The Universe Will Die Without You

by The-EverLasting-Ash

It’s so different without you... sometimes it’s frightening. AU JeffxNess, JeffxTony, Other pairings in the future. Novelized version of Jeff's point of view in the game. Not completely canon, Paula's 8 yrs old. Dark themes Shonen-Ai/slash

29. Deep Darkness

A/N:

So... this is unexpected isn't it?

I can't make any promises though. It has been like what, five-six years now?

I didn't have the heart to make a "note"chapter. I didn't want to state it, but I ended up making this fanfiction collect dust anyways. Either way, several years have passed and because of that, things have changed. People change and forget. And so have I.

I'm in... I think what is a realistic spot for me right now in my life. I've made whatever goals I've had implemented and now onto my next set of goals. I'm not where I thought, or may have thought I was headed towards five years ago, but I am starting to come to terms. Things like deep rooted personal/family things that goes way back most of my life but are still lingering; romance; my career anxiety... I'm not who I was five years ago. However, I know that when you do look back at your life in an amount of time, you think of what could have been or how much more you could have accomplished. But my therapist did convince me I guess that I have accomplished a lot of things, and I just don't give myself enough credit. I don't think I ever will.

I haven't completely forgotten about this. Well... ok, maybe I have during points in my life. But I also cannot promise that this will ever be finished. It's just not a promise that I can keep. That being said; right now at least, I aim to do so because well... right now, I want to. But, when looking back at what I wanted to do and still can't seem to start it... maybe I just need to get some thoughts out. This story might be my best outlet for that after all.

As I may possibly continue this, at least in this moment, my writing style may be different, but it may not. Characters might have different perspectives than they may have had if I had continued the story five years ago. They say that the best way to be a good writer is to just live your life right? Not saying that I'm in any ways a good or professional after all. When I left this story off, I was starting to have my own life and adventures, and continuing the story at the time felt very forced. That's why they just weren't... up to par? Who knows.

The good news is that with this renewed inspiration to continue this, I actually have just about the rest of this story plotted out in my head. I know exactly what to write about in like the next 5 or so chapters, and I know what happens afterwards, I just haven't broken it down into chapters yet. I did kind of skim my story over and currently taking the time to actually re-read it. There are a few things that I would have changed if I had started the story with the mind set I'm in nowadays. For example, I wouldn't have made Paula 8 years old. That was my younger self's way of making a love triangle escape. Which is fine because I don't think the story would have turned out like it did, not one bit. Though when I write this, I don't really see/write her as being that young. Just pretend she's an Eleven from Stranger Things haha ;)

I also cringed at the fact that I made Ness's father an asshole at first. What was I thinking rofl. I'll figure it out if I continue this. But maybe not too.

That and I... put way too much effort into this. Not that it's a bad thing, but I had such a hunger for creating great things back in the day and as I grow older I just want things to be... simpler. I think I tried to keep the in game events as close to this as possible all while trying to create my own world out of it... it's silly.

But I do admire my past self's dedication and privilege to be able to shit out this novel of a series. That's the thing I miss, but it's all part of getting older and moving on, right? I'm 26 years old after all. On the road to 30! And while I keep getting older and miss some of the good parts of my life in the last five years, I'm actually looking forward to my 30's. If I can get passed my quarter life crisis that is. I think I'm starting to.

I will say too that over this time gap, those very few times I've checked back on this story and seen a review or two go up in number... I'm sorry. Also, thank you. I'm glad that my writing may have provided something good to you.

Anyways... here we go. At least for this chapter at least! Maybe I'll have a couple in stock for you guys. Maybe these will be shorter chapters, or even longer, I don't know! And I know my chapters tend to be lacking at times in the... erm, grammar department. Again, I can't promise that these will be perfect in that department now either. :( But I'll try my best! I'll try not to... abuse... these... ellipses... but they will be around. It's just my writing style I guess. I may post this story on Ao3 at some point too.

Short summary of ch. 28: In the last chapter, our heroes split up with Kato (Poo) to learn Starstorm, and then they run into Dungeon Man. Jeff and Brick Road talk a lot about his dad and mentions how Dungeon Man was supposed to replicate E.V.E. in some way shape or form. Brick tries convincing Jeff that his dad really does love and care about him, even if it's in his own fucked up, introverted nature. He also states that whatever Dr. Andonut's big secret to his inventions is, it's hidden within the notebook that he left with Jeff. The chapter ends with them swimming across that small bit of water in the yellow submarine towards the swamp... (guh)

In this chapter... we have the swamp (lol) Despite this chapter still being a grind to get through, something incredibly important happens that will start to set the tone of whatever may happen onwards. (Besides Kato learning starstorm of course) Plus some JeffNess here and there...

Well, happy reading to the very few who may still want to see this story through! Remember... no promises though. Life takes you in many different directions. Remember that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It must have been around the afternoon. The sun was in the beginning of it's setting phase as I looked forward in the microscope. Maybe it was because of the periscope glass, but the view ahead of us was hazy. It wasn't late enough for the sun to glare into my eyes from the west, but it was enough for the water to reflect the light into my eyes, creating a white and almost blinding path ahead.

Which ironically, what lie ahead was anything but blinding.

I had to look down for a moment, away from the scope. Looking at the control deck, there were plenty of buttons and switches. I only focused on the ones that we needed to get across. I didn't want this to break down like the Sky Runner tended to. Luckily, instead of this being an "experiment" by Loid, it was jut a submarine... your standard, professionally built submarine. Or so I thought.

After flipping a switch, I glanced behind me. We were all quiet for some reason. Ness was doodling in his little notebook; the one that I had snooped into while he was asleep on the bus back when Paula was lost. Paula looked to be asleep... or maybe not? She would make these strange faces from time to time. Maybe a bad dream?

"What's on your mind, Jeff?" Ness asked, not looking up from his book.

"Ah nothing, just seeing what you guys were up to," I replied, looking forward again. "I think we're just about there to be honest." Though I think I had said that more than once already.

"You've said that more than once silly," Ness replied. That's what I thought.

"Yeah well, maybe this land is farther than we thought." And it probably was. I let my mind wander a little bit. I turned around again.

"Whatcha drawing?" I asked casually. Something stirred in Ness. He looked up, kind of laughing a little bit so. He had a silly, sloppy looking smile, like he wasn't sure how to respond. I raised my eyebrow, returning the awkward smile back.

"What?" I chuckled. Ness looked embarrassed.

"They're stupid... my drawings," he replied.

"Nah, let me see," I said. Ness's face flushed.

"Nooooo I'm too shy haha," he shut the book. Awww...

"Nah, come on Ness," I smiled shifting down to his position. The submarine only had one seat for some reason, and the two of them were sitting on the floor behind the control panel. Ness; feeling flustered, tried keeping the book out of my reach, trying to squirm away.

"No-ack! Aren't you supposed to be driving?" I had managed to sneak a poke at his ribs. I wiggled my fingers. Like a creep.

"It's on auto-pilot," I sneered.

"Ooooo auto-pilot so fancy," Ness responded sneering back at me, flashing his eyes. "Submarines must be easy going if they can mind their own business. Don't think you can flip my auto-pilot switch so easily," He retorted breathlessly, eyes narrowed. I leaned in closer.

"You have an auto-pilot switch huh?" I flirted. Ness blushed a rosy shade of pink.

"Not like that! I meant I'm not letting you see this-" Ness gave off another yelp as I poked him again in the stomach. Ness snorted, as he fought back with his own playfully vigorous poking. I recoiled, biting my lip. A poking battle... I shifted on my knees, hovering over Ness in the corner of the small room.

"So wheres this auto-pilot switch of yours?" I asked. Ness quickly sat on his book.

"Sorry, you need a password," He replied proudly, testing my next response. My mouth curved up.

"A password huh?" I devilishly looked him in the eye. "Don't make me hack you for it." Ness's flush deepened.

"You're awfully frisky today. Doesn't the deep water we're in make you scared?" He replied, putting his guard down. To be honest, I had forgotten about that childhood fear. At least in whatever this moment was.

"Is that supposed to be a distraction?" I asked, leaning in. I don't think Ness noticed my sneaky fingers creep behind his waist. Ness shivered to my touch. Ness's nose was now grazing my own.

"Maybe..." He spoke, breath lingering on my lips.

I closed my eyes, and sealed the space between us with what felt like our second most passionate kiss. One thing I questioned as our lips moved- was this the password, or was this my hack?

Before long however, much sooner than I wanted, Ness broke our contact. I tried to keep the seal closed, but Ness made a small gasp.

"Not- not in front of Paula," He breath shook. Oh... Oh yeah jeez...

"Isn't she asleep?" I asked, face hovering over his. Ness gave me a pouty, adorable expression.

"So? I don't think she is though, I think she's trying to get in contact with Kato... or just on deep mental vacation." Ness responded honestly. I tried mentally separating myself from what could have been, and decided to plop next to him, back against the wall, facing the back of the pilot chair.

"So... whatcha drawing?" I asked again. Ness snorted.

"What's so funny?" I leaned over again. "We could always go back to what we were just doing instead and-" Ness blushed scarlet again.

"Fine fine good lord," He responded, putting a hand in front of my lips to keep me at bay while a big shy grin spread across his rosy cheeks. He shifted to reach for the book beneath him, and placed it on his lap. "But only what I was just drawing." Ness licked his thumb as he flipped through the pages, and finally landed on the two pages that he was just working on. He shifted so I could get a good look.

On the two pages, there was a very abstract doodle of some of our recent events. There was water on the left page, while the right page looked like the desert we had just suffered across. In the water was a goofy looking green serpent with long fangs and a tongue that was on fire. He also didn't seem to have eyes, I thought to myself.

On the desert side of the picture was a doodle of the three of us, walking towards the pyramids. Above those pyramids, he drew an eye.

At the top of the image, he drew the night sky; stars decorating the remainder of the pages. But what really caught my interest in the sky portion was what looked to be Kato, lifting his arms so that it looked like he was holding a few of the stars that surrounded him.

"I think you're getting better at drawing," I said. Ness frowned slightly.

"What does that mean?"

"It means what I mean," I replied. I took another look at the pages, and let my eyes wander to the snake.

"Cept he looks kind of goofy, where's his eyes?" I chuckled. Ness pouted.

"I'm not done of course... but we didn't see eyes on the Kraken." That's right- I was knocked out into the water for most of that fight. I smiled.

"I'll judge him by your artistic impression of him," I replied, letting my eyes dart to the three of us. I paused as I looked at the doodle of me...

And those huge squares that seemed to cover the majority of my face.

"My glasses aren't that big are they?" I asked. Ness rolled his eyes playfully.

"Get out I just suck at drawing," He replied. I frowned.

"I think you have a style," I replied truthfully. "A style that's yours and yours only." Ness's shoulders dropped a little bit. He may have thought I was being too nice to him. Which, maybe I was. But the drawings were really cute.

"Don't get mopey, I think they're really cute," I said. "I can't draw for shit anyways." Ness sighed, closing the book, and looking up. He brought his knees closer to his chin, and took a moment of pause.

"... When do you think we'll run into Kato again?" He asked.

That was right. Then there was Kato. I let my eyes wander up to the ceiling along with him.

We let the silence linger. Paula wasn't making much noise. It almost felt like she wasn't passed out into slumber.

"What if he can't find us?" He went on. "What if..."

"Well Paula can guide him to us, can't she? That's what she did with me before we even met remember?" I replied. Ness seemed to ignore my last statement, closing his eyes.

"I... I sense a lot of darkness approaching us... it's a little foggy," He replied. "It's been on our minds a lot since Dungeon Man. Paula and I, I mean," He continued. "So dark that... I can't seem to figure out what's next."

