Earthbound 3 Mother 4: Prelude to War

by Enterprise F

After his return home, Ness embarks on a search for his friends and family, who disappeared from Ness's home during the alien attack. Part 2 of 4

1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: Earthbound/Mother is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it. Nintendo does. It and all of its characters in the games were created by Shigesato Itoi. This story is not for profit.

Earthbound 3/Mother 4

Prelude to War

Chapter 1:

Back in the year 200X The Phase Distorter reappeared in Onett just outside Ness's house approximately one and a half days after his departure. A few moments after reappearing in Onett, the hatch to the Phase Distorter opened. Ness stepped down from the craft and began to walk towards his house when he sensed something appear behind him. A loud explosion then sounded as an explosion erupted from the Phase Distorter, spraying debris and shrapnel into Ness's face. Ness raised a shield over his body to protect him from the metallic shards that had been flung towards him by the explosion, his shield flaring with each hit the shards scored. Still, his shield shrugged off the assault effortlessly. Behind the now ruined wreck that was all that remained of the Phase Distorter, Ness saw a Starman Junior, being flanked by four human skateboarders, all in tight formation with the Starman Junior. They looked like more Shark gang members, if the shark fins on top of the helmets of the skateboarders was any indication.

The Starman Junior quickly went on the offensive, launching a blast of PSI Freeze Alpha at Ness. The snowflake of freezing psychic energy was small and in the time that it took for the snowflake to cross the distance between the Starman Junior and Ness, Ness was several yards away from the snowflake. The snowflake of psychic energy exploded in an icy blast of icicles and snowflakes. Ness, however, was far enough away that suffered no injury from the attack. The Starman Junior would be easy enough for Ness to deal with with a single blast of PSI Rockin Beta. The problem was, though, that if he used that attack, the human servants of the Starman Junior would be caught in the blast as well, and Ness was almost certain that they were being mind controlled by the Starman. Most of the rank and file human servants of Giygas had been under mind control; he suspected the same with the PSI Aliens as well.

As a result, Ness decided to use PSI Flash at its Beta level. Ness emitted a light blue pulse of energy, surrounded by small lightning sparks and blue orbs of electricity and targeted the other enemies with it. As it streaked towards the enemy forces, the ball of psychic energy grew in size. The ball quickly arrived at the Starman Junior, who had been stupid enough to not try to evade the attack, and detonated in a flash of blue light. The flash encompassed the entire party of enemies. The Starman Junior was instantly killed by the blast of PSI Flash. As Ness saw him die he suddenly remembered that the Beta form of Flash still had a one in eight chance of causing instant death to its target. He soon scanned the enemies that were surrounding the fallen Starman Junior. Two of them were crying uncontrollably, tears streaming down their faces as if they were literally crying a river. A third Skate Punk was feeling strange, and promptly bashed one of his crying comrades with his skateboard, knocking the unfortunate Skate Punk unconscious. The fourth Shark gang member had fallen to the ground, unable to move due to his newfound paralysis.

"Uh, guys, a little help here," the paralyzed Skate Punk called out pathetically. This only prompted the confused Skate Punk to bash him on the head with his skateboard, knocking him unconscious.

All the while, Ness had to suppress laugh at the humorous scene that had unfolded in front of hum. It was not long before the remaining crying Skate Punk tried to defend himself against his confused comrade by trying to attack him. His attempts to bash his confused comrade met with no success since his crying was blurring his vision. Ness just continued to walk past the remaining punks, letting them deal with each other as he went towards his house.

He quickly went around back to see if anyone was around. Just as he suspected, no one was present, not even King. However, there had been signs of the party. He went over to the grill, which was now stained with cooked meat juices and burnt charcoal sitting beneath the metal grill plate. Toys and food items were located in some parts of the yard, but it did look like someone had cleaned up, at least a bit. He had a bad feeling that the beam that had washed over him and his friends likely managed to get anyone else that was at the party as well. The question was, though, that if no one he knew was in the past, then where were they? He opened his mind to see if Paula was trying to send a telepathic message to him. While Ness had no active telepathy, he could receive telepathic messages from other psychics and could hear the thoughts of animals. He knew that he was about to go on another adventure. That meant that he would have to properly equip himself for the task that he was about to undergo. He then proceeded to make his way back to the front and he entered the house.

