Chapter 14:
The sheets of arrows and needles that rained down towards the heroes would have blotted out the sun if there had been any sunlight in the Faerie World. Instead, this area of the Faerie World had a light that shined all around them, but with no clear source. The arrows fell onto the heroes and those that hit their mark struck Ness's counter shield and rebounded off of the shield back at the various Faeries. Several lines of pixies, small Faeries standing about a foot or two high that had wings and were hovering close to the heroes, were hit by their own arrows and immediately fell to the ground, miniature arrows protruding from their bodies. Bluish gases emerged from their bodies like blood, dispersing as soon as they met the air. But the assault was just beginning. Trolls soon came storming through the ranks of pixies and charged into the ranks of the heroes, their clubs held high. The trolls were massive creatures that were more reminiscent of the trolls that the teens had heard of in stories. They stood at around nine feet tall, were burly and heavily muscled. They had tannish skin, but in an unnatural tone and texture. They also had long hair and wielded massive clubs that looked to be made of wood.
Ness pushed more energy into his shield as a dozen trolls stormed towards the party. He knew that the strength of the trolls would test his shield and their magic would likely push it to the limit. Still, he held his hand up, indicating that the others should not launch any attacks on the trolls. He did not want them to waste any psychic energy, not yet. Ness waited as the trolls approached. Their seemingly blind charge towards the party indicated that the trolls were either not very smart and chose to ignore the counter shield, feeling that their might would be able to collapse it and not cause their attacks to be reflected back at them, or that they simply were willing to take the punishment that their reflected attacks would inflict on them. The trolls raised their clubs as they approached and issued an immense roar. They then brought their clubs down upon the party members. Their clubs, which would have bludgeoned any normal humans with a single hit, shattering their heads, struck the counter shield and were reflected back at the trolls. The recoil from the impact caused the trolls' own clubs to strike them in the head. The trolls then fell over onto the ground either unconscious or dead, black blood issuing from the cuts on their heads and from their noses and mouths. Giygas made their eventual fates certain with a series of green energy blasts that disintegrated the fallen trolls. Even with the fall of several dozen pixies and trolls, though, countless imps, pixies, trolls, Hostile Elder Oaks, an enemy that the teens had not expected to see in the Faerie World, and Faeries still surged towards the heroes, and Ness knew that his shield would not hold out forever. Giygas and Poo decided that it was time to take care of things.
Ness, Paula, and Jeff retreated behind the two psychics and waited as dozens of green and blue orbs of light formed around the two psychics, the prelude to PSI Starstorm Omega. Despite the orbs of energy forming around the psychics, the Faeries still approached, either oblivious towards the psychic assault that they were about to suffer, or confident in their ability to survive the assault long enough for them to close in on the teens and Giygas and attack. Giygas and Poo's eyes glowed as they targeted the horde of onrushing foes. The two then extended their arms towards the oncoming host and dozens of orbs rushed towards the horde. The stars from the Starstorm Omega attack vaporized line after line of pixies, plowed through Hostile Elder Oaks, snapping their trunks in half, and blowing apart trolls on impact, and continuing through towards the rest of the army. Entire ranks of enemies were being felled by Giygas and Poo's attacks, and that was before the stars struck the ground and exploded among more of the enemy. Once the stars eventually did strike the ground, they gouged craters several meters in diameter before they exploded; producing craters dozens of meters across and over a dozen meters deep. Entire platoons of Faeries, trolls and other creatures were instantly annihilated by the onslaught of energy unleashed by Giygas and Poo. Still, despite more than half of the enemy army having been felled by the attacks, the Faeries, trolls, goblins, pixies, and others still surged through the onslaught. Now it was time for Ness and the others to act.
Paula now took the stage, standing in front of the others. Her eyes began to glow as she extended her arms forward. Two spheres of water began to form in front of her hands. The spheres grew until they were the size of beach ball. Upon reaching the size of beach balls, she slammed the two spheres together. Paula then cried out in a loud voice, "PSI Torrent Omega!"
The Faeries recoiled at the sound of Paula's cry, but they would soon realize that the real horror would come from her attack, for Paula then unleashed a tremendous tidal wave of water straight toward the oncoming Faeries. The Faeries froze for a second, and that would spell their doom. They only began to run as the tidal wave of psychic water came crashing down upon them. The pixies, human-like Faeries, and goblins were instantly crushed by Paula's psychic tidal wave. The trolls managed to stand firm for a microsecond before being washed away by the torrent of water. The bodies of the Faeries were caught in the rush of water and pushed along the path of the stream until the water dissipated at almost two hundred yards away. Once the waters receded, the field was littered with the crushed and mangled bodies of Faerie, troll, goblin, and pixie alike. Only a few Hostile Elder Oaks remained, and their survival was short-lived as Giygas fired a volley of green energy blasts, reducing the mobile trees to woodchips.
Once the battle was over, the teens, minus Paula, who remained behind with Giygas, marched forward along a brick road that lie before them, doing their best to ignore the Faerie bodies that littered the landscape and parts of the path. However, Giygas called up to them, yelling, "Wait."
The others looked back at him. "What is it?" Poo asked.
"The brick road leads to the Faerie palace."
"Isn't that the location of the Sanctuary?" Poo asked. "I am sensing an incredible amount of energy emanating from the end of the road."
"No," Giygas replied, shaking his head as he approached. "The magic of the Faerie World can cloud your senses. The Sanctuary is off the beaten path."
"He's right," Paula confirmed. "I can clearly sense a strong telepathic presence directly left of the path. It's the true location of the next Sanctuary."
"How do you know this?" Jeff asked.
She huddled in close to the other teens before whispering her reply to Jeff, and letting Poo in on what she had. "When I was in Scaraba, a man gave me a ribbon he called an 'Angel Ribbon'. It was a blessed ribbon and it is what is allowing me to sense the true Sanctuary location. It also helps increase my durability in a fight."
"Then let's get going," Poo said. "We have to reach that Sanctuary soon."
"Hold on for a moment," Giygas cautioned. "There's a current lull here. We can use this to our advantage to take stock of the situation and plan our journey."
"The plan is simple, make a beeline for the Sanctuary," Ness blurted out.
"Yes," Giygas nodded. "But don't think that the Faeries are going to make it easy for us to find the Sanctuary. Our sense of direction is going to be thrown the closer we get to the Sanctuary. The Guardians are, after all, the current king and queen of the Faerie World, and they usurped the throne from Oberon and Titania through direct combat as well as by the use of treachery and making an alliance with my people. They'll be using their full might to confuse our senses and use their strongest soldiers to impede our path. They'll also use…other soldiers as well."
"Changelinged children," Paula stated coldly.
"Something like that," Giygas replied. "Though these children were not replaced. The Fool, the identity of the king, and the new Faerie Queen do not always replace the children they abduct, and when they do so, it is often apparent not long after the child is replaced since the Changelings are often far more, how can I say this…perverted than the children they replace."
"Perverted in what way?" Jeff asked.
"Normally, when they take a child, the new crop of Faeries will take a good child who is kind, loving, and pure of heart. The replacement 'child' will then be cruel, sadistic, often maiming or killing animals, or hurting friends or family members. They will also show signs of, again, how can I put this, more perverted physical pursuits. They'll, ahem, crush on other children of the opposite sex, or even the same sex, or on adults, only it won't simply be a crush, if you know what I mean."
Jeff immediately got the gist of what Giygas was telling him.