Oh...

That didn't sound good.

I thought again. I thought back to my strange moments with Kato during Ness's recovery day from his PSI flu. To the awful evening he went after me into the ocean currents. To our quarreling, and sparring in the desert. To how I was able to successfully pin him down...

… to our conversation about our pasts. My heart constricted slightly. I didn't like the sound of a foggy forecast in our future.

"You don't think..." I started to speak. Ness's sigh was exaggerated as he took another pause.

"Jeff... he's coming back, right?" He asked me. I paused, remembering how the Star Master, as he called him, took Kato from our eyes with the sparkling twister that blew away in the distance.

"I promise I will find you as soon as I'm finished," Kato spoke in my memories, as I remembered how the sun reflected off of his contrasting black and white eyes.

The thought was ridiculous. But what was giving me a tinge of hopelessness was Ness's uncertainty. If he wasn't sure...

"We're here..." We both heard a young girls voice speak on the other side of the room.

Crash!

The impact thrust us forward on our faces, at least the two of us. Paula seemed to have already braced for the impact. I hissed, straightening my glasses on my nose.

"Shit..." I mumbled to myself, getting on my feet. That was fast, I thought. I got up towards the front of the chair, sitting down to flip off the auto-pilot switch, and I took a look through the periscope...

… to be greeted by nothing. Nothing but gray.

"Hold on," I spoke to them, as I flipped a switch that would make the submarine rise to the surface. "I'm going to check out what we ran into."

I walked into the room behind the pilot station to climb the ladder that lead up to the top of the submarine. As I turned the wheel above me to open the door, the first thing I noticed when the door propped open was the scent that rafted in.

Musty. That was the only word I could think of. With a hint of something my nose couldn't decipher. I looked above me to be greeted by light. I climbed the ladder...

And then I paused. Taking it all in...

I looked in front of us. My eyes widened slightly at what I saw.

"Jeff? How does it look up there?" Ness asked me from below.

I couldn't respond. Because it was exactly as Ness foretold.

Nothing... Nothing but a lone palm tree that's trunk disappeared into the thick gray fog.

XxxxxxXxxxxXxxxxX

The Universe Will Die Without You

Chapter 29 Deep Darkness

XxxxXxxxXxxXxxxxXxxxxxX

"Jeff?" Ness asked again, enough to snap me out of my reverie.

"I erm... we're here I think," I replied, climbing back down the shaft. When I got back down, Ness gave me a concerned look.

"You think?" Ness asked. I frowned.

"I... yeah. It's really hard to see though, it's really foggy up there" I responded. Ness frowned at that.

"It has to be where we need to go next if it's what we saw on the desert shore." I nodded, walking towards the front of the ship. I looked around the control panel, to be greeted by Paula's back, who was looking through the periscope.

"Come on Paula, we're here," I told her, looking around to gather my belongings and the broken bazooka. I started to walk out of the small room until I realized that there was no response. I stopped my footing, and turned around.

Paula did not budge from her position, as she kept her face plastered on the periscope. I exhaled.

"C'mmon Paula," I said, resting a hand on her shoulder. She didn't even flinch from my touch.

"Are... are you ok?" I asked. Another pause. Paula pushed herself away from the periscope. She turned; looked up to me, eyes betraying herself. As if she was worried...

"I'm fine," She replied, trying to crack a smile. I looked at her for a moment.

"Are you sure?" I asked seriously. "Do you need a moment?" It was easy to tell that something was troubling her. There was a moment of embarrassment, where I thought that maybe...

"Holy..." We both turned our heads to Ness's voice, who was climbing down the ladder.

"So uhh... does it get foggy up in Winters, Jeff? Because it's really foggy out there right now," Ness exhaled. I paused.

"At times, yes," I responded. I took one last glance down at Paula, who looked deep in thought.

"Are you scared of the fog?" I asked her honestly. Paula seemed to dart her eyes up towards mine, like I had surprised her. She glanced down slightly, wincing. My mouth curved down. It looked like she didn't really know how to respond. Ness seemed to take notice.

"Paula, is everything ok?" Ness asked with concern. Paula dismissed herself as she passed the both of us.

"Well we can't just stand in here forever," She replied. "I can take a little fog... even if..." The rest of her sentence was muttered and untranslated by my ears. Ness and I looked at each other, and then followed behind.

"Are we just going to leave this behind?" Ness asked me, as we had gathered the rest of our things. I shrugged.

"We probably have to, I don't think this thing can go any further," I responded. As I started my ascend up the ladder, I bit my lip. Don't we, I thought? This was the right way, right? We hadn't even gotten into the fog maze, and it was already messing with my head.

When I was standing on the roof of the submarine along with Paula, I heard Ness soon follow behind. And soon enough, as all three of us stood there, we gazed at the gray mess ahead of us. I swallowed.

"Hey..." I approached Paula. "... This is the way to where we need to go, isn't it?" I asked her. I took a good look around the coast of the island. There was a ledge, the same ledge with the barely visible palm tree. We could step across to get on land there, I thought to myself. I took a glance over to her, as she did the same to me. Ness approached behind us.

"Y-yes," She responded, turning around to include Ness into the conversation. Ness was too busy looking at the thick fog. She then looked forward as well.

"But I'm not sure what happens next."

xxx

Ness ended up taking the lead as we all held hands through the fog. It wasn't... quite as bad once we were in deep darkness. We could hazily see a good few feet ahead of us. The problem though was that, if and if anything was out here...

"We need to look around us at all times," Ness said. "Someone or something could be lurking anywhere." I looked around us.

The trees were frightening, even during the day. They towered over us like giants, that leaned forward, but their furs were hidden. Vines that looked like you could climb them, but were all out of our reach high above seemed to link every single one. Plants looked like monsters in the distance, some spiky while others formed different menacing shapes. I think the most bizarre aspect of this place, aside from all the fog that surrounded us, were these big flowers.

Their huge petals were red and shiny, with white spots speckling them. Their centers were yellow, and hollow, and large like mouths waiting for a meal. As if they could come alive and eat you whole. I had read about these once. The rafflesia flower... or what some call it, the corpse flower. They were known to smell like rotting flesh. But these particular ones for some reason felt like they were hungry for fresh meat.

I could tell that none of us were fond of these, so we kept our distance as much as we could on the abstract, almost non existent pathway. You could tell that this was no man's land.

"Hey what's that..." Ness spoke, starting to pick up his pace.

"Ness, slow down," Paula replied. We started to hear a noise. Some kind of high pitched, repetitive voice...

"Ring ring! Ring ring!" The voice squawked every so often. It almost sounded like...

"Its a toucan..." Ness mumbled as we approached the bird. An 'ooo' escaped Paula's lips.

I had never seen one of these in person, but now it was in front of us, it seemed to cock it's head when it spotted us standing in front of it. It's long beak was decorated in different stripes of color, and its black and white feathers seemed to ruffle up as it spoke.

"Ring ring! Ring ring!" It squawked. Them we looked at the post closer; the one that the bird was standing on.

"It's a phone," Ness said.

"Ring ring! Ring ring!" Ness looked at the two of us, before hesitantly lifting his hand to touch the phone. He lifted it up and rested it against his ear. A pause.

"No... no this is someone else," Ness spoke into the phone. So someone was calling? I studied Ness's expression as I could barely hear someone on the other line.

"My name is Ness. I'm with my friends Paula and Jeff. We need to get through the swamp," He spoke. I glanced over to Paula.

"But we don't know where we're going yet, are we?" I asked. Paula frowned. I could only frown in return.

"Ok... who is this? Ah... businessman? There's a camp ahead? Ok... we'll probably need as much help as we can get... ok... follow the talking monkey?" Oh great, more monkeys, I thought.

"Right... I can't explain why we're here, just need to get through... yeah, sorry. Ok- thank you so much. We'll wait for him. Ok, hope to see you soon as well. Hope you find him soon... ok, see you." Ness hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" I asked. Ness sighed, turning around.

"So there's a small camp out here. A few people have been living out here for study reasons I guess. Anyways, they have this and other areas set up where they can sense if anyone's entering the swamp. They want us to find the camp out."

"That's odd," I responded. "Who would even want to camp out here..." I shivered, looking around us. If it was for study reasons... I guess I understood.

"They're going to help us figure out how to navigate this hell hole, so we should find it."

"How are we going to find it through all this fog?" Paula asked. That was when it happened-

I looked up to see what looked to be some leaves rustle, just barely through the fog above our heads. And then with a swift movement, something small swooped down, and snatched Ness's hat.

"Wh-" Ness grasped his head. "Wh- where's my hat?!"

"Ehehe up here!" Said the voice responsible. We looked up. I thought I had seen a tail disappear.

"Hey! We can't even see you, get back here!" Ness shouted. "And give me back my hat!" A snicker. And sure enough; on vine, a brown monkey had swung down into our vision, Ness's hat in hand.

"What if I don't want to?" He taunted, plopping the hat on his head. "You don't need to block the sun where you're heading!" Ness growled.

"I don't care, give it back, it's really important to me!" He spat back. "Are you the monkey we're supposed to follow, because I'm going to do more than that if you don't give it back!" Ness flashed a small dose of something PSI related, that seemed to make the monkey jump. However, the monkey just snickered, climbing higher up the vine, then soon sliding back down, big grin decorating his face.

"So you are the kid that Talah Rama told us about," He replied. Ness gritted his teeth.

"So you're aware. Then give it back!" It was then that Paula sighed, stepping forward to lift her hand, posing her finger tips in front of her, pointing up at the monkey on the vine. Suddenly, a flash of fire; a foot above the monkey, sparked enough for the vine to snap and the monkey to give off a yelp. He dropped on the ground with a thud, hat falling off his head.

"Good one Paula," Ness commented, stepping forward to snatch the hat back, placing it on his head again. "If you know Talah Rama, then help us. We're here to help you too, you know," Ness responded, referencing the destruction of the universe. The monkey paused, looking up at the three of us before jumping back on his feet.

"Very well-" He said, before jumping again onto a different vine, and disappearing into the fog again. A pause of silence.

"What the hell- ACK!" Ness yelped, as I witnessed the monkey land on top of his cap. Ness swiftly brought his fingers to his hat to prevent the monkey from snatching it again, but he was too late, because the monkey had a different plan. With swift fingers, the monkey snatched the Franklin Badge that was previously pinned on the rim, then jumped back onto the vines.

"I'm not giving this back until you prove yourself! In the meantime, I'll lead you to the camp out, but you're going to have to chase me for it!" The monkey flashed the badge above his head. Ness's face was purely sour at this point.

"Give it baaaaaaAAACK" Ness started to charge after him. Paula and I gave chase afterwards. The monkey kept up high, just barely within sight.

"You can't see me can you? You better have good ears!" This fucking guy, I thought. Ness jumped, landing in the shallow swamp water ahead of us, and continuing his chase. Paula and I paused momentarily.

"God damn it Ness," I cursed, grabbing Paula's hand as we jumped in after him.

xxx

The chase lasted a good hour or so, just thrashing through the water. There were moments when we weren't sure if the monkey was even around anymore. Then he'd give us visual and sound queues. When we caught up to Ness, he was panting, scanning the area around him.

"Any luck?" I knew the answer.

"I hate monkeys," Ness spat. "That, and the water just gets deeper. I swear when I catch up, he's gonna pay."

"He's an animal," I responded.

"So what, he knows us, and he's fucking around with us." Paula pointed in the distance.

"That's him isn't it?" We looked up to see a shadow, swinging back and forth through the haze, toothy grin glowing as he snickered to himself. He was holding the badge in his mouth, which glittered.

"Haven't you figured it out?" He snickered. Ness growled.

