Earth's Best Friends chapter 1

Prologue and Chapter 1

                    PROLOGUE
In the beginning….    
   THE VERY FIRST instance of super heroics was a secret American project known as the Paranormal Force. During World War II, 1942 to be exact, an alien space pod crash landed in the Mojave Desert and was discovered by government officials thus the idea for Area 51 was born. The alien was named Vocatus and he was a super genius and strategist. Vocatus became the first member of the Paranormal Force.  Shortly after other beings were recruited as well. Just months later scientists and generals were guided by Vocatus to recruit a werewolf named Adolwolf. This creature was immortal, which meant he never grew old, it was said he had been alive since the Dark Ages.  Then there was Manny, the modern Frankenstein monster, which was conjured up in the 1950s specifically for killing demons and vampires. Separately they made some cities across the world safer but together they were Earth’s Defenders.




The Paranormal Army
    VOCATUS’ EXISTENCE PROVED there was life beyond earth. It was a well-kept secret for over sixty years. Miracorps, founded by John Luciano, was a para-military company that grew too large for the world’s governments to contain. They had bases everywhere from Los Angeles to Stockholm and beyond. It was sixty years after its conception when John had a plan to take temporary control of the world’s armies, except China, against a common enemy that didn’t actually exist. Miracorps had the best scientists in the world and they had technology that was far too advanced for the rest of the planet. They managed to fake an alien invasion in an event deemed “The Great Calamity” and became the new world order. In this dramatic regime change Miracorps controlled the world and all of its governments (except for China).  Miracorps got the entire U.N and many other governments to allow them to temporarily unite against an alien invasion that never happened.  It was too late when they had realized what was going on and Miracorps had taken over the world.  The exception to this was China, they still have their own government and Miracorps failed at a takeover of the Chinese government.  The United States had become the Miracorps States. It went from 50 states to one state with different regions.  John Luciano was C.E.O and now president. The Paranormal Force had become Miracorps’ special agency for enforcing the wrath of the new world order and kidnapping for experimenting with new technology. Sadly, President John Luciano died five years after the Great Calamity and his son, Tony, took over. When this happened Tony made sure to shift focus from technology to genetic engineering and he wanted to create an army of beings similar to the Paranormal Force.










The Accident
   THERE WAS AN accident one day when testing on some kids. The accident had transformed the team into anthropomorphic freaks. Dakra (now a hyena-man) and his group of scientists were exiled. President Tony Luciano ruled with an iron fist and because of this, there was no room in his lab for failure. Dakra and his assistants were shunned to live outside the city (Miracorps is based in Neon City which is formerly New York City). Unable to work looking like freaks they had to turn to a life of crime in order to survive. The kids were seemingly fine except for one girl, Sara, who was turned into a snake. Tony had shut this project down after this incident and the five unharmed kids were sent to their parents to be raised normal.  Asked for Sara she was imprisoned and further tested on.
 
The Rivals
   SANDRA AND HER brother, Jack, grew up hating the new world order that Miracorps had created. They were trained to be skilled martial artists and fighters. Jack was younger by three years and he had lighter blond hair than his sister, he always wore blue. Sandra always wore a ponytail and a green yoga suit.  In their training they were basically equal except for the fact that Jack was a genius. So smart that at the ripe young age of twelve he perfected genetic engineering and robotics. He built his best friend, Garfield, a flying robot and he transformed Sandra's best friend, Bladestone, into a shark faced freak. Bladestone wore a black hoodie to hide his shame. Out of his wrists he generated blades he used to throw and fight with. This had caused the otherwise happy quad to become sworn enemies. President Tony noticed his achievements and hired him as head of the department of science and technology.  Out of spite for his sister he accepted and five years later he became vice president of Miracorps at the age of seventeen. This also made Sandra and Bladestone enemies of the state and they had to leave their hometown of Plaistow because of the bounty now on their heads. Jack also fixed the snake girl's DNA and made her look like a beautiful young teenager again with hidden snake abilities of course she was sent to Steve Ditko High School to be a normal kid.











