UNUSUAL SPECIES REVISED 5-- By SaturnStorm

Author's notes: Well, this is turning into one of those long chapters, however, not one of the ones I'm entirely proud of. I wouldn't have said this was one of those "get it out quantity to quality" but more of a "get it out because it's been sitting on my mind for weeks on end". 
Most of the scenes in here I'm kinda questionable of. Most likely before Christmas the whole thing will have another complete rehaul, but as things stand I'm having enough trouble getting out the first drafts. We'll see where this goes before the end of 2004.

~~~~

In a pinch, this would do. The Starman was fashioned out of the rock wall behind her house and a few paints, but it was a valid target. The slingshot was fastened to her hand with an old stick King used to play with and a few hairbands she no longer intended to use, but as a home-made slingshot, until she could really make her own one, Tracy felt it would do.
The point here, was the same as the goals of the rest of the army-crazed Onett: defend herself. The difference was that she knew what she was doing. And she hadn't gone army-mad. She struggled to find a good reason for the town to be that way, either. She had a feeling it was something to do with whatever was on TV last night.
A pouch of lead bearings hung from her belt, a supply that looked nearly endless, even though it was only about fifty. For some strange reason she didn't feel the weight, as though her running around the different towns and that little battle had really made her stronger. Regardless. she pulled out a ball-bearing, loaded it onto the slingshot as she lined up her arm, took aim, and let it go, watching it fly through the air and whack the Starman painting right in the visor. What she didn't see was the ball bearing fly up, tap along her roof, then disappear in a pinkish glow and appear again in her pouch. The Magicant rock segment was embedded into the handle of the slingshot, right between the wood and her hand for safekeeping.
She loaded another ball-bearing into her slingshot with a sigh. She had a long way to go yet before she actually became as strong as her brother or Paula, considering she was only just getting into this whole adventuring business. She had a feeling if she had met any of the old enemies that her brother had fought, she wouldn't have lasted two seconds. She'd seen him play-fight a couple of Sharks that decided to 'test his mettle', and Ness had won easily, despite telling Tracy that when he fist fought them it was tough and he nearly collapsed several times. If she fought the Sharks, she'd be downed in a blow -- she didn't go down well with getting hit by anything, and was nearly subsceptible to most illnesses. So far she was lucky, somehow able to avoid getting hit and somehow be really good against these evil Starmen. She still didn't understand how she did that.
Taking aim, Tracy tried to push the thoughts from her head. She did want to be a really strong hero (or in her case, heroine) like her brother. She wanted to be strong.
"Hey! Tracy!"
It was, as they say, 'speak of the Devil'. Tracy had nearly jumped out of her skin hearing her brother call like that. She whirled, forgetting her loaded shot, and heard the smashing of glass. Quickly she looked to the side, where the Minch household was, and saw that her ball-bearing had just broken one of their windows. "Nuts." she whispered, ducking round to the side of the house and praying that Lardna hadn't spotted her. She tugged off her slingshot and ran into the back of the house, hiding her makeshift weapon behind her back.
Ness was actually talking with their mom, discussing what was currently happening, and what might soon happen to their house as a result of the crazed people of Onett. Tracy took that opportunity to hide her weapon in the old-newspaper drawer, before walking into the living room to greet her brother.
"Hey, Ness, what's new?" Tracy smiled sweetly, leaning over the back of one of the chairs.
Their mother seemed startled at her presence, then smiled. "I thought you were still out back."
With a dismissive wave Tracy replied "I got bored, so I came back in. Anyway, I thought I heard Ness."
The man himself grinned, "You did." he frowned a little, "Why are you carrying a bag of ball-bearings?"
At first Tracy looked confused, then looked to her side, where still fifty ball-bearings stared right back at her. She blinked, trying to force the question of "Why is it still a full bag when I should have used at least half by now?" out of her mind, and focus on the question "How do I squirm my way out of this situation?"
Finally Tracy laughed and scratched the back of her head sheepishly, "Eheh, I was practicing carrying the weight around again! I've slipped a bit since being at Escargo express! Keeps me in shape!"
"Which reminds me," her mother pointed out, looking at the clock, "Don't you have yoga class in a few minutes?"
There was a pause as Tracy let this sink in. Her eyes then widened and she let out a squeal of panic, racing upstairs, "Noooo!!" she wailed, "I'mlateI'mlateI'mlateI'mlateI'mlate!!" she ran back down, just barely snagging her slingshot and forcing it into her bag with the rest of her things before stumbling out the door, shouting a quick "See you both later good luck Ness back for dinner!!"
Ness and his mother watched her go, waving weakly to her disappearing figure, before hearing another, more piercing squeal. "WAAAH!!" came the horrid scream, "What happened to my window?!"
Upon hearing that Ness scowled, "Mom," he spoke calmly.
His mom looked back at him from the window, where she could clearly see the damage to the Minch window, "Hmm?" she hummed.
"When Tracy comes back, tell her I told her to stop trying to get involved." he all but hissed, before heading upstairs. "I bet she's hiding that slingshot up there, too!"
His mom watched him storm off in annoyance before sighing. "They're both fighters, like their father..." she stopped and looked at the calendar. "Which reminds me, he'll be coming home, soon..."

~~~~

At first there was darkness. Then, slowly, noise began to penetrate that darkness. That noise began to intensify. Each bird-call went from a distant coo to a loud whistle that wasn't exactly easy on the ears. And suddenly there was nothing again. A few seconds of this nothingness opened up to everything in a flash, introducing to the looker to the World in all it's glory. This was inner-enlightenment.
  Inner-enlightenment was lost in a flash when something small began prodding the looker's leg.
The looker chose to ignore this at first, but then the one prod became ten. Around that time the looker wondered what on earth was going on, so he opened his eyes.
... Poo was surrounded by Mr.Saturns, all cheerfully running into his legs and successfully drawing his attention to the little critters. As they ran into his legs they would let out a little 'parp!' noise, rebound back a few paces, then start again.
This little game was more than a little irritating to Poo's cause, so he began to stand up. When twenty pairs of little eyes followed him, eyebrows all raised in their disappointment and sorrow, the Prince paused.
"I apologise, little friends," Poo sighed, "But I have a very important task that needs to be seen to now."
"PoO nO lEaVe!" one of the aliens whined. This was followed by a chorus of agreement, as each little Mr.Saturn protested his denial of their fun.
Blinking in suprise Poo asked carefully "What drew you to this game of yours anyway?"
Each little pair of eyes turned to look into other little pairs of eyes as each wondered upon this 'why' question. Would it be enough to just say BeCaUsE? No, because it was a 'why' question disguised as a 'what' question so that wouldn't make sense.
Finally one little Mr.Saturn voice piped up "FuN iT bE!" and began jumping up and down to accenuate it's point. The others cheerfully agreed to this statement. After all, why did everything have to be explained? A Mr.Saturn does as a Mr.Saturn does! One should not question it! If they decide to play a game, they play a game! There is no other thinking behind it!
Settling back down so they could resume their unusual style of 'fun', Poo began thinking. Of course a Mr.Saturn wouldn't have an answer as to 'why'. They were all taken to Barf's factory to work, and none complained. Why? Because. That's why. And besides, they wouldn't admit if their thoughts were pushed in one direction or another, because how were they to know? If they had been made to suddenly think about distracting Poo from meditation, they would have thought about it as a fun game, not a ploy to prevent him from retrieving his lost PSI--
His thoughts were suddenly broken as one stray Mr.Saturn worked its way onto Poo's lap. The Prince, without changing facial expression, grabbed the Mr.Saturn from his lap and placed it back on the ground in front of him. "Not there." he explained calmly, settling forward so the other Mr.Saturns would get any ideas.
He had a feeling he wouldn't be doing any meditating any time soon.

~~~~~

It was probably just him, but the snowfall seemed a bit too rough for the level of snow on the Winters ground. Jeff had been contemplating that for a while now. It was only when he went down to dinner that he really noticed, however. It seemed strange to him that the level of snow had barely risen between lunch and dinner, and he decided to find out the answer to the mystery.
His first stop was the gym block near the doors leading to the field. A barometer had ben hung by the doors for the teachers' reference, in case it was too cold to do physical education outside. He had always winced passing it by, since it was always just a fraction too cold for him. Now it was going to help him work out just what was going on with the weather.
To his amusement, Tony followed him, asking more questions. Apparently he had cottoned onto Jeff's doubts and was asking, for the most part, what he thought was causing the weather distress. Jeff chose to ignore him until he had a better idea of what was going on.
As the two boys passed through the changing rooms, Jeff shuddered a little. He always hated gym, it seemed so pointless. Well, for the most part, anyway. Normally he was quite content to do some studying or work on a new invention or something, instead of running laps on a frozen field, getting grumpy and tired. To him it just felt pointless because it wasn't for a cause, so he was going out there and doing mindless activities for no good reason, whereas a year ago he would be doing it to save the planet! So it seemed pointless to him. Then again, if you had asked him before the War against Giygas, he would have still hated it, for pointlessly running laps on a frozen field getting cold, grumpy and tired.
He shuddered again, but for a different reason. The rooms were cold; bitterly cold. He hadn't felt a chill like that since staying with Brick Road.
Tony rubbed his arms and looked around, "I wondered why it was so cold in here!" he declared, walking over to the high-set window that sat adjar, "someone left the window open! Honestly, don't they know there's a blizzard outside?"
But Jeff had stopped listening. He did look at the window, but his mind was elsewhere. Most people, as he understood, had opted to stay in the main building, where there was heating, rather than getting frozen in the cold gym rooms. So who in their right minds would have opened the window? During a blizzard? And when? They hadn't encountered any people on the way to the gym block and as far as he was aware, nobody but the two boys were down there already. But it couldn't have been open that long, because there was no snow on the floor. Even water had neglected to come in. That again was weird. Surely if it was snowing outside it would blow in through an open window? There was also the issue of the cold. Blizzards were usually very cold. This was not. The temperature seemed relatively normal to him, for Winters. But that wasn't right, was it? Why wasn't it that cold?
"What's wrong, Jeff?"
The blonde looked up to see Tony stood next to him with a confused, concerned look on his face. Jeff shook his head and took Tony's arm, "Come on," he said, "Let's check the temperature."
Tony complied obediently, letting Jeff pull him to the Gym-field doors, where the barometer was. He had never really understood it himself. There was a nice big dial with writing and numbers, and a thermometer that Tony understood never worked since one of the kids took some of the mercury for an experiment. But apparently Jeff understood as he frowned at the barometer as if he were trying to work it out.
Finally the blonde shook his head. "No, this isn't right." he stated, tapping the dial. "I mean, it is right, but it can't be. It's supposed to be a blizzard. Why isn't it cold? What's going on here?!"
Smiling coyly, Tony said "That's what I've been asking since dinner-time."
Jeff looked at his friend, "The blizzard didn't affect the gym changing rooms. It's not cold. It's not raising the level of the snow outside. This is not a blizzard. Something's created the illusion of a blizzard which keeps Winters at a total stand-still. I intend to find out why."