"Figured out what?" Ness replied. The monkey swung up right, hanging onto the vine.

"How to see through all this fog of course... or are you not Ness?" He replied. Ness was silent. What if this was a trap after all?

"You have the key you know." The monkey then jumped high, until we couldn't see him any longer.

"The fuck is he going on about," Ness responded, putting his hands out in front of him, as if he was about to unleash a PSI attack where the monkey once was. Paula gasped.

"Ness! He's talking about the Hawk's Eye isn't he?" Ness seemed to have an epiphany for a split second, before quickly digging into his backpack.

"Fuck I forgot," Ness said, digging through. "Where did I put it, is the problem... he's gonna get away, god damn it, I need that badge!"

It was in this moment, when we felt something moving. Something else in the water. My head snapped around.

"What was tha-"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Paula screamed, as something swam around her.. What happened next was that she was swept into the water, all in a span of ten seconds.

"Paula!" We both screamed as she disappeared into the depths of the swamp.

"No no no no NO!" Ness panicked, finally digging out the treasure. "Fuck!"

"Did you find it?!" I asked, panic starting to rise in my own voice.

"Who fucking cares, Paula got dragged away, shit!" Ness started to run towards the direction that she plunged. I quickly followed.

It became apparent, in a matter of seconds, that the water reached our chins. I could feel the vegetation, swimming all around my skin as the ground squished below my feet. Our movements were not quick enough. Ness flailed, using every bit of strength he could to move faster through the murky depths. He growled.

"Paula!" Ness was able to lift his hand above his head, holding the ancient artifact overhead. "Paula!"

The ancient artifact however, did nothing.

"Paula!" I screamed as loud as I could. Again, our shouts were in vain.

"She couldn't have gone far, oh god Paula, what if she's still under water oh god," Ness panicked, looking around him, swinging his hands quickly through the water, as if trying to feel something. Anything. It was my time to grit my teeth.

"Let me see that," I said, snatching the hawk's eye out of Ness's hand. Ness paused, looking at me, as I put the artifact above my head.

"Where the fuck are you, huh?" I spat, trying to scan the fog for that monkey. "You make us chase you, and then you snatch Paula away, what kind of dirty trick is this?!"

Ness gasped behind me. I snapped my head around.

"Wha-" Ness's wrist was wrapped in a vine.

Another one shot out of the fog, aimed at around Ness's throat. My eyes widened.

"Ness!" I quickly slipped the hawk's eye away in my shirt pocket, quickly grabbing my knife to slice the vine away. Ness choked, but managed to bring a hand up.

"Jeff, close- close your eyes-" I complied. The sound of a flash. The sound of a demonic scream. I quickly opened them again, bringing my knife up to slash the vine that was already withdrawing itself from Ness's neck and wrist. It hissed again, as the vine oozed some sort of liquid. Ness grabbed his throat, coughing. I turned around, gun ready in my hand as I pointed through the fog.

And then I lowered it for a moment. The first thing that came across my mind when I saw it was that I was eerily right.

A corpse flower. Alive. Ready to feast upon fresh meat. The monster had grown teeth in the opening of the flower, as the petals wiggled, leaves and vines stretched from it's body. Oozing from it's mouth, the corpse flower used its vines to feel around in the water again. With one movement, the flower drug up from the water what I had imagined.

Paula's eyes were closed. That was the first alarming thing. The next alarming thing was that the vine was wrapped tightly around her body; dangling her up high into the air. The Mr. Saturn fell out of her bag into the water pathetically. It lifted her higher into the air, into the fog. The flower started to tilt it's head upwards. Ness gasped.

"NOO!" Ness unleashed one of his stronger attacks, which pushed even myself back, along with the waves of the water. I aimed my hyper beam at the beast, trying to aim at the neck. The beast screamed again, vines thrashing everywhere and everything, hitting vines and branches from the trees. I shot as many more rounds as I could; the monster seemed to be stunned by the two of us attacking it with all we could. Ness swam closer to the beast, while I felt a vine slap me on the shoulder. My first reflex response was to grab my glasses to keep them from falling off my face.

Soon enough, we saw it. The monster was stunned enough that it's grip on Paula loosened, as she plunged into the water ahead of us.

"Paula! Jeff, distract it, please!" Ness screamed as he swam as fast as he could. I bit my lip. Mr. Ziggy floated towards me; climbing up onto my arm as I reached out to him. My head snapped back, aiming my hyper beam at the beast, trying to catch up to Ness and Paula. I aimed another round now at the flower's mouth.

The flower screamed, facing me now as it thrashed another vine towards my direction. This time, managing to wrap tightly around the same wrist that supported my hyper beam. Its grip was so tight, that the beam started to slip. Shit! I tried to grab the vine with my other hand, trying to drag it towards my teeth as I chomped down hard. I left a mark on it's skin, as my teeth punctured it; disgusting ooze filling my mouth. I recoiled, while the flower let go of my wrist. I spat. Disgusting!

"Jeff, over here quick!" Ness yelled. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, as I tried following the voice.

"Ness, where are you?!" I shouted, trying to get closer to the voice. I could finally see Ness's hand reach out towards me, as I tried to reach out with my own hand.

And as I got close enough for Ness to be in my field of vision, Paula was propped on Ness's back, head resting against his.

"Ness, is Paula ok?!" I asked. The in a matter of moments we heard a strange noise.

"Popopopopopopop!" The sound of fire crackers. But from where?!

Then we watched in disbelief, as what looked to be many mini rockets, flying and crashing into the flowery beast. The many explosions on its body was enough to make the creature hiss in pain, ducking deep in the water, disappearing from our eyes.

"Hey you kids better get in here!" The voice yelled behind us. The two of us turned around. The sound of a hum.

"Hey, don't look so stunned, get in before that creature decides it wants lunch!" The deep man's voice said again, as a boat emerged through the fog. The man himself; dressed in military camouflage, reached his hand out. "Get in!" Ness and I paused for a moment, until Ness moved forward.

"Please take her," Ness plead, trying to prop his shoulders forward so the man could claim her.

"What did you do to her?" The man questioned. Ness bit his lip.

"I know, I'm the worst person, just please take her!" Ness spat. The man was able to claim her, and lay her in the boat on her back, head resting against a seat.

The sound of another scream of pain roared out behind us.

"Are you two going to get in or what?!" Ness and I flinched from the man's outburst, as the two of us sloppily climbed into the boat from the side, both of us shivering from the foggy air that started to nip at our wet clothes and skin. Ness however, turned to Paula, placing his hands on her forehead.

"Oh god Paula, oh god please be ok-" The man moved Ness aside.

"Kid, move," he replied, pinching Paula's nose before planting his lips against hers. She needed CPR... I thought.

"I could-" Ness tried to respond. However, the older man wasn't having any of it, as he brought two hands together to pump down on her chest.

"Now what the fuck are you kids doing in a place like this, are you crazy?" He demanded, before performing CPR again.

"It's none of your-" Paula began to choke, water gurgling out of her mouth, as she started to cough. Ness's entire body recoiled in relief.

"Oh god Paula," Ness sighed in relief.

I observed her as she was finally able to inhale the not so fresh air. Chest rising and falling, she soon was able to flutter her eyes open. But when she did, her eyes only opened half way; as if she was glaring at something above her. Ness leaned over her, cradling her head, as he leaned hiss forehead to hers, tears starting to form on the corners of his eyes.

"Paula..." Ness spoke. I frowned as Paula's own frown seemed to deepen.

"Are you...?" I asked before Paula seemed to extend her hand above her, pointing towards the sky.

A small flicker seemed to form on her finger tips.

"Gyyyaaaaaaahhh!" All of us seemed to pause at the sudden scream from the distance.

"Wait what-"

Thud!

"Gah!"

All of us yelped as the source of the scream fell in the boat, head first at our feet. As our heart beats calmed down, we realized it was him.

"You stupid monkey! This was your fault wasn't it?" The man shouted at him. The monkey's head fur seemed to be burn to a crisp, as it quickly got to his feet; badge still in its teeth.

"I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, honest!" Ness's mouth became ajar as he lunged at the monkey, to snatch the Franklin Badge from his teeth.

"Gimme that-OUCH!" Ness barked, successfully taking the badge back into his hands. The monkey however, was able to bite at the tip of his fingers. Ness waved his hand to shake off the pain, hissing to himself, before taking off his hat to pin the badge on its rim again. The monkey stuck out his tongue.

"I was only guiding you to the caa..." The monkey paused, as he looked up to Paula, who was now glaring daggers at him. It almost looked like there was another spark of something illuminating from her eyes.

"Eeeee!" The monkey quickly fled behind my back, climbing around my bazooka, looking around timidly as he squeezed my shoulders. I winced.

"What's wrong with her, I didn't mean to do anything, honest!" The monkey spoke timidly.

"Man you deserve a smack down with that monkey business you just tried to pull," The man spoke as he reached into a large bag that he had on ship. I managed to get a sneak peak of what was in the bag. Lot of weapons I thought. The monkey cringed, now hiding away from the man in the boat behind my back, clutching my shoulders tightly. I winced. Really?

But instead, the man pulled out a large wool blanket, and draped it around Paula.

"Thank you..." She replied. The man huffed in response.

"Now, you kids need to be getting to land I'm guessing? Well you're going the wrong way." We could all hear the monkey's voice hitch. However, at this point, we started to ignore the timid monkey that was on my back.

"That would be great," Ness responded. "If it's not of any inconvenience that is."

"Well, the only inconvenience that you kids caused me was that wasted set of Muti-Bottle rockets, but other than that, I'd rather you not get caught up with whatever the fuck even lurks out here." My head cocked to the side. Multi-Bottle rockets?

"Sorry... hehe," Ness responded.

"I felt a big gust of energy though, so I had to come over. Then there were screams. We usually don't get people out here, the occasional crazy hitch hiker, which I guess are you three. Then again... you kids don't seem to strike me as the type." Ness looked at me, as if he wasn't sure what to add.

"They're the chosen ones..." The monkey muttered. Everyone's head turned towards me, or towards him.

"The ones that Talah Rama spoke to us of long ago... they're the ones that are here to save the world." I looked to the man, who's left eyebrow raised up.

"These three?" He replied. I felt the monkey's grip tighten.

"Yeah... see, this is proof," The monkey reached around me, sneaking his hand in my shirt pocket.

"Hey!" I snapped. The monkey slipped out none other than the Hawk's Eye, flashing it to everyone, and soon putting it in front of his eye. I was finally able to get a closer look at the artifact when he held it in front of his eye.

The artifact was indeed an old carving out of what seemed and felt like gold. Markings etched the edge of the eye, and the iris had certain ancient carvings in it as well. The center, where the pupil would have been, was hollowed out.

"This artifact is proof of their arrival."

"Then that means you monkeys can finally leave us alone and help these kids through the swamp," He replied, almost with relief. The monkey nodded, tossing the eyeball over at Ness's direction, who clumsily caught it in his hands.

"Good riddance, you kids can finally get rid of these monkeys for us," He replied. "Always with the ooking and stealing our food." He tossed the monkey a glare. The monkey chuckled nervously.

"I was only testing them out... had to make sure they were up to venturing through the swamp after all-"

"And nearly getting us killed in the process," Paula added. The monkey recoiled nervously.

"A-and they survived, so now we can finally move forward ehehe..." There was a long pause.

"Alright well... time to head to camp. Looks like you have an annoying road ahead of you. Best to get rid of your headaches and a good night sleep before the trip. Looks like the sun is starting to settle." He reached behind the boat, and pulled the motor string, then soon driving the boat in the other direction.

"Oh and kid?" He spoke, turning his head towards Ness. Ness cocked his head.

