The War of the Omens: #2: EarthBound Stars
Chapter 1: The Boy and the Cat

Legal Stuff[blah blah...]: There really is none... except certain characters are copyrights of certain companys... blah blah... yawn. You get the picture.

This is a seperate dimension, or an AU of many games, plus some people in real life, and the real world as well, so if you're wondering why you see DKC characters in EarthBound, or something else like Real People in Hexen, etc, that's why. Also, this following info is very important to remember: Since the WOTO universe is an AU, the pasts of the chosen four are somewhat different from what they probably are in the original, but not drastically different, but let's just say most of them had fighting experience since before their adventure as a group.

Note: I do not have characters shout out their PK attacks in these stories. PK is from the mind, not a magic spell, so what's the point in chanting it out? It might make it seem cooler, but it's not any more good for anything but just that.

June 3rd, 1997...

It would start as an average day in the life of Ness Franklin, an old, simple boring day, at least in comparison to some of the days he had ever gone through. Sure today was the day of one of the town of Onett's bigger tournament baseball games, and baseball happened to be one of the boy's greatest desires in life, but smacking the baseballs thrown to him seemed like nothing after smacking around psycho robots in the shape of stars, or the other aliens the young man faced. He had been the leader of the four children, now teenagers, once involved with stopping the invasion of Giygas. Compared to the boredom of now, fighting Giygas' forces would've been much more fun to Ness, even if the world was at stake, even if he himself was the sole person fighting. He liked the concept of the adventure, even if it was one of the most dangerous events in his own life.

Yes, just a basic, average day in his life. Aside from odd dreams he'd have, reliving old events long passed in the battle against the invader turned evil embodiment. He would see most of the events in slow motion. He always remembered Pokey's last vow to come back for revenge. He wasn't content at the Earth being in danger, but a part of him wished to stop his former neighborhood childhood friend turned into a sour apple by Giygas, once and for all, for the sake of one more adventure. Little did he know of the recent events occurring in the world, especially the tabloids reporting strange aliens in the city of New York in America, a country a good distance from his country of Eagleland.

After what seemed to be an easy day in the baseball game for his team, Ness had gone home for the night, saying hi to his mother, his dog King and his sister Tracy. They all sat down at the table for dinner, which included Ness's favorite food, Steak.
"Nice meal, mom." Tracy piped up, eating the cheesy sidedish her mom made with the steak.
"I thought you didn't think much of Steak?" Ness looked at her with the average sibling rivalry type look on his face.
"Not the steak, the cheese noodles, Baseball Brain!" Tracy replied, going back to her food.
"Hey, I may like baseball, but I have nothing else I can really do!" Ness argued.
"I know of something." his mom smiled, interrupting him.
"What do you suggest, mom?" Ness asked her, wondering what her suggestion was.
"Go and see your little friend, Paula. I'm sure you two are extremely close, especially since that date of yours two years ago." she ended with a smile.
Ness however went red in the face a bit, "Mooom... it wasn't what I'd call a date. We only went to a Runaway Five performance and had a quick meal after."
"Sure, you looked thin enough after that day, mister date." Tracy teased. Ness had looked quite full that day in reality, so Tracy loved teasing him about it.
"I admit we're getting closer, but I tell you it wasn't a date, honest!" Ness protested.
"If you wish to not mention it anymore, I won't bring it up again." his mom somewhat smiled.
Ness sighed, "It's okay, mom. I just get annoyed when she teases me about that."
"And you think you don't annoy me sometimes." Tracy laughed, flicking a noodle in Ness's face.
"Go outside if you two are gonna throw stuff at each other!" their mom almost scolded them.
"Yes, let's go outside. And I hope you can fill that water pistol of yours to the top." Ness smirked somewhat evily.
"Okay, you asked for it!" Tracy rushed up stairs, getting her water gun, a twin barreled Super Soaker©, and rushed down and went outside.
Ness and Tracy's laughter was heard throughout the town as they got each other royally soaked...

That night, Ness washed up and went to bed after his narrow escape from defeat at his sister's hands in water gun wars. No one had truly won that little farce, and he had to admit his sister could make more fun out of a boring situation then he remembered, but she also hadn't been through what he had been through, so she probably had it good compared to him. In all his thoughts, he drifted off to sleep...

*********

It was late at night, and the suburbs of Onett were quiet. The creature quickly dashed through the small down, past the town hall, past the burger shop, then the library, and to the right, and he was head right at the door of Ness's house.

