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!

19. Book 2: Darkness & Light - Chunk 4

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

A/N: Hello again dear readers! I must once again apologize for the fact that this chunk took so damn long. IRL complications abound as usual, including moving to a new place twice in quick succession and repeatedly dealing with sleep schedule disruptions. Maintaining one's CPAP machine is a constant struggle that one must always stay vigilant about. That being said, your wait wasn't done in vain! Here's a BEEFY 38K word chunk for you to enjoy! The next stage of Mewtwo's journey post-Termina begins here, and shit's about to really start hitting the fan. As always, buckle in with a mug of your beverage of choice and enjoy!

Chapter 7: Lost & Found

No matter how many times Mewtwo had to go through the experience of blacking out during portal transit he still wasn't getting any better at coping with it. Once again he didn't recognize it when the first thing his mind became cognizant of was a dream, though the dream's logic grasping firmly onto his mind certainly didn't help with that. Just like before he was forced into a state where the dream made him think it was reality, despite the immediate sense of familiarity. His conscious mind could feel the overwhelming sense of deja vu as he found himself standing in the same dark, stormy city clearing as his last nightmare.

The events played out exactly the same as before too. He stood quietly in the rain, listening to the thunder, waiting for the swamp-thick tension to break. The humans around him stared expectantly at the city wall until the thunderous booming began to sound.

"HOLD!" The human commander shouted once more.

Again the wall broke with a shower of dust and stones.

"OPEN FIRE!"

The cacophony of gunfire erupted all around him again, and though he knew what was coming next he still felt the same terrible uncertainty. He was increasingly aware of the fact that it was a dream again but his subconscious still had an iron grip on the thread of his mental logic. Soon the Immortals appeared, then the big black shape with eyes of fire. There was Darkest.

It was at this point that the dream changed. Once Darkest had disarmed all the soldiers, causing the roar of gunfire to cease, he did something slightly different. Instead of repeating what he'd said last time, Darkest simply pointed at Mewtwo and remained deathly silent. The single pointed finger communicated everything without the need for speech and sent the same waves of dread through him. The soldiers all around him still turned and stared at him with the same looks of expectant fear and anger as last time.

The silence remained as Mewtwo pondered his options. The same conundrum was presented as before, either surrender himself or consign the entire city to the grave. But everything felt off now thanks to the repetition and the lack of any words. It was as if his feeling of familiarity was desperately warning him that it was a dream so that he could snap out of it. He tried to listen to it, but then the dream seemed to re-assert its control over him by forcing him to do the same thing that he had done before. He found himself involuntarily sprinting away from Darkest, his Immortals, and the gathered throng of human troops. He could still hear the screams of horror after he fled though; it was clear the violence was a baked in part of this scenario that wasn't meant to change.

But as Mewtwo ran through the city to escape the horrors, the sense of familiarity finally faded away entirely. He didn't realize it but this was where he'd left off last time when Aliza had woke him up in the observatory. Now he didn't have anybody to recognize his terrified sleeping moans and shake him out of it. There was no escape. He turned several corners and he could feel his fear becoming suddenly much more real and sharp as he plunged into the unknown. The dark, empty streets presented no obstacles to him, but the total lack of people was all the more unnerving. It was then that the same sinister singing voice that he'd heard last time began to croon out all around him just like before. It started with the same stanza of lyrics that he'd heard in the previous iteration of this dream, but then it added a whole new stanza too.

"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

Doom will seize control of your whole spirit
Doom is all that you will be
You'll shed your current self
I'm you and you are me"

Mewtwo didn't have long to think about this horrible new addition before something else stole his attention. He was forced to come screeching to a halt when he hung a left at an intersection and came face to face with Darkest again. The shadowy fiend must have teleported ahead of him. He had another group of about a dozen armored Immortals standing around him. He was hovering via telekinesis again, albeit in a relaxed sitting pose despite a lack of any seat for him to sit on. The building behind him was still intact but had huge gouts of flame pouring out of the windows. Just as Mewtwo came to a stop he saw another Immortal leading a small group of humans out of the building's door. There were three of them, apparently a mother and a father with one young child, and their hands were restrained behind their backs with translucent cuffs made of telekinetic energy.

Again Mewtwo was utterly paralyzed with terror. Just like the first time he had this dream he tried to use his powers to stop this, and just like before nothing happened. He could do nothing as the humans were brought over and forced to kneel on the pavement in front of Darkest. Then, the shadowy silhouette of the Lord of the Sulaaq began to grin. It was the most sinister, terrible, soul-deadening grin Mewtwo had ever seen. The flames in the building behind him rose higher and higher and one of the immortals stepped forward to place a gun up to the head of the child as if preparing to make the parents watch what he was about to do.

"No! No! Please god help us!" The mother wailed.

Then, mercifully, Mewtwo snapped out of the dream before he was forced to witness what came next. Something had jabbed at the side of his body to wake him up. Sweating and panting from the adrenaline his dream had produced, he bolted up to a sitting position and looked in the direction of the poking jab he'd felt. He barely had time to even register the relief of realizing that it was all a dream before the strange familiarity of the sight in front of him sent his mind reeling in even more confusion. Here was a cute little girl of about 10 or 11 years kneeling next to him with a wooden stick that she'd used to poke him with. She had short, vivid green hair, clear blue eyes, and wore green shorts and a green tunic over a green turtleneck undershirt. In his confused and sleep-addled state Mewtwo forgot where he'd seen her before but he could still feel an overpowering sense of familiarity about her.

"Hey, um, are you alright mister?" The girl asked, backing up a step cautiously now that she saw that he was awake.

Mewtwo at least realized that he was laying out in the open in the middle of a forest without any mask or psychic disguise to hide his identity. Whoever this girl was, she was reacting remarkably calmly given his fearsome appearance.

"I'm... I'll be fine shortly. You're not afraid of me?" He asked.

The girl shook her head. "Not really afraid. The Deku Sapling told me something important was happening out here and asked me to go check, so I figured you were related to that."

"Deku Sapling?" Mewtwo asked, turning his head around to examine his surroundings.

Suddenly Mewtwo realized just how familiar his surroundings really looked. He recognized this as the forest clearing that Indiru had led him to which contained the massive tree with the gateway in it that he'd fallen through! He was lying on the grassy ground at the bottom of the cliff face, as if he'd been shunted back out of the portal in the tree and had rolled off the edge and fallen down here while unconscious. The stairstep trio of tree stumps was even there too. The only thing different about the place was the lack of vines over the entrance in the giant tree, and the fact that all the living trees here looked visibly smaller and younger, as if he'd been sent back in time by numerous decades. Then he finally remembered everything that had happened before he passed out. He remembered the Mask Salesman, the Fierce Deity Mask, the Song of Time, and the white void that the song had sent him spiraling into. As all of this clicked into place, the young girl happily answered his question.

"That's right! He's the new Guardian of the Lost Woods. He grew after the old Deku Tree died. He can talk and use magic too just like the old Deku Tree did. But I'm curious, what's your name mister?"

Of course all this talk about the Deku Tree just made Mewtwo's mind reel even more. He found himself recalling his conversation with the Deku Tree back during his journey with Kalana. If that tree was now just a sprout then that seemed to prove that he really had been sent back in time, but just how far?! Then he remembered where he'd seen this young girl; she had appeared in a flash of vision that he'd been given when he touched the Forest Medallion for the first time! All this was simply too much for him to handle all at once, especially on the tail end of a nightmare that traumatic. He placed a hand on his forehead and struggled to take some long, deep, steadying breaths. The girl noticed just how badly he was faring and knitted her brow with worry.

"You sure you're alright? Here, chew on one of these, they will help."

She dug out a small pouch and opened it, then offered it to him. Inside were some dried brown plant roots that reminded Mewtwo of Cassava roots. He looked down at it then shakily took one in his free hand.

"What is this?" He asked.

"Dried Hyrule Herb roots! They taste awful, but if you chew one and hold it in your mouth for awhile it makes you feel a lot calmer and better. Try it. Unless you can't stand bitter things anyway."

Those words helped Mewtwo realize that he was indeed stuck in a state of completely overwhelmed paralysis and he probably needed something like this. He took one of the roots and popped it into his mouth, then began to chew. The girl was right of course, the flavor that filled his mouth was an absolutely rancid bitterness, but after thirty or forty seconds of chewing he began to feel a cool, soothing wave of relief wash over his body. The stress and adrenaline from his nightmare faded away entirely, replaced by an almost narcotic-like sense of euphoria and relaxation. The girl saw his shaking subside and smiled.

"Good, told you that would help. You can introduce yourself in a little bit when you're done chewing that. My name's Saria by the way." She said with a sweet smile.

"I'm Mewtwo." He managed to work out around his mouthful of Herb root.

"Well I'm glad to meet you Mewtwo. Can you stand? We're pretty deep in the Lost Woods and it's not very safe out here. I'd feel a lot safer if we could go back to Kokiri Forest." Saria replied.

Mewtwo nodded and slowly climbed to his feet. The euphoric effect of the root wasn't the only thing it could do though, it messed with his motor skills and coordination and caused him to wobble and stumble. His feet felt like gigantic clubs that he could barely move with any degree of precision. Yet despite how embarrassing this was, the root's euphoric effect kept him from feeling anything other than giddy amusement. He chuckled a little bit as he used his tail to brace himself and avoid falling over.

"This stuff is amazing." He said, though his speech was slurred by the root as he tried to speak around it.

"You can probably spit it out now, it can make you kinda loopy if you have too much." Saria said, holding back a giggle.

Mewtwo at least had enough logic in his mind to follow her instructions. He spat it in the grass and took a few moments to fully center himself before lifting his tail off the ground again.

"Alright, I think I can walk. Where is this place you wished to take me?"

"Kokiri Forest! It's a tiny little village in a grove Southwest of here. It's much safer there, the Deku Sapling doesn't allow any monsters to get in. We should go right now, come on."

"Very well, lead the way."

Mewtwo unsteadily followed Saria out of that small clearing and through the log passage that led out to the previous, much larger area beyond. The Hyrule Herb's effects began to taper off fairly quickly, allowing him to regain his coordination and start thinking clearly again. Fortunately the fear from the dream didn't return with it, but he did manage to come to the conclusion that he could very well be in the same Lost Woods that Ven'rakúl had been built alongside. He knew that if he had truly been sent back in time then the town almost certainly wouldn't be there for him to find, but that didn't stop his emotional side from filling him with the desire to go looking. He decided that it cost him nothing to ask, so why not try that.

"Saria, have you heard of a settlement called Ven'rakúl?"

She shook her head. "Nope! That's a funny name!"

"Hmmm, alright, have you seen any Gerudos nearby anytime lately?"

"Nope! The only Gerudo that's been through here in many years was that really mean Ganondorf guy who killed the Deku Tree with his magic."

Mewtwo didn't recognize that name but it felt important. The syllables themselves seemed to carry a sinister weight all their own as they hit his ears. He made a mental note of the name and then nodded in resignation as he accepted the fact that he wouldn't find any of his friends in this time period, whenever it was. He still had to find whatever it was that Indiru had sent him for.

"I see, that's a shame. I have a lot of friends who are Gerudos, but they live a very long way away and it will probably be a long time before I can see them again."

Saria nodded in understanding and a sympathetic and sad look came over her face. "I'm sorry, you must miss them a lot."

"More than words can describe. But I will cope. Thank you for waking me back there, I was stuck in a really bad dream."

"Sure thing. Where are you from anyway? You don't look like anyone I've ever met before."

"It's a place even further away from here called Kanto. You probably have never heard of it, but that's ok. I'd struggle to describe it anyway."

"Ohh, ok. So what are you anyway?" Saria asked.

"I am simply called Mewtwo, it is both my personal name and the name of my kind, since I am the first and only of my kind."

"Wow, you're really the only one?! Isn't that lonely?"

Mewtwo couldn't help but turn away a little as he formulated a reply. He didn't want her to see the sad, wistful expression on his face. He understood that she was a child and children often didn't realize how hurtful they were being when they said such things so he held back the sadness and replied as kindly as he could.

"It is, but that's why I cherish my Gerudo friends so deeply. They are the light that I have held close to my heart ever since I came here."

"Well don't worry, once we get back to the village you'll be safe and able to head back to Kanto no problem!" Saria said cheerfully.

Mewtwo chuckled softly. "Oh there's still some things I have to do before I can return. Besides, Kanto was merely my birth place, it's not where the Gerudos lived. They're from the place with the funny name that I asked about, Ven'rakúl."

"Ooooh I understand. Is that place really far East? Is that how you got so lost in the Lost Woods?"

Mewtwo had to take a moment to think about how to reply. He barely even understood how he ended up here, how was he supposed to explain that to a child? He could only come up with one answer.

"It's actually a place hidden by magic. I'd need a spell to get back, and the magic makes it hard to describe."

"Woah, that's cool! A hidden magical town just like our village in Kokiri Forest! I didn't know Gerudos lived in such cool places!"

Mewtwo chuckled and nodded. "It's the best place I've ever lived. Though I am curious now, where are your parents Saria?"

"Parents?" Saria asked in a confused tone. It sounded as if the very concept was foreign to her.

This one really threw Mewtwo for a loop and for a moment he struggled to come up with a response. "You know, your mom and dad?"

"Oh! The Deku Sapling had a dad! That was the Deku Tree we all knew before. He also liked to say he was like our dad too."

"A... a tree is your father?" Mewtwo asked, now so confused that he needed to make sure he'd heard her correctly.

"That's right. We all miss him, but we know the Deku Sapling will make a good big brother for us eventually!" Saria replied with renewed cheer.

Mewtwo initially wanted to ask her just how a tree could father human children, but then he remembered it was a child he was talking to and decided to just accept it for now. It was probably just a fanciful Birds & Bees explanation someone had given her until she was older. He followed alongside her as they left all the enclosed clearings behind and began to walk through open woods together. For a time they were quiet, but then Saria asked him another question.

"What about your dad Mewtwo?"

"Ah, I don't really have one. Well, perhaps Professor Fuji could be considered something of a father to me but..."

He trailed off there, not wanting to tell her of the gruesome fate he'd doled out to the scientists who had created him. This was a child after all.

"He's no longer with us either, much like your Deku Tree."

"Ganondorf killed him too?!" Saria gasped.

"Hah no, it was just a comparison. He passed in a different way. I don't like talking about what actually happened to him."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Saria replied guiltily.

"It's ok little one, you didn't know. How far away are we from your village?"

"About an hour away, but it won't feel that long. I know some shortcuts. Before we get there though I should warn you. My friend Mido probably is gonna think you're a monster. Even though he knows the Deku Sapling wouldn't allow any monsters to enter, he probably will act really mean with you. If he gets to be too much I'll tell him to cut it out, but you should be ready for it."

"Ah, I see. It shouldn't be anything I can't cope with, but I thank you for your warning regardless."

---

By the time they arrived at Kokiri Forest Mewtwo had managed to completely clear his head and formulate a plan. He still planned on checking the area where Ven'rakúl had been since it was so close and would take almost no time, then he'd head out into the West to explore the area that had once been the Kingdom of Hyrule. If he really had been sent back in time then the cratered wasteland might very well be replaced by an actual kingdom now. Even if Indiru's goal for him wasn't out there he still wanted to see it for himself.

They walked through one last giant hollow log passage and stood atop a small cliff along the northern edge of the little village. Mewtwo saw it was just a series of hollowed out giant stumps that the inhabitants were using as houses, and it had a small waterfall that flowed down to a pond connected to a stream. It was open to the sky here and bright sunlight was shining down into the clearing at full noon intensity. As Mewtwo looked down he noticed that the place was populated with numerous blonde and green haired children roughly the same age as Saria but there were absolutely no signs of any adults.

"Welcome to Kokiri Forest, Mewtwo! This is our home. You can stay here as long as you like before you have to leave for the next leg of your journey." Saria said proudly.

"Thank you. I don't think I'll need to stay long though, certainly not all day."

"At least let me get you some lunch?" Saria asked hopefully.

Mewtwo couldn't help but smile a little. "Alright, but only if you think the others won't be afraid of me."

"As long as you're with me they won't say a thing. Well, except Mido anyway. Come on, just stay close ok?"

With that Saria went running down the hill ahead of him with childish excitement. Mewtwo couldn't help but smile as he followed. Saria's youthful exuberance was exactly what he needed to counteract the lingering negativity from the dream. He was forced to run after her to keep up, though once he closed the distance again his longer gait allowed him to keep up without difficulty. She led him to one of the stump houses on the southern end of the village and his unusual appearance immediately drew shocked stares from all the other children along the way. Almost instantly a whole procession of green-garbed youths formed behind them. By the time they had entered Saria's house the whole village was crowding in after them.

"Woah, what are you?!"

"You look like a monster!"

"Are you friendly?"

"He's with Saria, of course he's friendly!"

Their voices were loud and chaotic and he felt them grabbing and poking at him as he tried to examine the house's interior. Fortunately Saria seemed to have some measure of authority over them; she shouted angrily at the crowd and they immediately backed off and obeyed.

"Hey, cut it out everyone! This is really rude! He's my friend and guest even if he looks funny! You wouldn't like it if you got swarmed and grabbed at like this too you know!"

"Sooooorrrry!" Most of them replied.

"Now get out! This is my house and I wanna give him some lunch!"

The crowd did as instructed and the vast majority turned to leave. Mewtwo loosed a sigh of relief and returned his attention to scoping out the house. It was a very simplistic one room home in a circular shape. There was a child-sized bed carved into the back wall and a wooden table with tiny stools in the center. The rest of the walls had shelves filled with simple clay storage pots and hand carved wooden toys and boxes. There was a single brick-lined fireplace for warmth and it had a cast iron cooking pot hanging over it.

"Sorry about them, I was kinda hoping they wouldn't be like that." Saria said, reaching up to grab one of those clay pots off a shelf.

"It's quite alright, I'm used to such things now. You don't spend your life looking like this without drawing such reactions." Mewtwo said.

He sat down awkwardly on one of those tiny wooden stools and it became immediately apparent that it wasn't meant for someone his size. The wooden legs began to bend and creak, and even though the stool was tiny it proved to be too much anyway. The table was also very low since it was meant for children too, so he simply got off the stool and sat on the wooden floor instead. That put him perfectly at table height.

"Yeah but that doesn't make it fair or nice to do. I'll talk to them about it later. Do you like nuts more or berries?" Saria asked.

"Berries please."

Saria then popped the lid off of the jar and tilted it over a wooden plate on the table in front of him. A myriad of multiple different berries and fruits poured out onto his plate in a chaotic, if beautiful spray. She gave him just enough to fill his plate then poured some onto another plate for herself. Mewtwo had to admit it, they were immensely appealing and he was a fair bit hungrier than he had realized. Once she had put the jar away and sat down he began to eat. Most of them were fairly sweet, but some were surprisingly bitter and sour too.

"I actually used to enjoy eating berries back home in Kanto so this is a welcome reminder of better times back there." He said between bites.

"I'm glad! Admittedly I'm not much of a cook, the Know It All Brothers are much better at that. But berries are good enough to enjoy even without cooking so that works for me." Saria replied cheerfully.

Mewtwo nodded and ate quietly for awhile. Eventually he decided that it would be wise to try and ask her for information about the local area before leaving since she probably knew it far better than he did.

"So Saria, what's the area around the forest like? I plan to head West soon, are there any dangers out there that I need to be aware of?"

"Sadly I don't know that much. Us Kokiri aren't able to leave the forest. The Deku Tree told us before he died that we'd die if we tried. I'm the only one who's ever been able to leave without dying, and that's only with some extra-special magic that only I can use."

"Hmmmm, and I take it you've not been able to go beyond the forest for more than a brief time then?"

"Yeah. I didn't get to see much, but I can at least tell you that it shouldn't be too dangerous. All the Hylian people live out there just fine, and my old friend Link used to come and go all the time before he left." Saria replied.

It was at this point that a heartbreakingly sad expression came over Saria's face. This time it was Mewtwo's turn to be worried about her rather than the other way around.

"I take it this Link was very close to you?" He asked.

Saria nodded softly but didn't reply with words, instead picking up and eating a handful of berries.

"What happened to him, if it's not too much to ask?"

Saria swallowed her berries and sighed. "He left Hyrule a few years ago. His fairy friend Navi left him and he missed her so much that he ended up deciding to go looking for her. He hasn't been back since. Strangely enough, the last place he was seen was near the forest where I found you."

Now that was unusual. The gears began to churn in Mewtwo's mind and a theory began to take shape based on a growing suspicion.

"Saria, this friend of yours, did he happen to have short blonde hair?"

Her eyes widened in shock. "Yes! Did you meet him?!"

"No, but I think I may have met some people who did. I also found something that might be his."

Mewtwo then reached down into his bag and dug around until he found the notebook that he'd recovered in the Gerudo Pirate's Fortress back in Termina. He handed it to Saria expecting her face to light up with recognition, but initially she seemed only confused.

"What's that?" She asked.

"I'm not sure, but I found it in a place where he might have been. I can't read Hylian text, which is what I assume he wrote in, so would you mind taking a look at it for me?"

"Of course! Hand it here!"

Mewtwo passed the notebook to Saria and waited quietly as she examined it.

"The cover says 'Bomber's Notebook'. Not sure what that means, but Link did love tossing bombs around." She said, then opened the cover and looked inside.

"Any luck?" Mewtwo asked as she read.

"Most of the text looks unreadable, I think it got wet and the ink ran. But this definitely looks like Link's handwriting!" Saria said with growing excitement.

