B-23. Old Legends

DunBroch Kingdom

After retrieving the Ocarina of Time from the Ancient Ruin, the team of Cheren, Kayla, Nerehc, and Merida returned to DunBroch. Using the ocarina, Nerehc played the Song of Soaring, which Cheren memorized, as it would warp them to the owl statue that he activated in DunBroch long ago. The four kids were encased in a pair of giant wings, which spun around, and within seconds they were whisked to the statue in the middle of the town.

"Wow, it actually worked!" Cheren beamed. MaKayla and Merida were dizzy from the experience.

"What other manner of witchcraft haven't you showed us?" the princess asked.

"So Nerehc, why are you suddenly interested in this Madara person?" Cheren asked, regarding Nerehc's question before they warped.

"You mentioned having confronted Ragaj Gnik." MaKayla noted. "Did he have something to do with it?"

"Yes." Nerehc nodded. "Ragaj showed me visions of some people—I think they were the Thirteen Darknesses. And in one of them, two Japanese guys were having a face-off… and I heard the name 'Madara.' So Merida, how much do you know about him?"

"Only as much as my dad and Macintosh told me." Merida replied as they headed to an alleyway, away from the noisy townspeople. "He was a Japanese warrior that came here from the Land of Fire 200 years ago. Like Macintosh said, thousands of warriors fought him, but he destroyed them all."

"Two hundred years?" Cheren raised a brow. "That's awfully recent. A bit too recent to be a 'legend.'"

"Well, the thing is, everyone was destroyed. No other witnesses lived to tell the tale. But Madara survived and that giant canyon just appeared. Everyone who came to see it believed Madara was responsible."

"So then what happened to him?" Nerehc asked.

"Another Japanese man appeared and chased him away… so the legends say. I can't tell ya any more than that because I don't know."

"Another man…" Nerehc rubbed his chin. "The two men from my vision…"

"What did they even look like?" asked Cheren.

"Well, one of them was wearing a silver headband… It had a symbol like a swirly thing… with a little point."

"Your descriptive powers are sensational." Kayla remarked.

"Hey, I only had a second to look at it!"

"Wait!" Cheren reached in his pocket. "Did the symbol look like this?" He pulled out his Hidden Leaf Headband.

"IT IS!" Nerehc recognized the symbol.

"Oh, yah." Merida remembered. "You use that to turn into a ninja. Fuh-reakyyyy."

"I got this headband from the Land of Fire in Japan."

"Then that's where we should go." Nerehc decided. "If Madara is a Darkness…" He looked at the Ocarina of Time in his hand, "then I need to meet him."

Fi jumped out of the Master Sword. "Master Cheren, based on these words, I conjecture an 80% chance Nerehc intends to use the Ocarina of Time to travel back to a time when Madara was alive. The ocarina does possess the potential to travel through many periods in time. However, in order to set a specific time and date, certain requirements must be fulfilled."

"What kind of requirements?"

"It may suffice you to know that the Master Sword and the Ocarina of Time were created from the same Timeshift Stone. If I could examine an object that has existed since a certain time period, I could trace the object's history and transfer the recorded data to the ocarina. Afterwards, by performing the Song of Time, one would be able to travel to a previous point in time in which that object existed."

"Like if we found something of Madara's… We would be able to travel back one thousand years in our time." Cheren figured. "Let's return to the present and go back to Sector V. We can rest up and then fly to Japan. If Madara was famous in his own country, there would have to be one or two historical artifacts lying around."

"Well, this adventure was fun while it lasted." Merida sighed. "It was great seein' ya again, Cheren." She smiled and waved. "I'd like to join you, but Ay have NO idea what you're doing, and it's probably too much to explain."

"You have nooooooo idea."

Present time; Termina Sector V

"This is the Ocarina of Time?" Harry Uno held and examined the shiny blue instrument.

"Oooo, so prettyyyy!" Kellie Beatles took it, her eyes sparkly. "Can I give this to my Uncannily Sky Blue Rainbow Monkey?"

"You know, whatever happened to that magic flute thingy you used to have?" Celeste asked.

"I gave it back to the Mask Man after we returned home." Cheren replied. "Nerehc wants to go back in time and find somebody called Madara."

"You're trying to find Madea?!" Thomas exclaimed.

"No, silly, he said 'Madara'!" Kellie giggled. "He was a Japanese warrior from the Land of Fire!"

"You know about him, too?" Nerehc asked.

"Of course! He was my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather!"

"?!?" Cheren and Nerehc shared the same aghast expression.

"Aaaaaaaand I'm just kidding." Kellie said after a minute and a half. They were able to unfreeze their faces. "But he is related to my pen-pal from Sector LF, Sarada."

"Really? Then maybe she can help us." Nerehc said. "Fy said we needed certain requirements to go back in time."

"It's pronounced 'Fee.'" Cheren corrected.

"She's a spirit girl who speaks gibberish and whose name is only written. I'll pronounce it however I want."

"So you won't mind if I start pronouncing you 'Neerehc'?"

"Cher-REN??"