"Next time you're faced in a situation with a lot of mud and gunk, be a gentleman and don't get your female companions caught up in all the mess." He responded honestly. Ness looked down in shame.

Ouch.

xxx

As the sun started to set, you could see the fog around us shift colors. What was once a hazy gray turned into a hazy gold, soon to be replaced with a deep bronze. The boat docked to the edge of the land, and we carefully walked off. The man followed behind us, linking the boat with a stake in the ground and grabbed his big duffel bag.

"Just through these bushes, you find a few tents," He said. "Just follow me."

The camp out was small, as I had expected. There were four tents surrounding a fire pit. The first thing I noticed, was there were about three other monkeys hanging around. Another man was in the center, trying to light a fire. He was failing. He looked up, putting fingers to his forehead.

"Oh Jack, you're back! I was starting to worry..." The man said, standing up. This man looked to be either in his mid to late 30's. He had kind of a baby face going on beneath his thick black rimmed glasses, and his black hair, once neat was parted sloppily and was collecting oil and grease; his bangs sticking to his forehead. His white shirt, tucked in his pants had collected dust and other swampy substances. "And... ah, one of you must be who I was speaking to over the phone," He replied, taking a step forward.

"Yeah that was me," Ness responded. The man stood in front of us, hands in his black trousers.

"Ness was it? You're the one with the Hawk's Eye, I'm assuming, no?" He asked, holding out his hand. Ness cocked his head cautiously, returning the gesture.

"I know I know, these monkeys like to spread gossip," He responded. Another monkey must have been lurking nearby and came back to spread the word, I thought. "But they are looking forward to you guys being here."

"I bet," Ness responded. "This place is pretty dreary..."

"Dreary just graces the surface of it. It's difficult to really dig into it, especially as of late. These two are Paula and Jeff I'm assuming? Wow you kids are young, how did you even get here by yourselves?" The man turned to Paula to shake her hand, and then mine. He looked me in the eyes, and smiled innocently.

"... Maybe if you were Jeff Andonuts, it would make more sense to me!" The man kind of laughed his statement off. My heart sunk, but I tried to keep it to myself, returning a small chuckle in return.

"I'm kidding I'm kidding, no pressure. It's rude that I haven't introduced myself. My name is Dave. Jack is the fellow over there who got you on that boat. And..." Dave turned his head towards the tent with the light coming from the entrance.

"You can call him Doc. He's in there doing something. He doesn't speak a lot, so don't feel too awkward if you say something to him and he doesn't really respond. But if you need any fixing up, he'll get you healed up in no time."

"Thank you," Ness responded formally. Dave put a hand behind his neck, and turned around.

"Now if I can only get this fire started..." He knelt down and got the flint and steel in hand and started trying to make them work. The three of us stared for some reason, as the man struggled to get it going.

As if to keep the man from becoming frustrated, Paula barely lifted a finger towards the man. Suddenly, there were sparks, and the fire started to burn.

"Ahhh finally," He responded, discarding the items. "You kids must be hungry. I think the Doc is preparing something right now, I'll go check on him."

"You kids make yourselves feel at home. The fourth tent is yours for the night," Jack spoke, resting a hand on my shoulder and giving it a firm grip before letting it go. "Hopefully these monkeys won't make you go bananas quite yet." He strapped the bag over his shoulder and entered his own tent. The three of us looked at each other.

"I'd say we should wash up, but I don't think that will do us any good," Ness said, looking at me, and then Paula. Ness winced slightly, kneeling down to her lever a bit more, resting his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm-"

"Don't." Paula responded firmly. Ness was taken aback.

"But Paula-"

"It's part of the journey, Ness. We're bound to run into threats," She responded. Ness could only pause, and faltered a bit at his next sentence.

"I should have protected you better..." Paula's frown turned into a smile, reaching her arms around his neck.

"You know that wasn't the worst thing that's happened to us," She said, stroking his head.

"But..."

"It's just going to get worse," I added, frowning slightly. Paula looked up to me, as she was embracing Ness in comfort. My frown deepened.

"We need to look out for each other from now on. I mean, I know we were doing that from the start but..."

Ness separated himself from Paula, looking weak as he did so. He always weakened the most when Paula was in harms way. Moreso than if I were...

… What kind of thought was that anyways?

I looked around us. I looked at how the main source of light was shifting to the fire pit, and how the fog created this hazy glowing ambiance. You could barely make out the shapes of the trees or bushes. But I could still sense the monkeys, all above us, looking down. And I couldn't tell if they were looking out for us or...

"Let's at least get semi- ready for bed," I replied. "We're going to be needing all the energy we need to navigate this hell hole." Paula and Ness complied, as we crawled into our tent. Luckily inside, there were already some sleeping bags ready and waiting for us.

xxx

About a half hour had passed by. Ness and Paula walked out of the tent together without me, probably to talk to the other people on the small site. I spend this opportunity to empty my mind a bit. I dug into my bag for Loid's notes...

I kept calling him Loid in my head now. I guess the name separated him from my Dad or Doctor Andonuts, and thus he subconsciously became a separate person to me all together. It was easier to look at his notes if I did that mental trick, I thought. When I found the one notebook in my bag, I frowned slightly.

And of course, Kato still had possession of Pokey's Diary. I still didn't understand why he did what he did... hopefully he had good intentions?

But really. Did he? He must have... right?

Then again, what was he going to gain from it? He could have just approached Ness about it, but he didn't. And that really bugged me to no end. He was making it a big secret too, just like I was.

Did that diary really hold any big secret? Just like Loid's notes?

"The Frizzy Doc Andonut secret is in here. It's the only thing he's ever written that supposedly reveals such a secret, and it's this secret that makes every single one of his inventions a success… including Dungeon Man."

Whatever the secret was, I was going to find out. Tonight...

I flipped open the book. Detailed diagrams and notes with words, some too big even for my vocabulary started to appear before my eyes; which started to gloss over.

… Maybe not tonight. But I had to find something. I glanced over at my bazooka. I had lugged the poor thing around with me everywhere; it was starting to become a dead weight. What if the thing really was useless? What if it just needed some parts that I didn't have in my possession? What if it really wasn't that great and I just lucked out with it that one time in the dump?

The memories of the thing filled me. I remembered the gigantic hot beam that fired out of it in full blast. I was wrong. That thing felt amazing. Useful even. If I could get that baby to fire more than once, that would have been the best. It would have definitely felt lighter by then. I let my eyes wander to my things.

Ness and Paula, even Kato had their own abilities to aid them; abilities that made them unique and them. Then there was me. I had to rely on my street smarts half of the time... and the other half? Even then that wasn't useful. Though I guess there were times I helped Ness on his journey... and stuck up with him at the very least. More than stuck up with him, I started to think. Anyways...

My hyper beam proved to be very useful, but just that. It was definitely my go to weapon, but it just didn't feel like enough. I wanted to unleash the kind of power their PSI abilities had to offer. It must have been great to use PSI, I thought to myself, trying not to feel jealous.

I had one bottle rocket left. Which was fine, they were useful once you could get them fired up. But you could only use them once, and if you missed? It was a waste of money and good resources. Though I guess I was helpful in the fact that I was the only one in the group that could fire the damn things.

Things like the bad key machine and the pencil eraser that Ness carried around helped us progress at times. And the hp sucker was alright, though I wasn't really using it much, if at all. Maybe if I knew how, I could make the thing better? I had completely forgotten I still had the bag of dragonite too... what did that little pouch even do anyways?

And finally, there was my good old pocket knife. Or really, it was a good stabbing blade, I thought. Out of all the things that I carried with me, that simple, small weapon was the thing that had saved my skin multiple times. It probably needed a good sharpening.

I sighed, lying on my back, lifting the notebook above my head, getting comfortable. I started scanning the contents to see if anything really caught my eye, not really focusing too deep until I found something... bazooka related I guess.

As I flipped through the pages, I inwardly thanked Loid for staying logical rather than emotional. Besides the couple of things that hid in the contents that I had already found, there wasn't anything else that led to any clues of my past.

I flipped the page again.

Diagrams... diagrams of different items and machines. Eventually I ran into a diagram for the revitalizing machine... the hyper beam... the lab even... and then finally the sky runner. And other items that I wasn't really aware of. I flipped back. What was the connection? Was there a connection between all of these items that made them function the way they did?

I studied the contents deeper now. Focusing on reoccurring scientific words that would potentially explain parts or methods...

I had to admit, the notes started feeling a bit... cryptic.

Eventually, my eyes wandered to the bottom of the pages for the revitalizing machine. My eyes landed on a peculiar phrase:

If all else fails, remember the pancake syrup ingredients...

I flipped the page, now scanning the contents for the hyper beam and the lab. I looked closer at the diagram of the hyper beam. I spotted a small stain, that seemed to linger on part of the gun's layout. I subconsciously rand my thumb over it.

It was slightly sticky. Well, I guess he did like his donuts, I thought grumpily. I flipped to the lab portion, and then the sky runner again. I particularly studied the panel that I had worked on with those other curious scientists back in Threed...

My mind started to wander again, now thinking of that orange capped creep Orange Kid. Just what was he doing? Something never felt right with him, I thought. I was wondering if we'd ever run into him again.

Remember to add the pancake syrup ingredients in the pan...

"Hey Jeff, the Doc made food, come get some," Ness spoke calmly through the tent, pausing as he looked me over, as I was laying down on my back. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, I'll come out in just a moment," I replied, folding the page and shutting the book. Ness seemed to study me for a moment.

"You ok?" he asked. I flashed him a smile.

"I'm alright, just deep in thought," I said honestly. "Just trying to fix this damn thing..." Ness frowned.

"Well don't let it stress you out. I think all three of us have a lot on our minds right now," He replied. I stood up, reaching an arm across my shoulder, using the opposite arm to pull the other in a cross body stretch.

"Will do Ness, if it helps you to stop worrying about me," I replied, smiling slightly. Ness returned a pouty face.

"Well... yeah," He replied. I couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah?" Ness looked away, trying to avoid my gaze.

"Yeh... don't look at me like that, just get out here, you dork," He replied. I narrowed my eyes, smile still plastered on my face.

"Don't call me dork, you'll pay for that," I lightly threatened. Ness bit his lip, trying to suppress his own smile.

"But you are one," He mumbled. I bit my lip.

"Well so are you yourself, you dork," I replied. Ness snorted.

"I guess we're all dorks then."

"Paula's not a dork," I said.

"Hey you kids dinner time!" We heard Jack yell from the fire pit. I looked into Ness's eyes one last time, watching the light from the fire pit dance on his eyes. He looked at me with this kind of expression- the kind that told me that he wanted to say more. I wondered what my eyes were telling him, I thought.

"Let's fuel our bodies," He spoke. I nodded.

"M'kay."

xxx

We all helped ourselves to a cooked stew that the Doc prepared and gathered around the fire pit. We had all bundled ourselves in blankets as well; the three of us huddled together with our bowls of food. I could sense a monkey; the same monkey possibly, trying to sneak up to us. However, Paula took one look at the monkey, and he retreated timidly.

"So what is this 'chosen ones' business about? What are you kids looking for?" Dave broke the ice. The three of us paused. For a good moment actually. Ness lowered his bowl of stew away from his face momentarily to try and find words.

"We're trying to find some things... and someone," he replied. To be honest, Ness was telling the truth, despite how vague the response was. "It's difficult to explain." Jack and Dave looked at each other. The Doc seemed to be in the zone with his stew.

"Who's this someone?" Jack asked. Ness paused.

"We're... trying to find two people actually." This was straying from the real topic I thought, but it was enough to seem less fake and obscure, I thought, right? If Pokey was the first option on our list of people we're chasing, then the second one had to be...

