Raltise stared out his window morosely. He could see the soldiers approaching from one side, and could barely make out the edge of the ice-dome on the other side of the city.
"My dream of Fourmoon..perhaps it is not going as I had hoped." He stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"They're getting to close - if they found me, there is no doubt that these mere puppets have a chance of overpowering me. After all, can not the puppet master get caught in the strings?
"I may be forced to take out Fourmoon itself, to escape alive. They wouldn't be expecting that. While they saved the innocents, I could destroy them. Yes, it's perfect! Sacrificing your best piece to win the game!"
He paced back and forth. "It should be quite simple, really. As this world and Illusions are now the same, my power over illusions is now the power over the reality of Fourmoon. I could destroy the city with an illusion of fire, and it would become reality!"
With those words, Raltise set to work.

Cirra stood on the roof of the building, near the ice dome. She was just about to climb down the ladder, when an explosion rocked the city. She whirled around, almost losing her balance, but harsemhin grabbed her hand just in time, and pulled her up.
"What was that?" Siris said. He looked at the Bakery, which was now in flames. Suddenly, a figure moving caught his eye. He looked up to the top of the APE Building.
"It's Raltise! And he's destroying the buildings! Why would he do that?"
Harsemhin, too, was puzzled. "That's insane! Fourmoon was his winning piece; what he worked so hard for!"
Cirra stared up at Raltise, and a short memory floated up from the depths of her mind.

---

Cirra's memories

---

The Royal Advisor sat across from me, and looked down at a chess board. She moved her pawn forward a space, with a slight glint in her eyes. I smiled. "Why did you do that?" I brushed a lock of gold-brown hair away from my face. "I'm free to take your queen." I took my bishop, and moved it right into the black queen.
The Advisor smiled, and moved her pawn to the place the bishop had once stood.
"Checkmate."
I looked up, utterly confused.
"How did you do that?"
"It's the queen's sacrifice. You have to let go of your best player to win the game some time."
I nodded in awe, but Strata emerged in the door way, and looked over with disdain.
"I hate chess..."

---

"There." The Apple sighed once. "The final battle is beginning. The armies have been disabled, for now; the warriors are all that are left to protect against Raltise.
"Picky, Tracy...
"It is up to you to pray for the warriors, and speed your prayers to the people of the world.
"May the goddess of good luck always smile upon you...."
In a flash, Picky and Tracy snapped back to their bodies.

"Mom?" Picky demanded. "Were you tickling me?"
Lardna twitched slightly, then finally stammered, "Y... yes."
"And me, too?" Tracy asked angrily.
Lardna meekly acknowledged the verity of this statement.
"Good," the two said. "Now, we have to pray."
"What for?" Aphrodite asked.
"For the world's well being," Picky replied.
"For the survival of life," Tracy amended.
"We were very far away," they explained, "but tears and smiles have to come together again. Tears for the deaths up to now; smiles for the lives that will be saved."
Venus shot up.
"Smiles and Tears. Ness' song. I'll pray with you," she said.
"As will I," Patricia Lee concurred.
Lardna bristled. "What?" she demanded.
Aphrodite announced her will to help.
Lardna was flushed.
"Oh. I'll help, too."
King barked his decision to pray as well.
And so it was that seven people began their prayers.

Now, in Twoson, in Polestar Preschool, the Polestars were just now getting over the death of their daughter, Paula.
Vega and Rigel, her mother and father, were just coming in from placing fresh flowers on her grave in the Twoson cemetery.
The preschoolers entered with them, incredibly solemn. Her brother, Paul, known for wearing blue and always wandering around on the sidewalk in front of the preschool, came in with them.
Vega stopped suddenly.
"What's wrong, dear?" Rigel asked his wife.
"I feel... Ness is about to avenge Paula's death. But not against the one who killed her; against the one who manipulated her killer."
She sat down and began to pray for the well-being of Ness and his friends, even though she knew none of them.

In Winters, Maxwell Labs and Tony felt uneasy, and began to pray that Ness would defeat the people who ordered the killings of Jeff and his father.
They were joined by the Bubble Monkey, his wife, and all the other inhabitants of Winters.

In Dalaam, the young women were angered by the tragic death of their prince.
"I wish Prince Poo hadn't died," one whined.
"If only we had kept him safer," another mused.
"There's no use in second-guessing the past," a third shot back. "We have to focus on now."
And so it was that Dalaam began to pray that Poo would be avenged.

