In this chapter, Eris is going to meet...you guessed it! Martin and his friends! Meanwhile Stella and her friends are going to investigate the farm where the aliens were spotted.
Elsewhere, the aliens are going to continue their mission to find Eris. Unfortunately, they happen to have a database giving them information about Center agents, so it looks like they won't be looking for a needle in a haystack.
Chapter 3: Alien Among Us
Eris arrived at Torrington Academy. Sure enough, nobody seemed to notice she was a Martian rather than an Earthling, though they wondered why she had blue hair and a green tongue.
MOM had given Eris a cell phone-like device that she could use to contact the Center in case she needed anything or was being abducted.
"So, who am I being assigned to?" asked Eris. She was curious.
"His name is Martin Mystery. He's one of my best agents...though I prefer contacting him from his U Watch instead of letting him in my office." answered MOM.
"How come?" inquired the alien.
"Let's just say that Stella isn't the only one who has a habit of sabotaging my projects..." answered MOM.
MOM sent Eris a picture of the yellow-haired agent.
"I wonder why his hair rises like that..." questioned Eris. Well, he looked friendly enough.
Eris spotted him on a bench reading a comic book. Apparently, his name was Martin. Personally Eris thought he was rather cute.
She decided to go talk to him. Since he was going to keep her safe from the intergalactic criminals she figured she might as well get to know him.
"What are you doing?" asked Eris.
"I'm reading a comic. It looks like Earth is in big trouble..." stated Martin.
He was reading Attack Of The Space Invaders. Nothing like a good comic book to start the day with.
"Can I read?" inquired the alien.
"Sure." nodded the boy. He was just about finished reading it for the day anyway.
Eris began to read the comic.
She flipped through the pages.
However, the more that she read it, the more she felt offended.
"Really? Is that what humans think of us?" inquired Eris. Last time she checked, her race had no intention of conquering Earth. They were already satisfied with their planet.
"Huh?" asked Martin.
Suddenly, he received a message from the U-Watch.
"Hello?" inquired the boy.
It was from MOM.
"Greetings, Martin. Today you will be looking after an alien princess. Her name is Eris...well, technically that's not her real name but a field agent told us it would be much easier to pronounce. I know that you like girls, but since you're royalty you should behave yourself. There are extraterrestrials that wish to kidnap her. Your job is to make sure she remains safe." ordered MOM.
"Wait, you're a princess?" asked Martin.
Eris nodded. Of course, on Earth, she was basically the same as everyone else.
"Well then, I guess I know two princesses now. One figurative and one literal." remarked the teenage boy.
At that very moment, Diana approached them.
"Hey Martin. Did you pick up another girl?" inquired Diana. Knowing Martin it was probably someone that was out of his league.
For some strange reason, she was about the same size as Martin. Martin happened to be fairly tall for his age, so perhaps she was as well.
"This is Eris. Apparently, she's from another planet and is a princess too. Of course, sometimes I think you're from another planet." remarked Martin.
"Very funny, Martin. Anyways, welcome to Earth!" exclaimed Diana.
"I'm glad I'm receiving a warm welcome." noted Eris. At least some people on Earth didn't think aliens were nothing more than planet invaders.
"Did you register with the Center? They say that aliens have to register with the Center before they're considered to be welcome on Earth." explained the brunette.
"Yes. I didn't know that there were so many of my fellow extraterrestisls on one planet. I even met Ganthar himself, trrrifying as that was..." said Eris. Aliens everywhere dreaded the thought of Ganthar and his space raiders invading their planet and stripping it of their resources. They had lost count on how many alien species had been wiped out because of their actions.
"He's not a planet raider anymore. Don't worry about it." assured Martin.
"Thank goodness. I don't want to think about what would happen if my planet got raided. Then again there's not much water on the surface so I guess there wouldn't be much to steal." answered Eris.
"Do you want to go inside? You probably want to meet more humans." suggested Diana.
"Sure..." nodded the girl. The more humans she met, the merrier.
The four of them stepped into Torrington Academy. Diana quickly went to the principal's office and gave Eris a guest pass so she wouldn't be considered a trespasser. She had already registered at the Center so thereotically she shouldn't be.
Currently, classes weren't in session.
Shortly afterwards, they encountered Diana's friend Jenni.
"Hey Jenni!" exclaimed Diana.
"Hey, Diana." answered Jenni. "Whose your friend?"
"Her name is Eris." stated the brunette. Personally she wondered what it would be like if her friend Jenni was a Center agent. However, she didn't seem too fond of the paranormal like her stepbrother was. Some people simply weren't cut out for being Center agents.
