Pippi walked slowly along the dirt road leading to her house as Ness talked to her about the day's events. "…and then Joey fell on his face. He was okay, though." Mused Ness as he walked down the road to Pippi’s house.

"Really? He wasn’t hurt or anything?" she asked.

"Nah. I was right beside him. He looked bad but I healed him." Said Ness triumphantly. Since his exploits on Mt. Itoi, he would tell Pippi anything, even about his adventure.

After a few minutes the pair came to rest at Pippi’s house, which lay a short distance from Ness’ house. "Hey, Ness, you wanna come over and play later?" asked Pippi.

"Sure! I have to help Mom with the chores first, though." Replied the boy. He then took off running, and waved to Pippi.

At home, Ness was helping his mother as she washed the dishes. She washed while Ness dried. "So, how was school, dear?" she asked.

"Oh, fine. Joey fell down, but he was okay." Said Ness. "The rest of the day was pretty ordinary, though."

"Okay dear." Smiled his mother. "Oh, and by the way, a friend of yours called. I can’t remember his name though. Was it John? Or Jake?" Ness recognized who she spoke of. "Jack?" he asked.

"Why yes! He said he needed to speak to you." Said Ness’ mother. "You can use the phone if you want." Ness dropped the rag he was using to dry the dishes with on the floor, then walked out the kitchen door. "Thanks, Mom!" he said. He picked up the phone, then dialed a few numbers. After a few rings, someone answered the phone. It was a woman. "Hello?" she asked.

"Yeah…is Jack there?" he asked nervously. As a young child, he wasn’t very good over the phone.

"Jack? Wait a sec, I’ll get him. Who asks?"

"Um…Ness."

"All right, Ness, I’ll go get him." There were a few seconds of silence as the woman went for Jack. After a short pause, a burly, deep voice spoke up. "Ness?" it said.

"Yeah, hi Jack. Mom said you called."

"Yes I did." Replied Jack. "I need your help."

"Sure, what is it?"

"After I was knocked out in Mt. Itoi, my gang sorta fell apart. Now, that’s no big deal to me, but one of my former members is planning somethin’— somethin’ bad."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes. I’d really appreciate it if you could help me catch him."

"Why do you need me?" There was a long pause. "Jack?" Ness asked.

"He has the same powers as you." Was the only reply. Ness almost dropped the phone. "This guy has PSI?" he asked.

"Yeah. He’s planning something. I don’t know his real name, but he’s called Mani Mani."

"All right, I’ll go over this weekend." Said Ness boldly.

"Thanks Ness." Replied Jack. Then he hung up.

The next day, at school, Ness and Pippi were playing during recess. While Pippi enjoyed herself as she hung off the monkey bars, Ness sat on a swing thoughtfully. "Hey Ness, come on and play, will ya?" asked Pippi as she jumped off the monkey bars. "You’ve been quiet all day!"

"Huh—wha? Oh, sorry, Pippi, I’m just worried." Replied Ness. Pippi sat down on the swing next to his. "Worried? About what?"

"Oh, nothing…it’s nothing." Said Ness. "Recess is almost over, we’d better go to class."

At class, the teacher, Mrs. Achterhoff, walked up to the board and began writing. A vibrant woman of about twenty-seven, her blond hair cascaded down to her waist as she wrote on the board. When she finished, two words were written on the board: MANI MANI. "Now class," she began. "today we’re going to learn about a very important person."

"But this is math class!" shouted a student from the back of the classroom. Mrs. Achterhoff blushed. "Well, we must learn this anyway." She stated, then handed out a thin book to each of the students. "I want you to read this book every day at 4:30." She ordered. Ness, suspiciously, flipped the book over, trying to find anything significant inside. The pages are blank he thought as he checked the white pages. He shot up his hand. "Mrs. Achterhoff?" he asked.

"Yes, what is it, Ness?" she asked sweetly.

"I’ve heard that Mani Mani is a bad man." He said sheepishly. As soon as he finished, Pippi, who was sitting beside him, shook his arm. "Ness!" she hissed. "Don’t say those things!" But at that moment, Mrs. Achterhoff only smiled. "Oh, Ness, you’re mistaken—Mani Mani is a very good person. Jack must have been wrong when he said that."

