Mission 32 – Other Worldly Beings

"What business do you have in my shrine?" An iridescent purple creature spoke. "The planet is no longer in peril."

"I am here to seek knowledge." A dark hooded figure spoke, his face concealed in darkness. Sharp eyes gleamed with ambition behind the shadows of his garment.

"Very well then, I shall present you with the test of knowledge." The Krazoa Spirit spoke again, directly into the mind of his visitor. It was the first time in many millennia for a visitor to ask for his knowledge. "If you pass, then I deem you worthy to receive my supreme knowledge. Fail, then I will seal away the knowledge you seek for all eternity."

"I doubt my mind could comprehend your "supreme" knowledge, ancient one." The hooded figure bowed lowly and humbly, "But if you must, then I will accept your test of knowledge."

The Krazoa spirit paused for a moment before giving further instructions. Then, without the slightest warning, its many tentacles reached out for the stranger's head. The tips of the glowing whips passed straight through the small man's skull, straight into his mind. There they stayed for a moment, before they were withdrawn again. "Very well, you have passed the test of knowledge."

"Thank . . . thank you." The hooded figure seemed to falter after the test. He breathed in long raspy breaths, and his back arched forward even more. He never expected the Krazoa to reach directly into his own mind. He felt naked, even under the many layer of clothes.

"The knowledge which you seek is not of your world." The sprit spoke again, "It belongs to us, the spirits. It is forbidden knowledge."

"You know what I want." The hooded figure stated, "And you know why I want it."

"Your intentions are good." The spirit pondered, "But the consequence of knowing such knowledge is immense. It will unlock the secrets of immortality."

"I do not want immortality! I just want my daughter back!" The hooded figure tore back his hood and confronted the spirit face to face. It was Dr. Zenotabi, his heart torn between hope and frustration, "She died to save your planet from destruction!"

"She is not dead. Her spirit lives on." The Krazoa said, surprised at the hooded figure's sudden outburst.

"Where is it then?" Zenotabi asked, "Where is her mind? Where is her spirit?"

"She is in an Other World." The Krazoa replied.

"What Other World is there?" Zenotabi knew the Krazoa was directly transferring thoughts into his own mind, but he could not possibly comprehend the "world" the spirit was describing.

"She is in the dimension of the spirits, almost a world of its own." The Krazoa explained to the best of its ability, "It is where the Creator dwells."

"So she is in another dimension, a parallel universe of some sort?" Zenotabi asked.

"You are in the world of the spirits as well." The Krazoa asked, "However, most of you remain in this world, but a small part of you remains in the Other World."

"And unlike any other organism, most of Krazoa Sprits like you are in that Other World?" Zenotabi asked, trying to clarify his thoughts.

"That is correct. Most of my being is within the Other World." The Krazoa answered, "That is why we are not restricted by the laws of this world. The Other World knows no time nor space nor matter."

"Where is the location of the Other World?" The rodent asked.

"It is everywhere and nowhere. Location does not apply to the Other World." The Krazoa replied, "It is always there, and always will be there. It encompasses all other worlds."

Zenotabi nodded and let out a small sigh. It took a lot of effort for a mere mortal like him to comprehend the mind of a Krazoa Spirit. When he was ready, he asked his next question. "How did you revive Andross?"

"Andross never died." The Krazoa answered, "We merely found a new vessel in this world to contain his mind."

"A new vessel. . ." Zenotabi rubbed his temples, "What is that?"

"The statue . . . it could contain him. He was large, but the statue could contain him." The Krazoa continued, "We never wanted to do it. But he was strong."

"So if I provide you with another empty vessel, can you revive my daughter?" Zenotabi asked.

"We can." The Krazoa replied. "But we must find her first. Andross was very strong. We didn't find him. He came to us. The Other World is very large . . . It would be very difficult to find her. We are strong spirits, but there are stronger ones."

"I want you to find her." Zenotabi demanded.

"You shall demand nothing from me. . ." The Krazoa spirit answered, glowing with awesome power.

"You did the same thing to Andross!" Zenotabi protested. He was beyond the point for caring for his own life now. "All I want is my daughter back! Why can't you just do it?"

"There is much foolishness in your words. . . But if you truly demand your daughter's return, then we shall try." The Krazoa replied.

"For your convenience, there is an empty vessel outside in my ship, waiting for a mind to occupy it." Zenotabi pointed towards the exit of the shrine. "So, Ancient one, go ahead and try."

"Patience, young one. . ." The Krazoa whispered, "There are many minds and spirits in the Other World. Tell me the name, and I shall seek."

"Lieutenant Cody Tibet of the Cornerian Air Force," Zenotabi replied, "He died five years ago, murdered by Leon Powalski. If it helps, he is a gecko."

"That is not your daughter." The spirit said, "Why do you want his return?"

"It's an experiment." Zenotabi answered, "I cannot afford mistakes."

"Very well . . . Let me seek. . ." The Krazoa Spirit vanished from sight. A few moments later, it returned, slowly appearing out of nothingness. "There are several spirits which match your description. Some spirits tend to be stronger willed than others, Lieutenant Cody Tibet is among one of them. I felt a deep sorrow within him, and a strong will."

