Legal Disclaimer: Earthbound is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it, Nintendo does. It and all of its characters were created by Shigesato Itoi. Also, any other Nintendo characters that appear in this story are the property of Nintendo and their respective creators. This story is not for profit.
Earthbound 3/Mother 4
War Against the PSI Aliens
Chapter 1:
The Phase Distorter reappeared in the center of the remains of a town center. The craft floated a few feet above the ground and slowly descended to make a soft landing in the middle of the street. Upon landing safely, Ness glanced at the monitor in front of them to see if they managed to make it to their intended destination. The teens gazed out the window and found that instead of landing in Saturn Valley, they had ended up in the middle of some town they did not recognize. At least, that is where it seemed like they appeared. The town appeared to be deserted, though. Upon further glance the buildings looked to have suffered severe damage and were in a state of extreme disrepair. The damage did not look to be due to neglect either. There were scorch marks and some holes in the remains of the buildings. Debris also seemed to litter the roadway. Ness began to wonder if they had arrived in the correct time period, and if somehow they had, were they in the middle of a city that had been destroyed by nuclear weapons. "So, did we make it?" Paula asked, scanning the exterior surroundings outside the window. Ness double-checked his instruments to see if they had remained on course, as well as the radiation levels to see if they were hazardous. So far, according to the sensors, radiation levels were safe. He then went to check to see if Jeff's life signs were registering on the Phase Distorter's sensors. He pushed a button on the console and a display came to life in the cockpit. A green light was flashing. Indeed, they had come to the correct time. Jeff Andonuts was here.
"It appears we have," Ness replied, after confirming that Jeff was in this time. He pointed out Jeff's life signs on the computer screen to Paula and Poo. The only issue now, was whether or not they were still in Saturn Valley, as Apple Kid had said they would be. It was a pretty out of the way place, so Ness thought that it would have likely remained secret. However, there was still the chance that it could have been discovered, so he did not discount the fact that it was possible that had Saturn Valley been discovered, that people could have developed it into a city. Not only that, but the Mr. Saturns were pretty advanced technologically, themselves. They could have developed the valley as well. At least, the group knew that Jeff was here. All they needed to do now was to find him, and hopefully some more Zexonyte for the return trip, and get back home.
Paula's eyes soon began to glow, as did Poo's. "What is it?" Ness asked his friends, noticing that their glowing eyes. He did not want to experience any unpleasant surprises this soon, so any heads up on what they may potentially face would be helpful.
Paula's eyes then widened and she cried, "Run!"
Immediately, Poo blew off the door to the Phase Distorter and the trio fled the machine. Just as they had gotten clear of the boarding ramp, they saw a purplish blob of what looked to be plasma streaking towards the machine. Oh no, not again, Ness thought with dread, as well as anger. He almost hoped that the plasma blob was aimed for them since he could protect the party more easily than the Phase Distorter. He raised a Shield Sigma over the party as they fled the Phase Distorter, and tried to extend it over the machine as well, but he was straining to do so the farther away he got from the machine. Indeed, the plasma weapon struck the shield right on top of the Phase Distorter and detonated in a massive explosion. The explosion was tremendous, far greater than he expected a missile like that to generate. It appeared equal in explosive yield to a Daisy Cutter bomb. An indigo fire washed over the shield after the impact. The sight was startling enough to cause Ness and Paula to recoil. Poo remained calm in the face of the explosion, though. As for the shield, itself, the shield strained, but managed to remain intact. Ness was uncertain how long the shield would remain so, however, given the power of the weapon that had been used on it.
"Were we targeted specifically?" he quickly asked Paula.
Paula shook her head. "No," she answered. "The gunner was specifically going for the Phase Distorter, and us."
This gave Ness no comfort. Without the Phase Distorter, there was no way back to their own time period, which meant that whoever was piloting the craft may have known who he or she was dealing with. Ness made his way back to the Phase Distorter and turned to Paula, telling her, "Okay Paula, scan the area thoroughly. I need to know who's firing on us, and where they are, now. My shield won't hold against many more of those blasts."
"Got it," Paula replied. She then closed her eyes for a moment as another blob of purple plasma came down and struck Ness's shield. An indigo flame washed over the shield as it flared into existence. Poo quickly added another layer to Ness's shield in order to ensure that it would hold.
