EarthBound: The Winter of 200X Written by Peter (a.k.a. SuprSmashKid) (Note: If this doesn't look correct, email me at BlaKnitePB@aol.com for the original .doc file.) PROLOGUE Monday, November 24- 7:12 AM Northern Onett Gray and cold was the only thing Ness saw when he opened the blinds in the morning. The third day of winter and the largest recorded blizzard hit Onett, as well as parts of Twoson and Threed. "Crap," Ness said to himself. He had made plans with his friends earlier to see the Runaway Five show, back in Twoson for a limited time. "Ness? I think you’re going to have to cancel your plans today. There’s already a foot of snow on the ground, and the snow started falling an hour ago." Ness sighed and ambled over to the phone in his room. 7:15 AM Polestar Preschool "I know, Ness. The snow isn’t very bad here yet, but we’re expecting it to hit hard any time soon. My mother closed the school for the next few days, in case the storm blows over." Paula could tell that Ness wasn’t happy canceling plans they had for almost 2 weeks. She had been looking forward to seeing Ness, Jeff and Poo again. "Don’t worry, Paula. The storm isn’t very bad yet. Let’s hope none of the power lines are disconnected." Paula rapped her hand a few times on her desk. "Knock on wood." She heard Ness do the same. "I can’t believe you’re still superstitious about that stuff." Paula sighed. It was going to be a long day trapped indoors. 7:33 AM Snow Wood Boarding House Jeff was still half-asleep, but he understood Ness completely. Winters had some bad blizzards, and this year was said to be the worst. "I’m sorry, but I don’t think the Sky Runner would be able to take the force of the snow. You’d have to land it in Fourside. And since the public transportation lines are closed, you’d have to walk from Fourside to here and I don’t want to put you at risk. You could get pneumonia." Jeff was stubborn sometimes, but knew when to call it quits. "I understand, Ness. Let’s hope this is only a freak blizzard and that it blows over quickly." Ness agreed, said goodbye, and hung up. Jeff was stuck with Tony for the day. Great. 7:59 AM Dalaam Poo hung up the phone. No more reunion, he thought to himself. In Dalaam it almost never snowed, but today was an exception. Prince Poo found himself wrapped in a blanket in front of a fireplace, thinking about what to do for the rest of the day. He had canceled all other plans just for this concert, and now it was canceled. "Prince Poo, you have a visitor." Poo was too cold to meet with anyone. "Tell them I’m busy." This was going to be the most boring day of his life. And he had to spend it alone. CHAPTER 1 9:03 AM Ness’s House Ness was sitting and watching the snowfall from the sky. Well, I said I wanted something to change and I got it. No use whining about it now. Ness was just about to tell his inner voice to shut up, when he heard his sister call him. "What is it, Tracy?" He waited, but no response. Ness sighed and opened the door to his room. Right before he opened the door, he heard a splot! Against his window. He turned around to see a portion of his window covered with snow. "You’re gonna get it now, little sis," he said to himself. He made his way downstairs, put his winter coat, winter boots, and snow pants on, and carefully opened the front door. Whump! He heard the snowball hit before he felt the cold on his face. Ness brushed the snow off as quickly as he could and when he could see again, he saw Tracy standing about 10 yards away, snowball in hand. Gotta move fast, he thought to himself. He stepped outside, closed the front door, and headed for the left side of the house as quickly as he could. This maneuver took almost 2 seconds to finish, and when he reached the side of his house, he heard another whump! As a snowball bounced off the front of the house. He crouched as he ran around to the back of his house, so he didn’t get hit in the head with anymore snowballs. He reached the back of the house, and stood against the edge, peeking out to see if his sister followed him. Luckily, he spotted her without Tracy noticing him. Ness bent down and quickly created a snowball for himself. When he leapt from his hiding spot to hit his sister with the snowball, she was nowhere to be seen. He began to take a step forward when he saw a snowball flying up at him. A quick step to the right and the snowball missed completely. He saw her now; she tried hiding herself underneath the snow, but that throw shifted her coat, moving some of her cover around. Ness threw the snowball into the air and ran away. He could hear his sister scream when the snowball hit her in the back of the head. "Yes!" he said to himself. He made a quick U-turn to see if Tracy was getting up. She was facing the same direction as Ness. Ness stooped down to make another snowball while his sister couldn’t see him, when he felt a cold thump! On his backside. Ness quickly turned around and saw Paula standing right behind him, snowball in hand, smile on her face. "Ha