Chapter 25
When Ness and the others entered the lakeshore, they were met by an ominous scene. At first glance, the lake looked normal, though there was no dock present as there had been the last time they had come. A dark shadow had covered the land and Poo could sense some strange energies emanating from above. Even Paula and Ness could sense the strange energies. However, it was Jeff who looked up into the sky first. Upon turning his gaze skyward his expression became one of absolute disbelief and horror. "Uh, guys," he stammered, turning to the others, his look of disbelief and terror not lessening at all, "look above you."
The others looked above and saw what had Jeff so worried. For in the sky was a second moon. This moon was different, though. It was gray, and it looked to be made of metal. Behind it was a shimmering window, which was slowly closing. If Jeff did not know better, he could have sworn that it was a Death Star from Star Wars. Perhaps it was, in a way, since the object seemed to be growing in size. It was headed straight for Earth. "That asteroid is going to strike the Earth!" Paula cried. "It'll be like another K-T event!"
"Worse," Jeff said in quiet horror. "That's a moon-sized body that's coming to hit the Earth, not just some asteroid. And if it's made of metal, then it's likely far denser that Luna. Paula, see if you can sense any lifeforms on that stellar body."
Paula slowly nodded and then focused on the moon and extended her telepathic senses. She scanned for people on the second moon, but could find nothing. She then turned to Jeff and told him, "I couldn't find anyone on that thing."
"Then it's likely just some rock or moon from some other planet that they've summoned to crash into Earth," Jeff concluded.
Jeff and Paula then slumped over. "Then what are we going to do?" Paula asked, knowing that there was little that any of them could do to destroy or divert it. It was so large and neither Ness nor Poo could erect a shield capable of repelling such a large object.
"I'm going to destroy it," Ness stated flatly. The others looked at him, their expressions showing their surprise and shock.
"You? Alone?" Poo asked, incredulous at what he had just heard. "No offense, but can you really do it?"
Ness nodded. "When I was attacked by Giygas on the moon, the evil he placed in my mind forced me to fight My Nightmare again. During the battle, I broke through my blocks and tapped into a reserve of psychic power that I did not know that I had. After I won, I felt new power coursing through me, as well as the shattering of my previous blocks and barriers. I can do this," he said confidently.
"Maybe," Jeff said hesitantly, "but there's still the issue of conservation of momentum. Even if you destroy that moon, the dust, particles, and larger pieces of debris will still be headed towards Earth. Even if the rocks are blown into relatively small pieces, they'll still cause an awful lot of damage to the planet."
"Not if I vaporize it," Ness countered.
"But what would a blast that is powerful enough to vaporize that thing do to the Earth in the process?" Paula asked. "Don't forget that that thing is getting closer."
"That's what you're for, Poo," Ness answered, turning to the older teen. "I want you to generate a shield and spread it out as far as you can, pushing as much energy into it as you can. I'll add my own as well. I want you to do the same thing, Paula," he told Paula, "just in case there's a psychic backlash. Also, make it a counter shield if at all possible. I want the debris to be headed back at the PSI Aliens if at all possible."
"Okay," Poo said with a wavering voice. Paula also gave a nod, indicating that she would give it a try as well.
Before Ness powered the attack, though, he told everyone, "Just so you know, I don't know if this will work. I mean, I can destroy it, but I don't know if I can destroy it in such a way that I'll keep the debris from striking the Earth, nor do I know if the shields will be able to expand far enough to protect the planet should I not be able to stop the debris, and even if they can, whether or not they'll hold against the massive energy that I'll be using."
"Don't worry about it," Paula and Poo told Ness supportively. "You can do it. We've got your back."
"Thanks guys," Ness replied, smiling.
Ness then focused on the other moon in the night sky, directly opposite the normal moon. The black moon loomed larger and larger as it approached. Ness held up his right hand and cried, "PSI Rockin Omega!" A ball of scarlet psychic energy formed in his hand. The ball grew in size until it was the size of a grapefruit. Ness kept adding energy to the ball of Rockin, but the ball did not grow in size. He merely condensed the energy until he could push no more energy into his attack. After a few seconds, it was at full power. He then targeted the large gray stellar body in the sky and unleashed his attack. As he unleashed his attack, he, Paula, and Poo raised their shields over the Earth and they, along with Jeff, prayed for the shield to withstand what was about to come and save the Earth from harm. The scarlet ball of psychic streaked towards the black object in the sky and disappeared once it was too small to be noticed. A second or so later, the effects of the ball of Rockin were seen as the large black object was vaporized by the large explosion of scarlet psychic energy. The energy, as well as the debris from the explosion, shot out in all directions.
