No Hurry, Make Your Time

[Goron40]

---Location: The Wilds, Blackstar---
---Time: Present---

Goron held onto a tree one arm in an effort to hold his ground. A swirling vortex had opened in front of him and had been emitting a gale-force wind for almost a minute now. A slip of the finger now would send Goron flying high above the treetops.

Then, as suddenly as it started, the wind ceased to be. Goron fell flat on his face in the dirt. Dusting himself off, he approached the portal. Unlike his usual blue rifts that transported him between dimensions, this one was green. Goron had learned that nothing was out of the ordinary here, though.

A portal like this was always a cue for him to be whisked off to another dimension, most likely never seeing Blackstar again. As he stood and pondered the decision, the vortex grew impatient, and sucked him into its depths.

---Location: ???---
---Time: Summer, 2401---

Goron was thrown onto hard cement, and the rift sealed behind him. He rose to his feet, shaking his head. All those years of traveling, and he still hated the warps. It always left him disoriented, like trying to understand HisLordShip.

A blast of gunfire rang out and snapped Goron's attention. He noticed that he was in a long hallway, with a plastic window a few feet down. The clone approached it, and beheld a hoard of mechs in a room below. They seemed to fighting a number of enemies.

Goron squinted his eyes trying to make out what the enemies were. They moved with lightning speed, and struck with precision accuracy. As Goron watched, one of the attackers' luck ran out. He yelled out something incomprehensible and a mech slammed him across the room, directly at the feet of another mech.

Just as the mech was about to fire, another of the attackers saved its teammate. Goron watched as the first attacker watched the other whisk away. While still on the ground, the first attacker was slammed by another mech.

The scene seemed vaguely familiar, but Goron shook it off and continued down the hallway. He stopped at a doorway and peered into the room beyond. A couple of men were scribbling furiously onto clipboards, as they observed the battle through their own window. Another sat a computer punching keys equally as fast. As Goron watched the men conversed with each other.

"They seem to be developing fine."

"Quite. It's a shame that they will be destroyed so soon."

"Well at least this beta version has proved to be mostly a success, even at this young age. The fully developed clones of the next development will be invincible."

They continued to converse in this fashion for quite some time. Eventually the gunfire stopped in the far room and the man at the computer spoke into a microphone, which resonated into the combat room.

"Good work today Squad 2. Unit 97 try putting a little more power into your sword swipes. Unit 8 keep a constant knowledge of your surroundings... and Unit 40... try to stay focused!"

Goron's shock paralyzed him. The portal had sent him to the time of the invasion of GORON island. Goron slid down the wall to a sitting position. This meant all his comrades were still alive. He could save them from their deaths!

He had always heard not to mess with the past because it goofs up the present, but he had never heard anything about screwing with the future, and besides, what harm could come from this?

---

Goron lay on the top of a steep slope, looking out at the setting sun over the ocean, just as he had done all those years ago. And speaking of which...

"Hey forty..."

A voice sounded about twenty feet above his head. Goron glanced up and saw himself and Unit 18 leaned on the railing of a balcony, talking. He leaned back to keep from being seen and listened to the conversation. Eventually the two finished as the lights out bell sounded, and Goron heard them both leave.

Goron slid down the slope as lights went out all over the compound. HE bumped to a stop at the base and rushed towards the front of the compound, taking care to stay out of sight. As he did he passed by the conference room, which oddly enough, had the scientists inside, speaking together with some of the military personnel. Goron paused to listen.

"They aren't ready. We just need more time to develop them. They can meet your requirements," a scientist said in protest.

"They're freaks!" the the Sargent said, "Abominations! And worst of all, they aren't half as useful as I wanted them to be!"

"They are only half grown!"

"I need to know weather or not they suit my needs NOW, not 5 years from now. They will not be able to overthrow the UN.

However, in order to test this, I am having an army invade this place. If they can protect you, I will consider them worthy enough for my time. If not, you will die, here and now."

Goron rolled off into a side corridor as the Sargent stormed from the room, slamming the door open. The scientists continued speaking with a hopeless tone.

"Should we evacuate?"

"Where would we go? There is nowhere on this planet where we are welcome."

"We could leave!"

"And be killed by space pirates? I would rather die here, thank you."

So the GORONs were nothing more than one man's personal army. And he was unhappy with the results. There was no enemy, just one man's greed. Goron had always found that story to be a tad fishy. Well no matter the cause, the army was still going to attack, but this time, Goron was going to fight beside himself. He just had to blend in...

Considering he was still wearing the traditional GORON garb, this wouldn't be too hard.

---

Goron awoke from his nap by the shrill alarm. Peering over the wall, Goron saw the army approach. Automated turrets were already firing on the force from the compound. Goron turned and looked down into the courtyard, where the clones had gathered for their briefing.

Goron easily blended into the crowd, despite being slightly taller than everyone else. He saw his squad several meters away on the wall. As the two armies began firing on each other, Goron flicked through his console to the EMP setting. He figured this would be best against mechanized enemies.

But, he was only one clone. While the EMP did do considerable damage, it was not enough to hold back the entire army. Then he saw the fighters. Goron leaped up some steps to an AA turret and manned it. One of the ships raked the ground with gunfire, and headed straight for his alternate self. Goron took aim and blasted its wing off, sending it spinning into the assembly area.

The gate had already been broken open. Goron saw his past (future?) self fighting at the gates. A soldier crept up behind his younger self and was about to stab him, so Goron blasted the man with a perfectly aimed laser that flew past his younger self's shoulder and hit the man square in the head.

A tank rolled through a hole in the wall, and Goron reached down and picked up a mine from a dead GORON. He dropped off from the wall and stuck the mine on the tank, before dodging away. He looked back only to see his other self emerge from the Shadow realm and land on the tank.

"MOVE DAMMIT!!"

He watched himself kill a soldier then fling away just as the mine detonated, then retreat with the remaining forces to the lab.

"DAMMIT! I couldn't save them!"

Goron watched helplessly as the mechs raced for the lab. Suddenly his view was blocked by another swirling green vortex.

"Great... now what?"

He stepped through and found himself in the exact place that he had left, in the middle of the Wilds.

---Location: Blackstar---
---Time: Present---

"... and that's what happened," Goron finished recounting to Alissa.

"So let me get this straight," the AI said, "You went back to GORON island, and didn't change ANYTHING?"

"Pretty much."

"I would have tried to save your friends, or maybe discover more about your past."

"Well I didn't save myself, I didn't try to stop the whole thing from happening, and I certainly didn't try to learn anything! Were you even listening?!"

"Not really."

"We at least I learned a very valuable lesson. No matter how bad things might seem-"

"They could be worse?"

"Nope, no matter how bad they seem, they can't be any better, and they can't be any worse, because that's the way things frikin are, and you better get used to it. Quit yer bitching."

[3kul]

*applauds*

Great story Goron, though a little shorter than your previous works. I really enjoyed reading it