He was coming back for us, wasn't he? I thought to myself.

"You kids came to the wrong neighborhood to find lost friends," Dave laughed. "But if these monkeys are telling the truth enough to leave us alone, I'll buy it for once. Just know that none of us will be able to help you three if you get lost." We all silently continued to munch on our food.

"I... I don't understand why you three young kids would even come out here, but I do know that things have been a bit... weirder since your arrival too. Its strange... usually nothing comes out here; even over head, but just the other day I think I heard a helicopter for the first time in months."

The three of us paused. I swallowed my food incorrectly, making myself choke slightly to the point of coughing. Ness looked like he was also digesting what Dave had said.

"A... a helicopter?" Ness asked. Dave munched on his food while he responded.

"And just the other day, one of these monkeys said they found a helicopter, wrecked and up in smoke somewhere deeper in the murks." The three of us looked at each other.

"What did this helicopter look like do you know? Did it have any identification? A color?" Ness's voice was raised slightly by the sudden news. Dave seemed a little taken aback.

"I... I don't know kid, it's nearly impossible to look up at specific objects in the sky in this swamp. Did you kids need it to give you a lift? Sadly if it's wrecked, it's not gonna be able to take us anywhere." I bit my lip.

"You could say that," I replied. "The person we're trying to find was last seen boarding one."

"It would say Fourside on it somewhere..." Ness said. "If any of you were able to spot it that is..."

"Fourside? Wow, that's a long way from here." Another pause.

"But I swear... it's either me or this fog but ever since the helicopter... I've been noticing a lot more oddity... particularly strange noises and flashes in the sky." Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Like what, aliens?"

"Ufos... weird lights... it's probably the fog," Dave shrugged.

"Yeah it's probably the fog hahaha..." Paula spoke. I bit my lip.

"If it is a Ufo... wouldn't mind one getting us out of this swamp," He mentioned. Jack hmmed.

"But how are you kids going to get through this hell hole? You're gonna need a boat of some kind."

"We should have an extra boat they can use." The Doc barely whispered but somehow we were able to hear him over the crackles of the fire.

"I suppose they could use one of our spare boats. We have a bunch of inflatable ones too we could also use as backup." Jack mentioned. "Though this fog gets hella dense; how will you three navigate it?"

"They have the Hawks Eye, remember?" Our heads darted towards the source of the voice. The same monkey from before, hanging on a branch above our heads. He ooked once before letting his tail wrap around the branch, letting him sway down.

"They have the Hawks Eye to clear the fog. And we'll lead them through the swamp."

"How do we know that you aren't going to lead us to a dead end?" Paula asked. You could tell how the monkey hesitated slightly. He was scared of Paula, which was humorous, I personally thought.

"Ehehehe... no more monkey business," He said. "That would be betraying Talah Rama."

"Who the hell is this Talah Rama anyways? Is he some kind of monkey cult leader?" I snorted at Jack's question, as so Ness. Ness took one last bite of his food, a big smile forming on his lips as he looked like he had something silly on his mind.

"Sure, why not?" Ness shrugged.

"A cult? I don't like the sound of that..." Dave said.

"Wait, what's a cult?" The monkey ooked. Now it was Ness's time to snort in a sort of laughter.

"It's a good kind of cult... the kind that wants world peace?"

"With monkeys," I added. "Lots and lots of monkeys."

"We have to activate the eight shrines around the world to obtain world peace," Paula added.

"Good point," Ness grinned. Dave didn't look like he wanted to buy any of it.

"I don't think cults are really a... good thing. You kids are a part of this cult?"

"Oh it's not that bad, we've shut down plenty of bad cults in the past... for example once we had to shut down a blue cult that took over a small village all the way over near a meadow thirty or so miles from Twoson." Paula laughed too. Were we being serious now? Either way, this new inside joke that was forming was turning the other three's faces pale.

"Yeah, I mean their vision was world peace as well, just with blue." Paula explained.

"Lots and lots of blue," I added. Dave seemed to groan slightly.

"That... doesn't sound too different than a cult that wants peace but with lots of... monkeys," He said.

"No it's completely different," Ness said. I couldn't help but laugh.

"He's right, he's the chosen one," I remarked. Ness glanced at me, as I glanced back, noticing the glint in his eyes.

"Well... whatever you kids are doing... get your monkey cult out of our hair, we're not interested," Jack explained.

"With pleasure," Ness responded, as he started to get up. "So you'll provide us a boat?" He asked still smiling. Jack snorted.

"Sure, just don't wreck it, it's your only shot," He replied. Ness grinned.

"Sounds great. Thank you for the food too by the way," He placed it on the ground, before stretching his spine, reaching his arms above his head and letting his heels dig into the ground.

"I'm stuffed... time to go to bed," he said, wandering back into our tent. When he was gone, Dave spoke up.

"... Was he telling the truth?" Dave asked. I shrugged.

"Eh, part of it's true," I replied.

"Part of it?!" Dave's response was hilarious. I stood up, placing my bowl on top of Ness's bowl.

"Thank you for dinner... really," I spoke, adjusting my glasses slightly as my eyes looked at the fire. Paula did the same besides me.

"I agree, thank you three so much," She said. Jacked grunted.

"You kids get some rest. When you're ready to take off, let us know," Jack responded. I nodded in response, as Paula and I made our way to the tent. I could hear them talking among themselves before entering the tent.

"A monkey cult? I knew it."

xxx

Ness had already closed his eyes as he lay on his back with his arms crossed behind his head. Since Ness had situated himself in the middle sleeping bag, Paula took the one nearest the entrance while I went back to the sleeping bag with all my things.

I took one more chance at cracking Loid's code in his notebook...

Remember the Pancake Syrup Ingredients...

I counted how many times I've read that line in the notebook. It made no sense to me.

Soon enough however, it didn't matter as my eyes fluttered shut, leading me onto dreamland.

xxx

I was in the middle of neck deep water, in a foggy, open area. The clouds lay low, and the sky spanned forever in a skyline of white that reflected from the blue water. I let myself wander the water void, as if trying to see if I could find something... I squinted my eyes.

In the distance, I saw a tornado form, shrouded in specks of what looked like glittering sand but was mixed with the glistening water drops from the waters below. I watched as the tornado subsided and a lone figure stood in the water ahead, back facing towards me. For some reason, I picked up my pace.

As I got closer, I recognized that figure. I bit my lip, making my legs work over time through the water. I was starting to get over my silly water fear I once had. Or maybe this water just wasn't deep enough. Or maybe I was dreaming...

As I approached the figure, I took a few breaths to catch up with my mind as I examined his tan back, and how his long loose black hair flown in the small breeze that refused to reach me.

"Kato..." I gasped. Kato turned around, and smiled. I gritted my teeth.

"Kato, you came back..." I said. But deep down in my mind, it was a dream.

"Remember..." He spoke. I furrowed my eyebrows. His hair partially covered his face and locks became free form in the wind that had finally picked up storm. At an alarming rate, I thought.

"Remember... remember what?" I asked, taking a small step back. Kato took a step forward, as many tornadoes and twisters started to form behind him. I flinched, watching the rough water start to swirl behind us, as a giant serpent with long, red hair and fangs towered overhead, jaw open as if it spotted a new snack. My heart beat ran faster.

"Kato..."

"Remember the pancake syrup ingredients," He spoke, as the jaws of the gigantic creature opened wider.

"Kato!" Kato still had that same expression on his face, stepping slowly closer as I stepped further. Soon enough, I could feel drool from the Kraken drip all around us, tongue ready to snatch either of us.

"Kato!"

"Remember the pancake syrup ingredients." I looked up.

Rememebr the pancake syrup ingredients.

xxx

"Hah!" My eyes shot open; chest rising and falling rapidly. Ness's face hovering a good foot above my own.

"Jeff... are you ok? You were talking in your sleep," Ness said. My eyes started to relax, as my breaths slowed.

"Are you ok, Jeff?" Ness asked nervously. Paula peeked around Ness to see what was going on. I closed my eyes.

"Just... just another bad dream," I said. Ness bit his lip.

"Ok... I hate to do this to you but... it's time to get up," He said. To be honest, I thought, I didn't feel like falling back asleep again.

"Ok... just give me a few," I said.

"Were you dreaming about a bad breakfast or something?" Paula asked curiously.

"Paula," Ness said. Oh, I thought. I was saying that phrase in my sleep?

"Kato's a good cook but maybe we shouldn't have him making pancakes," Paula chuckled slightly. Ness and I couldn't help but snort.

"Paula." Paula shrugged.

"I'm just saying, jeez."

xxx

When the three of us were finally ready, we had met Jack by the docking station. My headache didn't lessen as I would have hoped, but I was eager to get this swamp segment over with.

"Now you kids take care," Jack said. "You keep that girl safe, you hear me? Treat that boat the same way too, you're gonna need it," Jack pointed at Ness. Ness rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry... it won't happen again, promise," He said. Jack hmmed before his eyes rest on mine. He seemed to notice the heavy bazooka that was strapped against my back.

"Kid, I know you have a lot on you already, but if you're interested, I have something to give you," He said, walking a few feet away to his big duffel bag.

"For me?" I was curious. It was probably something simple. But then when he walked back, my eyes widened.

"You strike me as the kind of kid who could use one of these at some point," He replied. "Got a glimpse of one of your bottle rockets in your tent as well as looking at that big gun strapped to your back, so who knows." My mouth hung open for a moment.

"Mu... multi bottle rockets?" I asked. Jack hmmed.

"Now don't go lighting these things just yet, you're gonna need to save these things when you really need them. Do yourself that favor because you're not getting another set from me for free," He added. I slowly nodded, timidly taking the slim military box out of his hands. My mind was screaming with excitement but I was speechless. I didn't really know how to respond.

"Th- thank you," I said, looking at the first set of multi bottle rockets I've ever touched. What Jack mentioned was true, I'd only use these when we were royally screwed. I had seen what these things could do through my research, and then saw what they did to that corpse flower that we fought earlier.

"Now you kids get out of here safe... hopefully these monkeys will leave us alone finally." It was then that we all noticed the many monkeys that hung on the branches above our heads.

"Will do," Ness said, as we all climbed into the boat. Before I was able to hop in, I felt someone's hands on my shoulders. The Doc's voice whispered in my ear.

"Have a safe journey," He spoke. I shivered.

"Th... thanks?"

"Doc, you're scaring him," Dave said.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered. Or was that his normal speaking voice? Either way, we were all in the boat, and as I pulled the string to start the motor, we looked back at the three of them, who waved at us.

And then we were off.

… For some reason, after the Doc whispered in my ear, my headache magically disappeared.

xxx

The swamp was unusually quiet in the morning. Either that or the motor was loud enough to shut out the noise altogether.

You could hear crickets and other small creatures make the noises of nature in the background, but that was it. Occasionally, we could hear the monkeys overhead swinging from branch to branch, but they were above the fog, which was a little inconsiderate of them, I thought.

In almost what felt like a half an hour, I thought, the fog was almost blinding. To the point where I couldn't even see Ness or Paula... or my feet. It literally consumed us.

"Should we?" I asked.

"Do what?" Ness asked.

"I think he means the Hawks Eye, Ness."

"I don't have it," Ness said.

"Yeah I know, I have it," I said. Ness grunted, in response. I reached into my pocket, and picked out the Hawks Eye. Just by holding it, I could see the fog swirl away from the small coin. To the point that the fog had subsided from our boat; Ness and Paula following in my field of vision.

"Ness... you do it," I said, handing him the coin. Ness nodded, taking the coin in hand. Ness held the Hawks Eye over his head, pointing it ahead of us.

