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Ness looked up at the looming, gleaming white building, city hall. The building itself was quite intimidating, and although it was much cleaner and brighter looking than other buildings, it seemed to give off a feeling of danger, although Ness could never put his finger on why. He looked around, and realized that bringing a guitar into the building probably wasn’t the best idea, but, then, Ness really didn’t care.

He slowly walked up the steps, not wanting to even enter the building, for fear he would discover why he had a bad feeling about the place. He glanced at the marble staircase, and steeled his nerves. He had to talk to the mayor, and tell him that the Sharks were gone, since that was the only way he would get to Giant Step, which had been vandalized by the group itself. He stepped inside, and slowly shut the door behind himself, and walked up to the secretary’s desk.

She looked up at him, a bored expression on her face. Ness met her bored expression with an equally blank one. She sighed, and leaned back in her chair, raising her eyebrows. “Listen, kid, I honestly don’t care why you’re here,” her voice was nasally, and almost grating on the ears. Ness grimaced, and sighed. He certainly wasn’t expecting this person as a secretary. “You can just go ahead and see the mayor. Hurry up, though, he has a sponge bath scheduled for the next hour.” She grunted, and made a motion with her hand that signaled for him to go. Ness nodded in response, and hurriedly started for the entrance to the mayor’s room.

He really did not want to be in here anymore, and decided that simple and quick would be the best plan of action. He stepped inside the clean, empty room, and saw little supplies one would expect a mayor to have in his office. A large bookcase with a scant amount of books, a simple brown desk with a few supplies and an extra large container of hand sanitizer. Ah, that was it. He was a germophobe. Ness quickly walked up to the desk, and sat down in a chair that was in front of the desk. The balding man looked up at him, and quickly eyed him over, and scowled. “Oh,” there was obvious displeasure in his voice. “Hello, young man. Is there something you needed?”

Ness blinked. “I beat the Sharks. And now I want to go to Giant Step,” he quickly stated, trying to leave emotion out of his voice. He didn’t need to show any for this. The mayor leaned back, and smiled, a bit. “Listen, can we just make this fast?” Ness grunted, his eyes flitting to something else in the room. It was a small black rotary phone, and a small white handkerchief. He looked at the name plate near the phone. B. H. Pirkle. Ness looked back up to the mayor, who was adjusting his sunglasses.

“Alright, boy, I suppose that I should allow you to enter the Giant Step for getting rid of those nasty punks, but, uh, on one condition, please,” a nervous smiled appeared on the pudgy man’s face. He picked up the handkerchief, and dabbed at a bit of sweat forming on his brow. “That if you get seriously or critically injured in anyway, I don’t get blamed. Understood?” Ness tried to see the man’s eyes under his glasses, but they remained hidden by the inky darkness of the glass. Ness leaned back. He wasn’t planning on getting hurt in the cave, especially because of that music he could play. But he nodded anyway. He had too, to get into the cave.

“Excellent,” B.H. Pirkle nodded, and opened a drawer, pulling out a small, golden key, and placed it on the desk, motioning for Ness to take it. Ness obliged, and stood up, grunting a thank you, and headed for the door. He was finally glad to get out of there, but, why did that sinister feeling still persist? He tried to shake it off as nervousness about going to his first sanctuary. He gave a small glance back at the mayor, who gave him a small wave. “Have a good day now, son.” Ness frowned, and closed the door behind him.

~ + ~

B.H. Pirkle grimaced, and quickly picked up the phone, carefully making sure to use his handkerchief to hold it, before dialing. It rang once, before the receiver of the phone call picked up. “Hello, Mr. Strong,” the mayor coughed, as the man on the other end responded. “Yes, I’d like to give you a lead about someone sneaking into Giant Step. Yes, I think he actually vandalized the place, not the Sharks. Yes. Alrighty, then, thank you. Bye.” The mayor hung the phone up, and sighed, running a hand over a bit of his hair still left. Everything was going fine.

~ + ~

Ness sat on the hill, looking at the broken down, locked shack that was the entrance to the cave, which lead to Giant Step. He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, before slowly standing up. A lot of things had happened, most of which he had yet to process completely, and he was honestly not prepared, not completely ready, to take on whatever was waiting for him here. But, he had to. There felt like there was some huge, unseen pressure pressing down on him, making him move forward as fast as possible. He had to save the Earth, with three people he didn’t know, and might not meet. He was going to be traveling far from the place he had lived in all of his life, and he was unprepared to deal with all that.

And yet he had to keep moving forward.