"I don't…" Harry Uno and the others stared confusedly. "I don't know what they're talking about."

"Never mind." Cheren sighed. "I'm guessing Sector LF is in Land of Fire? How come we didn't meet them during the Majora thing?"

"Well, they are a ninja sector." Melissa said. "Not like we can just show any interdimensional traveler their location. But you're cool now, so don't worry, Cherry."

"Uh he…" Cheren flushed, remembering his awkward moment with her in the Tortuga journey. "Well, as soon as MaKayla's done in the bathroom, we can head on over."

Bathroom

"I thought part of being spiritual was not needing to use the bathroom as much." Kayla said to herself as she washed her hands. "Heh, as if. I need my girl time." She splashed water over her face and washed it. "Gotta stay awake, too. We're starting to find real leads in this quest. I wonder if the Ocarina of Time can-" She opened her eyes and looked up at the mirror.

"Hello." Truman Kirman was behind her.

"HEEEEEY-YAH!" Kayla instinctively kicked back and stomped him in the stomach.

"OOOOOF!" Saliva flew out his mouth.

"What the heck?! I thought this was the girls' room!"

"It is… ack!" He coughed. MaKayla pulled her foot back. "My name's Truman… Nice to meet you."

"Hello, Truman… Why the heck are you creeping on me?"

"I saw you come in here and you… I thought you smelled nice."

". . ." MaKayla inched toward the door. "So, I will just… let you finish in here… and we will never talk about this… ever." And she left.

Truman approached the mirror and stared at his reflection with half-closed eyes. He was completely motionless, like his reflection was just a picture. Then the mirror wobbled like liquid—Truman gasped and backed away. MaKayla climbed out of the mirror… but she held no emotion on her face, and the letters on her shirt were 'AM.' "I will assume I smell bad by that logic. But that's okay."

Sector LF; Land of Fire, Japan

Melissa flew Cheren, Nerehc, Kayla, along with Kellie to Japan. They landed in the forest a few miles away from the Hidden Leaf Village before stepping off the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.. "Thanks for driving us, Melissa." Cheren waved.

"My pleasure." She said with a mocking smile. "It's always fun to be the chauffeur to the heroes saving the world."

"Uh…" Cheren felt a tad guilty by that remark. "Well, you could come with us."

"Nah, I'll just guard the ship."

"…Seriously, I'd feel bad if we treated you like a minor-"

"Just come on!" Nerehc grabbed his Positive and pulled him with.

"So where's Sector LF?" Kayla asked as they followed Kellie up a hill. "I don't see any treehouses."

"You don't expect them to have their base out in the open, do you?" Kellie questioned. "They're ninjas! They gotta be secreeeet."

"Like Sector GF." Cheren recalled. "Or even Sector JP. Before they… stopped being a spy sector."

Kellie stopped at a tree that was slightly bigger. She knocked the trunk with a special sequence before a hatch opened. They followed her in climbing down a ladder into the dark hideout. They set foot on a floor that they couldn't see, so Cheren used the light of his Master Sword to see. "What is this?" he whispered.

"Hi Sarada, it's me, Kelliiieee!" The girl grinned and waved. "Don't worry, they're my friends!"

They all heard loud WHISH sounds—MaKayla used timebending to freeze the incoming kunai in time, then Cheren slashed them out of the air.

The lights switched on. There was a pale boy with yellow hair and pale green eyes crouched behind a cardboard bush. There was a shadow on the ceiling, and a boy with spiked black hair was peeping out of it with narrowed dark-green eyes – a shadowbender by the look of it. "Shikadai, Inojin, come on out." A black-haired girl with black eyes, red glasses, and a red sleeveless shirt uncovered her cloak that camouflaged her with the floor.

"You knew it was Kellie, why do we always have to set this up?" Shikadai said, dropping from the ceiling. "What a drag…"

"Kon'nichiwa, Sarada-san!" Kellie greeted happily.

"Kon'nichiwa, Kellie-chan." Sarada returned in a more casual tone.

"We don't understand them." The other three chorused.

"Wait, but I have this!" Cheren put on the Hidden Leaf Headband and magically turned into an adult ninja. "Kon'nichiwa!" He spoke with a deep, cool voice.

"Kellie, who are these people? You know we don't invite strangers to our treehouse."

"I know, but they're kind of on an important mission. See, that's Cheren, who can transform using magical masks, that's his parallel-universe twin Nerehc, and that girl is MaKayla, she can control time. Oh, they're also from a different universe." Kellie explained with a casual grin.

"Can you translate for us, Cheren?" Nerehc asked.

"Yeah, they probably think Kellie's crazy now. Look, I hate to cut to the chase, but Kellie said you could tell us about someone named Madara."

"Madara?" Sarada repeated in surprise. "Why do you want to know about Madara?"

"It's just important to us, alright?"

"You can trust him, Sarada." Kellie promised. "I know he looks like a creepy ninja who can turn into a boy, but he helped us save the world a few months ago!"

"Oh right, when the moon was falling." Inojin said tonelessly, drawing an ink picture on his scroll. "Here's what I thought it would look like." The picture depicted the moon, with its giant face, munching the Earth like a cookie.