"He's two miles west!" Paula blurted out. "He's inside a Fighter UFO and is targeting our…no wait. The Fighter UFO is flying away," she told them. She stopped speaking for a moment as she tried to glean what the fighter UFO was planning. Her jaw soon hung open and she was speechless for a moment. "Raise the shield to maximum!" she cried frantically. "We're being targeted from orbit!"
Ness immediately brought in the shield and both he and Poo raised the shield to its maximum level. Poo then scanned for any sources of energy that may be near. The party huddled close to the Phase Distorter and extended the shield as far and high as it would go. The party looked up and saw a series of white clouds in the sky. A hole quickly opened in one of the clouds as a green beam passed through. Poo's eyes went wide as he sensed that the beam of energy that yielded in excess of twenty terawatts. "Brace yourselves!" he cried as the beam struck the shield erected over them. The shield flared as the beam struck and it strained to keep the energy from the beam from penetrating the shield and vaporizing them, along with most of the town in the process. Ness then pushed more energy into the shield to keep it at full strength. They each knew that if that beam managed to penetrate the shield, they were dead and there was nothing that would be able to revive them. The beam continued to pour on the shield that was the only thing protecting Ness and his friends. The air above them, burned and vaporized by the beam as it splashed against the shield and was deflected away, seemed to catch fire. Ness did his best to keep enough air close to them so that they would not pass out or suffocate before the beam shut off. This was in addition to maintaining the shield that he had erected, which was already showing signs of strain and beginning to crack. He had to pull in the shield so no holes would form, allowing some of the beam's energy to leech through and kill them. Ness proceeded to use some of the energy his shield was absorbing from the beam and redirect it into his own shield in order to recharge it and hopefully have it last longer. Ness did not know how long he would be able to do this, though, since it also took intense concentration to prevent his shield, and himself, from overloading and having the shield collapse. So far, the shield had managed to hold against the beam for ten seconds. After five more seconds, the beam terminated.
Upon the beam's termination, Ness let his shield fall, which had nearly been breached by the beam. Upon lowering the shield, Ness's eyes stopped glowing and returned to normal. He promptly fell to the ground, exhausted; or would have, but Paula and Poo dashed over and managed to catch him before he fell. They then lowered him to the ground slowly. He was breathing heavily, due to the mental fatigue as well as some physical fatigue due to the energy he had to push into his shield, as well as absorbing the energy and deflecting it without blowing up the town they had found themselves in. After a few seconds, though, he slowly rose again. Paula rushed over to his side, but he warded her off. "Don't worry about me," he told her kindly, in between heavy breaths. "I'm fine." He eventually made it all the way up and then proceeded to take a few uneasy steps forward. Slowly, but surely, his gait returned to normal. The others followed closely. Once they were satisfied that Ness was okay they went back to the Phase Distorter. Ness followed them but he could not shake the feeling that something was coming.
"Be ready for anything," he warned. "It seems as if Giygas and his people have taken over, here."
"We don't know that, yet," Poo responded, trying to sound hopeful. But he, too, was feeling that the PSI Aliens had arrived and were launching an all out attack. Nothing like the beam they just stopped had ever happened during their last adventures. That indicated that they had clear orbital superiority, and they had brought their big ships.
"Yes, we do," Paula countered darkly in a low voice. "I could sense it. The Starmen have begun their invasion in earnest. That was all I could get before the pilot of the craft nearly discovered me and I had to cut off my scan. But from all indications, things don't look good for humanity."
"Great," Ness muttered. "This means that there's a chance that Jeff's been captured, or worse."
"Let's hope not," Paula said, trying to force herself to remain positive. "Don't forget that the Phase Distorter did pick up his life signs, so we know that he is still alive, for the moment."
