Legal Disclaimer: Earthbound/Mother is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it. Nintendo does. It and all of the characters in the games were created by Shigesato Itoi. This story is not for profit.
Earthbound 3/Mother 4
Chapter 1
In the early 1900's, a shadow descended upon a small town in rural America. A young married couple vanished mysteriously from their home. The man's name was George, the woman's Maria. Two years later, just as mysteriously as he had vanished, George returned. Upon his return, George began a strange study all alone. He never told anyone where he had been or what he had done. As for his wife, Maria… she never returned.
Eighty years later, a race of aliens launched an invasion of Earth, led by a mysterious alien named "Giegue". During this invasion, the aliens caused various disturbances, such as possessing various household appliances and objects, controlling animals, and kidnapping the parents of the children in Youngtown. Three heroes, Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd, with help from Pippi, and later Teddy, helped fight back the alien invasion. During the fighting, it was revealed that their leader, Giegue, had been raised by Maria, George's wife, who had become a powerful psychic, herself, during captivity. Eventually, Giegue was forced to detach himself from Maria and prepare the invasion of Earth in order to make sure that the psychic power known as PSI did not spread to the planet. Using a song that Maria sang to Giegue as a lullaby when he was young, and taught to them by Maria's psychic ghost, they were able to drive Giegue away. But Giegue was not destroyed, and vowed that he would get his revenge.
In the 1990's, Giegue returned. However, he was no longer Giegue, but now Giygas, his true name being revealed. In the town of Onett, a young boy named Ness went to investigate a meteor crash behind his house with his next door neighbor, Porky Minch, who wanted Ness's help in finding his younger brother, Picky. They soon encounter an alien insect from ten years in the future named Buzz Buzz, who warns them that unless he is stopped, Giygas will destroy the universe in ten years. Buzz Buzz is the only known survivor of that alternate future. He then tells Ness that three others are destined to help him stop Giygas from destroying the world. Ness then embarks on an adventure to save the Earth, meeting the other members of the Chosen Four, Paula Polestar, Jeff Andonuts, and Poo, the Prince of Dalaam, along the way. The Chosen four get themselves into various dangerous, and sometimes humorous, situations, but are eventually able to stop the invasion. Using a Phase Distorter built by Dr. Andonuts and Apple Kid, they go into the past to confront Giygas in the Cave of the Past. There, they realize that Giygas is no longer a physical being. In order to become the strongest being, Giygas cast out all of the good inside of him, turning him into the Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas in the process, as well as destroying his own mind. The Four find and engage Giygas, who is now being assisted by Porky Minch. After Porky turns off the Devil's Machine, Giygas's full power is unleashed. Having no other recourse, Paula prays for assistance from everyone they met during their travels. Eventually, the prayers of Paula, the Chosen Four, everyone they met, as well as the player, are able to destroy Giygas. Thus, the destruction of Earth was averted, but Porky was able to escape the battle and is still out there somewhere. And there are still the other members of Giygas's race alive as well. And they may come to finish what Giygas started…
It was the year 200X and it was a beautiful Spring day in Onett, a small town in rural America. The children were home, celebrating the end of school. Backyard barbeques were already being lit and sandlot baseball games were in the process of being played. The sounds of laughter and play echoed all throughout the hills of the town. For Ness, there was an added source for joy, for today, he was celebrating his thirteenth birthday. Not only that, but all of his friends were coming to celebrate with him. Over the three years since he and his friends had defeated the Universal Cosmic Destroyer, Giygas, Ness had kept in contact with each of his close friends, but the only one he met on a daily basis was Paula Polestar. He was looking forward to seeing Jeff Andonuts, and Prince Poo of Dalaam once more. Since Poo was Prince of Dalaam, he had only managed to actually see Poo during his birthday parties.
What made this day really special for Ness, though, was that his father was on leave and he was here to celebrate Ness's thirteenth birthday in person. His father was a military liaison to an advanced arms manufacturer under the auspices of D.A.R.P.A. and that meant that his father was often away on business. As such, they did not get to see him as often as they would have wished.