~~~~

Apparently Frank had been busy since getting his butt handed to him. The Onett Arcade was alive with activity, with all sorts of people running around, doing assigned tasks and every now and then doing someone else's assigned tasks, confusing them all until the next set of tasks were yelled out by various people in Sharks outfits. There were quite a lot of people, too: there were the Sharks themselves, all in full getup and trying to be as intimidating as possible but not doing a good job; then you had the people in casual clothes, running around in either Sharks glasses or with badges on thir shirts reading "SHARKS!" in scruffy handwriting; and even the Onett police force were helping out, diverting traffic from the Arcade's street with well-placed Roadblocks (Strong had turned it into an art form) and even some of the rookie cops were taking orders from the Sharks, though they were also getting orders from their superiors and the orders were often clashing and they were getting more confused than anyone. A wall of sand-bags had been set up beside the arcade, and some boxes were littering the streets, which was apparently where the local citizens were getting the specs and badges from.
Ness decided to not take a badge or sunglasses, heading straight for the doors, listening to Frank screeching orders at anyone and everyone, like some sort of army general preparing his troops for battle. A disorganised general, but a general nonetheless. The moment Ness opened the door, he was greeted with a steady rush of people all running out at once, trying to fulfill this latest order, whatever the man had shrieked out.
"FIND YOUR WEAPONS!!" Frank could be heard booming out, though it was hard to discern, "PROTECT THE STREETS!! ARRANGE THE SANDBAGS!! WHERE'S MY COFFEE?! PROTECT BUZZ BUZZ AT ALL COSTS!! SET UP MORE ROADBLOCKS!! SOMEONE HAND OUT THE BADGES AND GLASSES!! HIT ANYONE NOT WEARING ONE OF THE TWO!! ONCE THEY'RE ALL GIVEN OUT OF COURSE!!"
After hearing those orders, Ness snatched a badge from a guy running in circles holding one out. Pinning it to his T-shirt, he approached the man in charge, who was sitting atop the pinball machine with one of those neck-braces on and a couple bandages. You could almost see his eyes shining in anger from beneath his glasses, and he was certainly not coming off this unexpected high-horse anytime soon.
  Ness finally had enough of listening to the man's orders as he started ordering roadblocks in front of every doorway and shouted above the noise "Yo! Frank!!"
The man looked down at Ness in suprise, the anger completely chased out of him. "Uh, Ness!" he sputtered, trying to readjust from his near-madness to pleasant conversation, "I didn't think you'd be back anytime soon!"
Ness shrugged, "I heard about some of the things down here. So how again did you get beat up?"
"... A local gang?"
Rolling his eyes Ness stated simply "You're the only local gang in Onett and you know it. Frank, this ia important, I need to know how this happened to you, I need to know what's going on. If you got beat up by what Tracy said you did then it could decide the fate of the World!"
Hearing this Frank blurted out "Starman." sense returned and he reiterated "It was like those Starmen things from last year, chrome in colour. It was defeated by some weird kid."
At the mention of the weird kid two things happened. Ness's eyebrows flickered, as though he wasn't sure how to best place this kid in his mind. The other thing was that Picky, wearing his Sharks glasses suddenly popped out of the crowds "That silver-haired kid, right?" Picky piped up, startling Ness before he could dwell too much on whether he was friend or foe to himself right then.
Ness smiled, "Picky." he sighed, then looked at the two in turn, his face growing serious, "I need to know what you know about this kid from both of you. You're my only reliable sources and I need to know what I can."
Frank went first, "He's all serious and stuff, with a really strong weapon. That thing fried those Starmen like they were nothing! He seemed nice, but didn't like to talk, much."
Picky agreed, "It was like he didn't want to talk to anyone at all. He got a little weird because I was with him, and didn't talk until we reached Buzz Buzz. I'd say he's got a good idea of what's going on here, but doesn't want to work with anyone."
Nodding Frank included "He managed to disappear on me when we visited Giant Step -- he's a master of disappearing apparently."
"He managed to disappear mid-conversation with me, which was weird. He just kinda turned a different direction and when I looked his way he was gone." Picky supplied.
Slowly Ness nodded, his eyebrows knitted in a small frown. "Picky, you mentioned about the meteorite dimming when that guy walked away from it."
"Yeah," Picky sighed, "I wouldn't have said he was evil as such, but there's got to be something about him, or the meteorite wouldn't have reacted like it did."
Finally satisfied that he's gotten his answers, Ness looked at his friends again. "Thanks, guys, that should do." he smiled, feeling his thoughts pushing him in a negative direction about this strange guy, and whirring around as he figured out how all these things fit together. "Anyway, I've got to go visit my sister, now, you know, to check up on things. I'll catch you guys later!"
Picky seemed about to say something but Frank suddenly put an arm around him with a large grin, shouting "See ya!" to Ness, and hissing a silent "Shh!" to the small blonde. This confused Ness a little, but considering Frank's strange mood, he put it all down to that. He offered them a small, confused wave, then left.
Once he was gone, Picky looked up at Frank. "What was that about?" he demanded.
"Ness didn't know his sister left town that time! If he found out he'd kill her! And then she'd come kill us! You gotta keep it all hush-hush."
"Ah."

~~~~

So okay, the location was nice. The warm weather reminded him of Summers, and the Desert area was like that time when he... Oh, yes, he didn't want to remember that. It always hurt him to remember things like that, since it was before they betrayed him, left him in his time of need and pushed him away. No, he wasn't going to remember. Instead he looked over toward the far-off mountain, at the jagged rocks that lined the desert, and then looked back toward the road that once again had become backed up. The sun shone directly above the road, as if even the distant star wanted to see what would happen amidst the honking horns.
~I'm down here. Come see me.~
The young man's thoughts were jarred by the sudden interruption. Accusingly he looked toward a nearby monkey, who in response started picking his nose. In slight indignation the boy lowered himself down the hole, frowning to himself about the whole situation. When he reached the bottom he dusted himself off and used his fingers to brush his silver hair back from his eyes. He mildly considered getting a hairtie to keep it back.
It didn't take long before a pudgy monkey hobbled from the far door and offered out his hand. "Ookikie." it announced, proclaiming its name as 'Winston'.
This didn't suprise the boy. A few years ago he met a cactus calling himself 'Fred'. He was chopped down. The young man shook the monkey's hand and allowed it to lead him further into the cave, toward the girl who had started this little journey. Along the way the monkey made small-talk, commenting on the amount of traffic-jams going into Fourside recently, the two bodies found roasted somewhere in the middle of the desert, and the new chick-pea crisis. As he was led along the young man came under the impression that Winson would have made a very good cab-driver. Through a door, hear a story. Through a door, hear a story. Pass a door, what do you know that reminds him of a very interesting story. He was profoundly relieved when he heard new, interesting human voices coming up.
...And what do you know, they were talking about the chick-pea crisis.
The moment the young man was within their vicinity he spoke, "You didn't tell me Giant Step was in the middle of a town." he announced darkly. Winston shuffled to the side of the room.
"You didn't tell me you wanted to stay hidden." the young woman responded, taking a sip of tea. Calmly she continued "There are four locations in Eagleland and you have seen but one. For them you must go through people and interact, as there is no other way. I can take you to the general locations of the Sanctuaries outside of Eagleland, but to reach them you must again search. To locate them you must talk to the locals. And besides, I think you did a good job in Onett."
The young man frowned, "Those people I spoke to will become curious. Those people will want to get involved. If those people get involved, others will ask questions. Give people long enough, and give them more questions, and more of these sightings, and there's going to be mass hysteria." he forced himself to stay calm, "More people will get hurt by those Starmen. People will get mixed up in this who shouldn't be involved. There's going to be--"
Also in the room was the old and enlightened Talah Rama. He held up a hand to stop the rant, "My dear boy you are generating a lot of negative energy. I feel this will contribute to the end-goal, and your own set-back."
The young man's shoulders slumped.
Talah Rama continued, "There is much pain in your past. You do not feel accepted by the people around you, both then and now, and you are reluctant to trust others. Tell me, dear boy, when you harbour such feelings... Why do you still protect the Earth?"
He'd hit the nail on the head. For an instance he wasn't the young man who wanted nothing to do with anyone, instead he was but a scared young boy in a World he didn't know. For an instance the boy was afraid. For an instance he relived all his memories. The instant ended and he looked away from everyone, clenching his fists. "Just because I'm not comfortable here," he growled, "doesn't mean nobody else is. I chose my path, and I chose to help."
The young woman looked at him and her eyebrows flickered. There was a war going on inside of him that was slowly, but surely, tearing him apart. The feeling was familiar to her.
Without waiting to hear what the sitting occupants of the room had to say the young man spun on his heel and declared "I'm going to find another Sanctuary. I'll be back for one of the other locations later." and with that he left, ignoring Winston's chattering the 'way out' directions.
For a while nobody spoke. Sensing the tension Winston waddled off back to his room. The young woman and Talah Rama finished off their tea and began pouring fresh cups.
Finally, Talah Rama spoke, "You sense something about that boy."
Still thinking hard, the young woman nodded, "He has the purest of hearts and the kindest of souls, but it seems a seed of hate and anger have grown within him, too. A seed so deep it has roots; a seed that has formed a part of him."
Slowly Talah Rama put down the tea-pot. "You know what caused this seed."
Again a nod. Then she looked to the old man darkly. "I felt it in Magicant once. Such pure hatred that can devastate souls. That seed was defeated." She looked into her tea, watching the tea-leaves swirl, "It is a seed of Mani-Mani."

