E. Revolution

-=10th Revolution=-

::Insanity::

The weeks after the Onett fiasco were relatively uneventful. The members of SANCTUARY had fallen into a dull routine, doing the same mundane tasks day in and day out, while those in higher levels of power were locked into a proverbial headlock; Maxwell Labs was still trying to force his radical agenda onto others, if for no other reason than to prove that he could, while Professor Andonuts retreated into a hermit-like state of studious contemplation and isolation. This left the lesser folk, such as Ness, time to goof around—not that such a thing was encouraged, but since Ness' only real use was in the field, there was little for him to do, other than participate in one of Apple and Orange's occasional experiments.

"Let me guess…" said Jeff one day over lunch while closing his eyes and placing his palm on his forehead. "Using my amazing psychic powers, I predict that you will spend this afternoon…with Paula."

Ness faked amazement and pretended to drop his fork. "As always, you are most wise and powerful, oh wise and powerful one." Not that he didn't enjoy spending time with Paula (on the contrary, they had grown quite close and he looked forward to visiting her afternoon); it was just that he had spent the afternoon the exact same way for two weeks straight by then, and it was starting to grow dull.

"Man, I tell you, it's like time froze or something," mused Jeff while he picked at his lunch. "If I were here by myself I'd have shot myself by now."

"Yeah…" Ness took a swig from his plastic cup. "So, what do you want to do tonight?"

"Actually, I already promised Tony I'd hang out with him," said Jeff wistfully. "Sorry…I guess it's just you and Paula tonight." The blonde flashed a snicker. "Not that you'd complain."

Ness shook his head, rising from his table as he did so. "Yeah, live it up, groupie," he giggled. "I'll see you later."

With those parting words Ness set off for the maze of white-washed corridors that housed, among other things, Paula's room. It might have been the fact that he had spent too much time holed up in the SANCTUARY base, but Ness could almost swear at that point that he could tell the corridors apart by then, without having to look at the labels etched in military font on the wall, like he had a map of the place in his head.

When he came upon Paula's room he noticed that the lights were off—she was painting, no doubt. He thought about tiptoeing inside quietly and surprising her, if only to see how she'd react, when the lights flickered on gently and he found himself standing within an inch of Paula's face.

"Do you think it's too much?"

"Gah!" Ness jumped back, tripped over his own feet, and fell. "Paula…what are you talking about?"

"It. Is it too much?" she asked again, brush in hand, while pointing to the unfinished canvas behind her, although Ness wasn't sure if she was referring to it or her choice of wardrobe—a simple white T-Shirt with splotches of paint on it and a pair of green sweatpants.

"Um, no…it…looks fine," replied Ness, unsure of which of the two possibilities he was supposed to be complementing. "Very pretty."

Paula smiled and put her brush on a table, then whirled back to Ness. "Do you want to take a nap?"

Before Ness could even finish rising to his feet again she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him to her bed. Immediately thereafter she lifted up his foot, almost toppling him over, and removed his shoe, which she placed neatly on the side of the bed; she left Ness to remove the other shoe and his jacket while she circled around the bed, delicately removed the covers, and slipped inside. She let out a contented sigh while Ness sat bolt upright. After a few seconds of silence Paula sat up again and gave Ness an inquiring look.

"Is there a problem?"

Ness pointed to the ceiling. "Um…you're supposed to turn off the lights if you want to go to sleep."

Paula stared at Ness blankly. "Oh," she said after a moment of silence. "Very well, I shall turn off the lights."

Two seconds later Ness was lying on his back, staring at the darkened roof of Paula's room, while Paula breathed softly next to him.

He had never noticed before, but Paula's bed smelled very nice…like it had been washed in something that smelled very girly and ladylike. Come to think of it, it smelled just like Paula did…gentle, sweet, pretty…very pretty…

Just as Ness was dozing off and Paula had snuggled up to him, draping her arm over his shoulder, the screen beside Paula's bed lit up like a Christmas tree. Tony was staring sternly into it from the other side.

"Ness! Are you there?"

The sleeping duo jumped so high they almost hit the ceiling. The motion and sound sensors installed next to the bed reacted by turning on the lights, hurting their eyes.

"Tony? What…how did you know I was here?"

Tony flashed a smile and waved Ness off. "Jeff told me I'd find you here. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything…"

"Actually, we were just about to—"

"…but I'm afraid it's rather urgent. Could you meet me at the laboratory in five minutes?"

