Chapter 4

	During the past few days of harsh and difficult training, Ness had grown stronger and more skilled each day. He practiced his power and fighting skills on Nikana's polygon figures and in different obstacles that Nikana had constructed in her mind. Frequently, Paula, Poo, and Jeff went with Ness and Nikana to watch Ness' progress. 
	After successfully winning small battles against Nikana's polygon figures, Ness finally felt confident enough to fight against Nikana, in order to receive his last power from her. He was determined to win a match against the teenage girl. 
	In the endless open field, Nikana and Ness stretched under the hot sun and warmed themselves up for the match. Nikana removed her cloak and boots in order to feel less weight as an advantage of winning the match. Paula, Poo, and Jeff sat underneath a nearby tree that Nikana provided for shade from the heat rays of the sun.
	Ness and Nikana stood a few feet away from each other. Jeff decided to keep time of the match taking place and to signal when the battle should begin or end. Nikana crossed her arms with boredom as Ness stood in his ready position. 
	Finally, Jeff called out, "May the best one win and um. . . what are the rules to this fight?"
	"There are no rules to this match." Nikana simply replied with a serious expression. "The whole objective is to badly damage your opponent and at the end, we will both heal ourselves."
	"How badly do you mean?"
	"Hurt the opponent so badly that he or she would have trouble pulling him or herself off the ground."
	Paula stared at Ness with a concern, but Ness only smiled with reassurance. 
	"Righto." Jeff acknowledged, but felt unsure of his best friend's safety. "On the count of three, you two shall start and no cheating. One. . . Two. . . Three! Go!"
	At the same time, Ness summoned PK Fire as Nikana called for PK Spark (A lighting bolt that shoots from her fingertips). Both of the opposite powers clashed and Ness rolled away. Nikana slowly walked over to Ness as the flame and the sparks died from the clash. Ness quickly charged at Nikana with full speed, but the teenage girl stepped away. At that instant, Ness turned, pulled out his Gusty bat and swung it at Nikana. It nailed her in the stomach as the girl flew away and hit the ground.
	Her arm hung across her stomach, but Ness pulled out his Combat yo-yo and knocked her off the ground with a clear sweep of it. The boy then realized that Nikana wasn't trying her best in order to have him win the match. However, because of her strict, serious attitude, why would she?
	Ness ran straight for Nikana, but the teenage girl sweep kicked him from the ground. The boy fell back as Nikana rose from the ground and summoned PK Shocker. A lighting bolt streaked down from the sky and nailed Ness with incredible strength from where he stood. The boy flew and landed on the hard, cracked ground. He groaned in pain and coughed with a dry throat, but was able to pull himself up off the ground. The scorching heat of the sun seemed to weaken Ness as he stood. 
	The young boy quickly caught sight of Nikana who was charging directly at him. She quickly leaped into the air and tried a jump kick. At that moment before her bare foot could nail the boy hard in the chest, Ness quickly reached out, grabbed her foot, pushed and twisted her ankle to the side. The girl yelped in shock and in pain as she was thrown to the ground and landed face flat. While Nikana was still on the ground, Ness kicked her in the stomach. Paula and Jeff reacted with shock and horror of Ness' violent behavior. Poo sat quietly with an expressionless face.
	After kicking Nikana in the stomach, Ness grabbed her by the collar of her tunic. With the help of his PSI strength, Ness threw the girl as far back as he could. The girl landed far away from  Ness and then refused to get up. However, he heard a beeping noise below his feet. Ness glanced down at his feet to find that Nikana had laid a mine.
	"Aw crap!" Ness said in shock as the mine detonated with a gigantic explosion.
	The boy flew father away from the group and away from Nikana's battered body. Ness hit the ground and barely felt it. His vison grew dim and he heard Paula crying as she ran to him. He also heard fainting voices that were calling out his name. Ness felt himself growing incredibly weak. Paula finally reached the boy and tried to shake him gently. She cried out his name in terror, but Ness was too weak to even reply to the weeping girl. He slowly closed his eyes and lost his consciousness. 
	Jeff and Poo ran to Paula's side and stared at the motionless Ness in horror. Nikana dragged herself over to the group and glanced at Ness. Paula glared at Nikana.
	"Oh my God!" Paula shrieked at Nikana. "You've blew Ness! Thanks to your ‘special training' I've lost someone! You B-"
	"Ness can't be dead from that explosion." Nikana stated as she placed two fingers on the side of Ness' neck. "He's alive, but unconscious. Even if we healed him, he would still be out. The best thing to do is to let him rest. I do admit that he won the match before he was blown away."
	"We have to get Ness out of here." Poo stated. "The heat won't do any better for him."
	"Let's get Ness into a hospital to rest and restore most of his PSI powers." Jeff suggested and the group agreed. 
	Nikana healed herself as Paula cured Ness with her PSI Healing. Then the two girls lift Ness' body off the ground. Nikana closed her eyes as the group disappeared and landed near the hospital in Onett.

	At the hospital, the nurses placed Ness on a bed in a room. Paula sat near Ness' side of the bed on a stool as the unconscious boy rested peacefully. The girl refused to abandon Ness' side and no one in the group argued with her. Jeff, Poo and Nikana sat outside of Ness' room to keep a watch of visitors. While sitting outside of Ness' room a short blonde-haired woman came up to Jeff, who was followed by a young blonde-haired girl.
	"Where's my son?!" The mother asked Jeff with panic and glanced at Poo and Nikana. "What happened to him?!"
	"Um-" Jeff began, but before the boy could explain further more, the woman dashed into the room. 
	The girl who followed the mother stayed behind with the group. She recognized Jeff and Poo, but studied Nikana with curiosity. 
	"I don't quite remember you." The girl said to Nikana. "You have some funny clothes on there. You're one of Ness' friends, right?"
	Nikana only nodded slowly, but casually. The girl then introduced, "I'm Tracy, Ness' sister. Mom received a phone call from the hospital, pulled me out from work and we rushed over here. My Mom works herself too hard as you can tell, but she's a good mother."
	Tracy giggled and then said, "So you say that you are Ness' friend? Man, my big brother has got some weird and messed up friends! Don't you even realize that Halloween isn't until three months from now?"
	Jeff gave Nikana and Poo a concern look and shook his head. To Nikana, Jeff whispered in her ear, "Your secret is going to be screwed." 

