another brief moment of tense silence passed and Mewtwo used it to reach up and try to take the mask off. Unfortunately it was pitch black inside the latrine stall and the seams on his face turned out to be much smaller and harder to find than expected. He fumbled around in the dark for several moments and failed to find the seams in time before Kalana suddenly ripped the stall door wide open. Sunlight from the skylight in the main washroom flooded in and briefly blinded him, but he could still see the outline of Kalana bearing down on him. Apparently she saw him reaching up for the mask, as the first thing she did was give an angry, vindicated shout.

"I fucking knew it!"

Then she was on him. Luckily for Mewtwo she had decided to go in for an unarmed grapple rather than stabbing him on the spot with her glaive. But even with his impressive new arms, Mewtwo's comparative lack of training and skill meant that he was no match for Kalana in such a grapple. She instantly pinned him against the back wall of the stall with her body weight and grabbed both of his wrists to wrench them down behind his back. He did his best to resist but she was even stronger than him even in his new form. All the strain from his numerous injuries certainly wasn't helping him now either. But once she had both of his wrists pinned behind his back, she used one hand to hold them there and freed up her other hand to reach up toward his face.

"Off with it now! Let's see who you really are, "Melara!""

All at once Mewtwo stopped struggling as he realized what was about to happen. A wicked grin crept across his face as Kalana did a little bit of fumbling of her own to find those tiny seams.

"Are you really sure that you want to do that?"

"Shut the fuck up!" She yelled back.

Kalana's fingers then curled around the seam and she gave it an almighty yank! Fortunately no pain came over Mewtwo this time as he started to transform, but that didn't mean the transformation was totally uneventful. Streams of bright blue wavy light poured out of the seams around his face as the mask came un-melded from his flesh. Strange warbling sounds filled the air as the magic shone forth and worked on his body. Then a blindingly bright flash of white light engulfed them both, causing Kalana to stagger back a step and let go of his wrists so that she could shield her eyes. In that brief flash Mewtwo's entire body metamorphosed back into its original state, powers and all. When the light faded Kalana lowered her hand and her expression changed from smug confidence to a profound, terrified shock.

"What's the matter? Were you expecting the little blonde kid again?" Mewtwo asked, now giving her his own smug grin.

"What the fuck?!" She stammered.

The first thing that Kalana did was reach for her alarm whistle, but Mewtwo's telekinesis was faster. By the time she had raised it to her lips he had already crushed it into a useless little ball of crumpled metal. She tried to blow on it before realizing what had happened, then dropped it in horror when she saw why no sound had come out. Next she reached down to grab her glaive, but by the time she'd gotten ahold of it and taken a stab at him he had raised a telekinetic barrier that deflected it easily. As she staggered back from the unexpected force of her weapon bouncing off of this barrier, he locked his focus onto the glaive and teleported it out of her grasp. It harmlessly splashed into the sea a mile or two away in the middle of Great Bay.

"What the fucking fuck?!" She gasped.

Mewtwo stepped out of the latrine stall and began to slowly walk toward her. He briefly pondered gagging her so that she couldn't yell for help, but then he decided to raise a soundproof telekinetic bubble along the inner surface of the room instead. All the cruelty he'd endured since he came to the fortress had caused his vengeful side to reawaken. Without the spear there to act as a reminder of Nariva's message he gleefully began to act on these impulses.

Kalana was too prideful to give up just yet though, she still had at least one more card left to play. She drew her backup dagger, which was covered in faintly glowing enchanted runes, and prepared to lunge at him. But whatever enchantment had been imbued in this dagger, it wasn't enough to stop Mewtwo's teleportation ability and it immediately met the same fate as her previous weapon. That was finally enough to get the message through Kalana's thick skull and she began to slowly back away from him.

"What the fuck are you?" She asked, fear quavering in the cracks of her voice.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Mewtwo replied callously, continuing to advance.

At that point, continued pangs of pain from his eye and mouth made him realize that he was still injured despite transforming back into his original form. All the damage he'd taken had carried over despite the transformation's effects. So he placed his left hand on his face and used Recover as he walked toward her. Kalana's look of fear intensified as she watched all his wounds shrink away.

"Wh-what do you want?" She stammered, now almost backed up to the wall.

"Information, but I wouldn't trust a word you would say to me willingly anyway." He replied.

He then remembered that she had dropped his Gerudo mask on the floor and used telekinesis to pick it up and float it over to him where he could grab it with one hand and slide into his bag. A moment later and Kalana's back hit the wall and she flattened herself against it instinctively. Primal fear flashed in her eyes and Mewtwo paused for a moment as he realized something disturbing. He didn't feel bad at all for doing all this, despite how closely this Kalana resembled the one he'd known. Somehow he'd finally managed to separate the Gerudos that lived here from the ones that had been his friends. This was a relief at first, but he was also a bit worried that it could actually be a bad sign.

"P-please, mercy! Don't kill me!" Kalana begged.

Mewtwo paused one more time as he decided what to actually do with her. He definitely didn't want to kill her even if it would be a lot easier to do so now. The part of him that hungered for revenge for their cruelty was still not even close to strong enough to overpower his distaste for killing. What he really wanted more than anything else was for her and at least the other officers of the crew to face justice. But before that, he did also want information. If this Kalana had fought against the blonde kid that he was searching for then it was very likely she knew a lot more about him than Twinrova had. Better still, he had no ethical qualms this time about forcefully reading her mind compared to Twinrova.

Unlike Twinrova, Kalana had no wards or any other form of mental defenses around her mind, so he was able to read her effortlessly like an open book. Also unlike Twinrova, she was young and therefore her memories were much clearer and easier to manage. Luckily for him, she was also unlike Twinrova in the fact that her brain was a vast treasure trove of information pertinent to Mewtwo's quest. Everything she'd told him about the kid just now was true, from the one-on-one fight and the Goron transformation to him driving Aveil out of her room with wasps to steal from her. But that wasn't all, the kid had also ruined their attempt to steal and ransom the eggs of a local beloved Zora singer named Lulu. After doing all this the kid still didn't seem capable of staying away though, as apparently he'd returned awhile after the moonfall incident to try raiding the fortress a second time. But this time he'd underestimated them; he didn't expect them to change up their patrols and security measures after his last raid and he ended up getting caught and tossed into their brig. The pirates also learned from another of their past mistakes and actually confiscated all of his belongings this time before locking him up. That explained where the pirates got all those magical masks. Then Mewtwo caught a glimpse of his primary objective there in those memories. Kalana had seen the Fierce Deity's Mask! The pirates had it hidden in their vault alongside all of the boy's other belongings. Jackpot! Mewtwo didn't see a musical instrument that he could recognize in those memories, but at this point he didn't mind. Kalana hadn't gone over every single item that the pirates had taken from the kid after all, and he did get the vault's location from her anyway, so he could just go down there and sift through it himself.

Mewtwo still wasn't quite done digging yet though. Next he checked for tactical information for his mission, such as Aveil's personal schedule, which guards carried detector lenses, where Nereti's quarters were, and who had keys to the vault. Amazingly, Kalana was a highly ranked officer and actually not only knew all of this, but even had her own copy of all the keys to every door in the fortress. Mewtwo grabbed those keys with telekinesis and slipped them into his bag, grinning at the sheer good luck of this development. Now he knew everything that he needed to finish his raid, but there was just one more piece of info left that he needed to satisfy his curiosity. He wanted to know what happened to the little heroic blonde kid after his imprisonment. He dug just a little bit deeper and learned that the kid had managed to break out of his cell the night after his capture and stolen a boat to make his escape. After that he was never heard from again and the pirates had no idea what his fate might have been.

