E. Revolution

-=Fourth Revolution=-

::Proximity::

“I don’t get it.”

The old professor let out a sigh and tightened the grip on his cane. “Neither do I, Kai. Neither do I.”

The odd pair was standing just outside the door that led into Ness’ room in the sick bay of SANCTUARY headquarters. Professor Andonuts held a medical chart in his hand, which he read over and over, carefully, in case some detail might have escaped him that would explain everything to him.

“His recovery time has been halved since he was first brought here. At this rate, he’ll be as good as new weeks before he’s even supposed to be able to wake up.”

“Yes, this is indeed remarkable,” replied the Professor. “But not altogether unsurprising. His psychic abilities are more formidable than once thought.”

He turned to leave, but not before he glanced once more at Poo. “Has my nephew been found yet?”

Poo nodded. “No. We have a team searching for him, but Fourside is a big place. The fact that it’s in ruins doesn’t help matters.”

“I can ask for nothing more.” The Professor walked away, the tip of his cane making dull, echoing noises in the white hallway. “Thank you, Poo.”

Being unconscious for a long time makes the brain play funny tricks on the head. Ness was all too familiar with these mental shenanigans, as they had happened in his head quite a few times in the past month or so. At first, when he would awaken, he could only see a swirl of colors that felt painful to watch and made his head spin. Then his vision would clear up, but he would have a hard time knowing where he was. After that, something unexpected would usually happen to him to complicate matters even further.

“Ah! You are awake!”

In this case, that ‘something’ was Paula.

Ness sat up and clutched at his aching head, which was covered with a white bandage. He barely even noticed that he was completely nude under the thin white sheet that was casually draped over the bottom half of his body; Paula did not indicate in any way that she minded, although she obviously noticed.

“How long have I been out?” The words that left Ness’ mouth were rough and raspy. He had barely said them when he felt the uncontrollable urge to clear his throat loudly.

Paula straitened an invisible wrinkle on her yellow dress. “A week,” she said plainly. “You woke up much sooner than expected.”

The white sheets shuffled to one side as Ness sat up, raised his knees and hugged them. “I’m lucky I woke up, aren’t I,” he asked simply. Paula tilted her head to one side, replying silently that she did not know how to answer that question. Ness did not ask her to.

“So what’s happened while I’ve been out?”

“Nothing, really. I finished a painting. If you like I can show it to you sometime.”

Ness smiled. “Thanks,” he said. As he looked at her, he noticed that she looked exactly like she did when he saw her in one of his dreams, back in Fourside.

“Hey, Paula? Have you ever had dreams…about somebody before you knew them?”

The girl cocked her head to the other side. “How do you mean? Something like clairvoyance?”

“Sort of.” The boy hugged his knees a little tighter. “Like, you dream about somebody, but you don’t know them yet…and you know their name, and their face, but you don’t know who or where they are…and then one day, poof, you meet them. Sort of like that.”

“Has that happened to you?”

“Yeah.” Ness sighed. “A little while ago.”

Paula blinked twice. “Did you dream about me?”

Ness’ eyes went wide. “I…I don’t…” Finally he calmed down.

“I don’t remember.”

Paula rose from her seat next to Ness’ hospital bed and headed for the door. “You will eventually. In the meantime, I’ll help you remember. Just make sure that the next time we meet, you are somewhat more…presentable.”

Ness hadn’t noticed what she meant with that until he looked down and found himself stark naked. His face became red and he hauled the white sheet over his body and up to his nose for protection.

“She could have warned me…”

ONE WEEK LATER

“You sure you up to this? You’re still not fully recovered.”

Ness looked as seriously as he could manage into Poo’s piercing eyes. “I’ve been cooped up in this base for way too long. I don’t care if you send me outside for coffee; I just need to get out.”

Poo set down his cup of tea and looked across the small table at Professor Andonuts, who was still sipping on his cup thoughtfully and looking through the glass dome at the exterior of the Silent Garden. “What do you think, Professor? Should we let him go out?”

The old man set his cup down. “I believe,” he mused while rubbing the tip of his cane. “Our young protégé is right. He has been ‘cooped up’—as you so fondly put it, Ness—for far too long. You may leave on a mission soon.”

