ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Unusual Species</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <Basefont face="Arial" size="2"> <CENTER> <h1>Unusual Species: Part 2<p></h1> <I>By SaturnStorm</I><P> </CENTER> "If at first you don't succeed..."<br> The raising of hands. A spark in the air. A 2-D image; a note.<br> <i>~~We are sorry, but due to circumstance, the service you are requesting is unavailable. Please try later.~~</i><br> "Rats!!"<p> When Ness and his friends; Paula, Jeff, Poo and Tracy; reached Happy Happy village, everything seemed fine. The people were outside, performing their daily activities, the animals were doing as they usually did, and nothing seemed out of place. It was as if there had been no explosion of any sort there.<br> "Well, this isn't what I had been expecting." Ness sighed, scratching the back of his head. How could such a powerful force do nothing at all? It made no sense!<br> Maybe it happened in the Sanctuary. The cave could have concealed a lot." Paula suggested. She remembered the sanctuary point well -- it was the first one she visited. She had been nowhere near as strong as she was now, and had built up her confidence in fighting there with the first in her set of frying pans. The size and structure of the cave stuck in her head.<br> "Good thinking! Let's go check!" Ness decided, grinning at Paula. The others could swear he blushed slightly.<br> That was another reason Paula remembered that cave.<br> The gang quickly made their way over to the cave leading to Lilliput Steps: the first sanctuary location.<br> It didn't take them long to get there: it was only a brisk walk across the small village. A few villagers stopped and muttered amongst themselves about this unexpected arrival, though nobody was courageous enough to walk up and talk to the five of them. An unhindered journey of fifteen minutes, and they were looking into the dim depths of the cave.<br> Finally, they found something out of place. Aside from the lack of animals, several of the higer ledges had caved, and craters and cracks in the ground were now present. There were only about three craters, and the most damage in the cave seemed to surround them. Other than that... the cave was in one piece.<br> "It's a start, but still, I don't think this quite explains what you described." Poo reasoned, turning to Paula and Ness. They seemed to be thinking the same thing.<br> "How could such a powerful explosion do so little damage?" Tracy asked, looking into the cave.<br> "Unless it wasn't an explosion." Jeff thought aloud.<br> Their interest gotten, Ness and his friends turned to the genius. "How do you figure that?" He asked.<br> "Well, an explosion would destroy everything around it with its force, and send out shockwaves that could level a village like that outside. And from what you described, the light would have meant a large explosion. Peaceful Rest Valley, half of Twoson, as well as Threed and Saturn Valley would have been incidentally destroyed." Jeff explained. "An Earthquake would have the resulting force, but less of the light. So, quite simply, whatever happened here wasn't an explosion. However, a little further investigation would probably be neccessary for me to find out [i]what[/i] really happened."<br> "Wait, I think you lost me somewhere around halfway in there." Tracy spoke up, "So if it wasn't an explosion, then what was it? Certainly doesn't look like anything landed there."<br> "That's very true. If anything had landed, first, the ceiling would have caved in, and the tremor could have still done a lot more damage." Jeff agreed. "The only signs that indicate a landing would be those three craters. But that still doesn't explain the light."<br> "Well, we're not getting anywhere standing here like pidgeons!" Ness stated, hopping down one of the ledges.<br> "Yeah, we should be investigating, not discussing it. Else we'll never get any closer to discovering what it is!" Paula jumped after Ness. Poo silently followed. And finally, Jeff and Tracy joined them.<p> "Circumstance? Since when was... that... a circumstance?"<br> "Since she decided it was."<br> "Fine. So what do we do now? Ask for directions?"<br> "Like I can see that happening. 'Excuse me, we're a little lost. Can you tell us the way back to Dimensional Field eight? Oh, and a lift would be nice.' We need a plan."<br> A rock is thrown across the clearing.<br> "Guys, we may have a problem: We're not alone."<br> "What?!"<br> "Oh great. So what, now we have no escape route?"<br> "We do, it's just cut off due to 'circumstance'."<br> "Whatever. See if you can get us across this plain to somewhere else."<br> The waving of hands. A small spark... two of the figures disappear.<br> "What the-- Uh oh, not good..."<p> Poo leaped from one of the ledges to a weaker one. Peering down the side into one of the craters, he spotted Jeff, kneeling inside, apparently inspecting the hole.<br> "Find anything?" He called down.