So this is Utopia

Chapter 2



Ness stood at the small bus stop in Twoson, it was the closest bus stop to Onett; the only thing connecting onett with the outside world being a dirt path.
The dark haired boy clutched the strap of his guitar’s gig bag with both of his hands, willing the bus not to come.
“Ness, dear, did you here me?”
Ness turned to his mother, rubbing his eye, “what is it mom?”
“have you not been getting any sleep honey?”
Ness smiled, “I’ve just been anxious that’s all, starting at a new school and all.”
Ness’ mom smiled, “I’m sure you’ll be the most popular boy there.” she tugged on the bill of his lucky hat.
“thanks mom.” Ness took his hat off and smoothed his hair.
 “okay,” Ness’ father held up a camera, “say, Fuzzy pickles!”
 “Dad!” Ness moaned, “why do you have to embarrass me?”
“say it.”
Ness sighed and made a peace sign with his fingers, “Fuzzy pickles!”
Ness father smiled, “I have something for you.”
“Really, what?”
the japanese man reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic card, this is the atm card to your very own bank account.”
“No way!” Ness put his guitar down and took the card in both his hands, “are you serious?!”
Ness’ father nodded, “but it’s for emergencies only, don’t go crazy and buy a bunch of Happy products.”
“I won’t dad.”
Ness’ dad hugged him, “don’t forget, I’m always behind you, one hundred percent.”
“One hundred percent,” Ness smiled.
“oh here’s the bus.”
“What?” Ness looked back as the bus pulled it, “B-But I can’t go yet, Pokey hasn’t shown up.”
“let’s get your bags packed up.” 
Ness helped his father load his luggage into the bus, “dad, what id Pokey doesn’t show up?”
“I’m sure he’ll be here Ness.”
Ness looked back up the road towards Onett. “I hope so.”
 Ness’ mother kissed his fore head, “call home if you ever need anything Nessling.”
“Okay Mom.” Ness bent down and hugged his sister, “bye Tracy, you be good for mom and dad now, you hear?”
“who’s going to protect Onett when you’re gone?”
Ness smiled, “I guess you’re going to have to do that aren’t you Tracy?”
Tracy smiled, “Okay!”
Ness turned back to the road to Onett, hopefully. His eye’s widened as he saw Pokey running up to the bus station.
“Pokey!” Ness ran to meet him, “I’m so glad you made it!”
“I... ran all the way... here...” Pokey puffed.
“don’t strain yourself buddy.”
Pokey glared at him.
“sorry,” Ness said, “look, I don’t have a lot of time, I’ve got something for you.” Ness reached into his pocket and pulled out a red yoyo, “Here take it.” Ness placed it in Pokey’s hand.
Pokey looked down at it and turned it over in his hand running a finger over where Ness had clumsily engraved his name into the plastic, “b-but Ness, this is your yoyo, I mean, when people think about Ness they say, “oh yeah the Yoyo kid,” I can’t take this.”
“well they call me the Psych kid now, you be yoyo kid.”
Pokey looked at the yoyo, and shook his head, slowly at first and then faster. He pressed the yoyo into Ness chest, “I-I can’t, I don’t deserve it.”
Ness smiled, “Pokey, I want you to have it.” he put the yoyo back in the blond’s hand, “please.”
Pokey nodded slowly, “okay.”
 “Ness!” Ness father called, “come on, we can’t hold the bus forever!”
“Coming!” Ness walked back over to the bus station, followed by Pokey.
Ness hugged his family members one more time.
“hey, uh,” Pokey held up his hand for a high five, “go wreck havoc and stuff.”
Ness grabbed Pokey’s hand and pulled him into a hug, “it’s not going to be as fun without you.”
“y-yeah.” Pokey stammered, a blush creeping up on his face. He pushed Ness away from him, come on bro, that’s gay.”
Ness laughed, “whatever,” he went to the door to the bus and took the steps two at a time. He found a seat by a window. he pulled the window open and poked his head out, “be good Pokey, I’ll be back for the holidays, we can rent the scariest movie you can think of!”
“I’m holding you to that!” Pokey called back.
the bus pulled away from the station. Ness waved to his family and best friend until they were out of site.
“Excuse me.”
Ness jumped and hit his head on the window frame. He looked back into the bus rubbing his head. a military police officer was standing next to him, his pink pig mask under his arm, “we’ll be going through Threed tunnel soon, please close the window and sit properly in you seat, you don’t want to let any ghosts in here do you?”
“but that would make the ride so much more exciting,” Ness smiled.
the officer scowled.
“I’m sorry, I was just kidding,” Ness closed the window, “ghosts would be bad. so there really are ghosts in the tunnel, I thought those were just rumors.”
“No, it’s true, if you look out the window you may be able to see one.”
“my names Ness by the way,” Ness held out his hand.
“Gregor,” the pigmask took his hand and shook it.
“what are you doing on the bus Gregor?”
“It’s regulation,” Gregor explained, “there must be an officer on every bus. it’s my shift so here I am, why are you on the bus Ness.”
“I’m going to the New Pork City Boarding School for the psychically Gifted.”
“you’re psych, Gaw!” the officer sat down next to Ness. Ness realized the boy wasn’t much older then he was, maybe 16, “me too, well, sort of, I can only do healing stuff, so I’m not very useful, it’s probably because I’m from winters, Not many psychs come from there you know, I wonder why, we still don’t know what makes a psych so- oh you’re falling asleep.” Gregor got up and walked away silently.
Ness dozed, looking out the window with half lidded eyes. spectral figures blinked in and out in the dim light of the tunnel, looking back at him curiously, were they calling him?


