In the early 1900s, a dark shadow fell over a town in rural America. Shortly after, a happily married couple mysteriously vanished.

The man's name was George.

The woman's name was Maria.

Two years later, George returned home but never told anyone where he had been or what he had been doing. Instead, he deeply immersed himself in strange research.

As for his wife, Maria...

She never returned.

198X, outside the town of Mother's Day…

On the outside, the kid on the bed playing his NES was just your average 12 year old. He enjoyed sports, was mostly good in school, and played his video games just a little too much. He had black hair, wore a red bandana on his neck, and had a blue and yellow shirt, along with regular denim shorts. Judging but his outward appearance, you wouldn't be able to realize he had a dark secret. Ninten had psychic powers. The bent spoon in his treasure drawer proved that. He could read others' minds. He could move things when he concentrated. He preferred to act like an ordinary kid however, and only used his powers when he thought he needed.

Images moved across the TV screen as Ninten approached the final stretch of Super Mario Bros. "Alright Bowser, time to meet your doom!" Ninten thought. But just then, a streak of light flashed onto the screen, and then went to black. "WHAT?! I was just about to beat the game!" Ninten yelled. As soon as he said that, he felt the ground shake beneath him and he nearly fell. He regained his composure and noticed things falling off of his shelves and dressers. He went to his treasure drawer, filled with things like his old penguin toy and his favorite ball, signed by former baseball star Shigeo Nagashima. On top of it all lay the baseball cap he wore everywhere, given to him by his dad. He put it on and started walking toward the door. He was interrupted when an object began flying his way.

"What the heck?" Ninten yelled as his table lamp flew directly his way. "How the…?" he thought, before being struck by the lamp. He rubbed his bruised cheek and used the only thing he could: his fists. A few shards of glass flew off the base of the lamp after the boy threw a punch at it. It fell down to the ground and Ninten's fist flew one last time into the household object. Ninten looked at the glass shards with a puzzled look on his face. First the house shaking, now this! He walked through the door and made his way downstairs to find his mom frantically looking around the room.

His mom must have noticed the stricken look on Ninten's face because she was quick to respond to his worry. "Are you okay, Ninten?" she asked. He assured her he was fine. "What on Earth is happening to our house? I'm so scared… If only your father were here…" she said, obviously freaked out. He began to respond, when he was interrupted by the phone. "Oh! The phone! Could you get it, Ninten?" Ninten walked over and answered, "Hello? This is Ninten, who is this?" "Ninten? It's your dad," the other line answered. He was surprised to hear his dad's voice, as Ninten's dad very rarely came home. He hadn't lived at home for 7 years, so Ninten barely knew him.

"Dad? What is it?"

"I just wanted to say hi."

"Alright, I'll tell Mom and the twins. Thanks."

"How are you?"

"Sorry, I can't talk now; we got a bit of a problem. But I've gotta ask ya something. The house is shaking and my lamp started moving on its own. Not to mention it tried to kill me. Any idea what could be happening?"

His dad thought for a moment, "Hmm, I see. Sounds like it must be a poltergeist of some sort. I'm not sure what to do about it either."

A look of disappointment covered Ninten's face. "So do we do nothing?"

"Of course not!" He thought another moment. "But your great-grandfather did study PSI at one point."

"What's that?"

"I think you know."

Ninten just smiled. He did know. His powers. They must be PSI.

His dad continued, "Perhaps there's something in the basement that could help make sense of things." He was silent for a moment, then mumbled, "I know I put that basement key somewhere…" Ninten heard the sounds of his dad shifting through his jacket pockets.

"Dad, you're in New York. If you have it, I can't get it."

"It's probably somewhere at the house. But I can't remember where. Anyway, you're our only hope. Now is the time for an adventure! Go forth, Ninten! Protect us all!"

"Little corny, Dad," Ninten said. But his dad was gone.

