Earthbound - Inside dream sequence

	Ness summoned up all of his willpower, and focused it towards Jeff's mind. <Jeff, Jeff, speak to me! You can't go alone, please let me come with you......!>
	Jeff's face, so terribly clever and fair, and his blue eyes behind those glasses......Ness stared intently at his motionless friend, and he envisioned himself steadily leaving his own body. But he was bound so tightly to it, like an object attached to its shadow, that he couldn't get himself free.
	<But you can separate yourself from your shadow. You just need to jump...> Ness tried to “jump” with his mind. He felt the tension between his body and his mind pulling taut. <A little more......a little more......that's it, yes!> Like a thread pulled to its limit, there was a snap!, and he was free!

	“Aah!”
	“Yaaiiiee!”
	With a thud, Ness collapsed on top of Jeff.
	“What the...?”
	“What happened?”
	“It happened to this kid, too. He's stiff as a board!”

(...)

	A rugged mountain range......lingering mists... Looking down over a sea of pink clouds, Prince Poo was meditating. On top of a rugged, pointed mountain, littered with white rocks that looked like bones, in a space that seemed too small to stand even a single boiled egg......there, half-floating, sat the prince.
	In the depths behind his half-opened eyes, he saw a fetus, curled up in a ray of light. In each cell, he could see the pulsing, the turning, the vibrations of the flow of life. Inside one drop of water from a glittering river, he could see the newborn cosmos. He could see the vacuum of the Milky Way, a spiraling nebula, the silent explosion of a nova star. The surface of this star became heated and agitated, torrents of rain fell from the clouds, vegetation burst forth with incredible vigor, seeds fell and sprouted, leaves and a stem reached forth and bore a flower, where the Buddha sat, alone and tranquil, among petals that slowly opened, one hand held aloft, the other at his knee...and with a dazzling flash of light, the Buddha opened his eyes, and every conceivable form of life, from simple protoplasm to cosmic lifeforms drifting through interstellar space on solar winds, from ancient times to the very ends of the distant future – every single living thing burst into existence.
<Ohn-dyu-bi-sha-ba-dyu-bi-sha-ba-da-sha-ba-dyu-bi-dyu-ba-ah-deu-wa-ah, nan-ta-ra-kan-ta-ra-un-ta-ra-na-ah-kan-man......>


	“What, oh what have Ness and Jeff done now?!” Paula had rushed over to the Stoic Club, her face red with anger. “Isn't it awful, isn't it unfair?! This is what happens when you leave me behind and run off without saying anything to me!”
	Ness and Jeff were lying side by side. They looked just like wax dummies.
	“......Oh, you have to be kidding me! I don't know if this is just fellowship between men, or what, but......this is ridiculous!” With tears streaming down her face, Paula sat beside the two of them.
	“Lord......please, save them both......and me, too......!” She began to pray.

	In a place that was nowhere, in a time that never was......
	<All I know is...I've been here before.>
	<I don't know when, or how many times...ah, maybe before I was even born......>
	Ness gently bounded forward.
	<Jeff, where are you? Where did you go?>
	Glittering stardust opened up into the shape of a huge peony flower. Bang! It was a firework. More burst open, one after another. The scent of sea salt. The sound of waves. White lace drifting forward and then pulling back.
	<The ocean? The shore......no, a harbor?>
	A huge crowd of people were gathered on the pier of a yacht harbor, as a lively party was underway. Little by little, he began to hear the performance of a big band.
	<There you are......over there!>
	At the very top of the mast of a beautiful, white sailing ship that looked a lot like Captain Mone's...there was Jeff. He was all alone. There was something wrapped around his neck. It was a rope. A thick, coarse, twine rope, the kind used to tie down ships.
	“Jeff!”
	Ness leapt out and approached him. When Jeff noticed him there, a lonely smile crept onto his face.
	“I came back. I came back to this place, again.” His voice sounded so young. Like a child only four, maybe five years old. “I...I have to start all over, from here.”

(...)

	“......Oh, finally! I finally found you two. What are you doing in a place like this?”
	“Paula?!” Ness was stunned as Paula suddenly materialized, trailing a rainbow behind her. “Huh? Who's that guy?”
	Right at Paula's side, there was yet another young boy that Ness did not know.
	“This is Prince Poo. He's from Dalaam, in Chommo.” As Paula introduced him, Prince Poo's upturned eyes shined cheerfully, and he bowed very slightly. “He's the other friend we've been waiting for – and the final one!”
	“Jeff...” The angel held the rope above his own head, and there, it became a golden halo. His wings, the rope, that familiar face...with a divine brilliance, they all began to fade away. “...I'm here. I'm by your side. Always, no matter what......and no matter where you go......”
	“Jack......Jack......” Jeff came to his senses, and he cried out as loud as he could.
	“Big......brother!!!!!”


	Blink-blink!
	Jeff blinked his eyes a few times, then, flustered, he sat up and looked around.
	A large group of strangers looked on with very concerned faces, then they all gasped at once. They began to clap. This was the Stoic Club.
	“......W......what just happened to me? …...Where was I just now......?” Jeff stood up, and was startled when he saw Ness, passed out with his eyes wide open, right beside him. “H...hey, Ness!”
	“......Mmmnn~......you came back!” Ness said in a cheerful voice, and he sat up with a jolt. He raised both legs into the air and jumped to his feet. He looked like a gymnast nailing their landing.
	At his side, Paula had been very still, kneeling in a position of prayer with her head down. The warmth had returned to her cheeks, and so had the lively glint that always shone in her eyes. Like a dog who had just gone for a swim, Paula wildly shook out her golden curls.
	“Alright then, boys!” Paula said in a clear voice, putting her hands on her hips. “I hope you've learned your lesson, and won't leave me behind again!”
	“We won't.”
	“Hmph......it's like she doesn't even know why we had to leave her behind......”
	The two boys were red in the face.
	“Well, let's go! Somewhere nearby, I'm sure we'll meet Poo in person, soon.

***

Mother 2, Chapter 7