The War of the Omens: #2: EarthBound Stars
Prolouge, Part 2: We are Planetbound again!!

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

Disclaimer: I am rewriting Stars, since I've decided to use a detail system more like Erico's[look for his stories in the Mega Man section of FF.net], and using it on the older version of Stars would make it seem all out of place, besides, I wanted to tone down a few more things anyways, and some bits of the plot and a few of the characters from the original version will be gone, mostly since I had too many people at once, and it was hard to keep track of them all. I've cut out about 13 characters not really that necessary to the story, but there are still a lot of characters in this, despite the cut in the number.

Also, 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.

The blue planet of Earth was covered by layers and layers of clouds, as it always was. As the two Serpent Riders, D'Sparil and Korax, looked at the planet from above, in the form of energy that was invisible to the naked eye, they began to discuss the matter at hand. Both riders knew they had to be cautious. Preavus would most certainly not be tempted to revived them a second time. They had to be especially cautious, as aside from their conquests on Parthoris and Cronos, they had no other experience.

"Brother!" D'Sparil began, "What do you make of it?" 
"What? The planet?" Korax replied, sounding more human as energy than as his true self. 
"Yes. What do you think of it? Does it look like the kind of planet you'd expect to have that kind of magic that... strange Preavus guy spoke of?"
"Truthfully, I do. The planet seems to be teeming with life, and not in just certain concentrated areas of it, like Cronos. I am not sure how the population was on the world you enslaved, but despite the large oceans, I believe this planet has one of the healthiest sources of magic I have ever seen. Even our home dimension wasn't quite this bright skied."
"I noticed. I don't know if we helped cause it, but Parthoris was lacking something when I was there. But prehaps I'll learn soon enough."
"Brother, remember, we are not at full power as of now. Every world has heroes of some form. We know that first hand. We must be careful, even on a world as peaceful looking as the one below."
"Speaking of which, I wondered about that foolish man's wish to destroy the world of Earth. What do you plan to do to the world of Earth when Eidolon returns?"
"We will NOT destroy it. I have already decided that. That world's magic might be able to help us in a new goal. We are free from the powers of our former master now. We may be able to return to our home dimension and return to our normal lives."
"Korax, are you referring to E..."
"Do NOT speak his name in front of me, brother. I highly recommend against it if we all know what's good for us." Korax interrupted D'Sparil in great despise of their former master, who had unknowingly been the reason they were released into the universe in the first place.
"Sorry. I did not ever get to know him well, even before we were banished."
"You are lucky then. I despised him in secret, and so did Eidolon, and we are now free, so we must make sure he doesn't attempt a conquest himself eventually. I don't care much for this universe we are in, but if we destroy him, it might get us back into our own world."
"Hmm.. we are almost there. We must find a proper place to land."

Korax and D'Sparil were now within the Earth's atmosphere. The planet was large, but there were quite a few islands around. They set down near a chain of them, still in the form of energy. These islands seemed to be dead center in one of the oceans of Earth, and some of the nearby islands had smoke coming from them. As the two touched the ground, they formed into their original selves. D'Sparil was about the size of the average human person, wearing a long red robe, which also covered his face, save his glowing red eyes. Korax... well, he was extremely hard to describe, he was much taller than his younger sibling, and his face was extremely twisted, and he has six arms, and not two like his brothers. He was also a gloomy gray color, except for his evil-like red eyes.

"Well, the climate is... well.. .HOT!" D'Sparil suddenly jumped up and down from the unforgiving heat of the tropical climates they were in. Korax felt the sun heating him up as well, but he didn't bother jumping around like his brother. He was nowhere near as agile as his younger sibling, in fact, for most of the time, he was as slow as a turtle on foot, and preferred teleportation for his traveling, or becoming pure energy.
"Brother, we should scan the planet for it's focal point of energy." Korax hissed, causing his sibling to calm down.
"Good point. Maybe we can find a less hot place on this world."