Ness’ face lit up. “Really? Thanks a lot, Professor!”

Before he could get too excited, though, the old man raised his hand. “However, this mission will be short and not very trying physically. Keep that in mind.”

“I will,” replied Ness. He stood from his seat, bid his companions farewell, and ran out of the Silent Garden, leaving the agent and the elder alone.

“Are you sure about this?” Poo put his cup on the saucer in front of him and pushed it away. “He might have healed quickly, but he’s still not ready for action.”

“Relax, old friend,” replied Professor Andonuts with a smile. “Like I said, he won’t be doing much. Tomorrow is the 30^th, after all…”

Poo looked to the side. “We’re in April, which is an even month, so…”

Suddenly a small smile crept over his face and he leaned back, crossing his arms. “Oh. I see.”

Nearly twenty-four hours later Ness, Paula, and Poo were entering the SANCTUARY hangar and heading for a small Sky Runner. Ness had been here once before, briefly, when he first arrived at the base. This was the first time he had a chance to really look the place over, though.

Unlike the rest of the base, the hangar was large. Very large. It was barely possible to see from one end of it to the other, especially with all the Sky Runners, flying saucers of various shapes and sizes, covering the view. Some seemed ethereal, illuminated in the otherwise dark hangar by beams of light that filtered in through the small windows on the walls, near the ceiling. Ness was almost unable to stop admiring a large, olive green Sky Runner that looked like it was built for battle.

“This is the one.” Poo’s voice tugged at Ness’ attention and focused it on a normal, grey Sky Runner on a raised, circular platform. It was a lot like the one that had taken him from Fourside in the first place.

Poo opened the hatch and held out his hand for Paula, who shifted the picnic basket dangling from her arm to her hand, accepted the agent’s help, and stepped inside. After that he held the door for Ness.

“So where are we going, anyway?” Ness had been waiting all day for the perfect moment to ask that question. Poo simply smiled in response and took out his sunglasses from the pocket in his sleeve.

“You ever been to Threed?” He asked as he slipped them on, despite the darkness in the hangar. Ness shook his head.

“Well, you will now.”

The flying saucer landed with the soft hiss as the hydraulic suspenders in the legs touched down on the soft, wet soil just outside a suburban neighborhood in Threed. As the engine powered down the door slid open and three figures emerged. Paula immediately took the lead and skipped merrily towards a medium-sized, green house in the distance. Ness and Poo walked at a brisk pace behind her.

“Paula’s parents live here,” explained Poo. “On the 30^th of every even month Paula goes to visit them for the day. The exceptions are February, where the visit is on the 28^th, and December, where she can visit her parents for the entire month due to Christmas and the New Year.”

Ness looked down as his feet left the soft soil and stepped on warm pavement. “So why so strict? Why can’t she just go home whenever she wants to?”

Poo turned to stare at Ness. Fortunately the agent’s sunglasses protected Ness from his piercing gaze. “It’s complicated. Paula’s psychic powers need to be studied and kept in check constantly. Otherwise…” he paused.

“Otherwise what?”

“We’re here!” Paula hummed to herself happily as she reached the fence around the house and opened up, strolling to the porch and the front door. She knocked happily on the white door, and it opened almost immediately to reveal a blonde, middle-aged woman that looked remarkably like Paula herself.

“Oh, you’re early!” The woman embraced Paula, who hugged her mother in return. “I wasn’t expecting you for another hour!”

As the woman led Paula inside a man came out. His bushy, black mustache wiggled up and down as he looked Poo over. After a moment he extended his hand. “Hello, Agent Poo. How was the trip here?”

The agent shook Paula’s father’s hand, and then bowed in reverence. “Blissfully uneventful. And as I have said before, please call me Kai.”

Paula’s father laughed. “You never change, do you?” Just then the man spotted Ness, who had taken off his red cap and held it behind his back. “And who’s this?”

Ness stepped forward. “My name’s Ness…” he said, then added a curt, “Um…sir.” He attempted to make eye contact, but failed miserably. “I’m a new recruit at SANCTUARY.”

Paula’s father smiled. “You’re a friend of Paula’s then.”

“Yes sir.”

