Earthbound: Simple Gifts





"We still have business to attend to, you know." Colin said, coming back to his senses.
    "You're right." Ness replied. "Let's just do it. First thing's first, though. Equipment upgrade."
    Colin nodded as Ness led them to the department store. The atmosphere of the town remained the same in the store, but there seemed to be a disturbance.
    Something was wrong in the town. And Colin knew what it was. A kidnapping. Namely, Paula.
    Colin noticed something that caught his eye - a pair of beefy marching drumsticks. Usually, he'd try them out on a pad or something, but this time, he had something else on his mind - rescuing Paula.
    "Pardon me," He said, "Can I buy those sticks?"
    "Certanly, sir." The salesperson said. Colin knew the sticks well: Vic Firth Tom Floats. Pointy ends. Good for vampires.
    Not neccessarily what he needed right now, but it suited his needs for the time being. "That'll be fifteen dollars."
    Colin fished around in his walled and hauled out a twenty. The salesperson pulled a five out of the register and gave it to Colin. "Thank you for your patronage." The saleslady said, smiling away.
    Colin smiled, and tucked his sticks away into his pocket. Looking about again, he saw a nice pair of driving gloves that would protect his hands from breaking should he get into a fight with, say, a brick wall. Or a battleship.
    He asked the salesperson if he could buy them. They were a steal; only five bucks. He pulled the five dollars left over from the sticks and handed them to the sales lady. She handed him the nice leather gloves and continued to smile as well.
    Finding a bench, Colin sat down and stretched. Ness came down the escalator with a new bat in hand, and a new cap on his head. Also adorning him was an MP3 player and a new pair of earphones.
    Colin quizzicially looked at him.
    "What?" Ness asked.
    Colin just shook his head and stood up, putting his new gloves on. "We're here to save someone, and here you are, buying yourself an MP3 player of all things. . ."
    "Hey, man, you gotta loosen up," Ness began, "lay back a little bit. . .you're gonna get knots in your shoulders."
    Colin sighed. "You're right. . .man, I need to loosen up. Hey, what're you listening to?"
    "My own mix. You've probably never heard of it."
    "Try me."
    "Well. . .you ever hear of Neon Genesis Evangelion?"
    Colin looked at Ness. "Have I ever heard of Eva. What kind of a stupid question is that?"
    "I didn't thin. . ."    
    "Of course I have! What kind of a classless idiot do you take me for!?"

    Paula tried to sleep, but she found that she couldn't. She knew that Ness and Colin were in Twoson, but. . . They only had two and a half days to find her. . .could they do it?
    She now started to worry about her own saftey. How she was kidnapped. She was walking back home from the department store, and before she had a chance to do anything, three cultists came out, bound her wrists in blue rope and slapped a piece of blue duct tape over her mouth, and carried her to Peaceful Rest Valley, where she managed to get loose.
    But, she'd managed to get away. But not for long. They found her again. And here she was. Just her, her teddy bear, Aslan and her fears. Would she, could she live? She was scared. Very scared, very alone.
    She brought her knees up to her chest, hugged her legs, and started softly sobbing into her dress. She tried to compose herself, but found that she simply couldn't. She was far too distressed.
    Why had they taken her? Why? Why not someone else? And why did she have to act so brashly? She could have lived to see another couple days; another couple years. Now, the end was coming far too quickly for her to comprehend. Why?
    So many why's, and not enough answers. She was distraught. Could she do anything?
    No, of course not. Sure, she could get out of the cell, no problem, but that led her directly into Happy Happy Village. For all the good it did her, she'd be better off if she just resigned to her fate.
    She sucked in a sloppy sob, and looked at her teddy bear again. Composure at this point was beyond her. She couldn't find the courage to tell herself that it would be alright, because, quite frankly, it wasn't going to be okay.
    Well, maybe it would. She'd leave this mortal coil, and go to a better place, a happier place. She was decidedly a Christian, went to church every sunday, volunteered at the hospital. So, if she did die, she was going to a far better place. That gave her some ease, but not enough to calm herself down.
    Why, why, why!? She finally stood up, looked out the small window of her cabin, and looked out into the valley.
    "Hurry up," She whispered into the wind.

    "Polestar Preschool. The epicenter of Twoson," Ness began. "I heard of the girl who lived here, Paula. She has some amazing telekenetic powers. The press is always after her, though."
    Colin nodded. He knew that feeling all too well. Being hounded by the press, until he finally had enough.
    One poor man from the press needed to get himself a new car after Colin picked it up and threw it at him. That got the press off his back for a while.
    "Well. . .let's head inside."
    Colin opened the door and took a step inside. Instantly, five tiny heads turned to look at him. Preschoolers.
    "Wow. . .are you Colin Strife?" One of them asked.
    "Wow! Colin Strife is here!"