Ness would soon hear knocking at his downstairs door. He turned in bed and ignored it, but in a few minutes, his bedroom door was being knocked on now. He bolted upright out of bed with a yelp. He had been knocked out of a interesting dream about Pokey coming back for revenge, and Giygas had been with him. He said, "Hello?" "Ness, can we come in?" it was his mom's voice. "Um, okay." he replied meekly.

The door opened, and his mom, Tracy and King walked in, but with them was someone, no, something he'd not recognized. It was a small white cat. He walked alongside King and when they stopped at the bed, he lunged onto the foot of the bed. Ness was taken back a little back at the cat's actions. His mom spoke, "Ness, I know you can speak with King via Telepathy, but either this cat can talk like a person, or we've inherited the same power as you, and since King still can't understand us, so we assume the earlier of it.

A talking cat? Is this real? Ness wondered. "Yes it is real, Ness." the cat replied, supposedly reading his mind. "Wah! You can talk! You move your lips and everything and..."
"Ness! I must speak with you. I can explain that when we have the time." the cat shushed him, with a slight frown at Ness.
The boy calmed himself, "Er, what's wrong? Why have you come to see me?"
The cat sighed, and began to explain, "First off, my name is Artemis. I am not from this country. In fact, I am not from this part of the planet, but I am very aware of the dangers that are about to threaten it."
Another adventure to save the Earth? Ness thought, then he got a real good look at Artemis, not noticing one other major detail of him. He had a crescent moon on his forehead. At that sighting, Ness had a flashback about earlier that day at the baseball field. He had been sitting out to get a break, and he had kept seeing a white cat on the other side of the gate, looking towards him. He assumed it was a lost cat at first, and saw something on his head, like a mark, but only now he realized this was that same cat.
"Wait, aren't you the cat that was at the baseball game earlier?" Ness asked.
"Yes, Ness. I was wanted to get a good look at you. You see, I have been sent by friends of mine to get your help, especially since an old evil threatens this world again."
"What?! Is it...?"
"Yes, Giygas has returned, and he is now in a physical form. I remember the details of your fight with him, and how he had lost his mind. He has been restored to what he originally was before he even arrived on Earth two years ago." Artemis answered.
"So, that one dream about him still hovering out there somewhere..."
"Yes, it was a sign of what is to come, if you don't stop him as soon as possible."
"Do you know who resurrected Giygas?"
"I do not know much about them, but New York had seen the culprits for a short time. I believe they called themselves the Serpent Riders."
"The what?" Ness was confused.
"I looked up books on the Serpent Riders, trying to get a lead on them. I learned of tales of world domination of other worlds at the hands of those monsters. Apparently they have targeted Earth as their next world. Someone has resurrected two of them, as they had also been originally destroyed eons in the past."
"This sounds quite bad."
"It IS bad. I know for sure the Serpent Riders are probably much stronger than what Giygas is, even now."
"WHAT?! You have to be kidding me! They're that strong?! I know I wanted another adventure, but I'm not sure if I can do it if they're THAT strong!"
"Ness, you aren't going to be alone, you will not only reunite with your old friends, but I'm sure others are going to be after Giygas, and will make friends with you, and I'll be one of them."
"What? You're coming with me?"
"Don't be surprised Ness Franklin. I am more than just a cat. I will be your teacher for a while. I know of many new techniques that might save your little hide someday. And I have a bit of a fighting record myself. However, I have learned Giygas isn't alone in his quest to take over the world. Other than the Serpent Riders, other evil powers have chosen Giygas to help lead them to ultimate victory over the Earth. It won't be pretty, but you fought against Giygas once, and you will have to face him once again."
"Well, I guess it stands. Do you have any idea what we should do first?" Ness asked the cat.
"Well, it is suggested we go and find your friends as soon as possible for one. Whatever we do, we need to start now. Are you awake enough to possibly fight? I believe the influence of Giygas is quickly spreading, like before. We might have to fight in Onett a little, or a lot."
At that point, an explosion of some kind was heard to Ness's west. Pokey's House. Something's wrong there. I must go and check it out. "Hmmm... something's outside next to Pokey's house." Tracy said, taking a look out the window. She then screamed and threw herself to the ground as something screamed at where she just was.
"Tracy!" Ness ran to see if she was fine.
"I'm okay. But whatever that thing is, it's not happy to see anyone around." she replied.
Ness and Artemis looked out the window at the sight in front of them. Something in a dark robe had shot something up at his window, and it was preparing to fire at them now. Ness was able to get a glimpse of a whitish dome around Pokey's house. But he had to duck as a fireball was launched his way.
"Artemis, we'd better stop that thing before it hurts someone!" Ness called, "But first, I gotta go get dressed. Could you guys leave for a second?"

