Thank you everyone who has reviewed so far! I try to take the time to reply to every review I get, so if you left me a review and are interested to see my response then check it out on Tumblr #TaroReplies!

Last time on Plan B: Ballad of Swords

Ness, Ninten, and Rock were woken violently from their sleep as Onett was attacked by Doomships. The three boys helped launch a counteroffensive against their attackers despite Mr. Minch urging the people to surrender to the Golden Empire. Ness discovered his powers had greatly increased since the last time he used them, and with Ninten's help to boost them further he was able to blast several warships out of the sky. Once the ships were grounded the boys found themselves in a battle with both Bowser, the Dark King of Fire, and Giovanni, the Dark Proprietor of Earth.

Hope remained throughout the fight as Ninten helped rally the people to fight alongside them. Jealous of Ness's attention toward Ninten, Pokey poisoned Ninten and effectively pulled all three boys from the fight. Ness's mother swore to do what she could to take care of Ninten and urged Ness and Rock to run before the empire came for them. Though troubled by the concept of leaving home, Ness ran with Rock to the mountains to get as far away from Onett as they could. They found a cave previously unknown to them, and within that cave was a gigantic seashell which asked them the question, "Who has lost his tail?" Ness remembered a bedtime story his mother used to tell him from long ago and replied, "The forgotten one of the ship that sails the cosmos." With those words, the shell opened for the two and pulled them inside.


Chapter 3: Find Your Way


Ness groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He blinked a few times taking in a blurry shot of a strange landscape. Realizing he was someplace unfamiliar his eyes shot open and he pushed himself up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming and then looked around again.

The ground around Ness was a light violet, almost pink, and surrounding him were dozens of sea shell like spiral caves. Giant carrots and tomatoes were growing out of the ground, each one much bigger than he was. The sky above was purple, but was slowly cycling between green, red, yellow, and blue as well.

"You're awake!" Rock's voice called from behind Ness.

Excited, Ness spun around, but quickly his eyes widened and a slight blush spread across his face, "Rock! Why are you naked?!"

"I don't know, but so are you," Ness had to check to be sure and saw Rock wasn't lying. He quickly tried to cover up with his hands while Rock chuckled a bit, "You're fine, it's not like we haven't seen each other before."

Ness nodded slowly but was still blushing. Not too far off now he could see people standing by some of the shell like caves, "What about those people over there?"

Rock shook his head, "I checked it out when I woke up and I don't think they're real."

Ness finally started loosening up and moved his hands away from covering his private area, "What do you mean they're not real?"

"Come on," Rock started walking towards what looked like a settlement, "Everyone here is someone we know from Onett, but when you try to talk to them they each just have a sentence or two that they'll keep repeating over and over."

Ness followed Rock but had no concept of direction in a place that seemed to be ambiently lit from all around. Rock led them to a large spiral shell off a peninsula surrounded by what looked like it could have been water, but had an equal chance of being grape juice.

The duo stepped inside and immediately Ness's hands shot to his groin again as he saw his mother, sister, Ninten, and Ninten's sisters standing inside.

Rock laughed, "It's okay, like I said, it's not really them, I think they're illusions of some kind."

Ness nodded but kept himself covered, "Why would there be illusions of my family here though?"

Rock hummed to himself, "I'm not sure…"

Out of curiosity Ness stepped closer to what appeared to be his mother, "Mom…?"

The figure of his mother slowly looked at him, "Ness honey, you should really get some rest."

"Huh?" Ness tilted his head in confusion.

"Ness honey, you should really get some rest." The figure repeated.

It was eerie seeing and hearing something that was so much like his mom but very obviously not. Ness gulped as he relaxed again and lowered his hands again while he looked around what was trying to be a replica of his living room but inside a spiral shell. He tapped on the figure of his sister next, "I left your stuff in your room." It seemed odd so he tapped on her again, "I left your stuff in your room."

Rock stood over by Ninten and poked him so Ness could hear, "We're going to go on an adventure!" Ness stepped over and poked Ninten again, "Don't worry so much, it'll be fun!"

Ness looked down sadly, "I sure hope the real Ninten is alright…"

"Me too, but I'm sure your mom will keep him safe," Rock assured him.

"So what are we supposed to do here?" Ness huffed feeling frustrated by the strange place.

Rock shook his head, "We need to get out of here, we know we were on the Onett side of Mt. Itoi when we found the cave, maybe there's an exit that we can find going somewhere else."

"Let's hurry and find it then," Ness built up a little bravado and marched out of the shell house.

Rock couldn't help but chuckle as he followed Ness out.

"What's so funny?" Ness asked in a stern voice.

Unphased, Rock kept grinning, "It's just hard to take you seriously with your butt leading the way."

Ness blushed again, then looked upset, but finally settled on seeing the humor of the situation and grinned back, "Maybe we should walk side by side so we don't have to deal with that problem."

"Sounds like a plan," Rock gave Ness a thumbs up as the two naked boys trekked deeper into the strange land.

Up ahead was a hill the two ran up to the top of in order to take a better look around, "Are we on some kind of an island?"

The area appeared huge, and mostly flat, but there did seem to be some kind of purple ocean surrounding the landscape at its edge. Rock bit his lip as he strained his eyes to see as far ahead as he could, "It's hard to tell what's on the other side of the… ummm… buildings."

"But there's no wall," Ness sighed, "This isn't like a cave at all, how are we going to get out of here?"

Rock noticed the colors swapping sky darken a few hues. His forehead scrunched as he looked thoughtful over the change, "The town looks pretty big, so we may have to explore a bit. I'm sure there's a way out though."

Ness didn't say anything else as he and Rock approached the town of sea shells. An old man with a long beard dressed in a grey robe stood outside the entrance to the town. He stared back in the direction the boys came from but made no motions as they approached.

"Does he look familiar to you?" Rock asked as he examined the man.