"Is there anything left you can read?"

"Yeah, but it's weird. Most of it looks like... schedules? There's names of people here and a horizontal chart with times of day on it. Let me keep reading."

Mewtwo waited with bated breath as Saria read. If this really did belong to Saria's friend and his name was Link then it meant there were probably clues about the life he led and why he was carrying around all those powerful masks.

"Looks like... some notes about people living in a place called Termina? Weird name, kinda grim if you ask me. Stuff like "Runs the Stock Pot Inn" or "Turned into a Child", and notes on where people can be found at different times of day. Lots of mentions of three specific days, like "The First Day" and "The Final Day." Huh, looks like a lot of mentions about people giving him masks too."

"Any mention of a mask called 'The Fierce Deity's Mask'?" Mewtwo asked.

"Not yet, but gimme some more time to finish reading."

Mewtwo nodded and resumed eating as he waited. Saria took several minutes, and before she could finish someone suddenly barged in through the door of her house. He was another child of roughly the same age, wearing a similar green outfit, and he had short blonde hair with messy long bangs that hung over his eyes.

"Saria! Are you alright?! Everyone told me there was some weird stranger that followed you out of the Lost Woods!"

Irritation laced over Saria's face from the interruption.

"Darn it Mido, I'm trying to focus here!"

Mido turned his gaze to Mewtwo at this point and Mewtwo found himself idly wondering if the boy could even see him through those bangs.

"Woah, what even are you!? You look like some sort of monster but you're sitting politely at the table!"

"I am Mewtwo, and yes I am not a monster. I'm a visitor just passing through and Saria invited me here for lunch."

"That's right, so buzz off and stop ruining our meal! Big Boss of the Kokiri or not, you have to do what the Forest Sage says!" Saria scolded.

Mido gave an exaggerated harrumph of frustration in response and put his hands on his waist to demonstrate his resentment. "Humph, fine! But I'm going and telling the Deku Sapling about this! Even a Forest Sage still has to do what he says!"

With that he turned and left, and Saria sighed and rubbed her temple with one hand once he was gone. Mewtwo briefly noted the fact that Saria had referred to herself with the word 'Sage', which sparked some curiosity deep in his mind. So far, the only other time he'd heard that word used like that was by Kalana talking about Nabooru as the ancient Sage of Spirit. Was Saria linked to Nabooru somehow? Either way, he was quickly distracted when Saria spoke again and before long he forgot this tidbit entirely.

"Yeah, that went about as I expected. Sorry about that Mewtwo."

"It's quite alright, you did warn me about him after all. I am too curious about what you're reading in the notebook to care anyway. Make any headway?"

"Not really. After all the schedules and notes it looks like there were much larger blocks of text, but almost all of them were washed out by the water damage. I'm worried about one thing though, there's a scary recurring title I keep seeing."

"Oh? What is that?"

"Well, this early page is labeled "Loop seven", then a few pages later it jumps up to "Loop forty three." Then there's a big stretch of ruined pages, and the next time it's readable it says "Loop four hundred thirty six." I don't know what it means but something about the numbers getting that big gives me a really bad feeling in my gut." Saria explained.

Mewtwo seemed to share in Saria's instinctual dread despite being just as clueless about it as her. The way it talked about Loops seemed too scarily relevant to the fact that Link had been using a song like the Song of Time that supposedly could power time travel. The implications for Link were terrifying to think too deeply about.

"I can see why you'd be worried. Keep reading, I can wait."

Saria did as instructed and Mewtwo returned to his lunch. He finished all his berries before Saria was done, and it wasn't too long before Mido slammed the door open and came barging back in again. A nasty, smug little bully's grin was plastered all over his freckled face.

"Hey Mewtwo! The Deku Sapling wants to meet you! And you know what that means Saria, you can't override it!"

Saria closed her eyes, took a deep sigh, then nodded. "Yeah, you're right. But unless the Deku Sapling said he wanted him right now then you can buzz off again and let us finish this!"

Mido's smug grin was undeterred. "You'd better not keep him waiting long though!"

"I won't!" Saria snapped.

Mido then strutted out of the house with a self-satisfied swagger, leaving the door standing wide open. Saria growled and got up to shut it, but then Mewtwo used a touch of telekinesis to shut it for her.

"Here, a little magic makes that easier." He said calmly.

"Thanks. Ugh, I know the Deku Sapling is really kind hearted and patient, so he won't be angry at all if we keep him waiting for awhile, but people might still get to whispering about how weird it is that I might do something rude to him like that."

Mewtwo nodded. "I understand. For what it's worth, I can always tell everyone that this was my idea. I don't mind taking the blame since I don't plan on sticking around after this."

That put a grateful and relieved smile on Saria's face. "Thanks. I knew I had a good feeling about you Mewtwo. Alright, back to it."

With that she resumed flipping through pages and reading. Mewtwo had no more food left to eat so he simply sat there and watched. He couldn't help but internally ponder what might happen if he did go visit this Deku Sapling. He wasn't 100% sure yet that it was the same one that would grow up to become the Deku Tree that he'd met alongside Kalana, but the possibility was there. Given the potential risk of altering the timeline, he decided it was probably important that he explicitly avoided meeting the Sapling despite Mido's insistence. He didn't care in the slightest if it was rude or not, the last thing he needed to do was risk destabilizing spacetime even further. He resolved to just slip away in a psychic cloak once Saria finished translating for him. She could then just tell everyone else he'd left against her instructions.

"Aha, finally! A solid block of readable text!" Saria exclaimed.

"Wonderful! What does it say?"

"There's not too much here and it's located at the very end, but I'll read it out loud regardless." Saria replied. She then cleared her throat and began to read.

"-believe I made such a dumb mistake. I got so used to the loop that I forgot that I'm outside of it now. Of course the pirates would change up their tactics and patrols since my last raid, now they remember it! At least the wall of the cell here is so soft that I can dig through it with just the silverware they gave me to eat with. I can use my bedroll to hide the hole I'm digging, and at the rate I can penetrate the soil I probably can reach the docks before morning. There's plenty of boats there that I can take. I just wish I had the time and resources to go find where they put my things before leaving. I don't mind losing most of the masks or the gear, but I can't leave the Ocarina behind. Worse than that, I can't help but have a sinking feeling of dread about the Fierce Deity Mask. The last time I wore it, it seemed to almost glue itself to my face. It took an hour to peel it off, and I had this horrible sinking instinctual feeling that it didn't want to be taken off. I shudder to imagine what might happen if one of the pirates were to put it on. The evil they could do with that power is staggering. I'm starting to think there was a good reason why the mask was up there on the moon. Maybe it was put up there on purpose and that whole dungeon with the weird kids was a prison built to keep it in. Well either way I need to make sure I come back to raid the fortress one more time to get it all back. Goddesses willing it goes better next time."

Saria stopped there, as she found the rest of the pages blank. Then she checked the interior of the back cover and her eyes widened.

"It IS Link's notebook! There's his signature there on the inside of the back cover!"

Mewtwo looked at it, but it was still Hylian and therefore it was totally unreadable to him. "Well that's good news! You should be happy too, it means that he escaped that fortress alive! He's probably still trying to figure out how to get his belongings back then."

Of course Mewtwo didn't have the heart to tell her that it'd been ten years since the journal had been left there and there hadn't been any sign of Link since. He couldn't bring himself to crush the hope of a child like her. Especially since her face lit up with the most wonderful smile of relief.

"Thank the Goddesses!"

She then got up and walked over to hug Mewtwo suddenly. He accepted it gracefully, though he had to hide the brief look of guilt that crossed his face.

"And thank you too Mewtwo. Do you mind if I keep this notebook?"

"Of course you can have it. It has no use for me and it clearly means a lot to you. When Link comes back it should be you who returns it to him."

That was enough to get Saria to hug him one more time, and this time he returned the hug. Once it was over Saria went back around the table to shut the notebook and hide it away in another wooden box on one of her shelves.

"I should probably be going soon, I don't want to keep the Deku Sapling waiting. But first, do you mind if I ask you a couple more brief questions?" Mewtwo asked.

"Of course! You've done me a wonderful favor and I want to help you in any way that I can."

"Can you tell me if you're familiar with a Gerudo named Nabooru?"

Saria nodded. "Of course. Nabooru is the current Chief of the Gerudo living in Gerudo Valley right now." Saria replied.

That was the answer that Mewtwo had been both hoping for and dreading. This confirmed that he had indeed been sent back in time at least all the way back to before the Sulaaq invasion of Hypalia. On the one hand it was absolutely amazing news since it meant that he could potentially intervene in the events leading up to the invasion, but on the other hand it was a nightmare since he was fully aware of just how difficult it would be to try to stop the Sulaaq. He was struck speechless for several seconds as he tried to comprehend the implications. Could this all be a part of the plan that Indiru's vision had been attempting to set in motion? Was he actually meant to find the Ocarina of Time so that it could send him this far back? Was he meant to try to stop the Sulaaq from conquering Hypalia, despite the fact that it would be just him against potential millions of Immortals and Chosen? His heart began to pound in his chest again as his mind reeled.

"Umm... Mewtwo? Is that a bad thing? You look like a Deku Baba's eating you. Do you need more Hyrule Herb root to chew on?"

"No, it's not a bad thing at all Saria. But I do think some more of that root would hit the spot right now, yes." He replied.

She still seemed worried since he hadn't yet explained to her why he was so terrified, but she at least did dig out her pouch and offer him another root. He accepted it with gratitude and popped it into his mouth, and only winced slightly from the taste now that he knew to expect it. Just like before it took a little bit less than a minute to kick in, and the relief was profoundly soothing and comforting. He leaned back in his chair and sighed loudly in relief despite how disgusting his mouth was tasting now.

"You sure you're gonna be alright? That's the second time you've needed a root now today." Saria said.

"I will be fine. Though I think I may have to find and harvest a few of these Hyrule Herb plants myself soon. I have a very difficult conundrum ahead of me now and I don't want to take too much of your supply."

Saria tilted her head to the side and her worried expression deepened. She then walked back over to his side and emptied the whole pouch onto his plate.

"Here. Take it all, I don't mind. Hyrule Herbs aren't too hard to find, they grow all over the place. They do take time to dry, and it sounds like you might not have the time to do that. But I do, and I can find a bunch more today. I don't know what this conundrum is that you're worried about, but it sounds like you're gonna need these more than me."

Mewtwo couldn't help but feel touched by her kindness. He clumsily scooped up the pile of dried roots with both hands and put them into his knapsack.

"Thank you Saria. Your generosity means a lot to me. You remind me of another young girl I knew back in Ven'rakúl. Her name was Indiru and she was just as sweet and selfless. I considered myself lucky to have been her friend."

"Well hopefully you'll get to see her again sometime soon after you figure this conundrum."

"That hope is exactly what keeps me going."

Chapter 8: Hylia's Chosen

The dread of Mewtwo's conundrum briefly fell away from him as he took his first steps out of the Kokiri Forest and soaked in the breathtaking view of Hyrule Field for the first time. The sun was still high in the sky above him and it bathed the rolling green hills in warm golden light. With the forest stretching out behind his back he was presented with a rolling verdant landscape of windswept grasses that was dotted with the occasional stout deciduous tree. Gone entirely was the dead, cratered hellscape that he and Kalana had traveled across. Dirt roads crisscrossed the field and he could see countless farm plots stretching across the gently sloping hills instead. It even smelled wonderful, and the way the warm summer breeze washed over his body was immensely comforting. For several blissful moments he stood there and basked in it all. Even though he was still dedicating a portion of his mental focus on maintaining the psychic cloak that he'd used to sneak away from the prying gazes of Mido and the other children, it wasn't enough to prevent him from enjoying the pastoral warmth of the kingdom stretching out in front of him.

Sadly that moment of peace couldn't last forever. As Mewtwo began to walk down the hill and into the grassy field his mind wandered back to all the fears that had been troubling him. The complete change of the landscape from the blighted wastes that he'd known to this utopian pasture just re-confirmed all his suspicions about having traveled through time and highlighted the importance of what he did next. There was no doubt left in his mind about his goal now. It seemed so utterly obvious now, why else would the Song of Time have sent him here specifically? Yet, how could he possibly hope to pull it off? He'd seen the fleets on the tactical display back in the tower while confronting Darkest; there were tens of thousands of starships participating in that battle! For all he knew that could even be just a tiny fraction of the forces Darkest controlled.

Worse than that, he now was starting to realize what would happen if he did win. Changing the future in such a huge way was a colossal risk! Even tiny changes like simply talking to Saria like he'd done could already have set in motion changes that he'd have no way to predict. Even if he did manage to somehow defeat every single Sulaaq or divert them away from Hypalia, there was an almost certain likelihood that the future he would be returning to wouldn't be one he recognized. Even if Kalana and Ruru and all the others still existed, they'd have grown up in a timeline where they'd never met him before. He'd be returning to a verdant and pastoral future, but it was a future full of strangers. He was now realizing that this was most likely what Indiru had meant when she told him that this was a one-way trip. The realization sank into his gut as he walked like a gulp of toxic sludge from a Grimer or a Muk. It was slow-acting, gut-wrenching, and potentially lethal. Yet he couldn't deny, he knew that if given the choice between giving Ruru a happy future or letting her live her life in terrible mourning, he'd rather give her the better life.

Mewtwo walked aimlessly for what felt like a tiny little fragment of eternity as his mind morosely drifted through those thoughts. It wasn't until he settled on the mental image of Ruru smiling and reunited with a still living Kalana that he finally felt some semblance of resolution start to build up in his gut again. It would be tragic to lose everything he'd ever done together with them, but he could rebuild those good times. If he could earn their trust and respect before then he could do it again. He sucked in a deep breath and steeled himself. He told himself that it wasn't a loss at all, just an opportunity to become their friends all over again. Best of all, this time he could do it without losing Kalana or Ruisa or anyone else. That thought finally gave him the strength that he needed and he looked up at the sky above him.

"They followed me into the heart of a Sulaaq city and faced down Darkest himself in order to save me. It's only fitting I do the same for them. I'll destroy the entire Sulaaq Dominion if I have to." He said out loud to himself.

Then an idea struck him and he smiled. "You know what? I know how to do it too. I saw how their empire crumbled when we struck Darkest himself down. I just need to find him and kill him again."

That thought was enough to bring his confidence up to a crescendo now. He grinned as he stared at the beautiful blue sky above him. He'd go through hell to protect this and to share it with Kalana, all he had to do was figure out the details.

Then he paused as he realized that the devil was in those details. He didn't know exactly where Darkest was. He had no idea where the Sulaaq headquarters even were out there. Even if he did find them, how would he reach them? They could be halfway across the Galaxy for all he knew. No, it was pointless to even consider searching the vast depths of space. It'd take far longer than he had time for. The Sulaaq would burn Hypalia billions of times over in the time it'd take just for him to find a way to leave Hypalia's solar system. Sure he could fly in space with telekinesis but there was no way in hell he could reach faster-than-light speeds. No, he had to let them come to him and hope that Darkest would be among them. He'd just have to help the Hylians hold out until Darkest showed himself and Mewtwo could spring out and nkill him. Ideally with Lightest's help.

But if he was to at least hold out a defense he'd need the help of every single spellcaster on the planet, and even that might not be enough. Hell, if he was being honest with himself then there was no way it would ever be enough unless the initial invasion force was as small as the garrison he'd fought back in his own time. Even that would be scarily touch-and-go. Then he remembered what Kalana had told him back when they'd first driven across the cratered wastes of Hyrule. She said that the Queen of Hyrule had been a legendarily powerful sorceress who could go toe to toe with a Sulaaq Chosen and hold her own. There certainly had been plenty of ruined vehicles sitting in the bottoms of those craters too, a fact which gave Mewtwo sincere hope that they perhaps could stand something of a chance together. He just had to find the Queen and warn her so they could prepare. There was just one problem left now: where was this Queen?

Mewtwo pondered this as he walked. It stood to reason that she probably lived in a conspicuous castle and chances were that such a castle would be located in or close to a large city or settlement. He knew he had access to his powers now so the easiest course of action was to just take off and fly around the landscape at high speed in order to search for a suitably large city that he could then scour. He wished Saria could have told him more about the Kingdom, but there was no use in lamenting his poor luck. For a brief moment though he turned his gaze Westward and pondered the idea of potentially going back to Gerudo Valley. Part of him pined to visit the Gerudos of this time period and meet Nabooru right away, but ultimately he decided that trying to find the Queen first was the more pressing matter. She could use her authority to send warnings and muster calls to everyone else in the Kingdom singlehandedly, and every second could make a difference.

Mewtwo then took off and zoomed straight up into the sky for his usual reconnaissance flight. He was able to quickly spot a decent sized walled city several miles Northwest of the forest, but curiosity drove him to fly a little higher to get an orbital view again. He wanted to see if the Hypalia of this time looked similar to the one that contained Termina. Interestingly enough it did look about 75% similar; the three main continents were the same and there was still a beautiful deep blue ocean all around them. But there were notable differences, such as mountain ranges in different spots and rivers following different courses. Remembering what the Mask Salesman had implied about Hypalia having many different parallel continuities he realized that this actually made a sort of sense in its own strange way. He made mental notes of all the various landmarks he saw around the Lost Woods then descended. Without a hand drawn map detailing the political boundaries of the world's kingdoms he had no idea how far Hyrule's borders reached. Most interesting of all was the fact that there still was a surprisingly large stretch of open desert west of Gerudo Valley, and beyond that was sandy shores and deep blue sea.

Mewtwo of course charted his course directly to the walled city that he'd seen on his way up. He controlled his descent velocity fairly strictly in order to avoid a bright re-entry burn that might have drawn the gazes of the city's inhabitants. This made the descent take far longer, but ultimately this was a boon since he needed time to consider how to approach the situation. He was again presented with a no-win situation: if he approached undisguised then his appearance would terrify everyone who saw him and the Queen very well might attack him with her magic. But if he put on the Gerudo mask then he risked invoking the prejudice of the Hylian people. After the way the Terminians had treated him in his disguise he wasn't confident it'd be any better here.

He was still stumped by this as he finally got close enough to take in a detailed view of the city. He estimated it was anywhere from half to one full square mile in surface area and seemed to be in the midst of a massive economic boom, judging by the large amount of active construction. There were wooden scaffolds and construction sites everywhere among the wooden and white brick buildings, and the city was enclosed and subdivided by two sets of white stone walls. The inner wall was protecting the densest part of the city that was filled with multi-story complexes around an open marketplace. It was a comparatively small wall that connected to a set of cliffs that hemmed in the castle keep at the center. The outer wall was much larger and newer; it looked like a relatively fresh addition that had been added after the city had outgrown its original walls and spilled out to spread. Those outer walls were mostly finished but Mewtwo could see some scaffolds around partially constructed guard towers interspersed regularly throughout.

Mewtwo was briefly distracted by pondering the odd choices the Hylian people had made here while constructing the place. The castle keep was tucked into a low clearing that was surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs and high hills that formed natural barriers, and it seemed like originally they had just relied on those cliffs alone to defend the keep. But the new outer wall that they were finishing had been built up to the cliff and atop the hills to ensure nobody could just climb the cliffs to get around the defenses. It also looked like the inner wall and the castle both had water moats channeled from a natural river that flowed in from somewhere East of the city. It was quite an ingenious way to use the landscape to their advantage while expanding and improving on it with the technology they had on hand.

Then an idea struck Mewtwo. He didn't actually need to walk through the entire city on foot, he could just fly around the castle while cloaked and scout around to find the Queen or a good place to land. He'd have to figure out a delicate way to approach her in order to avoid offending her of course, and that was the biggest hitch in this plan. Normally he didn't like playing things by ear and always preferred to have a plan, but this seemed to be a situation that called for adaptation on the fly. Since he'd never dropped his cloak since he left Kokiri Forest he simply floated down to come to a stop just above the castle courtyard to assess his options.

The castle itself was made of pristine white marble and had its own square wall with guard towers at each of the four corners. Inside it had four shorter towers and one taller central tower that were all topped with blue metallic conical spires. The courtyard had a long winding mazelike portion filled with fountains, hedges, and patrolling guards that Mewtwo disregarded immediately. But it also had a beautiful octagonal little open-air sanctuary at the end of this maze. Here was a raised grassy garden surrounded by a tiny little ankle-deep water moat. There was a little white wooden gazebo built in the center with a comfy padded chair, and sitting in that chair was the unmistakable figure of the Queen of Hyrule.

The Queen was as regal and beautiful as Mewtwo expected. She was a young adult woman apparently in her late twenties to early thirties with long, straight sandy blonde hair and sharp, elongated elven ears. She had a slender build and piercing blue eyes that harbored unusual intensity and age in their stare. She wore an elegant long white dress with a purple top, solid gold plate pauldrons on her shoulders, and a blue tabard hanging from her waist decorated with numerous unfamiliar symbols. She was resting in her chair with a faintly worried expression on her face. As Mewtwo studied her and tried to consider how to approach her, something strange happened on the peripheral edge of his vision. One of the shadows cast by a tree in her little garden seemed to move on its own.