"Have any of the children that were kidnapped recently been changelinged?" Ness asked.
"Not that I know of," Giygas answered. "But my last trip through here was over a year ago, when I was setting up the Sanctuaries. Things may have changed since then."
"Were there any kidnapped children here when you were here last?" Poo asked.
This time, Giygas nodded. "Yes, there were four children here. Two of them were siblings, two boys and two girls. The oldest of them was ten, with the youngest being six. Two of them were twins. The twins were eight. All four of them were psychic." This statement surprised the rest of the group. "My people told them about the children and how to kidnap them. We used this as an opportunity to study psychic powers in human children. We were especially interested in the ten year old since Ness and Paula were only ten during the first war. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be for you, we learned very little since the magic of the Faerie World changed them and they were soon physically perverted and distorted. They would be unrecognizable right now to look at."
Ness and Paula clutched their vials of holy water. They had a feeling that even their psychic powers might not be enough to heal the children and that only the holy water and the blessing would be sufficient. The group soon proceeded to move forward when a creature of a type that they had never seen before approached. It had a small body, no larger than Ness's, but with too long arms, and too long legs, all of which seemed to have too many joints. The creature was also dressed only in the remains of a pair of blue shorts. It scampered on all fours towards the heroes much like an ape. When it was only a few yards away, it stopped. The teens immediately hunkered down and assumed a defensive stance, each of them drawing their weapons. Lightning was already crackling in Paula and Poo's hands. Paula quickly activated her telepathic senses to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of this alien creature. The creature swung its head, back and forth, briefly gazing at each and every one of the heroes. However, when its eyes met Paula, a grin shown on its face as it leered at the beautiful girl. The group could see the unnatural and perverted desires in its eyes as it seemed to be magnetically attracted to the girl. It was then that Paula's eyes flashed in shock. She had determined that the creature had the normal strengths and weaknesses that most Faeries possessed, but she also sensed something else. Beyond the perverse desires on the surface of the creature's mind, and his intent to bring harm to the children, she could sense another soul inside the creature. That mind and soul was crying out with all of its, no his, might. My gosh, no, Paula thought. He's one of the children that was kidnapped by the Faeries! The realization hit her like a tank. Ness and Poo were already beginning to charge towards the creature when Paula called out frantically in an effort to avert a disaster, "Wait! Don't use deadly force on him! That's one of the children!"
Paula's cries were instantly heard by the teens and they stopped in their tracks and waited for further instructions and plans. However, the creature decided their next course of action for them as he initiated the attack. The creature gave a loud perverted hoot halfway between a monkey's cry and the call a boy or grown man would give a beautiful girl, all perverted. It then leapt at Poo, baring its teeth and fangs. It was quite confident in its ability to kill the teen. Poo then reached out and caught the creature in his arms as if it were nothing more than an empty suitcase and casually tossed the creature aside. The creature tried to attack again, but Ness arrived before it could leap again and he grabbed the creature by the throat and, using his psychically enhanced strength, slammed the creature into the ground. Holding onto the creature's throat, Ness drew out the vial of holy water and popped the cork. He then sprinkled some of it onto the creature. The creature gave an inhuman roar of pain that would have shocked and terrified any normal that had heard it. Giygas recoiled at the horrible sound, and even Jeff was a little unnerved, though that was mostly due to the loudness of the cry. It did not affect Ness, however, and both Paula and Poo seemed to be fine as well. Ness then said in a low, calm voice, "By the power of Our Lord, you are free!"
Immediately, the creature began to make a series of roars as Ness released it and it began to flail around as if it had been set on fire. An unnatural green flame surrounded the creature and the inhumanly dark skin burned off of the creature, revealing the brighter skin tone underneath. Eventually, the unnatural skin and hair burned away completely. Even the unnatural cry began to give way to the cry of a child, which gradually changed into a cheer. After the transformation was completed, no longer did the image of an inhumanly grotesque creature stand before them, but the form of a human boy no older than ten.
The human boy looked over at the four teens and asked, "Is the nightmare over? Am I free?"
Ness and Paula nodded. Still, both Paula and Poo scanned the boy to ensure that he was completely free of Faerie control, and to make sure that he was not still under the influence of any other outside forces. Indeed, he was free. Just then, though, they sensed a creature coming up from behind the boy. It was another Faerie. It looked to be male, but it also appeared to be young, no older than fourteen years old or so. Paula and Poo were also quick to sense that this Faerie looked to be nothing more than a ghost. However, the teens knew what the Faerie was trying to do. It was trying to posses the boy. Just as it was about to try to posses the boy, though, a woman appeared between the boy and the Faerie ghost. The Faerie ghost's eyes widened in fear at the sight of the woman. The woman was wearing a regal pink dress and had blond hair and blue eyes, though she wore no crown. Ness instantly recognized the woman as Maria, George's wife and the ancestor of Ninten. Standing besides Maria was a man, the same man that had appeared next to her when he had encountered Giygas in Ellay. The man looked to be young, only in his mid twenties, but he looked to be powerfully built, though that could have also been due to the armor that he was wearing. The man was also inhumanly handsome, but not in any sexual context. He was truly pure. There was a benevolence about him, and yet everyone present could also sense that he was incomprehensibly strong. The Faerie ghost's eyes shifted to the man and they then widened in absolute horror at the sight of the man. The man said one word, which, while spoken at a normal tone of voice, was like a nuclear explosion for all who heard it. "Leave." He then spread two wings that were very reminiscent of the wings of a Bald Eagle.
The Faerie ghost immediately shrank away under the gaze of the man and disappeared, issuing one last cry of horror as it fled from the man. The boy who had recently been freed from possession did not know whether to be comforted by the angel or terrified beyond comprehension. He felt both terror and relief at the same time. Maria then went over to the boy and calmed him down saying, "Do not be afraid. It is over now."
"We'll protect you, if you wish," the angel said to the boy in a calm, business-like voice that brought comfort to the terrified boy. The boy nodded, indicating that he did not want the angel or Maria to leave.
After checking on the boy, the group then made ready to move on, but before they did, the angel called out to them, telling them, "There are seven more children that were taken by the Faeries and need to be rescued. Three of them are at the Faerie Palace at the end of the brick road. The road is winding, but it will lead you to the palace. If you don't divert from the road, you will be fine. The remaining four children are stationed close to the Sanctuary. Not all of the children have been turned, but some have."
"How will we know which Faeries are real Faeries and which are children that have been turned?" Jeff asked. He was wondering this because he knew that the group would likely be splitting up for this journey. It was Maria who gave the answer.
"Use your scanner," she said. "It will be able to identify the humans, even if they have been transformed into Faerie creatures on the outside. The souls of humans and the energy that emanates from them cannot be changed so easily."
"Jeff and I will rescue the children at the Faerie Palace," Ness said, volunteering Jeff for the assignment. Jeff was not crazy about the idea of going alone with Ness to the Faerie palace, but he would be needed, and he knew that the other three would need to go to the Sanctuary to claim the Sanctuary and since only he and Ness did not have any Sound Stones, they were the only ones that could be free to go and save the children at the palace. He quickly got the impression that this was the Faerie's plan all along, to divide the heroes so that they would be easier to conquer. Glancing over at Giygas, he knew that the PSI Alien was thinking along the same lines.
"Are you confident that you can save the children in the palace by yourselves?" he asked both Ness and Jeff.
