The first priority for Brian was to get some clothes suitable for the weather.
Raptorland was known for it's mild climate and now Brian was in Summers, one of the
hottest areas around.
He now had his jeans and jacket packed in his backpack and was wearing shorts and a
t-shirt from Toto.
Brian sat on a bench overlooking the beach and stared out at the water. Of course his
mind was on Kraken. He could barely think of anything else.
He ran over the battle again in his mind, and still could find only things to
criticize himself on. It was Trevor who saved them all from certain death. Trevor
had said that Brian is supposed to be among some group who will defeat this new evil.
Brian didn't see how that could be true
He looked down at the cement below him, falling deeper into his worry.
"Now, that is no way to be spending a day as beautiful as this," came a soothing voice.
Brian looked up to see a middle-aged man with red hair smiling at him. He gestured towards the empty spot next to Brian.
"Do you mind?" he asked.
Brian answered with a shrug. The man sat down and spoke, "So why is a young fellow like yourself doing so down in the dumps?"
"I just have a lot on my mind," Brian answered lowly.
"At so young an age?" the man replied, "It's sad how so many of the young seem to be burdened with things they shouldn't worry about."
"Well, sometimes there are things too important to not worry about them," Brian said.
The man smiled, "Now you're beginning to sound like one of my old friends. He too had to take on too much as too young an age, but I guess his case was a bit unique considering he had to save the world."
"Save the world?" Brian asked.
"Yep," The man answered, "You've probably read about him somewhere. My friend was Jeff Andonuts."
"One of the Chosen Four," Brian said slowly.
The man nodded and said, "I went to school with him in Winters. My name is Tony." He held out a hand.
"I'm Brian," Brian said and shook Tony's hand.
"So I take it you know all about Jeff's adventures," Tony assumed.
"Not that much really," Brian said, "I was never that into it, at least not before..."
"Before what?" Tony asked.
Brian looked away. He really wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it, but this was a friend of the Chosen Four. He must have a good idea what something like this really means.
"Well, there have been things happening recently," Brian began, "Strange things."
"Such as?" Tony asked, his smile suddenly gone.
"I live over in Raptorland in a town called Pikor," Brian explained.
"I've heard of it," Tony said, "You're a long way from there now."
"Yea," Brian said, "This guy said we had to come to Eagleland. See, these cyborg-looking things attacked my town, and then they took off and we think they came here."
"Sounds serious," Tony said.
"And there's more," Brian continued, "As we crossed the sea, we ran into this creature named Kraken."
"Kraken is alive!" Tony gasped.
Brian slowly nodded and went on, "We were almost done for then. Luckily we had some... help."
"And you fought him?" Tony asked.
"Tried to," Brian said, lowering his head.
"So he's still alive then," Tony assumed.
"Maybe," Brian said.
Tony leaned back in the bench and let out a sigh. "I just sincerely hope this doesn't mean what I think it means."
"I think it does," Brian said, "My companion... he told me that something is coming. Something terrible, and apparently I need to help stop it."
Tony looked at Brian carefully. "You're part of the next generation. New chosen ones."
Brian felt uncomfortable and stood up. "I don't know what I am," he said shortly, "I don't feel like someone chosen."
"Neither did Jeff," Tony said, "but he still knew what he had to do, and so should you."
"I know," Brian said, "I just... I mean I don't know..."
"It's okay to be scared," Tony said.
Brian shivered despite the hot sun above.
"Jeff was scared too," Tony went on, "They all were. Anyone would be scared with something like this being placed before them. Something Jeff always said though was that he couldn't let his fear consume him. He had to learn how to use it as a weapon to make himself even stronger."
"He sounds like an amazing person," Brian said.
"He is," Tony said, "And you will be too."
Brian looked down again. Tony stood up and put his hand on Brian's shoulder.
"Look, there are others like you. If history is to repeat itself, then there are already people in place to help you and help everyone else. Trust that fate knew what it was doing when it chose you."
Brian smiled a bit. "Thanks."
"No," Tony said, "Thank you. Thank you for deciding to stand up for the rest of us. I know you will be able to do anything to help us."
"I don't even know where to start," Brian said.
Just then, a few kids walked by. Brian and Tony could hear their conversation.
"Are you serious, man?" one kid asked.
"Totally, dude," another one answered, "I heard it from my parents. All contact with Brindlewood is gone. Something weird is going down up there."
"Heavy," the first one said. The kids continued walking away.
Brian looked at Tony, wondering if he was thinking the same thing.
Tony nodded and said, "There's where you need to start."
"Where is Brindlewood?" Brian asked.
