The Giygas Defense Initiative

by Sixth Street Sandman

A combination adaptation sequel to EarthBound in which a pseudomilitary organization rises up to defend the earth against the onslaught of the returning Giygas.A work in progress, heavily edited since its first writing and still undergoing editing.

1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – The Gifted Stranger

We'd known for some time that the invasion would be coming. It had been a good month before when Craig Casner's censors above his weapons complex deep in Summers first picked up activity. He'd called me that day to inform me, amongst others, that we once again had been called upon to defend Earth.

It was an overcast day, hot and humid, but stubbornly refusing to rain as I worked in my office on the 29th floor of the Enrich Flavor Building in Fourside, which I had rented along with floors 27-35 for use for the operation of my defense contractor business. Craig was operating a mercenary unit of sorts, training them and being paid handsomely by various governments for protection against both internal crime and problems and possible alien attacks since Ness had a few months before defeated the colossal threat of Giygas.

Not many people really had the slightest idea exactly how great a threat Giygas was. I had at that time been an insurance agent -- good money but not much fun -- when Craig brought to my attention the whole Giygas scenario. Giygas, the evil and terribly powerful alien megalomaniac, had invaded Earth with conquest on his mind; most people know that. His evil influence was turning good people evil and tame animals wild, and the most potent danger was the hordes of aliens and robots that he was letting loose in the world. It was then that Craig, Josh Wilson, Bobby Hokela and myself began the Giygas Defense Initiative, and I began Williams Contracting. The first thing I did was to contract a kid who lived in Twoson, code named "Apple Kid", who claimed he was an inventor, and we signed him to be the front for our projects (we didn't want Ness and his friends to know we existed at this point.) We gave him a "Receiver Phone" that only received incoming calls and couldn't make outgoing ones, with a tracking device built in so we could keep track of Ness's movements; it worked perfectly most of the way. Along the way, we also supplied Ness with a Pencil Eraser, a Yogurt Dispenser, Zombie Paper, and the Eraser Eraser, which sound very bizarre, and in truth are very bizarre, but were nonetheless key items for Ness and his friends.

It was then that Josh Wilson, who had been working with Craig training the GDI army in case it was needed to fend off an attack by Giygas, was kidnapped, as were Apple Kid and Dr. Andonuts, one of the world's foremost scientists and inventors and the father of Jeff Andonuts, one of Ness's traveling companions. We tracked him to a secret hideout within Stonehenge and informed Ness as such by masquerading as "Orange Kid". After Ness and his crew bailed out the captives, I accompanied Apple Kid and Dr. Andonuts to Saturn Valley where we built the Phase Distorter, our crowning achievement, a device that could travel through time, with the aid of Williams Contracting, some of the GDI's scientists, and the unbelievably talented race of Mr. Saturn.

Ness and his friends actually used the Phase Distorter to travel back in time, and there defeated Giygas in battle and drove him away from earth. We thought Giygas was gone for good, but Craig kept the GDI going on government funds just in case Giygas or some other threat should appear, and Williams Contracting became a very successful business.

Then came the day when the phone rang. "Williams here."

"Carl, we've got a problem," said Craig on the other end.

"Yeah, of course we have problems," I replied. "You're being taxed so that you only make a profit of eight million instead of ten, and my air conditioning isn't working right. Small world, huh?"

"Hey, I'll have you know I only make seven and a half million," he said. "But that's all insignificant now. Giygas is back."

I dropped the phone in shock; it hit my desk with a crack and fell to the floor. I shook the cobwebs out of my head and quickly picked it up. "Did you say Giygas is back!"

"We detected his presence somewhere outside Earth on our censors just a few hours ago. It's Giygas – or at least something very close. It's big time trouble."

I closed my eyes and felt the wrinkles coming way too early in life across my forehead. "Okay, give me the full story… what's going on?"

"We're picking up the presence somewhere outside Earth's atmosphere. Of Giygas, that is. But the more disturbing news is that there are thousands of Starmen assembling on the islands around Fiveville. He's raising his army. He's going to attack Summers and Toto. Probably Fourside, too." (Starmen were vaguely humanoid space robots mass-produced by Giygas, the alien infantry, so to speak.)

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"We fight back, of course. I'm going to call Josh, and Bobby's already here. We need to find the chosen four. They have to defeat him again. They're the only ones who can."

"If they don't?"

Craig paused. "They have to… or else. But as for us, we have to keep Giygas off civilian shores."

"Okay," I said. "Call a meeting. Two o'clock tomorrow. I'll get authorization from the government to force the presence of the chosen four in case..."

"Come on, Carl," Justin interrupted, "you know you won't need it. They'll come right along."

"I'll get the clearance, just in case," I said.

"Ever the cautious one," Craig responded.

"Alright, I'll be off for Onett right now."

From this point, any part of the story I tell is relayed information, pieced together from the accounts of those with whom I have spoken along the way.

I departed on the bus to Onett about an hour later. When I got there, I stopped at the bakery for lunch and then walked north to Ness's home and rang the doorbell. His mother answered, and looked perplexed upon seeing my black suit and tie. "Good afternoon ma'am," I said in my most professional voice. "I'm Carl Williams, President and CEO of Williams Contracting in Fourside. We require your son Ness's presence for a classified project tomorrow afternoon."

She blinked, trying to comprehend. "I… I'm not sure if he should go."

"Ma'am, you don't have a choice. I can forcibly have him taken there if need be. I assure you that no harm will come to him, and he will be home by evening. I'll be here by helicopter at 1 PM tomorrow. Tell Ness to be ready." And with that I departed and headed to Twoson. (Craig always criticized my straightforward ways, but in cases like these I always felt it best to get the job done as quickly and cleanly as possible.) In Twoson, I delivered the same story to Paula's parents, although they offered no resistance. Her mother seemed as if whatever happened to Paula in the entire world was the work of destiny. In any event, I returned to Fourside at this point and headed into my office, where I placed a call to Dr. Andonuts and informed him that he and Jeff needed to be at the meeting, and I also explained why. He promised they both would be there. I then boarded my personal chopper and set out for Dalaam.

I arrived in Dalaam at roughly 4 PM Dalaamese time (7 PM Eagleland Time) and landed near the palace. I walked in and asked to speak with Prince Poo, and was granted access to the royal chamber. I would take the more direct approach with him.

"Your highness," I said, bowing to one knee, "I require your presence at an important meeting tomorrow."

"What for?" Poo asked. "You should know I have a rigorous training schedule."

"Prince," I said, "Giygas is back."

"Wha…?" His bright eyes darkened, then widened. "It can't be..!"

"It is," I said. "Be at GDI headquarters in Summers at 2 PM tomorrow. The GDI commander will be expecting you."

"GDI… Giygas Defense Initiative…" he said. "Yes, I'm familiar with them. They worked on the Phase Distorter… I hear their leader is prominent in Summers."

"He is," I said. "This is a very important matter. Please be there."

"I will be there. Thank you." Poo bowed his head respectfully. I returned the gesture and left.

I returned in Fourside at about midnight and returned to my condo, where I phoned Craig at GDI headquarters. He was almost always up until 2 AM or later. "Craig here."

"Okay Craig, it's done. The chosen ones will be there."

"Excellent work. Did you talk to Josh?"

"Josh?" I said, frowning in perplexion. "No, should I have?"

"He wasn't there!" Craig exclaimed. "He should have been there by eight! I sent him to meet you."

"That's odd," I said. "He must've gotten sidetracked at a local establishment…"

Craig laughed. "He'd be about the last person in the world to do that… something must be up. If we don't hear from him by the morning I'll have to send an S and R." (Search and Rescue, he meant.)

Five minutes after I hung up, Josh Wilson paraded into my house with his usual self-created fanfare, and helped himself to my living room where I was sitting on the couch doing paperwork. "Bout time I found ya, Carl. I brought a guest for ya." He had to duck to get through the doorway. Josh was a giant, a freak of nature, seven feet tall and three hundred sixty pounds of muscle. This gave him the unusual quality of never feeling threatened by anyone or anything, from which he developed his richly boisterous, outspoken and forceful personality.

"Where've you been…" I stopped as my mind processed his words. "Guest?"

"Long story," he said, motioning toward the guest, a short, pretty, blond-haired girl who looked to be roughly our age (early twenties). Her long hair ran a third of the way down her back, unimpeded by any ties or clips. Her blemishless face was punctuated by a round chin and small, almost delicate mouth. She was staring at the floor as if intensely interested in its carpet fibers. Of course, Josh, raconteur extraordinaire that he is, went on to tell the whole story, length be damned.

He had been told by Craig to meet me in Fourside at either my home or my office. He flew in at about 9 and wandered into my office, where he was told by my secretary that I wouldn't be back until late and would probably go straight home. Josh decided to head down to Jackie's Café to kill some time. On his way, as he passed a desolate street corner he heard a sudden and short shriek coming from a wooded park area behind a building. He quickly ran for the area from which it came, and there found a young woman being ganged up on and tied up by a legion of six Starmen.