Ness nodded. Jeff, however, was not quite as confident as Ness, which Giygas sensed immediately. Nevertheless, though, he still nodded for Giygas. It was then that the angel spoke to Jeff and Ness. "Do not feel as if you are locked into this choice. Your suspicions regarding the placement of the kidnapped children are correct. And The Fool and his new Faerie Queen Consort are quite powerful and I am not permitted to fight alongside you directly. I may only remain here to serve as a focus for your teleportation abilities and as a guard for the kidnapped children. The Faeries will have the most powerful of their servants guarding the children at the palace. This is an attempt to kill you. Be prepared for the worst," the angel warned.
"Are you trying to persuade us or dissuade us from going?" Jeff asked.
"I am merely giving you the information that you need to make the choice wisely. This will be the toughest Sanctuary you have faced yet, and if you split your forces, that will make the Sanctuary battle even tougher."
Ness and Jeff looked at each other and then nodded in agreement. Their decision had been made. They would go to rescue the children at the Faerie palace. They then turned to the others and said, "We're still going to rescue the children at the palace. Do you wish to join us or dissuade us from doing so?"
The others shook their heads. "We should be okay against The Fool and his Queen Consort," Paula told Ness. "You go and get those kids. This way, we will be able to keep the Faeires off balance if they have to go after two parties. If anything, they'll divert forces to us so that will give you a clearer path to save the other kids." The last sentence was given with a smile. Ness had not considered that possibility. Ness and Jeff then nodded and headed down the brick road, being careful to focus their attention on the road itself. They knew that they would need to focus on the road like they had never focused before, since they would no longer have the sight of Paula and Giygas to serve them. Ness first got out his vial of holy water and blessed himself making the sign of the cross on his forehead, saying, "Dear God, please give me the sight to see what is true and what is false." It was the best that Ness could come up with on the spot. He prayed that his prayer would be sufficient.
Jeff then reached for Ness's vial and asked, "Hey, could I have some as well?"
Ness nodded and handed him the vial of holy water. Jeff then blessed himself saying this prayer, "Almighty God. Please grant me the sight to distinguish between reality and illusion in this world of illusions and magic." Jeff then handed Ness the vial of holy water. He then drew out his lightning gun and activated the weapon. The lightning gun, while relatively powerful also drained its power packs at an extreme rate and was no stronger than the Gaia Beam pistol, thus Jeff had considered it impractical for use during the previous parts of his adventure. Against the Faeries, though, Jeff knew that it would be death, so the had decided to remove the weapon from storage and use it for the journey through the Faerie World. Still, he also kept his Gaia Beam pistol as backup. He also drew out his scanner from his pocket. The scanner was an invention by his father that had been built before his first adventure with Ness. He had eventually managed to build one of his own that was identical to his father's. With his scanner, he could easily identify any lifeform that he came across. The Faeries had not been programmed into the computer, so they would come up as unknown lifeforms. However, the scanner's computer could easily identify human life signs. Ness immediately drew out his iron bat and one of his Iron Bombs and held it in his left hand. He hoped that he would not have to use one for a while, but he had a feeling that there would be Faeries along the road trying to impede his progress. He then took one more look back at Paula, Poo, Giygas, and Maria and the angel before turning to travel down the brick road, and towards the palace.
Back with the rest of the party, Paula and Poo exchanged one glance and nodded. They knew what needed to be done and they were ready to tackle the next Sanctuary. They extended their psychic senses and they proceeded to head left of the brick road and straight to the Sanctuary.
As the human duo headed off, Giygas remained behind and looked over to Maria and the angel. When the humans were out of earshot, Maria told her adoptive son, "It's not too late, Giygas. You can still choose a different path."
"No I can't," he responded.
"Why can't you?" Maria asked. "Don't you see that if you follow the path you've laid out for yourself, you could die, if not physically than spiritually?"
"And if I follow the path you want me to, Mother, I'm certain to die."
"That's not guaranteed," the angel responded harshly. "There are ways you could avert your death, yet still destroy the darkness at the center of your fleet. You can break the link, Giygas, but only you can break the link."
"No I can't, Michael," Giygas replied. "You should know that more than anyone."
"I know that you haven't even tried," Michael countered. "All it takes is a prayer and the will. The tools are there. You already have access to them. God will listen to you. The same way that Ness and Jeff can see through the Faeries's illusions can break the link between you and the evil."
"I have made my choice. Do not bother me anymore," Giygas told them harshly. A tear fell from Maria's eye as Giygas followed after Paula and Poo. Maria then looked up to Heaven and prayed fervently for Giygas's soul, and that Ness and the others could help him before the time came. Michael put his hand on Maria's shoulders.
"It is his choice, now," he told her. "He has the tools needed to break the link. All he needs to do is have the will."
"But what if he can't, or won't," Maria asked. "He's my son. I don't want him to die. And I don't want him to become evil and destroy his soul."
"That will be his choice," Michael answered. "Only he can break the link. Only he can determine his own fate. All we can do is guide him…and help him if he asks for it."
Maria then looked down the path that Giygas had taken and prayed all the more fervently for the soul of her son. All the while, the boy glanced over at the two, perplexed as to what their discussion was all about. Still, one of his gifts was a photographic memory, something that Michael knew very well, and knew would come into play when Ness and Jeff returned.
Ness and Jeff closely followed the brick road, which seemed to go on for an eternity. Still, in the twenty minutes that they had been traveling, they had yet to encounter a single Faerie or other denizen of the Faerie World. Ness did not know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, though. It may have been that most of the Faerie army that was loyal to The Fool had assembled to try to stop the party at the entrance to the Faerie World. On the other hand, the absence of Faeries here could mean that the Faerie army had simply gone after Paula and the others and set up fortifications around the Sanctuary, since it was far away from the main palace. That would mean that Paula, Poo, and Giygas would be on their own facing down hordes of enemy soldiers.
Speaking of enemy soldiers, Ness and Jeff took two steps forward and were then met by two Starmen that looked to be wearing dark purple uniforms, surrounded by what looked to be a pinkish field of energy that appeared right in front of them. The duo immediately recognized the newcomers as being Ghosts of Starmen. These enemies, while they did not have any psychic shielding, that they knew of, did have powerful psychic attacks, such as PSI Starstorm Alpha and Starstorm Omega. The two humans witnessed several green orbs of energy form around the Ghosts of Starmen and they immediately knew what was coming. Jeff figured that the Iron Bombs would be of little use against the ghosts. He was not so sure about the Thunder Bombs, however. Still, Ness made the decision for him as he quickly powered a ball of PSI Rockin as the Starmen finished powering their Starstorm attacks. Ness had only managed to raise his Rockin to its Gamma level when the Starmen launched their stars towards the party. Ness and Jeff fled the attack as Ness turned and fired his ball of Rockin at the two Starmen. The scarlet ball of psychic energy managed to plow through the few stars that collided with it as it streaked towards the Ghosts of Starmen. Ness prayed that the Starmen would not focus their attacks on the ball of Rockin and push it back at the two of them. Jeff soon added his own fire to the mix, drawing out his Hungry HP Sucker and his Gaia Beam pistol. Scarlet pulses and green swirling beams of energy erupted from the guns and struck the Ghost of Starman on the left. The Ghost of Starman did not seem to be heavily affected by the Gaia Beam pistol, but he was affected by the blasts of the Hungry HP Sucker. The Hungry HP Sucker served a dual purpose of not only inflicting damage to the Ghost of Starman, but also returning health to Jeff, who was suddenly in great need of it since several of the stars from the Starmen's Starstorm had struck close to Jeff, with one of them striking him directly. Only the health that the Hungry HP Sucker had managed to steal from one of the Ghosts of Starman had managed to keep Jeff alive. Ness also had also sustained a direct hit from one of the stars, but his own psychic abilities allowed him to limit the damage inflicted by the attack and keep him in the fight. However, that attack was all the Ghost of Starmen would be able to accomplish, since Ness's ball of PSI Rockin Gamma had reached the duo of Starmen and detonated, engulfing them in a red sphere of energy. After a few seconds, the sphere of energy dissipated, revealing that one of the Ghosts of Starman was still alive, while the second one had been disintegrated. However, the surviving ghost's body seemed to be having difficulty maintaining its integrity, since it was flickering. Ness soon dealt with the final Ghost of Starman by using another blast of PSI Rockin, this time at its Beta level. Ness stretched out his hands and unleashed the ball of Rockin at the Ghost of Starman. The ball of Rockin struck the ghost and detonated, engulfing the entity in a scarlet sphere. By the time the sphere had dissipated, the ghost had vanished. With the battle having concluded, the Ness used his Lifeup Omega to restore himself and Jeff to full health before the two continued on their way.
