Earthbound: Simple Gifts



She ran. She ran hard, and she ran fast. But they were too many. They were everywhere. She couldn't hide forever.
    "Hey, I think I found her!"
    She huddled up against the rock as close as she could, her teddy bear wrapped tightly in her clutches. Her breathing came in short, forced rasps. She tried to quiet herself, and succeeded in doing so.
    She closed her eyes tight. "Please don't find me, please don't find me, please don't find me. . ."
    She could hear their footsteps. They were so close. How many were there, though? Were there just the two that she heard, or more?
    She'd have to risk it. She leapt out from behind the rock, suprising the two cultists who were nearly on top of her. From her fingers, huge tounges of flame came out and scorched the two cultists to a crisp.
    They fell to the ground, burned to death. She honestly hated to do it, but it was them or her.
    She went behind the rock to grab her teddy bear. When she came back up from under it, she found herself surrounded by the entirety of the cult. Their leader, Carpainter walked in front of her.
    "You almost got away, Paula." He said, a wide grin on his face. "We can't have that, now, can we?"
    "Why are you doing this?" Paula asked, an edge in her voice. Two of the cultists had her by the arms now, and were holding her before the odd, blue haired man.
    "It's my mission in life," Carpainter began, "That's all there is to it. Imagine it now. . .a world of nothing but blue. . .it would be wonderful!"
    "You're insane." Paula said, narrowing her green eyes to slits.
    Carpainter smiled even wider. "Insane. . .no. I prefer. . .gifted." He moved his face to within inches of hers. "And with your sacrifice, we will finally be able to attain that which we have for so long needed!"
    She spat on his face. "Over my cold, dead body."
    Carpainter reeled back and wiped his face. Without a word of warning, he slapped her across the face with an ear splitting crack. "Don't worry. It's all in the plans. Take her to the cabin."
    The two cultists began to carry Paula to the cabin. And that wouldn't be an easy task. . .not by a long shot. . .

    Ness exhaled a deep breath. "Okay, this is it. Giant step. My first sanctuary. Are you ready for this?"
    Colin cracked his knuckles. "About as ready as I'll ever be." He replied. In his backpack he toted several cold remedies, a couple hamburgers, and a yo-yo. On his right hand he sported a fingerless glove, so he wouldn't end up breaking his hand.
    Ususally, after his adventures, he'd come home and end up having broken his hand and not even knowing it. Such were the risks of fighting, you hit someone so hard, you break one of the smaller bones in your hand.
    "Well, let's go." Ness said. He'd bought himself a new bat, as his old one had nearly broken. He gave the bat back to his sister so it wouldn't shatter totally. While Ness was checking to make sure he had everything covered, his mom made Colin a rather interesting steak fajita. It ranked up there pretty high on his meter of tasty. Almost as good as Casey's. . .Casey's. . .
    Casey. Now that was someone he hadn't seen in a while. He stopped for a second. He remembered her brunette hair that came down in bangs barely above her blue green eyes. And her teeth were almost pearly white. And those dimples when she smiled. . .
    He sighed, and smiled. He pulled his wallet from his pocket and looked at his picture of her. Smiling, he leaned against the rock wall that lead into the cave.
    "Pretty girl." Ness said, looking at the picture. "Sister?"
    "Girlfriend." Colin replied. "I hope she's doing okay. I hope Kent's doing okay. I just hope nobody's missing me back home."
    "What's her name?" Ness asked.
    "Casey." Colin replied. His heart lifted just saying her name. It added a drop of joy to this crazy adventure he was going on. "Casey Crestline."
    Ness nodded. "Pretty name."
    Colin nodded one more time, then tucked his wallet into his pocket. "Well, Giant Step ain't gonna come to us, we gotta go and get it!"

