As I dry our clothes with Fire PSI while Ness levitates them with telekinesis after wringing them out, I realize that the events on the lake were what I feared the most after seeing Ness again. He was the one holding me up—as in literally holding and carrying me—every step of the way.

And it wasn't so bad. Nothing like mortal danger to make all of my silly insecurities melt away. Sure, all I did was keep us from being ravaged by a Starstorm, but that's something Ness couldn't have done on his own. We do make a good team.

Before long, our clothes are still damp and cold but wearable without giving us hypothermia. I'm itching to no longer be nearly naked in this grimy cave, so I barely even mind the chill of getting my shirt and pants back on. Our jackets barely seem any drier, so we tie them around our waists and resolve to generate our own heat by moving quickly.

We head out of the puzzle dungeon and back into the open air of Winters, keeping a jogging pace. It's a short jaunt until we get to the cave leading to the Rainy Circle, and once again there are no monsters to slow our progress.

When we draw near the sanctuary, Ness slows us down. He heads up the series of climbing ropes first, and I follow behind. The extra weight I pack from growing makes the climb harder than I remember, though Ness doesn't seem to struggle at all despite having a good seventy pounds on me. I remind myself it's not a competition.

Ness reaches the top, and I see him tense.

"What you got there, Tony?"

So Tony is here. I pull myself up after Ness to see not only a levitating Tony by the sanctuary's entrance, but an unconscious Jeff as well.

"Why are you here, Paula?"

"We're going to get you back, Tony."

Tony's eyes flash open, the same purple wisps streaming out that I saw from Apple Kid. He stretches a hand out towards Jeff, and I stiffen in unison with Ness.

"This is what you are missing. Let go of all that binds you to this world, Paula, and join us up in the stars. It's beautiful, being able to hurt someone I love without feeling anything."

"Ness," I say. "He's serious about hurting Jeff. We need to-"

"Flash α."

Blinding light fills the dark cave for an instant. As usual, I don't get hit with the brunt of it and I'm fine save for a few spots in my vision, while Tony's hands go to his eyes. Ness lunges forward, grabbing Tony out of the air and throwing him to the ground.

"Starstorm Ω."

That trick again. As before, his thoughts leaking into mine give me the time to put up a PSI shield Σ that protects all of us without reflecting the PSI back at Tony. That includes covering Jeff, whom the Starstorm is also aimed at.

"Come on, Tony," Ness says. "This is Jeff you're attacking. I know you don't want to do this."

In response, Tony only gets up and begins levitating again. Ness grunts and darts over to Jeff, using Healing γ in an attempt to resuscitate him. Once, twice, three times, and Jeff is still on the ground. I know that the power isn't perfect at getting downed people back on their feet, but three misses in a row is terrible luck. Unless…

"I think he's out for the fight," I say. "Let's focus on Tony."

Ness grunts in affirmation, and when we turn back Tony has pulled out some of Jeff's bottle rockets. He fires them off, and only after I dart away do I realize where they're aimed.

At Jeff once again.

The bottle rockets slam into Jeff, and Ness kneels next to him to pump Lifeup PSI into his body. Becoming more resilient over the course of our adventure also means that we don't drop instantly from fatal attacks, so Ness can heal him from even the largest hits. But the reverse is also true. The healing doesn't take effect immediately, so a repeated barrage of bottle rockets like what Tony's unleashing can overwhelm Jeff regardless of how much power Ness has for Lifeup PSI.

"We need to go on the offensive," Ness says.

And by we he means me, given that he's occupied with healing Jeff. I want to slow Tony down rather than inflicting real harm, but I don't have access to Ness's support PSI repertoire. I fire off a couple of weak PSI Freezes to see if I can solidify him, which only makes him look worse for wear and doesn't slow down his bottle rocket barrage at all.

"We were able to wait out Apple Kid," I say. "Could we do the same here?"

Ness grimaces as another bottle rocket hits Jeff. "He's not looking good, Paula."

But there has to be a way. And now that I think about it, there's something nagging at me about how we pacified Apple Kid. Did he really lose the psychic powers possessing him after a certain amount of time in battle? Wouldn't make more sense if…

If he returned to normal after using up all of his PSI energy.

I take a deep breath and take a step towards Tony as he prepares to set off another bottle rocket. It's a good thing that Ness brought me along instead of listening to me and searching for Jeff on his own. Because the secret to turning Tony back to normal is something that between the two of us, only I can force.

"PSI Magnet."

I extend my hand, drawing in his PSI energy, and the effect is instant. Tony falls to the ground and starts hugging his arms. The wisps coming from his eyes begin the flicker.

"Please, not my serenity. I can't go back to being myself. Don't you understand, Paula?"

In a way, I do. And I know that whatever Tony became is a far worse fate than the most ravaging self-hatred. I continue drawing energy from him, and after a few seconds the light from his eyes fades entirely. Tony slumps over and falls on the ground.

When I glance back at Ness, I see Jeff's eyes flicker open.

"Ness?" his voice is slurred. "Did you… save me?"

"It was a team effort," Ness says. "Make sure to thank Paula for getting Tony back to normal."

"Paula." Jeff stands, wobbly, and Ness has to steady him. "Tony. What… happened?"

Ness launches into a quick explanation, and to Jeff's credit he seems fully lucid after listening to Ness for a couple of minutes.

"He appeared in the school courtyard at night," Jeff says. "I thought I could reach out for him, since… you know. Thanks for fixing my mistake."

"Anything for an old friend." Ness turns to me. "Right, Paula?"

