Part 2: Meteorites, Space Bees, and Really Pissy Crows

Part 1: Meteorites, Space Bees, and Really Pissy Crows


Hi. My name's Ness. You probably don't know who I am or anything about what happened last year. Nobody does, really. But, if you've got a little time to spare, I can tell you. It's a pretty...interesting story. You might want to get something to drink, or a chair or something.



...You ready? Alright. It started when I was about 12.



This is my hometown, Onett. Your average little suburb in your average little state in America.



At the time, I hated Onett. Everything in that town is either boring or dangerous. You had the local hooligans, the Sharks, who would dress up in black leotards and chase you down on skateboards if you came anywhere near the arcade. Not that Onett's arcade was really that great to begin with.



As far as Onett was from anything interesting, my house was just as far from Onett itself. To make matters worse, every other week or so, the road leading to town was closed by the police. Onett has been in record books for most roads closed, that's how boring this town is.





It was the middle of the summer. Around ten-thirty at night. I was asleep when the whole thing started. I woke up to the loudest crash I'd ever heard.



I peeked out my bedroom window. Police lights were flashing all around. Something was glowing at the top of the hill behind my house.



:"Finally...Something interesting."

My mom was still up, watching some late-night talk show or something. She was staring out the window looking fretful.



: "You don't seem scared at all! And now you want to go check it out?"

: "Oh, go ahead. You'll sneak out of your room anyway, even if I asked you not to."



I got dressed and headed outside. So what was a little sleep?



Outside, my neighbors had already gathered around, looking up at the hilltop. Of course, the police had blocked off the area but I wasn't going to let a little thing like that get in my way.



Climbing up the hill, I overheard one of the cops talking into a radio.

: "Yes sir, sarge. A meteor hit the hilltop north of town. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. No, sir, we've closed the road there."



Halfway up the hill I had to pass by that creepy old man's place. They said he used to be a treasure hunter of some kind. These days he just sat on his porch eating garlic, spitting into old tin cans, and trying to make friends with the local kids.

: "A meteorite fell down and went boom! It was a real mess for a while. Some of the weaker citizens probably fainted."

: "I was fine because I always eat garlic and work out to make my body stronger."

At this point I was glad the police were nearby...



Then, there it was. A decent view of the meteorite. Too bad, the cops had the area blocked off and there were too many of them to sneak past.

I was about to leave when I noticed Pokey standing there.



: "He's driving me nuts. Are you two friends?"

: "No."

: "You're not friends, but aren't you neighbors? C'mon, help me out here!"

Pokey was NOBODY's friend. Pokey was just mean, and gross, and a whole lot of other bad stuff I can't even list. He was also my next-door neighbor. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see him sucking up to the cops.

: "Hey, Ness. Don't be rubberneckin'."



: "You can go home now. Tomorrow I, Pokey, will tell you more about the strange meteorite. I'm fine here, but you're bugging the officers!"

: "Whatever, tubby."



So this was a bust after all. I set off home.



: "Yeah...I am pretty tired."



Another loud noise woke me up. Someone was pounding on our door.



Even my sister Tracy was up.



I had a sinking feeling before I even touched the knob...



Yeah. It was Pokey.





: "You're looking lovely as usual. *snicker* Anyway, as I was saying, the police guarding the meteorite landing left suddenly to deal with the Sharks. You know the Sharks, they're the local ruffians, and they were really going wild. Suddenly, I noticed that Picky was gone! I blame the cops...It certainly wasn't my fault at all."

: "You're my bestest friend. Won't YOU help me find Picky?"



Then he gave me this chilling stare and nodded his head slowly. Something wasn't right here. Was Pokey...threatening me? I looked at him. He had one grubby, fat hand in his pocket. He couldn't be serious...could he?

: "Before we go, why don't you say 'Goodbye' to your mom. Don't you agree, ma'am?"



You son of a bitch. Fine. I'll play along, you psychopath. Anything to get you out of my house.

: "Mom, I'm gonna go help Pokey find his little brother."



Don't ask me about the dog's name by the way. My sister named him, and, well, it's never really made sense to me.



If I was going to go out, alone, in the middle of the night with Pokey, I wasn't going empty-handed.



Come on, boy. Things might get rough out there.






