Back to Planet Earth

Well, there it was: Earth.

I sighed. I wish I could have been back on Sci-Planet Company’s impressive spaceship, not sitting here with two people I barely know in a tiny spaceship back to the planet I hated most. Well, I was forced to.

I thought Earth was just a broken, lifeless planet like what it was years ago. Global warming, climate change… I knew Earth wasn’t strong enough to hold our industrial activity, and also… Earth was never a good place for me. No respect whatsoever. Sci-Planet was a much better place for me. At least some people had respect for me. And now they're telling me to go back to Earth to see if it’s ready for humans to go back to? Well, things don’t go my way all the time…

As soon as we landed, I noticed—everyone noticed—Earth was different.

We landed in a soggy marshland, the remains of New York City. I guess I really didn’t notice that the planet may have looked totally different—I guess I just didn’t care about Earth.

I heard “Kron” or “Krista” or whatever her name was speaking with—ugh, I didn’t remember his name. It started with S-T-E, I knew, so it probably was Steven or something. Well, yeah. Now that I thought about it, yeah, I remembered their names were Kris Lain and Steve Lucifer. They were talking about why the Earth had changed so much. Whatever Earth stuff they always talked about. “Let’s get to the point. How much has the Earth changed and why? Can we make it habitable for humans again?” I finally asked.

We walked further into the Marshlands, seeing overgrown mushrooms and other weird stuff. I wondered what had caused all this. Earth couldn’t have evolved this way on its own. Some mysterious new organisms must have done this for the Earth to change so drastically. I overheard Steve saying “I know—aliens must have done this!” and Kris replied, “Come on, don’t be silly! Obviously aliens don’t exist!”. But Steve had a point. It had already been centuries since anyone had come back to Earth, and considering this change of terrain, who knows if aliens could exist or not? I decided to keep quiet.

“Bree! Bree!” a voice echoed throughout the Marshlands. I started to think what Steve said was actually true—or at least other lifeforms were now taking over Earth.

I think Kris was starting to suspect this too, walking forward. “Breeby! Bro! Bree!” the same voice echoed again. We were getting closer. “Breebro! Brebbybree!” The voice grew louder.

“Ahh!” Steve shouted, falling back. Something had hit him. “Breebree! Breebro!” was the voice of what was standing before us. I didn’t really know how to comprehend this. This was your textbook alien, but just… different. Green ears pointed out of its head, a black chest, which looked armored, and seemingly iron feet. It was wielding a sort of spear. Luckily, the spear that hit Steve had only grazed his skin, even though he’d need to stop battling and running fast for a few hours, he would be fine.

I knew this “Bree Bree” thing was probably an alien language, and suggested, “Guys, we should use our Translation Candy right now.” Kris replied by eating her translation candy. Translation Candy rapidly could make you speak another language, as well as listen to it. It worked by inserting nanobots. The nanobots made your mind capable of understanding different languages using the latest computer technology. It also tasted good because the nanobots were compatible with sweets and sugars.

“What are you doing on our planet!” exclaimed the alien.

“What is YOUR planet? It’s OUR planet!” Kris exclaimed.

“Ohh… I see,” said the Alien, “You're those human things that abandoned this planet centuries ago!”

“Yes we are,” admitted Steve.

“Well, my name's Bradley, and you shall not pass!” He raised his spear and struck Kris. “We are the Iron Clan! We do not allow anyone else to habitat Gongaga!”

Kris fell back. “Umm… Let’s run.” I picked up Steve and Kris, and started running. Bradley didn’t chase us. “Run away, humans! And never come back!”

We ran to the deepest depths of a forest, which we called “The Dark Forest”. We set up camp in a cave in the Dark Forest. They knew lots of dangerous wild animals lived there, as we had already encountered a few, for example a big snake. Luckily we managed to escape. The Dark Forest was far away from alien civilization, so it was the best place to hide from the aliens.

“That alien was really weird,” said Kris. “Yeah, was his name Bleebleebloobloobla?” Steve wondered. “Nah, I heard Bradley,” I said. “Sure, I guess we can call him that,” Steve replied, unaware that his translation candy hadn’t been working.

We looked over the supplies we had. “Bacon, sausages, luncheon meat, rice, some instant noodles—which we can’t cook,” It looked like we only had enough food for about a week.

“We have lots of water,” said Steve, rummaging through his backpack, and bringing out lots of bottles. “Well, actually, that isn’t that much. We’ll each have to drink a bottle of water every day, which means we’ll drink three bottles of water a day. Since we only have twelve bottles of water here, we only have enough supply for about four days.