They all sweatdropped and promptly walked out, and soon after, Ness jumped out the door, all dressed up in his striped shirt, his yellow backpack, and his Gutsy Bat from his original adventure at hand.
"Wow, you changed fast." Artemis looked at him with a strange glance.
"Well, the house is under attack!" Ness said.
They quickly rushed downstairs, and Ness and Artemis went out the door, and confront the robed creature. They were able to see it's head: a large cow's skull.
"So you are willing to die?" it spoke to them in a venomous voice.
"Who are you?! How dare you attack helpless people you monster!" Ness growled.
"I will be your doom, but if you want a specific name, I am a Shadow Wizard. I am a high ranking general in the armies of the Serpent Riders. You foolish Earth people probably don't even know who we are, do you?"
"I have heard of the Serpent Riders, and I am going to put a cork in their plans!" Ness growled at it.
"Eh? So you must be one known as Ness. Korax told us about you and your meddling friends. We will not let you interfere in our plans, boy. You may have once been this world's hero, but you will easy splatter underneath my feet!" the Shadow Wizard growled, and held out his bony hand and shot out a scatter of fireballs. Ness and Artemis threw themselves under the fireballs. Ness clubbed the Shadow Wizard with his bat, causing it to reel back.
"Har har har!!" it cackled and vanished into thin air in a teleportation techinque.
"Look out! He'll probably reappear nearby somewhere!" Artemis called.
Sure enough, the cat was right. The Shadow Wizard reappeared behind Ness and sent the boy flying back a little with a replusion spell. The attack did no actual damage, aside from Ness hitting the ground from lack of balance.
"Cheapskate!" Ness growled, and SMAAASHed the Shadow Wizard across his skinless head, sending the Shadow Wizard flying to the side and on its stomach. It got up and growled at him. "Fool. Why do you insist on dying?" it aim it's hand at the ground in front of him. In a flash, two spiders twice the size of a tennis shoe were summoned in front of Ness and Artemis. "Take them down, my underlings!" the Wizard cackled to the spiders. Artemis however, had other plans. He held up his paw, and swung it at the Spider, and it sent the spider flying into the cliff behind it, in two separate halves. Artemis contended with the second spider in a similar way, resulting in it splitting into two separate halves down the middle.
"Stupid animal! How can you match my precious spiders?! I will destroy you for that!!" it growled and formed a large fireball in his hand, which hurled at Artemis. Artemis nimbly dodged the fireball and ran at the Shadow Wizard with full force. "Wrong!" he yelled as gold energy formed around his body, now spinning like a cannonball. He flew right through the body of the Shadow Wizard, instantly causing it to break into many pieces, dropping its skull along the ground, which faded away after a few seconds. Artemis landed with good grace. Ness was amazed at this and asked, "Are strong are you? And what kind of moves are those?" Artemis replied, "Right now, I am most likely a bit more powerful than you, but you will most likely surpass me after a while, in fact, most of your friends will most likely surpass my powers... if we get that far."

Tracy and Ness's mom came back outside and looked around. "You defeated it, brother?" asked Tracy. 
"Yep. Artemis actually finished it, but I weakened it for the most part." Ness exclaimed. He then remembered the dome around Pokey's house, "This guy seemed to be guarding Pokey's old house. I wonder what's up with that?" Ness asked.
Artemis knew something more was to it. He walked up to the dome and tried to touch it, but his paw was repelled from it. "Ness, this is a barrier. That Shadow Wizard must have placed it here before we destroyed him. They must need this place for something if it's being guarded."
"I guess going to get my friends is our only option. Artemis, get behind me." Ness requested
"Why?" the cat asked, curiously.
"I'm going to teleport us to Twoson, the town in the South, to see my first friend, Paula. You have to have a slight running start, so you must remain around the user of the teleport." Ness explained.
"Well, okay."
Ness then activated Teleport Beta and they began running around in circles, Ness focusing on Twoson, but after a while, something was wrong. Ness wasn't lifting off the ground like he usually was. He then suddenly stopped.
"Oh no! Don't tell me my teleportation doesn't work!" Ness cried.
"Great..." Artemis replied, "The Serpent Riders... or Giygas, must be behind this. But how can they interrupt teleportation? I mean, their minions can do it, even if it is short range, so why not us?"
"I'm not sure, but we're going to have to walk." Ness said, and looked back to his family, "I'd better go in and call dad to ask him about his views on this. I'll be right back guys."
Ness walked inside, and picked up the phone and dialed his dad's business number. When he heard the reply on the other end, his eyes went wide, then into a angered look and he screamed, "Giygas!! You better not dare!!!"
This caught everyone else's attention, and they rushed in quick. "Ness, dear. What happened?"
"Dad... Giygas has... has... he's kidnapped Dad!" Ness ended in a growl in hate for Giygas.
"He's kidnapped your father?" asked Artemis.
"Yes. I got an automated reply. It said Giygas has kidnapped my Dad, and it planning to... to change him into his successor, or something. It's terrible. Now it's getting personal. And now.. I'm worried Paula will be in similar danger... we HAVE to get to Twoson quickly!" Ness said, grabbing Artemis and bolting towards the door, "Mom, Tracy... please take care of yourselves. I'll be back whenever humanly possible. Goodbye. I love you all." he said, then bolting out the door with Artemis.
"We love you too, Ness." his mom said.
"Take care, my bigger yet sometimes absentminded brother." Tracy said, looking at the floor, with slight helplessness in her eyes.
"Tracy, you seem extremely disturbed." her mom then spoke.
"Yes. I know I can't help him at all this time. I no long work for Escargo Express, therefore I can't monitor his progress anymore, like last time. He's totally without any support from me or Dad. Mom, you are the only one of us that can get contact with him every so often now... if he even comes across any phones along the way that is." Tracy began to cry a little, worried for her brother's safety.
"Ness is strong, and so are his friends, and he will not just have them to help them. You heard Artemis... others are trying to fight Giygig, or whatever his name is. Have faith in him. I do." her mom said, hugging her.
"I'll... try..." she said, between muffled sobs...