The rest of the day was extremely odd. Posters for Mani Mani were posted all around the school, and every teacher seemed brainwashed as they taught of Mani Mani. After school Ness walked Pippi home, as usual. "I have to go," he told her. "there is something bad going on."

Pippi laughed. "Come on, what’s so bad about the school honoring a person?"

"That’s not what bothers me." Ness retorted.

"Well, then what?" pried Pippi.

"Well," Ness said. "when I told Mrs. Achterhoff Mani Mani was bad, she said that Jack must’ve been mistaken when he told me that. But, I never told her about Jack, and she doesn’t know him." Ness stopped as he and Pippi neared her house. "Pippi, I need to ask you something." He told her.

"Sure, what is it?" beamed Pippi.

"Cover for me tomorrow. Say I’m sick or something."

"What? Why?" before her question was answered, Ness teleported away.

What Ness saw when he teleported into Ellay was incredible. The city was completely different. Any and all bill boards had the name ‘Mani Mani’ on them, and many buildings had a sign bearing the same name hanging off of them. More unusual was the fact that a strange statue stood in front of Omnicorp H.Q. It was a golden statue of a man with horns, and he clutched a dagger to his chest. Ness barely had time to contemplate when someone walked up to him. "Yo kid!" he said. "Do you know what time it is?"

Ness fumbled as he looked at his watch. "Um…4:30." The man stood there. "Well?" he asked.

"Well, what?" said Ness nervously.

"Why aren’t you home doing your prayer?"

"What prayer?" said Ness.

"Your Mani prayer of Absolution, that’s what! How could you not know that?" yelled the man. He tried to grab Ness, but Ness jumped away, pulling out his bat in the process. "Oh, so you’re the infamous Ness…" said the man. "Mani Mani warned us about you. He said to kill upon sighting. Prepare yourself!" the man was about to charge when a hand hit the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious. "You okay?" asked a voice. A voice Ness recognized instantly. "Yeah, thanks Jack." He sighed. "I came when I saw what this guy’s doing."

"Yeah, it’s terrible." Said Jack. He went to Ness and they shook hands. "We’ve got to stop this." He turned away as he looked at the statue in front of Omnicorp H.Q. "I think that statue’s got somethin’ on this." Jack mused. "It glows every day at 4:30." Jack pointed at the statue, which Ness noticed gained it’s golden color by glowing. "I know that this is because the people of the world do their prayer of Absolution at this time. The statue draws their power somehow."

"So, what do we do?" asked Ness. Jack turned to answer, but stopped dead as he looked at Ness. "Ness…your backpack." Said Jack. Ness looked and took out the book he received that day at school, which glowed. "What is it?" asked Jack.

"Don’t know…I got it at school today." Ness started to open it. Inside, the usually blank pages showed weird type on them. As Ness read them he froze and his eyes were blank. "Hey Ness. Ness!" screamed Jack, but Ness was paralyzed. Acting on instinct, Jack knocked the book out of his hands, then shook Ness. "Hey, snap out of it!" he commanded.

"Wha—urk…where am I?" asked Ness. He shook his head slowly and looked at his suroundings. "…uh…Jack…what happened?" he asked dazed. Jack picked up the book and put it in his pocket. "Well, at least we know what this book does." He mused. "We’d better wait until nightfall to do anything."

"Why?" asked Ness. Jack turned to look at the statue. "Because no one will see us if we sneak into the sewers at night to look under the statue." He stated. He walked up to the statue. It had stopped glowing and, instead of its golden glow, it was a dull bronze. "Hey Ness, come here." Said Jack as he examined the statue. Ness walked over and looked the statue over. "What is it?" he asked curiously as he inspected the statue. "Well, if it’s not glowing," said Jack. "then that means that the prayer of Absolution only lasts a preset period of time."

"Well, don’t all prayers?" asked Ness. Jack turned to Ness. "Yes, but I think that the one that regulates the prayer time is the statue itself, not the people. The people are being brainwashed."

