Chapter 3:
After Ness had evaded the stream of fire, Paula, or rather the armor that was controlling her body, it decided to utilize her other psychic attacks against Ness. The armor raised Paula's hands and a snowflake of icy psychic energy appeared over her head. The snowflake rocketed away from Paula and towards Ness, who was in the corner of the room. Ness quickly ducked towards the stairwell as the snowflake of psychic energy struck the wall and detonated, creating an icy covering on the wall, extinguishing the flame along that part of the wall. Ness was a ways away from the blast radius of the attack, though, and escaped unscathed. The armor followed up with a second stream of PSI Fire. Ness was not quick enough to evade this stream and he took the full brunt of the attack. However, as the attack made contact with Ness, he noticed that the flame was not hot at all. If anything, it was mostly a light show, rather than any real attack. The flames engulfed Ness, but he felt no different than he would if he were outside on a hot summer day. They inflicted no injury on him at all. Ness smiled as he ran down the stairs. Paula was fighting the control of the armor and was able to severely limit the power that the armor was able to draw upon. This meant that he might only have to last long enough for Paula to overcome the armor's control. And given Paula's ability to limit the damage dealt by her psychic attacks, Ness would likely be able to fight her all day long. On the other hand, Paula could be fighting a losing battle and her psychic attacks could get noticeably more powerful as the battle progressed. Ness, he heard Paula's voice echo in his mind, you can't hold back against me. I won't be able to resist the armor's control for much longer. I was bombarded with psychic assaults for over a day with no reprieve of any sort. I won't last much longer. You must beat me before the armor takes complete control of me.
Ness heard Paula speak in his mind, but he did not pay attention to what she was saying. He could not risk killing Paula, no matter the circumstances. It was not long before he heard Paula's voice again, Behind you!
Ness turned and he found Paula launching another blast of PSI Fire towards him. Ness dove to the ground on the left as the stream of fire sailed over his body. He did not need to be able to sense energy to know that this PSI Fire attack was a lot stronger than the impotent attack that had hit him not too long ago. He could feel the heat of the flame as it sailed over his body The armor was gaining more control over Paula. He soon realized that if he was going to win, he would have to damage the armor itself without hurting her. That meant that his best chance would be to engage her in physical combat. He quickly rose and charged her. He drew out the Omega Borg's staff and tried to bring it down on the left side of the suit of armor that was her prison. Unfortunately, the armor was able to move her left arm much faster than Ness had initially believed possible. With blinding speed, the armor caught the Omega Borg staff that Ness was using. Paula cried out as the armor moved and Ness could hear the snapping of tendons in Paula's shoulder. The armor had dislocated Paula's shoulder in order to move its arm and intercept Ness's attack. The armor grabbed the staff and held it in a vice-like grip. The suit then performed a side kick to Ness's chest. The force of the impact sent Ness flying through the air and through the doorway and into the main hall of the cult's headquarters. The kick had also forced Ness to let go of the staff. Fortunately, the hall was now abandoned. Either Giygas had sent them away or they had realized that their new high priestess was fighting against the enemy and they did not want to be caught between the two of them.
Ness looked towards the doorway and saw Paula slowly enter the room. Her gait was slow and jerky. Her left arm was hanging at her side, a clear sign of her injury. The armor seemed to not need the arm at the moment. In her right hand was the Omega Borg staff. The suit of armor soon moved Paula's left arm so that it was now gripping the staff, causing Paula to wince and grunt with each and every move of her left arm. The armor then snapped the staff in half and dropped the two pieces of the staff on the ground. The remains of the staff clattered as they struck the metal floor. Ness quickly realized that this fight would be a lot more difficult than he first imagined. While he could easily defeat Paula with a blast of PSI Rockin, he did not want to risk injuring her further or even killing her. He soon realized that if he was going to damage the armor while minimizing the risk to Paula, he would have to use more of the lessons that Maria had taught him in her Magicant. Ness quickly drew out his Legendary Bat and held it in front of him in a defensive stance. Ness waited for the suit of armor to launch an attack against him before counterattacking. The suit drew back Paula's right arm and formed a fist. It quickly launched the fist at Ness as if a spring that had been drawing back Paula's arm had snapped. However, the initial drawing back of her arm was slow so Ness could see the attack coming from a mile away. It did not help the armor that Paula had telepathically warned Ness of the incoming attack. Ness dodged the attack and quickly charged his bat with psychic energy. After the suit had overextended itself, Ness swung the bat at the armored suit's abdomen. It was a safe swing in that if Ness had used too much power, then it was likely that only Paula's ribs would be bruised or broken and that she would not likely suffer much more internal damage with only one strike. The bat struck the armor's torso and a loud clang rang out. The bat vibrated in Ness's hands as it struck the suit of armor and Ness's hands stung for a bit. Ness could see the armor de-form as the bat struck it, but other than a noticeable dent, there was no other damage. Fortunately, he also did not hear the cracking of any bones or other internal structures inside the armor, which meant that Paula was likely either uninjured, or not severely injured by the attack. Ness saw Paula raise her head and smile. The smile did not seem forced or unnatural, so Ness took that as a sign that she was currently okay aside from her dislocated shoulder.
