Once he was sure Moondancer was okay, Ness turned to the rest of the group. "Everyone else okay?" he asked worriedly.
"I am unharmed," Buzz Buzz offered helpfully. "I did not expect that level of threat so soon...though I doubt we'll-"
Ness held up a hand. "Let me check on everyone else first, okay?" he pleaded. "Want to be sure everyone's good before any more long speeches."
Buzz Buzz fell silent. That was a valid point...and it showed Ness was a good leader, even if he was only 13.
"Picky? You and Pokey okay?" Ness asked worriedly.
"I'm a l-little shaken up," Picky managed to say. "I mean...it looked like that blow broke you in half like your bat! How can you-"
"Oh no, the bat!" Ness picked up the two broken halves of the bat, the chunk around the crack reduced to so many splinters. "How am I going to tell Tracy I broke her bat?"
"You were nearly split in two and it's the bat you're worried about?" Pokey suddenly screeched out.
"Well I'm not broken," Ness pointed out logically, "but the bat is. You okay, Pokey?"
"I am not okay!" Pokey wheezed, his eyes looking wild. "This is all wrong...so wrong, so wrong...how can you be so calm?" He fell over against a nearby tree, trying to curl up as he muttered under his breath. "So wrong...not what he said...too soon...he can't..."
Ness winced. Pokey was a coward, Ness knew that quite well. And yet he'd gone out this far just to help Picky...and Ness had been cruel to him. That wasn't fair of him...even if he was already feeling like he was about to fall off his feet and was sick of Pokey. He was supposed to be a better person...and Pokey was Picky's brother, after all. He didn't want to screw that friendship up for Tracy. He walked over to Pokey. "Come on, Pokey, let me help you up." He leaned over, offering a hand. "Let's get you both home, then I'll go look for Giggles. I just hope he didn't come across Deepsea on the way home..."
Pokey shivered a bit, then let himself be helped up. "Yeah...home..." he muttered without enthusiasm.
Since everyone was more or less okay, Buzz Buzz spoke up again. "I doubt you'll encounter that level of threat again anytime soon," he observed idly. "From the sound of it, Deepsea took independent action in an attempt to circumvent events as they have to happen. However, you should still be cautious. Once you deliver these two home, I'd recommend recuperating at home to be certain you are none the worse for wear from this clash before continuing your journey."
"Good-" Ness's words were interrupted by a long yawn. "Idea," he finished, slowly moving towards the house on the left at the end of the path. Moondancer fell into step next to Picky, who walked at the back of the line behind Pokey, Buzz Buzz orbiting Ness's head.
The inside walls of the Minch residence were plain, severe white. The floor was a pattern of blue squares, and the furniture was bright red, the curtains bright pink. All in all, Moondancer found the decor rather tasteless. Mr. and Mrs. Minch were waiting in the living room as the group approached. Mr. Minch, even this late, was dressed in a somewhat scruffy business suit. Mrs. Minch wore a rather tasteless sparkly red dress that didn't look anywhere near as good on her as she seemed to think.
Mr. Minch spoke up before anyone else could. "I'm sorry that my kids troubled you so much," he stated flatly. He then turned to the kids. "Both of you are really going to get it now!"
Pokey and Picky immediately raced upstairs, Mr. Minch following after them. Ness leaned towards Moondancer. "They didn't notice you?" he whispered in surprise.
"I don't want to be noticed," Moondancer explained easily. "They're both very weak-minded. As long as I don't draw undue attention to myself, that desire is enough to keep them from registering my presence."
"...can you teach me that?" Ness asked hopefully.
"No."
The sound of flesh striking flesh, followed by a slammed door, echoed from upstairs. The noise dragged Ness's attention away from the conversation as Mr. Minch returned to the room. "By the way, I would be happy if you left sometime soon," he declared primly. "I'm tired of your family living next door. We've loaned your father a lot of money. It may have been a hundred thousand or more..."
Moondancer couldn't help but frown. Mr. Minch's aura reeked of deceit and self-serving apathy as he spoke of the loan. She could feel his thoughts focused on something in the drawer of a nearby end table. He was just too easy to read. She made a mental note to do something about it on the way out. She noticed Ness was also frowning, plainly not liking the discussion.
"Well I guess it could have been less," Mr. Minch allowed magnanimously. "But because of the loan, my family and I now live in poverty!"
Moondancer glanced around at the 'poverty'. She found it odd that Mr. Minch would claim 'poverty' when the only thing in the entire house that looked even slightly used was his suit, while Ness - whose family could be presumed to be 'living high on the loan' - was wondering how he would explain to his little sister that he broke her already cracked bat as though it would be a huge disappointment. She was really beginning to dislike Mr. Minch.
As Mr. Minch moved to go back to his own business, Mrs. Minch walked up. "My husband is far too lenient with the children," she declared airily as though anyone listening could possibly weigh in on her opinion. Feeling nothing but self-centered vanity from her, Moondancer knew she just loved hearing the sound of her own voice and was using 'talking to Ness' as an excuse to wax 'eloquent' on a current subject. "Oh well, nice guys finish last. That's the story of our life..."
At that moment, Buzz Buzz felt his wings beginning to flag. He hadn't spent this long outside his shell in as long as he could remember, and he desperately felt the need to rest. He slowly lowered down toward Mrs. Minch's over-permed hair, figuring she wouldn't notice anything there as all sensation of touch must have faded from the excess of chemicals.
"Ayaaaeee!" she shrieked as Buzz Buzz approached. "I think it's a dung beetle! I'll smash your guts out!" Her hand gripped a fly swatter as her arm moved back.
The world slowed down for Moondancer. She could see that Buzz Buzz did not have the energy to dodge the incoming strike, nor the durability to survive it. She'd lost Giegue, lost Niiue, lost Larice, lost Alinivar, lost Col. Saturn...and now this uncaring bitch was going to take Buzz Buzz away too! She would not let her!
Red miasma blazed around Moondancer, swirling in small clouds as her face twisted in an expression of absolute fury. Energy of the same color seized Mrs. Minch's entire body before slamming her against the wall, smashing the end table to bits as she flew. "You dare..." Moondancer growled out. "You self-centered hag...you'd take all I have left...you empty values..."
Empty value, a Geeg description for something that had no influence on reality. The gravest insult a Geeg could deliver to any living being, for it was to say that in the grand equation of the universe the balance wouldn't even notice if the one described continued to exist.
Mrs. Minch tried to scream, but her mouth and throat were locked. She could only stare in horror as the pony - the monster - slowly advanced.
"You miserable, pathetic creature...your greatest contribution to the balance will be that you unleashed this in me..." The fly swatter twisted and warped in the red miasma as its very matter was turned inside out from the tip, working towards where Mrs. Minch gripped it.
Mr. Minch was yelling something. Buzz Buzz was screaming. But Moondancer could not hear. All there was in her world was fury, madness, and making her pay...
Just before the warping energy reached Mrs. Minch's flesh, Ness dove through the miasma surrounding Moondancer and wrapped his arms around her neck, pulling her up short. "Stop it," he whispered softly. "You aren't a bad guy. This isn't you. You're my friend..."
He dares to interfere? I will smite him like this bitch-
...I'm sorry...
Moondancer felt her rage slowly starting to leave her, the miasma starting to fade. As her mind started to clear...she realized she'd nearly taken that fateful step the Apple had warned her about, nearly followed the path to becoming Giygas. Turning, she buried her face in Ness's shoulder, trying to hide her emotions as she struggled to control them.