Paula's reassuring statement seemed to bolster their mood as they proceeded back to the Phase Distorter. As the trio approached the Phase Distorter, a green orb of energy came down from the sky and struck the Phase Distorter. The orb instantly burned its way through the machine's hull and exploded, annihilating the Phase Distorter and launching debris right at the party. Poo instantly raised a Shield Sigma to protect the party from the incoming shrapnel, as well as making it so that raising another shield was not Ness's duty. He had already expended a great deal of energy protecting them from the orbital attack. Several more green orbs rained down upon the party, instantly penetrating the shield that Poo had erected and striking amidst the heroes. No words needed to be said. The party realized that the orbs were from a Starstorm attack. Paula immediately raised a PSI Shield Omega over the party, reflecting the few remaining stars that had yet to strike the shield. After impacting her shield, the stars rocketed back into the air and several explosions could be heard in the sky, as well as a couple flashes of light. Paula's eyes started to glow as she extended her telepathic senses up into he sky. She could sense two threats descending towards the party. Paula psychically warned them of what they could expect as a Starman descended onto the scene. Much to their surprise, though, this was merely a normal Starman in a normal silver uniform. No spikes protruded from its shoulders or helmet, which would have indicated that the Starman was a Starman Deluxe. The teens waited to see if any other Starmen came along, since regular rank and file Starmen had never demonstrated the ability to use any offensive PSI before, much less something on the level of PSI Starstorm. So far, no other Starmen came with the first arrival, but in the sky, a small disc was rapidly growing in size as what the teens quickly saw was a starship descended onto the scene. As the ship got closer and closer to the ground, Ness realized that the ship appeared at the very least to be the size of Onett. It was easily the size of the town that the group currently found themselves in. That's the ship that fired on us, Paula informed the group telepathically as the massive flying saucer ceased its descent while still a few hundred feet in the air. There was a large round device in the center of the craft that appeared to be the focal point of a massively powerful beam weapon. The Starman stopped his descent a few feet above the wreckage of the Phase Distorter and fired some more purple beams of energy from his visor into the remains. Several explosions later, there was nothing remaining of the Phase Distorter except some burnt metal that was not even good enough to be used as scrap. The Starman then turned towards the human psychics and stared at them.
"Human psychics were able to erect a shield that managed to stop a beam with the equivalent energy of, what in human terms, would be a multi-kiloton level explosion," the Starman noted casually, focusing his gaze upon the three teens. "Impressive. Who are you?" the Starman asked. "And where do you come from?"
Ness and the others glanced at each other. In unison, they decided not to answer the query of the Starman. They noted that the voice of this Starman was much more natural sounding, and less mechanical, than the voices of the previous Starmen, though they had mostly been Starman Deluxes and Starman Supers.
"You won't answer?" the Starman asked with mild annoyance. "It won't really matter. We'll find out who you are, one way or the other," he said casually, as if he were just going about his daily business.
The Starman then opened the new battle by powering launching stream of PSI Thunder Omega from one of his tentacles right at Ness. The PSI Thunder Omega instantly penetrated Paula's psychic counter shield and struck Ness directly in the chest. Unfortunately, for the Starman, Ness was wearing his Franklin Badge. A loud metal clang sounded as the lightning struck Ness and was reflected back at the Starman. The Starman recoiled in shock as the lightning made its way back towards him. The Starman's psychic shield was unable to block the reflected Thunder attack and the lightning struck the Starman squarely in the chest, burning a hole into it, electricity also arcing all over his body. The wounds suffered by the Starman were almost instantly fatal, but before the Starman had died, he had managed to give one last psychic order to the massive ship above. Attack! The ship then complied with the order.
The ship's semi-spherical bulge at center of the bottom began to glow orange. Electricity crackled around the bulge and flowed into the bulge, causing it to glow purple. As more and more energy flowed into the bulge the bulge glowed blue, and finally, green.
"They're powering up another blast!" Poo called out in warning. Wasting no time, Ness and Poo immediately powered their own psychic attacks, PSI Rockin and PSI Starstorm to their Omega levels, since they did not want to risk not having enough psychic energy left to power a shield that would be strong enough to protect them from the energy blast. They only had one shot at taking down this ship, hopefully without destroying what remained of the town they currently inhabited. Ness's pulsing red orb of psychic energy grew to the size of a beach ball, while dozens of blue orbs the size of grapefruits formed around Poo. They quickly turned to Paula and, after reading their minds, answered their question, calling out over the din of the ship's engines and the powering of the weapon, "The ship's primary weaknesses are the focal point of the energy beam, right above, and the energy core, which deploys directly from what would normally be the ship's bottom. If you take either of them out, the ship will be destroyed."