Inside his house, Ness quickly went over to where he had stored his birthday presents. There he found the baseball bat that had been autographed by Hank Aaron, the Star Pendant from Poo, and the Brain Food Dinner that was another present from Poo. He stuffed the Brain Food Dinner into his backpack and replaced his normal baseball bat with the Legendary Bat that had been signed by Hank Aaron. He then draped his Star Pendant around his neck. Without being able to raise psychic shields, the Star Pendant would be an invaluable item to have on this adventure. He then went over to the refrigerator and opened the door. Inside he found a steak. He promptly took it and put it inside his backpack next to the Brain Food Dinner. After he was finished there, he went up to his room. Inside, he went over to his dresser and opened it. Inside he found the final two items that he needed in order for his next adventure to begin. First, he took out his Combat Yo-yo and placed it in his pocket. Next he took out a round badge with a lightning bolt on it. This was the all too familiar Franklin Badge. He quickly slapped the Franklin Badge on his shirt over his chest, where it stuck without a problem. With the Franklin Badge equipped, any lightning attack, psychic or otherwise, would be reflected back at the attacker. Once he was finished gathering supplies, weapons, and items, Ness headed back downstairs. Before leaving, Ness went over to the dresser in the living room and took out his ATM card. He would need that to withdraw money from the bank so that he could buy more useful weapons, items, and medicines should he need them. He then proceeded to leave the house.

Back outside, Ness decided that the best thing to do would be to ask his neighbors, the Archers, about what had happened, and to see if they had seen any of Ness's friends or family since the incident. He went over to the house, which had previously been occupied by Porky Minch and his family, and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He knocked again. Again, there was no answer. He then waited for a few minutes before knocking again. Still, there was no answer. Either the neighbors were not home or they, too, had been swept up into the strange beam that had sent Ness to the past.

Ness turned around to leave and standing before him was Captain Strong, the Police Chief of the Onett Police Force. Strong took a step back when he saw Ness, and had he not been wearing sunglasses, Ness would have seen his eyes go wide in surprise. "Ness!" he exclaimed. "You're back!"

"Yeah," Ness said nervously. "I am."

"Where were you? What happened after the UFO crashed and that beam washed over you?"

"In all honesty, I think that the truth would be stranger than fiction," Ness replied. He then decided to tell Captain Strong, "I was sent into the past. I only recently managed to find my way back here. How much time has passed since my disappearance?"

"A day and a half," Strong answered.

"Who else disappeared?"

"You, your family and pet, Paula Polestar and her parents, Jeffery Andonuts and his parents, and that Poo kid and his parents all disappeared," Strong answered. "Surprisingly, no one else vanished that day. Frank Fly and a few others stayed to try to clean up, but they were driven off by a new Shark street gang."

"The Sharks?" Ness asked in surprise. "I thought my friends and I handled them just before the UFOs appeared."

"Well, there's more of them. A lot more," Strong told Ness in a serious tone. "Our police force is up to its ears in reports of break-ins, muggings, theft, acts of vandalism, and even some attempted murders. Fortunately, so far, the most they've done is the attempted murders." It was evident in Captain Strong's voice, though, that in his mind, the only difference between attempted murder and outright murder was the fact that one failed due to the criminal's incompetence or resistance of the victim, and the other, unfortunately, was successful.

Ness looked down at the ground and sighed. Ever since the new mayor, Ahn S. Tee had taken office, the police force of Onett had a drastic rise in competence and arrests. They had managed to take gangs off the streets and put them in lockup, where they belonged. If the Sharks were truly back, and not just the rabble that Ness and his friends had fought a day and a half ago, then this could spell trouble.

"Take care if you plan on searching for your friends," Strong told Ness. "The Sharks may not be all that dangerous to someone like you," Strong had a feeling that Ness was much stronger now than he was when the two of them had fought three years ago, "but there have been reports of strange craft appearing over towns like Twoson and Threed. I've even heard rumors that strange occurrences are happening as far away as Ellay and Mount Itoi."

"I can handle myself," Ness assured the captain.

"I know you can," Strong replied. "Just don't get too cocky."

"I won't."

"Oh, and if you were looking for the Archers, they went away for a small trip. They'll be back in a day or two, I think."

With that, Strong went on his way. Still, Ness no longer needed the Archers' help for any information. He knew what he needed to do. His first item of business was to go into town and stock up on any supplies that he did not acquire from his home. To be able to do that in a timely manner, he would need to get his bicycle. He went to the garage and found that his bicycle was missing. He proceeded to search the yard, but he could not find it. He figured that it had been stolen by the new Sharks. Seeing no other alternative, he began to trek into town on foot.

