It was a sunny afternoon in Onett, a number of months after Ness defeated Giygas with the help of his friends Paula, Jeff and Poo. Ness was in the living room of his house, watching TV. There wasn't much on, so he decided to go eat some Steak. As he got up and stretched, the phone rang loudly. Ness picked it up and was surprised to find that it wasn't his dad who was calling on that fateful day.
"Good morning! Or is it night were you live? I'm sorry did I wake you up? I didn't? Were you sitting down for dinner then? No? Just getting a snack? Sorry but I can't hear you too well. I'll be over in just a sec." Ness placed the phone back on the receiver with a puzzled look on his face. He didn't recognize the voice at all, and he was sure he hadn't met someone as crazy as that in his travels. Ness shrugged it off as a prank call and began to walk into the kitchen when something made a loud bang outside.
Ness stuck his head out the window and saw a man dangling from one of the branches in the tree out front. Ness hurried outside and SMAAAAAAAAAAASHed the tree with his baseball bat and knocked the poor man out of the tree. He landed in a heap on the hard ground, but he quickly got back up to his feet and brushed himself off. The man was dressed in very unusual attire. All of his clothes were plaid, each one miss-matched with the other. His shirt had a dark green background with light blue stripes. His overcoat was vivid orange with flaming red for stripes. His frayed pants were made of a dark purple, with a sickly green for stripes. His hair was light brown and slicked back, probably with some extremely thick gel. His face wore probably the cheesiest smile anyone could muster.
"Thanks Ness! I bet you're wondering who I am exactly and how I knew your name! I am Phenyl Alanine, but you can call me Phenyl, or Pheny if you know me well. I am here to invite you to a grand fighting tournament that is out of this world!… Quite literally, actually! Only those who have saved entire worlds from certain doom (or tried to bring that certain doom on that world) are eligible. You need to go to a planet named Tendo to participate in the tournament, but that shouldn't be a problem for you. Get to Tendo as soon as you can 'k? I'll meet you there if you decide to come. Buh-bye!" With a huge bang, Phenyl disappeared in a small puff of smoke.
Ness stood on the front lawn, stunned at how someone could actually speak so much with so little breathing. He finally went inside to microwave some leftover steak, but changed his mind because he was far too excited to sit still. Ness hurried around his house until he found his Mom, who was working on a sewing project with Tracy in Tracy's bedroom. When Ness explained what Phenyl told him, she gave him a hug and shed a small tear.
"You need to go on another journey don't you? I kind of hoped you could stay home longer… but I guess you can't stop at just saving the world, can you? It may be a good idea to bring your other friends along for moral support. Just give me an occasional call so Tracy and I don't get worried." Ness's Mom gave Ness another hug, and then went back to her sewing.
Ness stood in the doorway for a moment as if to reconsider, then hurried downstairs and out the front door. With a hurricane of wind and dust, he teleported to Twoson. There, he met Paula at the park and explained what Phenyl said. Paula listened carefully and decided that they needed to speak with Dr. Andonuts on how to reach Tendo. Ness and Paula then teleported to Winters and worked their way south to Dr. Andonuts's lab. Jeff, Dr. Andonuts, and the Apple Kid were all working on creating a combination of the Sky Runner and the Phase Distorter. When the door to Dr. Andonuts's lab swung open and Ness and Paula entered, Jeff rushed over and began to shake Ness's hand uncontrollably.
"*shake* You're back *shake*! It's been *shake* so long *shake* since we last met *shake*! You still remember me don't you?" Paula reassured Jeff while Ness tried to put feeling back into his hands. "What brings both of you here?" Jeff asked. While Paula filled Jeff in on the tournament, Ness teleported to Dalaam to get Poo. When Ness and Poo returned, they had filled their pockets with Jars of deli sauce and packages Brain food to refill Ness's PP during battle. Handshakes and hugs were exchanged until everyone was fully re-acquainted with each other. By then, the new invention was complete.
"This is the Phase Runner, named so because it is equipped with all of the abilities of the Phase Distorter and Sky Runner." Jeff explained. "It can fly, teleport through time and distance, restore your health, and even call Ness's Dad to save. We added an extra feature so it can store more phone numbers, which may come in handy."
"I have located the planet Tendo, and I already put the coordinates in the Phase Distorter." Said Dr. Andonuts. "I also put the coordinates in for this very spot so it can return to Earth when this tournament is over. Now please step on board."
Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo quickly got on board the Phase Runner and started the process. The Phase Runner began to vibrate and move about on the ground until it slowly rose into the air. Then it vanished with a brilliant flash of white light.

Continued in Chapter 2