Long af A/N:
Helloooooo
-Echo-
Is anyone even out there still oh lordie LOL
I know I know. I brought old yeller back from the grave again. Why won't she just let it rest in peace?! I'm the worst.
This fic is now almost 15 years old what in the actual hell? If any of you are reading this, are any of you surgeons yet? Getting a Masters degree? Or just living your best life? I hope whatever it is, you're happy.
I think what's messing me up right now is my preception of time. The gap between this and the last chapter in 2017 is literally either just as big or larger. I does NOT feel like that at all and that is frightening. I know we had like... a time skip or something like that (You know... that thing.) And it's still out there! If you lost a loved one over this time or just had a really bad time overall, my deepest condolences. But I hope all of you were able to pull through and are now thriving again.
If you follow me on tumblr or twitter (rip) you may know what I've been up to as of late, but in short- I kinda had a big pivot in life beginning of 2021. I walked out of a job, worked with a therapist that actually cracked me for real this time; finally moved out with my significant other, and have been working part time at a very chill job; doing art whenever (trying to get into the con scene again but man it's rough these days) and being an Aunt! My sister had two beautiful kids since I posted my last chapter and while I don't think I'll be having little ones anytime soon, I am having a blast being their Aunt. My nephew just turned 5 last week! And my niece is a cute but feisty one if she doesn't get her sleep! Not sure what life will look like tomorrow but these days I've been a lot more optimistic. I think if I can offer any insight from this alone I'd say follow your gut, especially in the moments where you feel completely stuck and lost (unless if your gut is telling you to hurt yourself, then please find someone you trust who loves you and stay safe)
So here's where my head is at with this fic at this moment in time- the plot bunnies won't stop. It's a long road to finish this- but if I follow up with my goal of "consistency" this year- maybe I can make a habit of just... getting more out. Maybe actually updating this more? If I ever want to complete anything- like a story; this story would definitely be the easier route to take. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd like to finish a project like this before I die. But knowing me... idk. I wish I could just focus on one aspect on my life but I branch off everywhere all the time. I do need to get back to art stuff here soon, I have a con, hopefully two in the fall!
On bigger news with this story- doubt anyone has noticed, but yes I have started cross posting this onto Ao3! And not only that, I've been revising it. Quite a bit actually! Its kind of turning into a tuwdwy 2.0- not enough to change the core story; but enough to where it sits better with me these days. I won't link it here, but go into the Mother 2 category, it's there. My screen name on there is The_Everlasting_Ash. I've heard from a few who's reached out to me that this place might go under sometime in the near future? My main change with this story is that I've aged everyone up a little bit. Ness and co are around 16 and Paula/Picky around 12-13. The other change is that somehow I'm either mostly cutting out or significantly changing up the Pokey diaries. I feel like that thing in itself was part of this fic's demise in the first place. I'm still working through it currently, might need a small break bc it is quite a lot to go through. I have chapters 1-16 (first arc) uploaded there and I think I'll keep the original still in tact on here, kinda like a time capsule I suppose. But any future chapters will be catered to the 2.0 version of this story.
If you are still out there reading this- from the bottom of my heart thank you. I'm sorry that this story is just a stop for many years and go for like two seconds. It's so weird to me that this story just... came back to me like this. Honestly, I originally wanted to hold off on posting this one to make a buffer (I actually finished this earlier this year) but I wanted to hopefully reach out to my older audience if possible just to let you all know of the ao3 version. Because, I don't know if this website going down is real, but if it is, I'd like people to know that it's going to have a second home before it's too late.
Best case scenario- I finish this before I die. Worst case scenario- this will be the last chapter. Or then another, and another until it just stops.
But it's ok, because life isn't what you thought it was when you started living it. And when you do find that voice that can question the emotions that you thought were you that you couldn't tame in the past- you find yourself. And you start living a life that is more aligned to your own terms.
This chapter got longer than I thought it would. That being said, not a whole lot even happens in this chapter? But also a big thing kinda happens too? Last chapter, the crew got through the swamp. If I can just kick myself in the butt and continue writing, this chapter (and the next) are the calm of the storm. And man, I would really love to get to the storm.
Here's hoping!
Thank you!
- Ash
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It seemed like as of late, I was noticing a pattern. About every Saturday evening, I would notice Tony not being in his room and nowhere with his other friends. Friday and Saturday nights usually meant people were either socializing or playing games in their dorm rooms. But lately it seemed like Tony wasn't taking a part in these social activities. I wanted to look around and see what was going on.
Sooner than I thought, I found my answer lingering in the school library. On the weekends; besides the few who worked there, the library was usually empty and vacant unless if finals were approaching. Even then, those people were in their office doing whatever they did on a Saturday evening. But when I found Tony hiding in the corner of the library; head in a pile of books, I noticed his head was down. He looked as if he was asleep... I gently walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey Tony..." I said. Tony looked as if he had been sleeping on his books for a while. His tawny eyes fluttered open from under his red curly bangs.
"Huh... oh hi Jeff," He said. I chuckled, pulling up a chair next to him.
"You keep falling asleep in the library, is something troubling you?" I asked. Tony hmmed.
"Just trying to catch up on school and the exams coming up," He said. I frowned.
"Exams aren't for another three weeks," I told him. "But I understand if you want to get a head start." Tony nodded, trying not to look at me, as if he was hiding something, and instead stared down at the pile of books in front of him. I frowned.
"Something's wrong... do you need space?" Tony was silent. He sighed, shaking his head.
"Ever since we started our academy years I've been having a hard time adjusting," He finally said.
"Like how?" I asked. "It's just like the school we were in before, except we're just a little older," I told him, tossing him a crooked smile. Tony's frown deepened. Which made me frown in return. He glanced up at me, but when we locked eyes, he averted them.
We were around twelve at the time. When our class was ready to move onto the higher level academy school, we were assigned to the actual Snow Wood Boarding School Academy campus. Ironically, the same teachers we had in our elementary years also taught in the middle and higher levels too, so Maxwell and a few other teachers were still in our lives. I still was meeting up with Maxwell after class to study and work on other things. I let my eyes wander to the pile of books in front of him. Some theater books, math texts and other literature books... then my eyes scanned the spine of the book that was lying below the science book that Tony had open...
The Book of Overcoming Shyness by Jillian Gutler.
"What's this?" I asked, letting my fingers roam to the book. Tony scrambled, as if trying to hide the book.
"It's nothing," Tony spoke, a stutter still vacant in his voice. I raised an eyebrow, fingers still lingering on the spine. Tony sighed in defeat as I took the book from him. I opened the book to review some of the contents. I knew that Tony as well as I struggled with our social anxiety at many points in our lives. Over time, I just grew not to care to a certain point. Self healing? More like just dealing with the fact that I was abnormal. Whatever that meant.
"Is it helping?" I asked, eyes still scanning the contents. Tony bit his bottom lip, fingers grasping at his school shorts.
"Maybe... maybe not?" He spoke. My eyes darted up to him, examining his expression. I must have had a weird look on my face... intimidating? I wasn't sure.
"You don't have to avoid me," I closed my eyes, shutting the book. Tony's eyebrows furrowed.
"I'm not... avoiding you," He said. I frowned, placing the book back on the desk.
"You've been coming here by yourself every weekend for four weeks! As much as I have my own nose down in books, I do think of my best friend from time to time," I spoke back. Tony finally looked up at me, trying to hold a gaze until his eyes shyly shot away.
"I'm glad somethings haven't changed..." He mumbled. I rested my chin on my hand, which was supported on the desk.
"I keep telling you that you're more than welcome to study with me," I told him. "But you keep coming in here by yourself. Are you really that shy all the sudden?" I couldn't help but notice it... but his cheeks started turning pink.
"No... yes... it's just something I have to deal with on my own, alright?" Tony spoke. "Just all the newness... is getting to me. There's a lot of people here I don't know now, I'm not sure how to talk to anyone or make friends," He said. I frowned. He wasn't wrong about that, I briefly thought. A lot of students in the higher campus didn't even attend the elementary level boarding school, or rather had transferred from somewhere else.
"Then don't," I replied honestly. Tony turned his head and looked at me again, before darting his eyes elsewhere.
"You don't have to be friends with everyone if you don't want to. How do you think I lasted this long?" I spoke shrugging. "If you make friends, great, but if you don't, don't give it a second thought. I'll be your friend in the meantime," I said. Tony sighed.
"It's just a little anxiety..." He said. I frowned again.
"Look... I'm sorry I've been acting strange," He continued. "I guess I just needed a space to myself lately and the library on the weekends seems like the best place for me to empty my mind." I examined him, waiting for him to continue. Tony made a contemplative face,
"... And I'm just hoping that it'll go away soon. The anxiety I mean."
"Can I join you?" I asked. Tony's lips pursed slightly. Maybe I shouldn't have asked that, I thought.
"I guess you can... you are my best friend after all," He said, smiling softly. I couldn't help but smile back.
"We'll make your shyness go away in no time," I told him. Tony looked away, placing a hand on his heart.
"I hope so... because my heart is racing right now..."
XxxxxxXxxxxxxxXxxxxxX
The Universe Will Die Without You
Chapter 30 Secrets
XxxxxxxXxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxX
The first thing I noticed when we finally neared our ending point was how hidden the path became. If the monkeys were not there to guide us through all the thick vegetation and weeds that stood in our way, we wouldn't have known to come this way. The tree branches started to blend with each other; ropes and vines intertwined and got in our way once and a while. The path was like this for a good ten minutes, until we started noticing certain changes: For one, the smell of the swamp started to fade away finally, until we were the only ones that really reeked. Things also started becoming greener, almost as if we were emerging into a hidden rain forest. The fog was disappearing on it's own, and we were able to see the monkeys on very high branches above us, glowing rust in the afternoon sky. Then finally, something interesting started happening...
There were lots of cans and recycled junk hanging like ornaments on the lower branches. They would clank and clatter every time we walked through some of it. And then soon...
"Finally..." Ness muttered in my shoulder as we saw the vegetation split apart until we were in a small enclosed area. I still carried Ness on my back while Kato still supported Paula on his. We paused, taking in the small area that felt like it's own magical oasis. Rocks were covered in moss and framed the small circular area that led to a cliff side with a cave. Small waterfalls ran around us, and the many colorful flowers that decorated were delicate, pleasant, and not the horrible corpse flowers we had ran into earlier. But what was interesting, was that there were plenty more bits of trash here and there, not appearing as litter, but as decoration. I let my eyes wander above and around us, at how the monkeys all gathered around us on high branches, watching us intently.
"Look..." Paula mumbled. We paused again. It took a moment, but as little by little popped out, I instantly knew what she was talking about.
Creatures... green little reptilian creatures... aliens? I honestly wasn't sure. They were small and delicate like the flowers... their small bead like eyes peeked shyly over whatever they were hidden behind... like shy deer. The same monkey from the beginning of our foggy journey swung down on a near branch.
"We're here," The talking monkey ooked.
"Where are we exactly?" Ness asked. The monkey scratched the back of his head.
"This is Tenda village... and the Tenda that live in it. They're looking shy however..."