"You must beep come with us…" said one Starman. "You are click dangerous to Master's plan…"

"Get away from me!" the girl shrieked. She concentrated, and Josh watched as she used PSI Freeze – it looked like Gamma from his distance – to destroy a Starman, but they were too many, and in a flash they had knocked her down and tied her tightly. "NO!" she cried. "HELP me! Someone!" She was hysterical.

Josh took up his sword that he kept handy for just such an occasion (the opportunity to get in a fight, which he would never pass up) and charged headlong into battle with these Starmen, not hesitating for an instant. After a minute or two of intense combat, he had succeeded in destroying all but two of them. These last two ran away, which unfortunately meant Giygas or whoever else they were working for would soon know all about what happened. Josh, realizing he couldn't do anything about it, turned his attention to the terrified girl. He untied her as gently as he could and helped her to his feet. "Bet you've never been so glad to see me in your life," he said.

"Have we met..?" the girl asked, her light blue eyes betraying her suspicion.

"Yup, we did," Josh said with that broad, endlessly self-amused smile of his. "Two minutes ago. And I bet you're glad to see me." His behemoth frame towered almost two feet over her; Josh's pure size instilled fear into the hearts of those he came in contact with, and this was no exception. "I'm Josh Wilson. You are..?"

"Laura…" said the girl, still fearful of Josh's size. She was thinking just then that looked like he could easily snap a tree like a toothpick, much less a small person like herself.

"Hmm…" Josh. "You use PSI. How did you get PSI powers?" PSI, I should note, is simply an abbreviation for the word "Psionic." A very few people in the world, most notably three of the chosen four (Ness, Paula, and Poo) had the capability to create various seemingly magical or paranormal effects through intense concentration of the mind. But, again, this is exceedingly rare; the aforementioned three were the only people of whom I was aware that were capable of consistently using PSI.

"I don't know…" Laura replied to Josh's question. "I guess I was born that way." She blushed, embarrassed by something.

Josh frowned and lowered his eyebrows in such a way that made it obvious he was thinking about what he should do about this situation. Finally, after a ten-second pause that seemed like forever, he said, "There's someone I'd like you to meet."

"Someone," of course, was me. So that brings us to this point, where they were standing in my living room. "Like I said, she uses PSI like a freakin' fiend. I'd only seen those three kids using it before."

I rubbed my hand along my cheek, betraying my fatigue. "Well, she'll certainly be helpful if she'd join us…" then I remembered that she was, in fact, standing a few feet away from me, so I addressed her directly. "You're in danger. For whatever reason, Giygas seems to want you out of his way."

"Who's Giygas!" she said with frustration. "I don't know what happened!" Her face had turned red in frustration. She was nearly hyperventilating.

"Alright, look," I said. "You have to trust me for one night, then we can explain it all to you. I have to get some sleep."

"Carl," Josh cut in, "we ain't staying here. We're gonna have to take a little vacation out to Summers this fine starry evening."

"Why in the bloody heck..?" I just wanted to sleep; it had been a long day, and my brain was begging for permission to shut it down for the night.

"Carl, think about it for just a moment," Josh said. "Giygas is after Laura here… and I'm sure he wouldn't mind it at all if he got us too. He's gonna be back, probably when we're asleep. So let's get the hell up outta here while we still have time. We take the chopper, it's only an hour and a half away."

I glanced at my watch. In an hour and a half, it would be two in the morning… but still, Josh was right. We couldn't afford to underestimate what we were up against. "Fine," I said with a sigh. "Let's get out of here."

Chapter 2 – The Escape

I threw my most important documents into my briefcase (in case Giygas happened to ransack or, worse, destroy, my condo) and we moved speedily out the door, on our way back to the Enrich Flavor building, atop which the helipad was located. The building was locked up for the night, of course, but I activated the intercom and identified myself, and in a few minutes a night watchman came and allowed us entry. It wasn't particularly atypical an occurrence for me to arrive at the building after hours. We entered the elevator and headed up to the 48th floor, where we half walked, half jogged down the hallway to the helipad, where my helicopter was waiting. I opened the door and froze mid-step, my hand sliding off the door handle. To my horror, my chopper sat fully ablaze.

"What in the..!" Josh exclaimed. "Son of a..!"

I was shocked. I simply stood there with my mouth open for a full minute before I could gather the energy and concentration to produce any sound. "What the… Giygas must've done it… he's onto us… that thing cost me a million dollars!"

"Aaaiieee!" Laura shrieked.

"What!" Josh's head shot upward to view what she was looking at. It was a spaceship… a big one. A real big one. And its laser cannons were pointed straight at us.

I saw it a second later, and my eyes shot open. "Get outta here! NOW!" I shoved Laura through the doorway (shoving Josh's hulking frame would be about as effective as shoving the Enrich Flavor building itself), then dove in myself with Josh right behind me. Fortunately, he had the kindness to slam the door shut behind him just a split-second before loud explosions rocked the building as the spaceships fired.

"They're after us," said Josh. Realizing a second later what he had said, he added, "This report has been brought to you by Captain Obvious Inc."

"We have to get out of here, now," I said, but Josh was already on his way down the hall. "We have to get Craig to send a transport after us." Despite the obvious danger presently threatening our lives, I cringed at the thought of not getting to sleep until nearly 4 AM.

"Why are they trying to get us?" asked Laura, almost shrieking, still desperately confused about what exactly was going on.

"Like I said before, it's a long story. You'll find out all about it tomorrow." We hurried out of the hallway and took the elevator down to my office, where I rung Craig up on my speakerphone.

"GDI headquarters," said the night phone operator.

"Get Casner," I said. "This is Carl Williams."

Please hold." After a wait of a minute or so, Craig clicked on.

"Casner here."

"Craig, I need you to send an armored chopper to us right now."

"Who's 'us'?" asked Craig. "Did you find Josh?"

"He found me," I said. "And there's another girl here… I'll tell you about it later. But Giygas is after us. They torched my chopper and almost killed us."

"Oh my," said Craig. "They're acting fast. Okay… stay where you are and be prepared to fight or run. I'll send an armored transport right away. It'll be there in about an hour. Hit the panic button if something bad happens, alright?"

"Gotcha, Commander," I said.

"Now, tell me about this other girl you say is with you?"

"I don't know too much," I said. "But Giygas was trying to capture her when Josh came along and saved the day. She… she knows PSI, or so Josh says."

"Knows PSI!" Craig exclaimed. "Is he sure!"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Josh boomed. "She wiped a couple Starmen out, I watched her! That must be why Giygas wants to capture her."

"Is there… something wrong with me?" Laura said uncomfortably.

"Oh, so they're there," said Craig. "You guys are in trouble then. I'll arrange bedding for three… tell me what your name is, miss?"

"Laura…"

"OK, gotcha. We'll talk tomorrow morning. Your transportation has already been dispatched. They'll call you when they're waiting outside. Be careful."

I clicked off the phone and turned to Josh and Laura. "Not much we can do now but wait," I said.

"It's not safe," Josh said. "They know Craig's guys are gonna be coming… or at least I HOPE they would, if they think they're smart enough to conquer the world… they're gonna be coming after us."

"Hmm…" I wondered aloud. "I wonder if they're trying to do the same thing to the Chosen Four…"

"Chosen Four..?" Laura cut in.

"Kids," I replied to her. "Four kids, 13 years old, they defeated Giygas… but of course, you don't know who Giygas is either. You'll find out tomorrow. Be patient."

"I feel like a prisoner!" she almost shouted. "Why won't anyone tell me what's going on!"

Josh just looked at me. He had a face he could contort to say anything he wanted without actually speaking any words. Right then, his face was telling me "Well, how do YOU expect to explain it to her?" He gave a slight shrug as if to emphasize the point.

"Look, Laura, listen to me," I said. "We're 'holding you prisoner' because they'd kill or capture you if we didn't, and you would not want that…"

"Who..!" she started to cut in.

I cut her off, resuming my speech. "And you have no idea who 'they' are, either, and I realize that. But if we told you now, you wouldn't understand. You should wait until tomorrow. We're meeting someone, he'll tell you about it."

"Craig?" she said. "Is that who?"

"Indeed. But not only him, the Chosen Four we spoke of a minute ago will be there as well. Craig Casner is the head of the Giygas Defense Initiative, whose purpose is to prevent Giygas from conquering the world. He'll make you an expert on the whole thing by tomorrow evening."

"So, Giygas is back," Josh mused. "Figures. I was getting a little bored with peace, anyway…" He couldn't finish his thought before the room was shaken by an explosion just outside. I was thrown to the floor with a startled cry, and I heard Laura screaming and Josh shouting expletives.