Ness shook his head, "Not really…"

Rock reached forward and poked the man, "Welcome to Magicant!" The man said enthusiastically. He looked down at Ness, "A world you created."

Ness gulped, "Me?"

The man didn't say anything else. Rock poked him again, "Welcome to Magicant! A world you created."

Ness made an audible gulp sound, "What does he mean by that?"

Rock looked up at the sky again and hummed. "Let's check out the town."

The people of the town weren't frozen in place, they swayed from side to side as if to give them some bit of liveliness, but none of them paid either of the boys any mind or did anything unless they were directly spoken to or poked.

"This is really weird," Ness said out loud as he walked down a street lined with shops. All of the store keepers were people he had seen at least in passing in Onett at some point, mostly from walking through the real grocer street.

A stand of dried jerky caught Rock's eye as he reached in and grabbed one, "That will be twenty five cents."

Rock blinked as he held onto the jerky, "I don't have any money." The shopkeeper didn't make any other response. Rock reached in and grabbed another piece of jerky.

"That will be twenty five cents," the shopkeeper said again.

Rock shrugged and handed the jerky to Ness. "Isn't that stealing?"

Rock took a bite out of the jerky he kept for himself, "I still think this whole place is an illusion, so what are they going to do, arrest me for stealing something that doesn't really exist?"

With a wry smile Ness replied, "You could still get thrown into an imaginary prison."

"Oooo," Rock made a sarcastically shocked expression and took another bite, "I'm so scared!"

Ness smiled and looked down at the jerky he was given, "If it doesn't exist though then how would this keep us from being hungry."

"You'd be surprised," Rock pushed at Ness's hand encouraging him to eat, "as long as your brain actually thinks you've eaten then you shouldn't have to worry about fatigue and hunger for a long time."

The two sat down and started chewing their jerky. Both boys looked down the intersection of paths they stopped at and calmly took in the familiar faces. Ness finished his jerky first and let out a small burp. He rubbed his stomach and realized he did feel like he had eaten something. He looked up at Rock again, "You've always been so smart, how do you know so much about everything?"

Rock's eyes widened as he finished his jerky. He looked at Ness for a moment and his mouth hung open as if he was having a hard time thinking about the question, "My dad I guess… He's… a really smart guy."

"You've talked about your dad before but I've never met him," Ness wondered out loud.

Rock smiled and rubbed Ness's knee before standing up, "He's always busy like yours, so that's why he's always out of town."

Ness's eyes widened as a thought occurred to him, "Won't he be freaked out when he finds out what happened in Onett and goes back there and can't find you?"

A laugh was not the reaction Ness was expecting, "Don't worry about it, somehow I get the feeling he was expecting everything that's happened so far."

"What? Is he psychic or something?" Ness was legitimately curious now.

"He's just…" Rock closed his eyes and tilted his head up, "really smart and can figure out what's going to happen next… Even if he's not so good at figuring out people…"

A strange look had come over Rock, one that Ness didn't recognize on him or know how to deal with, "Is that…"

"But right now we gotta get back to figuring out how we're going to get out of here," Rock immediately switched back to a determined appearance and looked around again.

Ness stood up and was about to wipe his hands on what would have been his pants, but realized he wasn't wearing any in time, so just shook them and brushed the salt off instead, "What should we even be looking for?"

"Something out of the ordinary would be nice, but that's everything here," Rock rubbed his chin as he thought for a moment. "For now, let's keep exploring, I'm sure we can find some kind of clue that will help us figure this out."

"Alright, then let's keep looking," Ness followed Rock as they weaved through different parts of the seashell town. They found many people Ness recognized including a local band that played around town, and even different kids Ness played sports and games with. Most everyone who they came across would speak about their ideas and the things they wanted to do.

"One day we'll fix our wagon and we'll be able to play our music all over the country." One of the musicians continued to say.

"This new sport will be like kicking the ball, but instead you hit the ball with a stick!" A boy declared excitedly.

Ness noticed that Rock was starting to look a little nervous as they spoke to different people and that made him anxious as well, "Rock, it's been hours, if this doesn't work then what should we do?"

Rock stopped and turned to face Ness. He didn't show any real emotion as he asked, "What do you think we should do?"

"I don't know!" Ness nearly shouted, "I've never been through anything like this before!"

"And you think I have?" Rock crossed his arms.

"Well… no…" Ness scratched his head as he thought, "But you always know what to do about stuff…"

"I'm good at making people think that, but really it's not true," Rock bit his lip as he looked down and noticed the area darkening again.

Ness's lip quivered slightly, "But if you don't know what's going on, we could be stuck here! Forever!"

Rock put his hands on Ness's shoulders to calm him down a little, "Don't think like that, there are a lot of things that I can miss that you need to be looking for."

Violet eyes closed as Ness let out a deep sigh, "Okay, I'll keep looking."

With slight smiles both boys continued their search through paths and shops and other shell homes. Ness pointed at a shell on top of a hill, "I don't think we've checked out that one yet."

"Nope," Rock shook his head, "we don't know what's in there yet."

Ness led the way up the hill and ducked inside the large shell house. Inside was another living room replication, and sitting around the house was Pokey and his brother Picky. Ness gulped as he saw them. At first it looked as though he didn't want to know what they had to say and was about to leave, but curiosity got the better of him as he almost begrudgingly walked over to the pair.

Just like every other resident of Magicant, Pokey just slightly swayed from side to side as Ness approached. Ness was barely reaching out when Pokey began to talk, "Things were great around here back when you used to listen to me, we were best friends and I wanted it to stay that way forever." Pokey's head turned to look at Ness, "You had to start causing trouble and then ruin everything. Had you listened to me, everything would have been alright and nothing bad would have happened to Onett." Ness began to quiver as the Pokey illusion spoke accusingly at him.

Even Rock took a few steps closer growing concerned over how animate this Pokey was, "Ness…"

The Pokey continued to rant, "We both know the truth, that if you just listened to me then your family and everyone would still be happy and normal. Had you listened to me then Ninten never would have gotten hurt."

