Now, I remembered that in order to visit Giant Step's sanctuary you would have to go through a cave system, but I don't remember being ambushed by ants, rats, and slugs. Before, I would occasionally see some animals sneaking about, but nobody I knew was ever attacked by them. In fact, it's kind of ironic, since people would be the ones to bother them, not that anyone would. (Except for Pokey. He was always a dick.) What did I ever do to them? Nothing, but that's not the reason. Giygas knew that I was coming for him.
Basically, this is how Giant Step went: walk a few steps, and a horde of rats and other bugs would come out of nowhere and start biting, kicking, yes that right. Kicking. How they were able to pull that off with their small little legs, don't ask me. Anyway, they would come out of nowhere and gang up on me, and I would swing my bat wildly at them. Well, I did for the first few times, but I made the mistake of swinging the bat at my head, and you can probably assume that it didn't end well for me. After knocking myself out, I woke up to find what I least expected: my pockets turned inside out, and my wallet lying on the ground, opened. Hey, ask the rats and bugs, 'cuz I have no idea how they did it. I thought to myself, Thank God I deposited my money at the drugstore. I was pretty freakin' mad, so I picked up my wallet and stormed off towards the guardian. My bat instantly flung away any bugs that tried to attack me. If they managed to latch onto my face, I used PSI Wave α to get them off, because I couldn't be hurt by my own PSI, luckily.
I was getting pretty hungry, so I dug around in my bag for some-
Those asshole pieces of shit stole my hamburgers, chewed on my bread rolls, and couldn't have cared less that I was knocked out for, I don't know, a couple of hours? I was near the sanctuary, and I felt an immense source of power coming from the top of the cave. Inside my head I debated with myself, "Should I go back and get more burgers? Because I fell like I might pass out from hunger, or should I just get the melody and then get something to eat?" I literally just stopped and thought about it before I had to climb a rope up to the sanctuary. Not wanting to backtrack and go through the whole damn cave again, I decided to just bite the bullet and go take care of business first.
At the top of the cave, there was a shining light, a portal, blocking the entrance to the sanctuary. I got into a battle stance and prepared to face whatever was going to come out of the portal. A voice spoke:
"You finally got here," said a strange voice. Out of the portal came a figure, a giant ant. "This is your first Sanctuary Location, but it's mine now. Take it from me if you dare."
"Oh, I dare," I snarled.
"You dare defy me?" The ant raised his voice.
"Oh, I DARE!" I shouted. The ant got into a stance, much like me.
"My name is the Titanic Ant. Come at me, 'chosen one'." The ant started by rushing at me with his mouth open to use a biting attack, but I dodged and swung my bat at his head. He was quick to dodge as well, and he chomped down on my arm. I yelped in pain and tried to whack my bat at him. He grabbed it and flung it onto the floor. He tried to use PSI Shield α to protect himself, but I cancelled it out by attacking with PSI Wave α when he was caught off guard. I latched onto his back where he couldn't bite me, in which he tried swinging his arms at me but ended up hitting nothing. I returned the favor by thrashing the bat at his head over and over until he fainted on the ground, where I whacked my bat at his head and beating up his body until he was just a body. It faded away, and so did the portal and the entrance to the sanctuary was open once more.
Outside, I was high up, on top of the mountain. I saw on the ground, exactly what I was looking for: the Giant Step. It was smaller than I remembered it to be, but that's just because I grew. I held out my sound stone and a melody flowed out from the footstep. Nine notes in total, all the beginning of the melody that I needed to defeat Giygas. Suddenly, as the melody ended, my wounds faded away and I caught a glimpse, quick, but I was still able to see it: a small, white, cute puppy. Was it King, my dog who sat lazily at home 24/7? I didn't know for sure, because it passed by so quickly.
After backtracking through the cave system of Giant Step, I came to where I once entered and exited through the shack only to see, a police car waiting. Great, just what I needed.
"Hey! You! You just went into Giant Step, correct?"
"Yeah, what of it?" I retorted freshly.
"I don't like your tone, missy. You watch yourself. Do you know how to read? Do you know what that sign says?" He pointed to a sign that said, "GIANT STEP. DO NOT ENTER!" next to the shack.
"It says, 'Do not enter'! What's so hard about that? Come down to the police station later."