“noitatsaved si lla, ereht dna. erutuf eht ni sraey net morf ma I. ssenkrad lanrete fo rorroh eht  otni lla dnes lliw, reyortsed cimsoc, sagyig. netsil tsum uoy, nekops sah tnemnethgilne fo elppa eht: thgil eht dnif lliw eh, tniop eht sehcaer yob nesohc eht nehw,  thgil fo htap eht laever dna, kcor eramthgin eht rettahs lliw emit fo gnissap eht... ssen yob taht era uoy eveileb I.”

“hey Ness.” 
Ness started, “I didn’t do it.” he rubbed his face and adjusted his hat.
“Easy buddy, It’s me, Gregor, you need to transfer to a train from here.”
“Oh, thanks.” Ness got up and stretched, “it was good meeting you Gregor, maybe we’ll see each other again sometime.”
 Gregor nodded, “have fun at the school.”
 Ness got off the bus and gathered his luggage, heading into the train station, the nonsense words from his dream making his head hurt as he tried to pick them apart.
“one for New Pork City please.” he said to the man behind the ticket counter.
“that’ll be a dollar fifty.”
Ness dug into his pockets and pulled out a crumpled dollar bill and a few coins. the man gave him his ticket and ness made his way to the platform.
Ness held the ticket close to his chest, a lump in his throat, this was the farthest he’d ever been from home, he wasn’t even sure what city he was in. He looked around and saw a pay phone. he went over to it and deposited fifty cents into it and dialed his house number.
“hello?”
His mom answered to phone and he almost chocked, “H-Hey mom it’s me, I just wanted to let you know I made it to the train station in one piece.”
his mom laughed, “I had complete faith in your bus riding skills honey. are you okay? you sound a little down.”
“I fell asleep on the bus, I’m still a little tired.”
“Okay sweet heart, I’m sure you’re going to make us proud sweet heart, If you’re ever feeling homesick again you can always call.”
Ness smiled and blushed, “I can’t fool you can I?”
“I have a physic all my own Ness, it’s called mother’s intuition.” 
Ness laughed, “thanks mom, you can always make me feel better. does Tracy miss me yet.”
“She asked if she could have your bed room.”
“Typical, does she know her room is bigger then mine?”
“I’m pretty sure you’re rooms are the same size, do I need to get the tape measure out again?”
Ness chuckled, “I believe you, mom.”
Ness’ train rolled into the station. “I have to go mom, but I’ll call when I get to the school okay.”
“okay, sweetheart, don’t be afraid, your my courageous little hero, you can do anything you put your mind to.”
“bye mom.”
 “Goodbye, Nessling.”
the line went dead.
Ness hung up the phone and went to board the train.



