"Must be pretty important if they set up a big monster like that to guard it," Matt remarked.

"I don't think it was set up like that on purpose," Link said as he went through the doorway. "You saw the sealing strips. They were holding it here to keep it from escaping. Luckily we were able to kill it before it could do so."

He came to a short pit with a stairway at its opposite end, but none on the way down. Beyond it in the wide hallway was a large treasure chest at its end. Nodding, the warrior dropped down into the pit and made his way out using the stairwell.

As he made his way down the hallway, he looked up at the wall at its end. Hanging above the chest was a large carving of a mechanical gear. Nodding at what he saw, he completed the trip and opened up the treasure chest. He smiled at what he saw, and pulled out what looked like a large, gray and red metal spinning top with cog teeth surrounding it.

"Hey, did you find something?" Matt called after Link - he had stayed back in the previous pit along with Hugo to make sure no new surprises jumped in on them.

Link looked around the area, and soon spotted what looked to be dozens of grooves set into the walls on either side of the hallway, close to the ground. Link put down the device and stepped a foot onto it, then shoved off with the other foot. The device quickly began spinning while the platform in its stayed in place, and Link skated straight into the grooves.

The teeth of the gears on the outer edge of the Spinner immediately set in, and automatically, the device pulled itself along the wall at a rapid pace. It shot past Matt and Hugo below, and Link shouted at them. "Follow me!"

The grooves took him up over the wall and back into the circular room, and as Midna whispered to him, he nodded and tapped a button near his foot. The teeth of the Spinner shot out, and propelled him off the wall and to the floor below, landing effortlessly and spinning forward a bit before Link stepped off and put his foot down, knocking the Spinner's teeth into the ground and halting it. He turned and waited for Matt and Hugo to catch up.

Matt flew up to Link's new location with Hugo in tow. As soon as he put down the Mettaur, Hugo scampered over to Link's new toy. "What's THAT?" he asked, leaning on one foot so the angle of his body would allow him to look at what he could see of the Spinner's underside.

"Midna calls it a Spinner," Link said. "We'll need it to get through the rest of the Grounds. Let's meet up with your friends now."

The Spinner disappeared in a burst of shadow energy as Midna stored it away, and the three left the room to find the others already on the ledge.

"There you guys are," R.D. said. "We heard sounds of fighting but we couldn't get in."

Matt flicked his hands apart. "Giant demon. We took care of him pretty quickly."

"We run into a lot of those, don't we?" R.D. commented, shifting his weight back. "Granted, Alasea would've taken care of it quicker, and from what I hear, in a messier fashion.

"Hey!" Alasea shouted indignantly, going red in the face.

"Come on, Alasea, it's no big deal," Helena said, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Just relax."

Alasea merely turned away with a huff, though not ignoring Helena. "You guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?" she muttered as she peered back at them.

"We need to get moving," Link interrupted, walking past them to the edge of the platform. Down below the chamber the others had fought in, but off to the right was another platform, down low--too far for Link to jump, but not for the others, he thought. He looked off to his right, eying the length of stone curving down to the other platform. Set into it were more grooves for the Spinner.

"Follow me," he said, as he stepped up and pushed off on the Spinner as Midna manifested it for him. The device quickly latched onto the Spinner track, and it took off down its length to the area below.

And right into the quicksand stretching across it to the door and ledges on the other side. Frowning, Link spun out the Spinner, propelling him off the wall and into the sand. It glided effortlessly across it, clicking into the Spinner track set into the opposite wall and pulling him across the remaining distance, leaving him safely on the stretch of stone floor leading to the door.

More quicksand, eh? Back to flying, it looked like. But flying was getting boring. Time to make this a bit more fun. "Check this out!" Matt said. He leapt off the platform towards the curved wall. Kicking off against it, he scaled down the path in this matter until one final kick and an artful backflip had him land on the safe stone floor. He leaned back and rose his hands in Olympic triumph.

Hugo humphed. "Always a showoff."

In a few short moments, R.D. and Ileyna had brought Alasea, Helena, and Hugo across the quicksand to reunite with Link and Matt. "Done showing off?" R.D. asked as he set both girls down and removed his arms from their waists. Ileyna set Hugo down beside them.

They progressed through the door, and entered a truly massive chamber within the Arbiter's Grounds. A sea of quicksand stretched out before them, with only broken sections of rails with Spinner tracks on them giving Link a way to pass over them. It stretched on further ahead, in what appeared to be a forking path for the Spinner tracks that curved upwards. Behind it was a large statue of a woman with her arms outstretched, and the room looked to expand even more to the right of the Spinner tracks on the quicksand.

"Link?" R.D. said.

"Hmm?"

"I hate your world's architects."

"I cannot really blame you for that."

Matt laughed out loud, hands on hips. "He's got a point!"

Meanwhile, Helena gestured in disbelief at the quicksand. "How are we going to cross that?"

"Seems obvious enough to me," R.D. said, pointing at the broken sections of track. "Just hop between the two and follow them until we get to the right side of this crazy place."

