EarthBound 200X Chapter 9: God in the Machine

By Flying Zamboni 2

Pokey sat smiling on his throne surrounded by the four remaining members of the Royal Guard as the massive computer system before him was switched on for the first time. Various technicians covertly brought in from various labs in Winters sat at the flashing controls. The numerous screens displayed everything from security footage to machine statistics. One of the screens labeled "Security and Weapons Control" showed a room with even more computers being activated.

Cain sat in a corner, watching all of this with a bemused grin while bouncing a ball against the back of a terrified servant's head, "Is it almost time boss?"

Pokey nodded, "Yes, just waiting on the final word from my man in the field."

The throne room's doors slowly swung open and Koga walked in.

Pokey's smile widened in anticipation, "So what's the word my friend?"

Koga shot Pokey a look that could cleave diamonds, "I am many things, but I am not your friend."

Cain giggled as the man he was using as an impromptu wall began to shiver in fear.

Koga continued, "The Chosen Four have made contact with Rashal's forces."

Pokey raised an eyebrow, "And?"

Cain began to bounce the ball faster in excitement as the man before him closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on keeping still.

"Poo has made contact with Jin, Polestar and Andonuts are currently in a combat situation with Rashal while Ness is in pursuit. The victory of the Chosen Four appears imminent."

Pokey clapped his hands, "Excellent. All goes according to plan."

A look of confusion came over Koga's face, "I'd have thought that you would be upset."

He gave a laugh, "Not at all! I never expected the Royal Guard to be able to take down the Chosen Four; I want that honor all to myself! Rashal was meant to be merely a distraction while I have Cain move in with the invasion force."

Cain increased the bounce speed yet again as the man began to sweat profusely, "Is it time then?"

Pokey laughed and snorted, "Yes! Teleport the troops into the center of Onett and do your thing! I'll handle the rest."

The man in front of Cain couldn't stop himself any longer, he sneezed. In a moment of horror, the man saw the ball zoom over his head and hit the far wall as he bent over. Cain was up in an instant and backhanded the side of the man's head.

Cain gave the downed man a kick in the side, "Don't ever make me miss you scum!"

Cain extended his hand and charged it with PSI Fire. Pokey pulled out the small device made from the Devil's Machine with a sigh and pushed the button.

"Now now Cain, let's not kill that servant, he's the one that brings me chocolate. If you must kill someone just take out a villager or something."

To Pokey's shock, Cain clenched his fist and turned around. He was visibly in pain, yet somehow able to move. Cain managed a grin and began to slowly walk toward Pokey, hand outstretched.

Pokey started to panic and began to repeatedly slam the device into the throne's armrest while frantically muttering, "Work, work, work, work!"

Cain's hand hovered inches from the device when suddenly he grunted and collapsed onto the ground.

Pokey relaxed and looked down at his squirming form, "We will discuss this little outbreak later! Until then, I expect you to go out there and do your job! Do you understand?"

Cain spat on the ground.

"I'll take that as a yes," the false king of Dalaam once again pushed the button and Cain's pain subsided, "Now get out of here."

Cain stood up and shot his master a dirty look as he left the room.

Pokey looked at the device in his hand, "He's even begun to adapt to the Devil's Machine. He's too much of a risk to keep around for too much longer."

Koga looked at the door Cain had gone through, "If you wish for me to kill him, then I will. He is the only target I would willingly accept from you."

"Sweet of you but no. He is still much too important to me at this stage; I will deal with him after my goals have been accomplished. Now, go back out there and report back to me once Pig's Butt and his little friends have beaten Rashal. I have to prepare myself for later."

Koga nodded and walked out of the throne room. The only other time that the young man had felt this powerless was after Halibur died. All of the wheels were turning and there was nothing he could do to stop them.

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The people of Onett had lived through an invasion before, and this time they were prepared. When the hundreds of gleaming starmen appeared in the center of Onett, the citizens instantly boarded up their windows and armed themselves with whatever they had on hand. Cain smiled at this and began to walk through the streets of downtown Onett as the starmen remained motionless.

He shouted to the populace in hiding, "Ladies and gentlemen of Onett, as I've been informed, you have all experienced this sort of thing last year. Let me assure you that this time, the situation is completely different. This time you are not being invaded for strategic purposes. This time the motivations behind the attack are completely driven by emotion."

As Cain continued walking, flames spread out along the grass and pavement from his feet, "This time there are to be no survivors."

Cain stopped and raised his right hand into the air while grinning madly, "ALL UNITS ATTACK!"

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The Chosen Four solemnly sat in the unmoving car with Matthews as he explained the situation, "The attack began almost immediately after you arrived in Threed. The assault was led by the escaped convict Cain Haroldson. The army consists entirely of the advanced combat machines encountered last year in that region; the starmen."

Ness looked at Matthews intensely, "What was the target?"

Matthews continued, "From what our surveillance planes could gather before being shot down, the city is rapidly burning and the citizens have armed themselves best that they can."

Ness grabbed him by the shoulders, "What was the target?!"

"Onett."

Ness immediately kicked the door of the car open and began to step out of the car. Poo quickly grabbed him while Jeff reached over and shut the door.

"LET ME OUT!"

Poo grabbed him by shoulders and shook him, "And just what do you intend to do huh?! How do you think I feel? My entire kingdom has gone out of control right underneath my feet! I understand your sense of urgency but right now we need to listen to what this man has to say!"

Ness relaxed and looked down at the floor, "You're right Poo. I'm sorry Matthews, go on."

"Thank you. I was asked to make contact with you because in his statement, the king of Dalaam said that if you four were gathered for a live discussion, he would begin to talk of a cease fire."

Ness scoffed, "And you believed him?"

"Of course not. We currently have Eagleland's three best military units en route to Onett and the air force is standing by in case the talks go sour. We have decided to humor him on the off chance that he was being sincere. Do you four understand all of this?"

They all nodded.

"Good, then without further delay..."

Matthews flipped a switch on a nearby panel. A screen slid up revealing a built in television. Matthews turned a few knobs and the screen lit up, revealing the smiling face of Poo's old master.

"Why hello everyone. I'm so glad that the Eagleland government has decided to comply with me request and bring you four darling children along for this conference."

Poo nearly stood up in the car, "Why are you doing this? This isn't like you!"

The king began to stroke his chin, "'Isn't like me?' Well have you ever considered that maybe I'm not me?"

"What do you mean?"

The king chortled, then began to giggle, and finally he snorted. Ness's eyes widened in shock as he began to remember someone he'd tried to forget about who shared that laugh. The king pulled out a small device and pressed a button. His image shimmered for a moment before being replaced with the grinning face of Pokey Minch.

"That's right kiddos I've been-"

Ness slammed his fist against the door, "Pokey you stupid sack of lard, what in God's name are you doing?!"

"Shut up and let me finish Ness! With you it's always, 'Ness, Ness, Ness!' Well it's me time now okay!"

Poo jumped in, "What have you done with my master?"

"Oh him, I killed him ages ago. I took his place with my nifty hologram machine and have been pulling the strings ever since!"

Matthews sat back in his chair and put his hand over his forehead, "Do you mean to tell me that the Eagleland government has been trying to negotiate with a child?"

"Yes, but please refer to me as 'Master Pokey' from now on."

Ness spoke up again, his voice barely masking his anger, "But I don't understand, how did you even get back here? The last time I ever saw you was years in the past!"

Pokey chortled, "Well why don't you come on up and ask me yourself? Cain's in Onett so the psychic shield is down."

Matthews shot up, "Wait! What about the cease fire agreement?"