Since the end of the War Against Giygas, things had changed a bit. First off was the fact that his father had finally paid off the loan, with interest, to Aloysius Minch. It turned out that the loan was only a few thousand dollars, rather than the one hundred thousand dollars that Aloysius had claimed. Not long after the adventure, and the loan was paid, the Minches moved to a place near Summers. Ness had not heard anything from them for the last two years, which was fine by him. While Picky, Porky Minch's younger brother, was nice enough, his parents were still jerks of the highest order, in his mind. Ness hoped and prayed that their immaturity never rubbed off onto Picky the way it had with Porky.
It was about noon, and Ness was rummaging around his room for his baseball bat and glove, when he heard a male voice call from the back yard, "Hey, could you give me a hand with this?"
Ness jumped at his father's call. He rushed down the stairs and out the front door of their house. On his way he passed his mother and his eleven year-old sister, Tracy. He hurried around back and ran to assist his father in setting up the grill. His father looked like an adult version of Ness. He had short, black hair, bluish-gray eyes, and was almost six feet tall.
Ness's father noticed his son and said, "Thanks Ness, I know it's your birthday, but could you go and get the charcoal bags for the grill. I'm busy setting up the tables and benches."
"Sure thing, Dad," Ness replied eagerly. He did not mind doing this little chore. He knew that his parents wanted to have everything ready for when his friends arrived. With his mother and Tracy preparing the steaks in the kitchen, it fell to Ness to assist his father. He went into the garage and got out some bags of charcoal for the large grill. They were setting up everything outside so that when the guests arrived, everything would be ready. They still had some time, though. His friends and their parents would not arrive for at least another couple of hours. This would give Ness a chance to play a game of baseball with some of the kids in the neighborhood before the guests arrived. Earlier in the day, he and his family had celebrated his birthday alone. As for his birthday presents, Ness had received a baseball bat signed by the legendary Hank Aaron from his father, which Ness had promptly placed in his room under lock and key. His mother had given Ness a new yellow and purple striped t-shirt while Tracy had given him a new Gameboy Advance. After assisting his father in preparing everything, Ness rushed off into the hills to look for a game to join in.
He quickly found a game that was about to begin, but where one of the teams was one player short, and he joined the team that was short one player. He joined the team and was set to bat in the clean up spot and was set to play center field. Ness felt it almost unfair that he was playing against the other local kids, many of whom were younger, but he really wanted to play. While playing the game, he also blocked out his psychic abilities, most of which were based around telekinesis and energy control, so he would not have an unfair advantage over the other kids. Still, he was quite capable for his age, even without any psychic enhancements. He hit a homerun on his first at bat, on the first pitch. The ball sailed over the homerun boundary and sailed at least three hundred feet. The other kids, some of who were Ness's age, looked at him in astonishment. Ness looked sheepish as he rounded the bases. He did not want to draw any attention to himself during the game.
Later in the game, at the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and Ness at the bat, Ness tried to hit another homerun, which would win his team the game, only to whiff on the swing. This was odd since the pitch was a hanging curveball. He also noticed that it was getting harder to concentrate on the game, and the opposing pitcher. On the next pitch, which was in the dirt, he swung again, and again he missed. Ness stopped for a second and wondered what he was doing. He stepped out of the batter's box and glanced around the field and into the stands. Behind the fence, he saw a lovely blond girl in a pink dress staring back at him, smiling. Ness mock-scowled back at his friend, Paula Polestar. Ness quickly realized that Paula had recently arrived and was teasing him by interfering with his ability to concentrate by using her telepathy. She probably did so because she felt that Ness's psychic abilities gave him an unfair advantage, which he did not disagree with. Ness smiled back at Paula in challenge and turned to concentrate on the game. He went back into the batter's box and grinned. Now that he was aware of Paula's presence he would be ready. Mighty Casey would not strike out this time around. The pitch soon came. It was a nasty curveball that rose into the air and dropped three feet almost upon reaching the plate. Ness zeroed his attention on the pitch and he swung at the ball. He made contact and hit a line drive into left field, which fell in for a hit. He quickly ran around the bases and managed to slide into second with a double. It did not matter, though, since all three of the base runners scored, netting Ness's team the win.
Paula playfully scowled from behind the fence as Ness came over to her at the end of the game. She did not expect, however, to hear a voice right next to her comment, "Looks like there is joy in Mudville today, for Mighty Casey did not strike out."
Paula turned to her left and saw Jeff Andonuts sitting next to her. He wore a white shirt under a green jacket and pants. He also wore eyeglasses. He was dressed as if he were still in school except for the silver helmet with antennae on his head. Jeff turned and smiled at his friend. "Looks like this new invention of mine works after all."
