Sometime later,
Marie woke up in a familiar land, the Blue Haven; an inner realm of
her imagination. She rubbed her head, seeing Samus and Spirit, still
asleep from whatever struck them. Before her stood Luce, sitting on
the edge of a cliff, staring out at the setting sun.
"So you
saved us...?" Marie assumed, sitting down by her darker half.
She nodded, staring solemnly out with grey, sorrowful eyes.
"I
can't have you perish, or the Gaia... soon Zeetan will return, and I
will fall into his power once again..." she said, pointing to
the mark on her head "I can only resist it for so long... heh,
you're so lucky, with a pure heart like yours, you can keep your free
will... as for me... there's no place for me in the universe... I
should have stayed in your heart..."
"Don't speak like that..." Marie said calmly, as the other warriors shook off the last bit of sleep from their mind "There's a place for everyone... you just have to find it..."
Spirit stood behind them and gazed on in confusion, but decided not to interupt.
"I guess..." Luce frowned "I can only hold onto hope, that Zeetan will be defeated... until then..."
Her symbol
started to glow as tears streamed down her face, and she turned to
her mirror image "It's happening..." she said in a
sorrowful voice, rising to her feet. She materialized a lance of
darkness, and looked to the goddess. She felt a little hesitant to
leave her darker half, but then Luce yelled "GO! I won't be able
to control myself soon, and when that happens, I may hurt you!"
Marie
sidestepped just in time to miss the lance aimed at her chest, and
frowned to see Luce this way. But she knew nothing could be done.
Clasping her hands together, a light surrounding Marie and her party
as they disappeared. Spirit found the light fading away, replaced by
the home residence. Marie ran inside suddenly, to her room. Spirit
followed her, she seemed to be in a rush.
"I can't believe he
returned to quickly" she said, digging through her stuff,
pulling out a shirt.
"What's that?" he asked, seeing how
its colors matched her shirt and pants. Throwing off her vest, she
put on the loose garment.
"Never thought I'd need this..."
she looked to Spirit "Its threads are infused with light
energy... I want to be prepared... since Zeetan's last attack, I've
been a little scared of the darkness... so..." she spread out
her arms "How do I look?"
Spirit smiled at her. "Like the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."
Marie blushed, then tackled him in a hug "You're so sweet"
She then walked back over and pulled out some more clothing "And don't think I've forgotten about you." She tied a long, red scarf around his neck, and an indigo ribbon in his hair. "I didn't think it was possible, but you look even cuter than before!" Spirit's face reddened, but he managed to turn to Marie.
"I wish I could have given you something..."
She giggled and pointed to the jewel on her necklace. "You've given me this, and so much more."
"Yeah..." he smiled in glee, but then asked her "Now... where to next...?"
Marie looked out
the door and noticed her brother "How about Lunatea again? I
think Klonoa would like to revisit some places in his past along with
Lolo..."
He nodded and she walked out the door.
"Hey
Klo, we're heading to Lunatea, wanna join us?" she asked as he
gave her a sudden brotherly hug. She giggled as Lolo came by,
smiling, Popka following.
"I'd love to return home..."
Lolo softly said, leaping up into the air. In a glow, she became a
small, white entity, floating towards Klonoa's ring. Spirit gazed in
awe at the holy power of the priestess, but then noticed Marie
opening a portal and hopped in. They appeared on the other side on a
suspended path before a massive, angelic statue a goddess, holding a
sphere in her hands.
"This is La-Lakoosha, and that's the statue of Claire." Marie explained.
"She was said to be the greatest priestess of all, and thought to be a goddess as well..." Lolo continued. Spirit was entranced by the simplistic beauty of the area, taking in a breath of the fresh air.
"Wouldja quit gawkin' ya idiot and keep movin'!" Popka said harshly. Marie suddenly gave him a hard hit on the head, looking ticked off.
"Don't talk to him like that!"
Popka rubbed his scalp, a large lump forming on it "No need ta get rough! Ain't my fault he's a slow..."
Marie cut him off with another blow.
"Yeesh! Ya try ta help a guy!"
She contently
smiled and took Spirit's hand, leading him to a break in the path.
Leaves rapidly shot up, as she jumped, taking her with him. A warm
air from below propelled both bodies high up, and to the end of the
path, Klonoa and Popka doing the same.
"Isn't that fun?"
she asked "I wasn't even flying there..."
"I
guess..." his breathing quickened "Just a little scared of
heights, you know?"
She nodded, leading him to a cave, when
suddenly, a rumble caused the party to trip, the ground
shaking.
"Earthquakes?" Klonoa looked around, a
distorted voice from his ring said "The chaos! It's come back
somehow..."
"Then that means..." he looked to the
cave, remembering what happened the last time. Marie looked to him in
worry.
"The winds stop flowing, and for outsiders and
priestesses, the air inside becomes thick, it seems..." he lead
them in, hunching over as he took in deep breaths. Marie and Spirit
could feel it as well, their lungs feeling crushed.
"Hurry,
Spirit" she said, pulling him over to a glowing statue "We
have to stay close to these, or else we'll suffocate..."
"It's still hard to breath..." he took in deep and steady breaths, as Marie comforted him "As long as we follow Klo, we should be safe..."
