CHAPTER XXVI: The Trial of Pink Cloud
Dressed in their old traveling clothes, the four prophetic friends stopped in front of the four rabbit statues.
"I remember this," Ness mused. "I saw it through Poo's eyes when he was on his way to Mu!"
Poo nodded. "Hai," He said. "I do remember this now that you mention it!"
Paula readied her frying pan. "I wonder what's in here?" She asked herself. "This place is just leaking with Giygas' influence..."
Jeff growled, loading a charge into his laser. "I say we go in there, kick some butt, and take some names!"
"Right!" They all yelled in unison.
The interior of the cave was surprisingly well lit, and Ness' psychic light ball wasn't needed at all. The source of the light wasn't identifiable, but it was more than enough to see by. Ness took point, walking at the front of the line, baseball bat held at the ready.
"Where's the light coming from?" Jeff whispered sharply.
"I don't know," Poo whispered back. "Looks like there's lightning coming from somewhere, or something..."
Paula silenced them. "SH!" She hissed. "I hear something..."
There was the sound of a flute off in the distance. Ness growled, his knuckles white around his bat. The sound of the flute got closer...closer...closer...
Without warning, a strange creature appeared. It had the head of an old man, but it had a long, whiplike body, and carried a flute in it's mouth. Poo gasped.
"No!" He shouted. "It can't be!"
"What is it?" Ness growled menacingly, battle ready.
"That's what the Dalaamese call a Tangoo," Poo took a martial-arts stance. "It's a legendary monster that can put people to sleep with it's flute music!"
Jeff laughed. "Not today!" He yelled, firing his laser at the Tangoo. The monster's lithe body twisted itself around the laser fire, and it began to play a sweet melody on it's flute. In a flash, the whole cave was filled with Tangoo. Ness steeled himself.
"Good job, Jeff!" he belted sarcastically. "You attracted a whole cave full of 'em!" He dashed at the growing horde, swinging with refined finesse, striking down his targets left and right. Jeff kept firing, his aim better, bringing them down.
Paula swung her frying pan, slapping the Tangoo as they appeared. Poo was flying through the ranks, kicking and punching. Together, the four of them became a circle of defense against the oncoming Tangoo.
Ness growled a warning to his foes, then threw out his hand. "PSI Rockin' Beta!"
The blast cleared a wide swath through the Tangoo, but more kept coming.
"Blast," Poo cried, chopping down a Tangoo, then quickly frying another with PSI Fire. "There are too many!"
Paula screamed as one got to close. A resounding whack from her frying pan floored it instantly.
Ness suddenly had an idea.
"Everybody, cover your eyes!"
"What?" Jeff yelled incredulously. "Our defenses will be..."
"JUST DO IT!"
The other three shoved their eyes into their hands.
"PSI FLASH GAMMA!"
The bright light was so intense, that it actually began to burn the rock walls a little. Ness kept his eyes shielded, grabbed Paula's hand, yelled a few instructions to his friends, and shouldered his way through the blinded, wailing Tangoo.
They ran for about five minutes, until the music from behind them faded and stopped. Ness leaned against the cave wall, panting.
"Damn," he mumbled. "That was close..."
"A little too close," Jeff agreed.
Paula looked up, then pushed Ness so he rolled around.
"Wha...?"
She opened the flap on his backpack, and pulled out the Sound Stone. It was glowing a bright blue, the melody of the Sanctuaries playing in their ears.
"I knew it!" Paula laughed, hugging Ness. "Another Sanctuary!"
"Counting this one, that makes..." Jeff began thinking it through.
"Giant Step, Lilliput Steps, Milky Well, Rainy Circle, Magnet Hill, and...whatever this place is called..."
"It's called Pink Cloud," Poo supplied helpfully. "My Sensei once told me that there was a sacred, musical place that he would go to pray, called Pink Cloud."
"Well," Paula smiled. "Counting Pink Cloud, that's six. Only two more once we get this one!"
"That's assuming that you CAN get this one!"
The four friends looked up, readying their defenses. Two spirits, one yellow, one white, intertwined at the strange tails they had, ascended the tunnel.
"I am Thunder!" the yellow spirit wailed.
"I am Storm!" The white spirit bellowed.
In unison--"And together we are...THUNDER AND STORM!"
Thunder, the thinner of the two ghosts, leered evilly at the four teenagers. "Hm...these are the brats that have been taking out Master Giygas' minions, huh?"
Storm laughed. "I suppose so. What do you say we fry 'em a bit?"
Without warning, a huge wave of electricity ran towards them. Ness tackled his friends, throwing them aside. The electricity left a huge rift in the ground, too deep to see the bottom of it.
Ness ran at the two spirits, bat ready to strike. They threw another wave of electricity, a crashing "Boom-Bang" attack. This hit him on the left side of his body, sending him spinning through the air, straight into the crevice. He bounced a few times off the rocks as he plummeted, and then the world went black. Ness was lulled into unconsciousness by the sounds of the battle above.