"And?" Kato asked. The monkey scratched his head more intently, with a small but exaggerated 'hmm.'
"You'll need to get them to lead you to where you'll need to go next," He said in a sheepish tone. At this point Ness sighed in defeat as he ejected himself from my back.
"So all we have to do is get them to befriend us and then we can continue right?" Ness spoke, stepping forward quietly towards the small creatures. But even as he approached them, I could see them backing off. Ever so slightly.
"Umm... hello..." Ness started to speak. But as he did, just about every single Tenda retreated before he was able to deliver whatever speech he had.
"You'll need to try harder than that to make these little guys budge," He said. I couldn't help but notice how Ness's shoulders slouched. I frowned.
Another road block.
Was he starting to feel defeated now too?
xxx
Despite what the monkey had told us, some of the monkeys ushered us to follow them inside of the cave. Ness decided to stay on his own feet from here while Kato still carried an exhausted Paula on his back.
The caves themselves were covered in décor made of junk and the walls were painted in charcoal and calk. The deeper we walked through the cave, the more junk littered the ground. It was starting to feel like a community of homeless hoarders had been camping out in here for a very long time. But something was off, I thought, and that was just the amount of care that seemed to be put into a lot of the trash that was displayed. The caves had many different holes and alcoves to venture through, and I was able to get a glimpse of some of them. A lot of them had little miniature gnome sized living areas that looked to be very crafty; almost like they were doll homes created by a child. A couple other alcoves had small water falls and streams; some even had small pools of water. Some of them even felt warm from a distance. I wondered if we were near some hot springs?
Every time I caught a glimpse of the Tenda, they'd duck from our sight. They clearly were afraid to be seen. If we were supposed to converse with these creatures, how? We had to trust these monkeys for the time being, and Ness and Paula's, hell even Kato's intuition. A PSI thing? I was starting to think that was the case.
We ended up finding what felt like a large main area of the cave that seemed to connect all of the smaller branches together. All of us paused as we saw all of these strange creatures flee from our sights. Even the monkeys paused.
"Are all of them this shy?" Ness asked the monkey. The monkey scratched his head again in contemplation.
"Yes... no... maybe so?" Ughh...
"Is there a clan leader?" Kato asked.
"Hrrrmmmm..." I eyed the corners of my sight. I could just sense these creatures watching us from a distance. It was then that I saw what looked to be a couple of the Tenda shyly approaching Kato from behind...
Without budging too much, I watched the small situation unfold. Mr. Ziggy's nose was poking out of Paula's bag. The Tenda were fixated on him; and when Mr. Ziggy's eyes and body poked out of the bag further, a couple more Tenda got closer.
"Kato...Paula... don't move," I whispered.
"Huh?" Ness started to turn around until the monkey tugged on his pant leg. Ness paused as he spotted what was going on.
Mr. Ziggy spotted the Tenda; which there were about eight of them staring intently back up at him. We were like this for what felt like a good five minutes.
And then he sneezed...
About six of the Tenda jumped in fear and scurried away as the force of Mr. Ziggy's outburst made himself jump and fall down on the ground. This Mr. Saturn was never the brightest or most vocal besides his sneezes, was he? He sat there, bowed antenna bent over his face, blinking as the remaining couple Tenda approached him slowly. That's when a couple of the Tenda that did flee started creeping up again as well. All until one of the Tenda was in arms reach of him. It reached out a hand... hesitated as his nose twitched, but finally was able to touch it's small hand onto his nose. Mr. Ziggy wiggled it's whiskers slightly. It was almost as if the two of them were communicating silently.
Suddenly, the few Tenda that came forward initially actually did come forward now that the Mr. Saturn stood up. Four of the Tenda lifted Mr. Ziggy above their heads and started to carry him off.
"Hey..." Paula barely whispered. We watched as they carried him off down one of the hallways.
"Should we...?" The monkey nodded as we all slowly and quietly followed behind them to see where they were carrying him. It didn't take too long, down a couple more alcoves until we came into a slightly smaller but still pretty big area, this time with a monumental rock in the middle of the room. This rock was decorated in all kinds of streamers and chalk drawings; it looked sacred, almost like a shrine. The Tenda in this area of course ran and hid as soon as they laid eyes on us.
There was one particular Tenda once my eyes found it. This one was slightly bigger than the rest; had small black horns and slightly bigger eyes; almost like it was a little demon of sorts. But its actions were the opposite as the creature shyly walked towards the small group of Tenda holding Mr. Ziggy, being aware of our presence behind them as well. When the rest of the Tenda noticed how the bigger Tenda was watching us, they turned their heads towards us, only to instantly drop Mr. Ziggy and flee for their lives. The slightly bigger Tenda looked at Mr. Ziggy, whose whiskers twitched again, as if communicating with it. Another Tenda that looked similar to the rest came out not so long after. This was the most different of the Tenda in my opinion because this one was not phased by our presence...
… Then with some sort of telekinesis, it spoke to us.
"... All of the Tenda here are shy," It spoke. "... But we acknowledge why you four are here."
"Then..." Ness spoke, however, once he did, the horned Tenda flinched. I watched Mr. Ziggy's nose twitch again. Ness's head retreated into his shoulders slightly.
"... Then can we proceed? If you know why I'm here and all..." The two Tenda took a moment to respond before turning around to look at the giant rock.
"If you can move this boulder then you may proceed yes," He said. The two Tenda parted way to let us examine the boulder more accurately. I could tell that Ness in particular was examining the obstacle in front of us. It was pretty big, I thought to myself. Pretty big and looked like there was even more below the dirt. Ness walked up to the big rock and looked up. He took in a deep breath.
"Well guys," He began. "Shall we try moving this?" I frowned.
"What about Paula? We're all pretty exhausted right now," I said. Ness frowned.
"We don't have to leave immediately..." He said. Kato mumbled something before kneeling down to put Paula on the ground on her feet.
"Maybe with the three of us, we could move it," Kato said rubbing his hands. You've got to be kidding me...
"You two might, but I'm lacking psychic abilities remember?" I said. Kato turned around to me smirking, placing a hand on his bicep as he flexed.
"I'm sure with just a little physical strength we can make this thing budge enough to get by." Ness shrugged.
"It's worth a shot," Ness said, rubbing his hands. "Lend us a hand Jeff?" I wanted to roll my eyes. This rock was huge; absolutely massive, there was no way.
"Fine." I shrugged my bags and bazooka off my shoulders, rubbing my own hands. "But don't blame me if it doesn't work." The three of us gathered around the giant rock, bracing for the lift.
"On three," Ness spoke. "One... two..."
"Three!" All three of us squat down to place our hands under the boulder and started to lift. Immediately, I could tell the boulder would not budge. In fact... I could feel PSI-kinetic energy start flowing from the other two; and a few grunts escaped our lips. Everyone else in the room watched from a distance.
"That boulder isn't going to budge..." Paula spoke weakly. Ness grunted.
"N... Nonsense," He said. However, what little strength I had left escaped me, as I let go, feeling myself collapse to the ground in exhaustion. I could almost feel like the rock being forced out of my hands, as if it was somehow rejecting my touch.
"I think... -gasp- I think she's right Ness." Ness however wasn't giving up, straining himself as well as Kato... But the boulder remained planted.
"... You see... the boulder is shy too," The Tenda spoke up again. Ness and Kato gasped, as they immediately let go, collapsing on the ground.
"What?!" Ness gasped out loud. I could feel the Tenda's in the corners of the cave flinch at his outburst.
"The boulder is... shy too?" Kato spoke. The monkey scratched his head and shrugged.
"The boulder might be shy too," He continued. I sighed.
"I would say how much that doesn't make sense but... lots of things haven't made sense." Ness stood up.
"Hey boulder!" He spoke up.
"Ness calm down," Kato said. Ness gritted his teeth, lifting up a foot in gesture to kick the thing.
"Ness... stop," Paula spoke using her telekinesis. Ness froze, slowly putting his foot back down before grumpily shoving his hands in his dirty pants, glowering at the boulder.
"It's true... this boulder is shy now," The Tenda said. The other horned Tenda spoke up now.
"... There's one Tenda who can move this boulder," He said. Ness was now frustrated.
"But let me guess..."
"... He is very shy," It finished. All of us sighed in defeat. I rested my chin in my palm, looking up at the thing.
"So how do we make the Tenda not shy?" I asked. There was a pause.
"... I once read a book called Overcoming Shyness," He spoke. "But the book is gone now..."
"Do you know where it may have gone? We could look for it for you guys," Ness asked, walking towards the talking Tenda. Even this Tenda was still slightly shy, I thought as it inched away from Ness's advance.
"No... it's somewhere deep in the swamp..." Ness sulked at that response.
"We can't go back out there..." He said.
Book of Overcoming Shyness... I thought for a moment.
"How did you obtain such a book?" Kato got up and walked towards Ness and the two Tenda. The two of them looked at each other.
"Lots of objects flow to us all the time," One of them said.
"Many books too," The other spoke.
"That's why there's so much junk here," Ness continued. "Maybe there's another copy laying around?" The Tenda looked at a few others who were keeping a distance from each other. They shook their heads slowly in disapproval.
"No... we haven't seen another copy for some time," It spoke. Ness looked like he was contemplating something.
"Do you remember anything else about it? Like the author..." The Tenda with horns spoke up now.
"Jill... Jillian Gutler..." It said. "The author was Jillian Gutler."
"But maybe another book on overcoming shyness could work," The other one said. "I just know that it was that book that helped mine in the past." Ness frowned.
Something inside of me suddenly clicked. As if there was some sort of Dejavu... or a forgotten memory surfacing...
I let my eyes wander to the pile of books in front of him. Some theater books, math texts and other literature books... then my eyes scanned the spine of the book that was lying below the science book that Tony had open...
The Book of Overcoming Shyness by Jillian Gutler.
"What's this?" I asked, letting my fingers roam to the book. Tony scrambled, as if trying to hide the book.
"It's nothing," Tony spoke, stutter still vacant in his voice.
My thoughts returned to the present again.
"There's a copy at my school," I said suddenly. Everyone's eyes were on me now. I darted my eyes around.
"Tony... I mean my friend was reading it once. He was pretty shy at one point too... I think it helped him." Not realizing what I was saying as it came out...
"We should head to your school then and get the book," Kato said. My heart sank. Oh... Oh yeah the whole going there to get the book thing, I thought to myself. I bit my lip.
"About that..." I added. How was I going to get myself out of this one? Ness sighed.
"We should rest first though... possibly wash up?" Ness spoke. I inwardly felt relieved. Thank you...
"Are you sure it's the same book though?" Ness asked me. I frowned.
"It's the same subject right? Does it matter? I mean I think it was..."
"I'll trust your memory," Ness finally said with a small smile, adjusting his cap. Gee, thank you.
"If you four are going to stay here for a little bit... please make yourself at home..." The Tenda said. "We are shy, but we have been anticipating you... we'll try the best we can..."