***********

Ness and Artemis bolted from Ness's yard and down the path towards the town of Onett. As they reached the corner, a bolt of green energy flew at Ness and barely missed him, sailing into a tree. Ness and Artemis looked for the source of the bolt of energy. They found a creature above in armor and a cattle-skull like helmet. Ness could sense they were human, in a sense, but that they meant trouble, as another one of the creatures appeared next to the first and armed a red blast of power onto what looked like a bow, the blast in the shape of an arrow. "Get down!" Artemis screamed as the red arrow blazed past them into the ground. Ness aimed PK Special Beta at the two creatures. The psychokinetic blast sent the two troops into the air, and they landed in the bushes, not getting back up. The two turned the corner and ran past the library, when three more creatures emerged from the bushes ahead. One looked like a large pink-skinned Minotaur creature, the other two creatures looked like big red, round heads with large rows of teeth formed into a involuntary smile, and a single eye on the top. "Destroy the human and the cat!" the pink being growled and pointed towards Ness and Artemis.

The two heads floated near Ness and one belched a red fireball right in his face. Ness felt a sting from the fireball, but it was nothing compared to even the beams the Starmen of Giygas used. Artemis dodged a set of fireballs from the other head. Artemis swiped his claws once again, almost cutting the head-type being right into two pieces. Ness used PK Special Gamma, and blasted both heads away from him and the wave also did considerable damage to the pink creature. It growled and swung it's green energy saturated hand into Ness's stomach, sending him to the ground. The hit was moderate, but much more damaging than the fireball he was hit with a few moments ago. Ness got up, and swung his bat across the creatures head, smashing it into the Library walls. The one of the two head creatures came back into the battle, and bit Artemis, doing almost the same damage to him that had just been dealt to Ness. "So you wanna play rough, do ya?" Artemis growled and actually scratched the head across the front of it's face. Needless to say, it was destroyed, and it's wound wasn't very pretty to look at. The pink creature formed green energy from his hand into the form of a fireball and hurled it at Ness, but he dodged it barely, and rushed at the creature and SMAAASHED it into the air. It landed way over where the meteorite was at, looking like it had died while in mid-flight.

They were about to go into town itself when Ness heard a familar voice. "Ness? You saved us?" it belonged to one of his friends from the treehouse, who also played alongside him in baseball. Ness recoginzed the boy. "Gary? What are you doing out this late?!" asked Ness. "Late? It's 7:30 in the morning Ness." Ness and Artemis looked wide-eyed, "Don't ask why it's still so dark out here. I have no idea. I went out here, and it never got lighter, and all these monsters and creatures began materializing out of nowhere. It was madness, Ness. But you seem to be on the job, so I want to give this to you." he handed Ness a strange looking sphere. It looked red and had shades of blue pulsating in it, "One of the creatures you just defeated dropped it earlier. It should help you in some way. You must get out of here. Please save us again, from whatever it is that's doing this." Gary then ran back to the clubhouse as fast as possible.