“Anything to defend ourselves against the aliens?” asked Kris.

“Uhh,” I said, laying out our resources in our camp. “Nope.”

“Well, we’ll have to make our own, then.” Steve said. “Me and Steve should go out to find some materials. Kris can guard the camp.”

“Ok,” they both replied.

Steve and I walked out of the camp, picking up all sorts of rocks or wood. “Hmm… I don’t think making weapons will be as easy as we think, Steve.” I told him. “I agree.”

After an hour, we had gathered lots of materials but had no idea how to make them into actual weapons, until we stumbled into a cavelike den. “Let’s go in,” suggested Steve. “OK, I guess there might be some stones there, but if there are aliens, it’s not by fault.” They walked in, and they first saw two spears, a wooden one and a stone one. “YES! We found weapons!” Steve exclaimed. “Maybe, but that just signifies that someone probably went here—” before I could finish my sentence, a huge roar echoed through the den. “What did I tell you?” I said to Steve.

A huge monster, seemingly made out of rocks and adorned with jewels, approached us. “Aliens were surprising, monsters were surprising, but this ‘thing’ is a whole new level!” Steve exclaimed. “Don’t waste your breath, run!” I told him. I picked up the spears and started to run. I handed Steve the wooden spear. The rock monster was faster than I thought. Once we ran out of breath, it would catch up for sure.

The monster pursued us, and we were losing breath. “Poke it!” I yelled to Steve, using the last of my breath. Steve poked the rock monster with his wooden spear, and the monster was distracted, looking at Steve. I took that opportunity to jump, and stab it with my spear. It let out a cry, and fell down. “It’s not dead. Not even close.” I told Steve. “I can see that,” he replied. “So, let’s run!”

Once they got to safety, I realized one thing: we had no idea where we were.

“Umm… How do we get back?” Steve asked. “I had a trail of breadcrumbs… But I stopped when we encountered the rock monster.” I told Steve. “Well, let’s look around and see!” Steve replied. We scouted around for a bit. “No sign,” I told Steve. “Nope—wait—there!” he said, pointing to an orange bread-like thing on the ground. “Good eyes!” I told Steve, walking towards the breadcrumb. Instantly, an eye shot out of the breadcrumb, looking at me and Steve. “Another monster?!” groaned Steve. A tentacle snapped out of the monster, grabbed a nearby—breadcrumb?—and gobbled it up. “I’ve got it! Run! The monster is eating my breadcrumb trail!” I reported to Steve. We ran, observing my trail of breadcrumbs leading the way. The monster was close behind, eating the breadcrumbs as we ran.

Soon, we were back at base. We seemed to have lost the orange monster. “That was a long time just collecting materials! Where did you go!” Kris grumbled. Steve and I smiled at each other.

“So, what did you get?” Kris asked Steve, laying out the items we found. I was writing on the notebook I brought, scribbling down the new monsters we found.

1. The Rockalius Monsterias “The Rock Monster”

HABITAT: The Dark Forest (Maybe elsewhere, unconfirmed.)

I’ve observed that these mysterious organisms seem to be made out of rocks, but the top of its head is made out of a different, softer material. Striking them from above does immense harm to this organism, leaving it unable to move for several minutes, leaving it open for attacks.

2. Orangius Eyelius “The Orange Breadcrumb”

HABITAT: The Dark Forest (Maybe elsewhere, unconfirmed.)

This organism seems to enjoy eating nearby food. It has a slimy texture, and doesn’t attack us. An eye grows out of the orange-goo body. It looks mysteriously like a breadcrumb, although breadcrumbs aren’t orange.

Phew! Those were the first two entries of my new book, ‘Earth’s Mysterious Organisms’.

“How do we get back to Sci-Planet company?” asked Kris. “Our spaceship is broken, and the only thing we have to connect to humans is a device on our spaceship. “Hopefully it’s still working,” Steve replied. “Then I guess we’ll have to go to the spaceship.” I said. “This time, I guess me and Kris will be going, because we can’t carry everything when there are lots of monsters about, so Steve should guard camp.” I said. “Why do you get to decide everything?” asked Steve. “Because I'm the mission leader, of course.” I answered. “OK?” replied Steve, hesitantly.

We took out the sleeping bags we brought, noticing that night had already fallen. “Well, good night, I guess, we’ll have the mission to wait till tomorrow.” I told Kris and Steve. “Ok,” Kris answered. We both noticed that Steve was already snoring.

The next morning, Steve was still snoring. Me and Kris packed and got ready for the mission. We immediately departed.