It was then that the Tenda started shyly approaching us from all corners. Very carefully, I thought. I then noticed a group of them approaching Paula, who was now sitting on the ground, not noticing at first that a couple of them had touched some of her belongings, her backpack, and even Mr. Ziggy. Paula's eyes snapped open when they carried them over their heads.
"Hey, those are mine..." She said, trying to get to her feet as the Tenda started carrying her stuff away. They even got my stuff.
"Let's follow them," I said, getting up myself. Ness knelt down to give Paula a piggy back ride.
"Thank you, clan leader," Kato bowed before following up with us.
"Good luck..." The Tenda spoke.
xxx
The Tenda led us to a small, out of the way alcove with a trash can full of junk, an unlit fire pit in the corner, and a couple random objects here and there, including a phone and an old analog television. They littered our belongings around the corners of the alcove before scurrying off into the cracks again. A few of them however, took what looked to be a towel from Paula's backpack, and scurried out of the room again, taking Mr. Ziggy along with them too.
"Where are they going now?" Ness asked.
"Let's find out," Kato said, as we followed them over. When we finally caught up with them, the temperature of the room got significantly warmer... and steamier. Deeper into the alcove, we knew instantly why.
The Tenda placed the towel on a nearby rock, and placed Mr. Ziggy on the edge on the pool. Mr. Ziggy's nose twitched as a puff of steam from the water rafter up his nostrils. We all saw a couple more of the Tenda emerge with what looked like an old; probably used back scrub and a couple bars of soap, carefully placing them next to the towel before scurrying away. Ness placed Paula down.
"This looks amazing..." Paula and Ness manage to say in unison.
"At least they have good hospitality," Kato said. Ness stretched his back.
"Alright... guess we should bathe first... maybe wash our stuff?"
"I agree... you three reek," Kato snickered. I frowned.
"You don't smell any better now either!" I told him. Kato chuckled, flashing me assertive eyes.
"I'm going to see what else is around here..." He spoke, turning away, waving at us. "I won't be far..." He stopped for a moment, as we watched what looked like a Tenda drawing a red line on the ground in chalk. When the Tenda looked up to Kato, it timidly ran off, dragging the piece of calk behind it.
"What's it doing now?" Ness asked. On closer examination, we looked down on the cave floor; there happened to be many colored chalk lines...
"They're like directions aren't they?" I said, starting to follow one out of the other end of the room with the hot springs. And I was right... many colors of chalk lines, all drawn on the ground, guiding us to the different rooms of the caves.
That'll come in handy I thought.
Because these caves were pretty dang winding and confusing.
xxx
We finally settled down. We had let Paula take a calming hot spring bath before any of us to give her the privacy she needed. Kato went off to a different alcove somewhere in the caves while Ness and I went back to the small room with the junk that the Tenda placed our stuff in.
Ironically, the Tenda had a lopsided, but working washing machine in here, I thought to myself. All of Paula's washable things were inside; her purse, dress; extra clothes... all of it was plugged carelessly in what looked to be a leftover car battery that may had drifted down to them. How was it in working condition? The convenience...
Ness was already sprawled on his back, dirty hat covering his face as he let himself sleep for a little bit. I on the other hand wanted to examine all the junk around us...
I dug into the trash can and found a few things- a broken wrist watch, some nuts and bolts; some duct tape, boxes of unused thank you cards, a broken calculator... the list went on. I took out a few things like the broken wrist watch and some of the nuts and bolts... then my eyes rested on what looked to be a gun. A broken gun?
No... just a nerf gun. The label read 'Death Ray.' I snorted... but decided to take the Death Ray to take it apart as well.
I took out my own tools, and equipment. The bazooka leaned against the cavern wall happily fixed and ready to go, I finally thought. I took out Loid's notes...
If PSI was really the key, I wondered- what else could I fix up? I looked at what I was carrying...
My last bottle rocket was used up in the swamp. I had just gained my new set of multi-bottle rockets, which remained untouched as I let it sit next to my bazooka. The bad key machine was still useful... and my pocket knife was just a knife...
I then placed my hyper beam and my HP sucker in front of me. The hyper beam was a gift from Loid... a nice useful gift I thought to myself. Though I didn't want to tamper with it too much, I wondered if taking it apart to examine it would be a good idea? Maybe I could improve its strength? There was a diagram of the gun inside of his notes, and I had wondered if...
I unscrewed and disassembled the hyper beam to look at the guts. Most of it was exactly what the notes had detailed... but something was off. I looked at the small connector, similar to what the bazooka was like. It seemed to be tampered with a little bit, and the part was definitely newer. I took the gun and smelled it; it had that stale... aged scent. Like it was actually from an older time...
I had wondered if maybe I had actually opened the damn thing in the first place, I would have found out his secret a lot quicker than I did... I examined the small box that supposedly carried a bit of PSI...
I froze.
…
…
And then I just... stared at it...
… What was this feeling? I took the object closer to me, and just stared.
The glow inside of the small container connected to wires was soft... softer than Ness's PSI energy... maybe a bit weaker. Soft and... with the slightest hue of... was it lavender? My mind went blank for a moment; mesmerized...
But...
If... if this gun also ran off of PSI... and was a gift from Loid... then what was the source of the PSI?
I paused for what felt like a good ten minutes or so. There was still a lot of mystery surrounding him, wasn't there? I bit my lip...
Eventually, I screwed everything back into place on the hyper beam, and left it as it was. My heart constricted...
What was this feeling?
I pushed the gun aside for now, and took the hp sucker instead.
The HP sucker looked to be a bar scanner from a grocery or department store of sorts. Heck, it probably was once one, I thought. When you only had two hands in combat though, it was kind of a grim to carry and take out and use. Nonetheless, the thing didn't work very well. I unscrewed the device to examine the insides.
This one didn't have a setup like Loid's inventions, and it was interesting to see how it was built. I wondered who did, I thought? It was my same thought with the heavy bazooka, though that did have a similar Loid set up... maybe it was just another scientist trying to figure Loid's sectets out too and ended up abandoning it?
Whatever made this invention 'suck the energy' out of things, it lead to the handle, which had special padding. I assumed that's where the energy got sucked into, and continued through your hand, which circulated into your body. A little difficult to explain, I thought. So what was I going to do with this, I thought? I looked around at the junk I had collected... and started getting to work.
…
By the time I was taking the wrist watch out and and examining it's guts, thinking about how to combine the two, a couple quiet and sopping wet foot prints approached me.
"Oh... hi," Paula spoke, all wrapped up in a fluffy towel that the Tenda had graciously provided us somehow.
"Hey." Despite the steam still rafting off of her, she looked relaxed... and possibly more exhausted.
"Mind if I come in here?" She asked, Mr. Ziggy popping his nose from behind her neck and wet hair. I shrugged.
"If you don't mind my mess that is," I said. "I can move it of course." Paula grunted, walking towards the washing machine, then paused after opening the machine up.
"... How long as the laundry been done?" She asked. I bit my lip. Oops, I thought. I scrambled up.
"I wasn't paying attention... sorry Paula," I said, going to her side to collect her stuff. "Give it a while on the drying line, it should be dry by... tomorrow," I thought, cringing to myself. Paula frowned.
"What do I wear in the meantime?" She almost sounded like she was pouting. Uh oh...
"I might have my spare white t-shirt on hand for you to wear... should be big enough, right?" I said, tossing and smoothing out her dress on the drying line. Paula frowned.
"But it was soaked from the swamp wasn't it?" She added. I hmmed in response, pulling the spare t shirt out from my bag.
"It's gotta be cleaner than anything I'm wearing though," I replied. "At least in the meantime. I'm really sorry Paula." Paula paused again, shrugging before standing before her laundry and pointing her fingertips towards the hanging garments.
The air got warm.
"That's... smart," I chuckled. Paula glanced to me, flashing me a very faint smile.
"I did this a lot when it was just Ness and I fending for ourselves in the wilderness," She replied. "We had no other choices back then." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.
"At least it's useful," I said. Paula hmmed, as she sat down, continuing to hold up her finger tips to let the hot air emit from her hands.
"Can't promise that I'll do this for everyone's clothes though," She replied. I frowned.
"Paula... something's wrong," I finally said. Paula was silent, as her drained looking eyes stared blankly at her hanging laundry. We were like this for a moment before sighing.
"Not you now..." I said. "Don't tell me Ness's grumpiness has rubbed off on you..." Paula finally looked up to me, flashing me a slight glare. That was the wrong thing to say wasn't it?
"Forget about it," I said, almost stubbornly, collecting my stuff to move it over. "Sorry..."
I moved closer to the end of the alcove where Ness was snoozing away, and continued my business. I glanced up once and a while, up at Paula, who seemed extremely focused and not in the present...
I could have sworn that I saw a small tear roll down her cheek.
xxx
I was almost done with whatever I was trying to do, I thought. Combining the effects of the HP sucker with the wrist watch seemed like a good idea in theory, and my theory seemed to be working to an extent. I ripped the padding of the handle from the HP sucker onto the bottom side of the wrist watch and used some of the components of the suction part into the clock work itself. It was a digital clock however, so using the small circuit board inside proved to be very useful.
During this time, a few Tenda got over their shyness just briefly to aid Paula on the other side of the room somehow. Her nightgown had dried, so she went somewhere else to change into that. Trying not to stare, I noticed the Tenda tending to the analog television. A couple of them carried what looked to be another car battery, and plugged the television inside of that then turned it on. The sound of faint static and white noise filled the cave as the Tenda tried fiddling with the antennas at the top of the television. They were doing it wrong though, I thought on the back of my mind.
Before Paula returned, I sighed, getting up onto my feet to help the small creatures, which scurried off without a second thought upon my arrival. I adjusted the antennas on top of the television...
When I was barely getting a signal on a channel, I went back to the trash can and dug out what I remembered seeing once, which was a small roll of tin foil. When I returned, I wrapped it around the tips, which created the clearer picture and soon the sound of whatever was on. I turned down the volume...
It looked to be some sort of day game show. I left it there, just in case if for some reason it would be lost forever if we flipped it. But a little entertainment for us while we were camping out in the middle of nowhere wouldn't hurt, would it?
Paula walked back into the room, towel wrapped up under her arm as she spotted me fiddling with the TV. I glance into her direction, flashing her a small smile.
"They were having some trouble," I said. Paula smiled softly, but her dull eyes told a different story. I sat down on the cavern floor in front of the television; then patted next to me, ushering her to sit besides me. Paula complied, sitting next to me quietly. Despite her introverted, almost reserved and private mood, she actually sat close next to me. I must have still reeked to her though.
We both blankly watched the television for a good thirty minutes... watching whatever this channel was showing. It was a game show where people could win prizes and money, obviously. Random participants from the audience would walk up and they all had to guess the cost of various objects and items. Sometimes they'd spin a wheel for bonus prizes. Other times, a very silly horn would play if someone got something wrong. During this time, there were many moments I wanted to say something... but every time I looked over to her, her expression was always the same.
Her chin was buried in her knees, arms wrapped around them, as her toes barely grazed the cave surface. Mr. Ziggy nuzzled on her side, closing his eyes before snoring slightly. Her eyes, staring vacantly into the television...