"Well, Madara was my ancestor." Sarada explained. "He was a patriarch of the Uchiha Clan that lived a thousand years ago."

"Before he came back to life 20 years ago and tried to kill everyone." Shikadai said in a laid back fashion.

"Twenty years ago?" Cheren was familiar with that time era. "That's… something worth discussing."

"I don't really understand it." Sarada continued. "I mean, according to our recent history, Madara came back to life, and he fought the hero of our village, Naruto. Madara was destroyed, but then, all of a sudden, Naruto just… disappeared. No one knows how it happened or why. But Naruto earned the title of 'Hokage' in honor of his memory. Pretty stupid if you ask me."

"If he's your ancestor, then you must have something that belonged to him." Nerehc imputed. Cheren translated this to Japanese.

"Well, she has a ton of swords in her room." Shikadai smirked, gesturing back with his thumb. "And there's a rusty-looking one hanging on the wall."

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SNEAK IN MY ROOM!" Sarada flustered.

"Wasn't me." The boy sunk into his shadow.

"I think he does this." Inojin drew a picture of Sarada changing clothes and Shikadai peeping from a shadow.

"Ugh! Yes, I do have an old sword, and I think it did belong to Madara. If you wanna see it, then by all means, come along."

Sarada led them all to her room, where the walls were lined with all types of swords. She showed them to one hung on a plaque on the wall, a rusty-looking ninjatō. Fi leapt out of Ninja Cheren's shuriken – scaring the Sector LF members. "Master Cheren, after a thorough three-second analysis, I have determined that this sword is approximately 1300 years old. By transmitting the data to the Ocarina of Time, you will be able to travel back to any date within those 1300 years. Also, by playing the Song of Time backwards, you can return to the present."

Cheren took off the Ninja Headband and turned back into a kid. "And we have to play the Song of Time, right? I think it went like-" He took the ocarina back from Nerehc and played—HEEEEEEEEE! Everyone clamped their ears shut.

Nerehc swiped it back. "Just hum the tune and I'LL play it!"

"Wait a second, just what are you doing exactly?" Sarada asked.

"They wanna go back in time and meet Madara!" Kellie answered

"You can seriously do that?!" Shikadai exclaimed.

"How do I pinpoint exactly where I want to go in time?" Nerehc asked. "I mean, WHEN I want to go…"

"If you have a specific date in mind, Master Cheren's Negative, I may telepathically affirm the date to the ocarina." Fi said.

"You can? Hmm… Then I want to go back 1,050 years. Just to see what happens."

"You're going by yourself?" MaKayla asked.

"Well, you're a timebender, so in case I don't come back soon, you can probably help do something. For now, I wanna try and meet Madara myself. So, how does the song go?"

Cheren sighed, still not sure about this plan. "Like this:"

Nerehc mimicked the notes on the ocarina. Doo-dooooo, doo-doo-dooooo, doo do-do-DO-do, doo-doo-doo-doo, do-do-doooo…

Oooaa-ooooo-aaa-oooa-oooo… Fi hummed the song with her majestic voice as Nerehc played it consistently. A column of blue light encased Nerehc and made a mystic whirring sound, growing brighter as the others covered their eyes. Nerehc found himself falling into a white abyss of clocks, going faster as the years passed.

In a forest…

The blue spire of light released Nerehc in a forest. It was sunny, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves. Nerehc heard a noise coming from up a hill, so he walked up to investigate. Nerehc peeked over the top of the hill, viewing the bloodstained battlefield where two armies of ninjas killed each other left and right.

Somebody snuck up from behind Nerehc with a sword drawn. His sandaled feet scurried across the grass, footsteps drowned out by the screaming armies. When he was going to stab Nerehc in the back, Ghirahim popped out of the Devil's Sword and countered with his own blade. "HUAH!" Ghira slashed, and the assaulter jumped back. He was a boy about Nerehc's height, black spiked hair and dark eyes, wearing a dark blue robe with a white sash. "You drop your guard way too much lately." Ghirahim smirked.

Nerehc grabbed his sword and raised it against the kid. The boy ran up to swing his sword, but Nerehc fought back, and his superior sword knocked the kid's away. The boy narrowed his eyes at the strange kid and his diamond-skin accomplice. "…Anatahadare?"

Nerehc felt like he got shot in the brain. "DAAAAH I DON'T KNOW JAPANEEEESE!" He gripped his head and flailed frantically. "Cheren's been translating all this time, now it all sounds like Gobbledegook to me, I'm gonna look like such a stupid head in this damn feudal Japan period!"

"Master Nerehc, I speak Japanese." Ghirahim said.

"Ya do?" Nerehc stopped instantly.

Ghirahim turned to the boy and spoke in Japanese: "Greetings, I am Demon Lord Ghirahim. This is my master, the Demon Prince Nerehc. We possess dark powers and the ability to create an age of torment and everlasting doom."

". . . . AAAAAAHHHH!" The boy dashed away with his arms raised. Ghirahim splorped over and grabbed him by the shirt, raising him. "Not a good opening line?"

