LONG Author's Note: Okay. First things first, I was thinking about abandoning this fic. After re-reading this a few times and looking at the year it was started, I still blame my younger self for being a lot stupider. That year was when I was trying to accept what happened during the year, I mean, one year before that particular year. It's something personal and not really serious, yet the younger me took it really seriously. But from that, I've learned to be more mature, even though nowadays I'm still struggling to do so, but I'm trying. Unlike the many Old Shame stuff that ended up being deleted, I'm going to let this one slide, and I'll try to make "past me" happier by having me try to finish this fic. After "Awaiting the Next Tournament", I might as well make another attempt for this one.
...I think I should consider remaking the earlier chapters, but I'm not sure.
Chapter 11: Mind Screw
Jeff wakes up to find himself lying on the familiar hospital bed, as well as the familiar room. However, it looks normal - no red tint, not even dim lighting. Just a bright, happy-looking hospital room during daytime. It appears that he's back to the actual Twoson, actual Eagleland, actual world.
However, he's not so sure. He first suspected something isn't right when he realizes that he can get up without any difficulty, without any struggle or pain. Remembering that he was horribly sick before he's teleported to the "dark side" Eagleland, he thinks that the Twoson he's in isn't real either.
Well... he's right...
When he opened the windows, he sees nothing outside. Nothing but a white void. The crow might be trapping him again in yet another nightmare.
"Jeff..." the familiar, Dr. Andonuts-sounding voice is heard once again. Jeff braces himself for Mad Scientist Crow's arrival.
As expected, the crow has arrived. However, when he steps into Jeff's room, he simply looks around while showing his angry face. While angry, his red eyes make him considerably creepier to Jeff, as the latter's pretty much defenseless.
Jeff is confused at the crow's behavior. He doesn't say a single word other than that greeting, and even with his trusty laser gun on hand, he doesn't even shoot at anything. He just looks around the room Jeff is in as if he's looking for something or surveying a location. After a while, the crow simply leaves the place, walking back to the hospital's corridor.
What... is going on?
Shortly after that, Jeff sneaks slowly to look at the corridor to make sure that he actually cannot be seen. When he does so, the crow is nowhere to be seen. In fact, there are no other doors in that corridor except for the one leading to Jeff's room.
"I really don't understand this..." Jeff walks back to his bed, then sits there.
"Hm. Before I woke up here, I believe I was in Mad Scientist Crow's dimension. Was I asleep? Did I pass out? This feels so real. Ugh, the illusion is too much at this point. My brain hurts."
Jeff then gets up and walks up to the window, looking at the white void.
"...I remember the first time I woke up in that crow's dimension, and then being greeted by him. He was offering me to join him, but at that time it wasn't clear why. He was muttering nonsensical words and speaking really fast in a sudden. Only in my first dream in this messed up place the crow elaborated the reason somewhat. That sounds ridiculous no matter what. But his sanity is questionable, so he actually is planning to use me for something that is not yet really and truly specified, but he couldn't word it correctly to me or something. Sigh... I don't know anymore..."
...
...
...
Jeff, are you there?
"That woman voice again... who are you?"
You... don't remember me?
"Well... I have to admit that it sounds familiar to me, but I don't know who you are..."
You were brought to the boarding school at such a young age... I guess that made you never remember me...
"...I'm really sorry if I'm sounding rude, but I don't know who you are if you don't show yourself."
It's alright, Jeff. I understand what you feel. However, it seems that you cannot see me... I thought you can...
"It seems that we're all invisible, ma'am. First, the adult-sized crow cannot see me even when I'm right in front of him, yet I can still see him. Then, I cannot see you, yet you can see me."
I guess we're still having difficulties talking to each other. It's alright. Maybe some other time, then.
"By the way, ma'am, do you know where are we right now? This place is yet another illusion, but the crow cannot hunt me down it seems."
I don't know either.
"Huh. Well... is there any way to get out of this... um... illusion layer? Just going back to the darker alternate Eagleland is better than this empty place. Speaking of that place, I wonder what happened to Ness..."
Ness...? Is that a friend of yours?
"Of course. We went to an adventure together before, along with two more. Now, we're trapped by a reality-warper crow who is really insane."
...It's nice that you have some friends. While I still don't know how you can get out of here, I think you can find the exit soon enough. I do hope that your friends are still fine.
"Thank you, ma'am. Um... wait a minute, I still want to know who you are. You haven't told me yet."
...I'm your mother, Jeff.
"Wha-?"
Jeff is suddenly blinded by a flash of light.
After that weird dream, the boy wakes up on the alternate Threed, which is still devastated. Near him is Mad Scientist Crow, who is about to shoot him. However, from the look of his sweaty face, he seems to be struggling to reach to his laser gun's trigger. It also seems that he has been holding back for a while for some reason. Seeing that, Jeff clutches his head with both hands as he braces himself for the crow's deadly shot.