"Pleased to meet you." said Eris.
"Nice to meet you too." spoke Jenni.
As usual, Martin decided to flirt with Jenni. How many pickup lines had he used? He had lost count of them all.
"Hey Jenni! You're hotter than the sun in the middle of July!" exclaimed Martin.
"And you're more of a geek than Bill Gates!" shouted Jenni.
Jenni slapped Martin in the face.
"Ow!" shouted Martin, rubbing his cheek.
Eris took offense to that.
"Hey! Don't treat him like that!" exclaimed Eris.
"But he does this to me all the time!" shouted Jenni. It was really annoying.
"I have people flirt me with all the time and I don't slap THEM in the face..." noted Eris. Seems being a princess on her home planet made her pretty popular with an emphasis on pretty.
"Fine...sorry, Martin." apologized Jenni. Maybe she WAS a bit hard on him.
"It's OK, I get slapped all the time..." said Martin.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" asked Diana's BFF.
Afrer Eris made Jenni apologize for her harsh (though comedic) actions, the three of them encountered Java the Caveman.
He was currently cleaning up the floor with a mop and a bucket. The school had taken a liking to him, though they had no idea that he was from the Stone Age.
Since he liked his job, he was whistling.
"Hello." said Eris.
"Hello!" exclaimed Java.
"This is Java." stated Martin.
"Who Martin new friend?" asked Java.
"This is Eris. She's literally out of this world!" exclaimed Martin.
"Why is he talking like that?" inquired Eris. It didn't seem grammatically correct.
"Oh. That's because he's a caveman." answered Diana.
"A caveman?" inquired Eris. Did he live in a cave?
"He's a human from about 200000 years ago." explained the brunette.
"200000 years ago? Do humans live that long?" asked the alien. Her race only lived about 100 years at the most.
"Actually, they don't. He was the byproduct of a crazed scientist who wanted to make dinosaurs. To be honest, I wonder what he was planning to do from there." answered Diana.
"Do you have ancestors like that?" inquired Martin.
"Sort of." answered the alien.
Eris pulled out a picture of a Martian from 200000 years ago. For some strange reason, it looked like a fairy.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Martin.
"Now that I think of it, our evolution was more drastic than a human's." noted Eris. Seems that her race had outgrown her wings.
"New friend from outer space?" inquired Java. It seeems like Billy wasn't the only friendly space alien they had met, though unlike Billy she didn't seem to have a dark past.
"Yep." nodded the alien. Martians and humans happened to be planet neighbors.
Eris shook Java's hand.
"So...do you need a place to stay?" inquired Martin. It seems that she would have to remain on Earth until her crisis was resolved. Until then, she might as well make herself comfortable.
"I think so." nodded Eris. It would be a bad idea for her to go back to her spaceship since that would be the first place the kidnappers would look. Besides, it was wrecked. It would take some time before the people at the Center would be able to repair it.
"Let me think..." said the teenage boy.
"Maybe we could ask the school principal if you could have a dorm..." suggested Diana.
"Aren't those for students only?" inquired Martin.
"We'll see if we can get her enrolled." said Martin's stepsister. It didn't seem hard for Billy to get enrolled at her school.
However, when they went to see the principal, they found out that though Eris COULD enroll at the academy, all the dorms were currently full.
"Darn it! This is going to be harder than we thought..." noted Diana. They would have to think of a different solution.
"What should we do?" inquired Eris.
"I know! You can stay in my closet!" exclaimed Martin. He never seemed to use his closet for anything, so now seemed like a good time.
"Your closet? Are you sure about that?" inquired the alien.
"I don't think the school has rules about that..." answered the blonde.
"I'm surprised that you actually read the rules." stated Diana. Her stepbrother was such a troublemaker.
"I do. Just not often." said Martin.
"Well, if you think it's a good idea." spoke Eris.
Eris followed Martin towards his dorm room.
Unsurprisingly, it was rather messy. Martin didn't clean up after himself too much.
"Are you sure you should have all your comic books on the floor?" asked Eris.
"I don't know where to put them all..." answered Martin.
"There's an empty box right there..." pointed out the alien.
"Why didn't I notice that?" inquired the blonde.
Eris helped Martin put the comic books away.
"Thanks. Now my stepsister won't be calling me a slob...I don't see why she has to be a neat freak all the time. Can't she loosen up every once in a while?" inquired Martin.
Eris shrugged. She wasn't perfect at keeping her room clean either, though hers was at least cleaner than Martin's.
Martin pulled out a bed bag and a pillow.
"You want to try it out?" inquired Martin.
"Sure." nodded Eris.
Eris went into Martin's closet and tried out resting inside of it.