<br> The blonde looked up and adjusted his glasses. "No, not yet. Whatever created this didn't leave a mark!"<br> Poo jumped down and helped Jeff from the crater. With a grateful smile, the latter moved on to the next crater, skidding down to the bottom.<br> The Prince turned to explore more of the territory when a call caught his attention. "Tracy, have you been down any of these craters?"<br> The young girl walked over to the edge of the crater in which Jeff was now standing. She lookd in with a curious frown. "No, why?"<br> Jeff frowned deeper and looked at his new discovery. "It appears whatever -- or whoever -- created these craters has size eight feet and wears sneakers... At least, for this one." He indicated the track leading from the middle of the crater right up to the top. He looked round and noticed something else. "And it appears they have either got wings, or something else they used to upset the earth in a similar manner."<br> The other four in the group were now looking into the hole with interest. Jeff showed them the markings with a puzzled frown.<br> "So that means something <i>did</i> drop into the craters." Ness stated.<br> "Maybe they made the craters, but I don't think they actually <i>landed</i> in them." Jeff announced, stepping out of the middle of the ground. "Normally a crater would have a flat bottom or imbedded hole from the landing. This one, and the other, were smooth, as if something had fallen, but not landed."<br> "So if that's true, then the tremor in the ground wouldn't be strong, would it?" Poo supplemented.<br> Thinking about that, Jeff nodded. "So the tremor was these being created. So there was a tremor, but no actual shockwaves. Interesting."<br> They moved to the next crater, and Jeff noticed something instantly.<br> "Large size seven feet, sneakers, and whoever it is can jump pretty far." He told the others instantly.<br> "What made you say that?" Paula asked. She was silently shown the two sneaker marks at the top of the crater, and the stand-and-a-half at the bottom. "Oh. And look, that one left something at the bottom!"<br> Ness beat Jeff to the bottom this time and snatched up the item. It was a long silvery-white feather, too large for any normal bird, almost spanning the size of two spiteful crows.<br> "I think Jeff was right about them having wings." He held the feather up for them to see. He then jumped back up and handed the feather to his scientific friend.<br> "But if they were here, then where did they go?" Tracy asked.<br> "Well, the rest of the ground is rocky, so we can't exactly follow the footprints." Poo looked at the ground toward the exit. "And if there were any people with wings out there, we'd have seen them by now."<p> A spark in the air once more. Two figures reappear.<br> "Gah! Cold!!"<br> "What were you expecting? Desert?"<br> "More than I was expecting this. Where are we?"<br> "I have as much clue here as I did back there... Hey, where's--!"<br> "Huh? She's not here? We left her behind!"<br> "Uh, oh."<br> A figure kicks at the ground.<br> "She better not try winging it!"<br> "Ha, ha. We better go back and get her."<br> An under-breath mutter. Then a whine. "I'm too cold!"<br> "Wuss."<br> "Gimme five minutes. Either teleport or I'll kill you."<p> The five heroes closed in on the sanctuary point. For a hideout of three winged 'beasts', it was seemingly quiet.<br> "We should probably be cautious from here." Poo told the others. "Who brought a weapon?"<br> The others grinned and held up their methods of self-defence. Ness had his trademark legendary bat; Paula had decided to bring her Holy Frying pan; Jeff whipped out his Gaia Beam and opened his jacket to show other 'accessories'; and Tracy had a bionic slingshot. Poo held up his Sword of Kings, and they continued in.<br> Lilliput Steps was unusually empty when they get there. Aside from the heroes, the place was completely void of life.<br> "What? How can there be nobody here?" Ness exclaimed, looking around.<br> The others walked in cautiously and looked around, puzzled.<br> Poo closed his eyes and began opening his senses to the life in the room. His four companions were sensed instantly. The plantlife in the room opened his senses further, including the life of the steps. He then opened his eyes and looked beside him.<br> A settling of dust and dirt littered the cave walls, from its lack of use or disturbance... except for the small footprints leading upwards pressed into the walls.<br> The Prince quickly unsheathed his sword and directed his attention to the top of the room, where small openings made good hiding places for birds.<br> "Up there! It's above us!" Poo informed his friends, his eyes not leaving the coves at the top of the room. The others quickly drew their weapons and looked up.<br> A silence decended upon the room, as the others remained still, waiting for the creature to attack upon its discovery. Though it seemed whatever was up there was quite happy where they were.