The Cancelled Space Program
   MIRACORPS ALSO HAD a space division. The remnants of NASA and other equivalents built up what was now the Miracorps Space Division. They had a project called Project Comet, which was their plan to send humans to Mars, since they knew there was life on other planets it was time to explore and conquer. Vocatus handled space vehicle designs while they searched for the perfect candidate to be their sole space traveler.  President Tony put a want ad for someone physically fit and ready to take on the task of moving to a new world. Out of all the applications it was a young marine named Jessica Stryder who was chosen as best suited for this task. After four grueling and painful months of intense space training the finishing touches on the space pod was ready for Jessica to be launched to Mars. The communications device, however, was overlooked and once she arrived on the planet communication was impossible. The navigation was also no good as she landed on Mercury, not Mars.
         


The Interdimensional Beings
   IN AN ALTERNATE dimension Max and Reeze were battling the evil entity known as Zuree. During the battle they were distracted by a citizen being attacked by one of Zuree's demonic henchmen. In the confusion of it all Zuree zapped them away through a portal which teleported them to earth. Unbeknownst to Zuree five kindred spirits also floated through and blessed four elementary school kids with mystic powers, the fifth was absorbed by Anubis. Max and Reeze eventually met Sandra and Bladestone while the four spirits, which were inside Jackson, Chloe, Lacey and Seeley, had become a crime fighting quad known as the Siamese Ninja Heroes!
 
The Important Events
   THE TIMELINE OF events are split into two major eras: Before the Great Calamity and after. The Great Calamity happened in the early 21st century. This story follows events and characters from both eras of time. An important thing to remember is President John Luciano died about five years after the Great Calamity which was around the time Jack Blade was born.  Seventeen years later he would have become vice president and fixed the snake girl Sara. Jessica was stranded on Mercury the same month as well as Sandra meeting Max and Reeze. The Paranormal Force was formed in 1944 about sixty-four years before the Great Calamity.  Miracorps was formed in the same year. The following story will unveil the tragic aftermath of the Great Calamity as the timeline moves forward.  Events from the past will serve to help explain the present.






CHAPTER 1
Siamese Ninja Heroes!
   ANUBIS WAS ON the hunt for a sacred stone. He sat in his prestigious office in downtown Manhattan waiting for his henchmen to contact him.  He was a crime lord that owned a very successful series of companies which was a front. Miracorps may have been ruling the world with an iron fist but he managed to own a part of Manhattan.  He was a powerful being both rich and magical.  Two of his boys were on their way to rob a bank. The sacred stone Anubis was so fixated on was just a small yellow gemstone with phenomenal cosmic power.  The henchmen were being setup so that Anubis could gain trust of both Miracorps and the public.  Anubis was able to hack surveillance cameras from all around the city to watch them complete the job.
 
The Lockdown Situation
   THE TWINS JACKSON and Chloe were walking to school ahead of their younger siblings Lacey and Seeley.  Being a school day in the beginning of the year it was normal to walk there since they didn't live too far away.
“Wait up guys!” The young kids yelled trying to catch up huffing and puffing along the way.  As they all arrived at Stan Lee Elementary School there was a chilling announcement over the p.a. system
“Attention students and faculty we are now in a lockdown situation as the First Bank of Miracorps is being robbed. It is assumed the assailants may use this school to hide in. Please report to the first classroom you can get to and hide under the desks!” The kids, now scared, rushed into room 105, Mrs. Applegate’s room. The teacher wore a green dress and she closed the door behind Seeley and locked it.
“Please hide under the desks and stay away from windows!” The four siblings hid together.
 