"What is it?" Paula asked inquisitively, hiding her scowl, and trying not to sound too sly.
"It's a prototype Counter Telepathy Helmet," Jeff answered, tapping his helmet, almost oblivious to Paula's intentions to try to find a way around its effects and play with his mind as punishment for his interference. "With this, I can block out an opponent's telepathic abilities. The problem is that it won't block out other abilities of an opponent, at least not yet, and it will also block an ally's telepathic abilities. I've still got some tweaking to do to fix those flaws."
"Well that limits its uses," Paula said flatly.
She turned and saw that Ness had arrived. She gave him a strained smile as he walked over to her and Jeff.
"I'll leave you two alone," Jeff said casually as he turned to make his exit.
Ness tried to get him to stop, but Jeff was long gone. Jeff called back to his friend and said, "It's best for you two to handle this on your own."
"Get back here you coward!" Paula shouted at him, looking very ready to storm off after him, which only prompted Jeff to begin to run.
"What was that about?" Ness asked Paula, unaware of why Paula was yelling after Jeff.
"That scientific whiz kid just built a helmet that can block my telepathy," Paula growled.
"So that's why I was able to concentrate when I hit that game-winning double," Ness chuckled. "I'll have to thank him for that," he added quietly. Paula gave a soft grumble.
The two then headed back to Ness's house. The walk back was uneventful, and Ness did little talking. Fortunately, Paula had calmed down a bit, though her frustration was now directed more towards Jeff than Ness. Upon arriving at Ness's house, they found that Jeff had already gotten back and was talking with some of the guests. They also noticed that the other guests had arrived as well. Dr. Andonuts, still dressed in a white lab coat was conversing with Ness's father while Paula's parents were having a conversation with Ness's mother. Ness quickly found his final companion from his last adventure in the War Against Giygas standing near two older adults that Ness figured to be his parents. Poo was still dressed in a white gi and had what Ness thought of as a warrior's braid. Upon seeing Ness and Paula, Poo went over and offered his greetings.
"Hello Ness," he said with a slight bow. "It has been far too long."
Ness extended his arm and Poo took it and they shook. "Thanks for coming," Ness told his friend.
"Thank you for inviting me," Poo replied, bowing.
Ness could see the air of royalty in Poo, but unlike stereotypical princes, and other royalty when speaking to the "lower born" he was not haughty or arrogant. Instead, he was very regal and formal, which had always been his nature. In fact, Poo had never considered the fact that Ness and his friends were not royalty. To him, they were friends. His respect had been taught to him during his extensive martial arts training. Paula quickly went on ahead to mingle with the rest of the guests. Turning to the two adults next to him, Poo said, "Mother, Father, this is my friend Ness. We went on an adventure three years ago to save the world from a being called Giygas."
Ness bowed before them, as was proper. "It's nice to meet you," Poo's father said graciously. His mother echoed her husband's sentiment and gave Ness a soft smile.
Ness replied, "The pleasure is all mine." He gave a bow, hoping that it was the right thing to do.
Poo then turned back to Ness and, indicating his parents, said, "As you know, these are my parents, the King and Queen of Dalaam."
Ness practically stared at Poo's parents for a moment. His father was clearly Asian and he wore a robe, similar to the gi that Poo wore. His mother, however, seemed to be Middle Eastern in descent. She wore a regal purple sleeveless dress that covered her practically from her neck to her ankles. It was obvious to Ness that they were royalty due to how they carried themselves. Ness soon noticed that Poo's Master and Star Master were missing. He suspected that they were back in Dalaam, overseeing things while Poo and his parents were away. After a few moments, Ness went to talk to some of the other guests.
The ceremony was everything Ness could have wanted it to be. He got to see some of his friends from his previous adventure. He noticed that Apple Kid, now a famous inventor, was present and talking with Dr. Andonuts, as well as a woman who looked to be much younger than Dr. Andonuts, but as it turned out, was only a few years younger than the inventor, standing next to the doctor. He also noticed two Mr. Saturns, head-like beings with two stubby feet, a big, round nose with one strand of hair jutting out from the top of their heads, and what looked to be two whiskers on either side of their cheeks, mingling with Dr. Andonuts and Apple Kid. Even Frank Fly had managed to make it to the party. While he was scanning the crowd, he noticed a young girl in a glittering red dress that he did not recognize. He could not put his finger on it, but something stood out about this girl, besides her dress, something strange. He did not know whether or not this was good or bad. He paid her no more heed and continued to talk with his friends.
