"Ness! Ness! Wake up! It's time for breakfast!" Someone called out. Ness rolled over and put his pillow on his head. "Now!" Ness sighed and got up and looked around the room for the source of the voice. The voice was coming from an intercom on the wall. "Ness! I'm sending you a good, hearty breakfast and it should find it's way to you soon. Be ready for tonight's fights, okay?" Phenyl turned off the intercom. Ness looked out the window and sighed again. He missed his home so much, but there wasn't anything he could do. He couldn't call home because the Phase Runner was still broken, and teleporting home might be risky because he might not be able to get back.
A knock on the door interrupted Ness's thoughts. Ness opened the door was surprised to see Paula, Jeff and Poo holding breakfast trays. He let them in and they had a very loud breakfast. Everyone talked about the Tournament, except for Ness, who just ate quietly.
"I heard that there's a nice collection of shops around here somewhere." Paula said. "Why don't we go there?"
"That sounds boring. How about we go look at all the spaceships and see how each one works?" Jeff said as he held up a wrench.
"I heard that there's a junk shop somewhere too." Paula said.
"Actually, shopping does sound like a lot of fun." Jeff smiled. "How about you, Ness?" Ness wasn't paying attention. "Ness?" Ness was thinking about Steak and began to crave it. "NESS!!!"
"Huh? What?" Ness finally began to pay attention.
"Why don't we go shopping for awhile?" Jeff asked.
"Um, sure. Why not?"
A few hours, shops and cash registers later, Poo and Jeff were weighted down with at least a ton of stuff that Paula had bought on her shopping spree. Paula gave everything to them because she didn't want Ness to be tired before the Tournament that night. For lunch, Poo just had some of his Brain food, Paula had a hamburger and Jeff had a small pizza. Ness had some Steak but it wasn't as good as the ones from home, so he began to feel worse.
The rest of the day flew by quickly until it was only an hour before the Tournament would start. Ness was with the other fighters in the building by the arena (which everyone started calling the rest house) and his friends were in the stands, loaded down with snacks again. Phenyl was preparing the arena for the fights. Throughout the day, Paula had gotten more and more worried about Ness. He just didn't seem to be his best that day.
"Can we have the rest of the audience enter the coliseum now? The Tournament is about to begin!" Phenyl exclaimed. In about a minute, the stands were crowded with millions of people once more. "Great! This is what I like to call the semi-semi finals!" The crowd booed. "I guess it won't catch on very well, but anyway here is the lineup!" The video screen came out of the ceiling showed that Ness would have to battle Pikachu first, and then Link and Samus would fight second, and Capt. Falcon and Yoshi would be last.
"Ness! Pikachu! Let's get going!" Phenyl yelled. The crowd cheered. But Ness was still homesick. When he got on the arena, he thought of his mom and he lost his will to fight. Paula noticed that Ness was staring at the ground and she began to feel worried. "Now, GO!" Phenyl exclaimed.
The arena transformed into Saffron City again and the battle began. Pikachu immediately ran at Ness and shocked him with a bolt of thunder. Ness tried to use his PSI Fire but Pikachu blocked with his shield. Ness then tried to hit Pikachu with his Yo-yo but that missed too. Pikachu rolled out another bolt of lightning and then grabbed Ness. Ness tried to break free but Pikachu threw him into an open elevator shaft where Porygon awaited him. Porygon leapt out of the elevator with a *quack!* and sent Ness skyward. When Ness starting coming back down, Pikachu ran under him and called down more lightning and zapped Ness again.
"Oh! Ow! That has got to hurt! Pikachu is so fast that Ness can't even put up a good fight!" Phenyl exclaimed. The crowd was cheering like mad.
"Pikachu! Pikachu! Pikachu! Pikachu!" The crowd cheered.
"Something's wrong!" Paula yelled to Jeff and Poo.
"What?" Jeff and Poo couldn't hear her over the yelling of the crowd.
"I think Ness is homesick!" Paula yelled again, but Jeff and Poo still couldn't understand her. Paula used her PSI to talk telepathically. "(Ness is homesick! We need to do something!)"
"Right! What should we do?" Jeff yelled.
"I'll handle it!" Poo yelled back. Suddenly, Pikachu unleashed a volley of Thundershocks and Ness was hit with every one of them. "I'll go to Onett and get his mom!"
"Are you sure you can make it back?" Jeff yelled. "You have to teleport across a massive distance to get back to Earth!"
"PSI Teleport Beta!" Poo ignored Jeff's last comment and began to spin in place. With a flash of light and wind, Poo vanished.
In the arena, Ness was using his shield to block a series of attacks from Pikachu, but the shield was weakening with every second. Finally, Ness's shield shattered and Pikachu stopped to think of what attack he could use that would end the fight. As Pikachu thought, Paula prayed from the bottom of her heart.
"(Please, don't let Ness lose… help his mother come… help Poo back to Tendo… I ask this… please…)"
Suddenly, Poo appeared next to Paula with Ness's mother. The seats were now more crowded due to the extra person, but no one seemed to notice much. Ness's mother called out to Ness.
"Ness! It's me, your mom! I know you feel sad about being away from home, but you should know by now that I will always be rooting for you, baby!"
Ness heard his mother's sweet voice and in an instant his depression and sadness vanished. When Pikachu finally decided to settle on a Smash attack Ness suddenly recovered attacked with his Gutsy bat. Filled with energy and excitement, not to mention his original fighting spirit, Ness sent Pikachu flying right back into the open elevator shaft. In the elevator shaft, Pikachu met an Electrode that exploded and sent Pikachu out of the arena.
"HOME RUN!!!" Phenyl cheered.
"Yay!" Ness's friends exclaimed.
"Ness! Ness! Ness! Ness!" The crowd cheered.
"Ness somehow pulled together at the last second for an incredible victory!" Phenyl yelled. Ness suddenly became aware of all his injuries from the fight and collapsed where he stood. The last thing Ness remembered was Phenyl, who was saying that "it isn't even dinnertime and Ness is going to sleep!"