Ness backed away, though he couldn't look away from the accusing eyes of the Pokey illusion which were just barely visible under the mop of hair.

"Ness, no," Rock reached out to Ness but the younger boy turned and bolted from the house, "Ness!"

Quick on his heals, Rock gave chase out of Pokey's shell house. Once outside though he couldn't help but notice a very apparent change in the environment, it was now night. Rock gulped nervously as he calmed himself down and continued to follow Ness.

Ness ran to the edge of the island. He sat and pulled his knees to his chest before burying his face in them. Rock saw where Ness ended up and stopped. He took a moment to sigh and compose himself. He slowly and calmly walked over to where Ness was and sat beside him.

The two remained still and silent for a few minutes.

"What am I even doing here?" Ness finally whispered.

"We had to get you away," Rock leaned forward so he could speak softly and still be heard clearly.

"I shouldn't have left them," Ness sniffed, "That was my family, my home! And I just… I ruined it all…"

"No…" Rock wrapped his arm around Ness's shoulder, "You can't blame yourself when bad things happen. I'm sorry too that things had to change so... drastically. But in no way was this anyone's fault besides the ones who attacked us."

"I should be there with them Rock," Ness shook his head into his knees, "Tracy has to be so scared, and my mom… I should be with them, not out here… I wanna be home!"

Rock nodded in understanding, "You've never left home before, I get it, you're homesick." Ness curled up tighter so Rock gripped him tighter as well, "There's nothing wrong with missing home. I won't lie to you, it's probably going to be a long time before we get to see Onett again, but we have to keep going forward now."

"Why?!" Ness's head finally shot up from his knees, "Where are we even going to go?! Onett was all I had, there's no where else out there that I can even go! I'm just some kid from a small town, I don't have special skills, I don't know how to go out there and… and… fight off an army! What am I supposed to do?!"

A crack of thunder indicated a storm was building in the distance.

Rock cupped Ness's cheek with his free hand, "We're in this together okay? We're going to take it one day at a time. We're going to find a way out of here and then see what comes next, and you know what? When we find it then we'll deal with that too!"

Ness turned his head to look away from Rock again, "For how long?"

"As long as it takes!" Rock smiled enthusiastically hoping to pick Ness's spirit up some.

The violet eyed boy cracked the smallest bit of a smile, "Why are you trying so hard for me? You're always the one who gets things done, who isn't afraid. Wouldn't it be easier for you to just leave me behind and take care of yourself?"

Rock's face fell for a moment, "There's no way I could abandon you, ever. You're my best friend and I will always do everything I can to keep you safe." Ness stopped pouting and leaned his head against Rock's shoulder, "And besides, if you'd stop to think about it a bit you'd realize that you have much more potential to make it out here than you're giving yourself credit for."

Violet eyes rolled up to look at Rock's icy blue ones, "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember what you did to those airships?!" Rock started laughing which caused Ness to chuckle as well, "You pointed a finger at them and just brought them down like nothing! And those were big badass empire warships!"

A full smile finally appeared on Ness's face, "I guess I did do that."

Rock felt Ness sink further into his side as he continued to run his hand along Ness's back and shoulder, "It was incredible, and that more than anything inspired the people of Onett to make a stand. You have the power to make a difference, so now we need to go out there and make that difference Ness."

"I really don't think I did that much...!" Ness leaned away from Rock as light began to shine from over the horizon again, "But thank you, I don't know what I would do if you weren't here with me."

The two shared a tender moment, but Rock decided he couldn't let things be overly serious, "Was it the soft caresses or all the sweet talking that got you all hot this time?"

"Huh?" Ness leaned back, confused by what Rock was asking him. He noticed Rock pointing down with his eyes, looked himself, and quickly jumped back with wide eyes and a blush, "It's not my fault! It was that crystal that made me all sensitive!" The embarrassment quickly faded though as he realized he wasn't the only one dealing with a similar predicament, "Though at least I'm not the only one…"

Rock put his hands on his hips and stood unabashedly, "That I cannot deny!"

Both Ness and Rock laughed at themselves, and immediately the mood lightened. "OK," Ness slowly calmed his laughter and looked much better than he had a few minutes prior. The two stood in front of each other for a bit longer. "What do we do now?"

The two boys stood facing each other in contemplation. Rock put a hand to his chin, "Well, we could… AH!" Rock was interrupted as something crashed into his side and he was flung into the purple water.

Rock quickly surfaced and gasped for air and both he and Ness stared at the strange black rabbit like creature who had pushed him.

The creature hopped animatedly from one foot to another, "What is…"

Rock started climbing out of the purple fluid, "It's a spriggan…"

"A… what?" Naming the creature didn't help Ness at all.

"A spirit of mischief," Rock took a step closer, "But what's it doing here?"

The spriggan cackled with only a split second warning before it jump kicked Rock again into the purple ocean.

Once again Rock quickly surfaced for breath, "This stuff tastes weird!" he started pulling himself out as the fuzzy creature quickly hopped away. Ness helped pull Rock back up as Rock kept an eye on his assailant, "Hurry! We should see where it goes!"

Rock shook himself dry before the two boys ran through the seashell town hot on the heels of the spriggan who jumped him. The two slid around corners, desperate to not lose site of the only thing that had made any significant movement over the last few hours.

The two were almost sprinting for several minutes as they weaved through town. The spriggan hopped toward a dark red strip of land that twisted out over the water and continued on. Both Ness and Rock finally had to stop to catch their breath. They watched as the deep fog settled in over the reddened area.

"That's new…" Rock admitted through deep breaths.

Ness nodded, "We might be getting somewhere."

A house was situated near the division of areas with what appeared to be a graveyard next to it. Rock pointed at the cross, "Haven't seen anything like that around here before."

Ness looked slightly nervous, "Should we knock or just go in?"