"Oh yeah, that. I lied. I really only wanted to see the look on Ness's face when he found out that I'm behind all of this. Oh, I also wanted to show you this."

The screen suddenly switched to a shot of Dalaam suspended in the air.

Pokey's voice could still be heard, "Now, watch closely."

The island began to shake and pieces of land began to slowly slide off and fall from the bottom. As the island began to settle down a faint twinkle of metal could be seen where the rocks and dirt had once been. With a loud mechanical sound the metal began to extend from the island, revealing it to be in shape of a large hollow cylinder. It looked like a cannon.

Poo could barely speak, "Wh-what have you done?"

Pokey barely suppressed his giggles, "It's very simple really, I've mined into the core of the island and built a cannon. I call it the 'Giygas Cannon.' I've also found a way to install computers into the island's core itself, allowing me to move it to where I want it. But don't worry, I'm not over you, I want to kill you in person."

Matthews stared at the cannon in disbelief, "But I don't understand, we would have picked you up on our radar."

"Oh please, if I can move an island, I can build a cloaking device. Now look out your window, do you see that little dot way up there, just over the Threed-Twoson tunnel?"

For the first time, Matthews began to really panic, "B-but that's where our troops are right now!"

"I know! Funny how that works huh? I even put a camera down there so that you can see what happens."

The screen switched to a split view of both the cannon and the massive amount of troops moving through the tunnel. With the sound of a great intake of air, the inside of the Giygas Cannon began to glow red. Suddenly it emitted a loud noise that could be heard for miles as a large crimson beam rocketed out of cannon barrel. Clouds parted as the beam screamed toward the ground. The troops looked up in terror for only a moment before the end came. Tremors shook the earth as the weapon slammed into the Threed-Twoson tunnel. The screen segment displaying the troops flared red for a moment before going blank. The shockwave from the blast blew the car back a few feet as the windows in nearby buildings shattered.

Miles away in Onett the fighting stopped for a moment as the people looked to the east to see the bright glare coming from the Threed area. It persisted for a moment before fading away into nothing.

Back in the car, the blank screen soon switched to a shot displaying a massive one mile crater where the tunnel had once been.

The screen switched back to Pokey, "Wonderful isn't it? I'm going to fire again upon a major city in one hour. Give me control of everything by that time or I will wipe you all from existence. And by the way Ness, I'm looking forward to your visit!"

Pokey quickly bent over in front of the camera and spanked his behind while laughing insanely. Ness let out a scream of anger and threw hit bat at the television, destroying it.

Matthews leaned forward and put his head in his hands, "Good Lord..."

Poo spoke in a quiet voice, "Impossible. He's turned my country into a weapon."

Ness took charge, "Matthews, how long until more troops arrive in Onett?"

"With the tunnel destroyed, three hours."

The leader of the Chosen Four nodded gravely, "I see. In that case, we'd better head out. Good luck on your end Matthews."

Matthews, a million miles away, nodded weakly as the four young people stepped out of the car.

Jeff looked at Ness, "What are we going to do?"

"I think that we're going to have to split up. Some of us are going to have to go to Onett and some of us are going to have to go to Dalaam and stop Pokey."

Paula spoke up, "I'm going to Onett. Cain is there."

Ness nodded, "I figured as much. As much as I want to personally punch Pokey's face in, I'm going to help you in Onett. My family is more important."

Poo nodded in agreement, "Yes that makes sense. As I'm sure you assumed I'm going to Dalaam. Maybe I can talk some sense into Koga. What about you Jeff?"

"Well, it makes the most sense for me to go with you to Dalaam. I'm going to see if I can disable that cannon. Can you take me back to Winters first Poo? I need to grab some equipment first."

"Not a problem."

Ness sighed, "Well I guess it's settled then. Good luck everybody."

Poo looked up at the tiny dot in the sky, "Yes, may we all meet again alive and well."

Without another word, Poo and Jeff teleported away.

Paula grabbed Ness's arm, "Let's go."

Ness looked down at the young girl who used to be so cheerful and happy. He looked now and only saw that the light that was once Paula Polestar was quickly being obscured by a great darkness.

"Paula, don't let him kill you."

She gave him a funny look, "Well I didn't plan on it."

"That's not what I meant and you know it! Don't let him kill who you are! Please don't let him win."

Paula stared forward silently for a moment, "Let's go."

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Cain had driven the now armed citizens from the city and into the forest that lay before the hills of Onett. He stood at the front of a squadron of starmen at the edge of the forest. Some of the starmen randomly opened fire into the trees only to be met with a barrage of bullets, taking some of the cold machines down.

Cain sighed, "Well screw this. I really don't feel like resorting to guerilla warfare this early in the week. It's really more of a Friday afternoon type of thing."

He thought for a moment before a wide grin broke out across his face, "I guess I'll just have to burn it!"

The mad general of the Dalaam army snapped his fingers and twenty trees suddenly burst into flames. However within seconds the bright orange flames were quickly replaced by the blue ice of PSI Freeze. Cain began a low chuckle as he looked to his right to see that Paula had arrived. Ten starmen simultaneously opened fire at the young girl. The lasers were negated by her psychic shield as she summoned PSI Thunder to annihilate her attackers.

Cain clapped his hands and chuckled, "Hold your fire guys, go play in the woods for awhile."

The machines didn't budge.

Cain sighed, "God you guys are so literal, it's not healthy. Go into the forest and kill kill kill! It's why your here!"

As the starmen moved into the forest, lasers firing, the madman turned to Paula, "Jesus, it's so tough to find people who appreciate a little humor in the workplace. Now Miss Polestar, I'm so glad that you could make it to the party! How's the family dear?"

Paula gave a rage filled scream and sent out a psychic blast that caused Cain to slide back several feet. Without any movement whatsoever, Cain countered with a blast that knocked Paula on her back. Paula fired off a blast of PSI Freeze only to be negated and then overpowered by Cain's fire. Paula mentally picked up a downed starmen and used it as a shield against the fire flying toward her. The flames were deflected by the machine's metallic body as Paula slowly walked ever closer to her enemy. As she came within feet of him, Cain was forced to stop his assault to avoid burning himself. The lack of opposing force caused the starmen to rocket forward and smash into Cain's body, sending him flying back. He quickly got up and shattered the starmen's remains into hundreds of tiny pieces of sharp metal with a thought. They hovered before him for a moment before he sent them racing toward Paula. She quickly entrapped the shards in her shield and sent the spiky projectile back at Cain. The spiked object connected with Cain's shield and shattered into nothing.

Cain laughed, "You caught me off guard with your little robot trick. It won't happen again," Cain suddenly touched his ear and fell silent for a moment, "Aw, can't it wait Boss? I'm just starting to have fun! Oh all right, I'll humor you."

He removed his hand and lifted into the air, "I'm sorry Miss Polestar, but the fat kid upstairs has just given me some specific orders, I'll be back in a sec."

Cain flew over the forest and toward the hills laughing, Paula in hot pursuit on the ground below.

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Jeff and Poo cautiously walked up the eerily silent streets of Dalaam. Brief flashes of worried eyes could be seen peering between the boards that had been placed in the windows of homes. Jeff now wore a long coat with a backpack slung over his shoulder, picked up during the duo's brief stop over in Winters. As they neared the palace, there was still no sign of any sort of defenses.

Poo had his hand on his sword, "I don't like this."

"Well that chubby kid seemed to want us to come here, maybe we'll just have to deal with him and Koga."

The two young men reached the front doors of the palace. Jeff slowly reached for the door handle.

Poo grabbed his arm, "Wait."

The prince closed his eyes and concentrated, "I can sense the presence of a large mass of objects inside the entrance chamber. No life force detected. I can only guess that they are starmen planning on ambushing us."