    Instantly, he was surrounded by five kids asking him questions faster than he could comprehend.
    "Hey, can you show me that cool thing you do?"
    "Do you have a picture of Casey?"
    "Can you teach me how to fly?"
    "Whoa, whoa," Colin finally said. "One at a time, please."
    "Kids, please, give him some space." Someone said.
    From a doorway came an older woman, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
    "I'm sorry. They get a little excited." She said, walking up to Colin. "I'm Melissa Polestar. And you must be Colin Strife."
    Colin nodded. "Yeah, that's me." He extended his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Polestar."
    She shook his hand. "And who's your friend?"
    Colin stepped to the side, revealing Ness. "I'm Ness Hert." He said, smiling.
    "Nice to meet you." Melissa said.
    "And you, too." Ness replied.
    "Would you two like something to eat?"
    Colin and Ness looked at eachother, then back to Melissa. "Yes, please."
    She smiled, and lead them into the kitchen, where she set about to making them some food.
    "I'm sorry if it's not that good, Paula's a much better cook then I am." Melissa said. She stopped for a second, then went back to her actions. "Ever since she's been kidnapped, things have been so hard around here. Her father's been running back and forth, looking for her. I'm so worried."
    "Don't worry." Colin suddenly said. "I'll make sure she's fine."
    Melissa suddenly looked at Colin. "Someone of your stature would help us?" She asked.
    Colin scoffed. "If you're not a part of the solution, you're part of the problem."
    "Besides, a friend in need is a friend indeed, right?" Ness chimed in.
    Melissa looked at them. "I wish there were more people in the world like you."
    Colin smiled, and leaned back in his chair. "Thanks."
    "No, it's me who should be thanking you." Melissa said.
    "Mrs. Polestar, as much as I love being thanked for helping people," Colin began, "Please, please stop. I just do what comes naturally."
    Melissa nodded. "Oh, yes, I understand. You're just like Paula."
    "Speaking of Paula, do you know anyone who might be able to give us any leads?"
    "Umm. . ." Melissa began. "You may wanna try Mister Everdread in Burglin Park."
    "Thanks." Colin said, and stood up. "Hey, why don't you save that meal for after we bring Paula back?"
    Melissa looked at the two boys, hope in her eyes. "Let's call it a deal."
    Colin went to leave, but found a little girl at his feet.
    "Yes?" He asked.
    "Are you gonna save Paula?"
    "Yeah. Yeah, we are." Colin said.
    The little girl smiled, and said no more.
    And with that, Colin and Ness left the Polestar Preschool.
    "So. . .Burglin Park. . .that's not too far from here." Ness said, leading them down the street.
    
    Colin looked at the Peaceful Rest Valley. "This is. . .this cannot be happening."
    "It is." Ness replied. This is where Everdread told us to go, anyway. . ."
    Colin shook his head. "Why, oh why, do we have to worry about UFO's out here!"
    Ness shook his head. "Don't think. Run. As fast as you can."
    Colin looked back at his companion. Colin was out of energy, so he was down to running, but he was the track star back at Ferris, and Ness had the fastest mile time at Onett High School.
    "Okay. . .on the count of three, we sprint through, and we don't stop 'till we hit Happy Happy Village, alright?"
    Ness nodded, and put on his intense face.
    "One. . ."
    Every last one of the creatures stopped to look at the two winding their internal springs.
    "Two. . ."
    One particularly evil feeling oak tree locked its eyes on them.
    "Three!"
    In the wink of an eye, Ness and Colin were gone, running as fast as their spindly legs would carry them. Every single creature in the valley had its eyes locked on them speeding through the valley, not taking one second to look back. Before they knew it, they had UFO's shooting beams that caused night-time stuffyness, spinning robots firing lasers at them left and right, and on each side of them territorial oaks were bursting into flames, trying desperately to catch them aflame.
    But all of these were in vain. Colin and Ness were far too fast for anything to hit them. In fact, the only thing that really happened was the sole of Colin's shoe getting hit by a beam that caused night-time stuffyness.
    Finally, after what seemed like an eturnity, they both almost collapsed just inside Happy Happy Village.
    "Dude," Colin breathlessly said, "I think I'm having a heart attack. . .everything's so blue. . ."
    Ness looked around, catching his breath. "Wait. . .everything is blue!"
    Colin looked around, and saw that this was true. Everything was painted blue, even the lone cow in town. Blue houses, blue fences, blue grass, even cultists, dressed in blue robes that allowed little more than a black tie and a white collar to show through, and a blue hood.
    "Dude. . .it's a blue KKK," Colin observed, coughing to make sure his lungs still worked.
    "Right. We're here; let's find her." Ness said.
    Colin nodded. "Of course, we can't just run around asking 'Hey, have you seen Paula, you took her captive', They'd be onto us in not time atoll. We gotta do this covert."
    Ness nodded. "I see. Look, let's just find her and be done with it."
