When we get back to the banquet hall, Jeff has four empty plates with food residue on the table in front of him.
"Were all of those piled as high as the first one?" Poo says.
"Yeah." Jeff pats his stomach. "This might be the best meal I've had in my life. Thank the chef for me, will you?"
"That will have to wait, since I'm coming with you to rescue Ness. And while you've been gorging yourself, Paula learned Starstorm."
"No shit?" Jeff sits up straight. "Congrats, Paula. That should be a big help."
"Only the α version," I say. "It's not much stronger than my Fire PSI at this point."
"Except it hits all enemies without requiring them to be in a line and doesn't take as much of your mental energy," Poo says. "You should be proud, Paula. It's a big accomplishment. Especially when doing it in the timespan that it takes Jeff to inhale enough food for a family."
Jeff shoots Poo a droll look. "Putting other people down doesn't seem very monk-like."
"If I avoid taking shots at you, then you'll know I've really gone too far down the path of enlightenment," Poo says. "But enough chatter. Are you ready to head out?"
Jeff grunts. "I ate so much that I don't know if I can move."
"Then we'll have to help you digest it with some exercise, shall we? Fighting dinosaurs should get your blood pumping."
"Actually, the body puts digestion on hold when it's in danger," Jeff says. "You need to study up on the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems."
"And you," Poo says, "Need to learn some foresight if you stuffed your face knowing that we'll be facing mortal danger afterwards. I suggest self-reflection by meditating under a waterfall, which if done long enough can even impart sense into someone as dense as you."
"Here I was," I say, "Thinking that we'd have less bickering without Ness around. Are we ready to head out or not?"
I regret my exasperated tone as soon as the words leave my mouth. After all, I know the banter between Jeff and Poo is friendly, and it's better for them to get into gear by butting heads than it is to freak out about fighting our friend. But both of them cut off their conversation and tell me they're ready to leave without indicating further offense.
And to his credit, Jeff does show incredible restraint by not commenting when a bunch of interested girls approach Poo as he leaves and try to schedule lunches and dinners with him. Poo rebuffs them with what looks like no effort at all, and we finally make it outside. Poo begins teleporting us, and I take a deep breath right before we start running around in a circle to pick up speed.
I won't leave Ness waiting any longer.
#
The mugginess hits me first, which is how I know we made it to the jungles of the Lost Underworld. Massive conifer and cycad trees tower over us, and the ground is littered with ferns.
"Funny that the conifers make this look like a Winters forest," I say.
"Well, this place is essentially a time capsule," Jeff says. "When the dinosaurs were around—non-avian dinosaurs, I should specify, since we still have plenty of birds roaming around today—flowering plants hadn't evolved yet. That includes not only small flowers, but many jungle trees as well."
"Thanks for the explanation, Mr. encyclopedia," Poo says. "Does any of that help us stay alive?"
"It helps as much as your meditation," Jeff says. "Now, Paula was giving me a hard time about my navigation skills, so do you want to lead?"
Poo laughs. "Why am I not surprised? Sure, I'll give it a try."
Following the exchange, Poo begins leading us through the jungle foliage. We do encounter some dinosaurs, which Poo has us flee from whenever we can.
"Never knew you were such a coward," Jeff says.
"Never knew you couldn't understand the wisdom of conserving resources when your bottle rockets can't be replenished with a rest. Stop wasting breath and pick up the pace."
A part of me is glad for Jeff continuing to complain about how fast Poo is going, since it gives me an excuse to pace myself. And given that Jeff had better stamina than me in the Pink Cloud cave, I bet most of his objections now are performative. And as we venture further into the jungle, I notice that Poo has more of a spring in his step than he did while acting the calm sage in Dalaam. Nice to see that getting back into the adventuring lifestyle is as energizing for him as it has been for us.
As we approach the cave leading to the fire spring—seriously, why did the sanctuaries have to be connected to caves so often—Poo points out a regenerating geyser nearby. Right, I remember telling Ness not to mess around with them only to discover that they heal our injuries and restore our psychic energy.
However, this time a group of dinosaurs are lounging around in front of the geyser.