Rock shrugged so the two of them pushed the door open. Inside the house, a group of five muscular feathered men with beaks looked up from various activities including reading magazines and lifting weights.

Both Ness and Rock blinked a few times, looked at each other to judge how unusual the sight was to the other, and then turned back to the room. Ness finally broke the awkward silence, "Umm… hi."

"Good morning," one of them replied politely in a clear masculine voice causing both boys to look slightly shocked, "Are you two in need of assistance?"

"Well… maybe?" Ness answered unsure of what was going on. The two entered the room and immediately the bird men jumped in excitement.

"They're in need of assistance!" All of the bird men dropped what they were doing and ran to the front of the room. Four of the bird men struck elaborate poses while the fifth looked disinterested off to the side. Together they all cried out, "We are the flying men!"

They quickly broke formation and huddled together, "What do you think they need?" One of them asked.

"Could be anything, the poor naked things have no feathers…" rang out from another beak.

One looked closely at Ness, "I've got it! The skinny one needs to build up some manly muscles!"

"Actually we…" Ness tried to explain but was interrupted as a feathered arm was put around his shoulder.

"Come right this way young lord! Right this way!" Ness found himself being dragged to a weight machine.

"No really I…" Ness was pushed onto the bench as the bird man moved Ness's hands to the barbell.

"The first step is to breathe, loosen up, now you're ready! I will spot you! Ready!" Rock scratched his head as he looked around the room at the strange creatures who seemed friendly enough.

"Really I don't need to…" Ness tried stop but the flying man was pulling the barbell over the support and into Ness's grip, "WHOA! Heavy! Heavy! Heavy!"

"That's the only way you're going to get stronger and build those manly muscles young lord!" The flying man helped Ness lift the weights up and down, "Once you're sweating and heart is thumping you know it's working!"

"Thump! Thump! Thump! Sweat! Sweat! Sweat!" Chanted most of the flying men except the uninterested one who went back to his magazine.

Rock couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he watched the flying men fuss over Ness. Ness gave Rock a distressed look which didn't help Rock feel any more sympathetic.

"Keep going, don't quit now, how are you gonna achieve your dream body if you don't work for it?" The flying man encouraged as he continued spotting Ness.

"Dream huh…" Rock rubbed his chin as he looked around.

After several sets, the barbell was finally put back on the support bracket. Ness popped up and started rubbing his arms, "Holy crap, that was heavy!"

"You'll feel stronger for it soon though!" A flying man flexed in front of him, "Strong! Tough! Courageous! Determined!"

Another flying man stood by Ness, "What else can we help you with today young lord?"

Quickly Ness responded, "We're just trying to get out of here! Can you tell us where to go and how to get back to… the normal world?"

All of the flying men looked at each for a moment and then all at once burst out laughing, "Well young lord, we can show you the way, but the how is up to you!"

"Okay…" Ness replied feeling confused.

One of the flying men stepped forward, "The road ahead is dangerous though, I will accompany you and be your courage."

"Umm… Thanks... I think," Ness held out a hand in gratitude. They shook hands as Ness introduced himself, "I'm Ness."

"Frank," The flying man replied.

Another flying man stepped forward, "And I will be your determination." Ness shook that flying man's hand as well, "Pirkle."

Ness scratched his head wondering why the Flying Men sounded familiar, "Alright then let's go."

Rock stood at the back of the room with his arms crossed and grin on his face, "Made some new friends?"

Ness nodded, "Yeah, they're cool." Ness waited a second to see if Rock would say anything else, but the stupid grin never left Rock's face. He only shrugged as he turned and started walking away.

The two left the flying men's home with Frank and Pirkle following close behind them. The fog hadn't lifted at all from the narrow red path which stood just barely above the purple sea. The boys looked to each other to be sure the other was ready before they set foot onto the red ground. The red path was mushy beneath their feet as if it were soaked through by the purple ocean, "Eww…" Ness grumbled as he kicked some of it off.

"That's not gonna do you any good," Rock pointed out as he sloshed forward.

Ness frowned but continued to trudge through the muck with the others. Inside the fog it was hard to see more than ten feet in front of them, just enough to know the red path was continuing albeit remaining narrow.

After a short time, a chill went down Ness's spine causing him to exaggeratingly shiver.

Noticing Ness's reaction Rock quietly asked, "What's up?"

Ness shook his head, "I dunno, I just suddenly got a weird feeling, like we're being watched or something…"

Rock stopped walking and focused his gaze into the fog. There didn't seem to be anything ahead of them.

"It's probably nothing," Ness admitted.

Rock stopped Ness from continuing on, "No listen."

Ness waited a few seconds, "I don't hear anything…"

Rock nodded, "Even the wind stopped…"

The flying men also seemed to be on guard.

Rock took a few cautious steps forward, but nothing seemed to be in front of them. A pair of disembodied eyes opened in the mist just beside the trail, "I see you…"

"Crap!" Startled, Ness jumped away from the eyes which floating ominously over the purple ocean

All four took a defensive stance and waited to see what the eyes would do.

"A true self can never be obtained so long as one seeks their acceptance in the eyes of others," Frank blurted out of nowhere.

Light began to shine from the pupils of the eyes, and once it reached a blinding intensity a lightning bolt shot out towards the group. Ness hopped backwards and almost fell into the purple ocean but Rock managed to grab onto his arm, "If that thing's using lightning then the last place you want to be is under water."

Ness nodded and secured his footing, "What do we do?!"

"It's trying to kill us right?" Rock assumed an aggressive stance.

"Yeah?" Ness still felt confused as he watched and waited.

Light energy gathered in Rock's hand, "So we take it out first!"

"Oh…" Ness gulped, his hand went to his side with two fingers pointing out away from his body as electrical sparks formed at his fingertips.

"COURAGE!" Frank jumped at the eyes, his hand curled into a tight fist as he drove it into faceless gazer.