Family Problems
   VICE PRESIDENT BLADE knew there was a bank robbery in progress but he had bigger fish to fry. He did send a couple cruisers but he focused on his genetics facility in Tucson which was being infiltrated by renegades.
“Garfield follow me, we need damage control at our facility in Tucson! My sister strikes again which means she's in the west!” They got into a private jet and took off to Arizornia (That name comes from the western states combining; California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Washington). When they arrived at the lab to Jack's dismay, it was destroyed. The firefighters were fighting a massive fire and the EMTs were helping many injured scientists and staff.  Out of the jet came a few robots following Jack
“Fix bots, rebuild!” The three multiplied into thousands of smaller bots and repaired the building.
 
Bank Robbery in Progress
   ANUBIS WATCHED THE bank robbery through a T.V screen via hidden micro cameras he had flying through the city along with the hacked city surveillance from Miracorps.  The two robbers escaped successfully and the car chase began.
“Good…all is according to plan.”  He said contentedly
The four kids huddled and discussed the situation quietly.
“We have to stop those robbers!” Jackson said.
“How can we? There are too many people who would witness us transform.” Chloe added.
“We need a distraction!” Lacey inserted quietly as they all stared at Seeley who wasn't paying attention.
“What!?” He shrieked.
“We need a distraction and you're it little brother!”
“Aw man I HATE being the distraction!”
“But you're so good at it!” Jackson said with his arm wrapped around him. Seeley slowly walked over to the window and shouted.
“Look it's the robbers wearing George Washington masks in miniskirts!” The class in a mob fashion rushed to the window and trampled over Seeley.
“Youch!” He yelled as his glasses fell off. Jackson picked them up and put them back on.
“Here buddy.” Seeley in a daze thanked him. With the class distracted the four kids were able to transform into their feline alter egos, the Siamese Ninja Heroes!
“Let's get ready for action!” Jackson declared.
The fiery fierce Jackson transforms into Fury the fire-fisted feline.  The retro Chloe transforms into the rambunctious red roughian Rosie the vine-whipping cat. Little Lacey transforms into the vesicle vehicle water bubbler Bibie. Super Seeley transforms into the stellar sky boarding Skye. The four cats teleported to where the action was. Fury took control.
“Ok guys as the robbers are coming towards us I need Bibie to hit ‘em with a tidal wave, Skye use a whirlwind to drag them out of the car and then Rosie wrap them up with vines for the police!” The robbers didn't know what happened to them. Rosie's vines were prickly and the thorns dug into their skin as they shrieked. The police took them and Anubis was displeased.
“What the devil?” Anubis yelled as he watched the entire battle unfold
“Harris!” He said to his rat-man scientist assistant. “We need to eliminate those cats, make it a natural disaster.”
“Yes, master!” The rat-man said as he created a tornado.  The tornado was so large it could be seen in cities far away. The news outlets immediately reported the largest tornado in the history of weather.
 
Tornado Trouble
   THE SIAMESE NINJA Heroes saw the twister and panicked.
“What now fearless leader?” Rosie asked on the sarcastic side.
“Get people to safety!” Fury replied. Before they scattered Skye stopped them and took a deep breath.
“Guys….I'm going to stop it…”
“Are you crazy!?” Rosie said.
“But Skye you'll die!” Bibie pleaded grabbing his fur.
“I'm the only one who can absorb it! Go get out of here!”
“Skye…thanks man!” Fury said dragging their sisters and citizens along the way to safety.
The giant twister came closer to Skye, he braced himself and focused his energy.
     In Tucson Jack got the weather alert on his phone.
“What the devil!?” He and Garfield got into the jet to get back to New York.
As the tornado got closer cars and trees flew violently.  Skye got on his knees
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I praise the Lord my soul to keep. Not exactly an applicable prayer but this is a kid’s show after all!”  The tornado and Skye collided with a loud WOOSH! The sky turned pitch black.  The tornado disappeared and Skye laid on the ground unconscious. After the storm dissipated the Siamese Ninja Heroes ran over to their sleeping brother.
“Skye!” They all yelled.  He woke up dizzy.
“Oh hey guys….did someone get the number of that truck?” They all laughed and cried, happy their brother was still alive.
“Hey Skye I'm sorry I made you the distraction.”
“Aw no biggie Fury!”