It took him a lot longer to enter town than it normally would, but he did not mind the exercise. After twenty minutes of walking, Ness found himself in downtown Onett. He quickly hurried over to the Burger Shop and entered. Upon entering, Ness saw that the shop was largely deserted. That did not surprise him given the events of the last day and a half. Checking his watch, he found that it was still only two o'clock. Still, there were some customers sitting at a couple of tables, enjoying their meals. Inside he saw the reformed former leader of the Sharks, Frank Fly, standing at the counter. Upon seeing Ness, Frank called out happily, "Hey Ness, you're back! When that beam washed over you and your friends and family and you disappeared, I thought the worst. However, since you're back, it seems as if there's hope for everyone else who disappeared as well."

"That's what I'm hoping for," Ness said.

"So, what brings you in today?" Frank asked.

"I'm here for a few hamburgers," Ness answered.

"Well, you're in luck," Frank proclaimed. "For today, we got a new item on our menu. It's a Mega Double Burger Meal. The hamburger twice as large as the normal Double Burger with whatever condiments you want on it, and it also comes with a pack of mustard, a pack of ketchup, and two salt packets for condiments at no additional charge. It also includes a large bag of fries and a large soda or other drink all for ten dollars."

Ness grinned at the sales pitch. The packs of ketchup, mustard, and salt would come in handy for making the burgers and other foods recover more health. He decided to buy four such meals. Ness got his burgers with only bacon and mustard. After paying Frank, he waited for the burgers to be finished before stuffing them in his backpack. As he turned to leave, he heard Frank call, "Thanks, come again." This was great. Ness could eat one of these meals if he got too badly injured and save his Brain Food Dinner for a time of emergency.

Upon leaving the Burger Ship, Ness went up north and walked along the street for a few minutes and headed towards the Onett Public Library. He hoped to find out some information on what happened to George and Maria. On the way, he was stopped by two Shark gang members who wore black uniforms with black shark fins on top of their heads. They jumped out in front of him drawing guns from their jackets, pointing said guns at Ness, laughing.

"Give us your backpack kid, or else…" they threatened. To show that they meant business, one of the Sharks fired at Ness's feet. A loud bang sounded as the Shark fired. The bullet ricocheted off the pavement a few inches away from Ness's feet, causing a spark at the point of impact. Ness did not have time for losers like these and used his newly refined telekinetic abilities to yank the guns out of their hands. Ness caught the guns in midair and quickly took aim at the now defenseless Sharks. The two gang members, with eyes wide and mouths hanging open promptly fainted from fright at the sight of Ness. Ness then took the time to grab the two gang members and take a quick detour to the police station, where he dropped off the gang members, turned in their guns, and made a statement for Captain Strong. All of that took about an hour.

Once that minor nuisance had been dealt with, Ness headed back towards the library. This time, the Sharks that he noticed hiding in the shadows on his way to the library did their best to stay out of sight of Ness. Word of Ness's exploits had reached them quickly. After a few minutes of walking, Ness reached the library. He then promptly entered the library and scanned its directory, searching for the UFO/Ghost haunting/Unsolved and unexplained mysteries sections. He did not think that George or Maria's exploits would be seen in any reputable history books. He found that such sections were on the third floor of the library. He promptly searched for an elevator and upon finding one, he rode it to the third floor.

Upon reaching the third floor of the library, he disembarked from the elevator and searched for the UFO casebook section of the library. Upon finding it, he searched every UFO book for information on George and Maria's abduction and its aftermath. After over an hour of searching, he found a book with a promising title. The book was titled: Unexplained UFO Mysteries. Are Aliens out to get us? Ness scanned the book and soon found an entry on George and Maria. The section read: In the early 1900's a shadow descended upon the small town of Podunk in rural America. A young married couple vanished mysteriously from their home. The man's name was George, his wife, Maria. Some witnesses say they saw a saucer-like object hovering in the sky above their home on the night of their disappearance. They also said that they heard the sound of gunfire.

When the police investigated, they were quick to seal off the house to any and all potential buyers and private investigators. Many residents of Podunk said that George and Maria had been abducted by aliens, and that George had managed to kill one of the abducting aliens during the struggle. Records of what happened were never revealed. All that was said was that George and Maria vanished without a trace.

