Nephew of the Forgotten One, Chapter 5

Picky
"Weird," Ness mused. "Who'd call me on the bus?"
He had his Receiver phone out. It was ringing shrilly and rudely.
The number, Ness explained, was not one he was very familiar with. He could recognise those of his father's work, his house, the now defunct Escargo Express and Mach Pizza, and the youthful scientists, Apple and Orange Kid. But this new number... it seemed familiar, yet it didn't.
"The number looks like it's an Onett number," I thought out loud. "Maybe it's Tracy calling..."
Ness answered the phone.
"Ness Lee here," he whispered, not wishing for this conversation to go far. "Tracy? Where are you calling from?"
My heart skipped a few beats as Ness listened to Tracy recount what had happened to her, and mumbled "Mm-hm" occasionaly.
"You want to speak to Picky?" A slight pause. Ness mumbled again. "Here he is." He handed the phone to me.
"Tracy?" I asked. My heart was pounding; my adrenaline was rushing faster than it ever had before. "What's the problem?"
"The Power Crystal didn't work: the power of Giant Step is gone. I'm going to go looking around Onett. Hopefully I can find what we're looking for." The dial tone buzzed sharply in my ears.
I handed the phone back to Ness. "Do you know that the power of Giant Step is gone?" I demanded. And then immediately regretted what I had said, for it was extremely rude.
Especially when you consider how I accented the word gone...
Ness slumped into his bus seat.
"I'm sorry," he apologised. "I didn't consider everything when I told you about My Sanctuaries... I was just so happy that I made the team that I didn't think anything through just then. The spots are still there; the magic isn't."
"Why isn't the magic in Giant Step any more?" I asked.
"I absorbed it into me."
From the corner of my eye, I saw the Dusty Dunes Desert slowly fade out of view as we entered a small valley of sorts between it and Threed.
The rock music playing in the ghettoblaster one of the Giants had brought along to Fourside to play the Enrichs began to fade. Pulling on his baseball helmet, which he always had with him, Ness' friend Lomond Fyne began to check it.
"The batteries are dying," Lomond reported. "I think they'll last until we get to Threed. Then we're going to have to scour the town for replacement batteries."

True to Lomond's word, the ghettoblaster's batteries died out as we were passing the Threed Sunset Hotel.
"Do you want to get off here?" the driver for Greyhand Bus System asked.
"No," Lomond replied, "but do you want to wait for us?"
"I have nothing better to do."
We all filed off the bus, in search of batteries. Well, not all of us. My mom and the coach remained on board. Both of them were sleeping. I wanted to have an adventure.

I was leaning against a solitary grave in the north of Threed, also facing north myself. I idly spun my baseball bat around.
"Threed is so boring," I moaned.
"Why are you bad mouthing my town?" an angry voice shot.
I shot upright and turned around.

BJ
My name is BJ. And right now I was really angry.
I stared at an insolent little youth with rather long blond hair and a baseball bat.
"I'll ask again. Why are you bad mouthing Threed?"
"I'm not intending to insult Threed," the jerk replied in his jerky manner. "There's nothing to do, though. Or haven't you noticed?"
"There you are!" I yelled again. "At it again! Insulting my hometown!"
The jerk shuddered slightly.
"It's not my fault there's nothing to do in Threed!" he shot back.
"Nor is it mine!"
"Then why are you so stubborn?"
I drooped slightly.
I knew exactly why I was so stubborn. It's a defence mechanism. Divorces are always messy. Especially for the kids.
But I wasn't going to tell him that. Being a jerk and all, he didn't deserve to understand me more than I understood him.
But I felt that wasn't right. Felt that he had gone through something like I had. Recently, perhaps. Possibly even many times before.
"Why are you so stubborn?" the jerk demanded of me again. "Tell me." His voice dropped significantly. "Don't worry. I won't laugh."
He looked up at me.
I grunted and turned away. I could tell he wasn't sincere in any way.
I began to run at a heavy pace to Saturn Valley. Maybe my friends there could help with this problem...

I climbed down the ladder to the Underground Road. I looked about; the jerk wasn't there. I breathed a sigh of relief.
As I wandered through the dimly lit caverns of the Underground Road, I thought about the jerk. He might be a jerk and a liar, but something told me I had to trust him.
Wait, that was just indigestion. A jerk is a jerk, and this one was no exception.
I slipped on my sunglasses as I travelled into the blinding light over the Grapefruit River.
As my eyes slowly began to adjust to the diffused light, I removed my sunglasses and continued along the eastern bank of the river.
I began to run faster. If the jerk was following me, trying to catch me, he'd have to earn it.
And no one in Eagleland is faster than BJ Nichols. No one.
I dove into the caves that would lead to Saturn Valley. And I was immediately set on by an annoying little insect. A cockroach, I believe.
He spread his wings and flew at me!
"Ñrutas!" I cried, suddenly paralysed. "Help! Ñrutas!"
Bang! The cockroach went flying back. I fell.
"Are you okay?"
It was the jerk! I groaned.
"I'm okay," I finally muttered. "Why are you following me?"
"If you don't want to tell me why you're so stubborn, I'll tell you why I'm so stubborn first."
"Not now." I stepped on the cockroach he had just attacked with his baseball bat. "I have to go talk to a friend right now. Maybe I'll talk to you later."
Maybe. Such a wonderful word. Like I'd ever intend to talk to him again...
I turned around.
"Go," I warned him. I stood there until he became nothing more than a silhouette on the way into the cave. I waited until I was sure he had gone.
Five minutes passed, and I knew it was safe. I had to talk to Ñrutas.

