CHAPTER XX: Reunited at last...
So the battle raged, Jeff letting loose shots from his Laser, and Ness firing concentrated bursts of PSI Rockin'. Finally, they succeeded in gunning it down.
Ness could almost hear Paula's voice as he ran down the hall, firing at any Security 'Bots that got in the way. At the end of the long hallway, they came to a simple door. Ness didn't bother turning the handle. With a yell, and without even moving, the door blew inward, the sheer force of Ness' newfound rage splintering the heavy door into matchwood. He rushed through the threshold, Jeff hot on his heels.
A small, gangly robot, man shaped, yet barely reaching Ness' knees, tottered around the room. Jeff giggled at the silly-looking Clumsy Robot. It turned towards them, twitching and clanking.
Without warning, a missile flew out of its mouth. It streaked towards them with amazing speed, and they were just barely nicked by the explosion.
The final battle is just ahead, Ness thought. No use on wasting my Psychic Energy on this thing unless I have to!
Ness launched himself at the small thing, and clubbed its metal cranium with a sound THUD! His hands ached from the impact, but the Clumsy Robot seemed hardly to slow down at all. Jeff fired a few Laser blasts at it, but all that succeeded in was bowling it over for a few seconds.
The Clumsy Robot turned towards Ness then, and fired another Mouth Missile. This one came a bit too fast for the young prophetic warrior. He raised his arms in a guarded position just as the missile struck him. The following blast sent a shockwave of dust rolling through the room. When the smoke cleared, Ness was, surprisingly, still standing.
His arms were still raised. His clothes had horizontal tears in them, all over his sleeves, pant legs, and torso. The blast would have instantly killed a normal human, but Ness' hastily raised shield had taken most of the assult.
Jeff looked over at the shattered door as five men rushed into the room, shrouded by the smoke. One of the silhouettes leapt behind the robot. There was a short >CLICK!<, and the thing powered down.
When the smoke cleared, Lucky was sitting behind the robot, laughing.
"What a total LOSER robot!" He laughed. "It was SO easy to stop!"
Ness couldn't believe his eyes. "Lucky?" He whispered in a dumbfounded manner. "Burlap? Jim? Jake? Elwood?"
"The infamous..."
"Yet famous..."
"One of a kind..."
"But at the same time..."
"Five of a kind..."
All together: "THE RUNAWAY FIVE! YEAH!"
There were some swift greetings, and some exchanging of instructions. Ness took a deep breath, and kicked open the double doors at the end of the room.
"Paula...he'll be here soon..."
"I know. Thank you for being so kind to me."
"Think nothing of it, my dear. It was never my intention to harm you, and now you must return to the ones you love."
The door flew open, and Paula turned, everything happening in slow motion.
She saw him.
He looked older, a bit haggard, as if he hadn't slept in the last week-and-a-half since they had been separated. His clothes had hundreds of minuscule tears in them, and his black hair hung out from under his red baseball cap, shrouding his left eye. He clutched his baseball bat in one hand. Despite the wounds covering his body, he was still amazingly handsome to her eyes.
He saw her.
She looked as though she had been treated well. Her hair had been combed to golden perfection, her skin that same light tan that seemed to tug at his eyes. Her deep blue eyes were sparkling with hope as he readied himself for battle. She rushed towards him, arms outstretched.
They shared one long embrace, both of them sobbing uncontrollably. All of the worry from the time that she had been kidnapped seemed to drain from him. His arms, once only conditioned to the rigors of baseball, now strengthened with the rigors of travel and battle, enfolded around her.
Finally, Ness stepped away, eyeing the aged, gray Monotoli.
"All right," he said, his bat lifting into an attack position. "Now--you go down!"
He launched himself across the room--but her never quite made it.
Paula caught his arm as he started running.
"What are you doing?" Jeff gasped.
"Please, stop, Ness!" Paula cried, holding his arm. "Don't hurt him!"
A thousand different questions went careening through the mind of the young hero.
"Why, Paula?" he asked, not taking his eyes from the object of his hatred, which was quaking with fear at the other end of the room. "He kidnapped you...I was so worried..."