After another half hour of walking, the group soon came upon a stone tower off to the side of the road. Remembering the advice from Michael, the group followed the road and ignored the tower. As the two passed, eyes from several windows in the tower followed their movements. These were not hostile eyes, merely curious. They watched as the two human boys followed the road until they left the Faerie's sight. The Faerie then issued a silent prayer that these humans were the saviors that had come to take down The Fool and his consort and restore the throne of Oberon and Titania.
Not long after they passed the tower, the road began to twist and wind, seemingly leading the two nowhere. Still, despite the confusing twists, turns, and even forks that the path tried to throw at the two, they continued on, both of them using their own insight to find the correct path when they came to a fork. One thing that surprised them, though, was that during this whole trek, besides the two Ghosts of Starmen that they had encountered, they had not found one single enemy present. There had been several groups of Faeries off to the side of the road singing, dancing, and making merry. However, none of those groups seemed to have hostile intentions, and seemed to ignore Ness and Jeff as they journeyed past.
Eventually, the road straightened out once more. Ness heard the sound of running water looked to the side and he saw a stream running alongside the road. The stream looked pretty deep and it seemed as if it could house several man-sized creatures. Ness half expected to see a merman or a mermaid leap out of the water and initiate an attack against him and Jeff. Straight ahead, they saw several platoons of Faeries of all sorts making their way towards them. The Faeries were also joined by several Hostile Elder Oaks. Ness glanced off to the side river and saw several old, yet familiar, enemies jump out of the river. They were Manly Fish and Manly Fish's Brothers. Even Jeff could feel the hostility emanating from the groups of enemies that were approaching. Ness turned to Jeff and said, "You take the Manly Fish and Manly Fish's Brothers. I'll take on the main force. First, though, check to make sure there aren't any human life signs."
Jeff quickly drew out his scanner and took quick scans of the entire host that was approaching. Seeing no human life signs register on the scanner, he told Ness, "You're good to go. There aren't any human life signs among them."
Ness grinned as he concentrated on the incoming enemy army. Before engaging the enemy, he raised a Shield Omega over himself and Jeff in order to protect them from the magical attacks of the enemy. However, both humans were keenly aware of Many Fish's Brother's ability to use PSI Freeze. Jeff was relying on Ness finishing off the opposing enemy forces quickly and/or his own Star Pendant to keep the PSI Freeze of the Manly Fish's Brothers from killing him or freezing him solid. Still, the Shield Omega would protect Jeff from all non-psychic attacks, which would be instrumental in helping him hold out against the Faerie forces that were arrayed against them. Ness then focused on the main force that was fast approaching. Ness held out his right hand and a scarlet ball of psychic energy formed in front of it. The ball of energy grew until it was the size of a beach ball. It then continued to grow until it was the size of a small boulder. While Ness had been charging his Rockin attack, the Faerie forces let fly with volley after volley of arrows, spears, and lances. The stream of arrows fell to the ground and onto the heroes like rain from a thunderstorm. Ness's Shield Omega, however, fully protected him and Jeff from the withering assault. Many arrows missed their mark, merely glancing off the stones on the road, or sticking in the soft ground on the side of the road. Others inadvertently struck some of the Manly Fish and Many Fish's Brothers that had strayed close to Jeff and felled them, arrows protruding from their body. Those that found their mark, however, merely bounced off of Ness and Jeff's counter shield and were reflected back at the Faerie forces. The poisoned miniature pixie arrows that were reflected struck numerous pixies and felled them almost instantaneously, the flying miniature Faeries falling from the sky and to the ground only to be trampled by the larger trolls, goblins, and Faeries. The pixies, due to their small size, and the small size of their arrows, bore the brunt of the casualties since more of their arrows struck Ness and Jeff than did the other Faeries' weapons. However, it would not matter much, for Ness had powered his attack to its full strength. Once it was completed, he cried out in a loud voice, "PSI Rockin Omega!"
The massive boulder of scarlet psychic energy leapt from his hand and streaked towards the oncoming Faerie army at blinding speed. The Faeries could scarcely react before the ball fell among them and exploded like a nuclear bomb. The massive blast created a globe of scarlet psychic energy that gouged a massive crater into the ground, engulfing the entire Faerie army. Wind and debris flashed against Ness and Jeff's counter shield as pieces of dirt and cracked earth struck the shield at a velocity that would have been sufficient to cause the two teens harm. After a few seconds, the globe dissipated, leaving only a three hundred meter wide crater that was about a hundred meters deep. There was no trace of any Faerie remaining. All that remained was a massive cloud of dust. Ness then turned to assist Jeff.
During the brief battle that Ness had against the Faerie force, Jeff engaged in his own battle against some more familiar foes. While the Manly Fish and Manly Fish's Brothers were merely humanoid fish with one head, two arms, and two legs armed with spears, the Manly Fish's Brothers also had the ability to utilize PSI attacks. In addition to PSI Freeze Beta, it could use PSI Healing Omega, Paralysis Alpha, and Hypnosis Alpha. Ness and Jeff's Star Pendant and Goddess Band would protect them from the status effecting attacks. Still, the PSI Freeze Beta would be difficult to deal with, especially for Jeff. Jeff instantly identified the Manly Fish's Brothers among the dozen or so Manly Fish that were attacking and he targeted them with both his Gaia Beam pistol and his lightning gun. Jeff pulled the trigger on one of the Manly Fish's Brothers and a scarlet energy pulse and stream of lightning erupted from the barrels of the guns. The twin attacks struck the Manly Fish's Brother and the scarlet energy pulse drilled a hole into the heart of the Manly Fish's Brother, while the lightning stream burned a hole through the fish's chest area and caused electricity to arc all over its body. The fish fell over onto the ground, dead. Jeff then found the next of the three remaining Manly Fish's Brothers and fired another volley of attacks. Again, the second of the Manly Fish's Brothers fell. All the while, the regular Manly Fish simply rushed towards Jeff and thrust their spears towards him. However, his counter shield protected him from their attacks and in return, merely caused them to thrust the handles of their spears into their own stomachs. Their countered attacks were not enough to kill the fish, but they did cause them to keel over in pain while Jeff engaged the real threats.