"Hey, calm down!" Nerehc shouted, standing in front of the kid. "Listen, we're looking for someone named Madara. Know anyone like that?"

After Ghirahim translated, the boy looked at him curiously. "Madara?"

"Yes, Madara. Familiar?"

He pointed at himself. "I'm Madara."

"You?"

Ghirahim set the kid down. "Uchiha Madara."

"…" Nerehc stared at him for a minute. "You can't really be one of the Thirteen Darknesses. You're just a kid."

"So are you." Ghirahim remarked. "Everyone is born a child, Master. It doesn't mean they can't grow into demons."

"The only thing demonic about him is his hairdo. You swing your sword like an old lady." He snapped at Madara.

"I'll have you know my grandma killed hundreds with that blade alone!" Madara retorted. "Now what's your business here! Are you really demons?"

"Yeah, kind of. Humanity is really messed up in the future." Nerehc replied casually.

Madara blinked. "The future?"

"Yep. We're time-travelers."

"…How did you say you knew my name exactly?"

"Well, you're kind of famous in the future. You… Why is he famous again?"

"You blow up a canyon." Ghirahim said. "Heh, pretty famous if you ask me."

"Why did you come here to meet me?" asked Madara.

"Well, we-… er…" Nerehc wondered if it was safe to tell him about the prophecy. "Er, we wanted… to learn more about you."

"What do you want to learn about me? You just said I was famous."

"Yes, but I don't know very much about you."

"Then HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT ME?!"

"YOU BLEW UP A CANYON!!"

"ENOUGH!" Ghirahim shouted. "It's bad enough being your two-way translator, but I won't be the consolidate for your ARGUMENT!"

"Sorry, sorry! Ugh…" Nerehc pinched his temples. "I can't focus with all this yelling going on. Do you know someplace else we can talk?"

Madara glared in the direction of the battle, then faced further in the forest. "This way." He went to get his sword before leading them.

"Those two armies are the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan." Madara explained as they arrived at a river. "My dad is the head of the Uchiha Clan. I don't even remember why we're fighting." He picked up a rock and chucked it at the river, resulting in a splash. Nerehc thought he intended to skip the stone. "If you're from the future, you must know how this battle ends."

"Ehh… Not really." Nerehc said sheepishly.

Madara looked at him suspiciously. "You're a weird time-traveler. Where in the future did you say you were from?"

"The correct terminology would be 'WHEN am I from.'"

"HAH HA HA HA, HAH HA HA HA!" Madara clasped his chest. "That is the funniest thing I EVER heard!"

"I know, right?" Nerehc chuckled. "Ahh, in the past, everything is original."

"Ha ha ha!…" Madara calmed down and spoke more seriously, "So, what is the future like? You said humanity was messed up."

"Oh yeah, oh ye…" Nerehc waved a hand in the air, collecting his thoughts as though his mind fogged for a second. "Like, humans started getting with demons and having human kids with dark powers, and I think this angel hooks up with this half-demon kid – even though he looks nothing like a demon, it's pre-tty fun-ny!" He started chuckling.

"??" Madara was baffled. "Humans, demons, and angels… live together?"

"Um… sort of? There're also mermaids, aliens, and these little chipmunk guys that live in the grass." Madara looked at the ground, possibly intending to spot these 'chipmunk' things.

He looked back up at Nerehc. "Would you show me this future?"

"Huh? Um… I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do that."

"Yet, you're allowed to come back to the past and talk to me?"

"Good point."

"Master, may I have a word with you?" Ghirahim requested.

"Sure… Excuse us, Madara?" Nerehc said awkwardly. The Japanese boy simply watched as the two strangers walked a few feet away. He couldn't eavesdrop on their English conversation, anyway.

"Ghirahim, if you're gonna complain about being our translator, I don't wanna hear it."

"I'm bored out of my mind, Master! You're not getting anywhere with this brat! I hoped for at least an action stage by now. If you're not going to mention the prophecy to him, how do you plan to find out if he is one of the Thirteen Darknesses?"

"He might not even know what I'm talking about if I mentioned that! Based on Ydnic and Ikuyim's stories, Davy Jones and Yellow Diamond didn't seem like they knew anything about the prophecy. They just read some Gibberish Pyramid and… 'awakened', I'm assuming?"

"So, ask him if he's seen any such pyramid."

"I will, but we can't just leave it like that. We need to try to learn more about this. You remember how Medusa acted back on Moonbase. She really doesn't seem to know what's going to happen, she might not even understand why the Darknesses were chosen."

"Davy Jones and Yellow Diamond were evil beings who did evil things in the past. The Darknesses may bear similar fates. This Madara boy is no different."

Nerehc faced the boy in question. "…But what's the source of his darkness? I wonder…" He approached Madara again.

"Stop playing games with me, Stranger." Madara stated. "I'm starting to have doubts about you. Why did you really come here? Where are you really from? Tell me the truth."

