Chapter Text
It was pitch black dark when Ninten departed from his house, and headed down the old road. Naturally, the nighttime air and small slimmer of moonlight made the confrontation with foes even worse. It was hard to know where to swing his bat without missing, and he was still sore from his and Pippi's excursion earlier. Midnight was definitely not the time to be fighting, which was proven even more by his stumbling. All the lights in the neighborhood were out, and his only way of knowing something was near were the screeching or birds or whizz of alien machinery.
If he could just make it into town, and head to the hotel, he'd be alright. Unfortunately, the world was not as kind as Ninten knew it to be. He'd learned now that enemies liked to group up, knowing good and well that he was alone, and only had one baseball bat to smack them senseless. A low screech, almost like tires grinding against gravel filled his ears, not only once, but three times. Three simultaneous beating of wings, all drawing near. One crow pecked at his legs, and another at the tip of his cap. He could swear the other was laughing at him. He took a swing, and felt satisfied when his bat hit something hard and left a feather on the edge of the wood.
The other crow pecked harder, digging it's sharp talons and beak into his leg as fiercely as it could. Already, it burned and he knew it would leave a mark. He braced himself, and aimed downwards, bashing the crow right on the head and sending it spiraling into the dirt. The only crow left had stopped laughing, but ending up fleeing in the process. Ninten sighed and kept going, when he was sure he didn't hear anymore suspicious snickering. When he made it back into town, it seemed even darker, if that was possible. No street lamps were up, leaving him to wander along the shadow of the sidewalk until he saw the crooked sign that said, "PODUNK HOTEL. YOU STAY, YOU PAY."
The opening of the door made the snoozing desk attendant jolt awake, clearly surprised that he had a customer this late, and such a young customer at that.
"What are you doin' here kid? Shouldn't you be in bed at this time of night?"
"I need a room, please." Ninten was already fishing money out of his pocket, noticing that it was considerably lighter. Those damn crows had stole some of his change, and a candy bar. He grumbled under his breath, but the man at the desk didn't notice, merely raising his eyebrow in response.
"Aren't you 12 or something? Oh well. As long as you got money, the room's yours." When Ninten passed the money over, the man slung a room key at him. Finally, Ninten could get some rest.
The walk up the stairs was excruciatingly long, and by the time Ninten got up to his room, the squishy mattress seemed like the softest bed on Earth, made of only feathers. Except the thought didn't really ease him to sleep, since it brought back memories of the crows, and other weird things he'd ended up having to fight today. He wriggled out of his clothes and out his pajamas on, before finally settling in underneath the warm sheets and flipping the lights off.
For right now, his mind was clear of everything weighing him down. His mother, the aliens, the premise of risking his life to save the world, they were all floating away into the back of his mind, and only sleep was there now.
Ninten had strange dreams, more than the average person, but this had been one of the stranger ones.
There was a field of peach colored clouds, stretching as far as the eye could see. They swirled in every direction, from the tips of the skyline to the bottom of the world. It was an amazing sight, but not as amazing as the seashell houses dotting the atmosphere. This place had the most calming feeling, just like home. He felt at ease, like he could do anything while he was here. Maybe he could even fly, like he'd always dreamed of. Beside him, sat another young boy who had decided to join him on the wispy cloud. He was so small, despite his face looking like a teenager the age of Ninten.
His hair was the color of a thunderstorm, silver, with streaks of white peeking out, like the small white clouds hiding beneath the darkness. To add to his young appearance, a pair of thick and crooked glasses were perched across his nose. His skin was a milky white shade, too pale to look real. He was dressed like any other kid, a plain shirt and shorts. Except for the hair, he looked almost normal, like someone you'd see on the streets every day. That was, until Ninten saw his face. Both his eyes were a soft pink, like a Rose Quartz gemstone. There was no other way to describe it, and Ninten had never seen eyes like that before.
At the time, in his dream, Ninten wasn't really at awe. It was like they were friends, and they'd been chatting away for years, no worries but the seashell houses and pink clouds.
"It's so nice here," The boy with the pink eyes said, his soft-spoken voice sounding like the equivalent of a warm, sunny day, a contrast to his appearance. It was odd, just how much that voice seemed familiar to him. "Time doesn't even pass. You could stay here forever."
"Huh.. How do you know so much?" Ninten tilted his head back in confusion.
"The Queen told me. You should know, it's your dream after all."
"My dream?"
The boy rolled his eyes, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "This is your world, Ninten. It's created to fit you, to fit what you desire."