Almost instantaneously, the fog seemingly parted, revealing the path ahead. It had cleared enough fog that the lowest branches of the trees became visible again, aiding our vision to see the monkeys leading the way. We took turns holding the coin throughout the day as we navigated the swamp. There were a few disturbances later in the afternoon, but we were able to fend for ourselves. However, by the later afternoon, I could sense a feeling of dread around us. The swamp was it's own maze, I thought. Just nothing but misty trees, vines and other vegetation, and the occasional corpse flower decorating the distance. It was eerie. And it really started to wear down on us in a way that other travels didn't.

"It just feels like we're not making any progress," Ness added. "How long is this swamp?"

"I'd rather walk across another desert than this..." Paula replied.

"It does get annoying to have to wipe my glasses every fifteen minutes," I added. "We should probably find a place to dock before it gets dark."

"Yeah," Ness and Paula grunted. Momentarily, something unexpected happened.

Thunk.

"What was that?" Ness questioned. We looked around us.

Thunk.

I tried accelerating the motor to make the boat go faster, but it struggled. Paula then covered her nose in disgust.

"It... smells like vomit..." She said, eyes looking horrified. Ness and I soon after covered our noses as well. Ugh!

"Shit..."

"Ness look!" Paula pointed beyond the side of the boat. We quickly looked over to find the source of the smell.

In the water was thick, gross slime slowing down the boat. Many colors, but mostly a salmon, fleshy and frothy color. It reeked of stomach acid and other rotten substances.

"Oh god, behind us!" Paula shrieked through her hands. Our heads whipped to the direction that Paula pointed in. It was then that the water bubbled. I tried to pull the string to work the motor harder.

"It's no use," I said, pumping the string. Paula started to cough. Shit... The water started to bubble... and out of the water popped two giant eyes and the source of the god awful smell. I pinched my nose completely shut, but I could still sense the stench through my mouth. It was absolutely foul.

"Garrrrg... gloop gloop... remember me...?" A monstrous voice gurgled. "It's... BLEEEUGH... been a while..." A giant blast of rotten carbon dioxide blew our hair back with incredible force. I flashed Ness a glance, as he looked back at me. We could feel the steam of his burp blow our boat a little bit farther, but with the added stench of... puke.

"Master Belch..." Ness muttered.

"Not Master Belch... not a master anymore... just a giant pile of puke," Paula said, eyes glaring. "One big giant pile of puke... disgusting..."

Disgusting was right. As Belch emerged higher and higher above the swamp surface, its mouth drooped the way it did back in the factory in Saturn Valley. It's teeth dislocated wherever they floated within his mushy, slimy body. It's skin... if you could even call it skin, bubbled, like a radioactive substance. If it had tentacles, it was able to outreach over the end of the boat with them. My eyes widened.

"Eeeeeeee!" Paula screamed as she flashed her ice attack at the beast. Belch groaned, recoiling from the sudden attack. Ness jumped to the back of the boat with me, trying to start the motor himself.

"Why won't this thing move," He panicked.

"It's stuck in all this sludge!" I responded, reaching for my hyper beam. It's eyes blinked as it slowly tried reaching for us again.

"Ness, try blinding it!" I said. Ness grunted, outreaching his arms in front of him. Paula and I momentarily closed our eyes before he set off his blinding attack. Belch screamed, recoiling quickly, the force making the waves push our boat farther from him.

"There's got to be a way to get our boat unstuck!" Ness shouted. "Do we have anything?" I looked in my bag, fingers grazing over the box of multi bottle rockets. Shit, I thought. Not now... I pulled out my one bottle rocket, setting it up in a way that would ground it to the boat.

"Paula, can I get a light?" I asked. Paula nodded, putting up two of her fingers to let off a spark. The bottle rocket hissed, before launching towards the giant pile of puke. And as I suspected, the force of the rocket made the boat move, enough to unlodge it from all of Belches mass. I floored the motor.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" I shouted, as we made our escape, hearing the monster scream behind us.

"You can't escape BLEUUUGH," It belched in the distance before bubbling back down into the swamp water.

xxx

Soon enough, we were able to breath again. We had been able to get away from the puke monster, keeping our eyes peered on the branches above for the trail of monkeys. The air was getting darker and darker. It must have been turning into evening.

"We have to be getting somewhere soon," I said.

"Jeff... look..." Ness pointed. I squinted.

Ahead of us was a chunk of land. Many of the monkeys were on the ground waiting for us to dock. They looked to be surrounding something. As we got closer, my eyes widened slightly.

There, awaiting us on the small patch of land, was the helicopter. A lot of the monkeys clung on top of the wrecked aircraft. I slightly accelerated the engine enough to quickly dock us on the chunk of land. All of us abandoned ship, stumbling onto the ground. Funny thing was, while our trip along the desert was nothing but walking and heat, this one was nothing but sitting and deep chills. My legs forgot what they were doing, especially with my eyes glued to the wrecked aircraft ahead of us. I think Ness was the one who stumbled the most, but approached the aircraft the quickest. Ness's cupped his mouth.

"POKEY!"

His shout echoed loud , but soon got lost in the fog. There was no response. I saw how the monkeys all climbed and sat along the edges of the helicopter blades, the remaining two that were still in tact in the air. The helicopter sat diagonally on its side; some of its structure sinking into the moist ground. There was enough room to where you could still crawl inside of the aircraft from the lower end. The other way in was through the side that faced up towards the sky through the pilot area. Though as we circled around the yellow helicopter, we found another door that was propped open for us to climb into. It looked safe enough; maybe we could use this as our tent for the night, I thought.

Ness climbed in the structure, as if frantically looking for him. But as I figured, Pokey was nowhere to be found. Ness screamed.

"POOOOKEY!" I frowned, examining how Ness's stress level rose.

"He's not here," I said. Ness snarled.

"He was here. That's enough for me!"

"Even if he was here, do you think screaming his name will enable him to come out? You'll attract other threats!" I said. Ness huffed bitterly, climbing out of the helicopter and scanned around him, holding out the Hawks Eye.

"He's gone," Paula said. "I don't sense him here..." Ness's shoulders slouched.

"Where is he then... Paula, you don't think?" Ness's voice was filled with sorrow. As if now worried for his ex friend.

"He's alive," Paula closed her eyes. "I don't know where he is though." Ness paused, looking at her. Paula looked to be exhausted at that point. More exhausted than Ness and I.

"Humph, he'll show himself one way or the other..." Ness barely muttered as he shoved the artifact in his pocket. He then looked up to the sky, which was then turning a deep shade of a muddled purple.

"I'm sick of the wilderness," He muttered.

"It makes you wonder though..." I added. "If his helicopter is here, where could he be headed?"

"He must be ahead of us," Ness spoke. "Which worries me honestly."

"But what would he be searching for all the way out here? It's not like he can claim those sanctuary locations... can he?" I asked. Ness exhaled through his nostrils.

"I don't know honestly. What I do know is that we're getting closer to one... I can feel it. At this point, we probably wouldn't need the monkeys anymore leading us, but they probably know the safest route through this murky hell."

"We should rest then. If you sense a sanctuary location is nearby, it means Pokey hasn't touched it, right?" I added. Ness hmmed in response.

"We need some mental clarity if we need to keep going..."

"Jack told us not to travel in the swamp during the night," Paula added. Ness sighed.

"Let's camp out in the helicopter then. I saw plenty of chairs and cushions we can camp out on inside. Let's get some rest," Ness dug through his backpack and dug out a couple snacks he had lugging around and handed us each something. I took one last look around us, as the fog threatened to close us in.

"Let's get inside of the helicopter before this fog catches up to us," I mentioned.

xxx

We managed to shut ourselves inside the helicopter. One of the windows was propped open a crack just to get some 'fresh' air, whatever that was around here. Paula had munched on her snack before retiring for the night; cocooning herself in a blanket along with Mr. Ziggy and turning her back towards Ness and I on a set of cushioned chairs. The room was slanted at an angle; I had decided to set up camp on the floor, using my heavy bazooka as a barrier to keep my things from sliding down to the corner of the room. Ness sighed, after eating his snack, and I could feel his eyes lock onto me as I scanned Loid's notes again.

"You staying up again?" Ness asked me. I grunted in response, letting the side of my head rest against my left hand, as I let my fingers roam my scalp.

"If that's ok?" I replied. Ness paused.

"You need to rest you know," He replied calmly. "I know how hard you work but... give yourself a break once and a while." My mouth curved down. He was right, but...

"I- I feel like I'm getting close to something important," I replied. Ness scooted himself to sit on the floor next to me.

"Like what?" He asked curiously, hugging his knees. I closed Loid's notes, letting my eyes wander to the opposite wall of the helicopter room.

"Dad... my dad left me his notes," I said.

"And?"

"There's some kind of secret he's hiding," I continue. "If I can decode whatever's hiding in here, I might be more helpful." I let my fingers graze my forehead, skipping over my glasses. I could sense Ness looking at me on the corners of my vision, letting his arms cross over his knees as he rested his temple on them. There was a small pause before us until I could feel a couple fingers wipe my greasy bangs out of my eyes. The gesture startled me, only slightly, letting my eyes look back at him. He had a small, cute smile on his face, though the bags under his eyes reminded me of how exhausted he must have been.

"You're already useful." I paused.

"I don't know..." My self doubt started to take the wheel. Ness however shook his head.

"You're with us for a reason. Many reasons... you being useful is one of them." I wanted to frown. But I'm sure my entire posture did that for me.

"I think we're all too empty... to feel any empathy right now," I said. Ness however shook his head. But he didn't say anything. I couldn't help but notice his hand, now roaming to mine. Rather than withdrawing it, I let him. I let his thumb explore to the inside of my palm until I complied, gently returning the gesture. I sighed.

"I'll prove to you how useful I can be," I said, finally looking at him. Ness could only smile.

"I'll believe you."

He leaned himself against my body, letting his eyes flutter shut. I had to follow up with that now; I thought to myself, letting my eyes flutter close momentarily. It was the smallest of gestures, but every time we even had an intimate moment like this, I was thankful. Did this mean; despite all of our hardships, and our awkward times... our intimacy... that he trusted me? As a friend? As...

Were we even lovers? What were we? I would let my mind think back at the first time Ness broke the ice. That thick awkward sheet of white ice that lay between us, that uncertainty. It still lingered, I knew it did. But... it also lingered in this journey we had too. If it helped us deal with whatever we were facing... hell. At this point; I thought, I could finally start to disregard Pokey's cold predatory remarks in my head. Because as much as I didn't think to admit it; Ness trusted me more than Pokey... he had to. Right...? What even were they? And...

Thoughts of Tony started to appear in my mind. I opened my eyes, letting my thumb run along Ness's fingers one last time before letting go carefully before hitting Loid's notes again. I can't let myself get too attached, I briefly thought to myself.

xxx

It was an hour later. Paula and Ness were both sound asleep. Ness had managed to slouch onto his side, head nestled next to me as I sat next to him; my eyes still focused on the notebook. At this point in time, I had scanned every page at least twice.

Every other page, I thought, every other page... I was picking up a pattern...

Remember the pancake syrup ingredients...

"Remember the pancake syrup ingredients," Kato spoke hauntingly in my dream. This phrase was going to haunt me, I thought. Was this... was this the answer?

What the fuck is the pancake syrup ingredients anyways? I started thinking of the substance; sugary, mapley-vanilla delight you'd drown your pancakes or waffles in. But what did syrup had to do with science anyways? Did Loid drown his donuts in syrup every morning to help him think clearer, like it was some sort of sugar rush that got him going every morning? It was a dumb thought, so I pushed it aside.