	The woman found Ness, laying unconscious in bed as Paula was sitting beside him. She walked over to Ness and ran her finger across his cheek. She shot Paula a worried look and asked, "How did this happen?"
	"Well um, you see. . . " Paula began to say and paused. Ness told her not to tell anyone about the secret mission of battling The Master Hand, in order to not stir up panic in the world.
	Suddenly, a soft groan broke the silence and Paula's choked speech. Ness blinked his black disc eyes slightly open and struggled to arise from the hospital bed. Paula gently pushed Ness down on the bed and said, "You need to rest."
	"I've been resting enough, Paula." Ness mumbled and found his mother who had shot a relieved look. "Where am I? What happened?"
	"You're here at the hospital, Ness." His mother replied. "How do you feel?"
	"Fine I guess. My head hurts though. What happened?"
	"We were walking around at The Winters," Paula lied, "until a bear suddenly knocked you hard."
	Telepathically, Paula answered to Ness, *You were bombed pretty good by your reliable friend, Nikana. We thought that we've lost you.*
	"What?!" Ness' mother shrieked with shock. "A bear attacked my son?!"
	"Yeah, but we took care of it." Paula lied. "There's nothing to worry about."
	Ness' mother examined Ness and said, "I don't see any claw marks on you, Ness. Where did the bear hit you?"
	"Um. . . I don't remember." Ness said, shaking his head and lied as he followed Paula's story. "All I can remember is that I hit my head into a tree. I must have been thrown or something."
	Ness' mother looked at Paula and the girl only nodded. His mother smiled and said to Ness, "All right then. You have to be careful when you go over to Jeff's, you hear? Why don't you rest for a while here as I go home and get dinner started. I'll see you home soon, ok?"
	Ness nodded as he watched his mother leave the room. Paula sighed a relief and remarked, "That was too close. I thought she wouldn't believe that story."
	Just then, Jeff, Poo, and Nikana walked in the room and circled the bed. Nikana shot questioning eyes to Ness and Paula as Paula replied, "No, his mom didn't find out about the mission. We had to make a story up for her to believe."
	Nikana slightly nodded and said, "Thank you, Paula," and turn to Ness. 
	"So how do you feel?" Nikana asked the boy.
	"A little better, but stuck with a minor headache." Ness weakly replied.
	"That isn't unexpected," Nikana said and tried to smile, "especially when that explosion knocked you a few yards away. Sometimes healing doesn't heal us completely, but I know something that might be used as a ‘pain killer'. Besides, you've earned it and had become a strong, bitter fighter. Just close your eyes and open your mind. . ."
	Ness knew what Nikana had planned to give him as an award for winning the match against her. He obeyed her as the teenage girl placed her cold, dried up fingers on his forehead and closed her hazel eyes. Ness began to feel more relaxed and calm as Nikana's fingers began to feel warm and soft. He felt another memory slowly slipping into his mind and then finding himself feeling more relaxed. The boy grew tired again and on the hospital bed, he was put to sleep.   
	Nikana finished the process and stood back. Unexpectedly, Ness feel asleep during the process of a new power being added. Paula started to glare at Nikana and said in an angered and an annoyed tone, "Again, you have to put Ness out! What's up with that?!"
	"I didn't mean to do it on purpose and this happened to me before." Nikana stated for her own defense. "Besides, Ness will awake again in about a few minutes so relax. The power that I have granted him is ‘PK Thunder', which my personal favorite. The power enables him to shock his victims and if they stand too close to him or far away. 
	"If Ness is about to be thrown off the ring he can use this power to boost him back into the ring. The few good things about this power is that when he hits himself with the electric ball, he will take no damage or any harm or when he is effected. If he knocks himself into someone while being electrocuted, Ness can easily throw his opponents right out of the ring, no matter how strong the opponent is. Also, he can control where the thunder ball can go and hit."
	Jeff and Paula stared at Nikana in awe as Poo stared at the girl with a little bit of shock and amazement. Paula glanced down at Ness and begin to wonder about the risks of his chosen destiny.

	*		*		*		*		*		*

	Meanwhile, The Master Hand watched the scene that took place in the hospital from its orb. Nikana had granted the boy, who laid in bed asleep, a new power. A power in which the teenage girl had stolen from it. It was one of The Master Hand's best powers it had and yet, its arch enemy managed to get a hold of it. This angered The Master Hand greatly and it had to come up with a plan to capture her as quick as possible.
	However, The Master Hand laughed to itself hysterically. Nikana was foolish enough to put her trust in a young boy who was even weaker than her, or so it thought. The chosen fighter humored The Master Hand and it decided to observe the boy, in order to find a weakness it could use against him.
	It began to observe not only the selected fighter, but a girl with short, light-blonde hair, who sat at his side. The Master Hand noticed that the group tried to pry the girl away from the wounded and unconscious boy, but she refused and remained at his side. She was also willing to stick up for the boy and to keep a secret from his mother.
	At last, The Master Hand had thought of a plan to make the young chosen fighter and its rival surrender.
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