Ness spent the rest of the couple of hours or so before dinner talking with Paula, Jeff, and Poo, catching up on what was going on in their lives. He learned that Poo had just acquired his driver's license a few months ago. However, he did not have a car since Dalaam was a far away land on top of a cloud, and the residents Dalaam did not utilize technology very much, save for extreme emergencies, even though they had access to just as much technology as the people of America or those of other developed countries. As for Jeff, he had learned a lot from his father over three years of study and training. He thought that it was also good to see his parents together once again. Ness did not know what that meant at first, but Jeff told him that Dr. Andonuts's job often called him away from the family. He also told Ness that the woman next to Dr. Andonuts was his mother. As for Paula, Ness knew very well about Paula's martial arts training. After having been kidnapped twice during Ness's adventure, she wanted to make certain that she would never be a burden on any of her friends ever again. Ness had told her that she had never been a burden and had been instrumental in their success, but she was adamant about training in the martial arts, and Ness supported her decision, as did her own parents, which surprised her a great deal. It had done wonders for her, both physically and mentally. She advanced through the ranks quickly and was even scheduled to take her black belt test soon. Paula stated that she was quite confident in her ability to ace it.
During the time, Ness's friends each gave him a birthday present. Paula was the first to present a present to him. She gave Ness four tickets to an Onett Stars baseball game. Ness was flabbergasted at the gift. "I hope you like it," Paula said, praying that Ness found the gift satisfactory.
"Like it?" Ness gasped. "This is magnificent! Thank you!" He then went over and hugged Paula. Paula returned the hug, smiling kindly.
Jeff was next. He presented Ness with a rather large box. It read, to Ness, from Jeff and Dr. Andonuts. Ness opened it and he found a baseball. Upon further inspection, he found that it had been autographed by Henry Aaron.
"Wow, a ball that was autographed by Hank Aaron! How did you find this?"
Jeff replied, "Finding a ball autographed by Henry Aaron wasn't too hard to find. Finding one that was a homerun ball was a bit harder. I found this during a sale of Atlanta Braves memorabilia during a trip to Atlanta with Mom."
"Thank you," Ness told him. He then shook Jeff's hand, not wanting to embarrass his friend.
Last was Poo's gift to Ness. He handed Ness a platter with a dome cover over it. "I know that this is not baseball related," Poo began, "but I wanted to give you something that was a surprise."
Ness took the platter and set it down. Upon opening it, he saw that it consisted of a steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables. "It's called a Brain Food Dinner. In terms of healing ability, it is even superior to a Brain Food Lunch. It is also made to order. I knew that you loved steaks, so I asked my mother to make this for you, since she's more familiar with Western foods. I helped, though," he added quickly.
Poo then got out a smaller box. "And now, for a more traditional birthday present," he said offering the box to Ness. "Happy birthday Ness," he told Ness. Ness took the box and opened it. Inside was a pendant shaped like a star. "It's a Star Pendant," Poo explained. "They are rare items that I found during an extra adventure that I found myself on. It can help protect you from Fire, Flash, Freeze, Paralysis, and a host of other conditions."
Ness remembered these from his last adventure. He knew how difficult it had been to find such an item. For Poo to give such a valuable item like this in addition to the Brain Food Dinner meant a lot to Ness. He knew now that the four of them were closer than some blood siblings were.
It was not long before the first of the steaks were ready. Ness quickly put his presents over on the counter, with his other presents, leaving the ball next to his bat, and went over to the grill to get his steak. He liked his cooked medium rare. He then got the sizzling steak and put it on his plate. He then proceeded to search for a place to sit. Since it was a cookout the partiers sat wherever they could find a seat and ate their meals. Ness ate with the first group, those who wanted steaks. Poo, being from Dalaam and raised on a different diet, was not very fond of the western food that was served. Still, when it was his turn, he ate the chicken and rice that Ness's mother had made particularly for him and his family at her son's request. When he tried it, he found that it was surprisingly good and promptly thanked Ness and his mother and praised her cooking.
