20XX, An EarthBound fanfiction

Chapter 1

A New Face

Adam sat atop his home, he gazed up at the stars and sighed, he couldn't believe it. There were so many things that had happened the past week. He had demolished the old house when the neighborhood bully challenged him to a fight, he had made his sister's broken bone completely fix, he didn't know what he might do next...

Then it happened.

Knock! Knock!

Adam heard the knocking and crawled along the roof to see who it was, "Who is this guy?" The man wore a hooded shirt, his lean figure noticeable, sticking out of his hood, was a blue visor, probably attached to a hat.

"Um, can I help you?" Adam heard his sister's squeaky voice.

"Look... Adam... Where...?" He couldn't hear everything the man said, he was mumbling.

"Oh, Adam? He's up on the roof."

"Thank..."

He heard a slamming door. He peeked over and looked at the man, he could feel his eyes locked on him.

"Hey!" The man yelled, knowing Adam heard, "Hey!"

Adam, without thinking, jumped off of the roof. When he hit the ground, he rolled and held his arm.

The man chuckled. "Looks like you hurt your arm."

"Oh, is that what it looks like?" Adam managed to say in between his grunts of pain.

The man waved his hand and Adam's pain disappeared. Adam waved his arm around, "That's really cool."

The man shrugged, "It's just a trick I picked up." He held his arm out and Adam grabbed it.

"So, what did you want with me?" Adam said, trying to steer away from his formerly broken arm.

The man shrugged, "I need to talk to you about something."

"Are- are you a pedophile?"

The man let out a booming laugh, "No, no. I am but a recruiter."

"A recruiter for what, exactly?"

"That's not an easy one to explain. I am a recruiter for... a large purpose."

"Wow. That sure helps me a lot."

The man rolled his eyes, "Why don't we go inside?"

Adam shrugged, "Sure." He said, completely oblivious to the fact that he's letting a complete stranger into his home.

The man took a sip of tea, "I need your help."

"Err, what do you need help with?"

"I need help... to fight."

"Look, I think you've got the wrong kid. I'm just-"

"A normal kid?" The man interrupted.

"Um, yeah."

"That's exactly how Ness felt." The man sighed.

Adam's eyebrows perked up, "What? What do you know about Ness?"

He gave Adam a questioning look, "Me? I know a lot. I know that he defeated the evil Giygas."

"Well, yeah. Everyone knows that!"

"And... well, he's looking for people."

"Erm, care to elaborate?"

"Heh, I'm not supposed to say this... but he wants you."

"Okay, I don't think we're on the same page. What does he want me for?"

"Like I said, to fight."

"What could he possibly need to fight?"

"I- err, he doesn't know. But he said it was extremely powerful."

"Well, that seems like a certain cosmic destroyer I know."

"Listen. He doesn't know yet. He thinks the best bet right now is to gather everyone with special powers, and meet up. Then maybe we can defeat this thing."

"I- I- I- Th- there's no way!"

"Hmm?"

"I can't leave! I've got a family! A mother, and a sister!"

The man stood up and grabbed Adam by the collar, "Listen to me. If you don't come, then you won't have a family to hide behind."

Adam looked over at his sister, he could see her nodding. "Fine. I'll go with you. But I have to see your face!"

Adam suddenly pulled the man's hood off. He couldn't believe who he saw. The most noticeable feature was his jet black hair, his blue eyes looked like they held many secrets, "Are- are you-"

"Yes. That's me, Ness. Now come on, we don't have all day."

Adam grunted. "Fine." He walked over to his sister, "Sis, mum'll be home in a few hours. Okay?"

She nodded her head frantically, "Yup! Got it! Good luck!" Adam then started to walk away, "Oh! Wait! Here, I don't know what it does, but I'm sure you'll find a use for it."

You got a... rock? Adam played out a tune in his mind, "What's this for?"

"It's that rock I've been keeping. I know you wanted it, so here!"

"Well... okay then." He pocketed his newfound treasure and turned to Ness, "Shall we go then?"

Ness made a sharp smirk, "Yeah, let's." He turned and started to walk, Adam quickly trailing.

"Okay, so... what does any of this have to do with me?" Adam questioned, "I don't have any special powers..."

"What are kidding me?" Ness said as he opened his car door.

Adam sat into the front passenger seat and clicked the seatbelt into place, "Whadda mean, "are you kidding me"? Do I have special powers, and they're locked up or something? 'Cause that's ridiculous."

"You'd be surprised."

There was a long silence throughout the rest of the driving, Adam was feeling incredibly uncomfortable. When they arrived, Adam was shocked- it was just and ordinary house in ordinary suburbs.

"Shall we?" Ness slammed his car door and leaned against it, waiting for Adam.

What? I expected a castle or something. I mean, he's Ness! The hero of the world!

"Yeah, so?" Ness said out loud, answering Adam's question.