The armor did not stop, though. It quickly recovered and tried to perform a roundhouse kick with the aim of taking off Ness's head. Paula telepathically warned him of the attack so he quickly ducked and let the kick sail over his head. He retaliated with a side kick to the armor's chest. The kick struck the armor in its torso and he heard a small clank as his foot impacted the metal of the armor. The kick forced the armor back a few steps but it had no trouble maintaining its balance, despite Paula doing everything she could to make the armor fall over. Paula quickly glanced over at Ness and frowned. She knew that he was holding back…a lot. Given how powerful he was and the fact that with Paula interfering in the armor's ability to properly control her psychic power, it could not hit the broad side of a barn with any sort of ranged attack if it wanted the attack to maintain any noticeable level of power. It was then that Ness realized that Paula had gotten the armor to destroy the Omega Borg's staff to deny it a ranged weapon capable of hurting him, not the armor destroying it to deny him a weapon. She stared at Ness again. What was he waiting for? Why did he not just finish the fight? Why was he using physical attacks rather than using his other more effective moves?
Ness quickly decided to switch tactics a bit, despite the fact that the armor had not scored a solid hit on him save for that blast of PSI Fire, which was little more than a light show. Ness's eyes began to glow and he focused on the suit of armor. He then used Paralysis on the armor. Unfortunately, the armor was resistant to Paralysis and it continued to be able to move. This was bad. Now, Ness did not know what he could do to make the armor suit cease functioning without risking injury, or even death, to Paula. Flash would not work since Paralysis would not affect it. The armor was likely also immune to feeling strange and crying as well. He could try to use Flash at its higher levels, but then that ran the risk of killing Paula as well. Even with Healing Omega, he did not want to play with Paula's life. Something could always go wrong, especially since Flash could cause instant death. He would not play with her life like that. He decided that it was best to try to wear down the suit of armor as much as he could. Still, there was the issue of how long Paula could hold out before the suit of armor overpowered her and started fighting at its full power, utilizing all of Paula's psychic attacks at their full strength, including PSI Freeze Omega, PSI Thunder…wait, that was it! Ness now had an idea for how to take down the suit of armor without risking too great an injury to Paula.
Ness quickly stood upright and opened himself wide to an attack. This also exposed the fact that Ness was wearing a Franklin Badge as well. Paula smiled knowingly at the sight and knew exactly what to do. Paula extended her right hand towards Ness and electricity began to crackle around her fingertips as she began to power a PSI Thunder attack. The armor, not being programmed to know of the Franklin Badge's ability to reflect lightning, let Paula power the attack to its Beta level, believing that either Paula had converted to its will or that it had won and conquered Paula. This would give Paula a good chance of the reflected damage managing to short out the armor without hurting her too greatly in the process. Paula then unleashed the barrage of lightning at Ness. The stream of lightning struck Ness and a distinctive metallic clang could be heard as the lightning hit Ness and was reflected back at the suit of armor. The reflected lightning struck the suit of armor in the torso and the armor began to spark while electricity arced across its body. Sparks flew from various joints located all across the suit of armor and sections of it blackened with obvious signs of scorching. Ness then noticed a soft hum coming from the armor. It soon began to get quieter and quieter, as well as lowering in pitch until the sound ceased entirely. Just then the pieces of the suit began to fall off of Paula. Piece after piece fell off of Paula's body until the suit of armor was nothing more than pieces of metal strewn across the floor. Paula soon fell to the floor as well, dressed in a pink and white skintight suit that covered her from her neck all the way down to her feet. Paula quickly used her power to burn parts of the suit, seemingly shutting it down. Evidently, it, too, was a part of the armor and Paula wanted to make sure that it was damaged beyond repair as well. After a few moments, she had torn the sleeves off the suit completely as well as the legs, up to a few inches above her knees. She did not want to take any chances with the skintight suit managing to reactivate and take control of her body again. Paula also raised her right arm and took off the headset that had been connected to her, allowing the suit of armor to control her psychic powers, and threw it to the ground. She then went over and stomped the headset, destroying it.