“Wait, where was the spaceship?” asked Kris. “Over there, I think,” pointing to a wreck-like ship in the marsh. “Wait. Why is it broken?” Kris asked. “I don’t know,” I answered. “Alright, Make sure to leave breadcrumbs!” Kris told me. We walked with no distractions, until we got close to the wreck. I looked around. A few monsters were gathered there. Mostly snakes. “There are some snakes here, so get ready to fight and run.” I told Kris. We both raised our spears and ran. The snakes hissed and slithered toward us.

The snakes were surprisingly fast. They caught up to us in no time. “Quick! Get in the spaceship!” I told Kris. Kris ran into the spaceship, while I was fending off the snakes. It looked like they were easily hurt, but I knew those fangs could kill someone… After I fended off most of the snakes without much difficulty—They were easy to damage with long-ranged attacks with a spear.— After closing the spaceship door, I noticed that Kris wasn’t in sight. “Kris! Kris!” I yelled, searching for her. I felt something coming. The first I saw was green. I realized what it was.

This was the first time I fought the aliens. I warded them off with my spear, but the alien’s iron spears were much more powerful. Almost instantly, my stone spear snapped. Realizing I had nothing to fend off the aliens, I ran away, trying to find Kris. I knew the device was in the control room, just in front. I ran in and slammed the door shut. That would keep me safe from the aliens for at least a few minutes.

I looked around. The device was unharmed, sitting on the table. I took it, but where was Kris? The door slammed open, revealing an alien: Bradley. “Drop the device or she dies.” she was holding Kris, pointing to her neck with a spear. In instinct, I dropped the device, and grabbed a nearby iron spear. I slashed at Bradley. He was shocked, and dropped Kris. I quickly grabbed the device, and we both seized the opportunity to escape. But we totally forgot what was outside—the snakes. As the door of the spaceship swung open, we were greeted by a hiss of a snake. “Jump!” Kris yelled. We jumped over the snakes, and ran for our lives. I saw a breadcrumb. “There!” I informed Kris. We saw the breadcrumb, and kept following the path, still being pursued by the snakes. Luckily, my iron spear was even more effective against these snakes.

Not long after, we had fended off all the snakes. We both sighed, seeing that our camp was right in front of us.

“Phew…” said Steve, seeing us safely back. “Did you get the device?” Me and Kris smiled at each other. “Yeah, we did!” Kris told Steve. I didn’t have time to write my next entry for my new book.

We played around with the device, hoping that it could connect with the humans. With no success, night fell, and the second day of our time on earth conceded.

The next morning, we started up the device again, and this time, there was a crackle “Crk… Crk…” the device rang. “Is this Team 102? Earth redemption mission?” the device said. We all grinned. “Yup…” we said together… “How’s the mission going? This is Riley. From Sci-Planet.” Riley said. “Well, how do I explain this…” I didn’t know how to tell this to Riley. “It’s a long story… Just send back-up. We need almost the whole of Sci-Planet, I mean it.” I told Riley. “OK, I trust you, Fin, sending backup to New York City,” Riley told me. I smiled.

We rested and stayed at camp until we heard a sound of a landing in the near marshlands. Although the place the gigantic ship landed was more mountainous then the place we were, it was still in the marsh. “I wonder, is the whole of New York now marshlands?” Kris wondered aloud. “I’m not sure, but a big part of it is.” I replied. After answering Kris’s question, I noticed something. It wasn’t that Riley’s spaceship was really close. It was really big. If you looked closely, you could see that Riley’s spaceship was miles upon miles away. It would probably take at least five hours to get there. “Guys, the journey is long, we better pack all our stuff before we begin the journey to Riley’s spaceship.” I told the team. Steve nodded.

Soon, we had packed everything and had lunch —Our last food supplies, some bacon—. I carried the Iron Spear and all my things, which included my water bottle, my snack, which was peanuts, and my Earth’s Mysterious Organism’s book—Which I had filed out the new snake creature we saw while retrieving the device to call Riley.— Steve had the Wooden Spear and his own belongings, while Kris carried all the other things. We trekked on, only to be met by several monsters. We encountered the Rock Monster, or the Rockalius Monsterias, as well as the new snake creature, the Reaper Snake, or the Reaperius Serpentias. We easily incapacitated these creatures until we faced the mountains full of unknown creatures.