<br> After a few minutes, Ness became annoyed. "Hey! Are you gonna come down here or what?" He shouted.<br> "Not really. I consider up here to be more comfortable than I could ever find myself down there." Came the response. "Especially while you have those weapons drawn."<br> The voice was that of a young female, of eight years old. There was a little wisdom evident in her voice,which almost made her sound even younger. Like the innocent knowledge of youth.<br> "What if we put our weapons away? Would you come down then?" Paula asked.<br> There was a slight pause befre the girl responded. "Probably not. I can't put up a reasonable defence as I stand. I need to wait for... something."<br> "What are you waiting for?" Tracy questioned.<br> "I can't tell you, even if I want to." The girl replied.<br> "Okay, if you won't come down, answer us this: Did you create the damage in the cave? And if you did, then why?" Ness spoke.<br> The figure didn't respond for a few moments. Before anyone could question her silence, she spoke up. "I did, in a way, but it was unintentional. Something ekse was supposed to happen, but didn't quite have the desired effect. But what happened does not concern you. Please leave."<br> "You <i>meant</i> to do this? You wanted to do <i>more?!</i> And you expect us to leave after you said that??" Ness snapped.<br> "I don't think you're hearing me right. Are you just itching for a fight or something?"<br> "Come down here and face us, you coward!!" Tracy blurted out, waving her slingshot wildy.<br> "That hurt. I think I want to respond to that."<br> There was a shifting sound, followed by a small utter of "They're gonna kill me for this.." before the response was given.<br> Everyone was caught by suprise when sudenly, a tin of paint was hurled from one of the nichés. It hung in the air in the center of the room for a few moments before the lid snapped off, and blue paint spilled forth, on what seemed to be a controlled course. Before they could react, Tracy had been drenched in the paint from head to toe.<br> "Good going Tracy." Ness mumbled, glancing toward his sister.<br> The girl seemed to realise something after a few moments and sighed. "You know, now I've done that, I've interfered. Which means what happens doesn't matter. Much. You're an evil little girl."<br> Tracy didn't respond to that, still stunned at the 'response' <i>she</i> had recieved. It definately wasn't what they had expected.<br> "Uh, so, are you going to come down now..?" Jeff asked, his eyes not leaving the now-blue Tracy.<br> "I suppose I could. But I still don't want to. Though down there's probably less littered with birdy poop."<br> "I can vouch for that." Paula mumbled. Ness turned slightly red.<br> It was only a few moments longer, before the girl was hopping down the walls of the cavern, until she had reached the floor. When she was stood still, the others got a good look at her.<br> The girl definately seemed to display the qualities of a pale, think eight-year- old. Her hair was oak brown with a light shine, and her eyes were deep blue. She wore a white T-shirt and blue jeans, with a red sweatshirt tied around her waist. Upon her wrists were bright yellow sweatbands, and a bow of the same colour adorned her hair in the same fashoin as Tracy and Paula's. There was one small problem, however, with the description: a minor missing detail... She didn't have wings.<br> "Well, here I am." She stated simply, picking up the empty paint can and shoving it behind her. It seemed to disappear after that. "Are we gonna kill me or hear me out? I'd prefer the latter."<br> The others looked at each other for a moment before anyone responded. Ness finally stepped forward. "Okay, you made that mess in the other room, right?"<br> "Yeah."<br> "Why?"<br> The girl sucked in her breath and tapped a foot against the floor. She didn't seem too comfortable with the subject. "We, me and my friends, kinda landed there. We weren't supposed to. We're not even supposed to be here. On this planet, I mean. We took a sort of 'wrong turn', and ended up in that cave."<br> "Where were you supposed to end up?" Jeff asked.<br> "I can't tell you. The matter that led us here doesn't concern you. Which is also why we didn't want to interfere."<br> The others nodded. That they could understand. Jeff spoke again. "When you and your friends appeared, there was a giant light. What was it?"<br> The girl's brow furrowed in confusion. "A light? Like what, exactly?"<br> Tracy shook a little from her daze and explained, "a kind of blinding light reaching across this place, that made it look like day two towns over, when it was <i>real</i> early in the day."<br> "Well, to be honest, I don't know how to explain that... Though one of my friends might be able to... They did say something about 'circumstance'..."<br> "You managed to get to the top of the room, and yet you have no wings. And one of you left a feather in a crater you created. Can you explain this?" Poo was the one to question her this time.