Chapter 2


	"You give me back my remote control, Pokey!" Jeff demanded to the chubby, blonde-haired boy. 
	"Why don't you try to come here and get it yourself?" Pokey provoked at he threw the remote control up in the air and continued to catch it.
	Next to Pokey stood a robot who was the same height at the chubby boy. Jeff glared at Pokey as Paula clenched her fists. 
	"Now let's see what this piece of crap made from Dr. Andonuts can do. Let's try this button!"
	The boy aimed the remote controller at the robot and pressed a green button. The robot raised its mechanical arms and fired rapid lasers at both Paula and Jeff. Pokey laughed with amusement as he watched his two foes dodging the robot's fire.
	Ness, Poo, and the mysterious girl reached their destination in Jeff's front yard, near where the battle scene took place. Paula quickly turned her head and smiled at Ness from a far distance.
	"Glad you made it!" Paula said hopefully. "We need your- OWW!"
	Suddenly, a red laser bolt shot Paula in her left arm. The sharp pain that she felt went through her body like lightening and grew tremendously.
	"Paula!" Ness cried as he, Poo and a stranegr ran to her side. 
	Blood began to gust out from her open wound. Paula covered it with the palm of her right hand in order to stop the bleeding. The mysterious stranger cast a healing on Paula. Palua watched the wound close up and felt her strength returning.
	"That does it!" Jeff growled as he pulled out his pistol and aimed at the robot. "Multi Bottle Rockets!"
	He fired his weapon at the robot, but his shots caused no damage on the dangerous controlled robot.
	"My security robot must of have a really darn good protective shield!" Jeff said in shock.
	The mysterious girl watched the battle scene take place. After seeing enough and before Ness could do anything, she crossed her arms and raised them up in the air. While doing so, she called up to the sky and said, "PK Shocker!"
	A large flashing lightening bolt streaked down from the sky and nailed the out-of-control robot. The robot fell backwards and crashed into the ground. Its circuits sparked and then the noises that came from the alive robot quickly died. 
	Ness, Poo, Paula, Jeff, and Pokey stared at the mysterious girl with shock, amazement, and terror. The girl glared at Pokey with a dangerous look and said, "Hand the remote control to the young man or you will be the next one to go."
	Shivering with fear, Pokey tossed the remote control to Jeff on the groundat his feet. The girl shot an even more deadlier look at the chubby boy and roared, "I said hand it to him, not throw it  you dumb, fat, useless, tub of lard!"
	"Uh. . . sorry! Uh oh! My mother's calling me! I gotta run!"
	However, the girl was not finished. She outstretched her right arm and cast a lightening bolt that shot Pokey in the back. The chubby boy flew a few feet away, got up from the ground and ran away.
	Jeff, Paula, Ness, and Poo stared at the girl in full amazement. The girl turned to them and stared at them silently. Finally, Jeff picked up his remote controller that Pokey threw and asked the girl, "Who are you. . . ?"
	"I have a name that goes by Nikana." The girl replied. "I have been sent to Eagleland to help train and prepare a young boy named Ness to fight a superior challenger."
	"Why does Ness have to battle against this challenger?" Paula asked. "Where do you come from?"
	"I have a long explanation so you might as well sit down and listen carefully. The challenger is originally called ‘The Master Hand'. Some people call him ‘God'. He claims that he has created the universe and the realm of Nintendo and Daghiar. The Master Hand is planning an Armageddon to the Nintendo realm and had already done so in the Daghiar realm, the realm that I've originated from. He does this because he is obbsessed with his ultimate power and wishes to be superior of all. The Master Hand abuses his power with his superior attitude. 
	"Years ago, he has made my people, the Carthelians, into slaves and killed thousands of them who refused to be obedient. Those who have rebelled under his power have perished. Only one has successfully escaped and fled to safety. As powerful as I have demonstrated, I cannot defeat The Master Hand alone. I was proven to be the most powerful and bitter fighter and I was also VERY lucky to escape from The Master Hand's power and mind control.
	"I was badly wounded as I fled, but I managed to reach the Realm of Nintendo. I was halfway healed by Princess Toadstool, who ruled the Mushroom Kingdom. A small plumber man named Mario volunteered to fight The Master Hand. I trained him and granted him some special abilities to help fight The Master Hand, but he failed. Because of Mario's over confidence and failure, the Mushroom Kingdom was crushed and all of its people have became enslaved. 