ha, Ness! I got you!" Ness growled and threw an unfinished snowball, which crumbled apart and drifted back to the ground. "Uh, Paula! Have I told you how much I love you, and how much more I’d love you if you dropped that snowball?" Paula grinned more widely at this. "Okay, Ness." She lifted the snowball, and slammed it on the back of Ness’s neck. As a reflex, his back straightened, making the snowball slide down his back. "AHHHHH! That’s cold!" He stood completely still for a few seconds, patting his lower back trying to get the snowball to finish melting. "Who said we couldn’t have any fun today?" Paula asked. Ness knew she was right. Just then his mother opened the front door. "Ness! Come inside, dear! Oh, hello, Paula! You may come inside as well, before you catch cold. And Ness, be a dear and get your sister also." Tracy appeared from behind the house, dropped her snowball, sighed, and stepped inside. "Come on Ness, it’s freezing out here!" With that, Paula stepped inside. Ness shrugged and stepped inside, making sure to take his snow boots off at the door, as well as clear off any snow particles on him. "Hang on a second, I need to go change." Ness hurried into his room and got rid of the winter clothes he was wearing, and put his favorite clothes on; a red baseball cap, a blue-and-yellow striped shirt, and blue jeans. He quickly toweled off any part of his body still wet, and made his way downstairs. Luckily for Paula, she brought some extra clothes along. As he walked past his sister’s room, Ness could hear Tracy giggling about some boy band or some such nonsense. "Girls," he said to no one in particular, "can’t live with them, can’t live without them." He made sure Paula wasn’t listening before heading downstairs. 10:24 AM Somewhere in the Deep Darkness "Sir!" The guard gave a snappy salute. The man waved him off. "Major, give me a report on our project." The major still looked like he was 20, but he acted twice his age, which, next week, would be 36. "Commander, there seems to be something wrong with the specimen." The commander looked puzzled. "What do you mean?" The major stared back down at his clipboard. "The specimen seems to be growing at a faster rate than we could’ve expected. It seems to be capable of thinking, but we don’t know if this is true." The commander’s look changed from confusion to panic. "Get the lab boys in here. Tell them we need to stop this project!" Commander Dean Jacobs was not always an easy man to work with, but he knew when something went over the line. He will be turning 49 in 2 days, and he will be able to retire with a giant pension. Dean couldn’t wait for the days of lying on the shores of Carillion Beach sipping a Gelato de Resort and watching the beautiful women walk by. Why yes, I once was in the army. Want to see my battle scars? He shook himself. He knew his lovely wife wouldn’t allow this, but it was still his dream. This project was started when evidence of extra-terrestrial life was found in a cave deep underground. Cell samples were found and reconstructed piece by piece. Several of the lab workers, or white-coats, as Dean called them, said that the cave was meant to be kept in peace and that whatever happens in this project will bring bad consequences. Dean shrugged this off; He’d heard the story about the 4 kids and the alien, but there was never any evidence to prove the existence of the aliens until now. Having scientific evidence proving aliens exist would change the world, but the white-coats need a more complete structure to scan it. They’re taking pieces of the cells, reproducing them, and reattaching them somewhere else in hopes that the cells will reproduce faster. That was stated around 2 months ago. Has it been that long? He thought to himself. Dean wasn’t able to remind himself of the time. Just then, all the lights turned red and warning alarms sounded throughout the building hidden in the Deep Darkness. "What the heck?" The Major rushed in. "Sir, the alien tissues are reacting violently!" The Major rushed down the hall, with Dean right behind him. "Give me a report, Major!" The Major nodded. "When the doctors were ready to neutralize the tissue, something happened. Their eyes went blank and they didn’t do anything. Suddenly, one of the doctors went completely crazy on one of the guards. It’s like their minds were taken over." Dean had an expression of panic and worry. "The doctors sealed the room, and even though we have the 2-way mirror to watch them, it’s unbreakable. All we can do is watch." Dean sat in the control room, watching everything that happened from when it began to 5 seconds ago. The scene was horrific as the guards were mutilated by seemingly peaceful doctors, the alien tissue controlling everything. After the guards were killed, the doctors put more effort into reconstruction of the tissue. Oddly, they left one guard alive and unconscious. After a few more minutes, the doctors stopped messing with the tissue and turned to the guard. He was placed