Jeff drew his gun, "Alright then, I'll cause a distraction, you head for the throne room. We only have an hour to stop him and we can't both waste time on just the outer defenses."

Poo nodded and then gave Jeff a second look, "I sense that you are uneasy about using that weapon again. Is this about Rashal?"

Jeff nodded.

"I can only imagine how you must feel, having taken a human life. But you must not destroy yourself with guilt. Ness was right; you did what you had to do."

Jeff took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, "I keep telling myself that, yet I can't help but think that maybe there was something else I could have done!"

"Do not start second guessing yourself. You know that it was him or the girl. Just remember that the machines inside are not living beings."

Jeff put on his glasses and let out a long, heavy, sigh, "Yeah, you're right. Let's start this then."

Jeff slowly creaked open the door by just a crack. He immediately sat down and reached into his backpack for an invention that he hadn't used in weeks. Inside of the entrance chamber, fifty starmen readied their lasers as a sliver of light filled the room. A small whirr could be heard from the crack in the door as a small metallic Mr. Saturn waddled into the room, its ribbon spinning as it walked. The small machine suddenly stood still, its ribbon still spinning. The starmen charged their lasers as the ribbon slowed, and then stopped.

"BOING!"

The Mr. Saturn Bomb exploded, sending out smoke and shards of metal that took down a few starmen. The palace's double doors flew open as Jeff ran inside, firing two guns into the group of machines. Poo darted past him and directly past the starmen, slicing a few in half with his sword as he did so. As he passed through the door into the throne room entrance hall, he gave one last worried glance at Jeff.

Poo closed the door behind him and quietly walked through the golden hall, his sword drawn. He suddenly spotted a golden statue that he'd never noticed before. Without warning, he sent out a blast of Starstorm at the immobile object. In a puff of smoke the mirror effect dissipated and Koga leapt out of the way of the blast, narrowly avoiding it. He landed in front of the throne room door and held his scythe out in an attack stance.

Poo sheathed his sword, "Did you really think that trick would work?"

"Not really, but I figured that I could give it a try."

"Why not just let me pass?"

Koga's voice became regretful, "I can't allow that."

"There is no reason for us to be fighting Koga! I know that you do not truly follow Pokey!"

"You are partially correct, I do not wish to follow Pokey. But I do have every reason to fight you."

Poo fell silent for a moment, "Does he have Kara?"

Koga's stance faltered for a moment, "Yes, yes he does. He will kill her if I disobey him or fail in my missions."

"Where is he keeping her? We can stop him together!"

Poo's childhood friend shook his head, "No. He has me constantly monitored; any disobedience and the cage he keeps my sister in will be destroyed with her inside."

"It doesn't have to come to this!"

"You are incorrect."

Koga jumped into the air, his scythe spinning above his head.

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Meanwhile Jeff was leaning up against one of the many stone pillars in the entrance chamber. The starmen fired constantly at the stone, chipping it away little by little. Jeff glanced at the far end of the room at a small steel door marked "Security and Weapons Control." He reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a Multi Bottle Rocket. He lit the fuse and quickly rolled out from behind the pillar, aiming the bottle rockets as he did so. They fired with a bang and decimated a row of starmen. Jeff was up in a flash, sprinting across the room, firing rapidly. A laser shot through the air and hit Jeff's left arm, causing him to drop his gun and fall face first into the ground. The starmen took aim and fired just as Jeff rolled away and threw a bomb. The starmen scattered as the bomb tore apart their ranks. They immediately regrouped and rejoined the offensive as Jeff neared the door. As the new volley of lasers left the starmens' hand cannons, Jeff turned around quickly and activated his Shield Generator. The machine whirred to life and a dark red shield appeared in front of the boy. However the shield could not withstand the laser onslaught and shattered, causing a few shots to take Jeff out at the knees.

Jeff screamed in pain as he fell to the floor. He desperately crawled closer to the door, firing wildly behind him. The starmen edged ever closer as a near suicidal idea dawned on Jeff. He lurched himself forward, just avoiding another attack. He landed hard against the steal door. Jeff pulled out a small code breaking device and set it up against the door's electronic lock. As the device entered hundreds of possible combinations per second, the starmen drew ever nearer. Jeff fired upon his attackers with one hand and fired bottle rockets with the other. As the starmen began to dodge his attacks and ready their guns, the code breaker gave off a faint click, indicating that the door was open. Using all of his strength, Jeff rose to his feet and grasped the door handle. The starmen fired, hitting him multiple times in the back. Jeff let out an adrenaline filled cry as he threw his backpack into the middle of the room and shot it. The bag caught on fire just as he slammed the door behind him. Their target out of their programmed range of protection, the starmen ceased firing and turned to look at the bag for a few moments in silence, analyzing it closely. Suddenly the bottle rockets and bombs in the bag ignited, sending massive amounts of fiery destruction everywhere.

Jeff gave a weak smile as he watched the starmen being annihilated through one of the security room's surveillance cameras. A moment of pain spread through his body and his step faltered for a moment before he sat down and began to hack into a nearby computer. After a few moments, a screen popped up reading, "Giygas Cannon Controls." Jeff smiled triumphantly as he began to find the deactivation command. Suddenly a nearby door opened and Pokey himself walked in, smiling calmly.

"Why hello there Donut Boy!"

"How did you know that I was in here? My code breaker is undetectable!"

"The last transmission from my starmen captain said that you had headed in here. Sorry, but I can't let you destroy my new toy."

Jeff said nothing and quickly drew his Gaia Beam. He put his finger on the trigger when the image of Rashal's body flashed into his mind. He froze for just a moment as his feelings of guilt rushed back into him. It was only a fraction of a second, but it gave Pokey the time he needed to pull his gun and fire directly into Jeff's chest. He coughed and slowly slumped out of his chair and onto the floor. He fell silent.

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Cain touched down on Ness's front yard. The citizens of Onett could be heard fighting the starmen in the forest. He smiled as he began to hear more human screams than mechanical explosions. Cain let down his shield as he walked toward the small home; he liked to feel his victims' feeble attempts at retaliation as he finished them.

With a grin a mile long, Cain kicked in the door to Ness' home, "Who wants to have some fun!"

Cain's eyes widened as he was met with the hateful glare of Ness, standing protectively in front of his family. Before he could put his shield up, Cain was hit full force by a blast of PSI Rockin'. The mad killer was rocketed out of the front door and back into the forest. Paula was waiting for him. As he neared her, she outstretched her hands and stopped Cain with her shield. Cain screamed in pain as the sudden stop felt like hitting a brick wall. Paula lifted him into the air and threw him at a nearby tree. Cain regained his composure just in time and blasted the tree away just before hitting it. He landed neatly on his feet and uprooted three trees from the ground. They hovered around him for a moment before he launched them at Paula. She extended her hands and sent out a blast of PSI Fire that incinerated the trees into ash before they could reach her. She immediately followed up with a blast of ice. Cain's shield negated the blast.

He laughed and lifted Paula off of the ground, "Miss Polestar, you should take great pleasure in knowing that through your death I will be made infinitely happier. That's what you like to do isn't it? Make people happy?"

"Yeah, but lately, I've been acting a bit more selfish than usual."

Paula raised her hand into the air and the ground beneath Cain suddenly lifted into the air. He released his psychic grip on Paula as he lost balance and fell over. Paula began to run at full speed toward the city. Cain stood up, infuriated. Trees burst into flames behind him as behind him as he flew in pursuit of his enemy.

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Ness finished his blast of PSI Rockin' and turned back to his family, "Are you guys okay?"