The school was larger then Ness had imagined. He walked through the gates in a daze. several other kids, most of them younger then Ness, were around, with their parents, looking at maps and saying tear-filled good byes.
Ness father said someone was going to be showing him around, but he had forgotten to ask what the person looked like.
“Ness Itoi?”
Ness turned.
A tall woman in a skirt-suit walked up to him, “Are you Ness Itoi?”
“are you my lovely escort- sorry that was rude.”
the woman laughed, “there’s no doubt you are Shigesato’s son.”
“that’s me.” Ness smiled.
“come on, let me show you to your dorm room.”
Ness followed the woman into the school, looking around for any signs of Paula, he hadn’t seen the girl since last summer and was excited to surprise his old friend.
“this place sure is big.”
the woman nodded, “It’s been built upon just recently, there was an accident and half the school was destroyed, they took it as a chance to renovate.”
“Gosh, I hope that doesn’t happen often.”
“the cause of the accident has been nullified.” the woman smiled, “I’m taking you to the upper class man dorms, those are the good ones.”
“Wow, my dad must have more influence here the I thought.”
The woman nodded, “ah, here’s your room. Oh, and there’s your room mate, Lucas Pilgrim.”
A boy with fluffy blond hair walked out of the dorm room, his eyes glued to the small, red, leather bound book in his hand.
Ness walked over to him, putting down his guitar case and holding out his hand, “hi, My name’s Ness, I’m your new room mate.”
the blond boy glared at Ness, and walked away.
Ness stood, his hand still out stretched, “wow! It sure is nice to meet you.” he dropped his hand, “what’s with him?”
“Don’t worry yourself over that, he’s... different, but he shouldn’t bother you.” the woman held out the pile she had been carrying, “here is your map your rule book your class schedule and your uniform, orientation is in an thirty at the cafeteria, you are in the class of 199X, you got all that?”
Ness nodded.
“make sure you put on your uniform before going to orientation.”
“will do, thank you ma’am.”
The woman smiled and walked away.
Ness struggled with his belongings and managed to get the door open. Ness looked around the room, it was a good size, two dressers a bunk bed and two desks across the room from the bunk bed. Ness dropped his belongings, his mouth falling open. above the empty desk, the wall was covered in photographs, all connected together by a tangle of red strings.
“Jimmy Christmas.” Ness breathed, walking closer to the map, “this is a whole different level of creepy. of course I had to get a stalker for a room-” Ness stopped himself recognizing the spaceman that had killed buzz buzz among the pictures. He sputtered and pointed at it, idiotically, for a moment, then took a deep breath, “get a hold of yourself dude.” he climbed up onto the desk to get a better look. there was a word scrolled at the bottom of the picture, “Starman Jr? weird.” He took the red string connected to that picture and followed it, hoping he could find a name or an image that could reverse the starman’s hypnoses.
“What are you doing!?”
Ness reeled back in surprise, losing his footing and falling from the desk. he sat up and held his head, “well that was a fine how do you do.” He looked up at Lucas. the blond boy was crouched in the doorway, his fists pressed against his chest, his eyes squeezed shut.
“hey, you okay?” Ness got up and went to touch Lucas’ shoulder.
Lucas stood and pushed passed Ness. he checked the strings on the map, then went to his desk and looked though the drawers.
“I’m sorry I touched your map thing-”
“It’s my brother’s, don’t touch it again.”
“Oh, your brother? why doesn’t he keep his stuff in his roo-”
Lucas came up close to Ness, his face was not angry or annoyed, it was simply monotonous, which disturbed Ness greatly.
“I don’t like you,” Lucas said, “I don’t like that I have to share a room with you, don’t touch me, don’t touch my stuff, and don’t talk to me.” He left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
“Well a-zippity do da day.” Ness shook himself, “well if he isn’t just a big ball of sunshine.” Ness put on the school uniform. smoothing the dark aqua green vest and rolling up the sleeves of the button up shirt, “it’s not too bad I guess,” Ness said to himself, “though of course I make anything look good.” He snapped his fingers, “and, I’m talking to no one.” he walked out of the room and down the hall, whistling to himself. This place wasn’t too bad, he thought to himself, it was clean, the uniform wasn’t itchy and he was surrounded by psych. He had never been around other people with psych, and he could physically feel other peoples psych passing around and through him like soft, curious, ghosts. He continued walking, letting the feeling wash over him.
He bumped into a group of people not noticing that he had even closed his eyes.
“watch where your going first year.” the taller one spat.
“sorry, just making my way to the-uh...”
“do I look like I care where you’re going?” the group walked away.
Ness watched them turn the corner before he started panicking, he held his head, that Starman had done more damage with that hypnoses then he thought, “Okay, just give it a second...” He snapped his fingers, “the cafeteria!... where is that?” Ness checked his pockets, “i left my map back in the room.” Ness turned and faltered, “I don’t know where that is either.” he made a guttural sound in his throat, “Best first day ever!” He said hysterically, “Okay, don’t panic, you’re super witty, you can talk yourself out of any situation, just find someone who can help you.”
Ness looked around and saw a group of girls standing against the wall, “Okay, be cool.” Ness smoothed his hair, wishing he had brought his hat, he would have felt safer with it on.
“hey,” Ness said, as he walked up to the girls, “My name’s Ness, I’m new around here and I, being the complete idiot I am, have gotten myself lost, do any of you ladies know where I can find the cafeteria?”
“I can take you there.” the blond haired girl with the lip piercing said.
“Really.” Ness smiled, “Gee you’re a life saver.”
“Don’t mention it,” the girl started walking, “follow me.”
Ness fell in step with the girl, “I don’t think I asked for your name.”
“It’s Skye.”
“well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Skye.”
“you’re a little old to be a new student,” Skye said.
“I was a late bloomer.”
“Obviously.” Skye laughed, “here we are.” She opened the door to the cafeteria. 
there were groups scattered around.
“which year are you?”
Ness opened his mouth confidently to answer, then closed his mouth slowly, “I don’t remember.”
“you’re forgetful, aren’t you?”
“Just recently.”
“Class of 199X over here.”
Ness sputtered and pointed in the direction the call had came from, jumping up and down slightly, “that’s it!”
Skye laughed, “don’t hurt yourself.”
“Sorry, thanks for your help, maybe we’ll see each other again?”
“Defiantly.” Skye kissed his cheek and walked back to the doors, “good luck, hot shot.”
Ness smiled and rubbed his cheek, “maybe I am good with girls.”  
He walked over to his group and his smile widened when he saw, at the front of the group, the blond girl from Twoson.
“Is this everyone?” Paula said brightly, “Okay, Welcome new members of the Class of 199X to the New Pork City School for the psychically gifted, the best psych school there is.” she put a hand to the side of her mouth as if sharing a secret, “because it’s the only psych school there is.”
the crowed giggled.
“anyway, My name is Paula polestar and I am the head class representative for our class, If you ever need anything just look for the sash.” Paula tugged on the red band around her left arm, “remember red for 199X.”
Ness realized he should probably start writing things down if he was going to start getting so forgetful. He nudged the person Next to him, “hey you got like a pen and paper or something I could borrow?”
“all I got is his pen,” the class mate held out a ball point pen.
“that’s fine,” Ness took the pen and un-capped it, writing on his palm, ‘red 4 reps’
“Here you will be taught in the art of Psych, an ancient magic, and one day, most of us, will join the ranks of the Pigmask army!”
the group cheered.
“And lead our illustrious Pig King to victory!”
the group cheered again.
“Let’s start the tour.”
the group followed Paula out of the cafeteria.
the representatives, led the new students though the halls, pointing out important rooms and explaining the history of the various buildings. Ness followed behind, writing up and down his arms until he ran out of room.
Paula led them out onto the grounds, “Here are the sparing rings, where we can practice our psych freely.”
“how about giving us a demonstration?” one of the class reps said.
“yeah class rep,” on of the new students said, “I’d love to see what you can do.”
Paula smiled and blushed, “I couldn’t.”
Ness smiled, deciding now would be a great time to reveal himself, “Come on Class rep-san, Show us you’re moves.”
Paula tensed and turned slowly, a gigantic smile lit her face, “Ness?”
“Hey Paully, long time no see.”
Paula ran to Ness and embraced him, “what are you doing here? you don’t have any psych!”
“Do now.”
the blond girl laughed, “I guess I could show off just a little.”
Ness smiled, “go for it.”
Paula went to one of the battle rings. she stood with her back turned, feet apart, hands behind her back.
one of the other reps picked up a clay pigeon from the ground and got set to throw it.
Paula took a deep breath and shouted, “Pull!”
the representative threw the clay disk into the air.
Paula’s eyes shown a bright blue, she turned her pointer and middle finger out, “PK fire!”  fire shot from her fingers, hitting the disk. The clay pigeon shattered.
Ness applauded with the rest of the crowd, “my my, that was certainly flashy.”
Paula giggled, “thanks. Let’s continue.”