          What the devil?    
     ANUBIS FURIOUSLY WATCHED his T.V screen as they survived the tornado.
“This is going to be a problem…” He said aloud punching the screen.
Jack returned to New York in his office with Garfield confused about the footage of the tornado.
“Are they ours?” He asked the scientists.
“Not certain but we don't think so. The only successful subjects were those ones from the accident.  Sara, Buoy, Eletra, Dakra and Lent.”
“What about the five kids we released?”
“We've got monitors on them and no powers have been revealed thus far.”
“Then who are they?”
“We don't know.  They showed up to stop a bank robbery and stayed for the tornado.”
“How about that? Crime fighting weather absorbing cats. What do we know about the origins of the tornado?”
“It appeared in upper Manhattan right where the robbery took place.  The weird thing is there was no build up or funnel clouds.”
“So what are you saying?”
“It appears it was conjured up by magic.”
“Magic? Like alakazam Houdini kind of stuff?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Get Damon Natis in here!” The meeting between Jack and the mischievous Damon happened about a week later.
“Damon watch this tornado and tell me if it's magic you recognize.” He played the footage.
“Mr. Vice President I have to be honest here that tornado looks like it was conjured by a very powerful demon.”
“What do we do about this?”
“Keep an eye out for now and I will investigate the source, but we don't want to invoke them or let them know we are aware of it. Damon left, Jack anxiously spun in his chair thinking.
 