After she had destroyed the headset, she went back over to Ness. He suspected that Paula had destroyed the suit due to the possibility of it being able to either control or slow down her body's movements even without the armor. Ness, wanting to see how his friend was doing, ran over to her and asked, "Are you all right?"
"I will be once I get out of this suit and into some new clothes," she replied with a grin. Ness smiled, relieved that Paula seemed to be okay. He then quickly used Lifeup on her to heal her dislocated shoulder.
Just as he turned so they could leave, they saw Giygas standing before them. "So I finally get to see the power of the psychic who helped George rescue Maria," he said in a low voice. "I was expecting you to have more difficulty against her."
"Maybe Paula's mind is a bit stronger than you thought," Ness retorted.
Giygas gave a humph. "Probably. You have shown yourselves to be quite powerful…far more so than I had initially expected, the strongest humans that I have encountered so far. Still, you are not strong enough to stop me. I am simply too powerful and have too much experience fighting against strong opponents. You aren't Maria, after all."
That statement caused Ness to narrow his gaze on Giygas. "So you're Giegue," Ness said.
"As I have already told you, no," Giygas responded, shaking his head. "Not anymore. I was once Giegue, but I was defeated by humans much like yourselves. They sang a song that caused me to remember Maria, my adoptive human mother, and how I had wronged her by fighting her all those years ago. As a result of that loss, I was stripped of the rank of Giegue, and the title was given to my younger brother."
"Then why are you after us?" Paula asked. "You must know that Maria did not want you to become a genocidal mass murderer!"
Giygas laughed. "And that is why the Universal Cosmic Destroyer was born!" he cried out, his eyes glowing and showing barely any trace of sanity. Ness did not let down his guard, though. The laughter and lack of sanity may have all been an act. He was soon shown to be correct as Giygas calmed down a few moments later. He then gazed at the two human children and continued. "I knew that I needed to do something to get around my weakness of my attachment to Maria. So I underwent a procedure sooner than expected that would give me all of that power. Most of my species fused into one composite being, the focal point of that being was me, or rather, my original form, Giygas. The process would have destroyed my physical body and mind since they could not maintain the power that had been passed to me. However, in order for the Universal Cosmic Destroyer to not have any weakness to human emotions, it had to cast out its goodness. And so it did, as well as its mind as well. It's good side and its mind and soul, in essence, what was the original Giygas, was cast out of the Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas so that he could also become the Embodiment of Evil, and formed a new body. That body is what you see before you right now. I am what was cast out of the Universal Cosmic Destroyer.
"Still, since I have a mind and sentience, I also have the capacity for evil. I knew that I had to detach myself from everyone on Earth at that very moment, especially Maria. And my presence here shows that I have finally accomplished that task."
"But why?" Paula asked again. "You're not the Embodiment of Evil. You still have your mind and soul, and your conscience. You have free will! You don't have to be evil."
"You're right," Giygas replied with a grin. "But the fact is that I choose to be what I am."
Paula then frowned as Giygas laughed. His laugh echoed throughout the entire hall. It was not long before Ness spoke. "So there's no reason for us to hold back against you at all," Ness said, his excitement for this battle to get underway readily apparent in his voice.
Giygas grinned again. "No, I guess not," he replied nonchalantly. "But alas, our confrontation will have to wait for another time. I am needed elsewhere, and you still have two friends, as well as your families, and theirs, to find. So for now, I will bid you a not so nice adieu." After finishing the last word, Giygas vanished into thin air. Both Ness and Paula knew that they would meet Giygas again. This was not over, not by a long shot. After Giygas had vanished, Ness and Paula also left the headquarters of the Happy Happyist Cult.
Upon exiting the cult's headquarters, they immediately went north towards the Drugstore. Paula had lost all of her items after being captured, and a search of the headquarters of the cult turned up nothing, and she really wanted to get out of the suit whose remains she was still wearing. She knew that while the Drugstore would not have any new clothes for her, it would hopefully have some equipment that would be of use to her since she lost her Non-Stick Fry Pan. It took them only a couple of minutes to reach the Happy Happy Village Drugstore. Before Paula went inside, she asked Ness to lend her some money so that she could buy the necessary equipment. After Ness handed her some money, Paula quickly rushed inside while Ness waited for her outside, before entering, Paula promised to pay back Ness when she got back to her home to change.