"What the hell was that!" Josh shouted, as he and I scrambled to our feet and Laura scrambled for my desk.

"I'll give you one guess…" I said, drawing the sword I was keeping at my waist in my right hand and my laser gun in my left. In our line of work, carrying weapons for protection went without saying.

As if in reply, three gold-plated Starman Supers teleported into the room in front of us. "You are the -click- enemy…" said one of them. "You are to be -beep- terminated…"

"Better get ready to rumble…" Josh said, taking hold of his sword and glancing at me. One of the Starmen without warning fired off a beam which Josh narrowly dodged and barely missed Laura, who uttered another shriek but scrambled to her feet. The fight was fast; a flurry of motion of which I don't remember much, a hack and slash with my sword here, a laser to the chest there, Josh charging around everywhere. What I do remember is being pasted in the back with a laser and knocked to the floor, and when I whirled and started to rise, I watched in awe as a fierce rush of swirling blue wind surrounded and penetrated the Starman Super that had shot me, and it fell apart. That was it: they were all defeated.

"That was..!" I started, catching my breath.

"That was PSI Freeze," Josh said; he'd seen it as well. "Freeze… Beta, if my guesswork is on target." (The GDI classified PSI abilities according to strength with Greek letters: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Omega.)

"How did you do that!" I said, turning toward Laura once on my feet.

"I can fight too, in my own little way," she replied with a half-smile.

"Hey, I'll drink to that," said Josh.

"Guys, we need to get out of here as soon as possible," I said. "There will be more coming where those three came from. A lot more, probably."

"So where we gonna go?" Josh said. I could sense in his voice the coming sarcasm. "Oh, wait! That's right, there's the Safety Zone out behind the museum where the rules say they aren't allowed to touch us! Let's just skip on over there!"

I made a motion as if to slap him with a backhand, rolling my eyes. "We'll have to run or hide, obviously." It was then that a fast, red laser beam shattered the window and whizzed past my head. "Aaagh!" I shouted in surprise as I hit the floor instinctively.

"They're gonna blow this whole building sky-high before long," Josh said, relating to us what he'd just realized. "We gotta get out of here now!" (How many times had Josh or I made this observation by this point?) He threw the door open and motioned for me to go first, because he obviously wanted me to be the first to get shot, then Laura followed me and Josh took the rear. I ran for the elevator and was about to push the button when Josh shouted, "You fool! They're probably waiting for us there! Take the bloody stairwell!"

"They'll be waiting for us there too!" I replied, annoyed but realizing Josh was right and I just wasn't thinking.

"You're right," said Josh. "We'll have to jump for it!"

"JUMP!" Laura shouted. "Jump where!"

"Out the window," I said. "We'll rappel down to ground level. You'll have to ride piggyback with Josh."

"This'll be a pleasant little trip," Josh said as we hurried back toward a storage closet in my office where we kept rappelling cords and gloves for just such an emergency. (You have to think of everything if you're planning to fight against alien evil.) "C'mon, we'll sail out that window over there!" Josh motioned toward a large window along the hallway.

"I'm not jumping out a window!" Laura shouted. "I'm terrified of heights!"

"Close your eyes then, 'cuz you're going," Josh said as we hurried towards the window. Laura just stood there behind us, not budging.

"I'm not going! I'm not going to jump!"

"You are!" Josh shouted, running back to her. He leaned down a little so they were face-to-face, and said two words. "Trust me." He then slung his massive right arm (which in itself probably weighed almost as much as she did) around her back and threw her over his shoulder, using his left arm to ready the cord. I tied my cord securely to a reinforced ceiling hook. Josh handed me his cord and I tied it to the same. Laura squirmed a little, not so much out of refusal to jump but out of fear; she obviously was very afraid of the jump, as she'd said. "Hang on really tight," Josh said.

"You go first!" Josh then said, turning to me. "We're right behind you!" Josh was busy transferring Laura into the most secure grasp he could muster, saying something like "hold still!" He had her over his right shoulder; she wrapped her left arm around Josh's neck and her right under his arm, locking her hands and holding on tight. Josh planned to rappel one-handed, keeping his right hand securely behind her right knee at his waist level. I turned, opened the window, gripped my cord, and jumped clear into open space in one swift motion.

I was sailing out starting from maybe six hundred feet off the ground. It was a long way to rappel all at once, and tricky given the constant laser fire, but I concentrated as best I could and made it down safely. I immediately ran clear, allowing Josh room to hit the ground with Laura. He did, just barely ahead of a laser that missed Laura's head by about two feet. Laura was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"You're alive," he half-shouted. "Relax! I told you to trust me, we're on the ground! We gotta run!" She breathed hard, probably hyperventilating, for a few seconds, unable to move away. Josh was about to scoop her up again when she regained enough composure to run.

"Come on guys," I said. "We have to find somewhere to hide out, and we have to get away from this building before it blows!" A small group of Starmen, now about two hundred yards away, were already swarming toward us. Laura re-gathered herself well enough, and the three of us took off running past the Topolla theater, then we ducked behind an apartment building under the cover of a nearby stand of trees. We were hidden well, and it was very dark, so the Starmen were apparently unable to locate us.

Josh leaned around to take a look at the Enrich Flavor building, looked for a few seconds, then ducked back in with us. "Man," he said. "There's one big-ass mother ship, I guess, and I see a few little ones… there's people running scared all over the place."

"I gotta tell Craig to stay the heck away from there and pick us up here." I grabbed my waist communicator and flipped it on, and waited for acknowledgement.

"Casner here."

"Yeah Craig, we have a problem."

"Let me file that under 'What Else is New'…"

"Seriously," I said. "Giygas has attacked. He thinks we're still in the Enrich Flavor building… they're gonna blow it up."

"You can't be serious!" Craig exclaimed. "That chopper should be there for you any minute now… I'd better tell him not to go there. Where are you now?"

"We're hiding behind an apartment building across the street from the Topolla, kind of," I said. "Tell him to land near the water, we'll catch him there."

"Gotcha. He'll be there in fifteen minutes, max. Craig out."

"Woooo," Josh said. He stretched himself out as best he could. "Well, this has certainly been an interesting evening. Hope it's been as good for you. Sorry to say I won't be here all week."

"What time did you say it was?" I said. Suddenly, I felt exhausted, probably from lack of sleep (it was in fact a little past 2:30) and physical fatigue from the excitement of the past half hour. "Man, I am so tired…"

"You aren't the only one," said Josh, jerking his head. Laura was fast asleep, her head rested against a patch of moss at the base of a tree. "Me, I'm ready to run the Ironman triathlon if I need to." Of course, I'm sure he was just as tired, but he never admitted it, even to himself. He generated a huge yawn. "My, oh my…"

We exchanged some insignificant words that I no longer remember in the few minutes before the chopper arrived. It was an armored stealth gyrocopter with room for 4, which was what we needed. I noticed it first as we chatted away. "Chopper's here."

"About freaking time," Josh said, hopping to his feet. I followed suit, and then leaned over and shook Laura awake. She gave a jump and a startled half-cry, and for a moment terror seemed to pass through her eyes before she regained her senses.

"Shh, quiet. Our ride's here. Let's go." I took her by the arm and helped her to her feet, and Josh jogged toward the chopper. As we were about halfway there, there was a sudden explosion 20 feet to the right of where the chopper had landed. We all scattered instinctively to the ground. "What the heck!" I shouted.

"Giygas!" Josh said. "It's a battle cruiser!" He snatched his communicator and found the chopper's frequency. "Get off the ground, now!" he yelled into it. "Evasive action! Sweep low past us so we can grab on and then get out of here!" The chopper immediately slid along the ground on its wheels (being a modified gyro, it had wheels) and took off, climbing rapidly away from us and then turning sharply around and heading straight for us. Josh took hold of Laura before she could argue, and I got myself prepared. We were going to have to grab hold of the wheel carriage and pull ourselves into the chopper in mid-air. The chopper sailed toward us and suddenly slowed down. As it passed, Josh and I simultaneously jumped and secured hold of the bars, me with two hands, Josh with one. The chopper was climbing, and Laura was again expressing her fear of heights (and also death lasers) by screaming. Josh couldn't climb while holding her with one arm, so I quickly climbed the wheel structure, which was basically the same as climbing a ladder, and hopped into the copter (the door was open for us to get in.) I then knelt over, the wind whipping me fiercely until I could barely avoid being blown backwards.