That was all that Ness and Poo needed to hear. They proceeded to launch their attacks directly at the round bulge in the center of the ship, the focal point for the energy beam that was about to vaporize them, and likely the rest of the town. The psychic attacks streaked towards the bulge, phasing through the shields of the enemy ship, and colliding with the field of energy that was forming, and about to fire the beam. Ness's Rockin Omega soon breached the field of energy and struck the hull of the ship, penetrating the armored hull and plowing its way though the ship, to the center, where it exploded, the force of its explosion emerging from the "upper" part of the ship, with the energy core of the ship exploding as well. Debris rained down onto the streets surrounding the party. Ness quickly raised a Shield Sigma over the party, just in case any of the debris came too close to striking them. The teens looked into the sky as the ship began to crack from the core of the ship, outward, flames appearing in the cracks, with a few extra explosions issuing from various areas of the ship where a small group of stars from Poo's Starstorm barrage managed to hit. Poo immediately held back the rest of his Starstorm attack, readying himself to use it to destroy the larger pieces of debris that might rain down upon the residential areas close to the edge of town. Paula went over to him and joined her mind with his so that she could help guide his attack when the time came. Ness also powered another Rockin attack so that his ball could vaporize a significant portion of the debris that would rain down on the town.
The ship continued to crack until the walls of the side of the flying saucer burst open, flames spewing out of the doomed craft. Ness saw several flaming Roswell Grays jumping from the doomed ship, screaming on their way down to the ground, where their impacts with the ground ended their lives. Several more flaming figures hurled themselves from the ship as well, a couple of them appearing to be human. Ship then began to break apart, raining debris all over the streets. It was then that Ness fired off his ball of PSI Rockin right at one of the larger pieces of the starship that had broken free of the main ship. Ness's ball of Rockin struck the metallic remains of the ship and exploded, a globe of scarlet energy vaporizing the debris piece of the ship. Poo was also using his own Starstorm Omega to intercept the remaining larger pieces of debris that would have fallen onto the residential area of the town. The only pieces of debris that rained down onto the streets were smaller, and less dangerous, shards of metal. When it was over, and the threat had passed, the partially destroyed buildings in the center of town looked to be no more heavily damaged than they previously had been. Ness felt that it was fortunate that the center of town had been deserted.
Once the battle was over, the three psychics took stock of themselves. "Everyone okay?" Ness called out to the others.
"I'm fine," Paula responded.
"I'm okay, too," Poo answered.
Now the only question is where are we? Ness thought to himself. The layout of the town seemed eerily familiar, yet due to the damage the buildings had suffered, he could not recognize the place. He was about to walk forward when he felt a familiar sensation, which was strange considering the fact that he was not usually able to sense another's energy. This feeling was familiar, though. My Sanctuary, Ness thought. He could sense one of His Sanctuaries here. That narrowed down the list of possibilities of where he could be. His eyes then widened in realization. He then desperately hoped that he was wrong about his supposition. He turned back and told the others, "Follow me. I may have an idea of where we are." I just hope that I'm wrong, he thought to himself.
With that, the team unfolded their bikes and proceeded north along the street. As they were riding, they heard the sounds of explosions in the distance. Numerous flashes of light lit up the horizon, despite it seemingly being the middle of the day. The trio stopped for a moment to assess the situation. After a moment, Paula broke the silence. "There's a battle going on in the residential areas of…Onett?" She hesitated for a moment before saying the name of the town.
"Onett?" Ness echoed quietly. "So this is my hometown," he lamented.
"More like was," Paula corrected, in a melancholy tone. "Onett was recently attacked and most of its urban area lie in ruins. The residential areas are still mostly undisturbed, though that is changing."
"What's happening in the residential areas?" Ness asked quickly, in a worried tone.
"The residential areas are under attack. I know that the PSI Aliens are behind the attack, though the attackers seem to mostly be rank and file soldiers: aliens from various worlds, some familiar, some radically different."
"So we don't know for certain what we're going to end up facing," Poo stated.
Paula shook her head. "Not for certain, no. But I doubt that it'll be anything like Giygas."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Poo cautioned. "I don't exactly remember Starmen having PSI Starstorm or PSI Thunder in their arsenals, much less having PSI Shield Alphas being an automatic defense.
"True," Paula conceded. "Still, helping out the people there will be our best bet for finding out what's going on here. Besides, maybe we'll get lucky and whoever is in the residential areas of Onett they may even know what happened to Jeff or where he is."
Poo had no argument against that. After all, he had a need to fight for justice that was borderline obsessive. Still, he did not want Ness or Paula to underestimate their enemies. They had already found that the regular Starmen of this time were much stronger than the Starmen they were used to facing. Who knew how powerful the Starman Supers or Starman Deluxes would be in this time…to say nothing of potential Ghosts of Starmen or Final Starmen. As it was, though, the teens knew that there were people in this future Onett that needed help, and they were going to assist them in whatever way they could. To that end, the party quickened their pace towards the residential areas in the hills.