It was around midnight when Ness and Jack went to the Mani Mani statue. Silently, they had made out a plan: sneak under the statue through the sewers, destroy it, then seek out Mani Mani. The plan’s first stage was in the process of execution, as Jack had pried open the nearest manhole to the statue and climbed down, followed by Ness. "Hey Jack," asked Ness. "what happens if we can’t find Mani Mani in time?" Jack shrugged. "I don’t know. I guess we can’t afford to do that." He said.

After a few minutes of walking through sludge, Jack’s flashlight came to rest on the ceiling of the sewer tunnel. "There." He exclaimed. "The statue should be there. Get ready to bash it, Ness." There was silence. "Ness?" he called, but still no answer. He was going to turn, but before he could, someone hit him in the head and he fell unconscious.

The first thing Ness heard were voices. Lots of them. They were undistinguishable, but they were still there, something which snapped him out of unconsciousness. He adjusted his vision, then tried to move, but found that he was tied in rope on the floor. He quickly cast LifeUp on himself, then looked around.

He was in a large, underground room, at least three stories tall. There were no windows, but the place was amply illuminated by spotlights on the ceiling. There were computers and devices everywhere, one of which printed the books of Mani Mani Ness had come to recognize. Most importantly was the group of people dressed in golden robes that hung around them watchfully. Ness barely had time to see their faces when a pair of hands picked him up and held him. "Look, my people!" shouted a man behind him, obviously the one holding him up. "The traitor and disbeliever is here! We must get rid of him!" he shoved Ness into the group of people, who started to shove him around, but before they had the chance, Ness had completely come to his senses. "4^th-D Slip!" he shouted, then jumped in the doorway created into the 4^th dimension, leaving the monks baffled. Ness wasted no time, and reappeared beside Jack where he used PSI to undo the ropes tied to them. "Jack! Wake up!" Ness hissed as he used a Heal spell on Jack. Jack was quickly revived but still groggy, and before Ness could react he was ambushed by more underlings.

The battle raged on as Ness and a very groggy Jack fought off the monks who were trying to destroy them. While Ness had no way of attacking them with PSI, he was able to Hypnotize them or Paralyze them in order to give him space. Jack, on the other hand, recovered quickly and used his Katana to keep the great majority of the underlings at bay. The battle raged on for a few minutes until Ness was struck with a PK Beam attack. "Ahhh!!" he screamed as he hit the floor hard. Another Beam hit Jack as the underlings dissipated. The only other figure there was a man with black hair and an ornamented blue and gold robe. Jack recognized the figure instantly. "Mani Mani!" he shouted from the floor. "I knew you’d be here!" he yelled.

"Why, Jack, it’s been a long time." Laughed Mani Mani. "You haven’t changed a bit."

"Well, you have, twerp." Said Jack. "Just what are you planning?" Mani Mani walked up to the printer, who had kept on pouring out books, even while unattended. "Oh, Jack, you make it sound as if what I’m doing is bad! What a shame…" he said.

"What do you mean?" shouted Ness. "You brainwashed the city and now you want to rule the world!" he sputtered. To this Mani Mani laughed out loud. "My dear boy, do you know what ‘Absolution’ means?" asked Mani Mani. Ness shook his head. "It means ‘A formal remission of sin’, which is exactly what I’m going to do."

"Oh yeah?" asked Jack. "And how is that?" Mani Mani flipped through one of his book’s blank pages. "Well, after your sorry excuse for a gang broke up, I found out that I have some extraordinary abilities. Abilities sent to me by above."

"PSI." muttered Ness.

"Exactly. I realized my purpose then: I am to rule the Earth. To rid it of its dirty sins and make it a world of peace."

"A world of mindless drones!" yelled Jack.