Having convinced the army they were on the same side, Cyan and his group -- and the army -- arrived at the final battle against Raltise.
The APE Building exploded!
"What in the world?" Cyan demanded. "Is he destroying Fourmoon?"
"It seems like that," Skulryk admitted. "Yet it's a double edged sword for me. If he succeeds, I have great footage, but can't show it. If he fails, I don't have the footage, yet I can show it..."
"Let's just get him!" RG cried.
"Wait, RG!" Matt urged. "We should be cautious. Look, the army isn't going after him right away!"

Bits of rubble from what used to be the APE building rained around the group. RG and Matt decided the best use of their time was to argue about whether to attack Raltise now or later. Raltise decided the answer for them himself, floating down to meet them. Cyan drew his sword, RG his guns and Kyle Excalabur.
"Ah yes, the puppets arrive to fight the puppet master. This should be quite interesting," said Raltise.
"It's not like you're going to win," retorted Cyan, drily.
"Oh, I'm not, am I?" asked Raltise as he waved his hand at Cyan, throwing him backwards.
RG fired several rounds of ammo from his guns, but Raltise deflected them harmlessly away. "What?" asked the stupefied gangsta.
"You think you can hurt me with bullets?"
"You can't deflect them forever!" shouted RG as he fired his guns again. Raltise didn't deflect the bullets this time: they passed right through him.
"I might not be able to deflect them forever, but I don't have to deflect them!" taunted Raltise from behind the group.
Matt whirled to face the self-proclaimed puppet master. "How'd you do that?"
"You forget, I am a master of illusions!"
"Dodge this!" yelled Kyle as he jumped at Raltise and attacked with Excalabur. Regrettably, the attack had little effect.
"You intend to fight me with such toys?" asked Raltise, indignantly.
A shout issued from behind Raltise and there was a flash of light. "Rainbow Scorpius Needle!"
Raltise didn't have time to dodge the attack and Harsemhin's aim was true. Taken square in the back, it was plain Raltise had felt the attack. "Ah! More of the puppets arrive! Things become more interesting!"
"Where'd the army get to, anyway?" asked Matt.
"An illusionary army to match a useless one, I always say!" replied Raltise with a sneer. A second later, Raltise had split into several images.
"How do we know who to attack?" shouted Cyan.
"Leave that to me!" answered Cirra as she began concentrating. Using her third eye, Cirra was able to see through the illusions and located the true evil. "That's the one!" she shouted, pointing.
Haremhin attacked with Rainbow Scorpius Needle, Dan with his Blaster and Siris with Crag Press. Raltise faltered and his copies vanished.
Seeing Raltise was about far enough away, Cyan took a calculated risk. "Yuuki no Kyuukazan!" He threw a fireball at Raltise, but his aim was off and Raltise dodged. Cyan cursed his aim as the fireball scorched the side of a building before the volcano leveled it.
"Ah! You are so helpful! This is fun!" exclaimed Raltise.

---

Cyan's Mind

---

Insinuating his power into Cyan's mind, Raltise spoke, unheard by all others. "You helped my cause before, come back and help destroy these insects once and for all!"
"That's okay, thanks. Becoming that monster once is enough for a single adventure."
Raltise tightened his grip on Cyan. "Oh, I think you will! I'll draw out your darkness within!"
Cyan was doing his best to resist Raltise, but he was still weakened by his earlier mental battle with the dark power. To fight the darkness, one uses ... the Light? The stars, the brightest light of all.