"Of course," I say. "We should be able to get Tony up as well now that he doesn't have any PSI energy left in him."

Jeff nods. "That's what my observations led me to believe as well. With their PSI drained, the thralls should be back to their normal selves."

I exchange a glance with Ness. It looks like Jeff has a head start on understanding this phenomenon, and we should compare notes once we make sure everyone's okay. Ness heads over to Tony and uses Healing PSI, who perks up and looks fully alert within seconds.

"Jeff?" Tony glances around until his eyes meet Jeff's. "Thank god you're okay. I…"

Tony runs over and throws Jeff into a hug. Then he starts running a hand through Jeff's hair and kissing him. The motions are smooth and natural enough to tell me that this isn't close to the first time they've kissed.

"I remember bits and pieces," Tony says. "I'm so sorry, Jeff. I can't believe I…"

"It's not your fault," Jeff says. "You weren't in control. And I think you might be embarrassing us."

That's when I realize I'm tense and staring at the two of them. Of course Jeff's my friend and I don't judge him for being close with another guy, but I've never seen two boys kissing each other before. I don't want to say anything offensive, but I also know that staring and looking uncomfortable doesn't give off the best impression either.

"Isn't it funny," Ness says, glancing my way, "That even though we all returned to our lands as heroes, only Jeff was able to get a date? The two of us and Poo need to ask for tips."

Jeff rolls his eyes at Ness. "You say that like you're not turning down multiple girls a week."

"Actually, nobody's shown any interest in me in about a year."

"Because you already said no to every girl your age in Onett," Jeff says. "You're about to get a lot more eyelashes batted your way now that you spend part of your school day in Twoson."

And just like that, Ness turned the conversation away from my own awkwardness around Jeff's romance life. Ness continues to downplay his popularity, which gets a laugh out of Tony.

"Let's head back to school before we waste more hours of our life arguing in this cave, all right?" Tony says.

The rest of us agree, and only then does the fatigue start to sink in. It's been a long day, and getting back into a warm building sounds like a dream come true right now.

#

Ness is able to teleport us back to the boarding school without issue, and he even gets Max to allow me and him to stick around even though we're not supposed to be on school grounds without prior approval. And once we head over to an unused study room, Ness jumps straight into business.

"Jeff, were you able to figure out where your father ended up?"

"Damn," Tony says, following the word up with a whistle. "You really don't ever get tired, do you? Everyone else looks exhausted."

"If Dr. Andonuts is in danger," Ness says, "Then we can't afford to twiddle our thumbs."

"I agree with Tony, actually," Jeff said. "I'm not in much of a state to fight, and you two also look beat. The PSI progression takes months, so I can't see drastic shifts over the course of a night. Unless…" he shakes his head. "Never mind. We can talk about the details tomorrow when we're at full strength."

Ness leans back in his chair, frowning. "If you're sure."

"I am," Jeff says. "But if you're worried, I'll say that I do know where we can head out to find my father tomorrow morning. Before disappearing, he was last seen in Saturn Valley."

Which means that he should be in the sanctuary closest to there, which is…

"Milky Well," I say.

Ness groans. "Are we going to fight more of those mushrooms? If one of them infects me again, I'm going to use Hypnosis on myself and make you two go on without me."

"Go ahead," Jeff says. "The mushroom will make you do the opposite, so you'll actually use Hypnosis on the enemies and help us out."

Only at the end of the sentence does Jeff crack a ghost of a smile. I remember Jeff being confident, but he was always lost in the world of his inventions. The way he's tuned into the conversation now makes his presence steady and calming rather than fickle.

"So how do we get together tomorrow?" I say.

"We could sleep over at my house like old times," Ness says. "I do want Jeff to catch us up about what he's learned."

"I can do that," Jeff says. "I may not be up for a fight, but I like the sound of my own voice enough that I should be able to stay awake while I talk about what's going on."

Ness gives his shoulder an affectionate shake. "You're going to make a great professor one day, Jeff." Turning to Tony, "You okay if I steal your boyfriend for a bit? I know Jeff and I are technically exes, but I promise I'm not trying to sabotage your relationship."

"Wait," I say. "Back up. You and Jeff are what?"

Jeff sighs, rubbing his temples. "We had a hard time adjusting to normal life and tried a long-distance relationship. Didn't even last a month."

Ness is… interested in guys? Once again, I don't want to judge but my brain also doesn't know what to make of that information.

"Well, I can't blame anyone with a pulse for being interested in Jeff," Tony says. "And I'm not so bad of a boyfriend that I'll try to stop him from rescuing his father because another cute guy is there."

"Aw, no need to flatter me," Ness says, grinning. "But while we're at it, you're not so hard on the eyes yourself."

"I'm starting to wonder if bringing you two into the same room was a mistake," Jeff says. Turning to me, "You okay camping out at Ness's place, Paula?"

"You think your mom will be okay with you bringing a girl over?" I ask Ness.

"If it's you, then yeah. What about your parents?"

…Good question.

"They barely give me the time of day anyways. Getting on the same page so we have the best chance at rescuing Dr. Andonuts is more important than my parents raising a stink."

Jeff raises an eyebrow at that, but Ness offers a quick nod and moves the conversation along so that we don't linger on the point. He's familiar enough with them to know that their actions don't have much of a rhyme or reason to begin with, so there's no point in trying to appease them.

Still, staying at Ness's house again after five years is going to be a strange experience. Odd that I'm more nervous about that than risking my life to save Dr. Andonuts.