Unable to finish his prey off, Cyan returned to Harsemhin.
"You certainly look like you had fun," commented Harsemhin as Cyan approached. "Uh, what are you going to do?" he asked as Cyan drew his sword.
"I'll deal with you later. For now we're going back to tracking him."
Cyan slashed the pole and Harsemhin fell with it, but he didn't hit the ground as Cyan lifted off before he could hit.

"Mmm..." Siris groaned. He blinked a few times, and weakly sat up. In his mindset, he felt that he had returned to normal. He looked around frantically.
"Have I hurt anybody?!" he shouted, beginning to panic. There were so many people around... Siris must have done something while in his berserk state. His eyes caught the demolished building, from which he could feel residual magic energy; his own. Continuing to scan the area, he saw TsuramiSea lying on the ground weakly. That didn't bother him too much; after all, he didn't know Tsurami at all. Turning around completely, Siris saw what concerned him the most: Luna.
"Oh man," he groaned. "Please tell me I didn't do that... please..." He tried weakly to stand, but he was unable. He reached into his bag, and pulled out a small vial, nearly empty. He took a drop from the healing liquid in the vial, and waited a few seconds before being able to weakly stand. He made sure that there was some liquid left in the vial, then walked slowly to where Luna was lying on the ground.
The others were staring in awe. It was unknown to Siris at this point, but he had retained his transformation through the blast. His aura had died down, but his hair was still green, standing on end. And he was no longer berserk.
Siris kneeled down next to Luna, opened her mouth, and dropped into it the last few drops from his vial. He waited for the healing to take effect...

As the battle raged on between Ness and Cyan, a figure teleported behind Cyan who stopped to look behind him.
"Who are you?" Cyan growled.
The figure, Rockwell, shoved Cyan out of the way and gave an envelope to Ness who gave him a curious look.
"I'm done. Now... I'll take my revenge out on Siris." Rockwell snarled.
Cyan turned, and said, "Leave. You're disrupting the battle."
Rockwell glared at him with hatred and teleported elsewhere.

The evil consciousness lurched. Tsurami knew that something big had happened, but he couldn't imagine what. Whatever it was, though, it in combination with his retaliation of positive energy had weakened the dark force greatly.
TsuramiSea focused another Trick. Six balls of pastel-colored light grew inside of his psyche. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Fruits Candy! The balls all expanded and the dark force began to fade into a less omnipresent state.
No! Master Mani Mani let me have control of this body! I can't lose it now!
Mani Mani shouldn't screw around with people's emotional settings, replied the real Tsurami. He knew that the dark force was weak enough now for him to regain control of his body and be balanced again, and he didn't even need a strong Trick to do so. Now you be a good little dark side and only come when I need you! TsuramiSea sang sweetly. He focused his energy and released a quick pulse of pink light into the center of the darkness. Cutey Ball!
With a final cry, TsuramiSea's evil consciousness dissipated to a lesser magnitude and receded to another corner of his being.
TsuramiSea felt incredible pride in having won the day over his perversely strengthened dark side, but he didn't have much time to think about it. Suddenly, his senses rushed back to him. The sudden rush of information from the physical plane overwhelmed him, and he blacked out.

TsuramiSea closed his eyes and fell limp from where he had been lying. "He fainted..." mumbled Matt. Matt and Kyle went over to tend to him. Under their supervision, Tsurami's eyes pulled open after a few minutes.
"I.. made it...... Matt, Kyle, please tell me what happened out here..."
"That evil presence was causing you to attack the others that we were looking for. I'm okay, I beat my evil side and returned to normal."
"Cyan's not here. We don't know why he's not here with the others... But there's a guy with long hair, some girl, and another girl and guy."
Siris and Luna. I wonder who the others are? thought Tsurami to himself.
TsuramiSea slowly stood up. Siris noticed that he rose, but didn't turn to look as he kept his gaze fixed on Luna.
Tsurami turned to Matt and Kyle and addressed them. "Well, I was hoping to find Cyan.... of course, only Siris and Luna are here now. But I think I know what's going on.... Mani Mani is back and I think that Ness is after him."
"Mani Mani?" said Kyle, knowing that he had heard the name recently.
The boy with the glasses nodded. "It's an evil spirit that Ness fought once. However, it must have gotten loose. It used to be in the storeroom of the café...."
Hearing this, Matt and Kyle began to make connections.
"So Mani Mani is our enemy?" remarked Matt. "But how are we going to stop him? He seems really powerful."
"Mani Mani creates illusions. We have to try to see through them, I guess. But since I don't think I can get any help at the moment, and I know Ness must be looking for him, I'm going back to trying to find Ness. Hopefully those UFOs won't attack me again. Will you guys be staying with them?" He indicated the others with a wave of his hand.
Matt and Kyle looked at each other. "Well... we did want to discuss what's going on with them. We get the feeling that they must know what's going on. But we'll tell them what we've found."
"That sounds good," said Kyle, nodding. "So you're leaving us?" This was directed to Tsurami.
"For now.... but maybe I'll see you again. Goodbye for now, and good luck."
"Goodbye. And good luck finding Ness," said Matt.
TsuramiSea waved to the two as he walked away. Cirra and Dan fixed their eyes on him, somewhat apprehensively. TsuramiSea noticed, just shook his head at them sadly, and then began to cast his Peek spell to find Ness's location.