Her surrogate brother nodded and led the way to all the statues, knowing their locations by heart. Marie stayed close to Spirit, helping to calm his breathing. They soon reached the exit, but looked in horror at the landscape. The water was dyed a dark purple, and all the plants had wilted.
"This is impossible, the Kingdom of Sorrow was rebuilt!" Klonoa exclaimed.
"It wasn't sorrow, it was Zeetan..." Marie said in a serious tone of voice.
"How right you are!" the demon's voice rang out. He appeared in front of them, three materia floating in his ghostly hand. "Ridley was kind enough to give me the third materia that his forces dug up from the ocean floor. One more, and it's doom for this pathetic idea called existance!" "Move it or loose it ya weirdo!" Popka shouted.
"Shut up,
you insignificant speck of a being!" he yelled, striking the
glass-eyed creature with his scythe. The blow caused his body to
collide with the mountain wall, and fall into a heap on the
ground.
"Popka!" Lolo hopped out of Klonoa's ring and
ran over to him, kneeling by her fallen friend. He looked up weakly
with a smile, saying "I'm alright, go help Klonoa!"
"No"
she shook her head "Klonoa can handle himself for now, you're
badly injured, and I'm not leaving a friend!"
Marie looked to
Spirit, and made a slight gesture. He nodded and materialized the
Ultima. She rushed over to the priestess, Klonoa coming up by Spirit,
ready to assist in battle. Marie held her hands above Popka,
suffering from internal injuries, his breathing forced until a
healing aura surrounded him, enough to soothe him of his pains.
"Don't think I won't repay you for that blow you dealt me in Hyrule!" Zeetan exclaimed "However, I'll allow my latest minion to take you both out."
Spirit looked at him with anger, yet wondering who this new lackey was.
"Certainly, my master..." a sinister voice hissed. A dark portal then appeared on the ground, as a mysterious figure rose up. He was apparently feline, with a long, purple trench coat and two pairs of long, scarlet razor-sharp claws.
"It can't be!" Klonoa said in disbelief.
"I found him laying in a crater on the moon... I assume you two know each other..." Zeetan explained.
"It's been a long time, Klonoa!"
"Janga..."
Marie said, rushing up by Spirit at a blinding speed "Careful,
his claws have a very deadly poison!"
Klonoa brought out his
wind saber, Marie materialized her new weapon, and Spirit stood by
her with the Ultima. They surrounded him, the three sword-bearing
warriors in stance, as he cackled.
"Three against one seems
rather unfair" he said, an aura surrounding him "Let me
even the odds a bit!"
Suddenly, his form shifted, becoming
multiple images. Before them two copies appeared, mirror images to
Janga.
"Get ready..." Marie said, a moment of silence
passing, broken by all three advancing at their foes. Marie used
techniques from training, back-flapping her wings to give her the
slightest distance, all so she could dodge the claws and counter.
Spirit sidestepping, whenever knocked down he rebounded with great
speed. Klonoa knew his enemy well, and his tactics, almost able to
predict his patterns of attacking. Soon, the three Jangas seemed
tired, almost defeated, all cornered toward each other, but his form
shifted once again, creating another 3 copies of himself.
"Darn,
six of them?" Spirit said, feeling slightly weary from
battle.
"Don't worry" Marie said to him "As long as
they all don't concentrate on one of us, we can take them down!"
"You can kill the Cryssnan boy, but leave the Gaia and the goddess to me!"
All the Jangas nodded, evil smiles coming across their faces. Suddenly, a gun shot sounded, and one of the Janga copies fell and disappeared.
"You're slippin' kid!" a gruff voice said. A hovering vehicle soon came roaring down the mountain side, the rider holding out a gun. He then quickly hopped off the machine, letting it run into another of the Janga copies.
"Guntz!" Klonoa and Lolo exclaimed at once.
"It seems punks like you don't stay dead these days." he said, facing the cloned cat.
"We owe you one!" Klonoa said happily.
"Yeah, but we'll talk about that later!"
"Grr..."
he growled, all four Jangas glaring at Guntz "You haven't seen
my true power yet!"
"True... power?" Marie
thought, then suddenly gasped. A great darkness surrounded him,
causing the original Janga to grow massively in size, like a giant.
His eyes became yellow and glowed, his body dark like the heartless,
he resembled nothing like his original form. Spirit's ears pressed
flat against his head as he backed away slightly, Guntz clenching his
fist.
"This may be a challenge!" he said, raising up a
rocket launcher "Time to use the heavy artillery!"
He
launched a missile towards him, but it was absorbed in the darkness,
the explosion not fazing the monster one bit. It brought its fist
out, trying to hit Guntz, but Marie jumped in the way, pushing him
out of enemy reach.
As he fell
backwards, he shook his head, saying "What was that for?"
but then noticed Marie pinned under his hand, the darkness consuming
her body.
"Marie!" Guntz yelled, firing the hand.
Spirit raised the Ultima, plunging the sword into its fist, as the
darkness faded away, the creature moaning in pain. He raised his hand
and scowled, and Spirit let out a sigh of relief, until he noticed
Marie disappeared without a trace.