Ness sat cross legged on the grass across from Paula, smiling as she laughed, “so are you just going to write on your arms from now on then?”
“Well if I do I need to find a better pen, this one smears really bad, like,” He lifted his arm and showed her the smeared words, “Now I’ll never know what N hall is for.”
Paula laughed, “I’ll remind you if you need it.”
“thanks,” Ness leaned back, propping himself on his hands, “Okay, I have another question, do you know Lucas Pilgrim?”
“Luc? yeah, why?”
“He’s my room mate-”
 “they put you in his room?” Paula looked at Ness anxiously, “I mean, Luc’s my friend, but... He’s kind of dangerous.”
“dangerous?” Ness leaned in, “how so?”
“well-”
“Paula, we need your help,” a class representative came up to them.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” she turned to Ness, “I’m sorry Ness, we’ll talk about it later, okay?”
“Yeah, I think I have class soon anyhow.”
“they didn’t give you any leeway to get used to this did they?”
“I prefer it actually, I don’t want any time to think back and feel home sick.”
“Oh you poor thing,” Paula patted his head, “I’m sure you’ll get used to everything soon enough.”
Ness nodded, “yeah, now, Let’s see if I can find my way back to my dorm, we passed it during orientation...” He looked at his arms, “oh good, I wrote it down, See you later Paula!”