Not long after they ate, the four decided to go out and explore the hills a bit. Ness had heard from one of the partiers that there was a baseball game going on between the neighborhood kids. He and the others quickly went out so they could watch the game.
The trek up into the hills was uneventful until they came across a police barricade. Near the barricade was Captain Strong, Onett's stern, yet fair Police Chief, and several of his fellow officers. Upon noticing Ness and his friends near the barricade, he walked over to Ness and said, "Something happened up in the hills not too long ago. Reports are still coming in, so we don't know much about what's going on. I'm sending my men to investigate. You should go back home and enjoy your cookout. This is police business." He did his best to not sound condescending, thinking that while adventurous, Ness would rather be at the cookout than doing the police's work.
"I could go up and investigate for them," Ness offered. "I heard that there was a baseball game going on up in the hills and was already on my way. It shouldn't be anything to worry about."
"I'm not so sure," Captain Strong countered. "I haven't heard of any sandlot baseball game going on. Who told you about the game?"
"One of the guests at the party at my house," Ness responded.
Captain Strong then turned away for a moment and pulled out a hand radio. Pushing a button on the side of the radio, he spoke into the radio speaking in a strong voice, "Team One, report."
The radio crackled and a voice was soon heard. "This is Team One, Captain. There's nothing here. Seems like it was a false alarm."
"Okay men," Captain Strong said, speaking into the radio, "Pack it up and get back to the station." Then, turning to Ness, he said, "When my men clear out, you can pass. If you find anything, please inform us." He then handed Ness a business card with his phone number. "If you run into trouble, we'll be glad to help you out." He then grinned. "I've gotten stronger since our encounter three years ago."
Ness returned Strong's grin and said, "Don't worry, sir. I think we can handle things."
Captain Strong then waited for his team to return and when they had, he lifted the barricade, allowing Ness and his friends to pass. The four soon made their way into the hills. On the way, they passed Lier X. Agerate's house and proceeded to where a meteorite had crashed three years ago without incident. It was beginning to look like Team One may have been right. So far, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Not even a stray dog had attacked, or even been spotted.
The four soon found a makeshift baseball diamond, but no sign of a game, save for a wooden baseball bat that was lying on the ground near the diamond. Ness went over and picked it up, noticing that it was surprisingly well crafted, especially for a bat at what amounted to a little league game. "Hey guys," Poo called out from near a bench on the first base side of the diamond, "You'll want to come see this."
The others went over and found that the diamond had recently been used. There were tracks in the dirt, as well as signs of recent mud on the bases. That was not unusual for the aftermath of a baseball game. What was more suspicious was the fact that there were small holes in the infield that were about the width of baseballs and were at least a few inches deep. Not only that, but there was a series of holes, and they seemed to lead somewhere. The Four glanced towards each other questioning each other on what made the small holes.
"So what are these holes?" Paula asked. "They don't look like something that is the result from playing a baseball game.
"No they don't," Ness responded, looking down at the holes, studying them carefully. While he did not say anything, he felt as if he had seen these marks before. He just could not remember from where.
"These holes look like tracks," Jeff commented casually. He turned to the others and said, "And by the look of it, it seemed to have been made by a spider-like mech." Ness immediately thought of Porky Minch's Spider-mech that he had used in their battle three years ago in the Cave of the Past. Could Porky have returned to wreak his revenge on Ness and his friends? Jeff looked to see where the holes led. He pointed deeper into the hills. "That way," he told them. "The tracks lead deeper into the hills." The others then proceeded to follow the tracks.
