Giegue stands, unfazed by the attacks of the children before him but not so by his memories. The song—the song of his mother, the anguish of his forced separation and of his forced battle with who is practically his relative, is unbearable. For all these years the alien had to keep his emotions hung up inside, as he was conscripted to the war against Earth, the war to end the people he loved. He tried so hard to keep it bottled up, yet these feelings were spilling out before him, before the enemies he sworn to kill. His body shakes, stricken with the sorrow of his lullaby.
“Stop! Stop singing!” he cries out to his adversaries, “No more!” Ninten stops, he and his three friends standing in silence, their minds and bodies exhausted. Fear coated the human’s faces except him, the meaning of that boy’s expression was inexplicable to Giegue. They both stared at each other in a deafening quiet.
“H-how… how could I be defeated by a song like that?” he asks aloud shakily, the question meant for himself. The invader’s thought process was scattered as every choice that he ever made, fueled his people’s disdain for humans, all called into question by that song. A reminder of his love for a human—for all humans. He stammers, “I will… sometime…” His words, embodiments of a hollowed rage. Giegue cannot kill these people, especially not Ninten, a descendant of who he loved so dearly. In doing so he has failed his people, failed his mission. The invader knew full well what such failure meant if he returned back to his planet—and yet, he had no choice; for there was nowhere else he could go.
A newfound energy filled his voice as Giegue called out, “Ninten! We SHALL meet again!” The boy said nothing, but his eyes shone with understanding. That was enough for him, and more than what he deserved. With a rumble, the ship’s engine started, and just as quickly began its ascent. As the ship flew upwards into the sky, he whispered to himself, “Mother… I’m coming home.”
“Ness! Big Bro! It’s time for school!”
A groan sounds typically in response to such a start to a school day, an already tiresome ordeal. Half-awake, the boy stumbles out of bed, quite literally, in an haphazard attempt to get himself up. This comes to no surprise to his sister, who doesn’t have to even be in the room to foresee this.
She violently knocks on the door again, “Ness, did you fall out of bed again? You’re impossible. Mom says to get changed and head down for breakfast. Try not to fall down the stairs if you can.” The last part, while delivered in a humourous tone, was something that actually happened one morning and it was followed with a scared-half-to-death mother and a sister who was laughing to stitches. She never let this go since.
The brother, now thoroughly awake and partly embarrassed, stands in his bedroom. The grogginess had not fully passed his system though, as he was woken up from a deep slumber, having a vivid dream. Despite this, Ness (as he was called) could not recall the contents of said dream, though this did not surprise him. This always happens to him. Opting to take heed to his sister’s, Tracy’s, advice he slowly made his way to his clothes drawer and picked out his usual clothes: striped shirt, cargo pants, and to top it all off, his baseball cap. There was no mirror to look in to see how dashing he was, though he did not mind that—he didn’t like mirrors.
Retrieving his backpack, Ness opens the door and heads down the stairs, where he is greeted by his mom, with her usual smile. “Good morning sweetie,” she says for the millionth time, “I hope had a good rest. I heard midterm exams is coming up, it’s nearing winter after all.” Her son smiles back, not at the prospect of taking tests, but purely out of the love for his mother. Tracy remains seated, devouring a bowl of Corn Pops, “Ness, eat. You’re gonna be late,” she manages to say with food with her mouth. She points to a bowl of milk-less cereal already prepared to him, completed with a glass of orange juice. He eagerly takes up on his sister’s offer, with King plopping himself down between the two siblings, waiting for strays from their meals to fall helplessly to the floor for immediate consumption. After a short meal, the two children head out to begin their school day after putting on their coats, with a small hug from their mother to the both of them.
Opening the door began a chilly November morning and as the sun rose barely over the horizon, they began their usual walking commute. Just as usually, their next-door neighbours follow rushedly after them, calling out, “Hey! Wait up!” Ness thought about quickening the pace, but he decided it was best to just get this encounter over with. Two kids, Pokey and Picky Minch, approached from behind, the older brother dashing towards with the younger slowly ambling in the same direction, not much in a hurry. The former catches up to the siblings quickly, skidding his boots on the dirt path to an abrupt stop.