Mewtwo smiled as he finished up and disconnected from Kalana's mind. The kid seemed like a genuinely selfless person and he was glad that he had made it out unharmed. Kalana squirmed with fear and discomfort as she felt the connection between them end, then sneered back at him defiantly. It seemed like she knew he had been reading her memories.

"Now what are you gonna do now, beast? Gonna put the mask back on and use all that information you dug out of me to rob everyone blind?"

"More or less, but I think the word "rob" isn't quite the right term for it. Since this is all stolen wealth I'd call it more of a confiscation than anything else." He replied smugly.

"What are you gonna do with me now that you've taken all the information from me that you need? Gonna lock me up in a closet, or just straight up kill me? I'm sick of the anticipation and I just want to get it over with."

"Is that why you stopped begging?" He asked.

Kalana narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything else. He knew he couldn't just stuff her into a closet like she'd suggested though, she was likely too slippery to stay bound up for long and would probably escape and raise the alarm. He also probably couldn't erase enough memories to just let her go back to her routine as normal. She'd been suspecting him ever since he arrived and if she lost most of the day to a mindwipe she'd realize something was wrong and sound the alarm then too. Then he remembered what she and her crewmates had done to the local Zoras over the years and an idea sprang to mind.

"I'm not going to kill you, Kalana. I'm not a callous murderer like you and your friends; I still remember the Spirit of Sisterhood. Instead I'm going to do something better."

Mewtwo then used his telekinesis to rip off one of the large metal handles from a nearby latrine stall door. He tugged Kalana's hands behind her back and bent that handle around her wrists until it formed a crude, rudimentary restraint to bind her wrists together.

"You think you're so much better than all of us, but even a talking monster is still a mons-"

"Enough." Mewtwo snapped, cutting her off.

He used his telekinesis to muzzle her and then read her mind one final time in order to get a good clear mental picture of the interior of Zora Hall so he could teleport someone there safely. Before he finally sent her there to face justice though, he felt the urge to gloat strike him one more time.

"You know Kalana, there were two big reasons why I used that mask to sneak in here instead of a magical illusion. The first was because I figured people would see through such a trick with one of those lenses and attack me. The other was that I didn't think I could bring myself to use my powers against you like this. I thought that if I was forced to fight you that I'd end up with a repeat of yesterday with Madiri's glaive buried in my gut."

Kalana's eyes widened in shock as she realized that he was the exact same "monster" that had gotten into Aveil's quarters yesterday. He smirked a bit and relished that shock as he continued speaking.

"But you know what? Doing all this to you has been shockingly easy for me, despite the fact that you're wearing my best friend's face. I think that perhaps something in me changed a little bit while Nereti... no, correction, YOUR Nereti, was beating me senseless. Whatever instinctual side of me still thought that you were the same Gerudos that I'd known had had some sense knocked into it, courtesy of your Nereti's brutish fists. But ah, you have no way of knowing what in Arceus's name I'm even talking about, so I'll get to the point. Even now with that instinctual bond broken, I still can't bring myself to kill you. Instead I'm going to send you to justice. I think there's a certain Zora singer named Lulu who would love to see you put behind bars for what you and your friends tried to do to her children."

Kalana's eyes widened even more, then she vanished in a bright flash of blue light. Mewtwo teleported her, bound and unarmed, right into the center of Zora Hall. Their guards could handle the rest from there.

---

It wasn't long before Kalana's absence was noticed, as well as the absence of "Melara" too. An alarm was raised and the pirates scoured their fortress from top to bottom, hunting for any signs of what could have happened to them. But now that Mewtwo was armed with Kalana's knowledge he was able to effortlessly run circles around them. The first thing he did was teleport back and forth all over the fortress while cloaked, hunting down all the guards that he knew were carrying Lenses of Truth. He snuck up behind them one by one and teleported the lenses out of their possession until eventually not a single lens was left in the entire fortress. Next he targeted the members of the crew who were capable of casting any form of magic in order to be rid of anyone who might have spells that could see through his illusions or interfere with his powers. Using the same subterfuge, he'd psychically knock them out, disarm and restrain them, and then teleport them off to Zora Hall for capture just like he'd done to Kalana. The cautious, methodical approach that he used was very slow, so by the time he finished the sun was almost fully set. But Mewtwo didn't care, he still had plenty of time. He could have systematically sent ALL of the pirates to Zora Hall using this method, but ultimately he decided against it. He didn't know if they had sufficient jail space to hold them all, and despite all the cruelty he'd endured from the lower ranked crewmates, he wanted to believe that it was the officers who had driven and inspired them to the worst of what they'd done. He also was saving Aveil for last and he didn't want her to feel so unprotected without her crew that she might try to flee while he was still working on his heist.

Of course, the confusion and panic caused by the increasing number of disappearances in the fortress also provided the perfect cover for Mewtwo to do his work. Before long the organized sweeps and patrols devolved into chaotic crowds of individuals sprinting through the halls without any idea of what to do. They no longer checked every room evenly, and in that chaos none of them seemed to bother with the lower levels where the brig was located. This worked out perfectly, as the lowest level was exactly where the vault was located. Once he'd finished removing every possible item or person from the fortress that could defeat a psychic illusion or mess with his powers, he snuck down there under the cover of his cloak. He was almost to the vault when he spotted something familiar that he'd seen in Kalana's memories. Off in the corner of the rusty steel room was the cell where the pirates had once kept the heroic blonde kid prisoner after his second raid. Curiosity surged up in Mewtwo's mind and he impulsively decided that he had enough time to try looking around in there for any clues about the kid. He teleported past the locked cell door and began to curiously examine the cell's interior.

At first Mewtwo found absolutely nothing in the cell other than a moldy, moth-eaten, dust-covered old blanket hung on the back wall that fell apart when he tried to move it. But when it fell apart into a cloud of dust, he discovered that it had actually been hung over a small tunnel that someone had dug into the back wall to conceal it. This must have been how the kid had escaped. The rock here was brittle and chalky, so he probably was able to dig through even with a dull tool like a fork or knife that they might have given him with his meals. Mewtwo quietly chuckled to himself at just how hilariously incompetent these pirates could be if they missed a tunnel this obvious. Then something else caught his eye: inside the tunnel was a small hardcover notebook tucked away behind some loose rocks, covered in dust. Bingo! With a cautious, gentle touch he reached down to pick it up and brush the dust off of it.

The notebook was bound with three metal rings and its cover had a red painted silhouette of what looked like a black powder bomb painted on it along with some unfamiliar, unreadable text. Unfortunately all the text inside the notebook was also written in this same blocky, angular language and Mewtwo was completely incapable of reading any of it. He decided to hold onto it anyway, figuring that he could have someone else in town translate it for him later. Nothing else turned up inside the cell or the tunnel after this, and it quickly grew too narrow for Mewtwo to fit inside as it progressed into the rock, so he teleported back out and returned to the task at hand.

The vault was hidden behind a fake, magical illusory wall in the lowest floor of the fortress, near the water line. It was kept under strict watch 24 hours a day by at least two guards behind the illusion who rotated in and out on shifts. Disposing of them was just as easy as it had been for all the others. He disabled them, bound them up, and sent them off to Zora Hall. After that he simply strode up to the vault door and conjured a white hot glowing blade of raw psychic energy and used it to slowly carve a Mewtwo-sized hole through the steel. After several minutes of slow but steady cutting he was in.

