Chapter 102: This Is Not Goodbye
The group of kids was in a place called Saturn Valley, not far east of the bubble created by the Subspace Bomb. The bubble could be seen looming behind the hills surrounding the valley, constantly reminding everyone of their utter failure against Porky.
When you ignored the Subspace bubble, this valley was a really strange, peaceful, and funny place inhabited by very strange, eccentric, and kind creatures called Mr. Saturns, after which the valley was named.
Yes. Mr. Saturn. That was the name of these creatures. The Mr. was part of the name, not a title. Even female ones had it.
The Mr. Saturns were small creatures, a little bit smaller than even Sweetie Void. They had a simple semi-spherical beige body with two feet and a large round nose, but no hands. They also had four whiskers and a single hair with a red bow on the top of their head. And while they had two small biddy eyes, they didn't seem to have a mouth.
Honestly, they looked like they came right out of Popstar.
They also talked very funny, often saying random stuff or phrasing things in an amusing way, had weird quirks such as putting ladders everywhere even when they were unnecessary and, in the small time that Sweetie got to know them, revealed to be extremely kind and generous. When they saw how tired Ness and the others were, they immediately offered hospitality without asking anything in return.
They also allowed Ness to bury Paula's body in their village without objection, as a temporary location for her grave until they managed to bring back Twoson, her town. If it was possible to bring it back. And despite their eccentricities, they perfectly understood the situation and were a great support to the human kids, especially to Ness. Even as Ness remained sitting in front of Paula's grave, one of them silently kept him company as some kind of living plushy.
Sweetie Void, Jeff, and Poo were not far behind, silently observing him with some Mr. Saturns.
"Ⴥꭱ⟟⋲ηɗی ᘓƌη ꭱ⋲ی⍭ ⟟η ⌵⟟ℓℓƌ𝙶⋲, βơ⟟η𝙶, ƌی ℓơη𝙶 ƌی ⍭ꔠ⋲ɣ ⍵ƌη⍭," one of the Mr. Saturn said.
"We are grateful for that," Poo said with a thankful bow.
Meanwhile, Sweetie Void turned to look as she spotted a military helicopter flying before the Subspace bubble. Without surprise, in the minutes that followed the end of the fight against Porky, military came and established a perimeter around the bubble. Sweetie made sure to tell the highest ranking officer present to NOT send men into the bubble, relaying Porky's warning. Sweetie herself hesitated about entering the bubble. She thought that she could enter it and then exit it with everyone trapped in it using one of her rifts, but she had no idea of what to expect once inside the bubble. For all she knew, time inside could be stopped. Tests will have to be made.
"I'm sorry, but I won't be able to remain," she said. "I must return home and recount my experience with this Subspace Army. It may very well be the army I have been warned about and that I have been preparing to fight. Also, we could send people here to see if we can do anything about this Subspace Bubble."
"You were warned about these things we fought?" Jeff asked.
"Not exactly about these things or Porky, but that an army will come and cause problems to a lot of universes without specifying what they will be. And when I see that..." She pointed at the bubble. "I think that we have a good contender for being this army. From what Porky said, he is only a part of it. Who knows what are his "friends" he mentioned, and how worse they can be. And especially how many they are. But even if this army is not the one I have been warned about, I swear that I will do everything to make them pay for what happened today. Especially Porky. Next time I encounter him..." Everyone suddenly got a chill as they felt an intense aura coming from the filly whose eyes turned into two globes of darkness. "I will give him an eternity of suffering."
...
"Don't," they suddenly heard. They all turned to look at the origin, Ness, who was still sitting in front of the grave, still staring at it. "She wouldn't want that. To fall into hate and vengeance because of her. Even against someone like Porky. Beside... This is my fault..."
"Your fa-? Well, I admit that you could have been more careful, but you were angry after what happened to Onett. We won't hold it against you," Poo said. "And we all thought that Porky really was down. Nobody saw that coming."
Ness shook his head. "You are right, but I wasn't talking about that." He gave a long sigh. "When I first met Paula, she was prisoner of a cult, the Happy Happy Cult. Porky had recently joined it, even becoming a high priest. He was certainly influenced by the Mani Mani Statue, an evil statue that could bring out the evil in everyone by enhancing their desires, which Giygas used to spread his influence. Mr. Carpainter had gotten the statue and, influenced by it, created the cult, everyone in it becoming brainwashed. The statue probably used Porky's need to feel important and accepted because of his loneliness and his abusive parents. When I defeated Mr. Carpainter and freed him and everyone from the statue's influence, Porky then came and asked to be friends again..."
"What a horrible nightmare. I somehow woke up. Ness, let's be friends again."
