Look sorry this is a bit later than normal, I got stuck doing a few things so I'm trying to squeeze this upload out. Enjoy this Chapter.

Chapter 24: Second Needle.

Lucas followed Paula's directions west back towards the ramphill that led to the cable car. The girl took him north past a lake, the blonde watched her flinch a little at the chimera hybrid animals. Notably a dogfish and Pigtunia.

"What have we done to this world?" he heard her whisper. Curiously, he was about to ask her a question, before she halted him in front of a door.

Looking carefully, Lucas saw it looked a bit like some type of ruin-wall. There were a few cave paintings of figures doing specific motions in the order of…what looked like a dance? He questioned for a second why this would just be out in the middle of nowhere tucked behind a waterfall, before he heard Paula's voice pull him back.

"Okay, this is where those Pigmask Facisits said the needle was." The girl said, turning to face him. "Jeff told me that, in order for the doors to open, you'd likely need to figure out the movement patterns on the door wall. I think that's why they needed Salsa for this."

Lucas tilted his head, "But why though?" he asked curiously. "I've seen Old man Wess do this exact dance before…when he was watching me when my father was looking for my brother. He even taught me the dance himself. It's quite easy to replicate. I could understand maybe the pigmasks themselves, those outfits and statues don't look good for dancing, but their commander…isn't he the one pulling the needles, he could probably do it?"

Paula merely shrugged her shoulders. "Well, if you can do the dance. Why don't you?"

Lucas felt his face go beat red. "Well…uh…okay." he paused for a moment. "Um…do you mind moving so I can have space?"

The girl nodded and backed up into the grass with Boney, Salsa, and Samba.

Remembering what Wess told him, Lucas hunched a little, before beginning to shake his booty from left to right making arm movement on either side, akin to the wall paintings on the left side. He felt his face flush a little as he heard a faint hitch from Paula's breath.

He stopped and made his arms in circles, from left to right, as if he was spinning a baton. Then, he made a circular motion, pivoting 360 degrees on his left foot at a rapid pace. He felt himself come to a stop in front of the door, facing it.

The door stayed put, making him flush his face again. But, to his great relief, he had not embarrassed himself for nothing, as the door creaked open.

He heard a faint giggle, before some applause from Paula. "Good job Lucas."

The group of five entered into the protected area. Lucas quickly took notice of a house carved into a giant conch shell. With two holes, well, one deep looking lake filled with clear water that dipped far to deep for him to see a bottom, and one deep empty hole.

Lucas quickly brushed past and walked up to the door and pushed it open. Inside, he found a one room house decked to the brim in purple or lilac colors. His eyes also widened in surprise as he found Kumatora talking to another one of those strange people. Like Ionia, he couldn't quite tell what the person was supposed to be, but he was all the more relieved to see that they hadn't been too late.

Kumatora, and the Magypsie turned to him. The redheaded princess' eyes widened.

"Whoa! Awesome! Talk about convenience." Kumatora breathed out. Her eyes fell on Salsa and Sama. Her grin widened. "Ah! Salsa! You're here too! Great to see you again, I didn't know you were still alive? Would've thought that fatass got rid of you."

"Nope…he said that those freaks still needed me." Salsa looked back.

Kumatora's watery eyes then fell on Paula, who she looked at curiously.

"Ah, right, Paula, this is Kumatora." Lucas said. "She's uh…she's a companion of mine who also hates the Pigmasks, she can use PK Fire, Freeze, and Thunder like you can."

"Ah, you're the girl that Poo talked about." Kumatora replied. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm fine…" Paula replied meekly. "Though, I can't recommend getting captured by those…freaks. I'm surprised they didn't come for you themselves."

"Now, now it's deary! What adorable visitors!" Their attention was directed back towards the magypsy, who was holding its face in surprise. "Kumatora dear, won't you introduce me?"