"I will stop the Serpent Riders, and I will destroy you, Giygas! You will not get your way with my father, you heartless freak!" Ness growled, "Come on, Artemis." "That's the spirit, Ness!" Artemis smiled and they took off past the Burger Shop and all the way past the City Hall, but then another voice called out to them. "HEY YOU!!" They stopped and turned around, seeing a new creature at the top of the steps of the town hall. It looked like a large half-man/half bull creature, and he held a large, meanacing hammer in his left hand. "Yes, you... you are the ones who threaten D'Sparil, aren't you?" "D'Sparil's one of the Serpent Riders. You must be a minion of his!" Artemis said. "Yes, I am one of his strongest warriors, the Maulotaur. I wish to test you. I will not allow you to go on unless you defeat me. I can make sure of it, little one." It swung it's hammer in a meancing gesture at them. "I guess we must fight it. Ready Artemis?" Ness asked Artemis. He replied with a nod. They both took off at the Maulotaur, each of them attack it from a different side to divert it's attention. The Maulotaur swung its hammer, send a volley of fireballs at the charging heroes. Artemis jumped over the fireballs, while Ness had to roll under them, making him lose some momentum. Artemis scratched it across the chest, leaving scratch marks, but the Maulotaur swatted Artemis away with the hammer. Artemis landed on his feet, but rubbed his side from the damage. Meanwhile, Ness had managed to swipe its legs out from underneath it, making it fall on its face, but it laughed at them, and pounded his hammer into the ground, sending a wave of fire along the ground at Ness. He was too close to dodge and the fire wave slammed into him and sent him flying back into a bush. Ness got up and rubbed his head. "He plays dirty, I see." Ness focused his powers into a major source, and shot PK Special Omega into the large bull, blasting it back into a column holding up the roof of the town hall. He got up and dashed at Ness, attempting to gore him, but Ness dodged and SMAAASHed him over the head as he flew by. However, the attack stopped the creature in mid-dash, allowing him to swipe his hammer into Ness's face, blasting him back. He held his face in pain, and used Lifeup Beta, healing most of his injuries. "Come on, fur-face! I'm still here! Come and get me!" The bull merely smirked.. "Heh... no, not right now. I have underestimated you, but I will return another time. Round 1 goes to you, Ness." it laughed and teleported away in a ring of energy.

"That was weird." Artemis mused. "He'll most likely come back, though." Ness assured him, "Just like I bet Pokey's back as well." He looked into the dark sky, "Why is it so dark, at this time of morning? I mean, I thought it was 1 in the morning or something, but it seems to be much later than that. All the people inside their houses in fear doesn't help either." "Well, they aren't willing to risk their lives, Ness. Everyone wants to live full lives. Despite our actions, I'm sure both of us do too, right?" "Yeah, all of us do." Ness replied, "But we need to be off before something else interrupts our journey to Twoson, darn teleportation blockers!" The two rushed down the arcade and into the path to Twoson, passing by one of the houses where Ness got one of his first Exit Mouse. "Artemis, could you wait here a sec?" "Sure thing, I guess." Ness went up to the door and knocked on it. "Wh.. who is it?" asked a meble voice. "It's just me, the one who got a mouse from you once." Ness said. "Oh.. .c... come in..." the voice said. Artemis saw Ness go in, and after bit, he came back out and said, "Thanks." "No problem, be careful now." the voice told him. "What did you do?" Artemis asked Ness. "I got something that might help us later on. Let's go now." Ness replied. They continued down to the small cave into Twoson, but they saw more creatures blocking their path. These creatures were another unique breed. They looked like an unidentifable species with a face mask, a segergated sword, and a shield with someone's face on it as an emblem. 