    It was awake. After so long, the creature was once more alive, and hungry. Slowly, it made its way to its destination.
    "Oh, hey, Kent." His mother said. "Finally up, I see."
    "Ugh." Kent murmered. His dad was attempting to do something on the computer, which did not make Kent very happy.
    "Hey, why's the computer not working?" His dad asked. With little grace and elegance, Kent moved him aside and sat down in a chair in front of the computer.
    "My computer. Not yours. Broken. Me fix." Kent simply said. "Need caffine."
    "Hey, Kent," His mother began, "Do you know why Colin went to Oregon?"
    Kent shook his head, then let what his mom said sink in. "Colin's in Oregon!?"
    "Mmm-hmm." His mom replied.
    "Oh, man, Casey's gonna have a fit. . .what would possess him to go to Oregon, of all places. . .sheesh. Do we know where in Oregon he is?"
    "Oregon Ciry." His mom replied.
    Kent exhaled. "Okay. . .okay. . .if he's not back after band camp, I'm going after him, alright?"
    "Are you sure that's such a good idea?" His mom asked.
    "Mom, I've got the Skyline, I've got the Maxima, and, if push comes to shove, I've got the Hyundai.
    His dad sighed. "It's still beyond me how you get all that money. . ."
    Kent smiled. "Work hard, play hard. Besides, remember that little tour of the country we went on? Colin and I got roughly one point five million bucks, plus we've got a nice little income from the Spokane Police Force for being keepers of the peace. Why do you think we leave so randomly?"
    Kent's dad shook his head. "Never again will I doubt you."
    "Good to hear."

    The thought was laughable, but it was there nonetheless. They were fighting a mouse. Not just any mouse, though. Apparently, they were fighting a rowdy mouse. Already, Colin had a nasty cut from when it came up and damn near took a bite out of his shin.
    Colin kicked it into a wall, knocking it out. "I swear, this adventure gets wierder and wierder with every step I take. . ."
    "We're almost there." Ness reminded him. This was correct. They were so close to Giant Step they could have reached up and touched it, but it was just a tad too tall. However, they did find the only entrance - and it was guarded by what could only be described as a Titanic Ant. It was as tall as Colin and Ness, and about as wide as them standing shoulder to shoulder.
    If he was lucky, they'd beat this thing, and then he could go home, go to band camp, and call it a day. Hopefully.
    Ness grabbed onto the rope ladder and began climbing towards the ant. He was decided, and Colin knew that this was one of those things that he had to do. Rather than climb the rope, he decided to float to the ant.
    "Why do you have to do that?" Ness asked.
    "'Cause it freaks you out. So it's funny." Colin smugly replied, a wide grin on his face. He quickly quelled it and looked at the grey and black monstrosity. "Okay. You have a plan to get this thing?"
    "Me?" Ness asked, stopping on the ladder.
    "You've gotta do this stuff on your own, man." Colin said. "I ain't gonna be here forever."
    "Well. . ." Ness began. It's a giant ant, so it can't do much. . .I hope. How long can you fly?"
    "I can stay up for another five minutes." Colin replied.
    "Okay. Start firing blasts at it 'till I show up. Hopefully, the blasts will distract it enough so that I can get up there and bash it."
    Colin nodded. "Not bad. Do you want me to fire blasts or make diversions?"
    Ness smiled. "Mix and match at your own discretion."
    Colin nodded. "Alright. Prepare to start beating stuff senseless!"
    With that, the eighteen year old brought himself up to eye level of the ant. "Hey, ugly! Over here!"
    The ant looked his way and made a sickly growling sound. With that, Colin popped off a couple grey blasts of energy and another "sparkler", as he called them. Sparklers looked like they hurt a lot, when in reality they couldn't even singe the hair off his head.
    The ant took the blunt of the first two blasts, and shielded himself from the sparkler. As he did, Ness hopped up onto the platform and brandished his bat. The ant uncovered his soft belly, letting Ness take an open swing at it. After the bat contacted, the ant made an ear-shattering scream, making Ness cover his ears and Colin cringe.
    "Bad, bad, bad," Colin thought as he fired three blasts to distract the ant while Ness recovered.
    Ness opened his eyes and looked up at the ant. Ness' eyes filled with fear as he cowered back. The ant seemed to grin at this and turned to face the scared boy.
    Colin's blasts did nothing to the armored back of the ant. Ness was on his own.
    Meanwhile, Ness looked at the ant, and his ultimate fate. He was going to die. He was going to die, and Colin couldn't help him. His mother would never know about her only son's death, he'd never taste another one of her tasty dinners, he'd never know the meaning of true love, he'd never get to drive. . .
    No. He wasn't going to let it end this way. He couldn't. He stood, summoning all the courage he could muster, and looked the ant in the eyes.
    He took a deep breath, and held his hands out before him.
    "Psi Hammer!"
    Ness saw things slow down. From his hands beams of light emerged and surrounded the enemy. They then took position over the ant and dove into it, first one side, then the other. As if that wasn't enough, the beams emerged from the beast, towards Ness, not phasing him one bit. The reminants of the ant fell to the ground, and disolved into dust.
    Colin set down on the recess in the cave wall. "Dude. . .what did you do!?"
    "I dunno," Ness replied. "I just realized that I could do that, and did it. All I know is that I was sure I wasn't gonna die here."
    Colin smiled. "You've got the touch, my friend."
    Ness nodded. "Well. . .shall we head into Giant Step?"
    Colin nodded. "Lead the way."
    Ness nodded, and lead them into the sunlight. They stepped onto the grassy meadow with the giant footstep in the middle of it. Ness closed his eyes as he felt a melody enter his head. A vision of a small, cute puppy flashed through his vision before he opened his eyes. He felt. . .happy. . .refreshed.
    Colin nodded. "Well. . .any ideas on where to go next?"
    Ness nodded. "Twoson."
    "Arizona?" Colin asked.
    "No. . .Twoson, Eagleland."
    "Eagleland!?" Colin asked. "I thought we were in Oregon City!"
    Ness shook his head. "I've never even heard of Oregon, much less Oregon City."
    Colin was shocked. He moved over to the stone wall and sat down against it. "I think I'm in a world of trouble. . ."

