Chapter 21: Some Needles in a Dragon
"I daresay, how did you manage to know?"
"I couldn't tell you. Hinawa just told me to do it."
Lucas felt his eyes flicker awake as he felt a springboard of wires on a semi-soft mattress. He gagged a little as the dirty air and crummy smell told him that he was in the boarding home for seniors. As he opened his eyes, he was face to face with his grandfather Alec, and Old Man Wess. Both adults looked at him calmly.
"Thank goodness you're okay." Alec said. "I certainly was taken by surprise when you and Boney landed in that hay pile."
"Oh…okay…" Lucas bit down as he rubbed himself. "Thanks for helping us."
"No problem. It's nice to see you again. Wess got your letter from the messenger bird. It's nice to know you got his item."
"How's…how's my dad been?"
"Flint has been the same as usual." Wess crossed his arms. The old man then glanced up at the clock. "Oh, by the way. You should probably get out of here. Fassad will be here soon to check up on us, he'd probably throw a fit if you're here."
Lucas nodded his head and climbed off the terrible bed. He made his way down the stairs and exited the boarding house, where Boney immediately jumped up on him.
"Lucas, Lucas, come down here!"
Lucas shrugged, nodded his head and followed his companion down to the area. There, he looked in shock as he found the same person who had given him the ability to use PSI Powers from that hot spring.
This time, the person was tied up in a weird little contraption. But somehow still able to stand and move around.
"Hey…Ionia!" Lucas called. "Are…are you okay?"
"Hm?" Ionia did a little twirl at the sound of his voice and squealed a little at the sight of him.
"Ah, Lucey-poo!" she said. "Yes, thank you, I am completely fine. I don't need any help at all dearie!"
"Are…are you sure?!" Lucas asked.
"Yes, yes of course." Ionia then stopped. "Actually, there is someone I'd like for you to meet."
Lucas felt a pit and began looking around. As he expected, another person with a pink afro and lots of makeup walked up behind her.
"Ionia, please, whatever was such a rush?" the person asked. Like Ionia, the person seemed to be male. But had that feminine tone to her that made Lucas unsure about what to call them.
"Aeolia, it was important, I sensed the one who could use PK Love! And he's right here!" Ionia shifted as the weird contraption around her fell to the ground, leaving her to point at Lucas. He gave a nervous wave to Ionia's friend.
Aeolia's eyes seemed to scan him. "Ah…you bear a striking resemblance to someone I saw three years ago…" she said. "Anyway, that's not important, can you really use PK Love?"
Lucas nodded his head and shifted a bit of PSI energy around his fingers. The small hexagonal orbs of light coerced around his fingertips and left a sparky feeling.
"Ooh La Laa!" Aeolia clapped her hands together. "You can indeed! You're just what we're looking for!"
Lucas blinked. "I…I am?"
"Yes indeed! You have the power to awaken the Dark Dragon!"
"I…what?" Lucas blinked in confusion.
Suddenly, Lucas blinked, the sky turned orange and clouds reeked a bloody red color. Somewhere off in the distance, he watched a black pile of steam erupt like a geyser of some-sorts as he felt an incredible power surge through his own body.
However, just as quick as it came. It vanished. Lucas blinked and looked back at the two people. Only to gasp as Aeolia had now become a pale, flickering body.
"Aeolia!" Ionia gasped. "It…it could not possibly be!"
Aeolia looked down at herself before sighing. "It would seem my time has come." she said. "Though, Ionia, you must hurry, I can sense that the puller's heart is dark! Please catch this young man up to speed and send him on his way…we do not have the time…" Lucas blinked as the woman vanished, just…straight up vanished.
"Uh…what…what just happened?" he asked.
Ionia's eyes twinkled. "To answer that question, we need to talk about history!"
"Um…"
"First know this," Ionia said. "These are specially-protected islands. We reside upon these islands together with a limitless power. Well…those who can use PSI."
"Okay…so where does it come from?"
"It comes from the dragon that sleeps under the darkness of the island. It is incredibly large, as large as these islands put together. But, because it is asleep, these islands are protected from disaster."
"Oh…that's cool. I didn-"
"However, this power is too great for humans to control. It was the reason that our ancient Magypsy ancestors placed seven "Needles" in the dragon to make it sleep. For a very long time, we have guarded the Needles. However, we were told that someone will need to awaken the Dragon when its power is needed."
"Ah…you know…we could probably use it right now." Lucas said. "Wher-
"However, if the one who needs the dragon has a heart of pure evil, that power will obey all that is evil. It's very possible that everything could be completely destroyed to satisfy its wicked ambition."
