CHAPTER XIII: Master Belch's Base
"HEY! YOU! SAY THE PASSWORD!"
Ness and his companions stood in a small alcove behind the waterfall. A small speaker had just bleeped off.
"Stand completely still," Ness whispered.
They stood there for three minutes straight. After those three minutes, the speaker spoke again.
"ALL RIGHT--YOU MAY ENTER."
They rushed through the door, converged on the Slimy Little Pile manning the speaker, and proceeded to pound the living daylights out of it.
Belch's Base was a huge mechanical factory. A strange, honey-like tang hung on the very edge of the party's nostrils.
They stole quietly through the factory, attacking when they were beset upon, and defending when they were attacked. Overall, they were unnoticed.
Then, the worst event in their journey happened. They were attacked bay a swarm of No Good Flies. Ness parried and slashed with his bat, downing them easily, but there were just to many. They attacked mercilessly, driving them back against a pit, from which what was obviously Fly Honey was wheeled up. Ness growled finally, and threw his hands out after setting his bat in the starched ring on his backpack.
"PSI ROCKIN'!" He cried, his normally boyish tenor blasting into a manly baritone. The energy discharged was enormous. Ness was thrown back over the pit. He caught himself on a bar, but a Slimy Little Pile squirmed over, and slapped his hands. Ness plummeted into the depths.
"PAULAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed, falling. The scream was cut of suddenly.
"NESS!" She cried, uselessly throwing her arm over the side.
Jeff grabbed the 'Pile. "What's down that pit, you jerk?" He roared. "What the hell is down that pit?!"
The Slimy Little Pile grinned an infuriating grin. "A giant garbage disposal!"
Jeff roared again, and hurled the pile over the edge. It spiraled into the darkness. The young boy looked over at Paula.
She was enveloped in a sheer red aura. Her eyes were completely white, and her mouth was in a snarl of hate.
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT, BELCH!" She wailed. "I'M GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN!" She tore down the hallway, her steps powered by rage and despair over Ness' demise. She was an unstoppable force.
"PSI FIRE BETA! PSI FREEZE BETA! PSI THUNDER! TAKE THAT!" The drawn out "cong" of her Thick Fry Pan striking foes was routine as Jeff struggled to keep up.
Master Belch, a huge, seething mass of blue slime with a large mouth, tusks, and bugging eyes, greeted them with authority. "Infidels!" he stormed. "How dare you invade my Base?"
"PSI FIRE BETA!" Paula screamed, her voice hoarse. Belch slimed out of the way, easily.
"Fool!" he belched. "You cannot harm me!"
Jeff let loose several dozen shots from his Magnum Air Gun. Despite his bulk, Master Belch was the fastest thing the two had ever seen. He made no effort to attack, but laughed horribly.
A voice rang from above.
It wasn't even remotely understandable in it's volume. The echo revealed the words.
"PSI ROCKIN' BETA!"
If this, and the latter Rockin' blast were compared, Beta made Alpha look like a firecracker. Belch received major burns for his ego.
A scratched and bloody Ness landed in front of his startled friends. He looked like he had been run over by a car, but he stood as tall as he could, his face a look of weary determination.
"I'm Ness!" He announced to the large puke pile. "And you are going DOWN!"
Belch laughed and winced at the same time. "So, you are the little punk that Giygas warned me about. Well, you won't beat me!"
Ness dashed forward, clubbing at the large figure with his Minor League Bat. Master Belch, however, despite his burns, was as quick as ever. Ness tried, and tried again to hit the speedy pile, but in vain.
He leapt back to join his friends. "We have to take him down somehow," he said. "Or Threed will never be rid of the Zombies."
"But didn't we get rid of the Zombies?" Asked Jeff.
Belch laughed hugely, followed by a universal burp. "I'll just send more Zombies! And more! And more! Until Threed is nothing but a wasteland, with the people drowning in their own puke! Hyaaa! Suffer, Spanky!"
Remembrance flashed through Ness' head. "Jeff! The Fly Honey!"
Jeff grinned, pulled out the bottle, and tossed it. The bottle broke, and the golden honey oozed onto the floor. Belch eyed the bottle for a moment, then laughed, not quite as haughtily as before.
