CHAPTER VI: The Pencil Eraser, and Peaceful Rest Valley
The cave to Peaceful Rest Valley was to the east of the Bus Station. Ness gathered his courage, and entered the depths.
The cave was a long tunnel hewn from solid sedimentary rock. He passed through with almost no trouble, though the strange Mobile Sprouts attacked him more than once. Ness marveled at how far Giygas' reach had extended in just a few days.
He exited the cave into the piercing sunlight of Peaceful Rest Valley. There was a girl hunting for mushrooms nearby. He pulled out his map, and asked her which way to Happy-Happy Village. She pointed it out, and he was on his way.
He came to a stop at the bridge leading across the stream. It was torn away in the middle, making it utterly uncrossable.
He looked around, upstream. There was a small land bridge about a hundred yards away. He set off merrily.
Right before he hit the land bridge, he was stopped again, this time by a very large steel statue of a pencil.
Ness growled with annoyance, and gathered his PSI energy.
"PSI Rockin'!" he yelled, throwing his hands forward.
The bright flash flew forward, and struck the pencil. The red energy reflected from the pencil, and headed right back at him. He yelped, and jumped aside. The Rockin' energy roughly decimated a nearby mountain.
He sighed in defeat. Just then, the receiver phone rang. He picked it up.
"Apple Kid?"
"NESS! I'm glad I reached you. Come to Burglin Park right now! I finished the invention!"
Ness screeched to a halt in front of Apple Kid, panting. "I came as fast as I could," he said.
Apple Kid smiled with pride, holding forth a small object that resembled a cellular phone. Ness took it.
"What's this?"
"This," Apple Kid said, trying to build up drama. "Is the Pencil Eraser!"
Ness stared at it. "It doesn't look like an eraser."
The young inventor laughed. "No, no, no...this Pencil Eraser eradicates all pencil-shaped objects within a forty-foot radius. It will definitely come in handy."
"I'll say!" Ness shouted, jumping and clicking his heels together. "Apple Kid, you may have just saved Paula's life!"
And with that, he was off.
"He's a little bit crazy," Apple Kid said to his pet mouse.
There was the pencil again. Without stopping his all-out run, he whipped out the Pencil Eraser, pointed it at the pencil statue, and fired. The thing vanished, and Ness blew by.
"HOLD IT!"
It was the Photographer again.
Ness stopped, and turned. He was standing just a few yards away on a rock in the middle of the stream.
"Say 'Fuzzy Pickles'!"
Ness sighed, flashing his trademark peace sign. "Fuzzy Pickles."
>Click<
"All right," The Photographer said with a satisfied manner. "Thanks!"
And with that he was gone. Ness turned back, and kept going, across the land bridge, and over to the other side.
A small, round disc shot out of the bushes to his side. He ducked as it zinged over his head, then looked up. A Li'l UFO was sitting in mid-air, looking at him with tiny black eyes.
Ness swung his bat at the thing, but it was too fast. The Li'l UFO swerved around behind him, and fired a beam. It struck Ness full in the back.
And he sneezed.
He sneezed again. And again. He couldn't stop sneezing. The sneezes were starting to hurt, and the UFO just hovered there, laughing a high-pitched robot laugh.
Ness brought his index and middle fingers of either hand onto either temple, and closed his eyes, holding in the next sneeze.
"PSI Healing!"
The sneezes stopped. Ness wasted no time. The Li'l UFO had fired another beam. It struck our hero, but he didn't start sneezing again. It did, however, hurt. He flew back, almost into the stream.
Rebounding off a rock, Ness leapt, and struck the UFO full on the top. It screamed a high-pitched robot scream, and blew up. Ness continued his journey.
After about an hour, he came to another bridge, this one in good condition. Ness crossed it bravely to the lip of a basin with a cave nearby. In the basin, there was a small cabin. He decided not to pay any attention to that, and went through the cave into Happy Happy Village.