"Oh so, I take out the Sharks in town like trash, then I defeat the guardian of Giant Step, the historical landmark in our own town, and you know, defeating the guardian isn't easy for even me, and this is how you thank me? By placing me under arrest? Ow! Hey!" I shouldn't have argued, because that guy had me bent over on the police car, hands behind my back, and cuffed. The police shoved me inside the car, got in the driver's seat and drove furiously away in a cloud of dust.
"This is police brutality! You can't do this! I saved Onett-"
"Shut your mouth, little girl. You had no permission to enter Giant Step, alone or even with supervision."
"Yeah, well, I got the okay from the town mayor! How about that?"
"He did what?! How the hell did you bribe him to give you the key?"
"I didn't bribe him, I made a compromise! I defeated the Sharks, and he gave me the key to the shack!"
"Quit joking! I know that you can't defeat the Sharks! Us police even have trouble with them!"
"I'll prove it to you! Why don't we go to the Town hall right now?"
"...Fine. But if he says that he didn't, then you're coming down to the station with me." The car slowed and he pulled up to the town hall. "Come on! Outta the car!" He pulled me by the cuffs and dragged me forcefully out onto the curb and into the building. We ascended the stairs to the mayor's office and the police guy forced the mayor to tell him if he gave me the key or not, also telling me to shut up and not say a word.
"Wahahaha! Me, give her the key? Wahahaha! That's hilarious, Captain Strong! I wouldn't give anyone the key..." He looked over at my enraged face and smirked. "...Even if they defeated the Sharks."
"YOU LYING BASTARD! YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT TRUE!" I screamed.
"Then where's the key?"
"It broke! It broke when I twisted it in the door!"
"Yeah, likely story, kid," said Strong. "If you don't have any evidence, then you're guilty. Simple as that. Let's go, to the station! Now!" I gritted my teeth until they slid under pressure, and I clenched my fists in the handcuffs. Strong pushed me out the door and into the car.
"If you say a single word, I'll throw you in jail for life."
"Piss ass."
"Oh, that's it!" The car suddenly came to a screeching halt, and Strong grabbed me and shoved me out onto the ground.
"You think you have any right to stand up to me?! Let's go! To the station! Now!" he yelled as we marched the rest of the way to the police station.
We entered the police station and Strong dragged me to the cells, where he literally threw me inside and locked the door.
"This'll teach you to stand up to a police officer!" Then he closed the slider on the window.
xxxx
"Hello? ...Night? Can you hear me? ..."
"Huh?"
"You can hear me? Night? My name is Paula... I'm a friend you have never met before."
"What? What does it mean? How can you...?"
"You can hear me! I'm Paula. I'm in a dark place, I don't know where I am..."
"I happen to be in a dark place too. I got thrown in jail."
"I seem to be in a jail cell too... Night, I need you to come save me... you're a part of a prophecy..."
"I know. How do you know about the prophecy?"
"Night, I am the other girl from the prophecy."
Knock knock knock!
"Wait, what?"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
"Night..."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
"Wake up! Come on! Rise and shine!"
I opened my eyes, only to find that I was in the same jail cell. Light shined in through the bars on the door and I sat up on the bed that was provided.
"GET UP!" Strong was at the door. Great. The last person I wanted to see. I rubbed my eyes and stretched my limbs. I got up and walked towards the door, which opened as soon as I reached it.
"Night, correct? It appears that there's been a miscommunication. The mayor was caught lying and told the truth about you, and he said what you said was true. Every single member of the Sharks was found in the hospital. I assumed that it was you, but..." He stepped closer to me. "I can't just take anyone's word for it. I need proof. Follow me." He allowed me to step out of the cell, but there were other police officers blocking my exit. Captain Strong led me into a back room where, standing inside the room were five other cops waiting there for me.
"Prove that you're strong. Prove this by defeating five of my best men, and then we'll decide what happens afterwards. Larry!" He shouted to the first guy.
"Heh. You stopped the Sharks, eh? Thanks for doing our job for us- Oof!" I grabbed my bat and slammed him in the chest. He fell back, writhing in pain, but he got back up and swung his nightstick at me. He hit me in the side first, and then aimed a blow for my head, but I blocked with my bat and countered with my PSI Wave α, flinging him back onto the wall. Strong went over to him and moved him out of the room.