Two years later, as suddenly as he had vanished, George returned to Podunk once more. Upon his return, though, he secluded himself and began an odd study all alone, one that took him close to the summit of Mount Itoi, a place already full of mystery. He never once told anyone where he had been or what he had done. As for Maria, she never returned.

However, seven years after George's return, there is evidence that an animal watcher found a UFO taking off from a small shed on Mount Itoi. They also found two people, possibly alien, and three what appeared to be robots entering the shed before the craft left. A day later, rumors abounded that George had been seen at a cabin on Mount Itoi with a woman who greatly resembled his wife, Maria. Some claimed that it was, indeed, Maria, rescued from whoever had kidnapped her nine years before. However, George was still highly reclusive after Maria's supposed return. Still, there are records of George and a woman named Maria having descendants, so it is highly likely that the woman seen with George was, indeed, his wife Maria. It ended there.

Ness then read other accounts inside the book. He found that several of them were highly similar to the account of George and Maria. He then continued to read and he found another promising, and quite possibly disturbing entry: In the late 1980's, UFOs appeared over the town of Podunk once more. Strange occurrences also happened in the previously quiet town. A boy named Ninten went out on a journey, though, and many say that he and his friends, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy single-handedly pushed back an alien invasion. Rumors had it that Mount Itoi, the previous home to George and Maria, Ninten's ancestors, was the home base of the alien force. Still, besides anecdotal evidence of battles against UFOs and men in gray suits with visors and tentacle-like arms, there was no real proof of any alien invasion. Ness knew, though, that there must have been some invasion. After all, the description of the men who had fought Ninten matched normal Starmen to a tee. So that's twice they were beaten back by humans, Ness thought. Ness had feeling that the PSI Aliens were back and that they would not leave until they had done what they failed to do twice before: destroy humanity.

Ness then closed the book and put it back on the shelf. His resolve to find his friends and put this alien menace to rest once and for all was stronger than ever. And he had a feeling that he would have to find them quickly. He quickly went down to the first floor of the library and exited.

Outside the library, he was confronted by two Pogo Punks and two Yes Men Juniors. The Pogo Punks hopped forward on their pogo sticks and proclaimed, "Hey, kid. We've got a message for you from the big boss man. He thinks that it would be really wise for you to keep your nose out of his business. He ain't too pleased with two of his best men bein' arrested for attempted murder and felony weapons violations. So here's his ultimatum. You stay out of his business, and you and your family will get to live to see tomorrow."

Ness did not have time for this nonsense. He quickly began to walk past them when the Pogo Punks hopped in to cut him off. "Hey, where ya goin' kid?" the lead Pogo Punk asked snarkily.

"I was going somewhere. Somewhere where you are not," Ness replied.

The Pogo Punks approached Ness while one of the Yes Men Juniors said, "Yeah, well you see, we don't exactly believe you when you say that you're goin' somewhere. For all we know, you could be goin' ta see the boss, not that I'd recommend it."

"Look, I just want to leave the library without any trouble from you," Ness exasperatedly.

The four punks merely laughed. "Heh, heh, heh. Not gonna happen, kid." The four punks then went on the offensive, with the Yes Men Juniors calling in for some backup. Backup arrived in the form of three more Pogo Punks and two Yes Men Juniors, one of them being a Yes Woman Junior.

Ness merely sighed as he extended his right hand out in front of him. With a blast of telekinetic energy, Ness sent the entire troop of gang members flying through the air. They flew for a few yards before landing in a heap not too far away from Ness, sliding on the ground after impact and then skidding to a halt. Ness then walked past the fallen gang members ignoring the fact that they were still alive. As he passed, the Sharks gasped in fear and dread. They then thanked whatever divine power they worshipped when Ness did not look down at them and pound them into the pavement as he passed. Each of the Sharks then decided that it was time to start looking for a new career.

