Chapter 11


	The group of five friends landed near the hospital in Onett. They immediately rushed unconscious Nikana to the hospital and retrieved a nurse. She pulled out a stretcher, laid Nikana's body on it and wheeled her into the emergency room to be examined and operated on. 
	The rest of the group sat in the waiting room and waited for the results of the operation. Jeff read a Popular Mechanics magazine and fell asleep while reading it. Paula who sat next to Ness laid her head on his shoulder and fell asleep as Ness did the same. Poo on the other hand stared at the emergency room entrance and waited for the nurse to come out.
	Moments later the nurse walked out the emergency room, headed toward the group, pulled out a chair and sat in front of them. Ness, Paula, and Jeff awoke from their slumber.
	"Hello, I'm Nurse Bowman." Said the nurse as she introduced herself to the group. "It appears that your friend, Nikauta? Is that her name? Anyhow, she has split her head open and would need some stitches. The doctor is stitching up the open wound right now and the cut was so deep that you could see her skull."
	Paula and Ness shot a disgusted look at the nurse. Jeff had a serious, but a weary expression as Poo's was worried.
	"Is she going to be all right?" Paula asked Nurse Bowman.
	"She is still unconscious though," she answered, "and as soon as she awakes, she'll be as strong as an ox. Nikauta will be fine, but I suggest that we would keep her here to rest until she is fully conscious. By the way, do you know where I can contact her parents or guardians?"
	"Her parents are on a business trip." Poo lied. "They aren't coming back in town until a week."
	"Where did they go?"
	"They're at Dalaam right now and there aren't any phones there."
	"Very funny, kid." Nurse Bowman said to Poo as she rolled her eyes. "Where are her parents?"
	"Do you think I would lie? I'm the prince of Dalaam. My Master sent me to stay with Nikana as he and her parents did business." 
	"Oh sure! And I'm the president of Eagleland-"
	Finally, the doctor walked out from the emergency room and headed to the group. He smiled, reassuring the group that their friend was ok.
	"Nikana is fine and the operation is complete." The doctor said. 
	"Can we go see her?" Ness asked the doctor.
	"Oh heck yea! C'mon, I'll lead you to the room-"
	"HOLD IT!" Nurse Bowman yelled. "These children aren't going anywhere until I find info on the girl's parents."
	"Oh that can wait, Nurse Bowman." The doctor cooled and led the group to the room where Nikana was held at.
	"Here we are." The doctor said as the children entered the room and he left. 
	Nikana laid the side of her head on the clean white pillow and she had lightweight covers covering her body. Her cloak was hanged on the door handle and her boots were on the side of the bed. The group of friends looked at each other silently until a soft groan was heard. They perked to see Nikana blinking her eyes open.
	"Huh . . .?" Nikana started to say. "Da ****  . . . ? Where am I?"
	She struggled to get up until Poo gently pushed her back on the bed.
	"Slow down there!" Ness said. "You're back on Earth with us-"
	"WHAT?!" Nikana shouted as pushed herself out of bed and slowly walked over to Ness. "I can't be back here!"
	"But you are." Jeff replied.
	Nikana grabbed Ness by the shirt and said with a growl, "Why in God's name did you bring me back here?! You were my ticket back to my home world! My only chance has been blown! I'm stuck on this planet forever!"
	"Huh?" Paula asked and then gritted her teeth. "What are you talking about? We were only trying to save you and thanks for the gratitude and respect you give us!"
	"Gratitude?" Nikana asked rudely. "I should have died back there! The planet we fought on was my home world!"
	Everyone was silent at that point.
	"That trashed up place was your planet?" Ness asked her.
	"It wasn't that trashed up until The Master Hand came along and destroyed it." She argued. "It had beautiful valleys, mountains, rivers and canyons before it became a wasteland."
	"Have you ever thought of teleporting back?" Ness said, rolling his eyes.
	"I can't teleport." Nikana said. "When the orb is destroyed, my powers that I've stolen are gone. All gone forever and I can't get them back. That includes your powers that you've acquired from me, Ness. The orb stores those powers. Before I fled, I've stolen The Master Hand's teleportation power which left him stranded on my destroyed planet. I stopped him from going anywhere to destroy another world that would be unprepared to battle it."
	"Now wait a minute!" Jeff said. "You said that you've stolen those powers, yet you've also noted the orb has them stored also? Couldn't The Master Hand still have the same powers as you did?"
	"No, he couldn't. It's hard to explain how storing the powers worked between me, The Master Hand, and the orb. There are some areas in the orb that The Master Hand cannot have control over. The orb is more powerful than The Master Hand itself. It can store one power and have . . . two copies of it. One copy goes to the user and the other is kept within the orb. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
	No one seemed to understand other than Jeff. He nodded and then summarized, "So your saying that the orb acts like a computer? You might have hacked into The Master Hand's area of the orb and stole his powers from there. It probably couldn't take the powers back because you've hid them somewhere within the orb. The Master Hand also couldn't take the orb's copy of the powers because it wouldn't let it have access to its own database. Are you saying . . . you were using the orb the whole time also?"
	Nikana weakly smiled and nodded. "The reason why the orb kept those copies was so that it knew what commands were being summoned and given. Also, I could create illusions as training grounds and my own polygon figures that The Master Hand wouldn't know about. I and the Master Hand aren't the only ones who used it, but the fighters I've trained, including Ness has been using the orb."
	The room was dead silent. Finally, Jeff pulled out the transporter that the group used to escape from the planet and handed it to Nikana.
	"Did you ever think of using this to get back?" Jeff asked her.
	"I appreciate how you are trying to help me," Nikana said with a frown, "but notice how that transporter feels cold instead of when it was warm before being used? When the transporter is cold, it tells you that the battery is dead. You can't replace it and it can only be used once. However, there is one last way out of this mess!"
	The girl got out of her bed and slowly dragged herself to a table. She yanked open a drawer and searched through it.
	"What are you doing?" Poo asked her as he walked to her.
	Finally, Nikana slowly pulled out a scalpel from the drawer. She stared at Poo and at the group with sad eyes.
	"Goodbye, my friends." Nikana said sadly.
	She pointed the scalpel to her wrist, but at the speed of light, Poo yanked it out of Nikana's hand. The girl glared at Poo and tried to tackle him to get the scalpel back. The boy dodged her and quickly pinned her to the floor. He separated her arms and pressed his knee slightly against her chest so he would not hurt her.
	"Listen to me Nikana and listen good." Poo said in a firm voice. "We made a mistake and we're sorry about that. You should be grateful to be alive. Would you want to go back to your planet that you would have to constantly worry about survival and committing crimes in order to live? Why go through a struggling life again when you have a chance to start a new one? A new life without so many problems?" 
	"And where would I live, Poo?!" The girl said in an angered tone, but fell silent. 
	"You come with me and live in Dalaam." The prince said with calmness. "You said to me yourself that you loved it there because it's closely related to your home land. Is that not true? Not to mention you have more friends on this planet than you did back on your world. Would you want to give that up?"
	Nikana was silent at Poo's point. She slightly nodded her head and Poo then asked, "Would you like to rule Dalaam at my side?"
	Paula, Ness, Jeff, and even Nikana shot a very shocked look at Poo. The young prince who was a serious type of person and avoided antsy Dalaamian girls had his mind set on a girl from a different realm?
	"Hmm . . ." Nikana said, thinking of what else to say. "We're kind of a bit too young to marry and this is all too sudden for me."
	"You guys had a crush on each other all long?!" Ness exclaimed.
	The girl turned from Poo and blush deep red. The young prince slowly nodded and sincerely.
	"Oh my God . . ." Paula muttered as she shook her head.
	"But um . . ." Nikana started to say as she tried to stop blushing. "I would consider living in Dalaam since I have no where to stay."
	The prince smiled, but his friends remained standing in shock. Nikana turned to them and said, "How about tonight we should have ourselves a pizza feast? We meet in Twoson at the pizza place."
	"I'll order the pizza." Ness volunteered.
	"And there would be a celebration after the pizza in Dalaam." Poo said. "To be honest with you, the Master found out about our secret mission. He also said that Nikana is welcome to stay at the palace as long as she likes."
	"That's a good idea!" Paula agreed.
	"Oh Man!" Jeff suddenly said. "I was supposed to be back at Snow Wood today! My dad is really going to ground me to find out that I was gone . . ."
	"Well," Ness said, "you can tell your father about the secret mission and have Nikana as your proof. He probably would understand that."
	"All right," Jeff agreed, "let's get out of her before Nurse Bowman annoys us all."
	The group agreed as they left the hospital and payed the doctor's fee.