"It's all right," She whispered to him. "Monotoli, please tell him your story..."
"So," Jeff was saying. "You were also a victim of Moonside's illusions, huh?"
"Yes," Monotoli said quietly. There was no doubt about it. This was the man they had seen praying to the Mani Mani Statue. "I received strange visions while I was in the Illusion World. Given by the hand of someone...no...someTHING named Giygas."
Ness nearly fell off the couch he was sitting on. "Did you say Giygas?!" he stuttered.
"Yes," Monotoli nodded. "Strange writings appeared to me, saying things like 'stop Ness from going to Summers, and do so by your own hand', and 'make sure they know nothing of the Pyramid in Scaraba'. It was a little scary watching the writing appear..."
Paula was on her feet suddenly. "We have to go to Summers, then!" She cried. "If Giygas doesn't want us there, then we should go!"
Monotoli nodded, crossing the room, and pushing on a bear statue next to the door. A panel slid away from the opposite wall, with a hallway leading up.
"Take this to my Heli-Pad. You can take the helicopter to Summers. Good luck."
Ness nodded, turning towards the hidden hall. "Thank you, Monotoli..."
They walked down the hallway until they reached a door. Ness pushed it open, revealing a Heli-Pad with a yellow helicopter on it. He was about to open the door, when the blades began whirling.
The helicopter lifted into the air. The window rolled down, and a very pudgy, familiar face slopped out.
"POKEY!" Ness raged. "What are you doing?!"
Pokey cackled, his fat jugular bouncing like a ball. "Monotoli has outlived his usefulness," He whined. "Now, I'll take this helicopter to find more opportunities! I'm climbing the ladder, Pig's Butt!"
The 'copter took off into the sky. Ness watched it for about five seconds, his rage boiling in him. Without warning, he thrust his hand out.
"PSI ROCKIN' BETA!"
The blue-red energy flew from his palm, rocketing into the air like a fireworks display. The edge of the blast caught the rear blades of the helicopter. The yellow 'copter wobbled horribly as it flew off into the southern horizon--towards Summers.
"You missed," Jeff said, a little disappointed.
"No I didn't," Ness smiled, a smug sparkle in his eyes. "I hit exactly where I wanted to."
"Wha...?"
"Jeff," The young boy explained quietly. "If I had hit the helicopter with any more energy than I did, the whole thing would have exploded, killing Pokey. I don't want to go out of my way to kill anybody, but he won't be getting too far in a damaged 'copter. He's always been one step ahead, and by damaging his vehicle, I've effectively cut off one foot!" He laughed.
Paula and Jeff laughed along with him.
"Wait..." Paula mumbled after a minute. "How do we get to Summers now? I mean, it's all the way across the ocean, and even YOU don't have enough money to buy tickets to a resort town, Ness."
Jeff leaned against the door to the Heli-Pad. "If only we had some kind of flying device..."
Paula suddenly cried out, holding her head in pain. Ness rushed to her, catching her before she fell.
"Paula," he asked, concerned. "What is it?"
"I...don't know..." She stammered. "But...I have this feeling that...the answer is in Threed. Yes...we have to go back to Threed..."
Ness steadied her, looking down at the Runaway Five's van, the Hunk'o'Junk, down in the lot. "I gained a new Teleport skill," He said. "But, for old times sake, let's see if the 'Five can give us a ride."
"O'course we will!" Was Elwood's answer when they asked to bum a ride. "We're heading' back to pick up some equipment anyway...might as well have you little nippers along for the ride!"
Now, this was Jeff's first time in the Hunk'o'Junk, and the loud music took a bit of getting used to. After awhile, though, he was clapping and singing with all the rest.
They stopped, camping out in the desert that night. Ness lay awake, the sand forming a nice cushion under his sleeping bag. His thoughts slowly carried him off into a deep, wonderful sleep, dreaming--over and over--of Paula's rescue, and their reunion with her.
When he woke the next morning, rubbing his eyes as he struggled to greet a new day, he faced his next challenges as a fourteen-year-old.