Ness tore open the envelope curiously. What the heck is this?! he worried.

NESS:
I WASN'T REALLY PREPARED FOR YOU YET, SO I MISLEAD YOU. I HAVE SOME MORE BUSINESS TO TAKE CARE OF FIRST. REST ASSURED I WILL SEND FOR YOU WHEN THE TIME COMES. I ALREADY KNOW WHAT THE OUTCOME OF THIS BATTLE WILL BE. I AM IN FOURSIDE, BUT YOU'LL NEVER FIND ME, SO JUST WAIT UNTIL I AM READY.
I AM RAPIDLY INCREASING MY POWER, SO THIS SHOULD BE VERY INTERESTING. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN. MANI MANI

"The time is coming soon."
Nath, Nual, Eon, and Nayc all shuddered. Something was about to happen. Not even they knew their master's true goal. But they had absolute faith in Mani Mani, who would do as he saw fit to make the future go in the best possible way.
"....... WHAT! Both boys broke away! I've only Rockwell left now!" Mani Mani obliterated a large desk that was currently in the room. The UFOs whirred loudly, and jittered.
"No matter. The time is soon coming when I will have the sole authority to decide whether or not any individual gets what they desire, or whether they suffer their worst nightmare. Soon I will be the only one to control the destinies of others." A singular blackness filled the room. "You all.... may rest until I summon you again," muttered Mani Mani. The UFOs all fled the room, afraid that their master's wrath would erupt at any moment.

Meanwhile, Siris was waiting for Luna to recover from whatever that he must have done to her... then it happened. A foot was placed violently on his back, causing him to fall down to the ground with a thud. Rockwell chuckled and said, "Prepare to meet your demise, Siris."
Siris got up from the ground and faced Rockwell, "You again?"
"Don't underestimate me, like you did last time." Rockwell growled as he whipped out his Sword of Shadows.

"WHA?!?" exclaimed a surprised Joe. "I must have nodded of...Where am I?"
Joe looked around himself.
"I must be waiting for a bus."
As he looked further into the distance he saw a bus going away from him. He got up from the bench he was at, and started running for the bus. After he ran for a block or two, the bus was too far away. As he focused straight ahead of him, he saw the man whose flowers he picked.
"Ah....these flowers...ah...gonna...*sniff*...make me....sneeze..." Joe attempted to say.
The man picked up his gun and pointed it to Joe.
Joe started to jitter because of the impending sneeze.

The man aimed the gun.
Joe sneezed and pointed the rod outwards.
The man shot the gun.
"AH CHOOOOO!"
The rod started shaking forcefully, glowed, and then Joe and the rod disappeared a millisecond before the bullet would have hit him.

"Man, I feel another sneeze coming on..."
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING SITTING ON MY BACK????" screamed Cyan.
"Huh? Where....ah....am.....ah...I?"
"Oh, bother..." replied Harsemhin.
Cyan rolled over letting Joe fall to his death.
"What a moron."
Joe fell about 99 feet until he sneezed.
"AH CHOO!" he shrieked 1 inch off the ground.
He instantly vanished.