"I'll go on ahead with the Spinner," Link said, gauging the distance and noting the spinning blade traps running along the Spinner tracks. "Just be careful. There's probably more Stalfos in here, or more Gibdos."

"Goodie," R.D. muttered darkly, rubbing at the shoulder where a Gibdo has planted its sword blade.

Ileyna looked around the room, taking in the sights. Despite all of the inherent dangers within it, the place looked stunning in her eyes--pathways of stone with Spinner tracks arched around through the air, leading off deeper into the room. As she looked around, she caught sight of Alasea. The older girl shivered as she was looking around, rubbing her bare arms.

"What's wrong?" she asked, catching her attention. The teenager looked down briefly before looking back up.

"I don't know. Something seems off about this room."

Matt's eyes narrowed. He felt it too. And he hated feelings he couldn't shake. Glancing around the large room slowly, he said, "R.D., cover the front while I take up the rear."

After a moment, R.D. nodded and tightened his grip on the Guardian-issue rifle. "Let's get moving," he said. Pushing off, Midna manifested the Spinner beneath him, and it skimmed across the quicksand before catching hold of the first Spinner track, and then it took off flying.

R.D. scooped his left arm around Alasea's waist, and she put her arms around his shoulders so he could jump to and from the different tracks as he followed Link and the others. Ileyna flew above them, carrying Hugo with them. As Link maneuvered through the spinning traps, he latched on to the right-side fork, and the Spinner took him upward. The others followed on foot, reaching the walled off section in the center of the room shortly before he did, and he dropped down ahead of them on the Spinner as it ran out of track.

They came to a halt in the middle, beneath the large rotating spiked log. The path curved upwards, and the walls were lined with more Spinner tracks... but that wasn't what gave them pause. It was the massive statue of the Desert Goddess set into the wall.

And the black figure standing beneath it.

"You know, you need to tell me before you up and vanish before I have a chance to kill you," Malvettix remarked, turning around to face the group, rolling his hand as he talked. As always, he sported his ever-present grin, even though he sounded genuinely annoyed. "For a while I thought I wouldn't actually have a reason to continue existing."

Matt just stared, fist clenched.

"Is that him?" Helena whispered, her own eyes fixated on the dark clone.

"Yes," Malvettix replied for her, raising his voice. "It's me. Now be quiet for a moment and let me finish." He took a few steps down the curving slant of the floor, and Matt instantly entered a fighting pose. "I just think that going off and getting yourself banished to some backwater dimension-" here he flattened his hands against his chest- "without letting ME know so we could finish things first...that made me pretty angry."

"I don't give a shit what you think," Matt said. "I'll kick your ass right now, if that's what you want."

Malvettix threw up his hands. "Then let's finish it right now! I've been ready for years!"

"Dragon Drive."

The sharp, draconic aura exploded around Matt, and he levelled a clawed hand at Malvettix's chest. "Fuck off." He released a powerful burst of energy that caught Malvettix and shoved him right back into the Desert Goddess statue.

Ileyna stepped back, unnerved by the acute feeling of wrongness that seemed to radiate off of Malvettix. Both R.D. and Link drew their swords, readying themselves to fight as Matt and Malvettix spoke to one another.

Alasea stepped back as terrible memories clawed their way up from her subconsciousness, of Malvettix's vicious assault on her home, and of the vile feeling he left upon touching her skin, and of the terrible recollections that the monster had dug up from where she had buried them. A hand reached up to clutch at the locket her father had left her, and she took another step back, eyes widening in terror.

The chamber seemed to rock as Matt's blast tore into Malvettix, crushing him against the wall. "Get'im!" R.D. shouted, charging forward after Malvettix, with Link at his side. Both ran up the ramp and attacked, swords flashing forward at Malvettix's head.

Spotting them coming, Malvettix threw his arms in front of him, winging the bladed ends of his coat around to meet R.D. and Link's blades with a clatter. He spun and pushed aside Link's sword, landing a reversed arcing kick in his ribs. The other end of the coat swung up, and Malvettix thrust his free hand at R.D.. The coat end burst into a spinning drill of darkness.

Link cried out as Malvettix kicked him away, leaving R.D. to fend for himself. R.D. broke off from Malvettix's coat, angling his blade to deflect the drill that spun at him. As sparks scoured off of the blade, R.D. stared emotionlessly at Matt's antithesis.

"Guess we've decided just where I stand, haven't we?" he finally said, referring back to when Malvettix confronted him upon his return to his home world.

Malvettix's eyes narrowed. "Yes, we have." Dark power began gathering to his fingers to fire a blast in R.D.'s face.

Instead, Helena's blast tagged Malvettix first, followed by another outburst of power from Matt smashing him once again into the wall. The dark clone was running up the wall as soon as an open space presented itself in the assualt, and the familiar cry of Devil Pulse knocked Matt down even as he was charging to meet Malvettix.