"You think I can be...seduced...by a jar...of," His eyes drifted over to the broken bottle. "Sweet...delicious...golden...velvety...silky...sugary...FLY HONEEEEEEY!"
Master Belch hurled himself at the bottle, rapidly licking it off the floor. Ness grinned, raising his hand. Paula raised her hand as well, but was definitely not smiling. Jeff readied a Bottle Rocket, not quite as powerful as the one he used on the Boogey Tent.
"All together, now!" Ness cried. "PSI ROCKIN' BETA!"
"PSI THUNDER BETA!"
"CHEW ON THIS, PUKEHEAD!"
Blue-red-yellow energy and a Bottle Rocket sped towards the now-incapacitated Master Belch. The explosion was huge. Ness flew back, rolling across the floor like a rag doll. Paula, tears streaking in her eyes, dove after him. Jeff was next, bouncing like a child's ball.
Ness coughed, and stood. All that remained of Master Belch was a few spots of puke. Ness turned to his friends with a tired smile.
"Well," He said. "I'm back."
Jeff pushed his glasses up on his nose with a short smile. Paula threw her arms around his neck with a triumphant wail.
"Oh, Ness, I was so worried," She cried. "I thought that you were...were..."
"Dead?" Ness finished. Instead of responding, she pulled herself up, and pressed her lips to his in a long kiss.
Ness' eyes bugged out of his head, and he slowly began to blush.
"Ahem!" Jeff said, then laughed. "I don't mean to break up precious moments here, but shouldn't we be giving some thought on how to get out of here?"
"Um...right," Paula mumbled with an embarrassed look.
Ness winced, and held his arm. "I hope that the Mr. Saturn are really hospitable, because I could use two or three days of rest."
"Speaking of Mr. Saturn," Paula said, looking around. "Didn't Belch have some captive Mr. Saturn?"
They retraced their steps, and found some Mr. Saturn hooked up to shackles, processing Fly Honey. Paula froze the locks off with a short PSI Freeze blast. The small head-creatures bounded about happily.
"Free, feels good, DOING!" One said.
The Mr. Saturn led Ness, Paula, and Jeff back to Saturn Valley, where they were met with the greatest of affection. The Mr. Saturn gave them some gifts, like a Saturn Coin, which Ness hung around his neck for added protection, and a Cup of Lifenoodles, which had the power to restore consciousness to a downed comrade.
After the celebration, the trio went back to the hotel. No matter what, the Mr. Saturn running the hotel had always given travelers free lodgings.
Ness sat in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Suddenly, he felt a wavering in the back of his mind. He sat up in bed, much in the same fashion as he had so many weeks ago back in Onett. The surrounding room began to blur and swim. He heard a familiar buzzing noise.
"Buzz Buzz," He said as the room locked into a large, grassy meadow. The Bee Protector hovered in front of him.
"It has been a while, Ness." Buzz Buzz' soul spoke. "You have truly done well so far."
Ness was somehow on his feet. "Where are we?"
"The Spirit World," The bee's spirit said. "I was able to project myself here to guide you."
The young boy sat on a tuft of grass. "Alrighty," He said. "Go ahead."
"Many more travels await you, young Ness," Buzz Buzz said. "And they will be more difficult than you will ever imagine. You have already collected two of the Sanctuary Melodies. Gather the rest to unlock your Melody. When this happens, you must cleanse yourself of all doubt and fear, and you will face the greatest of enemies--yourself."
"Myself?"
"But that is far in the future, my friend. You have help now, friends that would fight to the end to see the cause through. Jeff came from a far-away land to help you, and Paula, who is steadfast, kind, and even pretty, is always by your side. Ness, my friend, you must now return to Threed, and head east, to the Dusty Dunes Desert, and on to Fourside. Your destiny lies there."
The Sound Stone's ring enveloped them. "Goodbye, Ness," Buzz Buzz sighed. "Goodbye..."
"Buzz Buzz! Wait!"
But he was gone. The constant ring of the Sound Stone was his only company.
"I know," He said in the vaults of his mind. "I know where to go."