Her dead looking expressions were starting to scare me, I thought.
I got up to leave her be. Maybe she just needed time to herself? I decided to gather my things, letting my eyes glance at Ness who was still sleeping. I frowned, before walking out of the alcove to follow the line of chalk to the hot springs...
xxxx
My body screamed in pure bliss and joy as I let my toweled self sit inside of the hot spring. Aaaaahhh...
I had placed my glasses and clothes on the side, letting my mind drift off into pure bliss... And for once in my life, I let my mind empty everything it had been holding onto. At least in the moment. And just sat there...
I could hear the sound of running water in the near distance... and when I opened my blurry eyes again, I noticed a bit more light... coming from somewhere...
Come to think of it, this room was pretty big. The hot spring was shaped like an eight with a few streams branching away. Cave walls webbed around forming holes inside of them. In one of the holes, I spotted the light. I decided to take a little swim... Thank goodness these springs were shallow enough.
I swam around a corner, seeing the water reach on down like a stream into an area that was lit by daylight. The sound of the waterfall was a lot stronger here, I thought. I followed the noise, until I was within this new small area.
What my blurry eyes could pick up was how these walls were covered in moss. The waterfall was warm, just like the hot springs. Sitting under this miniature waterfall on a rock was none other than Kato, in deep, meditation. I stayed as quiet as I could... not realizing what I was doing then.
I stared at him. I stared at how he was able to shut everything out of his mind... how the water ran over and around his head; long black hair streaming and wrapping around golden tanned skin like silk. A couple locks wrapped around his back and down the side of his shirtless torso...
I had seen him shirtless before, I thought. Out of all of us, he was the most physically fit and matured... almost completely, I thought to myself. Almost embarrassingly so. His abdominal muscles were contracted, as the water rolled over them like rippling tides...
The more I looked at him, the more I realized that something was different. And that difference was on his left arm...
From the scar surrounding his left eye, I noticed a design... a tattoo of sorts. And it rand down the left side of his neck, all the way down his left arm, in a swirling, intricate picture. It was difficult to really get a glimpse with the water rushing down it, combined with my blurry sight, but it almost looked like swirling clouds... and possibly stars.
Was this from the extra training he went through while he was away? We barely got to talk to him after he came back and practically saved us all... hell, I was barely able to thank him. None of us were. And boy were we thankful...
I let my nose duck down into the water, letting my nose blow bubbles before quietly turning around to move back to where I was...
"Jeff..."
I flinched. He knew I was in here?
"What?" I let my mouth speak while it was under water. Despite this, Kato still understood my muffled voice.
"You're staring," He spoke, not opening his eyes at all. I flushed.
"N... no I'm not," I replied bashfully, feeling my eyebrows furrow. I could see the slightest smirk form on Kato's face.
"You're lying," He said simply. I blew bubbles in response with my nose and mouth under the water. Kato snickered, finally opening his eyes to look at me.
"Oh, but maybe you can't see me very well," He added, leaning forward while placing his chin in his hand; water cascading down his back.
"Told you I'd come back," He continued. "I hope you hadn't forgotten about me." I continued to stubbornly blow bubbles.
"What's with the sullen expression Jeff? Sad that you weren't able to save the day again?" Oh he's taunty, I thought to myself.
"I didn't need saving..." I said, immediately regretting it. Yes I did.
"Yeah you did," Kato replied. Was he reading my thoughts?
"Ok, I guess I was looking at the stomach of a giant pile of puke, but honestly, what's new?" I said. Kato let off a snort, then a laughter.
"Your stubbornness does tend to get you into trouble." I frowned, leaning against a nearby rock.
"What's with the new tattoo?" I asked. Kato grunted.
"What, this?" He asked, lifting his left arm. It was still difficult to get a really good glimpse, but I got the gist of it already. It was a very oriental looking design, swirls of clouds decorated his arm in black ink, stars decorating the design here and there.
"Let's just say it's proof of me learning the Star Storm," He replied. Star Storm? Isn't that what that man in the tornado said?
"That's what you went away to learn isn't it?"
"Yes... it's also how I saved you and the others from getting permanently digested," He added. I frowned.
"I don't get it, I understand that it must be a powerful PSI move but is that really it?" I asked. Kato hmmed.
"Perhaps... perhaps not," He said, letting his head lean back slightly. There was a moment of pause.
"You could say it was my last trial for learning how to use PSI," He said. I grunted in response.
"You could also say that it's also a way to link this world to other universes... in a way to call for help," He continued.
"Really?" I asked. A way for the world or universe to call for help? "What do you mean?" Kato paused for a moment.
"Let me think of how to explain this... PSI is the psychic energy of this universe," He explained. "The Star Storm is literally what it sounds like, it's a storm of star energy, and it's summoned by a messenger... which is me," He added. "If I can use my PSI energy, channel it with the universe, I can call for the Star Storm... kind of an attraction. I'm not sure how to explain it much further."
"I think I get it," I said. The earth... or the universe is alive and has it's own circulation of energy. If you're using that energy to attract other forces of energy that doesn't belong to itself, that creates a Star Storm," I said. Kato nodded.
"Precisely... though even I'm not entirely aware of the magnitude of it, despite me being the 'messenger.' I'm still just human after all." I nodded.
"Does this mean Ness and Paula could learn the Star Storm too?" I asked him. Kato shrugged.
"It's possible... though their PSI roles are different." Different?
"Like...?"
"Ness is a defender and Paula is an offender in combat, right? I'm somewhat of a mixture of the two... . and a messenger. PSI is a complicated subject... I'm still trying to understand it all myself." Interesting.
"I wonder where that leaves me?" I started.
"Hmm?" I paused, looking up to him.
"I... I made a discovery the other day," I said.
"And?" I gulped.
"All of my gadgets... and my father's notes... all of the gadgets I try using; or the one I've been trying to fix for a while now actually runs off of PSI energy," I said. Kato smirked.
"And you figured this out? That's fantastic Jeff." I rubbed the back of my head bashfully.
"Thank you... I think. Though I'm not entirely sure why, but it might be how PSI forms a flow... a circuit if you will." Kato stood up, stretching his arms.
"PSI is a life flow... with that basic knowledge, I can understand why it worked out for you."
"Yeah..." Kato flashed me a grin.
"I'm going to scout the area a bit and try to find some food for us later. Enjoy your bath," He said before diving head first into the water.
"Wait!" But Kato was already swimming off back into the caves. I sighed, letting my shoulders slouch slowly. I let my eyes wander up to the waterfall he was under. I don't know why, but I decided to let myself climb up to that position.
When I did, I noticed that there was another alcove behind the waterfall; kind of a private area. I let myself sneak down into the small warm secret pool area. This was nice, I thought. It was warm here, and it felt like I could be all by myself. I sat here, for what felt like a good ten minutes, thinking to myself.
I thought back at our conversation and how he was connecting our universe with another universe or multiple universes to attract the Star Storm... Just how big or small were we? When you put it into that perspective...
… Maybe in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter what happened to us... would it?
Maybe Giygas was a parasite. And if it takes over one universe, it spreads to the next. Then it would matter, I thought. I didn't want to think on such a large scale... but this was the reality, wasn't it?
… What's my role? I thought to myself. All three of them used PSI, so where did that leave me and why was I so... significant to join in on the task to defeat Giygas? I thought back at everything we had been through up to that point. Me finding Ness and Paula in the Sky Runner, then traveling and meeting the Mr. Saturn... to our journey to Fourside and our chapter there...
Demetri was one person I could check off on people who was aware of PSI that isn't us... or at least he was aware of the eyes that sought evil. Picky was another person, but that was only because he had seen Ness and possibly Paula use it on first hand a few times and we didn't keep it a secret from him; maybe in a sense inviting him into our little world. Ness's mother also had an idea that Ness was... quote on quote 'special' but the extent on her knowledge of PSI was unknown to me. Then there was Pokey. Besides Giygas, he was our main enemy. At this point, I may as well just think of the two as the same being, since the two seem to have such a close connection. What universe did Giygas come from? How did it get here, and how is it communicating with people?
… Just like how Kato explained how he was the 'messenger' or magnet for the Star Storm... was Giygas the same thing for a different, evil universe or time? Was there such a thing? Is that what's attracting all of the unearthly things to happen to us so far?
Then there was Loid, and how he left me those notes. How he knew Ness and Paula... and what I was meant to do. How did Loid know PSI exactly? And why did the Hyper Beam already become equipped with it? Did Loid invent a robot or machine that operates and connects to the earth to retrieve the PSI in our universe to charge his inventions? Or was it something else entirely?
...Then there was him. That strange man that wanted me dead... or seemed to want me dead. What was his connection with Ness? How did he know about PSI? Something unsettling set in my stomach. I didn't want to think about him too much.
…
I don't know how it happened, but as I was thinking deeply to myself on this subject matter, a slick, but slender pair of hands slithered around and shielded my eyes. Before I could react at all, I felt someone against the side of my back, and someone's voice softly in my ear.
"Boo..." Ness spoke. I shivered, turning around.
"Jesus, you scared... me..." I paused, feeling another blush creeping up on me. A snicker escaped Ness's lips. Ness was able to find me; I thought, and sat next to me in the small alcove; close enough to where I could see him and how his wet hair clung to his forehead. He had a small, curious looking smile.
"What are you doing all the way over here?" He asked cocking his head. I flushed.
"Taking a... bath..." I shifted my eyes away from him, feeling my flush take over. Don't let it sink in don't let it sink in... I could feel Ness's body close to mine, and it was definitely just his body, for the most part. I felt my heart start to hammer in my chest. Ness noticed this action.
"... Like you said way back in Fourside Jeff, we're both guys-"
"I know we're both guys!" I stammered, looking over at him, finally letting my eyes finally look at him, just not over him. Yup, we're both naked, not considering the towels, I thought.
"... I'm allowed to feel flustered around another guy aren't I?" I asked. Ness raised an eyebrow.
"And I wasn't allowed?" Ness's eyebrow rose amusingly. I frowned, narrowing my eyes at him.
"When did I ever say that?" I asked.
"Back in Fourside, you remember how I was nervous around you when we both were merely just changing in our clothes? Except now we're just bathing." Ok Ness, those are two completely different things!
"Well yeah, but I didn't think we'd turn out ga- ok you know what? You're right, never mind." I spoke nervously, crossing my arms looking the other way. Ness took a moment before giggling again. He was still looking at me, wasn't he?
"... What's so funny?" I asked nervously. His laughter was a little louder now. My frown deepened.
"You Einstein," I growled.
"What do you want me to do about it?" I asked nervously. Ness sighed.
"You're adorable." My face scrunched up.
"Well you're... you're..." I had nothing. I could just feel Ness's smile spread wider and wider with each embarrassing response I had.
"I'm what?" Ness taunted at me playfully. I snorted- but couldn't really find my words. Ness giggled and looked forward, leaning back against the slate of rock behind us.
"I thought you grew up in a place where you were surrounded by guys non stop, I'm surprised you can't handle one more-" I shivered, biting my bottom lip, turning to him again, in a gesture; maybe to cup my hand over his lips? I wasn't sure.
