E. Revolution—the story of what could have been

-=1st Revolution=-

::Lucidity::

“Who knows how they did it. It looks damn near impossible…”

“The police are doing everything…”

“Ness…find me…please…”

“...are over two thousand years old. It is estimated that their approximate value in modern currency, given today’s statistical anomalies and the current cultural bias towards objects of their type, is over three billion. Now, bear in mind that these priceless objects are on loan from the Summers Museum. That means that I want you on your best behavior, got it? Stay together and conduct yourselves appropriately or you’re suspended. Now let’s go.”

“Geez, what bit him today? It’s not like we’re going to steal anything…although we could if we wanted, right Ness? Hey, Ness, you still here, buddy? Snap out of it!”

Jeff waved his hand calmly in front of Ness’ face. Ness reacted a second later by turning to face him.

“Um…sorry. I was distracted.” Ness walked towards the rest of his class, which was now busy admiring the many displays set up in the large, main chamber of the Fourside Museum of Natural History. As he marched casually towards a large, glass case holding a stone tablet, with a round, green stone in the center, Jeff sighed to himself.

“You know, lately you’ve been spacing out a lot,” commented Jeff. He joined Ness, who had his nose close to the glass, admiring the hieroglyphics on the tablet. “Care to explain?”

Ness glanced briefly at Jeff, choosing to evade giving any sort of long answer to that question.

Jeff adjusted his thick, round glasses and placed one hand in his blue trousers. “It’s that girl from the dream again, isn’t it?”

There was a pause as Ness turned to face his friend, a look of confusion on his face. “We’ve been through this before, Jeff,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with me. It was just a dream.”

Jeff’s blonde, neatly-combed hair shook to accompany Jeff’s head, which shook disapprovingly. “Listen, man, you’re starting to dream about her during the day now. Don’t you think that means something?”

Ness walked over to the next display and stared at it, still reluctant to continue with the conversation. “I am not dreaming about her during the day. Besides, I’ve never seen the girl in my life.”

“Uh-huh.” Jeff and Ness walked past a small group of their classmates and made their way to a larger display with a sarcophagus inside. “You know, you’re only seventeen. You’re too young to spend your days thinking about a dream girl. If you’re that desperate, I could hook you up with a friend of mine…”

Ness cut off the conversation by glaring at Jeff. “I’m fine, thanks.”

“Listen, I’m just worried.”

Ness sighed. “…I know. I appreciate it, but there’s nothing wrong.”

“Fine, fine…so, we still on for the Runaway Five concert next week? I know a great place where we can…” His best friend’s voice suddenly faded into nothingness—Ness had simply blocked it out.

That afternoon Ness and Jeff walked home quickly. Jeff lived only two blocks from Ness’ house, so they had made a habit of walking home together every day. By the time he and Jeff had parted and Ness had made it back to his apartment, it was nearly dusk.

Ness had been living in Fourside ever since he was a child. His mother had died when he was very young, and his father worked for a large corporation. At the moment he was a junior in high school, and his life boiled down to the typical routine characteristic of boys his age. Jeff had always been his best friend and, although they had vastly different personalities—Jeff was more carefree in many respects, yet infinitely more studious—they got along perfectly.

“I’m home!” Ness slipped out of his blue jacket and hung it on the coat rack near the door by the hood. Then, after smelling and hearing someone cooking in the kitchen, he made his way over. Standing over the counter, chopping up some vegetables, was a thirteen-year-old girl in a pink top, with matching shorts.

“Hey, Tracy,” Ness laid his book bag on the floor beside the couch, and then headed for the counter. “Where’s dad?”

“He said he had to work late, so I’m cooking dinner,” she replied. “How was school?”

“We had a field trip today.” Ness walked over to the refrigerator and pulled it open, then fished out a can of soda. He spoke as he made his way back to the couch and plopped down on it. “They had some artifacts from the Summers Museum, so we went to take a look.”

“Hmm…I hope I get to visit them, too…”

The rest of the evening went by just like every other. After eating, Ness made his way to his room and, after clearing his bed of stray clothes and books, flopped down on it. He lay there for what seemed like a good while, just staring at the ceiling. All the while, his thoughts kept turning to the same thing: the girl that kept appearing in his dreams.

Last night had been the third time this week. At first it didn’t really bother him, but the dreams kept getting more frequent, and each dream was infinitely more real than the last. He didn’t want to worry Jeff, so he said nothing, but…

“Ness, phone! It’s Jeff!”

Speak of the devil. Ness slowly left his room and walked to the living room, where he took the cordless phone and put it to his ear. “Hey, Jeff.”