Ness continued further into town and on the way he encountered more Sharks. These consisted of two Skate Punks and four Yes Men Juniors. The Skate Punks, however, were armed this time with more guns, as were the Yes Men Juniors. The criminals drew out their weapons and trained them on Ness. Ness instinctively raised a counter shield over his body and waited for them to fire. The lead Skate Punk was the first to shoot. The gun muzzle flashed as the punk fired on Ness. The bullet struck Ness's shield, causing it to flare for an instant, before being reflected back at the punk. The bullet struck the Skate Punk in the arm and the punk recoiled and cried out in pain, dropping his gun. Two other punks opened fire on Ness as well with the same result. Only they fared much worse, one being struck in the kneecap by his reflected fire and the other being hit in the lower right abdomen. Both punks fell to the floor, the one shot in the leg crying out and writhing in agony. The one who was shot in the abdomen simply fell to the ground in a heap, all of them bleeding. The remaining three punks promptly fled the scene, dropping their weapons. At first, Ness was tempted to simply walk away from the scene. After all, the punks had initiated combat against him. However, his compassion got the better of him and he walked over to the injured gang members. Upon reaching them, his eyes glowed as he used Lifeup on each of the fallen punks in order to heal them. The bullets were practically ejected from their bodies and their wounds closed, the lost blood retreating back into their bodies. Each punk gasped as they were healed by Ness. After Ness was certain that they would not try to kill him, he left them to go and return to their homes, hoping that they would leave the gang.

As Ness was leaving, though, one of the punks took aim at Ness. As if sensing this, Ness turned around and shook his head. "Don't do it," he warned the punk. "My counter shield is still up. You'll only end up hurting yourself, or worse."

The punk did not listen to Ness's warning, though, as he took aim at the young psychic. "No, don't do it idiot!" one of his comrades cried. He did not listen, though. He tried to pull the trigger to shoot Ness, but before he could do so, Ness used his telekinesis to knock the gun out of the punk's hand. He then snapped the wrists of the punk to make sure that the punk would not be so stupid so as to try to get the gun again and challenge Ness once more. The punk cried out in pain as his wrists were broken, but Ness did not care about his pain. Broken wrists would eventually heal. Death was much less reversible, especially should the brain be physically damaged in the process. Ness then continued on his way into town, leaving the wailing punk on the ground. He began searching for the arcade. That was the hideout of the Sharks when Frank Fly had been in charge of them. He knew that it would detour him from his current mission, but it would also be a good opportunity for him to not only train in his improved control over his powers, but he could also get rid of a newly re-formed and powerful gang.

It did not take him long to find the arcade. He quickly entered the arcade and scanned his surroundings. The arcade was practically a maze in and of itself. The walls and floor were lined with arcade games of various types. The popular Y-Men arcade game and Mars Strikes…Again game were quickly visible. There were all types of arcade games, pinball games, skeeball games and other games. Ness also noticed the dozen or more Sharks that were stationed in building. Upon seeing Ness, they quickly all turned towards him. Evidently news of his exploits had already reached the rest of the gang. It was not long before the rest of the gang drew their guns and knives and all began to point them at Ness. Still, they were no threat to Ness. To him, they may as well have been ants compared to him. With a single thought, Ness sent them flying in all directions. The gang members crashed into the wall, various arcade games, and even into each other. They then fell into heaps and remained there on the floor, wisely not getting up to challenge Ness further. Ness quickly searched for the door to the back yard of the building where Ness had confronted Frank Fly and his robot, Frankystein Mark II. The door was located at the back of the room. It opened and two Sharks entered into the arcade. Ness quickly saw that they were armed with AK-47s. For a brief instant, Ness wondered how a gang like the Sharks managed to get their hands on AK-47s. That thought quickly changed to a need to get out of their line of fire and raise a shield of some sort over his body before they pumped him full of lead. Ness dove to the floor as the two Sharks opened fire on him. The sound of machine gun fire echoed throughout the arcade as the two gang members fired on Ness. In the instant he had dodged the first volley of fire, he managed to also raise a shield over himself. The second volley managed to find Ness, but his shield protected him, flashing as the bullets bounced off of the shield. The two Sharks soon produced small orbs. Ness quickly realized that they were bombs. He covered his ears to protect his hearing as they tossed the bombs at him. The bombs landed right next to him and exploded, bombarding him with shrapnel. His shield, however, held against the assault, his covering of his ears saving his hearing. Ness then quickly responded with a psychic shove to the two gang members. He pile-drove them into the wall, where he could hear their ribcages crack and shatter due to the force with which he struck them. They soon fell to the floor in a heap. Ness then yanked the guns out range of two fallen Sharks. He then slowly and confidently walked over to the door and opened it. Outside would be the leader of the Sharks, and whatever other weapons that he possessed.