I started to think what was in pancake syrup... I had never paid close attention to the labels of foods or their ingredients since I had always lived in a school where they fed us whatever was secretly being brewed behind the cafeteria walls. Was it something within a certain brand of syrup that he used as fuel for his projects? That would mean we'd have to take a detour to some super market that sold many brands of the stuff... but what good would that do? It had to be something different- some kind of code.

I thought hard, letting my eyes scan the phrase on every page it landed on; noticing how he would use an arrow from that phrase to where you would load the so called 'pancake syrup ingredients.' I bit my lip, a little harder at each page turn. Something had to give... right?

I could always contact him, I thought. No... no I couldn't. Not because... not because I was afraid, no.

I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to be the first one to crack his secret. Bragging rights? Possibly. But there was a part of myself that still wanted to prove myself worthy to him... whatever that meant.

"Yeah… I'm sure if anyone could figure it out, it would be his own son," Brick Road spoke in my memories.

The secret...

Remember the pancake syrup ingredients...

Stneidergni purys... no, not backwards, Jeff!

Remember... pancakes... syrup... ingredients...

Rem... Pan... Syr... In...

R. T. P. S. I...

I paused. Rtpsi... Rtpsi... I paused again.

R... T... P... S... I...

S... P... T... R... no...

Remember... the...

I paused. It finally hit me.

I froze. My heart stopped. My eyes widened, as I stared blankly down at the notes.

P-S-I

PSI

Remember the PSI.

Oh... my god.

I exhaled nervously, feeling my body shiver. Remember the PSI...

But... Loid doesn't know PSI, does he? But obviously he seems to know of its existence. What was PSI anyways? All I knew was that it was what Ness and Paula knew... psychic abilities. The same abilities that Kato split himself learning. I bit my lip, staring at my father's notes, momentarily glancing at Paula across the room and then side glancing towards Ness... then back to my notes.

What was happening?

My head started to spin. But he wouldn't have given me this if I didn't know what PSI was or...

What did Loid know anyways? He obviously knew the world was in danger... but beyond that?

I frantically reached for the heavy bazooka, examining its structure, finding any nuts and bolts. I reached for my tool box. I opened her up. I scanned any diagrams of weapons that he had within his notes; finding any similarities with the structure of the heavy bazooka. When I found what I was looking for I paused.

Remember the PSI...

I bit my lip.

Looking over my shoulder, I rest my eyes upon him; Ness. He was peacefully out of it... My hands shook, as I let my hand hover over his shoulder...

I had to.

I had to find out.

"N... Ness," My voice shook, resting my hand on his shoulder carefully, letting my fingers squeeze him ever so slightly. When that did nothing, I lightly shook him.

"Ness... I'm sorry... but please wake up," I whispered in a hushed tone. Soon enough, Ness's eyes started to flutter open.

"Wh... Jeff? Jeff what's wrong?" Ness clumsily sat up, slightly startled by my urgency. "Jeff, what's wrong?" He asked worryingly. I must have looked horrified to him, because he shot a horrified look back to me.

"Jeff...! Are you..." I exhaled. In all honesty, I was horrified. I was shaking.

"Ness... I need your help," I spoke. Ness cocked his head slightly.

"With...?"

"I need to know something first... please." I tried to keep my heart beat steady, breathing slowly. Ness paused.

"What do you need to know?" Ness asked innocently. I did my best to kill my inner monologue and cut to the chase. My eyes locked hard onto his.

"Do you trust me?" I asked him honestly and firmly. Ness seemed taken aback by my sudden determination.

"I... but what for?" He asked. Shit...

"Ness... please... yes or no... do you trust me?" I asked firmly again. It didn't take Ness too long to respond.

"Of course I do... why wouldn't I? But I don't understand, what's happening-"

"Ok good... follow me outside... I think I have something," I said, standing up while picking up the tools I needed along with the bazooka and the notes. "I'm figuring something out, and I need your help." Ness hesitated, but soon complied with my request, quietly standing up to not wake Paula.

"We're not going far, just outside," I said. Ness was quiet.

After climbing out of the helicopter through the cockpit, I took Ness's hand and took a couple big steps away from the copter, flashing my light ahead of us. I dropped my things.

"Ok... now let me think for a second," I thought. Ness started to shiver.

"It's so cold out here," He said.

"I know," I replied. "I promise this shouldn't take too long." I knelt down, taking the small broken compartment in the bazooka to examine it. There seemed to be some kind of small, rectangular clear box in the center, connected by one wire. The other wire had to be connected in the other insert on the other side of the small rectangular part. I thought hard for a second. If all of their PSI was discharge, then making Ness use an offensive attack on the device wouldn't do any good.

He had healing abilities too... but I don't think that was what needed to be done here either. But then...

I remember that time when he pressed his forehead to mine... and the world was secretly ours in that one moment our minds were linked. Maybe...

"I need you to hold this wire," I asked him calmly. Ness complied skeptically at first. I held onto the opposite wire, the one without the box attached. I exhaled.

"Now... remember what we... remember what you asked me to do with you back in the hotel at Fourside?" I asked, feeling my cheeks flush. It took Ness a moment, until his cheeks looked flushed as well in the fog.

"We can't do that in the middle of the swamp..." My flush deepened.

"No not that! Right before... that... the forehead touching thing... whatever you did. We need it here," I said. Oh, I could just see the slight relief on his features.

"I should have known that's what you meant... silly me," Ness held his forehead in slight relief. "Yeah... give me a moment." I examined him; not realizing that I may had been giving him stage freight then. I watched as his thumb ran along the box that he held.

"Ok... come here," He said, looking at me shyly before his eyes darted to the side.

"Please trust me..." I whispered shyly before I rested his forehead against his. Our eyes fluttered shut.

And soon enough, I could start to feel the energy... this sensation that we were elsewhere. The link between us had been formed, and our minds were swimming in the most random of images and sensations. To the sensation that we could hear everything in the world... to nothing... nothing but the two of us. The swamp didn't exist then.

We stayed like this for a moment, I could feel Ness's focus on my own.

Ness gasped, removing his forehead.

My eyes shot open. The link was broken. Ness looked down at the wire. I knelt down and examined his end of the wiring. My eyes widened slightly.

Something... something new was happening. But it disappeared prematurely.

"Again," I requested. "This is it." Ness looked at me.

"You're tying to charge this machine aren't you? This thing was never broken..." He said. I exhaled.

"I think so..." I looked in his eyes again. "We have to try again." Ness nodded slowly, before we both leaned into each other again, slowly closing our eyes.

We let the same sensation and link building occur, this time focusing only on ourselves and not what may or may not lurk around the corner. While my mind wasn't present in the swamp setting, I let my hand grasp the wire tightly. I could sense Ness doing the same on his own link.

We joined hand; the wires; solidifying the link. And just for a moment... that blissful moment... I really felt like we were one.

Energy started to swell at our finger tips.

"Jeff..." Ness whispered.

"Ness..." We didn't kiss... or exchange anything of the sort. But it felt so much more than that then, with our heads still touching like they were.

In unison, we opened our eyes. And looked down.

Ness's part glowed a soft white-blue. My hand shook. Without separating ourselves, I connected the wire.

Wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

My eyes widened.

I could feel Ness's calm, yet surprised eyes look at me. I took a few more moments just looking in awe at what we had just done. I placed the wiring back in its place before sealing the compartment shut with the small door, screwing it in place. This door-flap had clear windows on them, so you could see the PSI glowing with energy within. I stood up. I placed the once heavier bazooka over my shoulders and placed my finger over the trigger, aiming somewhere away from us and the helicopter. I pulled the trigger.

WrrrrOOOOOOSHHHH!

My eyes shot open, as the force of the bazooka pushed me backwards slightly. Holy...

"Ness..." I pressed the button again.

"WRRROOOSH!"

"Ness!"

WRROOSH! WROOSH! WROOSH!

"Ness!" I exclaimed excitedly. Ness seemed entranced as I kept firing the bazooka over and over.

"Oh my god Ness... oh my god we did it!" I cheered in a shakey voice. But Ness shook his head.

"You did it," He replied. The honesty in his voice... the honesty. I couldn't give myself all the credit, I thought...

My nerves took over my body as I took a step forward towards Ness, taking him by the arm; then reaching a hand behind his head...

And I pressed my lips against his hungrily, almost too forcefully... so desperately...

And when Ness returned the gesture; everything felt so right.

Though, as soon as it could have been something more, we broke apart, almost lingering against each other moments after. I don't know how long we looked at each other, as we still embraced; listening to the crickets and frogs in the distance. It became quiet...

"We'll... figure out the rest later," I spoke. Ness's flush face nodded in agreement, side glancing down. For some reason, I could just sense that Ness knew exactly what I was talking about. Ness smiled.

"Yeah... we will." We looked at each other once last time before we returned to the helicopter together.

xxx

When morning finally fell upon us, we took one last glance around the helicopter for any clues of Pokey's whereabouts. If it was anything like cracking Loid's notes I thought we could find something. But nothing was found.

"We're just going to have to ditch this then," I said. Ness sighed sadly.

"I was afraid of this," He admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "But it figures that he'd want us as far away from him as possible... now that we know what he's been affiliated with Giygas."

We took one last sweep around the helicopter for safe keeping, but nothing; no clues could be spotted in regards to clues on where; or what Pokey may had been up to in that moment. The three of us made our way to the boat, then we waited for the monkeys to show up in the trees.

"You don't think he's just... around do you?" Ness asked. I frowned.

"Do you wanna look around?" I asked. Ness seemed to second guess what I had entailed.

"Like I said last night Ness, I don't sense him here at all..." Paula said. Ness sighed.

"Fine, then let's head out." Ness held up the Hawks Eye again, watching how the fog parted again. And then we were off...

xxx

The journey was just like it was yesterday. Boring, murky and just slightly frightening due to the unknown circumstances of all this fog. And much like yesterday, we didn't really run into much.

Though... whenever we did run into anything however...

WrrrOOOOSH!

The force of the bazooka rocked the boat slightly. The corpse flower subsided and sunk into the depths of the water.

You're kidding me... I thought to myself. That was simple...

"That's it?" I asked. Paula's eyes widened.

"Jeff! You fixed it?" Paula asked excitedly. I paused. Just mentally dealing with the fact that I had just single handedly took care of an enemy. I adjusted my glasses.

"I think so," I replied. "With Ness's help of course." I couldn't help but notice how Paula's face lit up. Ness's smile was small, but it was there.

"Should make getting through this swamp much easier," I said. However; just as soon as I said that; Paula quickly covered her mouth, shrieking.

"Oh god!" And soon after, Ness and I did the same. And so did I.

Ugh...

There was that stench again. Before we could react any further, our boat stalled again. The same gurgling sound. Behind of us, I thought worryingly. We turned around.

And sure enough, there it was, Master Belch, in all of it's... disgusting, belchy, pukey glory. I watched the water roll slowly from it's slimy form, eyeballs popping up over its head, blinking one by one before locking its disturbing eyes onto us.

"Where... Bleeeugh... do you think you kids are going?" He burped. All the sudden, our boat shook. And before we knew it, the boat had been lifted from the water in his slimy, pukey grasp. Paula shrieked as we saw slimy tentacles split the three of us apart by wrapping around the boat tightly; Paula and Ness on one side of the boat while I was on the other. The queue to abandon ship happened when Master Beltch lifted the boat above his head. Panic started to set in as his disgusting droopy mouth started to open wide.

"Abandon ship!" I screamed, as all three of us jumped to the murky waters below. My drop was faster due to the weight of the heavy bazooka strapped to my back, as I plunged in. Holding my glasses in place, my feet were thankful to find that the water was shallow enough for me to stand. Just barely, neck above water. I gasped, scanning the thickening water around me.