"I know I know, I should be unfazed when surrounded by cock and balls I get it." I loved how blunt I was because Ness just looked speechless by then. Then a smile.
"Good to know what I'm capable of." He narrowed his eyes. Holy shit Ness.
"Oh my god..." I facepalmed. Wow... I must have been a tomato by then. I wondered how long I was like that.
"Jeff? It's ok, I won't do some funky dance in front of you naked, we're fine," He started laughing.
"Is my nose bleeding yet?" I asked honestly, mouth muffled by my hand.
"Hmm... I can't tell, turn your face this way," He said. "Uncover your face of course so I can see."
"I swear to god if I am-" I should have seen it coming. Right when I uncovered my mouth, my lips were greeted by his. My eyes widened. Ness you sneak! It was a small peck however, as he pulled away pretty fast. I watched as he licked his lips seductively, eyes scanning my face, and whatever expression I may have had. Gah... Ness you tease!
"I don't taste anything, your face looks fine," He said, leaning back, winking. "You're definitely red though..." My sigh was staggered.
"I didn't realize you were such a flirt..." I muttered, covering my mouth again, glancing the other way as my eyes narrowed again.
"Yeah well I didn't realize you were the same way until you wanted to hack me back in the submarine." Welp.
"What does that mean?" I spat. Ness smiled innocently at me then.
"Though... I'm not stopping you right now am I?" I looked at him.
And then there was a good pause between the two of us as we stared at each other. But as soon as we could even comprehend where the situation could have gotten us... sooner than maybe either of us wanted, the two of us glanced away nervously.
"A... anyways... as much as this water is relaxing and the fact that we're literally naked right now... I don't think I'm in the mood," Ness responded. I snorted.
"That's not what it felt like minute ago," I replied. Ness sighed, letting himself sink into the water.
"I was... I wanted to talk to you actually." Oh.
"About?" Ness slouched down- nose halfway underwater. He did the same thing I did earlier, letting his nose create bubbles in the warm water.
"Just stuff..." My mouth curved down.
"Stuff?"
"Yeh..." I let my back relax against the rock wall behind us now. Ness was doing some small PSI trick with the water in the near distance, creating little mini whirlpools and bubbles form.
"I thanked Kato for coming back," He said. "I'm really thankful that he's here again." He breathed out of his nose.
"Yeah same... he literally showed up at the moment we really needed him too," I said.
"I wonder what his training was like? I wonder if I could learn what he trained to do," He said. I flicked some water with my fingers.
"He was just here actually- meditating. I guess to keep his mental energy sharp or whatever he does."
"He's not like Paula and I in that sense is he? It's like second nature to us... PSI I mean. We don't have to put much effort into maintaining it like he does." I grunted.
"That's... kind of what Kato was explaining to me yeah." I remembered how Pokey first mentioned him as the distant person in Dalaam learning PSI to the time that Kato mentioned how he had trained enough to split him in half.
"If Kato is normal... does that mean if I trained like Kato, I could use PSI too?" I asked. Ness paused. Longer than I thought he would actually.
"I... wanted to talk to you about that actually." What?
"I understand... if you need more PSI people... I can't promise I could learn it."
"No, it's nothing like that." Ness said.
"Does it have to do... does it have to do with the Bazooka I was trying to fix?" I asked. Ness hmmed.
"Possibly... possibly not." That was cryptic I thought.
"There's a lot on my mind about that too," I started. "While I may have figured out the 'Frizzy Doctor Andonuts' secret that he's known for, I've come up with more questions now. More questions that in all honesty, I'm not sure if I'm ready to handle." I said. Ness paused.
"What do you mean?" I sighed, letting my eyes close. I tried to think of how to put what I was now thinking of into words.
"How... how many people before Paula did you meet that had the same PSI abilities as you?" I asked. I already knew the answer, and so did he.
"None that I know of, of course... but what does that mean?" I winced. I knew it.
"Exactly. My point is, if you, Paula and now Kato are literally the only people in the world who use PSI that aren't Giygas's goons, then how in the world does my father even know what PSI is?" I asked. Ness seemed to know what I was getting at.
"Well your dad is known for being extremely smart right? He probably just discovered it somehow." I sighed, bringing my knees to my chest.
"... I'd like to believe that honestly, in that case. I'd like to believe that it's just this incredible coincidence that he's able to just discover all of these 'world saving' shenanigans that we've been up to... but..." I thought hard. I thought of everything from the very beginning, from my parents fighting over the big 'thing' that was to occur in twenty years to seeing the strange metal man kill my mother... to being thrown in boarding school for the remainder of my years... to just...
"I told you I just knew that I would be going on this journey someday, right?" I asked. Ness finally looked at me.
"I mean... yes but..." I paused for a moment.
"My life was never normal," I stated. "That could be the trade off from me not having PSI but... I hate how my life is this giant puzzle that I'm still trying to piece together Do you know what I mean?" I asked. Ness took a moment, then nodded.
"I was never the same as my sister." He started. I looked at him. He was looking up- his face looked vacant.
"I wasn't the same as my mom... my dad... no one at school... I..." He continued. He soon looked down, small exhale out of his nose. He smiled.
"But it sounds like you need to get a lot more off your chest than me," He finally said. What did Ness need to talk about?
"Well what were you going to say?" I asked. Ness however shook his head.
"No... I want to hear what you've been thinking about. I want to see if it fits with what I'm thinking." Oh...
"Well... per continuation from last night..." I paused. And then I don't know what took over...
"I... I was right after all," I started. "I was right about the PSI being the secret. I- I opened up the Hyper Beam he gave me." I tried not to look at Ness, I didn't know what his face was telling me then.
"I found..." My voice became hoarse. "I found PSI... in the Hyper Beam." I could sense Ness's expressed surprise on the corner of my eye.
"Re-really?" I gulped.
"Ness... what does this mean?" I looked over to him. "Where did he get that PSI? Kato and I were just talking about how PSI was the universe's energy- our universe... but no one else seems to know about this... except for maybe a handful of people in Dalaam, but what do they know? Kato's the only other one besides you and..." I paused.
"Jeff..." There was a long pause.
"... When we touch foreheads and we're able to connect like that... I can't do that with just anyone." My heart sank.
"What?" I paused. Ness looked nervous then.
"Don't get me wrong... I..." Ness looked anxious. Anxious as fuck, I thought.
"Let it out, please," I said. However Ness was quiet.
"...I've tried touching foreheads with many people in the past," He said. "But... I've only made connections like that with very few people..." A few people?
"May I ask... how many?" Ness paused. An he really paused.
"Five." Another pause. "Five people." My eyebrows rose up. … What?
"Five? If Paula, Kato and I are three..." Ness took in an inhale. A nervous one.
"I can't..." Ness hugged his knees. "I'm sorry Jeff..." I frowned.
"But you just said that there was no one before Paula, Kato and I that you knew had PSI, right?" Ness froze. Which made me freeze.
"Jeff... I can't," He spoke almost murmured. I pursed my lips slightly.
"Why not?" I asked. Ness ran a hand through his wet hair.
"So..." He spoke shakily.
"Ness, who are these other people?" I asked. Ness looked as if he was starting to have a panic attack. I frowned. Was...
"Pokey..." I said. Ness shut his eyes sharply. I widened mine. This definitely didn't feel ok.
"What did he do to you?" I half demanded. Until I saw how broken down Ness was becoming. To the point where I noticed tears... I frowned. But stubbornly, I pressed forward.
"What did he do to you... I promise I'll keep it between us. Cross my heart, hope to die." Ness held his forehead, letting his tears stream down, almost like the waterfall that we were behind. Now I was starting to get angry.
"I'm serious Ness... what did he do to you?" Ness finally shot me a really upset; almost nasty glare.
"If you want to know so much... why don't you go find out and go to him yourself?" He spoke bitterly. I frowned. He wasn't still holding a grudge against me from that time way back in Fourside was he?
"You wanted to talk to me about something, this was the something you wanted to talk about, ri-"
"No. No... I..." Ness stammered. I sighed.
"Then what?" I was putting him in a rough spot, I knew. But it made me wonder... if he made that head butting connection with Pokey... who was the last person? It wasn't...
… It wasn't him was it?
This was starting to get into some, deep, dark personal territory, I thought to myself.
"Ness..." I watched as he started to sob.
"I can't... I don't even know what to say, that's the problem." My features softened.
Oh god...
"I would love to tell you. But you still have yet to tell me what the two of you even talked about that day you left me in the hospital." Not back to this I thought.
"If you calm down I-"
"How can I stay calm?!" Ness spat finally. "How can I keep calm when Pokey's entire life's mission is to make my life a living fucking hell?! God knows where the fuck he is right now or what the fuck he's doing, all we know at this point is that he's working for that stupid alien that predetermined my shitty destiny and decided to make it worse!" What...? Ness was shaking now.
"What... did he..."
"I'll tell you what he did. He betrayed me. Happy?" Ness was full of rage at that point. I could honestly feel the air's energy shift slightly. It scared me honestly.
"And... I let him in my world... he's this cancer now I can't get rid of... and..."
What?
What did he mean by this? I don't know what drove me, maybe it was the deja vu... maybe it was something I had meant to do for a while now.
"I... I..." I let myself lean forward swiftly, wrapping both of my arms around his body. Ness shook from the contact. I squeezed my eyes shut, for some reason, expecting him to shove me aside.
But he didn't.
"Looks like it was the other way around," I whispered. Ness exhaled nervously. He had a lot to let off his chest, I thought to myself. I wanted to poke and prod him for more information... but was he ready? Or was there just this extremely tight knot in his brain that he had a hard time even budging loose?
"... I'm sorry for pressuring you. And I'm sorry for leaving you at the hospital that day." I finally said. Ness clung back, embracing me tighter than I thought he would. While the both of us were wet, I could still feel his tears roll down my shoulder. We stayed like this for a little bit, cradling each other.
"Anyways..." Ness's shaken breath spoke. "You're right about one thing."
"And what's that?" I asked. Ness nuzzled me, calming down slightly.
"You're not normal." He said. "I don't know if it's because you have PSI hidden within you or... you're just one of those people, but you must have some sort of connection with PSI. I mean... with you being with us and all..." I let his words sink in slightly.
I didn't once know or have PSI and lost it... for some reason, did I?
"I'll think about it," I said. Ness took a small gulp.
"And..." A pause.
"I... I can't. I'm not ready to tell you everything. I need more time..." I frowned. But I understood where he was coming from.
"But... you're nothing like Pokey... please remember that."
xxx
Our clothes were now drying on the small clothes line near the washing machine. Ness and I dressed ourselves in whatever spare clean clothes the Tenda seemed to have provided us. Where did some of this stuff originate from, I thought?
All of us ate silently in the small alcove back where we were all camping. Kato had made a vegetable stew, with whatever ingredients he had gathered; it seemed to be a variety of edible mushrooms and peppers he was able to run into.