"A small price to pay for peace." Said Mani Mani. "A very small price." Mani Mani had not noticed that by then, Ness had healed himself completely, and he jumped up like a flash and rushed Mani Mani with his bat. Dazed, Mani Mani reeled, giving Ness time to heal Jack, and soon, both were up and ready to fight. "All right, Mani," said Jack. "we end this NOW." Mani Mani simply scoffed. "You fool! You can’t stop me! After today’s prayer of Absolution, the Mani Mani statue will have enough power to control the whole world! And you only have half an hour until that!!" Mani Mani opened up a portal and disappeared.

"What the…where did he go?" asked Jack. Ness ran up to the place where Mani Mani disappeared and started concentrating. "He opened up a portal to the 4^th dimension. We have to go get him." Ness stated as he finished the spell and the portal appeared. He motioned for Jack to follow and dove into the portal.

The fourth dimension was a bright array of colors and lights that bewildered Jack when he stepped into it. He barely had time to contemplate, though, when he met Mani Mani face to face. "It’s over, Jack." Stated Mani Mani. "I have won. You can’t stop me now." Jack simply drew his Katana. "You think too much of yourself." He snarled. Ness also drew his bat and took a ready stance. "It’s two on one, Mani Mani!" Ness proclaimed. "Give up now and we’ll go easy on you!"

"Oh my! Two on one! How dreadful!" Mani Mani taunted as he launched a PK Thunder attack at Ness. Ness put up a shield and countered by throwing a Paralysis spell. That was also blocked, and the battle got more and more fierce. Eventually, though, Ness and Jack were no match for Mani Mani. But Ness got an idea. He opened a portal to the real world behind Mani Mani, then sent a message to Jack. <Hey Jack> he thought. <Can you knock Mani into that portal?>

<Maybe> thought Jack as he dodged a PK Fire attack. <Rush him on three. Ready? One…two…three!!> The two rushed Mani Mani and knocked him out of the 4^th dimension, in front of the Mani Mani statue. They followed, and soon they bested Mani Mani.

Bloody and bashed, Mani Mani was in no place to give up. "You don’t get it, do you?" he panted as he charged up a PK Beam. "Even if you destroy me, the prayer will take place. The statue will transmit the message. But, having no ruler to look up two, the world will fall into anarchy!!" his PK Beam was now ready, but before he could throw it, Ness charged him and knocked him into the statue. The charged Beam collided with the statue, and explosion was so great that it knocked Ness off his feet.

Ness covered himself from the dust and rubble as he looked at Jack, who did the same thing. Then he realized it. He looked at his watch and gasped. "Jack!" he screamed. "It’s 4:30!! We’re too late!!" Jack nodded and they both sprang up and looked at the statue.

Or at least, where the statue was.

The statue had disappeared, replaced by the normal fountain that was placed in front of Omnicorp H.Q. What was more, the banners and billboards with Mani Mani’s name on them were gone. "What happened?" asked Jack as he looked around. "Simple." Replied Ness. "After we got Mani and his statue, the world returned to normal. His PSI energy overloaded the statue, and they both disappeared." Ness walked over to the fountain and spotted a small version of the Mani Mani statue at the bottom of the pool. "Or, at least, they just fused together." He shot out a hand to grab the statue, but before he could, one of Mani Mani’s underlings grabbed it and ran off. "Great…" Ness scolded. Jack put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax. It won’t do much harm anymore. Can’t tell where it’s gonna end up, though."

The next day, Ness went for Pippi like he usually did, and together they walked to school. "So, how was the adventure yesterday?" asked Pippi as they neared school.

"Not bad. I guess the world’s back. Did I miss anything?"

"Nah. Mrs. Achterhoff bought the ‘I’m sick’ story and let it slide." Said Pippi. They had arrived at school and entered to a welcome surprise: all of Mani Mani’s posters were gone, and the teachers were back to normal. But something still bothered Ness. "Hey, Pippi, you go on ahead, I’ll catch up!" he called as he ran through the halls and skidded to a halt. He ran into the room and found Mrs. Achterhoff in her room. "Mrs. Achterhoff!" he called and ran up to the teacher with a big hug. "Why, Ness, what’s the matter?" said Mrs. Achterhoff happily as she hugged him.

"Nothing," replied Ness. "I’m just…really glad to see you."