The first thing to arrest Mewtwo's attention as he stepped inside was the glittering dragon's hoard of Rupees that absolutely dominated the interior. It was filled nearly all the way to the door with a veritable mountain of them that was nearly as tall as he was! Most of them were green, which Mewtwo remembered were the least valuable color at 1 Rupee each, but there were still hundreds of others in different colors too. Blue, red, purple, yellow, orange, and even metallic golden Rupees glinted up at him from the pile. Mewtwo didn't even know all the denominations that some of these colors represented, but he had a gut feeling that some were immensely valuable. Then he spotted something else: off to the left side of the pile was a standing steel shelf loaded down with dozens of different colorful painted wooden masks. The variety was amazing, representing different species of animals, humanoid people, and even inanimate objects. His heart leaped at the sight; this had to be the blonde kid's stash of belongings. He'd finally found his objective!

Ignoring the Rupees for now, Mewtwo rushed over and got right to work pawing through the piles of masks with determined fervor. He soon saw that there weren't just masks on the shelf; they were intermingled with a wide variety of adventuring gear, such as swords, a bow, arrows, bombs, potions, and even some strange and seemingly random items like a pile of wooden sticks and nuts. There was no way that Mewtwo could carry all this by himself, especially once he stole all of his own gear back from Aveil and Nereti, so for now he made the decision to leave the vast majority of it behind. Then his eyes caught sight of an empty, white painted eye staring lifelessly up at him out of the pile and an electrifying sensation raced up his spine. A strange and sinister feeling seemed to fill the air all of a sudden, but Mewtwo didn't let that stop him from completing his quest. He reached down to gingerly brush the other masks aside so he could pick up his prize. There it was, the stoic, blank-eyed, expressionless mask of the Fierce Deity.

The moment Mewtwo touched the mask he knew that the salesman hadn't been lying. There was something profoundly wrong with this mask. The wood was noticeably warm to the touch, unlike all the other masks which had been stone cold from sitting in the vault. Its paint was shiny and lustrous just like new, whereas all the others had some degree of fading or flaking. Its empty white eyes almost felt like they were focusing directly on him regardless of what angle he held it at, despite the lack of pupils. There also didn't seem to be any eye holes carved into the mask for the wearer to see through. Worst of all though, for a brief moment Mewtwo thought he could hear the faint and distant sound of rhythmic, bassy drums beating all around him as he picked it up. He spun around on his heels to search for the source of this sound, but there was nobody in sight. No Gerudos were climbing through the hole in the vault door to accost him and there were certainly no drums around to act as the source of the sound. The noise immediately stopped just as suddenly as it had started.

"What in Nariva's name?" Mewtwo whispered to himself.

Now feeling thoroughly unnerved, he began to reach back to tuck the mask into his knapsack. But then something on the mask caught his attention. He stopped and examined the blank, unpainted wood on the back of the mask and saw a large pronounced crack on the bottom, starting by the chin. It ran vertically up about half of the length of the mask, almost perfectly bisecting it. A shiver raced up his spine as he recalled what the mask merchant had said about the mask's seal starting to fail. Yet despite that growing sense of dread, he suddenly found himself gripped by an unexpected and seemingly alien urge to put it on. Just the mere sight of that creepy blank wooden surface seemed to inject his brain with a nearly overpowering compulsion to raise it up to his face. The only thing that broke this compulsion was his conscious mind protesting loudly about how wrong this all seemed. He shouldn't be feeling any sort of urge to wear it at all after the warning that he'd gotten from the mask merchant. The realization that the dark entity within the mask was manipulating him was enough to snap Mewtwo out of it so that he could regain control of himself.

"No you don't! I was warned about you!"

Mewtwo then felt the desire to wrap the mask up in something in order to protect himself from its effects, even if he had no idea whether this would actually help at all. He scanned the room and spotted a nearby pile of empty burlap sacks lying next to the Rupee hoard. These were probably here to help the Gerudos to haul in and out the massive loads of money in the vault. He grabbed one out of the pile and slipped the mask inside, then tied it shut for good measure before putting it into his knapsack. Fortunately this actually seemed to greatly reduce its influence on Mewtwo's mind, though that subtle creepy feeling still seemed to linger in the background for awhile longer.

"Alright, halfway there. Just need to find that instrument..."

Mewtwo returned to his search and it wasn't long before he found something. He didn't recognize it right away since he had never seen an ocarina before, but the flute-like finger holes and mouthpiece quickly tipped him off. He turned it over in his hands and examined the polished, reflective blue metal surface, unsure what to make of it. But the longer he held it the clearer he could sense the faintly thrumming energy imbued in the metal. It had an aura of immense latent power around it that almost felt alive. This was enough to convince him that this was the instrument that the mask salesman had been referring to. Besides, it made sense that the instrument would be something as conveniently small and portable as this. He didn't think it'd be likely that the merchant would send him after something like a full-sized tuba or multi-piece drum set. He slipped the ocarina into his bag and turned to leave the vault with a sense of satisfaction that his primary goal was now accomplished. But one last thought struck him as he stepped through the hole in the vault door and he stopped and turned around. Should he really be leaving all those other masks and the Rupees behind?

He chewed over this thought for several moments. Even if all those masks had their own unique and powerful magics, it wasn't like he was particularly desperate for new powers or abilities at the moment. But this amount of money could be seriously life changing for Aliza and everyone else in Clock Town. His whole side-mission to improve Aliza's life could be completely finished if he just brought this treasure back to town. He settled on a compromise; rather than trying to bring everything all at once he grabbed one of the money sacks and filled it up with just the golden Rupees from the hoard, figuring that they were the most valuable of the lot. If he needed any more he could always come back for a second trip. Now it was time for the final stage of his plan.

---

It didn't take long for Mewtwo to locate Nereti's quarters using the knowledge that he'd gained from Kalana's mind. Originally he planned to just sneak in under his cloak and steal back all his supplies and dagger unseen, but once he got inside his plans changed. Nereti herself wasn't there at the moment; it was the contents of her room that incensed him. Aside from the collection of gaudy trophies and stolen wealth on her racks, Nereti also had a collection of skulls on display that Mewtwo could only assume were all real. Most were human or Gerudo skulls that once again looked visually interchangeable, but there were also non-human shaped ones that he could only assume were taken from Gorons or Zoras. Worst of all in this proud display of bloodthirst was the fully preserved and taxidermied head of a Zora man that was mounted to a wooden placard on the wall like a hunting trophy. Mewtwo had never actually seen a Zora in person himself before but he knew mostly what they looked like from the memories he'd taken from this realm's Kalana. It was the most horrible way he could imagine seeing one in person for the first time, especially since the victim's face had been locked in a permanent expression of horror at the moment of death. Suddenly, merely robbing this Nereti and sending her to the Zoras to face justice didn't seem like enough. Now he wanted her to suffer for her open sadism. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes for a few moments, then dropped his psychic cloak and replaced it with an illusion of his "Melara" persona instead. He rooted through all the items in the room to find and take his stuff and then raised a telekinetic barrier around himself, knowing that what he was about to do would undoubtedly raise the alarm and risk him being fired upon by the pirates with their crossbows. He made this barrier totally invisible though, and retracted it inward so that it was nearly skin-tight and form-fitting around himself. Once prepared, he began to use his telekinesis to begin ransacking and smashing up the room as loudly as possible!

Of course Mewtwo was cautious to not destroy any of the skulls in the room, there was no reason to disrespect the dead. With brutal efficiently he shattered all of Nereti's furniture into splinters and crushed her golden trophies and loot into useless little balls of metal with the power of his mind. It only took a minute or two of this violent noise echoing down the hallways before he attracted attention, and soon he heard an alarm whistle sound from the doorway. But it was just one of the guards, not Nereti herself, so he blocked off the door with a semi-translucent telekinetic barrier until she arrived. Sure he had his personal shield up, but he didn't want any guards getting in his way. The guard slammed away at this doorway barrier with her glaive to no avail, and even when several others arrived and joined in they still couldn't even scratch it.