Ness's mother hugged Tracy and nodded, "Yes, we've dealt with this type of thing before dear. I only hope that your father is safe. He hasn't called."

"Well call me crazy but I think that the phone lines are down. Besides, I think that this place is the only target so far, so he's probably safe in his office in Fourside."

His mother got up and hugged him, "Oh I was so worried, all of this has happened so fast!"

"I know Mom, but don't worry okay. I'm going to teleport you guys to Dad's office in Fourside. Let's step outside and I'll take you there, I'll explain more once we get there."

They nodded and together with King, followed him outside. Ness prepared to teleport but was stopped by the sound of someone calling his name. He looked over to see that Picky was running toward him, carrying a golf club for self defense, it was slightly bent due to recent use.

"Picky? Are you okay? Where are your parents?"

A look of panic came over his face, "They, they hopped in the car and drove off without me as soon as the attack started. Man I don't understand what's going on! I heard that these guys came from Dalaam, what'd we ever do to them?"

Ness opened his mouth, prepared to tell Picky who was really behind this, but stopped himself, "I have no idea. But don't worry; I'm going to stop it."

King suddenly started barking. Ness turned to see that two starmen had emerged from the woods and were aiming their guns at Ness's family. Ness's mother protectively stood in front of Tracy. Ness leapt forward and bashed one of the starmen over the head with his bat. The second starmen turned to Ness, only to be met with a golf club to the visor. Tracy screamed, A third starman had come out of the woods and was quickly approaching. Ness raised his hand to blast it, but the silver murder machine was too close. Ness and Picky began to run toward it, but they weren't fast enough. The only word running through Ness's mind was "no" repeated over and over again.

"HOO-HAAA!"

A well built man wielding a shovel suddenly leapt out from behind the nearby trees. He batted the starman onto the ground and then severed the lump that comprised its "head" with the point of the shovel.

Ness was overjoyed, "Lier?"

Lier X. Aggerate turned to Ness and gave him a wide grin, "Howdy Ness!"

Ness almost hugged his family's savior, but decided against it remembering how much garlic the man ate.

He settled for a handshake, "I can't begin to thank you enough!"

"Oh it was nothing, although I must admit that I've taken out at least twenty, nay, forty of the beasts! If you must thank someone, thank the massive amounts of manly garlic that I shovel down."

"Uh, yeah. Thank God for garlic then. I'm in a bit of a hurry though; I'm taking my family and Picky to Fourside. Do you want to come with?"

Lier smacked him on the back and gave a hearty laugh, "No, no! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself! Combat runs in my family! Did I ever tell you that my cousin Eddie was a mercenary? Died on the job the poor jerk!"

Ness's mother tapped him on the shoulder, "Ness honey, we should get going. Thank you again Mr. Aggerate."

"Think nothing of it ma'am. Just doing my manly duty! Say, would you like to go out to dinner some time?"

"No-thanks-I'll-see-you-some-other-time-thanks-again!"

Ness quickly grabbed his family and Picky and teleported to Fourside.

Lier looked at the forest where that battle for Onett was being fought and grinned, "Oh yes, I am the master of manliness."

He raised his shovel in the air and jumped into the fray.

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Fourside was a ghost town. Businesses had shut down for the day and the street vendors had been deserted as soon as news of the invasion had broken out. The only business still running was that of Ness's father.

Ness hugged his mother in front of the APE building, "Just stay here with dad all right? I'd come in and say hello to him myself but time is running short."

"Okay honey, just be careful. I just wish that you would tell me what was going on in more detail."

Ness grinned, "I'll tell you all about it when I get back okay?"

She nodded and began to usher Tracy into the building, "I love you son."

"I love you to mom."

Ness wished that he could have said something more to his family as he knew that this could be the very last time that he ever saw them. He tried to think of what the hero would say in this situation, but could think of nothing but the basics. Inspiring last words always seem to appear in one's mind just a moment too late.

Ness took a deep breath and prepared to leave but was stopped by Picky, standing behind him, "It's Pokey isn't it?"

It wasn't really a question, but a statement.

"I understand why you didn't want to tell me earlier, but I can tell. I just have a feeling you know."

Ness knelt down and put his hand on Picky's shoulder, "You're right, it is your brother. But don't beat yourself up over it. Pokey has caused all of his own problems in life; you've been the best younger brother you could be."

"Do you really mean that?"

"Every word. Come on, you're one of the coolest kids I know! Now head on inside and don't worry too much about it. Everything is going to be all right."

Picky nodded and thanked him before running inside to join the others.

Ness got back on his feet and spoke to himself, "Now that was much more inspiring, if I do say so myself."

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Captain Strong ran through the forest at speeds he did not know that he could reach. He was out of ammunition and the remaining members of the Onett P.D. weren't doing much better. He stopped in a small clearing, out of breath. The seven remaining members of his squad gathered around him. Silver could be seen flashing through the trees as the starmen edged closer.

One of the men began to panic, "Man what do we do man? I'm on my last round of ammo and we don't have any road blocks! NO ROAD BLOCKS MAN! NO ROAD BLOCKS!"

Strong grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, "Calm down Jennings! We're going to be all right just hang in there!"

Twenty starmen emerged from the trees and surrounded the eight police members. The men with ammunition opened fire; some of them hit their marks and took down their attackers while others only hit non-immobilizing areas. Desperate, Strong threw his empty gun at one of the starmen, only to have it vaporized in mid air. As the silver death squad readied its lasers, Strong's entire team fell silent and began to prepare for their fate. The only sound that reverberated through the air was the quite hum of the lasers charging. With a mighty clap like thunder, a countless amount of bottle rockets flew through the trees and destroyed all twenty of the starmen.

Strong was nearly crying with relief, "Where did that come from?"

Jennings pointed through the trees, "I see police sirens outside the forest!"

The eight police officers scrambled through the forest and emerged near the library. In the distance the city could be seen in flames, smoke choking the sky. In contrast to this image of dread stood Everdred and every member of the Twoson police force, all of them fully armed next to their police cars.

Everdred gave a trademark grin, "Hello Strong, need some help?"

Next to the police force stood twelve nearly identical men in grey jumpsuit and sunglasses. The stood in a straight line facing the forest, multi bottle rockets in their hands.

Everdred raised his left hand into the air, "Arms Dealers Guild, ready," twelve matches lit up simultaneously, "aim," they angled the rockets toward the forest, "fire!"

With a rush of air the rockets flew through the air and annihilated a group of starmen emerging from the trees.

He gave orders like an old military commander, "All right. We don't want to hit any civilians with those blasts, switch to fire arms," he pointed to two of the arms dealers, "You two stay here and use heavy bazookas to destroy any starmen that try and get out of or into the forest."

The arms dealers all saluted and charged into the forest. Everdred took out two cases full of handguns and shotguns and handed them to Strong.

"Give these to your men; I've got some more ammo in my car."

He made for the trees but Strong stopped him, "Where did you get all of this stuff? And who were those guys?"

He smiled, "Oh c'mon Strong! You don't think that just because I stopped being a criminal I stopped having connections too? Does that really matter now anyways?"

Strong sighed, "No, I guess it doesn't."

Everdred slapped him on the shoulder, "Good, then let's go. We've got a city to save. What's left of it anyway."

------------------------------

Koga swung downward only to be blocked by Poo's sword, still sheathed.

"What are you doing Poo?"

"I will not draw my blade against my own kin."