"I never really considered him a friend. He followed me around because I was too nice to push him back and I got along very well with his little brother, Picky, but his selfishness and egotistical personality not helped by his immaturity made it rather hard to tolerate him too long. He was very good at getting on your nerves. So when he asked to be friends again, I actually hesitated and remained silent."
"Please, answer me. I promise to be good... Uh... Okay?"
"It was very hard to believe when he promised that he would behave from now on. Still, I began to think if I should accept or not. However, I spent too long and he interpreted my silence as me refusing."
"Hah! I lied! See you, sucker!"
"He saved face by saying that he was tricking me before insulting me like usual and running away. However, at this moment, I saw genuine pain in his face. I understood then that he had been sincere, but now it was too late. I guess then that he fully embraced Giygas' influence to become who he is today. The next time I saw him, in Fourside, in the Monotoli Building, I could see in his eyes that something was already wrong, but he didn't even let me put in a word as he monologued, insulted me, and then kicked me out. Then he stole Monotoli's helicopter and I didn't see him again until the very end, before the machine containing Giygas. By then, he was entirely under Giygas influence, and I could do nothing anymore."
Ness turned to look at his friends, tears in his eyes. "Paula would still be alive if I had just opened my mouth back then. I would have been able to save Porky from Giygas' influence, maybe even make him one of us. Everything that happened today, I'm the one to blame."
Everyone remained silent at this until the Mr. Saturn that Ness was still holding like a plushy flicked him with his big nose. "Ɣơ⊔ ηơ⍭ βℓƌᨓ⋲! φ⟟𝙶 βơɣ βℓƌᨓ⋲!"
"You couldn't have foreseen the consequences of you refusing Porky's friendship," Jeff agreed. "In the best of worlds, he would have remained in his home and would have simply decided to stop following you. Or he would have tried harder to get forgiveness, to show that he really was ready to work to prove to you that he could change and get your friendship. Instead, he decided to follow his father to work for Monotoli, and then to steal the helicopter to continue to be a nuisance to us. And even then, after we defeated Giygas, he could have repented with the excuse that he was under his influence. But instead, he escaped by travelling through space and time and became the monster we saw today, of his own volition. You may have kickstarted the whole process by remaining silent, but everything he did afterward was his decision, including killing Paula. He is the one to blame."
Poo nodded. "And your hesitation to accept his friendship was entirely understandable, after everything you told us about him. The risk of him ending up backstabbing us if you had agreed was very real."
"And I'm a bit to blame too," Sweetie Void added before she looked down in shame. "I had the power to stop Porky right away, but I decided to go easy on him because I tend to lower myself to my enemies' level to have good fights. Until now, it always went well when I did that. They are especially good bonding moments when I fight alongside new friends I just made. But I guess that luck eventually had to run out... Annnd there's also the fact that I'm never sure if I should go on and put down the bad guy by myself or let the local hero have their fight and I just support them. I mean, if I was to suddenly appear and defeat right away the evil dark lord, then the reason why the hero went on a journey full of hardships and sacrifices would disappear. All they did would be for nothing. Or the hero has some personal matter to settle with their nemesis and I suddenly come and steal their chance. There really can be many reasons. For example, here, after what Porky did to your home and family, would have it been right for me to steal your fight against him? Now that I know the outcome, I wish that I had, but back then, I really thought that it was the right thing to do to let you guys deal with him with me supporting you."
"I understand. This was thoughtful of you," Poo said. "We won't hold you for this. You were just thinking of us."
"You could have really destroyed Porky's walker right from the start?" Jeff asked.
"I can blow up planets when I go all out, so a walker is nothing," Sweetie Void revealed.
"Blow up planets?! Are you kidding?! The amount of power needed to do that would be astronomical!" Jeff shouted in disbelief.
Sweetie Void shrugged. "I have a LOT of power." She looked back at Ness. "You are a very good boy if you are able to not think of vengeance despite what happened... I'm not that good..."
Ness shook his head. "I'm not that good either... I... I WANT to make him pay. But... If we have to go after him, then this won't be for that reason, but because we have to stop him. Because we can't allow him to continue to do what he did today. Same for his "friends"."
Sweetie Void smiled at him. "And I guess that this is what really matters."
"......." Ness looked a few more seconds at Paula's grave before he released the Mr. Saturn and got up, looking at the filly. "If you are leaving... Can I come with you?" he asked. "If you are going to fight this Subspace Army, then I want to help."
Jeff and Poo exchanged glances before they both nodded and said, "Us too!"
"Are you sure, guys?" Ness asked. "I don't know how long it will be before we return. You still have your school, Jeff, and your kingdom, Poo."
Before the two other boys could say anything, Sweetie Void interjected. "If it can help, we are producing dimensional phones allowing people to communicate with each others through dimensions. For now, only texts work most of the time because of how much faster time in a dimension can be compared to another. But seeing how close the times of our dimensions are, I think that you would be able to directly call each others. And with some luck, the locals will agree to let us build a portal here so you would be able to visit us whenever you want. And if something is going on, then you are one call away from helping us."