It seemed comfortable enough.
Eris snored.
Elsewhere...
"You think he's home?" inquired Stella.
"Let's knock on the door and find out." answered Albert.
Judging from the crop circle, this was where the aliens had been.
Currently, the cattle had huddled together. It seemed that were all frightened from the invaders that hsd visited them last night.
Stella knocked on Farmer Bill's door.
"Hello?" inquired Stella.
Farmer Bill opened the door.
"Wha-oh thank goodness! You're not more of those pesky space aliens!" exclaimed the farmer. It looked like his cattle would be resting soundly tonight.
"Did you see them?" inquired Albert.
"Yes! They had a spaceship and everything! Also, they seemed to be looking for someone..." said Farmer Bill.
"They may be the kidnappers that Eris told us about..." noted Sylvia.
"If so, we need to find them before they find Eris." answered Albert.
"Where could they have gone though?" inquired Stella. Apparently, they had realized that the princess wasn't nearby and they had decided to leave.
"Do you know what the aliens looked like?" questioned Sylvia.
"Well, one of them looked like a lizard with blue skin and had big muscles, another one was short and had red skin as well as horns on his head along with a small beard, and another one had white hair and gray skin and looked just like a lady!" exclaimed Farmer Bill.
"I see..." nodded Albert.
Albert pulled out his U-Watch and put that information in the Legendex. Perhaps there were some aliens that matched that description.
He got a hit.
"Oh dear. It seems that we're up against some space criminals..." noted Albert.
"Space criminals?" inquired Stella.
"Mm-hmm. Their names are Bantito, Mugga, and Snatcha. They're wanted on eight planets." explained the male Center agent. For some strange reason, one of their crimes was double-parking their spaceship.
"Seems they've made names for themselves." answered the witch.
"Apparently, Snatcha is the leader of the trio. We'll have to tell MOM precisely whose after our alien princess." noted Albert.
"That can be arranged." said Sylvia.
Shortly afterwards, 1s and 0s appeared in Sylvia's eyes.
She opened her mouth and a projection of MOM appeared.
"Yes? Did you learn anything?" asked MOM.
"We think we know who are chasing after our princess friend...does the name Snatcha ring a bell?" inquired Stella.
"As a matter of fact, it does. Snatcha and her cohorts have been causing trouble throughout the galaxy for quite some time...it seems that recently they've jumped to extortion." answered MOM.
"I hope they haven't captured Eris yet..." said Albert. She seemed like a nice alien, unlike those aliens that he had seen in a horror movie last week.
Sylvia nodded in agreement.
"Not to worry. She's currently still on Earth. Still, it would be best if we find and capture these aliens as soon as possible." answered MOM. They could cause a lot of harm to the planet if they were left unchecked.
Albert nodded. No reason to let the aliens get away with their thefts.
He wondered where they could be now.
In outer space...
Inside their spaceship, the space thieves were pondering their next course of action. Unfortunately for them, they still did not where Eris was.
The inside of their spaceship happened to be blue. It was also filled with various valuables that the trio had stolen over the years.p, as well as a map of the galaxy.
To make matters worse for the trio, they didn't have too much time. They needed to find the princess before the Center found them. They couldn't simply search the entire planet until they found her. The Center had probably already learned of their presence.
"If we were an alien space princess, where would we hide?" inquired Bantito.
"Dunno." answered Mugga.
"Wait a minute...something tells me that our princess friend might have gone to the Center...apparently she thinks that they can keep her safe." said Snatcha.
"What that mean?" inquired the blue lizard alien.
"It means we should find a Center agent and interrogate them..." spoke the leader of the Space Thieves.
"But who should we abduct?" inquired Bantito.
"Knowing MOM, she would most likely assign the princess to someone who was from Earth. Someone who was a field agent." remarked Snatcha.
"Like...who?" inquired the small red alien.
Snatcha decided to take a look through her computer to see which agents were currently on duty. She kept that around so that they would know who she and her accomplices should watch out for.
Normally, the Center was rather secretive, so it was hard to tell who was an agent or not. But she had found a way to hack into their database.
Eventually, she spotted someone who was from Earth.
His name was Martin Mystery.
"Let's see now...apparently, he's a student at Torrington Academy...he likes to read comic books involving space aliens...and he has a fascination with a paranormal...sounds like he might be our guy." answered Snatcha.
"I guess we better get looking for him." noted Bantito.
Mugga nodded.
The three of them let out an evil laugh.
It looks like Martin Mystery is in deep trouble. What's going to happen to him? And are the Space Thieves going to succeed in their evil plan?
You'll find out in due time.