Chapter 14: Peaceful Rest

Ness and Paula made it back to Happy Happy Village without further harm from wild animals. It was early in the evening, and the sun had already begun to set over the horizon. The town was cast into a soft orange glow, thankfully not contrasted by the color blue as most of it had been painted over. The townsfolk were beginning to shut themselves indoors for the night, save for one portly blond-haired kid who waddled over to Ness with a dramatic moan.

"Oh, best buddy! There you are! I just woke up from the worst dream… there was blue, and robots, and I think people in hoods… everyone was in trouble! But not me, right? I'm not going to get in trouble, am I? None of it was my fault!"

Pokey Minch: living proof that even after a major victory, fate had it out to get on Ness's nerves.

"Relax, you're fine like everyone else," he said without even trying to hide his annoyance.

"Yes!" his neighbor shouted, pumping his fists in the air. "I, Pokey, am the most innocent guy around!"

"Whatever," Ness muttered, rolling his eyes.

As Pokey sauntered off, whistling an obnoxious tune, Paula tapped him on the shoulder. Her nose was wrinkled, no doubt due to his scent of some unidentifiable meat.

"Who was that?"

He sighed and grumbled to himself.

"My neighbor. Nice, isn't he?"

"Hey pal, let's be friends again!" Pokey yelled from where he stood near the trail back to Twoson. A smirk crossed his face less than a second later. "NOT! You're still a loser, just like you were before!"

"WHAT WAS THAT?! I COULDN'T HEAR IT, YOU WANNA GET A LITTLE CLOSER?! I'LL FRY YOU LIKE THE GIANT PIG YOU ARE!"

Ness flinched at the roar Paula let out, her eyes blazing as she stared daggers in Pokey's direction. He seemed to get the idea and hurried off through the tunnel, whimpering the whole way.

"Jerk," she huffed once he was gone. He didn't say anything for a moment, wondering if she was about to explode. Paula noticed his bewildered stare and brought a hand to her mouth.

"O-oh, sorry about that! I don't know what got into me there."

He managed to compose herself and grinned at her.

"You kidding? That was cool! I'll never forget the look on his face… now I wish the photo guy was here."

Her cheeks reddened a bit, and a laugh escaped her mouth. Another voice called out to them from nearby, interrupting the moment.

"Ah, welcome back!"

Carpainter was walking toward them, still dressed in his blue suit but with the dye in his now-gray hair gone. He had a pleasant smile on his face.

"The town is recovering even faster than I'd anticipated," he said, "and it's all thanks to you, Ness. Paula… oh, I can't apologize enough for all the trouble we've put you both through."

Ness smiled.

"Don't worry about it, that statue was the cause of all this. You got rid of it, right?"

Carpainter's expression fell.

"Ah… about that. Not long after you left to free Paula, Mr. Megane came back. He asked for the Mani Mani, but I told him it was dangerous and needed to be disposed of. When I had my back turned, he knocked me out! Both he and the statue were gone by the time I woke up."

That was troubling. Mr. Megane no doubt knew more about the Mani Mani than he let on, but he was still a mystery to Ness. He suspected they would cross paths again, one way or another.

"Something doesn't seem right about him," Carpainter added. "If you're going to seek him out, I'd be careful. In the meantime, though, are you headed back to Twoson?"

They nodded together. He cracked a smile and gestured to a green-painted building near the edge of town.

"It's getting dark, and Peaceful Rest Valley can be dangerous at night. Why don't you stay at our inn? I've already covered the expenses for you; it's the least I can do to help."

Grateful for a place to sleep rather than out in the open again, Ness gave him a nod.

"Yes, please."

"Thank you!" Paula called out to him as they parted ways.

Just as promised, the inn gave them a two-bed room with a bath for the night. Paula insisted on letting him shower before her, and he didn't argue- partially because he was much dirtier, but more because he remembered her outburst at Pokey and suddenly didn't want to disagree with her on anything. While she was taking her turn afterwards, Ness (dressed in his blue and white striped pajamas) gave his family a call. This time he dialed his home number first, filling in his mother and Tracy on his progress. Predictably, they were most interested in hearing about his new companion.

"Well, Paula sounds like a nice girl. You be sure to watch out for her, all right?"

"Right, Mom," he echoed, obedient as ever. "She can handle herself, though. We ran into Pokey earlier, and he was his usual self. Paula went kind of… well, I don't think I've ever seen him so scared. She even surprised me."

"Pokey was there?" came her stunned reply. "I heard from Mrs. Minch that he'd gone out and didn't come back. Is he okay?"

He decided not to mention the hypnotic Mani Mani statue's influence to her.

"I think so. He ran off somewhere once we got back to town. I don't know where he is now."