Ninten looked even more confused. "How could I do something like that?"
"Dreams are funny. I've dreamed a long time, about this place. Even if it isn't my own. I dunno why.."
"Wait, how do you know my name? And what's yours?" Ninten asked, and tried to turn to the boy, but he was gone, leaving only the morning sunshine peeking through the curtains, and a busting headache manifesting where one of those zombies had smacked him. No longer did he feel that peace.
No use trying to bring back a silly dream. He figured he'd get ready, to go see the zoo. At least they had penguins there.
Already, he was getting stares as he walked along the Podunk streets. Kids would pause on their bicycles to get a glance of that kid who'd managed to get rid of the zombies. Even some adults gave him curious glares. Like this kid could do it?
The walk to the zoo wasn't too bad, but it was hidden in the middle of the woods. Vines and tangles of thorns wrapped around the gate, trying to deny entry. Some of the metal bars were dented, and several shrieks of gorillas and the trumpeting of elephants could be heard from outside the gate. It sounded like an off key chorus, in tune with the buzzing he'd heard from some of those aliens. The animals just didn't sound right. No matter how creepy they sounded, Ninten had to do this, otherwise the mayor would never let him hear the end of it.
He took a step back, before pushing on the lock with as much force as he could muster. To his surprise, the lock rattled and fell right to the ground, like clockwork. A small push to the gate, and it creaked open as well. The first thing he noticed, was that the zoo was a lot different than he remembered. When his mother had brought him as a child, there were always crowds of people with their noses pressed against the glass to see the animals. Now, you didn't really need to look through glass to see the animals. They were everywhere.
Gorillas roamed around, some trying to climb the zoo walls. They were bigger, more aggressive than usual, and their beady eyes were squinted and dyed a crimson red. Their muscles seemed to bulge, and an air of violence surrounded them. Ninten decided he was gonna avoid those gorillas like the plague. He didn't take two steps, before he saw the lions, with their long, razor sharp teeth. Alligators were loose as well, and looking at them, the lions didn't seem so sinister anymore. The only thing that didn't have teeth like spears were the Penguins, and even they seemed to turn on each other, waddling around in distress.
It was a sign, that he saw that monkey hiding in the corner. A dopey grin was on its face, and it's eyes weren't full of vengeance, nor dark red. It simply seemed confused, like a fish out of water in this sea of animals. Every few seconds, it would frown and look around for something. Ninten decided to approach it. The worst that could happen was that it would run off, right? He tried to tiptoe to the monkey's shattered enclosure. Unfortunately, the monkey picked up on his movement and darted off in the opposite direction.
There was a tiny little building in the corner of the zoo, and Ninten guessed it was the office. The monkey had ran off towards it, running faster than an Olympic sprinter. Whatever was in that building, had to be important. At least his intuition told him that. So, in his recklessness, he followed the monkey. He'd expected all the animals to crowd into the front of the zoo, away from what was making them all miserable and violent. However, that didn't happen. One of those enormous gorillas was attempting to climb up a tree, away from whatever plagued his mind.
When Ninten drew near, his eyes focused on the boy, and all the tree climbing was forgotten. The gorilla hit the ground with a large thud, drawing Ninten's attention to the obvious gap between them. He was two feet too short to go head to head with the gorilla like he was supposed to. A hairy black fist launched itself at his head, and he rolled into the slick grass to dodge, the gorilla missing him by a hairs breadth. Which made him realize, he needed to think more with his head, and not with his fist. Most of his power was drawn from urgency, or a sense of foreboding doom that he'd feel. This time, he'd have to control it.
It was hard to draw so much power to his mind. He stepped back, letting the gorilla snort and unmercifully raise his towering fist to strike at him again. Ninten shut his eyes, and tried to concentrate. It was purple, mixed with a pink the color of those clouds in the dream. His mind drifted to that place, that sense of peaceful tranquility he'd felt in the land of pink clouds and seashell houses. Something triggered a surge of energy inside him, and suddenly the gorilla let out a pained roar. Ninten's eyes flew open, and his mouth instantly went agape. A barrier, larger than both him and the animal, surrounded them both. It bathed him in violet light, while it harmed the gorilla and blocked his attacks.
That gave Ninten the opportunity to jump out and strike the gorilla right between the eyes. The creature let out another roar, before falling to its defeat. Somehow, Ninten had the feeling he'd learned something from this battle. When the gorilla was still, and could no longer move, he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to imagine the barrier again. It didn't work. Crestfallen, he trudged on to find the monkey.