“Hey. You see the news?”

“News? No, why?”

“Well, put it on! You’re not going to believe this!”

Ness grabbed the tiny black remote and switched on the television in the corner of the living room. Instantly an image of the Fourside Museum came on. Several reporters were holding up their microphones to a man in a policeman’s uniform, who was trying to calm everyone down.

“Who knows how they did it,” said the policeman into one of the microphones. “As far as I know, it’s damn near impossible to steal anything from this museum.”

Ness’ eyes went wide. He nearly dropped the phone in his hand. Suddenly the image of the anchorman came back on.

“The police are doing everything they can to track the culprit,” said he. “Currently there is no word from the Scaraba Museum, the rightful owner of the stolen tablet.”

“Pretty shocking, huh, Ness?”

Ness quickly snapped out of it and turned the television off with a press of the button on the remote control. “Y-yeah, that’s…pretty shocking…” How did I know that was going to happen?

“Tell me about it. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“S-sure…bye, Jeff.”

Ness hung up the phone and walked back to his room, then flopped on the bed. After arranging himself so that he was facing towards the ceiling, he stretched out his hand and looked at it, perplexed. The only coherent thought he was able to form was the name of the mysterious girl that kept appearing in his dreams. Paula…

The last thing he saw before drifting off to sleep was the blurry, yet all too real image of that girl. “Ness…find me…please…” she said.

The next day Ness met up with Jeff, and together they headed towards the bus stop. Unlike the afternoon, the two boys liked taking the bus to school, since it was too early for them to consider walking. After getting on the bus and paying the fare, the boys made headed towards the back of the bus. Once there they started chatting happily about the usual, menial topics.

Two minutes after having boarded the bus, the sky grew dimmer very suddenly. Several people on its right side began looking out their windows and chatting amongst themselves. Jeff ambled over to the right side of the bus and peeked through the glass window at whatever it was that had garnered everyone’s attention.

“Hey, Ness, you’re not going to believe this!” Jeff called Ness over, and then tapped his finger on the glass, attempting to indicate something outside. “Look at that thing! Up there, in the sky!”

At the behest of his friend, Ness stepped up to the window and pressed his face against it. Awkwardly he tried to crane his neck so that he could get a better look, but in the end he had to satisfy himself with contemplating from afar.

It was, for lack of a better, more appropriate word, a flying saucer. The huge, silver discus hovered silently over part of the district they were in, casting an obtuse shadow on the citizens below. There didn’t seem to be anything particularly overwhelming about the unidentified flying object, which was content with just floating there, not making a sound.

A feeling of uneasiness overcame Ness. He couldn’t quite place it, but it was there, trying to tell him something…it was the same feeling that he had experienced the previous night, when he saw the news…

Ness’ pupils dilated briefly as a terrifying image flashed across his mind, nearly overloading his brain. Instantly he yanked himself from the window and tried to dash towards the front of the bus. “No, wait! Stop the bus!”

Too late. No sooner had Ness shouted his warning, drawing the bus driver’s attention, than the flying saucer had advanced menacingly towards their position. Once it was directly over the bus the central portion of the bottom disk began to glow. From the center shot a large, purple beam of something akin to lightning. The bolt snaked down to the ground, shattering the pavement directly in front of the bus with a loud boom.

Everything broke into slow motion. The bus driver slammed on the brakes and tried to veer out of the way, but the momentum of the machine was too great, and the bus toppled over, onto its left side. The passengers erupted into screams as the bus slid forward on its side, showering whatever was nearby with hot sparks. Ness was hurled to the side, crashing into the roof of the bus.

As soon as Ness was able to stand up he rushed over to Jeff, who was nursing a nasty bump on his forehead. He was sitting on the ‘floor’, which was actually one of the bus’ windows.

“You okay?” Ness tried to get a good look at the bloody lump that had formed on his best friend’s forehead. Jeff nodded, albeit weakly and painfully.

“I’m fine…” he said. “Jeez, what the hell was that thing?”

“I don’t know,” Ness took off his red cap and dusted it, then placed it back on his head. “But I’d better go for help. Stay here.”

With that Ness rose and began hopping over the bus’ benches, trying to make his way towards the front. The bus’ few passengers seemed a lot worse for wear than Ness, who was barely bruised—some had fallen on the benches and suffered from broken bones, while others were unconscious. There were silent moans and whimpers as Ness finally made it to the front, where the bus driver, who was still strapped into his seat, hung limply. When the bus tipped over on its left side the driver had hit his head, hard. Ness reached into the control panel and fiddled with the buttons until he found the one that opened the door. Then, using the driver’s seat as a platform, he jumped up and grabbed the hand railing, using it to climb up and out of the bus. Before he completely disappeared Jeff called out to him.