Upon the stellar body's destruction, Paula and Poo raised a psychic counter shield and normal counter shield in order to keep the energy and debris from spreading back to Earth and inflicting massive damage to the planet. Even though there was no physically possible way for their shields to be able to expand wide enough to protect the planet, or be strong enough to reflect all of the energy and debris away from the Earth even if they did; somehow, miraculously, the shields had held and they were able to reflect all of the energy and debris away from the Earth, and back towards the PSI Alien fleet. Even the moon was unaffected by the blast. Everything was fine. It was as if the gray metal moon had never appeared in the sky to begin with.
Ness and the others stared into the sky in amazement at what had just happened, not at the destruction of the metal moon, but that there was no damage done to the Earth whatsoever as a result. A look of relief crossed Ness's face and then, he promptly fell to his knees. Before he could fall to the ground, Poo appeared before him and caught him, easing him down to the ground. Paula also rushed over to him and cried, "Ness! Ness! Speak to me! Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Ness said weakly. "I'm fine. Just tired. That took a lot," he said, referring to the use of his PSI Rockin Omega along with the raising of the shield. Ness weakly took out one of his Special Cakes and ate it. Immediately upon eating the cake, he felt refreshed and ready to go. He sprang up, much to the relief of his friends, and continued on his way towards the Mount Itoi Peak, the other teens and EVE following closely after him.
On the peaks of Mount Itoi, near the chasm that his ship was parked in, Giygas stood staring at the sky, his eyes wide in shock. Such an occurrence would not have been surprising if he had been the one to destroy the metallic moon, but this was not his doing. What was more shocking, though, was the fact that the Earth had not been damaged in the explosion. Heck, even Luna was undamaged, which shocked Giygas to no end. He soon felt a familiar presence appear behind him and it all began to make sense. "Mother," he said, turning back to see Maria standing behind him once again. "I should have guessed that you would not let your people be destroyed, regardless of how many rules you just broke."
"I broke no rules, my son," Maria told him, her soft voice full of kindness. "All I did was prevent the blast from causing damage to the Earth, and only because I was given permission to by God, and only in the form of enhancing their shields and allowing a miracle to happen."
"So God's letting you try to convince me to get myself killed again," Giygas laughed.
"Giygas," Maria said sadly. "My son, if you keep going down this path…you are likely going to die. The Chosen Four are not weak, as that display of power demonstrated."
Giygas's eyes went wide. "You're telling me that they did that?"
Maria nodded. "Yes. Ness destroyed that moon, ruining your brother's plans, for now." She then hugged Giygas. "Please, my son. Don't do this. It's not too late to break the link. Just go inside your own mind and destroy the link in your Magicant. You had a tremendous opportunity to do so when you unlocked the eighth Sanctuary. I can help you can go back, go inside your mind and…"
"No!" Giygas snapped. "This is my path, Mother! I don't want your advice anymore. I don't want you! I don't need you! Get out of my life!" he roared. He then fired a blast of PSI Special Omega at Maria, knowing that it would not do anything to her, but hoping that it would at least hurt her, if not physically, then mentally and spiritually. As expected, once the green globe of energy dissipated, Maria emerged from the field completely unharmed. She looked at her son and sighed.
"If this is your wish, I will abide by it." She then focused on him sternly and added, "But know this, my son. What you do here will decide your eternal fate. If you choose evil, regardless of the outcome here, you will be called to task one day. I pray every single day that you will be shown mercy, and change for the better." With that, Maria disappeared from his sight. Giygas then said to the air, "I don't need your prayers, woman." He then went back to preparing for his upcoming battle against the Chosen Four.
Back down the mountain, Ness and the others were making their way from the Mount Itoi lake to the Mount Itoi peak. Just as before, instead of ropes leading up the rock face, there were lifts that would take them up. Not only that, there were countless enemies on the mountain as well, in addition to several Fighter UFOs flying holding pattern around the peaks of Mount Itoi. Before continuing, Ness and the others quickly outlined their plan for attempting the scaling of the mountain's peaks.
"Okay, what have we got?" Ness asked Paula.
"We've got a ton of Starman Deluxes and Starman Warriors," Paula stated. They're assisted by squadrons of psychic robotic armored suits, Nuclear Reactor Robots, and Ultimate Octobots. This part of the quest will be the most difficult." That went without saying.
"So, what's our plan?" Poo asked.
"We go up and pick our targets," Ness responded. "Jeff, you deal with the Starman Deluxes and the Starman Warriors."
"Right," Jeff said. He could see where Ness was coming from with this. Jeff's Multi Bottle Rockets were powerful explosives that could kill Starman Deluxes and Warriors in single hits as long as they did not have a shield or counter shield raised at the time.
"Paula, you and I will be taking on the robots," Ness proposed. Paula had no problem with that.
"Got it," Paula affirmed.
"Poo, you'll be swing. You'll assist either party as the mission requires."
"Understood," Poo said.
"Also, you and I will be the team healers depending on the situation." Poo nodded.