"Take the road north past the hotel," Tony instructed, "Brindlewood is a small village. It's about an hour away when walking. You should buy some food for yourself."
"Right," Brian said. He put his backpack on and took a deep breath.
"You'll be fine," Tony said, "If what happened twenty years ago is indeed happening again, then keep your guard up. You'll be heading into a forest area with many animals. They may be affected by the same madness creatures were infected with before."
"Yea, they will be," Brian said.
"Good luck," Tony said.
"Thanks," Brian said and turned to leave.
"Wait," Tony said, "I have something I think may come in handy."
Tony reached in his pocket and pulled out a phone.
"This is what I used to keep in contact with Jeff when he was on his journey," he explained, "Take it. You can receive and make calls with this phone. I have a feeling that I'm going to want to keep tabs on you and your adventures."
"Thanks," Brian said, "I'm sure it will be good to have."
"Off you go then," Tony said, "Keep in touch, and good luck."
Brian smiled, "Thanks again for talking with me. It helped."
Tony nodded and smiled.
Brian nodded back and then set off.
The park in Fourside was full of people walking their dogs and children playing. Everyone seemed happy and content. They never worried about what could be happening. The important thing was that times were good now, and it didn't look like it would change anytime soon.
Nobody noticed the sudden mass of people moving into the forest. They moved swiftly and quietly. Their eyes darted around, scanning the area, with one eye collecting data about their surroundings. Some clenched their metallic fists, eager to create chaos. Eager to spread death.
"We're here," Porkle said.
The cyborgs came to a halt at the edge of the park.
Porkle pointed to a skyscraper towering above all the other buildings.
"That is the Monitoli Building," Porkle explained, "The central power of Fourside. It's what keeps this city going. Our mission is quite simple. Six of you will come with me to disable the Monitoli Building. The rest of you?"
Porkle looked around as a menacing grin appeared on his half-cybernetic face.
"The rest of you get to have whatever fun you deem worthy with the rest of the city."
The cyborgs nodded simultaneously.
"Now, let's move out!" Porkle commanded.
Suddenly, a loud cracking sound echoed around them. Porkle spun around in time to see a girl run up to them.
"Hi," she said in an innocent voice, "What are you up to?"
Porkle studied her. One eye looked at her body. She was short with shoulder length blonde hair. She had blue eyes and pale skin and a certain stance about her that seemed to convey either confidence or cockiness. The other eye scanned her internal body. The data was organized and an evaluation was executed.
"Class A," Porkle said.
The cyborgs moved around with eagerness.
"Okay, whatever that means," the girl said, "I know your up to no good. I saw you flying over Threed."
"And now you're here," Porkle said, "Teleportation is a very handy skill isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," the girl answered, "And so are my other skills."
"As amused as I am, I'm afraid I have no time to play," Porkle said, "I have other pressing matters to attend to." He glanced at the Monitoli Building.
The girl followed his glance. "And what matters could they be if they involve my grandfather's company?"
"Your grandfather?" Porkle said, suddenly more intrigued, "Just who are you?"
"My name is Kayla," Kayla answered.
"And you intend to what, challenge us?" Porkle asked with a chuckle.
"I do," Kayla answered sternly.
"How brave of you," Porkle said, "Or how foolish, or have you not noticed the number of men I have at my command while you are clearly all by yourself."
"She's not by herself," a voice called out from above.
Suddenly, another girl landed next to Kayla. She was taller with long brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin.
"Another Class A," Porkle commented, "How honored I am to get two for the price of one, and who might you be, my dear?"
"My name is Angela," Angela answered, "And whatever it is you guys are doing, I think you better just stop."
"Oh, but I haven't even begun to have fun yet," Porkle said, "but thanks to you two, it looks like I get to have some fun right now."
Porkle looked around at the other cyborgs.
"Attack."
Robert and Michael moved quickly down the hallway away from their cell. It seemed relatively quiet down the corridors with little security in their way.
"I guess they never expected anyone to escape," Robert commented.
"I don't think anyone else could have," Michael said, "I've tried to attack those things before. I barely scratched them. You must be really strong."
"Well, I grew up differently than most other kids," Robert said.
The continued down the hallway until they reached the end. Robert felt a small breeze coming from the right, so he turned that way.
"So what's the plan?" Michael asked.
"We escape," Robert said simply, "And we take out anything that gets in our way."
"Sounds like you watch too many action movies," Michael commented.
"I don't watch TV," Robert said.
"Play alot of fighting games then?" Michael offered.
"No games," Robert said, "Just life."
"Harsh life then," Michael retorted.
"You have no idea," Robert answered.
Robert suddenly stepped on something round and slipped a little. He looked down and saw a metal rod on the floor. He picked it up and handed it to Michael.