"Try and hand her up here!" I screamed over the noise of the engine and wind. Josh apparently heard, or else just knew what he had to do, because he swung his right leg onto the wheel and grabbed firm hold, then pulled himself up with his right arm. When he had hold of the bar, he lifted his left arm as far up as he could. I knelt over and reached far, and with some effort, managed to grab hold of Laura's left wrist. "I got you!" I screamed to her. "Grab hold of my other arm!" She did so with such lightning speed that it startled me, but Josh gave her a shove that sent us both tumbling backwards into the cockpit. Josh leaped in a second later, the door was closed, and we were safe and plotting a course for Summers. We all lay in kind of a pile on the cramped floor, Laura's back pinning my legs down in an uncomfortable position, but both of us too exhausted to move, and Josh propped himself up against the back of the pilot's seat, breathing hard.

"Whew…" he said between breaths. "Wasn't that about the best party you ever saw?"

"Did we lose them?" I called to the pilot.

"Affirmative," he called back. "That was one heck of a maneuver you guys pulled! Are you okay?"

"We're fine," Josh shouted. "I took a graze in the leg, but I'm fine, and they're just tired."

"Graze in the leg?" I said, looking up. As I moved, it seemed to spring Laura to life, as she got up off my lower legs into a sitting position, still on the floor, her knees up against her chin.

"Yeah," said Josh. "I think the wheels are damaged, we took a hit just as you grabbed hold of Laura. Some piece of something nailed my leg, but nothing's broken or torn, I don't think." I then saw the injury: it truthfully looked severe. His pant leg was torn open halfway up the thigh and basically torn off up to the knee, and an open wound ran along the side of his calf at least a foot long, along with many more minor cuts all along the lower leg. Blood was oozing slowly out of the wounds and had collected in a small pool on the floor. "I gotta get this thing cleaned out when we get there, though," he said, running his hand along the nasty gash.

"I feel sick…" Laura said as she climbed up into the back seat and lay across both of the two seats back there. "Uhhhhh…"

"You okay?" I got up on one knee; she had taken my seat by lying across it, so I'd have to settle for the floor, which I figured wouldn't matter since I'd soon be asleep anyway. "She doesn't look too well."

"Motion sickness, probably, and exhaustion doesn't help," said Josh. "Hope this thing comes equipped with barf bags…" He paused, then changed course. "It's cramped back here. I'm bigger than you, so I'm taking the front. Either move her or have fun on the floor." He got up and, planting on the bad leg as if nothing was wrong with it, leapt over the back of the shotgun seat and settled into it.

Laura was already drifting back into a fitful sleep, so I opted to have my fun on the floor. It wasn't very long before I fell asleep, victim also to mental and physical exhaustion. When my eyes slowly opened, it was because Josh was shaking me vigorously. "Hey sleeping beauty, time to get up before someone else tries to blow us up."

"Mmm…" I said, rising to a sitting position and rubbing my face; my body was sore, probably from sleeping in a contorted position. "We're at GDI headquarters? What time is it?"

"Little past 4," said Josh. "We're slated for our meeting at 2… that ain't too much sleep, we'll have to be up by ten." I rose to my feet and gingerly hopped out of the chopper. Josh followed suit, then suddenly turned and climbed back up. "Forgot something." A minute or so later, Laura emerged and stepped down, followed by Josh. We walked quickly into the safety of the massive GDI headquarters building, where a guard led us to Craig Casner's office a little ways down the hall.

"Ah, you made it," Craig said, rising from his seat behind his desk. "Quite an adventurous night you guys have had, I bet."

"Ask some other time," said Josh. "And when we're done here, I need my leg cleaned out." He turned sideways and pointed to his chopped-up left leg. Craig winced.

"You must be Laura," Craig said, nodding towards her. "Craig Casner, CEO of the Giygas Defense Initiative." Laura, still not feeling well apparently, nodded silently. "You don't look too well. You should go with Josh to the medical center."

"I just want to get to bed," I said. "Can we continue this in the morning?"

"Yeah, it is kinda late, isn't it?" Craig mused. "Right, you and J-Wil have room 203, and Laura has 204. I'll be in 200. We'll meet down in the café at 11:30, I'll send our wake-up call for 11. Got it?"

"No," I said. "I'm too tired to really care. I got the room 203 part, so I'm going to bed." I turned and walked out, and Josh and Laura followed, and they went for the medical center while I went to my room.

I went straight to sleep, but was naturally awakened by Josh crashing through the door at a sprint. "Nice," said Josh, opening the drawers. "We got a change of clothes ready to go. How thoughtful. But look here – GDI uniforms." I groggily looked, and of course he was right. Craig was already prepared for war. I crashed back on my bed, in any case, and was again asleep within seconds.

Chapter 3 – The Meeting

I suddenly awakened to the sound of a very loud buzzer going off. It was coming from speakers mounted in all four corners, so that a 95 decibel buzz blasted the room, shattering us awake enough that we wouldn't fall back asleep. "Wow, rise and shine," said Josh, blinking, then yawning. "First dibs on the shower." He didn't take long, and we were both showered and donning our uniforms twenty minutes later; my watch read 11:22. "Man, I'm about ready to eat a horse," Josh said. "Raw, if I have to. Still alive, for all I care, but I'm eatin' something." He threw the door open and we headed for the café on the far end of the particular building we were in. We got there at 11:29 and Craig and Laura were already there. "How long've you guys been here?" Josh said.

"Five minutes," Craig replied. "Have a seat, I ordered your favorite, Josh."

"A dozen crème-filled, with chocolate icing?"

"I know you well enough."

"What happened to the raw horse?" I said.

"Some Summers government board said I could only feed him one raw horse a month, and I did two weeks ago," Craig deadpanned.

"I'm not the pickiest eater on earth," Josh said. "Say Craig, are you gonna eat that placemat?"

"I try to only eat placemats on Tuesdays and Thursdays," Craig replied dryly.

"Hooray for me," Josh said, grabbing Craig's placemat and theatrically shaking salt on it.

"He's not REALLY gonna eat that, is he?" Laura said, staring at the placemat. Craig and I locked eyes and then started laughing.

"Josh, you know the doctors won't be happy if they have to pump that plastic out of your stomach again…" Craig said. "That would be the third time this month."

"But I'm hungry!" That's when the food arrived. Some pastries for Craig, a dozen crème-filled donuts for Josh, some bran cereal for me, some muffins for Laura. Josh was, of course, the first one finished eating, even though he had more food than the three of us combined. "Mmm mm, good," he said, nipping at the corners of his mouth with his napkin in a mockingly dainty fashion.

A few minutes later, I finished my meal last, and Craig began. "Okay, let's get down to business. To the meeting room." He rose and led the way out of the café and down the hall, to a large, rectangular room with glass windows – ceiling to floor – overlooking the Summers shore, adorned with a long mahogany table and 20 well-cushioned chairs, nine on each side and one on each end. Craig took the end seat; Josh filled in to his right, and Laura and myself to his left. "All right," said Craig. "In another hour or so, Ness and company will arrive and the real fun will begin."

"Can you tell me what's going on now?" asked Laura.

"I can," Craig replied. "But first, I should update you guys on what's going on in Fourside."

Josh perked up. "Yeah, what DID happen there anyway?"

Craig pulled some papers from a briefcase. "All last night, most of the citizens of Fourside saw Giygan battle cruisers – flying saucers, or UFO's, if you will – flying around and firing upon the Enrich Flavor Building. At 3:12 AM, the Enrich Flavor Building was leveled. Utterly destroyed. Blown to bits. The rubble scattered all over the city as far as the outer walls."

"Oh my…" said Josh. I grimaced.

"No..!" Laura started. Fourside was, after all, her hometown, and the Enrich Flavor its center of government.

"It gets worse, unfortunately," Craig said to Laura. "At 3:19, the Lakeside Apartments building was leveled as well… completely destroyed. In both cases, there were no survivors. 412 killed at the Enrich Flavor, 98 killed at Lakeside…"

We saw the wave of horror take control of Laura; it was in her eyes. She opened her mouth to scream, but it wobbled and no sound was produced. Craig sat silent and looked down at the table. Josh shook his head, and his face seemed to say "Those bastards will pay for this…"

Finally, Laura spoke, barely above a whisper, tears welling up. "My home… my friends… all gone… WHY!" she finally shouted before breaking into sobs. I exchanged a glance with Craig; his return glance portrayed an odd blend of helplessness – he couldn't change the past – and determination – he could and would change the future. "Why is this happening!" Laura shrieked. "Why me!"

"You're in danger," said Craig. "You're here because we're going to protect you from Giygas. Do you understand he was trying to capture or kill you? That's why he destroyed the building."

"Who's Giygas!" she cried. "Tell me! Please!"

"It's a long story," Craig replied. "If you can calm down and listen carefully, I'll tell it."

