It All Started With A..

Ness was in terrible condition. His vitals were low and his overall temperature was high. It was apparent that he was just struck with an exceedingly hot attack or object. Bubbles rushed up along with Jenny, positive Blossom had the other situation under control. "Oh, no...! He looks really hurt. Should we get him to a doctor?" None of them could heal and the boy needed medical attention. Paula was much better off, having been shielded from the assault. She had only lost consciousness from being flung through dimensional space.

"Uhh..." Her eyes slowly fluttered open to see Blossom's face. "Who... are you?" Paula looked beyond her face to the sky. "It's night already? Where are--HYAA!" She clung to Blossom after realizing they were floating above the city. "S-sorry! I can't usually fly without Ness' help...! N-Ness! Did you see someone with me? A boy wearing a red hat and carrying a bat?" Paula began looking around frantically.

"Yeah. We can't leave him here. Let's go." Jenny gently picked him up and lifted into the air. She was first leery of moving him but she couldn't just ignore it and leave him there. They needed to get to some place and fast.

"Take it easy! Your friend is here, we're going to hurry up and take you two the hospital. Okay?" Blossom said concerned as Jenny floated by her. "Jenny. Let's book it. We need to get them checked. Espeically Ness."

"Right! Let's go."

"Hang on tight." Blossom said to her charge and began to take off at a fast speed after Jenny, Buttercup not that far behind. Considering their speed and where they were, it didn't take them any time at all to reach a hospital.

Buttercup was among the first to get one of the doctors attention. "We got some people banged up we found outside, they need some help."

Paula did her best to remain calm as they traveled. After arriving at the hospital, she quickly learned just how heavily the mishap had affected her. She shakily stood from Blossom’s hold. She was incredibly dizzy. Moreover, she found it nearly impossible at the moment to concentrate on any PK abilities. “O-ow…” Paula held her head in pain, nearly fainted from the strain caused by focusing. She managed to stay on her feet, however. “I’m sorry. You don’t need to worry about me, I’ll be fine. Ness requires much more medical attention.”

“No way! You should let a doctor see you too. People don’t usually just fall from the sky!” Bubbles protested.

Paula didn’t see much point in arguing. “And I will. But he should really be checked out first.”

In a few moments, a few doctors and nurses rushed over to Jenny to lay Ness on a stretcher. They quickly wheeled him away, instructing the rest of the girls to wait in the lounge area. Paula silently lamented at her current inability to help him. She would have to wait a little while and hope he could hold out until then.

Buttercup wasn't...good with these sorts of things so she remained quite crossing her arms. She felt bad for Ness, but there wasn't much for it.

Blossom and Jenny sat down in some place comfortable, with Jenny breaking the silence. "..How did you two end up here?"

Paula took a seat as well. She needed to set her head straight and rest a little. "We were fighting a dangerous creature and attempted to lure it to a more open battlefield by jumping through space. We had no idea it could traverse space as well. It blew us completely off course before we could reach the other end. While we're jumping through space, we can't use any of our psychic abilities to fight or defend ourselves." Paula looked down at her hands, rested in her lap. "When Letum attacked in the portal, Ness did his best to defend me. I think. I don't remember anything after the first attack."

She realized something and doubled back. "I've been wondering for a short while. Where is this place? This isn't a city I recognize, and the structures are different."

Bubbles spoke up, thinking Paula and her friend were possibly in the same boat as herself, her sisters and Jenny. "This is New York City. You're on a world called Earth."

"I see... We're still on Earth, but I guess it really is a different realm." She bit the fingernail of her thumb and mumbled to herself. Jeff and Poo were left back home, but that dragon was also out of the realm too... Hopefully.

Blossom frowned slightly to this. Was the creature here? She couldn't really say; it wasn't as if New York lacked any fights of any kind.

"Me and the others are from another realm too. If you like we could maybe see about getting you guys home later. If you can't already. Oh! Sorry, I forgot." Jenny said somewhat embarrassed. "My name is Jenny Wakeman."

