MoonBound: Part 17

By: nessdude15


"So how long will this take?" Pippi asked. Paula lifted her head.

"It only took a few minutes when Ness did this." She said.

"Yea but to me, it seemed like hours." Ness said.

"Well it had best be soon." Jeff said. "Those Ghosts of Starmen should get here any time now." The group now sat in silence around Picky, their unconcious friend. Shortly after, a loud crash rocked the small rock room.

"What was that?" Puala asked, a hint of fear in her voice. Poo got brave, and crawled over to the hole that they had entered from. He looked through it and saw hundreds of black metallic feet lined up in single file lines.

"They're here." He said.

"I hope they can't see through rock." Jeff said.

"Well, I have a feeling that we are about to find out." Ness said, grabbing his bat.

* * *

The path was about five feet wide, it was long and narrow, and appeared to be make up some type of blue brick. The sea around him was a seafoam green color. A bit further up on the path there was a small orange house surrounded by a small patch of grass. Picky walked up to it and opened the front door. The house consisted of one room with five beds, laying neatly in a line across the back wall. He then saw five strange, and identical beings. they looked like fish on land. They had fins that they could walk on, and gills that could breathe oxygen. They reminded Picky of the Manly fish that he had seen in Deep Darkness so long ago. They all turned around at once and stared at Picky, looking perplexed. It seemed as if they had never seen anything in their lives until now. Picky was as perplexed as they were. He walked up to the one closest to him.

"Hello. Who or what exactly are you?" Picky asked it.

"You must be Picky." It said in a bubbly voice. "I am the swimming man; your courage. My sole purpose in life is to guide you into the depths of your mind. After that, I shall be yours."

"Cool." Picky said. I guess we should get going!" He said, leading the swimming man out the front door. After it passed by the small house, the path made a sharp right turn, followed by a long straight-away. Picky and the swmming man continued traveling. At the end of the straight-away, a strange figure sat hovering in the air, looking out at the vast sea. As Picky and the swimming man approached, the figure turned on a dime, and faced them.

"Starmaster!" Picky exclaimed. "I sure am glad to see you here!" The Starmaster smiled.

"And I you." He replied. "I see you have come a long way. I am very proud. But in this particular situation, I can be of no help to you. Your fate, and that of the world lies in your hands." The Starmaster said before spinning away into the distance.

"Strange fellow." Picky said, as he and the swimming man continued walking along the path.

"Hey, this path looks like it spirals in towards a center point." Picky said, looking towards the center of the spiraling pathway. The swimming man remained silent. "Hey, why are you so quiet?" Picky asked it. "Its starting to creep me out."

"I was not created to make conversation." It said. "Only to be your courage in times of need."

"Okay then." Picky said as he continued traveling on the mysterious path. It wasn't long before a very strange sight caught Picky's eye. He saw, or at least he thought he saw a large ball point pen hovering back and forth across the path. Picky rubbed his eyes, and looked again. Sure enough, it was still there. He walked up behind it. As it turned around, it saw Picky and immediately shot a blast of ink into Picky's eyes.

"Ow! That burns!" Picky yelled. He fell to his knees, trying to wipe away the ink. This is when the flying man went into action. It charged the pen creature, and bashed it with its head. Next, it slapped the large pen with its fin, causing it to cease hovering and fall to the ground. About that time, Picky had finally suceeded in wiping away the painful ink. He saw the pen on the ground, and gave it one quick strike with his Combat Yo-yo. Upon contact, the pen creature poofed into thin air, leaving a small trail of smoke behind. Picky smiled and turned to the swimming man.

"You can fight!" He exclaimed.

"Well, of course I can. What good would courage be if it didn't help you out when you most needed it?" The swimming man said.

"I guess you're right." Picky said. They continued along the path. Shortly, they made it to the top of the first arc in the spiral. In the middle of the path, Picky spotted a large gift box wrapped in white paper with a big red bow around it. It seemed to be waiting there just for him. "Cool! I wonder what's inside!" Picky exclaimed as he ran up to it and began tearing off the wrapping. He was delighted at its contents. It was a large yo-yo, an entire foot in diameter. It had large silver spikes around the side, and the center was made of a srtange red metal. It was surprisingly lightweight, and Picky handled it with ease. "I wonder where I'm gonna put this thing..." He wondered. As he motioned to try and fit it into his pocket, it suddenly shrunk into a normal sized yo-yo. When he pulled it back out again, it became big again. "Wow, this really is wierd." Picky said. "I'll call it the Mysticant yo-yo."

