CHAPTER 5
'Just trust him...just trust him,' Ness thought to himself, as he stared into the deep darkness of the Saturn Valley Hotel room ceiling, 'he didn't become a world-renowned scientific genius by messing up on stuff like this...'
Ness repeated this to himself over and over again, but to no avail. It seemed like hours, and still he would not feel comfortable enough to fall asleep. Not for a second. Earlier in the day Jeff and Poo had told him of the inner-mind adventures they went through as Dr. Andonuts was operating on them. And now, Ness wondered if it was really the fear of having a similar experience that worried him.
'Maybe I just need some fresh air,' Ness thought again, unraveling the cozy Saturnian bedsheets and sliding out onto the floor, which was just as dark as the ceiling. He proceeded to stagger towards the light switch, through complete darkness. 'This is odd...not even any moonlight coming in through the windows....'
The teenage hero soon realized that he had been walking far enough to cover a distance several times the length of the room. He definitely should have come to a wall or some other obstruction by now. This revelation made him uneasy, and frightened. He grimaced as a chill of anxiety crawled up his backbone. And Ness was known for having A LOT of backbone. No one could argue that he was a very brave boy indeed.
Swiftly he decided it might be a good idea to ignore this disturbing phenomenon and return to his bed.
'You've got to be kidding me...' a lead ball dropped in his stomach as he came face to face with a heavily stamped crate. It stood at a height slightly below his own 5'2". He recognized it immediately and started run away from it, back towards the light switch. Once again he was only met with an endless stretch of blackness. And when he turned around, the crate was still right there, as if he hadn't run at all.
Here Ness came to another realization. It shocked his nerves and blew his mind.
'I know what this is!!!....Dr. Andonuts is already operating on me!!...I'm inside my head!!!...' Unlike most children, Ness had always been able to have significant control over the events of his dreams. So he closed his eyes, tight in concentration and...
"Ha!!" Ness opened his eyes and exhaled with satisfaction. His mind had been strong enough to dream forth his current weapon of choice, a well-educated (Magicant) bat. And now that he was no longer without it, he did not hesitate to swing at the threatening crate. As the wood shattered, the most important 13-year-old in the world gasped and flinched. The contents of the crate were as he expected...
The Evil Mani Mani statue. A golden condensation of pure malice and ungodly power. It had haunted Ness since the beginning of his epic journey. And how ironic, that he would meet it again in this dream. For the statue was in every sense of the word a true nightmare.
Instinct took over and Ness swung again. Hitting nothing but air, confusion swept over him as the statue proceeded to...duplicate?!
'What could be worse than having to deal with that statue again?,' Ness often thought to himself. And now, the answer to that question stood before him: four of those statues.
"What?!," Ness shouted aloud. In horrified anger, he swung upwards. No good. All four statues seemed like ghosts, as his bat whiffed right through the second statue. And though this outburst caused no damage whatsoever, (much to the boy's dismay) the Evil Mani Manis decided to retaliate in unison with a PSI blast. Ness's own "PSI Rockin" attack, to be specific.
"Yagggggghh!!," Ness felt a pain unlike any he had ever felt before. By the time he regained his composure, he knew that he had to get rid of those nightmare dolls, before it was too late. 'Another blast like that will wipe me out,' he thought, gritting his teeth.
'Now which one is the real one...,' Ness could obviously not take the risk of whiffing. They wouldn't attack him as long as he didn't attack them. Unless of course he managed to choose the right one to attack, and destroy it. Nothing can perform PSI if it's dead.
'Think...where would the real Mani Mani be....,' Ness couldn't stare at the statues for much longer. There was just something about that glow, that unchanging stare. It had the power to remind him over and over again that despite all the trials and hardships he had overcome thus far, he was still only a 13-year-old boy. Still just a mere child.
"No!!," Ness defied. He wouldn't let it remind him again. 'The real Mani Mani...the real Mani Mani would be....'
"Behind me!!! Where it belongs!!!" Ness violently pivoted 180 degrees. He never even saw the freezing red glare of the true statue's eyes. His bat saw it first, leaving Ness himself to watch the remains of evil gold dissipating into the darkness.
'No more,' he thought powerfully.... 'No more.'
Suddenly a sharp, painful, high-pitched humming filled Ness's head. But he was ready for it. He knew this was the same thing that happened after he defeated the Mani Mani in Magicant. All he had to do was suffer for a couple of minutes, and black out. Then he would return to the waking world.
To be continued in Chapter 6...