“Hey Ness! Be careful, you never know what’s out there!”

“Don’t worry!” Ness smiled and waved at his friend. “You just worry about helping these people; I’ll be back with help soon!”

Ness hopped off the bus and onto the street. After dusting off his blue jacket and yellow shirt he took off towards the downtown area, hoping to find a policeman or ambulance that could help him.

As he ran several thoughts were playing in his head. What was that flying saucer? Why did it attack the city? How did it appear so suddenly? And, most importantly, how was he able to see what it would do ahead of time?

During his run through the streets Ness could see that many had suffered the same fate as he. Upturned cars littered the streets, some caught in the middle of car crashes produced by the attack. The unfortunate few that actually got hit by the purple lightning were now being helped out of their cars by passers-by. All in all it looked like war had erupted in the span of one morning.

Soon enough Ness found an ambulance. The paramedics were loading a man with a broken neck into the vehicle and were preparing to head for the hospital. By the time Ness got there they were already leaving.

“Hey! Please help me!” Ness slammed his palm against the driver’s window of the slow-moving ambulance, which was weaving through the disaster area. “You have to help me, please.”

The driver stopped and rolled down his window. “What is it?”

“I-I was in a bus accident, down that way,” Ness pointed a finger to the street from which he came, while still facing the driver. “Lots of people are hurt! You have to help!”

“Okay, kid, I’ll try and send a unit over there…” the driver picked up his radio. “Where are they?”

“75^th and Topolla. It’s a big, overturned bus.”

The driver nodded and sped off, leaving Ness in the middle of the street. There were probably dozens of other overturned buses, and hundreds of other accidents…what else could he do, other than wait and hope? The whole situation made Ness feel powerless. But that strange feeling was still there…

His attention was drawn skyward when several people began pointing up, towards the flying saucer, and screaming. People started scrambling indoors, towards other streets…anything to get away from the horrible spectacle they were now witnessing.

The silver, metallic saucer emanated ripples from its center towards the edges. Slowly the saucer began to melt, as odd as it was to consider the possibility. The chrome was replaced by a sickly red as the craft became one big, pulsating blob. It hovered there for a few seconds, silently, and then began releasing smaller blobs. It dropped two in Ness’ vicinity, and then began heading towards other parts of town, apparently trying to spread the blobs evenly around town.

The smoking, foul-smelling, amorphous masses hit the ground with a nauseating splat. For a moment all was silent as the slimy piles pulsated. Then, with a crunch and a splurt, the blobs were ripped open by whatever was inside. The blob furthest from Ness ‘hatched’ to reveal, ironically, a creature that looked like a big pile of slime, save for a big mouth filled with jagged, uneven rows of teeth. The blob closest to Ness was shed, and a creature that looked like an eye with legs sprouting out of its sides came out of it. The red eye fixed its black pupil on Ness while it stretched its legs. Then both creatures struck without as much as a warning.

The slimy pile lunged at a fire hydrant and ripped it right out of the ground with its teeth. It stood there, showered by water, before lunging again. In the meantime the walking eye raised one of its legs and tried to stomp Ness. The boy was thrown to the floor on his back, but he managed to avoid the attack.

Ness scrambled to his feet and began running away from the monstrous eye that had set him as its target. He barely managed to avoid the creature’s feet as they slammed into the pavement, leaving craters in its wake. After running for a few seconds Ness tripped on a piece of debris and fell to the floor. He tumbled and rolled for a few feet before coming to a stop face-up. The creature slowed to a stop and tilted its eye to the side. Ness tried to scramble away frantically, but the creature brought its foot down and pinned him to the ground helplessly. As Ness struggled to breathe the monster lowered itself towards Ness, making a massive M shape with its legs. Ness squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for the worst. Fortunately, the worst never came.

The eye monster stumbled back; it had been hit in the leg by a star-shaped blast. The monster roared and winced in pain as two more starts crashed into it and crippled it. It stumbled into a lamp post and knocked it over before a final star hit it square in the eye. The monster fell to the floor, and green ooze flowed out of its dead body.

“Hey, kid! Are you okay?”

An Asian man in an oriental-style outfit called out to Ness from his left. His black ponytail, the only piece of hair on his otherwise bald head, flailed as he ran over to Ness and helped him to his feet.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine…just…I…” Ness couldn’t form the words. The man reached into the sleeve of his jacket and pulled out a cell phone, which he snapped open. After pressing a button on it, he turned away from Ness.