“Hello, Ness. Tracy,” Pokey starts with a two-faced smile, the usual look plastered onto his face. “Also near late, I see.” He chuckles at this, but there was no humour in his delivery.
“Pokey, I dunno why you’re running so fast only to stop-,’ the other walks in, just now noticing the other two siblings. He looked unbelievably sleepy, though this did not come to a surprise to anyone—Picky was less of a morning person than Ness was.”Oh," he corrects himself, with a distant gaze to the both of them, “Good morning, guys.” His tone was as unenthusiastic as he looked.
Tracy thought this whole exchange (which happened nearly every day) with a small chuckle as the group began to walk together, “Morning. Don’t think you should be so eager to go to school though Pokey, what with the tests and all.”
Picky hummed, “Yea, but you know my brother, always crazy about Ness. You could say he’s madly in love with him,” His teasing prompted a death stare from his older brother, his smile still unchanging.
“Am not!” Pokey retorts, adopting a snooty tone, “I am just concerned for my fellow neighbours’ educational pursuits. I’m simply being a good Samaritan.”
“Riiiiiiiight.”
Ness and Tracy walked in silence as the minutes were filled with menial arguments between the two brothers, desperately trying to one-up each other til their journey to school was completed—a long fifteen minutes of what was going to already be a long day. The air was a damp cold, not nearly below freezing, thankfully, but cold enough to be uncomfortable. When they reached the steps of the building, their arguments stopped as soon as they began, seemingly already exhausted from the discord they’d wrought. The little sister left with a “see ya, bro!”, Picky following her without a farewell to his brother, leaving the eighth-graders resigned to their own dreaded fate of Eaglelandish Literature. Ness did not hate reading, in fact he quite enjoyed it when it was aligned with his interests, but most of the texts that were assigned to him were dreadfully, brain-numbingly boring: filled with archaic prose and dull themes. “‘Ohhhhh yes,’” he mocked the teacher in his head, “‘Let’s all read a book about the Industrial Revolution and its effects on modern day economics. Surely that won’t be boring for middle schoolers.’” If that was not evil, he figured, nothing was.
The late bell rang nearly before the two entered the room and sat down at his desk in the back, almost prey to his teacher’s yellings about absolute punctuality. It was not enough save them from a leer that almost led to a whole passive-aggressive rant from her—but subsided, giving only Ness a face that read “take off your cap while you’re in school”, in which the boy promptly obeyed. The teacher stood from her desk, mustering to speak in a softer voice than usual, “Now class, you may already know (as this is a small town) that we have some new people that moved here recently, one of which is a new student,” The last clause is said with a meager amount of enthusiasm, but students look curious enough to care about the mystery of this new kid. She continues, “This boy has come all the way from the Nowhere Islands, so I would like you to be welcoming and kind to your classmate.”
As if on cue, footsteps can be heard from outside the classroom, walking hesitantly towards the door before stopping—a short pause before it opened. In entered a blond, skinny boy, slightly short in stature and fairly ordinary for a foreigner. He walked in sheepishly towards the front of the classroom, not at all comfortable from being stared at by everyone. The teacher cleared her throat, “Would you mind introducing yourself, Lucas?” The blond was a tad startled at this, not noticing he was standing quietly for too long.
"Um, okay," he scratches his head, not out of embarrassment, but out of anxiety. "My name is Lucas, uh, I come from the Nowhere Islands, off the coast of Foggyland. I lived in a small town, Tazmilly, smaller than here, though there were no cars or any of that." He stresses the word "were" lightly, implying something no one had the context to. "You could say it was, uh, very rural." He pauses, unsure what else to say but a murmur which barely passes his lips, unable to be heard. The class' initial curiousity had now faded, the shy boy failing to reach their high expectations for interest.
“Well then!” the teacher resumes, with a sharp clap of her hands, “Thank you, Lucas. Since you have come near the end of the term, I will have to give you a test to see where you are academically. Ungraded, but it’ll be good for you,” He nods, looking unsure of himself, “You may sit in the empty seat besides Ness, in the corner. Ness, please raise your hand?” Ness lazily does so, seemingly not catching the attention of Lucas due to him zoning out. Nevertheless, the blond makes his way down the classroom, promptly sitting down without a word.
