"I…I was attacked!" Ness managed to say.

"By who?" The pilot asked. Ness didn’t know what to say.

"A…A yellow rat." It sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Tell the truth, kid! No one lies to Captain Falcon!"

"I am!" Ness said, struggling to breathe. The Captain let him down. He fell to his knees and began to breathe rapidly. After a few moments, he stood back up.

"Now…tell me who really attacked you." Falcon ordered.

"I told you!" Ness exclaimed. "It was a big yellow rat, with red cheeks, and long ears that were black at the end!" Falcon stared at Ness for a while.

"Oh." He said. "I guess Pikachu does look like a big rat."

"Pikachu?" Ness asked.

"A Pokemon." He said. Ness looked confused. "It’s this cutesy Game Boy thing, don’t worry about it."

They both jumped of the ship and began to talk. Ness explained why he was there and about EarthBound. Then, Falcon told Ness about his game. "F-Zero," he said, "the greatest racing game there is!"

"Why were you here?" Ness asked.

"I came to pick up one of these applications." Falcon said pulling out a few rumpled sheets of paper. "Take one, it’ll be fun!" Ness took an application. He was about to read the heading on it when someone casted their shadow over the paper. Ness looked up to see who’s it was and got punched in the mouth. He fell to the ground and rubbed his bleeding lip. "What the heck, Mario!?" Falcon asked.

Ness looked up to see a short guy wearing denim overalls, a red long sleeve shirt, and a red cap with a white "M" on it. Ness also noticed that this person had a very large nose and moustache. He pointed at Ness with a gloved finger. "I tolda you not to cause any more trouble!" He said in his heavily accented voice. It was Italian.

"You!" Ness exclaimed. He rushed to his feet and let out a blast of Psi Rockin’, but his enemy quickly rolled under it and to the side. He launched a barrage of fireballs at Ness. He dodged most of them, but a few singed his clothes. Another barrage came flying. This time, Ness dodged every one. He reflected the last one back with his baseball bat. It hit his foe’s cap. It burst into flames and he quickly took it off and stomped on it. It was black and charred.

"No one messes with a Mario’s capa, and you’re no one!" He said. Ness heard that name before. He was a Nintendo big shot.

"Why was my game cancelled!?" Ness asked.

"You won’t be around to find out!" Mario exclaimed. He ran at Ness and jumped into the air. It was an incredible jump; almost twenty feet into the air. He came back down with his feet extended below him and hit Ness in the face. Mario did a somersault and landed back where he started. Ness fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. It felt like his nose was broken, but it wasn’t that bad (Ness rarely seems to get injured, huh?). Mario began charging a fireball between his hands. It grew larger and larger by the second. By the time he was satisfied with the fireball, it was the size of a small car. He held it above his head and grinned. He balanced himself by repositioning his feet, and then held the massive flame in front of him. Ness felt the heat of the fireball and began to sweat profusely. "I tolda you not to bother us again!" Mario shouted. Ness tried to get up, but couldn’t. Mario prepared to fire. He pulled his arms back, and just as he thrusted forward, Captain Falcon jumped in the way. He pulled his arm back and Ness saw that particles of red energy were forming around Falcon’s fist. The flames were mere inches away from scorching Falcon and that’s when he let lose with his attack.

"Falcon Punch!" He cried as he threw his arm forward. The energy exploded into the form of a burning falcon and Ness swore he could hear the cry of one. The two attacks connected. Fire against fire. Falcon’s arm was extended into the flames and Mario’s fireball had begun to curve inwards at the site of the punch. For minutes the three stood there watching. Falcon was grunting heavily. Apparently it took effort to hold off the fireball. Then, after one last grunt, Falcon repositioned his feet, dashed forward and raised his fist into the air. The fireball flew skywards and fizzled out after a few seconds. Now Ness was up, and Falcon was down.

Mario turned around and began to walk away. Ness rushed over to help Falcon up. He was breathing heavily. They looked forward at Mario. He stopped and turned. "You win thisa time, but nexta time I’ma gonna win." He said.

"Captain Falcon, why did you save me?" Ness asked. "You barley know me." Falcon smiled.

"I really don’t know, kid." Falcon said. His face was black with ash. "I just jumped in the way and punched. I didn’t really think about it. It all happened so fast."

"Thanks." Ness said.

By that time, security had arrived. "We were asked to escort Mr. Ness and Captain Falcon to their respective games." They said. Ness stuffed the application Falcon had given him into his pocket and waved good-bye. He walked over to his pole and pressed the small button on the front. The Nintendo Headquarters "Parking Lot" faded away and Ness found himself back in the forest of Threed.

He teleported back over to the hotel to report on his visit to Nintendo. "All they did was attack you?" Paula asked.

"Yeah, they didn’t even talk to me." Ness said.

"There has to be a way to get through to them." Jeff said.

"But how?" Ness asked. "We’re not allowed at the headquarters anymore."

"I’ll think of something." Jeff said. He left the room to go into his own and think. So did Paula. It was only Ness and Poo left.

"Ness, I want you to know that even if we do not get our sequel, I will be happy." Poo said.

"What? But, how? How could you be happy?" Ness asked.

"You, Paula, Jeff, and all the others are the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for. I have everything I want right now, and if we don’t get a sequel, I will not mind at all." He smiled and then left. Ness thought that Poo must’ve gone crazy because of the recent events, but then what he said began to make since.

Ness rushed out of his room and caught Poo in the hall. "Poo," he said, "it is kind of weird for almost everyone in the world to wish for someone to threaten our existence, isn’t it? I mean, I guess that’s what Pokey’s up to." Ness said. Poo smiled. "You’re a great friend too, Poo."