He paused; there was silence for a minute or so as Laura calmed and composed herself. Finally, Craig started. "All right, let's begin." He rose and began to pace slowly about as he related the story of Giygas and how he had been defeated by Ness and his friends, and then an explanation of who or what Giygas is and how we must again defeat him. "Giygas, as his henchman Pokey had said, is not merely the wielder of Evil; he is the embodiment of Evil itself. He is the Evil Power. Ness did not defeat him completely; Giygas did not die. He simply retreated when he was growing weak. And now he has reassembled his army and returned. And he's attacking more directly. By destroying the buildings in Fourside, he has again declared war on Earth, and intends to dominate and/or destroy it. The GDI, or Giygas Defense Initiative, exists to repel Giygas's attack and defeat him once and for all. Giygas fears and seeks to destroy good PSI; There is good PSI, and there is evil PSI. Good is always triumphant over evil; that is why Giygas is trying to destroy those with good PSI, which is why he's trying to destroy you. You, however, may be able to aid in destroying him, if you're interested…"

Josh and I exchanged glances at this. "You have two options," Craig continued. "Well, three, actually. You can walk out of here and go home, except you have no home to go to, and you'll be killed. You can stay right here, and we'll keep you safe as best we can. Or you can take part in the coming war and aid us in destroying Giygas."

Laura sat silent, staring at the table. A small tear rolled down her face.

"You don't have to decide now," said Craig. "But I would like you to remain here when the Chosen Four arrive for our conference. Today we go to war against Giygas… again." Craig was businesslike, especially in serious situations like this one, but he was a compassionate man. He spoke to Laura in a methodical but gentle tone of voice. He was a very easy man to trust.

We sat around and chatted for awhile about the war, about the last day (it was quite remarkable to explain the whole thing to Craig, who took it all in, nodding as if it wasn't all that unusual or surprising), to whittle away the time before the Chosen Four made their appearance. At 1:52, the intercom flashed on. "Commander, Paula has arrived."

Craig's head snapped up. "Escort her in immediately."

"Understood."

"Okay, we're going to get down to business now," Craig said to us. "We have to set the Chosen Four to work against him personally again, while we handle the military operations."

Josh cracked his knuckles. "I'm up for cracking some heads right about now."

"Hokela was supposed to be here," said Craig. "He's late; that worries me."

"Bobby's never late…" I said.

The door slid open. "Here we are," said a soldier, who promptly left.

"Welcome, Paula," said Craig, rising. "We haven't met yet. I'm GDI Commander Craig Casner. These people here are, in order, Laura… well, I honestly don't know what her last name is; Carl Williams, and Josh Wilson."

"St. Clair," said Laura.

"Giygas is back," said Paula, taking the words right out of Craig's mouth. Craig looked surprised. "I could sense it… it was him who attacked Fourside last night and killed all those people. What's GDI?"

Craig turned to me and shrugged. "She's a psychic." he turned back to Paula and spoke. "GDI stands for Giygas Defense Initiative. We're a military operation whose purpose is to do all possible to destroy Giygas. Of course, you should know as well as I do that no military attack stands a chance against Giygas himself… which is where you come in. The Chosen Four must do it again."

Paula slowly took a seat next to Josh, who was roughly four times her size. She was small even for a fourteen year old. "I feel Giygas's presence…" she said, "but I don't know where… how do we find him..?"

"I suspect he's attacking from some point besides the present again," said Craig. "But that's where our espionage expert comes in."

"Must mean the cloaked one," Josh said.

The intercom flipped on. "Commander, General Hokela and Ness have both arrived."

"Send them in. Well, it seems you'll be meeting him soon."

A minute later, Ness walked in, followed by Bobby Hokela. He (Bobby) was the world's foremost expert on "assassin science", as he called it, and espionage. He trained and led a whole regiment of specially selected people who did similar work to what he did. The standard GDI officer's uniform was mostly blue, but Bobby's was all black, and he wore big, heavy, one-piece, shiny silver shades at all times, even at night and even indoors. No one had ever seen his eyes, at least not that I'm aware of; there were, of course, rumors that there was some deformity in them and that he hid them. He said that it was key that no one see his eyes because you can read a man's thoughts and emotions by looking in his eyes. I think he was both right and truthful in that. "Bobby," typically a child's nickname, seems like an odd name for such a cold, deadly man, but that was his actual given name, and he was vehement upon being called by it. You get used to it.

"Nice of you to join us, Bobby," said Craig. Ness took a seat next to Paula, and Bobby took his next to Laura on our side of the table, saying nothing as usual. Bobby never spoke unless it was necessary. "Ness, allow me to introduce ourselves." He went through our names again, ending with Bobby. "And this is Bobby Hokela, our chief assassin and spy. His assignment is to find Giygas for us." Bobby seemed to be looking at Ness and Paula, although obviously no one could really tell where his eyes were looking from behind the shades.

"What kept you, Bobby?" asked Josh. "You're late."

"UFO's," said Bobby. "Giygas is following us everywhere we go. He knows who we are and what we're doing. More importantly, he knows where we are."

Craig's face narrowed. "So do you expect an attack against GDI Headquarters?"

"Yes," replied Bobby. "Not for a while, though. But expect it."

"Lovely," said Craig. "I can hardly wait."

"Our immediate concern is whacking Giygas," I said.

"Yes, indeed it is," said Craig, turning back to the original point of conversation when the speaker came on again to inform us that Dr. Andonuts and his son Jeff had arrived.

A minute or so later the two entered the room and, with a brief exchange of pleasantries, seated themselves across the table from me, next to Paula. "So Giygas is back…" Dr. Andonuts said with a tone of distinct tiredness.

Craig frowned. "Who told you that?"

"Why else would we be meeting here?" Andonuts replied. "Say, are there any donuts?"

"I ate them all," Josh said. "You shoulda got here earlier."

Craig continued with the subject of origin. "Yes, Giygas is back," he said. "As of now, you are GDI enlisted, and will remain here to either fight or stay for your safety. Of course," he said, nodding toward Jeff, "I'm sure you will fight. We need you Chosen Four to do it again."

"Giygas Defense Initiative…" Jeff said. "Dad told me about it awhile back."

Click went the intercom. "Commander, Prince Poo has arrived."

"Send him in," replied Craig. "Let's wait for Poo to get up here," said Craig. "Then we'll get down to our real business."

We sat in silence for a minute or so until Prince Poo strode in the door. "I'm sorry for being late," he said. "I was held up talking to a girl."

"He-eeey, there's the surprise of the century!" Josh cut in. "Actually, Carl does that all the time too, now that I think about it. Can hardly keep the ladies off him."

"Sure, Josh," I said. Poo took his seat, and Craig began.

"Right, let's cut to the chase here, ladies and gentlemen. Here's what we know about Giygas right now: He's set up shop around Fiveville. Our intelligence indicates heavy fortifications much stronger than those we saw at the Stonehenge Base when it was active. The prospect of a full military assault on it is next to impossible. They have too much manpower… or, more accurately, robot power. The problem with robots is that they can easily be mass produced, battle-ready, as fast as we can kill them off, whereas training human troops takes too much time.

"Giygas is planning an attack – where, we don't know. I suspect he'll do one of two things: attack Fourside, which he can bowl over quite easily and then have a starting point to assault Eagleland. Or, since he's quite aware of our existence, it seems, he may attack Summers and Toto with the intent of forcing a showdown with the GDI before we're ready for it. He could also directly attack our headquarters from the air, but like his, it's extremely well-fortified against air attack."

"Right," I said. "So what are we doing about it?"

"It's quite obvious what we have the Chosen Four here for. You four are going to need to personally defeat Giygas – again. The basic plan is this – the GDI creates a diversion by attempting to fend off Giygas's attack when it comes. While that is going on, the four of you are going to need to infiltrate his base – Bobby's a master of sneaking into fortified positions undetected, he'll help you with that – and seek Giygas as quickly as possible. Judging by the Apple of Enlightenment's previous prophecy, you four are the only ones capable of defeating Giygas. Our role is to alleviate the pressure on you while you find him. You've done it before – I'm sure you can do it again."

After a moment of silence, Ness spoke up. "I guess we don't have a choice," he said. "We're gonna have to do it."

"Indeed!" said Poo. "We can do it. We will do it."

"So we're just going to sit around and wait for Giygas to attack us?" said Ness. "Are you sure about that?"

"You know what I'd like?" I cut in.

"Carl, you know that stuff is illegal…" Josh said. I'd left myself wide open for that jab.

I widened my eyes mockingly at Josh. "Josh, not here!" I stage-whispered. "Actually," I said, returning to full voice, "I'd like to try and find that Apple of Enlightenment, or at least another prophecy from it."

Craig frowned thoughtfully. "Wouldn't be a bad idea…"

"Yeah, except that we have no idea where or how to look," said Josh. "That'd be a waste of our time, and we're gonna have to be getting ready for war."

"Some people we met before talked about the Apple of Enlightenment," said Ness. "Maybe one of them would know something?"

"The Apple of Enlightenment speaks to chosen people at times through dreams, I've heard," said Paula. "I've never received anything from it, though."

"My Master speaks often of prophecies from the Apple," said Poo. "We might want to talk to him."