"You can use this as a weapon," he said to Michael.
"Guess it'll work better than my hands," Michael said.
As they walked on, they could tell an opening was ahead. When they reached it, Robert peeked out of it.
"This just got harder," Robert said lowly.
Michael looked around and almost let out a yelp. It was a fairly open room, and it was full of all sorts of creatures. Some were clearly robots, and others were clearly something that didn't exist on this planet.
"I've seen those before," Michael said, pointing to a creature with many arms and legs.
"The one with those two eyes on stalks?" Robert asked.
"I saw it before I was captured," Michael explained, "I never actually saw it fight before."
"Hopefully it doesn't fight very well then," Robert mumbled.
Robert continued to scan the room, hoping to find a way out. He then noticed a door down to the right of where he was standing. It opened and a robot came in, and Robert saw daylight shining down inside the room.
"There," Robert said, "I think that's the way out."
"That's a long way from here," Michael said nervously, "We'll never make it over there without being seen."
"I know," Robert said, "I think we'll have to make a run for it. Are you strong enough to move fast?"
"I think so," Michael said in a strange, high-pitched voice.
"Okay, on three," Robert said, "One... two... THREE!"
They burst out of their hiding spot and ran toward the door.
"Prisoners out of their cell!" shouted a mechanical voice.
"Stop them!" a shrill voice shrieked, "Stop them now!"
Several robots began firing beams at Robert and Michael that singed as they struck the metal around them.
"Faster!" Robert cried.
Suddenly, one of the many-armed creatures climbed up onto the path they were running on and began to race towards them.
Michael threw the metal rod at it, but it caught the rod with one of its arms and tossed it aside.
"Humans are no match for a Mook!" it hissed.
"We'll see about that," Robert said.
He ducked down low and propelled himself at the Mook. He hit him low and knocked several of his legs out from under him.
The Mook shrieked with surprise as it fell over.
"Run!" Robert yelled at Michael.
Michael continued to run toward the door as beams rocketed toward him.
Robert quickly moved around the Mook and punched it as hard as he could in its eye. The eye burst from the impact and green juices splattered over Robert.
The Mook let out an ear-piercing bellow and with its arms hurled Robert off of him.
Robert quickly sprung to his feet and raced towards the door. Michael reached it and opened it quickly. He and Robert burst into the room and shut the door.
Robert looked around and noticed a rope ladder leading up to a hole. He could see daylight through the hole.
"Let's go," Robert said and began to climb the ladder with Michael behind him.
Robert suddenly got a bad feeling and looked down. He saw it as it seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was tall and slim. It bore a red insignia on its chest, and its hand stretched out towards Michael.
"Michael, watch out!" Robert gasped.
Michael looked down and was suddenly ripped off the ladder and thrown to the ground. He let out a grunt as he landed.
"Michael!" Robert gasped.
"I think he is the least of your problems now," the creature said, "For now you have to deal with the wrath of Supreme Starman."
Robert looked up. He was not far from the hole. He could reach it from where he was.
"Yes, you could escape," Supreme Starman said, "But are you willing to abandon your friend here?"
"Robert, go!" Michael yelled.
"No!" Robert answered, "I can take this guy."
"No, you can't!" Michael yelled, "I've seen him. I've seen what he can do. Get out now!"
"I won't leave you," Robert said firmly, "I never leave a man behind."
"How noble of you," Supreme Starman retorted, "But I'm afraid your little friend is right. You could not hope to be a challenge to me. I could easily kill you right now."
"Robert, please get out of here," Michael said, "You can still help from the outside. Find Kayla Monotoli."
"Who?" Robert asked.
"She's my friend," Michael said, "She can help you get back in here. I'm sure of it."
Robert looked up helplessly.
"I will come back for you," Robert promised and quickly grabbed the top of the hole and pulled himself out. A red beam soared past him as he ran away. He quickly ran past these giant stones arranged in a pattern and ran into the forest nearby. Once he felt safe, he sank down to the snowy ground and bowed his head.
"I will be back," he swore aloud, "You can all count on that."
The grass felt the same. The air smelt the same. Everything about the house was the same. Jeff smiled as he looked around, feeling happy that some things don't change that much.
He walked up to the door of the house and rang the doorbell. The door opened almost instantly.
"Oh, Jeff..." Paula sighed and sank into his arms.
"It'll be okay," Jeff said, rubbing Paula's back, "Where is he?"
"Laying down," Paula said, "He's awake though. He hasn't really been able to sleep."
Jeff hurried through the living room and went up the stairs to the bedroom. He opened the door and stepped in.