Ness and I sat next to each other; closer than we were used to around other people with our crossed legs touching, I thought. I tried not to glance at Ness too much, but when I did, he almost looked more exhausted than he did when we arrived. His breakdown must have taken a lot out of him I thought, as I noticed his closed, but bagged eyes relax as he ate more of the stew that Kato cooked. When I looked over at Paula however...
Paula almost hadn't taken a single bite of her stew. She could only look down at the bowl with this tired, blank depressed stare. All of us seemed to take note of this; though none of us really said anything.
"I don't know what we'd do without your cooking," Ness spoke tentatively. "I'd probably be eating out of garbage cans still." Kato grunted.
"I'll teach you sometime," He replied. "You just have to know what's edible and you can just about cook anything if you see it." There was more silence. Luckily; I thought, Paula had finally taken a bite of stew. And another. Thank goodness...
"So... what's the plan?" Kato asked. Silence...
"We find the book of overcoming shyness," Ness spoke calmly. "You said you've seen a copy floating around your school Jeff?" I took a moment to process what he was saying. Back at my school I thought. Back inside the walls, the world I once only knew...
"Yes," I replied. "I believe there is."
"We check there then," Ness continued. "And if it's not there... there's a fairly large library in Onett we could check out... though I bet there's an even larger one in Fourside." Judging by everyone's expressions... none of us felt like going back to Fourside anytime soon.
"Good that we'll have a backup plan," Kato spoke. "Paula... any thoughts?" Kato asked.
A long pause, as we all watched the young girl take small sips of her soup. Mr. Ziggy had curled up next to her, and snoozed for a while. She put her spoon down.
"That's fine," She said. Ness had put down his bowl.
"Paula... what's wrong?" His tone of voice was hurt. Paula wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist.
"Just tired..." Paula shrugged, faking a small smile. Ness narrowed his eyes.
"No... something's wrong," He said. Paula gave him just the smallest of glares, to the point where it was gone in an instant.
"I'm fine," She assured us. I'm just exhausted... the swamp took a lot out of me, ok?" She said, standing up, picking up Mr. Ziggy. Ness could only stare at her.
"You're..."
"I'm going to bed now. Thank you for the food Kato..." She said, walking away towards the back of the alcove where the TV was still on. We watched as she unzipped the thin sleeping bag, and crawled inside. She quietly watched whatever was playing on the dully colored television. It looked to be another game show about guessing questions to answers..
"Maybe..." Ness started. I turned to him.
"Maybe we should recuperate for another day here." Another day of rest didn't sound horrible, I thought. I could still sense the Tenda spying on us on the corners of the caves.
Soon after that, we had gotten whatever blankets we had and set up camp. Kato put out the small fire pit we had huddled around. The one light source I noticed coming from the black and white television that Paula was soon asleep in front of. Ness walked over and turned that off as well. Paula was out like a light and did not protest.
It was then that I had noticed another small light source. I turned around, and looked around the winding caves. Littered here and there along the corners of the caves were lit candles. Did the Tenda leave these just in case we needed to move around at night time?
Kato had chosen to sleep closer to Paula. Ness took an area that was closer to the entrance of the alcove we were in. I decided to join him.
It honestly didn't take long for my eyes to droop when I lied down next to him. When I did, I sensed Ness flopping over to face me. I didn't pay much mind however.
"...Jeff?" It was barely a mutter. I grunted softly in response. A pause.
"... What's going to happen to us?" It was barely legible, but it was still there. I cracked an eye open, scanning the dark to find Ness. When I did, I turned over. And somehow... I was able to find his eyes.
His eyes almost glowed in the dark. Just barely. I felt myself becoming lost in them again. Did he get lost in mine too?
I did what I had almost done back in his room in Onett... I closed the space between us, placing my lips softly onto his. Ness barely complied, closing his eyes. We didn't move of mesh our lips against each others... just placed them there, until we broke apart.
Both of us were silent, as we huddled close, arms wrapping around each other; our breaths and our heartbeats settling us to sleep.
xxx
When my eyes started to flutter awake, the first thing I noticed; almost to my disappointment was the lack of warmth. Blurry eyes eventually revealed to me that Ness had already escaped my sleepy embrace... I closed my eyes again. Murmurs...
My eyes fluttered open slightly again.
"Nothings wrong."
Huh? I turned over, eyes still closed.
"Why are you lying to me...?" I heard Ness's voice. And it was hurt. And then I heard the most irate sounding Paula I had ever heard in my life.
"I'm fine Ness."
"No you're not! God... if you're upset with me, or if you don't want to be with us, just let me know! I..." Ness trailed off. I let my eyes crack open, trying to see through my eyelashes. In front of what I assumed to be the light of the television, I saw two blobs... most likely Ness and Paula.
Then there was silence.
"Look. This journey was all my fault. If you want to go home... and forget any of this ever happened, I don't blame you..." Was Ness... blaming himself for this entire journey?
"Don't you dare."Paula responded. I could just feel Ness flinch from her words.
"What do you want me to do...? We're literally traveling to these eight locations for me and for me only..." Ness defended. Paula was silent. They both watched the TV blankly.
"Fine... I'll leave you alone. But you better talk to me when you're ready." Ness stood up and stormed out of the alcove. As I listened to Ness's footsteps get more distant, I watched Paula; curled up and alone, staring blankly at the television.
My heart sunk... as I let my eyes flutter shut again.
xxx
After I had woken up, all of us seemed to be doing our own thing... Ness was staring at the giant rock we had to move, or talking to the talking monkey, who still lingered around us once and a while... Kato was meditating in different spots of his choosing throughout the day. When didn't he meditate, I thought?
Paula was still staring at the TV... she was definitely not herself now. And so what was I doing?
I decided to work on the HP sucker again. This time, taking out the old machine and the broken watch... I think I had something going. My first invention? Maybe...
By the time I had inserted or recreated everything vital from the HP sucker and improved on it, I finally set up the small gadget to where it would need another PSI charge. However, just to be sure, I needed to look at something in Loid's notes. My heavy bazooka, hyper beam and Loid's notes all were closer to Paula's side of the cave. I tentatively crept my way over quietly like a mouse.
Tip toeing my way around her, I noticed that she was watching the same game show we watched yesterday. I started to recall- it looked like the same kind of game show that would play in the cafeteria at my school during the weekends, I thought. The price was wrong was it called? Right? I didn't remember. I quietly grabbed my notes, slightly jumping however, when I saw a small Tenda, who was hiding behind my things spot me. We stared for a moment. The small creature looked like it wanted to run. I sighed quietly, turning away, almost tripping over Mr. Ziggy, who stared back up at me. I stumbled; hand quickly reaching for the cave wall to keep myself balanced. I nervously glanced up at Paula. But she paid absolutely no mind. I frowned, looking down at the two creatures who just stared at me. Did Paula somehow befriend a Tenda? What were the Tenda anyways? I tip toed my way around them again, eyes glued to the ground. I almost paused, glancing at a small doodle in the dirt.
It looked like a cake, I thought. I didn't pay it any mind...
thinking back though, I wish I had.
xxx
"Ness?"
Ness had turned his head around and spotted me. He had been sitting in front of the big boulder that blocked our way for a long while I thought. Just alone, flicking the yo-yo I had fixed for him. Come to think of it, I didn't really see him use that yo-yo until now. I threw him a crooked smile
"Hey..."
"Hey." Ness put the yo-yo down and hugged his knees. I sat besides him. We sat silently for a couple minutes.
"How close are we? To the next sanctuary, I mean." I asked.
"Hmmm." I placed some of my things besides me, including the hopefully almost completed gadget I was working on.
"Close."
"Ah..."
"... I'm sorry about my outburst yesterday. It was wrong." Ness spoke. I frowned.
"You've dealt with me not saying sorry for the many outbursts I've had and yet you feel like you need to apologize for yours?" I asked, almost humorously. Ness hummed.
"Maybe you have a point. But still..."
"You seem like you're in deep thought with this boulder," I thought. "Don't tell me you're turning into a Stoic club member now." Ness snorted.
"Oh please... those people were weird."
"Yeah... well, so are we," I shrugged. Ness bit his lip.
"Yeah but at least we're not mental," He added.
"Hmmmm... are you sure about that?" I lightly joked. Ness lightly punched my shoulder.
"Fine, we're just a little more mentally stable than they are." I chuckled.
"I... could you help me again?" I asked calmly. Ness's eyes opened up a little bit more now.
"With what?" I gestured to my small, weird looking wrist watch now, showing him the small wiring, and the little case inside that needed charging.
"Oh... yeah, hold on just a second." Ness paused, closing his eyes as he placed a couple fingers on one of the wires. I held the opposing one.
"Ok... c'mere..." I complied, resting my forehead on his, closing my eyes. The same rush of events occurred like last time.
"Keep your eyes closed..." I could barely hear him mutter. The sensation yet again was everything in the universe, to just the two of us solidifying the link... This link that we could make between us was starting to come easier to me, I thought.
The gadget charged up. Sooner than we usually wanted to, our eyes fluttered open. I calmly looked down to our hands again. The device emitted a soft, blue glow. I fastened the link together and screwed everything in place. Standing up, I strapped the watch on my hand and pointed it at something... but what? My eyes spotted a small patch of moss. I aimed my left wrist towards the small patch and pressed the button.
In almost no time at all, I watched at how the moss's green hue shriveled up almost to the color of the stone it was on, and watched the energy; forming like small fireflies similar to the ones in Onett all collecting into the wrist watch. And then through my wrist- like a small energetic wave, into my bloodstream. I examined my wrist.
"Hmm," I grunted. Ness stood up.
"What is that?" Ness asked. I started fiddling with the time. What time was it anyways?
"It's supposed to be an upgraded version of that energy sucker I was lugging around but wasn't using much," I told him. "Maybe I'll use this more now that I don't have to worry about holding it."
"That's smart," Ness said. I turned my eyes to him.
"You think so?" Ness shrugged.
"Well you're already carrying a lot of stuff, it would make sense that you'd want something you could just strap to yourself." I nodded, giving the device one last examination.
"Thank you..." I began. "Really... I wouldn't be able to fix any of this shit without you- so..." I'm not sure what my expression was, but it still caught him off guard slightly, as I slung an arm around him for an embrace. A quick one, but I had hoped that it was a genuine one. I looked him in the eyes.
"You don't mind... do you?" I asked.
"Why would I mind?" I shrugged.
"Just kind of feels greedy leeching off of your abilities-"
"We already went through this though," Ness said. We did?
"Huh?"
"I can't do that with just... anyone... yeah." Oh...
"Well... thank you anyways." I said, giving one of his shoulders a squeeze. Ness flashed me a small smile.
"Anytime... what are you going to do now?" I started to walk away. I rubbed the back of my head.
"I'm going to walk around a little bit... wanna join?" I asked.
"Hmmm... nah, not right now." I frowned slightly. He may have been upset over his moment with Paula, I thought.
"Well... I'll be around," I told him before walking away.
"Are you sure?" I looked back down to him.
"Yeah?" A pause.
"I just need a little bit to myself right now. You understand, right?" Ness spoke nervously. I frowned, flashing him a concerned look.