~~~~

Pippi, in her infinate cooking wisdom, had somehow aquired access to the Mr.Saturns' kitchens. The Mr.Saturns, in their infinate happiness, had gone along with it, following her to help in any way they could. Her goal? To make Peanut Cheese Bars. Paula, in only a mild curiosity, had followed Pippi, to try and get to know her.
Success, however, was a little way off yet.
Leaning on a side-board near a neat little bow Paula watched Pippi work. The redhead was currently trying to scrape some previous test-trials off a baking tray. This looked to be a very long and grueling task. So Paula took it upon herself to try and get some answers while she worked. "Pippi," she mulled aloud, "can I ask you something?"
The freckled one, despite the unpleasant task, didn't seem to be paying attention. "Pass the spatula." she requested, holding her hand out for the utensil. A chirpy little Mr.Saturn bounded over with one tangled in its whiskers. Once she recieved the spatula she said "Go on." to Paula.
Feeling a little neglected, Paula found herself reluctant to continue. Maybe she wasn't going to get as straight answers as she had hoped. A small spark of stubbornness urged her to continue, "How do you know so much about Magicant?"
Attention was something Pippi was again proving she didn't keep too well. Paula found herself practically ignored for the better part of fifteen minutes while Pippi finished the cleaning, pulled out a baking tray from the oven and flipped the little bars, then ordered a wooden spoon, a new baking try and a scourer. Her response actually came while she went back to cleaning. "I told you before. My friend went there before. He told me about how mystical it is and about the land beyond and everything!"
Picking up her own scourer the blonde asked "And what about the other things? Like the 'code for danger' and the disappearing Starmen and what they were doing there in the first place? What about Poo's lack of PSI? Did it do it to any of your friends? Did one of them tell you it could do that?"
Pippi slowed down for a moment, then said "There are some pots that still need cleaning in the other sink."
Obediently Paula obliged, cleaning whatever was in the aforementioned sink -- three pots, two no-longer-straight spatulas and a whistle for some reason. Even as she cleaned she continued to pry, "Did he?"
A loud clattering noise by the other sink told Paula Pippi was moving the tray somewhere to dry so she could start with the batter mix. "Did he what?"
"Did he tell you about the other things?" Paula patiently reminded the other girl.
Finally Pippi stopped her clattering and started stirring the off-colour battery substance quietly. "Well, not in so many words." she admitted, "But he did say the rocks were really mystical and stuff, so they should be able to do anything!"
Turning to the redhead, the blonde spoke "But you don't know."
This time Pippi didn't hesitate, "Theories are better than saying 'I don't know' all the time. I'd rather try to be on the ball have you cleaned the pouring jug?"
The sudden turn of conversation confused Paula momentarily before she passed over the jug. Pippi poured the batter into the shapes she'd prepared and again started issuing orders. This signalled the end of the conversation, though there still hadn't been any real discussion. She didn't know any more about the girl than when she started. Sighing in resignation Paula retired to her spot at the sideboard again.
All activity came to a standstill again as the door sprang open. A moping Poo trudged into the kitchen, offering a weak nod to Pippi before taking up a place next to Paula, obscuring the bow. After nodding back Pippi and the Mr.Saturns resumed their work. Paula looked at her dismayed friend. What could have possibly brought him down this far? Had he remembered the dream? Had he finished the meditation only to not have his answers?
"Hey," she nudged him carefully, offering a kind smile, "How's the meditation been going?"
The Prince just slumped where he stood and sighed. "It hasn't. I keep getting distrated from meditation. First it was the Mr.Saturns."
Giving her friend a light hug Paula queried "What about this time?"
A whole fresh sigh accompained Poo's next words. "Pippi's cooking smells wafted outside and I just had to have some."
... And to Paula, that explained everything.

~~~~

The way through Twoson held a few little interesting suprises when Ness walked through, though none what he was looking for. There were, of course, little things like the Burglin' Park alive with activity, since Everdred's loyal supporters were trying to hold a memorial for him, and the police, not liking the amount of fireworks for their display, were trying to shut it down. Polestar preschool had a makeshift beacon, made out of egg cartons, glue, sparkly bits and a flashlight, so that Paula would be able to find her way home. And the mall was having a sale on baseball clocks. These were little things. He technically even considered the trucks outside of Orange Kid's house a little thing, were the supposed inventor not getting deliveries of computers, scanners and other assorted high-tech equipment. He was mildly suprised that the guy wasn't getting his own personal sattelite.
This was something he headed over to see. A small group of girls has also decided to crowd around, only they weren't happy ones. No, they were glaring the handsome one down like he had shot their boyfriends and declared them all celibate. So Ness avoided them, instead heading right over to the man himself.
"Yo, Orange!" the red-capped one called out, watching in curiosity as the boy nearly recoiled seeing him there.
Quickly Orange Kid regained his composture. "Ness, good buddy! How's life as a regular joe going these days?" he smiled, moving away from the computer delivery service.
Nodding, Ness replied "Could be worse, I guess. I could be living like one." at Orange Kid's curious frown he explained "There's something going down, I'm going to try and get it sorted. And what about you? What's with all this?" he indicated the boxes and boxes of machinery.
"Ah!" Orange Kid looked ready to jump into a whole routine, "I recently came upon a person who gave me some hints as to how to better improve my studious lifestyle, and so I've invested in some moderately up-to-date equipment that will allow me to finally finish that little invention I promised you: The Raw-egg machine! As well as several other projects currently in my inbox."
Slowly Ness looked over the equipment again. "So the Raw-egg machine, how long have you been working on it, now?"
Orange Kid's face fell. "... around eighteen months."
Ness nodded understandingly, "Genius takes time, that's what a good friend of mine told me." he neglected to mention that his friend's work-time consisted of 'overnight' and maybe 'next morning', since he couldn't afford to take longer, "So, who was this 'person' who gave you advice? Anyone I know?"
Orange Kid looked a little startled at the question, but didn't get a chance to reply to it anyway. One of the girls spoke up then, "His new girlfriend!" and explained to Ness immdiately, in those words, why the population of Twoson-teenage-girls had suddenly turned into ravenous beasts out for blood.
The 'genius' did get a chance to reply to this, "She was not my girlfriend! Just a friend!"
"Oh, yeah," one of the girls snorted, "That's why you chased her halfway across Twoson. What, you two have a fight?"
Flustered, Orange kid responded "That was purely professional." he then turned on his charm -- the one that made him so popular anyway, "You know I would never shut myself off from you lovely ladies. I can't just be cooped up by one girl, you know, I need to be free, for my talent, and for your pleasure."
The girls all swooned, captivated again by his stunning good looks and near-fantastical words. He continued to give them eyes and the girls continued to giggle. So Ness decided it was best to leave before he somehow got mixed up in it.
When he was at a safe-enough distance Ness looked back at the display around Orange Kid's house. Well, aside from the social issues it seemed the boy was finally taking a turn in the right direction. Good for him! He had a feeling he wanted to thank this mysterious advisor. Which reminded him, he didn't catch the name. But he also didn't want to risk getting back through the gaggle of girls again fantasising about their perfect wedding with their incredibly smart and wonderful Orange Kid.
They could keep dreaming.
He made a point then and there not to be like Orange Kid.