"...urgent news I would like to address..."
Joe collapsed on top of Skulryk.
"Ow," they groaned in unison.
"Hey Skul."
"....hi"
Joe got up, dusted himself off, and helped Skulryk up.
"Hey guys. I was in like....3 different places. Neat stuff."
"That looks like Gordy's camera, Joe. ARE YOU WITH GORDY????"
"Huh? Oh this..." he took the camera off his neck and handed it to Skulryk. "Some guy was taking pictures of me carrying a dead girl home. I thou..."
"Did they shoot her?" interrupted RG.
"No. As I was saying, I thou.."
"You sure?"

"Yes. I thou..."
"How'd she die?"
Mike and Skulryk chuckled.
"Will you..." Joe pointed the rod to RG, "Just shut up!"
RG's mouth disappeared.
Mike's mouth dropped.
Skulryk took some pictures.
Joe's mouth dropped.
RG ran around in circles.
"But why didn't it bake me an apple pie?....Anyways, I thought maybe you would like some photos of me. Thought maybe you needed some stories."
Skulryk , caught up in taking pictures of the frantic RG, was no longer paying attention to Joe.
"So, Mike....What you been up to?"
"Stuff."

Harsemhin struggled angrily against the noose binding him.
How can I escape him? He's too manic now... it's too dangerous! he thought.
"Why are you so quiet all of a sudden?" Cyan inquired.
"N... no reason!" Harsemhin stammered hurriedly.
Too close! Harsemhin added. I've got one chance!
"Sagitta Halt!" he called out, freezing Cyan.
Harsemhin wiped sweat from his brow.
"Scorpius Blade!" he cried, slicing the noose.

He alit smartly on a nearby tenement, and headed downstairs.
"Hopefully I'll be able to escape him before long..."

Cyan shook out of his Halt.
"Where'd he go?" he demanded, his anger rising.
He espied the area around him.
"He can't have gone far!"
Releasing a small fraction of his rage, Cyan stoppped and returned to conscious, coherent thought. I can retrieve Anthadd or continue my primary search... If that bloody dragon teleported away he must be kilometers from here. I'll find Anthadd first he concluded, pulling out his tracker and mini-comp.
Cyan connected the two together. "Terminal. Advanced tracking. Range: Thought waves. Class: Stellar and Sugemo. Frequency: Anthadd."
"Now beginning primary scan," it responded.
While it scanned, Cyan concentrated for a moment. This is Anthadd ... if I concentrate I might be able to find him ... He paused, then looked around him.
"Terminal. Status."
"Scanning ..."
"A hunch is better than nothing ..." Cyan decided. Pausing before leaving, he flexed and rotated his left arm. He'd parried a blow from Ness with it earlier and injured it severely, avoiding a break only because of the black gauntlets he currently wore. Finding it moved easily, he set off to locate Anthadd again, hoping his hunch was a good one.

"Hmmm. Cyan wasn't able to defeat Ness. In his current form he should be powerful enough to defeat Ness, but he'll have to find Ness again, first. Not having direct control over him is a problem, but easily dealt with. The problem is who do I use to get Cyan directed back onto Ness' path. Or would using an illusion of that dragon be the best solution again? I must remember to thank him for providing a past so easy to use to control him," laughed Mani Mani.

"Rockwell," Siris said calmly. "Why did you decide to track me down, of all people?"
"You know perfectly well why," Rockwell said simply. "Fight me, or I'll have to kill you now."
"I don't want to fight," Siris stated.
At this, Rockwell quickly swung his sword to bring it down upon Siris. As the sword came down, Siris showed no signs of moving. Just as the Sword of Shadows was about to slice Siris's shoulder, he quickly, almost invisibly dodged to the left and grabbed the blade in his right hand.
"What?!" Rockwell shouted. "Impossible!" He then composed himself, and said, "And how come your hair is green?"
Siris reached back to pull on his hair, but realized it was not hanging down to his shoulders. Instead, all of it was still above his head.
"Hey, neat," Siris exclaimed.
"Argh! Whatever," Rockwell said impatiently. "It doesn't matter. I'm going to kill you anyway."
"I doubt that," Siris returned.
Rockwell lifted his blade once more, but a sudden loud voice interrupted him.
"Curses! Why haven't I been able to find him?!"
Rockwell and Siris turned their heads, as did everyone around them. Around a tall building had come a person both Siris and Rockwell found familiar: Cyan.
Cyan looked toward Rockwell and said to himself, "Is that idiot going after Siris again? I still owe him from last time, too..."