“It’s here,” he said with a strong, oriental accent. “I wasn’t able to stop it in time…yes, it has changed shape already…I will do everything I can. Poo, out.”

After storing his phone back in his sleeve the man turned to look at Ness before slipping on a pair of sunglasses.

“Listen to me, kid,” he said. “I want you to go somewhere safe and hide until this is over.”

Ness nodded briefly, but he didn’t move just yet. “What are those things?” he asked meekly. “Where did they come from?”

“It is not of your concern. Now go!”

The man ran in the direction of the slimy pile, leaving Ness alone in the middle of the street. He stood there for a second, dazed and unsure of what to do, then decided to head back to the bus and check on Jeff. However, as soon as he began to run, he heard a voice.

“Ness…”

Eyes wide, Ness stopped dead in his tracks. That voice…Paula!

“Ness…don’t leave…”

Without so much as stopping to consider how insanely stupid it was, Ness whirled and followed in the direction of the stranger that had saved his life.

That man was now facing the slimy pile, which had managed to take out a large part of the area before it encountered any opposition. He faced the drooling slime, looking at it impassively through black sunglasses while the monster roared. Then, with a small rustling sound, he brought up his hand and pointed his palm at the aberration. Surprisingly, it began to glow, until four star-shaped energy blasts shot from his hand.

The monster didn’t move; it allowed the blasts to hit it head on, at which point it vibrated violently, but did not die. The man raised an eyebrow and lowered his hand.

“Energy absorption…it’s adapting…”

The monster lunged, and the stranger leaped back, landing on the hood of a nearby car. Although his attack had been completely neutralized, he didn’t show so much as a bead of sweat. Instead he hopped off the car and extended his palm towards it. With a grunt the car began to lift off the ground, hefted by the man’s psychokinetic powers. Another grunt launched the airborne car at the monster, who met it with open jaws. This time the man gasped in surprise, for the monster chomped down on the car and threw it harmlessly to the side. Thinking quickly, he tossed something else—it too was caught and destroyed. As a last ditch effort the man lifted a manhole cover and threw it like a discus. He managed to hit the creature in the side, but it was far from falling.

The man watched calmly as the creature leaped over him and made its way towards the manhole he himself had uncovered. He began to follow when he caught sight of the bewildered Ness, who had watched nearly the entire scene from afar.

“I thought I told you to go hide!!” he yelled, jogging over to Ness. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Yes, but…then I heard a voice, and…”

The man scoffed. “A voice?! Kid, this is no time to play games. Go. Home. Now.” He went to grab Ness’ shoulder when the boy’s eyes grew wide and he clutched his savior’s shirt.

“Look out! Behind you!”

The man whirled just in time to see the slime monster burst out of the pavement and leap into the air. The two watched helplessly as the creature slammed down on the street, cracking it. Both Ness and the man were thrown back violently, and they landed a few meters away.

Ness looked on helplessly at the creature, which opened its stinking maw and prepared to devour them. The man had slipped off his sunglasses, and was in a similar position. Ness had raised his hand instinctively, hoping subconsciously that it would keep the monster away. As the creature lunged, however, something clicked in Ness’ mind.

“…Ness…”

Ness squeezed his eyes shut, and a brilliant light radiated from his hand. The incandescent flash stopped the monster like a wall, and it began to shriek as it convulsed. The man had raised his arm in order to protect his eyes, and was looking on in astonishment. After a few seconds of twitching the smoldering carcass of the slimy pile slumped to the ground and was still.

Ness looked at the now-dead monster with shocked eyes, hand still raised, breath coming in short, ragged bursts. He stared at his hand as if he couldn’t really believe what had just happened, even though it transpired before his very eyes. The carcass, which was oozing an inky black, smoked slightly. Just how had he done that? And why had he heard Paula’s voice again?

His thoughts were interrupted as the man grabbed his upper arm and hauled him to his feet. His calm demeanor had returned, although Ness was unable to see the stranger’s eyes as they pierced into his through the black lenses of his sunglasses.

“How did you do that?” he asked dryly. Ness shook his head innocently.

“I…don’t know…” he said. “I-I just…lifted my hand and…I d-don’t even know what I did…”

“Psycholuminescence.” The man walked over to the monster and looked it over. “You used your mind to generate light, and you killed it.”

“Light? But how…”

The man whipped his head around, and his ponytail flailed. “That’s exactly what I’m wondering.”