"Where are all the damned mages? We need someone to dispel this shit!" One of them shouted.

"I dunno! They're all among the missing!"

"Is that Melara in there?!"

Mewtwo finished smashing up the room just in time. He knew Nereti had arrived when he heard her voice screaming with raw fury from the doorway.

"YOU'RE DEAD MEAT MELARA!"

Mewtwo's devious grin widened. He lowered the barrier blocking the door just long enough for Nereti to charge through before raising it again to prevent anyone from following her in to help her. With a bulging look of cartoonish rage, Nereti sprinted right at him at maximum speed with her glaive raised, intending to impale him. He raised one hand in the path of her weapon and the shield around his hand stopped the attack cold. Thanks to the illusion it looked like Melara had completely halted the blade with nothing but the flat palm of her bare hand. Nereti had put all of the momentum of her body weight into the impact, causing the bladed head of the glaive to bend and buckle, and the wood to shatter where that head was attached. The whole shaft of the glaive then exploded into wooden shards, leaving Nereti to stumble forward under her own momentum and slam face first into the floor.

The gathered crowd behind the doorway gasped in shock and then went quiet as they watched through the translucent barrier filling the doorframe.

"How the fuck?!" Nereti groaned as she began to slowly pick herself up.

Mewtwo didn't deign to answer her question. Instead he asked her his own question in a deadpan tone, mimicking Melara's voice.

"Nereti, do you remember earlier this afternoon when you tried to provoke me into mouthing off so that you'd have an excuse to thrash the living daylights out of me?"

Nereti didn't respond, but she did manage to finish climbing back up to her feet to look him in the eye. Still smiling, he raised both his hands to gesture broadly to the ruins of all of Nereti's things all around them.

"Shoe, welcome to the other foot." Mewtwo finished, grinning from ear to ear with sadistic glee.

This realm's Nereti definitely lacked the wisdom of the Nereti that Mewtwo had known. Despite the shattering of her weapon she still didn't believe that this shorter, smaller new cadet could possibly fight her off. So she lunged forward and swung at Mewtwo with her left first, intending to start a fatal pummeling that would make her first one feel like a gentle kiss by comparison. Mewtwo raised his hand to block it again and his shield reflected the blow perfectly. Nereti had swung with such force that the impact of her fist on the shield broke almost every single bone in her hand with a sickening crunch. She screamed out in wordless agony and stumbled back as she saw her fingers crushed and contorted at unnatural angles by what she'd done.

"Tut tut, wrong answer." Mewtwo scolded casually. "Though for you there really was no right answer. You said it yourself after all, "I'm under no obligation to be fair.""

Then Mewtwo decided that he'd had enough. She couldn't do anything else other than ruin her other hand now and he still felt a distaste for causing unnecessary harm. He grabbed Nereti's body with telekinesis and forced her to kneel, then pulled her arms behind her back and tied them up with some rope that he'd taken from the ruins of her room. He pocketed the excess rope, planning to use it on Aveil herself when it was her turn. Then, for maximum insult on top of injury, he took the taxidermied Zora head off of the wall, removed its wooden mount and stuffing to reveal the hollow interior, and shoved it over her head like a hood.

"There. Better hope that there's no living next of kin of that Zora still in Zora Hall, or they might just have a thing or two to say to you when they see you wearing this."

With that he teleported her off to Zora Hall to meet her fate. There was a moment of tense silence as the remaining pirates struggled to comprehend what they had just witnessed. Mewtwo turned to face them and then began to slowly walk toward the door, still wearing his illusory disguise. Half of the crowd immediately decided that they'd seen enough and began to push their way past their crewmates to flee.

"Aveil!" Mewtwo yelled at the crowd, knowing that she had to be there among them by now.

The remaining pirates that hadn't fled immediately parted to make way for their Captain. Mewtwo could psychically sense her fear but she couldn't afford to look weak in front of her crew by running away now. She did the only thing she could do, she strolled up to the door to face Mewtwo through the barrier with a false bravado.

"Alright Melara, you've proven that you're hot shit now. Let's stop this insanity and calm down. We can talk all this over."

Mewtwo didn't even acknowledge what she said. Instead he sneered at her contemptuously and asked her a question.

"Now that Kalana, Nereti, and the Vatorsas are all out of the picture, how many officers do you have left?"

"None, but I don't see how that's-"

"Good, then you're the last. I formally challenge you to a one-on-one duel for the position of Captain. Meet me in the central plaza in five minutes. Don't try to flee either, I will find you."

"I'd never flee from a runt like you!" She shouted back.

Mewtwo didn't even bother to reply. Instead he teleported directly to Aveil's quarters to steal back his spear while she was busy making her way up to the plaza on foot. He found it sitting on a display shelf next to some ornate decorative cutlasses and plucked it up with telekinesis. Now he had reclaimed everything that had been taken from him. Satisfied, he teleported right up to the plaza and still beat Aveil there by minutes since teleportation was so much faster than walking.

Aveil arrived fairly quickly with both scimitars drawn and the entire remainder of her crew close behind. The fear was radiating off of her mind so thickly that Mewtwo could nearly taste it, but still she stepped forward to face him. Some small part of him admired her bravery, but then he reminded himself that it was most likely simply stupidity.

"You ready to die Melara?!" She yelled.

Mewtwo remained totally silent and instead used his telekinesis to rip her weapons out of her hands and send them rocketing into the sky out over the ocean.

"Hey! You're not allowed to do that! The pirate's code says that duels-" Aveil protested, but Mewtwo cut her off.

"What happened to the idea that nobody here is under any obligation to be fair? Or is that only a rule to be used to torment cadets?" He asked as he began to advance on her.

"Ugh, shoot her you idiots! If she can break the code then so can we!" Aveil yelled back at her crew.

They all drew their crossbows and bows and began to let loose a scattered volley at Mewtwo. All of those bolts and arrows harmlessly bounced and shattered off of his invisible shield, and again it looked like Melara was stopping them all with just her bare skin. After a few seconds of this display the pirates realized that it was pointless and stopped firing. Several more now realized the depth of the trouble they were all in and turned to flee. Aveil glanced back at them and shouted an order after them to stand their ground, but they could see the writing on the wall and chose to ignore her and keep running. Mewtwo could sense that she badly wanted to flee too, but her pride couldn't stomach being seen by the remainder of her crew as a coward. He continued to advance.

"What are you going to do now, Captain? Perhaps you'll shatter your hand trying to punch me like Nereti?"

"How are you so fucking strong?!" She yelled resentfully.

"Wouldn't you like to know? A 'Might Makes Right' philosophy sure seems great until you run into someone stronger than you, doesn't it?"

It was at this point that Mewtwo stepped right into Aveil's face and came to a stop. He couldn't help but give her a faux-innocent smile.

"Stop wasting my time with your holier-than-thou sermons and just kill me already!"

"Hmph, you still won't learn. Shame. I'll give you one more chance, do you surrender your title of Captain?" He asked point blank.

She took a moment to assess her chances as they stared each other down, then sighed and bitterly swallowed her pride. Her survival instinct turned out to be stronger than her ego.

"Yes."

"There, see? You can actually learn if you put your mind to it."

With that he produced the rope he'd taken from Nereti's room and used it to bind and gag Aveil with telekinesis while the remaining pirates stood by and watched. Once finished he turned to address the group while broadcasting his voice with telepathy to make sure that those who had fled could still hear him.