As for the Manly Fish's Brothers, they decided to forgo resurrecting their cohorts and instead went to attack Ness and Jeff directly with PSI Freeze Beta. Snowflakes of psychic energy appeared in front of the spears of the fish and they thrust their spears forward, propelling the attacks towards Jeff. Jeff dodged the first attack and responded with a dual blast from his Gaia Beam pistol and his lightning gun, felling the Manly Fish's Brother. The second PSI Freeze blast, however, managed to strike, and froze Jeff solid, encasing him in a cube of ice. The Manly Fish and the remaining Manly Fish's Brother went up to Jeff to shatter him when an unseen force suddenly flung them away. A ball of energy rocketed towards the Manly Fish's Brother, hit him and engulfed him in a red field of psychic energy. The Manly Fish were not so manly when they realized that Ness had now come to assist Jeff. Ness used PSI Healing Omega to cure Jeff of his being frozen solid. Jeff immediately defrosted and took aim at the remaining enemies. Now, he holstered his Gaia Beam pistol and drew out a Thunder Bomb, thinking that now was as good a time as any to test these weapons. He grabbed one of the spherical bombs and pushed its activation stud. He then tossed the bomb into the highest concentration Manly Fish. The bomb left his hand and arced towards the fish. The fish had no idea what the weapon was, so they simply stood there like idiots. Their idiocy cost them their lives as the bomb detonated and a field of electricity was unleashed. The field of electricity extended ten meters in diameter. All of the Manly Fish in the field of the bomb's detonation were electrocuted by the attack. The fish uttered cries of pain as the electricity arced all across their bodies, creating massive burn marks on their bodies. The fish then fell over onto the ground, dead.
Ness and Jeff then turned to the remaining Manly Fish and this time it was Ness's turn to take out a Thunder Bomb. He drew out the Thunder Bomb and activated it. He then tossed it over to the remaining Manly Fish. These Manly Fish were a lot smarter than the last batch, though that was likely due to seeing the effects of the first bomb. The fish turned tail and ran at the sight of the bomb. Unfortunately, though, they were not fast enough. The bomb bounced in front of them and they soon skidded to a halt, trying to dive away into the water. However, it was too little, too late. The bomb detonated and caught all of the fish in the field of detonation. Ness used Lifeup Beta on Jeff to restore him to full health as he and Jeff walked away from the writhing fish. By the time the fish had fallen to the ground and finished writhing, the humans were out of sight.
Continuing on their journey, Ness and Jeff looked off into the distance and saw a magnificent palace coming into view in front of them. Both of them could easily tell that it was the Faerie palace. Ness immediately got out a couple of Magic Truffles and devoured them. As he ate the truffles, he felt his psychic energy being replenished. Once his psychic energy was fully restored, he felt ready to continue towards the Faerie Palace.
As the two continued to make their way towards the palace, Jeff whipped out his scanner once more and it beeped as he pointed it towards the palace. "I'm definitely getting human life readings in that palace," Jeff announced. They were on the right track.
"How many?" Ness asked.
"Three," came the response. That was all they needed to know. With that, the group continued towards the palace.
It only took the two human children a few minutes to arrive at the palace. The surrounding areas seemed to be surreal. There were guard towers all around the palace and the teens could sense the presence of numerous Faeries, though the creatures did not make any hostile gestures towards them. If anything, there was an air of hope in the palace garden upon the arrival of Ness and Jeff. They let the two pass unmolested to the palace.
When they arrived at the palace, they found that the palace was a lot smaller than they had expected. It was smaller than the pyramid in Scaraba. It had golden walls and looked regal, despite its size. There was one main tower at the center of the palace. To Ness, it looked like the Taj Mahal. Without any trepidation the two entered the palace.
The interior of the palace looked wide and was colorful. Paintings lined the walls and ceiling, depicting Faeries, elves, trolls, etcetera, all performing various acts from fighting, to the torture of humans, to dancing, to more erotic acts. Columns stood before them in rows of eight as they made their way through the palace. Even the floor depicted scenes of perverted actions, all of which disgusted the two humans present. Jeff checked his scanner and held up his hand. Both he and Ness froze. "They're coming," Jeff said ominously.
"The human children?" Ness asked.
Jeff nodded. There, the teens waited, Ness drawing out his iron bat and Jeff drawing his lightning gun and holding onto a Thunder Bomb as three figures came into view. Ness waited for the figures to get closer before he took any actions. Still, he took proper precautions and raised a Shield Omega over himself and Jeff. Step by step, the children came closer until they were in full view of the teens a dozen yards away. Two of the children still had some semblance of humanity to their features. They looked more like regular child Faeries than beasts. These were eight year olds, one a boy, the other a girl. These must have been the twins that Giygas had mentioned earlier. They both had black hair and gray eyes. The features of the children still looked human, save for the pointed ears. The boy wore a green tunic with brown trousers, while the girl wore a green sleeveless dress that went down to only an inch or two above her knees and leaves in her hair, what Ness considered to be a traditional Faerie dress. The third child, however, more strongly resembled the grotesque ape-like creature that Ness and the others had fought earlier. "Remember Jeff, don't use deadly force against them," Ness told him quietly.
Jeff nodded and he turned to face the trio of child opponents. The girl held out her hand electricity began to crackle around it. Her twin brother mirrored her movement and had electricity sparking around his fingers as well. Ness and Jeff's eyes went wide at the sight of the lightning. This lightning was not magical at all. It was psychic! At the very least, the twins were psychic. Ness stationed himself in front of Jeff, wanting to make sure that he intercepted the attacks from the twins. He only hoped that they did not use PSI Thunder at a high level, for if they did, the reflection of their attacks onto them might kill them, which was something Ness desperately wished to avoid. Lightning leapt from the fingertips of the children and bore down on Ness. Ness did not move as he intercepted the lightning. The familiar metal clang sounded as the lightning bounced off of Ness's body and right back at the twins. The twins stood stock still as they suffered the full brunt of their reflected attacks. The lightning struck them and arced all across their bodies. They cried out as they writhed in agony and fell to the floor, writhing. Too fast for Jeff's eyes to track, Ness was suddenly next to the children and he uncorked his vial of holy water. He sprinkled it on the children and said, "By the power of Our Lord, you are free." Suddenly, the cold, distant eyes of the twins became calm and normal. But the battle was not over yet. Jeff noticed the third child close in behind Ness, about to bring a club down on his head.
"Watch out, Ness!" Jeff cried in warning. Ness, however, had heard the third child arrive, though. He quickly turned around and grabbed the child. He sprinkled the holy water onto the child's head and said, "By the power of Our Lord, you are free." Immediately, the child's grotesque form melted away, revealing a ten year-old girl. Upon being freed, she looked into Ness's eyes and hugged him, thanking him for saving her. But the celebration would have to be cut short as Jeff called, "It's not over yet, Ness. Something else is coming."
Indeed, something else had come. What looked to be a Faerie prince no older than Ness had arrived on the scene. He wore a green tunic and trousers, and was accompanied by several pixies and Faerie bodyguards. As he arrived, he drew a magnificent sword from his hip. The leer in his eyes indicated that he was quite hostile. Ness ushered the children over to Jeff and raised a Shield Omega over the party. "Take care of the kids," he told Jeff. "I've got this one."
The Faerie prince gave a menacing laugh. "You must be out of your mind, mortal boy. There's no way you can beat me," the prince declared haughtily.