Koga spun in the air and kicked Poo in the side of the face. The prince flew backwards but flipped in the air and landed on his feet. Koga launched a volley of kicks and slashes at him, only to hit air with each strike. Poo ducked, sidestepped, and jumped out of the way of Koga's attacks. Poo grabbed his opponent's foot as he went in for a high kick. With a heave, he spun Koga through the air before letting him go, sending him careening toward a wall. Koga slammed his scythe handle into the ground, the sudden decrease in speed allowed him to flip in the air so that he could push off of the wall and launch back at Poo. The prince slammed his sword sheath into the side of Koga's face and sent him to the ground. Koga spun and kicked Poo's legs out from underneath him. As he went down, the member of the Chosen Four swung the sheathed sword at Koga's midsection. He rolled out of the way and back flipped next to his scythe. Poo recovered quickly and ran at his opponent. Koga swung his scythe horizontally and was blocked again. Poo flipped into the air and landed behind Koga. He slammed the sword handle into the middle of Koga's back, sending him to his knees.

Koga swung his scythe behind him and tried to take out Poo's feet, hitting nothing as the young prince leapt over him. As Poo's feet neared the ground, Koga threw a knife, jamming it into his old friend's left leg. As Poo fell to one knee with a grunt, Koga produced his boomerang out from under his cloak and hurled it toward Poo's face. He caught it with one hand, causing his arm to swing back with moment while his other hand was taking out the knife. Koga used this brief window of opportunity to quickly run up to Poo and slam him in the side of the head with the metal scythe handle. He spun the scythe into an attack position and struck downward. Poo blocked it and countered with a sheath strike. The two continued to duel with their primary weapons of choice; a block, a swing, a counter, a flip, a strike. Koga saw an opening and jabbed Poo's chin with the butt of the scythe. As Poo fell onto his back, Koga gave an anguished scream and swung what would be a killing blow.

-------------------------------

Cain had followed Paula to the outskirts of the city. As he neared her, Paula turned suddenly and raised her hands into the air. A bolt of lightning suddenly rocketed out of the sky at Cain's feet. Although he was immune to the blinding effects of the flash, he could not see through the momentary flash of light. When it subsided, Paula was out of sight.

"Trying to hide in the burning city Miss Polestar? I made the fire; I think that I can walk through it relatively unscathed."

With a bemused grin, he walked in between the nearby burning buildings in pursuit of Paula. Suddenly the buildings shook and began to fall. He fell to the ground without a sound as the bricks and burning wood began to put pressure on his shield. When the dust settled, he was nowhere to be seen. Paula emerged from behind a nearby car and ran toward the rubble.

She began to mentally sort through the debris, angrily speaking under her breath, "Come on you monster, I know that didn't kill you."

"Nope."

Paula turned to see that Cain had teleported right behind her. He shot a fireball directly into her stomach. She put the fire out and launched a volley of ice blasts that harmlessly bounced off of his shield. With a wave of his hand, Paula was flung through the air and onto the road. She heard a sickening "crack" as her left arm broke upon impact. She screamed in pain as she slammed her good arm into the ground. Chunks of concrete ripped themselves up from the ground and rocketed toward Cain. They shattered against his shield, producing cracks that fixed themselves quickly. Cain smiled and tossed Paula into the air like a rag doll. He suspended her thirty feet above the ground and spun her around in large circles while casually whistling "Pop Goes the Weasel." Without warning, he dropped her. Her eyes began to glow white and with a scream of rage she sent a psychic blast at the ground, cushioning her fall while leaving a large dent in the pavement.

Cain grinned, "This is what I wanted to see. Show me what you've got girlie."

She gritted her teeth and lifted ten cars into the air simultaneously. Cain laughed as the cars lined up on both sides of him before slamming together. The resulting explosion knocked Paula onto her back. The fire formed into a large pillar that swirled into the sky. In its center was Cain surrounded by his shield and laughing like a maniac. He raised his arms into the air and the pillar fell. Paula shot out a jet of ice and the two opposing forces clashed and danced through the air. The flames weakened and were overpowered quickly by the ice. Within seconds Cain's entire shield was encased in a solid sphere of clear ice. Paula threw another car at him. The shield shattered but the object stopped centimeters away from his face. He chuckled and shot the car back at her. Paula held out her good hand and stopped the car, sending it into the ground.

Cain smoothed out his suit, "You've played your part perfectly Miss Polestar."

"Shut up," she sent out another chunk of pavement that harmlessly shattered against his shield.

"Every time you throw something at me and I survive, my abilities get stronger. By now I am like a god to you peons."

He held his arms out above his head and the ground began to shake. Jets of flame and ice began to shoot out of the ground as buildings toppled over.

"When I finish with this city Twoson will look like a paradise."

-------------------------------

Ness walked through the entrance hall of the palace and smiled to himself. Whatever Jeff and Poo had done to the defenses seemed to work perfectly. Bits of metal and scorched wiring were scattered everywhere in the normally pristine hall and it did not look like a single starman was left standing. As he neared the door leading into the next room he could hear the sounds of fighting. He quickened his pace and began to push open the door. Suddenly a golden starman teleported next to him and wrapped it's tentacle around his arm.

The voice of Pokey emanated from the starman's voice box, "Woah now! Not that way Piggy."

Ness took out his bat and wound it back, but the voice stopped him, "Hey, hey relax old pal. This starman isn't here to hurt you. It's just going to guide you through an alternative route to the throne room. I wouldn't want you to get hurt in the middle of all that kung fu crap going on in there."

Ness angrily threw the starman's tentacle off of him, "Get away from me! I don't want you're help!"

The robot chuckled, "Fine, but I know that you want to see me just as much as I want to see you. So how about it?"

"Fine."

Ten minutes later, Ness stood before the huge double doors of the throne room. The starman gave a bow and deactivated, leaving Ness alone. He sighed nervously and pushed open the doors.

Pokey sat on the throne surrounded by the final four members of the Royal Guard, clapping, "And the last horse crosses the finish line."

Ness slammed his bat into a nearby computer, "Cut the super villain crap you monster."

Pokey waved a hand to the guards, "Leave us, I'll take care of this."

He waited until they had gone to continue, "I've been waiting a very long time for this Ness."

"So have I."

A blast of PSI Rockin' shot through the air. Pokey pressed a button on the arm of the throne and clear glass shield formed a protective dome around him. The PSI blast died on contact.

Pokey wagged his finger, "I wouldn't bother stupid. I'm well prepared for this."

"Since when did you get so clever? The Pokey that lived next door to me could barely open a can of pickles."

Pokey screamed and slammed his fists into the arms of the throne, "I've always been smart! You idiots just never noticed! Don't you remember all of the important positions that I held during your little 'adventure?'"

Ness rolled his eyes, "Yeah, those all worked out well for you in the end."

He kicked his legs in the air while pounding on the chair some more, "Shut up shut up shut up! I hate you so much you little prick!" He sighed and calmed himself down, "Fine, fine. I'm going to tell you how smart I am."

Ness chuckled and sat down, "Oh, this should be good."

Pokey shot him a dirty look before continuing, "After you beat Giygas and I made my strategic retreat,"

"You mean when you ran away?"

"Strategic retreat! My spider mech was badly damaged, and so was the time drive. When I tried to jump into a random time period, the drive malfunctioned and I was trapped in the time stream. Through a bit of experimenting with the computer, I was able to find a way to send small objects into years of my choosing, but sadly nothing else. That's when I sent you that letter. Do you know how long I was in the time stream Ness?"

He shrugged, "I dunno, what's it been? A year?"