"I have nothing to contribute on this present topic," Jeff offered.

"Didn't that voodoo guy who hangs out in the desert with all those monkeys tell us something about the Apple of Enlightenment..?" asked Josh.

Craig nodded. "Talah Rama. We should contact him as well. But all in due time… Bobby, perhaps you would want to check out the Apple?"

"No," replied Bobby. "I have to prepare the assassins for war. I also have to train Ness and his friends in the ways of breaking and entering."

Craig sighed. "True… we can put it on the back burner."

"No, I sense we're onto something here," I said. "I'll go talk to them about it."

"Not alone, you aren't," said Craig. "You're not Bobby, and you're a target."

"I'll go with him," Laura spoke up. Craig, startled, turned toward her. "I want to help with something…" she said almost sheepishly.

"Still too dangerous," said Craig. "You're both major targets, you aren't trained, and Giygas is going to be hot after you."

"We really can't just let this go, Craig," I said. "Let us go. She can defend herself, and you know I can. We'll bail at the first sign of trouble, alright? This is a stealth mission anyway."

Craig paused, and then breathed heavily. "You give your word you'll return the second you see anything Giygas-related near you?"

"Yes. You know you can trust me. I wouldn't risk putting either of us in a dangerous situation."

"Alright, then. We'll disband this meeting for now," he said, turning toward the group. "Josh, you show the Chosen Four to their quarters, and have a full watch set up over them. Then you two start military preparation, and monitor for any activity in Fiveville."

"Understood," said Josh, rising, Bobby as well. "Well folks, it ain't prison, but it sure ain't the Holiday Inn. We did clean the mattresses a few months ago… didn't we?" He shrugged and beckoned for the door and waited for the Four to exit before going himself, leaving Laura, Craig and myself.

Craig sat down for the first time in a while. He breathed heavily again – something he did often when his mind was laden with things – and then looked up at Laura and spoke. "Laura, you're going to need a weapon. Is there anything you'd feel comfortable using?"

"I… I don't know…" she said. She obviously had never really used any sort of weapon.

"Well then," said Craig, perceiving the same thing I had, "we can train you to use something. Do you think you could learn to use a laser rifle? Or would you be more comfortable with a sword, or blunt weapon?"

She thought for a moment, her eyes focused on the table as if something interesting was there. "I don't think I want to be hitting things from close," she said after a brief silence.

"Alright, that's no problem," said Craig. "Before you leave, Carl can train you in the ways of handling a laser rifle."

"Well, first, I need to talk to Dr. Andonuts about our technological advances and such," I said. "Can I talk to you in a couple hours, maybe?"

"Don't waste too much time, Carl," said Craig. "We don't have a whole lot of it."

"I know, I know," I said. I rose from my seat. "Well, you two can iron everything else out, and I'll be back in a bit." Laura's actions seemed to betray that she was warming up to Craig, and I was getting a funny sense that perhaps I should leave them alone to talk for awhile.

"You know where to find Laura when you're done, right?" Craig called.

"Either in her room or in the weapons training facility," I said. "I know this building as well as you do, Commander." With that, I strode out the door and started on my way to Tech Center, which was a massive room located on the east side of the building. It was where all of the GDI's scientific research and testing went on as they constantly developed new technology for tracking and fighting Giygas. I wanted to ask Dr. Andonuts about the prospects of a Phase Distorter IV, as well as a Sky Runner III, which I hoped we could mass-produce and turn into a combat ship. Of course, we'd need to iron out the problem with it not being able to land properly if that were to be the case.

Meanwhile, back in the meeting room, Craig was addressing Laura. "So, I haven't heard much about you yet," he said, leaning back in his chair. "What's your story?"

Laura hesitated. "I…"

Craig rose and strode to the window, gazing out of it while he spoke. "No matter how unsure you seem, I can tell you're an unusually smart girl. And you're not sure what to think of me – I come across as a bit aristocratic, a bit too concerned with my leadership of the GDI and perhaps not concerned enough with the people I'm talking to." He turned to Laura. "Is this right?"

She was a bit surprised at being told her thoughts. "How do you know?" she asked.

Craig smiled. "Carl says I'm perceptive. I think it's more of a lucky guess. But how can a man claim to know others when he doesn't know himself? Perhaps I am a bit too concerned with the GDI – but please don't think I don't care about people. I want to hear what you've come from – and where you plan to go." He again sat.

Laura allowed a smile to betray her. "I'm from Fourside," she said. "I was going to the Fourside Academy, I was studying astronomy. I lived in…" she closed her eyes briefly, thinking of her now-destroyed home, "…I lived in the Lakeside Apartments, on the top floor… I used to enjoy sitting out on my balcony on summer nights, just relaxing…"

Craig nodded. "That does sound relaxing. I haven't had a chance to do anything like that lately. Well… I hope you don't think I'm trying to coerce you into helping me… I'm trying to help you in every way I can. I'm worried about you because Giygas is after you."

"But why are you worried about me? Is it just because of my PSI?"

"No." Craig shook his head. "Your PSI truthfully has only a nominal usefulness to the GDI. And Giygas can't do a whole lot with it, either… but I first formed the GDI because I wanted to protect people against Giygas. And right now, he's after you. I feel it my duty to protect you, then." Craig was maintaining his front of professionalism. He was an unusual man.

"Are those other guys… Josh and Carl, are they your friends? Or just your… colleagues?"

"Friends," he said. "Very good friends, inseparable. We go way back, practically to birth. They're nice guys – much nicer than I am, as I'm sure you'll agree."

"You've all been very nice…" she said. "You're nice, too, at least I think so. Are you just being nice to me?"

"Of course I'm being nice to you," Craig replied. "Trying to, at least. But I think what you mean is, am I treating you differently than other people? I don't know. I suppose you'll have to judge that for yourself – as soon as Josh figures it out he'll let everyone know."

"Josh is…" Laura trailed off, unable to find a suitable word to describe him. No such word exists, of course.

"Heh, Josh is unique, to say the least," Craig laughed. "You'll never meet a more loyal or trustworthy friend in your life, though, for all his quirkiness. He cares a great deal."

"Yeah…" Laura mused. "So, what am I going to do here, besides the Apple of Enlightenment thing?"

"That's for you to decide. I expect you and Carl will find something good – it may take you quite a while to find what you're looking for. Of course, I'll help after I finish my commanding duties with operating our military."

"All right," said Laura. "Is Carl… what's he like? I mean, is he a good person with this kind of thing?"

Craig smiled. "You'll like Carl. Everyone does. The man's just too smart – he reads between the lines. He can figure out what he's looking for before anyone else even knows he's looking for it, if you know what I mean."

"I think so."

"You'll have to go as civilians," Craig said. "At first, I thought I'd send you in uniform, but that's too conspicuous. The first thing you two will need to do is take a little shopping trip for clothes, seeing as how I'm sure your wardrobe has been… damaged by Giygas's attack on Fourside."

"All right," said Laura.

"I have to go now," said Craig, rising again. "You should return to your room. Carl will meet you there when he's done tinkering around down at Q Branch." ("Q Branch" is what we called our research and development complex, styled after the James Bond movies.) "And Laura, let's talk again sometime soon."

"Thank you for helping me… Commander? Craig?" Laura wondered aloud how to address him.

"Craig," Craig said. "My friends call me by name."

"Oh… well, I wasn't sure, because Carl was calling you 'Casner'."

"That's because there were others around," said Craig with a smile. "Normally, Carl and Josh and Bobby address me by first name. And you should as well."

"Okay, Craig… thank you," said Laura.

"I'll talk to you this evening," Craig said as he left the room with a smile on his face.

Chapter 4 – The Capture

"Right, well, the mobility of the thing isn't a problem at all," I was saying. "It's just the fact that we'd like to be able to use it more than once."

"We can do that," said Dr. Andonuts. "I think the problem is the fact that the landing gear is not flexible enough for a quick landing; it has to be gently set down, and it doesn't react well to air pressure changes outside the craft."

"In the middle of a dogfight, we don't have time to gently set it down. So, we're going to need to develop a better system of landing without changing the shape."

"General Williams!" a GDI soldier had tracked me down. "You are to take Laura to weapons training, sir!"

"Alright, thank you," I said, and the soldier took his leave. "Well, you can work with our scientists on this – some of my scientists from Williams Contracting are going to be working here for awhile as well. Ugh, the insurance on that building is going to be a pain…"

"Oooh, donuts!" Dr. Andonuts had sighted a tray, and gravitated toward them like a moth to a flame. I headed out.