Ness sat down on the risers of his general psych class, as people slowly filed in.
He twiddled his thumbs and shifted in his chair. All he knew about Psych was what he learned from books in the library, and that wasn’t much.
Lucas entered the class his eyes scanning the pages of the red, leather journal.
“Lucas!” Ness stood and waved his arms, “Hey, Luc!”
Lucas looked up, his eyes dark.
Ness faltered slightly at the apathetic look that the blond boy gave him, but then continued calling to him, “come and sit next to me!”
Lucas turned away and went to sit in the corner.
Ness plopped back into his seat as the teacher entered.
“Hello class, to the new students I am Professor Riddly, welcome to Gen Psych. okay everyone open your books to page 120, were going to talk about the difference between PK and PSI.” He wrote the words on the board in a chart, “now someone, give me a psych that you have.”
Ness raised his hand.
“Ah, Mr. Itoi, eager just like your father, what psychs do you have?”
 “Flash and healing.”
The professor wrote Flash under PK and Healing under PSI, “Do you know the difference between these two psyches?”
“One is offensive and the other is defensive,” Ness said.
“Exactly.” the professor smiled, “Psi Is the term used for all defensive physic while PK is offensive.”
Ness listened to the teacher talk for a while, but his eyes soon drifted over to Lucas, who was still reading that journal.
Ness tore a corner off his notebook paper and rolled it into a ball. He aimed at tossed it. Lucas tensed as it hit the back of his head. He turned and looked up at Ness.
Ness held his hand up to the side of his face as if holding a telephone, ‘call me.’ he mouthed.
Lucas gave the first expression Ness had ever seen from the boy; a look of utter exhaustion, before turning back to the journal.
Ness frowned, “I have to find out what’s up with this guy...” he whispered to himself.




the Next morning he sat down across from Paula during breakfast, “Hey, you never finished talking to me about Lucas yesterday.”
Paula blinked and looked at the table, “oh, actually Ness, I talked to Lucas yesterday, he doesn’t want me to talk to you about him.”
Ness sat back, “why is he singling me out.”
“well, you are the only one taking an interest in him.”
Ness nodded, “I guess that’s true.”
“Please don’t  go snooping around in his business,” Paula said, standing up, “I have an early class, don’t get yourself into any trouble.”
“What me? come on, do you remember who you’re talking to?”
Paula rolled her eyes, “I haven’t forgotten what happened in the Mall last summer.”
Ness flushed red, “W-What do you mean, I don’t remember anything happening at the mall that would cause you to think I get into trouble on a regular basis.”
Paula laughed, “Just don’t mess with Lucas, okay?”
Ness nodded, as he watched Paula leave, “Aw, she just made me so much more curious- No Ness, Paula’s your friend, you need to listen to her.” Ness held up his hands as if weighing his options, “Listen to Paula, Investigate Lucas, Listen to Paula, Become a detective, Listen to Paula, super sleuth... Sorry Paula.” Ness finished his breakfast quickly and rushed back to his dorm room.