    Paula took a second to look at her situation. Of course, it was terrible. Besides terrible, she only had, what was it, seventy-two hours to live? And here she was, locked in a cabin, with only her teddy bear - odd, a sixteen year old toting around a teddy bear - and a hope that Colin had heard her plea.
    She'd never hacked a computer with her mind before. Sifting through coding wasn't easy, so, rather than do it the hard way, she used the simple black screen technique. It seemed to work.
    But, she could feel Colin in their world, and that gave here some ease. Not a whole lot, seeing as she was sentinced to die in some greusome manner - the two unlucky guards, who's frozen bodies lay on the ground, had tossed some ideas around. They locked her in the cage, gave the keys to Carpainter, then were set for guard duty.
    She couldn't do anything to them physicially, so she froze them with her powerful psi powers. Undressing her with their eyes. . .how rude. She was only sixteen, for christ's sake.
    On the day she was captured, she wore a pink, knee-length sundress with a matching pair of low-heeled pink shoes with the strap that she loved.
    Didn't matter much now, seeing as she was about to buy the farm. Unless Colin and Ness got there. If anyone could save her, those two could.
    Suddenly, she became lightheaded for a second. Then, she felt at ease, somewhat refreshed. Then, her heart sunk.
    "I think I'm in a world of trouble. . ."