Indeed, outside the arcade, in the back yard, stood the new leader of the Sharks. The man was wearing a business suit with a purple jacket with a gray helmet with a shark fin and gray glasses. He looked just like a Major Psychic Psycho, only his clothes did not look like they were on fire. Next to the Sharks leader was a robot that looked frighteningly like Frankystein Mark II. It had the brown tank body for its lower half and a humanoid figure for its top with gray arms. Smoke was emerging from its tail pipe and a flag-like shark fin was trailing it on the back of its head. The Sharks leader took one look at Ness and said, "So, you're the one that that has been clobbering my minions. My master won't be pleased with that at all. And now, you've made your real mistake: taking me on. Or should I say, us…"

It was then that the Sharks leader launched his first attack. A fireball formed in his right hand, which he promptly hurled towards Ness. "PSI Fire Gamma!" the Sharks leader cried out as his suit transformed into what Ness remembered as being psychic flames. That cemented in Ness's mind that this was, indeed, a Major Psychic Psycho. Ness scrambled to get out of the way of the fireball, while simultaneously forming his own ball of PSI Rockin. The ball of PSI Fire Gamma exploded a ways away. Still, the explosion managed to catch Ness and singe him. However, he was not badly burned and the injury that he took was not debilitating. He promptly responded by unleashing his Rockin against the Major Psychic Psycho before remembering that Major Psychic Psychos could raise PSI Shield Omegas. It was Ness's lucky day, though, for the Major Psychic Psycho had not thought to raise a psychic counter shield over himself and his robot ally. The ball of Rockin collided with him and exploded, engulfing him and his robot ally in a red sphere of psychic energy. The Major Psychic Psycho cried out in anger and pain as Ness's ball of Rockin burned him. He soon cried out, "Frankystein Mark IV, get him!" After that, he passed out and Ness dissipated the attack, wanting to make sure that he did not kill the man. Now, all Ness had to do was deal with the robot, who had also taken damage from Ness's Rockin. Ness knew that the robot was no match for him, though. He raised a counter shield over himself and simply waited for the robot to attack. The robot promptly attacked by opening its chest and disgorging a Multi Bottle Rocket right at Ness. As the small missiles struck Ness's shield, the shield flared before bouncing the missiles back at the robot. The robot made no attempt to evade the missiles that were streaking towards it, not that that would have done the robot any good. The missiles collided with the robot and detonated, their shaped charges directing a large portion of the explosions directly at the robot. Each missile in and of itself was insufficient to destroy the robot, but with all of the small missiles striking it, the robot fell to the withering storm of missiles in no time. With each impact and detonation, the robot spewed shrapnel and bled smoke. Upon the final missile's impact and detonation the robot exploded in a spectacular display of fireworks. Frankystein Mark IV was defeated.

After the battle, Ness walked over to the Major Psychic Psycho, who had just recently regained consciousness. Ness leaned down to check on the man's condition. His clothes had stopped burning and his helmet had been removed, so Ness guessed that he was back to normal. The Sharks leader looked up at Ness and was startled. He gave a yelp and he tried to back away.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you," Ness said, startled by his reaction.

The man soon calmed down and after looking around at his surroundings he asked, "Where am I?" It was not long before he asked another, and more pertinent question, "Who am I?"

"Who you are I can't answer," Ness responded. "Where you are, however, I can. You are in the back of the Onett Arcade."

"What am I doing here?" was the Sharks leader's next question.

"You were the leader of the Sharks," Ness replied. "At least that's what you were likely programmed to believe. What's the last thing you remember?"

The man thought for a moment. "I remember being in Twoson. I was investigating what those flying saucers were. I got close to one of the saucers. I guess I was detected. Some strange beam hits me and then I find myself here talking with you."

That cinched it for Ness. The man had been under mind control. His defeat at Ness's hands had likely been what returned him to normal. "Have I done anything bad?" the man asked.

"I don't know," Ness replied. "You were the new leader of the Sharks, a street gang, though, so you may have done something." He then looked at the man. "You said Twoson, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you see a girl named Paula Polestar there?"

"Paula? You know Paula?" the man asked, his face bursting with excitement.

"Uh, yeah," Ness said hesitantly. "So, have you seen her?"

"No," the man replied in a tone that made it seem unusual. "At least, I don't think so. The appearance of those flying saucers spooked me, though. I could have missed her if she arrived there."