"…" Nerehc was silent for a second. "The truth is I'm from a really hectic future. It's so hectic that I wonder how it got the way it was. It makes me wonder what the past was like. …I may not know what you do in the future, but the fact is, you become a legend, Madara. So I want to ask you… is there something that you want more than anything else in the world?"

"…You said you were a demon." Madara turned away. "A demon wouldn't understand." He ran off with wind-like speed.

"HEY!" Nerehc kicked on his Rocket Skies and raced after him, Ghirahim keeping up on his own swift feet. They ran into a deeper, thicker part of the forest where the sun could only poke through in little rays. Nerehc kept his eye on the spike-haired boy—he halted immediately when Madara whipped around and held his sword up.

"The battle hasn't come this far, yet." Madara said with a glare. "This forest is where the spirits live… Any demon who enters here will drown in their light. Let's see if you can get through." He ran forth once again.

"Man, you're annoying." Nerehc held his sword up, summoning Ghirahim back inside. (Play "Sacred Grove" from Zelda: Twilight Princess.)

Stage B-19: Lost Woods

Mission: Follow Madara.

Nerehc chased Madara through a straight and narrow path—Madara turned a sudden left path, but Nerehc kept after. He jumped up a set of tree branches, which would allow him to grab a zipline vine that stretched leftward and set him on an upper path. This route was narrow, and would turn into an abyss with a path on either wall to go across. Nerehc jumped on the left path as did Madara, and he would hit a mushroom that sprung him down right. Nerehc landed on a rail and grinded over the abyss, but when it was about to slope down, Madara jumped on an upper rail that just appeared, so Nerehc followed.

The rail sloped up right and set them on a snaky path between close walls, in which Nerehc lost sight of Madara, but this was no problem on the linear path. The forest became foggy, and Nerehc inevitably lost his lead at a fork in the road. Both routes had bushes, and since one path's bush was waving, he assumed Madara took that way and followed it. He came to a three-way fork, where one of the paths had a stick snapped in two, so he took that way. Another three-way: the middle road had a torn bush—but the road on its right had a cloud of fog that seemed to be reforming. Madara likely tried to trick Nerehc into taking the middle route, but Nerehc took the right.

The fog cleared as Nerehc came to a cliff with two vines. He saw Madara swimming in the pond below, so Nerehc grabbed the right vine and swung after him. He landed on a shore, chased Madara through a narrow path, and then had to Wall Jump across a chasm. He avoided the steam that erupted out of holes in the sides, maneuvered up, and followed Madara through a hole on the right. The forest became more wide and open as Nerehc skied around trees and jumped logs and holes. Madara listed leftward, then right, grabbed a vine to swing across a pit, while Nerehc had to glide across with jetshoes. Madara jumped up some platforms that led up to a cliff, and Nerehc almost missed seeing him jump to a lower, hidden platform on the right, leading to a secret path within the wall. Nerehc bypassed a garden that had a large blue cube with a depiction of the sun shining rays down below. He headed through another clearing of trees. (End song.)

Madara had finally decided to stop, glaring at Nerehc as the latter caught his breath. "Well, look at that." Nerehc panted as Ghirahim came out to translate him. "I didn't drown in any holy spirit light… huff… at all! Now, I asked you a question! What do you want more than anything else?!"

"…" Madara turned around. Nerehc realized they were standing on top of a cliff, hundreds of feet above a great forest valley. "All my father wants to do is destroy the Senju Clan." He stated. "And the Senju Clan merely wants to destroy us. Both of us have grown to hate each other… it's how we were raised. What I want to do is put an end to hatred." Madara reached forward and pretended to clasp the valley. "I want a new world without conflict, without destruction or spite… I want a world of peace and kindness."

"…" Nerehc stood beside him. He held up his right hand to view the Triforce of Power mark. "I want that kind of world, too."

"You do?" Madara faced him. "I thought you were a demon."

Nerehc's right hand lit with a purple flame that surprised Madara. "I never asked to be born as a demon… I never wanted darkness inside of me. But the world I live in is filled with darkness. I hate it. I wanted to make a world where we all loved each other. I didn't want people to view me as a demon, I didn't want to follow a demon's instincts and thrive on darkness. I wanted to… be different."

"And… where did that lead?" asked Madara.

"…" Nerehc faced him and smiled. "It led me on the right path. Me and all of my friends."

"Your friends?"

"Yes. Madara, I'm not saying it's possible to destroy hatred. But it isn't the only path you can follow. If you want a more peaceful world, then work to achieve it. Then after you're gone, people can follow your example."

"Cough, you're completely influencing the past." Ghirahim commented.

"Ah, nothing's gonna happen that hasn't already will happen."

Madara was silent. "…I was always afraid there would be no one who shared my feelings."

"Well, you're not alone anymore." Nerehc smirked.

"…Would you stay here and help me?"

"I… kinda need to get back home." He blushed. "But don't worry. I'm sure other people will share your vision. You just have to look around. Hopefully, they will speak the same language."

"He he…" Madara grinned.

The three entered the forest again and stopped to look at the blue cube with the sun ray depiction. "I've been through this wood several times and always wondered what this stone was. It looks nothing like the surrounding ruins."

