It was a long night for Ness. He barely slept at all, being up worrying most of the time. At seven o'clock the next morning, Ness noticed a police officer outside the door of his cell. He held a tray in his arms.
"Rise and shine," said the officer, unlocking the cell and coming in. Ness stretched and yawned as he sat up on the bench. "It's time for breakfast. Here." He set the tray down beside Ness and left. "Oh, and by the way, your hearing's been scheduled."
Ness looked up. "Is it sometime soon?" he said hopefully. The sooner the hearing was held, the sooner Ness could get out of this place. He was looking forward to that. He wanted to apologize to Paula's face and see his friends again.
The officer hesitated. "Well, if you consider next Thursday sometime soon," he replied, leaving Ness alone again. Ness shuddered at the thought. Next Thursday! That meant he'd be in custody for another week! He sighed, wondering how this had all happened. He hadn't even done anything, after all. He was innocent.
Meanwhile, across the town, Paula, Jeff, and Poo were just meeting up for their excursion to the Lost Underworld to search for Mike, the runaway clone. Poo hadn't told Jeff and Paula about what had happened to Ness yet. He didn't know how. Poo still couldn't believe that Ness had been put away for something that he hadn't even done.
"Where's Ness?" asked Jeff, putting down the backpack he was carrying. It was chock full of interesting inventions and weapons that they might need on their journey.
"Don't mind him, he's always late for everything," said Paula coldly. She was still angry at Ness for what had gone on between them yesterday. "He's probably still in bed."
Poo sighed. "Listen, there's something I've got to tell both of you. It's about Ness." His face grew solemn and serious.
"What?" This caught their attention.
"Well, Ness is in police custody for a crime he didn't commit." Poo gulped. "There are a lot of witnesses who claim to have seen Ness threatening two kids at the arcade with a baseball bat yesterday afternoon and then smashing up one of the pinball machines. Now, he's got to wait for a hearing to be scheduled."
Paula and Jeff were in shock. "But how can that be? He was with us all afternoon yesterday!" exclaimed Jeff.
"Ness is in jail?" Paula murmured softly. She had a blank look on her face, as if she was somewhere far away instead of in Onett.
"I know Ness is innocent, but he's being held until his hearing," said Poo, shaking his head sadly. "He says we can still go looking for Mike though. I think we should."
There was a pause. "Okay," said Jeff in agreement. "Let's go."
"Oh, and one more thing," added Poo as he hoisted a backpack up onto his shoulders. "Paula, Ness says he's sorry and hopes that you'll forgive him."
Paula was truly touched. She suddenly felt bad that she'd insulted Ness just moments before. "Ness is very punctual," she blurted out, tears forming in her eyes. "He's never late for anything." She took back what she'd said about Ness.
"Huh?" Jeff was confused, and so was Poo.
"Nothing," said Paula, drying her eyes. "Come on, we've got to find Mike." And so they teleported off to the Lost Underworld to begin their search for the missing clone.
Back at the Onett Police Station, Ness was feeling down. How he longed to take in a breath of fresh air again, to see the sun shining, to hear the birds singing, to see Paula's face one more time. Ness missed the outside world so much, he almost began to cry. Just then, Ness saw his mother and Captain Strong coming towards his cell. Had his prayers been answered?
"Ness, you're coming home!" cried his mother happily.
"I am?" Ness was barely breathing because he was so excited. "That's great!" He jumped up quickly.
"Not so fast," said Captain Strong, pausing. "The charges have not been dropped. We're just sending you home until your hearing comes up instead of keeping you here. You'll be under house arrest, of course. We don't want you getting into any more trouble."
Ness nodded. He didn't care that he'd have to stay at home. Any change would be an improvement at this point, the was he saw it. "Oh, thank you, Captain Strong!" cried Ness as the door to his cell swung open. Ness hugged his mother and was thankful that he'd been given this gift.
When he got home, Ness immediately went upstairs. "Mom, I'm going to my room to take a nap," he called down to her. Ness was extremely tired because he hadn't slept much the night before.
"All right," she replied. As Ness stepped into his room and shut the door, he realized how warm it was. Ness opened the window and pushed up the screen. A cool breeze rushed into the room. Now the temperature was a little more comfortable. Ness took in a deep breath and laid down on his bed. Within minutes, he was fast asleep.
Two hours later, Ness awoke with a start. His mother was yelling at him from downstairs. "Ness!" she screamed. Seconds later, she charged into his room angrily.
Ness sat up on his bed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "What?" he said. "Mom, why are you yelling?"
Ness noticed then that his mother was crying. "Ness, how could you?" she wailed. "You promised to behave!"
"How could I what?" he wondered, confused.
"Ness, don't play games with me. You know what you did! How could you?" Ness's mother was clearly very upset.
"Mom, what are you talking about?" he said. "Since I've been home, all I've done is take a nap!" Ness was becoming impatient.
"Does it ring a bell if I mention the Town Hall?" Ness's mother said, frustrated. "Spray paint? How about that, Ness?"
Ness stared at his mother with a blank look on his face. It sounded like she was describing another crime, one that he most certainly hadn't committed. "Mom," he said nervously, "I didn't do anything."
"Then why is your name spray painted all over the Town Hall?" she cried. "Over and over again in red spray paint, Ness! You're under house arrest too, and you snuck out of your room, claiming to have taken a nap as your alibi!"
"But Mom, I didn't!" Ness protested. "I've been here the whole time! Honest!"
"Sure you were," she shot back, crossing her arms. "I see your window's open, screen and all. That's how you snuck out of here!" At this point, Ness's mother was furious. "Well, you blew your chance now. You're not staying here anymore. First thing, you're going back into police custody. I'm very disappointed in you, Ness." She frowned at her son.
Ness sighed. How could this be happening to him?
Incidentally, Paula, Jeff, and Poo didn't find Mike in the Lost Underworld, although they did fight off a lot of hungry dinosaurs while they were there. They all returned to their homes that night feeling exhausted. To reward themselves for their efforts, however, they'd planned to meet at the arcade in Onett the following day to play some video games.
Paula sat alone in her room. She doubted she'd have any fun playing those video games knowing that Ness was in jail just a short distance away. She paused a little while to ponder Ness's situation. How could Ness have committed those crimes? By now, she'd heard of the vandalism at the Town Hall too.
Both times, Ness had been somewhere else when the crimes had been committed. But it seemed that no one wanted to listen to his alibis. Paula knew that there had to be a logical explanation for all of this nonsense. But what?