"Blossom."

"Just Buttercup."

"And I'm Bubbles!" She grouped Blossom and Buttercup into a hug with her. "We're sisters! And Jenny's like a big sister! Just mine though, cuz I don't like share." She giggled while joking. Paula smiled.

"I'm Paula Polestar. It's nice to meet you all. Thank you very much for helping my friend and myself." She thought to herself for a moment. "Normally, we can't jump to other realms. During our teleport technique, it's rare that we wind up somewhere we didn't intend since it only works on places we've been before. In order to make the jump, we have to envision a specific location, so it wouldn't work on a random location. Very rarely, the portal will misfire and we'll appear somewhere else. Even rarer so, we'd wind up in a different realm. This is the third time, I think..."

She eased back in her chair. "Well, if you can assist us in returning home, why have you all not gone back to your world?"

"Good question." Blossom said nodding. "Truth is..we've just been here so long that this just became our home. Don't get me wrong, we visited just to see how things were but after being here so long we just couldn't go back. It was almost like growing out of a crib. Once you get old enough, you can't go back in again."

"Strange analogy, but it works." Jenny added. "That's about the gist of it. This for better or worse is our home now. If you have any other questions we'll try to answer them. You said you had PK powers right?"

"That's right. Where we come from, it's a bit unusual for humans to be able to use it. It's a stolen technique anway. But psychic abilities appear much more common in other worlds. This realm included, since you know the term." Paula observed.

"There's all sorts of powers and people in this Earth, though." Bubbles chimed in. "It's like... this realm is connected to all the others. It's more advanced, and stuff. And since it's connected, it'll probably easier to get you home!"

"Maybe..." Paula guessed. "I'm concerned with where that dragon has disappeared to. I don't sense it here. I can only hope it hasn't returned to my Earth."

"Actually..only a large variety of realms are connected. Earth, this earth is known as the prime because its supposedly one of the first. No one is really sure if that's true or not but its a popular theory. There's literally countless universes out there, and each decision makes another one. That's the basics of Dimensional Theory I learned in school."

Buttercup just looked at Blossom. "And you say this is 'basic' stuff?"

Her sister shrugged. "We'll, yeah. It sounds fuzzy but its more complicated if you pursue it in college. I still don't understand half that stuff and I studied. "

"Ugh..and my mom can't be quite about it once she goes on." Jenny shook her head. "Blossom and mom could talk about that kind of thing all night but I'd end up falling alseep. Anyway, we'll keep a eye out for that monster." She hoped Paula's friend recovered soon.

Bubbles got a little lost during Blossom's explanation. For a minute, she attempted to count the possible number of universes based on the amount connected to this one and considering each was changed by slight or large variations... Her eyes started to spin. "Uuah... too many worlds. This is Earth and that's all I wanna know!" She didn't really grasp Dimensional Theory as well as her sister, though she did understand its key principles. Thinking about too much at once, however, was a little too much.

Paula nodded. "I think I understand. At the very least, this variant of Earth is advanced enough to be commonly teaching such theories. What I wouldn't give for my world to catch up to the curve." She understood Blossom's explanation and had a better grasp of the world's scientific advances to date. It was useful information, and she could relax a bit knowing the possibility of returning home had increased.

After a short while a doctor approached the group. She sighed, seeming a little tired. "Well, good news. Your friend suffered a series of severe burns covering the front of his face arms and legs, but he's taken rather well to the treatment. There won't be any scarring, and his bones should heal up nicely. There were no breaks, but a few fractures here and there." The doctor read Ness' prognosis from her clipboard. "Just get him to take it easy for a week or so and he'll be alright. Oh, and we've got him conscious again if you would like to go see him? Or if you've got any questions, I'd be happy to help you."