Inside the store, Paula looked around for useful equipment that was not too expensive. She knew that it was only a short bus ride to Threed, where she could get some good equipment, relatively speaking. She bought a Copper Bracelet and a Ribbon for her hair, both of which would help aid her in defense, as well as two Refreshing Herbs, which would be useful if she got sick, was poisoned, or suffered from a number of other status ailments. She had wanted to buy more items, but she was short on cash. Ness had not had a lot of money, himself, at the moment, so he was limited in the amount of money he could give her. After she had bought the items, she quickly tied the ribbon in her hair and placed the Copper Bracelet on her left arm. Now, she was ready to go. After she was finished in the store, she turned around and exited, a friendly voice calling, "Thank you, come again," after her.
When she had gotten back outside, Ness noticed that she did not have a frying pan on her. He said nothing about it, though. He then asked, "Okay Paula, where to next?"
"Home," Paula replied.
With that, the two of them left Happy Happy Village and trekked back to Twoson. Their journey was free of incident and as they entered Peaceful Rest Valley, they basked in the glow of the sun hitting their faces. Finally, there was a moment of calm where they were not getting besieged by monsters, robots, or aliens. Ness turned to Paula and smiled, who quickly returned his smile. Ness then looked at Paula's current tattered uniform and he felt his chest constrict as he saw her in the sunlight during this relaxing moment. He had never felt that before when looking at her. He had always viewed Paula a pretty, but he had never had a physical reaction like this to seeing her before. Paula, however, was not in the same boat. She had always not only viewed Ness as handsome, but she had had a crush on him for quite some time. Only now did Ness realize that he, too, was echoing Paula's crush. After a few minutes of resting, the two continued to make their way back towards Twoson. Being free of the enemy, the trip back did not take long at all, and within a couple minutes, the two of them were back in Twoson.
Back in Twoson, the two psychics encountered a bizarre scene before them. Despite the fact that in Happy Happy Village and in Peaceful Rest Valley, it had been the middle of the day, it was dark in Twoson. Ness and Paula looked up into the sky and could not even find the moon in the sky, even though there was supposed to be a full moon out that night. There were no clouds in the sky either. It was simply as if the sun had just gone out. Ness quickly looked at his watch and found that the time said 2:00 P.M. He glanced towards Paula and asked, "Do you sense anything strange here?"
"Yes," Paula responded in a wispy voice. She was obviously troubled. "There's no one in town, at all. I can't sense anybody here at all, human, Starman, PSI Alien, nothing."
The two of them then slowly continued on their way towards town. Upon entering the town itself, Paula's feeling of emptiness was confirmed. There was no sign of anyone at all in Twoson. The Bus Station and Pizza Shop were both dark. Paula approached each of the locations and her eyes glowed for a brief second as she attempted to ascertain whether or not anyone was inside either building. Both buildings were abandoned. The two then proceeded towards the Polestar Preschool, which was not far away from the Pizza Shop. The two soon reached the Polestar Preschool and Paula asked to duck into her home so she could change and get a frying pan for use on the road. Ness had no problem waiting for her. With that, Paula went into her house while Ness waited for her outside. This also gave him an opportunity to look around. While he was waiting, he saw the girl in the red dress that he had encountered at his party in Onett and later in Happy Happy Village once again. As he tried to approach, the girl turned and giggled before running down the street to the south. Ness knew the street she was rushing down, though. It led to the tunnel that took one out of Twoson and to Threed. Ness decided to not give chase to the girl. He had a feeling that he had not seen the last of her. Still, her appearance had unnerved him. Paula had stated that she felt no one in Twoson. Paula was a powerful telepath and had a lot better fine control and experience with her psychic power than Ness did and she had not sensed the girl at all. Ness decided that he would have to tell Paula about the girl that he saw when she came out of her house. And it was not long before Paula emerged.
Paula emerged from her house and Ness went to greet her. Paula came out wearing a pink sleeveless polo shirt and blue shorts. She was also holding a frying pan in her right hand. If Ness had been inside while Paula had been changing and getting her weapons, he would have found that she had a new Non-Stick Fry Pan in her right hand. Ness smiled at the sight of the beautiful girl. He did not know why the smile was his first reaction, but it was. Paula gave a soft laugh at Ness's smile. She then approached Ness and handed him the money she owed him after having been lent some money in Happy Happy Village. Ness graciously accepted her return payment. After paying Ness, her expression became more serious. "So, Ness, what's our next move?"