"Stop where you are, human scum!" one growled, and pointed its sword at Ness. They seemed to not noticed Artemis too well. Ness then noticed Artemis was hiding in a tree, planning a sneak attack. Ness decided to divert their attention. "So, who are you guys? Minions of the Serpent Riders?" he asked. "You know well, human. We serve Korax, the second of the mighty Serpent Riders. We do not tolerate any form of creature interfering with his plans, none much less you." Korax must be the one in charge of it all, as D'Sparil is weaker than he is, Eidolon was stronger from the book, and only two of them were revived, appearently Korax and D'Sparil. Artemis thought to himself. "Well, I already defeated one of your Maulotaurs, if you care enough for your own lives." Ness warned them with a smirk. "The Maulotaur also survived, vowing revenge. He told us to be expecting you, so prepare to die. You may be able to handle less concentrated groups of enemies, but we Centaurs and Slaughtaurs are mass group attackers. You will not survive!" another said to Ness. "Hate to break it, but I have powers that can attack groups of enemies." Ness smirked more and shot PK Special Gamma at the group of Centaurs. Some of them instantly fell, but most of them held up their shields, which surprisingly protected them from most of the attack." "And we are also aware of that. Our shields can block about any form of energy, so you better be very good at melee combat, big guy." one of the Centaurs taunted. This worried Ness a bit, but he didn't seem too worried. He then used PK Flash Omega on the group of Centaurs. A whole lot of them collapsed instantly, some only felt minor effects from it, and some weren't affected at all. "H...how?!" one of them growled, "How can you use that power without us blocking it?!" "It's not energy, it's merely light, you morons. Your shields do not reflect or block light the way this power works." Ness said, "This Korax guy had better take me much more seriously than this, or he'll be history." Just then, Artemis jumped out of his hiding spot at the Centaurs, and with a few well placed swipes, 12 more Centaurs of the remaining 17 fell to the ground, assuambly dead or out like lights. The remaining 5 growled at them, but knew they had no chance in their reduced numbers. "We will get you later. You may be strong now, but we have more cards in our decks. Retreat!!" one said, and the Centaurs ran off through the caves into Twoson. Ness and Artemis quickly followed, in their journey to reunite with Paula on their adventure...

**********

When they reached the small clearing of Twoson, the skies were slightly brighter than in Onett, but they weren't much better off than in Onett itself. "So Ness, this is Twoson, right?" "Yes. Follow me to Paula's house." "Hold it, you imbecilic humans!" "Now what?!" Ness asked out loud. He saw five man-sized creatures made of stone, reanimated stone to be exact. They looked at Ness and Artemis with angered expressions. "Who are YOU?!" asked Artemis. "We are the Stone Golem Elite! We serve in the frontal ranks of Master Eidolon and Master D'Sparil's armies. Your end come here, mortals!" "So these are the Golems Eidolon used on the world of Thyrion in that book, and ones like D'Sparil's on the world known as Parthoris." "Yes, feline. We were a part of Master Eidolon's frontal attack on the pitiful world of Thyrion. Most living beings were cannon fodder to us, and so will you. It'll take more than mind tricks to overcome us." one said. Just then, one slid at Ness and belted him in the face with a punch, knocking the fillings out of Ness and sending him to the ground. Ness used Lifeup Gamma to restore the entirety of his health and retaliated with a SMAAASHing attack to the Golem's midsection, plus a hard smash on its head, and ended it with a SMAAASHing fist to it's face. It fell back, one of it's arms shattering from the force of Ness's attack. Ness rubbed his stinging hand from the hit. "That smart." Artemis put a paw to his forehead. "Now to show you a another technique of mine, Ness." he said, looking dead at the Golems. "Scatter Beam!!" he called, and a large beam in the shape of the moon on his head erupted forth at the one of the Golems. As it neared, it suddenly split into five separate beams, each one slamming into a Golem's head. The Golem Ness attacked had his head blasted off into pieces, and it fell to the ground, no longer controlled by Korax's magic. The other 4 Golems were severely damaged, but still going. One pounded down at the ground, trying to hit Artemis, but he jumped back, but another Golem was expecting this and belted the airborne Artemis, sending him flying right into Ness's arms. "Ouch! Those things hurt!" the cat growled, shaking his head, and jumping back onto the ground. Ness rushed into the group and swung his bat around in a cyclone, and two Golems were nailed for enough damaged that they exploded into chunks of rock. Another Golem was about to make a swing at Ness's head again, when out of almost nowhere, someone's leg slammed into the Golem's stomach with great speed, shattering it from the middle into pieces, unmoving. Ness, Artemis and the remaining Golem turned to where the Golem had been shattered. They saw a girl, apparently a teenager, with shoulder length blonde hair, a pink dress, and was wearing shoes like Ness', but smaller, and a red ribbon in her hair was what allowed Ness to confirm her identity. "Paula? How'd you find us? And did you do that to that Golem?" Ness asked the girl, and pointed to the recently destroyed Golem. Paula grinned back, almost cutely. "I felt your PK signature getting closer. There have been creatures, including these weird stone guys attacking Twoson. Also, I wasn't expecting that kick to actually destroy it, just get it away from you, but you must've weakened it beforehand." She then noticed Artemis, "Who's this cat?" "Oh... well..." Ness's face turned serious, "Paula, I'm afraid we're into another worldwide problem." Paula's face turned to a slight frown, "I figured on that. The sky's unusually dark for this time of day." "You're telling me! Onett's the same way." Ness replied. "So, this is Paula?" asked Artemis. "Oh, Paula, this is Artemis. He's the one who warned me of the attack on the world. It seems we also have new enemies." "I see. I assumed that from the look of some of these creatures. Pigs with Shotguns, weird creatures with shields, red floating red type things and such aren't exactly minions I'd expect Giygas to send after us." "Pigs with shotguns?" asked Artemis. "You must not have met them yet. Those things almost put holes in my arms many times. I swear they love aiming there or something." Paula replied, annoyed at these pig creatures she spoke of. Just then, Artemis saw the remaining Golem fleeing the group. "Hey! Where're you going?!" he growled at it. "The last Golem! I forgot about him!" Ness said, aiming PK Special Gamma at it. The Golem broke into many pieces.