	*		*		*		*		*

	As Jeff explained the secret accomplished mission to his father and proved it with the help of Nikana, Dr. Andonuts allowed his son to stay at his lab with an extend three days of vacation. Afterwards, the group of friends teleported to Twoson and enjoyed a large pepperoni pizza with protein drinks. Then the group traveled back to Dalaam and was greeted by many of Poo's people. 
	As darkness filled the sky, exploding sparks of various colors lit the night. The group of friends watched the show and smiled to themselves. Ness and Paula sat on the ground, holding each others' hand, Jeff seated himself beside them and stared at the fireworks in awe. Poo and Nikana sat beside each other side-by-side, but expressed no public display of affection.
	After the firework show, Poo and Nikana said farewell to their friends as they departed. Ness escorted Jeff back to Andonut's Lab in The Winters and finally teleported to Twoson with Paula. They walked a short distance away to Polestar silently. They were both tired.
	"That was quite a day." Ness said and Paula nodded. 
	"We should do more of that sometime." Paula said with a smile.
	They reached the doorstep of Paula's home and stared at each other silently. After the moment, Paula hugged Ness gently as the boy returned it.
	"I'll see you tomorrow." Said Paula as she released him.
	"Ok um . . ." Ness started to say until something quickly touched his cheek. 
	The boy blushed and turned away. Paula giggled and said with a wink, "Goodnight, Nessie. I love ya."
	"I love you too, Paula." Ness said nervously as he walked away from the doorstep and proceeded to the street.
	He placed his left hand on his left cheek and felt the spot where Paula had kissed him. He smiled thoughtfully to himself.


		THE END
		OR IS IT?