The man patted Ness on the back and led him to the door. “Well, any friend of Paula’s is welcome here! Come on in, we have some snacks ready for you!”

As Ness and Poo walked inside, the former snickered at the latter:

“Can I call you Kai?”

“No.”

The inside of Paula’s house was decorated with bland, unobtrusive paintings and normal-looking furniture. The living room, which had a couch and two chairs, besides the coffee table, had a large window that looked out into the street. At the moment the curtains were open, and the living room was flooded with light.

Ness and Poo sat on the two chairs, opposite each other, while Paula took a seat between her parents on the couch. If she was any happier than she looked, it was hard to tell.

With that arrangement in place, they conversed. Paula’s parents asked the usual questions about what she was doing, how she was feeling, and whether she was happy at SANCTUARY. Poo added comments where it was appropriate, especially when the conversation hovered over the topic of Paula’s activities in SANCTUARY. Paula’s parents eventually asked about Poo’s well being, and even inquired as to Ness’ life and what he was doing in SANCTUARY. However, they always tried to steer the conversation away from the topics of psychic powers, or even worse, the attack on Fourside.

After an hour of conversation Ness decided that he needed to use the restroom, and he excused himself. He walked out of the living room and to a small hallway on the first floor, which ended in a wooden door. Along the way he spotted a few pictures hanging on the wall. One in particular, a photograph of a family in front of a yellow house caught his attention, and he stopped to admire it.

The family was obviously Paula’s, albeit much younger; Paula’s father had no grey hairs, and her mother was much less wrinkled. Paula was around the same age as the picture she had in SANCTUARY headquarters. The house was very different from the one he was in now; it was probably in another town.

Ness was about to leave the picture alone when he spotted a small detail on the picture. Instinctively he ran his finger over the spot on the picture, just where Paula’s forehead was, although he couldn’t quite place what was wrong. The picture of Paula just seemed off somehow.

“You looking for something?”

Poo’s voice startled Ness out of his admiration, and he nearly tripped over himself. “N-no! I was just…looking at this picture…”

The agent took off his sunglasses and inspected the picture. “It’s Paula and her family, from when they were still living in Twoson, a town not too far from here.”

Ness glanced at the picture again. That nagging feeling that something was wrong remained. “Something’s weird about this picture, but I can’t tell what,” he mused. “It’s like an error…”

“Your eyes are playing tricks on you,” said Poo. “It’s nothing. By the way, the food’s just about done, so if you’re gonna go to the bathroom, hurry up.”

Ness shot one last furtive glance at the picture. “Yeah…sure.”

It was dusk by the time the meal had been finished. Of course, the usual pleasant conversation permeated the atmosphere, but Ness’ mind kept heading back to the picture on the wall. It was gnawing at him like a pest, and it bothered him.

“So what are your plans once you get back to the base?” Ness had been so distracted that he almost didn’t notice that Paula’s mother was talking to him.

Ness smiled sheepishly. “Well, I still have to recover completely from the accident I had a week ago…”

“Really? What happened?”

Ness was about to reply truthfully when he caught sight of Poo’s eyes boring into his. Poo had said nothing, but his intentions were quite clear to Ness.

Right. Ix-nay on the psychic owers-pay. “I, uh…fell down exercising. I, um…hit my head. Concussion.”

“That sounds horrible! Are you all right?”

Ness rubbed at the back of his head pointedly. “I’ll manage…”

Paula’s parents chuckled to themselves while Ness grinned nervously. Poo slipped his sunglasses back on, and Paula stared out the window.

Just outside two children were playing with a small, translucent plastic ball. Inside the ball was a hamster, not much larger than a golf ball. It was rolling around placidly until Paula spotted it, at which point it stopped dead and looked straight at Paula…

The girl rose from her seat and stepped up to the window, innocuous to her mother’s voice, asking her what was wrong. She placed both hands against the glass and began pushing, softly at first, but with greater resolve as the seconds passed. Her lips were parted slightly and her breathing was becoming irregular.

“Paula, what’s wrong?” Ness rose from his seat and stood beside Paula. “Are you feeling okay?”

Then he spotted the hamster. It was now growing rapidly until it burst out of its ball, scaring the children that were playing with it. Soon after it began to mutate; claws sprung from its paws, the tip of its tail split in two, and the fur became matted. Its eyes turned blood red and its teeth became jagged. It was now the size of a very large dog.