"Er…right. Sorry bout that." Kumatora replied. "Doria, the humans are Lucas and Paula, Salsa and Samba are the monkeys, and…uh…" her eyes fell on Boney. Lucas watched as his trusted companion's brown eyes narrowed in disappointment. Lucas tilted his head towards the Dog's bone collar.

"Ah yeah! Boney the dog!" Kumatora finished.

Doria's eyes seemed to light up behind the sunglasses she wore. "So, you're sweet little Lucas?" she asked him in a singsong voice. "Ionia just told me and Kumatora all about you! Fate truly did come around, I knew when Kumatora here fell into my hideaway that you'd be destined to come! Oh how I've been yearning for this moment!"

Unexpectedly, Lucas yelped as Doria grabbed his hand and dragged him outside to the two holes. The Magypsies' grip was surprisingly strong, but his pressure was relieved as the person let go of his arm.

"Ah yes, the Needle I'm guarding is at the bottom of this pond right here!" Doria hummed.

"Whaa." Lucas turned his head to Kumatora and Paula, both girls looked shocked.

"H-how do you expect any of us to get down there?!" Paula asked, bewildered by the idea. "T-The needle that those Pigmasks pulled wasn't even guarded! But yours is?"

"Ah, yes, I suppose we didn't quite think of that." Doria hummed, once again, Lucas watched her eyes flicker a little. "Ah! I know! I've heard that there's a laboratory right next to this area! Maybe we could go find something there!"

Lucas shrugged his shoulders before turning back to Paula. "Does…does your friend Jeff…or his father have anything that they could send over here before those Pigmasks get here?"

"I'll ask him." Paula replied, giving him an uncertain smile. She put her hands together and entered a little praying stance. All of them watched the girl for a moment as a bit of white light flashed through the area.

"Is…she alright?" Kumatora asked Lucas.

"Oh yes, yes, of course!" Doria said, completely interrupting them. "I've heard tales of a group of four children, the four of them shared a strong emotional bond of fate, and that allowed the four to communicate with each other telepathically! She must be communicating."

Another bit of white light flashed from Paula's statue appearance before she undid her hands and opened her eyes.

"We're in luck…apparently that pig army was anticipating something exactly like this. So they had them develop this Pump Chimera thingy. He's sending it over now."

As she finished that sentence, they heard loud footsteps thud, the door opened nonchalantly and they turned their attention to a striped creature with a long trunk and spout tail. The chimera stomped up to the area in between the two ponds and stuck its tube trunk inside.

To their amazement, the water began to drain instantly as the spout tail squirted the water out into the hole next to them.

"Oh my! Just look at it go!" Doria sang. "Perfection, absolutely perfect!"

The Chimera eventually finished draining and left the hole in the ground, which Lucas quickly looked down to see the needle. Just like in his vision of the commander, the needle was a golden pin in the ground, it had the face of what looked like a dragon on the top of it. It was quite a ferocious looking face that looked at him. Currently, the Dragon's head was a pitch black color, when in the vision, it had been gray.

Lucas climbed down the stoney wall in the hole and planted his feet on the ground, he was followed immediately by Doria, then Kumatora, and then Paula.

"Oh my oh my! Could it really be true?" Doria asked, humming her voice. "Ionia said she believed that the time had finally come for the needles to be pulled! Oh? But what's this? The head of the dragon is black? That must mean that the first one was pulled by a heart of darkness! Goodness me, it must be a race competition!"

"Uh…Doria." The three of them turned their heads to Paula. "Um…so…what exactly does this…dark dragon that the needles seal away…do?"

"Ah, yes! The Dark Dragon!" Doria hummed. "It was the creator of this peaceful island, its power watches before the humbled area. It had a twin brother, the dragon of light. However, one unfortunate day, a human tried to use the dragons for their own nefarious deeds! The dark dragon's brother was defeated and lost to time. Enraged, the Dark Dragon's true power was unleashed! It was our Magypsy ancestors who managed to convince the dragon to stop. And so it went into slumber, and we used seven needles to hold it in place. It is said that, when the needles are pulled, the dark dragon will reawaken and grant its power to the person who pulled the most. Whether the heart be dark or light, the dragon will grant its power to the majority."