I walked briskly down the hall first to Weapons Center, at the northeast corner of the GDI building. This was where all the GDI soldiers' weaponry was produced and assigned. It was part factory and part sophisticated warehouse, where everything that was produced was categorized and stored according to an exact plan. I went to the front desk of the area, where GDI officers put in requests for weapon supplies, and made my request. "One XR-77.1 assault laser rifle, to go." It was our most up-to-date model, and was still available in only a limited supply. The secretary punched in the order to her computer and asked me to wait. About five minutes later, the weapon arrived, loaded with plasma and ready to go, complete with a box of ammo refill cartridges. One cartridge lasted approximately 3,000 shots; there were 144 cartridges. "Thank you kindly," I said, strapping the weapon over my shoulder and carrying the box as I headed back west toward the residence hall to find Laura.

Room 202? Or was it 204? I pondered, knowing only that she was in one of the two rooms across the hall from the one where Josh and I had spent the previous night. I decided to try 202; empty. Then I went to 204 and punched the buzzer. A moment later, Laura opened the door. "I told you I'd be here," I said. "I brought your laser rifle." I sat down the box and handed her the rifle, which was a little small by my standards but just right for hers. She took it cautiously, as if I was handing her a bomb. I smiled. "I know, it seems intimidating, and it is to whoever you're aiming it at – once you learn how to use it. So, let's go down to Training and you'll have it down like a pro in an hour."

"It looks… powerful," she said.

"Please don't shoot me with it, at least…" I said. "Right this way." I led the way to the Training Center 1, which took up much of the western half of the GDI building, and led her through a labyrinth of halls (she'd have to go through them maybe fifty times before she could navigate them on her own; at least, that's how long it took me) to the Laser Rifle Tactical Training Area.

"Alright," I said. "First, you'll need to learn the process of loading and readying the weapon. I'll do it for you in one quick motion, just to show you what it'll be like when you learn it. Of course, I don't expect you to be able to do it this fast immediately." Quickly, I took out the blank cartridge (on my rifle, which was an identical model to hers), opened the new one and activated it (with two buttons on the side), slid it in, activated the chamber, shut the chamber, activated the weapon, dropped to one knee and picked off three bulls-eye targets with small explosions.

I stood and held the rifle up triumphantly. "Hasta la vista, baby."

"I… didn't get any of that…" Laura said.

"Ha ha, I know," I said. "Now let's go through it step by step."

And so we did, although for the sake of my laziness and the sake of the fact that you the reader probably don't really care, I'll skip that part. Flashing forward to about 45 minutes later, Laura was handling her rifle like a pro, just as I'd promised. "Not that hard," I observed.

That evening at shortly before six, all of us that were at the meeting – myself, Craig, Josh, Bobby, Laura, Ness, Paula, Jeff, Dr. Andonuts, and Poo – met for dinner in the café, which, unlike the bedding, was up to the finest quality. We talked business briefly while we were waiting for our food to arrive.

"You two will leave early tomorrow morning," said Craig. "Go to Dalaam first and talk to Poo's master, and find out anything he knows about the Apple."

"That was my plan as well," I said.

"That's just 'cuz you're lazy, though," said Josh. "Much easier to strut into the palace than to try and find your way through that God-forsaken monkey cave."

"But of course," I said.

"Ooooo, food's here guys!" Josh nearly shouted. "Gimme gimme gimme!" Josh sat and awaited the delivery of the food (I'm sure it took an eternity for him – poor Josh), and just as it arrived, a chain of loud explosions rocked the café, sending us all to the ground for cover.

"Whoa!" shouted Craig. "We're under attack!"

"Either that or they screwed up something down at Q Branch again," said Josh, bounding to his feet. Then a second series of explosions hit, and a third, louder, soon after that.

"Alright guys, looks like combat!" Craig shouted, hurrying out the door, followed by the rest of us.

"Ness!" I shouted, turning. "This is military combat – you and your friends need to head for shelter immediately!"

"Can't we help?" said Poo.

"No, go find shelter now!" I said. "They're after you, don't you see that?"

On the way to Battle Command Center, we met up with some dispatch troops coming from the Center looking for us. "Commander Casner!" shouted Marshal James Manolo, field commander of the defense corps "We're under attack – Giygas is striking from the air!"

"Has he invaded Summers or Toto?" Craig asked.

"No, sir," Manolo replied. "He's striking at GDI headquarters only – he's trying to land infantry outside the perimeters of the base." Now we regularly had to shout over the sound of explosions.

"How are our defenses holding up?"

"Defenses are A-OK, sir. Not a man is breaking through – the antiaircraft defenses are deadlocked."

"We're gonna need to go into combat," I said. "I'll take to the unfriendly skies. General Wilson, you care to meet them on the ground?"

"It'd be my pleasure to crack some alien heads," Josh replied as he slid on his combat helmet.

"Bobby's already out there," said Craig. "I'll engineer antiaircraft defense from here. Laura, do you want to head for shelter? Or do you want to remain here?"

"Can I stay here?" she replied. "I don't want to stay alone in the shelter…"

"You won't be alone," replied Craig. "Ness and company are down there. But if you want to remain here, you may. Perhaps you can learn a thing or two about our antiaircraft defenses."

"Alright," said Laura, "I'll stay here, then."

Craig took his seat, offered the one next to him to Laura, and then turned and nodded to Josh and I. "Good luck, guys." We took our leave; Josh streaked over to retrieve a few infantry units to lead into battle against the Starman armies, and I made for the airstrip to load into my gyrocopter.

I took off from the airstrip in my gyro and flipped on the GDI combat radio, and flew directly into the air combat zone above GDI headquarters, where GDI forces were locked in a dogfight with Giygas's legions of Lil' UFO's and not-so-lil' UFO's. As I dodged my way through the fire, I grabbed my radio and flipped a switch. "Marshal Eastford!" I called into the radio.

"Eastford, reporting!" came the quick reply.

"General Williams here. How are our forces doing?"

"We're losing the dogfight, General," Eastford replied. "But our antiaircraft defenses are holding the base. They aren't breaking through. We're awaiting orders on how to drive them out."

"Get me a battle map ASAP," I called. "Williams out!" I put down the communicator and flipped on my computer, and turned on the battle map, while all the while dodging and firing at enemy ships. I swooped in low and caught a few Lil' UFO's in my rotors, and picked off some big UFO's with the laser cannons, before the battle map finally came up. I flew to the nearest air shelter post, in the northwest corner of the facility, and landed and studied the map. I punched in SEND COMMCASNER BATMAP enter and then my password, and the map was forwarded to Commander Casner's computer screen. I grabbed my communicator and flipped it on again. "Commander Casner! Do you copy?"

"Casner here, I copy. I have a battle map coming from you, I've noticed. How's the fight doing?"

"Deadlocked," I said. "We're gonna need a strategy for driving them out of here. So go to it, Mr. Tactician."

"Okay, give me a minute to study this thing," said Craig, who then flipped the button to put me on speaker. He and Laura studied the map of the air combat zone for a moment. "You see anything special about this combat zone, Laura?" Craig said.

She looked. "It's just a bunch of colors…"

"Blue is us, red is them, it's pretty easy, and the ships are classified by shape," he said, pointing to the screen. "You'll catch on fast. But notice how, and you listen too, Carl, notice how they have most of their heavy artillery stacked up in formation on the east flank. We need to disrupt that, that's what's dealing most of our casualties."

"Can the AA (antiaircraft) cannons take some shots?" I asked.

"They already are," said Craig. "They aren't being very effective. And a frontal offensive would be suicidal."

"Is there any way we can sneak behind them?" offered Laura.

"Doesn't look like it," I said. "Their formation is pretty strong. Whoa, we have an attack on the southwest zone!"

Craig started. "What? Oh boy… they're gonna bust through there. We're outgunned!" He quickly threw another switch on his control panel and cried into the communicator, "Commander Casner here! Get out, now! Evacuate the southwest safety zone immediately!" Then he turned to Laura. "This'll be good training here. We're gonna bombard that zone with our antiaircraft cannons."

"How?" asked Laura. "How do we control all the cannons from here?"

"Heheh," Craig chuckled, "we don't directly control them from here. We issue orders, and the AA technicians fire the cannons." He flipped another switch. "Casner here. I have a training general with me, when she gives orders, obey them. Casner out." He flipped the switch off. He proceeded to explain briefly to Laura how to work the control panel to direct AA attacks, which I won't repeat since it's both boring and classified.

"Right, we've evacuated southwest," I said. "Now we only have three zones left, we gotta break their artillery lines."

"Well, as Laura was saying, the only way to do that is to get around them. Only one way to do it. We're gonna perform a feigned withdrawal." Casner had just played his favorite trump card, his feigned withdrawal battle technique, designed to make the enemy lines open up to give chase or capture, then turn around and attack a hopefully exposed flank. It seemed pretty risky on the surface, but Craig knew how to make it work.

"Alright, feigned withdrawal it is," I said. "I'll get it arranged." I threw a switch on my communicator. "All aircraft listen! We're performing a feigned withdrawal! Repeat, perform a feigned withdrawal to the west immediately!"