Before Mewtwo could even turn his gaze to look, a whole person had seemingly materialized directly out of that shadow. Here was an older woman in her late 40s or early 50s who had white bleached short hair tied into a bun on the back of her head. She had imposing blood red eyes and jagged white markings painted on her cheeks under her eyes. She wore a skintight fighting outfit made of black and blue material almost like spandex, accentuated by some sparse armor plates, and she shared the same long pointed ears as the Queen. More disturbingly, she also wielded an item in her right hand that Mewtwo immediately recognized as one of those magic-sensing hand lenses that he'd seen guards using back in Termina. She wasn't actively looking through it at the moment, but Mewtwo was close enough to overhear it when she spoke and her words made it clear that the jig was up.

"Zelda, we have a visitor in the courtyard."

Zelda, who up until now hadn't shown any indication of awareness of Mewtwo's presence, nodded casually as she replied.

"Oh I am aware. Even if I cannot see him directly I can sense him."

Then Zelda turned her eyes upward and stared directly at the spot where Mewtwo was hovering. Her gaze wasn't angry but it certainly communicated a stoic lack of fear. It was enough to cause a fresh batch of adrenaline to dump into Mewtwo's bloodstream. Well now there was no further point in keeping up this charade. It was time for him to adapt to the situation and hope he could defuse the tension with words. He decided to speak first to preface his approach before dropping his cloak.

"Apologies for the rude nature of my intrusion. I mean neither of you any harm. I had to come in secrecy because my shape is fearsome and your guards would have mistook me for a monster. Before I show myself to you, I must humbly request that you not jump to such a conclusion and attack me." He said.

"The impudence of making such demands while trespassing on the Castle Courtyard uninvited!" The white haired woman barked angrily.

"Impa, it's alright. Our guest is clearly a sorcerer of no small talent. If he had wanted to harm me he would have attacked already. Stand by please." Zelda said calmly.

Impa turned to give Zelda a worried look but didn't protest. It was clear she didn't like this situation but trusted her Queen implicitly. Zelda then turned back to Mewtwo, still tracking his location with her gaze even as he lowered himself to stand on the grass in front of the gazebo.

"You have my word that you will not be harmed, stranger. Show yourself."

Mewtwo did as instructed and dropped the cloak without raising any illusions or wearing his Gerudo Mask. He wasn't exactly properly dressed compared to the two of them; his cloak was now more than a little filthy and stiff after he'd been forced to wash the blood out of it with sea water. He also was visibly armed with the Vatorsa Spear, which he realized was probably a faux pas in the company of royalty, but it was too late to hide it. Zelda's calm gaze shifted to one of shock for a brief moment, but she regained her composure and replaced that look with one of curiosity. Impa scowled and placed one hand on the handle of the sword that was sheathed at her waist but remained still as Zelda had commanded.

"By the Goddesses, you certainly are unusual indeed. You almost remind me of some of the other beastkin peoples of Hyrule, such as the Zoras, but with feline nature instead. Please, tell me your name." Zelda said, still remaining quite calm.

"I am called Mewtwo, both as my individual name and the name of my kind."

"I am Queen Zelda Iliana Hyrule, and this is my personal attendant Impa. I apologize if she comes off as rude, as typically she does not abide by uninvited guests in the castle." Zelda replied.

Mewtwo wanted to say more than that but suddenly he felt a strange and familiar sensation coming from Queen Zelda's direction that caught him completely off guard. It was a sensation that he was quite used to, just not coming from anyone on Hypalia. It was a psychic probe gently testing the boundaries of his mind. Mewtwo nearly did a double take, but then remembered the tales Kalana had told him about Zelda's power and realized that it wasn't exactly far fetched to imagine that she had psychic talent. Her touch was cautious and inoffensive at first which made a certain degree of sense; she was likely trying to size him up without being hostile about it. Given the fact that he'd just intruded on her private domain he decided that this was understandable and quite warranted so he didn't say or do anything hostile in return. He did however keep his guard raised, which deflected Zelda's probe quite handily. She raised one eyebrow as if she was surprised and taking note of his mental fortitude.

"A sorcerer of your skill doesn't just wander randomly into the private quarters of a Queen. You had to have known you were trespassing when you flew over all the walls and guards. Tell me, what brought you here? I imagine it must be something of vital importance."

Mewtwo understood the veiled threat lurking behind the implications of those words. Fortunately he seriously doubted that she'd find his warnings to be any less than vitally important.

"It is. I came here to bring you a dire warning. There is a dark and terrible force preparing to invade your kingdom at some indeterminate time in the near future and we may not have much time to prepare."

"What sort of force?"

This was going to be the hard part. At least the Gerudos of the future had some level of understanding of Sulaaq technology after centuries of experience stealing it and messing with it. He could tell Zelda was extremely intelligent though just based off of her manner of speaking, so he just needed to find a way to summarize this in layman's terms without coming off as condescending.

"They are called Darkest's Dominion, or Sulaaq in the Gerudo tongue. They are a bloodthirsty empire composed of others of my kind. By our nature we are all innate spellcasters of incredible latent power, so a large group of them represents a dire existential threat. On top of that they possess highly advanced technology far beyond anything anyone on this world can imagine."

Surprisingly, Zelda actually seemed to take him seriously rather than disbelieving him outright like he expected. She sat up a little straighter in her seat and furrowed her brow as she studied him intently.

"This is quite an outlandish claim, do you have any proof? The last time our kingdom was so threatened the Goddesses saw fit to warn me with premonitions. I find it hard to believe that they would intentionally choose to warn me of one such threat and then allow another to topple us freely."

"I do. I possess a weapon built from the same technology that they use. I can show it to you, if you permit me to use such a thing in your presence." Mewtwo replied.

Zelda nodded and then turned to give some sort of hand signal to Impa, who removed her hand from her weapon and visibly relaxed a little. Mewtwo then reached back into his backpack and grabbed the Guardian Pistol.

"This is a weapon known as a laser. It looks like magic, but in fact it uses technology to produce a beam of pure light so intense that it can burn through flesh, armor, and magical barriers alike with impunity. One shot is enough to kill even the most heavily armored warrior instantly. I can demonstrate this if you desire, but be warned, it is quite loud and bright." Mewtwo said, holding it out for her to see.

Zelda's curiosity was piqued enough that she stood up from her seat and walked right up to him.

"May I see it?" She asked.

"Yes. This is the trigger, and this lens is where the beam emerges from. Handle it cautiously." He replied, handing it over to her.

Since the pistol was designed to fit the hands of a Guardian clone soldier instead of a human it was rather awkward in Zelda's slender hands. She turned it over and examined it cautiously, then handed it back to him. She then took a step back and began to gesture her hands swiftly. Blue glowing light began to swirl around her, taking the shape of a translucent blue crystal enclosing her body.

"I would like you to test fire it for me. Aim directly at me. I wish to see this power firsthand." She said confidently.

Mewtwo immediately furrowed his brow. Just one shot from one of these pistols was enough to severely strain his shield. He knew Zelda was powerful of course, but was she really on this level? He turned his gaze over to Impa, who was standing nonchalantly in the same place she'd been up until now. She didn't seem perturbed at all by the events playing out directly in front of her. She wasn't even paying attention to Zelda at all in fact; her gaze was fixed unblinking directly on him. There wasn't as much mistrust as before, but it was clear she was keeping a close eye on him for any funny business. Given she seemed to be Zelda's personal bodyguard judging by her actions up until now, Mewtwo figured that if she was ok with this then he might as well go for it. He'd aim at her barrier but try to miss her body. He raised the pistol and flipped the safety off, then took a deep breath and tried to aim steadily.

Unfortunately the glowing barrier around Zelda made it progressively harder to aim, as it seemed to quickly gain brightness and intensity up to a fairly dazzling zenith. He could hardly see her outline through the glow, so he aimed at the widest portion of the crystal at its equator before firing. The beam generated by the Guardian Pistol was a searingly bright blue as opposed to the red fired by Darkest's weapons but it still generated the same ear piercing SNAP sound. To Mewtwo's astonishment Zelda's diamond-esque barrier not only deflected it entirely, but it did so without even bending or showing any other signs of strain. The beam actually seemed to shatter into several smaller, weaker beams as if dispersed or diffracted by a reflective mirror. Thankfully these smaller beams were too weak to do much other than scorch small patches of grass and make a few tiny black burn marks on the marble brick walls around them. None hit Mewtwo or Impa, though Impa did at least flinch and leap back instinctively with impressive speed.

Mewtwo winced a bit too of course, if one of those smaller beams had bounced back at him it still would have hurt. He lowered the weapon and flipped the safety back on, and then Zelda lowered her barrier. She still wore that same calm expression, though Mewtwo could tell that something had shifted in her demeanor. She seemed much less doubtful now, and her stony emotional state was softer.

"Impressive. Only one other attack has struck Nayru's Love with that level of ferocity, and that was a spell cast from the palm of Ganondorf himself. You said there would be many of them carrying weapons such as these, correct? How many?"

"That's the problem, I don't know the exact number, but I can tell you it will be thousands or even tens of thousands, if not more." Mewtwo replied, finally putting the gun away.

Zelda looked sobered now. She turned and locked eyes with Impa and then spoke softly.

"That very well may be enough to shatter Nayru's Love."

Impa's demeanor finally cracked slightly. She knitted her brow and raised one hand to her chin.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. Shall I go to Kakariko to begin enacting our contingencies?"

"Yes, and gather all the Sages too. I can sense that Mewtwo is being sincere and genuinely wishes to help us. I will be fine without your presence." Zelda replied.

Impa nodded and then turned to walk over toward the same tree she'd emerged from behind before. As soon as she entered its shadow her physical form seemed to dissolve into nothingness right before Mewtwo's eyes. He assumed this was some form of teleportation but it lacked all the hallmarks he was familiar with, such as the typical bright flash of light and noise. With Impa gone Zelda returned her focus to Mewtwo, though by now a group of guards had appeared in the archway in a panicked clanking cacophony.

"Your Highness! We heard a loud bang!" One of the guards shouted with concern in his voice.

"It is of no concern, there is no intruder. I am hosting a guest and we are using some magic. Please return to your posts and give us privacy. There are to be no other visitors today except in dire emergencies, am I understood?" Zelda ordered.

The soldiers all straightened up and saluted rapidly.

"Yes, as you command Your Highness!"

Then they turned and left, leaving nothing but the clanking noise their armor made as they ran. Zelda then closed her eyes for a brief moment and turned to walk back to her gazebo. She gestured to Mewtwo to follow her and began to pick up her things.

"Mewtwo, typically I would offer some gestures of hospitality to my guests in the castle but the circumstances of your warning dictate that I skip such pleasantries and move right into questioning you about this."

"Of course, I would prefer it this way. I don't know the exact date of the invasion, so wisdom dictates that we act as though it could arrive imminently." Mewtwo replied.

"Agreed. But there is something else I must ask you before I begin." Zelda then paused picking up her things and turned to give Mewtwo a very serious look. "I have a very keen sense for magic and right now I sense the presence of something particularly powerful and familiar on your person. Something I believe I may have owned many years ago. Tell me, are you in possession of an Ocarina?"

There was a strange hopefulness in Zelda's tone as she asked this. It was as if she was secretly hoping that he did indeed have the item but couldn't bring herself to get her hopes up. Mewtwo immediately knew what she was talking about too, so he reached into his backpack and pulled out the Ocarina that he'd found in Link's belongings. Her eyes widened as she laid her gaze upon it and she audibly gasped.

"Then... you did meet him!" She said in quiet amazement.

"If you mean Link, then unfortunately, no. I found it in a cache of his stolen belongings stored away in a pirate stronghold."

Those words struck at Zelda with the impact of a punch to the chest. He actually could see tears starting to gather in her eyes.

"So he is dead then." She whispered softly.

"Not necessarily. I found a journal he left behind that mentioned that he knew an easy way to escape. There was no actual evidence of his death, just that he was robbed." Mewtwo explained.

Zelda shook her head. "He never would have left the Ocarina behind. He knew how important an heirloom it was to me, and he was not one to take his oaths lightly. If he never returned to reclaim it then something must have taken his life in the interim."

Mewtwo wasn't certain how to respond to this. He'd never known Link, but Zelda certainly seemed to have known him well and he had no reason to doubt her assessment of him. Before he could come up with a reply though she suddenly shifted demeanor and changed her mind.

"No, he's too strong to have died to anything less than another world-ending calamity. If he left the Ocarina behind there must have been a good reason for it that we are just not yet aware of."

Mewtwo didn't have the heart to tell her that ten years had passed in Termina since Link had left the Ocarina behind. Instead he nodded along in agreement and went with it.

"That is what I figured. The place where I found his belongings was highly remote and the pirates had incredibly powerful defensive fortifications. But, there is good news for him. If he ever returns to that fortress, he will find those defenses unmanned, as I defeated all the pirates with my spells before departing."

A slight smile came over the corners of Zelda's mouth.

"Good. Then it is only a matter of time until he returns. In the mean time, would you care to accompany me to the Castle Library in order to discuss this threat in more detail and with proper privacy?"

"That seems prudent. If we're going to walk through the castle then I will disguise myself in order to avoid frightening your guards and staff with my appearance." Mewtwo replied.

"That will not be necessary." Zelda replied, then grabbed her last few things before approaching him and offering him her hand.

Mewtwo initially didn't know what she was implying, but when she offered him her hand he suddenly found himself wondering if she also was capable of teleportation too. He tentatively reached out to place his hand atop hers and then she used her other hand to gesture again. A strong wind suddenly began to pick up all around them in the courtyard and Mewtwo could feel it rotating around them like a vortex. It blew harder and harder, causing Mewtwo's cloak and Zelda's dress and hair to pick up and flutter intensely. Glowing green energy began to form in the air around them, and over the course of a handful of seconds it grew brighter and brighter until it washed out the world entirely and blinded him for a brief moment.

When the glowing green wind finally faded Mewtwo saw that his suspicions had actually been confirmed. They were no longer standing in the courtyard; now they had been placed in a cramped, dusty old library somewhere deep in the bowels of the castle. There were no exterior walls here so the room lacked windows; all the light was provided by torches and oil lanterns hung from the stony brick walls. There were five large rows of floor-to-ceiling wooden bookshelves filled with books in the center of the room, and behind them was a small, cramped study with a round table where four people could sit. Dust and cobwebs were covering the corners of the room, but the table and writing desk were clean and well-used, implying the place was sill relatively active even if it wasn't cleaned very often.

"You can teleport too! Impressive, I've never met anyone other than myself with such a skill." Mewtwo said.

"That was a spell called Farore's Wind. Very few are privy to it or the other two spells of the Goddesses, and fewer still are capable of casting them. But this is tangential, we must focus on the threat you mentioned. I need you to tell me as much as possible about this Darkest and his Dominion now so we can prepare. You said that they are masterful sorcerers like yourself, what sort of spells do they specialize in?" Zelda asked.

"They can do everything that I can, up to and including casting spells of invisibility, flight, teleportation, mind reading and telepathy, and numerous other offensive abilities. Beams, orbs, and blades of differing elemental energies are all possible, as well as direct psychic attacks on the mind." Mewtwo explained.

Unlike everyone else that Mewtwo had spoken to about this topic, Zelda actually understood psionics and didn't seem to be even slightly confused by his words. Her expression did grow more dire as he spoke though.

"I see. You also mentioned advanced technology, what sort of machines can we expect them to use against us other than the laser that you showed me?"

Mewtwo took a moment to consider just how to explain such things to her. He cast his gaze around the room idly while his brain churned over this and then his eyes suddenly settled on something useful. It was a large steel shield that had been mounted to the wall for decoration just underneath one of the torches. It was covered in a layer of grey dust and its surface was partially marred by rust, but it looked thick and sturdy enough to serve as a decent visual aid. He plucked it up off the wall and held it out in front of Zelda.

"Consider how thick this steel shield is, then imagine doubling or even tripling its thickness. Now imagine a vehicle large enough to carry ten men fully protected inside. Picture it is composed entirely out of steel that thick."

"Incredible. Such a vehicle would be unimaginably heavy though wouldn't it? No horse could hope to bear such a load." Zelda replied incredulously.

"They don't even use horses for propulsion. They are driven by a magically captured raw energy similar to lightning. That same power even allows them to build and operate massive flying metal ships that traverse the sky above us."

Zelda was speechless now as the true magnitude of the threat sank in. Mewtwo returned the shield to its place on the wall as he waited for the wheels to finish turning in her head. She turned and began to pace around the table, first chewing on one finger and then thinking aloud.

"Against such steel fortress vehicles, all our traditional arms such as spears and bows will be useless. But the warriors themselves must emerge from the protective hulls to fight, yes?"

"Yes, but they are all capable of creating barriers of psychic force around themselves that can turn blades and arrows aside just as easily." Mewtwo replied.

"Then Hyrule's standing army will be helpless against them. The only weapons we can rely on to harm them will be spells of our own."

"In essence, yes. Judging by the powers of the spells you've shown me, I surmise that you'd be roughly evenly matched with one of them in a fair one-on-one fight. But I imagine that casters of your aptitude aren't exactly abundant." Mewtwo said grimly.

"Indeed."

They were both silent for a moment as a pall of looming dread settled over the room. When Zelda next spoke it was in a softer, more subdued tone.

"You seem to know quite a lot about these Sulaaq, as you called them. Have you fought them before?"

"Yes, under the fleeting light of a storm-choked, lightning-lashed sky. I faced down their leader, Lord Darkest himself, along with a distant platoon of his soldiers who were feeding him the collective sum of all their power. He was already a psychic juggernaut on his own, capable of shattering one's mind under a torrent of psychic fury and fear. But with the cumulative strength of an army coursing through his being he became an avatar of death itself. The only reason I was able to even remotely stand a chance against him was because I was wielding several of the elemental medallions at the time."

Zelda's expression instantly flashed from a scowl of worry to shock.

"You wielded the legendary Medallions of the Sages?! Which ones? When did this happen?!"

Mewtwo instantly knew that he'd made a huge mistake. If he tried to backtrack and cover up the truth now, Zelda would see through his lies immediately. She was simply far too intelligent and perceptive for him to stand any chance of deceiving. Oh well, he had already decided to change the future anyway, what did it matter that one person knew about his temporal jaunts?

"The answer to that question may strain my credibility. Your Highness, are you familiar with Time Magic?"

Zelda raised an eyebrow as her expression shifted to suspicion.

"Intimately. You're not implying...?" She trailed off.

"May I see the Ocarina one more time please?" Mewtwo asked.

Zelda reached down and retrieved it from the inner pocket where she'd stashed it after Mewtwo had returned it to her. She handed it to him and he briefly played the Song of Time without activating its magic. Her eyes widened in renewed shock as she instantly connected the dots.

"You came from the future!"

"Correct. Approximately 500 years in the future, to be specific."

Zelda's look of shock lingered for a few moments and then wilted into a stew of fear and gravity.

"You must have come to change the past in order to alter the course of the future. This warning that you've brought me must be the crux of why you're here. I have no choice but to believe you then; the Goddesses would not have brought you here to this specific place and time otherwise."

"How do you know it was them who sent me? I thought it was the magic of the Ocarina that controlled that?" Mewtwo asked.

Zelda shook her head gently. "The Ocarina of Time is merely a tool, it does not have intelligence or agency of its own. It is a conduit that channels the divine power and will of Hylia, the Goddess of Time and Creation. She created it to be the primary instrument through which her chosen Heroes and Sage of Time could perform their work in her service, though any mortal who knows a magical song could use it for secondary purposes. The song you just played, The Song of Time, is the key that unlocks its power to alter time itself. When you play it, Hylia herself hears, and it is up to her where and when you are sent. The fact that you ended up here after playing it is irrefutable proof that the Goddesses have a plan in mind for you."

"How do you know all this?" Mewtwo asked.

Zelda closed her eyes and then placed her hands onto her chest. She wasn't visibly offended by Mewtwo's skepticism, but she did seem to have gone strangely quiet in the face of his question. Before Mewtwo could ask her a follow-up question her whole body began to glow with a gentle, diffuse sky-blue light. A concentrated orb of this light seemed to appear out of her chest and transform right before his eyes. It coalesced into the familiar shape of another one of the elemental medallions. This one was a pale sky blue color and it had a symbol similar to a clock face embossed onto it.

"It is my job to know. I am Hylia's Chosen, the Sage of Time."

This time it was Mewtwo's turn to gawk in amazement. His psychic senses were being lit up by the brilliant aura of magical power radiating off of the medallion. It felt just like the energy that had swept him away when he'd used the Song of Time to come here.

"So you are. No wonder you sensed me so easily, the Ocarina's presence must have been like a beacon to you. This also explains why you figured everything out so quickly." Mewtwo replied softly.

"Indeed."

Then Mewtwo realized that this must have been why Indiru hadn't allowed him to bring any of the medallions with him when he came here. Her portent was destined to send him back in time, and it would likely cause catastrophic consequences if medallions from two different time periods came into contact with each other. Then a blinding spark of an idea struck him.

"Your Highness, this gives me an idea. When I wielded the medallions in the future, just three of them were enough to keep my psychic reserves fully refueled indefinitely. If all of them are here in this time period and none of them are lost or otherwise inaccessible, then we could theoretically gather them all together and use them as a weapon to fight Darkest. It may be our only chance."

"Perhaps. It wasn't long ago that we gathered the Sages together and used our power to seal Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm. But things have changed since then, and not for the better. It may not be possible to convince Chief Nabooru to aid us now, given the war currently going on." Zelda replied, lowering her medallion onto the table with a regretful look.

Suddenly Mewtwo remembered Hadara's history lessons and his blood froze in his veins. He had completely forgotten about the war that the Hylians had waged against the Gerudo as revenge for the actions of the King of Evil. This Ganondorf that people have kept mentioning must have been him. But what of the seven Gerudo Heroines that Hadara had taught him about? Was there an overlap between them and the Sages he kept hearing about? He might have asked about this if his mind wasn't filling up with fresh anger.