The eyes closed for a moment as if trying to shake off this hit. When they opened again, they stared at Frank and electrical energy began building up in the pupils again, "I see you!"

Rock jumped in the way, "Not so fast!" He held up his hand which gave off a bright light directly in front of the floating eyes. Stunned, the eyes reeled back from the bright light. Rock turned to Ness, "Do it!"

Ness brought his glowing hand forward and pointed it at the floating eyes, "Thunder!" lightning clapped from Ness's hand in a deafening roar and struck the stunned eyes. The electricity caused the eyes to snap open wide before they caught fire and disintegrated into nothingness.

"You got it!" Rock cheered.

"Yes!" Ness beamed, obviously pleased with himself.

Rock patted Ness on the back, "Good thing magic still works here huh?"

Ness looked worried for a moment, "I didn't even think about testing it before trying it…"

"That's probably why it worked," Rock beamed much to Ness's bewilderment.

Ness gave Rock an odd look but Rock didn't seem to notice as they turned to continue on. Almost immediately in front of them however they found a disembodied set of lips. The giant lips formed a kissing motion and approached Ness but he jumped back and out of the way before the lips could claim him.

"Well, there were eyes, so I suppose a mouth had to be somewhere," Rock tried making light of the situation while Ness stared at the lips in disgust.

"A heart cannot be fulfilled without opening itself to the affections of others," Pirkle's odd comment provoked another odd glance from Ness before Ness blasted the lips away, not giving them a chance to try and kiss anyone else.

"You okay?" Rock checked to make sure.

"I'm fine, that was just gross," Ness shook as a chill overtook him but then started walking again.

The four continued on through the thick mist. Knowing for sure there were enemies lurking about kept the group silent as they listened for any approaching noises.

Ness hopped forward and put a hand on Rock's shoulder to stop him. The group came to a halt and listened to what sounded like rocks tumbling.

"What's…" Ness tried listening harder as the sound got closer.

All four prepared themselves for whatever was coming. Rock lowered his stance slightly, "It's rolling… but skipping…"

From out of the fog a huge six sided dice rolled into view. It stopped in front of the group with the six pointed up.

"The cheat is a betrayer of trust and destroyer of friendships, one must always uphold honor and valor," Pirkle spoke without being prompted.

The top of the dice opened and a head popped out as well as arms at the side.

"Oh…" Rock nodded to himself, "It's a loaded dice."

The strange dice man pulled out a horn and blew into it. Immediately another dice came rolling in through the fog, also landing on the six, and formed a second dice man.

"Once one gives into the temptation, the path to fall prey to it again only becomes simpler and more enticing," Frank added.

"Well then…" Rock shook his head, "Let's get rid of them before they call anymore friends!"

Pirkle leapt forward first at the dice on the left, "DETERMINATION!" His fist collided with the flat surface of the three side and knocked rolled the dice back a bit.

The other dice leapt forward with a stick and thumped Frank in the knee.

"Hey!" Ness put his hand against the dice that hit Frank," THUNDER!" The strong bolt blasted the dice far off the stretch of mushy ground and into the fog.

Rock rushed in against the remaining dice. It tried to swing at him with another stick but Rock ducked out of the way and got underneath its cubed body. He got his hands on the flat underside of the dice and lifted it up in the air over his head. With a simple motion he tossed it off the path and into the purple sea where it floundered a bit before it sank and didn't return.

"This place is turning out to be really weird…" Ness couldn't help but voice as the group returned to walking down the wet path.

Rock agreed, "Yeah, but hopefully we're almost through this."

The group crept forward again; it was merely a waiting game now to see what sort of challenge would come at them next. The trail continued on and all four continued to walk for what could have easily been over an hour.

Ness couldn't help but sigh, "I haven't seen anything interesting for a while…"

Rock stopped walking and laughed, "We're in a place like this and you say you haven't seen anything interesting? What about that weird sphere just floating in the air over there, or those crystal columns jetting out from the water over there?"

Ness waved Rock off, "We've seen a bunch of those here already, I mean something different than what we've been seeing for the last hour."

"I know, it just sounded funny," Rock grinned and looked forward again, "It is a little boring just walking in a straight line that doesn't seem to be leading us anyw…"

"AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!" A sharp cry startled both boys into jumping forward.

"Pirkle!" Ness shouted as he saw the flying man had been struck from behind by what looked like a model of molecules in a roughly human formation.

"Second hand knowledge," Frank spoke enigmatically again, "when learning without experience, one should be prepared to be proven wrong."

Pirkle's body writhed on the ground for a moment before he stopped moving and simply faded away into nothingness.

Ness looked back and forth from where Pirkle had been lying on the ground to the molecule man, "I don't understand what's going on!"

"You can figure this out," Rock encouraged before he tried punching at their atomic enemy.

The strange molecule man dodged around Rock but Frank came running up as well, "COURAGE!"

The molecule man got around Frank's attack and managed to land a hit first. The colors of the world seemed to invert as Frank took the hit and fell to the ground. He writhed slightly before he too vanished from sight.

Ness wasn't sure how to feel about any of this besides confused. He charged more lightning energy in his hand and blasted it at the molecule personification. The strange being spasmed for a bit but Ness didn't let off the energy and continued to shock it with an increasing amount of electricity until the protons and neutrons of the molecules broke apart and the entire being collapsed.

Both Ness and Rock looked around for a moment processing that the assistance that had accompanied them thus far on the dangerous road was gone.

"Should we go back?" Rock asked.

"No…" Ness turned and looked forward, "We need to keep going."

Rock returned to Ness's side and gave him a reassuring smile, "We can do this."

Ness nodded and the two continued on.

The fog didn't let up in what felt like the miles that followed. If anything it worsened to the point where the boys could barely see the next step in front of them. Rock reached out and took Ness's hand. Ness looked at him strangely for a moment but Rock explained, "We need to make sure we don't get separated in this mess."