Pokey slammed his fist again, "Wrong! There's no day or night in the time stream, but the internal clock in the mech said that I was there for the equivalent of five years. Five years of hell! Five years of the same scenery! Five years of nothing to do every day! Do you have any idea what that's like? Of course not! Not you, not Mr. Hero! Not Ness the Great Savior of Humanity! But do you know what I did to fill the time Peanut Brain? I read through the mech's data base! Giygas had filled the data base with all of the information that he had on every planet that he had and planned to conquer. But the two most interesting sections of the database for me were the weapons blueprints and the history of this planet. Not just a general history either, Giygas had scouts on this planet since near its beginning. I was able to have the computer calculate when and where I would appear when the time drive finally ran out of power. Needless to say, it was Dalaam. I began to formulate my plan for vengeance immediately. I used the detailed information on Dalaam in the database to find out where Koga and his sister were hiding, I even found an old newspaper article dealing with a young boy named Cain who showed signs of psychic powers at a young age. He was a perfect subject for the psychic augmentation device that was described in the database. I had my entire plan for building my new empire all set; I just needed Poo to be away when I landed. I was able to contact one of Giygas's old scout robots and have it tell me the moment Poo left the country. After that it was just a simple matter of figuring out how to adjust the destination just a little bit to allow for the perfect window of opportunity. And so here I am, future king of the world."

Ness began to laugh, "So, so what you're telling me is, you've been waiting to talk to me so that you could brag that you were smart enough to let a computer do all of your thinking for you?"

Pokey screamed in pure rage, "I brought you up here because I hate you! You're the cause of all of this! I did all of this because of what you did to me! All of you left me behind! You all abandoned me! I hate you, I hate my brother, I hate my parents, I hate Onett, and I hate your three friends!"

Ness looked away from his old neighbor, "Quit being such a child. You caused all of your own problems. No one forced you to help Giygas; that was your decision. I can't feel any sympathy toward you, especially not after what you've done. Not after all of the lives you've destroyed."

Pokey snorted, "So what do intend to do about it? Kill me? You're nerdy friend already tried that and he isn't doing so hot."

Ness shot up, "What do you mean?"

Pokey giggled and pointed to a security monitor behind Ness. Ness turned around slowly and saw Jeff collapsed on the floor, a large wound visible on his chest.

"Jeff? Jeff!"

Pokey laughed behind him, "That's right; I'm taking away everything that you ever loved! If I can take everything away from you, then I've won! Your girlfriend isn't doing so well and Cain's currently trying to disassemble your hometown. I know that you moved your family to Fourside, but I'm sure that he'll reach that area eventually."

Ness glared at him and readied his bat.

Pokey slammed his fingers into the left arm of the throne and four spidery mechanical legs unfolded from the sides of the seat. A panel opened up, revealing a large cannon.

"Goodbye Ness."

-------------------------------

Poo rolled out of the way and onto his feet just as the point of Koga's scythe slammed into the ground. Koga recovered quickly and swung horizontally. The young prince crouched low to the ground and placed his hand on his sword hilt. As the blade swung just centimeters above his head, Poo took a low step forward, doing a 360 degree turn as he did so. In a bright flash of steel, Poo drew his sword and swung it clear through the handle of the Scythe of Kings. The half of the weapon containing the blade spun through the air and clanged against the farthest wall. With a flick of the wrist, Poo sheathed his sword again.

He gave a slight bow to Koga, who had fallen silent, "I do not wish to fight you without your primary weapon. Please, show me where they are keeping Kara."

"You know it's not the simple!"

Koga spun into the air and delivered a helicopter kick to Poo's head. He flew backwards, landing on his feet. Poo carefully placed the Sword of Kings on the ground and charged at his friend. Koga caught the prince's kick and twisted his leg, causing Poo to spin to the ground. He kicked out at Koga's feet, tripping him. Both fighters now lay on their backs. Poo began to rise, only to be met with a punch to the stomach. He countered with the same. Poo began to crawl away, only to have his right foot grabbed. With a heave, Koga lifted Poo by the foot and spun his body in a vertical circle back into the ground. As he heard some bones snap in protest to his harsh landing, Poo kicked out with both legs, connecting with Koga's chest. Poo got up as Koga fell. Both fighters recovered at the same time and leapt at each other. Koga punched with his left and Poo with his right. The two fists were caught by the fighters' free hands. The two princes struggled for a moment before head butting each other simultaneously. They both stumbled back, holding their bleeding foreheads. Koga leapt into the air, his leg extended for a kick. As Koga's foot neared Poo, he spun out to the side with one leg extended. As Koga passed by, Poo's outstretched foot slammed into the back of his head. Koga was sent flailing onto his back, momentarily incapacitated. Poo wearily walked over to the Sword of Kings and picked it up.

As Koga sat up; Poo kneeled before him, "This belongs to you."

He held out the sword in the manner one would use to present it to someone else.

Koga blinked, "What?"

"This sword belongs to the true future king of Dalaam. If killing me is the only way you can spare Kara, then it must be done."

"You would so willingly give up the kingdom to Pokey?"

"I have every confidence that Ness will stop his plans, leaving you in control of this country."

"You already have control of this country Poo! Why are you giving it up?"

The prince smiled, "All this time, I've just been waiting for you to return and reclaim your rightful position. The role of king was never mine to have. I am not of royal blood."

"B-but I-"

"No more objections. This is how it has to be to save Kara. Do what you have to."

Koga got to his feet and drew the sword. It felt heavy in his hands. Slowly he raised it above his head and then stopped. His breathing began to get heavier as images of the starmen army and the ruins of Twoson flashed through his mind. As these thoughts passed through his mind, the sword began to feel heavier. He saw Cain's laughing face as entire cities burned and remembered giving him the power to do so himself back at the Winters Asylum. The sword slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground harmlessly. Koga fell to his knees, put his face in his hands, and began to sob.

"What have I done? What have I been doing? Good Lord what have I done with my life?"

He pulled out a small knife and held it to his own throat, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"

Poo knocked the knife out of his hands and put his hand on his shoulder, "No! Koga, there is still time for you to make things right! Ness most likely has Pokey distracted enough that he won't detonate the cage Kara is being held in. Take me to her and you and I can stop this!"

Koga wiped his eyes and stood up, "She's behind the throne room, I know a back way there that takes us around the throne room."

"Let's go."

"Poo. Thank you."

Poo smiled, "Koga you are my brother, what did you expect me to do?"

-------------------------------

While the Dalaam army was being overtaken by the civilian resistance, the city itself was crumbling to pieces. Cain's laughter reverberated through the air as the spires of ice and pillars of fire continued to increase in size. Paula sat on the ground nearby, desperately sending blast after blast of PSI at Cain to no avail. She stopped, her spirits crushed, and watched helplessly as the city was destroyed around her.

Cain looked at her, "Oh don't stop now Miss Polestar! I thought that you were an optimist!"

The madman made a motion with his arms and the continent of Dalaam began to float toward him.

-------------------------------

Ness deflected the laser blast out of Pokey's cannon and charged toward him. He leapt into the air to avoid the next blast and swung his bat at the throne mech's protective shield. The shield cracked slightly before Ness was knocked away by one of the mechanical legs. Pokey laughed and kicked Ness again. He quickly recovered and used PSI Flash. Blinded, Pokey began to randomly fire throughout the throne room, destroying a row of security monitors. A stray beam hit Ness in the chest, winding him.

Pokey heard him cough in pain and laughed, "Sounds like I hit you Piggy! Once I can see again, I'm going to impale you!"

Despite his pain, Ness took out a leg with a swing of his bat. The mech's legs made mechanical sounds as they repositioned themselves into a tripod position. Pokey's sight began to come back and he swatted Ness away again with another leg. As Ness lay on his stomach, Pokey fired a shot into his back. Ness screamed in pain and began to crawl away.

Suddenly one of the mech's legs stabbed through Ness's left calf. Ness let out a scream and desperately swung his bat at the leg, but he couldn't get a good enough shot to take it out.