Nothing happens.
After a while, Jeff looks up again to see the now-agitated crow finally giving up. In anger, the crow said, "...Why? ...WHY CAN'T I SHOOT YOU?!"
Puzzled, the boy can only stare at the crow.
"I HAVE TO KILL YOU! BUT WHY CAN'T I SHOOT YOU?! WHY CAN'T YOU DIE?!" the crow has lost it.
In relief, Jeff quickly stands up and tries to run away, but the crow grabs his arm, holding him in place.
"Don't you even try getting away..." the crow said.
Jeff tries to get away, to no avail. The crow then uses his other hand to hold the boy's neck, strangling him.
"If I can't use my gun, then choking you to death would be a better option..." the crow begins to squeeze Jeff's neck.
"ACK!"
"DIE, KID! I HOPE YOU DON'T GO TO HEAVEN AFTER THIS!" the crow keeps strangling the boy.
...
...
"PSI... FLASH!"
"Huh?" the crow stops and turns around, but it's too late. A ball of light explodes on his face, blinding him and causing him to release Jeff, who drops to the ground after the painful torture.
"...Was that... a PSI... attack...?" Jeff thought.
"Jeff!" Ness has come back.
"...Ness?" Jeff looks at his friend, who is running towards him.
"I can't believe it worked! At first I doubt that I can use a PSI attack at the crow, but it seems that I've regained my PSI abilities somewhat. If only I'm a second too late, you'd be dead by now! It's a good thing that I decided to check on you before I ran to the tunnel..."
"Urk... That's a good news..."
"...I didn't clearly see what the crow was doing to you, but I can't believe that you have to suffer such strangulation. It makes me question more why you're the one being targeted by the crow!"
Jeff then stands up. Meanwhile, the crow turns back to see the two boys. He has tears flowing from his eyes, as if he's crying, but it's actually an impact of Ness's attack.
"How...? HOW?!" the crow is still as angry as before.
"Gah! We shouldn't have been busy talking..." Ness regretted his actions.
"You... the boy with the red cap... I can't believe that you can cast a PSI attack on me! I thought that would be useless!"
"You think. I don't think you can manipulate my PSI abilities anymore, heheh!" Ness said to the crow.
"Grr... ow... OW!" the crow suddenly clutches his head, feeling slightly dizzy.
"Looks like he's getting weakened! We're going to get out of here quicker than we thought." Jeff happily said.
Still clutching his head with one hand, the crow looks at Jeff and points his finger at him.
"...It's all... YOUR FAULT!" the crow exclaimed.
The two boys are confused, as Ness was the one to attack the crow while Jeff didn't do anything at that time. They're thinking that the crow is probably confusing Jeff for his friend.
"You there... It seems that I'm too late to kill you at this point. Consider yourself lucky! I have to back off from you for now, but once I'm ready, free from this dizziness, I'll show no mercy! Your days are still numbered, kid!" the crow uses his watch to teleport away to a faraway location.
After the whole tension, the two boys can only sigh in relief.
"...The crow is indeed crazy, it seems." Ness commented.
"Yeah." Jeff replied.
"I'm glad that he's finally weakened, albeit slowly. But at least, we can rest for a while."
"But don't forget that we have to be battle-ready the next time we meet him."
"Yup."
"Speaking of battle, Paula and Poo aren't with us yet..."
"Oh, right... I didn't even see them during our escape from the Starstorm. I'm sure that the Starstorm is from Poo, but I didn't see him."
"However... there's one thing that I don't understand."
"Huh?"
"What's weakening the crow? I didn't see any clear cause. I mean, you managed to fire your PSI Flash at the crow, when doing that normally in this dimension wouldn't work at all. And before that, he seemed to be struggling to shoot me when I was down. After all of that, he started to feel dizzy..."
"The dizziness might be part of PSI Flash's impact, but other than that I have no idea."
"Huh. As expected. By the way, remember the mysterious woman's voice back in, er, alternate Winters? ...She claimed to be my mom."
"What?!"
"But it happened in a dream... or was it an illusion? Or... whatever. But the point is, before I woke up, the woman's voice was heard again, and she claimed to be my mother."
"Your mother?! Well, gotta admit I've never seen your mother, so I don't know what she looks like."
"Blame me and my bad memory. Anyway, the voice said that I had forgotten her ever since I went to the boarding school. Once again, I'm familiar with that voice, but I was surprised that it was my mom's all along. Looks like I've finally solved another problem."
"That's great, then!"
"...The problem is, I don't know what happened to her once I left for Snow Wood. And I haven't seen her ever since, indeed. She's probably stuck in this dimension for years."
Ness is left speechless.
Now that the boys are left without clear answers regarding what weakened Mad Scientist Crow, they decided to focus on finding the other members of The Chosen Four.
"Anyway, enough talking. We have to find the others before the crow lands another surprise attack on us." Jeff said.