"Hm… I'll tell his parents in the morning. You be careful out there, okay?"

"And be sure to bring your new girlfriend here sometime!" his sister's voice screeched through the receiver. He covered it with a hand, blushing. Paula was still in the bathroom, thankfully, and didn't seem to have heard.

"It's not like that, Tracy!"

She could be heard cackling in the background. Even his mother giggled a bit.

"Don't mind her. But I do think you should introduce us to her if you're in the neighborhood!"

"I'll keep that in mind. Good night, Mom."

His father, to his relief, wasn't as interested in teasing him. He updated the record of his adventure, and proceeded to drop an enormous bit of news on him.

"By the way, I've added $2500 to your bank account. Be sure not to spend it all at once, I might not be able to get you more for a while."

Ness didn't say anything, though he was trying his hardest to. His mouth flapped uselessly while he let the reality of that sink in. Over two grand… he'd never even seen that much money before! That would be enough to buy them new weapons (his bat had broken, and the frying pan was badly dented) as well as more food for the trip.

"T… thanks, Dad!" he finally managed to say.

"Ha ha! Don't mention it, just keep up the good work out there! Call me back soon."

The call ended, and everything was quiet for a few minutes before Paula came out of the bathroom, wearing a soft pink nightgown to match her usual clothes and drying off her hair. She flopped into one of the beds, leaving him to take the other.

"We did great today," she sighed as she curled up under a blanket.

"I'll say. Only two days in and I've already found two of the Sanctuaries. This'll be a breeze at the rate we're going."

"Where to next?"

Ness thought about it.

"You mean after we get back to Twoson? I… uh, I'm not sure. The next town over might have something we need, but I heard we can't get through the tunnel that way."

Paula rolled over to look at him.

"Threed? You're right, ghosts are in the tunnel and won't let anyone pass. Yesterday I saw a bus go in there, but it just came back out after a few seconds. Crazy, huh?"

"Yeah…" he mumbled as sleep began to take him. "Crazy…"

"Ness…"

He snapped his eyes open at the sound of a voice. Judging by the endless black void around him, he was in another dream like when Paula had called to him the night before. It wasn't her this time, however. The voice was a boy's, quite a few years older than him by the sound of it.

"Ness… you're Ness, aren't you?"

"I… uh, yeah. That's me. Who is this? Are you someone else I'm supposed to meet?"

"Ness… Ness, it hurts… my head hurts…"

Unsettled but still curious, he pressed further.

"Who are you? Do you need help? Tell me where you are!"

"To… Threed… you have to go to Threed, the next Sanctuary… oh, my head hurts so much…"

He did have to head there, then! If what the voice was saying could be trusted, anyway… it sounded like he needed help, but he wasn't giving any more information. On the contrary, his voice had suddenly shifted to a lower-pitched rasp.

"Give up, Ness."

Something was forming in the darkness before him. It was a human shape, but distinctly inhuman at the same time. The figure towered above him by a good several feet, tendril-like limbs hanging loosely at its sides. What looked like a thin tail swayed behind it, though he couldn't tell for sure because the figure was only visible as a glowing white silhouette… save for its head. Its face was very human and bore a disturbing resemblance to his own, complete with a red cap sitting on the top.

"Give up and run, Ness," the voice said again. It barely sounded human now, replaced with a hoarse growl.

"GIVE UP AND RUN!"

He jolted upright in the bed, shaking uncontrollably.

Ness gasped for breath and wiped some of the copious sweat off his face, trying to process what had happened. The unfamiliar voice, that face, and the way he felt like he was being crushed under the pressure of the unknown person's speech all made him feel small, helpless, and watched. That wasn't a nightmare, it couldn't have been. It was too similar to when Paula had called to him.

Speaking of her, he looked to the other bed. She was still fast asleep, not having experienced the same disturbance as him- or at least he hoped so. Her light snores were the only noise in the room, which he was happy for; silence would have driven him insane at the moment.

What was that? It had a human face that looked like his… well, not entirely. Now that he was able to think clearly he realized it wasn't a perfect match. The face had been a few years older than him, by the looks of it. A young adult in a red cap, shouting at him to give up… his thoughts turned to Buzz Buzz, who had come from a doomed future. Was that a message from himself ten years ahead, trying to explain the futility of his fight against Giygas? His heart skipped a beat; could it have been Giygas in an attempt to demoralize him? Its body did seem more alien in nature, and he never learned what his enemy looked like.

Ness rubbed his eyes and laid back in the bed. A clock on the wall revealed that it was only four in the morning, but he didn't care about sleep. He just laid there, feeling his heartbeat settle down and wishing he were anyone else.