Before making it to the hills of Onett, the party noticed a young seemingly Caucasian girl with pink hair who looked to be no older than five or six years old darting from shadow to shadow, which was difficult since it was midday. Still, she somehow managed to do so, and quickly. Had the teens not looked directly in front of them while she was running, they would have missed her. Both Paula and Poo did a cursory scan of the area and they both confirmed the party's suspicions. The young girl was psychic. Not only that, though, they also sensed that she was not alone. Trouble, Paula warned Ness telepathically. The girl's being tracked.
Just then, a Starman and aliens that looked like two Roswell Grays burst onto the scene standing directly in front of the girl. "Target found," the Starman declared. "Shall I kill her?" There was a pause from the Starman, as if waiting for confirmation of the kill order. However, his pause would be fatal for his cohorts, and cause a noticeable amount of pain for him, for the girl immediately stretched out her hand and unleashed a stream of lightning at the Starman and his two cohorts. The Starman recoiled in surprise at the bolt an instant before it struck him in the chest. The bolt of lightning was not strong enough to blow a hole in the Starman's chest, but it did manage to collapse his psychic shield and inflict some damage to the Starman. The Starman cried out in pain and anger as he fell to the ground, electricity arcing across his body, but he was not dead yet. The two Roswell grays, however, were not so fortunate. The girl's stream of lightning had struck them and literally reduced them to dust before they were able to level their pistols at the young child. The Starman, however, recovered quickly and then began to power his own blast of PSI Thunder and target the girl. However, the girl was faster on the draw than the Starman, for she had already unleashed a blast of PSI Freeze Alpha at the Starman. A snowflake of psychic energy rocketed over to the Starman and before he could react and raise a shield or launch an attack, the snowflake of freezing psychic energy struck the alien and exploded. The explosion engulfed the alien and also had the secondary effect of encasing the Starman in a block of ice. The girl was not finished yet, though. She then rushed towards the frozen Starman and knocked him over. When the Starman fell to the ground he shattered into a thousand pieces. The young girl then exhaled and slumped to the ground, exhausted.
After the fight had concluded, Ness and the others rushed over to the girl's aid. She saw them coming and gasped before rising and trying to flee. "Wait," Ness called after the young girl. "We're not your enemies."
She stumbled a bit as she continued to run from the trio until she abruptly skidded to a halt at the top of a small hill and quickly came running back towards them. Ness and the others knew that this could only mean one thing. Over the crest of the hill came a Starman, two elves that Ness took to be Light Elves, and two more Roswell Grays. The girl retreated from the aliens and ran past the teens, the group parting to let her pass, and then closed ranks to separate the aliens from the girl. "Poo, keep an eye on that girl," Ness ordered. "We'll handle the Starman and his entourage."
Poo nodded and went over to look after the girl. The girl saw him coming and at first turned to flee, but she soon sensed the older boy's compassion and his will to protect her. She then decided to remain under his care as he ushered her into a shadow. He quickly scanned the surroundings to see if there were any other strange energy signatures. He sensed none in close proximity, but he could sense several energy signals in the hills of Onett off in the distance. There he waited with the girl, ready to aid Ness and Paula should they need any assistance, but he doubted that they would need it.
The Starman and his cohorts stopped when they were within a few meters of the two human children standing before them. "There is a pink-haired girl, about six years old or so," the Starman told them in a strong voice. "She was seen in the vicinity of this area a few minutes ago. You could not have missed her. This girl is a psychic. You know our master's demands. You will surrender this psychic to us or face the consequences."
"No," was Ness's only response, delivered in a cold and hard voice. Paula echoed his response.
"Then you leave us little choice humans. Prepare to die."
The Starman began to power up a psychic attack but Paula launched an attack of her own first as she unleashed a volley of PSI Thunder at the alien party. Her attack pierced the Starman's shield and killed him instantly, his corpse falling to the ground as lightning arced over it. Upon falling to the ground, it broke apart and was reduced to dust. In addition to the Starman, an elf and a Roswell Gray were also killed. These were instantly reduced to ashes by Paula's attack.