"You! You were the one to order the war against Nabooru and her people!" Mewtwo exclaimed angrily, pointing his finger at Zelda.

Rather than becoming incensed by Mewtwo's accusatory tone however, Zelda suddenly looked ashamed. She lowered her gaze to the table and spoke in a regretful tone.

"I tried to stop it, I know it is a needless waste of life, but-"

"But what?! You are the Queen, are you not? Do monarchs not have absolute power over their subjects?"

"It is not so simple." Zelda said morosely. "Ever since I took the throne I have been introducing new reforms to curtail the powers of the crown after growing up witnessing the bloodshed that my father's wars have caused. I wanted to put more power into the hands of the people, but instead the nobility have swooped in and seized the opportunity to increase their own political influence instead. My father's younger brother, Archduke Alastor Valdis Hyrule, recently united them behind the cause of avenging father's death, though I suspect he has designs on the throne himself. Together they have rallied the commonfolk to their cause and stoked widespread fear and hatred of the Gerudo, blaming them for Ganondorf's evil reign. Alastor and his cronies nearly raised a populist revolt against me until I acquiesced and signed their declaration of war. If I had refused they would have beheaded me, put Alastor on the throne, and started their war without me. At least with me here on the throne I can try to keep the worst of their bloodlust in check."

"Well Zelda, if you mean to trust me and to listen to my warnings about the future, then hear me out now. Your efforts are doomed to fail. No matter what you do to try to rein in the violence, the Hyrulean army is destined to eventually slay Nabooru and drive her people out of the valley and into the deep desert. At the peak of the bloodshed, when your army is ravaged and your kingdom divided, that is when Darkest will strike. With the Heroines driven away, not even your magic will be enough. Every single person in Hyrule and the rest of the world around it will be either slain or enslaved. Only a small handful of Gerudos will survive and retain their freedom, and that's only because Darkest's generals will enjoy watching them suffer and struggle to survive in the hellish desert wasteland that the world will become."

The stark, bleak truth hit Zelda brutally hard and she stood speechless for a few moments as her gaze fell to the floor.

"I... I still don't understand why the Goddesses would warn me about Ganondorf but not about this."

"I can't say. But I do know one thing for certain: the war must end today. There is zero margin for error, Your Highness. If your troops have already killed Nabooru then it may already be too late."

Zelda laughed bitterly. "If only you had come on any other day. If I announce an end to the war tonight it will coincide with a massive war rally that Alastor is holding in the city's central market plaza. Interrupting that rally in order to explicitly thwart their ambitions may kick off the revolt then and there."

For a moment Mewtwo was totally stumped. He knew that he was likely strong enough to stop an entire Hylian army that wielded just swords and bows, but even if he did it would only make enemies out of the kingdom's entire population. He wouldn't be improving their chances against Darkest by just trading one flavor of infighting for another. Then a new idea struck him and his face lit up with relief.

"Assuming that Nabooru is still alive, what if I were to go and retrieve her and her six other Heroines that helped to defeat Ganondorf? I could ask them to speak at this rally in order to explain their role in saving the kingdom. Surely that would ease the resentment?"

Zelda gave him a confused look and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"You keep mentioning these Gerudo Heroines, but I've never heard of them. I think whatever historical record you read in the future might have been incorrect. It sounds to me like you're speaking of the Seven Sages, of which I'm a member, but only one of them was Gerudo, Nabooru herself."

Mewtwo's stomach dropped as he realized the implications of this. Of course it made sense that such significant inaccuracies could creep into historical records after a period of time as long as 500 years, especially knowing that the Sulaaq had burned all the scrolls that one time. But that meant that there could be countless other such inaccuracies in Hadara's lessons that he wasn't aware of. For all he knew, the vast majority of what she'd told him could be wrong. If he blundered right into the Sulaaq invasion with nothing but misinformation to guide him it could be disastrous. He now needed to re-investigate everything he knew about the pre-invasion period all over again from the ground up. As he pondered this daunting task his mind went right to what he perceived to be the first piece of the puzzle: the nameless dark mage who had supposedly tried to slaughter all of the Gerudos with a single massive curse.

"Hmmm, if the history I learned is all wrong then I have no choice but to question all of it. I may have to ask you a series of strange and seemingly unrelated questions in order to correct my knowledge. The first of them is this: has any notable mage recently tried to cast a large curse in an attempt to slay all of the Gerudos?"

"Not to my knowledge, no. But Alastor recently claimed to be preparing a spell that he says could turn the tide of the entire war."

Then the wheels really began to turn in Mewtwo's head. He paused and frowned, then set aside all his other historical questions for one that was far more pressing.

"This uncle Alastor of yours... when is he holding this rally?"

"Sunset tonight. Why do you ask?"

"Well, since you sensed my presence so easily when I first arrived, then I have to ask, have you sensed anything... off about Alastor lately?"

"Hmmm, well he did take a very sudden and keen interest in magic last week. He'd never expressed any interest in the subject previously though, nor did he display any innate ability. Do you suspect him of something foul?"

"Worse than that. One of the favored tactics of Darkest's officers is to use illusions to disguise themselves and infiltrate their enemies for sabotage. I fear that your uncle may already be dead and an impostor is using his guise to sow all of this hatred and discord."

A conflicted look crossed Zelda's face and for a brief moment it seemed like she might protest such an allegation. But Mewtwo's words were like nourishing rain for the seed of doubt growing within her. Once again she lowered her gaze in shame as she replied.

"Alastor has never been fond of the Gerudo in the first place, but he has been far more outspoken about his hatred as of late. I had chalked it up to a growing resentment over father's death, but now that I've viewed it in a different light I can see the pattern of outliers in his behavior."

"Good. We must act quickly then, do you have a Lens of Truth on hand?" Mewtwo asked.

"I do not, but Impa does. It is unfortunate timing that I already sent her away. She'll need to crisscross the entire Kingdom multiple times in order to complete all of her tasks, and this could take upwards of two to three days."

"Hmmm, and if the infiltrator's illusion is strong enough to have already fooled your magical senses for weeks by now then it may not be possible to unmask him by conventional means. I want to reveal his true form to the entire crowd at the rally tonight, but without any other non-violent methods we may have to attack him in order to disrupt his concentration on the illusion."

"Out of the question. If the people see me, the hated Pacifist Queen, directly strike their beloved war hero in the middle of the rally, it will kick off the revolt then and there."

"Who said you'd have to be the one to do it?"

---

Mewtwo knew that he should have felt at least a little bit more confident as he walked down the streets of Hyrule Castle City. Zelda had told him that Lenses of Truth were extremely rare items in Hyrule so he had no reason to worry that anyone could see through his psychic disguise. He had veiled himself with the appearance of Alton Viscen, captain of the royal guard, who was currently away from the city on business. Nobody in the city would dare stop him to question him. But it wasn't a potential failure of his disguise that had Mewtwo worried, nor was it the prospect of fighting a Chosen one on one. After killing both Flametongue and Shadetalon in solo combat he knew he could handle it just fine, especially now that he had the Vatorsa Spear's smiting power at his disposal. What was actually worrying him were the menacing black storm clouds that were rolling in from the Eastern horizon that evening. The sun was just starting to set, so naturally the Eastern horizon was darker than it would be during daytime, but those clouds were even darker and denser than any normal ones. They instead resembled the boiling black tempest that he'd seen churning around Darkest's capital tower while the weapon was charged and ready to fire. The only thing it was missing was the vicious lashing of the crimson lightning bolts. Yet occasionally when he cast repeated distracted glances up at those clouds he could just barely see a few faint pinpoints of twinkling red light just ahead of the front flank of the approaching storm. At best this was merely a strange, random meteorological phenomenon, but at worst it could be the herald of the invasion already arriving. He redoubled his pace and made a beeline for the plaza.

Mewtwo heard the crowd before he saw it. The unintelligible mishmash of a thousand commingled human voices murmuring idly together was a very characteristic sound. He eventually approached the plaza at the end of the cobblestone road and spotted the massive crowd packed into it. All of them were either humans or Hylians; it was hard to tell from a distance since ear shape was the only visible differentiating trait between them. Conspicuously absent were any signs of Hyrule's native non-human races, who he'd learned to recognize when he'd read the mind of Termina's Kalana before. There wasn't a single Goron, Zora, or Deku in the entire lot. Then he saw the large wooden podium setup on the Eastern side of the plaza and the charismatic man standing behind it. That must have been Zelda's uncle Alastor. Or rather, an illusion designed to mimic him. He was tall yet portly in stature, with well-coiffed short blonde hair and a neatly trimmed blonde beard. He was wearing a set of lavish purple royal robes and was illuminated by torches atop wooden poles standing on either side of his podium. The crowd was just now quieting down, as he had raised both hands to indicate that he was starting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my esteemed colleagues and countrymen. I come to you this fateful night bearing good tidings. As you know, up until now our efforts to protect our beloved motherland from the dreaded Gerudo menace have been thoroughly stymied. The Nephra Hills and the deep gorge within them known as Gerudo Valley provide an effectively impenetrable barrier to the passage of our troops and no matter how many times our carpenters try to build a bridge across the Valley at the mouth of Gerudo Canyon, those clever vermin keep setting it alight with flaming arrows. Worse yet is how our so-called allies, the Gorons and the Zoras, keep refusing to aid us in our righteous crusade! If only the Gorons would provide flame-proof metal building materials for our bridge, or the Zoras provided their mages whose water magic could extinguish the fire arrows, then we might have been able to finally cross the Valley and achieve our goals. But alas, our meek and simpering Pacifist Queen refuses to enforce the terms of the military aid treaty that my brother fought so hard to create!"

The crowd erupted in vicious booing at this and Mewtwo winced under his own illusion. The collective emotional resonance of all the fear, anger, resentment, and bloodlust coming off of this crowd was overwhelming and disgusting to his psychic senses. He had to shut off those senses for the moment in order to prevent that psychic feedback from interfering with his thoughts. Still he chose not to act just yet, the speech that "Alastor" was giving was providing him with valuable information. If the Hylian army hadn't yet managed to cross Gerudo Valley then it was likely that it wasn't too late yet and Nabooru was still alive.

"But worry not, my dear countrymen! I was not deceiving you when I said that I came bearing good tidings. Despite how our allies and leadership have failed us in our hour of need, I, Archduke Alastor Valdis Hyrule, have worked long and hard these last few weeks to find a solution in their stead. I have told a few of my trusted advisors about this earlier, but up until now I have been tight-lipped about it around the general public due to the risk that it could fail. But now that I have succeeded I feel confident that I can tell you all. I have immersed myself with singular dedication into the study of the arcane in the hopes of learning how to cast magic myself, for I know that through magic all things can be made possible. And now, through the grace of the Goddesses, I have found and mastered a spell of immense power. Such is its strength and lethality that I shall only need to cast it once in order to slay each and every last one of the thieving desert vermin!"

Mewtwo's heart dropped like a boulder that had been tossed off a cliff. He had been suspecting this since the very moment Zelda had mentioned Alastor, but having it confirmed firsthand was no less dread-inducing. He quickly sent off a telepathic message to Zelda, who was still waiting back inside the Castle.

"Zelda! I am sure of it now, the impostor really is imitating your uncle and he's the one here making the speech! Come quickly! I can strike the first blow to unmask him but if he has any allies hidden nearby then I may need your aid in the ensuing fight! If you have any weapons imbued with holy magic then please bring them!"

"I do, but please stall for time just a little bit so I can fetch one and run down there!"

Of course "Alastor" had continued speaking during this little private psychic exchange and Mewtwo hadn't been paying attention to it. Once he returned his focus back to the speech he heard him say something that made his blood run cold.

"-Zelda can intervene or protest, I plan to cast the spell here and now right before your very eyes! How would you all like to witness it here in the flesh? The historical unfolding of our great and final victory and the eradication of the vile Gerudo filth?"

Deafening cheers came roaring up out of the crowd and again Mewtwo had to slam his mind shut to block out the emotional feedback. All the bloodthirst was starting to really get to him now. It was awakening his own horrible fantasies of violent revenge, though these were aimed at the Hylians who were openly cheering for the genocide of the people he cared about. Their contemptible bigotry was fueling the side of him that wanted to righteously protect the Gerudo people, but the fuel was tainted. It was corrupting that noble protective desire and twisting it into a horrible fantasy about dropping his disguise and carving a bloody path into the crowd with psychic blades. But thankfully he managed to shake his mind out of it in time before that fantasy grew too strong, and this allowed him the self-awareness to realize that this wasn't the side of himself that he ever wanted to indulge. This was Darkest speaking in him, and he angrily refused to even consider any of it. More pressingly, he also now realized that he was out of time and he had to act in order to prevent the Chosen from casting this spell, regardless of what it actually did. He had to buy Zelda the time that she needed, even if it was strange that she wasn't using Farore's Wind to teleport down there quicker. He needed to do something, even if it meant improvising recklessly, so he pushed his way to the front of the crowd and yelled out to catch "Alastor's" attention.

"STOP!"

The crowd went dead silent nearly instantly and the malevolent smile dissolved off of Alastor's face, leaving behind a frustrated malice instead.

"Captain Viscen? What gives you the right to interrupt my grand rally?!" He sneered contemptuously.

"Safety, that's what! You can't just fire off a brand new untested spell in the middle of a crowd of thousands of people! What if the spell misfires or explodes? You could end up killing countless innocent people by accident!" Mewtwo shouted, deftly mimicking Viscen's voice with a little psionic trickery.

Alastor rolled his eyes with scathing vitriol as he replied. "You seriously believe that I, Archduke Alastor Valdis Hyrule, would ever endanger the public with untested magic? I am singularly insulted that you would dare to even imply such a thing indirectly, let alone say it directly to my face! In front of a crowd of my ardent supporters, no less!"

Suddenly Mewtwo felt the reproachful glares of thousands of eyes all settling upon him at once. The visceral psychic tide of that many hostile minds focusing on him simultaneously was enough to make his stomach turn even without any of them having any telepathic ability. Zelda still hadn't arrived yet though so he had no choice but to keep stalling for time. As long as Alastor didn't see through his disguise and raise his own psychic defenses then the plan was still viable. Mewtwo knew he was pushing his luck though, and as he worked to formulate his reply he suddenly felt the psychic presence of the Chosen tentatively probing his mind.

Mewtwo's heart rate practically doubled on the spot. He had to raise his own mental defenses right then and there since he knew the game would be up if his foe realized who he was. But just the act of shaking off that probe could give it away too; average everyday Hylians like Viscen weren't supposed to have any psychic capability whatsoever. This was a no-win situation, no matter what Mewtwo did here he risked being found out. He had to at least offer SOME resistance though, there was no way in hell he'd let a Chosen actually touch his mind. So he raised a psychic barrier around his thoughts to deflect the probe, but did his best to make it feel as weak and feeble as possible. If he was lucky, maybe his enemy would figure that Viscen was one of those rare Hylians like Zelda who was born with a measure of innate psychic talent. He also quickly called out a fresh rebuttal, hoping to keep Alastor focused on talking rather than further testing his mental defenses.

"You tested out a mass killing curse?! On who, might I ask?"

That question at least seemed to take Alastor off-guard; his cruel sneer briefly cracked and showed a flash of panicked confusion as he scrambled to make up a reply. His psychic probe faltered too, exactly as Mewtwo had hoped. Unfortunately he was quick-witted and managed to concoct an answer before his hesitation became suspicious.

"On mere animals, you seditious cretin! What sort of buffoon do you take me for? Honestly I am surprised at you Captain, why question my methods so suddenly now when we are standing on the cusp of our victory? Have you suddenly lost your nerve? Or perhaps your previously vehement support for our cause was less than sincere?"

This time it was Mewtwo's turn to be caught off guard. He hadn't read Viscen's mind when he took his likeness as a disguise since it had felt morally wrong, and now he didn't know how the real Viscen would have reacted in this situation. He hesitated long enough for Alastor to notice it and this caused his malevolent grin to return.

"Oh, what's that? Have I struck a nerve? Has our dear Queen's pathogenic ideology infected your once-sharp mind, dear Captain? Or were you always a cowardly traitor at heart?"

The psychic probing returned again as Alastor spoke, and this time it was far more focused and intense. The Chosen behind the disguise still didn't seem fully aware of who he was dealing with yet, but now there was a new level of scrutiny to his psychic prodding. Again Mewtwo was forced to increase the potency of his mental barriers and speak with loud confidence to keep the facade going. Their little duel of spies was escalating rapidly and he was desperately hoping Zelda would arrive before it came to blows.

"I've just seen too many of my troops die in the fighting. They were good men... brave and valorous... they have thrown all their lives away, and for what?! Nothing! We've lost so many and what have we accomplished?! We can't even build a damn bridge over a valley!"

Alastor looked frustrated at first by the repeated failures of his psychic intrusions, but then his vile grin returned with even more vicious glee than ever.

"My dear Captain, what do you mean by 'Your' men? You lead the Royal Guard, not the Army. All YOUR men work safely here protecting the castle and the city. Not a single one has served in the war. It seems to me like something in your protestations simply does not add up."

Now Mewtwo really was cornered and he knew it. A part of him had hoped that he could win over the hearts and minds of the Hylian commonfolk with his impassioned pleas but it was now clear that he'd underestimated his enemy's intelligence and oratory skill. He could no longer afford to stall any further with words, he had to unmask him and just hope there were no other Chosen lurking invisible or disguised nearby to back him up.

"You know what really doesn't add up though, 'Alastor'? The horrible demonic monster I saw when I looked at you through a Lens of Truth!"

Alastor's smile died on the spot, replaced by a look of dumbfounded dread.

"Gotcha." Mewtwo said directly to him through telepathy, hoping to further throw off his guard.

Then Mewtwo slammed his enemy's mind with a full-powered Psychic attack in hopes of breaking his illusion in front of everyone. The attack didn't strike unopposed unfortunately; it seemed like Alastor had raised some of his own mental barriers the moment he realized that his foe had a measure of psychic capability. Fortunately he hadn't put his all into those defenses, so the sudden full-force attack was able to surprise him and shatter through before he could react. As a result, Alastor's mind was shocked and heavily damaged without actually being totally fried to a crisp like it might have been if it had taken the attack completely undefended. He collapsed onto his podium with an agonized scream and his illusion flickered and then failed. A wave of terrified gasps rocked through the crowd as they saw their beloved Archduke spontaneously transform into a horrific black-furred demon beast right before their very eyes. Since the Chosen were all clones, this one looked nearly identical to Shadetalon and Darkest too. The only difference was that he had no scars and he was wearing a different outfit consisting of a skintight jumpsuit made of a non-reflective black plastic polymer. To everyone in attendance, it seemed like this transformation had happened spontaneously the moment the beast had been called out as an impostor, since Mewtwo's psychic attack was invisible to the naked eye.

The first thing the Chosen tried to do once he realized that he'd been exposed was to teleport to safety. Fortunately Mewtwo's attack had injured his brain sufficiently to cause this to fizzle. He only managed to create a few crackling red sparks around himself and nothing more. As he struggled with this Mewtwo sprinted up toward the podium, still in disguise, while hammering away at what remained of his shattered mind's defenses. Mewtwo knew that he needed to keep him dazed and immobile so that he couldn't escape, and on top of this he wanted to read his mind to find any information pertaining to the invasion. What little defenses the Chosen could maintain in this injured state were crashed aside like toy blocks and Mewtwo began to greedily dig.

Unfortunately he didn't get a lot, the brain injuries had damaged a fair bit of the Chosen's memory and he had never been privvy to many of the invasion plan's specifics. On top of this Mewtwo didn't have much time to look since he only had a few seconds to dig while sprinting up to the podium. The moment he surmounted the podium's steps he needed to focus on restraining him and preparing to speak to the crowd. He at least got two nuggets of useful information: the Chosen had left a small two-man Stealth Skimmer ship in orbit above the planet as his ticket off-world, and the invasion was due to start in about sixteen days.

Then Mewtwo was on top of his foe and had to act. He drew the Vatorsa Spear and plunged it straight into the Chosen's back just above the base of his tail. The holy smiting power of Nariva erupted out of the spear in a cluster of blindingly bright golden lightning bolts. This energy allowed the spear to pierce right through the armored padding in the Chosen's suit and sink deeply into his back.

"GAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The Chosen screamed as the crackling fury seared his flesh.

Mewtwo then drew Hadara's dagger for good measure and severed his second neck with one clean slashing swing. This drew another agonized shriek from the now-powerless monster before he slumped down over the front of the podium and began to jerk and spasm. All the cumulative nerve damage had sent him into a grand mal seizure.

"Behold! This is the true face of the demon who has been manipulating everyone all along!" Mewtwo yelled to the crowd, still imitating Viscen's voice.

He heard a few more cries and gasps of shock and horror from the crowd as the people stared fixated at the Chosen. Mewtwo could sense the presence of Zelda finally approaching his location now but he knew this couldn't wait. This was the pivotal moment that the entire kingdom's public opinion would hinge on and he needed to seize it by speaking now. Besides, he knew the people were much more likely to listen to a former war supporter like Viscen than the I-Told-You-So scolding of a hated pacifist Queen. With a surprisingly strong surge of inner confidence, Mewtwo cast the Chosen down from the podium with a well-placed kick and yanked his spear out of him as he stepped forward to speak.