At that point, I was resigned to getting stabbed in the back. I was reaching for the doorknob, when suddenly...

: "Ring-ring!"



The phone started ringing.



Dad was a real hard worker. He was always away on business, and we hardly ever saw him. Honestly, I could never get a straight answer from my Mom what he did.

: "Work till exhaustion when you're young...Have you ever heard of a weird saying like this? Just remember, I'm always behind you 100%. Don't be afraid. I know you're brave. You can do it!"

He always talked like this. I think he was trying to overcompensate for never being around.

: "Oh yeah, I deposited $30 into your bank account. Do you have your ATM card?"

He also kept us all pretty well supplied with cash. In my case, this was just more for the Sharks to steal after stuffing me into a Dumpster somewhere. I held the phone close to my ear, but I could see Pokey's ears pricking up at the mention of money. Just what he needed, I thought, another excuse to leave me for dead in the woods somewhere.



Finally, we left. We hadn't even got very far when a low hissing sound stopped us in our tracks. Peering through the pickets in the fence, I could see a giant green snake just past our front yard.


: "W-what's a snake like that doing here?"



: "I don't know. Uh...I think it's looking at us."



Crap.



Well, good thing I brought this bat at least. I swung my bat at it, yelling. Usually animals would run away at this point, but something about this snake was different. Its' eyes were shiny, almost glowing, and it hissed angrily.











Pokey, of course, was just standing there the whole time. At this point, I was confused as hell. A big, angry snake had just tried to kill me not five feet from my home. What in the world was going on here?



Patting Otoro on the head, I continued up the hill to where the meteorite was. Sure enough, the cops were gone. At least I might be able to get a good look at the meteorite. Halfway up the hill, we encountered a stray dog. Otoro growled at it.



: "Easy, boy."



I looked at the dog. It had the same wild, glowing eyes the snake had.



Pokey, you useless sack of-



I closed my eyes and swung my bat. I felt it connect with something and heard a confused yelp.

That did it. Between me hitting it and Otoro's relentless barking, the dog gave up and took off into the darkness. Before I could even take a step, however -



Otoro was barking and leaping up into the air at it. I was flailing my bat around wildly, my hand over my face. Rabies. These animals have got to be rabid and if they scratch me, I'm gonna catch it too-oh crap-

The bird flew off a few feet and suddenly dive bombed back at me. I was ready for it now. Priming my bat, I swung with everything I had, hitting the sleek black crow dead center. If it had been a baseball, it would have flown back across second base and into the stands. As it was, the bird sailed off a few feet, black feathers in a cloud in the air, and landed on the ground, its' neck twisted at an impossible angle. Breathing heavily, I wiped a small trickle of blood off my bat.

: "Th...this is crazy..."

:"You'd better not be thinking about turning back! My brother's out here, or did you forget?"

You fat, slimy creep...But, unlike his brother, Picky was a nice kid, and I didn't feel right at all just leaving him out here with these insane animals.



Not to mention this guy. Feeling a little sick, I said a silent prayer that Picky wasn't already locked in a walk-in fridge somewhere in his basement.



There he was! Next to the meteor. The cops had left the place unguarded, and we walked right through their blockade. Tiny fires smoldered on the grass here and there, around the oddly glowing meteorite. Suddenly I wondered if this might have anything to do with the animals acting the way they did.





Something spooked Otoro pretty bad and he ran for home. I didn't see any more crows or snakes lurking nearby, so who knows. Dogs are strange like that.



: "What were you doing ASLEEP out here?!"

: "Pokey got scared and ran away...Well, I'm glad that you're OK, at least. Let's go home now. I bet Mom & Dad are worried sick about us. Jeez! Sometimes I wonder which one of us is the real big brother."

At least I was pretty sure Pokey wouldn't try anything with his little brother around. I turned to head home, swearing to myself never to investigate loud noises after dark again.



: "No..."

: "Oh, c'mon...you must hear it..."
Suddenly a beam of light sliced through the darkness.






So there was Pokey's bee. I steadied my bat, expecting another crazed attack, but then, something unexpected happened.





...oh.



Oh god, one of those animals did get me, and I'm hallucinating now.