Little did he know, another hovering fiend had snuck up behind him. This particular baddie took the form of a large, five foot tall, red soda can. The swimming man saw it, but surprisingly did not warn Picky. He just seemed to stand guard over Picky as he played with his new yo-yo. The swmming man charged the can, but the soda can was ready. It detached its top and sent it spinning swiftly at the swimming man. It suceeded in severing the swimming man's left fin from its body. The swimming man fell to the ground with a thump. Picky heard the thump and turned around.

"Swimming man!" he yelled after he saw the fate of his new friend. He then grabbed his new yo-yo, swung it fiercely at the can. The spikes on the yo-yo created many large holes in the can. Green fluid began to leak out. "Man, I'm glad I don't have to drink that soda." Picky thought. After all of the strange green fluid had leaked out, Picky hopped on top of the can, and stomped it into the ground. "Well, I know littering is bad...but its my mind, and I can litter it with whatever I want to!" Picky said as he kicked the flattened can off the side of the pathway into the sea below. He then remembered the swimming man, ran over to him, and knealt down beside him.

"I am sorry Picky, for I have failed you." The swimming man said before disappearing into thin air, leaving nothing but a strange pendant behind.

"No swimming man, its my fault you died, not yours." Picky said as he began to tear up. He then thought to himself. "But without my courage, what can I possibly accomplish?" He thought as he began to panic. The sky suddenly turned into a bright flashing red color, the path bright flashing orange, and the sea changed from seafoam green to a bright yellow hue. He grabbed the pendant and ran back towards the swimming man house as fast as he could. When he got there, he saw five tombstones layed neatly across the side of the house that had not been there before. Next to them were a hammer and chisel. "Well, there's only one reason these would be here." Picky said as he grabbed a tombstone, the hammer and chisel and walked over into the small patch of grass. he buried the swimming man's pendant under the grass, and began to inscribe words onto the tomstone. The stone was surprisingly soft, and Picky was done in almost no time at all. The stone read:

In rememberance of the swimming man;

my courage

He valiantly laid down his life for mine.

* * *

"I guess they can see through stone!" Jeff exclaimed as he saw a laser blast through the rock wall of the room.

"Quick! Guard Picky!" Ness yelled as he pushed Picky against the back wall. The other members of the party lined up all around him, protecting him. Laser blasts continued shooting through the wall until a large enough hole for the Ghosts of Starmen to teleport through was opened up. They teleported in two at a time. The members of the party used their strongest attacks to take out the Starmen, but they couldn't last forever. The sheer number of enemies would eventually wear them down.

"Picky had better get back fast!" Pippi yelled as she disposed of another Ghost of Starman with her Bionic Slingshot.

* * *

Picky shoved the stone into the ground above where he had buried the pendant. He got up and walked back into the swimming man house. He walked up to another swimming man.

"Hello. I am the swimming man; your courage. I-" The swimming man began to say before he was cut off by Picky.

"Yea, I know the drill." He said as he grabbed the swimming man's fin and pulled him out the front door. "Let's get a move on" Picky said as he began swiftly moving around the spiral path. Shortly after, they reached the top of the arc where Picky had found the yo-yo in the large gift box. The box was still there, torn and opened, sitting right in the middle of the path. Picky and the swimming man contiued around the spiral uncontested.

"Wow, this might be easier than I thought." Picky said. They remained uncontested until they reached the final arc. Picky saw many enemies. There were many new, strange things, along with the hovering pen and soda can that Picky had already encountered. Among the new foes were various walking dinner utensils, and a hovering cell phone. "Maybe I should cut down on the junk food and video games." He said as he pulled his Mysicant yo-yo out of his pocket. The swimming man looked out at the enemies, and then turned to Picky.

"Courage shall prove to be most useful in this battle." The swimming man said as it got into a fighting stace, preparing for battle.