Troublesome Force: Chapter 8
Troublesome Force: Chapter 8
Place: Dalaam, Nintendo City
Pika struggled awake. He was shocked to find his limbs tied together on a giant road.
Seconds after this, Paula revived. "Where are we?" she asked Pika, straining her head to look at the electric mouse.
"Pi..." (No idea.)
Her eyes still half-closed, Paula blinked a few times to clear the 'sleep' from her eyes.
As her vision returned, she slowly began to realise, aghast, where they were.
"D, Dalaam?" she cried.
Poo's master came over to Paula.
"You, my dear," he silkily soothed, "are guilty of treason against Lord Siruv."
"Treason?" Paula exclaimed. "How? Siruv is evil!"
"Siruv is the path to true salvation. If one rises up against Siruv, you condemn the rest of the world to death."
"Siruv is already condemning the entire world to death! Can't you feel the subtle irregularities in the air?"
"Anything Siruv does leads us to salvation, heretic."
Poo's master nodded, and some Dalaamians placed a substance on Pika, Paula, and Ana.
"What was that for?" Paula demanded.
"This substance embodies certain characteristics of what you call rubber. It's what you would call an insulator."
"You mean... it absorbs electricity?!" Ana cried, having just awoken. Alis was still unconscious, and Ecoli's state was unknown, as Ana was speaking with her own voice, not the seemingly harmonised voice used when she and Ecoli were speaking together.
The sky, strangely dark for Dalaam, began to cloud over.
Paula, Ana psychically cried. What can we do?
I don't know, Ana. This may be the end... They've cancelled out our thunder abilities. What do we have left? Fire abilities? Ice and water abilities? Will they affect the controlled Dalaamians?
Paula, Ana! It was Ecoli! I feel stronger now. I believe I can leave Ana's body for a short time now...
You can? Ana... are you prepared to risk your life to liberate us?
Of course, cousin.
If I can get into a controlled Dalaamian, and get them to remove the vest and ropes holding Ana, then get back in, we could escape...
They waited. Alis revived. The Dalaamians disappeared.
This might not work, Paula sadly reported. There isn't anyone around.
Wait! We see someone coming! Ana-Ecoli exclaimed.
Place: Shrine of Ramma, Dalaam, Nintendo City
"Is this the inner sanctum?" Jeff wondered.
The only way in to this specific room was the way the three had come in.
"More Ramman!" Poo cried, running over to another tablet, and began to read:
The Tablet in the Shrine
To here you have journeyed
It's true, you require greatly
Of the weapons concealed within
Prince, your queen, friend from afar
To find them, surround in harmony
And call the spirits of the past
"How can we surround in harmony?" Ani inquired.
"Probably it means holding ha..." Jeff stopped himself, finding himself on the receiving end on a hard stare from Poo.
Poo quickly pulled Ani and Jeff into a position around the symbol found in the middle of the room.
"Grip her left hand, Jeff," Poo spat out.
He then held Jeff's left and Ani's right hand. Jeff could have sworn Ani swooned, and held onto her hand that much tighter.
"Spirits of Dalaam and Ramma... Spirits of Dalaam and Ramma past... Spirits of the past... Those who came before us... We call upon you... Reveal to us the weapons so we may liberate our country... Your country... The country you called home..."
Ani had no trouble picking it up. But Jeff.... Jeff was a different story. He would slip up every second, it seemed.
But after about the 182nd try, Jeff was all but perfect.
"Spirits of Dalaam and Ramma... Spirits of Dalaam and Ramma past... Spirits of the past... Those who came before us... We call upon you... Reveal to us the weapons so we may liberate our country... Your country... The country you called home..."
Suddenly the dull light illuminating the Shrine went duller.
"Help me, Prince Poo..." Ani held onto Poo much tighter, breaking Jeff's link with her.
*pop*
"What was that?" Jeff exclaimed.
*pop*
*pop*
"What's happening?" Ani gripped Poo tighter.
*pop*
*pop*
*pop*
The holes in the symbol, unnoticed before now, were emanating light in the patttern of an upside-down cone. Kind of like a V.
There were six such cones.
And out of each of them, rose an apparition which resembled either Ani or Poo.
"Children of the future," the apparitions intoned, synchronised, "here are the weapons."
Two more cones appeared.
"These weapons, the Sword of Eternal Kings, and the Sword of Eternal Queens, have been stored in this Shrine since before the written history of Ramma. Wield them with pride."