Ness’ pupils dilated. “Oh no…”

The monster lunged for Paula, breaking through the window. Ness barely had time to grab Paula and pull her down moments before the creature broke in and landed on the coffee table, breaking it, and then skidded into the larger table and knocked it over, breaking the dishes and shattering the glass. Poo jumped out of his chair and balled his fists, while Paula’s mother shrieked. Her husband quickly pulled her into his arms for protection.

The monster made another lunge at Paula, but Ness hauled her out of the way and the creature slammed into the wall, knocking loose one of its teeth. The creature whined in pain, but soon another tooth shot out of its mandible and it continued the chase.

Poo grabbed the thing by the tail and heaved, effectively throwing it out of the house and into the street, where it landed on its feet close to the two children playing with it earlier. Poo jumped out after it, landing on the pavement outside with a graceful flip. He whipped his head around and pointed at the children.

“Go home! Now!!”

As the two children ran away, Ness hopped outside as well and caught up with the agent, who was being circled viciously by the creature.

The creature broke off from its previous quarry and tried to scramble back into the house, but Poo caught it with a wave of psychokinetic power. He put out his palm and dug his feet into the ground while the creature struggled to break free, but the psychic won and hurled the monster away. It crashed into a lamp post across the street with a sickening crunch, knocking the post over. As it rose again Ness noticed that its front leg had been completely broken, and it hung limply by his side. However, after a few seconds of squirming and twitching, the leg settled back in its socket and healed itself with a sickening crunch.

“We have to prevent that thing from attacking Paula,” said Poo calmly. He slipped off his sunglasses and stored them in his coat pocket, and then turned to Ness. “Hide her.”

Ness ran back into the house while Poo took up a fighting pose. The Bio-Giygas was stalking towards the house again, but Poo was ready for it. He extended his palm and fired a white, star-shaped blast of energy that flew towards the monster. It was able to leap to the side, but not to dodge it, as the cosmokinetic attack lopped off its ear, showering it in blood. The rat howled in pain and lunged, but Poo leaped to the side and fell back into a fighting stance.

The rat advanced on him, slowly this time. The sun was completely hidden now, and it was hard to see, even for Poo. He backed up carefully towards the house while he thought of a plan. The rat hunched close to the ground and stalked forward, its tail swinging dangerously from side to side.

Then the light posts along the street came on. The Bio-Giygas caught the neon lights head on and retreated, hissing painfully. After it was outside the beam it recovered and leapt through quickly.

The agent cocked an eyebrow.

“It’s vulnerable to bright light…”

The creature lunged again, and Poo jumped to meet it. He spun around and brought out his right foot with a yell in an overhead arc, which connected with the monster’s head and drove it into the ground. Poo landed and retreated somewhat warily to the house.

After a few seconds the agent began to suspect that the creature was, in fact, dead. He took a tentative step towards it, still at the ready. Then another. After a third step he was almost on top of the creature. He extended his foot and prodded the creature’s head.

Snap. Poo’s foot was nearly bitten off by the monster, which snapped back to life and attempted to chomp off the agent’s limbs. As Poo jumped back the creature’s tail extended and whipped out; Poo raised his hand to block, and it was instead captured by the tail’s bifurcated tip, which latched onto his forearm. Poo’s eyes went wide as the Bio-Giygas, its prey trapped, rushed for the kill.

“Yaaaagh!”

An airborne chair hurled out of the house and into the creature’s open maw, knocking it back. Poo turned to find Ness and Paula; the former had used psychokinesis to help his friend and superior. However, the strain on his still-injured mind took its toll on him, and he stumbled forward, stunned. Paula caught him in her arms, a scared look on her face.

That’s it… Poo pulled on his captive arm and shouted out to Ness. “Kid, get over here! That thing’s weak against bright lights!”

Ness looked up. Sweat glazed his forehead. “I can’t do it,” he said. “I can barely lift a chair, much less generate light right now!”

“It doesn’t matter! It’s either that or we’re dead!”

The creature lunged, and Poo danced around it, although it was getting hard to continue like this, especially if he was partially immobilized. He called out to Ness again. “Help me!”