He awoke to silence. His face was pressed to the cold stone ground. He could taste blood in his mouth, and he ached everywhere. Placing his hands on the ground, he struggled to rise against the ache in his body.
"Damn," He spat, his right arm moving down, so he was leaning on his elbow. "I couldn't get close to it...how am I supposed to beat it? That electric attack was so powerful, it could easily absorb my Rockin' Beta attack..."
His backpack had fallen open. His possessions--rations, Sound Stone, Receiver Phone--everything was strewn across the rocky floor.
"How?" He asked himself again. "How will I save the others THIS time? I have power, sure, but I'm not strong enough to beat those spirits...if I'm not strong enough to beat them, then how can I possibly beat Giygas? How? How? Ho--..."
His brown eyes had found a small, shiny disk on the ground. Of course, he thought. That secret weapon he had used so long ago...
Picking it up, he crawled towards the wall. "PSI LifeUp Beta...ugh..."
He grabbed onto the side of the wall, heaving himself up. He dug his fingers over and over again into the small holds on the wall, his fingers bleeding.
"Don't worry, guys," He whispered. "I'm coming..."
Poo hit the ground, his mouth bleeding. He was bound in glowing chains, that apparently nullified his psychic powers. Paula strained against her bonds, her thoughts on Ness. Thunder and Storm laughed, pulling Poo to his feet, slapping him around a little more, before turning to Paula.
"Hm...she's pretty hot," Thunder grinned in a sly sort of way. "We could have a lot of fun with her, don't you think, Storm?"
"I'll bet! Let's just try it, shall we?"
"Don't even TRY touching her, you filthy ghosts!"
They turned, eyeing Ness. He looked a bit worse for wear. His shirt had a great tear down the left side of it, and blood had soaked through. He had a bit of blood seeping from his forehead as well.
Thunder and Storm laughed again. "You couldn't beat us before," Storm bawled.
"And you won't do it now!" Thunder yelled. The two spirits threw the electricity at him. Ness rolled to the side, clenching one fist. Thunder and Storm launched the wave again.
"You wanted the guy with the Sound Stone..." Ness said quietly. "YOU GOT HIM!"
He threw his fist out, punching the wave of energy with all his might. With a crackle, the electricity rebounded from his hand, splitting Thunder and Storm into fourths, each part wailing like a banshee.
"And now, you PAY! PSI ROCKIN' BETA!"
The great blast incinerated the two ghosts. Ness broke his friends' chains.
"What did you do?" Jeff asked. "I mean, if you could do that, why didn't you do that before?"
Ness held up his hand. The Franklin Badge, the disk that Paula had given him back in Happy Happy Village, was tied across his knuckles. "This is the Franklin Badge," Ness grinned. "It reflects all electrical attacks. I owe this to a very special person to me." he added, giving Paula a level gaze. She blushed lightly.
"To...to the Melody," She mumbled quietly, but a small smile graced her beautiful face.
Pink Cloud was exactly that--a pink cloud, a solid mass of puffiness that Ness walked across, the Sound Stone clenched in one hand. As he walked, it was as if he was crossing into another world. His clothes and wounds healed, like he walked through a wall of healing. He closed his eyes, a breeze flowing over his face as the Melody of the Sanctuary flowed through every fiber of his being.
Paula, Jeff, and Poo also approached, their wounds healing as well. Jeff placed a hand on Ness' shoulder.
"Good job," He complimented. "Now, it's on to Scaraba."
Paula smiled. "And that man in Toto was willing to give us a ride to Scaraba, for $150 a pop," She said.
Ness quickly did the math in his head. "That's $600," He mumbled. "My dad is going to KILL me when he finds out I drew that much from the ATM account..."
"Which is more important," Poo asked. "Your dad's ATM account, or world safety?"
Ness sighed, then feigned a show of despair. "Is that a trick question?" He asked with a smile.
Poo grinned, and they all laughed at that.
"All right," Jeff said. "All though I'd like to stay here awhile--this place is relaxing--we really have to get to Scaraba, so I suggest we Teleport there now."
Ness nodded, linking arms with his friends. In a flash, they were gone from that holy place.
They slid to a stop in the port town of Toto. The four dropped by a shop to draw the money needed to make the trip, and made their way to the docks. The Captain, who's marriage they had saved by having his wife, Marcie, make the Magic Cakes again, greeted them with open arms.
"My fee still stands," He said after he had thanked them. "One-fifty a person for passing to Scaraba. That's six hundred for all four of 'ya!"
Ness handed over the money, nodding.
"One thing," The Captain mumbled before boarding the ship. "I told you about the Kraken, right? The monster that's been attacking ships on their way to Scaraba, right?"
Ness nodded. "Don't worry about the Kraken," He said. "If it attacks, I'm pretty sure that we'll be able to handle it!"
The Captain stared at them for a moment, then laughed. "All right!" he bellowed. "I like you kids! Your confidence is giving' me confidence! Let's sail, kids!"
Ness gave his friends high-fives, and walked up the plank to the ship.