~~~~

It took a lot of getting used to before Jeff could ignore the false snow. The illusion was trying to completely obscure everyone's view, which greatly hindered progress. It wasn't actually cold, so Jeff got away with just wearing his SnowWood uniform, but the 'snow' still actually landed on him, and he was covered from head-to-toe in white. He found himself regretting not locating some goggles or some other eye-protecting gear since his glasses weren't really made for any sort of extreme weather conditions, but most of all he wished he'd been able to procure some form of weapon, like his Gaia Beam, the Moon-Beam gun -- heck if he'd found a Bottle-rocket it would have done him! Instead all he had was a Magnum Air Gun that fired a round every one-out-of-three randomly, normally without the success shot. With only that added to his poor visibility the blonde didn't find himself in the best situation and he was glad nothing was out in this snow to hurt him.
There was a slight hitch in his plans when Jeff reached Lake Tess; he hadn't really taken into account that even those as dedicated as the Tessie Watchers would have been gullible enough to believe the illusion was a real blizzard. But such was the case and the tents were all gone, the whole Tessie-Watching Club home until the illusion cleared up. Worse still the lake was pretending to be frozen over, so even the kindly sea-monster wasn't about. Surely, he thought, the temperature of the water would hint at the illusion? But then, the lake was always numbingly cold anyway, which was why you just couldn't cross it without a vessel. It was here the snitch was.
"Great." he mumbled, "Everyone thinks that this blizzard is real, so I can't get across the lake. What do I do now?" he put a hand against his forehead to attempt to shield his vision from the 'snow'. The wind howled around him, drowning out his musings. When the wind decided to change direction, Jeff scolwed. He got the impression the illusionist was trying to spite him, trying to put him off making this journey.
This only made him more determined.
Without a second thought Jeff scrambled down the cliff toward the water. Sebastian had told Jeff once about the Official-Tessie-Boat that helped them cross over to Brick Road's dungeon for lunch or even some fun. The Tessie-watcher asked him never to tell anyone about this secret boat in case thieves came along and stole it. But now that boat was going to help Jeff out!
Another problem arose when Jeff reached the boat. Indeed the Official Tessie Boat was sat in the water ready to go, but the boat wasn't rocking. Despite the wind which Jeff knew was definately real the boat wasn't doing anything much at all. In fact, if Jeff didn't know better, he'd have said the lake really was frozen over...
PK Freeze.
Cautiously Jeff leaned down and tapped the water. It was frozen thickly where he tapped it, but now he was at the lake-level, he could make out thin ice a little further out. It would be far too treacherous to walk under such circumstances. There was no way to sail across the ice, either, which left him one option: He'd have to break the ice. Problem was, he couldn't see any obvious way to break the ice, especially since he didn't want to use his weapon, in case he hit--
Uh, oh.
A thought clicked into place about then. Immediately Jeff dropped to his knees and yelled out "Tessie!!" as loud as he could. If the purple creature was under there then he could freeze to death! The ice could kill him. With a battle-cry Jeff swung his leg against the ice, in a vain attempt to break it. He wasn't really all that suprised when his foot bounced uselessly off the ice. Thinking hard he looked around, trying to find something that would break the ice without hurting anything underneath. There were 'frozen' trees, too sturdy to take down. There was the boat; your plain old row-boat complete with a pair of oars that barely looked strong enough to brave the mildest currents. There was the cliff, which was of no help at all, but it did remind him that the effects of weathering on a vertical surface causes deterioration over time, and the by-product of that was rocks! Quickly he scrambled around, feeling through the illusionary snow for some decent-sized rocks he could throw against the ice. It only took a few minutes to find a group of well-sized rocks which he began directing against the lake. He forcefully threw the first rock at the ice, watching a small crack form.
  The wind around Jeff suddenly picked up, throwing more of the 'snow' at the determined genius. A chill picked up around him, and for a moment, the blizzard didn't seem like an illusion. The second rock that was in Jeff's hand fell to the floor as the boy wrapped his arms around himself in shock. It was around now he wished he had something warmer on. Some gloves for a start.
With a grunt Jeff forced himself to reclaim the rock, hurling it at the ice. Another, larger crack appeared, but with the frozen winds getting that much stronger it was hard to discern how well this would work. Ignoring the wind as best he could, Jeff picked up another rock, flinching as the 'snow' level reached past his knees -- it may not have been real snow, but it was physical enough to cause a problem. With a yell and a boost of stamina, Jeff threw the next rock at the lake.
SMAAAAASH!!!
Before Jeff's eyes the ice crumbled under the force of the blow. The rowboat was jerked free as ice began sinking and bigger cracks formed where loose chunks began crashing into larger, thinner sections of ice. The bespectacled one blinked as the ice deteriorated in a chain reaction not helped by the wind, which almost seemed to be trying to stop by changing direction, which only made the water-waves worse. Pretty soon the ice was mostly destroyed, leaving only small chunks of wildly tilting platforms.
  "Well." he sighed to himself, setting up the boat again, "at least Tessie'll be okay, now."
Having just gotten onto the Official Tessie Boat, Jeff noticed that the lake-myth decided to show him just how okay it was, raising up underneath the boat. A very suprised Jeff could only watch as the large purple head emerged, showing its large smile, then the neck, and he could feel when the body rose as the boat rocked wildly, lifted onto the creature's back. For a moment nobody moved. Then, looking greateful, Tessie turned its head and twisted down, nuzzling Jeff ever-so-softly, and so kindly that the genius couldn't help but chuckle.
Tessie was about to return the favour.

~~~~

At first, there was nothing. The blackness that was ones own eyelids blocked out the light, the untrained ears unfocused on the noise. Slowly, slowly, the noise grew louder. The simple breeze became an overwhelming roar, each passing gale on ones skin going from a gentle cooling to a frosty chill, a whipping of a thousand lashings in one swift move.
Soon one realised it was not his meditation causing this, but a subtle, yet true, wind change. One realised that the wind was getting strong enough to actually start pushing one from one's post. One put his meditation on hold while one tried to stop onesself from falling into the water.
Poo quickly opened his eyes and put up his arms. The waterfall behind him was now starting to spash him as the wind got that much rougher. He looked around. The wind was blowing in such a direction that he wouldn't be ableto leap back to land unassisted. He gripped the rock he sat upon in an attempt to try and keep a hold, determined not to be beaten by weather.
Then a stray log carried by the waterfall hit him.
Before Poo knew it, he'd hit the water. The log floated away harmlessly, and he found himself being carried away with the water down the stream. Part of him wondered where the stream went, wondering if perhaps he wouldn't be deposited too far off, while another part of him was left to brood on yet another failed attempt.
He began to think something didn't want him to meditate.