“Now!” she smiles, finally able to begin her torture, “Today you will continue reading through your workbook, answering the questions that follow. Remember that your essay on H. G. Wells ‘War of the Worlds’ is due this Friday, no exceptions. I have given you plenty of time to read it at home and just as much to write an essay on its socio-political messagry—,” The remainder of her “teachings” are tuned out as Ness looks over to his new next-desk neighbour. The back row had only two people in it: Pokey, who menacingly stares at the boy throughout all the classes they share (which is all of them) and Ness himself, with an empty desk between the two. He was quite excited to meet a new person, and from a far land no less. Taking out his usual spiral notebook, he begins writing, holding it up for Lucas to see a single word: “Hi!” followed by an extraneous amount of exclamation points.
The blond, once in the realm of his own mind, is brought back to reality, glazing over the written greeting. Softly, he replies, “Hi?” Pokey snickers quietly, seeing the “conversation” from the other side.
Ness continues writing, almost frantically, “I’m Ness! Though you knew that already. You came from the Nowhere Islands? Never heard of a place. Is it nice there? Do you play baseball?”
Lucas answers the barrage of questions in order, “Y-yea I’m from there, um, it’s nice I guess. There’s these animals called Dragos, they’re nice. Wouldn’t hurt anyone.” His speech drifts off, thinking about something before continuing, “Sorry, yeah, I think its nice. As for ‘baseball’, I don’t know what that is, sorry.” The blond sinks into himself a bit after whispering an apology, especially as Ness looks shocked at his answer.
“What do you mean you—,” he blurts out, a little too loudly before being silenced by the teacher with an icy glare, an apology muttered before she continues. Pokey at this point is near hysterics, though that reaction is also quelled with another glare. A silence filled with the turning of pages returned to the classroom, as Ness opens his workbook and turns to the short story he’s supposed to be analysing. But this is not without one last message being scrawled to the bottom of the page, in big hastily drawn letters: “Sorry about that. Wanna be friends?” Lucas looks with a quiet surprise, a small smile emerging from his usual somber expression. With the same silence, accompanied by a happy, albeit shy tone, he whispers a reply,
“Sure, let’s be friends.”
The rest of the school day went on as per usual, just with a new addition: Lucas. Mathematics, Social Studies, and History all went by at a slow pace, though Ness’ rantings to his new friend helped speed up the time. The blond boy was not one to interrupt or talk about himself, but listened patiently to long explanations of baseball and who was the best team (the Fourside Dashers). He was never that into for sports, but was interested enough in something he never heard of.
Meanwhile, Ness was ecstatic to finally have a school friend besides Pokey, who he doesn’t really like due to all of his cruel tricks and insults. It’s not as if he hadn’t tried to gain new friends, but communicating with other people has always been rough, and his self-accommodation of speaking through written notes did not do him any favors. This, combined with his weight, made the boy an easy target for others to bully and ostracize him. At the very least, Pokey didn’t do that, as an outcast himself and for similar reasons. Lucas though, he didn’t care about all the things that made Ness weird or out of the ordinary; he was kind, and Ness thought they could trust each other, despite only being acquainted for less than six hours. Nonetheless, he felt that this connection was concrete, but couldn’t help feeling there was something… solemn inside Lucas, an incomprehensible feeling of sorrow. The baseball fan tried to put it out of his mind, but his curiousity would only grow.
Lunch came sooner than the norm to Ness, the students scrambling down the stairs to the cafeteria, as if they were avoiding the classrooms like the plague. Lucas stuck together with his classmate, unsure of where the cafeteria even is. To him, even in this small suburban town, everything was much bigger and more disorienting. He wasn’t used to places like this, places where no one knew him, where he was met with indifference with his presence. The blond boy followed closely behind his guide, making their way down to the cafeteria.
