Earth's Lone Avenger

"Help"

It has been a year since Leo yelled at Luxus, the voice in his head. Ever since, he never heard from the man again. Not even the slightest bit of the "ding" sound that always accompany his intrusion. Somehow, Leo felt bad for how he reacted towards Luxus. He was only trying to help the planet, he didn't deserve to be treated that way.

But Leo always pacify himself with the fact that Luxus was probably making the story up. There was no race called the Xollante's and there was no threat approaching Earth. It has been a year already but nothing has happened. Maybe Luxus miscalculated or maybe he was just a big fat liar.

But something still amazes Leo though. It was how he could communicate with Luxus in his head. He searched through many sources after Luxus stopped calling, but he couldn't find any year or era where mind communication was possible. The closest to it was a chip inserted into a human's head that allows for a controller to pass information across and do anything they wish with the person... Which includes terminating the person if need be.

But Leo was sure there was no chip in his head. How could that even be possible. Only the rich or those associated with the rich could do something like that. Luxus said that the signal was set by Leo some year ago but he never got to tell him how the signal was set. Maybe he could set the signal again and find Luxus or any other heavenly bodies that can do the communication thing like Luxus.

But guess he'll never find out. For now, he's content with the fact that what Luxus said was going to happen to Earth didn't happen. The Luxus guy most definitely has a hidden agenda against Earth then. Maybe he's even on Earth but wants to instigate some attack from within the Earth Guardian's base. Nobody can tell.

Leo woke up early in the morning, and after brushing his teeth at the general bathroom, he picked up his dirty clothes and headed to the laundry room to wash them. On his way, he met Allan who was coming back from the water-fetching area with a heavy pail of water on his head. Leo who saw a perfect chance for a comeback, moved closer to Allan and started tickling his open armpit. Allan and Pert had done the same to him three days ago when he went to fetch water from the fetching area.

Allan howled in laughter and at the same time, poured half the water down on the corridor floor while trying to ward Leo's hands off him. Leo seeing what has happened ran away at once to the laundry room. He knew Allan was going to be in deep trouble this morning in the hands of Nana. Leo laughed hard at his satisfying comeback. He scanned the laundry room for Pert but he couldn't find him. Instead, there were other boys slightly older than him doing their business with the lather. He greeted them and grabbed his own bowl to start his washing.

"Now, everybody is worried about that fire in the sky. What if it is coming down on us," one of the older boys called Joe was discussing with the other.

"It's not a fire, Joe. It's a comet. You'd have known that if you listened well during the Planetary course at the academy." This was Red, the one who appears to know the most among the orphanage boys.

"What does it matter? A fire, a comet. Is it a good sign? We've never seen one before, it's normal to be skeptical about it."

"Well, Joe. According to Professor Quest, we only see this Allaster comet every 72 years. So it's normal if you've never seen it."

This was when Leo chipped in.

"Well senior Red, the last time the Allaster comet was seen was 1974 and that was 51 years ago. Still remains 21 years before we are supposedd to see another one. So, that thing up there is probably a different comet or not a comet at all."

Senior Red stared red-faced at Leo. There was visible anger on his face but he didn't say anything. Joe praised Leo, saying he's the first one to ever make Red shut his mouth. Leo said nothing after that. He didn't want to be the target of the older boys.

He remembered the night the red mark in the sky first appeared. It was a peaceful night in the town until people started noticing a little red glow forming in the night sky. They thought it was one of the regular airplanes, but after a while they saw that it didn't move away from that spot, and the red glow has suddenly grown brighter.

It was ball shaped with a fiery trail that stretched after it. The educated ones said it was a comet, the less educated thought it was a plane exploding. The superstitious ones started saying all manner of strange things and undocumented prophecies.

To Leo, it was just a comet. But why was it not moving? Comets are expected to move across the sky at high speed, but this one was rooted to a spot both day and night. Even despite the day's sun, it still glowed brightly in the sky. It was then Leo's fear grew. He went to the academy at once to study about comets and their behaviours. And true to his former knowledge, comets do not behave this way. It has been eight days now.

He thought about what Luxus told him about the Xollante race going to invade Earth, but he waved it aside as fallacy. If it was an invasion, why are they hovering over their sky for eight days instead of just attacking?

Leo rinsed the last of his clothes when he suddenly heard a loud yell coming from the inner compound of the building. He knew that voice very well. It belonged to Pert.

Instantly, Leo dropped his wet clothes and rushed to the door to see what Pert was yelling about but before he could get to the door, the older boys got there first, so he had to wait for them to pass before he could go out himself.

Suddenly, it wasn't only Pert that was yelling. Other boys were yelling too and Leo could hear the sounds of hurried footsteps stomping against the mud ground of the compound. He could even hear Nana and some other female workers screaming as well. Leo started shaking in the laundry room. His curiosity piqued. His anxiety peaked.

As soon as the last senior went out the door, Leo raced after him. But as soon as he went outside, he couldn't really see what was happening because the older boys are already rushing back into the laundry room, scared as nothing ever seen. They pushed Leo out of the way and they stepped over him as they ran into the shelter of the laundry room. And instantly, they locked the door behind them. Leo was left outside.

"HELP ME," he yelled. "OPEN THE DOOR!"