~~~~

Fourside's department store was actually really quite amazing from the inside. Huge fountains were placed on the ground level, giant windows showed all sorts of views of the City from each level, going up quite high, now. The next three floors were still undergoing construction, but it was expected to be quite a profitable new extension, and certainly something good for the customers.
This was of no concern, of course, to the boy looking out at the view of Magnet Hill from the second floor. His glasses were a little scratched now and his hair looked a little dishevelled from the desert, but this didn't bother him. He had his adventure head on, which usually meant a disregard for anything so small and trivial, and even the more important things, emotion and subtlety, were on hold at the moment. He had his heart set right now on trying to figure out how to get to Magnet Hill, preferably without attracting any more attention than he had in Onett.
The first thing he had noticed, of course, was the little passageway that led to the sewage system of Fourside. He realised that it could have come from anywhere, and he didn't exactly have the time to go searching for things like maps of the Fourside Underground. He could feel a small presence in the back of his head -- an incling to a bad, familiar person. He wanted to spend as little time as possible here.
He decided to move back from the second floor, back to ground level. He could probably find a decent fire escape from there, at the very least. He retraced his steps, back toward the escalators. Vaguely he caught a glimpse of a poster, advertising a rock band, but he didn't really pay it much heed. He didn't like music much anymore. He had chosen to forsake such things, instead choosing to continue his studies, the only things that had really kept him sane.
~Look closer...~
Slowly the boy looked at it again, a small frown across his features. Why did she sound so distant? Could there be psychic interference? Was there such a thing?
The thought pattern changed, when the boy noticed what this band was. He did recall that this band topped the Runaway Five, but was no chance against Venus, even though the lead singer was supposed to be a real fox. He stepped closer to the poster, looking at the insignia, and hiseyes widened a little. The band, the Rockin' Titanees, would be playing in the theatre soon. He decided he was very lucky he chose this day to get this sanctuary, before they arrived.
He absolutely hated Titanees anyway.
With a frown the young man got onto the escalator and made his way downstairs. Pushing past a crowd of people all looking for a sale in the same store that didn't have a sale at that time, the boy returned to looking at Magnet Hill, this time somewhat closer. It shone, to a degree, and seemed to be whispering the smallest of secrets to anyone willing to listen. He was still too far away. He needed to be out there. Where was the fire escape? Would there be a way out that way? Or maybe if he found the nearest underground passage, he could--
Suddenly he was overcome with a wave of dizziness. He seemed to reel backwards, before falling against the window again, his vision refusing to go back to normal, his head refusing to stop spinning. His ears roared for a moment, and he had to close his eyes, trying to force this dizziness from his head. He was vaguely aware of a small crowd, which only made him want to curse more.
"...okay?" one concerned customer was asking. Slowly the young man turned to him and nodded. He pushed away from the glass and began to stumble from the store. "Jus' need fresh air..." he mumbled, trying to work out which one of the two doors he was seeing was right.
A cold chill suddenly ran through him, then a shudder of heat. It felt as though someone was literally playing with his very body, using every physical fiber against him. He had no idea he had hit the ground until he saw the rows and rows of feet, all lining up his vision. Somehow he managed to turn himself so he was on his back (or did someone else turn him there?), and he again tried to force this dizziness from him.
It did eventually leave, but not before he heard one final sound, atop the roaring in his ears, the uttering of the people, and the shouting of whoever was shouting.
He sat up, looking at everyone, before smiling an empty smile. "I must have eaten something bad earlier." he spoke, standing up. "I think I will head home to rest." he suddenly ran out the door, leaving behind all the people he knew would have asked if he should see a doctor or something. He had a vague notion he knew what it was, but he was not sure.
The moment he was out of the store, he rounded a corner, and felt the familiar buzz that was the mystery girl teleporting him away. She seemed a little concerned, but he wasn't bothered about that. He had more Sanctuaries to find, and this one would now have to wait until after the concert had passed through. As the two sceneries started to meld and fade, trying to be one another for those brief few seconds, he mulled over the sound he had heard.
The sound of a solitary female's giggle.

~~~~

Finally arriving on the other shore of Winters, Jeff wasn't entirely sure how to thank the lake-monster for its help. He did kind of already help it out by getting it out of its frozen cage in the first place, but the way the creature helped him out when it really didn't have to... and the way it trusted him, too... Jeff Andonuts... Tessie's first human friend.
Somehow that was touching.
Jeff hopped onto the shores by the old Brick Road Dungeon, and looked back at the creature in the waters. Unsure of how else to show his thanks, Jeff hugged the creature's nose as it reached down and nuzzled him. Their size was somewhat awkward, but their feelings were clear. They trusted each other. They cared what happened to one-another. And that felt good!
Finally the two said their goodbyes. Jeff called out his thanks, which was answered with a loud call, like a howl or a horn-siren. It was quite melodical. The genius felt honoured.
"What wonders there are around that creature..." Jeff sighed, "But I guess that kind of attitude is why Tessie doesn't trust humans... I just hope the water doesn't freeze over again."
"ook."
Jeff looked down and saw the one-and-only Bubble Monkey beside his foot. It's words had been something along the lines of [He'll be okay.]
Nodding, Jeff looked out at the waters again. "Tell me, is that the first time Tessie's taken a human on it's back without you beside it?"
The monkey pulled at a line of gum it had aquired from an unknown source and responded "ook.", which was roughly translated as [Something like that. Once before a Tessie rode with a human, but when that human disappeared, so did the Tessie Trust.]
Standing around obviously wasn't going to get anyone very far, Jeff decided. He turned to the hills that would take him past Brick Road's dungeon. "So there's more than one Tessie?"
"Ook." came the reply, meaning [At the moment there's only one, but there are some eggs for future Tessies. There used to be three at one time, but a Tessie Lifespan is about half of a human's own. When one dies, another is born, usually. The recent cold-spells from the old Giygas times has hit the eggs hard, though, and it's getting harder to evolve to the temperature. This Tessie was lucky, but it's already about half its life through.]
That made sense. "So these colder temperatures are stopping other Tessies from hatching. That's a real shame, there. But hey, does that mean Tessie trusts me because I saved those eggs?"
Bubble monkey got tired of walking and hopped onto Jeff's shoulder, "Oook." it sighed, [Probably. It's always been a little partial to you, anyway. But at the same time it can always make more eggs. I think it trusts you because you saved Tessie itself.]
The caves were approaching fast. A slight chill wafted from the cave, but Jeff froze. There had been some warm air, too. He hesitated, wondering if he'd get a chance to feel it again. A wind picked through, and slowly it filtered through the cave. Yes, there it was! There was a slight warm, then a slight cold! That made it seem colder than it really was.
"Ook?"
Jeff had almost gotten to walking again, then. He looked round at Bubble Monkey. "Say that again?"
"Ook." it reiterated. It was stating [Isn't there supposed to be a blizzard around here?]