The survivors were now frantic. "These humans are psychic!" they cried, despite not having witnessed any of Ness's power. "Kill them! Kill them!" they cried. The elf drew his sword and the surviving Roswell Gray took out his laser pistol and leveled it at the two teens. Ness casually raised a Shield Omega over himself and Paula. The elf swung down at Ness in order to cleave him in half, but the shield stopped the blade mid-swing. Not only that, but as the shield flared from the impact, it pushed against the blade and sent it back against the elf. The elf was unable to prevent his sword from embedding itself in his head. The elf fell over onto the ground, dead. The remaining Roswell Gray apparently did not notice his cohort's fate, as he opened fire on Ness and Paula, his laser pistol spewing out pink energy bolts. The energy bolts struck the shield and were immediately reflected back at the alien, burning two holes in the alien's chest. The Roswell Gray fell over onto the ground, smoke issuing from the wounds.
When the battle was over, Poo and the girl came out from the shadows and rushed over to Ness and Paula. "You two alright?" he asked.
The two teens nodded. Paula then turned sharply to her left. Out from shadow of one of the buildings emerged two humans, one male, one female. They looked to be in their late twenties to their early thirties. The man was Caucasian and had short, brown hair and was dressed in a flannel shirt and khaki pants while the woman was oriental and had jet black hair and was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. They were both armed. The man had a military-grade rifle that Ness suspected was a machine gun of some sort, while the woman was armed with a pistol, but he quickly noticed that she had a second pistol holstered at her hip. The two took one look at the girl and cried out in glee, "Kumatora!" They proceeded to run towards her and the party.
"Mommy, Daddy," Kumatora cried as she ran towards them as well. When the group met, the parents embraced their child, and she returned their embrace.
"We were so worried about you," the mother said, hugging Kumatora. Kumatora merely laughed as she returned her mother's hug.
Ness and Poo gazed at the touching scene and smiled. This was why they fought for justice and peace. They wanted to see more reunions like this, and fewer funerals. They both turned to Paula, who was still on guard.
"What is it?" Ness asked.
"It's not over yet," came Paula's response. Just then, an explosion occurred near the psychics, throwing up a cloud of dust, obscuring their view of the incoming enemy or enemies. Ness and Paula went over to Kumatora and her parents, waiting to see who, or what, approached before deciding on what shield to raise over the party. After the cloud of dust cleared, Ness could make out a Starman, two Faeries, and three elves. Ness and the others steeled themselves for battle. Ness went over to Kumatora's parents and told them, "Get out of here, now. We'll cover your escape."
Kumatora's father looked down at the ground. "It won't do any good," he said gravely. "The aliens have already chased us out of the residential areas, and we have nowhere else to go around here."
"What do you mean you have nowhere else to go?" Paula asked. "Don't you have family anywhere else?"
"That's not it," Kumatora's father said in a solemn tone. He paused before explaining, "It's that Onett, here, is the only town in the area that has not been completely destroyed by the PSI Aliens. Threed was destroyed before the war. Twoson and Fourside were destroyed in the opening days of the aliens' initial arrival in three years ago. Quite frankly, I'm surprised that they waited so long to take out Onett."
This troubled the three psychic teens, especially Paula since she was from Twoson. "Were there any survivors of Twoson's destruction?" Paula asked almost frantically.
Kumatora's father nodded. "Yes. We were survivors of the attack, having evacuated when the aliens first arrived. A lot of people didn't, though."
"Was there a family that went by the name of Polestar in Twoson at the time you were living in the city?" was Paula's next question.
Kumatora's mother shook her head. "No, there wasn't." She then thought for a moment, trying to remember something. She then spoke again. "If my memory serves me, the Polestars were a family of teachers that built the Polestar Preschool. Their daughter was a known psychic. It was likely the reason why Twoson was one of the first targets. However, they disappeared in 200X along with their daughter just as suddenly as they had appeared almost thirteen years earlier."
This answer both surprised Paula as well as gave her hope. She did not dwell on the part where her parents had suddenly appeared in Twoson around the time of her birth. What mattered to her was the fact that they may have still been alive. Paula's musing would have to wait, though, for the Starman and his squadron were now coming straight towards them.
Ness then informed everyone of his battle plan. "Paula, you and Poo deal with the Starman. The others and I will focus on the Faeries and elves. They don't have psychic shields so they can be attacked safely."