Ness wandered down the hall of the school, a note pad clutched in his hand, he had gotten no where in his investigation; people would either ignore him, or run off when he mentioned Lucas, all he had was that Lucas was dangerous for some reason and it had people running scared.
“Okay, New tactic,” He looked around and spotted his Gen psych teacher, “M-Mr. Riddly!” He ran to catch up with them man.
“Ah, eager Mr. Itoi, what can I do for you today?”
“I’m trying to get information about my room mate, he seems really trouble and I want to know how to help him.”
“that’s very kind of you, who is it?”
“Lucas Pilgrim.”
the professor's smile left instantly, “Oh, the Pilgrim boys.”
“Boys?”
“Oh, did I say boys, I’m so used to them being a pair.”
“oh yeah, He said something about having a brother, I haven’t seen him yet.”
the professor nodded, “you wont- you shouldn’t be prying for your safety.”
“Is it against the rules?”
“No, N-Not really, I mean... If Lucas found out...” the man shivered, “I-I have to go.” He started off at a brisk pace and rounded the corner. 
Ness stood, stunned. Even teachers were scared of this guy? who was he? He looked around and Saw the girl that had helped him to the cafeteria, what was her name again? “Oh! Skye, S-Skye!” He ran up to her.
“Hey hot shot, not lost again I hope.”
Ness laughed, “no, I brought my map this time, I’m actually trying to dig up information-”
“then you’ve come to the right place.” Skye curled the single streak of blue dyed hair around her finger, “around here they call me the rumor mill.”
“awesome, what do you know about Lucas Pilgrim.”
Skye’s smile disappeared almost as fast as the professors had, “why do you want to know about him?”
“He’s my room mate-”
“you’re in a room with him?!” Skye exclaimed, “Man, I wouldn’t want to be in one hundred feet of that guy.”
“what’s wrong with him?”
 “Have you heard about the ‘Accident’ that happened ‘bout a year back?”
Ness nodded.
“It was his fault.”
“what?”
“Yeah, He had a super melt down and lost control of his psych, He still can’t control it, he has to wear these weird bracelets to lock his psych.”
“whoa, why did he have a melt down?”
“well his brother disappeared a few years ago.”
“He disappeared?” Ness wrote on his note pad, “that’s why I never see him.”
Skye nodded, “some people say he died, other’s say he joined some Gypsies or something, but man was he hot-”
“Skye, focus, who was the last person to see Lucas’ brother.”
“Probably Lucas, or his metal Shop teacher.”
“metal shop?” Ness pulled out his map and looked at it.
“It’s right there,” Skye pointed at a building on the map.
“thanks.” Ness folded the map, and started down the hall.
 “Good luck!”






 “You want to know about Claus?”
Ness nodded, writing down the name.
The metal shop teacher wiped his hands on a dirty rag, “that boy was a grease monkey, had no sort of metal psych of any kind, but he was one of my better students. He was building a go Kart for his final project, and he was doing a really good, job, and then,” the man shrugged, “he was gone, and the kart too.”
Ness nodded, “so he just ran off?”
“Well I guess there were warning signs, He was very distraught the weeks before he left, he wasn’t eating, and I don’t even think he slept.”
“do you know why?”
the teacher looked up at Ness, “yes, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing that with you, he trusted me with that information-”
“I understand, you don’t have to tell me any more.” Ness stood, “I have class soon anyway.”
“you’d better get to that, and a word to the wise, stop trying to get close to the pilgrim boy, bad luck follows him around.”
“Thank you sir.”




Ness looked down at his tray as he thought about the information he had gathered. Lucas and Claus were inseparable, and when Claus left Lucas had a melt down of some sort that caused him to have his psych blocked. But there seemed to be a two year long gap between Claus’ disappearance and Lucas’ melt down, what could have triggered it?
“yo kid, you listenin?”
Ness looked up.
“you want mac ‘n cheese r’ not?”
“Oh, yes please.”
the lunch lady gave Ness a bowl of macaroni and cheese. He moved on, trying to stay focussed, “come on, what is wrong with you,” he hit his forehead.
“stop.”
Ness looked up at Lucas’ monotones voice.
“what are you gonna do Pilgrim,” a tall muscular boy, with greased black hair, pushed Lucas, “run to your mommy, oh wait you don’t have one of those do you?” the boy laughed.
Lucas’ expression didn’t change, “don’t talk about my mom like that.”
“you don’t like it, fight back.” the boy pushed him again.
Lucas threw a weak punch at the boy.
the boy laughed, “Is that the best you got Pilgrim?”
“just leave me alone.”
the muscular boy punched Lucas in the jaw, Lucas fell to the ground, “that’s a punch.”
“Hey!” Ness took his lunch tray and ran a the boy, spilling his lunch. He hit the boy over the head with the plastic try.
the boy turned, standing over Ness.
“Oh, my are you tall.” Ness hid the tray behind his back, “Hey, how about we pretend this never happened, and we can laugh about it later.”
the bully swung his fist at Ness. Ness ducked and rolled around to stand behind him, “you’re as slow as you are tall- gosh Ness why are you aggravating him?”
“are you talking to yourself?” the bully asked.
“doesn’t everyone?”
the bully threw another punch, Ness held up the lunch tray. the fist broke the tray in half. Ness giggled nervously and backed up as the boy advanced on him, “H-H-Hey man, can’t we talk this out like gentleman?”
the boy threw his fist into the wall inches from the side of Ness’ face, “I’d rather just bash your face in.”
“Well, if that’s how we have to do it.” Ness’ eyes shown and he curled his fingers around his invisible guitar, blasting the bully back with a primary colored sound wave.
the crowd gasped, and the lunch room grew silent. Ness went to where Lucas was still on the ground, “you okay?” he offered his hand.
Lucas pushed Ness hand away, “you’re an idiot.” he said wiping his bleeding lip.
“hey, I was just trying to help.”
“Mr. Itoi.” 
Ness tensed and turned to see a female officer behind him. She had the bully by the collar of his shirt, holding out her free hand to Ness, “come with me, the Dean will want to see you.”
Ness walked over to her, she put a hand on his shoulder and lead him out of the cafeteria.




