Earthbound and the Mother series are the property of Nintendo. This disclaimer property of myself.  Of course, the copyright ran out last year, so anybody who wants to use this disclaimer is in luck!

Chapter 4:  Let the Waves Wash Your Anxieties Away

It felt like a dream, yet it was real.

The Loch Tess Monster, legendary denizen of the deep, often considered to be a physical impossibility by the scientific community, often scoffed at by the intelligencia.

Here, in front of a young boy, with a monkey on his head.

Jeff was having a hard time accepting what he was seeing.  All these years he had been an undying skeptic, forever remaining safe in the knowledge that such a creature as the one which sat before him now was nothing more than a souped-up hoax.  But the large, purple creature continued to stare down at him in sleepy defiance of all the sense and rationality Jeff had thought he'd accumulated over the years, and refused to go away.

The Tessie-Watchers stood in awe at the creature, the accumulation of all their dreams and hopes.  (With the exception of a few, of course; Terry continued to stubbornly scan the trees for the creature.)  This was the moment they had dreamed about all their lives.

The monkey continued to watch Jeff, but seemed to be growing impatient about something.  At length it asked, exasperated, "Kya?"

Jeff blinked, shook his head, and stared at the small monkey.  "Well what?"

"Kiki ukyu kya kyi kyukiki?"

Jeff gaped.  "What?!  Get on THAT?"

"Uky kyo ku kyi kyo, ka?"

"Well yes, I DO want to save the strangers. . ."

"Ky kya kyi kyu ukyi ku ki, ka?"

"Yeah, I DO need to cross the lake to do it. . ."

"Ki kya ky kikiki?!"

Jeff shuffled his feet awkwardly.  "But what if I fall off?"

The monkey rolled his eyes.  "Kikyu ka."

Jeff winced.  "Don't need to be pushy about it."  With great trepidation he maneuvered his way onto the waiting back of Tessie and sat awkwardly.  With a happy baying, Tessie pushed himself away from the shore, and for a moment the force was nearly enough to knock the light-weight Jeff from his back.  Eventually the ride became more steady, but by then Jeff was clinging onto Tessie's neck with a bear hug he hadn't even been aware he was incapable of.

The Bubble Monkey was sitting at the tip of Tessie's nose, taking in the breeze like a true-blue mariner.  "Ki kya!  Uki!"

"Easy for you to say," muttered Jeff.  Nevertheless, he relaxed his grip a bit, and let the movement of the creature relax him.

*****

Why am I doing this, I wonder?

Now considerably more relaxed than he had been at the beginning of the journey, he lay back on Tessie's neck and listened to the ebb and flow of the waves washing against Tessie's grandiose body.  During this period, his mind wandered back to the same question which had plagued him from almost the moment he'd started the journey.

This question, of course, was why he was risking everything for the sake of a bunch of strangers.

Heh.  Just a little over twelve hours ago I was a normal geek at a posh boarding school, with nothing more to look forward to than my next class and a career in a field which would probably be just as lonely as my school life's been.  And now look at me -- talking to monkeys, fighting goats and crows, and sitting on the back of mythological creatures.  It's all so. . . bizarre.

He shook his head. Why am I doing this?

He thought for a moment longer, then laughed to himself. Oh, I know why I'm doing this, all right -- I was stagnating there. Day in, day out, nothing but study and invent, with the occasional bully stuffing me into a garbage can. ANYTHING has to be better than that.

Sitting back, he allowed himself the luxury of contemplating his would-be friends. I wonder what they're like? Are they outcasts like me? Just another group sitting on the fringe watching everything from the outside in? Or are they normal, everyday kids? Of course, normal everyday kids don't get caught by bad guys and send telepathic messages to total strangers, but nevertheless. . .

He frowned as he realized this Paula girl had never exactly gone into the details of why she and her friend were currently cooped up in God knows where in Threed. It seemed rather odd that they would be in these sort of circumstances. Maybe they'd gotten in trouble with some gangsters? Or, much more whimsically, some kind of monster? He would've scoffed at this last idea, if he hadn't experienced so much already.

Well, Tessie exists -- why not monsters?

He shuddered a bit and gripped his Magnum Air Gun a little tighter. What AM I getting myself into?

At a length, he relaxed again, and his mind wandered to other matters. I wonder why they decided to contact me? There's probably a lot of others who're probably more fit than me to help them out. Me, I can barely lob a rugby ball further than a couple of feet. Maybe it was random?

He contemplated this idea, then discarded it. If it had been random, they wouldn't have known my name like that. Of course, it could've been some other Jeff, but what are the odds? Still, I wonder why I should be any more important than anybody else?

Lost in these thoughts, it did not hit him right away that Tessie appeared to be slowing down. When he emerged from his reverie, he noticed that Tessie seemed to be pulling off to the side of the lake.

"Huh? What, are we stopping already?" he asked. He'd been rather enjoying the trip after the initial jolt, actually.

"Kiii kya uki ku kiki ku."

"The other side of the lake is all cliffs, you say?"

"Ky. Kuukiukyo kii kii kuki."

"And this is the last point of flat land which is close to the lake?”

"Kiiii!"

"Nuts. All right, I guess we're walking."

The monkey nodded, as if satisfied in Jeff's easy compliance. The monster of Loch Tess finally pulled to the side of the lake and stopped, waiting for Jeff to get off. With a much more confident leap than he'd made to get onto the creature, Jeff go off the creature and landed rather neatly on the snowy bank. The monkey, after climbing down Tessie's elongated neck, did likewise.

The monkey turned around and began chattering to Tessie. A rather odd conversation ensued between the two, almost as if the monkey were arranging to meet with the creature again sometime. Finally, after a few final "words," Tessie nodded to the monkey and began drifting off.

The Bubble Monkey began waving enthusiastically. Jeff waved as well, grinning. "Bye Tessie! And thank you!"

Tessie gave one last happy trumpet of sound and began descending into the lake. Jeff watched him sink below the waves and walked away, feeling lighter of spirit for the first time in ages despite his somewhat introspective thinking during the voyage.

"Till we meet again," he said to himself happily.

******************

Author's Notes:

Finally finished chapter four! Folks, I'd like to apologize for writing a filler chapter, but I felt it couldn't hurt to dissect a bit of Jeff's feelings on the matter. He's. . . not too whiny, is he? *sigh* Ah well. I just love the Bubble Monkey and Tessie together -- they're awfully cute.

Well, hopefully I'll have chapter five pounded out in another couple of months. . . oh brother.