"EVE, you will be watching our backs. Make sure that no Fighter UFOs, Assault UFOs or other enemies manage to attack us from behind," Ness ordered.
"Understood, sir," EVE replied.
After the plans were made, the group proceeded to head up the mountain. Along the first ledge, they encountered a lone Nuclear Reactor Robot. Jeff and EVE fired several energy blasts at the robot and blew several holes into the robot. Once fatal damage was inflicted to the robot, it exploded, but the Chosen Four and EVE were well away from the blast zone, and they remained uninjured. The group then went to search for the lift that would take them to the next ledge. They soon found the lift and used it to ascend to the higher ledge
On the next ledge there were no enemies on the ground, but three Fighter UFOs appeared in the air next to the group and were beginning to deploy their energy cannons. EVE would have none of that, though, and she immediately locked onto the Fighter UFOs with her weapons systems. EVE fired a volley of three missiles at the Fighter UFOs. The three missiles homed in on the UFOs and rocketed after them. When they struck the UFOs, they detonated, blowing the UFOs apart. Debris rained down upon the sides of the mountain as the group went up the next lift that took them to the next ledge.
The next ledge was just a small rock outcropping that was barely large enough to support the Chosen Four and EVE. On the ledge was a Starman Warrior. Not wanting to engage the Starman Warrior in a battle, Jeff drew out a Multi Bottle Rocket and launched it at the Starman Warrior. The warheads split apart as they neared the Starman, who did not notice the warheads approaching until they were almost on him, and converged on the Starman. The warheads struck the Starman Warrior and exploded. The physical defenses of the Starman Warrior were insufficient to protect him from the rockets and the explosions brought an end to the Starman. Once the smoke cleared, the burned body of the Starman Warrior lay on the ground, seemingly dead. Before the group moved on, Poo drew his sword and stabbed the Starman Warrior in the head, ensuring that he was no more. The group then went to the next lift and rode it to the next ledge.
On the next ledge, the party was confronted with four Ultimate Octobots, round robots with four tentacle-like legs. The primary weapons of Ultimate Octobots were a laser cannon that was fired from the face of the robot, and its tentacle-like legs that could wrap up an opponent and slam them into the ground. Jeff quickly pulled a couple of Super Bombs from his ammunition belt and tossed them at the Octobots while Ness raised a Shield Sigma over the party. The bombs rolled over to the Octobots as they fired a volley of green energy pulses. The pulses splashed harmlessly against the shield that Ness had raised over the party. Nevertheless, the Octobots continued to fire on the teens. A couple of seconds later, the Super Bombs exploded, engulfing the Ultimate Octobots in a sphere of flame. The resulting explosions were sufficient to destroy the Ultimate Octobots, reducing them to scrap metal.
Once the battle was over, Ness and the others followed the path on the ledge up a small incline that took them to another ledge. On this ledge, the teens faced off against a quartet of Starman Deluxes. This was problematic since, upon scanning the enemies, they had found that the Starman Deluxes had already raised Shield Betas over the bodies, and were powering a PSI Starstorm attack. It was evident that they had been studying the battle tactics of the Chosen Four and came prepared. Paula quickly powered a PSI Shield Omega over the party while Ness and waited in order to support the others. Jeff drew out his Shield Killer and fired a beam of energy at one of the Starman Deluxes, stripping him of his shield. Meanwhile, Poo unleashed a stream of PSI Thunder Omega against the Starman Deluxes. Lightning leapt from his fingertips and streaked towards the Starmen. The bolts of lightning struck the Starman Deluxes and electricity arced across their bodies. The Starmen felt parts of their bodies go numb and they were unable to move. While the bolts of lightning inflicted damage to the Starman Deluxes, they did not kill them. However, they did accomplish their goal of collapsing the shields of the Starmen. The Starman Deluxes proceeded to unleash their PSI Starstorm barrages against the heroes before they had realized that Paula had raised a PSI Shield Omega over the party. The stars rained down upon the Chosen Four and splashed against the shields of the Chosen Four, causing them to flare, before being reflected back to the Starman Deluxes. The stars fell among the Starman Deluxes and exploded, engulfing them in green fields of energy, annihilating them. Once the barrage had ended, the Starman Deluxes were no more. After the battle had ended, the party continued to follow the path along the ledge.