---

"Yes, excellent." Chaz and the others had gotten to their destination.
"Well, we got you here, so are you going to give us the stuff? We've got deadlines, ya know." Mike tapped his foot impatiently.
"Look, chill. I told you I'd hook you up. Let me go and..." Chaz stopped. He peered into the boxes. "Sorry man, it looks like I can't hook you up. It looks like my stuff's been taken."
"Gah!" Joe sat on the floor.
"Look, what I can do is call for help like I told you I would. Just watch." Chaz walked over to the far side of the room in the building and uncovered a comms. set. He turned a dial and pressed a button. A static-filled voice then filled the room.
"Who is this?"
"This is Chaz. Is that you, general?"
Mike let out a gasp of surprise. He then grinned slowly, knowing where this would go.
"Yeah, it's me. Chaz? How's it goin'? What do you need?"
"Well, general, there's an army in Fourside."
"WHAT? Why wasn't I told of this? I AM THE HIGHEST RANKING GENERAL IN THIS ARMY!"
"I don't know, sir." Chaz hesitated for a second. "General, I need you to help us out. We need to distract the armies or to give them new orders..."
Mike spoke up. "Say, couldn't he order the armies to attack?"
The general heard the suggestion. "Done. I shall be out there shortly. The rotors on my gunships are turning."
"Thank you!" Chaz turned off the comms. gear, and turned to Mike. "Well?"
"Thanks, but now what are we going to do? Looks like we can't help out until the general arrives in his helicopter." Mike looked at Ness.
"There's a battle going on! It must be the others! They're in trouble." Ness ran out of the building. Luna followed quickly, with Tsurami in tow. Joe went as well, leaving Mike behind.
"Later Chaz. I owe ya, big."
"Oh yeah you do."
Mike ran out of the building and was surprised to see that there were no soldiers in sight. In the distance, Ness could be seen running towards where the APE building once stood.
Joe yelled to Mike. "Hey Mike, let's go! We gotta help out as well!" He ran after Ness. The others did the same.
They ran for minutes, until the chaos of battle could be seen. Tsurami looked around.
"You know, the armies seem to be in disarray. Looks as if they don't know what to do." As he finished his statement, helicopters could be heard in the distance. "Looks like the general is here."
The helicopters drew nearer and eventually hovered over the armies. The battle continued to rage on as the general's voice could be heard over the loudspeakers mounted on the helicopter. "Troops, this is your ranking general. You are to engage and destroy Raltise without causing harm to any of the other groups. Now go, fight!"
The commanders of the batallions took charge of their troops, coordinating their every move.
Mike grinned. "Although I failed in getting the stuff, I did well in organizing this..." The armies started to move, aiding the other groups already engaged in battle.
Ness took his place alongside of Cyan.

Dan looked at Raltise...memories of all that had happened flooded through him...The ragged ribbon...Harsemhin's awakening...Raltise's disappearence, Mani Mani's death...
Raltise had caused the deaths of innocent people, the destruction of the capital of Eagleland. His thoughts were interrupted as he stepped on a small plastic item. He quickly flicked it up into the air with his foot and caught it. Scrawled in messy handwriting on a Nintendo64 cartridge was "Mother 3." He'd save that for later.

Back to attacking the nearly omniscient puppeteer...
"I really don't see why you are even trying this...The script has already been written."
"Well, then I guess we'll have to ad-lib!" Cyan said, his sword flashing in the neon light which had replaced the sun in Fourmoon.
Raltise kept a calm, collected face, but something, or someone, made everything seem less set in stone now...They could win! But...how...?

Kyle continued to attack Raltise with the Excalabur, though it wasn't doing much damage, if any at all.
"God... I HATE feeling so weak!" He finally backed off and did something rare. Something that he normally did only for his closest friends. He began focusing his Psychic Power Shields on the others. This tactic was much more effective than head on attacks-less people were getting hurt and Raltise was feeling the effects of his own attacks...
While running around trying to predict Raltise's next targets, Kyle couldn't help but notice. The guy who looked maybe a year younger than him, Ness, seemed to be the most determined person there. Kyle could feel Ness's anger radiating around him. He was thinking solely about revenging his friends. Kyle could only stare in awe as he ran around the area creating shields. As powerful of a psychic as he would like to think he was, Kyle could only hope to someday have a psychic talent as advanced as Ness. Ness, Kyle figured, was their best hope.
When Kyle finally ran out of psychic power, he felt worthless again. He looked around continuously for an opening. Eventually, his eyes fell yet again on Ness. Kyle decided to ecourage him.
"Hey, Ness" yelled Kyle when he was near enough.
"What?" yelled Ness, who didn't stop fighting.
"Whatever you do, don't stop!"
Ness finally turned and looked at Kyle. They stared into each other. "Who... Who are you?"
Kyle shook his head. "Doesn't matter! Just remember, I'm behind you one hundred percent!"
Ness stared again for a second, nodded, and went back to the fight.
Kyle went back to fighting too. Sure he wasn't too effective, but it was better than watching.