Nerehc picked up the Ocarina of Time. He looked between it and the cube. "Master, play the Song of Time." Ghirahim whispered. "I recognize this stone…"

Nerehc glanced at his servant before putting the ocarina to his mouth. He played the Song of Time as he memorized. The cube vanished in a spire of blue light. In its place stood a stone pyramid with foreign writing and an eye on its tip. Nerehc gasped, recognizing such a pyramid from Ydnic and Ikuyim's stories. And already, Madara felt a strange attraction to it, gazing at the ruin as he approached.

Darkness is hatred. To hate the darkness is to feed it. Allow it to feed you in return.

A dark aura appeared around the pyramid. The eye glowed and cast a beam at Madara's forehead. The darkness was transferred to his body, his eyes glowing. After seconds, it stopped.

Madara Uchiha awakened as a DARKNESS. Only 9 more to go.

Nerehc approached him cautiously. …Madara turned: his black eyes were read circles that had three pointed swirls surrounding the pupil. "Gyah!" Nerehc flinched. "Did you… break a blood vessel?"

"No, stupid. This is the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan. I guess it's finally awakened."

"Ew, freaky… WAIT, you speak English?!"

"Oh? I guess I do now. It must have been watching your mouth movements all this time. The Sharingan allows me to copy and mimic other peoples' abilities. So, English is this language, huh?"

"Yep!" Nerehc grinned. "It's the dominant language in the future, for the most part!"

Madara looked away. "I will make note of that…"

"Alright, if you know the way back, then I guess it's okay for me to return to my time. Good luck on your dream, Madara."

"Yes." He nodded. "Good-bye, Nerehc… and thanks."

"Heh." Nerehc grinned. With that, he played the Song of Time backwards. A spire of light appeared to return him and Ghirahim to the present.

"…I blow up a canyon?" Madara repeated to himself. "Sounds pretty awesome."

Madara returned to the river. He picked up three stones and failed to skip any of them across. Then it seemed like one of the stones came back. Madara looked up in shock. There was a boy with short black hair on the other side. He grinned at being able to make it across, while Madara glared at him.

Present; Sector LF

The others watched as Nerehc rematerialized. Thanks to his sunglasses, the light didn't affect him too much. "How long was I gone?"

"About five minutes." Sarada replied.

Nerehc whipped at her. "So you know English, too!"

"Heheh, she kinda revealed it after you left." Cheren blushed. "Wait, what do you mean 'too'?"

"I met Madara."

"You did?!" Sarada exclaimed.

"What was he like?" asked MaKayla.

"I met his child self, actually. And I think he is one of the Thirteen Darknesses. But there was nothing about him that seemed… evil. Sarada, what did Madara do that was so bad?"

Sarada looked away, trying to remember and piece together the story. "His goal was to end world conflict. That's what my mom told me. But… he got a little carried away."

They listened to her story for the next hour.

The S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

The operatives left Sector LF, watching the Hidden Leaf grow smaller as they took off in Melissa's S.C.A.M.P.E.R.. "So you saw the pyramid with your own eyes." MaKayla said. "The same one that was in Ford's journal. The one Kisuke had drawn in the other dimension."

"What are you talking about?" Nerehc asked.

"Nerehc, I think we have an idea for how to find the remaining Darknesses. And the Ocarina of Time may be the key."

"But I still don't understand. I thought the Darknesses were supposed to be evil. Dark-hearted or something."

"Ehh, I dunno." Kellie replied. "Madara did go a little cuckoo."

"But he wasn't like that when I met him. He had a good intention, he had a good vision for a future. That pyramid must have influenced him or something! If I didn't go back and help him find it-!" Nerehc clenched his teeth in anger.

"It doesn't matter!" MaKayla insisted. "It was his fate to find the pyramid one way or another, and it was probably your fate to lead him to it. Madara is a Darkness, and now we're one step closer to finding all the answers."

"But it isn't fair! Madara never had an evil heart. Why did the prophecy choose him? Why are any of these people chosen, what sets them apart from others?!"

"Nerehc, take it easy!" Cheren yelled. "I'm sure there's a reason behind everything. And sooner or later, we'll know what it is."

"I know that! It's just… if Madara can turn that way while following his dream… what if it happens to me?" He looked down at the floor. "What if I give in to my darkness…"

He looked up when Cheren touched his shoulder. "I'll bring you back to the light. I promise."

"…" Nerehc smirked. "Don't get all touchy-feely, I don't wanna become one of your girlfriends."

"Shut up." Cheren chuckled, smacking Nerehc in the chest before going to sit down.

"Get a room, you boys." Melissa joked, earning laughs from the other girls.

Nerehc spared a chuckle before thinking to himself: I never told Madara my name… How did he know it at the end? Did his Eye Powers do that, too?

Egypt

At the same time as their adventure to Japan, AlyakAm had stolen a small R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R. from Sector V and used it to take Truman to Egypt. She parked the flying racecar outside a pyramid, which had a pathway of torches leading up to the entrance, giving the ground a red glow under the night sky. AlyakAm and Truman climbed out of the car. The former examined the stone statue of a spike-headed figure above the entrance. "This must be the tomb Medusa described. …" She looked at Truman. "You are surprisingly cooperative."