on a table and received a dose of anesthesia, in case he woke up. In short, they transplanted the tissue into the brain of the downed guard. He looked through the 2-way mirror. The 7 white-coats just seemed to stand, watching and waiting. They wore the same blank expressions as when this whole mess started. For what seemed like hours, the doctors waited. Suddenly, a finger of the guard twitched a little. The hand raised up slowly and unsteadily, showing a thumbs-up. The doctors’ blank expressions turned into cheerful smiles, as if they all won the lottery. "What in the world is this!?" Dean yelled. The doctors backed away from the changed guard, who made an attempt at sitting up. On the third try the guard sat up, shook his head, and investigated his surroundings. Dean accessed the intercom into the lab. "What are you?" The guard seemed to be much smarter than he used to be. "Hnnn..." The guard made a few strange noises, and suddenly fell into a blind rage. "Ness... Ness..." In a bright flash, the scientists, the lab equipment, and parts of the lab itself, dissolved instantly. The guard completely destroyed the lab room and everyone inside it with an attack that Dean could not comprehend. Guards outside the room began to open fire on the mutating guard through holes in the wall, but none of the bullets hit. They all bounced away from the guard. "It has some kind of force field! Cease fire!" There was another bright flash, and the mutating guard disappeared, leaving the laboratory in shambles. After a few moments of blank staring, Dean turned to the Major. "Get me the phone. This is bad." 12:33 PM Ness’s House Ness listened to the military officer and wondered how it was possible. The universe’s ultimate enemy was reborn and most likely en route for Onett. "Do you understand, Ness?" Ness didn’t answer. "Ness? Are you there?" "Huh? Oh, yeah, I understand." "Be extremely careful, Ness. The guard is a human now, but may be able to mutate into other things as well. If you see anyone suspicious, or even people that don’t look suspicious, stay alert." Ness said goodbye and hung up the phone, and thought of a plan of action. "Ness? Is everything all right?" He heard the knock on his bedroom door. "Come in, we have a problem." Paula entered, making sure to close the door again. Ness explained the entire situation. "A group of military research personnel found cells of Giygas in hibernation. The leader wanted to prove that aliens existed, but he couldn’t prove they were alien cells unless there was a big enough sample. They reconstructed the cells, recreating Giygas itself. Of course, no one knew it was Giygas. "Once a tissue was formed and scanned, they found violent alien cells. The commander tried to stop the project, but before the scientists could destroy the tissue, it placed a block in their minds. This means the tissue can use its Psi-powers. The doctors, their minds controlled by the Giygas sample, attacked the guards, killing all of them save one, and locked the door to the room. The doctors transplanted the tissue into the brain of the remaining guard, infecting him with Giygas’ influence. Finally, the changed guard destroyed the lab, escaped, and is supposedly on his way here." Paula shook her head in disbelief. "Impossible! We killed him." Ness thought for a moment. "We have to get a hold of Jeff and Poo, snowstorm or not." Ness reached for the phone when he heard a loud crash outside. Ness already knew what happened. "Telephone pole collapsed," Paula told him. She knew he already knew, but she could’ve been wrong. Ness picked up the receiver in hopes that a ground line was still available. No, the phone was thoroughly dead. Ness sighed. "Great. Now what?" CHAPTER 2 12:35 PM Winters Jeff was running through the forests of Winters as fast as he could, pistol drawn. He saw a giant object crash somewhere in the forest and knew things were wrong when the animals became more violent. After Giygas’ defeat the animals became calm, but something was increasing evil influence in their brains. He knew this meant trouble, and that he would be the one to stop it. He saw thick smoke flowing in front of him, which meant he was on the right track. "Only a little further! Come on!" Jeff felt his lungs and eyes burning, but he continued forward. Suddenly he saw it. If Jeff would’ve taken another step he would’ve fallen almost 100 feet into a rocky pit. The impact crater was around 135 yards across and the deepest point looked around 65 yards deep. There was an odd-colored rock in the center. Jeff carefully lowered himself into the crater to investigate. Slowly, he climbed downward from one rock to the next that looked simple enough to get him back out if he needed to. When he reached the bottom and the odd rock, he felt a disturbing presence. Even though he didn’t have Psi-powers, he could almost feel something near him, about to strike. Jeff turned and fired a quick shot from his pistol, and was relieved when nothing was behind him. He still