Mother Infinity-Rise of the Star Faction
Chapter 0

The year is 201X…
The location is southwestern Eagleland…
Gemme Valley, a large state in this area of the country…
Peridot, a quiet mountaintop town north of Sapphirenia, a sprawling, populated city…
The time is 8:00 PM on Friday, April 20, 201X
Outside a geothermal power plant in Peridot…

The skies darken over mankind’s land
The Nema-Beast’s rise from the shattered rock
Sings of the Black Reign of the Angel of Death
As she kisses the world into a terrible sleep

The Kiss of Death revives the Men of the Stars
They serve the Beast, his throne on the rock
The night subsides, unanswered by day
The Star-Men roam forth, defenders of the devils

	Metal boots met the ground outside the power plant. P, as his comrades called him, removed his armor helmet and glanced around, looking for a way to get in unnoticed. In his left hand was a sealed vial filled with a purple fluid, in which floated a small, dark speck of DNA. Spotting an opening above him, he fired the rockets in his boots and floated up to it.
	“Heh heh heh, there it is!” he chuckled malevolently. “Just what I’m looking for! That turbine over there will be perfect for this thing!”
	P jetted over to the turbine he saw. He examined the entire thing, looking for a spot where there was enough energy for the DNA to react. Pipes led out of the turbine and downwards into the floor, continuing for many miles until it reached the hot rock below. P punched a hole in the pipe, causing steam to rush out. He positioned the vial in the hole and fastened it there with metal pieces attached to it.
	“Hey!” a voice called behind him. He turned around to see a security guard.
	“What are you doing here?!” the guard demanded, drawing a .45 and aiming it at P.
	“Just a little experiment here,” laughed P, reaching for a large, mechanical weapon clipped to his armor suit. He pointed his railgun at the guard and put his helmet back on with his free hand.
	The guard’s eyes widened drastically. He removed a walkie-talkie from his belt and called for other guards.
	“Guards! Security breach in Sector 39-Z! Main Turbine Room!”
	Other guards showed up in the turbine room, prompting P to fire. A white, beamlike projectile darted out of his railgun at the guards, but missed, burning a hole in the ground in front of them.
	The guards returned fire, some of their bullets hitting P’s armor, which kept him well shielded. He fired his jet boots and aimed at the guards again. His next shot hit the ground closer to the guards, sending some of them flying.
	When the guards in the room were out of commission, P landed and checked up on the vial. The DNA was reacting to the presence of the energy, and had replicated until it had filled the entire vial. P smiled menacingly.
	The rest of the guards at the facility had showed up, and were opening fire before P could react. He counterattacked with his railgun, despite the fact that he was low on ammo.
	“Use your PSI! Take him down!” one of the guards ordered. Soon, various castings of PSI Fire, Thunder, and Freeze were racing at P from all directions. He utilized his jet boots to weave his way between the energy blasts. Below him, the reaction in the broken tube was almost complete.
	“Why leave so soon, boys?” P taunted. “I’d like you to meet my little friend Nema!”
	Immediately after P said that, the turbine below him exploded from underneath. A massive mushroom cloud shot straight up and tore through the roof. The lights went out, alarms rang, and the fire cloud subsided to reveal a strange, tall creature. It looked somewhat like a Starman, except it had dark purple skin was scaly and reptile-like. It had thin horns coming up out of its head, and had enormous, purple, metallic-looking eyes.
	The guards fired at the beast, only to anger it. It screeched terribly and attacked with a white energy beam that knocked some guards away. It glared sinisterly and uttered a single word: “Foe.”
	The remaining guards tried to attack it with PSI. So many blasts came at it at once that it could not avoid all of them. Suddenly, P appeared in front of it and shielded off the blasts. The creature observed this.
	“Friend.”
	P used the rest of his firepower on the guards, until none of them were left.
	“Friend,” the reptile repeated, staring at P.
	“Correct! I have big plans for you, Nema!”
	“Nema.” The beast said its own name for the first time.
	“I plan to rid this planet of everyone in my way.” P declared. “They are against me, Nema, and against you.”
	“Foe.”
	“No matter though. Some are with me, and as your ‘friend,’ they are with you too. They are good people.”
	“Good people.” Nema repeated.
	“Heh heh, that’s right! They are the Star Faction, which I command. They are on your side.”
	“Faction,” Nema muttered, “on my side?”
	“Yeah! Heh heh, man, you’re learning fast!” P answered boldly. “And you, Nema, are destined to dominate over all mankind.”
	“Destined to dominate,” Nema kept repeating P’s words, “over all mankind.”

