"'ello!"

The chubby blonde blinked and looked up from the homework he was frantically trying to finish, his bangs hanging messily in front of brown eyes. The onyx eyed speaker blushed shyly, a hand extended in greeting. Silence fell, the blonde merely staring, the smaller child waiting.

"Who are you?" the larger boy snapped, his voice taking on a defensive edge. The stranger wasn't even phased.

"'m Ness. Ness Obdenson. 'm new 'eeya."

The blonde continued staring, gaze suspicious and weary. In response, the smaller one giggled, flashing the other a smile.

"Weeya neighboes, 'ight?"

"Wait, you with the guys that moved next door?"

"Yeah!"

A pause. Slowly the overweight boy hesitantly took the hand that was offered.

"Porky. Porky Minch."

The bell rang, signalling the beginning of class, and much to the surprise of the blonde, his new neighbor sat next to him.

xXx

"Would you like mo'a bacon, sweetie?"

The raven haired youth swallowed a mouthful of eggs, glancing at the speaker with tired onyx eyes. "No sanks, mom. 'm good."

"If you say so." His mother smiled and sat with her children, digging into her own food now that they were settled. "So any pans today, Ness?"

Ness swallowed again. "Meetin' wiss Poo again. Mo'a PSI tainin'."

"You'a always meetin' wiss Poo," a young girl muttered, giving Ness a pout. "Don' you wanna pay wiss you'a little sista?"

Ness laughed, placing his now empty plate in the sink. "Next week, ok T'acy? 'm so cose 'ight now! I can feel it!"

"Juss be back in time foe dinna, sweetie," their mother stated, delicately scooping some egg into her mouth. "You'a fasa is sir 'e'll be 'ome tonight."

"Ok!" Ness hurriedly rinsed his plate and ran upstairs, sliding into his room and shutting his door behind him. Taking in the mess of clothes and a few scattered baseball cards, the young teen then dug through his drawers and pulled out his favorite outfit, a pair of blue jean shorts and a blue and yellow striped shirt. As he shed his pajama shirt he paused, staring at his reflection in a mirror while running a hand through messy black hair. "Mm... Sowa. Sowa, sen leabe."

A few minutes later and he was existing the bathroom, towel drying his hair and stepping to the side as Tracy chased a whining King down the hall. He'd forgotten it was bath day. Hopefully Tracy would be able to handle the old dog while he was in Dalaam for the day. The boy chuckled at the sight of a soaked and sulking little sister as he entered his room again, grabbing his backpack and a worn baseball bat before making his way downstairs. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs his mother hugged him, an action followed by a peck on the cheek. "Good luck, Ness."

He smiled and returned the gesture. "Lub you mom." He then stepped back, waving over his shoulder as he left the house. "See you lata!"

"Bye sweetie!"

Once outside, Ness Ofdenson inhaled before sighing, taking in the sight of his hometown below him. He had always loved how his house was situated on a hill, providing him with a bird's eye view of Onett. When he had been younger, he had enjoyed watching the ant-sized people walking through the streets, their miniature vehicles driving on seemingly fixed courses. It was hard to believe that mere months ago, the city had been on lockdown and peaceful hills had been over run with savage animals and strange metallic creatures. The boy glanced further up the hill and, before long, Ness found himself scaling it until he could see the cause of the earlier chaos.

A meteor, now a cold and grey-black lump of rock under the bright sun. This was where his journey had started almost a year ago, where he had met the not-a-bee Buzz Buzz and had been told of his destiny...

Ness shook his head, giving the meteor one last look before leaving to find a more open area. Once found, he took a deep breath, focusing on the psionic power within and where he wanted to go. When he was ready, he crouched. "PSI Teleport Beta." He took off, running in circles, gradually widening the circles as the familiar ringing filled his ears and the world blurred and shifted around him. A preschool, a graveyard, a towering building, snow... Finally a flash of pink and he dug his heels in the ground, skidding to a stop as the ringing died down.

The world around him was much different from Onett. The once clear skies were now filled with fluffy pink clouds, the ground beneath his feet worn down from a path used for countless years. A palace stood tall and proud on his left, twin elephants flanking its entrance. Rather than enter the extravagant building, Ness instead walked down the path, ignoring the silk clad women and men scattered along it who would give him curious looks. Part of him felt that the natives of Dalaam should be used to a capped foreigner walking around once or twice a week by now. Then again, he was the only foreigner that could reach Dalaam whenever he wanted.

Taking the left fork in the path, Ness climbed a series of ropes leading up a cliff face, stopping when he reached the top and found himself in front of an older teen in a white martial arts outfit. He slowly sat down, quietly waiting to be acknowledged rather than interrupting the other boy's meditation. Minutes later, a violet eye opened, its owner not even moving from his cross-legged pose. "Master Ness."