"You wanted your fight, Jeff," Poo says. "Here's one actually worth taking. I do regret that we have to fight wild animals-"
"I don't," Jeff says. "Ecology be damned, those assholes attack us on sight. Every one of them has it coming."
"Right." Poo's tone is flat. "Paula, this could be a good chance to practice your new Starstorm technique. Oh, look, they must have noticed Jeff's shouting." Turning to Jeff, "Please do try not to hold us back too much."
Yep, the dinosaurs are headed our way. I adopt a combat position.
Jeff snorts. "Big words from the guy who couldn't take a right hook from a street thug when joining our group."
"For a scientist, you are rather obsessed with outdated observations. When I wake up tomorrow, will you be claiming that the sun revolves around the earth?"
"Guys," I say. "We need to move."
Jeff grunts and slings his heavy bazooka onto his shoulder, firing at the group of dinosaurs. The blast hits true, but a shield effect on the chomposaurs limits the damage.
I take a deep breath and direct my psionic focus on the meditative feeling Poo instilled in me. I am not my legs, my arms, my ears, my eyes, my mind. I am one with the skies and stars.
And like a charm, the battle anxiety begins to fade, replaced with a serene calm. I will do what I can to follow this flow, and even if it ends with dinosaurs mauling my friends, panic and grief will not save me. This is the feeling that the thralls were instilling in me. This is why I let Ness go, uncaring about what happened to him.
But it's different now. I'm not following the flow of their river, but my own.
"Starstorm α."
I reach out with both hands, and energy meteors rain down on the group of dinosaurs. I can see the destruction wrought by the explosions of pure energy, but my calm breaks when I see them continuing to advance towards us. Jeff fires another blast from his heavy bazooka, but it barely slows them down. Shit, what are we going to-
"Starstorm Ω."
Glancing over at Poo, the calm washing over his face puts any serenity I felt to shame. His eyes are empty, yet full of life rather than soulless. His expression is neutral like he's in a peaceful slumber. And even the simple act of stepping forward and extending a palm towards the enemies is carried out with the grace of a dancer.
The ground rumbles, and the energy meteors that fall from the sky are larger than the ones I created. They slam into the ground in front of us, explosions upending patches of dirt and sending trees falling, and when the dust clears there are no dinosaurs left to challenge us.
"Showoff," Jeff says. "Could have done that any time but just had to wait until we softened them up."
"I believe coordinating attacks instead of fighting them all on my own is called teamwork, Jeff. I recommend looking the word up in a dictionary."
"I think we all did a great job," I say. "Now let's head for that geyser. It's been twenty minutes and I'm already so sticky that I need a shower."
That gets them to stop arguing, and we head over to the rumbling geyser. The ground begins to shake and water spouts from the ground. I close my eyes and hold my breath, submerged, until I surface at the top. From here, we tower over even the tallest trees in the Lost Underworld, and looking out I see the lush green jungle in its full glory with a few outposts of Tendas scattered throughout.
The water begins to recede, and I let out a yelp as I fall down. Still, the descend is slow enough that I'm in no real danger, leaving the three of us on the ground once the water retreats back underground.
And with how humid it is, I bet the moisture's going to stick to me for hours. Joy. But at least we're all healed up, and Poo leads us into the cave leading to the Fire Spring.
Concerns about staying damp are soon alleviated as I'm hit with the dry heat of lava—or does it count as magma if it's underground? Don't want to get Jeff started on another rant by asking that one. Poo leads us through the cave system around the rivers of magma, and the moisture on my skin is a nice barrier against the scorching heat.
And while nobody wants to chat while we're walking through hellfire, I do notice that Poo makes fewer wrong turns than Jeff does. So much for that experimentation skillset letting Jeff solve everything.
We arrive at the end of the cave passageway leading to the Fire Spring, and we all give each other an encouraging nod before stepping through. On the other side is Ness, levitating and surrounded by Starmen like Poo. Only this time, the way Ness opens his glowing eyes and regards us tells me he's not going to be a helpful passenger like Poo was.
"Paula, you have to leave. I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you."