Kyle stood there, watching Rockwell. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He remembered Rockwell very clearly and wanted to pay him back. But Kyle wasn't about to be an idiot and try to take him by himself and interrupt his little quarrel with Siris.
Then Kyle saw Cyan. Kyle still wasn't sure about what his motives were, so he decided to wait until Cyan did something before he moved.

RG COUGHED very loudly. His mouth opened back up, and he began telling Joe how stupid that just was.
"So when is thing going to be put on the air?" RG asked.

Siris realised Cyan was there and knew he disliked Rockwell just as much as he did. While Rockwell looked behind at Cyan, Siris made a nearly unnoticible nod of his head. Cyan caught this and flew higher into the air, above the two already fighting.
"Why do you keep going after him, Rockwell?" Cyan called from above.
"Because he stole my swords!" Rockwell shouted back.
Cyan finished moving into position above Rockwell and Siris and made another almost imperceptible nod. Kyle stood in place, as yet unsure of what Cyan was up to.
"Seismic Toss!" shouted Siris as he suddenly unleashed his attack, knocking Rockwell into the air as he paid attention to Cyan.
"Dark Cross!" called Cyan as dark energy collected in his arm and extended his gauntlet to cover his fist as he swung at Rockwell. Connecting with a thud, Cyan knocked Rockwell to a roofttop not too far away.
Before the others could react, Siris left the ground and joined Cyan as they went after Rockwell again.
"I thought Cyan was on Rockwell's side?" asked Kyle.
"Don't ask me. Should we go after them?" suggested Matt.
"How? None of us are fliers," stated Cirra.

Back on the rooftops, Rockwell had recovered and was now fighting against Siris and Cyan with slightly less disadvantage. He'd drawn the Sword of Shadows and was fending off their attacks with that.
"Fire Fist!" called Cyan as he released a fire attack. Rockwell dodged it and paried an attack from Siris.
Rockwell then tried attacking Cyan and connected, but Cyan moved his arm so the attack caught metal not flesh. The force of Rockwell's attack was enough to all but break Cyan's arm, however. Siris took this oppurtunity to take another swing, it too connected.
Outpowered by the combination of both Siris' and Cyan's changed and more powerful selves, Rockwell looked for an out instead of fighting further. Not wanting to offer said opening to Rockwell, Cyan and Siris attacked simultaneously.
"Swarm Flame!" called Cyan.
"Crag press!" added Siris.
Rockwell was hit full on by both attacks, sent through a door and down the stairs behind it.
Both somewhat injured from the battle, Siris and Cyan turned to face each other. Before either said anything, Cyan's terminal spoke. "Target located."
"Ah! Finally!" shouted Cyan. "I'll get you yet!"
"Get who?" asked Siris. "We just beat Rockwell."
Siris got no response, Cyan just took to the air and started flying off again.

RG kicked Joe in the shins.
"Ow...."
RG pointed to his mouth and kicked again.
"Fine! I'll try to undo it..."
Joe fiddled around with the rod a bit.
"I command you to grow a mouth."
Nothing happened.
"Please grow a mouth."
Again, nothing happened.
"Some help here, guys? How come it responded to me before? How come it responded to 'ah choo'..."
Joe suddenly appeared behind Skulryk.
"Obviously, it responds to certain words," commented Skulryk.
"You didn't really give a command when RG's mouth shut. You just...I don't know...you said it in a normal phrase. Like a question," added Mike.
RG punched Joe in the shoulder.
"What do you want from me? You know I can't open your mouth."
RG's mouth appeared.
"YOU MORON! I OUGHT TO KILL YOU, YOU...heh...I guess I can talk now. Don't do it again, punk, or I'll call my gangstas over here."
"Right."
A ball of energy went past Skulryk's head almost severely hurting him.
"Holy portable phones! What's going on over there?" asked Skulryk.
"I think a battle's going on. I might head over there and show them some true Macho Hippie Aerosmith Roller-Coaster Gangsta Fighting Powa!"
"Knock yourself out, man. I don't think I could make much of a difference over there. I've got no real fighting skills. I might fool around with my roddish rod."
"Neat," said Mike. "Make me something."
"Ok...Watch this."
Joe frowned and groaned, "I never get apple pies. Why not?"
A freshly-baked apple pie showed up in Joe's hands.
"Here you go. I even got pot holders, too. Cool."
"While you guys are enjoying your pie, I might go follow RG and check out the scene," commented Skulryk.
With that, he picked up his tripod and carried it out down the road.
"Thif ith gud pah," Joe mumbled with apple pie in his mouth.
"Yeah. Good pie," agreed Mike even though he hadn't tried any.
"That rod seems helpful, but it looks like only Joe can use it. I guess I'll have to take him wherever I go. Bummer."
Mike cut into the pie and brought the fork towards his mouth until he stopped.
"When did we get forks?"
Joe shrugged.
"Riiiight."
Mike put the fork down and stood around.