He started down the hill, dragging his guitar behind him. It was getting pretty beat up, now. He would have to get a new one soon. He looked up, and found himself in front of the pale green door, the only other color against the dull shades of brown of the shack. He heard a small shifting sound coming from his left, and found a small crow dozing in a tree. It had dropped something, and it was glinting on the ground. He inched towards it, and saw it was a small necklace, with a small charm shaped like a suitcase. He raised an eyebrow, wondering why somebody would buy, or even make, a necklace with a suitcase, but picked it up.

The painting was fine, and there were a lot of small details he could now see up close. He slowly put it on, and, for some inexplicable reason, felt stronger, braver. He wondered what kind of power this small, stupid trinket held, when he realized that it was all probably in his head. But, he was fine with that. It made him feel safer. He looked up at the door again, and placed his hand on the doorknob, feeling it’s cool brass against his fingers. He was ready now. He opened the door, and peeked in. There was a small, ugly purple couch, and a small table in the room, and an opening in the wall that lead outside again, where you could reach the entrance to the cave. Ness made his way through the smelly area, and stepped outside, taking a long breath of clean air.

He looked at the gaping maw of the cave, and took a step forward, a feeling of hesitation dropping on him. Unknown dangers awaited in this place, and he would have to face them calmly, or risk getting killed. He held his guitar at the ready, and started inside, despite his legs trying to resist his steps. He entered the darkness of the cave, and realized he had no light to guide him. He’d have to go blind. He heard something skitter past him, and he almost jumped, but calmed himself. He needed to stay calm so he could deal with this. He felt something bite onto his calf, and felt pain shoot up his leg.

He heard more running, so he shot his foot out, and felt something hit it, the sound of it crashing into a wall echoed through out the cave. A flurry of squeaks, and suddenly more biting on his leg and feet. He wanted to desperately swing his guitar at the beasts attacking him, and yet, he was afraid he’d injure his already hurt leg from a stray swing. So, again, he swung his leg forward, and more squeaks of pain, and anger. He yelled out with anger, and watched familiar, multicolored lines shoot forth from seemingly nowhere. Light filled the area as he watched all the creatures, mice, it seemed, get pummeled by the attack. He was stunned, as he had thought he’d only be able to do this with his weapon.

He thought he was done, finally, when a cold, wet. . . something hit his head. He shuddered, and shuddered worse as more started descending upon him. He started twisting his body, trying to shake the invisible, silent assailants off of his body. This was much worse than he thought it’d be. He started to panic, as he felt a burning on his arms and legs, and his thoughts started to jumble together, and he was unable to form a single coherent thought. Without thinking, Ness dived to the ground, rolling as he hit it. He felt the creatures being pulled from him, and as soon as he felt himself free of the beasts, he took off running. He saw, whenever he blinked, what seemed like what he would see in the cave if it was light. He used this to his advantage.

He turned around, quickly, and shut his eyes. To his horror, his assailants were chasing him, large mice and pale gray slugs, all moving at an abnormally quick pace. He took a deep breath, and released it. He had to stay calm. He kept his eyes closed, and readied his guitar. He could see them moving closer and closer, and he felt his flight instinct trying to kick in, but he kept his nerves, it was vital. He swung his guitar wide, smashing the first row of creatures into a wall, seemingly knocking them out of the fight, however, he didn’t rest, the others coming even quicker.

The raven haired teen swung his guitar out again, stopping when he aimed it straight at the row, and felt the coursing, hardcore energy rock through him, and the colored lines shot out, jumping from creature to creature, disabling them from fighting. When all was said it done, it had drained a lot from Ness, and he felt like he couldn’t make it any farther than he was standing. His muscles ached, his head was ringing with pain, and he felt his eyelids grow heavy. He leaned against the wall, a sigh escaping him. He closed his eyes, the room seemingly becoming visible behind his eyelids, and started forth, staggering slightly at first. He had to keep moving, but, he had done so much today, he just wanted to rest.

He had no problems for the rest of the cave, at least, the part he was in. He didn’t know how large this cave was. Ness, without realizing, found that his vision had gone dark. He opened his eyes, and found himself in front of an opening, that lead outside. He stumbled out, his eyes meeting the sky. Ness plopped to the ground, and , after a moment of sitting, lay on his back, his muscles relaxing. He could just drift off, the warm sun glowing down on him, but a slight breeze kept it cool enough to make the weather just right. His eyes slowly closed, causing a resistance to fly in the back of the teen’s mind, but he ignored it. Just a quick nap wouldn’t hurt. . . right?