Korax closed his "eyes", even though no one would have been able to see movement in them anyways, and began focusing on the core of the planet, which was what Preavus had called the source of the magic. That was easy enough. It was the focal point that was going to be hard to find. He began following small strains of energy going up toward the surface, and followed them, trying to follow the correct one which would go all the way to the crust of the planet, which was one of the major reasons a planet flourishes so much. After what felt like hours to D'Sparil, but actually only 4 minutes, Korax stirred,

"I have found a place. Use your senses to find the link in my mind, and use a world ripple to take us to that location."
"Er.. sure thing." D'Sparil used his telepathy to read the link to the power source in his brother's mind and got the location on the world, allowing him to use his world ripple to form a small gateway. The two brothers walked through it...

Only to find themselves under the waves of the ocean. D'Sparil almost jumped out of his robe noticing he was in the water, but Korax looked at the ground below him carefully. It must be a concealed island, hidden beneath the waves. He said, noticing the land looked like it was in the shape of an island. He concentrated carefully, locking onto his best power, the power of Chaos. The island began to rumble and shake beneath their feet. Soon, the island began to lift, the grounds holding it down being pulled out of the crust of the Earth, causing the island to slowly resurface. D'Sparil was shocked, now remembing just how powerful his brother was in comparison to himself. It was over in a matter of a few seconds. Korax noticed that above the water, the island looked a lot bigger than below the waves. However, D'Sparil was again jumping around. The heat was even greater here than on the other island. "Yeouch!!" he jumped up, floating a little to prevent his feet, or whatever, from burning off. Korax seemed to not care how hot the climate was. "Man, this planet is flourishing, but how can the people here take such a hot climate?!" D'Sparil growled. 

Korax sighed in an annoyed tone, "Because not all of this planet is hot. We are in the very center of the planet's surface, which must explain why the energy of the planet is so easy to reach here. The farther north or south we get, the colder it gets. The island we were on earlier is about in the same position on the North to South scale, just more to the West or East. That is why it seems so hot now."

With that, the two brothers began scanning the island via small floating and short range teleportation. The island was very grassy, with some sand mixed in for good measure, and the sun shone high. "Or prehaps the star up there can get light to this world better than others as well." D'Sparil mused.

Korax spoke up again, "Well, it is the only one of these worlds close enough to the sun, and yet, not too close, to be able to support life on it. The other worlds seemed to more heavily rely on magic or the molten rock of the world to create their heat/cold sources. The sun is what makes the world hot as well, depending on where on the world you are. Without it, the whole planet would rely way too much on their magic sources to keep it in good shape, rendering it almost useless for all our needs from it."
D'Sparil was amazed as his elder sibling's knowledge of the new world, "Well, even if we find the way to extract the magic, we need to find out more about this world personally, right?"
"Correct. That is where I need your help. I need you to roam this world for a while, and learn of it's inhabitants and such. You should also try to find out of anything
else that can help us in our goal, and learn of any past heroes on this planet. We need to know exactly we might be going up against."
D'Sparil sighed. He knew Korax would make him do it alone, but he accepted, "If it'll get me out of this hot climate, I'll go ahead, but I want you to travel with me at times, you'll probably understand the concept of stuff much better than I do."
Korax sighed back, "As soon as I find out what I'm searching for, I will give you a sign, but for now, go."
"Very well." D'Sparil concentrated his own powers, trying to find a massive group of life-signs, and found many. He opened a world ripple and stepped through.

***********

On the other side of the ripple, D'Sparil entered into a small, dark space. He looked around, noticing the narrowness of his surroundings, and the fact there were weird structures around him. He walked towards a more lit area, noticing a vast open space with many more structures, and what looked to him like large pods racing along the gray roads[or cars if you want to be specfic]. He took in the surroundings with great curiosity, and saw all sorts of people, and he realized.
"Another human-based planet? Geez, humans are in more places than we thought, but where am I?" 