As they followed the path along the ledge, they were met by no less than sixteen psychic robotic armored suits. All known varieties of armored suit were present in this fight, hoping that numbers would allow them to defeat the Chosen Four. Ness, however, had other ideas. He casually pulled off two Super Bombs from his ammunition belt and tossed the bombs over to the robots. The robotic suits of armor powered their psychic attacks but before they could unleash their assault on the psychic teens, the Super Bombs exploded, shattering the bodies of some of the robots, and sending others flying. EVE also joined in, firing a volley of missiles into the remaining robots, finishing off the remainder of the robots. After the battle had ended, the Chosen Four continued to follow the path until it led them to a lift. Guarding the lift was a single Starman Deluxe. He noticed the teens coming and fired a blast of PSI Thunder at them before they could react. Unfortunately, his target was the leader of the Four, Ness, who was wearing a Franklin Badge. The lightning bounced off of Ness, a metallic clang sounding forth as the lightning was reflected, and was redirected back to the Starman Deluxe. The bolt of lightning struck the Starman Deluxe and proceeded to electrocute him. Electricity sparked across his body, but he was not dead yet. Paula, however, quickly changed that by unleashing a blast of PSI Fire on the injured Starman Deluxe. The psychic fire quickly reduced the weakened Starman Deluxe to ashes, bringing a swift end to the battle. Without a word, the group boarded the lift and went up to the next ledge.
Upon emerging from the lift, the group turned to its left and followed the ledge with Ness leading the way, followed by Paula, then Jeff, next Poo, and finally EVE. As the ledge began to widen, they began to feel the ground shake rhythmically, as if something was walking towards them. Indeed, coming towards the group was another robot like the R7038XX. This one was purple, though, indicating that it was an R7039. The R7039 extended its hands towards the heroes and EVE and upon locking onto the heroes, two massive energy blasts erupted from its hands, one targeting the Chosen Four, the other targeting EVE. The one targeted at EVE struck EVE directly in the chest. EVE's shields flared as they strained to absorb and reflect the energy of the beam away from EVE. The beam did not stop as the strength of EVE's shields was beginning to wane. As for Ness and the Chosen Four, the beam struck among the heroes, generating a large explosion that hurled the Chosen Four through the air and to the ground. Each of the heroes landed several yards away from their initial positions, but aside from a few bumps and bruises, they suffered no real injury. As for EVE, the beam managed to cut off just as the shields failed and the energy beam was beginning to burn EVE's armor, leaving a white-hot circle on the armor on her chest that began to cool as the beam cut off. EVE's auto-repair systems began to cut in and repair the damage to her armor. The R7039, however, needed time to recharge before firing again. EVE took this opportunity to whip out her bazooka and target the R7039. Once she had leveled the weapon on the robot, she pulled the trigger and a Saturn Hellfire missile erupted from the bazooka and flew straight towards the robot. Upon striking the robot's chest, the missile detonated, blowing apart the robot. The robot's limbs and head flew off the R7039 and landed a dozen yards away. Debris rained down upon the heroes, but Ness had raised a Shield Sigma over the party, protecting them from the falling rain of superheated metal. Once the rain of metal had stopped, Ness lowered the shield. After the battle, the group moved forward and proceeded along the ledge.
As they followed the ledge, they encountered two more Starman Deluxes and two Starman Warriors. Paula quickly scanned them and upon completing her scan, she telepathically alerted the others, They've raised PSI Shield Betas over themselves.
Jeff then drew his last two Super Bombs from his ammunition belt and tossed them at the quartet of Starmen. Poo also tossed a Super Bomb from his belt over to add to Jeff's firepower. The Super Bombs landed directly among the party of Starmen, who turned to face the heroes after they heard the clatter of the bombs on the ground. They began to charge their signature psychic attacks, PSI Starstorm, when they saw out of the corner of their eyes that the teens had tossed a trio of Super Bombs towards them. The Super Bombs exploded and sent the Starman hurtling towards the ground, disrupting their concentration, causing the stars they had created to disappear. The Starman Deluxes landed on the ground, but were still alive, and attempting to get back up to power their attacks once more so they could unleash them on the heroes. Their suits were smoking and had suffered numerous breaches, but they were still alive. Jeff then drew his Gaia Beam pistol and took a shot at one of the Starman Warriors, who was too sluggish to respond. His beam caught the Starman Warrior directly in the visor and burned a hole through the Starman Warrior's head. The Starman Warrior fell to the ground, a smoking hole having been burned straight through his visor and head. Poo dealt with the other Starman Warrior by rushing in on the Starman and repeatedly stabbing the Starman in the head and chest, just to make sure that he would never rise again. Ness and Paula then went to deal with the Starman Deluxes, who had shown themselves to be less durable than the Starman Warriors. Upon reaching the Starman Deluxes, Ness and Paula repeatedly bashed them in the head with their bat and frying pan respectively. The two repeatedly struck the Starmen in the head to make sure that he was dead. Once the Starmen had stopped moving, they formed up with Jeff and Poo and proceeded to make their way to another lift that would take them up to another ledge. Before going up the lift, though, EVE called out to the others, "Halt, sirs and madam." The Chosen Four stopped in their tracks and looked back at EVE. EVE then leaned in closer to the others and whispered so that she was barely audible, "There is an ambush waiting for you on top of the next ledge. It consists of a Starman Deluxe and two Starman Warriors, a dozen Elite Mooks, along with one Hannah-class and one Kumatora-class suit of armor. With them is a giant robot similar to the R7039 class of robot, only colored midnight black. Allow me to handle the enemies on the ledge, sirs and madam."