"Ñrutas!" I called. "Ñrutas!"
"BJ!" the youthful Mr. Saturn cried. "How life go?"
We walked over to the small pond in the middle of Saturn Valley. I pulled off my shoes and socks and dipped my feet in the water. Ñrutas sat with his feet facing the water
He didn't want to risk falling in the water; Mr. Saturn are not very good at swimming, due to their lack of hands, and he had nearly drowned before. I had to save him.
"Life's not going too well, Ñrutas," I admitted. I explained to him my troubles with that jerk.
"Hate child... boing?"
"Not hate. Contempt."
"What that?... zoom!"
"It's not hate; it's not love. But it's close to hate, even though it isn't."
"Ñrutas head hurts...."
"Ah, who cares," I muttered. "I hate him, pure and simple."
"Why you hate?"
"I already told you, 'Roots," I said, using my own little nickname for him. "He insulted my town."
I noticed a mysterious bubbling in the water. I pulled my legs out. Just in time, too.
A toads leapt out of the water and attacked me!
"'Roots!" I warned. "Get out of the way!"
"No. Ñrutas stay fight."
The toad jumped at me! I rolled out of the way.
Bang!
The toad seemed to have been hit by something. He flew back into the water, crashing into it with a meek "plop".
"Do you still not need help?"
The jerk. Again. And this time he had a Slingshot. He tossed it to me.
"Why are you giving me a present?"
"Because we should be friends."
Friends. The word echoed in my heart, my brain. Echoed in every part of my body.
No. He was leading me on. We'd fight; we'd win; he'd insult Threed again. Our friendship would only last this battle.
I armed the Slingshot and waited for the toad to resurface.
It did. And it had friends with it this time.

Picky
We were facing three frogs. Could we win?
"Roots!" the boy from Threed exclaimed. "Go now!"
"BJ... I stay. Stay fight," the Mr. Saturn said. Apparently his name was Roots. Or was that a nickname?
The boy, BJ, I guess, groaned.
"Just go," he urged. "Ñrutas..."
So that was his name. Ñrutas. Not Roots. But I can see where he'd get the nickname.
Pop! BJ fired his Slingshot.
Ñrutas jumped in the air.
"Thunder AlphaPSI!"
Nothing happened.
"What happen? Alpha ThunPSIder!"
"Ñrutas!" I called out. "It's PSI Thunder Alpha! Just that!"
"He's lying," BJ countered. "No I'm not!"
I leapt at the frogs, hitting them with my Tee-ball bat. They barely flinched this time.
I returned to the echelon BJ and I had formed.
"It's like they're armoured..." I mused. "Armoured Frogs?"
"They're not frogs," BJ said caustically, "they're toads."
"P... PS... PSI Thunder Alpha!" Ñrutas finally managed.
"Ribbibbibbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii......" One frog -- toad collapsed.
"Of course!" I exclaimed. "Their weak point is thunder! They're still wet!"
If only Tracy were here...
BJ moaned. He realised I'd figured the fr... toads' weak point out. And before him!
I should apologise to him after all this. I just hope he doesn't hate me for life...

Tracy
I found it! I found the first spot I have to find, and it's got nothing to do with Ness!
The island of Berloneot. Off Beak Point. It was regalled long ago for having a reputation of attracting mysterious happenings.
As I walked along to Berloneot, I wondered idly. If it was supposed to be hard to reach each spot, then why was I finding it so easy to get to Beak Point?
Then I saw it. Berloneot was a large island, and completely covered in forest to boot.
I groaned, then I trekked back to the Onett city centre; I needed a hangglider.

"I hope Ness doesn't mind me devastating his bank account," I mused. "I just hope Picky can get back from the trial soon; Giogas might win if he tarries longer."
I bought a hangglider, and returned to Beak Point. As I left, the shopkeeper warned me it was a rental. "If it's ruined, you have to pay to repair it and buy a new one."
I took his warning seriously. It's too bad Berloneot Island didn't.

Hanggliding was such a thrill! Probably not as much a thrill as being a bird yourself, but surely it's more of a thrill than riding in an airplane. Right?
The wind blasted my face, and I felt so exhilarated, I didn't even see the large tree coming up on me.
SMACK!
I blacked out.

When I came to, I found myself at the base of the oversized pine I had crashed into. The hangglider was shredded on a low branch. There wasn't any point of heading back now; I had reached Berloneot, so I should get what I had come here to get. Then I could head back.
I armed my Frypan, and I traversed deep into the forests of Berloneot.

BJ
Wonderful. The jerk was right. Thunder was these toads' weakness.
"Ñrutas!" I cried. Quickly under my breath, I added, "As much as I hate to admit it," then said, out loud, "use your PSI Thunder capabilities on these toads!"
Ñrutas jumped once more in the air. "PSI Thunder Alpha!"
It must have been hard for him to say that: the Mr. Saturn might be brilliant, but they have trouble creating long complicated sentences. This PSI capability he was using apparently confused him in the syntax for use.
Another toad collapsed.
"Once more!" the jerk urged.
"PSI Thunder Alpha!" Nothing happened! "PSI Thunder Alpha!" I heard a rumbling.
"No, not again," the jerk moaned. "He's lost his accuracy because there's only one left!"
"I'll take care of it, then! Roots, get down!" Ñrutas descended. I aimed my Slingshot between the remaining toad's eyes, and fired.
BANG!