Blossom nodded to that. "Yes please. Take us to them." There was another reason besides checking on them she wanted to go. They, being from another world had no home and probably didn't have the same money. With those two in mind it would be tough for them to support themselves. So she wanted to discuss a few options with them first.

"Great. Oh, and you're the other one that needed to be checked over, correct? You seem much better than your friend, but a check up wouldn't hurt. If you'd like, I'll be happy to examine you before we head up." The doctor addressed Paula.

"Can we see my friend first? I'll be okay for now, so we can do that afterward." Paula rose from her seat. She was feeling steadier than before. Still low concentration, however.

"Fine by me. If you'll all come this way..." The doctor turned and started down the hall. Paula followed behind her. Bubbles happily trailed her sisters, glad the boy was okay after such a fall. The group rode the nearest elevator to the fourth floor and exited behind the doctor. As they neared Ness' room a nurse standing in front of the door came into view. She was scribbling away in a folder when she noticed the approaching group.

"Doctor, the patient expressed he was hungry earlier. Is it okay for him to eat this early after treatment?" The nurse asked.

"What...? He shouldn't be able to even sit up just yet. Let me look him over first."

Paula was surprised. "Ness... told you he was hungry?"

The nurse shook her head. "Not exactly, no. His stomach started grumbling pretty loudly, so I just guessed." Paula sighed quietly to herself. That sounded more like him. The doctor opened the door... to an empty room. Well, everything belonging to the hospital was where it should be. The patient, however, was gone. The nurse rushed into the room in a state of surprise. The restroom was empty as well. "Oh, crap. Oh, god. Noooo...!" She was starting to panic a little.

The doctor was fuming. "And just what the hell happened to my patient?!"

"I-I don't know! But! But I was standing out front the whole time!" The nurse weakly pointed toward the door.

"Then I suppose that means a teenage boy bearing moderate injuries and burns just leaped out of a fourth story window?!" The doctor pointed at the open window to punctuate her suggestion.

It was at that time, a boy hopped up and landed on the open windowsill. Ness was wearing his jeans and cap, but not his shirt (he couldn't find it). Bandages wrapped around his torso and arms, and some of his head. He held a cheeseburger in his mouth and returned an innocent stare to the doctor's indignant glare. "You... have... GOT TO BE--MMPH MM MMPM!!" The doctor was about to heavily berate Ness' actions when the nurse covered her mouth and began to drag her out of the room.

"I'm sorry! Please excuse us!" She struggled to keep the doctor restrained as they exited. Ness hopped from the window into the room. Paula gave another sigh.

"It's good to see you're feeling better, but you shouldn't be so rude to the nurses here." Ness shrugged. He didn't think the nurse was coming back, and figured he wasn't hurting anyone by stepping out for a minute. He took a bite of his burger before waving to the rest of the girls, giving a slightly confused look.

Buttercup blinked at first, processing what just happened. Then she broke out into a chuckle. "I think I'm gonna like this guy. Name's Buttercup, nice to meet you."

"Blossom. Nice to meet you."

"Jenny Wakeman. You gave us a scare there, but glad you seem to be doing okay." Jenny said.

"Okay. I want to get to the point of something before I forget." Blossom crossed her arms. "You two are new to this world..and don't have a place to stay. What I'm getting at is..what kind of money do you guys use? You'll need some to get by. I know we just met but I'm not comfortable just leaving you two to the birds when you just got here."

"I'm Bubbles! Hello! Nice to meet you!" Bubbles waved enthusiastically.

Ness nodded to each of the girls, remembering their names in turn. Paula spoke up in response to Blossom's question. "Right, that could be a problem. In our world we use a dollar currency. Due to the price of common foods and goods, it's common for the average citizen to carry a few hundred dollars on them every day. I think when we left minimum wage had increased to $20 per hour..." She looked to Ness. Her telepathy had yet to fully return, but she'd been around him long enough to know when he had something to say. He held up the burger he was busily munching on and showed her four fingers. "What?! That was only four dollars?" Ness nodded in confirmation. Needless to say, Paula was surprised.