"Prince Poo."

The eye closed, Poo once again slipping into a semi-trance before speaking again. "You wish to continue?"

"Yes."

"You do know the Star Master would be delighted to teach you. You do not need to learn the Starstorm from me."

Ness grinned, imitating Poo's pose and closing his own eyes. "I'd rasa lahn fom you."

Somehow he knew Poo was smiling, a small thing that tended to be rare since Poo was in tight control of his emotions most of the time. "Very well. We begin with an hour long meditation, as usual."

"Way a'ead ob you," Ness murmured, allowing his mind to empty. Silence fell, a soft breeze ruffling the hair poking out from under his cap. At first, when he had come to Poo to learn more about psionics, Ness had fallen asleep during meditation sessions. Poo had scolded him and it had been embarrassing when the Dalaam prince's own master had joined in. Days later though, he had adjusted and the look of pride on his friend's face had been worth it.

A memory drifted into his subconscious, an overweight blonde smiling with a similar look of pride as a large hand ruffled his hair. Biting his lip he shoved it away, trying to pretend it had never happened, that the memory didn't exist. They weren't friends. They never had been friends. Friends didn't betray each other, didn't reject each other for being different...

"You are in turmoil, Master Ness."

He shook his head. "Sah-ee Poo. Bad sought."

"Do you wish to discuss it?"

"N-No."

Poo gave a thoughtful hum, but did not push further. The onyx eyed boy couldn't help but smile in gratitude. Paula Polestar would have nagged at him to confide his feelings with her, while Jeff Andonuts would have tried to find out what was wrong by staring intensely at him. Poo however allowed him his privacy, waiting for Ness to come to him rather than dig.

Time passed before Poo stood, offering Ness a hand that the younger boy took. "Now we move on to the summoning of the stars. Are you sure you wish to proceed?"

Ness nodded, taking the hand. This was the hardest part. After finally learning to meditate, Ness had been told that he needed to focus his psionics to the skies above and summon the starstorm to him. It was a difficult and exhausting process, having to send massive amounts of psionic power away from him and molding it into the characteristic meteor shower that earned it its name. The end of his first star summoning, Ness had nearly collapsed on his feet and hadn't summoned a single star.

This time would be different though. He was sure of it. Inhaling deeply, Ness raised his hands above his head, allowing the psionic energy to leave his body and enter the sky. Closing his eyes he concentrated on it, shaping it with his mind and imagining stars and planets before calling it back. "PK... Stahstome Alpha!"

He waited, eyes opening and looking to the pink clouded sky for a trace of success. Minutes later, Poo shook his head. "You failed to break the energy and scatter it, instead keeping it whole. It became unstable when you tried to shape it and imploded before you could call it back." The older boy paused, tapping his chin. "You did send out the right amount of energy this time around though. The problem seems to be that you cannot feel it well enough to know it's scattered enough to shape. Perhaps a longer meditation time, centered around focusing on your psionic energy, will fix the problem."

"I wanna tie again. I can do it! 'onest!"

"Very well. Once more."

Ness nodded, determined as he closed his eyes and raised his arms...

A scream shattered the tranquility of the air, an explosion soon after. Both psychics stared at each other before looking down at the land mass below, eyes widening.

Strange beasts were running through the land, their bodies consisting of different combined animal parts. Scattered among them were robots, some resembling animals and others that had to be seen to be believed. The most shocking thing lay in the distance, a towering machine that stood tall right next to the palace Ness had appeared in front of. The capped boy couldn't help but back away slightly, a chill settling down his spine before fists clenched in rage and he growled.

"Pokey."

"So he finally returns," Poo stated, remaining calm despite his homeland being so mercilessly attacked. "Though where did these... things come from?"

"'oo cayas? Let's juss beat sem and demand an expanason aftawahds!"

"It would be wiser to leave his army to Dalaam's guards and focus on him ourselves. My people are capable of fending for themselves. I have faith in them."

"Watteva, let's go!" Before the prince could respond Ness was climbing down, making it to the bottom in minutes and rushing through the chaos. A chicken headed snake lashed out at him and he dodged, pulling his baseball bat out of its place strapped to his backpack and hitting the thing away. Beside him Poo had launched an icy psionic attack at a orangutan with a walrus head, freezing it in place. All the while the two boys kept running, only pausing to clear enemies in their way before attacking again. Just as Poo had claimed, the guards of Dalaam were holding the enemies off well. Ness couldn't help but think it was too easy.

In no time the two had made it past the monsters, finding themselves in front of the giant machine. In looked slightly different from the last time Ness had seen it, its main body now rectangular instead of round, the legs longer and their tips much sharper, its color now a metallic purple instead of a steel grey. Regardless, it was the same spider mech and Ness was certain he knew who was behind the controls. His grip on his bat tightened. "Pokey!"