"A'ight... I'll come around later."
I didn't notice that Ness had immediately sat back down, knees curled up to his chest as he gazed at the big boulder again.
xxx
I passed by the alcove where we were camping and spotted Paula. At first I was alarmed... she had passed out again under the covers. But on closer examination, I watched as her chest rose and fell peacefully. I frowned. I really hoped she'd get out of whatever funk she was in...
I continued on through the caves, letting myself explore the hallways of the Tenda village. Of course, ever time I saw them, they would hide from me. In their homes, behind rocks, under the junk that they had systematically placed everywhere... if we had to count on them for our path to be unblocked then we were definitely at a road block I thought.
I wandered to the hot springs again, listening to the distant waterfall in the near distance. A few of our things were still littered about here, mainly our shoes which looked a bit cleaner on closer examination... were the Tenda actually taking care of us? Just not confronting us?
I took my black school shoes and examined them. Not only did these looked washed, but they looked waxed; their once dull leather coat was now shining and brimming. I placed them down and looked at the other pairs of shoes.
Ness's once brown converse shoes now shown red again; you could still see the wear and tear stains around the metal loops that held the laces together, and a few brown spots and stains here and there, and they were still slightly damp. Paula's flats were the same way; once a brown color now were bright pink again; and on closer examination I could now see that there was a soft shimmer to them. On the insides of their soles looked to be fresh padding. Was this provided by the Tenda? Kato's slippers were tended to with care; their elaborate silk designs now shown again on the black silk. It was a simple design of clouds and dragons, embroidered with what looked like a soft gold silk thread.
I took off my socks and sat down to let my feet soak the hot springs. Natural hot springs had natural minerals that were good for the body, right? They were extremely relaxing... Somehow these springs were able to clear my mind. I turned my head.
There, hiding behind a small boulder was another Tenda. Those small green alien things. The small creature had these black bead eyes that just stared so intently at me, as if it was studying my every move. I decided to reach out to it.
"Hey.." I spoke. However, as soon as I made any form of movement towards it, the small creature quickly hid away. I frowned. Scanning my eyes around the area I then noticed- there were many of them. Just staring at me. It kind of made my heart leap slightly- but from what they were saying to us when we got here about their shyness, I figured they meant no harm. Still though... it was a little invasive I thought.
I let my eyes explore the area again, watching the day light reach some of the hot springs from the small opening with the waterfall, where I had found Kato meditating yesterday. I wondered where he was now? Was he over there again? I didn't feel like jumping into the hot springs however...
I then noticed a pouch. His pouch, I thought... My heart beat started to increase.
Should I?
I took my feet out of the water and tip toed my way over to his small pouch... big enough to carry a few things, I thought to myself. It was almost like a fanny pack. I bit my lip.
Shaken fingers drifted towards the small pouch, and touched the rim of the flap. I carefully unbuttoned it, and let the flap fall loose. I swiftly let my fingers invade the interior of the pouch; tips almost immediately finding what I was looking for. I slipped it out.
Pokey's journal...
I closed the flap; holding the book closely to myself. I turned around-
"AAH!" I yelped, jumping backwards, holding the book close to my back. Because right in front of me then; looking at me amusingly, was Kato. I watched his black and white eyes narrow in amusement.
"Whatcha doing?" He asked. My heartbeat was hammering...
"I..."
"Whatcha got there?" He asked, smirking. "It's not what I know it is, is it?" I finally narrowed my eyes.
"Don't... don't act like you're not in on this too!" I spat back. Kato snickered.
"Me? In on what?" He asked. Oops...
"You hiding the thing from everyone, that's what!" I said. But my stance was weak.
"Only after you hid it from everyone else! Why do you need this thing back so badly without telling us?" He spoke; quickly snatching the book from my hands with abnormal speed. I yelped.
"You... you don't understand," I stated.
"Hmmmm actually I do understand," He replied. I snarled.
"What do you know?" I asked. "Did you read it? You may as well have!" Kato frowned.
"But that would put me on your level."
Oh no...
No he did not.
"My level? So what am I this rat now? Give it back!" I tried to snatch the book out of his hand, but of course he held it above his head.
"What is this?" He said. I struggled, jumping up to snatch the thing again. He wasn't letting me have any leeway.
"It's none of your business!" I shouted again. "It's..." Kato frowned.
"It's what?" I was sure I was giving him the nastiest snarl.
"You know what... I was starting to think you were alright," I said. Kato narrowed his eyes and blinked at me.
"Yeah, well I was starting to think you were maturing up too, but I guess not." I gritted my teeth. He needs to stop treating my like a child! I angrily thought.
"Why are you doing this!"
"Does this belong to Ness?" I gritted my teeth.
"No, it doesn't belong to Ness." Kato opened the pages and scanned the pages again. My chest was hyperventilating again, watching as he flipped through.
"I see the sketch of a bird. I saw a similar one by a glance in the book that Ness was carrying around," He added. Did he mean his personal notebook that he doodled in?
"I can assure you that it doesn't belong to him," I said. Kato paused.
"Ok Jeff, calm down. I don't want to fight with you... just tell me what it is, I'll give it back," He said. "Is it... your diary?" He sneered. I bit my lip to the point where it could have bled.
"No." Kato placed a hand on his hip.
"It's not Paula's diary and it has this sketch of a yellow bird so it must be-"
"I told you, it doesn't belong to Ness!" I was about to do something I was going to regret. However...
"What doesn't belong to me?"
!
My eyes widened in horror. My head turned swiftly to the source of the voice.
There, standing in the entry way to the springs, with an innocently surprised look was Ness; cautiously watching the two of us. I let off a nervous exhale. Oh god.
Kato was silent, holding the book above his head still, as we both blankly looked at the curious boy. Ness's lips pursed slightly, cocking his head to the side.
"What is that?" He asked, taking a step forward. Kato and I were silent, watching Ness approach us. Ness paused and took another look at us- eyes becoming more concerned.
"Pff, Why are you two so silent? What is that?" He asked. My hands started to fist up; I could feel my being shake. This was it, I thought. If Ness didn't hate me before everything that's happened between us, he was going to hate me now... I glanced up to Kato- whom had an expression on his face I couldn't decipher.
"I apologize Ness... I had this on my person for a while. Whatever blame you want to place on Jeff, it was actually me-"
"Just give it to me," He spoke calmly. I couldn't miss how Kato had hesitated with the request. Ness noticed the hesitation and furrowed his eyebrows.
"... Kato," He said. Kato exhaled out of his nose, handing the small black leather book to Ness. Ness took it.
"Now- was this something lying around in the garbage or something? Maybe it was someone's thrown away personal notes or something..." However... Kato and I watched Ness, as he thumbed through the small book; noticing the small sketch of what I think Ness labeled as the flying man in his drawing book.
My heart sank rock bottom... as I watched the same exact think happen to Ness.
Ness's shoulders slouched, eyes suddenly becoming sullen as he flipped through the pages faster.
"This..." Kato and I were cowards then. Neither of us could speak up. Ness looked up at us.
"Did you find this here?" He asked, with new found panic in his voice. However...
… A long pause, as all three of us blankly looked at each other. Ness's lips started to stutter.
"Why aren't you guys saying anything?! This is..." I finally gulped.
"It's not... I-"
"Yes or no Jeff- did you find this here?" His voice was stern. I could only stare at him, thoughts dissolving into mush before they could even reach my lips to be exported into legible words. I could see it. The disappointment in his eyes...
"Why won't you say anything?" I closed my eyes, swallowed.
"It's... " But before I could even say anything- Kato cut me off.
"I found it."
I blinked, heart fluttering as I swear I took a double take while looking at Kato. Kato was frowning, eyes narrowed. He stood tall- owning his little white lie. Ness looked hurt as his eyes met Kato's.
"This is..." He started.
"I found it on my way to find you guys. In the helicopter... the one that you once told me was being operated by the one you're trying to look for. I thought maybe there were clues inside the aircraft. I had found it laying nearby." Ness stood silently studying the two of them.
"Did either of you... look through this?" Kato and I exchanged glances.
"...Yes," Kato spoke. Ness looked really unsettled.
"And you?" Ness turned to me; I gulped. Then rubbed the back of my neck, looking down.
"Maybe-"
"Maybe?" Ness questioned. I flinched. "Did you or did you not read or see any of this?" I sighed in defeat. I tried communicating to him with my eyes. I'm so so sorry Ness.
"Yeah... I saw some of the contents." Ness frowned. He looked like he wanted to cry. My heart started to constrict and crack with the way he looked at me. Like a dog that had just gotten hurt by their owner for the first time.
"And neither of you came to me about it? This seems really important- like... immediate important!"
However; neither Kato and I could say another word. Ness gripped the book, ripped his eyes away from us and stormed past us. I turned towards him.
"Ness-" Without turning to look at me he stopped briefly.
"We've been through so much," He spoke, hurt seeping into his words like a deadly venom. "I..." fighting back tears. Before I could even make another reaction, he ran off.
"Ness... Ness!" My legs were noodles as I tried to catch up to him.
"Don't follow me!" Ness's voice echoed back. I could feel it. The guilt. Suffocating me. Grounding me into a sea of quick sand.
Kato watched where Ness had disappeared, then quietly trailed is eyes to mine. He was quiet- concern decorated his face.
"And this is why... we shouldn't keep secrets from each other." Kato simply stated- despite the cover up just prior that he fabricated.
Oh boy.
I snarled; balling up my fists.
"Secrets? What do you mean secrets?!" My voice shook. Kato; I could tell, registered the absolute seething that was foaming from my words.
"We could have gone over this as a-"
"THIS IS PERSONAL!" I barked. The echo of my words lasted for a good second and a half. Followed by the sounds of small scurrying from what I now remembered as the Tenda- tentatively making their distance from us. However, my eyes were still locked onto Kato.
Kato blinked at my statement. I snarled; shaking from utter rage that I was feeling. Everything that I had been building up between Ness and I... it was slipping between my fingertips like magnetic dust.
"Personal to who? It sounds like you were keeping secrets behind your leaders back," Kato stated calmly back.
"Who do you think?!" Kato narrowed his eyes.
"Then what did I just tell you? If this Pokey guy has anything to do with Giygas-"
It took every ounce of me...
I couldn't keep it in.
I stomped forward- feeling my glasses misalign as I grabbed him by the turtle neck vigorously- dragging his face to level with me- nose to nose- with as much force and muster that I could even fathom.
"You know what Kato? It's personal to me." I snarled. "It's personal to me that I figure out what the fuck is going on with us. Does that make you happy? Is that the answer you want? Do you think I was ready to tell him the truth?" Kato could only keep looking at me. I was expecting some kind of reaction- but he was rather quiet. I exhaled, not letting go of his collar.
"We're not like them." I stated. "We're not like Ness or Paula. And I don't care that you know how to do it- that you trained your whole goddamn life for this- you were prepared for PSI. They were not!"
"What does this have to do with Pokey? All I know about this Pokey guys is that he's been brainwashed by Giygas, just like every other miserable entity that became victim of his reach." Kato finally asked. I stopped- and looked at him. Really looked at him.