Click! Beep-beep-beep…

"Okay then. I guess I'll go upstairs and see if this is some stupid prank by the twins." Ninten walked upstairs and into his sister Minnie's room to find her in his face. "Brother! I'm so scared! My lamp suddenly started going crazy!" she exclaimed. Minnie usually confided in him for comfort and advice. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. The same thing happened to me." Sure enough, her lamp was flying around as well. Minnie hid behind her brother's back and Ninten ran over to the lamp. He tried to get the jump on it, but it slammed into his stomach. Ninten got off his back and punched it in response. Since it was down, he punched it again… and it struck him yet again. He grunted in pain and clenched the bloodied injury on his arm. His leg lifted and he performed a roundhouse kick which shattered the lamp. "Brother! It's like our house is about to fall apart!" Minnie exclaimed. Ninten replied, "I know. I gotta figure this out." He thought to himself, "Nothing here, time to go to Mimmie's room." He went to the room next door and found Mimmie trying to fight against her porcelain doll. She looked over at Ninten. "Don't just stand there! Help!" she said in her usual bossy, rude tone. Minnie was the cowardly, nice one, Mimmie was the rude, "brave" one. Ninten quickly jumped in between them and began to attack the moving thing. He threw his fist at it, dealing some small damage, and it retaliated. Hmm. This doll packed a punch. He jumped at it and kicked. The doll flew around him and unexpectedly slammed into his back. "OW!" He yelled, clutching his back. He threw another punch. It went back and forth. Punch. Slam. Punch. Slam. Within moments, the doll was demolished. "Wait a minute," he said. That unusual vibrating sensation was gone. "That was scary," Mimmie pointed out. "Thanks, Captain Obvious," Ninten retorted and walked back out the door, when Mimmie said something. "Oh? I think I see something inside the doll!" she said.

Ninten walked toward the doll, and sure enough, there was something in it. "Huh," he said, pulling out a small white cube with a crank on the sides. "Looks like a music box." He began to turn the crank and a broken melody began to play. He thought he could make some words out of the tune.

Take a melody…

"Huh. Strange," Ninten thought. He pushed the thought of the melody into the back of his mind.

Ninten knew the phenomenon had stopped, but he decided to look for the basement key anyway. He was heading back upstairs to think about its location when his mother called out, "Ninten! Could you go feed Mick, please?" "Sure, mom," he replied. "I'm much closer to the door anyway," he thought sarcastically.

He walked outdoors and found his dog Mick sitting outside his doghouse, looking famished. "Alright boy, here's your kibble," Ninten said. His dog replied, "Oh thanks! I'm starvin'." It didn't startle Ninten. His psionic abilities apparently allowed him to communicate with animals. That, or he was adept at reading the dialogue boxes. "You understand animal talk, right?" Mick asked. Ninten replied sarcastically, "No… Whadda you think?!" "Then I'll give you a hint: Try checking me. Woof!" he said. Obliging, Ninten searched his dog, and found something hanging off Mick's collar. It was the basement key! He took it and ran back in, "Thanks, Mick. I gotta go!"

The basement was a dark place. It seemed…cold and unforgiving. Rats crawling around, and junk everywhere. But… there were what looked to be boxes with wrapping paper on them all around the room. Presents? Ninten started walking around, looking for clues to the cause of the strange phenomenon. He searched, bumping into things in the darkness, and found a present. Ninten opened the box and found some sort of book. It was old, and dusty. The top right corner was torn off, and the pages were torn. He put it away so he could read it in the light. Walking a little farther, Ninten came across another present. Opening it, he found a round, almost cylinder shaped, long club. There was a knob at the end, but the other end had come off. It was a cracked baseball bat! He decided to use it as a weapon. His knuckles were bleeding already. He found the last present and opened it up. Nothing special, just an old stale bread roll. Watching his step, Ninten made his way back to the door and pulled the old book out to read it.

The book was his great-grandfather's diary! Ninten skimmed through the pages, but most of the old book was unreadable. One part did stand out, though. Ninten read to himself, "The password…Where is the god's tail, that which was left behind by the ship that soars the heavens?" The readable ended there. "What the heck does that mean?" Ninten thought aloud. Maybe his great-grandfather was just a nut log. He knew what he had to do. "Mom? I'm going into town to search for clues. I…uh…" He stumbled on his words for a moment, "…might be gone for a few days." His mom gave no reply. "Mom? You okay?" "I knew this day would come. You would leave, no matter what my answer was. It's about your powers, isn't it?" she said sadly. Ninten stuttered, "No, it's just… Well… I gotta…" He finally admitted it, "Yes." She went over and embraced Ninten. "Just promise you'll come home sometimes. I'll make your favorite prime rib." "Don't worry about me, mom. I'll be fine," Ninten said, as he walked out the door.