Craig leaned back in his chair. "Well, now we're going to retreat and abandon the headquarters, or so Giygas is going to think," he said. "But we're gonna surprise them and break up that line of artillery of theirs."

I fired up my gyro and took off, and led the supposed retreat from the GDI headquarters. Our ships all turned their tails and took off; the Giygas forces seemed just a bit confused by our maneuver, but nonetheless began to give chase. "Swing north!" I cried into my communicator, trying to draw their forces far enough north that we could attack from the south.

"There it is!" Craig called after a few straining minutes. "The artillery line's forming a circle and trying to surround the complex. We'll break it if we fire a concentrated AA attack at 'em, and then you guys can smash through and break them all up – they'll be too surprised to react effectively."

"Casner!" Josh called over the communicator. "Giygan forces have broken through the east entrance! They're coming your way!"

"Our way!" Craig said. He threw a switch. "Hokela!"

"Reporting," came the reply. "We're holding the west. They seem to be regrouping."

"They've broken through the east! I need assassins in here to clean 'em out, right away!"

"I'm coming to your position. Hokela out."

Craig turned. "You gotta get out of here and to the shelter right now!" he said to Laura. "If they make it here, you're toast!"

"Are we gonna be okay!" Laura said, worried.

"Yes, we're going to drive them out, don't worry about that," said Craig. "But you're in danger of being taken prisoner. I'm sending for an escort to get you to our battle shelter immediately," he said, pointing to a flashing red button he had hit a minute before. "General Wilson!" he said, grabbing his communicator. "Hold the outside, I have Hokela coming inside!"

"Affirmative," Josh replied. "No one else is breakin' through here, big man!"

A minute later, a group of five troops, Laura's escort, arrived at Command Center. "Get her outta here, now!" Craig said to them. "To the battle shel—OOF!" Craig was suddenly floored by laser fire. A large group of Starmen had broken into the room through the east entrance to it, opposite of the escort which had arrived from the west. "They're here!" Craig shouted as he got up and drew his sword.

"So are we!" Bobby Hokela called as his Assassins flowed in through the west entrance. They engaged the Starmen harshly and immediately, and Craig hesitated nary a moment to join the fray.

"Get her outta here, now!" Craig called. Laura, who had just frozen a Starman with her PSI, was taken away by the soldiers and led to the battle shelter. Casner, Hokela and the assassins, who were considerably outnumbered, fought fiercely against the Starmen that had broken through the back lines of the GDI ground defenses. Craig slashed at a Starman, dodged a laser, jumped and destroyed another Starman, but failed to pick up quickly enough on the three Starmen that had gotten behind him.

"Craig! Behind you!" Hokela called as he came running.

But too late.

Craig was down.

And the Starmen were taking off with him…

Chapter 5 – The Giant, the Psychic and the Assassin

"Where are they! WHERE THE WHITE HELL ARE THEY!" Josh screamed.

"Fiveville, or in orbit, presumably," said Hokela. "The whole mission's intent seemed to have been to capture Craig."

"We thought we had them fooled, but they had us…" I said.

"Well, we gotta go find him, NOW!" shouted Josh. "They'll kill him!"

"I doubt it," I said. "Never underestimate how stupid evil can be. They don't want to kill him, they want to keep him alive as a trump card preventing us from attacking him. A hostage. A 'if you come close, he dies' kind of deal. If they had wanted to kill him, they would have done so without bothering to make the capture."

"If that is the case, he'll die," said Bobby. "We can't choose him over the world."

I sighed through a moment of general silence. "Yes, in the end I'm afraid you're right," I said. "What we have to consider now is how we go about looking for him."

"We need to say screw the mission and attack Fiveville right now!" growled Josh. "I'm going whether you guys go or not, but I might suggest that we send the Chosen Four in with a military escort."

"You're gonna stay right here until I give the order to dispatch you, Josh," I said. "Now don't go getting yourself in big AWOL trouble because you can't control yourself." Josh didn't say it, of course, but he felt tremendous guilt; he blamed himself for Craig's being captured, thinking that if only he'd done this or that differently he could have prevented them from breaking through at all. That was untrue, as Josh was the finest at ground security, but when you lose a close friend and you were close to the situation, such guilt is natural. I was feeling the same frustration he was, but now being in forward command of the GDI, I did my best to keep at bay the urge to charge headlong into a stupid and costly fight.

Ness, Paula, Jeff, Poo, Laura, Josh, Bobby and I were back in the main meeting room where we had met before. It was about two hours after Giygas's troops had captured Commander Casner and immediately left the GDI headquarters. Following Craig's laid-out procedure, I was in forward command of the GDI until his return. We were meeting to determine just how and when to go about attempting to rescue him… if he was still alive.

"Are you sure they won't kill him?" asked Laura.

"They'll probably do one of two things. Either they'll hold him hostage as protection against GDI attack, as we said, or they'll be delivering some form of ransom message inviting us to try and rescue him, intended to draw us in so they can attempt to kill us – 'us' being those of us sitting here right now."

"So what are we supposed to do right now?" asked Ness.

"You're supposed to go knock off Giygas and get Craig back," said Josh. "But how, is what Sir Carl so earnestly wants to know."

"I agree with Josh," said Bobby. "We should try to recover Craig ASAP. There's no sense in waiting for a ransom message."

"Alright, here's what we'll do," I said. "We'll wait one day, two nights, until noon, for something to happen. If nothing does, we'll go on in after him. But not just after him – we should try to knock Giygas out before he gets too strong a foothold. So here's what we do. We'll break into two parties. The Chosen Four will be one, and the other four of us will be the other. We'll invade from opposite ends of Giygas's headquarters in Fiveville. Ness and company's mission is to defeat Giygas, and our mission is to rescue Craig. We'll stay in communication as much as we can. But you guys realize how risky this is… I can't say I expect all of us, if any of us, to survive."

"We got our lives for free, let's go," said Josh.

I looked around the table, and saw nothing but faces determined to make the mission, with the possible exception of Laura, who showed her usual uncertainty and apprehension, but she knew that what we proposed to do was preferable to sitting around and waiting for them to attack us. She knew she might be next.

"Alright, it's done then. General Wilson, you're in charge of keeping this building as well defended as you can. General Hokela, you're in charge of espionage and trying to find out what they intend to do. Laura and I are going to work on strategy and communication… Ness, you and your friends are free to do as you please, just don't wander outside the complex, and here," I slid a communicator, the same model used by the GDI generals and now by Laura as well, across the table to him. "Keep this on. If someone calls for you and your friends, report immediately – your lives could depend on it, and so could the fate of the world. This meeting is over."

"Well, I gotta go keep this place good n' protected from alien scum," said Josh, as he rose and left. Ness and his friends filed out next, leaving Laura, Bobby and myself.

"We're like another version of the Chosen Four, aren't we?" Laura mused. "I mean, three boys and a girl who defeat Giygas. We might do it too…"

"Well, I intend for us to be three boys and a girl who find Craig and bring him back alive, then we can worry about defeating Giygas." I said.

"Giygas first," said Bobby. "Craig second."

I sighed. "I'm not so sure I'd be able to do that, if I had to choose," I said.

"How can you say something like that?" Laura said, almost spat, at Bobby. "Don't you care about him?"

"I care more about the rest of the world," said Bobby in his unflinching tone. "Given the choice, you choose the world over one life."

Laura stared at him for a moment. "If you could choose between killing Giygas and saving Craig, you'd kill Giygas and let Craig die?"

"Yes. There is no choice."

"How could you?" It was easy to see that Laura didn't understand Bobby's point of view, and that Bobby had little interest in explaining it.

"Alright, Bobby, you should go now," I said, figuring I should try to explain Bobby's point of view. He rose and left without a word, leaving the two of us. "Bobby isn't as inhuman as he seems. The truth is, he'd hesitate too if given that choice. Anyone would."

"He's so… so cold!" Laura said. "I don't know how he can be that way…"

"He has a complicated past. He's pretty much killed all trace of emotion he has. It wouldn't work for you or me, but it works for him."

"Do you think Craig's alive?" Laura asked me.

I paused for a moment. "Yes, I think he is… I don't think Giygas would outright kill him. But of course… Giygas's interest is in taking over the world, so he might just kill him right away. But my gut feeling is that Craig is still alive."

"Me too…" she said.

"We'll have to wait and see," I said. "But we'll have to go and look for ourselves if Giygas doesn't tell us soon. Which, personally, I think he will."

"I hope so… I'm worried."

"Sitting around and worrying won't help. Try to get some rest, we have some work to do. I know it's been a really traumatic past few days for you."

She sat and stared down at the table, noticeably blinking back tears. I wanted to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder as I rose to leave, but I didn't; it didn't seem proper to me, nor did it seem like it would be of much help. So I left.