<br> "Ah, that's an easy one." The girls face seemed to perk at that inquiry. "I do have wings, but they're folded away. We don't have them out all the time, it's not always convenient. And as for losing one... well, every bird loses a feather!" She giggled.<br> "One more thing," Paula looked around, "Where are your friends right now?" She didn't seem the most confident about them not being there. If they could fold away their wings, they could have escaped past them easily, and they would have been none the wiser...<br> Before the girl could explain, a light filled the center of the room. One huge spark later, and two more figures had dropped into the room.<br> The first was female, pale, with green eyes and lavender hair. She wore a white long sleeved shirt, with a red shirt over the top, and black jeans. A black bandanna was tied over her bright hair, looking almost helmet-like.<br> The second was a tan male with blue hair covering his eyes in a way that prevented others from seeing them. His outfit consisted of a green T-shirt and dark denim jeans. A quite oversized scabbard was strapped to his back, which seemed to house a rather large sword, with a nicely decorated golden handle. It seemed quite threatening. Both were around Ness's age.<br> The young girl grinned and pointed at the newcomers. "There they are."<br> the two figures seemed to freeze up once they realised others were in the room. They looked at the young girl, and then at Tracy.<br> "When my senses aren't so numb, Skye, I might just kill you." The male sighed. "Skye, do something about that poor painted kid..."<br> "Okay!" The young girl, Skye, jumped up happily, and before anyone knew what was happening, she had whipped out another paint can and threw its purple contents onto Tracy. The poor painted girl stood stunned for a few more moments, before sitting on the ground.<br> "Did something!" Skye beamed. She isntantly recieved a glare from the older female nearby.<br> "That's <i>not</i> what he meant!" She snapped.<br> "Um, before we're completely forgotten, can somebody please explain something to us?" Ness raised a hand.<br> The male looked toward Tracy and stood still for a few moments. If they had been able to see it, they would have noticed the boy close his eyes. The paint slowly began to lift from Tracy's skin and clothes.<br> "Since Chris is busy, I think it's up to me to introduce us." The girl sighed, giving Skye a quick whap round the head. "My name is Nancy. The male is Chris, and the young one here is Skye." The lavender haired girl extended a hand toward Ness. He shook it.<br> "I'm Ness. That's Paula, Jeff, and Poo, and the one on the floor is my sister, Tracy." Ness declared.<br> "She called me a coward." Skye mumbled.<br> "Nice to meet you all." Nancy smiled, ignoring Skye.<br> Soon the paint had been lifted from Tracy's body, and she was her normal colour again. She beamed and jumped up, giving Chris a tight hug around the waist.<br> "Thank you thank you thank you!! I don't like being blue, or purple! How did you do that?"<br> Chris seemed a little embarrassed. "Uhh, you're welcome."<br> Skye shuffled over to Tracy, seeming a little nervous. "I'm sorry for painting you blue. And then painting you purple. I don't take well to being called stuff. Or, uh, being told what to do..."<br> Tracy smiled over at Skye, giving Chris a chance to break away from the embrace. "It's okay. I shouldn't have called you a coward." They shook hands.<br> Nancy walked over to Lilliput Steps and closed her eyes.<br> Chris turned to the others in the group. We're sorry about the mess we made in the cave. We weren't meant to be here."<br> "It's okay, Skye already explained that." Ness waved a hand. "She also said you'd be able to explain about the bright light that happened when you arrived."<br> "Bright light?" Chris rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Well, we got a message when trying to leave that said there were certain 'circumstances', preventing us from leaving. Maybe we breached a barrier upon entry, which is why we could get <i>in</i> but not <i>out</i>. I'm hoping that's the right explanation." He informed them.<br> "What would be the other?" Jeff pondered aloud.<br> "Mass entry."<br> Everyone turned to Nancy, who was still looking toward Lilliput Steps.<br> "What?" Paula questioned.<br> "When an excessive number of people have tried to breach the same place at the same time. We weren't the only ones looking for... what we were following. I'm quite certain that we wouldn't be the only ones 'thrown' here." Nancy explained in a gloomy tone.<br> A slight chill picked up in the air. Paula suddenly seemed more alert. Chris placed a hand on his weapon behind him.<br> "I'm almost afraid to ask, but... what does that mean?" Tracy swallowed.<br> A cackle sounded through the air. Nancy turned to the others, a dark look across her face.<br> "We're not alone." She stated.<p><p> To be continued....