	"I fled into different worlds to find another hero in order to help free not only my people, but the fighters who had fought against The Master Hand and their people as well. My people were taught that enslaving was wrong and if you, Ness, succeed and win the battle, you will not only save the people of your world, but will save billions of others. If The Master Hand is declared defeated, he will restore the Realm he has destroyed and the other worlds he has smashed in the Realm of Nintendo and Daghiar."
	Everyone was silent as Nikana made a silent pause. Jeff stared at Nikana with fascination and wonder as Ness tried to summarize his chosen fate of what Nikana had preached to him. It had already seemed that the whole safety of the Universe was placed into Ness' hands.
	Breaking the moment of silence, Poo asked, "Exactly how many fighters have you trained and how did you require such skill?"
	"I have encountered about six Nintendo heros who are Link from the Land of Hyrule, Pikachu from Pellet City, Captain Falcon, Mario, Yoshi, and Kirby. Ness would be the seventh chosen one. I was officially trained by a great Carthelian warrior before The Master Hand took over our world and conquered it. I later found out that he was killed while battling against The Master Hand.  He was a strict teacher indeed, but was an excellent trainer." 
	Finally, Ness asked Nikana, "So when do I begin the training?"
	The girl stared at Ness and showed an expression of hope in her eyes. 
	"I'm giving you a choice Ness, to think about going up against The Master Hand. You have one day to decide. If you decide that you don't want to battle, I can find another willing to fight. If the fighters I have selected do fail, I will come back to your world and force you to fight. And if you don't fight around that time, then The Master Hand will take over everyone and destroy your Earth. Everyone who lives in your world will become slaves forever. I don't like doing this myself, but there may not be any other choice other than to choose you to help me out.
	"However, if you do decide to get it over with, I will grant you two special ablities to help you defeat The Master Hand. There is also one thing I will note about battling against The Master Hand Ness, and that is knowledge is extremely important in the battle. Use it wisely."
	Ness nodded, agreeing to take Nikana's suggestion. The group was silent until Paula asked the group, "Well, since Nikana is going to stay here in Eagleland for a day, where is she going to stay for the night? Or do you have a place to stay, Nikana? Do you carry any money?"
	The young girl shook her head and replied, "I usually adapt to outdoor climates."
	"You can stay at the palace in Dalaam for the night." Poo offered. "I don't think my Master would mind. By the way, I am titled Prince Poo, but you can call me Poo for short. I don't mind."
	Nikana smiled as Jeff and Paula introduced themselves to the stranger. Ness scanned the group members and asked, "I'm kind of hungry. Anyone up for Mach's Pizza?"
	Paula and Jeff nodded and grinned, but Nikana gazed at Ness with a puzzled look.
	"Don't worry, you'll like it once you've tried it." Paula said to Nikana with a wink.

	The group of young teenagers traveled to Twoson and ordered a pizza at Mach Pizza Place. They sat on the curb of the sidewalk, outside of the restaurant as Ness went in to order a pizza. He later returned to his friends with a box and opened it. 
	"Let's dig in!" Ness chimed as he, Paula, and Jeff had taken a slice of pizza. 
	Poo watched the group eat with silence and decided to meditate, but Nikana stared at the pizza weirdly. Jeff glanced at the girl and noticed that she hadn't touched a pizza slice yet.
	"Is there anything wrong, Nikana?" He asked with concern.
	"What's that?" Nikana asked, pointing to a flat, reddish circular object on the pizza. "Is that what you guys call a pizza?"
	"Oh no, of course not. That object is called a pepperoni. Its purpose is to bring an extra favor to the pizza in what we consider, ‘tasty'."
	"You never have eaten a pizza before?" Ness asked.
	Nikana carefully pulled out a pizza slice out from the box and observed it carefully. 
	"Never." She answered. 
	Everyone, including Poo who was meditating stopped to watch Nikana's reaction to her first pizza slice. She took a small bite from the curst of the pizza and stared to munch on it.
	"That's not how you eat a pizza!" Ness exclaimed and tried his hardest not to laugh at the girl.
	"Actually, there is not correct scientific way to eat a pizza." Jeff replied. "There are other ways of eating a pizza."
	"Wow Jeff! We didn't actually know that!" Paula joked with sarcasm. "Now try eating the cheese and a pepperoni, Nikana. It's not that bad."
	Finally, Nikana bit into a pepperoni and chewed it slowly. She swallowed it down her throat and for the first time, she managed to crack a small smile.
	"Not bad!" She said and laughed. "This pizza is very good! One of the best delicacies I've ever eaten! Although the pepperoni is quite pungent."