The massive carrier saucer and its escort saucer-like fighters slowed as they approached the blue planet filling the window before them. Onboard the ship, many aliens and robots waited in excitement for their time to be called to action. The fighter bays were loaded with countless flying saucers, each able to hold three or four crew members. Each saucer had the firepower to annihilate the heaviest of Earth tanks with contemptuous ease as well as having shields that were able to withstand at least one hit with a standard air-to-air missile; and these were only the saucers designed for atmospheric combat. Countless giant robots and mecha also lined the walls of the cargo bays. Many of these mecha could lay waste to entire battalions of enemy soldiers and were more than a match for any Earth tank. On the bridge of the ship, located on the very top of the saucer, the humanoid feline-like "captain" of the alien ship stood on a step, with his chair behind, staring down at the other aliens who were attending their duty stations, each wearing a silver suit with an emblem over the left, upper part of their chest. There were more than a dozen crew members on the bridge, some of them wearing golden uniforms, rather than the silver of the creatures that the captain was staring at. Sitting in a chair next to the alien was an alien similar to the ones crewing the stations on the bridge of the saucer. Unlike the others, his silver suit sported spikes on its head and shoulders. Unlike the Starmen, who had what appeared to be tentacles coming from their shoulders, passing for their arms, the captain of the ship had normal arms and hands with fingers, as well as legs and feet, though the fingers and toes looked to have small claws on the end, similar to a cat. Alien had white skin and was tall, slender, with a thin abdomen. Framing the side of his head were two large ears that looked cat-like, but were sticking out the sides of his head, and had what appeared to be a wisp of white fur on their ends. The alien also had a tail, which was quite effective at bashing any opponent that made the mistake of trying to attack the alien from behind. Unlike the aliens at the workstations, the captain wore no clothes to speak of. However, he also had no visible genitalia or openings on his body either, save for his mouth and two nostrils that sufficed for the alien's nose. The alien looked out the view port and saw the blue and green planet filling the view of the screen.
"Achieve a geosynchronous orbit over the Earth at their North American continent," the alien commanded the helmsman.
"Yes, Master," the Starman located at the helm replied in a machine-like voice. Despite sound of their voices, though, Starmen were completely organic. Only a few of them had any cybernetics to speak of, the Starman Deluxe standing next to the alien captain being one of them, and that was merely due to injuries suffered on duty. Once the order had been carried out, he turned to his tactical officer, who was in a golden uniform, and ordered, "Activate the stealth systems onboard this ship and tell our escort fighters to do the same. We don't want to be detected by the Earth's early warning systems. It is unknown at this time whether or not they have anti-orbital defenses, but their technology has progressed rapidly in the last century. Let's not take any chances. I don't want any of their nuclear weapons to take out our invasion forces before we can land."
"Understood," came the response from the Starman Super. The "captain" then began to relax for a moment. The time was coming. He was finally going to avenge his first loss at the hands of the humans.
"Master Giiiiyyygaaaas!" came a shrill, young female voice from the turbolift elevator doors. The alien winced as the young voice sounded. He turned and saw his young apprentice, a young, barely teenage female alien of his own species. She looked like a younger, female version of Giygas, except for the fact that she wore a form of black lipstick on her lips, had a pink bow on the top of her head, and had rounded breasts on her chest. Like Giygas, she too wore no clothing. And just like Giygas, she did not need to in order to remain decent by societal standards, human or otherwise.
"What is it Saiyg," he asked with a low growl, letting the young newcomer know how annoying her interruption was.
"I heard we were close to Earth!" the young alien said excitedly and boisterously. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" she asked quickly, folding her hands as if in prayer for them to be close to their target.
"Yes," Giygas said sternly.
"Yaaaayyy," Saiyg cheered.
"But we're still assuming a geosynchronous orbit over our target and activating our stealth ability in order to make sure that we are not detected by the Earth's sensors," Giygas added, almost smirking, knowing the effect it would have on his apprentice.
"Ohhhhhhh!" Saiyg moaned, lowering her shoulders in a shrug at the new information. "Come on, let's get this thing over with. I have a hot date tonight with a very handsome apprentice of Giegue. It's not like the humans are gonna be hard to kill or anything."
Giygas made no comment. He knew of her late night dates with other apprentices, and even members of other species, though he had not told her that he knew. Giygas did not approve of her dating habits. He wanted Saiyg to focus on her studies more, and males less. She had amazing potential and a ton of enthusiasm. All he needed to do was to point her in the right direction and get her to be more enthusiastic about her studies. Once that happened, he felt as if Saiyg would even be able to surpass him one day. And that day would not have been as far off as many would have thought. One thing that did bother Giygas, though, was Saiyg's more sadistic tendencies towards the races that were slated for destruction. She took too much pleasure in the destruction of life, especially for a child. In addition, she also had made a habit of underestimating her opponents, something that Giygas had tried to extinguish in her, for Giygas had firsthand knowledge of just how dangerous humans had the potential of being, especially if their backs were to the wall.
"I also hear that humans have cool music," Saiyg blurted, interrupting Giygas's thoughts. "You were with them for a while, is it any good?"