"Sean!" A taller cop casually walked over to me, but I never gave him a chance to attack me as I ducked under his swing and kicked his back and then started swinging madly at his head. He fainted, and then Strong slid him out of the room.
The next two went similar; one of them was really fast and struck a blow at my head, actually making me see stars. I quickly defeated them though, and then there was one more guy.
"Ergh... um, duty calls!" And he fled the room, obviously not wanting a fight.
"Fine. He won't fight? Then I'll do it myself. Get ready for my 'Super Ultra Mambo Tango Foxtrot Martial Arts'!" Strong moved quickly, dodging most of my attacks, and striking some blows. I was getting bruised and weak, but I pressed on, finally ending it with PSI Wave α, which possibly broke one of his bones. He fell to the ground like a potato sack, and then he stood up slowly, carefully.
"You are tough. I was completely wrong to think otherwise. So you have this 'prophecy' you need to fulfill, correct? Then, I can arrange things so that you can go on to Twoson, the next town over." He pulled out a phone and called the other police officers that were guarding the exit to Onett.
"Hello? Yes, it's me, Strong. I need you to clear the exit to Onett. Yes, I know what I said! Just do it anyway! Let Night pass. The girl with the ponytail and the red cap." He hung up. "Night... don't let anything or anyone stop you. Go fulfill the prophecy. I believe in you." He limped slowly away, out the door. I couldn't have been happier. I suppressed a grin and exited the police building.
I ventured down to the path to Onett and I saw some police officers standing there, waiting for me.
"You're Night, correct? Strong told us to let you pass... I have no idea why, he's our boss, so we don't question him." I didn't say anything; I just nodded and walked down the pathway to Twoson.
Twoson was definitely bigger than Onett. The pathway to the Twoson was pretty long, but it didn't take all day. I fought some enemies on the way, some mushrooms with legs tried to attack me, but nothing too big. In Twoson, there was everything that Onett had, a hospital, a bakery, a burger joint, and even a department store, which I guess was the town's drugstore. There was a park, a bicycle shop, a bus terminal, and a building with the name Polestar on it. I wondered what that was all about. I had to fight this weird guy in the park called Everdred, and what he told me was shocking.
"You're pretty strong, but that's not why I brought you here," He said when we were in his house. He grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator, popped the cap off, and took a swig. "I wanted to tell you something you may be concerned about. So recently everyone's been worried about the kidnapping of that Polestar girl. Uh, what was her name?"
"Oh, that's the house I saw earlier. It said Polestar on it," I mentioned.
"Okay, but what was her name? Oh yeah! It was Paula! Paula Polestar!" I froze.
"Wait. You just said Paula?"
"Yeah. You know her?"
"She's been in my dreams, trying to communicate with me."
"I ain't surprised. She's got psychic powers. Why would she communicate with you? Are you psychic?"
"Yeah, I have PSI ability."
"Oh, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah! That's the thingy that Paula used! You better find out more about this incident, 'cuz if you also have the PSI thingy, then you must have a connection with her."
"Okay. I will." I set off towards the house with "Polestar" on it.
Who I assumed was Paula's mother and father, they told me of how the other night, Paula was taken from her home to a town on the other side of Peaceful Rest Valley called Happy Happy Village, for unknown reasons. I looked on my map at where Happy Happy Village was, which was east of Twoson. I set off for Peaceful Rest Valley.
I had to turn back. Just great. There was an iron pencil statue blocking the way in the valley, halting my progress. I turned back, confused and talked to Mr. and Mrs. Polestar about the situation. They assumed that the kidnapper had put the iron statue there to block the way and stop anyone from saving Paula. They suggested that I speak to Apple Kid, who was south of town.
At Apple Kid's house, I met Apple Kid, a fat boy with a mouse partner, but he was apparently an inventor. He asked me to invest $200 in him so he could make me some cool shit, so I said, why the hell not? His mouse buddy gave me a "receiver phone" on the way out, which was a phone that I could only receive calls with. That sucks.
I decided that I was going to have to gear up for the journey, so I stopped by the Twoson Department Store and bought a tee ball bat with some money that Dad had deposited for me, and then I visited Burglin Park to get some new equipment. I sold my old bracelet and bought a copper bracelet instead. I also picked up a yo yo as an extra weapon, a long range weapon instead of just my regular short-range bat. I equipped everything and exited east to Peaceful Rest Valley.