"Attention all crewmates! As your new Captain, my first and final act is to formally disband this pirate crew and order you to leave Termina entirely! I don't care where you go, just don't stay here where everyone in the kingdom hates you and wants you dead. You may take the galleon currently sitting in the docks, but if I hear that you've returned to a life of crime again after this then I'll come for you a second time, and it won't just be the officers who I hand over to the authorities!"

To prove his point, Mewtwo turned his gaze over to the harbor and pointed one glowing hand at the galleon in question. Using his telekinesis he plucked up all the ship's cannons and dropped them into the sea with a series of loud, unceremonious splooshes. Now they couldn't return to piracy even if they wanted to.

"It is the will of the Goddess Nariva that you all find peaceful, law-abiding lives in a new land. Understood?" He shouted, letting his eyes glow through the illusion with righteous fury.

The crowd remained frozen in fear, but a few nodded slightly to acknowledge him.

"Good. Now go! By this time tomorrow this whole fortress will be crawling with guards from Clock Town and Zora Hall so I'd suggest you hurry!"

Mewtwo then stood by and watched with a smile as the pirates turned tail and fled to their ship. The sun had fully set by now so the ship lit up with dozens of lanterns before pulling out of the harbor. It was actually quite pretty the way the lantern lights reflected off of the ocean's surface, which was surprisingly calm and smooth that night. He watched contentedly as the ship shrank away into the distance, then turned to shoot a grin at Aveil, who was still bound and gagged alongside him.

"Beautiful sight, isn't it? The end of an era of violence and misery is marked by a ragtag crew sailing off into the moonlight for parts unknown. I couldn't have timed this better if I'd tried." He chuckled.

Aveil couldn't give him any sort of coherent reply thanks to the rope gag in her mouth so she just mumbled incoherently in a bitter tone.

"You know what's funny? I did intend to try and time this in a specific way when I came here. If I had followed through with it properly then we'd be doing all this tomorrow night instead. I planned to haul you off to Clock Town to hand over to the mayor right in time for the Carnival of Time. But we're now a whole day ahead of schedule since I couldn't stomach one more hour of the wretched culture of backbiting and abuse that you fostered here. I'd rather risk compromising my disguise than endure one more beating."

Him mentioning his disguise caused Aveil to raise one eyebrow and shoot him a confused look. This just amused him further and he decided then and there to just drop the charade.

"I might as well show you the real me now that the others are gone. Even if you try to tell everyone in Clock Town what I really am after I turn you in they'll just write it off as the ravings of a criminally insane monster."

Mewtwo then dropped his psychic illusion and watched as looks of shock, horror, and recognition played out across the former Captain's face. All she could do was mumbled confusedly around her rope gag.

"Funny isn't it? You sent Madiri and Q'diri to the gallows for nothing. I didn't have anything to do with their little mask stunt. As for how I survived the incident, well, you've seen my teleportation spells in action already. Let's just say that I'm just as good at playing dead and using healing magic too."

Aveil scowled and then closed her eyes resentfully while giving him a spiteful, muffled harrumph around the gag. Mewtwo just grinned, relishing in the schadenfreude.

"As for what we do now, well I can't just haul you right to Clock Town tonight, the mayor wouldn't have his celebratory speech ready yet. But don't worry, I have an idea for how we can pass the time. There's a whole vault full of stolen treasure down below and I'd like to return it all to its proper owners. We might as well spend our extra day packing it all up properly and loading it onto one of those leftover ships for transportation. Come on, you can join me."

Chapter 6 - The Carnival of Time

Originally Mewtwo had planned to walk into Clock Town wearing his Gerudo Mask and carrying Aveil in telekinetic bindings to show off his powers to everyone in town. But now that plan had changed and he had a huge cargo wagon loaded with pirate booty behind him. Even after he had teleported half of the entire haul of Rupees to Zora Hall for the Zoras to reclaim their fair share, it was still far too heavy for him to pull by hand and he didn't have any horses to pull it for him. This meant he was forced to put Aveil on the wagon and use his telekinesis to pull it instead. This was a lot harder to pull off while his powers were limited by the Gerudo Mask so he ended up teleporting as close to the town gate as he could without being seen and then putting the mask on. Even then he struggled mightily to conjure enough psychic strength to pull it the rest of the way to the town gate.

By the time he stopped in front of the guard his nose was bleeding and a vicious headache was slamming through his skull thanks to the strain. Fortunately Dotour had sent word ahead of Mewtwo's arrival so the guard didn't try to arrest him for using his 'spells.' But the wagon wasn't a part of the original plan and it definitely took the guard by surprise. He walked around it to briefly inspect it but since Mewtwo had had the foresight to seal all of the treasure inside barrels and crates, a surface level glance revealed nothing suspicious. Sure, a bound and gagged Aveil was laying atop the crates under the canvas cover that shielded the wagon, but the guard had been forewarned about that so he didn't say anything. Just as he was waving Mewtwo through the gate the sky lit up with multicolored bursts from an array of fireworks shooting off.

"Better hurry up citizen, the Carnival is starting." The guard observed.

"Yes I can see, thank you."

Mewtwo then took a deep breath to brace himself for the pain and then resumed towing. He wiped the blood from his nose and winced repeatedly as every loud bang from the fireworks made his head pulse with pain. He was still grateful to have this Gerudo Mask but he was also seriously looking forward to taking it off and not being forced to wear it again for a long time.

By the time Mewtwo had hauled the wagon into the center of South Clock Town the fireworks had stopped and the clock tower had finished transforming into its special yearly carnival state. About two to three hundred people had gathered around the tower and their cheering was just dying down now that the fireworks display was over. They were starting to shuffle forward toward the steps leading up to the second floor of the tower, where a new door had opened to reveal a stairwell leading upwards and inside. But before they could reach the second floor platform the mayor appeared out of the crowd and scampered up onto it ahead of them to cut them off. He cleared his throat and addressed the people, causing them to halt in their tracks.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen! It is my esteemed honor to once again present to you this year's annual Carnival of Time!"

The crowd broke out into gentle applause for this intro, though it seemed somewhat rote and lacking in enthusiasm. The vibe of the crowd seemed to imply that these mayoral speeches were fairly commonplace and everyone just wanted it to be over with so they could get on with their partying. While they clapped Dotour cast his eyes out around the crowd to search for Mewtwo with a slightly nervous look. Once he spotted him standing in the back, Mewtwo gave him a thumbs up to signal that the plan was indeed still on. Happiness and relief flooded Dotour's features and he resumed speaking as the applause finished tapering off.

"Before you all join me at the top of the tower for this year's prayer to the Gods however, I have something truly special to share with you all. As you know, tonight is the tenth anniversary of the unfortunate events that occurred surrounding the moon's fall, and I think that alone warrants special introspection and celebration. Up until now we have treated the events of that night with somber reflection and respect for the giants who saved us, but I believe that it also warrants a greater measure of gratitude and jubilation. Very few people have stared the Apocalypse in the eye with dignity and bravery like we did, and fewer still have battled that Apocalypse and won! We deserve to be proud of what we have done, even if times have been tough in the ensuing years."

"Therefore, in the interest of raising the spirit of joy and celebration for this year's Carnival, it is my singular pleasure to announce two new special initiatives to revitalize Clock Town and give its people a brighter future. The first of these initiatives has been developing secretly in the background for some time now and has reached full completion just in time for tonight's celebration. I have formed a partnership with the distant Gerudo Tribe of Ven'rakesh, who have worked with me to help fight and disband the dreaded Gerudo pirates of Great Bay!"

