Troublesome Force, Chapter 11
Troublesome Force, Chapter 11
Place: Siruv's Castle
Group: Poo, Amy, Pika, Alis
Poo, Amy, Pika and Alis continued on their way down Siruv's castle.
"Do you hear something?" Amy asked, straining her ears.
Come.... a voice beckoned. Come and meet your fate.
"We've heard that for a time now," Amy mused.
Then come and meet your fate so you will never hear it again... the voice once more beckoned.
A rumbling below the feet of the four once more alerted them to something being amiss. Yet again.
Pika looked down.
"Kaaaaaa!" (Aaaaaaa!) he exclaimed.
Spurred by Pika's reaction, Alis too looked down. And saw nothing there.
Group: Jeff
"King!" he cried. "Kiiiiiiiing!"
Jeff's cry echoed throughout the hallway.
"Stupid dog," he muttered to himself, and continued walking.
Now in total darkness, Jeff slipped on something.
"What'd I just slip on?" Jeff dipped a finger in the substance he'd slipped on. "Water? No, it's too slippery for that..."
He turned his flashlight on, illuminating the darkness.
He could now see what he was walking on. It was writhing and had the texture of red skin. Walls. Ceiling. Floor.
What he had slipped on was clearly noticeable. It darkened the floor where it lay. And beside it lay a tuft of hair. Jeff stooped down to pick it up.
"Hair?" he mused. "No, not hair. More like... dog fur. Therefore, what I slipped in would have to be--"
And then he felt... he felt...
Group: Ana, Ecoli and Tracy
"Where's Paula?" Tracy asked. "Ness too..."
"This worries me," Ecoli spoke up. "We keep getting jumbled up. Who knows in what state the original groups are now?"
Come and meet your fate... a voice beckoned. Come meet your fate.
Ecoli shuddered.
"I know that voice..." he squeaked, his body beginning to flicker.
Ana stiffened.
"What?" Tracy whined. "What are you talking about?"
Ecoli looked at Tracy, whose eyes were widening at an impossible rate. He cleared his throat, or as close to a throat as a False Virus could get, and began to speak.
"That voice..." Ecoli had trouble getting the words out. "That voice... that voice. It's Siruv. Master of the Viruses. The reason all this trouble happened to begin with."
"Siruv?"
"Yes, Siruv," Ana picked up. "He sent a Virus to control me. And from the memories Ecoli shared with me, I suspect that Suelo--"
"Suelo?" Tracy asked.
"A friend of Alis," Ecoli qualified.
"Anyway," Ana continued, "I suspect that Suelo was being controlled. But she didn't seem all that glad to turn down treating Ecoli. Therefore, she clearly wasn't being directly controlled by a Virus at the time. Perhaps there was a bargain she struck with the Virii."
"Bargaining? With the Virii?" Tracy shuddered. "How could anyone do such a thing? It's incomprehensible..."
"It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense or not," Ecoli amended. "But Ana and I agree. There was some ulterior reason behind Suelo's refusing to treat me. And I bet Siruv was at the center of it."
Ecoli! The leader of the False Virus resistance! Siruv hissed. Come meet your fate. You'll die at my hands yet!
Tracy shivered.
"You monster!" she cried. "Why can't you let us live in peace?"
That's why Penicillin chose you. He thought that you could turn me from this path. But none can! And all who gaze upon me die!
"How can we die? We haven't gazed upon you!"
Suddenly, the lights went out completely.
Three voices cried out in pain...
Group: Ness and Paula
"Ana!" Paula cried.
"Ana?" Ness asked. "But she's not with us..."
"She'll never be with us again," Paula whispered, her voice cracking.
"Oh, Paula..."
Ness hugged Paula warmly.
"Don't worry," he reminded her. "I can heal her. So can Poo. Death's not final. Is it?"
"It's getting too final," Paula sobbed. "It's not just Ana. It's Ecoli as well. Not to mention Jeff, Tracy and King. Siruv's taken them all."
Ness' heart sank into his stomach, and he fell to his knees.
No... they all can't be dead. They can't be! No! he thought.
He began to cry as the ground swallowed him up.
"Ness!" Paula cried. She stumbled to her feet, and began to run, tears staining the blood red floor.
"They're all leaving..." Paula sobbed. "And I want to be with them. But I don't want to leave..."
Surely, Siruv beckoned, you're deluding yourself. Surely you want to leave. You want to be with them. You should do anything to be with your friends.
"I want to be with them! But I don't want to leave the living!" Paula yelled in rebellion.
Group: Amy, Alis, Pika and Poo
"Paula?" Poo asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Go away!" Paula snapped. "Go away! Siruv's out for us all. And he's trying to get me! Don't let him get you too!"
Too late, Polestar. Siruv laughed maniacally, and absorbed five of the last six warriors. Just as he had Ness, Jeff, Ana, Ecoli, King and Tracy.
Place: Somewhere in Cartame
Penicillin's eyes shot open.
"All but two are left," he realised. "And how long will it be before they, too, fall? Did I choose incorrectly in selecting those to defeat Siruv?"
He pondered this for a second.
"No," he said, "surely I chose right. But did I choose them for the reason I thought I chose them for? Or are they simply part of the solution?"
He stood up, and then shuddered.
"Now none are left. Perhaps I should have taken a precedent from The Hobbit and selected a fourteenth warrior. Or I could have simply chosen seven..."
A tear dripped from his eyes as he realised that he had failed in his quest.
Place: Dark Falz Catacombs, Sega Town
"Suelo!" Dark Falz jubilantly greeted the blond. "What brings you here?"
"It's a feeling I have. Do you remember Alis Landale?"