It gave him an advantage now, to have something besides his bat. It would get cracked eventually, and he'd be out of luck if he couldn't use his power for something other than healing little minuscule scratches. If only, he could use that barrier again. From the looks of it, none of the animals would be as careless as the dazed gorilla. They were all on alert now, watching him from afar.
He could hear the cries of the animals as he walked, all of them suffering from some unknown ailment. The grass was nearly up to his waist, and it was clear no one seemed to care about the zoo anymore. It was just there, wasting away, and no one had the courage to face the animals running wild. Was that what the aliens wanted? Were they trying to control the animals? They'd tried to control his lamp, so anything was possible.
The monkey had left a sort of trail, wanting Ninten to chase after it. He probably thought this was all a game, and the little pest wanted to be a pain in the ass. Obviously, he didn't fall for it and kept going towards the building. He noticed, the closer he got, the more distressed the animals were. They would sometimes fight each other, or be so out of it that they'd go running into walls or try to go back into the broken pens they'd previously escaped from. Anything to get away from what was bothering them.
When he reached the door, there was a sticky note attached to it. It read, "Turn back, if you can. They're all crazy, they'll kill you. There's something in the office too. I can't remember what it looked like. Go back before you see it. It's not like us." That was enough proof that there was certainly something wrong here, and his suspicions were right. Whatever had possessed his lamp, possessed these animals too. And it was right ahead, just behind these doors. Someone had to do it, and it had to be Ninten.
He burst inside, expecting the creature to jump out like a faux scary movie. It didn't, and he was only met with an empty office, and a set of stairs. There was a shoebox in the corner, the only decoration in the eeriely silent room. A couple bread rolls lie inside. Weird, but he'd take what he could get. He stuffed them into his backpack, and started to go up the stairs. The next floor was different. It was a long hallway with a door on the end, that was barely attached to the hinges. It looked identical to the last floor, same orange paint, and matching yellow floors, but something was different.
Like the bottom floor, it was completely silent, save for a humming sound that seemed more to be in his mind than in reality. He treaded down the long hallway, not failing to notice the humming got louder. When the door was barely in his reach, a buzzing joined the humming. It gave him a headache like he'd never had before. He rubbed his forehead, trying to ease some of it before entering. Whatever was in there, knew how to mess with his head.
With hesitance, he grasped the doorknob, and slowly turned it. Now or never. The room that greeted him matched all the others. All the office furniture was torn out, the tacky orange wallpaper peeling off, except there was something lying in the center of the room, plaster from the ceiling having fallen all around it. His eyes darted up to the roof, where the alien must have charged right through the top of the building. No wonder this place was such a wreck when he arrived. In opposition to the mess it had made, the alien was in a shiny metal pod, like a pill but twenty times bigger. It didn't move, and only made that unsettling humming noise.
Having that thing stuck in the pod would do no good. Ninten knew he'd have to destroy it some way. He swallowed nervously, and bent down next to the container. His hand grazed the cool metal, which felt just like he'd imagined a spaceship to be. For a second, it stayed exactly like that. Almost immediately, it was burning hot to the touch, searing the palm of his hand. The metal began to melt into some sort of chrome goop, and something crawled out from what was left.
Ninten had seen his share of dumb alien movies. His sisters loved them, and his mother would roll her eyes and change the channel when they were on TV. The aliens were almost always short little green men, with bulging eyes and ray guns that looked like something out of a Toys R Us store. Pretty boring, in his opinion. However, this alien was nothing like the aliens that he was used to seeing. It wasn't green; it was the same metallic grey, made out of the same shimmering material as the pod. It wasn't short; it was a whole four feet taller than Ninten, it's rounded head nearly touching the ceiling. It certainly wasn't tiny; it was bigger than the alligators that had snapped at Ninten on the way here.
The scariest thing about this thing, was that it had no bulging eyes or gun. The place where it's eyes should be looked like a sun visor, except it looked permanently attached. Beneath that armor, Ninten knew there were no eyes to stare at him, and somehow, that made it scarier. The hands of the creature were rounded like its head, except they resembled tentacles more than anything. Tiny little flickers of light danced off its limbs, and Ninten realized it was time to stop staring and get out of the way. He did the same strategy that he'd pulled off with the gorilla, rolling and dodging when he saw the beam getting closer to its actual size.