"I seem to… remember this place…" Truman said, his blue eyes blank. "But from where exactly?…"

"Medusa said that you might. There is something in this temple that belongs to you. I'm here to take you to find it."

"But what is this temple?"

AlyakAm stared at the spike-headed statue for a minute. "Medusa called it the Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh." She led Truman inside. (Play "Dry Dry Ruins" from Paper Mario.)

Stage B-20: Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh

Mission: Find the tomb's treasure.

The two walked down a small staircase into the first room of the pyramid. The wall was cracked, and there was a Bomb Flower that could be used to destroy it. However, given the fragile appearance of the room, the flower could make the ceiling cave in. There was an empty coffin lain in a corner, so Alyak and Truman carried it over beside the cracked wall and set it on its front. AlyakAm plucked the Bomb Flower and tossed it under the coffin, which contained the full force of the explosion, but still caused the wall to collapse.

They went down a couple more stairs into a wider room. AlyakAm stepped on a switch in the center—two dozen giant beetles fell from the ceiling upside-down. Three of them had glowing bellies. "Find the correct ones, or be PURGED." A dark voice hissed. The beetles flipped right-side-up and started skittering everywhere. Alyak noticed one of the shiny-bellied ones and ran to kick it. Truman kicked another beetle—the spiked ceiling lowered partway. Alyak found another shiny-belly, then kicked one which she thought was shiny, but this wrong move lowered the spike ceiling. The ceiling lowered slowly, so the two panicked. Truman managed to kick the third shiny-belly. AlyakAm grabbed him and dashed to the open door before the ceiling squished them.

The next room was a mazelike path over a dark pit. There were statues with swords placed around the maze. "Only those who show respect may enter. All others will be eaten by the darkness."

"If this were the Japanese version, it would be bloody spike pit." AlyakAm said. "This riddle is unfamiliar to me."

"It is to me." Truman said. "Look at the statues. Their left foot is placed forward. We move like this." He put his left foot forward and kept it like so as he moved forward. AlyakAm tried to walk normally—one of the statues sliced at her, she jumped back with a start.

"This pains my pride to great extent." Alyak said as she moved with the left foot forward. One of the paths curved backward, but would curve again back in the right direction. However, Truman hit a switch on the curve-back: the spiked ceiling slowly began to lower down. "Egyptians need to come up with some original traps." The two moved faster in this left foot posture. While Truman managed to escape through the door, AlyakAm was falling behind. She made a mad dash, dodged the statues' swords, and made it out.

They stood atop a ledge and viewed down a dark shaft with a ladder leading down. AlyakAm picked up the lone torch and climbed down first. They set foot on a ledge, then had to climb down another ladder. Once under the ledge, a swarm of bats awakened and tried to nip at the torch-holding girl. AlyakAm swung her torch to scare them away, but she accidentally dropped it on the ledge below. "Well, we were going that way, anyway." She said as the bats left her alone.

"We might want to get there fast!" Truman exclaimed. Small, poisonous beetles were crawling down the ladder. Truman just decided to drop down, pushing Alyak under his butt as they hit the floor.

"Uck!" She pushed him off. "I would sooner have let you be the snack. …?" The torch landed on a trail of powder, which burned like a fuse and exploded against a pile, blowing the wall open. The next room consisted of red, green, and blue tiles, with no real organization, and two normal floors were on the left and right. Doo-doot-doot-doooot! Four tiles blinked and made a song. AlyakAm skipped across these tiles to the left floor, and pulled a lever on it.

Five tiles made a rhythmic path to the right foothold, where AlyakAm could pull another lever. Seven tiles made a much quicker rhythm, giving Alyak little time to memorize. She slipped on the fourth tile, and all the tiles immediately gave way. "I GOT YOU!" Truman grabbed Alyak and leaped to the left foothold. "Are you okay?"

AlyakAm panted, feeling her heart race. "I didn't think… I could still feel emotions…"

"It'll be all right. Just stay focused."

"At least it's a change from the spike ceiling." The tiles floated back up in their places. The puzzle started over, so AlyakAm had to do it again. She did the third pattern accurately and caused the door to open. The next room was wide and box-like. A chasm took up most of the floor and many rows of swingable handles took up the left wall. "The Pharaoh loves to watch performers… eh, perform. If he is pleased, he will allow you further into his domain."

There was an image on the right wall that looked like a Connect the Dots. AlyakAm knew these represented the correct order of handles. She jumped to grab the first one, swung to the one above it, jumped forward, forward once more, dropped to a low handle, back to one behind, swung over the forward one to grab the one after it, then had to diagonal-swing up-right to grab the last handle. The part in the middle of the intersecting wall opened like a drawbridge. AlyakAm grabbed the ledge on this wall to climb over to it, and Truman had to swing the handles to get to her. (He didn't have to repeat the puzzle.)