"Well that doesn't sound very-"
"On the other hand, the exact opposite is what we hope for you. Someone like you, a person with a pure heart of gold to pull the Dragon's needles and uses its power to wash all evil away and all life as we know it will shine brightly."
Lucas felt his eyes widen. So that meant that the goal of the Pigmask army was to use the commander, who must also have PSI to pull the Needles and unleash terror over the world.
"Wait…but…if Aeolia's needle was pulled. What happened to her?"
"Oh, we magypsies cesce to exist.'' Ionia said calmly. "Do not worry, it is painless for us. Plus, we live much longer than you humans, so we've been around for quite a long time. Fret not about us Lucey-Poo. Right now, we need your gold heart to go pull some needles!"
"Okay…where's your needle?" Lucas asked curiously. At least hearing that it wouldn't hurt them and that they had prepared for this moment was reassuring.
Ionia's eyes widened. "OH MY! I COMPLETELY FORGOT!" In the blink of an eye, Lucas watched as she flattened herself like paper and took off into the wind.
"WAIT!" he called. "I can't do that-'' he didn't finish his sentence as the woman disappeared behind a cloud.
"Well, that did not go well." Boney whimpered. "That lady gives me the creeps."
"She's right though." Lucas replied to his dog. "I saw something weird happen when that Needle was pulled. They're using the Paula girl to identify them. But…we don't know where the Needles are…"
As he finished his thoughts, a sudden buzzing emitted from his pants pocket. Curiously, he took it out, it was the same remote that the Pigmasks had given him to do…whatever it was the button was meant to do to that boy.
"Commander…Commander can you hear me?" He could hear the squeal of a Pigmask behind the interference. "We…We identified the location of the next Needle! It just so happens to be conveniently by the Chimera Laboratory. You know, our big white building where we keep the girl and genius. Well…of course you know, you were just the imbecile on that ship does it wrong, tell him it's just left of the Nightclub Air Trolley."
"Is…is there anything else?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah, if you could help get that dimwitted Salsa Monkey, we could open the guarding door to the Needle. I mean honestly, what sort of jackass makes a door that only opens to a dance?"
Lucas felt his whole body light up in excitement. Not only could he get to one of the needles, but this offered him a chance to make up his promise to Poo and rescue not only Paula, but also either Jeff or Ness…whoever the genius was supposed to be between them.
He looked at his dog, giving him a reassuring smile. "Alright Boney, looks like we're going back to the nightclub."
"How incredibly convenient that we just so happened to get this little communications device." Boney barked. "Let's get going."
As the two began their track back to the train station. Both failed to notice a certain redmasked individual following after them.
21 Chapters in and our butts FINALLY get to the Needles, Lmao. What a snail pace this story has been.
Anyway, Sorry this chapter is out so late, I kinda got into a spiraling downwards depression and forgot about this chapter. I didn't exactly rush it out but it gave me time to think about what I wanted to do.
So we finally get to see Paula and Jeff in the next chapter. Yay, more of the Chosen 4!
Let me be clear, I do want this story to stand apart from Mother 3. And Literally everything except for the identity of the Redmasked wander was decided prior to this story. I'm still debating on whether I want to use him for something else or just make him Ness like everyone expects him to be. That's kind of why Ness has only been mentioned by name instead of making an official appearance like the other 3. Because yes, 21 chapters later, and I'm still thinking about what I want to do with this guy.
I do have two ideological visions for this character in my head. Albeit, one is much, much stupider and ties into the whole "Earthbound Cinematic Universe." I've got going on, again I'm still debating about whether or not this idea is a good idea. So Ness might never make an appearance until like...the very end. Which I guess would make some sense, it's only reasonable that Pokey would hold the strongest of them with him.
Speaking of which, a lot of people who have been reading my god awful stories since the beginning may have picked up on a few minor details, like the Masked Man's Sword and references to something bigger (That 16 group of kids, all consisting of 3 boys and a girl ARE intentional despite there being literally 2 groups like this, lol). Though, this is more of a prequel that I feel explains a bit of more of issues that arose from the first story.
Or maybe I'm just pulling shit out of my butt. At this point, I might as well be rivalling Five Nights at Freddy's for batshit insane ideas of canon lore.
Damn, now I'm thinking of that meme where someone edited a box cover of that show "How I Met Your Mother." DVD and made it say "How I stretched a 15 minute story into 9 fucking years."
Oh well, that's all for this chapter. Hopefully next month the chapter will be out on time.
See you all, next time.