Pokey raised a second leg into the air, "This next one goes through the heart. Nice knowing you buddy!"

Ness quickly rolled onto his side as best as he could and knocked the pointed leg away. He dropped his bat and wrapped one hand around the leg pinning his leg to the ground. Ness let out a blast of PSI Rockin' from his hand and annihilated the piece of machinery. The close proximity caused Ness to singe his own leg.

As the throne mech frantically readjusted its balance to stand on two legs, Ness began to heal his leg wound, "I guess you couldn't make those legs out of a metal that was strong enough to withstand a close range blast like that. Looks like you still can't think things through entirely."

Pokey screamed in rage and prepared to fire another blast from the cannon. Suddenly the continent shifted, causing both Pokey and Ness to fall over.

Pokey began to panic, "What's going on?"

"Shouldn't you know? I thought that you were the one that controlled this place's movement!"

"This isn't me Stupid For Brains!"

Cain's voice came through a small speaker on Pokey's throne, "Howdy boss. Just finishing up a little project of mine."

"Cain? What are you doing you maniac?"

"I just told you, jeez you should pay more attention man. Well, I'll be seeing you if I make it through this. I'm out."

The entire room began to shake violently.

Ness shouted at Pokey, "What's going on?"

"My God, I think that he's charging the Giygas Cannon! He must be psychically manipulating the controls! Cain! Stand down! Do not fire with my army still down there! Do you here me? Cain!"

-------------------------------

Cain finished his conversation with Pokey and looked up in the sky. Dalaam was floating directly above Onett and the Giygas Cannon was charging. Meanwhile, the city was still falling apart.

Cain looked at Paula, "There. I've given you all the tools that you need Miss Polestar! Go ahead, pull the trigger on that cannon up there and stop me! You'll take the city and yourself down too, but it'll probably kill me!"

Paula looked up at the cannon, a look of anger on her face.

"Come now missy, I know that you're able to find the triggering device from here, I've no doubt that you'll be able to fire it. Go ahead, take me out!"

Paula silently began to silently search for the triggering device.

"Yes, that's it! Kill all those innocent people just to stop me! I don't blame you; remember what I did to your hometown? Your parents?"

She gave Cain a look of pure hatred as he found the trigger. She psychically reached for the button that would fire the cannon, destroying herself and the entire city in the process. But at the moment, she thought that it was worth it.

Don't let him kill you Paula.

She uttered one word, "No."

Cain's grin faded, "What?"

Paula let go of the trigger and relaxed, "I said no. I'm not going to become you."

The Giygas Cannon stopped charging and cooled down. Cain scowled and sent a psychic blast into her stomach.

He hovered over to her and grabbed her by the neck, "Do you have any idea why I hate you so much? Because you have everything I always wanted as a kid. You had close friends and parents that loved you. When your psychic abilities started to developed, everyone accepted you and helped you grow. My family sent me through shock therapy until I repressed it!"

Paula managed a reply, "Oh cry me a river. I'm supposed to excuse what you did because you had a crappy childhood?"

"No, I just thought that you should know why I'm going to break you before I do it. I was planning on having you destroy your own self willingly, but I guess I'll have to resort to plan B."

Cain's eyes suddenly began to glow yellow, "This is a mind wipe technique that I've been working on. It's really very neat."

Paula made eye contact and suddenly felt Cain's presence inside of her mind.

"Now what should I wipe out first? How about the boy!"

Paula was suddenly taken back to the cabin in Peaceful Rest Valley a little over a year ago. She was sitting in her cell; waiting. She didn't know what the person she was waiting for looked like, but she knew that he was coming to save her. The cabin door creaked open and a boy in a red cap with a yellow backpack walked in, smiling.

"Are you Paula? It's nice to meet you, I'm Ness!"

Cain suddenly appeared next to her in her memory, "Bingo!"

Cain's still-glowing eyes flared and the cabin began to shatter like glass around her, leaving a black void in its place. It was just her and Ness. From the feet up, he began to disintegrate.

"Ness! Wait!"

He continued to disappear, "Wait," she frantically searched for his name, "N-n-n..."

By now only the tip of the red hat could be seen.

"NESS!"

He began to reform along with the cabin.

Paula turned to Cain's presence in her memory and commanded, "Get out."

In the real world, the glow of Cain's eyes flared out of control as his own technique began to backfire into his own mind. He dropped Paula and grabbed his head in pain.

"NO! NO! NO! MAKE IT STOP! WHAT DID YOU DO? STOP IT STOP IT!"

He fell to his knees and held out his hands to let out a blast of PSI Fire, but to his horror could not concentrate enough. Cain let out one final scream before falling flat on his face. He was alive, but his mind was destroyed. With Cain's powers gone, the fires caused by his PSI began to put themselves out.

Paula, mentally drained, lay back in the grass and began to laugh for the first time in weeks.

-------------------------------

Jeff lay motionless, but his mind was still thinking things over.

"Why should I get up? I don't deserve it. I've taken a human life, am I really any better than Cain or Pokey?"

Ness's words floated through his head, "You did what you had to do Jeff."

"You all keep saying that, but was there something else that I could have done? I'm not good looking, I'm not athletic, the only things I have are my inventions. What good are they if they kill people? I'm one of the Chosen Four! I'm not supposed to be the one who kills people! I always thought that was the bad guys. When I visited Snow Wood after we beat Giygas, the other kids couldn't believe that I'd been able to help. Now I see why, I don't belong with them. I had this coming. I can't even move my body right now, I can't stop the cannon."

The image of the little girl that he'd saved flashed into his mine, "That girl thanked me didn't she? In all my guilt I'd almost forgotten about her. She would have died if I wasn't there!"

The voice of reason came through in the voice of his father, "And what about the people who will die from the Giygas Cannon? Are you so selfish that you would let them die because of your own guilt?"

"You're right. I may have done something I regret, but I can't just wallow in self pity while others suffer! I have to get up! I have to keep moving!"

In the Security and Weapons Control Room, a hand suddenly shot into the air and slammed into the control panel. With a scream of pain, Jeff lifted himself back into the chair. Although his vision was fuzzy, he was able to hack into the system again and reach the control screen for the Giygas Cannon. With a few key strokes he shut it down.

"I don't know if I'll be able to forgive what I did, but I think that I can try and make up for it..."

Finally starting to feel some of his self degradation drift away, Jeff passed out in his seat.

-------------------------------

The Giygas Cannon's charge now stopped, Pokey wasted no time in trying to readjust the throne mech's balancing mechanism to work with only two legs. Ness saw the machine wavering in the air and smirked. He charged and leapt into the air, bat wound behind his head. Suddenly a new leg sprouted out from the front of the mech and smacked Ness in the stomach, sending him into row of broken computers.

Pokey snorted, "Surprise is very important in battle Pig's Butt! I would think that the Great Ness would know something like that!"

He let out a high pitched laugh and shot Ness with a low powered blast. Ness screamed and Pokey sneered, shooting him three more times.

Pokey flipped open a panel by his hand and began to hit some buttons, "Now that I know that I'm able to beat you, I don't really have a problem firing the Giygas Cannon at Onett. Now that you're about to die, you won't be able to stop me when I build more starmen. I should have built more for this attack anyways, looks like they're loosing."

Ness coughed, "Why? Why destroy you're own home town? Just kill me and get it over with!"

"I want you to die knowing that I killed everything you loved. After I finish with Onett, I'll keep you incapacitated until I wipe out Fourside and your dear old mom and pop? I killed Jeff, and Paula's going to die in the blast. You'll have nothing left."