Lucas was yet again struck by an unfamiliar concept: bad school lunch. Back home in his small school, lunches were made by the parents, his mother used to make the best omelets. Putting aside such melancholic memories, the foreigner took a look at what was being offered. Today’s menu was a hamburger, piss-poor to Ness’ standards, completed with soggy french fries and ketchup. They both gave their collective meals an unsatisfied look before each grabbing a small carton of milk and leaving the serving line, sitting down in Ness’ usual spot. Pokey, Picky, and Tracy were already there, “enjoying” their food.
“An abomination of the culinary arts, wouldn’t you say these burgers are, Ness?” Pokey asked, his speech laced with his usual snark.
One word was all that was needed to be said in reply, “Evil.”
“Yea, yea, the food’s bad, wanna gold medal in figuring that out?” Tracy’s sarcasm was reaching new heights. “Who’s the blonde?”
Ness eyes lit up, “This is Lucas! I met him in English, he comes from an island!” The boy in question hadn’t the motivation to correct him on the fact that there was, in fact more than one island; he instead opted to wonder why he was even here.
“He’s the new kid the sits besides Ness since no one else wants to,” Pokey teases.
“Like you’re one to talk! You can’t say anything without being mean!” Tracy’s tone turned bitter, turning to Lucas with a beckoning hand. “Blondie, just sit down and ignore this guy, that’s what we all do.”
“It’s true,” Picky interjects, “That’s what I do all the time.”
This proceeded to cause a violent debate, with the previous two children ganging up on Pokey to determine who was the most unlikable. Lucas sits down besides Ness, both returning to their usual silence as a battle raged on against the other three people at the table. The new kid asks, quietly so no one can hear, “Are they usually like this?” which is answered with a sharp nod. The mediocre meal finishes before long, and bell signaling the rest of the day’s classes called them forth.
Dismissal came after a long Gym period, leaving all of the students sweaty and tired, slowly retrieving their things to leave. They were all left to run like animals, “training” for the fitness test that will take place next week—though torture, the two friends thought, was a much more accurate term. They both managed to reach the doors leading out to safety, away from the accursed establishment. They find the rest of the group already waiting for them.
“You’re late, though I shouldn’t blame you. Heard Gym was brutal,” Tracy looks at Ness with a teasing smile. Being in sixth grade, she didn’t take the same classes as him, sparing her the brutality of running. “Though I dunno how you can run like that without a sweat, Pokey.”
Just as Pokey was about to flaunt his skills, Picky jumped in, “Yeah, he has a lot of practise at it from running away from anything he finds scary. Honestly, I don’t know which one of us is the older brother.” This prompted a yet another war comprising of only “Not true!” and “Is so!” which will last the entire walk home. Luckily, Lucas is saved from this fate, having to walk the opposite direction to his house, saying a shy good-bye to everyone before walking off. And so, the neighbours are left to their own devices, the school day ending just as it began, clouds gathering gently in the sky.
By the time everyone had gone home, the two siblings were exhausted and had plenty of homework to do. Nearly collapsing on the couch, their old dog slowly pattered towards them, sloppily licking Ness’ extended hand, as if to welcome him back. “(Long day, huh?)” King asks, his question echoing into the boy’s mind, too tired to give a reply.
The mother of these nearly unconscious children walks in from downstairs, somehow retaining the same smile from this morning. “You’re back! No need to get up, I’d bet you both are tired. I’ll go cut some apples for you both and afterwards we’ll have your favourite, Ness.” This perked him up enough to start his work, Tracy sinking into the sofa at the prospect of more steak. When a plate of sliced apples appears before them, the two spent the afternoon on their own projects until completion, King lazily sleeping besides them without a care in the world.
After a few hours, with the apples all disappearing from the plate, the students retire from their work to both play on their GameBoy, the two brawling it out over a game of Tetris. Their mother watched over their duel in the periphery of her vision, focusing her sights on preparing the family’s food. Eventually dinner was ready, with Ness consuming it with great gusto, the dog sitting close behind, while the rest was left picking at their food until there was nothing left. Night fell soon after, the two children retreated to each other’s rooms and slumber eventually enveloped them. Another day had passed, just like every other, and everyone in the house fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
“Danger. Ship has lost control. Planetary collision has become inevitable. Allocating all energy to ship shield. Please hold onto something.”