    This wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination. Colin and Ness had been summoned to the police building. This only added to Colin's now troubled mood.
    "Don't worry. We'll be fine." Ness said to his companion.
    Colin shook his head. "I don't know how this could have happened! I mean, I'm just flying here, minding my own business. . ."
    He realized what it was. He had noticed a slight disturbance when he was flying over. . .maybe he hit a portal of some sort?"
    Laughable. But, considering the way his day was going, it was the best lead he had.
    "Hey, wanna stop for some grub?" Ness suddenly asked. "Best burgers in town. . ."
    Colin shrugged. "Why not? I'm sure tacking a late arrival at the police office will score us more points."
    "Dude, loosen up." Ness said. "You'll get home. Trust me."
    "That's not what I'm worried about." Colin said. "My cousin - I said I was going to Oregon City, not Eagleland - wherever this is. . ."
    Ness sighed. This was getting him nowhere. He lead his companion into the burger shop and ordered two of their biggest burgers and Onett's best shakes. With that, they sat down.
    "Well? What about Kent?" Ness asked, setting his backpack down.
    "He may come searching for me, which would be bad, considering he'd probably not find me, and think the worst. Being labeled dead wouldn't work wonders for me, y'know."
    Ness thought back to his near death experience. "Good point."
    Colin sighed, and rested his chin in his hands. "I've got Casey to worry about, she got outta the hospital not too long ago, I've got my car, band camp. . .I've got a lot riding on if I can get home or not, and. . .and. . .Oh, man, I need something to drink."
    "What's up?" Ness asked.
    "I'm suddenly hearing a voice. . .sounds like a girl. . ."
    Ness looked at Colin in an odd way. "Erm. . .what's it saying?"
    Colin closed his eyes. "She's saying. . .'help me. . .I hear water running in the distance. . .Colin, Ness, you have to find me. . .I'm a friend you've never met before.'"
    "Dude. . .are you okay?" Ness asked.
    "Hold up. . .I'm seeing something. . ." Colin's eyes were still closed. "I'm seeing a small, wooden house. . .in a valley, just past a very. . .blue. . .town. . .It's got a river running through it. . ."
    "You're not insane. I know that valley." Ness said, resolve in his voice. He packed their food in ziplock bags he had in his pack, and stood up. "You with me?"
    Colin sighed. "And, we still have to worry abou the police. Let's just do it and get it over with."

    "Hey, where's Colin?" Casey asked Kent, who wasn't in any mood to converse right now.
    "Oregon." Kent replied, sharper than he had intended. "And lord knows what he's doing there."
    Casey sighed. "I see."
    Casey was a dusty blonde haired girl with aqua eyes that seemed to shine under normal circumstances.
    These were hardly normal. After a nearly fatal attack at Finals, she had been left almost incapacitated. For now, though, she was only stuck in a wheelchair. Far better than being stuck in a coffin.
    "I wouldn't worry about him. He can take care of himself."
    "It's not that I'm worried about."
    There was silence for a few seconds.
    "He's not that kinda guy." Kent finally said after the agonizing seconds.
    Casey forced an unconvincing smile. "If you say so. . ."
    "I know so." Kent said. "Now. . .back to business. . ."
    He hefted the snare off its harness hanging off his belly. "This doesn't make me happy. Band camp is supposed to revolve around marching. . ."
    Casey chuckled. She was still worried about Colin, but seeing Kent go on about not being able to do his thing at band camp was more than enough to make up for it.
    "Hey, where's Colin?" The band director, more commonly known as B, asked. "He was gonna be here, right?"
    "Supposed to be. He's in Oregon right now." Casey said.
    "Oh. Have something to do with that meteor that hit?"
    "Meteor?" Casey asked.
    "Yeah. A meteor hit in Oregon City last night." B said.
    Kent peeked out of the percussion room. "I need to use your phone."
    "Sure thing." Casey said, and tossed him her cell phone. He quickly dialed Colin's number and put the phone against his ear.
    "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon. . ."
    He snarled and hung up the phone. "It's unavalible. Just what I thought. . . something doesn't add up. . ."
    B sighed. "You still coming to band camp?"
    "'Course." Kent said. "But afterwards, I'm going on a Colin hunt. . ."