Ness considered her question. Indeed, what was their next move? Truth be told, to him, finding Paula had been pure luck. He did not relish the idea of wandering around aimlessly searching the world hoping to get lucky. Still, he had been lucky when he found Paula. Maybe he would get lucky again. Then a thought came to him. "Hey Paula," he called over to her. Paula then turned to Ness as he made his suggestion. "You could send a telepathic signal to Jeff and Poo. You managed to contact Jeff and I three years ago. If anyone can find Jeff and Poo right now, it's you. You could also search for our families while you're at it."
"Yeah, make me carry the load," Paula quipped playfully in response. She then smiled and said, "Sure." Her eyes then began to glow as she began to telepathically scan the world for any sign of their friends and families. Surprisingly, she was only able to sense Ness right next to her and no one else, at all. She expanded her search, but still she came up empty. Ness noticed her begin to strain as she tried to expand her search. "What is it Paula?" he asked.
She did not immediately respond. She tried one more telepathic search to see if she could sense anyone at all. Again, nothing. Her eyes returned back to normal and she turned back to Ness. "I can't sense anyone besides you, at all, anywhere," she responded. "I don't know what's going on."
"Could the robot have affected your telepathy in any way?"
"I doubt it. My mind was not damaged in the battle for control and I know that I suffered no brain damage during my fights with the PSI Aliens and the Starmen. Let's head back into Peaceful Rest Valley and see what happens there."
"Good idea," Ness agreed. The two of them then headed east and back towards the tunnel. Not long after they had started, they were at the tunnel. They went through the tunnel and soon found themselves back in Peaceful Rest Valley.
Here, it was still daylight. Paula again tried to initiate a telepathic scan of the world and search for Jeff and Poo. This time, she could hear the voices of over six billion people. This was quite strange. Why could she sense everyone here, but not in Twoson? She did not dwell on it much. She was only interested in a few people out of all the billions in the world. She began by searching for Jeff. No matter where she focused her scan, she could not find Jeff. She then decided to search for Poo. After a few seconds, she managed to find Poo in the Scaraba Desert. She did not scan further before temporarily ceasing her scan. "I found Poo," she blurted out to Ness. "He's in Scaraba."
"Scaraba," Ness said almost in echo to her statement.
"Yeah," Paula replied.
This was both good and bad. It was good in the fact that they both knew that Poo was still alive, and in this time period. It was bad in that Ness did not remember enough about Scaraba to know whether or not he would be able to teleport there safely. And while he may have been willing to try it out on his own, he was with Paula right now and he would not risk her safety for the off chance of getting to Scaraba. That meant that the only way to Scaraba would be by boat or plane. They were too far away from an airport to make it by bike so they would need to find some alternate means of transport. Or, they could wait for Poo to come to them. The two then headed back into Twoson.
Back in Twoson, the same dark emptiness greeted them once more. Once again, Ness saw the girl in the red dress standing before them. She giggled and called playfully, "What are you waiting for, come get me." She then rushed off, heading down Route 34, seemingly heading for Threed.
Ness was about to follow the girl when Paula gripped his arm and gazed deeply into his eyes shaking her head in warning. Ness also noticed a look of apprehension in Paula's face. He soon began to wonder what was going on with Paula. Ness then relaxed and watched as the girl fled down the street to the south. Ness turned to Paula and asked, "What was that about? Why did you look so worried?"
"Something's not right about her," Paula answered in reply. "I couldn't sense her at all."
That did not exactly catch Ness off guard, but it caused him to be much more suspicious of the girl than he had initially been. "That's not all," Paula added. "I can't sense anyone in the outside world again. Something strange is going on in Twoson."
"Yeah, I know." He paused to consider their options. Besides Peaceful Rest Valley and Happy Happy Village, there was nothing special about Twoson. There were no hidden passage ways or secret locations to go to.
"Perhaps we should go to either Onett or Threed," Paula suggested.
"Huh, why Threed?" Ness asked.
"Because you've already been to Onett and it seems to be normal right now," Paula answered. "Besides, we need to know if what's going on here, especially if this turns out to not be an isolated incident. Not only that, but that girl seemed to be headed towards Threed. We need to talk to her so we can find out what's going on. I have a feeling that she may know what's happening around here."