Normal winds, perfectly fine grounds, clear air, little-to-no snow in the air. For a Country that had been hit by a blizzard, this was certainly very non-blizzard-like. He looked up. "Do you hear a plane?" he asked, pointing upward. Yes, there it was, a BetaPlane, the advancement to the aircraft, was soaring overhead, unaffected by this supposed Blizzard. He looked behind him, and saw the Blizzard catching up with them. Without a word he entered the cave, not particularly interested in getting more of the fake-snow over him.
Of course, now he was there, he could feel the heat emenating from further in the cave. Bubble Monkey hopped off Jeff's shoulder again and looked around warily.
"You can feel it too, huh?" Jeff looked down at his primate friend. "Try to stay out of sight." he ordered, wishing again that he'd been able to bring something better than his tempermental gun. It was not his favourite weapon in battle, when compared to something like, say, his Gaia Beam. Or was that comparison too high? Heck, even a Stun Gun was better than this...
Steeling himself for whatever was up ahead, Jeff made the journey into the cave. There were no enemies to block his path or cause him hassle, which was nice, so all he had to worry about was getting to the tall crevice and climbing it to the safety of Rainy Circle, and, a little further on, his father's lab. He could just about make out the little monkey scooting through the shadows at his own pace, sometimes getting distracted by interesting-looking rocks, shiny things, and interesting odours left on the walls. That, of course, was not of Jeff's concern. He set about getting to his destination, ready to hit anything that got in his way.
When he finally reached the tall cave, Jeff knew immediately something was wrong. He could hear figures shifting up by the Rainy Circle Sanctuary, where nobody should have been. Heck, everyone else had gone home! Then again, it could have been the Tessie Watchers, seeking refuge... no, the Official-Tessie-Boat was on the other side of the water, and these figures weren't talking in the slightest, like they intended to be as quiet and inconspicuous as possible; Jeff couldn't see the Tessie Watchers excersizing that caution. Though it could have been his father... no, he wouldn't stay very quiet, either. He still harboured some regret first introducing Ness to Dr.Andonuts, after that pant-wetting comment. He really wished his father had both considered Jeff's privacy, and taken into account the missing ten years Jeff had grown up in, and grown out of such... ordane habits.
This wasn't the time for that.
Carefully, Jeff began climbing the ropes, being as quiet as the climb would let him. He kept his senses wide-open, in case he caught any words that might have been an interest to him. First ledge: No words. Immediately he pressed his back to the wall and looked below to see if he could spot Bubble Monkey. He couldn't. That probably meant whoever was above couldn't, either. That was a relief. At least then he didn't have to worry about the little chimp. Looking up again, he tried to figure out who exactly was up there. Still no voices, still no hints. Frowning, Jeff began the second part of the climb.
As Jeff inched up the rope, he started making out almost-certain shapes. They were all definately humanoid, though definately not human. The shadows of the cave were hiding them well, but he was sure he recognised them from somewhere...
Before he could stop it, a chunk of rock dislodged from underneath Jeff's foot and tumbled noisily to the ledge below. As quiet as the... things had been before, all movement stopped, and it seemed suddenly a lot quieter. Jeff froze up, trying not to dislodge anything else. Red eyes scanned across the caves from the shadows, and now the blonde was more than sure he recognised them.
Starmen.
"There is a presence in the caves." One of the chrome robots declared, causing Jeff's gut to lurch. He couldn't escape the psychic robots, mostly because of their ability to teleport, though his current position wasn't much helping matters, either. Slowly he reached for his weapon, hoping that, for once, it could do its job.
Apparently the Starman had recieved some sort of message, as another spoke up "I'm now picking up a strong presence nearby. He needs to be found. Now."
Jeff didn't get much time to react before he heard the sound of Teleportation on the ledge under him. -Not good.- he winced, looking down at the Starman below, before looking up, and seeing another Starman, positioned above the rope. -This is bad.- he decided, then took into account their positions again, and put on amuch more determined expression.
The two Starman concentrated beams into their arms, keeping their eyes on the target. Jeff watched, waited... He really wondered how the enemy always seemed to end up doing this... the moment they fired, he swung to the side, letting both beams soar by. The two Starmen, alarmed, teleported.
... right into their own beams.
Jeff watched in amazement as the two Starman accidentally caught up with themselves in their bid for safety and actually got themselves in the process. This, plus their own lack of strength proved their downfall as Jeff fired at them and finished them off. He paused in shock, trying to figure out just what had happened that made them to that. He knew they could be a little... erratic, but never stupid like that.
His face hardened as he decided "Uncoordinated." and went to climbing again.
Another teleportation hit his ears and he looked back down, where a Starman with a dull-chrome colour stood, its tentacles folded.
"You're supposed to laugh." it told him, the voice impassive.
Jeff frowned and got ready to climb for safety, "Sorry, but I'm a little more choosy of my humor." he growled, and yanked at the rope, pulling himself higher.
The Starman began firing lazers, though they too seemed uncoordinated. Jeff felt a few hit him, and he had to admit they hurt. This wasn't any ordinary Starman, clearly. But not many beams actually hit him. In fact, some didn't even get close, going way too high to hit him--
His thoughts caught up with him only when he saw a lazer hit the top of the near-fried rope. His eyes widened in suprise and he turned to fire at the Starman, who just cocked its head to the side and fired the last lazer.
The sound of the lazer skimming by...
The sound of the gun-fire...
The sound of rope severing...
The sound of a shot bouncing uselessly off a Starman.
Jeff tumbled to the floor, feeling annoyed at himself for not noticing sooner. He hit the ground and rolled, his eyes widening as he almost flew off the other edge. His quick reflexes saved him from tumbling down another ledge and probably getting a lot more hurt as a result. He looked up as the Starman walked leisurely to the edge, watching him with its LED eyes, its tentacles folded once more.
"You should watch where you're falling." it told him, one of the metallic feet landing up on one of the hands supporting his weight. Slowly that foot came down, crushing Jeff's fingers.
Wincing, he gritted his teeth, "You... should watch who you're irritating!" he snapped, gripping his weapon in his other hand, and wincing.
The Starman didn't seem impressed. "Now you will fall again. Foolish." with that it kicked away Jeff's fingers, sending him off toward the ground below.
Only Jeff had a plan for his weapon. Now with both hands free and a few seconds to spare, Jeff hurled his weapon at the Starman with all his strength, sending the useless weapon hurting right into the Starman's screen.
"Wha--?!" it began, then buzzed off, and fell, useless. Jeff himself felt his legs hit the floor, but instead of crouching, like one's supposed to, the blonde propelled backwards, until he hit the wall. A little stunned, he stayed where he was for the moment, hazily watching Bubble Monkey blowing its bubble and doing its work. For a few seconds Jeff forgot what he was doing, and wondered why Bubble Monkey was repairing a perfectly good rope... Then his senses returned, and he began again up the ropes, a little faster this time.
"What a time to lose myself." Jeff grumbled, now even more annoyed at himself, "For all I know there could be more Starmen up there... I can't let my guard down..."
He reached the top and petted Bubble Monkey, glad that someone's priorities had been set straight around here. He stood up, then stopped. Bubble Monkey hadn't responded.
Slowly Jeff looked toward Rainy Circle, expecting something to jump out at him at any moment. Now he was pretty much defenceless, he was, for want of better wording, a little bit screwed.
"Ook." the monkey stated, saying exactly what was going through the paling blonde's head. Jeff just nodded, before grabbing the primate and making a dash for the exit.
After all, that was one heck of a lot of Starmen, there...