"Well, that takes care of that little problem." Artemis said, "Ness, we've found Paula. Now who do we need to find?" "Well..." Ness was nervous, "My other friends don't live remotely near here." Paula continued, "Jeff and Poo don't live in the same country as Ness and I do. Jeff lives in a snowy country called Winters. Poo lives in a oriental eastern country known as Dalaam." "Well, Paula... I can't seem to teleport. These Serpent Riders... or Giygas, have found a way to block out PK Teleportation somehow." Paula looked forlong, "Uh-oh. We're in a mess then, aren't we?" "Well, perhaps you can contact them, Paula, maybe Poo can teleport into Eagleland with Jeff. Paula looked more forlong, "Won't work. I tried to contact you earlier when the creatures were first attacking Twoson. I can't reach you via telepathy, and I doubt it's a coincidence. I tried contacting Jeff earlier, and I couldn't get through to him telepathically, and when I called in Winters at his father's lab, Dr. Andonuts said something about Jeff going up to Snow Wood to investigate a recent raid on the school." "Darnit! Jeff must be dealing with them on his own up there, and we can't get to him right now! Blast it!" Ness growled. "Ness, let's go to my house for a short bit and recuperate, and maybe something will come to us. Without teleportation or telepathy, there's not much we can do at the moment." Paula suggested. "Might as well rest a bit. Although that barrier around that one kid's house... he was named Pokey, right?" Artemis asked. "Pokey? I guess it's not much of a surprise to me." Paula said, not very fond of Pokey over his actions on their old adventure. "Yes, why?" Ness asked Artemis. "Maybe there's a gateway in his house. That barrier has to be guarding something important to Korax or D'Sparil, and I read up that D'Sparil is capable of creating something called a World Ripple. It says a world ripple is a mini portal D'Sparil used to march his armies into the major cities on the world of Parthoris and enslave it so quickly. They are easy enough for him to form." Artemis explained. "If so, perhaps we can get out of Eagleland with one, or even reach Korax and D'Sparil's hiding place!" Ness mused. "It is far too early to consider even challenging either Rider. As I said, both are strong than Giygas is with his restored physical form." "Huh?! Stronger than Giygas?! Both of them?" it was Paula's turn to ask questions. "I'm afraid so, Paula. The Serpent Riders are extremely powerful beings in the universe. There are actually 3 of them, but only the weaker two were revived. I hate to imagine what Eidolon, the strongest of the Riders, is like in power." "Anyways, we need to get inside for now. So follow me." Paula said, and led the two down the street to her house, the Polestar Preschool, and showed Ness and Artemis inside with her.