Ness was about to say something else when the cell phone in the stranger’s coat beeped loudly. He removed it from his sleeve and held it up to his ear. “Yes, this is Poo…are you sure…all right, I will…I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

After storing the phone, he grabbed Ness’ wrist and took off towards an unknown direction. “Come on, you’re coming with me,” he said dryly, half-dragging Ness.

The boy tried in vain to yank his wrist free. “Hey! Wait a minute! Where are you taking me?”

The man did not stop walking. On the contrary, his pace quickened and his grip on Ness’ wrist tightened. “Trust me, it’s for the best. I’ll explain everything when we get to the Sky Runner.” He then turned back to the streets and fell quiet; he didn’t feel like he needed to explain any further.

After running silently for a few minutes, the stranger stopped. They were standing a few blocks away from the bridge that led out of Fourside and into the Dusty Dunes Desert. It was only after stopping that the man relinquished his grip. The two stood there, waiting, until Ness broke the silence.

“Now can you tell me what’s going on?”

The man slipped off his sunglasses and stored them in his sleeve. “I suppose so,” he said, his words stilted. He reached into his other sleeve and procured a small, leather billfold, which he opened to reveal an identification card. “My name is Kai Poo. I am a special psychic agent for the counter-Giygas force, SANCTUARY. I was on a mission to prevent this mess when I found you.”

Ness blinked and tried to assimilate the information he had just been given. Quite frankly, he couldn’t make heads or tails of half the stuff he heard. Then again, today nothing made sense…

“So, if you were going to prevent it, why didn’t you? Did you fail?”

“Yes…” Poo’s tone became even more somber when he said that word, as if it caused him a great deal of pain. “There was a mole. But that’s not important.” He turned to Ness and stared into his eyes. Poo’s gaze was deep and penetrating, and Ness felt as if he was being burned by lasers when the agent fixed his eyes on his. “What matters is that Giygas attacked. It’s out in the open now, and it’s only a matter of time before it strikes again. Do you have any friends or family in this city?”

Ness nodded. “My dad and my sister…then there’s my friend, Jeff Andonuts…”

The psychic’s neatly-stylized eyebrow curled upwards, and his gaze seemed less penetrating all of a sudden. “Andonuts? Your friend’s name is Andonuts?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

Unfortunately, all Ness got for a response was a thoughtful, “hmm…” from Poo. At that moment he was looking up at the sky. Ness thought for a moment that he was simply thinking, but that theory was discarded when a low, muffled rumbling reached his ears. Looking up, he saw a flying craft, not much larger than a small helicopter. The craft was spherical and had a thing fringe that circumvented it—the spinning, glowing fringe was what kept the craft airborne, apparently.

The Sky Runner’s three legs cushioned the craft’s landing, and a small hatch opened on the bottom half. Ness saw Poo duck into the flying machine. Shortly thereafter he heard the psychic call out to him.

“Hey, kid! Are you coming or what?”

Ness opened his mouth to complain against the man’s harsh tone, but a moment’s thought convinces him that it wouldn’t get him very far. Silently he climbed in the Sky Runner.

The inside was rather cramped, and Ness had to shift around a lot to get comfortable on the lightly cushioned ring that went around the inside of the vehicle. He quickly spotted a safety harness, which he pulled down over his head and attached to a buckle between his legs.

Ness was jostled softly to the side as the Sky Runner, which was completely automated and therefore unmanned, took off. He felt his stomach drop during the craft’s ascent, and couldn’t help but latch onto his harness, slightly afraid. Poo, obviously, showed no such reaction. He just sat there, eyes closed and arms crossed.

Since he definitely wasn’t going to get a decent conversation from the stranger, Ness turned his attention to one of the small, circular windows that lined the top half of the Sky Runner. He could see the city of Fourside getting farther and farther away. As the metropolis became just a small speck, Ness’ recollection of the day faded into the hazy confines of his memory. How could he explain what he had just seen, if he couldn’t even convince himself that it was real? From afar, the city looked peaceful, but the inside was screaming, torn apart by the chaos that was assailing it.

“Don’t worry, everything will be explained soon.” Poo’s soft, yet stern voice drew Ness away from the window. He too was looking at the city, which was now nothing more than a spot on the horizon.

Ness leaned back. “I hope so.”

There was a moment of awkward silence until Ness heard the next question. “So, you got a name, or should I just call you ‘kid’?”

“I—yeah, my name…” Ness closed his eyes. “My name’s Ness.”

“Hmm.” Poo turned back to the window, his curiosity satisfied.

The last thing that Ness saw before fatigue took him over and lulled him to sleep was the image of a blonde girl in a pink dress. She had her hand held out to him, and a warm smile on her face.

Paula…