Ness groaned. "How urgent are we talking here?"

"Very. The information I have to give you could determine whether or not you live to see the end of the week. Hurry up."

With that ominous note, the screen shut off, and Paula's room was left silent.

Ness reflected on Tony's message for a moment, and then slipped his feet out of the bed when he felt a tug at his sleeve.

"Must you really go?" Paula's expression was blank as ever, but there was a hint of pleading in his voice.

"You heard the man," answered Ness. "Tony doesn't really joke around, so it's probably important. It won't take long."

"But…what shall I do in the meantime?"

Ness shrugged. "I don't know. Finish your painting, or finish your nap, I guess."

The girl's grip on his sleeve loosened a bit, and ultimately relinquished control back to its owner. "All right. If you really are going to die by the end of the week, please tell me."

Ness smiled. "Yeah, sure…I'll do that."

As he left he could heard Paula saying, "…I'll be waiting."

The laboratory brought back some very unpleasant memories involving the late Commander Strong that Ness had to struggle to keep from bubbling up. He imagined that Jeff and Agent Poo, who was also there by the time Ness arrived, felt the same way. Still, he preferred not to mention anything for fear of derailing the impromptu meeting with the DREAMERS cadet, who was toying with one of his red bangs.

"Ah, Ness, how good of you to come," he said formally while Ness and the other two exchanged greetings. "Now that you're here, I can begin."

"Just what's this about, anyway?" Poo gave Tony one of his characteristic piercing stares from his spot against the wall, with arms crossed. The redhead, as he was wont to do by then, ignored it.

"Actually, what I have to say doesn't just involve you, but SANCTUARY and DREAMERS as a whole. It's supposed to be top secret, but information has trickled down to a friend of mine, and I thought I should tell you. Have you guys ever heard of Operation Giant Step?"

Poo's eyes narrowed. "I have. It was a joint operation between DREAMERS and us around five years ago. It's the only certifiably offensive operation SANCTUARY has ever carried out."

Tony nodded. "Right. It was before my time, so I don't know the specifics, but I was told that it failed miserably. In any case, it looks like Commander Labs wants to start it up again, this time by himself."

Jeff frowned thoughtfully and rubbed his chin. "I knew that dumb bastard wouldn't quit. I just knew it."

"What about what you told me? You said that I might not live to see the end of the week," said Ness.

"I was getting to that. My friend told me that what happened in Onett really threw the Commander off his rocker, and…he thinks that maybe the Commander's going to get rid of SANCTUARY before or during Operation Rainy Circle—that's what he's calling the plan now."

The four of us stood there, contemplating Tony's words for a while. It was Poo who eventually broke the silence.

"Why are you telling us this? If anything you'd keep it to yourself to keep us from stopping you."

Tony's smile faded and he shook his head. "Although I don't completely agree with your organization's ideals, I realized that maybe Commander Labs isn't the best role model to have. Besides, you guys are my friends and I'd hate to see any of my friends die." The cadet glanced at Jeff. "I care about you."

Poo started walking over to the elevator. "I have to inform Professor Andonuts about this."

"If you would…" Tony held up a hand to stop him. "I don't mind letting the professor know, but please exercise discretion. You can stop Commander Labs without having to start a war in the process."

Poo nodded without turning to face Tony. A few seconds later he was gone.

"That only leaves us, then," said Jeff after a while. "What do you think we should do, Ness?"

"I'm not too sure. We can't do very much anyway, right? I guess the best we can do is just wait and try not to get killed."

"Sounds good." Jeff was about to say something else when his red eyes twinkled. "Whoa…my Jeffrey sense is tingling."

"Giygas?"

"Oh yeah, no question…it's really far away though. I can barely feel it."

"This isn't good," said Tony. "If DREAMERS catches wind of this they might be tempted to start Operation Rainy Circle sooner than expected. I'd better go do some recon."

"We'll go tell the old man about this, too," said Jeff.

The three teenagers said their goodbyes and left the laboratory in opposite directions.

"I'm ordering you to participate in Operation Rainy Circle!" Maxwell Labs pounded his fists angrily on Andonuts' exquisite mahogany desk, rattling its contents. "You hear me?! I'm ordering you!"

"And I am telling you that your incapacity to separate the war against Giygas from your personal vendetta against me is going to get us both killed," replied Andonuts sternly. "This is like Giant Step all over again, and I guarantee that you will obtain the same results."