The others considered what EVE's offer. They knew that they could handle a group of psychic powered suits of armor, a squadron of Elite Mooks, a Starman Deluxe and two Starman Warriors, along with what was likely the R7040, but they also knew that it would be costly in terms of psychic power, as well as Multi Bottle Rockets. The standard automatic defense that the Starmen had was a PSI Shield Beta, so that would make using psychic attacks against them hazardous to the user, unless they used PSI Thunder, and the Starman Deluxe and Starman Warriors were powerful psychics themselves, so they would be able to survive the PSI Thunder attacks and be able to counterattack. As it was, EVE's plan was likely the best chance of winning the fight against the horde of enemies on the ledge at the lowest cost to the teens. "Okay," Ness said, nodding towards EVE, authorizing her to go through with her plan. "Do it."
EVE nodded back and she went forth and activated her jetpack and prepared an ambush of her own. Ness then told the others, "Let's go guys. We have to cover EVE. It won't take long for them to respond and launch a counterattack of their own."
The others then boarded the lift as EVE rocketed up to the next ledge, unleashing a barrage of missiles as the opening move in the next battle. The missiles landed among the Starmen and exploded, sending them sprawling. EVE then sprayed energy fire at the Elite Mooks and armored suits with her anti-personnel energy cannons, as well as a few shots from her heavy energy cannons as well. Six Elite Mooks and the Hannah were immediately killed in the initial volley of energy fire. Once she had finished with the Elite Mooks and the armored suits, she focused her attention on the R7040 that was taking aim at her just as Ness and the others arrived to finish off the stunned Starman Deluxe and Starman Warriors with a single Super Bomb tossed by Paula.
While Ness and the others focused on finishing off the rest of the Starmen and Elite Mooks, EVE dealt with the R7040. The R7040 opened fire on EVE by unleashing a volley of missiles from a retractable missile launcher in the palm of its left hand. EVE defended herself by spraying energy fire at the missiles, managing to hit them and detonate the missiles. EVE then returned fire with her heavy energy cannons. As expected, though, her energy blasts only caused minor furrows on the armor of the massive robot. EVE then unslung her bazooka and took aim at the robot as it retracted its missile launcher and took aim at the massive robot. Once the bazooka was leveled on the robot, EVE fired. The missile erupted from the launcher and streaked towards R7040. The missile struck the robot and obliterated it. Metallic pieces of shrapnel rained down upon the ledge, though they did no damage to the heroes. After the R7040 was destroyed, the group headed towards the next lift but before riding it, Paula scanned the area to see if they were any enemies present. Upon sensing that it was secured, she turned to the others and said, "It's secure." With that, the group made their way to the lift and proceeded to ride it up to the next ledge.
The next ledge was quite narrow. It was barely able to fit one two of the teens walking abreast. Still, the group trudged on until they came to another lift. The teens did not seed to scan the next ledge, for they knew they were near the peak of Mount Itoi, and what the next ledge held. They took the lift up to the final ledge and there, they saw two familiar grave markers, one for George, the other for Maria. Upon seeing that the grave markers remained undisturbed, Paula said a silent prayer for both of them, as well as for Giygas, since she viewed that the fact that the grave markers meant that Giygas might still have some attachment in his heart to his adoptive mother, Maria.
Standing near the entrance to the cave was a man, but he did not seem to be an enemy, or a soldier. Paula tried to perform only the most cursory scan that she could, since she did not like invading the privacy of others when she used her powers, in order to find out this man's allegiance. She found that he was not an enemy, just an item seller. In essence, he was a pawnbroker. The group went up to the entrance and he called over to them in a suspicious voice, "Hey kids, over here."
The others went over to him and Poo asked, "What do you want?"
The man grinned and said, "I want to make your journey a little easier. I know you're about to go bustin' on Giygas's door. I'm here to give ya some items to make the battle go a little easier on ya. However, these items won't come cheap, just so ya know."
"What have you got?" Jeff asked, still suspicious of the man.
The man produced a large bag and proceeded to open it and put on display a whole host of healing items from Life Up Creams, to Cups of Lifenoodles, to Horns of Life. The group knew that these items would be very useful in helping them survive the fight against Giygas, but the item seller was very true to his word when he said that they would not come cheap. Still, the items that he was selling would be of tremendous value in the upcoming fight, so they decided to bite the bullet and buy some of the needed items. Paula, who did not have any revival items, bought a couple Cups of Lifenoodles for herself, though it cost her three thousand dollars for the two of them. Jeff also wanted to buy a Cup of Lifenoodles and maybe even a Life Up Cream or two, but they were too expensive and they could not afford them. As it was, the rest of the party had to make due with what they had. Once they were finished, they proceeded into the cave.