Ness wrung his hat between his hands as he waited for the Dean to call him in. He had only been in the school for two days and he was already in trouble, “good job Ness, Dad’ll be so proud.”
“Itoi.”
Ness stood and walked into the Dean’s office, “before you say anything Ma’am, I was only trying to defend my friend, that guy he-”
The Dean held up a hand, “I know what happened Ness, and you only did what you thought was right, but there is the subject that you used your psych indoors.”
“oh is that against the rules, see I’ve only been able to really skim through the rule book-”
“It’s the first rule Itoi; Psych can only be used out doors in the sparing rings or in certain class room situations.”
“oh... I haven’t read the rule book at all.” Ness scratched his head sheepishly.
the Dean laughed, “you look just like your father.”
“you think?”
the woman nodded, “He and I were childhood friends.”
“oh, so that’s what they meant by connections.”
the Dean nodded, “But even if you are his son, you still need to be punished.”
“I understand ma’am.”
“the officer that brought you in will take you to your detention assignment.”
“thank you ma’am.” Ness stood and made a little bow.
“and make sure you read that rule book.”
“yes ma’am.” Ness smiled, “I’ll do that right away.”




Ness plopped the sopping mop onto the ground and moved the water around, as he sang, “I’ve been workin on the rail road, all the live long day, I’ve been workin on the rail road just to pass the time away.” Ness used the mop as a microphone, exaggerating the words of the song, “can’t you hear the whistle bloooowin, rise up so early in the morn-”
“Would you shut up!” the bully called from the other side of the room.
“Aw, Teddy, you’re being a spoil sport,” Ness went over to the dark haired boy, “How about we let bygones be bygones, I’ll promise to not zap you any more, if you leave Luc alone, deal?”
Teddy mulled it over, “Hm, actually, I’ll continue to mess with the puff head, and you just won’t zap me cause it’s against the rules.”
Ness frowned.
Teddy went back to mopping.
Ness sputtered and stood in front of Teddy, “what if we dueled?”
“what?”
“Me against you, in the circles, so we can use our psych, If I win you leave Lucas alone, if you win you can do whatever you fine well fair.”
“Do you even know what you just said?”
“we gonna spar or not?”
Teddy smiled, “Alright, it should be an easy win.”
Ness held out his hand and Teddy shook it.