"Okay," Ness gripped Rock's hand tighter as the fog overtook everything almost completely. The moistness clung to their skin but kept them cool while walking for such a long distance. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed when the fog finally began to spread, "I think I can see again!"

Both boys stopped as they looked around and found themselves surrounded by a twisted forest. The plants weren't quite trees, but large curled stalks of something like tentacles. The mushy red path continued to cut through the unrecognizable forest.

"I don't like this…" Ness whispered.

"It's different," Rock commented. Even though they could see out a little further than before Ness had yet to let go of Rock's hand.

"What's that?" Ness peered ahead and could see the shape of a person in the mist. As they approached it became clear that standing in front of them was the spitting image Ness himself.

The other Ness waved as they approached, "Hey me!"

Ness stared at his fully clothed doppleganger for a moment with his mouth agape, "That's me?"

The other Ness took a few steps closer, "Am I really that slow? Apparently you don't even understand that the enemies you faced so far represent your need for acceptance, tension towards affection, the guilt you harbor, and the uncertainty you feel."

Ness's eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what his copy was telling him, "What are you talking about?"

The other Ness only smiled coyly at the naked boy.

"Be careful," Rock warned as he kept a close eye on the newcomer.

Ness was feeling freaked out staring at himself, "What do you want?"

The clothed Ness came closer and leaned on Ness's shoulder, "I found something that you lost, I thought you might like it back."

Not sure how to respond in this situation Ness remained quiet for a moment. The other Ness seemed perfectly happy to engage Ness in a stare down. His hand began to make circles in the moisture still clinging to Ness's skin.

The moment was awkward for Ness as he finally asked, "What did you find?"

The clone pointed towards a box near one of the twisted tentacle trees, "It's right in there."

Very cautiously, Ness separated himself from both his copy and Rock and stepped over to the box. He opened it up and reached inside to pull out a purple bycocket hat. He had to blink a few times as he looked it over, "My dad's old hunting hat?"

The other Ness sauntered closer to Ness. He took the hat from Ness's hands and draped it over the naked boy's head, "It used to mean so much to you, but then you just went and lost it one day, shameful."

Ness put his hand up to the hat, "I did lose this hat… I don't even remember when I lost it…"

The other Ness shook his head, "You've lost far more than that hat."

The look on Ness's face hardened as he turned back to his double, "What are you talking about?"

"You know it," The other Ness's face darkened as he leaned towards the real one, "You lost who you are, you don't have site on the person you want to be for yourself. What do you think someone like you grows up to become?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rock stepped between the two and held onto the real Ness, "You don't need to listen to this guy, you're a good person."

The other Ness poked his head over Rock's shoulder, "Who happens to be a liar, a cheater, and a thief! Not exactly characteristics of someone I'd call pure of heart."

"Shut up!" Ness pushed Rock out of the way and tackled his doppleganger.

The clothed Ness let his eyes wander over the real Ness's body, "Oh, did I mention you're also a bit of a perv?"

Ness growled but before he could respond his doppleganger simply sank through the ground, out of his grasp. An eerie chuckling echoed through the tentacle forest in a frightening tone. "Do you want to believe something different? Let's see if you can!" The tentacle like trees began to wriggle and move.

"What the hell?" Again Ness was frightened and confused as the tentacle vines reached for both he and Rock. The boys tried jumping out of the way but the vines were too quick and wrapped several times around their torso. With a mighty heave both boys were lifted high into the air. The force of the ascent pulled the air from their lungs for a moment before they were plunged back to the surface and forced through the purple ocean.

Neither boy could see under the murky water. They both felt the tentacles leave their bodies and immediately they swam for the surface as fast as they could. Once breached, they took deep breaths and looked around. No longer outside, they found themselves in some kind of underground cavern.

Ness squinted as he tried to peer through the darkness, "Where are we now?"

The voice of the other Ness echoed above them, "The Sea of Eden, the heart of Magicant! This is where your real nightmare begins!"

Both Ness and Rock caught sight of a shadow jumping across stalagmites and started swimming after it. The water became shallow enough for the boys to stand so they were able to wade through the end of the cavern.

"It looks like it's getting wider, but I can't see anything," Ness complained as he looked from side to side.

The other Ness's echoing voice responded, "Let's shed some light on the situation then."

Ness and Rock jumped as a previously unseen torch lit next to them. A series of torches then began to light one at a time. The light revealed elaborate columns in a great cavern which touched the stone ceiling. In the center of the cavernous room emerged a shadow, completely invisible until the torches around it lit. The torches flickered over the shadow revealing the twisted grin of the other Ness, now he too stood completely naked before the other two, but his skin took on a state of shimmering gold rather than flesh. Even his eyes glistened like polished metal under the dim light of the flickering flames. He didn't move and only stared down at the two wet boys before him, "You will be judged."

For a moment Ness was frozen. While everything was strange and unexplainable, it was somehow all terrifyingly familiar, "What…?"

"Do you recognize me now?" The smile on the golden Ness grew wider into a look of near insanity, "Your nightmare?"

Ness gulped but tried to remain strong.

"That's right, put on a show for your friend here like you're a big boy," the golden Ness snickered, "Tell me though, are you crying on the inside? Wishing your mommy was here to hold you?"

Purple eyes widened slightly as the golden Ness began to slowly approach, "I'm scared… but that…"

"So run home then," The golden Ness crossed his arms, "It's so obvious you don't belong out here, you don't know how to do anything for yourself do you? Everything you accomplish was either with someone else's help or through tricking your way through it." Foggy clouds rolled in from behind the golden Ness. Images began to appear on the fog as if being projected by some invisible force. Images of Ness's past. Many of the images were instances Ness had stolen food or items from store keeps in Onett, or times when Pokey or Ninten talked him into helping them on one of their schemes, or when he cheated at sports by using a yew paddle to hit the ball farther than the other kids.

Ness was quiet for a long moment, "I don't… I really don't belong."