"That should be him." Zenotabi noted, "What is next?"

"If the vessel is fitting, it will not require too much energy from me." The spirit said, "I will attempt to lead him back to this world, but if he does not follow, I cannot force him."

"Who could possibly give up a chance for resurrection?" Zenotabi asked.

"The Other World cannot be judged with standards of this world." The spirit spoke his final thoughts before fading away, leaving Zenotabi in the shrine, alone.


"Ugh. . ." muttered a reptilian young man as he stirred from his seemingly eternal slumber. His handsome blue eyes fluttered open, gazing into the world for the first time. Nothing around him seemed to be familiar. In fact, his mind felt almost completely blank. "Who . . . am I?"

Feeling the uncomfortable coolness of metal against his bare back, the gecko sat up from the apparatus on which he was lying on. He instinctively reached for his chest, expecting his fingers to touch a gory, mortal injury. However, there was none. "What happened? Where am I?"

A metallic door slid open, and in the doorway stood a middle-aged rat with graying hair. The robed figure was grinning contently. "Welcome back, Lieutenant Cody Tibet."

"Cody Tibet . . . is that me?" The gecko said in a puzzled voice. The name sounded familiar, yet distant. The lizard looked over to the rodent in the doorway. "Who are you?"

"Oh dear, it seems like you have lost a lot of your physical memories . . ." The rat said, approaching the young lizard, which seemed more puzzled then nervous. In contrast, the rodent seemed to be extremely concerned. "What do you remember?"

"I . . ." The lizard looked down at his hand, where it was touching his torso. "I was dead."

"Do you remember anything else?" The rodent asked while fiddling around with some laboratory equipments. The room was quite cramped, but it was large enough to fit a standard set of tools for a doctor.

"I was flying. . . I couldn't control my body." Cody said, trying to recollect his thoughts. "I crashed . . . something flew into my chest. It killed me."

"Good . . ." Zenotabi nodded with content. His theory of the mind and spirit was correct. Although the physical memories of Cody had long decomposed along with his old body, the lizard still had reminiscences of his old mind, prior to his death. This was solid proof that the mind had a spiritual component as well as a physical component. Furthermore, the Krazoa spirit had proved his point by stating the other dimension, the Other World, as the spirit called it. Only one question remained unanswered. "How much do you remember?"

"I . . . I was in the army. I had a brother too." The lizard closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, "We were sleeping when our comrades attacked us. . ."

Zenotabi scribbled down the words that the lizard said onto a note pad. "Do you remember anything long term?"

"I have a girlfriend, and we lived in Corneria City." Cody said, this time with more confidence, "I was a pilot in the air force, and so was my brother, Brian Tibet. I remember now . . . It was a long time ago."

"Do you remember anything in the Other World? Wherever you spent your last five years?" Zenotabi asked curiously.

"Yes . . ." Cody said with some difficulty. The gecko eyed the rodent. "Who are you anyway? What happened?"

"I am Dr. Zenotabi." The rat replied with a smile, "You are just a part of my experiment, Lieutenant. And so far, my hypothesis seems to be correct."

The gecko stared at the rodent with a confused expression on his face.

"Oh you have no clue what I am talking about, do you?" Zenotabi chuckled happily. He had resurrected someone from the dead, with the help of the Krazoa spirit, just like legends of the old. "You were murdered by Leon Powalski five years ago, and I just brought you back from the dead."

"How . . . I don't understand." Cody asked, shaking his head. It all sounded like a dream. Some sort of fantasy.

"When I did an autopsy on your body, I happened to preserve some of your organs, as well as your DNA. With some recent technology, I successfully grew a cone with your genes. That's the body you have right now."

"How . . . clones are supposed to have minds of their own, don't they?" The lizard said, rubbing his arms idly. He had just noticed that he was naked, and the room was quite cold. "How did you . . . do it?"

"I can't tell you that." Zenotabi answered, "Or there will be terrible consequences. In fact, I already told you too much."

"So . . . what's going to happen to me now?" The lizard asked, now slightly nervous in the presence of the rat.

"Well, to be honest . . ." Zenotabi let out a little sigh, "You are now a subject of the Cornerian Government. You will either spend the rest of your life as a test subject in my institution, or die a quick and painless death like a lab rat. If you are really lucky, someone with lots of money and power may decide to change your identity and give you a new life."

"So you brought me back to life just to ask me a few questions?" Cody asked, almost in disbelief.

"Well, what else do you want a scientist like me to do?" Zenotabi questioned in return. There wasn't much he could do.

"Can't you do something else? Something more?" the lizard was almost speechless. Just as he started to comprehend the meaning of living again, he was already doomed.

Zenotabi eyed the gecko in front of him. A fine, talented young man, whose life, ill fate had ended, whose rebirth, ill destiny scorned. The rat shook his head gravely, letting out another long sigh. "You know what . . . the choice is yours. But I can insure your safety and wellbeing if you become a test subject under the possession of the Cornerian Government."

"Safety and well being . . ." Cody repeated Zenotabi's words softly, "Is that the best you can do, even after you can resurrect the dead?"

"That is all I can promise you for now." Zenotabi smiled faintly, "You are a very talented pilot after all, so do not be discouraged."