	“Freeze! Don’t move!”
	“What?!” P exclaimed. “I thought all the guards were gone!”
	A team of SWAT officers had arrived in the turbine room, taking aim at P and Nema. P tried to fire, but his ammo was depleted. Nema used his signature energy attack on the officers, but it only worked on a fraction.
	“Foe!” Nema roared.
	“Nema!” P ordered. “Do something! Do away with them immediately!”
	Nema glared at a group of unconscious security guards. “Foe,” he said, “…Friend.”
	The guards stood up, but instead of attacking P and Nema, they went after the SWAT officers instead. Soon, an intense battle was underway, with the possessed guards victorious.
	“Y-y-you can possess people?” stuttered P when the fighting stopped. “You really are tough! No one can stop you!”
	“None can stop me.” Nema repeated inaccurately.
	“Yeah, whatever. Close enough.”
	Nema remained silent.
	“Here’s the plan. There’s a submarine south of here, in the gulf. I can still fly there, but I can’t get you there as fast. I want you to get to the gulf any way you can, but I don’t want anybody to notice you, okay? And anyone who resists you, kill them!”
	“Anyone who resists, I kill them.” Nema understood P’s directions perfectly.
	“Good. Now go!” With that, Pokey blasted off, flying away from the burning wreckage of the power plant.

	Nema stalked out of the plant, making sure nobody saw him. Except for paramedics and firefighters going in to rescue people, he encountered nobody. He successfully escaped the power plant undetected and headed east into the thick forests of Mt. Peridot.

8:30 PM
In a forest closer to the town of Peridot

	Giygas had seen the whole thing, from watching the strange armor-clad man enter, to the explosion, to witnessing the monster use its powers. He knew exactly what was happening. It was the same thing that had happened to him.
	He was running away from the plant now, disguised as a fox. He could morph into different forms, except that there’d be an unusual swirl somewhere on his body. This was useful for him.
	He remembered Nema. He remembered Pokey Minch. And he also remembered what a terror Pokey was. After Pokey had treated him a tool and forced him to unwillingly fight against the people he was meant to defend, he wanted that sick pig gone once and for all.
	
	Giygas’ daydream was interrupted by movement in some bushes in front of him. Before he knew it, a wolverine, possessed by Nema’s influence, was stalking him. He snarled at it, warning it not to approach him.
	The animal bounded at him, hissing and growling like it had rabies. Giygas met the wolverine head on, and flung the giant creature away from him.
	Several more wolverines had showed up, ready to gang up on Giygas. One by one, they attacked, but Giygas picked them off, only to face an entire row of them waiting to take a bite out of him. The swirl on his fur glowed red.
	“PSI Fire Alpha!” shouted Giygas.
	Orange flames spurted out of his chest and spread apart, taking out the whole row. There was an arc along the ground that was singed from the blast. Giygas took a deep breath of relief.
	His relief was short lived, cut short by more commotion to his left. He slunk over there, and saw a human figure being accosted by a pack of multiple wolverines. As one of them leapt for the human’s face, Giygas rushed directly at it and tackled it into the forest floor, knocking it out instantaneously.
	The rest of the pack began to pounce on Giygas, but he swatted them all away, desperate to protect the human. He positioned himself between the boy and the wolverines, which besieged them both. The boy looked too weak to fight back.
	Giygas continued thumping the wolverines until eventually they all gave up trying to kill him. After the fighting stopped, he turned around and his eyes met that of the human…
To be continued…