Ness's eyes narrowed onto the prince. "Let's find out," he responded with quiet confidence. He did not want to use up any more psychic energy, since he wanted to conserve his Magic Truffles for a time when he would really need them, so he drew out a couple of Iron Bombs. He pushed their activation studs and tossed them over to the Faerie prince. Despite having powerful magic, the Faerie prince was incredibly vulnerable to iron, especially in the Faerie World. The bombs bounced near the prince and his retinue and detonated, shredding them with iron nails and ball bearings. The two bombs were more than sufficient to kill the Faerie prince and his entire retinue. Blue gases leaked from the shattered remains of the Faeries. Within moments, the skirmish had ended.
After the brief skirmish, Ness noticed the walls on the far side of the palace split apart, revealing another passage. For a moment, Ness wondered if there was another enemy force coming, or if the rest of the children had been stationed at the palace. Just then, two trolls flew through the door. They landed on their backs and skidded to a halt, a leak of blue gases and a hole where their hearts would have been had they been human indicated that they had been on the receiving end of an attack of some sort. Ness looked ahead and saw two figures approaching. After a few seconds, the figures came into full view. The male had a human-like figure save for his pointed ears and more angular face. He had short silvery hair and wore golden armor. At his side, he held a golden sword which was likely more ceremonial than anything else. The second figure was a beautiful Faerie queen dressed in an exquisite green dress with leaves in her hair. Her eyes were icy blue, yet showed great warmth. Neither he nor Jeff could sense any hostility emanating from these Faeries. Ness instantly realized that these must have been Oberon and Titania. Both Faeries exuded tremendous power, yet there was a sense of benevolence about them as well. The hatred towards humanity that The Fool and his consort showed was not present in these two. The two approached Ness and appraised him.
"I am Oberon," the man said, extending his hand in friendship. Ness accepted it and they shook. Despite having been blessed with holy water and wearing iron, Oberon did not feel or show any ill effects of making contact with Ness. "And this is my wife, Titania," he finished after the handshake was done, indicating the woman.
"We are in your debt," Titania told him.
"My lady," Ness began, bowing before her since she was still royalty to him, and the true ruler of the Faerie world. Oberon and Titania cut him off, though.
"There isn't time for formalities or pleasantries," Titania told him. "Your friends are in great danger. Most of the army that was loyal to The Fool and his consort is attacking them. They are fighting a running battle as we speak and will soon engage the remaining children, who are being transformed into perversions of what they used to be. They need your help. Take the freed children back to the spirit woman and the archangel. I will then create a teleportation mark where you and your friend can go to help your friends."
"Thank you," Ness said graciously. "I will do what I can to help you take back your kingdom."
"Just save your friends and defeat The Fool and his consort," Oberon instructed. "We can take care of the rest."
Ness and Jeff nodded. Ness then ran over to Jeff and, after gathering the three children towards them, teleported all of them to Michael and Maria. As they disappeared, both Oberon and Titania said, "Good luck, mortal boy. May The One Above All watch over you." With that, the two of them then disappeared and got to work restoring their kingdom.
Ness quickly reappeared near the entrance to the Faerie World close to Maria, Michael, and the young boy they had rescued earlier. Upon reappearing there, the children went over to Michael and Maria and their friend. Under the eyes of Maria and Michael, the children felt comfortable, and Ness knew that they would be safe under the protection of Maria and Michael. Before leaving, though, the first child they had rescued came up to Ness and told him, "There's something you should know about your alien friend."
"Now's not a good time," Jeff warned Ness. "Paula and the others need our help."
Ness shrugged off Jeff's advice and asked the child, "What is it?"
The child answered, "When I was captured, I saw that alien help the Faeries capture me. But that's not important. What is important is that after you freed me, I heard the archangel, Michael, and the woman, Maria, talking to him. I didn't want to eavesdrop, but several things stood out. It seemed like discussion. The alien shouted at the angel and woman a lot and they warned Giygas that the path that he was taking would lead to his death, and that they wanted him to take a different path, or something like that. I didn't get all of it, but I'd be wary of this Giygas. He may be planning on betraying you."
Instantly, all of the feelings of trust that Ness had for Giygas vanished after the child had finished telling them what he had heard. "Come on, Ness, we've gotta help Paula and the others," Jeff told him, hurrying him along. Ness quickly followed Jeff, but turned to the child and said, "Thanks for the heads up." With that, Ness then teleported to Paula and the others, hoping that he would reach them in time.
Meanwhile, Paula, Poo, and Giygas were in the middle of the fight of their lives. Dozens of Faeires, pixies, trolls, goblins, Manly Fish and Manly Fish's Brothers surrounded the party. Both Paula and Poo had already used three of their Iron Bombs against the endless horde of Faeries that were assaulting them. This was in addition to the massive amount of psychic energy the group was pouring into their defenses and attacks as well, since they had not wanted to use up too many of their weapons before the battle against The Fool and his consort. Now that their psychic energy was also getting depleted, Paula and Poo were beginning to engage the enemy Faeries in close combat. Several trolls raised their clubs in an attempt to bring them down on Poo's head and decorate the landscape with Poo's brains. Poo was too fast for them, though. With blinding speed, he cut a swath through the trolls, felling four of the trolls before the remaining troll could even react. Even though the final troll had been able to react and raise his club to block Poo's initial swipe, that was the last action he ever made, for Poo responded with a reverse strike and managed to cut the troll in the chest. He then stabbed the troll through the heart and the troll fell over, dead. Poo then darted over to Paula, who was having issues of her own.
Paula had been engaged by a flight of pixies, all of which wished to turn her into a pincushion. The shield that Poo had managed to raise over the group was beginning to weaken due to the magical nature of the arrows the pixies fired. Paula swung her Non-Stick Fry Pan at pixie after pixie, managing to knock them out of the sky and to the ground. The iron in the pan was especially poisonous to them and each hit scored a kill. Still, for each pixie she managed to take out, three more rose in its place. Eventually, her shield could sustain no more attacks and she had to use the frying pan as an improvised shield to protect her face and neck. The magical arrows still impacted her chest, though her body armor prevented the arrows from penetrating, and the iron in the trauma plates negated their magic. Still, her armor was taking a pounding, and she did not know how it would hold up to the larger arrows or spears that the Faeries and trolls used. She was especially nervous about the trolls' arrows and spears. She quickly saw several trolls bearing down on her. Despite not having much psychic energy left in reserve, she still focused her energy into a PSI Thunder attack and unleashed the attack at the oncoming trolls. Since the trolls were exceedingly vulnerable to lightning, she only needed to power the attack to its Gamma level in order to be certain that she took down the trolls. As the stream of lightning struck each troll, they cried out and writhed in agony as the electricity arced all over their bodies, leaving severe burns all across their bodies. The trolls promptly fell over, their now dead bodies still writhing due to the electricity. That was it, though. She was now out of power. She quickly drew out her one of her bags of Magic Truffles and quickly devoured two of the truffles. They were foul tasting to her, but they were essential for her to maintain her psychic energy. She had already used two previously, so she was now down to six remaining truffles in all. Paula soon saw another host of Faeries approaching. She began to power a PSI Torrent attack in order to push them back when she heard a loud, familiar cry, "PSI Rockin Omega!"