~~~~

Poo's Master, current ruler of Dalaam, didn't usually leave the safety of the Temple. His age and his role meant he was a target, regardless of his PSI and other important aspects that made him formiddable to anyone who crossed him. Besides all this, he barely found anything that actually intrigued him into leaving the Temple, anyway. If anything needed doing, Poo was usually around to be curious enough to take a peek, or there would be some hearsay from the Temple's maids. Thanks to all this, the things nobody thought he listened to, the things they felt were considered 'inane banter', he had his eyes all over Dalaam.
  However this particular day saw him leave the Temple, and not even with a guide, nor a bodyguard. He didn't need one. Not yet. There would be a time soon where such things would probably be neccessary, but this particular day, such was not the case. No, he was perfectly safe to wander through Dalaam, oblivious to the shocked and staring eyes, more intent on getting down to where the Rabbit Statues guarded Pink Cloud until just a year ago. Something down there had piqued his interests, and due to the nature of the incident, all eyes in Dalaam were blind to the event, and with Poo currently off trying to retrieve his lost PSI, that meant he would have to satisfy his own curiosity this time.
  His cane touched down just as a young man left the cave, on his way toward the training place of Mu. He apparently hadn't expected anyone to have seen him and was most alarmed, paralyzed by his own shock. His eyes were wide, staring straight at the old man, but unable to find it in him to do anything about it.
  Poo's master decided to spare him the embarrassement, "I see something interests you in the cave, boy." he spoke with confident tones, and completely unassuming. "Care to tell this old man what you found out?"
  The boy looked down guiltily, kicking at a few stones on the floor. "I didn't mean to cause you any trouble, sir. I simply grew curious and decided to take a peek."
"Sure is an awful long way to come take a peek, young one!" Poo's master laughed, settling himself on the floor, "You are not local to Dalaam, boy, this I know! Now, what caught your interest about Pink Cloud, our humble sanctuary?"
The boy looked at him, suprised at his knowledge. "You... you've got PSI, haven't you?"
  "I am one with Dalaam and it grants me its energy." Poo's master replied, "How I choose to channel it is my own desire. But you have not been blessed with this talent, nor have you aquired it over time, though I do sense a state of mind about you near-unachieveable by most. I believe it is known in the West as 'genius.' Am I right?"
  Seeing that this was not going to be done and dusted so quickly, the boy settled down as well, running a hand through his light hair. "True, I'm not a user of PSI. I actually got here through a gift presented by a... a friend of mine." the word didn't settle well on his tongue, "But I can't see this interesting you."
  Waving a hand Poo's master laughed "By all means, do go on! There must have been something intruiging in Pink Cloud for you to travel up to this quaint little Island, protected by the Gods of Wind, just to see what was interesting you!"
  The boy shifted slightly, "The Gods of Wind, Huang Tsu and Chou Te, right?" he got an affirmative nod and continued, "They were the Gods of Thunder and the Gods of Storm, correct? It is said that they created Pink Cloud to reside on, so they could watch over this ancient Island, and still spread their weather across the Winds of Earth. It was their resting place, to see that the God residing on this Island, sleeping under its surface, would remain at peace, and the God protecting the Island, the Demon of the Sky, would remain protecting the sleeping God. It has been mentioned that if the Sleeping God stirred, Huang Tsu would spread his lightning across the sky, to bring fear to the people for disturbing his rest."
  Poo's master nodded, having heard this legend and spoken it, passing it through the many generations, "Your knowledge of this event impresses me! For a non-native that is a wisdom seldom shown!"
The boy shook his head, "That's not self-taught, nor is it learned at a school. If ever you meet up with the group said to help fight this upcoming battle, tell him that the Sanctuaries will grant him the knowledge of the area. I believe you already know there are eight spots, right?"
  "Your tone tells me otherwise." Poo's master pointed out.
 This was correct, apparently, "There are sixteen in total. Only, I'm not sure if all of the points will be accessible anymore. But that's a bridge I'll cross when I come to it." he stood up and dusted off his jeans, "Thank you for your time, sir, but I really must be on my way. If this doesn't get done, great chaos will befall our Earth." he paused, "Again."
  Agreeable, Poo's Master decided. "Very well, very well." he sighed, standing himself, "I can only ask you to be careful on your mission, and to trust those who will present themselves as allies. You are never alone, young man, so you should not assume so!" he began again on his way to the Temple, to sit content in his discovery, "'Tis a wonderful thing, this 'friendship' we give ourselves! You should try it sometime! Perhaps then your burden will lighten, and your heart will open up again!"
Silenced, the young man only watched the Ruler walk back up to his home. Of course, the boy knew he'd just been speaking to a Monarch, only he hadn't expected the old one to be so curious and energetic, like a child. It was as if he wasn't getting on in age at all. One day the boy wanted that kind of happiness, and that freedom, but until then, he remembered his mission, and the heavy chains that wrapped his heart jangled again, in rythm to his jogging to the foot of the Place of Nothingness. After all, if he stuck around anymore, someone might have seen the tear he shed.
But that was his problem.

~~~~

At first there was nothing. Ones vision was darkened by the eclipse of eyelids, ones concentration was floating astray, ones hearing unfocused on the surroundings. Slowly the noises one was paying no heed to grew stronger as one began to focus not on nothing, but on everything. One's sense of touch intensified, and one again became aware of one's grip on one's weapon, the vibrations going through it from the rock upon which one sat, making one aware of how close one was to one's surroundings. Soon one could pinpoint which bird was making which noise, and even identify the unique and individual droplets of water that came from behind one's spot. The noises began to merge together to create a deafening canvas of sound, or nature, and just as suddenly as it became it was gone again. This new nothingness lasted a few minutes more, before opening up to the higher-state of Consciousness, starting with one's inner-Sanctuary.
"Hey, Poo?"
... And one lost it all again as one's attention was diverted. Everything that brought one to this state flew into reverse again, until one returned to being Poo of Dalaam, holding his weapon with a death-grip so as not to fall victim to mother nature's recent humor. He cast a helpless glance at Paula, "How may I help you?"
Paula smiled her kind smile and asked "What are you doing on a rock in the middle of Grapefruit Falls?"
Now came the tricky part: How did you explain to someone you had come to a most secluded area where you could be alone in your thoughts without drawing attention to the fact they had ruined that, without making them feel guilty? "Ah, you see..." he began, shifting uncomfortably, "The Mr.Saturns provided a great distraction from my meditations, so I came to a more... natural spot. To be one with nature."
Suddenly Paula's face fell. "Oh, no, " she murmured, "I've gone and distracted you, haven't I?"
It was Poo who felt guilty now, "Do not worry, it is not a major concern," he tried on a smile. Paula was extremely helpful and kind, and it just wouldn't be fair to make her feel bad for what was unintended. "I'm beginning to suspect someone doesn't want me meditating, anyway."
This didn't make things better, "There's been other incidents?"
"Do not fret," Poo smiled at her again, "This is simply an obstacle that I have to overcome." he gave her a confident look and tightened his fist, "And I shall not fail."
Now Paula seemed more convinced. "Okay, if you're sure." she looked around for a moment before asking "Hey, have you seen Pippi anywhere? I couldn't see her in the Valley and she wasn't in the kitchen."
Shrugging, Poo responded "I have not seen her since lunch, I am afraid. Surely she will be around somewhere."
Paula nodded slowly, then watched as the Prince returned to his meditation. Then she headed down Grapefruit Falls, toward the caves.
Poo could feel the water on his back, slowly getting closer, but he was determined to ignore it. He was going to do this. He closed his eyes and relaxed, letting all sense of self go.
At first there was nothing...

Paula could feel a life force now she was closer to the caves. It seemed mildly tense, though the blonde knew instantly it was the missing female. She continued down until the redhead came into sight. Briefly she wondered just what the girl was doing, since she had made it perfectly clear that she did not like the cave. What reason could she have for going near something she hated of her own violition?
When Pippi came into view, Paula had her answer: To throw rocks at it. Pippi had an armful of stones that she was throwing at the cave in annoyance. Paula was mildly confused by this, but decided she probably had a good reason. She came within a few meters of the girl before the latter turned, and the two girls were face to face. For a few minutes they were silent.
Finally Pippi dropped the stones. "So ask already." she mumbled.
Paula shook her head and came closer, taking the girl's arm gently. "Perhaps we should go back. The Mr.Saturns are getting worried about you."
The redhead looked at Paula for a few seconds, before pulling away and folding her arms, "You didn't ask! I know you want to ask so ask!"
"When we get back, okay? I think I need a coffee." Paula smiled wearily.
At first it looked like Pippi was going to refuse again with another tantrum, but then she sighed, "Okay," she replied, allowing herself to be led back through Grapefruit Falls to Saturn Valley.
On the way both girls stopped to look at the river. The waterfall looked as though it had bee tilted at an angle, specifically to get Poo, and the male was certainly doing his darndest to ignore it. The two girls looked on appraisingly, before continuing on into the valley. Only a few seconds after they had entered the cave, the waterfall treated the Prince to a full-on shower, bringing down a rain of debris dislodged by the power of the water. With a shower of sticks and stones smacking against him he couldn't help but stop to call up a power shield, grumbling about Mother Nature's sick humor.
Finally the teenagers made it to the cafe, where Pippi proclaimed to make coffees while Paula sat down, watching the girl who seemed prone to mood swings. When the two were finally sat down, Paula asked the inevitable question, "Why were you throwing rocks at the cave, Pippi?"
The freckled one slouched in her own chair, "I'm afraid of zombies." she replied, then added, "And ghosts. Ghosts, too."
Nodding understandingly Paula prompted "But why throw rocks at the cave?"
"The Mr.Saturns told me about that cave." Pippi said, and then the explanation began, "And they told me about Threed. They told me all about the zombie invasion and the trouble caused. Who would have guessed, of all the towns I move into, I choose the one infested with zombies!"
Paula put a soothing hand on the girl's shoulder, "The invasion is over, now, and the zombies are gone. There's nothing to worry about, now."
Shifting a little, Pippi looked into her coffee. "It was a few years ago when I developed my fear," she explained, "My hometown had become overrun with ghosts and zombies. Back then I was reckless and decided to prove I wasn't afraid. So I went to the graveyard. Everything was fine at first, I was wondering around, everything was normal... and then... I was grabbed from behind. There was a whole mob of zobies, all decaying and gross. They dragged me into an old tomb. I was terrified." she bit her lip and forced back tears, "They were saying things, doing things... I couldn't fight. I was forced into a musty coffin. It was dark and smelly and I could hear the scraping of the dead guys as they did who-knows-what to the coffin. I don't know how long I was in there, but... My friend came along and freed me. I owe him for that. He had come into the graveyard, looking for me, to take me home. He beat back the zombies and helped me get home again. I've been afraid of dead things ever since."
The blonde had been quiet all the way through the story, listening to this brave girl describing her experience. She knew she could relate, but Paula had faced her fear, and so wasn't really afraid of zombies anymore. But she knew how it felt to be kidnapped and trapped by the dead, waiting for the moment they would come back to do... whatever it was they planned to do. If Paula hadn't had her PSI...
"I think," Paula swallowed, her mouth feeling terribly dry, "I think I can relate to that." she whispered.
At first nobody spoke, and the blonde worried she had said the wrong thing. Then she felt a hand on hers and looked up into Pippi's eyes, which sparkled with trust and hope and tears, which Pippi held back, at least long enough to say "Thank you."

