CHAPTER XXXIV: Magicant
He woke to a red-colored light across his eyes. Those two brown globes opened slowly, and he sat up, groping for his baseball cap. He set it on his black shock of hair, looking around.
The landscape was very strange. The ground was a lustrous green, and the sun was a ruby red. Blue stripes ran through the grass, like the astro-turf at a football field. But Ness had played sports enough to know that it was real. He stood slowly, a gust of sweet-smelling wind wafting to his nostrils.
"Where am I?" He asked himself. A collection of buildings was clustered to the west. He heard a faint, slightly annoying buzzing noise.
"Welcome," The voice said. "Welcome to Magicant."
"Buzz Buzz?"
The bee-ghost floated before him, wrapped in a blue-white sheen. "Very perceptive--just as I expected."
Ness grinned. "It's good to see you again, Buzz Buzz," He laughed, then stopped. "But...really...Magicant, you say? What is this place?"
Buzz Buzz gestured with one multi-jointed leg. "Magicant is a different world than yours," he buzzed. "Situated somewhere between the Spirit World and the World of Dreams. To be more precise, this is the world of your thoughts. This world is shaped by your memories, is gauged by the balance of evil and good in your heart."
He looked around. "So...what am I doing here?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean...I collected all of the Melodies, didn't I? Where's Giygas?"
"Not here," The ghost bee sighed. "Thank goodness. He is elsewhere, but you are here to erase all traces of evil in your heart. Only then will the Sound Stone bless you with its powers."
"Bless me...?" He asked, turning his face to the wind. "So...what do I do?"
"The Sea of Eden is at the center of this world," The guardian bee said quietly. "That is where your evil spirit lies. Go there, Ness, and fight that spirit."
"So THIS is what you meant by facing myself, isn't it?" He asked. "I see now. To get the power of the Sound Stone, I have to fight my evil at the Sea of Eden, right? Well, I'd better get going, then."
Buzz Buzz nodded, and slowly vanished. Ness picked up his baseball bat, and began walking towards the buildings to the west. Once he got there, he began examining the huge structures. They were made of some kind of funny grassy material. Behind him, he heard a familiar voice.
"You stupid jerk," It said. "What are YOU doing here?"
He whirled, facing the familiar form of Master Barf. He took a defensive position. The huge pile of barf, however, didn't move.
"Calm down," he belched. "I'm projected into Magicant, but I'm still stuck in the Spirit World, so we can't harm each other."
Ness lowered his bat slowly. "Hey," he asked. "Do you know where the Sea of Eden is?"
Master Barf scoffed, and slid away. Ness growled, and pulled his right cheek down with one finger, sticking his tongue out.
"Jerk," He mumbled before walking farther, through the city, and to the grassy wasteland beyond.
He saw many people over the immeasurable expanse of time. People he had met since he was a boy, creatures he had fought and defeated. He realized, as his feet brought him unconsciously farther, that his memories, as well as the spirits, lived here in Magicant. He met old friends from his childhood--his old baseball partner Matt, for one, and his former enemy Frank--and different enemies he had battled--such as Barf, Carbon Dog, and even the Titanic Ant. A wave of nostalgia flowed over him as he walked through the vast countryside of Magicant.
He took a moment to contemplate the strange beauty of this place. The trees, like none he had ever seen, were huge. Their leaves were an autumn red, and they were spaced far apart, offering a nicer view of the blue-green plains.
He had no real idea where he was going, but after a few hours of hiking, he decided to stop for a brief rest. He sat beneath one of the red trees, relaxing as the dappled sunlight lay across him. Rummaging in his yellow backpack, he found some rations that the amazingly strong Tenda had packed: a Double Burger, and a Jar of Delisauce. He spread the Delisauce on the burger, and ate slowly.
When he was finished, he lay back against the tree, holding his Travel Charm against his chest. His memories were flowing into him like gas into a car. He remembered the Sanctuaries, finding Paula in her cell, their journeys together, the Runaway Five, meeting Jeff, who came from far-off Winters, moving on to Fourside, fighting the five Guardian Diggers, battling tooth and nail, with all his strength, to get Paula back. He remembered moving on to Summers, sharing the dream with Poo, battling with the Kraken, crossing Scaraba to the Pyramid, the fight for the Hawk Eye, rescuing Apple Kid, moving through the Lost Underworld, and finally landing here.
"In this place," he said softly to himself. "Memories are a living entity. I see now...I have to get to the Sea of Eden. My feet seem to know the way, as if I've been there before..."
Shouldering his pack, he reluctantly left that relaxing place. Ness began moving across the plains again, following that undeniable urge to keep heading in that direction. That same, sweet-smelling wind picked up, ruffling his hair.
After another three hours of walking, he found it. Not a sea, but a twisting, silver tentacle rising from a tall hillside. Ness walked towards it curiously, one eyebrow raised. The red sun was setting behind a mountain range, making the shadows long and mysterious. He climbed the hill, gazing at the silver swirl of unidentifiable metal.
He ran his roughened hand over the tentacle, a questioning look on his face. The it seemed liquid on his fingers, almost like molten silver. The world in front of him blurred a bit, and he gasped as a bright light enveloped his body.