Maxwell Labs gritted his teeth. "I don't care! I'll sacrifice as many of your little brats as I have to as long as I get my way!"

"Do not," exclaimed the researcher suddenly, rising. "Do not…speak of them in that manner again. You have no right to even mention them, do you hear me?"

Labs scoffed. "Please, like you're some great big philanthropist! You killed one of your own assistants, and you almost killed me!"

Those words clearly hit a nerve. His grip around his cane tightened, turning his knuckles white. "You were the one who opened the pyramid, not me," he said. "I told you not to do it, but you went ahead and opened it anyway…you were the one who unleashed this evil on the world, and you were the one who orphaned that poor boy's mother!"

"Bite me! You think just because you weren't there it wasn't your fault?! While I was wandering through the desert for days you were busy sitting in some hospital room and lying to her husband!"

"I told you once before that I was sorry for not finding you sooner. Furthermore, it was his wish not to tell Ness or Tracy about the ordeal. Are you still incapable of seeing that?"

"I loved her! You took her from me and I loved her!!"

Andonuts' grip relaxed slightly. "She was never yours to begin with."

Maxwell Labs grabbed the old researcher by the collar and raised his fist, his teeth clenched like a rabid animal. He was about to strike when a solid hand grabbed him from behind and flipped him face-down on the floor.

"Get off me, you damn dog!" the Commander struggled against Poo's grip in vain. "Get off!"

The agent looked to Professor Andonuts, who nodded slowly. Poo released Maxwell Labs unceremoniously and let the man rise to his feet. As soon as he did the military man walked to the door.

"It's too late," he said firmly. "I've already set up buoys around the perimeter that will attract Giygas…once I activate them you will cooperate, whether you like it or not."

"I will not let you kill my men like you tried to kill Paula," was the professor's reply.

"You don't have a choice. Say your goodbyes."

As Maxwell Labs stormed outside Poo turned to his boss. "I guess this means I don't have to tell you about what that DREAMERS kid said."

The professor nodded grimly. "Maxwell Labs possesses a weapon that can potentially wipe out Giygas for good…but it comes at a terrible price. I cannot allow him to execute Operation Rainy Circle."

The agent took his sunglasses out of the pocket in his sleeve and slipped them on. "Funny, that kid never told me they were planning to attack so soon."

"Maxwell does not usually inform his troops of these things," said Andonuts. "Only the elites will know about it; for the rest it will be an emergency operation of sorts."

"So? What do we do?"

Professor Andonuts lowered his head. "I wish I knew, Kai…do you know any good prayers?"

Suddenly an explosion could be heard in the distance.

"It's starting."

"Holy cow!" Jeff clutched his head, causing Ness to stop in his tracks.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, exactly," said the blonde. "But Giygas is heading this way, fast. I'm not too sure, but I think something's drawing it this way."

Ness' brow furrowed. "Rainy Circle?"

"Obviously. Tony wasn't kidding…at the rate we're going, we might not live to see the end of today!"

Ness lowered his head. "We're too late…"

Jeff recovered from his Giygas-induced trance quickly, and put a hand on Ness' shoulder. "We need to act, now. What do we do?"

"The only thing we can do," answered Ness. "Warn the others. You go get your uncle, and I'll get Paula. We'll meet up at the laboratory…I think we can hide there until this thing blows over."

Jeff nodded and ran off.

If anything, Ness was thanking his lucky stars that he had spent so much time running around SANCTUARY, even if it sometimes entailed fighting Giygas. He was able to pinpoint Paula's room very easily.

"Paula!"

She wasn't there.

Ness silently cursed to himself. Her room looked pristine; the bed had been made, the instruments stored away safely, and everything put in its proper place. The painting she had been working on was finished, and strangely enough Ness could tell that the paint had been dry for quite some time. He ambled around the room, as if waiting for Paula to pop out of nowhere with a random comment, as she usually did, but all he found were memories. He walked to Paula's nightstand and picked up the photograph—the only photograph Paula had from her own childhood. Even then, after all that time, Ness still couldn't figure out what was wrong with it…

Suddenly Ness felt his pupils dilate. Giygas had finally come.