From the seventh and eighth cones, two swords appeared. One was two-handed, and the other one-handed.
The first six cones disappeared. The apparitions' final words were, "Wrest Ramma from the invaders who threaten to destroy it..."
Ani and Poo stepped up to the remaining cones. They took the swords, Poo the two-handed one, and Ani the one-handed one.
"These swords are awe-inspiring," Jeff said, his eyes showing through his glasses for once.
Ani tried lifting the sword as high as she could. The tip of the sword reached just above her eyes.
"Why can't I lift it very high?" she cried, her eyes beginning to fill up with tears.
"You're trying too hard, Ani," Poo said, raising his sword above his head. "If you focus less on the sword, you should find it's easier to raise the sword."
Then, a rumbling....
Place: Onett, Nintendo City
"We know the terror rim left from right unfinished means mirror, but what's with sight acutely reflecting detail?" Myau demanded.
"In school, I learned that an acute angle is less than 90 degrees," Ness commented.
"So, if eyes fully closed garners no detail, but eyes wide open garners no detail either, they must be on the same vertical orientation. That is, wide open, and fully closed are above and below each other respectively, or vice versa," Amy said.
"Let's finish this up!" Ness cried. "Onett's burning while we yap!"
"King... you said Ness was here? Where?"
(Around here... somewhere. I can feel him.)
Then, King bolted in the direction of the Police Station.
"Come back!"
"So... we're all agreed? If I squint, I'll see more detail?"
"Yes," both Myau and Amy said.
Ness squinted his eyes, and focused on the figures in the fire panorama.
More detail appeared. A dog, with spatter markings. A girl, blond hair, pink dress.
"Tracy! King!" Ness whipped his eyes open.
"Tracy? King?"
"My sister and dog."
"Brother!" a voice cried.
"T, Tracy!" Ness exclaimed, and ran over to hug his sister.
Unbeknownst to him, his backpack's zipper unzipped itself as he did this. A skip sandwich fell out of his backpack.
Myau was about to say something, but was rendered speechless by the sight of King.
"D, d, dog..."
Tracy and Ness started to walk over to Myau and Amy.
Ness saw his skip sandwich, on the ground.
Still in its package, he deemed it fit for eating. But then...
King swallowed it up in one bite!
"My dog... ate my sandwich."
Place: Dalaam, Nintendo City
Wait! We see someone coming!
It was StarMaster!
"StarMaster!" Paula cried.
"Quiet, my dear. You must get out of here. I will spirit you away, to where you must go for the final battle."
"The final battle?" Alis queried.
"Siruv's Palace, where the evil tearing Cartame apart emanates from.
"But I can not take you there directly. Siruv has erected a shield blocking teleportation to the desert in which his castle resides. I may only take you to the fertile lands outside the desert. And then, you are on your own.
"To the final battle!"
And then, StarMaster, Ana, Ecoli, Paula, Pika and Alis were gone.
"No! Siruv will kill us!" Poo's Master cried.
A thunderstorm began in Dalaam. The magnetic energies of the storm eliminated the Viruses in the Dalaamians.
"...we're free!" the Dalaamians cried, overjoyed.
Place: Shrine of Ramma, Dalaam, Nintendo City
The rumbling shook the Shrine.
"Help me, Prince Poo!" Ani cried.
"You're going to be a queen, Ani," Jeff exclaimed, "so be brave!"
Warriors... call out to your friends, unite them for the final battle...
"Ancestors?" Poo queried.
Yes... we are almost out of time, and must slumber again for a millenium. Hurry. Time grows short for us.
"How do we call to our friends, though?" Jeff wondered.
Cartame was born from a land called Gaia. Gaia forged the metals, filled the oceans, forested the land, and endowed life upon its barren self. Cartame is based on those same principles, but Gaia is still required.
Jeff brought out his Gaia beam. "This must be what they're talking of. My Gaia beam."
Our time is all but up. Fire your beam in the middle of the Swords' Cross....
And the ancestors spoke no more.
"Ani! We must interlock our Swords, and our souls!" Poo cried. "My queen, believe in yourself!"
"But... I don't think I can do it.."
"Ani... as the future Queen of Dalaam... you must. You've been destined to do this."
Ani lifted her Sword. She rose it above her head. It glimmered in the darkness, a small ray of light in the utter blackness of the Shrine.
Poo lifted his Sword, connecting the two Swords in a cross shape.
Jeff aimed, and fired at the middle of the cross.
A flash of light!
And then, nothing was in the Shrine...