He suddenly heard steps behind him and a voice, "Hey weirdo, it's much too early for Halloween. Heh." He turned to see a bulky human walking towards him, looking mischievous to him.
"Eh? Is that you're pitiful attempt at humor, human?" he smiled under his cloak, although no one could see his face.
"Oooh.. I'm so sorry your sense of humor is small. I guess I might as well just pound you. You're treading in my space, punk!" the man said and swung his fist at him. D'Sparil grinned and easily moved side, and unveiled his imfamous 3-prong staff and slammed the man in the side with the non-pointed end, sending him into the wall. He then pointed the staff at the man's neck.
"Amusing, but you are weak for a human. Are all of you as weak as this?" he asked.
"Gah! You must be some kind of freak alien!" the man replied, squirming for his life.
"All I want is a few answers to my questions, human, and I will let you live." D'Sparil threatened. I love it when I do that. He grinned.
"Anything! Anything!" the man agreed.
"What is the time of this world, that you know of, that is?"
"Er... it... it's June 1st, 1997, 12-something-pm. Is that good enough?"
"Explain your system of time to me."
"We... well... June is the month of the year, 1997 is the year, and 1 is the day of the month and..."
"Nevermind... you're too scared to give a solid answer." D'Sparil pulled the staff away. Normally he would've killed annoying pests like this, but he didn't wish to make a scene yet, "Just... get outta here!"
The man did so without question, running away screaming like a yelping dog.

D'Sparil then decided he should try to see if all the people were that stupid enough to pick fights with him. If not, he'd try to get as much info as possible without making another scene like that. Most of these humans couldn't dream of harming him, so it didn't matter, it was the principal of keeping their presence as concealed as possible that was the issue. He walked down a sidewalk, figuring you weren't supposed to walk between the cars and such. He saw an small furniture store and walked in. At the counter were two humans, a man and his apprentice. The apprentice was younger looking than the other man. He saw D'Sparil and said, "Hey sir, isn't it sorta... well... weird to walk around in that?" Nervousness. I guess every species has its bad apples. D'Sparil thought, realizing the man in the alley was only a bad seed compared with this boy, "It doesn't bother me much, not compared to those scorching hot islands I was just on?"
"Ellis Island isn't very hot today. None of the city really is that hot, sir." the older man said to him. 
"I meant the islands in the middle of the world in that big ocean water." D'Sparil said.
"In the tropics? How could you have gotten here so fast, then?" the apprentice asked.
"That is really none of your concern, human." D'Sparil growled.
"Human? You must be an alien of somekind." the apprentice assumed.
"Alien? Is that what you call people from other worlds?" D'Sparil asked.
"Yep, he is an alien." the man agreed. 
I guess that means 'yes'. D'Sparil thought, "Anyways, do you know where the information center of your world is located?" he asked in a monotone voice.
"Information center... oh... must be looking for the Library!" the man realized what the Serpent Rider was looking for.
"Er, I guess that's I mean." he said without any emotion.
"Come with me. I will show you to the Library. Dwight, watch the store for me." the man said to the apprentice.
"Yes, sir." the apprentice said.

The man led D'Sparil to his car. D'Sparil looked at it funny. "It's a car. It's a riding vehicle for us on this planet." 
"Very well." D'Sparil shuddered at the car and got in. This guy has some odd tastes, even for a human. The man drove him to a large building near the middle of the city. They got out of the car and the man said, "Welcome to the New York City library. You are rather lucky you ended up here. This is one of the largest cities in the world."
"How large is it, exactly?" D'Sparil asked.
"It is one of the 5 largest cities in the world." the man replied. "I'll get you started in the library, so you don't feel too lost."
D'Sparil was reluctant, but needed to know, "Very well. Lead the way, human."
The man led him into the library, and led him to the librarian's desk. "Excuse us." the man asked the librarian, "But this... person from another world." he looked at D'Sparil, "Needs to look up stuff on this world. Can you direct him to the Encyclopedias, please?" 
"Another world?" the librarian asked, "This must be some joke, but whatever. Follow me, sir." she looked at D'Sparil, "Nice costume by the way, kid." 
"I am not a kid, I am 1000 years old." D'Sparil protested. 
"Sure you are... you're an old fart then, aren't you." she joked. D'Sparil sighed, and decided not to protest, and just get information on the world and get back to Korax as soon as possible. 

He followed the librarian, leaving the man who brought him here behind. She lead D'Sparil up some steps onto the second level of the library and pointed to a large section near a corner. "That is the encyclopedias. They'll help you learn more about this world, my little green man." 
"I am not green. I wear red and..." The librarian already was gone before he could answer completely, "Weird humans, but onto business..." He walked up and pulled out a book and began looking into it...