A large ball of scarlet psychic energy fell among the onrushing Faeries and detonated into a globe of blood red psychic energy. The Faeries were instantly engulfed and consumed by the expanding globe of psychic energy. Those that had not been engulfed fled the expanding globe of energy, only to run into Poo's blade, Ness's iron bat, or into a volley of scarlet energy beams and lightning streams from Jeff's Gaia Beam pistol and lightning gun. The cries of the fighting, dying, and fleeing Faeries, pixies, and trolls echoed throughout the landscape. After a few minutes, though, the Faeries were whittled down to a much more manageable number. Upon seeing the ground littered with the remains of their cohorts, the few surviving Faeries decided that discretion was the better part of valor and they fled from the quintet of heroes.
Giygas, who had had his own groups of Faeries to deal with, was not in a particularly merciful mood, however. He extended his hand towards the fleeing Faeries and prepared to fire at them when Ness jumped in the way. "Wait!" he called to Giygas. "Don't do it," he pleaded.
"Give me one good reason not to kill them," Giygas replied, his voice seething with rage. He relished the opportunity to deal with the stragglers.
"Because it's the right thing to do. They are not a threat now. Let Oberon and Titania deal with them if they try to cause any more trouble."
Giygas's eyes narrowed in on Ness. "I thought you were stronger than that," he told Ness in a sinister tone. Before he could make sport of hunting down the fleeing Faeries, he sensed the presence of four newcomers. He turned to find four Faerie-like children standing before him and the others. There were three boys and one girl. These children looked to be a bit older than the others that they had rescued. The oldest was a Caucasian boy with red hair and green eyes, wearing a red t-shirt and blue shorts. He looked to be about thirteen years old. The next one was a girl with black hair that fell to just below her shoulders. She had gray eyes and looked to be about eleven or twelve years old. She was dressed in a green dress. The third boy had brown hair and was wearing a green and yellow striped t-shirt and blue shorts. He looked to be about ten. The final child was also ten, and had blond hair. He wore a white turtleneck and khaki pants. Ness and the others sensed that the girl and the ten year old boy with brown hair were both psychic.
Upon sighting the children, Jeff whipped out his scanner and took scans of the children. Indeed, his scans confirmed what he and the others had already suspected. These children were human. Ness and Paula sprang into action just as Jeff put away his scanner. The children, who had not shown any signs of metamorphosis, focused their gaze onto Ness and Paula. Lightning crackled around the girl's fingertips and she quickly unleashed the lightning at Ness, despite catching the glint of gold from Ness's shirt. Her lightning struck Ness and the familiar metallic clang of lightning striking a person protected by a Franklin Badge rang out. Her stream of lightning was reflected back at her. It also managed to catch the other psychic boy as well. As they were hit, lightning arced around their bodies and they fell to the ground, still writhing, but alive. Paula then targeted the two remaining children and powered a weak PSI Thunder attack. She knew that the usual electroconvulsive therapy effects of PSI Thunder would not necessarily work, but the lightning would knock them down so that they could free them from the Faeries' control. Paula unleashed the lightning and, just as she knew would happen, the attacks were not powerful enough to kill the two remaining children, but were powerful enough to knock them down. Ness and Paula quickly rushed over to the children. One by one, they knelt down next to each child, sprinkled holy water on them and said, "By the power of Our Lord, you are free." Immediately after the blessing had been completed, the children shot up, as if they had just been sleeping. They stumbled around for a few moments before managing to get their bearings.
Giygas soon came over to the children, who recognized him as having worked with the Faeries, and said, "It is time for you to return to go to a safe location." With that, he teleported himself and the other children away from the battlefield. After a few moments, he appeared in front of the teens once more.
"The children are with Maria," Giygas informed them.
"Good. Then let's get this Sanctuary over with," Jeff proclaimed. With that, the group headed off towards the location of the Sanctuary.
The road to the next Sanctuary was not free of incident, but it was not all that difficult. Along the way, groups of Faeries had engaged the heroes. However, a few Iron Bombs had been sufficient to deal with the Faeries. The party noticed that they were beginning to run low on Iron Bombs, but they still had plenty of Thunder Bombs for their upcoming fight against The Fool and his consort.
It did not take long for the group to spot the white swirl of energy that marked a Sanctuary location in the distance. They also felt the presence of two powerful Faeries and four extra bodyguard trolls. As the group began to approach, the four trolls charged right towards the group. Paula and Poo stepped forward and immediately powered two PSI Thunder attacks. Lightning arced around their fingertips and when the trolls were in range, they let fly with two streams of lightning. The streams of lightning instantly crossed the distance between the humans and the trolls, striking the trolls, burning holes into their chests, and causing electricity to arc across their bodes, which also left horrible burns on the skin of the trolls. The trolls fell over and roared and writhed in agony as they were defeated. Eventually, they succumbed to their injuries and died. The party passed the trolls and eventually reached the Sanctuary meeting no further resistance. Paula took this opportunity, though, to eat a Magic Truffle, leaving her with only five remaining.
Upon arriving at the swirl of white light that was the Sanctuary, two figures stepped out from the swirl. The man was wearing bright gold armor, and a golden aura shown around him. His face was incredibly beautiful and split into a wide grin, showing incredibly white teeth. The grin, however, consisted only of malice and sadism. His female companion, who was clothed in a green sleeveless shirt that stopped above her navel and a short skirt of the same color, gave a sensuous grin. Her uniform, which would have normally been incredibly seductive to mortals, merely cried out "Hit me with everything you've got," to the teens. The woman had blond hair and icy blue eyes. Her grin also contained pristine white teeth and was of inhuman beauty, and perversion.
"So you've finally reached us," The Fool began. His consort merely grinned. "I was hoping that my guards would take care of you, but they must not have been up to the task. I guess I'll still go through all the motions, though. So you've finally arrived," he said sarcastically. "This is the sixth Your Sanctuary location, but now it's ours! You will not be able to take it from us! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" With that, magic sparked from the fingers of The Fool and he fired a bolt of energy right towards the party.
Ness immediately raised a Shield Omega over the party in order to protect them from the attack, since this beam did not have any electrical properties. The beam quickly struck the shield and was reflected back at The Fool. His consort, however, stepped in front of the blast and she took it head on. A shield flared around her and she suffered no damage. Poo quickly extended his psychic senses and sensed that her shield was quite powerful and would be capable of blocking any normal close combat weapon or gun. Still, he wondered if it would be vulnerable to electricity. Poo, who himself was low on psychic energy, despite having eaten two Magic Truffles during the battle against the Faerie army, drew out a Thunder Bomb and tossed it towards the two Faeries. The bomb bounced in front of them and detonated. The electrical field of the bomb struck the shield, causing it to flare, but the field was unable to destabilize the shield and collapse it. The Fool's consort laughed. "Did you really think that we'd be so eager to face you if we did not have defenses against your puny weapons?" she mocked. Now it was her turn to attack.
The Fool's consort began by extending her arms forward. Electrical sparks began to crackle around her fingertips and Ness and Giygas stood in front of the party to shield the others from the ensuing attack. Giygas knew that his shield would hold, but Ness was not so certain about his shield. Fortunately, he still had his Franklin Badge for protection. The Fool's consort unleashed her stream of lightning, which was large enough to engulf the entire party. Despite Ness and Giygas taking the brunt of the attack, some of the electricity made it back to Paula, Poo, and Jeff. The stream of lightning also instantly collapsed the counter shield that Ness had erected over the party. Giygas was unharmed, and the lightning that had struck Ness was reflected back at the Faeries. The two Faeries' shield, however merely flared as the reflected lightning was absorbed by the shield and dispersed harmlessly. The same could not be said for Ness's companions, though. Paula and Poo were still fine, only receiving the equivalent to a mild shock, but Jeff was already on the ground, writhing in pain, his iron armor conducting the electricity. Ness immediately used Lifeup Beta on his friend to restore him to health. However, Jeff was also paralyzed. Poo took this opportunity to use PSI Healing at its Gamma level to cure Jeff of his paralysis. Once Jeff was fully healthy, he reentered the fight.