“Ness this is a stupid idea.” Paula said, holding Ness out of the ring, “you’ve barely ever used your psych what if-”
“relax, I know enough, what could possibly go wrong?”
“A lot, Ness, is it really worth it?”
“If I win he’s not going to pick on Lucas anymore, yeah it’s worth it.”
Paula let Ness go, “just be careful.”
Ness stepped into the circle and walked to the center, Teddy stood in front of him. they shook hands then went to opposite sides of the ring.
A crowd had gathered around the circle. Ness looked up and saw Lucas. the red leather book in his hand, but his eyes glued on Ness this time.
“You two ready.” Paula said, “Begin.”
Ness spun around, and ducked, just in time to avoid Teddy’s opening attack, “getting right to it then, okay.” Ness threw a simple Pk attack at Teddy. the bully blocked it with a shield.  Ness held up his arms as he took back-lash damage.
“is that all you got punk,” teddy smirked, “I could do that in kindergarden.” he shot Pk at Ness. Ness jumped, using his psych to propel himself higher into the air, “PK Flash!”
 bright lights flashed in front of Teddy’s eyes. he doubled over and rubbed his eyes.
Ness landed looking at his hands. why had that attack been so powerful? then he realized, the other psych around him caused his power to strengthen, “Holy wow, this is incredible,” He laughed and hopped around a bit as Teddy composed himself, “you have no idea how awesome this feels.”
Teddy threw out his hand, “PK fire.”
Ness ducked and rolled under the projectile and popped back up, laughing, “what’s the matter Teddy? is that really your best?”
Teddy shot fire again. Ness jumped  over the fire, doing a flip in the process, “Looks like you missed again Ted!”
“This is what I was afraid of.” Paula said under her breath. 
Lucas walked over to stand Next to Paula, tucking the small journal into his back pocket, “he isn’t dead yet?”
“Lucas!”
“why is he even doing this, I told him to leave me alone.”
“obviously he’s not a good listener, and it’s not like you can fight your own battles.”
Lucas nodded, “what is he doing?”
 “this is the first time he’s used his psych around other psychics, He’s letting it go to his head,”
“He’s going to lose.”
Ness shot another sound wave at Teddy, “How do you like the taste of that!” a sharp pain went through his body, “oh,” he stumbled, “that doesn’t feel right.”
Teddy took this moment to hit Ness with fire. the fire hit Ness in the chest and singed his vest. he fell on his face.
 “Ness!” Paula ran to Ness side, “Ness can you hear me?”
Ness moved to face Paula, his noes bleeding, “hey Paul, am I winning?”
Teddy started laughing.
Paula helped Ness sit up. Ness looked up at Teddy and started laughing too.
Teddy stopped, “what are you laughing for, I beat you.”
“I don’t remember,” Ness continued to Laugh, “It hurts... it just hurts, go back, please, friends go back go back go back go back.” Ness snapped his head back and laughed hysterically.
Lucas ran over and grabbed Paula, pulling her up and out of the circle.
“Lucas stop! Ness!”
“He’s having a melt down, I don’t want you in the way if he explodes like I did,” he pushed Paula in the opposite direction, “run.”
“but Lucas.”
“go.”
Paula shook her head, and ran towards the school building.
Lucas turned back to Ness, who had stopped laughing and was now staring blankly into the sky, his body subtly pulsing with blue light. the Light slowly faded and Ness fell to the side, closing his eyes.
Lucas sighed, “well, at least you didn’t explode.” He pulled Ness onto his back and headed for the nurses office.






Music could be heard in the distance as Ness opened his eyes to the dark Nurses office. he sat up and tried to remember what had happened. Had he won? Teddy wasn’t in the bed next to him, so probably not. Ness registered the music that was floating to him, it was the King’s anthem. He got off the bed and padded to the window, parting the blinds.
 In the distance, Ness could see a sea of multi-colored lights, He breathed in awe, “New pork city.” Ness found his shoes, and hat, and snuck out of the office, to his dorm room. He collected his bat and walked out to the school gates. he walked around the perimeter until he found a low place in the fence. he jumped, propelling himself up and over the fence with his psych.
“Where are you going?”
Ness turned quickly, “Skye, what are you doing here?”
 “I asked you first.”
“I’m going to new pork city.”
“that way? you know there are monsters in the forest right?”
“I got this,” Ness held up his bat, “and my psych.”
“ah yes, and telling by the way you handled your psych this afternoon I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
Ness frowned.
“well if you really have to go, just be extra careful of the mushrooms. those things are seriously deadly.”
“Right, okay, thanks.”
“Don’t die out there hot shot.”
Ness laughed, “don’t worry, I won’t.”





Ness stumbled and tripped over the root of a tree. Skye hadn’t been kidding about those mushrooms. The crazy little things had sprayed spores all over him. but he was pretty sure he had lost them. he looked around, knowing he was lost, “I have to keep moving,” he told himself, griping his bat and willing his feet to move. There were too many noises in the forest, drowning out the anthem of his highness, he couldn’t rely on his ears.
He saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye, and heard his name being called.
he gripped his bat in both hands, “Who there, show yourself!”
“You lost didn’t you?”
Ness turned to the unknown voice and thought he saw Lucas, but only for an instant.
“Lucas?”
“You’re and idiot.”
“Stop it.”
“Why can’t you remember anything, Ness, why are you such a freak?”
Ness turned in a circle, “what’s happening?” He felt a pain shot through his head. He reached for the pain. His eye’s widened in Fear as his fingers skimmed over roots up to a small mushroom that seemed to be growing from his head. He screamed. “Okay don’t panic, just pull it out.” Ness took the mushroom in both his hands and pulled. the mushroom latched onto his head and wouldn’t let go. Ness let go of the mushroom, feeling dizzy.
“I’m so disappointed in you.
He heard his father’s voice.
“dad? dad I...”
“How could you, I thought you were stronger then this.”
“I’m sorry...” Ness’ eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and he fell to the ground.
“Ness...”
the boy heard a soft feminine voice.
“Looks like you got your head handed to you, let’s see if we can give you another chance.”
Ness felt arms wrap around him. then everything became cold.