A gleam flickered in the grinning golden Ness's eye. The water which had been knee height began to rise and small waves formed at its surface. The Huge toothy smile never faded from the golden Ness's face, but even as he stood there looking completely calm, his golden skin began to melt from his body leaving a smiling skull underneath. One shining golden eye continued to stare out from the skull. Despite the smile, the eye was filled with judgement. Ness's mouth dropped open as he backed away, "Oh did that do it? You recognize me now huh? That's your nightmare isn't it? You know it's true, that one day you're destiny is to become... me!"

Rock forced Ness to look up at him, "No one's perfect Ness. No one is expecting you to be perfect but you. You're a good guy and you need to understand that now!"

"Why are we even out here Rock? Where are we going to go? I want to go home!" Ness confessed how he was feeling and couldn't stop the emotion from escaping now that he'd voiced it. His shoulders quivered as he tried to hold himself back from crying.

The turbulence in the water became worse.

Rock pulled Ness into him, "Listen Ness, it's okay to feel homesick, there's nothing wrong with it at all. I miss my home a lot. And there's nothing to be ashamed of in getting emotional and crying when you have to. I won't judge you or think less of you for it. Don't let yourself fall into darkness, I know that's not who you really are."

Ness stared at Rock in silence unsure of what to say or what to do.

"If this isn't a Kodak moment," The skeleton shrugged and somehow blinked the golden eye that floated in the hollowness of its left eye socket. "If you keep following the path you're on kid, you're destined to do horrible things…"

Ness quivered as the skeleton took a few steps closer, "It's a beautiful day outside, birds are singing, flowers are blooming… On days like these, kids like you..."

Both Ness and Rock were looking scared as the fire in the torches intensified, filling the cavern with a great heat.

"...Should be burning in hell!" A golden glow came over Ness's skeleton as he pointed a finger at the boys releasing a beam of energy. Ness and Rock jumped in opposite directions as the beam hit the water, evaporating all it hit immediately.

"SHUT UP!" Anger flooded through Ness as he ran up along the left side of the skeleton, sparks of energy built up in his hand as he jumped out of the purple water and fired his thunderbolt at his nightmare.

"What?" The skeleton never stopped smiling as the lightning bolt approached. There was a strange shift in the room that was almost unnoticeable, but when it ended the skeleton had moved several feet to the side without actually moving. "You thought I was just gonna stand there and take it?"

"How…" Ness shook his head trying to get a grip on what his skeleton nightmare was even doing.

The golden eye glimmered, "If that's the best you've got then you should give up on this little quest before it even begins."

Rock tried his luck next as he jumped in to punch the skeleton from behind. The skeleton turned around almost instantaneously and caught Rock's punch, "Nuh-uh," The skeleton waved his free finger in Rock's face, "I thought you would have known better than to challenge me yourself." Rock looked surprised for a moment before that free finger curled up against a thumb and then flicked against Rock's face with enough force to send him skipping along the water before crashing into a stalagmite.

"A skipping stone, get it? His name is Rock!" The skeleton laughed but Ness remained stoic and posed to fight. "No laughs today? You normally laugh at dumber jokes than that! Or do you do that only as a way to fail at making friends?"

Ness grit his teeth and clenched his fists tighter as he lunged at the skeleton again. With electricity built up in both fists, Ness resorted to throwing punches, but the skeleton dodged them all without hardly ever moving.

"So uncreative, you're never gonna make it in this world, just give up," the purple water began swirling around the two like a whirlpool.

"I don't… want to…" Ness admitted to both the skeleton and himself.

The skeleton stood quietly, it's smile and stare unwavering, "You sure about that? It's risky business moving forward from here. So easy to fall into temptation and believe me, the monster in your future awaits…"

A stronger look came over Ness as he continued to throw punches at the skeleton, "I won't!"

"That's new," The skeleton's eye gleamed as he dodged all of Ness's punches, "It will be dangerous though, even I could have destroyed you fifty seven times by now, and maybe I did."

Ness grunted and opened his mouth to speak but the skeleton stopped by saying, "Fifty eight. You just don't seem sure enough, so I'm going to save you a whole lot of trouble and stop this game right now!"

The whirlpool surrounding the two of them moved to the side over to where Rock was still watching the fight. Rock tried to jump out of the way but tentacles like the ones before lashed out from under the water and grabbed onto his wrists holding him in place as the height of the whirlpool raised over his head and swallowed him whole.

"ROCK!" Ness shouted as he saw Rock look like he was drowning while being tied down inside the violent typhoon.

Ness's skeleton cocked his head to the side, "So what's it gonna be, are you gonna destroy me before he drowns and hope that you don't become evil yourself, or are you going to run home crying to your mommy like you always do?"

Ness held his hand forward as a huge bolt of lightning built in his palm. The skeleton held his arms out as if daring Ness to hit him, the wide grin never faltering from his skull. The lightning in Ness's hand lit up the room much brighter than the torches as Ness readied the strike. Once he had all the power he needed though, he didn't do anything. The skeleton lowered his arms and continued to stare at Ness as the electricity faded from the boy's hand and he sank to his knees.

"You're no hero, it's time to go home," the skeleton continued grinning.

"I…" Ness's eyes were wide and his jaw quivered as he watched Rock struggle.

"Only a few more moments and then it will all be over," Ness's nightmare skeleton didn't laugh, only spoke as though he was pointing out the obvious.

Ness's eyes solidified into a look of determination, "I'm coming!" He charged across the water toward the whirlpool.

"Oh…" The skeleton watched as Ness jumped into the typhoon with Rock, "I suppose it didn't occur to me that you could just choose to die together."

Ness reached for the tentacle holding Rock in place. He grabbed the end of it and pulled as hard as he could while still holding his breath. The tentacle wouldn't budge no matter how much force Ness pulled on it with.