The white halls were flooded with red light; the alarm had come on too late for it to do any good. Anyone walking around the base was immediately filled with an intense desire to run around frantically and panic. Ness had no way of knowing it, but at that exact same moment Jeff had reached the other side of the base, only to find his uncle there, sitting silently with Agent Poo. When Jeff scolded him for his foolishness Andonuts told him everything he needed to know about Rainy Circle, Giant Step, and what was going to happen to every single psychic in SANCTUARY, including Ness. That stopped Jeff's tirade somewhat, allowing the professor to formulate a makeshift contingency plan, which involved the immediate and complete evacuation of SANCTUARY. He sent Jeff to warn anyone who was on the battlefront, then used his computer terminal to open up the emergency warning system. Little did he know that it was too late.

Once more Ness found himself running frantically through the halls of SANCTUARY, this time towards the hangar. He could feel Giygas pulsing from that direction, just as he could feel that several people were there as well, probably fighting Giygas. Inwardly he hoped that Paula wasn't among them.

Two minutes later Ness arrived at the door to the hangar. He could see people running in and out of the place, from both DREAMERS and SANCTUARY. He couldn't see all the way into the hangar, but judging from the massive wounds on most people, the trails of blood they left behind as they were carried out of the battle, and the screams of agony and pain, he knew that he did not want to see it.

With a deep breath Ness steeled himself, adjusted his red cap and began making his way upstream, against a river of people, pain, and blood. Eventually he gained entrance into the hangar. What he saw almost made him retch.

Half of the hangar had been blown open by what could only be described as a walking mountain. It was almost as big as the hangar itself, and it trampled people like ants, who swarmed around its gargantuan legs firing everything they had at it. There were two of these Terra-Giygas loose around the hangar, which had already been set on fire after one of the creatures stomped on an oil reservoir. There were many more members of DREAMERS—who were busy lobbing grenades, shooting rockets, and trying to bring down Giygas—than there were members of his own SANCTUARY—although there were a few blasts of psychokinesis here and there to indicate their presence.

One of the creatures, apparently conscious of Ness' arrival, raised its titanic arm and lobbed a ball of mud the size of a school bus at the area where he was. Everyone else scrambled out of the way, but Ness was too shocked to do anything else other than stand there and stare blankly while the massive geo-projectile hurtled his way, like a tiny meteor.

"Ness, look out!"

Jeff tackled his friend to the floor and dragged him out of the way just in time to avoid the mud ball, which crashed into a Sky Runner immediately behind him, thus racking the already-crippled structure of the hangar with another explosion.

"Ness, we need to get out of here!" Jeff and he took cover behind a large chunk or debris. "My uncle ordered everyone out…I've gotten most of SANCTUARY out of here, but the DREAMERS guys won't leave…Labs ordered them to stay here and fight."

Now that he had regained his composure, Ness peeked around the corner of their hiding place and observed the bloody battlefield. "Have you seen Paula?"

"What?" Jeff placed his hands on Ness' shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

"I couldn't find her in her room, so I figured she might have come here…"

Jeff was about to answer when he caught sight of Tony, who was weaving in and out of the madness, heading towards him. The blonde was able to attract his attention, and the redhead soon joined them.

"I've got bad news. Some of the elites are missing…I think they're going to start Operation Rainy Circle any minute now."

"Damn it!" Jeff let go of Ness. "We need to leave, now! If they use that weapon we can kiss half the people on this base goodbye!"

Just then Ness felt something in the back of his head, something he hadn't felt for a very long time now. It was coming from where the Terra-Giygas were…or maybe from within the Terra-Giygas itself.

…find me…

Those two words were enough to fuel Ness with the strength he had been lacking all this time. Against Jeff's pleas he sprinted out of his hiding place and ran towards the Terra-Giygas at full speed. One of the creatures lobbed another ball of mud at him, but he used a wave of psychokinesis to catch the projectile, swing it behind him in an orbit, and hurl it back to its creator at twice the speed. The geo-projectile hit it in the 'chest' and sent it reeling. The other creature tried to retaliate, but another wave of psychokinesis began ripping it apart from the inside out, causing blister-like bubbles to burst from its insides, showering the hangar with mud and grime. Ness' psychic force was soon joined by other stray members of SANCTUARY, who began their own attacks as well.

It wasn't enough, though; after a few minutes of this Ness and what little backup he had were out of energy. A weak flash of psycholuminescence was all Ness could manage at the end before falling to his knees weakly.