As the others proceeded to make their way into the cave, she telepathically scanned the area to see if Maria was watching, but upon finding no sign of her presence, she went along with the others, even though she knew that her not sensing Maria meant very little. The group came to the entrance to the cave. As per the normal routine now, Paula stepped forward and scanned the area for enemies. She could sense that enemies were present in an adjacent chamber, as well as the kidnapped children and some of their parents. She also sensed four Starman Deluxes and a dozen psychic robotic suits of armor, one for each kidnapped child of an old enough age to be useful for having their minds linked to the robots, and one extra Colin to make an even dozen. Upon sensing this, Paula cut off her senses and told the others, "We've found the kids. They're in an adjacent chamber. They're guarded by four Starman Deluxes and a dozen armored suits. As of yet, the Starman Deluxes have deployed PSI Shield Betas."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ness said with deathly seriousness. "Let's get them out. You know the drill."
The others nodded and then proceeded to make their way into the cave. The inside of the cave was quite narrow, just as they had remembered, and still looked quite rocky. Inside the cave, they were quickly met by a yellow and a red robot, which the teens recognized as a Hannah and a Meryl respectively. EVE quickly dealt with the robots by firing a single blast from her two heavy energy cannons on each arm. Each shot practically disintegrated the two robots, leaving nothing but small piles of molten metal as a sign that the robots had ever existed. The teens soon came to a metal door on their left. Ness looked back to Paula, who nodded before he had even formed the question in his mind. With that, Paula joined him on one side of the door, while Jeff and Poo were on the other. Ness inspected the door and saw that it looked to be a reinforced blast door. Jeff took out an Advanced Multi Bottle Rocket and prepared to deploy it upon entering the room. He turned on his Counter PSI Helmet and activated its targeting system. It was his hope that the rocket would be able to destroy at least one of the Starman Deluxes while the others engaged the other Starman Deluxes. Poo quickly drew out two Super Bombs and handed them to Ness. Ness then attached them to the blast door. He ushered the others down the hall and once the others were safely away, he pushed the activation studs of the bombs, and quickly fled down the cave with the others, calling, "Fire in the hole!"
The bombs exploded and blew open the door. Fire leapt out from the blast and back into the cave. Ness raised a shield so that the firestorm would not injure the heroes. After the fire had died down a second or two later, Ness charged towards the hole in the wall along with the others and tossed a Super Bomb into the room along with Paula to begin the assault. The two Super Bombs exploded, engulfing the two Starman Deluxes in spheres of flame. Jeff quickly added a couple of pulses from his Gaia beam pistol to the two Starmen, just to make sure that they were felled. The rest of the group soon surged through. A cursory glance already showed the two Starman Deluxes suffering severe injuries from the Super Bombs and the shots from Jeff's Gaia Beam pistol, as well as a suit of armor that was lying on the ground with a piece of shrapnel from the blast door stuck in its chest. Jeff quickly fired off two more shots at the Starman Deluxes in order to take them down and keep them down. Paula and Poo quickly dealt with the remaining two Starman Deluxes while Ness, Jeff, and EVE concentrated on dealing with the suits of armor and saving the children.
EVE rattled off a series of energy blasts, blasting apart two robotic suits of armor, while Ness and Jeff dealt with another group of armored suits. Ness quickly powered a blast of PSI Rockin in his right hand and unleashed it against the robot forces. His ball of Rockin left his hand and fell among the robots, instantly disintegrating them. Jeff, meanwhile, had shot two robots in the head with his Gaia Beam pistol, felling each of them with single shots. Ness then looked to his side and saw several green capsules. Each of the capsules housed human children. Ness looked down the line and saw more children, including Kumatora. He also saw Flint, Hinawa, as well as Lucas and Claus inside capsules too. In addition, though, he noticed several weapons lying on a desk near the capsules. When Ness neared the console that likely controlled the release valve for the capsules, he felt a rush of air as an unknown enemy ignited a beam sword and tried to take off Ness's head. Turning around, he saw an Elf looking at him, grinning evilly. "So, it looks like I'll get my chance to off one of the Chosen Four after all," the Elf sneered.
Ness did not say a word, but merely grabbed his bat from over his shoulder and prepared to engage the High Star Elf scientist. The High Star Elf scientist quickly charged Ness and tried to bisect him with his beam sword. Ness swiftly dodged the blade and retaliated with a swing of his bat, which the High Star Elf managed to avoid. The two exchanged more blows and swipes but neither was able to gain an edge over the other. Eventually, Ness positioned himself so that his back was to the console that would release the children. The High Star Elf quickly neared Ness, along with some support from two extra black suits of armor that had lightning sparking from their hands. The High Star Elf, believing himself to have the advantage, laughed and boasted, "It's over now, kid!" He then charged Ness, holding his sword high. When he was near, he tried to bring his sword down upon Ness's head. However, Ness rolled out of the way and the sword merely ended up cleaving the console into two.