Animal Age
   THE CHAOS OF the tornado’s aftermath extended to the high school.  Harlon stood at 6’2, 230 pounds and short brown hair. He had a muscular build which made it easy for him to be a famous jock, he was the quarterback of the football team and it was his senior year.  He had everything.  The day of the tornado, however, was a strange day for him.  It was a Friday night football game at the Steve Ditko High School. The Tarantulas versus the East School Wombats. Harlon got the ball and as he was running something weird happened and his legs mutated and caused him to run faster than any of the other players. It was the winning touchdown which meant their team was on track to a perfect season.  After the crowd went wild including his number one fan, Jaime (she was a short preppy blond girl with an average sized body and she mostly wore miniskirts and spaghetti straps), he was shaking off the adrenaline in the locker room.
“Hey guys excuse me.”
“Oh Harlon I get it, that turkey surprise at lunch hit me hard too ha-ha!” Todd was Harlon’s best friend.  He was blond, tall and kinda stupid. He laughed obnoxiously as Harlon ran off to the bathroom.  He stared into a mirror.  His face was growing furry, ears longer, and teeth sharpened.
“Ahh!” He shrieked and passed out. While he was asleep he had a vision.  A stampede of rabbits running through the rainforest he turned into a rabbit and joined them. When he woke up it was a few hours later and he was at home watching the news.
“Out of nowhere there is a tornado in southern Manhattan.” The reporter said. After watching he instinctively jumped out the window to save people.
“What is happening!?” He thought as his body was on auto-pilot.  He pulled bystanders out of the trail of the tornado and into nearby shelters. He woke up again the next day at noon.
“Oh no! I was supposed to meet Jaime at ten!” He immediately checked his phone and to his dismay he had 100 texts and missed calls from Jaime. He called her but she was furious.
“Jaime hi! Listen I… I overslept!”
“Listen bigshot, being hungover is fine but you don't have to lie and ditch me!”
“No no no Jaime I wasn't!”
“Sheila was right you're just a big cocky jerk!” Sheila had long brown hair and wore baggie clothes, though she wasn’t fat per se, she also wasn’t thin either. She hung up. Trying to figure out his rabbit crisis while needing to resolve Jaime's distrust for him; he decided to call his least biggest fan, Sheila.
“Sheila don't hang up!”
“What do you want, Harlon? Why would I ever talk to you?”
“Listen I screwed up and Jaime won't listen to me. Something really weird happened I think I turned into a rabbit and-"
“I don't know what makes you think I would listen you know Jaime is very upset with you and- wait what did you say?”
“I think I turned into a rabbit.” He said with a surprisingly serious tone.
“Nuh-uh!”
“No seriously! I turned into a giant super powered rabbit-man and saved people from the tornado!” She paused, she was in shock but she knew how to relate to him.
“Okay, let's talk in person meet me and Scott at the coffee shop in an hour!” They hung up and Sheila immediately called Scott (he wore all black and had red dyed bangs on otherwise a black head of hair. Being of Asian descent he was short for his age).
“It's happened to someone else!”
“Great who?”
“Harlon Lepus"
“Oh…great…” He said sarcastically.
At the coffee shop Harlon nervously entered and spotted the preppy girl and the emo kid. He sat down with them.
“Harlon…hi. So please tell us what happened. “Sheila said getting right to business.
“So I'm playing football and I catch the ball I start running and my legs break through my pants and I'm suddenly running faster than I ever had before.  After the game I fainted and had this…this vision of me as a rabbit joining a migration of rabbits.  I woke up and I was at my house and instinctively I hopped out the window and saved people from the tornado.” Sheila and Scott looked at each other.
“You're spirit animal has been released.” She said.
“We have them too.” Scott added.
“C'mon we have a place we go to use our powers.” They left the shop and went to their secret place at The Dump (formerly New Jersey).  Scott transformed into a giant otter and Sheila a mole.  Harlon couldn't believe his eyes.  Sheila burrowed underground while Scott swam into the swamp.
“Wow…how do you guys control your powers?”
“We just imagine ourselves as our animal spirits.” Sheila said jumping up from under him. Harlon imagined his rabbit self-real hard. He transformed.  Sheila and Scott were amazed to see it firsthand.
“Wow! This is great!” Sheila said with joy.
“So I was thinking…since we have these powers we should use them for good and stuff.” They looked at each other. “What?” They said confused. “We don't use our powers in front of people at all.” Sheila continued.
“Why?”
“Well for one thing if the Government found out we'd be lab rats for the rest of our lives.” Scott chimed in.
“But what about justice? Fighting for the little guy? We could join that renegade group, Sandy or something. “
“Harlon! The answer is no it is just too risky and we advise you use the same caution. “
“Fine, I'm out of here losers!” Harlon hopped away angry.
“Great there goes the only guy that knows about us! I knew this was a bad idea!” Scott said turning human.  That night Harlon stopped a mugging, two drug deals and a gang attack.  He stumbled upon something bigger at a different bank, the Bank of Miracorps. There was someone in the window.
“The bank should be closed at this hour is someone robbing it?” He got closer to listen for any voices.
“Yes, I'm in now! Which vault holds the jewelry?”
“Oh my God it is being robbed!” Harlon hopped into action on top of the roof and went in through a vent. He saw the figure, it was the snake-girl Sara but he didn't know who she was.
“What the?” He stood up to fight her but she was too fast and knocked him out before he knew what hit him. She stole the jewelry and fled. By the time the police arrived, he woke up and panicked.
“Oh no this looks really bad!” He escaped the way he came in and made it back home. The next morning it was on the news that a weird rabbit-person robbed the bank, the video was doctored to show no snake-girl at all. They called him the Bank Bunny Bandit. Feeling like an idiot he called Sheila and Scott and apologized for yelling at them and storming out. They forgave him no matter how much Scott didn't want to.  The next day at school Harlon arrived at school with his head down feeling embarrassed. The super-hot and popular, Sara Slither, walked by with her cult of girls and crowd of mesmerized boys. She waltzed on by Harlon as if he was invisible. Harlon was in love with her, like every other boy in school. Her perfume wafted into his nose, Japanese cherry blossoms, and her tight jeans were enough to make any boy crazy. Little did either of them know that they were secretly fighting at the bank the night before.