: "...And in the future, all is devastation...Giygas, the universal cosmic destroyer, has sent all to the horror of eternal darkness."

: "But, you must listen! Where I am from, there is a well-known legend that has been handed down from ancient times. It says, "When the chosen boy reaches the point, he will find the light. The passage of time will shatter the nightmare rock and reveal the path of light." You see, it is my opinion that you are that boy, Ness."

That's great. None of this is real anyway, so can I be Batman too, as long as we're talking to bees from the future?

: "Giygas' monstrous plan must have been set in motion somewhere on Earth...If you confront the enemy immediately, you may have time to counter the evil intentions of Giygas.





: "Go now! And do not be anxious about the future."



Buzz Buzz the future bee! I never thought I'd die of rabies at such a young age. Maybe I'll wake up and this whole thing will have been a bad dream. No Pokey. No meteor. No vicious animals. No bees from the future. No hallucinations. I looked myself over. I was unhurt. No scratches, or bites, or anything. Suddenly I was brought back to reality by an extremely annoying voice...



: "Three boys and a girl? Uhhh...I'm not one of those three, am I?"

I hope not, Pokey.



: "Can you come visit me later, alone?"

NO. WAY.

Surprisingly, we made it back to our houses without incident. The whole way I did my best to pretend I didn't hear the faint buzzing as the imaginary bee circled over my head. Suddenly an ear-splitting noise pierced the night. There was a blinding flash of light and then...





Wh-what? I looked at Pokey and Picky. They were both staring dead-on at the weird, silver thing with shock on their faces. So....I wasn't imagining this?

: "You've been successful at foiling Master Giygas' plans. But...Buzz Buzz, you must now surrender. You're no longer a hero, but just a useless insect."



: "I'll stomp you hard!"

Boss Fight: Starman Jr.
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The Starman lay in a battered heap. Tiny fires still burned around us where his flame attacks had bounced off of Buzz Buzz's psychic shield. My bat had at least one new crack in it. This was real. This was actually happening.



: "He came from 10 years in the future to kill me, so we can't relax yet! From now on, you'll be fighting enemies sent by Giygas, as well as humans who have evil in their hearts. Animals are also becoming violent due to Giygas' influence over the evil in their minds!"

So that's what happened...I didn't have rabies at all. But the downside to this was...everything the bee had said was real. Giygas was real. And somehow, I was the one who was going to stop him and save the entire world.



This was too much. I at least had to get rid of Pokey and Picky before I dealt with this, and pray that Pokey wasn't one of the other two boys that were supposed to help me defeat Giygas.



Pokey's parents were kind of intimidating. His mother, especially.



: "Both of you are really going to get it now!"





SMACK.





Me too.

: "I'm tired of your family living next door. We've loaned your father a lot of money, it may have been a hundred thousand dollars or more...Well, I guess it really could have been less, but because of the loan, my family and I now live in poverty!"

He went on this speech literally every time he saw me. I don't know how much of it was true. As you can see Pokey's parents were at least as nasty as Pokey himself was.



Buzz Buzz, don't do that...



Oh crap. Oh, CRAP.

SQUISH.





Jeez. So this is what happens when you can't get a psychic shield up, huh?

: "So you must now begin your adventure....see....you..."

: "You've gotta be kidding me!"

: "Oh, I just remembered...listen to my final words..."

: "I hope these words include something about "where Giygas is" or "how you can beat him."'



: "The earth will then channel your power and multiply it. There are eight points that you must visit. Make these places your own. Each of these locations is "Your Sanctuary". One of them is near Onett...It is called Giant Step...Go there first...Urgh! *gasp* Before I pass on, I want to give you something..."



: "You can record the melodies from the eight "Your Sanctuary" locations within this stone. It is an awesome item..."



And with that, the bee from the future was silent. But could it really be dawn already?

Ugh. I was exhausted. I gripped the Sound Stone and put it in my backpack. Sure enough...





The sun was up.

I hadn't gotten any sleep at all. I decided to have a nap. I would worry about this "Giant Step" tomorrow.





And that's how it started. The strangest night of my life. At the time, at least. If you want to hear more, I'll be here, but I warn you, it gets stranger from this point.


Next time: Ness gets the stuffing beat out of him! DON'T MISS IT!