had the feeling that something bad was going to happen, but he shrugged it off and turned back to the rock. The odd rock was a dark red color with yellowish lines running like cracks throughout the rock. It was 20 meters in circumference and 8 meters tall. Clouds loomed over and snow began to fall but the crater was still heated from impact so any of the snow that touched inside the crater melted. Jeff chipped some pieces of the rock away with a hammer and chisel, expecting something to jump out and attack him. Jeff had been letting his imagination run wild since the Giygas attack, because that proved that anything’s possible. Just then, Jeff heard someone call him. "Jeff? Where’d you go?" Jeff sighed. Tony, he thought. Jeff packed the hammer, chisel, and rock samples in a plastic bag and put it in his backpack. He headed back for the crater wall, which would be a long climb. About 20 meters from the edge, the ground began to shake. Jeff turned around to see the rock explode, hurling red stones all throughout the crater. "What the..." Jeff stared at the 2-meter tall object, its silver skin reflecting light in all directions. Its tentacle-like arms were at its hips, and it had odd black markings on its chest. "A Starman!" Jeff drew his pistol again and fired at the Starman. It noticed Jeff and charged towards him. Jeff fired again, but the shot bounced off the Starman. "Dang! My Gaia Beam isn’t doing any good! How is that possible?" In a matter of seconds the Starman was 20 meters from Jeff and moving fast. Jeff decided to bail and started climbing up the rocky edge. He climbed at a very fast speed, but the Starman was right behind him, reaching for his foot. Jeff climbed onto a small stepping stone, which crumbled underneath him. Jeff panicked and reached for the rock just above him but he couldn’t make it. Jeff let his muscles go loose and began to tumble down the steep cliff. After what seemed like minutes Jeff hit the crater’s bottom. He got up as quickly as possible and ran for the other side. The Starman, completely perplexed by Jeff’s movement, began moving back down the mountain. It saw Jeff running for the other side and knew it wouldn’t be able to keep up, since it used the jet booster during the charge. It raised a tentacle-arm and pointed towards Jeff. With the other tentacle, the Starman pressed a button on the elbow-area. Jeff heard the blast and kept running. Starmen can never hit moving targets with their beams; if they do, it’s just by a hair-Jeff felt a burning sensation in his stomach as he heard a whack! Suddenly, he found himself rushing toward the ground as though his legs disappeared, but he could still feel them. The burning pain in his stomach spread into his chest. Jeff felt his strength fading and couldn’t hold his eyes open. He tried to scream in pain but soon found his vocal chords were dead and he couldn’t breathe. The burning pain spread into his upper chest and legs, and the last thing Jeff knew was the cold silence of the Earth. 1:01 PM Ness’s House Paula felt very dizzy all of a sudden. "Paula, what’s wrong? What happened?" Ness was scared. Paula’s eyes went blank for a few seconds. "Paula! Answer me! What’s wrong?" A look of horror spread across her face. She screamed. "JEFF! NO!" Tears fell from her eyes like rain. "What happened to Jeff?" Suddenly Ness could feel it. The stinging, burning pain, almost as though he swallowed a torch. He blacked out and saw what he couldn’t believe. Jeff was lying on the ground, a giant hole in his stomach. He saw something silver and large standing right beside Jeff’s body. Ness woke up. He couldn’t comprehend it. "He’s... gone..." Ness felt the painful reality sink in and destroy his shock, replacing it with sadness and anger. Paula looked up at Ness and said, "How did the Starman do that?" Ness couldn’t think about it. It was time to fight the evil again. The Apple never predicted anything like this. Ness stood up from his desk chair and opened his closet. Inside was his lucky yellow backpack that was a bit too small for him now, but still held what he needed. Ness pulled the zipper across and removed Gutsy Bat, a Star Pendant, a Cherub's Band, and a Souvenir Coin, and equipped them. "Do you still have your stuff, Paula?" She nodded. "In my room." He grabbed another coat, some boots and a ski hat and said, "let’s go. We can’t waste much more time." * * * Pokey sat in his SpiderMech and grumbled. He flowed through time like water through a pipe, looking for the best era to attack. The Starman Invincible hadn’t contacted him since its landing and Pokey was concerned it was destroyed from the crash to Earth. Pokey knew to attack Jeff first because he was the only one without PSI; either Poo or Paula would be next. "Untrustworthy piece of-" He was cut off by a loud buzzing from the console. Pokey pushed a few buttons and a slightly blurry video screen lit up. This was being transmitted from the Starman’s shoulder camera. Pokey couldn’t figure out why it was blurry, but