Ness slowly walked out of the house, using Paula as support. He had no idea what to do now, and that psychic attack had left him dizzy and with a sharp pain in his head.

“I can’t do it…” Ness muttered to himself under his breath. “I can’t do it, I’ll die…”

Suddenly he felt Paula’s hand on his cheek. She gently turned her head to his and spoke in his ear.

“We’re here with you. Remember, you have to balance the forces within.”

Ness focused on Paula’s eyes. They were so closed her pupils seemed like dots. Stranger still, her blue eyes were tinged a dark crimson…

Ness straitened and put his arm around Paula’s head, so that his hand was placed on her forehead. Then he extended his hand and yelled. “Poo!”

Poo dodged another lunge and spotted Ness. Instinctively he reached for his sunglasses and put them on.

Ness’ eyes went wide as he tapped into the energy in Paula’s mind and channeled it as his own. The psycholuminescent blast caught the Bio-Giygas straight on and enveloped it. For a moment the neighborhood looked like it was in the middle of the sunniest day of the year. After a moment the light subsided and the creature collapsed on the floor, clearly dead. Smoke rose in small curls from its carcass.

Ness finally lost the energy to stand up and collapsed, bringing the sleeping Paula down with him. Poo ripped the tail that held his arm and ran over to them. In the meantime, every single family in every single household emerged from their houses to look at what had caused the commotion. Very soon they caused a great commotion.

“Oh, man what is that thing?!”

“They tore down a lamp post!”

“Who’s that guy? And what’s he doing with those kids?”

Poo reached into his sleeve and retrieved his phone. He flipped it open and pressed a button on its face.

“Strong? This is Kai Poo. I need a containment unit over here, now. Lock on to the coordinates on my phone…okay. Poo out.”

As he sheathed his phone and took Paula in his arms Paula’s father and mother came out of the house and beheld the spectacle before them.

“I thought you said this would never happen again,” scolded Paula’s father sternly. “Professor Andonuts guaranteed that we wouldn’t get attacked again!”

Poo could not bow to holding Paula, so he lowered his head curtly. “I am sorry,” he said plainly.

Paula’s father turned away. His grip on Paula’s mother’s hand tightened. “Just go,” he said. “Just…just go.”

Poo looked down at Ness, who had managed to drag himself to his feet again. Then he walked away, towards the woods where the Sky Runner was. Ness turned to follow, but he shot one last glance at Paula’s family over his shoulder. They looked hurt, if not betrayed. Ness whispered a soft, “I’m sorry,” before leaving in the same direction as Poo.

Once in the Sky Runner, Poo set Paula’s body down and strapped himself in, while Ness collapsed onto his seat. He tried to say something to the agent, but found that he didn’t know what to say. Luckily it would be Poo who would talk this time.

“This has only happened one other time,” he said glumly. “It was the time when SANCTUARY had detected Paula’s powers. They were about to take her away when…” He paused and sighed, obviously holding back a terrible amount of grief and guilt. “…she nearly died.”

Ness sighed softly. “Guess that’s why they don’t live in Twoson anymore, huh,” he said. “To escape from the bad memories.”

Poo lowered his head. “Just one more reason why we have to annihilate Giygas.”

Ness turned away and felt a sudden lurching as the Sky Runner took off towards SANCTUARY. He looked out the window and saw a police truck arriving on the seen, although the people that stepped outside of it to retrieve the creature were wearing SANCTUARY uniforms.

As Ness slowly felt to sleep, he shot one last glance at Paula and sighed.

Meanwhile, back at SANCTUARY, Professor Andonuts was hobbling towards a large, military-class Sky Runner, escorted by two physicians. The Sky Runner had just landed, and the door was opening slowly. A troop of SANCTUARY operatives exited and lined up on opposite sides of the door, while one of the physicians went inside and retrieved whoever was inside. That person stumbled out of the Sky Runner, clothes torn and full of bruises. His glasses were cracked.

As soon as the physician escorted the young boy outside Professor Andonuts walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. His lips curled into a lopsided smile.

“…uncle?”

The old man chuckled. “Welcome, Jeff. I’ve been looking for you.”