"People of Hyrule, hear me now! All of us, including myself, have been deceived! This beast... this demon you see writhing now at my feet, is the architect of a grand scheme to weaken our kingdom's defenses by stoking the flames of hatred and war! The blame belongs to none of us; we are all the victims of his silver tongue and illusion spells. In truth, he slew the real Alastor long ago and wore his countenance in order to steer the tides of our kingdom toward bloodshed. His true goal was not to just kill the Gerudo people, but to cause the deaths of as many of our defenders as possible so that his people, the Dominion of Darkest, can invade our kingdom and conquer it with ease!"

"How do you know this?!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Earlier this morning I met and spoke with a mysterious outsider by the name of Mewtwo. He hails from the same distant land as the Dominion and has seen firsthand the violence and destruction they have wrought upon Kingdoms like ours. He told me that he has sworn to stop them and came here to bring us warning of their imminent attack."

"But what of our vengeance?! What about all of us who lost friends, loved ones, and family to Ganondorf and his minions?! My dead sons deserve justice!" Someone else shouted.

At that point Mewtwo sensed Zelda waiting for him quietly in an alleyway behind him. She was sending him a wordless telepathic signal to indicate that she was ready to join him and speak to the people. But instead of standing aside and inviting her to join him, he asked her to wait just a little bit longer. His confidence and momentum were building even more and he knew his words were working.

"You will have your justice in time. Believe me, I am no more pleased than you are at the delay of our retribution, especially after so many of my Guardsmen have fallen in the past to the spells and scimitars of Ganondorf and his followers. But unless we reunite all the peoples of Hyrule in time we will find ourselves rejoining our lost loved ones in death! If you struggle to believe me then I will bring you the one who gave me this warning, Mewtwo himself."

He then stepped down from the podium, retreated into the same alleyway where he'd sensed Zelda's presence, and dropped his disguise. He locked eyes with Zelda briefly and she nodded silently to indicate her assent to his continued speaking. The sight of this, coupled with a lack of any other Chosen or Immortals charging in for an attack, only bolstered Mewtwo's confidence even further. When he returned to the podium it was now as his true self, and the crowd gasped even louder.

"Citizens of Hyrule, hear me out. I know my appearance seems fearsome but understand that I am no beast. I mean none of you any harm. When you look upon me it should be evidently clear that I am of the same race as the demon laying upon the cobbles before you, but I lack the vile corruption that courses through his veins. This should be your proof that what I am telling you is truthful. Everything that your Captain Viscen just said is true. A new war is coming to your kingdom, one which will make your current conflict seem like a cordial disagreement by comparison. A great and terrible empire called Darkest's Dominion, or The Sulaaq by another tongue, has begun preparations to invade Hyrule and all its neighboring kingdoms. They are the ones who sent the impostor that Viscen just struck down. I have witnessed this exact scenario play out countless times in the past as they spread their vile control and corruption across the world. First they send one of their agents to kill and impersonate a local head of state, then use his likeness to sow discord and sabotage from within. Once the kingdom's defenses have been sufficiently softened and its people divided they then swoop in for an easy kill with overwhelming force. I know that as an outsider I have no place to make judgments about your kingdom's internal affairs and conflicts, so do not mistake my warning as condescension against your current grievances. I am only here to warn you that doom is standing upon your doorstep and it will feast upon all of your corpses if you don't temporarily set your differences aside in order to unite against it."

Mewtwo's speech was suddenly interrupted by the ragged, sputtering sound of the wounded Chosen laughing. Somehow he had clung to life and regained enough control over his body to speak.

"You really think that uniting against us will help? Even if every single man, woman, and child on this entire planet took up arms it would be like gnats trying to swarm a whale! Your armies are nothing! We will rain fire and death upon you from the very skies themselves! We will-"

The Chosen's sinister ranting was then cut short by a radiant glowing golden arrow that sailed out of the alleyway behind them. It honed in on him with supernatural accuracy and struck him directly in the head. Not only did the tip of the arrow penetrate the skull and pierce his brain, but another crackling burst of holy light radiated out from it and roasted the rest. He slumped down onto his face with one last burst of seizing jerks and then went silent for good. It was then that Zelda finally emerged from the alleyway to show herself with a stoic expression and a familiar Golden Bow in her hands. Mewtwo's mind immediately clicked with recognition; that was the same holy bow that he'd seen Ciela wield! Zelda began to approach the podium now so he bowed and stepped aside to let her have her turn speaking.

"My beloved kin and countrymen, today is a sad and terrible day indeed. The Kingdom of Hyrule has lost one of its bravest and noblest souls. Archduke Alastor Valdis Hyrule is dead. He was murdered by the dark monster you see here. The one called Mewtwo who just spoke to you came to us this morning and he is the one who warned me of the impostor's treachery. As soon as he brought me these dire tidings I went to search Alastor's private quarters within the castle. That is where I found my late Uncle's remains, hidden away in his closet along with all his clothing. The beast had bitten out his throat and cannibalized the rest, leaving naught but mere gnawed bones behind."

More gasps and murmurs of shock and horror tumbled through the crowd. Initially Mewtwo wondered if Zelda was being a touch too graphic with her description, but then he reminded himself that the people probably needed to be shocked into realizing the depth of the crisis that they were in. The last thing they needed was spontaneous infighting over a petty matter like this while Darkest's troops rained down on them from the heavens. Besides, these few words were nothing compared to the sights Mewtwo had seen when he investigated the blood-soaked industrial charnel pits of Darkest's "Biomass Reprocessor."

"The lingering specter of death once again looms over our fair kingdom. If we wish to have any chance of survival in the face of this oncoming invasion then we must reunite the seven Sages and wield their power against the Dominion menace. That must necessarily include the Sage Nabooru, otherwise it may not be enough. I realize that many of you have lost friends, family, and property to the depredations of Ganon and his thieves, but unless we convince Nabooru to aid us again then it will be all of our bones that the dark ones will be gnawing upon." Zelda continued.

At this point she turned her gaze to Mewtwo as if looking to him for reinforcement of her point. She seemed to be inviting further input from him about the things the Dominion might do if the defense failed. He was more than willing to step up alongside her and do exactly that.

"Worse than that. The Dominion aren't invading for resources such as ores, food, or money. They already have plenty of all of these. They do this purely for the sake of their own sadism. They want to torment people and destroy the land solely for their own amusement. Wherever they touch, they leave only death and wastelands in their wake. Should they succeed then not only will they slaughter the vast majority of you, but they will leave a scattered few survivors alive on the desert wastes that they transform the world into just to watch them suffer. For hundreds of years these lone survivors will scrabble for scraps of food in misery and hopelessness until finally none survive."

Those words left the crowd in a state of sobered, morose silence. Zelda then continued, knowing that now was the time to offer a thread of hope in the face of this bleakness.

"We may yet be able to stop them with the collective power of the Sages though. But that is only enough to change our situation from true hopelessness to just barely survivable. If we truly want to stand a chance that means we must swallow our pride and contact Nabooru. You all know that the only way we could possibly convince her to aid us would be to formally cease hostilities and withdraw our troops from Gerudo Valley."

Most of the people seemed to quietly understand the gravity of this, but inevitably there was at least one protestor. A man yelled out from the back of the crowd, "What about all those who died?! What about justice?!"

"There can be no justice if we and the Gerudo both share in the same mass grave! At least if we can come together long enough to defeat the common enemy then we can redress your grievances afterward." Zelda replied sternly.

Mewtwo hoped that this would be enough, but even though the man in the back went silent there was still one more left. Another man in a humble merchant's clothes pushed his way forward through the crowd so he could stand in front of them and point his finger at Mewtwo in an accusatory manner.

"Why are we believing the word of a single stranger in beastkin fur? Where is the proof?"

Zelda again turned her head to Mewtwo to defer to him at this point. He nodded in understanding and then climbed down from the pedestal to step forward. He came face to face with the man who had doubted him and maintained a totally confident yet grim face as he spoke.

"Here is your physical proof. This is a weapon called a laser; the Dominion wield countless numbers of these in their army. This one is blue, but the ones you will see are red. I will fire it once in front of you to show you what it is capable of."

He then pulled out his Guardian Pistol and aimed it at the cobblestone-covered ground in between them. He fired a single shot, knowing Zelda would stop any guards who might react negatively to this demonstration. The blue flash and ear-piercing snap caused everyone at the front of the crowd to gasp, wince, and stumble backward away from the report. Mewtwo then reached down to pick up the rock that he'd shot and hold it up to show to the crowd. The hair-thin laser beam had carved a blackened hole all the way through and a wisp of white smoke floated up from that hole. Mewtwo then offered it to the man who had doubted him and spoke with the same grave confidence as before.

"Just one single laser can do this to stone and steel alike. Now imagine ten thousand of them aimed down at you from the very heavens above. We have sixteen days to prepare a defense against this."

The doubter who had spoken up continued to stare at the hole in the stone as the smoke finished dissipating from it. The rest of the crowd was rendered totally speechless and Mewtwo again thanked Nariva for giving him the foresight to bring that pistol with him.

"If anyone else is harboring further doubts then I also have the magical ability to share my own memories. I would be glad to show you a vision of the burning wastelands and gory slaughterhouses the Dominion leave in their wake. But I warn you, those are sights that you will never be able to un-see no matter how hard you try. Does anyone else here require such additional proof?"

The square remained dead silent as the people cast their collective gazes away. None dared to speak now after seeing the laser's work with their own eyes. Mewtwo slowly examined the crowd with grim relief and then stepped back to the podium to let Zelda resume her speech.

"In the interest of preserving our kingdom's safety and future, I am now officially declaring a formal cessation of all hostilities with Nabooru's Gerudo Tribe. Every single member of the Hyrulean Armed Forces shall henceforth be recalled from Gerudo Valley to take up the defense of Hyrule Castle City. I have already sent messengers carrying a summons to the Lords of all of Hyrule's Vassals in order to meet for a War Council. Together we will devise a plan for the common defense of all our peoples. From there we will announce further decrees for deployment in the days afterward. In the mean time I would advise everyone here to begin preparations for the worst. This will not be a war of choice where all the fighting will take place in distant locations of our choosing away from our homes. The enemy can and likely will strike everywhere all across the kingdom at once. You would be wise to gather food, water, and weapons, and to contact your loved ones to ensure they are safe and prepared as well. Time is short, and although things look grim now, I am confident that the Goddesses will aid us in our hour of need. Be calm, pray vigilantly, and be alert for further announcements. Goddesses be with you."

Zelda then bowed humbly to the crowd and stepped down from the podium to leave. She gestured subtly at Mewtwo to follow her and began to briskly walk back toward the castle keep. Mewtwo chased after her as instructed and once they were out of earshot he spoke.

"What took you so long? Why didn't you use your Farore's Wind spell to teleport to me after I asked for help?"

"I apologize. Farore's Wind requires the user to set a destination point in person ahead of time and mine was still set for the Castle Library. Speaking of which..."

Zelda stopped on a dime and reached out to take Mewtwo's hand in order to cast it again. He sighed in mild frustration but took her hand and let her teleport them. The familiar green flash whisked them away just like before and they were immediately deposited right back into the Library once again. Without a moment's hesitation Zelda let go of his hand and made a beeline over to one of the shelves to begin rifling through the books as though looking for something. Before Mewtwo could ask her what she was looking for she cut him off with words of her own.

"Something will need to be done about the real Captain Viscen soon enough. He returns from Kakariko City tomorrow and he will certainly be taken by surprise when he hears the news of his own sudden supposed change of heart about the war."

"Leave that to me. If he really was a staunch advocate of eradicating an entire culture then I shall feel very little guilt about psychically inflicting a little bit of amnesia on him."

Zelda smirked a little bit for a moment as she continued searching through her books. She finally plucked one off of the shelf and walked over to drop it onto the table with a dusty thump.

"That just leaves us with one other major immediate problem to resolve before the other Sages arrive. How do we convince Nabooru to actually help us? Even with the war ending I can scarcely imagine she will be falling over herself to trust me ever again."

Zelda opened her book and gathered her quill, inkwell, and Royal Stationary as if preparing to write a letter. Mewtwo curiously leaned down to look and saw that the book she'd gathered was filled with both Gerudo and Hylian runes, so he figured it must have been a Hylian to Gerudo Dictionary of some sort. She was probably going to try to write a letter to Nabooru. Feeling increasingly confident, Mewtwo replied to her quickly before she could begin writing.

"Let me talk to her. If I could convince you of my truthfulness then it should be just as easy for me to convince her. Besides, she'd be much more likely to believe a stranger than the woman who signed the war declaration against her people."

Zelda froze for a moment to think and then returned her quill to its inkwell. She cast him a doubtful glance as she replied.

"Would she listen to one whose appearance is so fearsome and monstrous though?"

"That didn't ultimately stop me from getting through to you, did it? Besides, I can use my powers to disguise my appearance if I have to."

"Hmm, I suppose that makes sense. Here, take the Ocarina with you. That should also prove that you have earned my trust." Zelda replied, then dug the Ocarina of Time out of her pocket and slid it across the table to him.

Mewtwo picked the instrument up with a solemn nod. "Thank you, I am honored by your trust."

"You've certainly proved worthy of it. That was some fine speechcraft back there in the plaza. But I do have one last concern remaining: can you speak Gerudo?"

"A little. I'm not totally fluent, but I can handle very basic everyday conversation. Remember when I told you that the future that I came from had only a scant few Gerudos that lived there as survivors? I lived with them for a time and learned their ways, including some of their language. I believe this makes me uniquely qualified for this task."

"Very well. Give me some time to at least draft a Royal letter to Nabooru that you can bring with you, just in case she doubts your authority to speak on my behalf. Once it's ready you should leave right away, Gerudo Valley is a long journey from here."

"Don't you worry, Your Highness. Remember that I can fly and teleport. If I left tonight then it's very likely I'd arrive before your messengers reach your troops in the valley with the withdrawal order. I don't think Nabooru would believe me if I came to tell her the war was over while there were still soldiers attempting to cross the valley to kill her. Approximately how long will your messengers take to reach the Valley?"

"About one day, more or less."

"Then I will leave tomorrow. I think for now I have earned a nice long rest."

Chapter 9: Red Sun, Red Earth

An ominous blood red sun rose over the Kingdom of Hyrule that morning, drenching the land in a faint, faded crimson. Mewtwo's sleep had been mercifully dreamless that night but he awoke gripped with fear when he saw that red light bathing the small private bedroom that Zelda had given him in one of Hyrule Castle's towers. First he thought that he was still trapped asleep in some nightmare, then he feared that Darkest might have started his invasion early. He jumped out of bed and rushed over to toss his window open and look outside.

Thankfully there was no invasion raining down from the heavens just yet, though what he saw was still more than a little bit unnerving. The sinister black storm clouds that he'd seen gathering on the Eastern horizon last night had grown and crawled much closer across the sky now. They were taking up a full third of the sky at this point, and even though they were lacking Darkest's telltale red lightning bolts Mewtwo still felt a deep sinking dread building up in his gut. Whatever particulate substance made up those clouds, it was quite thoroughly blocking most of the sun's light, leaving just a faint red orb that was bathing the land in foreboding crimson. It was barely cresting the horizon now and the clouds rendered it so faint that Mewtwo could stare directly at it without discomfort. He swallowed at the pit of fear forming in his throat and then closed his windows with slightly shaky hands. There was too much for him to do today and he didn't have time to wallow in fear.

Mewtwo got himself cleaned up as quickly as he could and rushed down the stairs to the library where Zelda was waiting for him. Zelda had told him the night before that she'd arrange to have breakfast brought there so they could eat and discuss their day's plans before getting to work. That at least seemed to be true, since he could see the food there waiting for him once he arrived. But there was another unpleasant surprise waiting for him too. A tall, blonde-haired Hylian man wearing ornate decorative silvery full plate armor was standing by the table and arguing with Zelda in a tone that bordered on disrespectful.

"-and the people are already almost ready to panic! We need to do something right away, it doesn't matter if you've had your war council or not!" He said.

Zelda saw Mewtwo entering the room at this point and raised one hand to interrupt the soldier before gesturing to Mewtwo to approach.

"Ah, there you are Mewtwo. I'd like you to meet our esteemed Captain of the Guard, Sir Alton Viscen. Captain, this is the time traveler I spoke of, Mewtwo."

Alton turned his gaze briefly to Mewtwo and regarded him with the bare minimum of respect. "Charmed." He then returned his gaze to Zelda and resumed his rant without even giving Mewtwo any time to reply. "Your Highness, I simply don't have enough men to enforce order if people decide to go into a panicked frenzy! There could be riots at any moment!"

Mewtwo raised an eyebrow but at least chose to be thankful for the fact that Viscen was focusing on something pragmatic rather than spewing anti-Gerudo bigotry. He chimed in briefly, seeking confirmation for something that he suspected.

"Let me guess, the red sunrise is striking fear into the people?"

"Obviously! A Blood Sun is just as bad an omen as a Blood Moon! Both mark the rise of an evil power akin to Ganondorf himself!" Viscen snapped back at him.

Mewtwo furrowed his brow and turned to shoot Zelda a slightly frustrated look. He spoke to her with private telepathy now so that Viscen couldn't hear.

"May I?"

"Be my guest." Zelda replied, also using telepathy.

Mewtwo nodded briefly and then returned his gaze to Viscen in order to use his Hypnosis technique. A swirling glow appeared in his eyes and Viscen scowled confusedly as he noticed, before then collapsing onto the floor in a deep sleep.

"Thank you. We're fortunate that he reported directly to me upon arrival and didn't discover the actions you performed in his guise last night." Zelda said, looking down at the sleeping Captain with disdain in her gaze.

"Good. I'll wipe a day or two of his memory and replace it with a convincing set of fakes, including a proper change of heart about the war." Mewtwo said.

He knelt down and laid one hand on the sleeping Captain's forehead and got to work. Zelda walked up alongside him and put a hand on Mewtwo's shoulder.

"Thank you. We do need him during the coming crisis after all, we cannot afford to simply relegate him to a bed or a hospital during the upcoming fight. But... if it's possible, can you remove all the hatred and darkness from his mind?" Zelda asked.

Mewtwo paused for a moment as he considered this. "The ethical implications of altering someone's entire personality and worldview, even to remove bigotry and evil, are perilous and complicated. But... I suppose when the fate of an entire planet hangs in the balance we do not have the luxury of sitting and debating such things at length. Give me a moment."

It took a few minutes of work for Mewtwo to accomplish this and by the time he finished he still felt disgusted with himself. The last time he'd actively reprogrammed a human mind was back when he enslaved one of the Nurse Jennies to work for him during his stint with villainy on New Island. Tinkering with Viscen felt far too similar to that and he scowled deeply as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"It is done. He will awaken again in one or two hours and act as though he himself gave those speeches last night." Mewtwo said, unable to disguise the bitterness in his tone.

Zelda immediately noticed this and gave him a concerned look. "I understand why you would feel disturbed by this. But why have a change of heart now, when you seemed quite happy to inflict amnesia on him the night before?"

"There's a big difference between simply removing a few memories and actively trampling on a sapient being's agency and autonomy for my own convenience."

Zelda's expression faded from concern to guilt and she turned her gaze down to the sleeping Captain for a moment as she digested what Mewtwo had said. "Perhaps you are right. Regardless, it is as you said, we do not have the luxury of time to debate it. Come, we should eat and proceed with our plans."

She then briskly walked back to the table and sat down, and Mewtwo did his best to try and forget what he had just done as he joined her. They both began to dig in at a rapid pace, knowing their day was packed with far too much preparation to waste any time savoring the taste of the food. Eventually Mewtwo chimed in with a question between bites.

"What are you going to do about the fear that Viscen mentioned gripping the townsfolk? Given we just warned everyone about an impending invasion, and the ominous nature of the red sun, it may be difficult to calm everyone down. A panic would throw off our preparations considerably."

"I'm not fully sure yet. I'll probably have to make another Royal Speech, but I need to prepare the script carefully. I'll need whatever information I can get though, so I have to ask, in the future you came from, were there any historical records of this dark storm or crimson dawn?"

Mewtwo almost shook his head no, but then recalled the details of the history lessons that Hadara had given him. He swallowed a mouthful of scrambled eggs quickly and began to summarize it.

"Yes, they did briefly speak of the storm at least once, now that you mention it. The historical scrolls mentioned a dark mage who attempted to cast an all-powerful curse in the hopes of slaying the Gerudo people, and last night's events proved that this mage was in fact one of Darkest's Chosen wearing your Uncle's visage. The scroll even mentioned that this mage failed and the spell went awry. In the aftermath of that, it then went on to describe an atmosphere of vile darkness descending on the land, leading to the desert on the western edge of Hyrule beginning to expand. This seemed to imply that the magical backfire of that spell is what caused the shadows to descend. But since I stopped this Chosen from even attempting to cast anything, I'm not sure why the storm is still growing."

Zelda furrowed her brow and spent a few moments thinking while chewing.

"Perhaps then the 'spell' that this Chosen was attempting to cast had nothing to do at all with the storm, and it merely coincided with whatever his comrades are doing now to darken our skies."

"I suppose that makes sense. Correlating the two events is perhaps the most logical conclusion that Gerudo historians could have drawn from the information they had. Unfortunately there were no other passages about it, so we are left with no leads to pursue. I haven't the foggiest idea of how exactly the Sulaaq are creating it or how to stop it." Mewtwo said.