He was being honest.
Did we ever tell him anything? Anything about Pokey?
"Why aren't you pushing back?" I barked- though as he did, Kato snatched one of my wrists that were holding onto him. I looked him in the eyes again. His grip was strong; expression becoming sullen. Dark.
"Just because we're not like them... doesn't make us less important." He simply stated.
We locked eyes. My breath caught.
...
His eyes, I thought. It was the first time- that I had locked onto Kato's eyes like this.
His right eye was a black hole- void of anything- it was like a ruthless unforgiving nature. It sucked me in- with no remorse. His other eyes however...
His left white eye shown like a white beacon- like you were crawling out of the cave from hibernation for the first time in months to see the blinding white light above. It pierced me- the PSI-kinetic energy. I started seeing stars.
"You're weak right now-" He spoke lowly. I exhaled.
"That's... none of your concern." Maybe... maybe...
"You're trying to read me," He simply stated. He was reading me, I thought.
"So we're all just going to resort..." I tried to stammer." "...To reading each others minds again? Just because none of us can be honest with each other?" I asked.
"If that's what's going to get us through this, then so be it." I could see his left pupil dilate.
…
…
I didn't realize how close we got to each other then, until I felt his breath on my-! My heart jumped leaps.
Tch!
I broke eye contact; ripping my wrist away from his grip, stumbling back. I couldn't look at him in the eye anymore. I took a moment.
"I'm trying to figure everything out." I simply stated. "And... goddamn it- I need you guys to trust me. I'm so close to figuring this shit out. I... I need Ness to trust me the most..." My voice fell dry and hoarse. I closed my eyes. Then looked back up to him. Why did his eyes make me feel weak?
"I didn't share that book to anyone- to him because I knew that it would hurt him.. even if it's important." Kato frowned.
"If it would have hurt him, then it should have been left behind."
"I..."
"If that book was going to mean harm- why bother taking it along?"
…
Kato furrowed his eye brows. I glared daggers.
"Why did you take it in the first place?"
…
"You know what? I'm done with this." I stated; turning my back towards him, making a quick stride to anywhere but there. Finally I could hear some irritation in his voice.
"I did you a favor. To buy you time. It's up to you if you want to own up to the truth or not." I closed my eyes- took a deep breath.
I wasn't going to admit it- admit that he was right. I continued walking away from him- spotting the Tenda around me flee and hide in the corners of the catacombs. I had already turned the corner- Kato out of my vision. But I could still hear his words echoing their way to reach my ears.
"Well you know what Jeff?! You did this to yourself!"
xxx
The fucking nerve of him, I thought. I didn't really know where to wander off to at that moment- three out of four of us seemed to be in a very troubling conflict. The other keeping their distance from us, not telling us anything.
I found myself in the cavern with the boulder. I examined it; hoping to distract my mind. The thing had been decorated- painted over in colorful patterns and pictures. Some flowers- a sun, and some Tendas. It looked like chalk drawings on a sidewalk. How cute, I thought bitterly to myself.
"... You see... the boulder is shy too," The Tenda spoke in my memory. I could remember the disappointment on Ness's face at the time.
"We've been through so much." His voice, light but wavering. My heart constricted.
I...
I lost his trust... didn't I?
Before my mind could even touch that horrible memory- I heard a shout echo to my ears. It sounded like...
"Ness?" I spoke to myself, turning towards the sound. I rest the palms of my hands on the cold slate wall, hiding behind it just in case. But the voice (voices?) were further away. Maybe closer to where we were all camping out. I swallowed, deciding to follow the sounds.
"I wish... tell me" I was sure it was Ness's voice starting to come into clarity.
"I told... nothing wrong... fine," Followed by Paula's voice. I took a turn- following the line that lead to our small cavern that the Tenda drew for us. But I didn't really need to- I could hear them now. They were arguing.
"If you were fine you wouldn't be zoned out in front of this damn television!" I peered around the corner.
As I had imagined, Ness was standing up; towering over Paula who was still sitting with her knees to her chest in front of the television. Mr. Ziggy nestled next to her. She looked exhausted.
"Tch... is it our journey through the swamp? I'm sorry that you got caught up in all that muck but-"
"It was the only way." Paula finished. "But I'm not... upset about that." Ness exhaled.
"So you are upset," Ness replied. "You just admitted it." Paula frowned.
"Well so are you," She said.
"Just... you were always so transparent with me. Is it... did I do something wrong?"
"..."
"No... did I hurt you?" I felt like I needed to pry away from the conversation. But looking behind me; I wasn't really alone. A small crowd of Tenda started to swarm quietly around us.
"Please... say something Paula... you're scaring me." Paula finally stood up. Walked up to him, and wrapped her arms around his waist. But the embrace was small- quick. She looked back up to him; trying to flash him a small smile. Her eyes were watery. There was a long pause.
"The same thing you're scared of right now... I feel it too." Ness didn't reply- he was quiet. Dead quiet I thought.. I had felt something scurry past my foot. My heart jumped as my head snapped down to my feet. A small Tenda had tripped- then rushed away. I sighed.
"I didn't want to bring it up... because I know what connection you have to it." I looked over to them again.
"I..." His voice was low, barely legible. My heart sank again.
Paula's eyes locked straight onto mine. Her stare was blank- eerie; almost soulless with water starting to gloss over them like glass.
"I... won't let..." Then Ness followed her gaze.
Now both of them were just looking at me. My feet were locked however. While Paula's expression stayed the same, Ness's nose scrunched up; eyebrows furrowed. Oh no.
"What do you want? Aren't you done snooping into other people's business?" Ness spoke incredulously. I clenched my fists.
"I... I'm sorry." Was all I could muster. Ness growled. I bit the inside of my cheek. What now?
"Jeff needs to know too," Paula said. Ness whipped his head to her.
"He doesn't need to know everything- he knows enough!" Yeah, well maybe I know more than the others at this point, Ness!
"He needs to know this." She finally said. Ness snorted.
"She's right you know." Our heads whipped around to the source of the sound. Until I looked to my right.
On the other side of the entrance to the camp alcove, leaning his back against the opposite cavern wall, crossed arms and eyes closed was Kato. He didn't look any better I thought.
"Oh yeah?! Well maybe both of you have an idea already!" Ness shouted. I exhaled.
"Look. I don't expect you to... forgive me or anything." I closed my eyes, trying to form the words I wanted to execute while the words You Broke His Trust repeated like an angry broken record in my brain. "But..."
The words weren't forming. The panic started setting in the...
You Broke His Trust. You Broke His Trust. You Broke His Trust. You Broke His Trust You Broke His Trust. YouBrokeHisTrustyoubrokehistrustyoubrokehistrustyoubrokehis-
"If it has any leads to Giygas- we all need to be on the same page." Kato remarked. I snapped my eyes to him- eyesight wavering in front of me.
"By keeping something like that a secret from me?! I don't care how little you guys had that thing-"
"Ness-" I stammered.
"What? Just what Jeff!? You know how I feel about Po-"
"Why are you so upset about this anyways? What is even in that book that's making everyone so on edge?" Kato cut him off. I could hear Paula quietly behind Ness form the word book on her lips; barely a mutter.
"It's! It's... I don't even really know."
Ness couldn't tell us.
"I think you're lying," Kato said, narrowing his eyes.
"I'm not lying... I don't know what's in there." His teeth were gritted. Tears collecting in the corners of his eyes.
"So then- let's go over the contents together-"
"No!" The echo of his exclamation made the Tenda all around us twitch. Kato finally turned to us.
"And why not?" Ness looked at Kato. He looked unsure. Scared?
"He doesn't have to share it with anyone if he doesn't want to-" I said, starting to feel bitter towards Kato again.
"And why not Jeff? I think out of all of us besides Ness, you know this... Pokey guy better than the rest of us. Why can't we all be on the same page about this... Pokey that we may or may not be trailing behind?" It was my time to seethe.
"Like I said... this is personal." Kato snorted in response.
"Personal huh? Personal to you?" Oh no he did not.
"I-"
"Personal to him? It's personal to me too!" Ness exclaimed.
"Ness... I'm-"
"But if he's in any way shape or form connected to Giygas we need to be one the same page!"
"I doubt everything in that book is something we all need to be on the same page about!"
"Prove it!"
"Why should I?"
"Guys..." I didn't know what to do. What to say. What to do...
"If you want to keep this Pokey guy private fine but anything and everything related to Giygas cannot be kept from each other!"
"You don't even know what Giygas is like!"
"I'd like to bet you're wrong!"
"Guys-"
"I know because none of you have ever had a direct contact with it!"
?!
"Direct contact?! That's exactly the kind of shit I mean- Giygas is our enemy! We all need to know what we're up against!"
Ness paused- absolute pain and distraught decorating his face.
What did he mean by...?
"Well I'm not ready to talk about it, is that good enough for you two?!"
"Guys!"
"It doesn't matter-"
Pang.
Crack.
BooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"AAAHH!"
All of us screamed in unison at what, in retrospect, sounded and felt like the crack thunder and lightning. Right above our heads. It rumbled all of us out of our senses- our cores.
Crackle... Roar...
"What the-"
I snapped my eyes to Kato- who was staring back at me. I assumed we both had the exact same expression of wide eyes from fear. My eyes snapped to Ness- who glanced at me for a quick moment before turning around. I followed suit.
Paula stood silently- glaring at all three of us. Nostrils a flair- fists of rage tightening as if she was holding back the urge to throw punches at each and every one of us. But I couldn't ignore it. The puffed out red cheeks. Gritting teeth.
The tears that were collecting in the corners of her eyes.
"Paula..." Ness muttered. "Paula I'm-"
KABOOOM!
"Ahh!"
We all jumped again. And this time; I could see the flash- that blinding flash from all the tunnels around us. If there were Tenda watching us; at this point I'm sure they all fled away from the scene. I watched how Ness's back shivered.
Then he turned and darted away right past me; nearly bumping into me as he rushed away from us.
"Ness!" I yelled back.
"Don't bother." Kato spoke. I snarled.
"Just what do you-"
"Don't." He glared down at me. I glared in return. He took one last glance back at Paula before turning away.
"Let's just figure this out tomorrow." He muttered. And as Kato descended in the tunnel catacombs; I just stood there- trying to process what had just happened; my entire being absolutely shaken to the core. The events that had unfolded replayed in my head like rapid fire.
Ness and Paula having an argument. Paula spotting me. Ness accusing my nosiness. Paula telling him that I needed to know something. Kato then agreeing with her but then Ness accusing him of his nosiness. And then it just... dissolved into a mess.
I silently let my eyes trail back to where Paula was.
The TV light was flickering and bright- reflecting static on Paula's small form. She was huddled in a ball- knees drawn to her chest with Mr. Ziggy next to her. It took me a moment to get my brain to tell my body to leave and give her space. I wanted to reach out to her. But my gut- my heart told me to leave it be.
And as I walked away, I heard it. It almost grew louder the further I walked away.
I think...
It was the firs time that I had ever heard her break down and cry.
