Nicholas

**Nicholas** is a young boy and the main protagonist of Nicholas and His Pet Bird.

## Nicholas and His Pet Bird

One early Saturday morning, Nicholas woke up and excitedly ran to the local Arcade, his favorite place to hang out. As he looked around, a large claw machine caught his eye. He noticed a cartoony stuffed bird inside of it that he wanted to get. After many quarters and many attempts, he was still unsuccessful. He was down to his last one, but he just threw the coin on the ground and walked away defeated. Miraculously, the quarter landed on a tiny spring from a broken toy and bounced into the slot. It then somehow came back out and bounced against the move button. This got the claw perfectly positioned above the bird. It came out. Meanwhile, Nicholas was sitting on the bench outside, upset, when the bird suddenly flew out to greet him. Somehow, it was alive. Bird grabbed onto Nicholas and flew him up to a portal which spit the two back out and into the Heavy Store. Once inside, Nicholas was told that a monster is on the loose and they came to the store for a weapon. The two decided on stealing some Heavy Gloves and go outside to hide in the trash cans. The monster came by, about to destroy a cardboard cutout of Heavy, when the two jumped out to attack.

Reflexively, the monster opened its mouth and swallowed Nicholas and Bird. Inside the monster was a portal that brought the two to some spaceship. They come across "The Device", which is turning odd little creatures into monsters. A shadowy figure comes by and puts his hand on Nicholas' shoulder. He introduced himself as Mr. Glitch. He told the story that he was one day exploring the galaxy when he found a planet full of the odd creatures. He noticed how advanced and useful they seemed, so he decided to use his own technology to turn them into something more to help him conquer the galaxy. Mr. Glitch then asks how Nicholas got there. He explained his encounter with the monster, so Mr. Glitch summoned the monster to his ship. He confronts the monster, named Glorgg, about his use of "mouth portals" and shoots a laser from his wristband, killing him. The Device brings down a mechanical eye which scans Nicholas and Bird, creating evil monster clones of them. Glitch orders them to attack.

Nicholas points out that in the movies clones always copy everything you do, so he punches himself in the face. This causes his clone to punch itself too and create a large hole in its head due to the malleable goop it's made of. However, it quickly seals itself up. Mr. Glitch explains that the clones have a mind of their own and it only punched itself to show it wouldn't work. The clone lunges for Nicholas and he narrowly dodges. It opens its mouth, and Nicholas notices a weak spot. Meanwhile, Bird is fighting with his clone too, and he shoots at it with a machine gun materialized in his mouth. It chomps all the bullets. Bird flies over and punches his clone, spinning it around. He too notices a weak spot on the back of its head. He lunges for the weak spot, but the clone gets out of the way. It then knocks Bird onto the ground. The clone foolishly turns around, and Bird takes his chance. He stretches out his foot and hits the weak spot, shattering it. The clone turns back into the creature and teleports away. Bird swoops over to Nicholas' clone and attacks it weak spot, freeing it as well. Frustrated, Mr. Glitch starts a self destruct countdown for the ship and gets out in his escape pod, taking The Device with him. Just before it explodes, another ship comes by and saves Nicholas and Bird.

Upon arrival, they discover it's a ship that belongs to the odd creatures. The two who were their clones thank Bird for saving them. They tell them that one of their bravest warriors sacrificed herself to get a map from Glitch's ship, and that it leads to a mysterious land which holds a power to stop him and save their whole race. The creatures had made attempts to traverse it but were never successful, and decide that Nicholas and Bird are the best contenders. The ship followed the map until they found the "Legendary Infinite Terrain Epicosity" (LITE). Nicholas and Bird were dropped off there. Meanwhile, Nicholas' neglectful mother is at home watching TV without even noticing that he's missing. Nicholas and Bird stop by a tavern because they're hungry. An alien bartender says they're too young, but Bird shoots towards him and knocks him out. Everyone sees this and a big brawl breaks out. Bird admits there was no purpose for his attack. Later, Nicholas and Bird are hiding in trashcans near the LITE mountains. It's infested with Mr. Glitch's monsters. They pop out and fight their way through them. A giant one shows up and nearly crushes Nicholas with a club, but its weak point gets shot by someone. The sniper reveals herself and tells the two that the mountains are very dangerous. After climbing for a while, Nicholas and Bird engage in an intense battle with flying monsters. Worn out, they notice a nearby house with a sign out front that says "Welcome To Mersh". **TBC because I can't find the rest of the books**