Something touched him, retching him from his calm mood. Although it was soft, velvety feeling, it made him jump. He moved away from it, flinching in pain. He looked down at his arm, and saw small burns, where the slugs had touched him, and following the example, small bite marks and scratch marks covered his lower leg, small beads of blood dripping into the grass. He glanced to what touched him, and found his fears evaporated. It was a small, purple butterfly, like had seen when Frank fought him. He noticed sparkling flakes come off it’s wings when they twitched, but that seemed normal. He felt something about the butterfly, like it was safe, like it would somehow protect him from danger. He reached out, a finger stroking the butterfly’s delicate wing. He felt a calm, warm sensation spread throughout him, and his head pains went away, as did his muscle fatigue. He pulled his finger away, and watched in sadness as the butterfly slowly drifted into the air, before it crumbled to dust.

Ness shook his head, and stood up, running a hand through his hand, before starting to the entrance to the final part of the cave. He could finish this now, after being revitalized by the odd insect. He felt, no, he knew, for sure, he could claim his Sanctuary. He gripped his guitar with renewed strength, and he stepped inside, finding that the light from the outside only made the cave brighter. He found an old, unreliable rope leading to a higher ledge. The raven haired boy reached a hand out, and tugged on the rope, testing it’s strength. It didn’t feel… bad. He started climbing, glad that his strength had been restored. He finally reached the top of the ledge, and heaved himself onto it, and noticed another rope, leading to yet another ledge, however, it was the final one. He groaned and tugged the other rope, and watched helplessly as it fell to the ground next to him. His mouth slowly dropped open, and he stared with disbelief.

He stood up, his face still contorted in one of shock, and anger. He looked at the wall of rock in front of him, an anger bubbling inside of him. The rock surface was smooth, too smooth for him to climb up. The anger was boiling now, and he couldn’t contain himself. Ness’ fist sailed, and crashed into the wall, small green sparks flying from the impact. He pulled his hand away, his knuckles stained with red, however, a small dent was in the wall, which was still cracking. The raven haired teen watched in shock as the wall crumbled, revealing an entrance outside. He saw a deep indent in the ground, not to far away, that must have been the foot print Giant Step was famous for. Ness gladly would have continued forth, had it not been for the sudden abundance of dark in the room, even with the opening.

A pain discharged in his back, and he stumbled backwards, and felt like he was about to topple down, and just felt solid ground beneath him. He looked around, and noticed odd, dark purpled shapes starting to materialize, and the opening started to fade to black. A low rumbling pierced the silence that had accompanied the event, and a suave, sickening voice entered his mind, and he realized it was his mind translating the rumbling into words.

“Hello, Ness, nice to finally meet you,” the voice sent shivers down Ness’ back. It knew his name, and that made him feel sick. He slowly stood up, as the voice continued on. “I am known as the Titanic Ant. I am the ruler, master, claimer of this ‘ Your Sanctuary’ location, known as Giant Step. I have made this place my own, it’s power amplifying my own, and formed me into this fearsome beast I am, and so, to see you waltz in here, expecting the power of the Sanctuary to be yours without a power struggle is silly. So, Ness, are you ready to duel me?” The rumbling, and the voice stopped. Ness readied his guitar, and gave a quick nod. A sudden intense urge to run filled him, but he resisted. It scared him at how close he was to obeying the command.

Without warning, the Titanic Ant appeared. His head was a grotesque gray, along with the rest of his body. Thick, furry antennae sprouted from his head, one ending in a red, glassy looking ball, the other green. His eyes were small, deathly white. Long, sharp teeth sprouted from his mouth, small stains of something ruining the white. His limbs were long, and ended in sharp, vicious hooks, and they seemed to twitch with anticipation. Two pitch black marks were on it’s abdomen, and made it look like it was split. It stepped forward, it’s mouth releasing the grating sound. “Come at me, Ness! I own this Sanctuary, now, so, take it from me,” it made a sound, that was maybe laughter, sending chills down his back. “If… you dare!” It lunged.