"Right," Paula and Poo replied in unison. Poo had no problems taking orders from the younger psychic in this situation. After all, Ness had even more experience on these types of adventures than he did. Paula and Poo then headed straight for the Starman, while the Starman's cohorts, noticing that Ness was standing near their quarry, made a beeline straight for Ness and Kumatora's family. This proved to be a fatal mistake, since they had now separated themselves from the Starman and his psychic powers. Kumatora's parents directed their daughter to cover her ears as they opened fire on the elves and Faeries. One of the Faeries got a little too close to the party and was quickly riddled with bullet holes as the adults opened fire on him, the sound of gunshots echoing throughout the street. The Faerie fell to the ground, leaking energy and a bluish gas from his body as he fell. Ness quickly took out one of his two remaining regular strength Bombs and, after pushing the activation stud, hurled it at the rest of the oncoming force. The bomb landed among the remaining Faeries and elves and detonated. The explosion tore apart one of the elves, and hurled the other assailants in all directions, shrapnel shredding their bodies. The aliens landed in various locations and remained still. Ness then went back to guard Kumatora's family from any further attack.
Meanwhile, Paula and Poo were battling the Starman whose orders were to find and capture the psychic child. He, however, was not surprised to find two more psychics defending the child. The Starman began the battle by firing a blast of PSI Thunder at Paula and Poo. Both Paula and Poo, however, knew PSI Thunder so they were able to absorb the attack, suffering only minimal inconvenience from the attack. Paula and Poo then retaliated with PSI Thunder attacks of their own. The blasts of PSI Thunder collapsed the psychic shield of the Starman and managed to strike the Starman directly. The Starman was still a skilled psychic, though, seemingly far more so than the previous two new Starmen that the group had faced, and would not be taken down so easily. One PSI Thunder would have already been insufficient to kill the psychic alien, however, two blasts at their Gamma level should have been sufficient to kill the Starman. However, the Starman remained standing, though he was wobbly on his feet. Poo took advantage of the situation and charged the Starman. He was not able to react fast enough to Poo's charge and he was stabbed in the head by Poo's Sword of Kings. The Starman's limbs went limp and he slumped over. Poo withdrew his katana and the Starman fell to the ground, dead. Paula and Poo then went over to Ness and Kumatora's family, hoping to find a safe place to stay until they could decide on a course of action. As the two teens approached Ness, a figure appeared in front of them, separating the two parties. Ness and the others gasped at the sight of the figure, for the figure was none other than Giygas. At the sight of Ness, Giygas grinned.
"So, you've finally arrived," he said as if he had been expecting them. "I was wondering when you would finally appear. By the way, nice job on the City Smasher, Ness. I must admit I'm impressed."
Ness grimaced. He knew that Giygas was still too powerful for them to take head on. "We have to get out of here," Kumatora's father warned. "This is the aliens' leader, Giygas."
"Yeah, I know," Ness muttered.
"You won't escape me this time," Giygas declared. This brought expressions of shock to the faces of Kumatora's parents, as well as to the girl. "But we'll have to continue our battle another day. Today, I've come for the girl." Giygas then approached them casually, as if Ness were nothing more than an insect, despite knowing that Ness was anything but an insect, even if he could reliably defeat him without too much trouble.
"You'll have to get through me to take her," Ness declared, trying to sound as confident as he could. Truthfully, though, Ness was terrified, something that Ness had rarely, if ever, felt before; and he did not like this feeling at all. Giygas laughed at Ness's statement, instantly feeling Ness's fear as well.
"You may be able to hurt me, Ness. But even with everyone here, you won't be able to kill me," Giygas stated matter-of-factly. "I'm just too strong for you right now."