Mani Mani frowned. "It's so difficult to get Cyan to do as I want. If only I could take full control.... but I don't think that I can. If I could get him to stop going off on tangents, then this would go a lot quicker." Mani Mani felt through the city of Fourside for Ness Lee. "Now, perhaps I could stall Ness again... then Cyan could find him more easily."

A figure ran towards uptown, with a holographic window fixed in front of him. TsuramiSea had created it using the Peek spell, and was using it to home in on Ness, which the window showed in a familiar area of town.
As Tsurami ran to his destination, he meditated and felt his remaining power. His eyes widened. "Oh great.... I've been using WAY too much magic. I barely have any MP left. If this keeps up, I'll have to rely on Tricks, and that could get ugly." He took off his backpack and searched through it. "Hmm, come on, c'm'on...." He pulled out two small vials. "Let's see -" he began, and after observing the vials, sighed. "Great, I only have two elixers left." He paused speaking to consider his plans. "Well, I'll use one now, and the other in a really bad situation." Tsurami opened one vial and drank the contents. His body relaxed, and he felt fresh energy fill his being. Then he opened his eyes and frowned. "Now I've just got to watch my magic consumption. Maybe I should use my mallet more." He continued to run through the streets of Fourside, closing in on his friend's location.

Ness was idling around Fourside, waiting for Mani Mani to do something. In one of his usual reflective moods, Ness was considering the chaotic events that had conspired. Many of his friends had been killed, some nut was attacking him, and Mani Mani was on the loose. Mani Mani had to have been Ness's most hated enemy from his whole adventure. Wrongness seemed to drift off of it whenever he had been near it. When he had first seen it in Lier X. Agerate's tunnel, it made him feel.... what was a good word... piqued. Something whispered inside of him.
The boy circled around a lamppost and meandered around. In his confusion, he almost failed to notice someone nearing him after several minutes of walking around. It was a familiar teenage boy, older than him, wearing glasses, that Ness had not seen for awhile.
"Ness, do you know where Mani Mani is?!" cried the boy.
Ness stiffened. "TsuramiSea..... how do you know Mani Mani is alive?"
"I saw you run out of your house and asked your mom where you went. Then I followed you here, trying to find you. But various things happened - and I found out that Mani Mani is revived. You came here because of the things it did, right?" TsuramiSea swallowed and waited for Ness's response.
Ness probed Tsurami. No, it wasn't an illusion. But still, it might not be good for TsuramiSea to get involved. He could fight, but it wasn't a special skill of his. "Yes, I have. Will you give me details on how you found out?"
The older boy told the story of finding out about Paula's death, meeting the people in front of the café, getting information from the UFOs and escaping from them, meeting more people and hearing their stories of the café and Rockwell, and the various possessions that had taken place (including his own).
Ness then told Tsurami how he had heard of the deaths of Paula, Jeff, and Dr. Andonuts; and the visions he had had. Then he described how he tracked Mani Mani, escaped the temporary Moonside, the battle with Cyan, and his current situation.
"An armored guy with a sword?" said TsuramiSea, appearing disturbed at the description of the atttacker. "That sounds like Cyan, someone I know... but why would he attack you?"
"You got me," said Ness simply. "But Tsurami, are you sure you want to fight? I know how you are about fighting."
"He does have to be stopped, right? If you think there's something small I can do, I'll do that instead."
The younger boy adjusted his cap. "Well." He cleared his throat. "For now, stay with me. Although I don't know if Mani Mani wants you to come."
"I think he wants to kill me, but I'm sure he'll just get flunkies to do that."
"I guess all we can do is wait." So the two boys continued to linger as they waited for something to happen.

Harsemhin peered timidly outside of the building.
"Phew... he's gone," he muttered, and wandered away.