~~~~

Someone was knocking on the door.
Apple Kid looked up, trying to decide if he was really hearing it or not. It sounded like tapping and scraping all at once, like something was trying to claw its way through the thick metal door into the sanctity of the lab. It was an eerie sound in itself, but the chubby inventor couldn't help but think there was something significant and important he was currently forgetting that made this knocking both illogical and impossible. What was it again? Oh, yes, there was currently a raging blizzard outside that was too cold to be out in and so thick it covered the front door.
... No, logic wasn't making it go away. Apple Kid looked over to the monitor connected to the outside camera. Nothing but white. There would have been no way to tell if anyone was out in the cold or not, so there was only one other solution: Ask Dr.Andonuts. "Doctor?" the inventor called.
The kindly scientist looked up from his studying of the rock structure, looking at Apple Kid like he had come out of a long, deep trance. "Hmm?" he hummed inquiringly.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you tell me earlier the snow was so thick it covered your door and nothing would be able to penetrate it to reach the entrance to the lab?" Apple Kid asked.
Dr.Andonuts nodded in confirmation, "That is indeed correct." he answered, then went back to work.
Much as Apple Kid wanted to be comforted by this, the knocking on the door was still there, and another concern had now arisen: if there was snow covering the entryway, why was the camera showing white and not black indicating it was covered. He had to put a hold on his next question to recall Dr.Andonuts' attention. "Doctor?"
"Hello?" the scientist asked looking up in the same manner as before. Apple Kid was used to this; the doctor often got so wrapped up in his work it would seem like hours had passed, even if it had only been a few minutes.
Apple Kid looked at the door nervously. "Someone's knocking on the door."
Dr.Andonuts didn't answer immediately. He looked like he was putting two-and-two together but only getting twenty two as the forthcoming answer. He looked at the monitor, then at the door, before doing a double-take to the monitor again and then looking around the room in general. "It doesn't sound too big," he muttered, mostly to himself, "Perhaps we'll be okay if one of the-- Ah! Paula!"
Said blonde froze where she had been halfway in the Phase Distorter. She had only come to use the restroom, since Pippi was in the Mr.Saturn one. "Hello?" she asked warily.
Apple Kid smiled in relief. "Thank goodness you're here." he spoke, "something's knocking on the door and we're not sure what and we need somebody to check for us in case its dangerous."
Paula blinked. "Isn't there a blizzard outside?"
"We're well aware of the illogicality behind it all," Dr.Andonuts agreed, standing up, "Its supposed to be highly highly unthinkable, if not impossible."
Looking at the door Paula suggested "Have you tried finding out what it is? Its probably an animal looking for shelter or a stray caveman."
Face lighting up, Apple Kid declared "That's an idea!" he walked over to the door and called out "I'm afraid we can't open the door right now! Come back when the weather--"
Suddenly he was interrupted by a much larger, louder thump of impatience, as though whomever was outside was not amused and wouldn't wait any longer. The tone of the thud spoke in a way that the trio recognised almost immediately, leaving them no guesses as to who was outside the door during a blizzard. Immediately Apple Kid threw open the door and gasped in suprise as a frozen and injured bleeding and bruised body tumbled in and collapsed on the floor. This figure was followed by a much smaller figure that limped inside, chattering away in its own little language as it tended to its own rather serious looking wounds. The larger figure curled in on itself, gritting his teeth and clenching his eyes shut in pure agony.
Paula jumped into action, kneeling by the two frozen figures. "Shut the door, quick!" she ordered, pulling the head of her injured friend up into her arms. While he didn't complain, the boy did hiss in pain.
"What is going--" Poo stopped where he had just stepped out of the Phase distorter, much for the same reason Paula had. The moment he saw the scene lay out in front of him he ran over, picking up the injured blonde carefully from Paula's grip, "Jeff," he gaped, "What happened to you?"
Jeff Andonuts, still seriously injured and barely conscious, just about managed to open his eyes. "S-Starmen..." he breathed, "T-there were Starmen... outside..." when he caught sight of Poo he frowned. Before he could voice any questions, pain shot through his broken body, sending him reeling into unconsciousness.
Poo lifted Jeff completely off the ground, then looked at Paula, who was picking up Bubble Monkey, "We need to get these two to Dr.Saturn at once."
Looking a little out-of-place, Apple Kid asked "Is there anything we can do?" he motioned to himself and Dr.Andonuts.
A moment of consideration later Poo answered "Chech there are no other Starmen outside the lab. It will not do if we have rogue Starmen out where we can't get them, where they have the advantage." then he carried Jeff through the Phase Distorter, yelling out to Pippi to start preparing Life Noodles.
Given the urgency of the situation, Paula didn't much hesitate, but as she walked through the warp she muttered under her breath "This'll be something to tell Ness when he comes back..."

TO BE CONTINUED
~~~~

Author's notes: Okay, at the end of 2004, this wasn't entirely ready. Sorry it took so long, guys! I'm... (three, four...) out by four months, but anyone who is even mildly aware of my situation will understand that jobs and other... issues... held me back. I'm not feeling so bad about this chapter anymore, though I guess it could have come out a little better. But working so many hours (and not getting paid for it, the gits...) on such an awkward scale stops my creative processes running at the right time. Heaven forbid should a job get in the way of leisure! ;)
Anyway, chapter 5 is here, now (so stop crying!), and chapter 6 is underway. Hope you like this chapter, I don't think number 6 will be as long, and hopefully will come out a lot quicker.
Ja ne!
~~SS