We were greeted by several goats, which at first seemed friendly, before showing their true purpose, to kill. The three goats charged at us. Were these the goat’s evolution? I tried to fend off a goat, successfully. The only dangerous part of these goats were their razor-sharp horns. Steve used his wooden spear to strike the goats, killing two at once, but the wooden spear took its toll and snapped. One weapon left. We trekked forward, facing no difficulties until we came across a den much like the Rock Monster’s. As we neared, four iron-clad aliens jumped out of the cave, some wielding spears and some wielding swords. Kris ran out of the way, and Steve could only use his half-spear to fight. With my growing fighting skills, I slashed up one alien, then fought another. “Why are you here?” I asked the aliens while attacking. “Heh—we knew your human friends were coming here, so of course we set up camp here,” the alien replied as he struck my spear with his sword. Steve was fighting with another alien, and was struggling to defeat him. I jumped past the alien I was fighting with and took the opportunity to ambush him. Now there was only one alien left. Dropping his broken wooden spear, Steve exchanged it for an Iron Sword which was on the ground. The last alien couldn’t stand both of us, overpowering him.

Soon, we got to Riley’s spaceship. Inside was Riley’s crew. “Phew…” Riley said as he saw us. There were probably already hundreds of people from Sci-Planet, not to mention the ones in their rooms and other places. “We thought more aliens were gonna come. We were ambushed by a few of them, although they didn’t know our advanced technology and we easily defeated them. Oh, how much the earth has changed.” Riley explained. Riley had a point. Now that I thought about it, the earth had changed a lot. I guess earth wasn’t that bad after all there was one thing spaceships didn’t have—nature.

Soon, Riley’s army, which was in the thousands, came out of the spaceship and marched down the mountains. Any monsters we faced were harmless. The whole order of power had changed. There was a group of five aliens on the way down, and we wanted to see how we did against the aliens. Of course, we had thousands of people, but what about five on five? I didn’t have enough time to see what happened, but it looked like one person defeated four aliens at once. The other was gone. It, or he, or maybe she, probably escaped to tell the other aliens about the dire situation for the aliens. As we marched down, we saw more and more aliens coming out of their iron palace. Soon we got to the bottom of the mountain and were greeted by more aliens. Easily plowing through them, we were face to face with even more! After beating them, we were all quite tired. No more aliens were coming to us.

Soon we were all rested. Surprisingly, no more aliens were attacking. We were soon going to storm this iron palace of theirs.

Soon we were in it. Everything was quiet. Was it really those few hundred aliens in their civilization? Suddenly, thousands of aliens stormed out of the palace structure in the middle of the city.

They had numbers, but we had power. I used an electric laser gun to shoot down three aliens at once. The aliens fought valiantly, but our weapons were too strong. I saw Kris, Steve, and Riley fighting off a dozen aliens easily.

Meanwhile, in the palace, King Boris, the king of the aliens, chuckled. “Launch the Iron Cannons.”

We were taking down aliens by the second. There were only about one or two hundred aliens left- and we were still advancing quickly, until there was a huge BOOM sound, and I instantly got pushed back, and knocked out.

I woke up later back in the forest. I heard booming sounds in the palace, which would probably be a four or five-minute walk away. My whole body was hurting. There were a few people next to me who I all recognized: Riley, Kris, and Steve. Kris and Steve were both knocked out, and Riley was just waking up. “Hey, look, Fin, they’ve stopped shooting.” “They probably ran out of ammo,” I told Riley. “Wow, I don’t think so,” Riley replied. “Plus, they probably think they took down all of us. I propose we sneak into the palace.” I said. “It’s dangerous. I think they have stronger guards.” Riley said. “Well, if you’re not going, then I'll go myself,” I said. “Now, now, now. I suppose I can’t just let you go yourself,” Riley said, walking to the castle with me.

We soon arrived at the palace. There were no aliens there. “Hmm… It doesn’t look like many people were taken out, most of them have just been knocked out. What sort of weapon was that?” Riley wondered aloud.

Soon we got to the palace. We saw lots of aliens inside, looking as if they were celebrating our defeat. We sneaked past those aliens and defeated some guards in the next room. It looked like moving forward would lead to the king’s room assuming they had one. Anyways, even if they didn’t, they probably would have some sort of leader.

After defeating a few more guards, we got to the king’s room. Well, I think we did, because it was filled with gold and there was an alien with a crown sitting on a throne.

We rushed in and were greeted by three guards, looking tougher than regular guards. I noticed one of them was Bradley, the first alien we met.

Although these aliens were much tougher than the other ones, we made quick work of them, although we were injured in the process. Then we paced to the king, who evidently did not know how to fight. “Ahh!”

TWO WEEKS LATER

I was sitting next to Kris and Steve, eating a big feast on Earth—the beautiful planet that we were finally rebuilding.

“Bradley, can I have a cup of tea?” I asked.

“Sure,” Bradley replied.