"Did you just read my mind?"

Ness shrugged, "Maybe." he stepped his foot onto the concrete of the drive way and walked toward the house.

Adam rolled his eyes and followed.

"... Okay so if you want to, you can grab a soda or something, I have to go and get my next recruit."

"Oh yeah? Where might he be?" Adam asked.

And why would you like to know? Ness thought, "He's out in Kightston, a town a few kilometers from here."

"Okay, you just go ahead and leave me all alone, I have some soda to drink."

Ness cracked a smile, something he didn't do much, "Alright, I'll see you in a few hours."

Adam watched as Ness closed the door behind him, he couldn't help feeling strange- as if he knew he could do this, he just didn't know how. He brushed it off and pressed the POWER button on the television.

Only about an hour later Adam heard a knock on the door, it didn't seem like a knock anyone would use, it sounded like someone pounding their palm on the door.

"The heck?" Adam placed his can of soda on the end table in front of him, he stood up and stretched. He then slowly limped toward the door, he looked through the small peep-hole and was astonished at what he saw. He couldn't comprehend, he saw some sort of life form, it had tentacle-ish arms and a helmet. Though the helmet looked like it was part of it- as if every piece of clothing was attached to the last. He opened the door, he could see his reflection in the creatures visor for a split second before it flung him across the room, his body was smacked against a wall that a base ball bat was attached to, it wobbled in it's glass case. Adam had no time to think, the creature was walking toward him and he had but one option... fight. He elbowed the wall and the glass container wobbled yet again, but this time, it fell onto the ground, Adam scrounged through the wreckage and grabbed the bat. The creature was still inching toward him, Adam jumped up and ran toward it, only to be smacked aside, he got up again, and was knocked down again. Adam was enraged, he could fell the cuts in his hand and his bruises throbbing. He felt nothing but pain. He wouldn't quit. He got up yet again and threw his bat at the creature who grabbed it out of the air, it inspected the bat, only to be met with a fist, don't let your guard down. It's visor was cracked, not a large crack, but a crack. Adam twisted to the side, he punched the creature in the back of the head and ducked to dodge the inevitable swing. He leg-tripped the creature, sending it crashing to the floor. It quickly recovered and stood up, it saw through it's visor: Adam standing triumphantly gripping the bat tightly. It shook it's head and tried to dismember Adam from the inside, with Psi Brainshock, Adam quickly fell to his knees, pressing his hands onto his ears. The creature walked extremely slowly toward Adam, as if mocking him. Adam wanted it to stop. Stop. Stop.

"Stop!" Adam swung his bat at the creature and smashed it in the head, completely smashing it's visor. He proceeded to knock it around until it was unconscious.

He threw himself onto the couch.

What the hell do I do with this thing? I don't think Ness'll be thrilled when he finds out a tentacle-star-creature attacked me.

Ness returned to his home, grumbling. He couldn't find the boy. All day. All day. He'd been searching. All day. He'd been aimlessly walking through town, only to find out that no one by the name of the person he was searching for even existed in Kightston.

Ness was not pleased.

He fiddled with his keys for a minute and found the right one.

...

"What the hell happened here?" Ness exclaimed as stared at the creature lying unconscious on the floor.

Adam walked into the living room of Ness's house from the kitchen, a soda in his hand.

"Did-- did you do this?" Ness asked, dumbfounded.

"Was I not supposed to? It sorta tried to kill me."

"That's incredible..." Ness stared blankly at Adam, who just stared back.

"What?" Adam threw his arms into the air, "I beat up a star-tentacle-thing."

Ness lifted the creature off of the ground, he sat it down on the couch, "This thing is a Starman. One of the most dangerous things on this planet. I didn't think they still existed."

"Apparently they do."

Ness looked at the Starman's upperbody, he was looking for a symbol, but he found none. The symbol... where the hell was it? There was none.

"That... that makes no sense." Ness closed his eyes and thought, Okay, so a Starman attacked Adam. It obviously wanted me... or did it? I don't know. It had no symbol on it's chest, that leads me to believe that Giygas isn't a part of this.

"What are you doing?" Adam sat leisurely on the couch.

"Eh, nothing. Just thinking, why was this thing attacking you?"

"I 'unno." Adam shrugged, he glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. Jeez, it's only four-thirty. I'm tired enough for bed.

"Well, we are going to figure this out. Why don't you go rest?"

"What? I'm barely even tired!"

Ness socked Adam in the arm.

"Ow!" Adam shrieked as he shielded his arm with his hand.

Ness raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh, fine. But I'll be up soon!"

"Yeah, sure." Ness smirked, he knew tired when he saw it.

Author's Comments

Okay, I can explain. After an insightful review from Phanax Leminar (Should I have said that? Oh well, too late.) I written a new first chapter! Yay! I just need to write four new ones! (That'll be fun.)