After about 3 hours of reading, D'Sparil had learned a lot about Earth's histories and technologies, as well as the other species of the planet. He learned Earth was MUCH more advanced in technology then Parthoris. No wonder this planet's magic is extremely rich in power. Barely any of these humans believe in it, or utilize it, plus they use this technology of theirs to emulate some forms of magic, thus saving its' use. D'Sparil thought. He has also learned of the many cultures of the people of Earth, learned what certain things were, learned the languages of many different cultures, thinking he could scare Korax or Eidolon with these new forms of talk sometime. He also learned of the corrupted and dark natures people could have, and of anicent myths and heros and gods, and other history of other parts of the planet, and he also learned of the countries and how many of them were ran. Korax would have a field day with this. I hope he's found a way to extract energy from this planet by now. I'd like to get Eidos back and explain all this to him.

As if his thoughts were read, Korax suddenly contacted him via telepathy, <Brother, I am ready to assist you. I have found our answer, for the most part.> D'Sparil replied, On my way, Sihab. D'Sparil opened a large world ripple, which also formed wherever Korax was, and Korax's large frame stepped slowly through it, and he was then in the Library. "Have fun, elder brother?" D'Sparil smirked at Korax.
"The human's humor is not your strong point, brother." Korax frowned at him, "But, I have found us a place to make home, and it almost right were we need to be. I made a deal with a somewhat powerful force on this world that if I let him overpower a mythic creature on that island, he can hide in his underworld complex in the ground... the COLDER ground, in case you care," D'Sparil looked more interested now. Korax continued, "The focal point of the Earth's magical energy is within that complex, and to our luck, we are the only one capable of utilizing it properly. Anyways, we have some leeway. What have you learned, brother?"
"Well, we've probably hit the proverbial jackpot here! These humans don't believe in the existance of magic. Here, read this stuff while I check out the rest of the library." D'Sparil shoved all the books in Korax's face.
"Ugh... fine. I need to learn stuff about this world anyways." he grumbled, as D'Sparil walked off to look around. Korax had bascially ended up learning the same things as D'Sparil, but he also took note of the smaller details of it too, making sure he understood it piece by piece. In only 2 hours, he was done reading and bored stiff from the experience. He had to get up and walk around a little. He rose and looked around, going down the steps to the lower level of the Library. The Librarian looked at him and said, "Woah, and who are you?" she asked. Korax wasn't sure if he should answer her, but then D'Sparil intervened. "My brother. He's from where I am too. He's over 3000 years old." D'Sparil smirked. "Ooookay..." the librarian decided not to ask, and just left.
"Weird people these humans are." Korax mumbled. "They're that way." D'Sparil said, "Anyways, I was kinda looking for you. I want you to come and try this new thing called a Computer out. Come." he led the reluctant Korax to the back of the Library, where a whole set of computers were.

D'Sparil sounded intrigued by what these machines could do. "These things are just a small example of the advanced technology of this planet. They seem like magic, but it's electronics and such, whatever that really means." "They can use electricity to their advantage to make a lot of this stuff mostly." Korax answered. "Good... you have been reading up lately." The two brothers took a seat at different computers. Korax just happened to sit next to the person D'Sparil threatened in the alley earlier when he arrived. "What kind of suit is that?!" he asked Korax, "Suit? This is my body, not some stupid suit, human." "Human?! AAAHHHH!!! Another one of those strange aliens!!" D'Sparil recognized the voice. Oh brother, idiot boy decided to grace us with his presence. "Hey, 'old friend'!" he called to the man. The man then saw D'Sparil and freaked, "AHHHH!!! They're invading us!! Run for your lives!!" the man screamed and left. The librarian picked up a white phone and dialed a string of the numbers and then said, "Please come down to the library. Some lunatic man just screamed about aliens. Yes. I'm serious. He's a loon." she then hung up the phone. "Must have seen those two weirdos who claim they're 1000s of years old." she sighed, looking at an old tabloid about aliens making a base out of StoneHenge.