"I certainly don't either, though I suspect it is related to the advanced technology you mentioned them having earlier. It is fortunate that you managed to read the mind of that infiltrator last night or this Blood Sun might have been cause to believe our time was up. I will just have to use this as my primary point, combined with your idea of gathering all the Sages together to wield their Medallions against the enemy. It is especially fortunate that Impa sent me a brief missive saying that she is ahead of schedule and should be returning with all the Sages except Nabooru by nightfall."

Mewtwo nodded in agreement and resumed stuffing his face at a much quicker pace. Once he finished and began to stand up to leave, Zelda's expression flashed to a look of urgent recollection and she also stood to intercept him before he could depart.

"Before you go, take this. I finished the formal letter to Nabooru last night. Take it to her personally, and please do not allow the wax seal to be damaged. The symbol embossed in the wax is how we prove the authenticity of official documents." Zelda said, then handed him a curled up paper scroll.

"I understand, thank you. Hopefully we'll have better news for each other next time we meet tonight."

Then Mewtwo teleported out of the castle and reappeared flying in the air high above. He rocketed off heading Southwest toward Gerudo Valley and pushed himself to top speed. Psychic flight allowed him to arrive in mere hours and he felt a strange mix of emotions stir in his gut as he saw those red rocky hills appearing in the distance. To him it was a telltale sign of coming home, so he felt a certain measure of eager anticipation to be back. But he also knew that the Gerudos in this time period didn't know him at all and he'd have to earn their trust all over again. The prospect was daunting to him now since the whole region was so emotionally loaded for him. It almost felt more difficult to face than the prospect of making that speech in front of the bloodthirsty Hylians last night. Perhaps it was much easier to discount what those war-mongering Hylians thought of him, especially in contrast to people he actually cared about like the Gerudos.

Once Mewtwo arrived over Gerudo Valley itself he raised a psychic cloak around himself to give himself some time to think before being spotted, then descended to a height of about 100 feet in order to inspect the place. It wasn't too different from how he remembered it back in the future, aside from the absence of all the metallic Sulaaq structures. It was still the same roughly oval-shaped clearing in the red rocky hills that was vertically bisected down the middle by the steep river valley. There was no bridge at all this time, though Mewtwo could see a pair of charred wooden support posts on either side of the valley where a bridge had once been anchored. On the Eastern side was a mostly deconstructed Hyrulean military outpost swarming with Hylian soldiers who were busily tearing it down and loading it onto wagons. On the Western side was a gaggle of Gerudo soldiers gathered at the ledge watching the Hylians through spyglasses. They seemed shocked by the fact that their enemies were retreating. They were wise enough not to interrupt the enemy's withdrawal with any arrow attacks from across the gorge, so the Hylians worked uninterrupted.

Mewtwo decided that it would be wise to wait until they finished their retreat before trying to approach the Gerudos. He landed atop the hills overlooking the valley and sat down to keep an eye on the situation as he waited. With his psychic cloak still raised he sat there silently for a few hours, casually studying Zelda's Gerudo-Common Dictionary while watching for any potential outbreaks of fighting. As the Hylians packed and the hours passed, the blood red light of the sunrise darkened to a much dimmer, choking grey. The clouds of that rainless storm were growing still thicker. The only reason that the sunlight eventually returned was because the sun was crossing the heavens faster than the pace of the storm's advance. It was around noon when the sun finally crawled out from behind the ominous cloud shelf and reasserted itself in the center of the sky. The Hylians finally finished tearing down and packing up their outpost at this point and their caravan immediately departed with all due haste into the East. Mewtwo couldn't help but smile when he psychically sensed the lingering happiness and relief that those soldiers were feeling to be leaving this place. Once they were totally gone he stashed his dictionary and jumped down to make his move.

Mewtwo knew that he'd have to avoid even the slightest hint of duplicity from here on out if he wanted there to be any chance of these Gerudos trusting anything he said. That meant that he couldn't rely on wearing the Gerudo mask or lying about his identity. He'd have to risk them attacking him at first sight until they realized that he wasn't a monster. He landed behind a large boulder on the Eastern side of the gorge and dropped his cloak, then walked out plainly into the open with no illusions around his body. The Gerudos who had spyglasses spotted him immediately and he heard the inevitable gasps of shock and fear even from the opposite side of the gorge.

"Sav'aaq!" He shouted, trying to keep his tone friendly despite the anxiety growing in his belly.

A few of the people in the crowd didn't seem taken by surprise to hear him speak, but none of them looked impressed or friendly. They raised their bows and opened fire without bothering to reply. Mewtwo sighed in disappointment and raised a telekinetic barrier that reflected all of the arrows with ease.

"Please stop shooting at me! I swear to you that I mean no harm!"

This was at least enough to stop the barrage of arrows. But the Gerudos mumbled among themselves in fearful confusion as they tried to decide what to do. Then a shorter woman in white clothes stepped forward and the crowd parted naturally for her as though she were a leader of some sort.

"What business have you in Gerudo Valley, talking beast?!"

"I come with news for Lady Nabooru! Both good and ill tidings await her. I must speak with her right away!" He replied.

"Why should we allow you to disturb the Exalted One? Give us your message and be on your way, we will pass it on to her!"

At first Mewtwo wanted to just fly across the gorge and confront this woman face to face so that she would see the dire honesty in his eyes. But he reminded himself that it was humility as well as honesty that had earned him their trust before and it'd likely take that humility again.

"The first message is that Queen Zelda has formally decreed an end to the war with your people. The proof of this should be plainly visible in the retreat that you all just witnessed."

"Where is the Royal Messenger carrying this decree?"

"I am that Messenger!"

That drew more mumbles of shock from the group and the white-garbed officer narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She gestured briefly at one of the soldiers, who immediately turned and sprinted down the Canyon behind her with shocking speed.

"Why would the Queen send a beast as a Messenger of Peace? Does she not realize that your appearance could be seen as a provocation?"

"Would you have trusted a Hylian Soldier or Noble more?"

The officer didn't have an answer to this; she stood there in pointed silence for a moment as she pondered it. Mewtwo took this opportunity to jump in and use some Gerudo speech to try and cement his point.

"Besides, my appearance is deceiving. I am no beast. Qa'na Shavora ak'Gerudo!"

The phrase translated roughly to "I am a friend of the Gerudo." Mewtwo was fairly confident that he'd nailed the pronunciation, though the surprised and confused looks on the faces of the soldiers made him doubt himself.

"An'atar Gerudo?" The officer shouted.

Mewtwo also knew that this translated to something akin to "You speak Gerudo?" The problem was that he didn't know the exact Gerudo words for his next reply, so he reverted back to speaking Common again.

"Only a little. May I come across the valley to speak with you?"

"We don't have a replacement bridge!"

"That's fine, I'll fly."

Mewtwo then took off and flew effortlessly across the gorge with his telekinesis in a mere handful of seconds. The Gerudos gasped again and backed up several steps, giving him plenty of room the land. Many of them drew their weapons nervously but at least none of them attacked him this time. Up close now Mewtwo could tell that none of them shared the same faces as the Gerudos that he had known, a fact that he was immensely grateful for after his experiences in Termina. They did seem much shorter and thinner than the Gerudos he had known in the future though; a few were borderline malnourished and emaciated. Most of them wielded glaives like the ones carried by those Terminian Pirates, but there were still Scimitars among the crowd's armaments too.

"Do not draw your weapons, Daha'ra! Sorcerer or not, you are expected to maintain the peace and be respectful in the presence of the Exalted One!"

"Of course. My name is Mewtwo, by the way."

He offered his hand to the white-garbed officer for a handshake and she stared at it hesitantly for a second or two before reaching out to take it. Her grip was uncomfortably tight, which told him that she was quite nervous or defensive and wanted to try to intimidate him a little.

"I am Melia Agaat, Captain of the Guard."

"It is an honor to meet you, Miss Agaat."

Melia raised her eyebrows as if this was a strange thing for him to say, but otherwise remained silent. The other soldiers lowered their weapons slightly after seeing that handshake but didn't relax their guard entirely. Remembering his Nereti's warning about Impediment Curses, Mewtwo kept his own guard up too and watched for any signs of the soldiers preparing to cast a spell at him. An uncomfortable silence settled over them until finally the soldier who had run off earlier returned.

"Lady Agaat! The Exalted One says to bring the Messenger to the clearing in front of the Fortress, she will meet him there."

"Very well. Come, Daha'ra. Follow us and try to keep up. The rest of you go back to your posts! The last thing we need is to leave the Valley unguarded only to discover that this is all a distraction ploy!" Melia replied stiffly.

Then they were off. They headed down Gerudo Canyon at a surprisingly brisk pace with Melia in the lead. It didn't take very long to reach the Fortress, though Melia was silent and guarded the entire time. Upon arrival Mewtwo saw that the heap of stone rubble he was familiar with in the future was gone, replaced with an ugly and intimidating stone brick Fortress. It was large enough to dominate half of the entire clearing and reached several stories tall. The design was boxy and utilitarian with only a few cow and horse skulls mounted to the walls for decoration. Notably the Fortress covered up all of the gaping holes he'd seen in the cliff faces here before, which seemed to confirm his earlier theory that those tunnels had been directly connected to the Fortress's interior as an extension of its space. Then he craned his head upward and saw that there was still one small opening left uncovered: the one that he and Kalana had used to look down from and spy on their Sulaaq pursuers during their chase through the canyon. He remembered the comforting embrace that Kalana had given him up there when his rage had flared up and the memory caused a fresh new pang of grief to strike him in the chest. He had to struggle to hide it as they climbed up some steps and came face to face with Nabooru.

Mewtwo immediately knew it was her the moment they locked eyes. She had the same golden yellow eyes as Kalana and Hadara. Her gaze was filled with the same implacably perceptive intelligence that he could sense probing at his soul. She also shared a similar facial structure with the Quindalos of his time, even though she was noticeably shorter and thinner than them. She was standing in the center of a flat dusty clearing in front of the Fortress's main entrance and she had a single familiar gold-hilted scimitar strapped to her hip. All around her were dozens of other Gerudo women who were standing back about fifteen feet or so and forming a semicircular audience. Apparently word about Mewtwo's arrival had spread very quickly.

"Step forward, Messenger." Nabooru called out in a cautious tone.

Mewtwo approached her and tried to maintain a pace and manner that was as formal and non-threatening as possible. He was keenly aware of just how heavily armed everyone in the crowd was, and how easy it'd be for them to draw their bows and turn him into a pincushion in mere seconds if he dropped his guard. He produced Zelda's letter and handed it to Nabooru, and she briefly examined the wax seal on it before opening it up. Several agonizingly tense seconds passed as Nabooru read the letter and the entire crowd stared at her and Mewtwo in dead silence. He began to sweat under his cloak now, not only from the intensifying desert sunlight but also the mounting social pressure. He hadn't felt this scrutinized by a crowd of Gerudos since his Rakeshan Arbiter's Trial. Eventually Nabooru lowered the letter and broke the silence.

"Well this certainly is the official seal of the Hylian Royal Family, and the Queen's signature too. Their authenticity can't be questioned. I guess this means that the war is over then."

A rush of shocked and relieved whispers and sighs rippled through the crowd. Nabooru's voice was filled with her own mixture of relief and cynical disbelief, but it seemed like her desire for peace had beaten out that cynicism. She folded up the letter and turned to Melia to issue an order.

"Miss Agaat, go back to the Valley checkpoint and dismiss all of the standing garrison. Just leave the minimum watch rotation in place. I think our people deserve a rest."

"Yes Ma'am!" Melia replied before turning and marching off.

Nabooru then returned her sharp gaze to Mewtwo and examined him closer. He noticed her eyes lingering curiously on the spear strapped to his back.

"Her Highness certainly wanted to send another sort of message when she sent you. The question is what."

"I think that she understood that you have good reason to mistrust essentially any Hylian that she might have sent. That being said, there's more to this than her just trying to jar you out of your disbelief. I volunteered to bring you this message personally."

Nabooru raised an eyebrow at this. "Yeah? Why's that?"

Mewtwo briefly pondered how to even start his explanation. He fiddled with the Ocarina of Time in his pocket and then remembered what Zelda had said about it being proof of her trust. He pulled it out with confidence and showed it to her.

"Are you familiar with the Ocarina of Time?"

Nabooru's expression instantly morphed to one of tempered amazement. She took several steps closer and looked down at the instrument in his hands.

"I know that it's an heirloom of the Hylian Royal Family. I also know that it's been missing for a decade and the last person who had it was an old friend of mine. Where did you get it?"

"I uncovered it in an old stash of items hidden in a distant land called Termina. It had been stolen by a small local band of pirates along with a number of other items, including a journal signed by a man named Link."

Nabooru's expression instantly changed to a warm, proud smile. "I knew he had to still be alive out there somewhere. It takes a lot to kill a voe like him. If Ganondorf couldn't kill him then nothing else out there could either. I'm surprised he'd leave any of his gear behind though, he was always a bit of a hoarder. But I am curious, how does this relate back to your decision to come here on Zelda's behalf?"

"Well, are you aware of the Ocarina's power to alter the flow of time itself?" Mewtwo asked.

"Quite. Zelda herself used it along with that fancy Medallion of hers to stop Ganondorf alongside Link and the rest of us Sages. You must not be from around here if you didn't know that this is common knowledge." Nabooru replied dryly.

"You could say that, yes. That's the point that I've been working my way toward this whole time. I used the Ocarina of Time to come here from 500 years in the future. I volunteered to come here and deliver this letter in person because I lived with and was close friends with your future descendants. They were my trusted allies and confidants. They taught me so many things, from Gerudo culture and language to history and how to fight. I came back here because of the bond I felt with them."

The entire gathered crowd gawked and whispered in shock and disbelief. Nabooru raised a skeptical eyebrow but fortunately didn't immediately call him a liar.

"That's quite a claim to make, Daha'ra. What is your name then?"

"I am called Mewtwo, and I came here for a greater reason than to merely be Zelda's messenger boy. The future I came from was a dark, post-apocalyptic wasteland. I came to this time period specifically to bring you a dire warning about the apocalypse that created it. A new invasion is coming, and not from the Hylians. A highly advanced and powerful new faction called the Dominion of Darkest is coming to burn and pillage this land and they will be here in fifteen days. If we do nothing then the entire world will be reduced to a barren desert wasteland. Only a small ragtag band of your descendants will survive, and they will be doomed to the same lives of brutal subsistence thievery that you've endured under the Hylians. I already delivered this warning to Zelda and it's why she managed to stop this war. In order to truly stand a chance, we must all band together against the common enemy."

Now the crowd was dead silent again as everyone tried to decide whether or not to take such a strange and foreboding story seriously. Nabooru stared at him skeptically for a few moments before cracking a cynical smile.

"Go figure it'd take another world-ending calamity to force the damn Hylians to make peace with us again. Let me guess, you had to argue with Her Highness for hours before she listened to you?"

Initially Mewtwo felt the urge to defend Zelda since she had seemed genuinely remorseful for failing to stop the war from happening. But then he remembered who he was speaking to and the context of the situation and decided that this wouldn't exactly endear him to any of them. Instead he chose some different words that he knew would go over a bit more smoothly.

"I had to make an impassioned speech in front of the entire gathered population of Hyrule Castle City before any of them would listen to me."

"Yeah that sounds about right." Nabooru laughed, and a few scattered chuckles followed from the crowd.

"Wait, so are you just going to believe all these wild claims from an odd looking stranger without any further proof?" Asked someone from the crowd.

"Well he does have the Ocarina. But I suppose for claims this far-fetched it'd be reasonable to ask for additional proof." Nabooru mused.

"That's fair, and I do believe I have just the thing." Mewtwo replied.

He then slowly unstrapped the Vatorsa Spear, being careful not to make any sudden, potentially threatening movements that the guards might mistake for an attack. He held it out to Nabooru cautiously, hoping the inscription and Holy power inside would be sufficient proof. He didn't want to keep wasting shots from his Guardian Pistol to prove himself when he had no source of fresh replacement batteries.

"I received this spear as a gift from a Gerudo Arbiter in the future after saving her sister's life. During my travels I also visited the Spirit Temple and placed the spear atop Lady Nariva's altar, and the Goddess blessed it with the power to smite evil. I'd demonstrate its power but there don't seem to be any evil spirits or monsters around."

Nabooru took the spear for a moment and examined it curiously. Silence settled over the clearing as she turned it in her hands and read the inscriptions. When she finally spoke again it was with a cautious and measured tone.

"Hmm, it does seem to be of genuine Gerudo make, and I think I can sense a trace of the Holy magic within. But there's just one problem: this actually doesn't really prove anything in your story. Technically there could be other Gerudo Tribes out there, deep in the western reaches of the desert. Our ancestors were nomads before they settled here on the fringes of Hyrule after all. Some could have splintered off before the beginnings of recorded history and settled elsewhere. You could have met them and gotten this spear from them without any time travel involved."

Mewtwo struggled a little to contain his frustration now. He was so damn tired of enduring this skepticism and doubt over and over again. It only was solidifying his stubborn refusal to use the pistol as proof.

"If this and the Ocarina aren't enough then I'm running out of options. I could play the Song of Time for you to prove I know how to use it to travel time, but then you could just say Zelda taught it to me. I could use my magic to share my memories with you, perhaps?"

Nabooru shook her head. "You could just as easily use magic to conjure illusory visions and call them memories in order to trick me. But... there is one thing that neither magic nor guile can mimic."

"And what might that be?" Mewtwo asked, raising a brow.

"Muscle memory." Nabooru replied, then tossed the spear back to him.

Mewtwo caught the spear and was about to ask her what she was implying, but before he could speak she clapped her hands three times quite loudly. The crowd around them sprang to life excitedly; a group of Gerudo guards turned and began to open up and rifle through some of the nearby supply crates. The rest of them pressed in closer, whispering to each other and watching with excited looks on their faces. One of these guards fished out a wooden training staff and tossed it over to Nabooru who caught it with ease. Another pulled out a set of four bongo-esque tribal drums that immediately lit a fire of familiar excitement in Mewtwo's chest. Those looked like the exact same type of drums that the Vatorsas used for pace-setting while they trained him.

"If you really did live with our people and learn to fight from them, then I ought to be able to see traces of our fighting style in how you duel. Even if elements of that style have changed in the ensuing 500 years that you've claimed, some seeds of it still should be evident. I want you to duel with me." Nabooru explained.

"It still won't be much of a fair fight. I only have a few months worth of cumulative training under my belt and you're an Exalted Heroine who helped defeat the King of Evil. Assuming that you don't want me to use any of my magic in this fight then it's obvious that you're going to mop the floor with me." Mewtwo said.

"That's why I'm letting you use your real spear while I limit myself to this." Nabooru replied, spinning the staff in her hands. "Besides, this isn't a duel to the death. I don't need you to beat me, I just need you to show me how you fight."

Nabooru circled Mewtwo slowly as they spoke and dragged the tip of her staff through the dust to draw a ring around them for the fight. Mewtwo watched her with one eyebrow slightly raised as adrenaline began to course through his body. The part of him that loved the rush of battle was already raring to go despite the fact that he knew he was about to get utterly trounced. He almost made a snarky remark about how this technically wouldn't prove his time travel story either since that theoretical Western tribe that she had postulated could have trained him too. But then he decided it'd be silly and self-sabotaging to argue against his own cause. He quietly slipped into the spear fighting stance that the Vatorsas had taught him and took some deep breaths to clear his mind. As he waited for Nabooru to begin the match he focused on recalling his lessons and this helped him to forget the hundreds of eyes staring down at him.

"Bulaar!" Shouted one of the soldiers.

Nabooru came to a stop again in front of him and stepped into a fighting stance quite similar to his own. He noticed her eyes flicking down to assess his stance for a brief moment.

"Fair warning, even if I don't plan on seriously harming you I can't afford to go easy on you either. I can't assess your skills properly if I'm not pushing you to show me their true extent."

"Don't worry, I don't expect anything less." Mewtwo replied calmly.

"Qada!"

Then the drum beat began and Nabooru was immediately on him. Just like during his training, Mewtwo had to defend himself from blows that were timed to those beats and make his own strikes between hers. The beat was comparatively slow at first, giving him ample time to maneuver and block every blow. But the force in Nabooru's strikes was shockingly strong. Despite her slender, less-muscular frame she still hit far harder than Madiri or Q'diri ever had. The first three blows he deflected nearly knocked the spear out of his grip and he could feel the shaft vibrating painfully in his hands each time. The wooden staff made a sharp CLACK sound every time it bounced off of the spear's metallic surface.

Despite this difficulty though Mewtwo seemed to hold his own in the fight as Nabooru focused on wide, flashy sweeps and swings that gave him plenty of time to see them coming and defend himself. Of course none of his own blows ever came close to landing; every time it was his turn on the drum beat to take a swing, Nabooru suddenly seemed MUCH faster than she was on the attack. This told Mewtwo that she actually had been lying when she said she wouldn't hold back. Perhaps she was worried that she wouldn't have the chance to see all of his skills in action if she simply flattened him in the first few seconds? This suspicion caused an idea to strike him: what if he took advantage of her holding back and made a quick, risky play at a disarming strike while she wasn't taking him seriously? Such an upset would go a long way in proving his skill and earning their trust. He didn't know how much time he had before the drum beat sped up or Nabooru took the kid gloves off though, so he made a snap decision to go for it immediately.