While Ness and Poo had been helping Jeff, though, Paula had decided to go on the offensive. She powered a PSI Thunder Omega and unleashed it at the two Faeries. Since her attack was psychic, it had no problem phasing through the shields of The Fool and his consort. The lightning struck The Fool and his consort and they both cried out in agony as they writhed as lightning arced across their bodies, leaving vicious burns in their wake. The two Faeries both fell to one knee, but were still able to stay in the fight. Poo was quick to notice, though, that their shields had collapsed due to Paula's attack.
The Fool and his consort quickly regained their composure and initiated the next move. The Fool drew his golden sword and his consort drew two bronze daggers. They quickly charged towards the heroes, holding their weapons high. Ness, and Poo each drew a pair of Thunder Bombs and thumbed their activation studs. The two then tossed the quartet of bombs towards the Faeries. The Faeries did not heed the bombs that had landed at their feet, believing them to be normal grenades and, as such, considerably ineffective against the mostly energy Faeries. Unfortunately, they were quickly proven wrong when the bombs detonated and caught the Faeries in their detonation fields. The fields of electricity expanded and engulfed the Faeries, disrupting their physical patterns as they struggled to maintain their cohesion. Ness and Poo could see them begin to fade as they began to leak bluish gases. The Faeries were on the ropes now. All that was required was one final blast of PSI Thunder Omega from Paula. She powered the electrical attack and quickly unleashed it upon the Faeries before they could recover from the previous assault. The lightning struck the Faeries and they cried out in agony as they began to disintegrate, unable to maintain their physical cohesion. The psychic nature of the lightning also managed to damage their energy forms as well. After a few seconds of flailing and writhing, they disintegrated, and dispersed. Paula, Poo, and Giygas felt their presences disappear. The Fool and his consort were dead.
With the defeat of The Fool and his consort, Paula, Poo, and Giygas wasted no time approaching the Sanctuary and stepping into the light. Upon stepping into the light, they heard the sixth part of the Eight Melodies play in their heads. In addition to the melody, a memory came to the surface of each of the psychics. For Paula, it was when she was five. She remembered the first time she had unconsciously utilized her telepathy when she sensed that her father was arriving home earlier than expected and announced it to her mother. For Poo, it was the first time he felt the power of PSI when he was six. He remembered the lightning crackle in his fingers when a bully had tried to pick on him. Of course, Poo had managed to beat the bully, but he had to hold back so that the lightning would not hurt the bully too severely. For Giygas, it was merely a tender moment with Maria when he was six years old. He was looking out at the stars and he caught a glimpse of Maria looking out at the stars as well. He had sensed Maria trying to contact George to let him know that she was okay and to send her love, and hope that he was getting on with his life okay. He then heard Maria sing, "…all day long now…" Then, in a flash, the memories ended and the group found themselves back in the Faerie World. They noticed that the Faerie World was getting brighter and much more cheerful, as if a great darkness had been lifted.
As the group turned and walked back to Ness and Jeff. "Six down, two to go," Paula said cheerfully. As they prepared to depart they noticed two more Faeries approaching. These Faeries had the air of royalty about them. They stopped when they were about a few feet away and looked around. Ness immediately recognized them as being Oberon and Titania. "The Fool and his traitorous consort have been defeated," Oberon said in a normal tone of voice, which rang out over the landscape.
"Yes, he has," Titania echoed in reply.
"We owe you a great debt of gratitude," Oberon continued. "No gift that we know of will ever be enough to express our gratitude. However, please accept these gifts as a small token of our gratitude." Both Oberon and Titania then approached Ness and Jeff and handed them each a necklace with a red jewel from Oberon, and a green jewel from Titania. They then handed more necklaces with mementos to Paula and Poo as well.
"These are our mementos to you," Titania explained. "They each have the ability to revive their holder the instant they suffer a fatal attack. They will even prevent you from dying from an attack that would normally annihilate you or inflict sufficient damage to render you unable to be revived by magic or psychic techniques. They will also only activate for lesser injuries and status conditions when no other treatment options are available."
Each of the teens thanked Oberon and Titania. Ness quickly noticed that Giygas was standing a ways away from the Faerie King and Queen, and that they had not given him any mementos. Ness began to think back about the talk that the child had had with him. Suddenly, where he had once trusted Giygas almost implicitly, now he was wondering whether or not he should actually doubt Giygas once more. After all, he was pretty much a non-factor in the battle against The Fool and his consort, not that his presence would have helped out all that much. Ness then shook the thought. He'd talk it over with the others when they got back to the Sky Runner II. Now, they had to get back to the kids and take them back to the outside world, and the waiting rescue forces. With that, the group gathered around Ness and he teleported them back to the entrance to the Faerie World.
Once they arrived back at the entrance to the Faerie World, Ness found Maria looking over the children. She saw him and said, "Michael was called back to Heaven. As such, I have been watching after these children while you were gone. That was all I was allowed to do." She paused and a portal appeared in front of her, away from the entrance to the outside world. She approached the children, who were immediately calmed by her mere presence, and told them, "This doorway will take you back to your homes and families. You don't have to worry about the evil Faeries anymore."
The children grinned, but before heading through the portal, turned back to Ness and the others and thanked them. Then each of the children went over to Ness and his friends and handed them a bag of what looked to be dust. Since there were eight children, the teens received two bags of what they viewed as Faerie Dust. The ten year-old boy with brown hair then went over to the teens and whispered to them out of earshot of Giygas, "These are bags of Star Dust. These bags of Star Dust can be used to make you intangible. Even when you're intangible, though, you can still attack your opponent, even with physical attacks and they can't do anything to you unless they try to attack your mind directly. These are one-time use items, though, so save them for the toughest foes. Also, these items were not made by Faeries or PSI Aliens, but by some group of creatures called Star Sprites so there won't be any side effects with the use of the dust."
The teens each nodded. The eight children then lined up in front of the portal that Maria had opened that would lead them to each of their homes. The children then filed through the portal and returned to their waiting families. Once that was finished, the portal closed and the group was now alone with Maria.
"For the sakes of those children, I cannot thank you enough for saving those them," she told them.
Ness and the others gave humble smiles and replied, "It was not problem." Giygas made no comment, though, since he had done relatively little during the battles, a fact that Ness had been quick to take notice of.
Once they were finished, Paula, Jeff, Poo, and Giygas quickly went over to the entrance to the outside world and waited for Ness to join them. As Ness was about to join them, he heard Maria whisper to him sadly, "Please pray for my son, Giygas. Let him know that he's not alone."
Ness looked back at Maria and saw the love she still had for Giygas, despite their fight onboard the flagship so long ago. "I will," Ness replied, nodding. With that, he rejoined his friends. After he had left, Maria returned to Heaven to watch over Ness and his friends, as well as her adoptive son, Giygas. Ness, however, began to be suspicious of Giygas due to how Maria had asked him to pray for Giygas.