D'Sparil and Korax were using the internet as it was called, and looking around, it was much like a electronic encyclopedia. The two had learned of even more current happenings in the world, and Korax found something interesting, reading tabloids from a place called Winters. 

"Hmmm. It seems other aliens have recently attempted an invasion and failed." 
"Eh?" this got D'Sparil's attention.
Korax looked at related tabloids, talking about police obsessed with rockblocks, cults that were devoted to the color blue, zombies invading a city, bands in debt with theatre managers, big rats in the sewers of cities, a prince from a foreign country visiting a resort beach town, raiders of a pyramid, swamps as dark as night, hidden underworlds, and the most interesting one of all, an alien known as "Giygas".
"Hmmm, this could be very useful to us. I must look up more on this Giygas guy." Korax muttered almost to himself.
He used a search engine and entered in Giygas as a name. To his surprise, it was a widely mention name. He looked at the top site, which was known as www.starmen.net[author's note: yes, I'm giving you all mention], and looked around, and read the first time page. It mentioned that starmen.net was based on a game called EarthBound, which was made based on the real-life adventures of 4 teenage children who fought the evil alien force called Giygas[author's note: the site is a bit different in this dimension, since in this dimension, EB was based off a real-life event]. "These humans have made a game based on Giygas' invasion. These humans have odd taste indeed." D'Sparil said, looking at what his brother had been looking up. They looked up all the things and info on the 4 heroes who fought against Giygas. Korax seemed interested in the one called Ness, especially when he discovered Ness was supposably one with the powers of Earth at one time. "Hmmm... these heroes aren't our average heroes, they're much younger, can use telepathy and such to control stuff, etc. One's a pure genius in human standards, one is a also a prince."
D'Sparil also decided to say something, "Not to mention one of them could harness the Earth's power at one time. He might make trouble for us. I'll bet if anything really big concerning us happens, they'll hear about it and come after us."
Korax was now deep in thought, "Hmmm... not if I can help it. Let's return to the Underworld Complex." D'Sparil locked onto the energy source of the underworld complex and opened a world ripple and entered it. Korax stepped near and looked back at the image of Ness on the computer screen, "If you are truly a hero of this world, I wonder how you would compare to me, Ness. We will probably never find out though." Korax sighed, almost disappointed and stepped through the world ripple...

*************

It was dark, cold, and tinted red in the void Giygas hung in. It had been two years since four young heroes came and vanquished his "physical" being. He had gone half insane from all the abuse a former minion of his had put him through, and locked away in a machine. When his minion shut off the machine to make Giygas attack the four heroes, one of them, a young girl, the age of 14 years had discovered a way to send him away, although they had thought they had totally destroyed him. Blast you, Ness! Blast you, Paula! Blast all of you annoying kids! Blast you Earth! You stupid humans just don't know when to die, do you? If only I could be restored to what I used to be at one time, I would crush you! Giygas suddenly heard a responce.
<Well hello, Giygas> The voice sound like Korax's.
Who is this?! Answer me!
<Calm down, I am here to help you.>
How could YOU help me?
<I know about Ness and his friends, and I know you want revenge, right?>
WHO are you? How do you know about them, and how are you contacting me?
<If you absolutely must know, I am Korax, the Serpent Rider. Does it ring a bell?>
Serpent Riders?! I thought you were destroyed.
<Well, foolish humans make foolish mistakes. I can bring you back to what you once where, but I want you to help me.>
If I can destroy my old enemies, I will help you. What is your pitiful request?
<I want you to be my 3rd in command, and I wanted you to help me stop Ness and his posse and any other would-be-heroes from interrupting my plans.>
Which are?
<That is classified information for now. I can easily leave you here, so I'd like an answer before the world blows up from overheating, please.>
Giygas growled, this was the only known way to exact vengence, but he regretted he'd have to answer to a supposably higher power.
<I will let you do with the remainder of this planet as you please, as well, if that'll help presuade you.>
Giygas's "scowl" became a smile and he decided to respond. Korax... I more than accept your little offer, but you must tell be of your plans once I have returned, if you can return me to the Earth plane.
<Hah hah hah!! Consider it done, friend.>