"Too strong..." muttered Matt under his breath. Though he poured all his power into his slices, Raltise dodged them with ease. Matt's power was nothing compared to his, and he realized how innifective his attacks were. He found shelter from the fighting for a moment to regain his strength and strategize.
"Okay, he seems to be invulnerable to all my attacks." thought Matt frantically. "and Kyle and the others aren't having much luck either. What do I usually do when I come up against a foe that I cannot defeat? The Fusion! But I doubt any of them know the technique...Wait! I know!"
Matt telekinetically alerted Kyle to come towards him. Kyle was having little luck with Raltise, and he broke from the battle for a moment. Before he could open his mouth, Matt started explaining his intention.
"Okay, we're going to try a 'Combine Attack'" ordered Matt.
"An what exactly is that?" questione Kyle anxiously. He was distraught about leaving the battle, and didn't want to stay away for long.
"Let me explain" replied Matt. "Since neither you nor I can hurt Raltise with our attacks, we'll band together for a single attack. Like in Chrono Trigger."
"Okay" acknowledged Kyle, realizing what Matt was getting at. "So how do we do it?"
"First, we open a telekinetic link so we can co-ordinate the attack." specified Matt. "Then we each release the energy from one of our attacks at the time. For this, I'll use some 'Starstorm' energy while you try some 'water' energy. For now, close your eyes and concentrate. Release your power when I give the signal."
Matt and Kyle lined up back to back, eyes closed deep in concentration. They were charging their energy for their attacks. Matt opened the link, causing the two to be surrounded with a serene aura. Their power became intertwined, as if they were one fighter.
"Now!"
The two unleashed their power. The aquatic and astral energy fused to become a single attack. In precise co-ordination, the spoke the name of the attack.
"Starfish!"
The oddly named attack took form. A large star or water flowed together, spinning, over the heads of the two. It was clear and relected the neon glow of the buildings. It spun like a buzzsaw. Whirling into action, it flew towards Raltise at an alarming speed. Matt and Kyle's link was broken, and they fell to their knees. Extremely drained from the Combine Attack, it would take a few minutes for them to recover.
The star shot towards Raltise at a blinding speed. Shocked by the power of the porjectile and cursing himself for neglating to pay attention to the two. He knew he didn't have the time to dodge the attack, and would have to take it head-on.
The Starfish attack darted towards his torso, and he set his hands in from to block. Like a buzz-saw in blazed into action, spinning and spewing beads of water. Raltise was being ground back farther and farther. The star kept shrinking in size as it grinded against his hands, and he kept getting ground back. Within moments the star had been ground down to nothing.
Raltise righted himself. He stared at Matt and Kyle, who were out of breath and recovering. He stared at his hands, which were cut up and damaged from the attack. Oddly, he really didn't seem to take notice to his injuries, and seemed to experience no pain. He turned to the two and laughed.
"I nice trick, I must admit" chortled Raltise. "But not enough to stop me." With that, he turned back to the other attackers and continued the brawl.
"It...didn't work." huffed Matt, distraught. Drained and defeated, him and Kyle slouched down on the ground. They had put their combined power into the attack, and Raltise had just shook it off. All their efforts had been wasted, and it would be a while before they were ready to rejoin the fight.
Little did they know what Raltise was up too. The attack had indeed wounded, but he had surpressed his pain.
"As long as they think they cannot hurt me." thought Raltise, cringing as he dodged Ness' attacks. "Their will to fight will be diminished. Any sign of weakness will make them even more determined."

Siris grinned. "Hm... that's not a bad idea. Maybe... we... should try that."
Cyan and Harsemhin turned toward Siris, knowing perfectly well what he was thinking.
"Adekae," the three said in unison, nodding.
"Holy Water?" Siris asked. Cyan nodded, and turned to Harsemhin.
"We're going to try an Adekae skill," he said quickly, "that requires the use of your Breaker attack." Harsemhin nodded in agreement, and the three began to attack.
As the three fought, their movements grew more and more synchronized, until finally, the three shouted in unison: "Holy Water!"
Cyan ran up to Raltise and took two powerful swipes with his sword - forming a cross - as Harsemhin used Breaker and Siris used a water spell of his own. The attack staggered Raltise, and they watched to see if it was indded enough to finish him off...
Splash! The giant tidal wave of sparkling water hit the villain square in the eye. He howled in anger, as the holy water began to drip down his body.
Siris could tell that Raltise was damaged, as could Harsemhin and Cyan; after all, the Holy Water attack was too powerful not to do some sort of damage. Raltise, however, refused to give in.
"A formidable little attack you have there," he admitted. "But it will not be enough. You can never defeat me!"
Siris, backing away to catch his breath, thought to himself: Raltise is bluffing. He must be damaged... he must be! I can feel it! He's not fighting at full power! But is that a good thing... or bad?

---

The Mind of the Puppetmaster

---

Yes, yes...it is time. I have humored these children long enough, and they have provided me with what I need. It is time to end this.

---