The first thing that Mewtwo did was to use his own movement turn to make a broad, sweeping overhead swing toward Nabooru's head. This was an intentional choice in order to lay a trap. The swing was slow and left his torso exposed, opening him up for a jab attack right to the belly or chest. Nabooru blocked the swing with ease just as Mewtwo expected and then took the bait. She jabbed the blunt end of her staff directly at his gut and he brought his spear down to smack it toward the Earth. Just as he hoped, the swiftness of this maneuver caught Nabooru by surprise and he was able to shove her staff downward to strike the dusty ground. Taking advantage of this position he used all his strength to push downward in an attempt to keep her staff pinned there long enough for him to lift his leg. He knew she was physically stronger than him in terms of upper body strength and she would easily overpower him and break out of this trap if he gave her even a single second to regain her initiative. But he knew his leg muscles were the strongest ones in his body, so if he was to have any hope of disarming her then he'd have to use them. Calling on all the speed and strength he could muster he raised his left foot right as Nabooru's staff hit the dirt and planted it on top of that staff to keep it stuck there.

At first Nabooru tried to pull her weapon free with brute strength. This at least worked to stop Mewtwo from disarming her even as he pushed down with all the might his thigh could muster. She actually didn't have the raw strength to rip the staff out from under his foot, but Mewtwo also didn't have the strength to overcome her grip and stomp the staff flat against the ground. For a brief moment of grunting and straining they were deadlocked, and they both missed their next drum beats.

Then Nabooru did something that caught Mewtwo completely off guard: she simply let go of her weapon. Suddenly all the downward force he had been exerting was released and he was sent stumbling forward off kilter as the staff snapped down flat against the ground. With one fluid motion she then swung her left elbow upward and caught Mewtwo squarely in the solar plexus as he fell. The force of the blow sent lightning bolts of agony ripping through his chest and knocked the wind out of him so thoroughly that he crumpled like a dried out leaf. He face-planted violently onto the dusty stone and another stabbing spike of pain gouged into his face as the impact caused his lower lip to split. Before he even finished coming to rest he felt Nabooru's foot plant itself firmly on his back. A whistle marked the end of their fight and the drums stopped. Mewtwo's pride further crumbled when he heard multiple people in the crowd break out in derisive laughter at his humiliating faceplant.

Fortunately Nabooru quickly lifted her foot off of his back after the whistle sounded. She reached down and grabbed his shoulder to help him back to his feet.

"Not bad. You actually almost had me for a brief moment there. Here, drink up and we'll have another go."

She then pulled out a small vial of Red Potion and offered it to him with an impressed smile. Too raggedly out of breath to say anything, Mewtwo took the vial and gulped it down eagerly. He couldn't help but briefly recall back to his first night on Hypalia when Kalana found him and gave him a vial of potion just like this one. Then, as though further reflecting Kalana's kindness to him, she turned and shouted a mild rebuke to those laughing in the crowd.

"Hey, all of you were trainees at some point too! Don't laugh unless you'd like a turn in his place!"

That instantly caused the crowd to clam up. Mewtwo sighed in relief as the potion mended all his wounds and took the pain away. He wiped the blood off of his regenerating lip and then handed her back the empty vial with a grateful nod.

"Thank you. I'm ready to go again."

He then dusted himself off and returned to his fighting stance. Nabooru picked up her staff and nodded briefly to him as the same guard called out again.

"Bulaar!"

"Just let me know when you've had enough." Nabooru said.

"I will."

"Qada!"

The drums resumed, but this time at a significantly faster pace. Nabooru's blows were vicious and the repeated CLACK CLACK CLACK of her staff echoed through the canyon around them. Mewtwo kept up with her at first and managed to block every attack, but he missed every beat meant for his own attacks. He tried to watch for any mistake or opening in her assault that he could exploit just like Nereti and the Vatorsas had taught him, but none seemed to appear. Nabooru's technique was simply flawless. She was stronger, faster, more agile, and overall superior to him in every way. Once again he had the sinking feeling that she was intentionally drawing this out just to examine his moves. Yet he also had a feeling that if he did nothing but fight defensively and let her wear him down that she'd be disappointed in him. He was stuck; if he just stayed cautious and defensive then he'd lose the chance to wow her, but her form was so flawless that she'd catch and exploit anything he tried.

Mewtwo didn't have time to think before the drum beat made his decision for him. After a minute or so the rhythm of the drum picked up pace again seemingly out of nowhere, catching him off guard and causing him to mess up. Nabooru adapted to the quickened pace quite effortlessly and swept a blow right past his guard, striking him in the left flank. He reeled back from the crippling force of the blow and staggered, leaving himself open to a follow-up attack. Nabooru immediately took advantage of this and spun her staff around to crash against his left leg. His footing was cleanly swept out from under him and he involuntarily dropped his spear as he collapsed onto his side. Once again Nabooru planted her foot on him and the whistle blew, marking another victory for the Exalted Sage.

"You lasted a lot longer this time, good job." Nabooru said as she again helped him up and handed him another potion vial.

"I'd last even longer if I could just use my spells." Mewtwo replied bitterly before downing the whole vial.

Nabooru raised an eyebrow and then smirked as she watched him recover. It almost seemed like his words had given her an idea.

"Ok, thank you again. I'm ready for round three." Mewtwo said, handing her back the empty vial.

"You certainly do have the determination of a trained warrior. We'll do one more round, and if you can manage to land at least one single blow on me, then I'll accept your word as truth."

"Very well. No pressure huh?" Mewtwo asked, grasping for some levity.

"Bulaar!" yelled the guard.

"At least you're not getting stabbed if I make a mistake." Nabooru replied with that same playful smirk.

"Qada!"

This time the drum beat was even faster and Nabooru's blows fell on him in an overwhelming flurry. At least this time Mewtwo expected the speed of the attacks and was able to keep up and block them all. The effort required for this pushed him to his limits though; he could feel his arms searing from the exertion even after the potion had refreshed him. Undoubtedly his muscles were building up lactic acid rapidly and developing micro-tears from the relentless fury. There was little doubt in his mind that he could only keep this up for a few more seconds, maybe a minute at most. The moment Nabooru noticed an opening or weakness he knew she'd hone in on it and exploit it mercilessly. She was simply so far beyond his level that he had no hope of finding any mistakes in her technique to take advantage of.

With so little time to think Mewtwo was forced to seize the first idea that came to his mind, and it was a reckless and stupid one at that. Since Nabooru seemed to unerringly attack the first opportunity she saw, he'd have to intentionally open himself up to one of these attacks to try and hit her while she exploited it. He knew that Q'diri would have called this a stupid move only fit for a Kiharé, but it was all he could think of. He knew that he'd have to make it believable, otherwise Nabooru would back off and avoid his following attack, so he decided to start by making a legitimate attack through Nabooru's flurry with all the strength and speed he could muster.

Mewtwo's attack of choice was a lightning quick tail sweep across the ground aimed at Nabooru's feet. It was clearly meant to try and knock her feet out from under her. As he expected, Nabooru was simply too perceptive and speedy to be caught by the attack. She raised one foot up and stamped it down onto the thinnest part of his tail just as it passed below her, instantly halting its movement and pinning it against the ground. This did cause a spike of pain to stab through his tail but Mewtwo managed to avoid flinching since he had expected this to happen. It was fortunate his tail wasn't nearly as sensitive as those of most other felines. As soon as the foot came down onto his tail he then used all his strength to yank it backward in one massive burst of effort. Even with all the strength in his legs and tail he couldn't completely dislodge it from under Nabooru's foot, but he did at least manage to throw her off balance enough to make her stagger forward.

That was the exact opening that Mewtwo was hoping for. He knew Nabooru was probably expecting him to strike at her with the butt of his spear while she was staggered though, so he tried something reckless and unpredictable. He dropped the spear and darted one hand out to grab onto her staff and yank her forward into a grapple. As he expected she tried to whip her staff upward to block a predicted spear blow, causing him to have a perfect opening to grab ahold of it tightly and yank. This further pulled her off balance and caused her to topple forward against him. In order to fulfill her request of landing at least one blow while he still had the chance, he bobbed his head forward to connect a headbutt against her forehead before she could completely crash down on top of him. This caused her head to snap back briefly before she fell on top of him, knocking him down onto the dusty ground right next to where he'd dropped the spear.

Nabooru didn't let the shock of the blow keep her off guard for long. As soon as they'd come to rest in a pile on the ground she ditched her staff and grabbed at Mewtwo's hands with lightning speed. In mere seconds she'd managed to maneuver him into a brutal chokehold. He didn't bother to fight though; he gave in immediately and tapped out to let the fight come to an end now that he'd satisfied his goal. The whistle sounded once more and Nabooru let go in order to roll off of him and climb to her feet. She offered him a hand to pull him up in a show of good sportsmanship, grinning the entire time.

"Nicely done. I had a feeling you might pull it off if I dangled an enticing enough carrot in front of you."

"You almost sound like my mentors from back in Ven'rakúl." Mewtwo replied with a smile.

"I could certainly see their work in your movements." Nabooru replied, returning her own grin with a tinge of satisfaction. "With that, I'm satisfied that you're telling the truth. However..."

Mewtwo tilted his head curiously when she trailed off after that. She eyed him with a strange look that he couldn't seem to read, then hooked the toe of her right shoe under his spear and kicked it up into the air toward him. He nimbly caught it with one hand and shook the dust off of himself.

"However...?" He asked.

"Before we go inside and listen to your story in more detail, I am curious about something. You said you might be able to hold your own better in a fight if I let you use your spells. What sort of spells did you mean?"

"Uh, telekinesis and telepathy primarily. I could easily disable you with my psychic power and never strike a single physical blow if I wanted to, but that wouldn't be fair, nor would it show off my training."

Nabooru reached down to pick up her own staff at this point. "Alright, let's say I allowed you to just use spells that would enhance your own combat capabilities without impeding my own. Do you think you could still beat me then?"

"Easily. Just holding my spear with telekinesis would allow me to maneuver with infinitely more speed and stamina." Mewtwo replied confidently.

"Alright then. How about one more match, just for fun? This time though, you may use any powers you like on yourself as long as they don't impede my own abilities."

Mewtwo couldn't help but laugh a little. Nabooru reminded him so much of the Gerudos that he had known back in his time period. All the confidence, bravado, and passion for battle were there on full display. It was comforting to him, so much so that he forgot the social pressure of the crowd watching him entirely.

"Very well. I will... temper my own confidence and bravado considering how badly you just beat me in our previous rounds. But do not expect this to go as smoothly for you this time." Mewtwo said, then picked up the spear with his telekinesis and let his hands lower down to rest at his sides. The spear hovered in front of him and spun a few times with enough speed to make an audible whooshing sound as it sliced through the air. People in the crowd gawked and whispered at the sight.

"Bulaar!"

"I should hope so. I haven't had an actual decent challenge since Ganondorf fell." Nabooru replied.

"Qada!"

This time there were no drums. The Gerudos in the crowd knew this was a serious duel, not some structured training session or test. They needed to let the combatants set their own pace and fight as they saw fit. Nabooru began by lunging for Mewtwo with truly stunning speed. Now it was blatantly clear that she wasn't holding an inch of her skills back. In less than a second she was swinging brutally for his head and he could tell there was enough force in that blow to shatter his skull if he didn't act fast. Thankfully his perception of time seemed to accelerate rapidly as adrenaline crashed through his blood stream and his mind slipped into instinctual combat mode. Something about the prospect of truly opening up and letting his entire potential free caused this side of him to fully awaken when the duels before simply could not. He whipped the spear up with matching swiftness and blocked Nabooru's blow effortlessly, and this time the sound of their weapons clashing was far louder. The deafening CLACK made the audience members wince.

For just a brief fraction of a second Nabooru locked eyes with Mewtwo as their weapons pressed against one another. He could see a similar thirst for thrill in those eyes, as well as an impressed joy that he'd managed to stop her at her strongest. He knew his own gaze must have communicated many of those same feelings. Then she slid her staff back and began a sequence of attacks that Mewtwo could only describe as a dance of death.

Dozens of supernaturally fast spinning strikes whirled out against him, each aimed at a different spot on his body. Nabooru's form twisted and twirled as she moved, her limbs and clothes whipping around like a tornado. Mewtwo's spear responded in kind, acting purely defensively for now since he wanted to give her a chance to really let loose and enjoy fighting at her best before he put a stop to it. His telekinesis allowed him to move the spear just as fast as she did, blocking every single blow with similar strength and skill. He did it without even moving his physical body once. To the crowd it looked like he was merely standing there doing nothing while his weapon did all the fighting for him.

Nabooru kept going and going until finally, after nearly a minute of vicious flurrying, her simple wooden training staff gave up the ghost due to the sheer force she was applying to it. The wood shattered to splinters in her hands and the staff disintegrated completely, leaving only sharp wooden shards. Nabooru stopped and leaped back a step in response, taking a moment to brush the wooden splinters off of herself and reassess her situation. The crowd gasped at the spectacle and then went silent; nobody knew what Nabooru would do next. Mewtwo had a bit of an inkling, but he still felt some emotions come welling up when he saw her do it. She reached down and drew Scimitar Azria from her hip.

"Been awhile since I've had to use this." She said.

"I'm flattered. But please don't damage it in the name of simple pleasure. You're going to need it soon enough."

Nabooru raised an eyebrow at this comment but didn't have any further words. She took a step forward to resume their engagement, but this time she was approaching carefully and slowly. Now her fighting style seemed more like Nereti's than Q'diri's; she almost appeared to be goading him into making the first move so she could try and find a weakness to exploit again. Mewtwo knew not to take the bait, instead he slipped back into a more nimble fighting stance to make himself ready to move, even if he didn't expect to use his body for this fight. Nabooru slowly circled him as she waited, again reminding him of how the Gerudos back in Ven'rakúl used to fight when taking their opponents more seriously. He didn't let his sentimentality lure him in though, he simply turned with her to follow her movements with his eyes and didn't make a move.

"What now, Exalted One? I know you're trying to draw me into an attack. What will you do if I don't take the bait?" Mewtwo asked.

"What makes you think I need you to attack me for this to work?"

Suddenly Mewtwo saw a flash of glowing energy in Nabooru's eyes and his blood ran cold. He had almost no time to react as Nabooru flicked one hand forward and cast a pair of spells from her palm. The first was a bolt of glowing red light that zoomed through the air toward Mewtwo with startling speed. The second was a gout of crackling blue flame that followed the same exact path but moved slightly slower than the first. She had been focusing on casting these spells the entire time she'd been circling him and he'd been so complacent that he hadn't realized it at all! Mewtwo instinctively raised his telekinetic shield to block these spells, but he didn't realize that this was a trap. His mind had entirely focused itself on the faster initial spell, causing him to ignore the familiar nature of the second one as he automatically tried to defend himself. Thus the trap was sprung: the red bolt bounced harmlessly off of his shield and then the blue flame passed directly through and struck him in the chest, searing his fur and causing a wave of sickening energy to wash over him. Suddenly his telekinesis flickered out and he involuntarily lost his grip over the spear, sending it clattering to the ground. Nabooru had actually tagged him with an Impediment Curse!

That was when Nabooru made a lunge for a real attack. She moved so quickly that Mewtwo had no time to bend down and grab his spear. Without the spear in hand, nor any telekinesis to grab or block Azria, Mewtwo did the only thing he could do on such short notice. He teleported himself about four feet to the left, causing Nabooru's blade to meet nothing but air. The momentum of her swing caused her to skid forward slightly and almost smash her blade against the ground, but she managed to reign it in before that happened. Again the crowd gasped at the sight; they had never seen anyone other than perhaps Ganondorf or Zelda teleport like that before.

To Nabooru's credit, she didn't let the surprise of that teleport take her completely off guard. Instead of stumbling or falling she twisted around nimbly and planted her feet, stopping just shy of the edge of the ring. Once she came to a stop she took the opportunity to reach down and grab the Vatorsa Spear with her other hand in order to keep it away from him. Mewtwo cradled the burn on his chest with a panting growl, then utilized the time she was giving him to use Recover on himself.

"Ugh, that was stupid of me. Nereti explicitly warned me about that exact curse, I should have known you could cast it!"

"So you know that spell then? Makes it all the sweeter that I caught you off guard with it. Hopefully that will help temper your ego a little bit." Nabooru said with a smug grin.

Nabooru then turned to hurl the spear out of their circle so Mewtwo couldn't recover it without disqualifying himself. One of the people in the crowd caught it and held onto it for them until the match was over. Now Mewtwo knew he was at more than a slight disadvantage. Without the spear, telekinesis, or a shield to stop Nabooru's blows, he had essentially no defense against her strikes other than dodging or teleporting. He also lacked anything he could use to temporarily disable her without seriously injuring or killing her, since he'd agreed not to use any psychic techniques that would interfere with her ability to fight. He tried grabbing the spear with telekinesis again, but the Impediment Curse simply stopped that ability from working. Clearly his Recover technique wasn't enough to lift the curse. He saw Nabooru starting to circle him again and felt a bit of relief wash over him. She was being merciful by giving him this time when she could have jumped in and ended it with another attack before he could get his bearings.

"This is why I love dueling and training with Gerudos. You always find ways to humble me without being hurtful about it. I appreciate you keeping me on my toes." Mewtwo replied.

Once again Mewtwo gratefully took advantage of the lull in the fighting. As Nabooru circled him he began to test out a few other psychic abilities to see what the Impediment curse had blocked. He couldn't raise a psychic barrier, he couldn't use telekinesis, and he couldn't seem to even physically reach down to grab Hadara's Dagger. Somehow the curse was interfering with the movement of his physical body in addition to blocking so many psychic powers. But at least he could still conjure up orbs of psychic power in his hands, including his old stand-by, Shadow Ball. Nabooru saw him doing this and immediately realized what was happening. Knowing now that she was giving him time to figure out his next move, she sprang into action and swung for his arm with Azria at full force.

Mewtwo then decided to use a technique that had always been very situational in the past and that he'd rarely ever found an application for. The move was called Iron Tail, and it caused a thin layer of protective metal to cover his tail so that he could swing it at a foe offensively. He didn't use it as an offensive tool though, rather he brought it up to interpose between himself and Nabooru and block her swing. The metal was just barely thick enough to absorb the majority of Nabooru's strike, but he could still feel the icy cold pain of a cutting wound. The blade had managed to penetrate deeply enough to cleanly pierce the metal and slash the flesh underneath!

Nabooru hadn't been expecting something like this though. When she tried to pull her blade back to make another swing it refused to budge. Azria was stuck in the metal covering Mewtwo's tail! Mewtwo realized what had happened and then immediately took advantage by lashing his tail backward, ripping the blade out of her grip entirely. The whipcrack of his tail snapping backward was enough to dislodge the Scimitar from the metal and send it careening out of the ring. Now both of them were disarmed.

With a look of confusion on her face Nabooru took another quick step back to again reassess her situation. Her look immediately changed to one of genuine amusement though; she looked totally impressed that he'd taken her off guard like that.

"Well now who's keeping who on their toes?" she laughed.

"To be fair, you weren't warned about that trick like I was about your curse." Mewtwo replied.

He again used the time she afforded him to heal himself. The gash in his metal-covered tail was pouring blood at a frightening rate and he didn't want to bleed out mid-fight. He just barely had enough time to regenerate himself, as Nabooru changed her fighting stance to one befitting hand-to-hand combat and began to advance on him again.

Mewtwo was done drawing this out though. He felt that Nabooru had had plenty of time to enjoy their duel and he needed to use a little shock and awe to give it a proper ending. He raised one hand and used a technique known as Swift, which caused glowing golden star-shaped motes of energy to leap from his palm and unerringly shoot out at Nabooru as she approached. She deftly leaped to the side with instinctual speed and skill, but the glowing stars simply changed direction mid-air and continued homing in on her totally undeterred. They struck her in the stomach and chest with devastating force. He had intentionally chosen a weaker move like this both for its homing ability and because he knew it wouldn't be strong enough to punch a hole in her body like a Shadow Ball might have. Fortunately the strikes didn't even break her skin, but they did scorch a trio of agonizing burns all over her body and send her tumbling out of the ring into the dirt. The crowd gasped in amazement one more time and then the whistle sounded to mark the end of their final duel.

Two Gerudo guards rushed forward to help Nabooru to her feet as she came to rest on the ground. Fortunately she didn't seem particularly upset that he'd defeated her. Instead she laughed and beamed proudly as she wobbled up and stood.

"Well damn, I had a feeling you really were holding back but that was brutal! Well fought my friend."

"Exalted One, your burns! Here, take this!" One of the guards said, offering her a full size potion.

"No no, here, I caused those wounds and I will heal them. There's no need to waste any more potions over this." Mewtwo offered, stepping out of the ring to approach them.

"That is most gracious of you, thank you." Nabooru said, then pushed the offered bottle away and let Mewtwo lay his hands on her burns.

Nabooru heaved a sigh of relief as Mewtwo's Heal Pulse took the pain away. As Mewtwo worked on healing her he suddenly noticed that the crowd of Gerudos was staring at him in pure amazement as if this was a rare feat. He felt puzzled; back in Ven'vha there had been plenty of mages who could cast healing magic like this. Was magical talent much rarer among the Gerudos of this time period? Even Nabooru looked impressed.

"By Nariva, look! He glows like Sha'alsira!" Someone nearby whispered.

Nabooru immediately overheard that despite how quietly that person had been speaking and gave a casual, good natured laugh.

"Now that's a florid comparison! It'd make a fine title for someone who defeated me in a duel though. Could use a little bit of shortening up though, maybe 'Shasira'?"