Her parents welcomed Ness, "Ness, you must be on the case of the strange happenings as well, right?" Paula's dad asked him. "Yes, Mr. Polestar. It's happening in Onett. My new friend, Artemis here," Ness introduced Paula's parents to Artemis, who meowed back like a normal cat for the moment, "warned me of the happening starting to take place on this world. I don't suppose you know of the Serpent Riders, do you?" he asked them. Paula's mother spoke up, "Actually, I heard about them from Tamera's[author's note: a name for one of the kids in the preschool] father. He owns a ton of books on mythical creatures. He mentioned something about the Serpent Rider, I believe he was called Korax, or something." "Yes! Do you know where he lives?" "I have a copy of one of the book he has. He gave it to me since he heard Paula was a little interested in mythical creatures in her younger years, although I'm not sure if the Serpent Riders are in it, but feel free to look. It's on that bookself over there." she said. Artemis darted to the book case and found a book on myths and creatures from eons told. "This must be it." he said, causing Paula's dad to almost freak out. "Wow. The... the cat talks?" "Of course he does, Mr. Polestar. I said he was the one who warned be about all of this. My family seemed to understand him too." Then Ness's face showed a mix of sadness and anger. Paula noticed this and asked, "Ness, what's wrong?" Artemis answered for Ness, "He must be thinking of Giygas kidnapping his father." "He... he kidnapped Ness's dad?" Paula looked shocked. Ness replied, "Yes, and I came soon as possible, in fear it would happen to you as well." He looked at her sadly. "Well, I'm glad you care so much, sweety." she smiled at him, "But I have been training myself. You know that, since you saw me that one day a few years ago. Remember?" she shot Ness an odd smile. "Yeah, but still, I think you trained yourself to be stronger physically. It looked like you put a lot of power into that stray kick of yours." "The one I hit the Golem with? I told you I only meant to knock it away from you. But... maybe I am getting a bit stronger. I'm not sure." Artemis interrupted them, "Okay. I've found some info on the Serpent Riders, however a lot of it I've already read about." He searched deeper into the book. Suddenly, an image flashed in front of the cat's eyes. He saw the meteor in Onett, and the barrier surrounding Pokey's house. "Hmmm... We need to go back to Onett for now, though." he said. "Huh?" Ness and Paula were confused. "The meteor that started Ness's adventure two years ago... it might be to the key to the barrier around Pokey's house." "Ugh... more Centaurs, head creatures and archers with weird energy arrows, and possibly more Shadow Wizards too." "Yeah, The Serpent Riders are probably aware of the Wizard that we killed is down, and replaced it with stronger guards. We'll need to be careful up there." Artemis said. "We'd better go now. No time to rest. Too much is at stake right now." Ness said. Paula then called to her parents, "Goodbye Mom and Dad. Stay safe!" "We should be able to." her dad said reassuringly.

The three left the house, and quickly hurried to the cave to Onett, but were stopped when a group of pig creatures with shotguns popped out of the bushes. "Oh great, they're back for more!" Paula growled, recognizing these creatures, and arming her Magic Fry Pan, which she neglected to take out earlier. Ness and Artemis got into fighting stances as well. Paula quickly armed PK Fire Beta, and shot it into a row of 7 of the Pig Creatures. They all caught on fire and burned to a crisp. "They're not that hard to beat, but their weapons can most likely hurt." she told the others. 9 other creatures remained. Ness used PK Special Beta. 6 creatures fell over dead, and the other 3 were heavily damaged. One took a shot at Artemis, but he was so small the shots sailed over his head. One shot at Ness, and he managed to avoid all the blast except one pellet which nailed him in the arm. It stung, but barely phased Ness. "I told you they like shooting you in the arm." Paula said in a "I told you so" voice. One took a shot at her, but she was much more agile, and was way out of the attack's range. Artemis shot another scatter beam into the group, finishing off the remaining pig creatures, and making the way into Onett clear... almost. "You won't get out of here that easily, humans!" a voice, half human/half-pig said to them. They turned to see a large armored tank, in the shape of a Scorpion, as it had a large tail on the rear of it. A pig creature was inside, at the controls of the tank. "Now they're driving heavy machinery." Artemis looked on with a slight sweatdrop. "And they sound... slightly human." Paula noticed the human part of the pig's voice. The tank's tail suddenly fired a missile at Artemis, who was in the center of the group. He jumped the missile itself, but the missile exploded, and the blast did some damage to Ness, Artemis and Paula, but Artemis was right on top of the explosion, thus taking the most damage of the three. Ness jumped at it and swung his bat, crunching in a side of the armored tank. Paula aimed PK Freeze Omega at the tail of the tank, and the blast almost destroyed it in one hit, but the rest of the tank wasn't as damaged as the tail. Artemis shot a beam towards the tank, but this one didn't split into seperate beams, but instead did a bit more damage to the tank, and part of the front was melting from the heat of the beam. Artemis then called to Ness and Paula, "Time to teach you double techinques!" "Huh?!" the two teens were confused. "Attack the tank together with your melee hits, or with PK both at the same time, or just combine your attacks together to make them stronger!" "Oh, I understand." Ness said. "Me too." Paula said, and the two then jumped at the tank, and at the same time, inflicted a double SMAAASH on the mech, instantly shattering it into bits of twisted and broken metal in the frenzy. However, the mutant pig inside had survived the explosion of his tank, and looked at Ness and Paula in rage. "You may have blown my tank to bits, but I will have the last laugh soon enough. Later on, chumpers!" he growled, and teleported away in a white flash of light, different from how some of Korax's minion's were teleporting.

"Well, I guess we can enter Onett now." Artemis said, "Be on your guard. More creatures will likely pop up in Onett, since we've been away from it for a while." Ness and Paula nodded, and stared at the cave in front of them, and they entered, Artemis first, Ness second and Paula last.

Little did they know what was still awaiting them in the near future...

[Man, that was a long chapter, but I had to end it somewhere, didn't I?]