They entered a long, wide passage where a dark abyss loomed down below, with a suspended bridge leading across. Coffins were standing up along the railing, and their lids would topple over if the kids stepped in front. Alyak and Truman dashed down the path, hearing coffin lids fall one after the other, but halted at a dead end of the bridge. When they turned around, mummies, snakes, and Dark Chuchus came out of the coffins. There was a switch at the start of this path, and a ray of light shining beside it.

Truman picked up one of the torches and set fire to the mummies while AlyakAm lured the Dark Chus over to the light ray. The light turned the Dark Chus into stone, making them heavy enough to hold down the switch. A bridge stretched from the dead end to the next part of the path. Alyak and Truman quickly hurried across before the Chuchu could get off the switch. The bridge brought them to a more open floor with four square tables, and rectangular tables lined up on the walls that had several items.

"In order to reach the Pharaoh's Tomb, you must feed his vassals. For their first meal, they order five crawlies and a thirst-quencher the color of tears."

There was a bowl of water and some cups on the table, and Truman noticed spiders crawling around the floor. He caught five spiders and set them on a table, along with a cup of water. Some mummies came up and started eating their meal. "Very good. Now they desire two samples of fresh meat, with five punctured squares and four preborn lives." The kids grabbed two fish from bowls, four plant seeds, and five small cheese crackers (which had holes in their centers). They set them on the second table so mummies could eat.

"For dinner, they wish for a destructive force, mixed with tiny strings grown from meat." The dark voice said. They got a bomb, then AlyakAm used a pair of scissors to cut off some of Truman's hair, serving both items to the third table. "And finally, for dessert, they wish for liquid the color of soil, with five throat-piercing blades and four sources of beauty." The items required were a glass of soda, five darts, and four lipsticks.

"The vassals are satisfied with their meals, and their bellies full for another five thousand years. You may enter the Pharaoh's Tomb. But make sure to wipe your shoes on the mat. We only just polished." The final door opened, a stairway leading them down a corridor. They were in the Pharaoh's Tomb. (End song.)

The golden tomb atop the stairs had what looked like purple spiked hair on its head. The face of the tomb had narrowed eyes. There was a small plate above the tomb with Egyptian symbols neither of them knew. On the platform before the tomb sat a stone pyramid with writing that wasn't Egyptian. On top of that pyramid was a golden triangle with an eye, encased in a ring that had five points dangling from it.

Truman stepped up the stairs and gazed at the treasure. It glowed, and the eye appeared to stare at him. Truman climbed the pyramid and took the ringed treasure off, exposing the eye that was engraved on the stone's tip. Truman climbed down and held the ring to face the writing. The treasure's mystical glow gave him the ability to read it.

We have awaited your return, O Dark One. The vessel you now possess need only be temporary. Let your conscience awaken, and let your destiny be realized.

A dark aura appeared around the stone, and as we have seen previously, it flew into Truman's body. His expression was still blank.

Um… huh? I don't understand what's going on, but it looks like Truman Kirman awakened as a Darkness. Only 8 to go, I guess.

"Do you… feel any different?" AlyakAm asked.

"…" He turned to face her. "I feel like I have the worst insomnia you can ever imagine."

Sector V Treehouse

Night had fallen by the time AlyakAm and Truman returned. "Your team is probably concerned for your absence." Alyak figured. "It's no concern to let myself be noticed now. So let us deliver the good news."

In the living room, Sector V and Cheren's trio were gathered like she expected. They were conversing over Truman's absence, with Melissa looking the most concerned. The girl in question looked back and saw them. "THERE'S Truman! He's with MaKayla- eh, wait a sec…" She turned back around, as MaKayla was clearly with Cheren and Nerehc.

"ALYAKAM!" An enraged Nerehc rushed over and held his sword up to her. "I thought you were in Moonbase, how did you escape?!"

"Nerehc, what's wrong?" MaKayla asked, surprised at his outburst. "Is she my Negative?"

"Medusa ordered them to free me." AlyakAm stated. "She used the Dimensional Traveler designed by the Nainozama to send me here. My work is done, so you may take me back in your custody."

"What work?! What did Medusa tell you to do?"

"She is doing as she promised in your deal. The prophecy is progressing ever so smoothly. I just needed this child's assistance to accomplish the mission."

Nerehc swerved behind and grabbed her arms. "It's time to go back home. Clearly, I've been away too long."

"Truman, are you okay?" Melissa put an arm around her friend, noting his unbalanced posture. "What did she make you do?"

"I think a beetle crawled up my pants… Would either of you mind checking for-"

"NOT IT!" Melissa pushed him to Kellie.

"I hate to cut this reunion short, but you know home drama." Cheren said to Sector V. "Thanks for helping us, Sector Termina."

"Any day of the week, Sector Hyrule!" Harry grinned. "Good luck with your 'Twenty Keys' and fighting demons and… whatnot."

"Sure, man." Cheren blushed. "Call me if any more moons fall, you know where the portal is."

"We'll miss you most of all, Melissa!" Kayla waved 'bye' as they left the treehouse. "You were the biggest help!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Lissa waved halfheartedly and rolled her eyes.