R.D. charged in as Helena and Matt's attacks returned Malvettix into the wall, his sword raised high. The blade stabbed forward at Malvettix's head, but he had already gotten out of the way before it could make contact, and the tip of the sword only struck the wall, causing a few sparks to fly.

Link had picked himself up as the clone fled, and he snapped his fingers once, causing a wing-shaped boomerang to appear in his hand, manifested by Midna. As it charged with magic, a whirlwind appeared around it, and he let fly. It soared wide, shooting past Malvettix before curving back straight at him, surrounded by a small cyclone.

The cyclone pulled Malvettix across the wall, his shadowy claws carving through rock as he dug deep to stay in place. "Thanks for tickling me!" he shouted at Link before unleashing a charge of dark power in his direction. Without waiting to see if the blast hit, he leapt off the wall, landing on the floor in front of the spinning spiked log.

"Stay back!" Helena shouted as Malvettix rose to his full height. "I'll blow you up!"

"Let ME do that," Hugo said, and flipped on the G-Stone's aura.

Malvettix's eyebrows rose. "Ohhhh. That's a pretty large power surge, coming from you." He aimed a Devil Pulse at the Mettaur's helm. "Not big enough, though."

But Hugo just jumped Malvettix's attack and unloaded a heavy blast of his own into the dark clone's face, throwing him back.

The resulting blast shook the room, causing a sea of ancient dust to fall out from the cracks in the ceiling, and that rocking finally shook Alasea out of her terror. Seeing Malvettix fall to the floor, her anger flared brightly.

This monster had touched her, defiled her memories of her family and made her suffer through it all.

The Megami Tsurugi appeared in a flash light and she was running, despite her long skirt, straight for the fallen clone. She reversed the grip on her weapon and stabbed it right down at the creature's chest with both hands, trying to impale him on the floor.

Malvettix pulled his feet up and rolled over backwards, the blade slamming into the floor and narrowly missing him. He flipped back up on his feet, rising quickly. "Ha ha ha!" he laughed. "THAT's more like it!" His foot tore across the floor as he unloaded a rising kick at Alasea's soft chin.

Alasea yanked her weapon from where its point had buried into the floor, and narrowly avoided Malvettix's strike. Her anger boiled up once more--the bastard dare try to touch her again!? The Megami Tsurugi gleamed brightly as rage-fueled magic was loaded into it, and she swung.

The sound of the air collapsing rocked the chamber as the sword's blade tore through the air at Malvettix's head.

"She's pissed," R.D. noted as he saw the girl attack, her blade somehow sharpening to the point where it was shredding the air itself, forcing it to collapse back in on itself and make the loud crashing noise. He hefted up his sword and readied himself to chase after the clone. "Get down there and cover her, Matt, he won't play with her for long while you're here."

Malvettix ducked under the blade, stabbing at Alasea's vulnerable midsection with a fast, sharp knifehand.

Alasea's swing went wide, causing her to overcorrect, and the girl gasped in sudden pain as Malvettix's strike smashed into her side, bending her over and leaving her open.

"Hiiyyaah!"

And then Link was there, his sacred blade flashing down at Malvettix's head as he came between him and the injured girl. He stared at Malvettix, unaffected by his sinister grin or his vile presence. He simply held his sword and shield at the ready, occasionally twirling the blade in his left hand.

The blade had nicked Malvettix in the leg as he had leapt back. The decent wound oozed with black substance. "That blade's a lot more powerful than I thought," Malvettix remarked, shadowy serpents coiling over his shoulder and arm, gathering power for a massive row of blasts. "Can't let you have that..."

His head tipped up and he turned to the side, blasting Matt with a full salvo of darkness as he charged in. It wasn't enough to stop him, though, and Matt broke through, tackling Malvettix. The two tumbled over towards the wall until Matt had Malvettix pinned and started hammering his clone's face.

"Stop-moving-and-shooting-people-you-prick!" Matt said, each word punctuated by a fist.

Malvettix's hand shot up and grabbed Matt's arm to halt his attack. "Demon Drive!"

The dark clone expelled a massive surge of darkness, throwing Matt right towards the spinning blades. Combined with his Dragon Drive aura, Matt tore through the blades like a heavy fireball, scattering bits of metal all over the floor. Malvettix rose as his form became outlined with the shape of a great demon, his attire manifesting silver armor over his shoulders and arms, his trenchcoat flaring out into wing-like structures.

"Ah, CRAP!" Hugo shouted. "Everybody, long range!"

Ileyna helped pull Alasea up off the floor from where she had been wounded, shouting anxiously for her to get up. The older girl looked up at Malvettix as he began his terrifying transformation. "W-what's going on!?" she demanded, her voice wavering a bit.

R.D. swung his Guardian-issue rifle around and aimed it at Malvettix. "The bastard made his own Dragon Drive!" R.D. yelled, squeezing the trigger and letting fly with a couple three-round bursts. "Get back!"

Alasea nodded and they retreated. Link looked about the room as R.D. fired another three-round burst, backing up as he did so. Spotting the Spinner track, Link nodded and made a dash for it.