What Giygas did not seem to notice, though, was the fact that Paula and Poo had drawn their weapons and were coming up from behind him. Poo immediately went to stab Giygas through the heart with his katana, while Paula was about to shatter Giygas's skull with a bash from her frying pan. Unfortunately, Giygas sensed the attacks coming since before they had decided to attack. Giygas turned and intercepted Poo's sword, catching it in his hands, while he knocked Paula's frying pan out of her hands, sending it flying through the air. It landed several yards away from Paula. He proceeded to punch Poo in the abdomen, causing him to violently exhale all of the air from his lungs. Poo then fell to the ground gasping for air after having the wind knocked out of him. Giygas then proceeded to grab Paula by the throat and tightened his grip, cutting off her air supply. Unlike so many other choking victims in science fiction, though, Paula did not flail about helplessly, grabbing at her throat. She used this opportunity to launch a psychic attack on Giygas, hoping that it would cause him to loosen his grip on her and allow her to break free before she lost consciousness. She unleashed a stream PSI Fire at its Omega level upon the psychic alien. The attack did not seem to affect Giygas, even though he did not appear to have erected a psychic shield over his body. Giygas merely tightened his grip as Paula pushed more energy into the flame and focused the stream even more, hoping to inflict some damage on Giygas. Even though Paula's attack was doing little damage to Giygas, it did give Ness an opening in which he could attack. Ness drew out his bat and he charged the psychic alien. Paula quickly changed tactics and telepathically assaulted Giygas. He was able to repulse her assault, but her attack had done its job. It allowed Ness to get close enough to Giygas to attack him with his bat since Giygas did, in fact, have a psychic shield erected. Giygas was able to sense Ness coming, but not before Ness managed to connect with his attack. He brought his bat down upon the head of Giygas. The bat impacted his head and a loud crack could be heard, as if he was hitting a baseball. The attack stunned Giygas, causing him to loosen his grip on Paula. Paula then proceeded to kick his hand and break free of his grasp. She then went over to check on Poo, who was still recovering from Giygas's punch.
Giygas quickly regained his composure and he stared Ness in the eyes. "A good strike, but you will need to do more than that if you want to defeat me." Giygas then stretched out his hands and fired three bolts of lightning. At first, Ness stood ready to intercept the attack, since his Franklin Badge would protect him from Giygas's lightning. However, his attacks missed Ness entirely. Only then did he realize that Giygas was not aiming for him, but for Kumatora and her family. Ness could not intercept all of the attacks, so he went to intercept the attack that was headed for Kumatora. He suddenly appeared in front of the girl as the lightning struck him. The telltale sound of lightning being reflected by the Franklin Badge rang out as the lightning bolt was redirected at Giygas. Sadly, Kumatora's parents were not so lucky. Giygas's PSI Thunder struck the two humans and felled them, lightning arcing across their bodies. However, even after they fell, Ness could see their chests rising and falling, indicating that they were still alive. Ness then turned back to face Giygas only to see that he was gone.
"Behind you!" Paula and Poo cried out as Ness was struck by a blast of telekinesis and sent flying. Ness used his own telekinesis to arrest his momentum and managed to land on his feet, skidding to a halt a few yards away. He then focused his attention back on Giygas. He powered a blast of PSI Rockin and targeted the alien. Giygas then revealed his secret when he pulled Kumatora from the ground and held her in front of his body. "I wouldn't," he warned with a grin. He then turned the girl's head to face him and used Hypnosis on her in order to put her to sleep. The girl managed to resist the attack for a few moments, but eventually, she fell asleep in Giygas's grasp.
A Starman Deluxe then appeared next to Giygas and informed him, "Master, we are having problems with the other psychic children in the hills of Onett. They are requesting your help in dealing with the problem."
Giygas frowned as he turned to face the Starman Deluxe. "Go to the hills and handle the situation yourself. I have to take this child back to base."
"I understand, Master," the Starman Deluxe replied, bowing before Giygas. He then turned to look at the unconscious parents of the psychic child. "Shall I kill these two humans, Master?" he asked. His tone indicated that he relished the prospect of killing the humans.
"No," Giygas responded forcefully. "I have need of them. Just as I have need of the parents of the psychic twins. When you go to the hills, do your best to make sure that the parents are not killed. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Master," the Starman Deluxe answered, his disappointment evident by the sound of his voice. Two normal Starman then appeared and bent down and lifted the parents of Kumatora over their shoulders.
Giygas then turned back to Ness and the others and said, "Until we meet again." He then grinned as he added, "And next time, bring Jeff with you. I kept him in stasis since we captured him specifically so you could have a special reunion." Giygas then disappeared with the girl in his hands. The Starmen who had appeared and grabbed Kumatora's parents also disappeared with the captives. Ness and the others gritted their teeth at the recent turn of events. Still, they knew that there was another psychic family they could help in the hills of Onett. Not only that, but they knew now that Jeff was alive, though he was still a prisoner of Giygas. Without wasting any more time, Ness and Paula unfolded their bikes once more and rode towards the hills of Onett as fast as they possibly could with Poo right on their heels.