Ness flinched in terror, and that was all the creature needed to crash onto him, pinning the boy to the ground. The Titanic Ant still had two arms left. Ness struggled against his bonds, despite the cutting pain he received everytime he lifted his arm. The ant’s eyes looked him over, and drool spilled from the monster’s mouth. It opened it’s mouth, and rumbling came from it’s mouth again. “Do you know, Ness, why I came to this point of power,” it asked, it’s two bladed hands rubbing together sinisterly. “Because I was different, an outcast. I was a Gray Antoid, albino, and the others completely rejected me from the colony. I came here, hoping to find peace in the loneliness. That was also the day I ventured into the indent of Giant Step, and became my powerful self. The power was overwhelming, and it soon allowed me to control the fair denizens of this wretched cave. So, now, I protect this Sanctuary from those who’d come take it from me, those, like you.” The roaring stopped, and it raised a hand. Ness raised his hands to protect himself, but he was not fast enough. A deep gash was now spread across his cheek, and blood was quickly running down his face. Ness squirmed, struggling to make sounds, but his voice seemed null. The insect raised another hand, his mouth contorting into some lopsided grin.

“Oh, your face looks asymmetrical, now, Ness,” the Titanic Ant cooed in a fake, sugary voice. “Let me fix you up.” Another blindingly fast swipe, and more intensely agonizing pain racing through him. This was utter terror, being mutilated by a dangerously insane monster, and being unable to do anything about it. The bug’s grip tightened, and the cuts on his arms deepened. A small, weak escaped him, and seemed to make the bug more happy.

“Maybe, Ness, I could be nice,” the ant’s knife like hand trace softly over his neck, and made the raven haired teen uncomfortable. “And slit your throat quickly, so you don’t suffer. But, would that be fun? I don’t think it would be very fun, Ness. I could let you fight me, and that could be fun, but, it wouldn’t be if I lost. So, maybe, I could torture you slowly? Watch you try to scream, watch you squirm and struggle as the pain comes at intervals you can’t time, or imagine. That, Ness, would be fun.” A quick chop to his chest. Ness felt his body shoot up, and the pain from the hooks holding him deepened. The wind was knocked from him, as the Titanic Ant pulled his hand away from Ness’ chest.

“You’ll die of blood loss, soon, Ness,” the bug’s mouth twitched into an even wider grin, revealing rows of teeth, colored green, yellow, red, all in various forms of decay, or stained. “You’ll have a slow, fun death, and I can still have fun cutting. I love my hands, Ness. They are so much fun, so sharp, plus, they can torture you more.” Ness expected another attack from the bug, but nothing came, just a grainy chortle. The Titanic Ant twitched, his hook hands scraping against Ness’ skin. Then, quickly, without warning, a hand cut at him, and instead, hit his pocket, which held an object Ness had forgotten about. The bomb he had snatched from the Sharks. The Titanic Ant frowned.

“What is. . . what is in your pocket, Ness,” the Titanic Ant removed his claw, and studied the black piece of metal hooked in his claw. “I don’t understand what this could be from. Answer me, Ness, tell me what this is from!” The beast growled, and shook Ness, the cuts in his arms and legs deepening. He felt his voice return to him. Ness leaned forward, as much as he could, and let out a ragged breath.

“A bomb.” The teen spat in the ant’s face. The creature started to react, but failed, as an explosion rocketed the cavern. Pain, much stronger than the Titanic Ant’s cuts, coursed through him. Ness saw white, and then pure, terrifying, lonely, darkness.

~ + ~

A small dog, young, cute, adorable, sat at the edge of a bed, it’s tail wagging in delight. A young boy, with wild, curly black hair reached out, and patted it’s head. The dog licked the boys hand, and gave a quick, happy yelp. The boy laughed, and stroked the dog’s back.

~ + ~

The ground was soft, and damp, but it was warm and cozy feeling. Ness’ hand twitched, gripping at the soft dirt. He felt an odd, numbing buzz on the places he remembered the Titanic Ant had cut him. He slowly pulled himself up. He was standing in the big toe of Giant Step. He looked around, and realized he couldn’t really think, and he didn’t know how to feel at the moment. It was like he was just. . . there. He took a step, making his way out of the ditch. He studied his surroundings, and realized everything looked more… vivid. Especially the color red. He remembered the small shell he had with him, given to him by the odd bug, Buzz-Buzz. He looked, and noticed it was a deep, courageous red. He pressed it to his ear, and heard a small tune, that sounded like it was only a small part of a song.

The song made him remember all the times he had with King, his old dog that he cared for. He could feel King’s fur between his fingers, he could hear the dog’s bark in his ears. Many memories, happy ones, flooded his mind, as the tune continued playing, over and over again. He took the shell away from his ear, and slowly placed it into his pocket. He looked at the entrance to the cave. Or, where the cave had been. It was gone now, replaced by a large hole, leading to the rest of the cave. The raven haired teen let out a breath. He had won.