Paula had a point. Even though Peaceful Rest Valley seemed to be normal, it was not exactly an important PSI Alien target. Happy Happy Village and Twoson, however, were. However, Happy Happy Village had not been shrouded in darkness at all, even when the girl had been there earlier. Twoson had also not been shrouded in darkness, either. Still, someone in Threed might know what is going on. Besides, it was on the way to Saturn Valley. Maybe the Mr. Saturns and Apple Kid know something of what's going on if no one in Threed did. And Paula was right about the girl. Threed did seem to be the girl's destination, and there was the chance that the girl did know what was going on. Going there was their best option. Besides, the girl seemed to be treating this chase as if it were a game, indicating that she either knew the cause of the darkness, or merely did not care about what it meant. First, though, they would need to find some means of transportation. The two of them then headed towards the Polestar Preschool, Paula's home, once more.
Once there, the two of them headed around to the back yard and to the garage. Paula opened the garage and a line of bicycles lined the walls of the garage. Paula then told him, "These bicycles are normally for the students, but some of them can fit older kids as well. Technically, my parents also own them, so you can use one of these for our ride to Threed."
"Thanks," Ness said exuberantly. Now he would not have to sell any of his equipment in order to get the money needed to buy a bike. Speaking of money, Ness soon realized that he would need to get to an ATM in Threed to withdraw some money. Before anything else was done, though, Paula came up to him and handed him some money. Ness then went on to select one the less girly larger bikes that Ness suspected was designed for boys. Once Ness had selected his bike, he mounted the bike and drove out front. Paula followed close behind on a pink bike wearing a helmet with knee and elbow pads. She also handed a helmet and pads to Ness. He dismounted his bike and put on the pads and helmet. Fortunately, his helmet and pads were not pink or red, like Paula's. They were blue and gray. Once he was fully attired, Ness boarded his bike once more and the two of them proceeded down Route 34 and towards the tunnel that would take them to Threed.
During the trip, Ness quickly glanced around Twoson. Indeed, it was completely deserted. There was not a single sign of life at all in the town, not even runaway dogs or other animals. The silence made the town very eerie. After a half hour of riding, the two teens came to a corner as the road turned sharply. They turned left and not too far ahead was the tunnel that connected them from Twoson to Threed. The two entered the tunnel, but upon after driving about a few dozen yards in the tunnel, a barrier shimmered before them and they were repulsed. It was as if they had hit a wall. The two teens felt an electric shock all over their body and they fell off their own bikes. It took them a few moments to recover from the shock.
"Great," Paula muttered, her body still tingling from the shock. "Looks like Threed's out of the question."
Ness nodded grimly. This was not good. The two then began to turn around to return to Twoson and they saw the mysterious girl in the red dress once more. Her face was twisted into a mad grin. "Come and get me, you two!" she taunted. "If you catch me, I'll tell you where your friends Jeff Andonuts and Prince Poo, formerly of Dalaam, are."
Ness and Paula's eyes went wide in shock and hope at that statement. Ness began to approach and begged, "Please, miss. Tell us where our friends are."
The girl merely laughed. "Ha, ha, ha! You'll have to catch me, first!" With that, she rocketed away from the teens. Ness and Paula then remounted their bicycles and chased after her. They did not want to play this game with the mysterious girl, but so far, they figured that she was not only the only clue in helping them find their friends, but also solving the mystery of what was happening in Twoson as well.
Waiting above the town of Twoson, Starman Deluxe Beta overlooked the town. He had been tasked by Giygas to keep an eye on Ness and Paula, but he had recently detected the presence of a new girl in a red sleeveless dress. Her sudden appearance was quite suspicious. As such, he had telepathically alerted his master of the recent turn of events. Giygas had ordered him to keep an eye on the girl as well, just in case she was a new player in the game, but to not make contact with her at all. He had tracked both the girl into the tunnel after she had encountered the teens, as well as the teens entering the tunnel. Given the fact that his own psychic senses had not passed through the barrier that had been erected a few dozen yards into the tunnel that connected Twoson to Threed and that a test barrage of PSI Starstorm had only caused ripples in the barrier, meant that whoever was still in Twoson was staying whether they wanted to or not. Still, he surmised that the girl was also trapped in the city, assuming that she had not been the one to erect the barrier. Still, he was unable to sense anything outside the town, so he doubted that the barrier had been lowered. There, he would wait for the girl to reemerge into Twoson. Then, he would interrogate her, especially given what he had overheard in her conversation with Paula and Ness and the fact that she knew where Jeff and Poo were. So Poo may still be alive, he thought. If this were true, he had to know. Not only that, but the fact that Jeff was still unaccounted for was also troubling for him and his master. He was very willing to disobey Giygas's order of not making contact with the girl if it meant that he would be able to find out the locations of two of the remaining Chosen Four.