When the light cleared, he was standing waist-deep in a strange, glowing water. The cloudy water pulsed with blue-purple sheen, and it was as warm as a bright summer's day. He looked around, his brown eyes searching the sky.
"The Sea of Eden," he whispered to himself. "So this is it, hm?"
He felt a small vibration in the water, and a familiar surge at the back of his neck. He looked around frantically, drawing his bat. He leapt into the air just as a green, eyeless head rose from the deep. The scaly, green skin and the red fins tipped Ness off immediately.
"It's the Kraken!" He growled, eyes narrowing. "But I thought I couldn't be harmed here! It must be different in the Sea of Eden!"
He plummeted towards the sea serpent, which opened its mandibles wide, trying to catch the young man. Ness, however, dropped his bat into the water, and put both hands on its lips, holding them open. He took a deep breath, and let go with his left hand, drew it back, and fired.
"PSI ROCKIN' BETA!"
The blue-red beam flew down the Kraken's gullet like a cheetah going after its prey. Ness hurled himself away from the monster, rolling into the water as the evil being exploded. Giant chunks of Kraken flew in all directions, and Ness had to shield himself from the gore.
He grinned, picking up his bat, and putting it away. He began slogging through the pleasant-smelling water, wiping his brow.
He kept walking, the shallow water only coming up to his waist. Huge spires of rock jutted from the sea, stretching higher than Ness could readily see. He walked through the ever-thickening forest of rock, his feet still taking him towards his unknown destination.
He reached an island sometime later. It wasn't anything impressive, just a small chunk of rock about eight meters around. It was what stood on the island that made Ness' breath catch in his throat.
The Mani Mani Statue. Well, sort of. The image of the Mani Mani was super-imposed with a much more frightening image--that of a young man, wearing a blue-and-yellow striped shirt, blue jeans, and a red baseball cap.
It was like staring into some sort of evil mirror.
Ness slowly drew his bat, staring into his own eyes. Those eyes were twisted, blank, with no pupils. A snarl was on those lips, an evil expression. Ness' Nightmare crouched low, screaming, long fangs stretching out of its mouth. Energy flared around its arms and legs. It straightened suddenly, arms cocked back. It's snarls formed words.
"PSI ROCKIN'!"
This was no ordinary technique. Ness crossed his arms in a defensive position, but the blast took him off of the small island, and into the water. He landed with a huge splash, bubbles rising to the surface. He recovered almost immediately, hovering to the left, moving up and down as huge beams of energy slammed into the water and the rock spirals. He moved like lightning, most of the blasts narrowly missing him. He suddenly kicked off a spire, launching towards his Nightmare.
With a huge yell, he slammed his bat towards its head. The Nightmare, however, caught the plummeting wood in it's hand, throwing it--and Ness--away into another spire, splitting it in half. He hit the water again, gasping, breathing in a lungful of liquid. He came up, almost vomiting, coughing up the water with tears in his eyes. Without warning, Ness' Nightmare slammed into him, holding him under the water. He couldn't breathe, couldn't fight back. His blows fell harmlessly on his Nightmare's shoulders, his psychic attacks reflecting off of it, and directly into him.
He was drowning, blackness creeping in at the rims of his vision. His lungs screamed with need of air, but he couldn't move against the force holding him down.
Finally, he lay still. He sat there, hair waving in the water, his mind still active. He began to see different visions--of Paula, Jeff, Poo, Tracy, and his mother. They were laughing, sitting in his living room, and talking pleasantly.
Suddenly, there was fire. Fire licking at his friends, setting them aflame. He saw Poo covered in blood, leaning against the wall. He saw Jeff, his uniform charred and blackened. Paula was unconscious, held in the clutches of a red mist, a mysterious cloud of evil with a fanged, evil face fluctuating across it.
His eyes snapped open. With superhuman strength, he threw the Nightmare from him. He came up swiftly, drawing in a huge breath, hovering about thirty feet above the Sea of Eden.
I will fear no evil, he thought.
Ness threw his hands up, electricity flaring up the length of them. Spittle was flecked across his lips as he yelled.
"PSI ROCKIN' GAMMA!"
A huge blast flared around his hands, but soon concentrated into one wide, spectacular red-and-blue beam of energy. Ness' Nightmare tried to shove aside the blast, but the very touch of it sent its body aflame. It screamed like something possessed. It's hands, it's black hair, its evil eyes, all melting away into nothingness.
Ness landed gracefully in the center of the island, then dropped to one knee, panting heavily. His muscles ached painfully, but he swallowed it heroically, and stood.
"Now what?" he panted. "What do I do now?"
As if to answer that, the Sound Stone appeared in front of him. The song of the Stone began playing in his mind, and a strange, nostalgic, but unrecognizable voice flashed through his head.
"Receive this power," It said softly into his mind. "You have proven yourself worthy, Chosen One. You must now find Giygas and destroy him. The time of the final battle is drawing nigh, Ness, but know this: Giygas has fled from this era, and has gone back two thousand years to the younger planet. You must go back, Ness, and destroy Giygas once and for all!"
A shock ran through his body. His mind flared, his muscles bulged, energy blasting around him as the Sound Stone blessed him with its might.
"It is almost over," he said. "The war against Giygas is almost at an end!"
He melted slowly from Magicant, never to return to that place of memories.