The ship began to emit a high pitched noise, warning of an imminent crash. It is not nearly strong enough to get out of the planet’s gravitational pull and had a limited fuel supply. After all, the vehicle was made for much lower gravities and was merely designed as an escape pod, using it for long-distance space travel was highly not recommended. As the outside of the ship began to burn red hot, the shield quickly began to drain away the last of the available energy reserves.
“C’mon, c’mon don’t kill me now,” encouraged its only occupant, unsure if there will be enough for them to survive the crash, let alone the incredible heat. Making it out alive seemed improbable in these current conditions. They sigh, focusing their mind and holding their arms out, palms facing the floor, while the ship’s fuel decreases to critical levels at a fast pace as the ship’s warning sounds once again.
“Danger. Ship is running out of energy. Ship shield will soon no longer function. Survival is uncertain. Good luck.”
The passenger breathes an aggravated groan at the ship’s pre-recorded message, both out of the rapidly increasing heat and the pressure of quite probable death. Their gritted teeth marked their desperation and uncertainty in equal measure, but they weren’t going to die without a fight. They would make sure of it. With the escape pod successfully reaching the Mesosphere, flickers of light begin to spark out of their focused hands. A whisper, chanted like a prayer, was all that could be said before the ship plunges into a deep darkness.
There is a long, long fall to the surface—the inevitable thunderous quake that follows sounds the entire town, the sanctity of the formerly peaceful night disappearing with it.
Ness wakes up with a start, an unearthly noise wrestling him from slumber: “What the hell was that!” His sister’s shout reverberates throughout the entire house. Slightly afraid, but moreso groggy, he opens his bedroom door, seeing Tracy’s room already open with its owner standing in the doorway, clearly out of sorts. She looks at his brother with worried face, despite the casual tone she presents with her following words, “Hiya bro. Guess that crash woke you up huh? Bit surprised since barely anything can get you up.” The brother rolls his eyes and heads downstairs, Tracy following him with hesitant steps. Their mother is there, equally as anxious as the rest.
“Now Tracy, you know better than to be screaming at night,” she starts, trying to cling to a motherly sense of familiarity, “Though I suppose I can’t blame you, that was a horrid noise.”
Before the matriarch of the family could suggest her children to go back to sleep, the younger sister gripped her brother’s shoulders, as if pushing him off into the elements, “Wanna go check it out, Ness? You seem much less scared than me.” She musters a small, but still mischievous, grin which is then shared.
“Ness, if you’re going to go out there at least put some clothes on,” the mother sighs, unable to stop his son’s curiousity as he darts upstairs and downstairs in a flash. She gives her child a tired look, before saying good-bye to him, who was already outside the door.
It was not too late in the day, only an hour after dusk, so Ness manages climbing the hill path well; having walked it up an uncountable amount of times, he could probably do it with his eyes closed. He doesn’t get any far however, as the police are blocking the path to the cliff, the location of the crash site. Pokey is already there, unsurprisingly, eager to take a look at what crashed and barely notices Ness walk behind him. With a polite tap of the shoulder, his neighbour was nearly ready to dart home out of fear, but then turned to face his friend and composed himself.
“Oh, hi Ness. You shouldn’t really be here, it’s late and you’re bothering the officers! Don’t worry, I, Pokey, will fill you in on what crashed tomorrow.” He delivers this with a triumphant grin, presenting himself as some sort of superhero before going about his business, pestering the police officers to let him through. Sleepy and tired of Pokey’s antics for the day, Ness returns home, disappointed. His family is there to greet him at the front door to wish him good-night, as Ness slowly trekked to his room. Putting on his PJs (again), he crumbles into bed, and drifts off soundly.
But not for long.
A loud knocking can be heard from the door hours later, waking Ness up more quickly than the crash. The hallway lights are flickered on, and everyone scrambles to the living room. “My land!” the mother shouts, “What is it now? Ness, dear, would you answer it?” The son barely has to obey, as Pokey thrusts his way inside before he could even touch the door, clearly distraught.