"Jeff," Ness greeted.
"How's it going, old friend?" Jeff asked.
"I've been better," Ness said, glancing down at the bandage covering his wound.
Jeff diverted his eyes to a quiet boy sitting by Ness.
"Hello, Christian," Jeff said.
"Hi," Christian said in a low voice, "Are you here to help my dad?"
"I'm here to try," Jeff answered.
"That monster was scary," Christian said, "He moved around so fast and hurt my dad."
"But he's gone now, son," Ness said, "And Jeff is here now, and soon Poo will be. We won't have to worry after that."
"Honey," Paula said, "Why don't you go work on some of your homework now. Mommy and Daddy need to speak with Mr. Jeff."
"Okay," Christian said and left the room.
"He's a good kid," Jeff said, "So concerned, just like his father was."
"He is," Ness agreed.
"So, down to business then," Jeff said, "What exactly happened here?"
"It was a Starman," Ness explained, "He called himself Supreme Starman."
"Supreme?" Jeff said, "Sounds like he has a high opinion of himself."
"He was different than other Starmen though," Ness said, "He seemed almost human the way he acted."
"Making him more of a threat than even a Final Starman I imagine," Jeff said.
"Yea, the Supreme part of the name isn't just for jokes," Ness said, "He means business."
"And this wound," Jeff said, "You can't heal it?"
"I've tried everything," Ness said, "I think there is some sort of PSI barrier on it or something."
"Well, let's see what I can find," Jeff said. He pulled a gadget out of his bag. It was long and thin and had a sensor on one end.
"My PSI Tuner," Jeff said, "If there's something unnatural about that wound, this will surely detect it."
He turned it on. Paula slowly pulled the bandage away from Ness' wound and Jeff held the PSI Tuner close to it. It began to beep ferociously.
"Yes, there's definitely a PSI force radiating from that wound," Jeff said.
Paula re-bandaged the wound as Jeff put the PSI Tuner away.
"The good news is it looks like the wound is healing naturally, so I guess it isn't an injury that won't go away."
"It's just one I have to deal with until it goes away on its own," Ness said.
"I'm afraid so," Jeff answered, "Clearly this Supreme Starman wanted to put you out of commission for awhile."
"That's what I'm worried about," Ness said, "Something's going to happen soon. Something Supreme Starman didn't want me involved in."
"Jeff, do you think this could be another invasion?" Paula asked.
"That is my main theory, yes," Jeff answered, "Earlier this morning, I picked up an earthquake occurring in this distant town in Raptorland called Berk."
"Was there something abnormal about it?" Ness asked.
"Other than the fact that Berk has never had an earthquake because it is more than 600 miles away from the nearest fault line?" Jeff answered.
"It wasn't natural?" Paula asked.
"I don't think it was," Jeff said, "Whatever is happening, I fear it is someone trying to finish what Giygas started."
"Then we have to do something," Ness said, "Now."
"You have to rest," Paula said.
"I can't sit here while some alien attempts to destroy everything I've worked for!" Ness snapped.
"Paula's right, Ness," Jeff said, "You can't risk going into battle, at least not now. You need to stay here, and Paula will stay here as well to guard you in case anything else shows up here. Poo and I can try to figure out what's going on and try to stop it, or at least stall it long enough for you to get better."
Ness didn't look satisfied, but he nodded his head in agreement.
A cracking sound then was heard from downstairs.
"Poo must be here," Ness said.
"Hello?" a tiny voice called up the stairs.
Ness, Paula, and Jeff looked at each other. "That doesn't sound like Poo," Paula said.
Jeff pulled out a stun gun from his bag and slowly opened the door. He heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
"Is anyone home?" the voice asked.
As the footsteps reached the top step, Jeff sprung out of Ness' room with his stun gun aimed. Mako let out a gasp of surprise and nearly fell down the stairs.
Jeff looked at Mako with curiosity. "You look so much like him," he said in amazement.
"Yes," Mako answered, "I've been told that many times."
"Mako," Jeff said, "Poo's son."
Paula came out of Ness' room. "So you're Poo's son?" she asked.
"I am," Mako answered.
"Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Paula said, "Please come in."
They led Poo into Ness' room.
"Somebody shrunk Poo," Ness said with a laugh.
Mako looked down.
"What is it, son?" Jeff asked, "Why so glum? And more to the point, why are you here and Poo is not?"
"Because..." Mako said shakily, "Because Poo is dead."
Paula sat down quickly on the bed. She looked as though she was slapped in the face. Ness' breathing came fast. Jeff slowly stood up.
"He's... dead?" Jeff managed to ask.
Mako slowly nodded. "Supreme Starman... killed him."