Ness & Jeff's ShowDown
By: Shadow The Hedgehog

	"Hey! Jeff!" Ness' now-tiring voice called out to his friend, "Now
what the hay is goin' on? Something bad, I assume, right?"
	Jeff nodded, "Yup, I had a preminition about what might happen today
if we don't do anything. I'm no psychic, but whatever this thing is, it's
going to be big if we can't stop it!"
	"Geeeeeeeeez..." Ness whined, "Please! Sl-slow down! I'm tired!"
	Jeff reached into his backpack and handed Ness a sandwhich. "Here,
this'll help."
	"A sandwhich.......?" Ness asked.
	"A skip sandwhich deluxe, I brought a few along so we could get there
quicker!" Jeff exclaimed.
	Ness scarfed the sandwhich down and caught up to Jeff's pace, and the
two of them raced along the sidewalks until Ness caught a wiff of something.
	"Fire! Fire!" They both heard someone yell from the next street, 
"There's a fire in that building! Someone! Anyone! Help!"
	"Fire?!" Ness exclaimed, "What the--?! What now?!" Jeff and Ness slammed down there feet and looked in the general direction of the confusion,
then proceeded to head that way. When they arrived on the scene, there was
a large house, indeed, engulfed in flames! "What can we do?" Ness asked Jeff,
"None of my psychic abilities could put these flames out!"
	Jeff smiled, "Leave it to me!" but just then, a man came rushing through the crowd, looking intensly panicked.
	"Maria! Maria! Where is she?! Where's my daughter?!" the man twirled 
and looked as quickly as he could, trying to locate his lost child, "She was
in that building... it was a fri-- oh no!" he cried out as a shriek came from an upstairs room. "MARIA!"
	Ness looked to Jeff quickly for an answer of some sort, but Jeff was 
taking off his suit jacket and handed it to Ness. "What are ya going to do?"
	"I'm going in, hold that for me in case I don't come back!" then Jeff
whipped out a super soaker water gun.
	"JEFF! Don't kid with me! You think that toy--" Ness was intrupted
as an enormous blast of water sent the front door of the house off its hinges
and he disappeared inside. "could.... possibly......." Ness studdered.
	Inside of the burning building, Jeff was blinded by the glare of the 
fire through his glasses' lenses. Jeff then slid them off and tucked them 
into his shirt pocket, without them, Jeff was near-blind, but the glare from 
the fire no longer halted his progress. A sacrafice he was willing to make.
Blast after blast of presurized water flew from room to room, but to little
avail. "Darn!" Jeff exclaimed, "Maria? Where are you?"
	"Up here! Help me! I'm scared!" Jeff heard a little voice pipe up.
	"Hold on! I'm coming!" Jeff cried, working his way up the stairs, 
careful of stepping on a weakened boards or tripping from being visually 
impared. He continued his rough travel through the different rooms, playing
a near-literal game of "Marco-Polo" with Maria. Jeff knew he was just outside
the room which inside held the captive of the fire, Maria, when from out of 
no where, a blaze shot up in front of him, and he was barely able to jump 
back.
	"No!" Jeff cried out as he looked into the fire. He saw then, a form 
in it, a humanoid shape, with a face. The face had dark, blood red eyes, an
evil grin, and no nose, but it did have hands. They were large, constantly
thrashing towards Jeff. "You won't stop me!" Jeff aimed his water gun and blasted the flame from his path. Jeff returned to his feet and, with a little
feeling around the floor, found Maria. "You're safe now, I promise!"
	"Please... take me to my daddy! Pleeease!" Maria cried onto Jeff's 
shoulder.
	"Right," Jeff nodded, "I'll getcha outta here." Jeff slid off his 
dress shirt and wrapped it around Maria, and tied the sleeves in a knot to 
insure it's security. He then lifted Maria into his arms and held her 
unprotected side to his chest, and made a mad dash through the inferno. He
howled at the unrelenting pain, and tears made it no easier to see for him.
He then found the front door once again. It was totally embedded in fire.