“Hey! L-l-listen to what I’ve got to say!” he yells, rife with fear, “When I took Picky to the place where the crash happened…” the intruder then looks at Ness’ mother, snickering, “Oh! Good evening ma’am. You’re looking lovely as usual. Anyways, the police that were guarding the cliff suddenly left to deal with the Sharks, and then Picky disappeared! I blame the cops, it wasn’t my fault, but when my dad gets back I know I’m gonna get it… so please Ness won’t you help your best-est friend?”
Ness agrees without hesitation, rushing up yet again to get dressed. Before he could go downstairs, Tracy stops him. “Big Bro! It’s dangerous to go alone and considering you’re going with Pokey, well, that’s just as bad. I got your bat, its a bit old but, y’know, just in case.” She hands her brother the cracked bat, him responding with a tilt of the hat as a “thank you”. Meeting up with Pokey in the living room, Ness hugs his mother good-bye and sets off to the cliff.
The night was near pitch-black and the sky moonless. As soon as the two opened the door outside, they were inundated with an aura of paranoia. Ness, who was previously not scared before, was now beginning to tremble, with Pokey nearly clinging onto his shoulder. Gripping his bat, he walks onwards the trail once again, his friend following close behind. Not a creature stirred, nor did leaves even rustle, the environment around them seemingly trapped in time. Something was odd about this night, odder than the meteorite on the cliff; though the nights in Onett were quiet, this foreboding stillness was all but familiar. Both of them dared not say anything to each other, as they wordlessly agreed that there was someone watching. Halfway up the mountain they saw a shadow, Ness full ready to take a swing, but upon coming closer found only Mr. Agerate sitting outside.
“Oh hiya Ness! Pokey.” The latter name said with much less enthusiasm than the former, “Kinda late to be sneaking out, eh? Hey but Ness, if you’re eager to check out that meteorite, or whatever it is, I might have something else that you might find intriguing.”
Pokey’s eyes light up, “Ooooooh, can I come?” But this question is ignored.
“Come back tomorrow, I’ll show you something better than that old thing—oh! And stay safe on your walk back home,” and with that, he got up and entered his house, closing the door behind him.
Ness and Pokey continued their journey without a sound, still having that feeling of being watched, soon making their way to the top of the cliff. The object before them did not look like a typical space rock, shining a rainbow hue and silver in colour. It was truly odd, looking more like a UFO than anything else. It was perfectly spherical, having no craters and even strangely enough, no scratches, dents, or burn marks—the “meteorite” looked completely intact. Ness stared at it for a long time, pondering it’s origin and composition, so much so that he didn’t see Picky sleeping right besides the crater it produced.
“Picky! This is where you were!” Pokey shouts, waking up Ness from his trance as well as Picky from his nap.
With a groan, Picky looked up at the two boys, mumbling a greeting, “Oh, hey guys. Pokey you ditz, you left me after you took me to see the meteor (or whatever this thing is) scared outta your mind! I was waiting for you to get back but, I got sleepy so…” he blushes, looking a tad bit embarrassed.
“Whatever, let’s just get back before dad notices we’re gone!”
Before they even had the chance to take a single step, a loud sound erupted from the “meteorite”, taking the three by surprise. They shuffle back as a bright light emanates from the object, filling the otherwise dark night like a flashbang. The beam shines towards the cloudy sky, slowly fading dimmer with each passing second, the UFO opening a sliding door. As the children unshield their eyes with their hands, they are horrified at what is seen before them. A thin, pale figure emerges from the light, their scarlet eyes staring at the boys with an inexplicable expression, their body floating in mid-air before touching the grass elegantly across from the others. Before them was an extraterrestrial, an alien with intentions unknown, and the only weaponry at their disposal was an already damaged baseball bat. They were screwed, and so was the planet. An eternity of silence took place, before their mysterious visitor began laughing, a child-like, hysterical laugh that felt as if it lasted minutes. When it stopped, the silence that followed was as sharp as a razor, the alien calming themself down before lifting up their arms, showing their clawed fingers and—
Made a peace sign with both hands. The humans looked incredulously, as the alien flashed a smile at them before shouting out one word:
“WASSSUP!”