Silence greeted him, the device remaining still. Poo scowled, eyes narrowing. "Something is wrong here. Be on guard, Master-"

With a yell Ness charged forward, readying his bat. As if in response the main body lowered to the young teen's level, its glass front flashing briefly. Ness leaped into the air and swung his bat into the metal with all his might, the glass opened almost immediately afterwards and revealed an empty cockpit. Confused by the lack of his enemy, the capped psychic stumbled as he landed, Poo quickly running to his side to steady him. "Waya... Waya seh 'ell is Pokey?"

"I don not like the looks of this, Master Ness. Perhaps it would be wise to attack from a distance."

"But waya-" The machine rumbled, a series of panels in the cockpit sliding down. Onyx eyes barely had time to register what had happened before metal cables shot toward Ness, latching onto him and dragging him into the machine's interior. As the shock wore off he struggled, resisting the urge to scream.

"Master Ness!" Poo exclaimed, rushing forward and leaping up into the cockpit. The Dalaam prince tugged as hard as he could at the constricting cables, failing to notice as the glass lowered and trapped the two psychics within. Numbers raced across the glass' surface and the entire machine shook, a countdown initiating as a pale green gas filled the small area.

The last thing Ness saw before slipping into unconsciousness was a flashing pink pig snout insignia.

xXx

"Master Ness? Master Ness, are you awake?"

The raven haired teen moaned, eyes opening into slits before closing against the sun. There was a nasty taste in the back of his throat, just noticeable to annoy without inducing vomiting, and his head felt light and fuzzy. He briefly wondered if this is what a hangover was like, vowing that if it was he would never touch alcohol in his life. Conscious continued to return and Ness gradually became aware of a dull crackling noise and some sort of burnt smell, prompting him to shakily sit up and squint at his surroundings.

He was in a clearing of some sort, a thick forest surrounding him on all sides. In front of him was the Dalaam prince, his face melting from worried to relieved upon seeing Ness was ok. The younger teen rubbed at his eyes before glancing behind him, blinking at the wreck that had once been the spider mech. "Watt 'appened?"

"I am not entirely sure, Master Ness. I awoke sometime before you, but we were in this place when I awoke. Though if you are referring to the device, that was my doing. I had to break us out of its interior, then used a PK Starstorm Omega to immobilize it before it had the chance to catch us off guard again."

"Smaht moob." Slowly Ness stood up fully, looking for something familiar that would clue him in to their location. The only thing he immediately recognized was a psionic butterfly, however those were rather common and didn't help. "We don' seem to be in Dalaam..."

Poo nodded, crossing his arms and closing violet eyes in thought. "Obviously that device teleported us. The question is, if we are not in Dalaam, then where are we? And on top of that, why did it take us out of Dalaam? Was it part of a plan to get us away from the battle? Were we brought here for a reason?" His eyes blinked open before glancing back at Ness. "Can you feel any 'Your Sanctuary' locations nearby? That is, if you still possess the ability to feel them."

The capped boy hurriedly closed his eyes, his mind reaching out to the feeling of calm and tranquility of his 'Your Sanctuaries', listening for the melody he had collected what felt like ages ago... Wincing in shock he gasped, eyes going wide. "I-I don' feel sem. Any of sem. Not eben a faint tace. Eben if we wuh on seh osa side ob seh panet I'd be abo to feel somesin'." He bit his lip, nervously scanning for something familiar again. As if sensing his distress, the butterfly flew over and settled on the brim of his hat. Why couldn't he feel his 'Your Sanctuaries'?

The older boy scowled. "Maybe your psionics were blocked? Use something. PK Rockin, maybe."

"PK 'ockin!" Ness yelled, throwing a hand out in front of him. Instantly a wave of red, blue, and yellow light danced in front of his, frightening a few birds that had been in a nearby tree. Grinning at the successful attack the raven hair boy relaxed, watching as the butterfly flew towards the wreckage of the spider mech and settled again. At least he still had access to his powers. A thought struck him. "Let's tie telepotin'. Maybe it's juss sis pace sat's bocking me fom feelin' my 'You'a Sanctuahies'."

"I will try first." Poo walked to the middle of the clearing, making sure he had room before readying himself. "PSI Teleport Beta!" The prince then took off, running faster and faster before suddenly stopping in his tracks. He scowled again. "How odd... I have never had trouble with teleporting before. I could not even see the locations that I wished to go to."

"Sen let's go somewaya else and tie. Sis pace muss bock telepote too."

Poo nodded in agreement and walked into the wood, Ness soon joining at his side.