	Jeff then aimed his water gun towards the final flames which blocked 
what would be an easy escape, but no water emerged. Empty. "No! Not now!" he
exclaimed, "Not now of all times!" But this did not stop him. He held tight 
to the young girl and hurled himself through the last obstacle and crashed 
hard on the sidewalk, badly cutting his back, and Maria was led to her 
father. Jeff lied there for a few moments, wondering if he was going to be
all right or not, but then his glasses were slipped back onto his head.
	Jeff looked up and saw Ness crouching next to him, holding both his
shirt and suit coat. "Are you all right? Any pain?" Ness asked.
	Jeff slowly nodded and smiled when he said, "Everywhere except my 
ears," he then laughed.
	Ness then proceeded to use PSI LifeUp Delta on Jeff, and the cuts,
burns and scrapes all healed. He then helped his friend to his feet and Jeff
got dressed once again. Later, during the average, now-calm course of the 
day, Ness and Jeff were talking with the head of the fire department, Onett
branch. "We appreciate the help back there kid, it helped us a ton!" the fire
marshall said.
	"Okay, okay." Jeff nodded, too shy to accept praises, "Now, any idea
as of what may have or did start this fire?"
	"Nope. The gas line was un-touched, the stove was electric with an
emergancy-off system. I don't see what could have happened. The original 
place of this fire, maybe something outside of the house. I don't have any
ideas as of what it could have been. Perhaps careless smokers?" the fire chief responded.
	"Yeah... perhaps...." Ness trailed off. Later, after the literal, and
proverbial fire had died down, the two were back up and running towards their
unknown goal. "You actually think the space station NOAH had some relavence
to this dream of yours? After all it could've just been coincidence." Ness
asked Jeff.
	"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're linked. I just need to find that 
link." Jeff replied.
	Ness sighed and looked around the still-quiet town of Onett, "I just
don't get it! How can you be so sure of that?"
	"I'm not intirely sure. But I know somewhere in this town, we'll find
us our answer!" Jeff told his buddy.
	So, you were very vague when you explained us this 'ProtoDino' thing,
could that thing be connected?" Ness asked.
	"Very easilly." Jeff said, "Well, y'see, ProtoDino, and NOAH were 
made of a super-strong alloy. If I remember right, it was susposed to be 
immune to fire, hence the possibility of it surviving the enormous 
space-explosion! Also, being bionic, ProtoDino, most likely didn't have to
continue breathing to keep living, whereupon he easily could have followed
us back home. To Earth."
	"Well... nuts." Ness sighed, "But you said yourself the dream was
not specific of our current threat. What if it isn't him?"
	"We can only hope and pray for now." Jeff sighed, "Hope and pray that
it ISN'T ProtoDino. I hope he died in that blast."
	"Hey, Jeff. What would be the outcome of a fight, if ProtoDino were
to be able to think, or were controlled by someone who could?" Ness asked.
	"The results would be catastrophic. A fight of that intensity, could
easily over-come Giygas himself!" Jeff replied, starting to sweat in fear
that any one of these theories could easilly be right. Just then, a loud, 
earth-shattering roar went off over the skies of Onett. Jeff nearly dropped
dead for he recognized the sound. ProtoDino had indeed returned. An insane
laughter went over the skies of Onett, and this time Ness nearly dropped dead
for it was none other than Pokey.
	ProtoDino landed in front of them, crushing several buildings around 
it. Pokey was riding atop the monster's head, wearing a crown and cape that 
fit his overly-large body. Then Pokey called out, "Bow down to me, or this
monster will tear this planet apart!!!! CITY BY CITY!!!" Pokey then began
laughing again.
	"Hey! Piggy-Wiggy!" Jeff cried walking forward, "Haven't you 
forgotten? This dino was beaten once, we can take him down again!"
	"And so, little nerd! You also forgotten that it was your 'brother',
SHADOW who saved you and this tiny worthless planet! And he's dead now! And
there is no longer a blue diamond for I destroyed it!" Pokey yelled down to
the two heroes.
	"Yeah! There isn't a diamond, because you probably sat on it and it 
broke!" Ness taunted Pokey.
	"Either that or he ate it!" Jeff and Ness both laughes hystarically,
which, in turn, angered Pokey.
	"Attack, ProtoDino!!!" Pokey pointed at Jeff and Ness.
