Earthbound – Dark Futures (Part 1)	
StarmanFan

	Poo is dead. So is Jeff. Paula is nowhere to be found. Ness’ world is in shambles. 	
	
	The struggle between the last hope of earth and the ultimate evil has come to an end. Ness wanders the world searching for Paula, his only companion against a world turned against him. Even his mother and sister attacked him after the loss of his two companions in that struggle.	
	He still didn’t know what had gone wrong. Pokey had run like Ness had thought from the start. Not a leader, more a leach. But then during the fight with Giygas, Paula had vanished. Literally. It had been him, Jeff and Poo to defend against this monster. Try as he might, Ness’s attacks had don’t nothing. In fact, it seemed as though Giygas enjoyed the barrage of PSI attacks, explosives and sword slashes. They were useless in this fight without Paula. 	
	Not to mention the effect it had on Ness emotionally. Paula had been with him the entire journey, and now she was gone. She made him feel strong, and safe at the same time. Not having her by his side made Ness both nervous and unfocused.	
	And that is what Giygas took advantage of. After the three boys had exhausted their strength, Giygas went on the offensive. Great ripples of light, roaring in infinite space washed over the chosen three, weakening them. In a cruel twist of fate, Giygas has turned Jeff’s beam weapon against him, and made Poo wield his sword of kings against himself. Seeing this, Ness became emotionally unstable and unleashed all of his remaining energy on Giygas directly. 	
	But it was to no avail. The attacks useless, Ness slipped into unconsciousness, with Giygas looking on. Ness thought the end had come, for sure. His mind faded.
	But to his intense surprise, Ness awoke shortly after. In the middle of the Stonehenge base, surrounded by snow and silence. Slowly coming into lucidity, Ness looked around. To his surprise, he was alone, not surrounded by the usual cast of bears, cavemen and the like.	
	Ness also noticed that he was in his own body once again. Familiar, warm flesh instead of the temporary state of metal he had recently inhabited. What was going on? 	
	Ness searched around, but his weapons and items were nowhere to be found. He was unarmed in the middle of a dangerous area. He decided to vacate the premises and search for Dr. Andonuts, whose lab was close by. 
	
	Ness slowly opened the door to the lab, and peered inside. Empty. The lab was completely barren, including all of the parts, gadgets, furniture and, most importantly, the man himself. Ness walked inside and scanned the area. This was not good. 
	Ness sat on the ground and took off his hat. Hope of everything being ok was rapidly diminishing from Ness’ mind. 
	He rubbed his hands across the ground, feeling the cold lab floor. He knew that action was going to get him what he wanted, so he got up, put on his cap and went to dust off his hands on his pants. The lab was always dusty. Except this time. Ness looked at the palm of his hands. Completely clean, not a speck of dirt or grime or oil. Quickly, Ness examined the floors and walls more closely.	
	All of it was completely clean. Spotless, as if this lab didn’t actually exist. Nothing was this clean. It must have been Giygas’ doing, no human device could do this. This worried Ness even more.	
	Ness decided to leave that instant. He quickly rushed outside. He was met with a huge, looming figure towering over him, staring down at the boy. Brickroad. The man who had himself become a maze, and helped Ness in times of need. Ness wondered for a second how Brickroad had gotten to Dr. Andonuts lab, but quickly switched his mindset as the huge tower man swung one of his giant arms down, narrowly missing Ness. 	
	He was trying to kill Ness. Ness realized that Brickroad was no longer under his own control, and assessed the situation. He didn’t want to hurt this man, but without some action, Ness would have surely met his end then and there. So he gathered his thoughts and released a giant flash from his mind, disrupting and confusing Brickroad. 	
	Good, Ness thought. His abilities were still available. He would need them to survive, if Giygas’ control had become complete. Brickroad stumbled and fell on his back, making a great crashing noise and smashing several surrounding trees. But Ness realized this wouldn’t do, Brickroad would soon recover from being flashed. Thinking quickly, Ness used hypnosis on Brickroad, causing him to lapse into a sleep so deep it seemed as if the giant stone man had fallen for the last time. Ness breathed a heavy sigh. 	
	But he also realized that this was possibly the worst time to relax even the smallest bit. If Brickroad, former friend, had been taken control of, there was no telling who might be next to attack. Ness decided that home would be the best place to go recollect his thoughts and come up with a plan. He put his forefinger to his temple and blinked out of sight, teleporting away.	

Little did he know, home was the last place Ness would be welcome. (Continued in Part 2)