I clench my jaw. Can I move forward, knowing what this will do to Ness? Glancing at the calm washing over Poo's face gives me the answer. Our path has led us here, and I have to accept Ness's fear while letting myself flow around it. I can't control how he feels about the situation, and I might not even be able to control whether or not he gets set free, but I can reach out for my friend.
The Starmen charge for us, and as I put on a PSI Shield to protect against their Starstorm attacks Poo darts straight for Ness. The path to the small volcano that makes up the Fire Spring itself is across a thin patch of land, an abyss on either side. The Starmen move to cut off his approach, but Poo weaves around them without even slowing down.
Is he… actually going to do this all by himself?
Poo darts for Ness, reaching out with his hand. In response, Ness lashes out in a wide arc with his baseball bat. Poo leaps away from the first stroke, but Ness lunges forward with a burst of flight speed and catches Poo mid-leap. Poo goes flying back, and I let out a scream as he lands on the ground and tumbles towards the abyss.
Poo twists his body to land on is feet after bouncing on the ground, skidding to a halt with his foot halfway off the edge of the cliff. And right as I exhale in relief, Starman laser beams hit him and send him stumbling backwards.
And as Poo takes a step back, his foot lands on empty air and he falls.
I run forward in a useless attempt to save him, knowing that I can't possibly reach in time. And to my shock, I see Poo grab onto the edge of the cliff as he falls, hanging on by his fingers alone. Even now, he looks calm, unbothered.
"I'm going in," I say. "I have to save him."
If Starstorm requires flow and emptiness, I don't stand a chance of manifesting it in my current state. I approach the land strip leading to Ness and Poo, filled with Starmen staring me down. If I try to run past, they'll catch me for sure. Poo might have avoided them, but I don't have control over the way my body moves the same way he does.
So instead, it's time for something stupid.
"Fire Ω."
I make a wall of fire down the land strip with the Starmen, a blazing inferno that consumes them. It won't be enough to take them out, but it should be enough to buy me time.
Time I use to run along the land strip, straight through the fire I created.
Sure enough, the Starmen are busy enough dealing with the fire that they don't try to stop or restrain me. I run through the searing flames, recognizing that this one power is enough to knock me out from full strength. But that damage was the price to pay for bypassing the Starmen, and I have precious seconds to save Poo before I fall.
I dart straight for Poo, and I see Ness rushing towards me. He slams his bat into my side, but aside from the sharp pain it changes nothing given that my lifeforce is already fading. And as soon as Ness's feet touch the ground, a blast of slime hits his lower legs and locks him to that spot on the rocks.
I glance over to see Jeff wielding his slime generator, and he gives me a thumbs up.
Right. I waste no time darting away and grabbing onto Poo's wrist as he dangles off the side of the cliff. He grabs onto my arm, looking up at me.
"Lifeup γ."
The pain vanishes, and I feel my vitality building back up. I can act like that was part of my plan, but I honestly hadn't thought that far ahead. Good thing Poo has more clarity of mind than I do.
I pull Poo up, but as I do I stumble and nearly fall off myself. I let out a curse at my own lack of upper body strength. Guess I should have worked harder at those ropes after all.
"Paula, behind you."
The panic in Poo's voice sounds fabricated, like he's trying to speak my language and convey a danger he doesn't feel. I look over my shoulder to see that Ness has freed himself and is advancing towards us. Glancing at Jeff reveals that he's occupied by the Starmen and in no position to slow Ness down again.
The metal baseball bat he wields gleams in the firelight. A single hit won't knock me out, but no amount of fortitude can stop it from sending both me and Poo into the abyss. I wince as Ness raises the bat above his head like an executioner's axe.
No time for fear. Calm. I am calm. If my road ends in death, so be it. But I will not let fear control me in my last moments.
As Ness's muscles tense, preparing to bring the bat down, I reach out towards him. Given that I'm hunched over from holding Poo, my hand is low and grabs onto his bare shin. I take in the sensation of his leg hairs—soft rather than the prickly I get when I don't shave my legs for a while—and the touch of his skin on my own.
Ness hesitates.
"Pau…la…?"
"PSI Magnet."
Right before my vision flashes white, I see Ness's real eyes beneath the wisps.
Haunted, beautiful, and filled with tears.