Alarms rang out as the green capsules opened and clear liquid was released from them. Wires and arms withdrew from the captives as each of the captives looked around to get their bearings for a moment. As each captive was freed, the surviving suits of armor stopped for a second as they no longer had access to the psychic powers of the children. Without access to the minds and psychic powers of the children, the robots were reduced to using PSI Beam, which, while effective if it hit, was difficult to aim properly, especially against teens who had just raised a psychic shield over themselves.
The High Star Elf, who was oblivious to the fact that the captive children were now free, faced off against Ness. He watched as Ness quickly backed away. He grinned and taunted, "What's the matter, kid? Scared?"
Ness merely gave a knowing smile, for two girls, one of them Kumatora, the other a fourteen year-old black-haired girl named Madeline, neared the scientist and extended their hands, lightning arcing around them. Two blasts of PSI Thunder then erupted from the hands of the two children and struck the High Star Elf in the back, blowing a hole into his body while lightning arced across the rest of it. The High Star Elf fell to the ground, dead. It was then that Madeline spoke, "That's for using us to give power to your psychic cannon fodder robots." The two then looked at Ness and smiled. "Thanks for saving us," both Madeline, and Kumatora said to him.
"You're welcome," Ness replied. After that, they went over to help the other captives against the remaining enemy forces.
Over near Paula and Poo, the other teens had their hands full. Four more Starman Deluxes had appeared on the scene and had them on their heels. Jeff had joined them and taken one of the Starman Deluxes down with a Multi Bottle Rocket. Paula had raised a PSI Shield Omega over the three of them in order to protect them against the Starman Deluxe's Starstorm Omega barrage, but the shield was weakening due to the constant bombardment of Starstorm. Paula had managed to lower the shield of another Starman Deluxe and eventually kill him with some combined PSI Thunder Omega from her and Poo. Still, that left two Starman Deluxes to deal with. Help, however, was about to arrive, for soon, lightning erupted from behind the Starman Deluxes. "What was that?" Jeff wondered out loud as the lightning struck the Starman Deluxes, collapsing their psychic counter shields. The teens risked a glance behind them and saw the freed children coming to help them, along with the parents that had been captured as well. The children each unleashed various elemental PSI onto the two remaining Starman Deluxes and while each of their attacks alone was insufficient to deal with the Starman Deluxes, together, their attacks were quite damaging. Add to that the fire from Flint, Hinawa, and other parents who were now armed with captured energy weapons that they had liberated from the lab, and the Starman Deluxes never had a chance. They were riddled with energy pulses, struck by lightning, burnt to a crisp, and frozen. By the time they fell, they resembled Swiss cheese. The only remaining enemies that came out to face them were some elves and Roswell Grays. Flint, Hinawa, and the children quickly took care of them, firing off several volleys of energy fire along with several blasts of PSI Thunder and PSI Fire.
Once the battle was over, the children and their parents gathered together and thanked Ness and their friends for helping them. Ness then told them, "There is a path that will take you down the mountain. Follow it and you should be able to escape to safety." He then turned to EVE and said, "EVE, go with them and cover their escape. Also contact any military forces nearby and tell them that the kidnapped children and parents have been saved. Once they are safe, you can rejoin us at the top of the mountain if you wish to."
"Understood, sir," EVE responded. "And I wish to," she added, referring to the fact that she wanted to be there to fight Giygas along with the others, something that her previous destruction had denied her during her last tour of service.
Ness then smiled and looked at the rescued children and their parents and told them, "Follow EVE. She'll lead you to safety."
EVE then approached them and said, "This way. Those with the psychic technique PSI Thunder Beta or higher come up to the front. That will be effective against normal and psychic shielding should we come across more Starmen. Two armed former captives should be at the back to ensure that we are not ambushed, though I will keep my sensors active to preclude such a scenario. Let us go." And with that, EVE guided the children and their parents out of the lab and down the mountain.
With EVE leading the children down the mountain that left only Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo to deal with Giygas not too far ahead. Ness then said, "Giygas probably realizes that we've freed the children. We have to fight him now so we can give the children and EVE enough time to escape."
The others agreed. They knew that Giygas would not let the release of the children go without some form of retribution. The group quickly exited the lab and made their way back into the cave. They then turned left and went forward, where the apparition of Maria appeared in front of them. Ness tried to go around Maria, but she blocked him. "We don't have time for this," Poo told her. "We have to fight Giygas before he realizes that the children and their parents escaped."