Ness could only stare at Pokey with a glare that could cleave stone.

Pokey giggled, "What's with that look old buddy? Do you hate me? Well I can assure you that you only feel a fraction of what I feel towards you!"

Pokey's fat fingers pressed a few more buttons before pressing "execute." Nothing happened. He pressed it again. Still nothing.

"What?"

Ness was up in a flash, able to heal himself while Pokey blathered on. Before his enemy could react, the Chosen Boy smashed the cannon off of the side of the throne mech before blasting off all of its remaining legs with PSI Rockin'. The throne segment of the mech smashed into the ground. Pokey screamed in panic as Ness smashed his bat into the clear shield protecting him. The false king crawled further and further back in his chair with each subsequent blow that Ness delivered to the shield. With a loud crash the dome shattered around the two adversaries. Ness grabbed Pokey by the collar and saw with disgust that the former king had urinated on himself.

"J-just joshin' Ness!"

Ness threw him out of his seat and onto the ground. With a few swings of his bat, the throne was destroyed. Pokey screamed in rage and pulled out his laser while Ness's back was turned. A knife flew through the air and embedded itself in the barrel of the gun just as Pokey pulled the trigger. The machine backfired and exploded in his hand. He held his burnt hand and turned to see Koga and Poo standing in a nearby doorway.

"What are you doing Koga? Kill them, KILL THEM ALL!"

Koga shook his head.

Pokey screamed again and took out a detonator, "Well then little sis goes boom!"

He pushed the button, but nothing happened. Poo wordlessly tossed four disarmed explosive charges on the ground as Kara stepped out from behind Koga.

Pokey began to hyperventilate, "No, no, no, no, no this isn't how it was supposed to go! But don't worry, I have a plan B."

He pulled out a small remote and pressed a button. The island immediately began to shake violently.

The usurped king began to laugh, "This is the end or you all! I've sent the island into a free fall over Onett! We're all going to die in moments and there's nothing you can do about it! I've outsmarted you Ness and all of your little friends too! I AM MASTER POKEY, LORD OF ALL I SEE! BOW TO ME PEONS!"

As Pokey continued to break down; Ness neared him and cracked him over the head, knocking him unconscious.

He looked at Poo, "Is there any way to stop this?"

"Dalaam is suspended by an ancient crystal located in the center of the island. How Pokey controls this place I know not."

Koga stepped forward, "I do. He mined into the center and used his machines to manipulate the crystal."

Ness nodded, "Well then it’s simple, we just have to go down there and smash up the machines."

Koga shook his head, "It's not that easy, he programmed them to explode upon deactivation or removal. It's a suicide mission."

Poo nodded, "I'll go."

Ness grabbed his shoulder, "Poo no! We can think of something else!"

"Ness, my family has finally returned to Dalaam. I must do all that I can to protect them. We don't have time to think of something else."

Kara grabbed his arm, "Don't go!"

Koga nodded, "I understand Poo," he held out the Sword of Kings, "This truly belongs to you. I gave up my position as royalty years ago; you are the true future king of this country."

Poo took the sword and bowed, "Thank you. Take care of the kingdom if I don't make it."

"Do not worry about me," in one swift movement he knocked Poo out cold.

Ness caught him as he fell and gently put him on the ground, "Are you sure that you want to do this Koga?"

Kara leapt in front of her brother, "Don't! I need you here! Please don't leave me!"

Koga put his hand on his sister's shoulder and smiled for the first time in weeks, "You are a strong girl Kara; you will have Poo looking after you from now on. I've done some horrible things recently and I must atone for them. I will not let another innocent person suffer through my inactivity. This is how it has to be."

Kara nodded and sat on the ground in tears as Koga ran out of the palace and toward the caves leading into the center of the island. Within moments he stood before the small but powerful device that was attached to the crystal.

As he placed his hands around the machine, Koga spoke to himself, "You know, for the first time in years, I feel truly happy about a decision that I've made. This is how it should be. This is right."

With a serene smile, he pulled the device from the crystal.

Epilogue: Breathe

Two weeks later, Ness descended the stairs in his home to the familiar sight of his mother making breakfast for Tracy. His father was seated at the table, reading a paper displaying a picture of Pokey Minch. The headline read "Former King of Dalaam On Trial for War Crimes!"

"Morning Mom!"

"Good morning honey! Eating this morning?"

He shook his head, "No, I'll eat in town today. I'm late as it is, the others will be waiting for me."

He kissed his mother goodbye and teleported into the center of the city. While the citizens had been able to destroy Pokey's starmen with surprisingly little loss of lives, the city itself had suffered immense structural damage. Ness teleported into the middle of the construction effort. Volunteers from as far as Winters had come to help rebuild. Ness looked up with a smile to see that Dalaam had finally ascended back to its original position in the sky. Ness caught Paula in the crowd and waved at her. She smiled and waved back before psychically clearing away some rubble.

He caught up with her, "Hey Paula, how're things back in Twoson? I haven't seen you around here for a few days."

She smiled, "Well, Mr. Everdred told me that he wants to take care of me from now on."

"That's great news!"

"Yeah. By the way Ness, I was thinking about doing something..."

"What?"

"Well, Mr. Everdred has agreed to help me restart the preschool. I'd like for you to help me, i-it'll only be after school of course."

"Of course Paula, I'd love to!"

Without thinking, they hugged each other.

They suddenly heard a polite cough from their right, "Have you two seen Poo?"

Ness turned his head to see Jeff standing nearby, "Sorry Jeff, not yet. I'm sure that he and Kara will be by soon though."

"Ah good, I'm supposed to help him dismantle all of Pokey's machinery today."

With a crack, Poo and Kara appeared in between the group of friends.

"Greetings."

Jeff grinned in anticipation, "Is everything ready to be dismantled up there?"

Poo laughed, "It was ready to be taken apart the moment it was built Jeff."

Paula began to move some more rubble, "Well good luck with all of that. Ness and I can handle the cleanup by ourselves just fine from now on."

Poo bowed, "Thank you Paula. Oh before I forget, I'd like to remind you all that I will officially be crowned king next month, I would greatly appreciate you all being there."

Ness smiled, "Of course we'll be there Poo. Now get going, you've got a lot of work to do."

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Koga sat on a nearby hill, watching the Chosen Four talk with a smile on his face.

An old man suddenly appeared beside him, "Are you sure that this is what you want to do?"

Koga gave a start, "Star Master? Where have you been during all of this?"

"I knew that you would all take back the kingdom without my intervention. It is not my place to get involved unless absolutely necessary. Now, about my earlier question..."

Koga sighed contently, "Yes. I'm positive that this is how it needs to be. If Poo thinks that I am dead, he will not attempt to wait for me to return and become king. He needs to focus, now more than ever."

"You do not wish to become king?"

He shook his head, "No, I've never wanted to. Poo was always the smartest and bravest of the three of us. This is for the best. Besides, with the support of those other three, he will have no difficulty overcoming any problems that arise. Together, those four are invincible."

"Do you intend to return one day?"

"Maybe. But there are many things that I must do first. I did so many wrong things while helping Pokey. I must atone."

Star Master nodded, "Yes, I understand."

Without another word, he disappeared.

-------------------------------

Kara stared absentmindedly at the hills around Onett as Poo talked with the others. She gasped as she saw the figure of a boy standing by a nearby tree and teleporting away.

Poo looked at her, "Is everything all right Kara?"

She nodded and smiled, "It was nothing, don't worry. Everything’s going to be fine."

"Well then, we should get going," he grabbed Jeff and teleported back to his country.

And so the Chosen Four began to rebuild their lives and move forward, finally free of the past and able to look forward to the future.

The End