	Everyone smiled and laughed. Nikana devoured her pizza slice and took another. While the group was eating their pizza, Paula asked Nikana, "What stuff did you eat back where you have come from?"
	After finishing a pizza slice, Nikana replied, "My people relied on the animals that lived in our world to support us. We didn't have stores where you could go in and buy food that was already cooked for you. There were some markets available, but we were mostly required to hunt in order to survive. We also feed on some plants as well."
	While observing the young girl's eating habits, Jeff asked, "Exactly how old are you?"
	"I'm approximately nine months of fifteen years." She answered and watched the citizens of Twoson passing by. "Your kind interests me. You people rely on others to serve you food and don't have to hunt game."
	"There's more to this than just having people do stuff for you." Said Ness. "Back where you come from, did you ever have computers or video games?"
	"Hmm. We had computers," Nikana nodded, "but there were never video games around my world. However, I know what they are. While training Pikachu, I played a small computer which it was called a ‘Game Boy'. There were some electronic games in it that I've played."
	"How about we give you a tour to some of the towns on our planet and try out an arcade game?" Ness offered as the girl gladly accepted it.

	The day was beginning to end. The group showed Nikana around Twoson, Onett, and The Winters. As the day was about to end, Poo and Nikana transported themselves to Poo's palace. Jeff retired to his home to rest and read as Paula and Ness decided to spend some time to themselves as they walked to Paula's house. Ness was uncertain about the next day since he would have to make his final decision for not only himself, but for Paula, his friends, and for his world.
	"There's something I don't trust about Nikana." Paula began to say to Ness as they were walking to her house. "Her appearance is so. . . mysterious and strange as if she had more to say about the fight you're going up against. She might be hiding something."
	"I'm worried about this as much as you are." Ness admitted. "I mean, that dream she sent to us was terrifying! I was the one who ended up dead."
	"Ness, I hope you're smart enough to make the right choice this time. Once again, everyone on this planet is placed in your hands, but it's more than just that."
	"So what are you suggesting, Paula? That I take no part of this and let every innocent person in this realm we exist in fail and end up as slaves? Just because I haven't even tried or gave any of my efforts?"
	"I just . . ." Paula began to argue and paused. She looked away, avoiding eye contact with Ness. "I don't want to see you get hurt, that's all. I care for you more than anything else in the world. If I was forced to watch you being beat up and there was nothing I could do to help. . . that would hurt me to see something like that."
	Ness began to blush. He never knew that Paula had actually really cared more for him as he did for her. He was too shy to admit how he felt about her and always tried to act as if he liked her only as a friend. At that moment, no one seemed to say anything or move. They stopped walking and stood in deep silence, listening to the crickets chirping the night away. 
	Finally after a short while of thinking things over Ness stared up at the starry sky, trying the best he could to hide his flustered face from Paula. The young blonde-haired girl slowly turned her head to Ness and looked at him with a sheepish expression. Without even thinking, Ness took his hand into Paula's and said, "I can't just sit on my butt and hear people suffering. Something must be done, Paula. I don't want to do this, but it seems that I pretty much don't have a choice even though Nikana had stated them." 
	"But she had failed six times with six fighters!" Paula protested. "What happens if she isn't a good trainer with you and fails you too? You would screw up this world and have us all enslaved by this Mister Glove guy! Worst of all, you can have yourself killed."
	"Nikana might have said that, but she also said that knowledge is important when it comes to battles and to use it wisely. She would also grant me two new powers to battle up against the Hand dude."
	"Yes, but do you know what those ‘powers' are? What happens if they turn out pretty weak for fighting up against someone who's twice or five times stronger than you?"
	"Hmm. . . good point."
	With that, he gently squeezed Paula's hand with his and slowly released it. The two walked to Paula's house in silence the rest of the way.
	
	As Paula and Ness came up to Paula's house, they walked across the front lawn to the door. Paula turned to Ness and stared at him for a brief minute. Finally, she said, "I know that I cannot make choices for you, but I hope you know what you're doing."
	"I know." Ness smiled. "Don't worry about me too much. I've gotten myself out of risky situations before. I may be able to manage it and besides, I can receive additional training from someone Poo knows."
	"Well, just take care of yourself if I'm not around, alright?"
	Ness nodded, as Paula made an attempt to hug him farewell. This had surprised Ness even more and the young boy found himself standing in pure shock. 
	"Good night." She whispered in Ness' ear.
	"You too." He replied as he hugged her back and released her.
	Ness turned away from Paula and her house and teleported his way home.