People mumbled softly in confusion, unsure whether to believe such an outlandish claim. Mewtwo could tell that this was his cue so he picked up Aveil with his telekinesis and began to walk briskly through the crowd toward the mayor's platform. He clenched his teeth as the further use of his powers in this form made his head throb, but at least carrying Aveil was much easier than towing thousands of pounds of Rupees. Soon people saw him as he neared the front of the crowd and a series of gasps echoed through the assembly. People pointed, stared, and whispered as they saw the dreaded pirate captain hoisted through the air like a piñata ready to be battered. When Mewtwo surmounted the platform and stood side by side with Dotour, he raised one glowing hand over his head to lift Aveil up above them, then shouted to the crowd.

"The age of piracy is over!"

Instantly the crowd erupted in cheers. Mewtwo smiled proudly and watched as people raised their hands in excitement and tossed their hats in the air to celebrate. It took several moments for the roar of jubilation to calm down; in the mean time a pair of guards approached them to take Aveil and Mewtwo gladly lowered her back down and handed her over.

"With the help of this woman, my fine friend Kalana Quindalo, the entire Great Bay Pirate Crew has been shattered and driven out. Tomorrow morning I will deploy a small portion of the reserve guard to work in tandem with the Zoras of Zora Hall to secure the abandoned fortress and begin work on transforming it into a brand new stronghold for my new Termina Naval Defense Militia, which will ensure no new pirate threats will return to threaten our coasts. It is my sincerest hope that this will not only lead to a renaissance for Termina's fishing industry, but also a reopening of our waters for a new boom in maritime shipping and trade with our neighboring allies. If all goes as I expect, a new golden era of economic growth and prosperity will dawn for all of us!" Dotour boasted proudly.

More deafening cheers filled the air and Dotour paused his speech to let it pass. He placed a hand on Mewtwo's back softly as they soaked in the adulation for several wonderful moments. Mewtwo knew that this cheering was meant only for the illusory persona that he was wearing rather than his true self, but he was still allowing himself to savor at least a small portion of the credit for now. Mask or not, it had been his ideas and hard work that had made this all possible. He didn't care whether this adulation slipped away along with his false identity the moment he took the mask off and left; what made him happy was the knowledge that his actions here would keep having positive impacts on the people long after he was gone.

"That was just the first initiative I mentioned though. The next one is just starting!" Dotour said as the crowd settled down. "Securing our shores is only the first step. It unlocks and opens the door to economic opportunity, but it doesn't actually directly pull that opportunity through that door to us. That's what the next initiative is explicitly designed to do. You see, my friend Kalana here isn't just a fearless and peerless warrior who worked with me to fight the pirates, she is also quite a brilliant mind too. Awhile back she said something to me that cleared the fog from my eyes and made me realize something vital. It hasn't just been the pirates roaming our shores that have caused the economic woes plaguing our fair state. We've also been suffering through this slump because the rest of the world seems to be operating under the incorrect assumption that the moonfall incident was somehow our fault!"

The crowd burst out into a series of boos now, but this was clearly aimed at the silly notion that Dotour had just explained rather than at the mayor himself. Dotour masterfully played into the crowd's reaction by rolling his eyes and shrugging his shoulders in agreement with them.

"Ludicrous isn't it?!" Mewtwo shouted, reinforcing the crowd's sentiment and mayor's point even more.

"Yeah!" Someone shouted back from the crowd.

"The Terminians I know would not only never do anything like that even by accident, but they actually happen to be the most generous, kind-hearted, resourceful, and above all brave people I've ever known! And I think it's time that we stand up together and prove it to the rest of the world!"

Flattering his own people was a time tested standby for politicians like Dotour and it worked just as flawlessly this time too. Each wave of cheers that Dotour brought on was building a little bit stronger than the last one and Mewtwo could psychically sense the crowd's enthusiasm reaching a natural crescendo peak. He had to admit, he was impressed by Dotour's speechcraft. The doddering, indecisive old purple haired fogy had really come into his own as a proper statesman.

"This is why tonight I am proud to announce the Clock Town Revitalization Initiative! It's a new non-profit charitable organization I will be launching in the near future that will be designed to fund the renovations of both the town's physical infrastructure and its reputation too. Every single Rupee donated to the fund will go toward rebuilding damaged and worn out portions of town, increasing education efforts for our children, and a new international public relations campaign. It's my goal to use this campaign to show the world that which I already know: that Termina is not only NOT responsible for causing the Apocalypse, but is actually responsible for helping stop it! With your help we will show the world that our land is a vibrant and beautiful one that everyone should want to come visit and trade with!"

There it was, the zenith of the event that Mewtwo had sensed coming. The crowd was so loud now that it genuinely aggravated his headache even further and made him wince. He almost felt bad for how much he was about to one-up Dotour's speech. As the crowd continued to cheer and yell, Mewtwo nudged Dotour's side to get his attention.

"Mind if I say something of my own?" He asked just loudly enough for the mayor to hear him over the din.

"Go right ahead!"

Once the roar had finally died down again Mewtwo stepped forward to address the crowd next.

"Over the years that Aveil's crew have terrorized you they've stolen a lot. Gold, silver, weapons, money, and the lives of countless victims. While I can't give you back the people you lost, I can at least give you back the rest. All I ask in return is one simple thing. From now on, when you meet a Gerudo like me, don't just see them as another thief. I'm not saying that you should instantly trust us all implicitly of course, especially if you meet a former member of Aveil's crew in the future. There will always be bad people out there in the world after all. All I ask is for you to treat all people you meet with respect until they prove that they are otherwise unworthy of it. Well, and also, don't crush or trample each other once I do what I'm about to do. I return to you now that which Aveil stole."

With that Mewtwo pointed one hand over at the wagon and used his telekinesis to yank the canopy top off, then rip the lids off of all the barrels and crates. The people turned to look at what he was gesturing toward and saw all those wooden containers beginning to levitate into the air above them. Mewtwo didn't want the people closest to the wagon to pocket more than their fair share simply due to proximity so he lifted the treasure up in batches and sprinkled it evenly out across the crowd in a fairer random manner. A cascade of Rupees poured down onto the crowd, creating a beautiful shimmering shower of multicolored wealth. The result was even more excitement and jubilation as people bent down to begin scooping up hundreds of Rupees for themselves. Poorer people in the crowd began to openly cry with happiness as they grabbed life-changing sums of money off of the street. Even through the agony of his headache Mewtwo was now beaming with happiness as he watched it all unfold. This made every single beating that he'd taken from the pirates totally worth it.

"Hey, what about a share for me and the town government?" Dotour asked Mewtwo quietly while everyone else was distracted.

"Oh be patient. The town will get its share in the form of sales taxes during the ensuing spending spree after this. I'd wager a decent sum of all this will end up in the tax ledgers by morning as people spend throughout the Carnival. Think of it as a gigantic kick-start on the entire town's economy. Your new charity will probably end up getting a sizable chunk of donations out of this too." Mewtwo pointed out.

"Hmm, I suppose that is a fair point. You could make a fine economist too, Miss Quindalo."

"Oh goodness, no thank you!" He laughed.