"Oh, what does it mean?" Mewtwo asked as he finished up.

"Literally it means "Morning Sun", though the language is more metaphorical so it's not like she's actually saying you're the sun itself. I think it suits you though."

Mewtwo perhaps would have refused such a flattering nickname out of humility any other time. But the familial warmth that Nabooru was showing him now after their duel was intoxicating him. It felt like it'd been years since he'd felt the welcoming kindness of the Gerudos and he simply couldn't bring himself to refuse it.

"Well, alright. But only so long as it's nothing formal or forced. May I have the spear back now please? And... perhaps something to remove this Impediment Curse from me? My healing powers don't seem able to cure that."

Nabooru gave another jovial laugh and gestured to the crowd to give him what he asked. "Of course. Come, let's go inside. I'd like to sit down and rest after a fight that good, and we have much to discuss."

---

Walking around the interior of the Gerudo Fortress was a surreal experience for Mewtwo. The last time he'd been here it had been a dark, silent tomb that was home to nothing but wreckage and scattered bones. Now it was a bustling communal stronghold filled with unfamiliar Gerudo faces. Torches that were hung in sconces along the wall provided ample light and there were numerous wooden supply crates stacked around the halls and rooms. Nabooru led the whole procession through the halls with Mewtwo right behind her and a crowd of curious Gerudos in tow. The entire crowd seemed to have been captivated by Mewtwo's duel with Nabooru and they were eager to hear his story. He took solace from the fact that none of them seemed to be afraid of him anymore; their looks of scorn and mistrust had been replaced with cautious respect and perhaps a touch of reverence. It must not have been an everyday occurrence to see someone beat their leader in a public duel like that.

Nabooru led them into a large open square room that appeared to be some sort of mess hall. There was a large square wooden table in the center of the room covered in dull, dinged up ceramic dishware, and across from that was a massive steel cooking pot sitting on a grate over a smouldering fire. Wooden logs had been stacked under the grate and there was a large stew bubbling away in the pot. The comfy scents of hickory smoke and spiced beef filled the air here. A pair of Gerudo civilians were tending to the stew when they arrived, and at first they gawked at Mewtwo in fear before Nabooru gestured at them to calm down.

"It's alright Takama, Rebinu, he's with me."

"Y-yes, Exalted One, of course!"

The two backed off and gawked in surprise as Nabooru strode right in with Mewtwo and offered him a chair, and practically the entire fortress's population crowded in after them. After Nabooru and Mewtwo had sat, the rest of the chairs were immediately claimed by the crowd and those who hadn't gotten lucky enough to get one were forced to stand around the edges of the room. There were two open staircases up to the second floor on either side of the room, and those were quickly filled with people sitting on the edges to watch. Nabooru clapped her hands again and people got to work passing the dishware over to the pot to scoop out helpings of the stew and pass them around so that everyone could eat. Nabooru got the first bowl, followed by Mewtwo since he was her guest.

"That was quite a fight out there. It's-" Nabooru began, but then was cut off by the sound of a young girl's voice shouting out.

"Momma!"

Mewtwo turned to look toward the source of the voice and saw a young Gerudo child pushing her way to the front of the crowd. She was even younger than Indiru or Ruru had been, looking to be 5 years old in human age. She had yellow Quindalo eyes and a tall, lanky build not too dissimilar from Indiru's, but none of Indiru's older poise or formality. She wore rich purple clothing and a bronze tiara without a gem and ran headlong right up to Nabooru to hug her leg. Mewtwo realized that this must have been Talooru, the future chief who would help lead the Gerudo after Nabooru's death. He didn't realize she was destined to take the mantle when so young though, the very idea was painfully tragic. At least he'd already succeeded in averting that part of the future just by stopping the war.

"Talooru! Sa'oten, what are you doing in here, aren't you supposed to be in your pottery class?" Nabooru scolded lightly.

"We paused when everyone heard the duel drums and everyone watched from the windows. I saw that big mean cat-voe hurt you!"

"Shhh it's alright sweetie, I'm fine. Remember I taught you the difference between good fighting for fun and bad fighting for real. Those were fun fights." Nabooru explained, scooping the child up in her arms and comforting her.

Mewtwo decided not to interrupt their moment. He noticed that unlike the Gerudos of his timeline, Nabooru didn't scold Talooru for interrupting their meeting, nor did the gathered crowd seemed to mind. If anything, heartwarmed smiles crossed the faces of the people watching. Mewtwo couldn't help but smile a bit too, even if he had a feeling that the young Talooru wasn't exactly fond of him.

"It looked like he really did hurt you though." Talooru whimpered.

"That magic attack did sting a little, but it takes a lot more than that to take down your old Véma. Now why don't you let me finish taming the spirit of this weird cat-voe and go back to your pottery class? I bet they've already resumed without you."

"Alright. But be careful, ok?"

"I will, little Vehví. Now go, last thing I need is a lecturing from your teacher about your punctuality!" Nabooru said, then set her back down on her feet and shooed her off.

Talooru began to adorably scamper back toward the exit, and the crowd parted for her effortlessly. She paused for a brief moment to turn and shoot a suspicious, angry stare at Mewtwo before returning to her departure and vanishing into the crowd.

"Sorry about that Shasira. You know how little ones can be at that age." Nabooru said with a bit of a proud glint in her eyes.

Initially Mewtwo wanted to reply by talking about Talooru's destiny to be a great leader, perhaps mixed with some levity about her lack of skill as a songwriter. But he decided it might be difficult to phrase without coming off as awkward and just spoke plainly.

"I met a few myself back in Ven'rakúl. She's got a good heart, I can tell already."

"Indeed, and she's just as stubborn as I was at that age." Nabooru joked, and the entire crowd chuckled at that.

Nabooru then cleared her throat and picked back up where she'd left off before being interrupted. "As I was saying though, It's tradition in Gerudo culture to hand out honorary tribe memberships to those who defeat our best warriors in honorable combat. The practice has brought in some prestigious recruits before; our last honorary member was the Hero of Time himself, Link. Would you be willing to accept the honor of Vhíran brotherhood and add your name to that venerable list?" Nabooru asked.

"Of course. Though I am curious, Is "Vhíran" the name of your tribe here in this time?" Mewtwo asked respectfully.

"Yes. Well, it was our name back before the famine times at least. Before the Hylians came to burn Ven'vhír and lay the yoke of servitude upon all our necks. When we lost that first war they stripped us of our tribe name by force and just called us their Gerudo Vassal tribe. We still use the name in secret of course, just never in front of Hylians or their servants."

"Exalted One, not to be disrespectful, but you do remember that he did come to us as Queen Zelda's messenger, right?" Asked one of the soldiers from the crowd.

Nabooru laughed a bit and nodded. "A fair point, but I have a feeling that he hasn't exactly sworn fealty to them. You can keep a secret for us, right Shasira?"

Mewtwo couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as warm camaraderie filled his heart. "I'll swear to Nariva herself if that is what you wish."

Nabooru grinned and slapped him on the back firmly. "Spoken like a true Vhíran! I knew you were telling the truth." She then turned and called out to the crowd, "Falora! Bring our newest brother a membership card!"

Mewtwo tilted his head curiously and turned to look toward the crowd where Nabooru had shouted. He saw one of the more heavily armed soldiers step forward and then offer him what looked like a small sheet of brown parchment about 4 inches square. The Gerudo flag was emblazoned on it as well as a small bit of Gerudo text that he couldn't completely make out.

"Huh, you use cards in this time period? When I joined the Rakeshan and Vha'an tribes in my time they held short rituals with forehead dye. Not that I'm complaining of course, it's nice to have a memento that I can hold onto."

"Hmm, you know that actually sounds kinda nice. It'd be a bit more formal and respectable than handing out cards like our tribe is still a thief's den." Falora commented thoughtfully.

Nabooru nodded enthusiastically. "I agree! After all, the moment the new war even started we had no more need to respect Hylian laws about how we structure our tribe. Even if we do go back to being vassals after this we should insist on having more autonomy again. Maybe Zelda will actually listen to us. We should spend some time thinking up a proper oath and everything."

Mewtwo suddenly felt mortified as he realized that he might have just accidentally set off a bootstrap paradox. Inspiring them to create the exact initiation ceremony that he had undergone in the future was certainly a nasty little time loop. His eyes widened a little and he chimed in with a slightly nervous tone.

"Well, maybe keep giving out cards for awhile longer perhaps. Or come up with a new mixed rite that has both. I may be here to change the future but I don't think it'd be wise for me to cause a time paradox by being the inspiration for the ritual that I underwent in the future."

The entire crowd chuckled in vaguely nervous amusement. Falora leaned against the wall and added her own joke to the mix. "You almost sound like that Zelda herself, fretting over time travel and paradoxes like that."

"Speaking of time travel though, you still have quite a story to tell for us, don't you Shasira? We should probably finish joking around now that your induction is finished and get down to business." Nabooru said.

"Agreed. Just... give me a moment to figure out where to start."

Mewtwo then took a deep breath and steadied himself while trying to mentally plan out what he'd tell them. He even took a bite of the stew they'd offered him and hummed pleasantly. It tasted quite good given the unknown mixture of potentially strange ingredients. The others began to eat too, and once he began to speak they all listened quietly while chowing down. Mewtwo immediately grew carried away in the story and ended up speaking for untold hours as he gave a detailed account of his arrival on Hypalia, his life in Ven'rakesh and then Ven'vha, and his trip into the East. Normally he would have felt nervous about the less pleasant details, but the camaraderie of his induction, together with the crackling fire, hot stew, and atmosphere of quiet sisterhood all soothed his nerves.

To their credit, Nabooru and her people listened diligently and no longer questioned his tale. Sometimes she interjected to ask for clarification or explanations of certain things, like Sulaaq technology or psychic power, but she clearly believed him fully. Because she believed him, everyone else seemed willing to believe him too. He ate multiple helpings of their stew as he spoke, taking gulps between segments. He lost track of time so fully that he didn't realize that he'd eaten and then grown hungry and eaten again during the course of the discussion. He must have gone from lunchtime all the way to dinner time with his story, and only once he finally reached the ending with his arrival at Gerudo Valley in this time period did he finally stop. Nabooru, who had demolished two huge bowls of stew herself, quietly sat there and contemplated the story after he finished.

"That is... quite a dark and terrible tale, Shasira." she eventually said. "It is fortunate indeed that you came when you did. By the sound of the story, even if Alastor's spell had failed the Hylians probably were on the cusp of making the final assault that could have crossed the valley and slain me in the next few days. But now I must ask, do you really honestly think that just the Medallions of the Sages will be enough to save us? The way you described your confrontation against the Sulaaq, it sounded like they were never able to bring the full might of their empire to bear on you due to their war against Lightest's Guardians keeping it all tied up. This time there will be no such limitation holding them back. What if the full psychic might of ten million Immortals is aimed right down at you all at once?"

Mewtwo frowned deeply as he considered his reply. "I was hoping to use my presence as bait to lure Darkest himself out into the open. I didn't plan to directly engage the army of Immortals in open combat at first, just taunt them and tell them of my true identity so they would warn Darkest. Ideally Darkest would then come out onto the field to engage me personally in order to capture me and ensure his own creation by splitting me himself. That is when I spring the full might of the Medallions upon him in a surprise attack. If I can overwhelm him and kill him before he calls up the full force of his army, then his forces will devolve into violent infighting just like before."

"Hmmmm, alright. But what of all the people who his armies will be slaughtering and maiming in the background while you try to enact this plan? If you do not engage his armies immediately upon arrival then they will be free to pillage and destroy the land unopposed until you manage to land that finishing blow." Nabooru pointed out.

"That is... also a good point. I hadn't even considered it. You seem to have a knack in finding holes in my plans, Exalted One."

"You can just call me Nabooru, you earned that right after defeating me." She said casually, then scooted closer to the table and pushed aside their bowls to clear some space. "I'd like to think that I've always been good at finding holes in carefully laid plans. The last few months of war with the Hylians certainly have forced me to hone that talent. I would have liked to have no more use for it now that the war is over, but it seems like we're being tossed right out of one firepit into another. So let's work together and actually refine this plan of yours."

Nabooru then gestured to her people for something, and one of them nodded and brought out a massive rolled up parchment sheet. She carried it up to the table and spread it out on the space that they had just cleared, revealing a large and detailed hand drawn map of the kingdom of Hyrule. She then grabbed some wooden figurines depicting various Hyrulean people of different races and began to place them on the map in their respective home settlements.

"Here Shasira, observe this map. Every major settlement in Hyrule is marked by these figurines depicting populations of various peoples. Obviously you know of our home here in Gerudo Canyon." She said, pointing to it on the map.

"Yes, and I know of Hyrule Castle City as well, since I visited it before coming here." Mewtwo replied, gesturing to it himself.

Nabooru nodded and then began to point out the other settlements. "I will teach you the rest. The Hylians also live here in Kakariko City, and here in Lon Lon Village around the ranch. The Gorons live up here on Death Mountain where they've built Goron City, and the Zoras hold their Domain at the source of Zora's River. These are all the major population centers that we would have to defend when the invasion arrives. Unfortunately, as you can see by this scale marking on the map here, these settlements are highly spread out. Trying to simultaneously defend them all would be impossible, especially if what you've said about them arriving from the heavens above is true."

"Hmmmm, I see. This is... far less defensible than I'd hoped." Mewtwo lamented softly.

"Indeed. Out of all of these, only Hyrule Castle City and our Fortress here in the valley have any sort of military fortifications. All the rest are purely civilian in nature and have, at most, crude rock or wooden walls. This map also doesn't display any of the much smaller hamlets or villages that dot the landscape, such as the lakeside lab complex by Lake Hylia." Nabooru added.

"Or the Kokiri Village by the Lost Woods." Mewtwo noted.

"You know of them?" Nabooru asked, looking mildly surprised.

"They were the ones who first found me when I stumbled into the Hyrule of this time period after all. I wouldn't want them to suffer at the hands of the Sulaaq either."

Nabooru sighed and shook her head. "Unfortunately there may not be anything we can do for them. Even if we figure out a way to evacuate every other settlement to safety, the Kokiri will not be able to follow. Based on what I have learned from Saria, they would all immediately die if they tried to leave the forest."

"You know Saria too?" Mewtwo asked, now taking a turn at being mildly surprised.

"Of course. All of us Sages know each other, we met when Zelda and Link gathered us to fight Ganondorf." Nabooru explained.

"Wait... Saria actually IS one of the Sages?!" Mewtwo gasped.

"That is correct. The Sage of Forest, specifically."

"Goddesses above! I heard her call herself that but I didn't know she'd meant it literally! She's so young, I thought it was just a figure of speech or an exaggeration that she was using to exert authority. Appearances really can be deceiving I suppose. That must be the real reason why she found me. She told me that the Deku Sprout had sent her to find me, but if she has the power of a Sage then her magical talents must be much sharper than she lets on."

"She's good at making people underestimate her." Nabooru chuckled. "Regardless, that does not help much with the predicament we're in."

"True. Hmmmm... you mentioned evacuation just now, that gives me the beginnings of a new idea."

Mewtwo then stood up from his chair and began to pace in circles around the map while thinking.

"Hyrule Castle City is quite large and defensible as far as settlements go. I've seen the walls that they've been erecting. That may not do much to stop flying Immortals, but the walls would at least impede Sulaaq Tanks. There should be enough room in the city to house an extremely large amount of people. What if we evacuated every single major population center and sent them all there to hide in the city?" Mewtwo suggested.

To illustrate this, he grabbed all the figurines on the map with telekinesis and set them down on the city. Nabooru rubbed her chin and frowned.

"Won't that just put everyone together into one big easy-to-bomb spot? There's already a huge target painted on the city due to it being the capitol, making it into one big concentrated population nexus would only increase the size of that target."

"Normally I'd agree with your assessment, but I have an idea. Before now I've been thinking about the Sage's Medallions from a purely offensive perspective, but looking at this map has sparked inspiration. What if I were to gather all the Medallions together and use their power to project a defensive barrier around the city in the shape of a dome? That would not only stop Immortals or Chosen from flying over the wall but potentially even block their telepathy as well as incoming fire from their flying ships. I could do this while we wait out Darkest's arrival, then take the Medallions and use them in my subsequent attack."

Mewtwo then created a little glowing dome over the city and the figurines using a basic psychic illusion. Nabooru hummed thoughtfully and leaned forward to examine the dome.

"I suppose that could work. I know from experience that the Medallions are capable of projecting barriers of force, the other Sages and I did that to contain Ganondorf as we banished him. The question then is whether or not this would tip off Darkest about the Medallions' presence and ruin your potential surprise attack."

"That is a fair point. Ugh, there goes that idea." Mewtwo sighed heavily.

He dispelled his little illusory dome and buried his face in his palm as a familiar sinking feeling of hopelessness began to well up in his gut. Nabooru furrowed her brow with concern at first, then reached out to lay a comforting hand on Mewtwo's shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll come up with something. You killed that sulir once before, I'm confident that you can do it again."

Mewtwo lifted his face from his hand and nodded as he tried to conjure up more determination. "I know I can. I just... I don't want to lose anyone else in the process. Even one more death is one too many."

"Exalted One, if I may interject?" Asked a voice from the crowd suddenly.

Mewtwo turned and saw that it was Melia Agaat, the captain of the Guard, who Mewtwo had met earlier. She had stood up from her chair as if wanting to approach.

"Certainly Mel. Nariva knows I could use any sort of idea right now." Nabooru said, gesturing to her to step forward.

Melia nodded and came up to stand alongside them and look down at the map.

"Well if you can figure out how to get around that secrecy problem, your castle defense plan seems sound to me. But there's one other big flaw. The Zora people are technically amphibious but they need to fully immerse their bodies in water at least once every few days or they begin to dry out and become ill. Sure there's enough room for us dry-landers to live in the city safely the whole time, but there's certainly not enough pools or streams within the city for the Zoras to safely immerse themselves in frequently enough to stay well. We'd need to take the risk of only moving the Zoras into the city on the day of the invasion itself, and that would be cutting it close for them since we don't know the exact time of day when the invaders will arrive. It also counts on us defeating them in one day rather than enduring an extended weeks-long siege."

Nabooru and Mewtwo both turned and gave Melia baleful frowns.

"Melia... I was hoping you had like, alternate ideas for something we could try, not just criticism." Nabooru groaned.

"Ah, sorry. I don't, this is a real nightmare of a trap we're in. I just wanted to make sure you didn't present a plan this flawed to Queen Ruto, she'd rip you a new one for literally forgetting about her peoples' basic biology."

Mewtwo shook his head and sighed loudly. He was just about to suggest they stop and have a break to think when someone pushed their way into the room from one of the side passages. She shoved her way through the crowd and called out to Nabooru in a worried tone.

"Exalted One! You need to come outside immediately!"

Nabooru's head instantly twisted around and she replied in a deadly serious tone.

"What is it?! Did Zelda break her word? Are there Hylians attacking the Valley?!"

"No, My Chief! It's something else really strange. You really need to see it for yourself!"

Nabooru furrowed her brow and briefly turned to give Mewtwo a probing look, as if expecting he might declare that the Sulaaq were already here. He gave her a clueless and worried look, so she turned and got up to leave.

"Well, come on then."

With that Mewtwo and the entire crowd followed her down the hallway, around a few corners, and out the front door. They came to a stop in the clearing front of the fortress and suddenly Mewtwo realized the exact reason why the messenger had sounded so confused and fearful. During the hours that Mewtwo had been talking the sun had crept most of the way across the sky, but those terrible dark storm clouds had managed to speed up and catch up with it again. They had overtaken the sun not too far above the horizon, and even though it looked like sunset still should be at least an hour or so away and the sky should be relatively clear and bright, the sky had darkened considerably again thanks to those clouds. What little light was making it through the dense black veil was shifted down to the same bloody red that they had seen that morning. Except now the clouds were even denser than before, so rather than the daylight being reduced to a mere red sunset, it felt like they were already advancing to the deepest depths of twilight with a dark crimson edge. Almost the entire sky was now covered in that choking black gloom. If Mewtwo hadn't already discovered the date of the invasion by reading the mind of that Chosen, he might have assumed that their time was up now. Still, even knowing they had just over two weeks to prepare, he couldn't help but curl his tail in anxiety. Something bad was happening and he didn't like not knowing what it was.

"This is the work of those Sulaaq, isn't it?" Nabooru asked him softly.

Mewtwo nodded quietly, not having the stomach to gather any words. Nabooru still got the message and turned her gaze upward to stare at those clouds for several seconds, pondering the dark red sun. Eventually she spoke up again in a much more dire tone.

"This morning I was talking with Melia about whether or not the red sunrise was an ill omen. I jokingly said that I couldn't remember whether it was a red sunrise or a red sunset that was supposed to be bad luck. Now I think it probably doesn't matter, we're in for some bad luck no matter what we do."

"Well if you look at it that way, at least it means we're also due some good luck too. Perhaps they'll cancel each other out and things will turn out just ok in the end." Melia interjected from the crowd behind them.

"Were it so easy." Mewtwo replied quietly as he stared up at the darkening sky.

A/N: And now Mewtwo knows exactly what he needs to do. The big question remaining is whether he truly has the power to pull it off? Those who read the original first edition know the general way this is about to go down, but trust me when I tell you that I'll be adding A LOT more detail to it all! The main structure of how the story plays out will be roughly the same, but there's also tons of new awesome stuff I plan to add. Get excited, stuff's gonna get buckwild!