"Ness? Paula?" I rushed away from the giant pile of puke in search of my friends. "Ness! Paula!"

"Jeff! Get out of the water!" I heard someone scream. However, as soon as I wanted to scan the waters again, my glasses decided to fog up. Wonderful, I thought bitterly.

"Jeff hurry! Find a branch, log- anything!" Ness shouted. Shit. After defogging my glasses, I turned around quickly. My eyes finally found Ness and Paula, climbed up on a tree in the water, ushering me to greet them there. But as I tried to reach my friends, I was greeted by a wall of ooze and a powerful wave of murky water that pushed me back. Gah!

"Hey!" I heard Ness shout at the beast; unleashing an attack. Master Belch groaned. Paula soon after launched her ice attack, which temporarily froze the monster. I tried to find anything closer to me to latch onto but it was no avail, at least in reach.

Sooner than we would have hoped, Master Belch opened it's eyes from the blinding flash and spotted me. I was his target, I thought. Most likely because I was the easiest for him to reach . I gritted my teeth, stancing myself with my bazooka to fire.

"I'll eat you fir-BLEEUGH," It burped as it reached towards me. Ness and Paula launched more attacks in the distance. I pulled the trigger once-

The blast from the heavy bazooka blasted in roughly two spots on its body; one on its lower lip and the other straight in it's left eye. However, as soon as it did so, I could feel one of his arms snatch me up. I yelped, feeling my own acid rise in my stomach from the stench of his tentacle. He quickly lifted me up into the air. Soon after that, the bazooka fell down into the water below.

"Gaah!" I gasped.

"Jeff!" They both screamed. Shit shit shit shit shit... It's grip was tight, I thought. My face felt like it was going pale, or even blue as it lifted me closer and closer towards its cavernous mouth; it's teeth parting way for my entrance. I could feel my glasses start to slip. I closed my eyes. There's got to be a way out of this one, I thought to myself, holding my breath.

"Look!"

Suddenly, I was blinded. By many many bright lights and explosions. I was deafened by the sound of Master Belch's screams and blasts as I was let go from his grip. My glasses left my face as I dropped to the water below. The sounds of rushing water was all I could hear as I tried scrambling to find something- my glasses, my bazooka, anything. Thank you, Ness or Paula, I didn't know which one saved me then, but I'll have to thank them later, I thought to myself.

As soon as I felt what I believed to be the strap of my heavy bazooka, my lungs started to give way. The bazooka was luckily lighter in the water, but for some reason, my age old fear started to take over. How was I supposed to swim to the surface again? My panic made me flail wildly, all until I felt something grab onto my hand. Another hand; a human hand, I thought. I grasped it tightly as I got lifted up and above the water surface. I gasped and coughed, clutching the hand and my heavy bazooka for dear life. What happened next was something I wasn't expecting.

"Look at you with your big guns," The familiar male's voice spoke. I gurgled.

"Wh... wha?" My head started to spin.

"Though it's probably useless to you without these, huh?" I felt a couple pairs of fingers run across my ears as I felt what seemed to be my glasses rest on my nose. I blinked. And fell silent.

Standing above me; who may or may not have been my savior in that moment, was Kato; who's hair was loose from its braid as it swayed in the breeze. His attire was mostly the same, except he seemed to be wearing a tight, long sleeved turtle neck black shirt underneath his usual robbed attire. I couldn't help but notice his once smug expression was lighter then; as if expecting me to not be quite collected for me to react.

"K... Kato," I mumbled. Kato chuckled. I must have looked bewildered to him; just completely stunned. I don't know what brought on what I said next.

"You're late," I furrowed my eyebrows. "You... you're late!" I shouted grumpily at him, feeling my cheeks flare up. Kato chuckled.

"I know I know," He said. We could both hear the gurlge of the beast behind us.

"Where's Ness and Paula?" I asked, scanning our eyes around us. My eyes rest upon the tree they previously were on. My eyes widened when I noticed the entire tree covered in puke and slime. They were nowhere to be found.

"Aeeeee!" Paula shriek. Our eyes widened.

Master Belch had dropped her in his mouth like a small delicate moursel. Oh god... I had paused momentarily, clutching my stomach.

"Get on my back," Kato spoke calmly. Wh-

"But-"

"Hurry!" Kato knelt down slightly. I quickly and clumbsily complied, climbing on him, feeling my wet fingers slip against his bare shoulders. Once I kind of felt like I was secure on his back, I let my hand roam to my heavy bazooka.

"Hold on big guns," He told me, as we both watched Master Beltch lock eyes onto us.

"EEEeeeeeuuughhhgh!" It burped loudly as it thrashed out at us with slimy, whatever they were, I didn't know anymore. Kato lunged with grace up in thr air. We were high up, I thought to myself. Soon however, Kato landed on a nearby tree; I could feel the branch he landed on sway from the added weight. Without thinking, I held onto Kato tighter than usual, letting my arm wrap around the front of his chest; which soon led to his-

"Jeff ack Jeff you're choking me!" He complained with a strangled voice. I quickly moved my arm.

"Well you're the one who wanted me to ride on your back!" I replied. We both then looked below us, and how the mucus and puke took the water over below.

"I could drop you if you'd like," He said. I bit my lip.

"Hahaha... on second thought-"

"Geeeuhehehehe I can help you find your friends," The beast belched.

Ugh... I think both of us groaned in disgust when he said that.

"Have any ideas?" Kato asked me.

"Not really, but whatever the heck you did earlier seemed to work," I replied. Kato hmmed.

"Ready a shot, I have an idea," Kato told me before making another leap of faith. The movement startled me honestly.

"You could tell me when you're about to juuuump!"

"Calm down and aim your gun," Kato said. I gritted my teeth. The nerve... But we had to get Ness and Paula out of their situation as fast as we could. Squeezing my knees around Kato's waist, I steadied myself to aim the bazooka over our shoulders towards the giant pile of slime. Kato jumped into the water, making a huge splash, but then managing to jump out again.

"Do you have aim?" Kato asked. I snarled.

"As good as it will ever be!" I responded truthfully. Kato briefly distracted me however as he lifted a free arm overhead.

"Let it launch," He told me. I could then see his fingertips start glowing; and then a swirl of wind started forming above us.

"Jeff now!" Kato ordered again. Ack! I pulled the trigger.

The bazooka fired it's huge beam of light towards the mass of sludge. As it did, the force of the blast pushed us back slightly. It didn't push us that far back though. All until I noticed the storm of light blasting from the sky- to his hand- then towards the bazooka's beam of light, swirling around it like a snow globe. The energy looked like a blinding blast of many miniature glittering stars. The impact was incredible; enough to push leaves, water, branches, anything nearby was affected by the blast. Master Belch let off a blood turning scream of horror.

Our landing ended in a big splash; Kato starting to charge towards the beast. However, I tried squeezing his shoulders like they were reins. Kato didn't listen to my command though, as I examined how the pile of puke kept expanding and expanding. Kato still wasn't slowing down. I frowned, tugged on his hair.

"OOOuch what the hell Jeff?!"

"Stay back," I replied, keeping my eyes on Master Belch, who had tried keeping his mouth shut. Kato soon saw what I was getting at.

"Shit." Kato jumped in the air. As soon as he did, we both watched in slight horror as the mass of puke exploded; the air feeling incredibly hot for a split moment.

"Shit!" We both exclaimed. When we landed back down into the water; Kato immediately dropped me as I fell back first into the water again; making me yelp. I quickly got back onto my feet as I followed close behind.

"Ness! Paula!" Kato called out, scanning the area.

"Ness! Paula!!" I shouted, looking over the water.

Splash!

Kato and I paused and looked towards the source of the sound. Once we were able to locate it, we instantly noticed Ness coughing profoundly.

"Ness!" We both rushed over to him. Ness eventually was able to steady his breathing, as he tried adjusting his stance slightly. We then noticed; on his back, was Paula, forehead buried in Ness's back. Mr. Ziggy stuck its nose outside of her bag to let off a violent sneeze.

"Are you two ok?" Kato asked.

"Ness... how's Paula?" I asked. Ness took a moment to breath when we heard Paula coughing soon after.

"Huh? Ness leaned his head back slightly, pressing part of it to Paula's forehead. He closed his eyes for a moment.

"I'm fine Ness," Paula replied, clearing her throat. Ness detached his head, almost sadly so. He shrugged before taking in another deep breath before coughing it out. This foul air was difficult to breath in as it was.

"That... huff... that was disgusting..." Ness muttered. "Where's the boat?" He asked. Kato and I scanned our eyes around us. Splotches of slime, guts and other digested parts littered the water, and the trees. It was then that Kato noticed something float up.. He picked it up with one hand. It was a piece of the boat...

"Great..." Ness muttered. I frowned. We had to walk through this swamp by foot again, didn't we?

"Are we almost there?" Paula asked quietly. Ness, Kato and I all looked at each other with concerned looks. She didn't sound too good, I thought.

"Let me take Paula on my back," Kato said. "You look pretty depleted." Ness complied, grunting in response as he transferred Paula onto Katos back. Kato was taller than all of us, so she was able to be mostly out of the water. Ness took the Hawks Eye again, and cleared up the fog ahead. It was then that we noticed all of the monkeys hanging in the trees, waiting for us to continue our journey.

"We're following the monkeys, Kato," I told him.

"Ugh... there's more," Ness spoke, glancing at us before looking down.

"Then let's get going," Kato stated, securing Paula on his back. I examined Ness's sulk.

"I hate walking in all this deep sludgy water... but Kato's right," I shrugged.

"We have to keep going either way." Kato grunted.

"Then let's get through this swiftly." All of us grunted, as we started trekking through the water again. About five yards later, I saw how Ness's entire body just slouched in fatigue. Or laziness? He kept giving me these... side glances, as if he wanted to ask me something. I didn't urge him however... whatever was on his mind.

"I'm so sick of this..." Ness whined; shooting me another look. I looked back at him. Then suddenly, his facial expression changed. His pout deepened and his eyes grew bigger. What... Ness what do you want me to do?

"I'm sure we don't have too far," Kato said. Ness frowned. I looked away.

"But I'm tired... and wet," Ness's complaints were getting quieter and quieter until I was sure that I was the only one in ear sight. I wanted to roll my eyes now. I couldn't help but notice his eyes lock on mine again. I had a feeling...

"If only we had something or someone to-"

"Fine god!" I responded curtly. I couldn't help but notice how Ness's face lit up, hissing a 'yes' to himself as he eagerly climbed on my back, awkwardly of course since I still also had my freaking heavy bazooka strapped to my back.

"I'm not scrapping the bazooka," I told him stubbornly, feeling my cheeks flush again. Ness's arms wrapped around the front of my chest as he let his chin rest in the crook of my neck, leaning his head against the back of mine.

"I'm not expecting you to," He mumbled. I blushed. I wasn't sure how to address or ask about any injuries, it was difficult to tell. Besides Kato, we were all fatigued to the point of collapse. I was sure that the gross water that we walked through was keeping us from falling over as it was. Every other breath, I smelled the puke that stained his arms.

"You stink..." I mumbled.

"Deal with it, I was in the middle of a pile of puke what do you expect?" Ness said.

"Well, you did leave me with no other choice," I said.

"Wh- Hey what does that mean?" I chuckled.

"It means exactly what it means," I replied. A small pause. I looked ahead of us, and how the trees tops started to merge together ahead of us, monkeys swinging back and forth. Paula resting peacefully on Kato's strong looking back.

"I'm so happy Kato came back for us..." Ness barely mumbled.

…

"I am too."