Hours later, Ness suddenly woke up late at night. His mom was asleep in the chair by his desk and a cold dinner of Steak was on the table. Ness crept silently over and ate his dinner quietly so he wouldn't disturb her. Then he gave his mom a soft hug and went back to bed, but this time he didn't have any nightmares. He slept soundly until morning.

As the sun rose in the sky, Ness slowly began to wake up. Then he noticed the sweet smell of homemade pancakes and he thought he heard the soft chatter of his friends. He smiled and rolled over, but unfortunately the bed was too small for rolling over so he fell *splat!* on the floor. Ness groaned and got up off the carpet and saw that a pancake breakfast was waiting for him. There was also a note next to it:

Dear Ness,

Your friends and I are shopping today, and we will be back around lunchtime with some burgers for you. If you want to go somewhere, remember to be back on time so we won't worry.

Good morning,

Mom

Ness smiled at the thought of Poo and Jeff carrying around twice the load of presents and souvenirs than before. As he ate his breakfast he decided to take a stroll of the arena, and find out what goes on before the matches. When Ness finished the last of the pancakes the plate vanished and then reappeared, entirely clean, with a little chocolate mint in the middle with a sign that said "Trust me, you need it!"
Ness ate the mint and took the elevator down to the bottom floor. Link was in the lobby with Kirby. Kirby was devouring a huge platter of tomatoes and the waiters were trying to keep his plate full but Kirby's appetite seemed endless. Link was leaning on the wall and he seemed very lonely. Ness walked over to him and tapped Link on the back.
"Huh? Oh, hi Ness. Nice fight yesterday. You really surprised everyone when you beat Pikachu. Pikachu is still trying to figure out why he lost."
"How was your fight? Did you win?" Ness asked.
"Yes. It was quite a challenge, though. Samus is still upset because she lost her chance to beat up Capt. Falcon."
"What about the fight between Capt. Falcon and Yoshi?"
"Yoshi was beaten almost too easily. Capt. Falcon really knows what he is doing." Link then walked into the elevator and went back up to his room. Ness went outside and ran to the arena. There, he found Phenyl looking skyward through a telescope at the clear turquoise sky.
"Poor Bowser. He might never come down! And we had to replace him with that Jigglypuff… I'll really lose my chances of a raise now!" Phenyl groaned. On the other side of the arena, Capt. Falcon and Samus were having a practice fight. Since the two of them wouldn't have the chance to fight after all, they had decided to duke it out now.
Ness continued on until he came to the shopping mall that all his friends had visited twice. It was very large, just like everything else around there and shops were everywhere. Ness decided to look around and try to find where his friends went. After his stomach growled he decided that they must be having lunch somewhere. He found them right where he knew he would, at the food court.
"Can't you two move faster? We managed to beat Giygas and you two can't even carry a few packages?" Paula said.
"A few?" Poo gasped as he put down nearly $200 worth of souvenirs. "We don't have this many treasures in Dalaam!"
"Paula," Ness's mom interrupted. "Maybe you should go easy on him. Besides, we don't need to buy out the stores already, since we will be staying for some time."
"There's Ness!" Said Tracy. "Now he can carry my stuff!"
"How did you get here?" Ness asked Tracy.