"Oh! And then Poo could teleport to take Jeff before going to the portal and joining us!" Ness continued.
"I will have to give you the phones first, however, and I don't know if we have spare ones," Sweetie reminded. "This may take a few days before you get yours."
"Then we will spend these few days in your dimensions," Jeff stated resolutely.
"Eheh. Alright."
As they were about to leave Saturn Valley, Ness turned one last time to face Paula's grave. He then placed his hands together and prayed to say goodbye.
To his surprise, he was enveloped in a white light before he suddenly felt a big headache, as if he had a fever. Then, the light and the headache disappeared like they came.
Having an hunch of what happened, the boy took a few steps away from the grave before he pointed two fingers at a random location where there was nothing and shouted "PK Fire!" Then, out of his fingers came a Z-shaped projectile. Not hitting anything, the projectile quickly disappeared into the air, but he knew that, if it had hit a target, then said target would have been set ablaze.
He now had PK Fire, and he had the feeling that he also got PK Freeze, PK Thunder, PK Magnet, PK Defense Down, PK Offense Up, and PK PK Shield. All of Paula's PK powers that he didn't possess.
I will always be with you, Ness. This is not goodbye.
Tears returned in the boy's eyes as he looked up at the sky. "Thank you, Paula."
He joined the others, Jeff shocked while Poo and Sweetie Void smiled, the filly having wet eyes too. She then opened a rift.
"⍵ƌ⟟⍭! ƌᨓ ᘓơᨓ⟟η𝙶 ⍭ơơ! ᘓơ⊔ℓɗ ꔠ⋲ℓφ! Ƶơơᨓ!" a Mr. Saturn shouted before he jumped on Sweetie's back.
The filly looked at the small creature in wonder. "Uh... Okay. Welcome."
They then all passed the rift which closed behind.
And Writer, I hate you.
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I was checking about Kirby Cartoon and casually found this... I knew Kirby was a little dumb, but...
P.S: As I did not play the games... Is Paula death going to affect much? I found a comment in google that to defeat a boss Paula need to pray nine times.
11289568
Oh yeah. I remember this scene. That was a bit disturbing. Nothing surprising from Kirby.
Astronomical, as in "pertaining to stars and space"?
(Note: I'm not holding this against you Lucar; this is the sort of thing that proves fluency and Jeff seems like the sort of person who would make that joke).
11289568
It also involved time travel, so established Sweetie Void canon means she wasn't allowed to show up until after the events of the game.
11289568
11289672
Exactly, which is why the story happens after the events of Earthbound. The boss in question, Giygas, who is the final boss by the way, is fought in the past. And time travel is a nono for reasons already explained. So I had no choice unless coming up with a way to fight Giygas in the present. So don't worry, Paula's death will affect nothing beside Ness' future as a couple with her...
You Know it May be a long-shot,but couldn’t it be Possible to Reform Porky with the Healing Song?maybe at least free him from Inmortality and let his soul meet the afterlife.
11289771
I have no idea. It's canonically known that there are people on which the song doesn't work. People that are so troubled, hurt, or broken that they can't be healed anymore. And Porky may be one of them.
11289777
I see, had to ask anyway.
11289777
Talking about healing song... Too bad that Sweetie did not learn the song of healing from Link when she traveled to Termina, maybe it could help... But then... Could anyone want a Porky mask?
11289810
She actually used the song, quickly taught to her by Tatl, to help Link after their fight against Majora.
11289813
True, but I don't think she memorized it, but if she did it... Could we ask if it could have any effect in Porky?
11289832
It's difficult to say. Porky is very broken. I'm really not sure that the song would work on him. Maybe soothe him a bit for a few seconds at best.
11289849
Well, if we think in those that worked... We know it worked in the ghost of Darmani, and the almost dead Zora Mikau, it worked in the little girl dad that become a Gibdo and... I don't remember if there was anymore.
There was the ghost in Ikana but this one was calmed by the Song of Storms but I think is more because it was the song from the brother, but we work under the thinking that it could be because Ness doubted before saying yes or because the Mani Mani statue, while it could be a different reason. Even so, a couple of seconds could be all they need, it's what work in many animes, just a couple of words and the power of Talk no Jutsu to make enemies into allies
11289872
True.
11289879
Are we finally going to see a SSB adventure now?
11290083
Well, you will see what I have planed for the big final of the first Saga.
If that's how Ness got his powers that he uses in Smash, I have a bad feeling about Lucas and his party
11291424
And now that Porky is backed by the Subspace Army, you have very good reasons to worry. Who knows what he has done to the Nowhere Islands with such a powerful force at his disposition.