Giving up on that tentacle, Ness tried the other one but with no better result. Rock smiled softly at Ness before his eyes closed and his head nodded to the side. Ness let out a scream under the water which pulled out all of his air as he shook his friend. Rock's head just limply rolled back and forth. Ness's arms wrapped around Rock's back and he pulled himself into Rock's chest and squeezed him tightly.

Without air, Ness's vision started fading as well. "I'm sorry, I don't know what to do," was all he could think.

His eyes closed and things began to go black.

"You're a good guy Ness." Ness's eyes snapped open again as he heard Rock's words repeating in his head. "No one expects you to be perfect, just be you and I know you'll be fine."

Ness clenched his eyes and teeth shut again. Behind his closed eyelids he saw a light, a light brighter than the sun, and it was filling him up.

The skeleton put a hand up to shield the light entering his eye as the insanely bright light shined out from the typhoon. There was a splash like explosion and a streak of light which caused the skeleton to turn around and find Ness with Rock still held close to him on the other side of the cavern, "What did you…?"

Rock began coughing water out of his lungs while still being held tight in Ness's arms. The violet eyed boy looked over Rock's shoulder at the skeleton who looked bewildered for the first time.

A smile returned to the skeleton, "So now you think you can defy fate and be a hero after all! Keep playing like that and you may just have a chance."

Ness set Rock down gently before he stood with a look of courage and determination, "I get it now, Rock knew this whole time, but you're literally my nightmare, what I created out of my own fear. This whole world is responding the way it is because of how I feel."

"Uhoh…" The skeleton grinned, "You think it's so simple?"

"Doesn't need to be simple," Ness responded, "I know what's going on and I know what I need to feel. Everything changed so fast and I let it get to me. I needed to feel it in myself that I can do this, that I can go out there and make difference, that I'm not destined for failure, or becoming something evil and horrible. I'm me! And no nightmare is gonna change that!"

The skeleton of Ness's nightmare was about to make another wisecrack when suddenly Ness was no longer standing in front of him. A light was shining from behind which caused his shadow to glow along the water. He turned around as Ness drove his fist in an uppercut to the skeleton's jaw. A beam of lightning energy shot out of the ground as Ness's fist came up and completely enveloped the skeleton boy. Only the outline of the bones and the golden eye could be seen through the pillar of lightning as Ness blew his nightmare away.

The light cleared and left no trace of the skeleton behind.

Rock was starting to push himself up. He grinned to Ness and gave him a thumbs up. Ness returned the gesture and mouthed, "Thank you."

Then nothing else happened. The two continued to stand in the large cavern with only the sound of torches and slow trickling of water to fill their ears.

"So…" Ness finally put his hand down, "Now what?"

Rock stood up and shrugged, "No idea, I thought you'd wake up and that would be that."

The fog rolled in again from behind the throne causing the two boys to watch with mild worry as it stopped and an image began to form on it again, this time of the skull with the golden eye, "Yup very good, you totally won."

"Umm…" Ness scratched his head, "Seriously?"

"Of course, would I lie?" The skull laughed, "I just wanted to tell you one last thing."

Ness and Rock looked at each other and then back at the skull projection, "What's that?"

"Don't forget, don't ever forget the courage and determination you found here today. Learn from your mistakes and do what you feel is right, not what you feel others have imposed on you."

Ness blinked, "Okay, I won't, anything else?"

"Nope that's it," a skeleton hand formed in the projection and waved at them, "bye now!"

Another whirlpool formed beneath Ness's and Rock's feet. "Whoa!" Ness shouted as he lost his footing from being blasted up by the typhoon. They were shot high into the air, far past where the roof of the cavern should have been. They were being carried up so quickly the force of their movement kept them pinned to the top of the rising pillar of water.

Ness grabbed onto Rock's arm. Rock looked over to Ness concerned for a moment, but Ness looked back at him with a smile on his face. Rock grinned too as they were shot up toward a growing light.


Ness woke up with a start. He looked around and saw he was in some kind of cave. He looked down and saw he was still wearing his tattered tunic from before. He tried to move and found his hand was entwined with Rock's.

Rock was still wearing his singed tunic pants from the day before which left Ness wondering for a moment. Ness began shaking his friend, "Hey, Rock! Wake up, are you okay?"

Rock's face scrunched for a moment before his eyes opened. He sat up as well and looked around, "Where are we?"

"Is this the cave by Onett?" Ness asked unsure himself.

"I don't think so…" Rock climbed to his feet and looked around the dim cave.

Ness bit his lip as he thought about something before getting up, "Hey Rock, I'm trying to figure out if I had a dream or if it really happened…"

Rock tilted his head to the side, "A dream huh? What was it about?"

"I…" Ness started to shift but his hand rubbed against something soft. He picked it up and looked at it more closely, "...My dad's hunting hat…"

Rock grinned, "Didn't you lose that awhile back? How did it end up here?"

Ness blinked a few times in awe at the hat but eventually put it on his head and climbed to his feet. He was still looking confident as he looked up towards a light that was filtering through the top of the cave, "There's definitely light coming through from up there." The two climbed up the wall of the cave to the source of the light.

"I think I can see out," Rock hopped from boulder to boulder approaching the top faster.

"I wonder how long we were asleep," Ness hurried to keep up with Rock as he climbed.

The two poked their heads out of the ground and found a lush green landscape. Trees dotted the green field, birds flew high above, and the sound of a nearby waterfall filled their ears.

Ness turned and his eyes widened as he grabbed onto Rock, "Look!"

Both boys looked down the field behind them and saw a large castle built of grey bricks and a red roof. On the main tower at the front of the castle was a stained glass window of a lady in a pink dress.


End Chapter

Sorry for making this such a long chapter. I was tempted to break it into two chapters, but one - I wanted to get Magicant through quickly since a lot of people are unfamiliar with it, and two - a lot of what was going on was subtle and I knew it wouldn't make any sense until it neared the end.

Thanks a lot for putting up with this word spew. Let me know what you think of the story so far! Also please feel free to be my friend on any social app!