"I had to come, since I can't stay home alone. Come with me to the Starmen store!" Tracy exclaimed as she grabbed Ness's hand and led him away. Ness could barely keep up with Tracy and she raced through the hallways at 90 mph. She finally stopped and waited for Ness to catch up. When Ness did, she pointed to a large shop that had a Starmen Super next to the door. It was only a mannequin but it looked very real. When they went in, they found Earthbound goodies galore! CD's, manga, and even a player's guide! Ness read the player's guide and learned that he could have had more fun he had had a Game Genie when he battled Giygas. Then Tracy began to buy stuff. She bought more and more by the second and she used an ATM card to buy all the stuff.
"I didn't know you had an ATM card." Ness said.
"I don't. This one is yours."
"Aaaaaaaaaaaugh!" Ness exclaimed as he saw the amount on the ATM screen. "You spent all of it!"
The rest of the day went by quickly, and before anyone knew it was time for the last three fights of the first third of the Super Smash Bros. Tournament.
"Let's get ready to ru--" Phenyl started.
"Booooooooo!" The crowd yelled.
"Just kidding! Tonight, we have Link verses Capt. Falcon and then Ness verses the winner of that fight! Link, Capt. Falcon, get up here!" The crowd cheered loudly as the two fighters got up onto the arena and the arena transformed into Hyrule Castle once more.
"Begin!"
Capt. Falcon surprised Link right away with a Falcon Kick and then he blocked a bomb that Link lobbed while in the air. The bomb bounced off Capt. Falcon's shield harmlessly and exploded at Link's feet with a bang. Link recovered just in time to dodge a Falcon Punch and counter with a Spin Attack. Capt. Falcon flew across the arena but landed safely on the far right side. Link ran as fast as he could after Capt. Falcon but he didn't manage to follow up with another attack before Capt. Falcon recovered. Capt. Falcon surprised Link with a Falcon Punch and won the match.
"What a fight! And what a good sport!" Phenyl clapped with the audience but it had negative effects on those closest to the speakers. "Oops. Heh heh. If Capt. Falcon feels like he needs it, he can have a short rest before the final battle."
"No way!" Capt. Falcon yelled. "I could beat that kid six times before next Sunday!"
"Um, right. Okay, Ness! Time for the last match of the first third of the Super Smash Bros. Tournament!" Ness walked briskly up to the arena, which had returned to normal. When he got on the arena floor it changed into Kirby's Dream Land.
"GO!"
Ness gathered his thoughts on the task at hand and sent out a blast of PSI Fire for his first move. Capt. Falcon used his shield to block it easily and then he attacked with his Falcon Kick. When Ness recovered from that attack, Capt. Falcon hit him with a powerful kick to the head that sent him reeling. Capt. Falcon pressed his attack but Ness managed to dodge move after move. Ness then grabbed Capt. Falcon and threw him off the edge. Capt. Falcon jumped back with ease and smashed Ness into the ground. Ness ran to the other side of the arena and then used PSI Thunder. Capt. Falcon avoided the attack but he forced the ball of energy to hit Ness on the head, causing him to bury himself into the ground.
Capt. Falcon then crouched and prepared to launch his Falcon Punch when Ness would recover. Ness was lying on the ground, still as a rock. When Capt. Falcon approached him Ness suddenly jumped up onto one hand and swung his body around and hit Capt. Falcon hard. Capt. Falcon skidded to the other side of the arena and almost slid off. Ness remembered what happened when his PSI Thunder hit him before so he tried PSI Thunder again, but this time he hit his back with it. Ness rocketed right into Capt. Falcon and electricity arced all around as Capt. Falcon flew out of the arena and into the stands with a crash.

Continued in Chapter 5