It missed him, hitting the corner of the room, and successfully making a giant hole in what used to be the wall next to the doorway. He could swear it singed the hairs off his arms, but there was no time to think about that. That barrier, he needed it now more than ever. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate once more, on anything that put him at ease. His favorite food, his mother, the pink clouds, Mick, baseball on a cool spring day, memories of his father. None of it got him any closer to that shield again. Soon enough, the thing- which he'd elected to call a Starman, due to the fact that it had probably come from some far off planet or star- was charging up another beam to fire.
That laser was probably a thousand degrees, enough to kill him in a single hit. Ninten had to doge it, some way. The first flash of yellow went flying his way, and he rolled the other way. The wall gained another hole. This time, the Starman got smarter. Right after the first charge, he'd built up enough energy to fire a second one in less than a few seconds. Ninten tried to come up with a plan in that timeframe. It was a shitty plan, but a plan nonetheless. He clutched his bat as tight as he could, and ran up to the back of Starman. The wood cracked against the metal, not leaving a single dent in the armor.
The Starman reared its ugly head, and it's black shade was on Ninten, feeling his presence despite not being able to see. One of its tentacles wrapped around his waist, leaving him immobile. He squirmed and squirmed, shutting his eyes and trying to use his power. "Please!" He pleaded within his mind. It was no use. His mind was in chaos, and his body was drenched in sweat from all his fighting. There was no way he could get calm enough to use it. He could feel the flicker of the sparks melting away at his bare skin, as the Starman prepared its last attack.
Ninten closed his eyes, trying to make his last moments decent before he was blasted to bits. Why did he come here? Why did he have to do this? Why did he have to look into the soul of this monster? Why was he the only one that could do this? Why did these aliens come after him? What was so special about him? Those questions took over his mind, as he was 'dying'. He knew it was coming, but it never did. The surge of power flew at him, yet something deflected it, and the metal was burning instead. Unsurely, he opened his eyes and looked down. The starman's tendril let go of him, throwing Ninten to the ground, as he screeched and made a noise that was indescribable.
Then, the pod was there once more, and the Starman was gone back to wherever it came from.
Ninten didn't realize what happened, until he looked down at his shirt. Only a little scratch was left on the Franklin Badge, and Pippi's words echoed in his mind. "My ma told me this thing brings good luck."
"I never thought I'd say this, but thank god for Pippi..." Ninten was even more exhausted now. He'd came here to find the monkey, and instead he'd found something out of this world. Literally. Which made him wonder, where was that monkey?
He decided to leave the building, and all at once, everything was as it should been. None of the fences were stomped down, and all the animals were in their enclosures where they belonged. They were eating, sleeping, and playing happily, like old times. There was no time to be in awe about it though. That monkey knew something, he hadn't been affected by the Starman like all the other animals had. Ninten tried to remember the old path around the zoo his mother took him around, the monkey exhibit was towards the back, if he remembered right. Fortunately, he was, and hadn't walked all the way around the zoo for nothing. The monkey was hanging from a tree, its tail wrapped around one of the branches.
"Came to see the singing monkey, did ya?" It told him, in a sing-song voice. No matter how matter times it happened, he would never get used to all these animals suddenly being able to talk to him.
"Singing monkey? Since when do you sing?"Apparently the monkey had singing lessons.
The monkey scratched its head and pointed down to the sign near the fence. "Are you blind, kid?"
Sure enough, the information now read, "THE INCREDIBLE SINGING MONKEY!" Ninten didn't remember that from his last visit to the zoo, but oh well. "What do you sing?" He asked.
"Eh, all kinds of stuff. Normally I sing for kiddos, all kinds of boring stuff. You though, you did something good. So you'll get something better." The monkey bounced around happily on the branch.
"It was nothing." He shrugged. "Anyone could have done it."
"Yeah right," The monkey giggled. "How about I sing you a special tune? I haven't done this one in ages, so sorry if I'm a little rusty." The monkey cleared his throat, and begin to make a beautiful sound. It fit perfectly with the music Ninten had gotten from the doll, and Laura, the missing notes from the rest of the song. The blissful music only lasted a few more seconds, before the monkey scratched his chin and suddenly stopped. That feeling of homesickness was gone in an instant.
"Sorry. I forgot the rest. Better luck next time. Thanks for saving us, kid. I didn't think all those guys were gonna last much longer, with all that screechin' and broadcasting that thing in there was doing. You're a real hero, you know."
Ninten grinned. "It was nothing."
But to him, it was something. A victory, perhaps. His first real step on his adventure.