"Thanks," Ness said, making his voice sound appreciative. "You should get out of here. You don't want to be caught by the police. The Sharks have been giving them nightmares."

"Yeah, got it," the man said. He then proceeded to rise and leave the area going back inside the arcade. After resting for a few moments, Ness went back into the arcade to get out of the yard. Inside he found that the Sharks had left entirely. Ness smiled to himself. Once again, he had single-handedly taken down the Sharks. And he had freed an innocent man from mind control in the process. He then made his way towards the exit to the arcades. Next up on his journey would be Twoson.

He walked south along the street for a few minutes until he found the forest that led to Twoson. Knowing that his best bet for finding out what was going on, and for finding his friends and family was in Twoson, he made his way to the hometown of his best friend, Paula Polestar.

Inside the headquarters of the Neo Happy Happy Cult, Giygas stared at the monitor. On the screen, he watched as two Starmen strapped a struggling Paula Polestar down to a table. Immediately, one of the Starmen burst into flames. Giygas shrugged. That was the fourth Starman he had lost today. The remaining Starman was soon assisted by four humans, two of them with lecherous grins on their faces as they stroked her cheeks and whispered something into her ear that Giygas did not catch. Giygas almost recoiled at the scene. Perverts. Their perversion was quickly punished when their hair involuntarily stood on end as they convulsed due to being electrocuted by Paula focusing a PSI Thunder attack on herself just to fry her tormenters. The Starman was not too seriously hurt, which was more than could be said for the human perverts, who were fried to a crisp. These unfortunate souls did not have the excuse of being under mind control like the other two Paula electrocuted did. It was not surprising that those under mind control survived her defense, while the perverts' bodies were still smoking due as a result of their electrocution. He could see Paula almost grin at the camera. The psychic attacks continued on her, but her mind was quite strong and she was fighting back.

A Starman Super soon walked in on Giygas and took one look at the monitor. "Master, her conversion is costing us dearly. We don't have enough cultists and willing human servants to keep her contained. She is resisting our psychic assaults and has already killed several Starmen and even a few Starman Supers during the attempts to brainwash her. We may just have to go with Plan B."

Giygas thought about the implications. He did not like Plan B. The armor could control her actions, and the machines that would be hooked up to her brain would allow them to control her psychic powers, but it would not be the same as if she were serving them directly, even under some form of mind control. She would not be a very effective soldier for the PSI Lords if she were nothing more than a shambling zombie with psychic powers. Still, it was better than nothing.

It was not long before a Starman Deluxe came through the door to make a report. "Master, the Major Psychic Psycho we brainwashed a day ago has ceased transmitting. The last images were of him fighting a human psychic. We also lost contact with a Starman Junior earlier in the day when he went to investigate the appearance of a Phase Distorter. The Phase Distorter that appeared matches the Phase Distorter that George and Maria used to escape us over eighty Earth years ago. A witness to the scene also saw the battle between the Starman Junior with his Shark minions and the human psychic."

The Starman then produced a small data pad. Upon pushing a button, a holographic display came to life. It showed Onett merely a few hours ago. The image showed the Phase Distorter appearing in front of the house where they had fought those psychics and scientists two days ago. Giygas then saw the hatch to the Phase Distorter open and a human figure emerge. Giygas's eyes went wide as he saw that the person that had emerged was one of the humans that had appeared at the house. "The human's name is Ness," the Starman told Giygas as he watched Ness defeat the Starman Junior and his Shark cohorts without even breaking a sweat.

"There is more," the Starman Deluxe continued. "We scanned the residual psychic energy present at the scene. While it seems to be a more refined version of the energy that was used to destroy the R7037s during George and Maria's escape, it is definitely the same energy. I believe that we are seeing the same person that helped George and Maria escape."

Giygas did not have to speak to confirm the suspicion of the Starman Deluxe. He knew from the moment he saw Ness emerge from the Phase Distorter that the one who had helped George and Maria was that boy. Giygas was then interrupted by the Starman Super. "Master, have you decided what to do about Paula Polestar? She is rejecting all attempts of reprogramming. Should we have her killed?"

Giygas's eyes then went wide again, but not with shock or fear. Instead, an idea came to him. "No," he said in answer to the Starman Super's question. "I have another use for her." He then gave a pause as he looked at the monitor and saw Paula continuing to resist the Starmen's attempts to mind control her. "Looks like Plan B just became Plan A," he said with a sinister grin.