    A very dreary Colin followed Ness into the Police Department, where the chief of police was waiting for them. Ness locked eyes with the chief and walked up to him.
    "Sir, you wanted to see me?" Ness asked.
    "Mmm-hmm." He replied. "My name's Chief Strong, by the way. Well, I heard you went up to Giant Step."
    "Yeah."
    "And the sign specificially said, 'Do not enter', Correct?"
    "Yeah."
    "Come with me." Strong said, leading Ness and Colin into a back room, where five police officers were waiting.
    "Alright, if you're bold enough to ignore the sign, let's see if you're bold enough to take on five of our best."
    Ness looked around the room. The police officers were looking at him with evil looks in their eye. He took his bat out of his pack and cracked his knuckles.
    When Colin saw the impending fight coming on, he shook off his drearyness and brought on his intensity. "Alright, boys. . .bring it on."
    One of the police officers walked up to him. "You're toast!"
    With that, the officer threw a karate chop at his neck. Colin ducked and tripped the officer with a low sweeping kick. Colin solidified his loss with a small blast of energy to the chest, holding him down.
    Four more to go.
    Ness engaged one of them, ducking below a fierce punch. The young boy held out his hand and let a white flash emerge from his palm, blinding the officer. Psi Flash. While the officer was trying to clear his vision, Ness gave him a hard swing in the stomach. With an ungraceful flop, the officer fell to the ground.
    Three to go.
    Ness casually tossed his new power, Psi Hammer to another officer, whom immideately fell to the floor, pinned to the ground with the glowing spikes that Ness made sure didn't explode through the officer's body. That would have been bad.
    Colin, on the other hand, was having fun with his combatant. The officer went for a punch, only succeeding in narrowly missing Colin's crotch, odd, seeing as he was aiming for the kid's head.
    Suddenly, he felt himself being flung forward. Then, the kid appeared in front of him and kicked him into the ceiling. He was out.
    The last officer looked at the two. "Uhm. . .Strong!"
    The chief looked at the two kids and grineed, cracking his knuckles. "Alright boys, time for you to experience my lamba-foxtrot-tango karate style!"
    Colin looked at the officer as he adopted a cross armed stance. Colin shook his head, and took a running dash at Strong.
    Before Colin knew it, Strong had him on the ground, his foot still buried in his chest.
    Colin grabbed his heel and lobbed it skyward, sending the officer toppling. Without getting up, Colin caught Strong in the back with his foot, backflipping to his feet, sending the chief to the ground.
    Colin once more adopted his stance, but there wasn't a battle anymore.
    "Ohh, man, it's been a while since I've fought like that. . ." Strong said, smiling. He picked himself up off the ground. "Not bad, boys."
    "Thanks." Colin said, adrenaline still in his veins.
    "Well, you boys need to get to Twoson? No problem."
    With that, Strong pulled out a radio and disbanded the roadblock from Onett to Twoson.
    "We good to go?"
    Strong nodded his head. "Have a safe journey."
    Colin nodded as Ness led him out of the building.
    "Your spirits seem to have picked up." Ness said.
    Colin nodded.
    "Well. . . I'm stuck here. . .so I might as well have fun with it while I can." Colin said, stretching. "So. . .Twoson next?"
    Ness nodded.

    Colin and Ness emerged from the Twoson woods to find themselves walking into a small, homely town. The kind of town Colin may have wanted to live with Casey in.
    "I like this town." Colin said, breathing in the rich summer air. A breif whiff of pine needles and maple leaves tickled his nose, while the soft, warm wind cradled his body.
    Colin smiled. "I don't think it could get much better than this."
    A small creek ran through the town, bordering Bruglin park, a sort of bazaar, where people sold all kinds of odd things. There was also a department store, should they need anything. Further south was the Polestar Pre-School and a bus depot. There was also the Peaceful Rest Valley, where Happy Happy Village sat nestled between a river and the hills. Just beyond that was Liliput steps, a clearing filled with tiny footsteps.
    Ness smiled. "I know how you feel."
    "We still have business to attend to, you know." Colin said, coming back to his senses.