"Giygas does not know about that right now," Maria replied. "I am blocking him from being able to sense the children. It is the only thing I am allowed to do against him right now. I have come to you because you are about to fight my adoptive son, Giygas."
"Look, Missus Maria, we're not going to avoid confronting him," Ness told her. "I know that he is your adopted son and that you still love him, but he is evil. Look at what he has done. He ordered the destruction of several cities at the hands of his Starman servants. He has played with your heart and is undoubtedly trying to torture you with what he has done and is about to do if he is not stopped."
"I know," Maria replied, barely able to hold back her tears. "I haven't come here to dissuade you from fighting Giygas. I've only come to beg that if, and I do mean if, you manage to defeat Giygas without killing him, that you spare his life if he is willing to repent."
Ness looked at her with an expression of puzzlement. On one hand, he knew that the mother in her did not want her son to die, but on the other hand, the human in her knew how dangerous and evil her adoptive son was, and that it was likely that he was too powerful to let live if he was still evil. In the end, Ness answered, "I can't make any guarantees."
Maria then came over to him and begged, "Please. If Giygas is willing to change, please spare him. I know there's still good in him. His father and brother haven't driven all of it from him. Please help him find it once again."
Ness then said, "I'll do it if it is reasonably practical, Mrs. Maria. But only if he's already beaten, begs us to spare him, and Paula has confirmed that he's good again beyond a shadow of a doubt."
Maria did not frown, but her expression did not change. They both knew what Ness meant. He would do it only if he was stupid. He was planning on fighting Giygas to the death, and Maria knew it. Before she stepped aside, she extended her hand and a heavenly light shined down upon the teens. The light fully rejuvenated the teens and they thanked Maria for giving them her assistance. "Be careful when fighting my son," she told them in a sad voice. "I don't want you to die, either." She then stepped aside and faded from view. A faint smile showed on her face as she left. Ness viewed the smile as a sign that she was watching over them. Once Maria had vanished, Ness and the others proceeded towards the end of the tunnel. When they saw the light, they rushed towards it and exited the cave.
Upon exiting the cave, they came upon a massive plateau. Over the edge of the plateau was a massive familiar alien ship. However, the ship was not what they were focusing on, for standing near the edge of the cliff was none other than Giygas. When he sensed the arrival of the four, Giygas turned around and faced them. "So, you finally made it," he said ominously. "I must say that I'm impressed that you made it this far. I thought that the large number of soldiers I stationed at the mountain would overwhelm you. Apparently, I was wrong. But that is the past. This is now. I am going to succeed where my armies and the Sanctuary Guardians failed." He then focused his gaze on the teens. "And this time, you won't get away."
"Bring it on, Giygas," Ness told him in a cold voice.
Giygas then laughed and said, "Very well. Here goes." It was then that Giygas began to sing:
Take a melody
Simple as can be
Give it some words
And sweet harmony.
Raise your voices
All day long now
Death's not long now
Sing a melody of death, now die!
At first, the teens did not know what Giygas was doing, but Ness had a bad feeling that Giygas was not singing just to pass the time, nor because he was cocky or arrogant. Ness then felt some energy coming forth from the song. It was eerily similar to the energy that came forth when the golden entity that had taken over Hannah used her voice to sing "On Eagle's Wings" while combining it with death magic. Ness realized that Giygas was doing the same thing.
"Don't listen to the song!" he cried out, warning the others. "It's a death song! If you listen to it, it will kill you!"
But it was too late. Jeff, being a normal and being more science oriented than mystically or spiritually inclined, was the first to fall to the song. He simply fell over onto the floor. His breathing then became shallow and eventually, ceased. Next to fall was Paula. She held out for a little bit longer, but her liking of music, even some types of singing proved to be her downfall as Giygas was able to psychically shield the fact that he was carrying a song of death, and she eventually fell as well. Poo fared a little better than the others. He did not fall over dead, like Jeff or Paula, but the song still debilitated to him. His resistance to it, however, did allow him to survive the song, merely being rendered unconscious rather than killed. He still continued to fight the song's influence as he lay on the ground, doing his best to remain alive, but in no condition to fight. That left Ness, whose dislike of singing had been what saved him. He would not let Giygas's song defeat him, no matter what. Despite Ness's survival, Giygas's song had accomplished its objective. Three of the Chosen Four were out of action, with two of them being dead, and the third barely hanging on by a thread. Ness glared at Giygas as he began to power a PSI Healing Omega to restore Poo to health so that the two of them could revive Paula and Jeff.
"Not so fast," Giygas cried out as he rose into the sky. He then raised his hands to the sky and a ball of emerald green psychic energy formed in his hands and grew until it was the size of a small boulder. The sphere then grew until it was the size of the peak of Mount Itoi. "You won't escape this, Ness. PSI Special Omega!" Giygas cried out. He then unleashed the blast of psychic energy at Ness.