he typed a query into the control panel. "Did you find the target?" Pokey waited for a response. "Yes." Pokey sighed in relief. "What is the target’s status?" Again, the wait. "Terminated." Pokey was overjoyed. His plans were following the proper order. The Apple of Enlightenment, as well as the Chosen Four, will be torn from the history books and Pokey will become ruler of Earth! Pokey went back in time to right before the Chosen Four entered Giygas’ lair and extracted a few cells. Afterwards, he warped to the same location just before Dean Jacobs’ research crew entered, and let the cells out. His luck hadn’t run out; the cells were still alive, but near fatal condition, when Jacobs found them and helped them begin their healing process. Pokey headed back to the Cave of the Past while Giygas was alive and stole the Starman Invincible that Giygas had planned to use against the Chosen Four. So far it has proven itself worthy enough to continue its mission by destroying one of the Chosen Four. Currently, the Giygas-infused guard, now blessed with Psi and incredible power, will be searching for Ness while he and Paula were heading for Twoson. They’ll find a surprise waiting along the Onett-Twoson path. His plans will not fail this time. He leaned back in his chair and fell asleep. CHAPTER 3 2:12 PM Southern Onett The police chief had the roads closed again, but Ness and Paula were able to slip right through. The snowdrifts were piling up higher than anyone expected. There was a house not far from where they were resting. Ness stood and said, "let’s rest in there. It won’t be half as cold." Paula stood, got balanced, and headed for the house with Ness. He thought he heard a noise that sounded like an elevator’s doors opening, but couldn’t tell. The wind was strong and his ears felt frozen. About ten yards away from the house, Paula tripped on a rock and fell on Ness, knocking both of them to the ground. Just as he hit the snow, he heard something loud fly just over his head. The area was lit up for a few seconds, then they felt an enormous heat wave. Paula screamed and clutched tightly to Ness’s arm while he tried to turn around and see what fired that shot. He felt stuck, but out of the corner of his eye he saw something metallic and tall standing about 30 yards away. "Oh no." Ness grabbed Paula by the waist and picked her up. She turned and saw it. "Ness! What are we gonna do?" He got up and brushed the snow off his face. "Run!" She turned and headed for the forest connecting Onett and Twoson, a good 75 yards away. Ness started running towards Onett. He grabbed his bat and began screaming at the Starman. "Hey! Yo! Over here, tall, steel, and stupid! You want to fight, we’ll fight my way!" * * * Pokey watched from the StarCam, as he called it, as Paula ran for the forests and Ness headed back for Onett, screaming at the Starman and waving his bat in the air. The Starman sent a message. "Which target?" Pokey thought for a moment. He typed the response "Ness", hoping the Starman was smart enough to know which was which. It did, and started heading for Ness. * * * Ness readied his bat as the Starman headed for him, but was caught off-guard when it was almost on top of him within a matter of seconds. Quickly regaining his senses, he swung at the Starman. A loud crack! Was heard and the top half of the Gutsy Bat flew in another direction. Ness was still holding the shattered bat remains when he saw a bright yellow glow from one of the Starman’s tentacles. With quick thinking and perfect precision, Ness held the handle like a knife and swung for the Starman’s eye-visor. The sound of glass shattering echoed for what seemed like forever, followed by a high-pitched whine that made Ness fall to his knees and cover his ears. Paula watched in shock as Ness escaped a near-death situation by blinding the Starman. She couldn’t envision this happening ever again, but there it was, plain as day. A remnant of Giygas’ army, and it was much stronger than starmen they had ever faced. She suddenly got the best idea she’d ever had. Paula dropped to her knees and began to pray. "Poo! Poo! Can you hear me? This is Paula! Ness and I need your help! A Starman on the Onett-Twoson path is attacking us! Poo, if you get this message, please help!" 2:30 PM Dalaam Poo woke from a delightful nap. He jumped out of his bed and headed straight for his giant closet. With a systematic whoosh, the doors opened and Poo headed straight for the back. He knew exactly what he needed and where it was. Poo found the chest he needed. Inside were a cloak, a bracer, and a diadem. Poo grabbed them and equipped them and looked on one of the upper shelf for the last piece of equipment. He reached around for a bit, found his sword, and pulled it off the shelf. He did this in roughly 15 seconds. His master rushed in and said, "Prince Poo, what is the problem?" Poo explained while walking towards the main hall of the castle. "My friends are in trouble. They are under attack and I must help them. If you have a problem with this then you will have to try and stop me." He walked in to the central part of the hall and used Teleport Beta. In a flash, the prince was gone, with only his master standing in the hall looking rather confused. 