Harsemhin suddenly stopped.
"I wrote of something else," he mused. "But WHAT?"
Rainbow... Rainbow... Rainbow...
He peered in the distance.
"There you are!" a voice angrily cried.
"Oh great... what was that power again?"
Harsemhin wracked his memories; he snapped his fingers.
"Of course! Rainbow Pavo Illusion!"

"What?" Cyan exclaimed. "How'd he disappear?"
Cyan was faced an illusory group of people.

Harsemhin hobbled away ever so slowly, hoping to escape. He was presently disguised as an old lady. He made an illusion of another person hurrying much faster.

Cyan espied the situation.
"Do I take the fastest leaving, the one not leaving, or the one slowest leaving?" he mused.
He pondered this a second then made his decision.
"Fallen Star!" he exclaimed, and what appeared to be a dark star fell out of the sky, destroying the illusions.

Harsemhin flew forwards, his illusions dissipating.
"Aaaaah!" he cried. "Someone! Help me!"

"No one will help you! Help yourself or perish!" Cyan taunted as Harsemhin scrambled to find cover. "Ice Bolt!"
Harsemhin barely dodged the frozen shot and Cyan closed in. I have to stop him again and escape decided Harsemhin in his mind. "Sagitta ..."
"Dark Cross!" interrupted Cyan, anticipating Haremhin's choice.
"... Halt!" finished Harsemhin before Cyan's fist reached its target. Cyan was frozen in mid-swing and the dark power dissipated. "Phew," he sighed, then quickly ran off again.

Soon after he was frozen, Cyan was released from the spell.
"Blast it! A split second too slow!" He peered around. "Where did he go?" Cyan pulled out his tracker again. "He's not far from here, though."
Cyan lifted off of the ground again and started towards Harsemhin's signal, but something caught his eye before he had gone far.
"Ah! I can finally get my vengeance!" Cyan shouted, seeing the same yellow dragon that he had seen earlier. "Fallen Star!"
The attack fell just shy of the dragon.
"Blast!"
Cyan started flying faster and followed the dragon.

"Perfect," said Mani Mani in his base. "He is so easy to manipulate."
Mani turned to his UFOs who were gathered in front of a TV. Nath and Nayc were watching a new epsiode of Tamers on the TV, while Nual read a manga and Eon played on a Game Boy.
"Go and assist Cyan if he needs help fighting Ness," Mani Mani ordered.
The UFOs scrambled into order and acknowledged the instructions before zooming out of the base.
"Things are going quite well. Between that foolish boy and the UFOs Ness should have no chance."

The remaining people were left standing there, unable to follow, as Cyan and Siris and flew off after Rockwell. After the spectacle was out of view, it seemed to be a good time for introductions.
Matt and Kyle, glad that they had finally caught up to these people, were the first to introduce themselves. The group conversed, and as stories overlapped and goals became apparent a course of action began to form...
"So what we have to do is find this Mani-Mani as soon as possible, to end all these illusions and mind games?" questioned Kyle.
"Yes" replied Dan. "But we also have to try to help Cyan..."
"And Harsemhin..." added Cirra.
"It seems to me, that first we should 'contain' Cyan." The voice belonged Siris, who had just joined them.
After another quick introduction, they continued on.
"Cyan as some sort of mental domination over him..." explained Siris. "But it's not normal...There's something odd about it. Anyway, our first goal is to find him, and stop him from doing any damage. And also, if we find him-"
"We find Harsemhin..." continued Cirra. She was getting quite worried about him by now.
"Sounds like a good enough plan to me." remarked Matt.
The group agreed to the course of action, and began venturing in the direction they had last seen Cyan fly.

Hmmmmmmmmm.... though Mani-Mani. They have united...This could prove as a problem...
Mani-mani mentally scanned through the city of Fourside.
Curses...No suitiable targets to become my minions anywhere! Only pathetic weaklings! And the group of them are too close together for me to try to control one of their minds.
Mani-mani pondered the situation for a moment. A grin appeared on it's face, and it let loose a laugh.
Of course! Who said my minions had to be alive, or even human!
Mani-mani concentrated. Controlling the souls of the deceased was a difficult and grueling task. One that Mani-Mani had tried to avoid because of the mass amounts of energy it took. But it felt as if this was a suitable time to do so.
Ancient spirits, heed my call! Awake from your primal graves and serve your master! Depart from your unearthly plane!