    Colin nodded. "I'll tell 'ya what. Why don't you stay in town, find out what you can about this guy. If we wanna go covert, one is the way to go."
    Ness pursed his lips. "One if by land, two if by sea. How many by air again?"
    Colin slowly grinned. "I like your thinking. I can only fly for a couple seconds, though. We gotta do it quick."
    Ness sighed, and nodded his head. "You go first. I'll come in behind you."
    "On the count of three. . ." Colin said, taking his mark. This would take most of his energy. . .he just hoped that someone could heal him after this. He didn't like having to use his powers for something so trivial, but such were the times.
    "Three!" Colin shouted, and sprung from his position. Ness followed him behind through the cave leading to a small cabin.
    Colin hit the ground harder than he intended and somersalted into the side of the cabin with a resounding thud.
    "Oww. . . that didn't go over quite as planned. . ." Colin muttered as he picked himself up. "Ness?"
    As if on cue, Ness emerged from the cave, his eyes searching desperately for a fight. "What? No life threatening fights? No traps?"
    Colin shook his head, both to tell his companion no and to clear the cobwebs from his head. "Not this time. I think this is it. I hope."
    Ness looked at Colin. "Well. . .lead the way."
    Colin sighed. "Fine, fine, fine." With that, Colin led them into the half cabin, half jailcell. Behind the bars, clutching Aslan, her teddy bear, as if it were the only holding her from a black hole or something equally as deep and unending.
    Colin nearly stumbled over one of the frozen guards in the blue robe and hood. As he did, the girl looked up at him. It was obvious she'd been crying, and she wasn't making any effort to try and hide it. As soon as she saw Colin and Ness, her face changed completely. Her sad, hopeless face turned into something hopeful, happy.
    "You came!" She said, walking to the bars. "Oh, I'm so glad you came!"
    Colin nodded. He was a man of few words when it came to being greatful. Rather, he put on a big, goofy grin and blushed. He quickly brought his mind back to that which mattered.
    "Paula, was it?" Colin asked. The greatful girl nodded. "Okay, how do we get you outta here?"
    "You can't." Paula said. "Carpainter has the key to the cage."
    This was not a good omen by any strech of the imagination.
    "And I've got my. . .execution. . .in little more than two days."
    Colin rubbed the hair on his chin. "We could do this the super heroic way, or the conventional way."
    "Conventional, please." Paula said, putting on a grin.
    "Works for me. Where's Carpainter?" Colin asked.
    "He's in the Happy Happy Church. His mind has been warped by the Mani Mani statue, and he uses some devistating thundar attacks. Use this."
    She went over to her teddy bear, unpinned a pin from it, and handed it to Colin. "This blocks thunder attacks. You should be fine if Carpainter uses his attacks on you."
    Colin nodded, and smiled. "Thanks."
    Paula smiled, then looked over at Ness. "Sorry I've been ignoring you, Ness."
    "What. . .how do you know my name?"
    "I know that you're one of the chosen four, just as I am." Paula crypticially said.
    "Wait. . .does that mean that I'm not one of the four?" Colin asked.
    "I'm afraid not." Paula said.
    Colin solemnly nodded, and simply walked out of the door, the pin in hand.
    "Wow." Ness said. "He's not. . .is he?"
    Paula shook her head. "However, he will be a great help to us. I hate to say we'd be using him, but it would be better off if he made his own choice if he wanted to come with us or not. His choice is his to make and his alone."
    "I suppose you're right." Ness said. "Don't worry, we'll have you out of here in a jiffy."
    "I hope so." Paula said. "I don't think I could take another night in here."
    "You won't have to." Ness assured her. "You won't have to."
    Paula smiled. "I believe you."
    Ness tipped his hat. "I'm a man of my word, Miss Polestar."
    With that, he left the building leaving Paula and Aslan to their own devices once more.
    Ness found Colin standing arms crossed, leaning against the wall of the cabin.
    "Don't feel bad, Colin." Ness said.
    "Easy for you to say." Colin replied, not looking up at Ness. "So, what, aren't you gonna go and beat up Carpainter?"
    "Dude, what's with you?" Ness asked. "First, you're gung-ho, now you're just dropping out again?"
    "What's the point of going with you? I'm not chosen." Colin said.
    "That doesn't mean you're not a huge help." Ness replied. "Look, you don't have to keep going with us, it's up to you. Just remember what you said - 'If you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.'"
    Colin brought himself up to Ness' level. "Congradulations. You've just learned how to bring a group's morale up."
    "You mean. . .you weren't serious?" Ness asked.
    "Chosen four, whatever, dude." Colin said. "No prophecy said that I was gonna battle at Finals this summer. Unless it's absolutely pivital, I won't leave 'ya on your own."
    Ness grinned. "Good. Now, let's show this Carpainter what we think of kidnapping. . ."