"Why, of course!"
"I have reason to believe something horrible has happened to her."
Dark Falz slumped, although not noticeably.
"Great... And she was such a help only a few days ago."
"Concerning a Virus, I suppose?" Suelo asked.
"Right. And now... she's merely a statistic."
"You two!" Rune muttered. "Alis wouldn't want you to act like this. She'd want us to do something."
"I'm sure we could do something," Suelo mused, "but what is it that we could do?"
"It's rather quite simple," Rune explained. "Lend our power to help her."
"But would that work?" Dark Falz countered. "Suelo here suspects that Alis, along with all her friends, no longer live."
"There's no point in trying to demoralise something when you haven't tried it before," Magus hissed. "The weak always strive to be weaker. And you're weak of heart, Dark Falz."
"How dare you!" Dark Falz snapped. "If only I was at my power peak! Then I'd show you who's weak of heart!"
"Those weak of heart always make themselves to be braver than they are."
"Stop it now! That's enough!" Suelo shrieked, bringing the others to attention.
"Excuse me," Doctor Andonuts asked, "but what are all you doing here? I stumbled down here looking for a friend of my son, Paula Polestar. Have you seen her?"
"Would she happen to have been with a young woman with brown hair and a sword?" Suelo asked tentatively.
"Possibly. Why do you ask?"
"I'm so, so sorry..." Suelo sobbed.
Place: Siruv's Castle
You'll never win! Siruv mocked the thirteen who were now prisoners within his body, incredibly bloated from the evil and hate he had sought to control. You hear me? NEVER WIN!
A petite voice floated into Siruv's mind.
We have friends, you know, Ani noted, and eventually they'll notice we're gone.
And what good will that do, Dalaamian? Siruv mocked. You're already gone. They'll just think you're still adventuring.
Siruv hesitated a second, then groaned in pain.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggghh........ he groaned. Then he groaned again, and began to shrink.
A gaping hole ripped open in Siruv's body, throwing an unconscious Alis out. It began to flash a brilliant light. Soon after, similar holes blasted Paula, Ecoli and Ana out.
Place: Ness' House, Onett, Nintendo City
"I'm so glad all the problems are over," Patricia Lee mused. "But I can't help feeling something for my son."
A knocking at the door alerted her to a visitor.
"I wonder who that could be..." she wondered, heading over to open the door. "Frank Fly? What are you doing here?"
"I feel something's gone wrong with Ness. I met him earlier. There was a redhead and an odd-looking cat with him."
"Redhead? But I thought he liked Paula."
"This redhead was older than I."
"But what do you mean by gone wrong."
"He's... no longer with us gone wrong?"
Frank nodded.
The phone rang.
"Jonathan?" Patricia asked. "Why are you calling? Oh... you're worried about Ness too? Even Tracy and King? Well, I knew they were up to something... but this?"
Place: Siruv's Castle
No... not again! Siruv shrieked. Five holes appeared this time. Out of each shot Ness, Tracy, King, Amy and Myau.
Siruv continued to shrink. His swollen body was receding from the furthest nooks and crannies of the castle.
I was so close, he moaned. So close. Virus, forgive me!
Place: Somewhere in Cartame
"Hahahahaha!" Penicillin giddly cried. "I was right! I did choose right! I chose the thirteen I did to elicit feelings of love from another thirteen!"
Pencillin jumped around a few times, then collapsed.
"Guess I need to take some Pepto-Bismol now..."
Place: Dalaam, Nintendo City
Poo's master picked up the telephone.
"Hello? Who is this?" he asked kindly.
"This is Tony Armuffin, from Snow Woods Boarding School." The voice sounded worried to Poo's master.
"Why are you calling?"
"It's not just me," Tony reported. "I'm calling on behalf of the Bubble Monkey, his wife, and Maxwell Labs as well."
"Why are all of you calling, then?"
"Jeff and Poo recently left the school for one reason or another. I have reason to believe that the troubles I've heard of over in Dalaam have led to a terrible end for them..."
"I'm sure they're fine. But Ani... and that cute little mouse too. I worry for them as well."
Place: Siruv's Castle
Siruv groaned one last time.
The love of all his enemies' friends had done him. Four last holes appeared. From them appeared Pika, Ani, Jeff and Poo.
He finally shrunk and shrunk, eventually becoming smaller than a speck of dust.
Alis struggled awake, as did the rest.
"Did we... win?" she asked.
Penicillin appeared in front of the thirteen.
"Did we win?" Alis asked once more. "Did we?"
Penicillin smiled.
"Yes, Alis," he confirmed. "You won. Or rather, all Cartame won. Even as we speak, the world is returning to what it was, and my associates are rounding up any spare Virii."
Ecoli bowed.
"I'm sorry, everyone, but it might be best if every Virus was destroyed. Even the false ones."
Ana gasped. "Please, no! Just stay with me when I return to Snowman!"
"I can't," Ecoli replied. "Penicillin, it might be best if I leave with you now."
And suddenly, the group of fourteen had become twelve.
"Ecoooooooooooooooooooooooli!" Ana screamed throughout the empty confines of the castle. "Come back!"
Paula placed her hand on Ana's shoulder. "He made the decision himself. You can't expect him to go back on it."
"But... we became such good friends!" Ana pleaded.
Ness, Tracy and King returned to Onett.
Paula returned to Twoson with Ana, who remained with her for a month, to get over her loss.
Jeff returned to Winters, where Tony had single-handedly arranged a party for him.
Poo and Ani returned to a hero's welcome in Dalaam.
Alis and Myau returned to Camineet, and Amy returned to Paseo.
Pika returned to his nest.
THE END