2:31 PM Onett-Twoson path Poo appeared roughly 5 feet away from Ness and held his sword at ready. The Starman’s vision sensor was broken but somehow it still seemed to know he was there. He saw Ness kneeling on the ground in front of him, kneeling and holding his ears shut, even though a thick layer of blood covered his hands. In seconds, Poo found out why. There was an incredibly high-pitched whine coming from the Starman, a noise that sounded like all the screams of the souls from Hell combined into one soul-rendering noise. Poo’s sword hit the snow with a thump, Poo kneeling right next to it. He felt a smooth warm liquid flow from his ears. Paula watched Poo fall to his knees. The sound wasn’t quite as bad where she was standing, but she saw the toll it was taking on the other two. She moved out from her hiding spot, a dead tree trunk roughly 50 feet from the Starman’s position and behind it. Once she reached the clearing, she began chanting. "PSI Freeze Omega!" A blue light flashed from her fingertips and hit the Starman, freezing him and making the horrible sound stop. Ness and Poo slowly regained their senses and stopped covering their ears, which were soaked in the red liquid. Paula caught their attention and waved them over towards her. Poo grabbed his sword and headed toward her. Ness appeared frozen to the ground. He had been the closest to the Starman and may have been affected by her PSI Freeze. She knew the Starman wouldn’t stay frozen much longer; cracks started appearing all around the icy shell. "We can’t leave him there, the Starman will kill him!" Poo was cleaning his hands in the snow when he noticed Ness wasn’t there. He noticed Ness attempting to pull his legs free from the ground next to the Starman. Poo jumped to his feet and ran straight over, sword in hand. "Ness! Give me your hand and I’ll pull you to safety!" Ness reached, but his legs wouldn’t give at all. Poo pulled with all his might, but it didn’t work. The ice holding the Starman began flaking off, a sign of ice being broken. Poo cut a hole in the ground, making the icy ground loose. He pulled and Ness came free from the ground, but his legs were still frozen together. Ness fell back to the ground after making an attempt to run. One of the Starman’s tentacle-arms broke free and started clawing at the rest of the ice. Poo picked Ness up at the waist and carried him back to Paula’s hiding spot. Paula was relieved when she saw Poo and Ness heading for the forest. "What took you guys so long?" Poo shivered and said, "The ground here isn’t very loose." He pointed at Ness’s knees, which were stuck together by a thick layer of earth. "Can’t you get it loose? That Starman is just about free!" Poo sighed and reached for his sword. Ness looked a little scared. "Wh-What are you gonna do with that?" Poo looked at the chunk of ground stuck to his friend’s knees. First sideways, then in the front, then sideways again. After thinking for a moment, Poo grabbed his sword and swung twice. The frozen ground crumbled away like particles of a broken cookie. Ness sighed, and the others followed suit. The shattering of ice was heard, and everyone ducked. For a moment, all was silent. Suddenly a beam shot straight for the tree behind their hiding spot, turning it into a pile of smoldering ashes. Several other beams toasted several other trees, until it looked like only half of the forest remained. After a few minutes, everything became quiet again. For minutes, it stayed this way. Nothing made noise, no one moved, and nothing happened. With no warning, Paula leaned up and began chanting. The Starman seemed to see her and started firing wild shots of PSI Freeze Gamma. After what seemed like forever to Ness, Paula shouted "PSI Thunder Omega!" Bolts of lightning rushed from her fingertips, only one striking the Starman. One was enough to stop it completely. Ness and Poo watched the Starman crumble away into nothingness, and Ness started cheering. "Yes! You did it, Paula!" Ness exclaimed, but when he looked at her, his excitement disappeared. She was covered in a thick layer of ice, freezing her all the way to her faded blue eyes, still open in shock. Poo caught the look from Ness and immediately knew what was wrong. "We have to get her to a hospital quickly!" Ness was frantically looking for a way to move her without freezing. He got an idea. "Poo, run to Twoson and get help! I’ll find a way to try to melt the ice! Hurry, Poo!" When he turned towards Poo, he was gone. Ness turned and headed for the still-warm ashes of the Starman, hoping his idea would work. Can Ness and Poo save Paula in time? With one of the Chosen Four dead, does Pokey have a chance at winning? Is the new Giygas truly after Ness just for revenge? Part 2 next week!