---

Mewtwo decided to linger in town just a little bit longer now before attending his final meeting with the mysterious mask salesman. He had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't be able to return here to Termina ever again after using the magic that the salesman planned to send him away with, so he decided to leave absolutely no loose ends untied. He briefly stopped at the Stock Pot Inn to pay the Innkeeper Anju for the room that Dotour had reserved for him, and he even used the room's privacy to take off the Gerudo Mask and rest awhile. It was a big relief to use his Recover ability again to heal all the neural strain he'd endured from using his powers so much in that Gerudo form. Then he spent awhile out on the town back in that form again in order to enjoy the Carnival. He played Carnival games, ate greasy Carnival food, and even joined the people for one of their smaller group prayer sessions atop the transformed clock tower. Tons of people stopped to thank him for his generosity over the course of the night, and a few even tried to share a part of their portions of the pirate treasure with him as a show of their gratitude, but he graciously refused to take any and insisted that they donate it to Dotour's new charity instead. Eventually Mewtwo felt exhaustion rear its ugly head and knew it was time to start preparing to leave. He decided to make one last stop before heading into the first floor of the clock tower to meet the mask merchant. A quick stroll through the sewers later and he was climbing up the ladder into the Shikashi observatory.

He found Aliza sitting atop her bedroll in the lower floor of the building with a large sparkling heap of Rupees spread out in front of her. Apparently she had been in the crowd when he had poured the money out over everyone. She was in the middle of counting them out when he arrived, but she seemed totally willing to abandon her count and jump up to hug him tightly once he reached the top of the ladder.

"O-oh. Hello to you too I suppose." He chuckled.

She held him in a quiet vice grip like that for several emotional seconds before eventually letting go to speak to him.

"Gods damn, look at you out there setting new bars of selflessness that us normal folk will never be able to reach." She said, wiping some newly formed tears from her eyes.

"Well it's not one hundred percent selfless you know. I help people out in at least in one small part to shut up my own inner demons, as I told you before. This whole thing with the Rupees will give me plenty more ammunition to use against them next time they try to tell me I'm a monster."

"Yeah well next time they call you a monster I want you to let me know so I can personally kick their asses!" Aliza exclaimed.

"If you can figure out a way to climb into my head to do it then be my guest." He joked.

"I'm sure I'll figure something out, I'll just need the right tools. I'm pretty sure my dad left me some in these crates somewhere, maybe a hacksaw or a hand cranked drill." Aliza joked back.

They both laughed together for a few seconds and then Mewtwo looked down at the pile of Rupees that she'd gathered.

"How many did you manage to get away with?"

"I don't know yet, I'm not quite done counting them. But I do know that it'll cover at least a whole year's worth of observatory taxes and then some. It boggles my mind, how could you part with a king's ransom like this so easily?! I like to think that I'm a good person but even I'd struggle to give that much away. You could have been set for life!"

"Yes but it wasn't my money to keep. The money belonged to the people of Termina before Aveil and her crew stole it. Just because there wasn't a ledger telling me exactly who each individual Rupee belonged to beforehand doesn't mean it just magically becomes mine to take."

"Gods, there you go again being too good for this damn town." Aliza said with an exasperated laugh. "You do realize that a huge majority of this was probably stolen from wealthy merchants, right? I've never been personally robbed by Aveil's crew myself, so maybe by your logic you should take all this back from me and give it to all the Clock Town merchants instead?"

Mewtwo smirked slightly as he replied. "Ok, maybe my plan wasn't flawless, but I do think it's fair to say that this money will do a hell of a lot more good in the hands of the commonfolk who will spend it than it would gathering dust for years in some rich old man's bank vault."

"Aha, so there is in fact just a little dabble of honor among thieves then!" Aliza laughed, patting him firmly on the back.

Mewtwo almost protested that he'd done all this specifically so that people would stop calling all Gerudo people thieves. But then he remembered the pile of golden Rupees that he'd taken for himself and suddenly felt guilty about it. He couldn't stand there preaching at her about morality while carrying a whole bag of ill-gotten gains for himself. So before their conversation could go any further he slid off his knapsack and dug his bag of loot out.

"Here, I want you to have these too."

"Oh come on now Kalana, you've given me plenty already. Now this is just getting... WOAH!"

Aliza stammered to a halt when Mewtwo opened the bag and showed her the golden trove within. She struggled to find words for several speechless seconds and failed. When she finally did find the clarity to speak again her tone of voice had changed to one of sheer awe.

"Gods above! Kalana do you have any bloody idea how much all this is worth?!"

"Uhh, a lot?" He asked with a sheepish smile.

"Uhhhh YEAH!" She exclaimed, then reached out to grab his hands to force him to close the bag. "There's no way I'm taking that much money from you!"

"Oh really? Whatever happened to "Even I'd struggle to give that much away"?"

"Yeah ok but, well, you deserve this a lot more than I do. You went out there, defeated all those pirates singlehandedly, and gave away a fortune already to people who needed it. All I've done is waste my life away sitting here in the dark for years feeling sorry for myself. Kindness like yours deserves a reward like this, not whatever it is I've been doing in here." She protested.

"You're blaming yourself for not finding a new job when you told me earlier that it was the economy's fault. Someone's not keeping her story straight." Mewtwo chided gently.

"Ugh alright fine, I'll give you that it's not my fault, but that doesn't change the fact that you still deserve it more than me."

"Alright, then let's say that I concede your point and the money is now mine. I get to decide what I spend my money on, right?"

Aliza narrowed her eyes. "You better not be going where I think you're going with this."

"Well I've decided that I want to spend it on helping you out."

"Damnit Kalana!" Aliza sighed.

"What, are you going to try to tell me what I'm allowed to do with my own money?" Mewtwo asked, then opened up the bag to offer it to her again.

Aliza didn't seem to have any other arguments against this point, but her attitude also looked like it wasn't about to change. Mewtwo's gut instinct told him that they were at an impasse and that he'd have to make some sort of compromise if he wanted to make any more progress. So he reached down and grabbed five golden Rupees out of the bag and dropped them into his knapsack.

"Ok, how about this? I'll keep a few of them, which should still amount to plenty of money, and you take the rest. That way I have ample funding for the next leg of my trip and you still get a nice big nest egg."

Aliza tossed her arms up in resignation before finally reaching out to take the bag from him.

"Alright, alright, fine! Gods above, I don't even know what I'm gonna spend it all on!"

"How about a bedroom addition to the observatory so you have someplace to sleep other than a meager little sleeping bag on the floor of a dusty, cramped little storage room?"

"Ugh, then I'd have to go negotiate a business contract with that asshole carpenter Mutoh. Fuck that sexist old pig." Aliza grumbled.

"Hey, if anyone can verbally beat some sense into that guy it's you. I've never met the man myself but I know for a fact that you don't take shit from anyone, not even me." Mewtwo replied.

He pantomimed her stabbing at him with her dagger for a little extra joking emphasis.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to THAT!" Aliza laughed loudly, then tied shut the bag of loot.

They both shared a good laugh together over this, then Aliza tossed the bag of golden Rupees onto her uncounted pile. Then a moment of poignant silence passed over them as they both realized that it was already almost time for Mewtwo to leave.

"So what now? Are you going back to Ven'rakesh now that you've completed your quest?" Aliza asked.

"Yeah, though I have a couple more stops to make along the way first. I'm heading to someplace even further away than that, a place I know for sure that you've never heard of. I don't even know the name of it myself, I just know that I'll be using magic to get there. A lot of this part of the trip is unknown to me actually, all I know is that Ven'rakesh will eventually be waiting for me at the end."

Aliza nodded as a serious and bittersweet look came over her face. "Leaving tonight?"

"Yeah. I have to. The mage who agreed to send me won't be waiting until morning."

Another quiet moment passed between them as the reality of it hit them both like a train. This was it, it really was time for them to part. Even though they had only known each other for a day at most, they had formed an instant connection and it hurt knowing that it had to break already.

"Any chance that you might be able to come back to Termina again sometime in the future and visit me?" Aliza asked.