As his vision blurred, Ness felt the familiar tingle in the back of his head, just under his scalp, one more time. He was too tired to actually see whether or not it was Paula, but as the Terra-Giygas began to reel once more, he knew it was her.

The two creatures crashed against each other violently, sending shockwaves through the ground. No one was able to comprehend just what was happening, but the fact that they were, for lack of a better term, dying, was enough. DREAMERS soldiers began to cheer as the Terra-Giygas burst into flames and slumped to the floor in one big, bundled mess.

Coincidentally, at that very moment, the familiar feeling disappeared from Ness' head. He had been left alone again.

"Ness!"

It was Tony. He and Jeff rushed to his side and helped him to his feet.

"Man, we really need to get to my uncle's office," commented Jeff sternly. "We might have postponed Rainy Circle for a while, but we're still in danger."

Tony shifted Ness' weight onto Jeff's shoulder and took a step back. "I can't be seen with you," he mused. "I'd better go back and blend in. Talk to you later?"

Jeff nodded, and soon the DREAMERS cadet disappeared from his side in a flash of green and red. That left the blonde with only one more concern.

"Ness…you're burning up! You overexerted yourself way too much back there."

"I had to…" answered Ness with a wry chuckle. "I had to find Paula…"

"Paula? You don't mean the dream girl, do you?"

Another chuckle. "It's been a while since you called her that?"

Jeff frowned and shook his head. "You really are messed up. I thought you had finally got over that whole deal with that dream."

The chuckles stopped. A pang of fear hit the pit of Ness' stomach. "What…are you talking about?"

"That does it, I'm getting you to the infirmary," said Jeff commandingly. "You're delirious."

"Jeff…what are you talking about? You talked to her just yesterday…I was with her before…"

The blonde shook his head again. Ness' state was starting to hurt him inside. "You were with me yesterday, remember? We went to the Silent Garden…don't you remember?"

"No…" Ness struggled against gravity to try and stand up. "No, it can't be…I was with her…" with a jolt he sprang to his feet and grabbed Jeff by the collar. "I was with her! Where is she?!"

Jeff jumped back, startled and slightly afraid for his own safety. The insanity in his best friend's eyes slowly gave way to pain, and Ness fell back to his knees. Within seconds two members of SANCTUARY had grabbed him by the extremities and carted him off, oblivious to his feeble protests.

"…I see. Will he be alright?"

Two hours had passed since then. Jeff, Poo, and Professor Andonuts were occupying the seats in the SANCTUARY commander's office.

"Physically, the doctors say he's okay," said Jeff with a hint of exhaustion in his voice. "But mentally he's completely lost it. He keeps hallucinating with this one girl he kept seeing in his dreams before coming here…I think he kept calling her Paula."

The professor nodded his head sagely. "Paula was much like Ness. I took her in ten years ago, but she perished during Operation Giant Step."

Two stray strands of hair fell over Jeff's red eyes, which were half-closed. When Jeff spoke once more he had removed his glasses.

"He kept insisting that we knew her…that she was living here all this time. Her room was supposedly somewhere in F-Block, near the west side."

Poo sighed. "There aren't any rooms in F-Block. The only thing of importance there is this old storage room, but it hasn't been used in years."

Professor Andonuts rose from his chair and paced dejectedly to his window. The translucent current of crystalline water did little to soothe him. "I assume Ness is in the infirmary?"

Once more Jeff shook his head. "He was turning irrational and violent, so they had to detain him. He's in one of the cells in the detention block." There was genuine pain in his words when he said that last sentence.

"How unfortunate," whispered Andonuts. "This could not have happened at a worse time. However, we can be certain that he will be safe while detained, so we must leave him be and turn our attention to other matters. Namely, the fact that we are now fighting one enemy and sleeping with the other…"

On the other side of the base sat Ness, huddled up against the corner of a small, white, cubical cell. He knew that there were two guards stationed just outside, but the big steel door that separated him from freedom had only a small window that nearly blocked all external sunlight. Only a small halogen lamp hanging from the ceiling kept him from being bathed in darkness.

He had taken off his cap, jacket, and shoes; he didn't feel like wearing them anyway. He didn't feel like doing anything, actually. The only thing he could muster up the courage to do was cradle a small, wrinkled photograph in his hands. It was a picture of a little girl with blonde hair, a girl that he knew to exist until a short while ago, when she was lost to what appeared to be his own insanity.

Ness' eyes narrowed. His grip on the photograph tightened.

"Paula…"