	"Oh man! This is it, Ness, we're going down in a big way!" Jeff grit
his teeth and readied himself for the blow.
	But just then, as when both Ness and Jeff thought it was all over,
a large wall covered them. It wasn't really much of a wall, more like a 
shield of some sort. ProtoDino's giant claws were deflected, and both 
teenagers were left unharmed. Ness opened his eyes first and returned to the
scene, but when Jeff opened his eyes, he saw himself. A perfect reflection.
	"W-what?" Jeff studdered. He next realized, he was hovering out in space! "You're... me! But how?" Jeff's copy stared into his eyes for what
seemed like hours then spoke, "Jeff... have faith. Your shy nature, is not
a weakness, as you percieve it. Instead it strengthens you. When you are down
it seems almost instinctive that you let that depression turn around and you
always come up with new, an inventive ideas for helping the team. You became
shocked when you received that message that fateful night, but here you are.
	"You're father ought to be proud. But to defeat ProtoDino, you must
create a new diamond to take the place of the blue, destroyed one. Find the
gem that is your heart, and use it. You're heart. My heart. Our heart. What
does the heart come from? Friends, family, life, love, right?" the copy then
stopped for a moment.
	"I have no love in my life," Jeff sighed and looked down.
	"Do you? Do you not consider the love you feel for your father and
mother to be love? What about the relationships you hold with your best 
friends, Ness, Paula, Poo, and Tony? But I once heard. That the strongest 
love is that for a son for his mother." the copy replied.
	"Wait! Wait! To create the diamond, I must use my heart, the love
within will make it, right? There's something wrong, I can sense it!" Jeff
pointed at the copy.
	"Sadly, yes. One person of whom you hold dear, must die." the copy
replied to him.
	"NO!" Jeff yelled loudly, "I refuse! I can't do that to my friends!"
	"The choice is already made, Jeff. It's time." The copy looked sad.
Just that moment, Jeff's mother, of whom he had JUST gotten back, re-appeared
before him, and vanished. "What?! No! No! NOOO!!!" Jeff cried. In a flash of
light, he re-appeared with Ness, holding a red diamond in his hand. "YOU!!!"
Jeff felt his rage ignite his being, like the fire he saw in the building 
just that very day. Jeff leaped ontop of the dino's head, and saw a hole 
shaped like a diamond-cut rock.
	Jeff jumped into the air and slammed it down as hard as he could, and
ProtoDino dropped dead, and slowly bio-degraded within five minutes, to dust.
Jeff then turned to Pokey, and realized his glasses must have fallen off. He
looked, with his eyes seeing a red viel over his sight, whereupon, to Jeff,
Pokey took the form of the fire beast which had blocked his way, and nearly
claimed the life of the girl.
	"You did this to me! You will pay!" Jeff cried and he took out his
Gaia Beam. That was the last day Pokey lived.
	Late in the afternoon, a harsh thunderstorm had overtaken all the
island of EagleLand, and Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo were back at Ness' house.
Jeff continued to cry, not out of his rage which had surpassed, but the deep
guilt he harbored now, that he ended the life of a fellow human. Ness walked 
to Jeff and handed him a solid black baseball cap. Jeff looked at it, then at
his friend.
	"It's a gift for you, Jeff. For being so brave." Ness told him.
	"To form that diamond..." Jeff sniffled, "My mother had to die for 
it. She payed the ultimate sacrafice for the safety of the world. Just like
Shadow did. But I'll always remember, I have friends like you guys here for
me. Thank you." Jeff got up and hugged all of them. Ness, Paula, and Poo. 
Even little Tracey wanted a hug as well, and even Ness' mother too. "But, for
now. I'm going to go home. I'm going to spend time with my father, I'm sure
he's probably forgotten to pick up the milk from the grocery store again. 
Thank you all for being here for me." Jeff smiled and walked out into the 
rain. After thinking for a long time, Jeff wondered why the rain didn't seem
so scary and eerie anymore. Perhaps a great burdon was lifted from him. Jeff
then did go home to see his father. All the world slept well that night, for
there was not a care anywhere. Sometimes the most painful of sacrafices 
are for the best. Jeff Andonuts was one of the first to recognize that.

The End... For Now.