"I won't lie to you Aliza, I don't know. It was wild magic that brought me here and it's going to take magic to get me back. I myself don't know how to cast the spells in question. So unless I can stay in touch with that strange mask merchant then it's not looking likely."

Aliza nodded sadly in understanding. "I get it. Thank you for being honest about it. If you ever figure out the spells that you need to come back, stop by the observatory ok? I'll buy you a nice big dinner. It's the least I can do."

"Of course. Hopefully by then you'll have a nice new living space added onto this place too."

Then Aliza couldn't take it anymore and she stepped forward to wrap her arms around him for a crushingly tight embrace. Mewtwo gasped slightly from the suddenness of it and the strength in Aliza's arms. Even in her underfed and skinny state she could still hug like a vice. He put his arms around her with a significantly gentler grip and they held each other like that for a good long while. Eventually he had to pry his way free when his anxiety whispered inside his head that the mask merchant was going to leave without him.

"Alright, time to go. I don't want to miss my meeting."

Aliza reluctantly let go and then watched from the top of the ladder as he climbed down to the sewers.

"Safe travels Kalana. If I don't see you again... thank you again for everything." She called after him.

"You're welcome. May your father watch over you from the stars above that he loved."

---

"Salesman! I have brought the mask that you seek!" Mewtwo shouted.

Slowly but surely the doors to the clock tower's ground floor swung shut behind him as he stepped further inside. Suspecting the mask seller to pop up behind him, Mewtwo spun around on his heels to look. Nobody was there though, and for a few quiet seconds Mewtwo wondered if he'd arrived too late and missed him. Then he heard the sound of the merchant's voice from the stairway down to the basement behind him.

"Please, come downstairs with me Traveler. We should seek privacy against any carnival-goers who might hear our music through the door and peek through."

Mewtwo turned around just in time to see the merchant's smiling face vanish down the stairway to the floor below. Once again he felt that uncanny, alien feeling lingering in the air, but he reminded himself of the kindness that the salesman had showed him last time and brushed the feeling off. He briskly walked down the stairs and met him face to face standing by the water wheel that powered the tower. Without any words, Mewtwo produced the Fierce Deity Mask from his bag and unwrapped it. Just like back in the vault before, the moment his bare fingers touched its wooden surface he could hear a brief rumble of drums around him that quickly faded back into silence. He reached out to offer it to the merchant, though he also simultaneously raised his guard and prepared to knock it out of his hands if it looked like he was about to put it on. The merchant took it and examined it for a few seconds, but fortunately made no moves to place it onto his face.

"Oh yes, this is most definitely the genuine article. We are quite fortunate indeed that the seal on the dark entity within is still intact. I knew that my faith in you was well placed, even if you were justifiably slow to trust me. Your half of our deal is now satisfied."

With that the salesman reached back and opened up a flap on the side of his massive backpack in order to stuff the Fierce Deity Mask inside. Mewtwo paid very close attention to the exact spot that it came to rest so that he could steal it back via teleport as planned. But first it was time to learn his way home.

"Alright merchant, what is the magic music that you promised me?"

"Did you find the instrument that I mentioned?"

"Indeed, though I do not know how to play it."

Mewtwo then dug out the blue Ocarina and showed it to him. The salesman seemed pleased though as he reached one hand out for it.

"Excellent. This is the Ocarina of Time, an instrument of untold magical power. Give it here for a moment and I will teach you."

Mewtwo tersely nodded and handed it over. He felt more than a little suspicious at first, but he again reminded himself of how he had used to Song of Healing to help him and it calmed him down once more. Thankfully the merchant kept his word and began to teach him all the basics, including where to blow into the Ocarina and how to cover the holes to make notes. But then a sobering realization hit him.

"Merchant, I fear this will not work. I do not possess enough fingers on my hands to block all the necessary holes on the Ocarina."

"Hmm, I suppose being three-fingered would present an obstacle to playing the instrument properly. Perhaps those myriad spells you possess could come in handy?" He suggested.

"Perhaps... it may be possible to block some of the holes with tiny telekinetic barriers?" Mewtwo pondered aloud.

"That seems as good an idea as any. Here, try it."

The merchant passed the Ocarina back to Mewtwo and he fiddled around with it for several awkward seconds. He fumbled around trying to consistently achieve seals over the holes for awhile, and once he finally got that to work he tested out several permutations of different blocked holes. He quickly discovered that it was easier to just use his hands to hold the Ocarina's weight up while doing all the blocking with telekinesis rather than mixing and matching between one or the other. It was considerably difficult to focus on manipulating barriers that finely and at that scale while also moving his fingers precisely. Once he finally could produce even, clear, consistent musical notes it felt like he'd just unlocked some sort of ancient cosmic secret.

"Incredible. I have always admired the beauty of music but I never imagined I could produce it myself. It is extremely fortunate that this Ocarina is so simple to play. I think I am ready now, what is the song that I must perform?"

"It is called The Song of Time. I learned it from the same adventuresome young lad who once carried that very Ocarina. It goes like this."

Then the merchant produced the same little mechanical brass music box that he'd used before and quickly wound it up. This time when he opened it up however it produced an entirely different song, and instead of producing a full orchestra it only produced the simplistic metallic tinkles that it should. Just like the Song of Healing from before, this Song of Time began with two simple repeating triads of notes that were then followed by a more complex additional melody that built upon them artfully. It took a few minutes of awkward tooting for Mewtwo to grasp it, but it was simplistic enough that he didn't struggle to memorize it quickly.

"There, you have it now. Just remember that the song alone is not sufficient to activate the magic. Intent is one of the most important ingredients for casting any sort of spell. This means that you can practice the notes of the song all you want without accidentally activating it as long as you don't will it to activate. A strong will is central to all proper, controlled spellcasting." The salesman explained.

"I see, so it functions quite similarly to my own psionics in some respects." Mewtwo observed curiously.

"You could say that. Feel free to practice the song a few times now if you wish. Once you are ready to walk your next path, play the song while willing it to take you to the place and time where you need to go. The Goddess of Time will take it from there."

Mewtwo gave him a nod and then began to "practice" as a cover for his next move. He focused on the Fierce Deity Mask tucked away in the merchant's backpack and then called upon his power to teleport it directly into his own pack. His eyes flashed blue with energy as it happened, but luckily the merchant didn't seem to notice. He just kept grinning silently while standing there watching him play the Ocarina. For a brief moment Mewtwo almost thought he saw the merchant's smile grow ever-so-slightly wider, but it was such a small and brief change that he chalked it up to his own imagination. Now that the mask was safely in his possession he focused his willpower and began to play The Song of Time with the intent to activate its effect before the merchant could realize what had happened.

"Going already? I will not stop you. As I once said to that young friend of mine, whenever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. However, that parting need not last forever... Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time... That is up to you."

Mewtwo could tell immediately that the magic was working when he felt a strange wave of tingling warmth wash over him while he played the second, more complex portion of the song. Then his vision began to white out as though a dense but bright daytime fog had appeared to obscure the whole world around him. He lost control of his entire body suddenly and the floor seemed to instantly fall away beneath him, causing him to plummet helplessly into the foggy abyss. The last things he saw before his consciousness departed him were the faint dark grey outlines of clock faces appearing out of the void beneath him and zooming up past him as he fell. The hands on every single one of them were rapidly spinning backward.

A/N:Alright, so now the Terminian portion of Book 2 is finished! Mewtwo's going on a little temporal jaunt, and next chunk will get to the REAL meatiest portion of the book. I expect there's at least another 200-250K words worth of content left, so get ready! I estimate next chunk will be in 3-4 months, so thanks again for sticking with me!