Lucas watched as the golden haired girl shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh, Doria, aren't ya gonna disappear when the Needle is pulled?" Kumatora asked.

Doria nodded its head. "Yes, of course, when my needle is pulled, I shall cease to be. However, this is the day that I have been waiting for, us Magypsies have been alive for a long time, and I was starting to worry we'd have to pass on to a new generation!"

Seeing the three human's uncomfortable expressions she continued. "Alas, the disappearance is not painful! As a matter of fact, it's actually glorious! As our souls can finally be freed from the spell we casted on that dragon long ago! In a way, you're almost doing us a favor after we've helped Humanity survive for so long!

Lucas nodded his head before turning back to the needle. Despite Doria telling him this was indeed the second needle, he was still uncertain about taking it.

As if she understood his hesitancy, Paula stepped up next to him and placed her hands on the needle wings. After a brief moment, Lucas watched the dragon's hollow eyes flash a white color. When the girl nodded her head and removed her hands, the blonde boy took a deep breath, placed both of his hands on the Needle, and yanked it up.

A large beacon of rainbow light shone down and Lucas was quickly assaulted by a pitch black vision void. Instantly, he heard a voice speak to him.

"I am thou, thou art I."

"The natural user of a PSI GIFT has bestowed to me thy soul."

"Thou have relinquished a piece of their light heart to my slumber."

"I understand now that light and dark exist in balance."

"Five Needles remain, thou shall be wise to open his heart to share the light with I."

"Take with thou, the enhanced power of thy gift!"

Lucas learned, PK Love 𝜷

Lucas blinked as he found himself in a room, he could hear some engines blaring and saw a few pigmasks fidgeting around with a bunch of technology. He quickly glanced down and found himself in the commander's uniform again.

"Commander! We just got intel from HQ, they've figured out how to get the second nee-"

"Do not bother." Lucas spoke to the pigmask colonel. "I have sensed that Needle is pulled already. You idiots were too slow on that delivery. Wasting your time with those fallen freaks."

"C-Commander?...uh…the fallen four member, Paula…she's escaped!"

"She will meet her untimely demise like the rest of her friends when I have succeeded in my Master's goal." Lucas could hear his own tone sound empty and cold to the brim. "Or, in the high likely event that we cross paths."

"U-Understood, Commander."

"Good, now, there's one last thing Master would like me to do, Colonel."

"Oh? And that." Lucas watched himself pull the sapphire blue bladed sword. Feeling an immense surge of anger and hatred, he swung the sword before his vision cut out.

Hmm. Mother 3 certainly give a lot of context about the Dark Dragon and the other weird stuff did it? I know about the whole thing with the White Ship and stuff like that. But I never really quite understood the context in its canon. It's said that the people of Tazamily have never experienced Sadness prior to Hinawa's death. Yet, they have a graveyard with zombie who know who Duster is...so they obviously know what Death is? I think I might try something else, like how I'm attempting to give the Dark Dragon Context and stuff like that!

I hope you all have been enjoying it. I know next up is that stupid Mole Cricket Cave Section, so I'm thinking about maybe using that nightmare section where nothing eventful happens to maybe give more backstory on how Paula and Co. ended up in this situation. Which I'm happy to here a lot of you have liked.

You know, I wrote this story after learning that MetroidMan101's EarthBound Novelization Wisdom, Courage, and Friendship would not be leading into a Mother 3 sequel. Something that I initially anticipated seeing that story's very famous reputation within the EB Fanfiction scene. Not to call out the guy, I know he follows this story now (I'm honored to have been noticed by the inspiration for this).

Hopefully y'all have been enjoying this story. I'm still excited to see more! Be sure to let me know what you think.

See you all, Next month.