'Just trust him...just trust him,' Ness thought to himself, as he stared into the deep darkness of the Saturn Valley Hotel room ceiling, 'he didn't become a world-renowned scientific genius by messing up on stuff like this...'
Ness repeated this to himself over and over again, but to no avail. It seemed like hours, and still he would not feel comfortable enough to fall asleep. Not for a second. Earlier in the day Jeff and Poo had told him of the inner-mind adventures they went through as Dr. Andonuts was operating on them. And now, Ness wondered if it was really the fear of having a similar experience that worried him.
'Maybe I just need some fresh air,' Ness thought again, unraveling the cozy Saturnian bedsheets and sliding out onto the floor, which was just as dark as the ceiling. He proceeded to stagger towards the light switch, through complete darkness. 'This is odd...not even any moonlight coming in through the windows....'
The teenage hero soon realized that he had been walking far enough to cover a distance several times the length of the room. He definitely should have come to a wall or some other obstruction by now. This revelation made him uneasy, and frightened. He grimaced as a chill of anxiety crawled up his backbone. And Ness was known for having A LOT of backbone. No one could argue that he was a very brave boy indeed.
Swiftly he decided it might be a good idea to ignore this disturbing phenomenon and return to his bed.
'You've got to be kidding me...' a lead ball dropped in his stomach as he came face to face with a heavily stamped crate. It stood at a height slightly below his own 5'2". He recognized it immediately and started run away from it, back towards the light switch. Once again he was only met with an endless stretch of blackness. And when he turned around, the crate was still right there, as if he hadn't run at all.
Here Ness came to another realization. It shocked his nerves and blew his mind.
'I know what this is!!!....Dr. Andonuts is already operating on me!!...I'm inside my head!!!...' Unlike most children, Ness had always been able to have significant control over the events of his dreams. So he closed his eyes, tight in concentration and...
"Ha!!" Ness opened his eyes and exhaled with satisfaction. His mind had been strong enough to dream forth his current weapon of choice, a well-educated (Magicant) bat. And now that he was no longer without it, he did not hesitate to swing at the threatening crate. As the wood shattered, the most important 13-year-old in the world gasped and flinched. The contents of the crate were as he expected...
The Evil Mani Mani statue. A golden condensation of pure malice and ungodly power. It had haunted Ness since the beginning of his epic journey. And how ironic, that he would meet it again in this dream. For the statue was in every sense of the word a true nightmare.
Instinct took over and Ness swung again. Hitting nothing but air, confusion swept over him as the statue proceeded to...duplicate?!
'What could be worse than having to deal with that statue again?,' Ness often thought to himself. And now, the answer to that question stood before him: four of those statues.
"What?!," Ness shouted aloud. In horrified anger, he swung upwards. No good. All four statues seemed like ghosts, as his bat whiffed right through the second statue. And though this outburst caused no damage whatsoever, (much to the boy's dismay) the Evil Mani Manis decided to retaliate in unison with a PSI blast. Ness's own "PSI Rockin" attack, to be specific.
"Yagggggghh!!," Ness felt a pain unlike any he had ever felt before. By the time he regained his composure, he knew that he had to get rid of those nightmare dolls, before it was too late. 'Another blast like that will wipe me out,' he thought, gritting his teeth.
'Now which one is the real one...,' Ness could obviously not take the risk of whiffing. They wouldn't attack him as long as he didn't attack them. Unless of course he managed to choose the right one to attack, and destroy it. Nothing can perform PSI if it's dead.
'Think...where would the real Mani Mani be....,' Ness couldn't stare at the statues for much longer. There was just something about that glow, that unchanging stare. It had the power to remind him over and over again that despite all the trials and hardships he had overcome thus far, he was still only a 13-year-old boy. Still just a mere child.
"No!!," Ness defied. He wouldn't let it remind him again. 'The real Mani Mani...the real Mani Mani would be....'
"Behind me!!! Where it belongs!!!" Ness violently pivoted 180 degrees. He never even saw the freezing red glare of the true statue's eyes. His bat saw it first, leaving Ness himself to watch the remains of evil gold dissipating into the darkness.
'No more,' he thought powerfully.... 'No more.'
Suddenly a sharp, painful, high-pitched humming filled Ness's head. But he was ready for it. He knew this was the same thing that happened after he defeated the Mani Mani in Magicant. All he had to do was suffer for a couple of minutes, and black out. Then he would return to the waking world.
To be continued in Chapter 6...