"I was only with them for a few years, and I was very young then." Giygas closed his eyes, reflecting back on his time with Maria, who had raised him for nine years. He had grown closer to her than he was to his own birth parents, but had been forced to detach himself from her when his father had decided that it was time to make Giygas a PSI Lord. To that end, his father had ordered him to fight Maria and kill her. His battle against her was the one regret that Giygas had. Later, he had even offered one of her descendants, Ninten, a place with him, thus sparing his life, during his fight with Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd. Ninten had refused, and they had used a song that Maria used to sing to him as a lullaby to defeat him and drive him away from Earth. Despite seemingly detaching himself from Maria, Giygas doubted that he would ever forget her. "Besides," he continued, "we brought them onboard the ship with us. I didn't go down to Earth."
"Oh."
After a moment, Giygas spoke again. "As for their music, yes, there are some varieties of it that are, as you would say, cool. But there are others that are terrible."
"No doubt the kinds I like are the ones you say are terrible," Saiyg chuckled.
Saiyg was right about that, Giygas was forced to admit. He gave a knowing smile. He then turned to his apprentice and said, "Go to the landing bay and prepare yourself for landing. We'll be leaving once everything is in order.
"Alright!" Saiyg shouted with enthusiasm, pumping her fist into the air. With that, she bolted back into the turbolift and pressed the button to the landing bay.
Turning back to the Starman Deluxe that was now standing next to him, he said, "I'll be in the cargo bay giving the final briefing and making sure everything is ready. Keep me updated on anything that happens while I'm down there."
"Understood, Master."
With that, Giygas turned towards the turbolift doors. He entered the lift and went down to brief his troops on the plans for their invasion of the Earth.
Back on Earth, the four teens were making their way through the hills of Onett following the tracks left by what may have been a massive spider of some sort. While they were exploring and following the holes that looked to be tracks, they began to hear the sound of machinery, as well as the echo of what appeared to be footsteps. They followed the source of the sound and found themselves coming to a hill. There, the tracks mysteriously seemed to stop. The four cautiously continued to make their way forward. After walking around the small hill, they found not only the source of the tracks, but also of the sound, for standing in front of them was a massive spider mech, flanked by two smaller spider-like drones, each with one red eye that Ness was certain housed a weapon of some kind. Inside the mech was a man who was about thirty years old or so. He was morbidly obese and he had blond hair that almost covered his eyes. From what Ness could tell, he was wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts. Ness glared at the unexpected guest. He did not need to hear the man speak to know that it was none other than the coward and traitor, Porky Minch. Porky Minch had been one of Giygas's right hand men, and was one of the few who joined Giygas voluntarily without any form of coercion besides the promise of power and survival. Both Paula and Jeff gasped in surprise at the sight of Porky, while Poo merely scowled.
"What, nothing to say?" Porky mocked, his voice sounding over the loudspeakers built into his mech. "I must say that I have been looking forward to this moment for quite a long time." The last bit was said with an arrogant sneer. He was seemingly quite confident in his ability to defeat Ness and his friends.
"What do you want, traitor?" Paula called out in a loud, hard voice, which was uncharacteristic of her.
"I want revenge!" Porky answered in the form of a scream. "You four took everything away from me! I helped the Happy Happyist Cult, and you crushed it! I had a cushy gig with Mr. Monotoli, and you toppled him! I was Giygas's right hand man, and you killed him and would have killed me too if I had not fled! Now I have nothing! Even my own family doesn't talk to me anymore!"
For a moment, Ness wondered how bad things really were for Porky. He could not imagine living without his family and friends. He would have even felt sorry for Porky if he had not known that Porky was completely willing and free in the choices that he made with regards to joining Giygas. He was not influenced by any statue or by the evil aura of Giygas. He was completely free to choose to either fight against Giygas or be neutral in the fight, but he had chosen to serve Giygas, and he paid for that choice. Ness had no regrets, and no sympathy for him. Ness then gripped his bat and readied himself for battle. Paula then drew out a frying pan as well and stood next to Ness. Jeff drew a laser pistol from underneath his jacket and took aim at Porky, and Poo stood before the mech, ready to fight.
Porky merely laughed at the four standing before him. "This won't be like last time," he mocked. "This time, you're the ones who are gonna die!"
With that, Porky Minch and the two spider-drones charged the four teens. The second battle against Porky had begun.