"Then... I guess we'll be okay monetary-wise. For a little while, anyway. If that's not a problem, I can stay at a hotel until Ness is discharged." Ness wasn't too keen on the idea of staying, really. He wanted to walk around the city a bit but arguing with the doctor, or Paula, wouldn't get him anywhere. "Once he's out, we'll be ready to get back. What is the common method of interdimensional travel here?"

Bubbles thought for a bit. "Um, I don't know about other dimensions but traveling from world to world here seems easiest by either portal or teleporting. There's lots more ways to get around, but I don't know 'em all." She looked to Jenny and Blossom for a better explanation.

Blossom thought about it. "Nexus City. If you got things from back home, you could send to a technican and they could see about tracking it back. Keep in mind though, it takes time so its not going to happen overnight but its better then nothing."

"Hell, if you want I could go and drop it off." Buttercup said shrugging. "I'm not doing much of anything else."

"Geez..that's a heck of a lot of money. You're practically loaded here." Jenny had a idea. "..You know..if you want you could stay with me and mom. We got extra room."

Ness couldn't immediately think of anything to send. He had numerous small items in his bag, but wasn't sure what would be good to send. Paula on the other hand... "I think I have just the thing to send back." She went to Ness' bedside and opened his backpack. After some rummaging around she pulled a small red bow from its contents. It was much smaller than the one she wore. "This used to belong to a strange creature from our world. We have yet to encounter anything resembling their race. Maybe this will make things easier for the technicians?" She handed the small Mr. Saturn ribbon to Buttercup.

"Oh, that's very kind of you Jenny, but we wouldn't want to impose. Right, Ness?" Paula declined and looked to Ness, who shook his head. "What?? You're okay with it?" Ness nodded. He honestly didn't mind. Jenny seemed like a nice enough person, as did the three sisters. He didn't particularly want to stay in a hotel, much less be cooped up in the hospital. He finished off his burger. "I guess if everyone's fine with it..."

Bubbles sprang over to Paula. "We all are! If you stay with Jenny, we can all hang out together before you two go home! It'll be fu~n...!" She happily took hold of Paula's hands in a pleading gesture, trying to coax her.

Paula finally relented with a smile. "Okay. It does sound like fun."

"Ya~y! New friends!" Bubbles jumped for joy.

Paula faced the group and clasped her hands together. "Before that, I should thank you all. You save us both today. If there is anything we can ever do to repay you, please feel free to ask anytime." Ness crossed his arms and nodded respectfully in agreement.

Buttercup took the bow. "Dunno about this stuff but its from home it should work. I'll get this done tomorrow right away." She said, putting the item away. "Dad will freak about me going across the world alone at night. Pfft. He worries too much."

Blossom smiled but shook her head. "For now, its fine. Don't worry about it okay? Let's just get you guys out of here first."

Jenny chuckled slightly at the display with Bubbles. "That's Bubbles for you. Hard not to like."

* *

After everything was cleared and they were all checked, Paula and Ness were allowed to be discharged. After that, it didn't really take all that long to get to Jenny's house, the lights were still on as a sign Nora was still up.

"We'll, welcome home. At least until you guys get your own place." Jenny didn't take that long to even get in the house before her mother came down the stairs. She was a rather attractive middle aged woman with pointed ears; a sign she was something other then completely human.

"I see our guest have gotten here." Nora said extending her hand. "I'm Nora Wakeman, its a pleasure meeting you. You two are realm travelers, accidental ones from what my daughter told me."

The check up went over rather well. Paula sustained no physical injury, simply a mental strain. She would recover after some rest. The doctor was reluctant to let Ness leave, but as his recovery exhibited no immediate signs of remission and could move about without pain, he was discharged per his own request.

"Thanks again for inviting us, Jenny." Paula entered after her. Ness entered last, mainly absorbed in observing their surroundings. New York was a drastic change in scenery compared to Onett, but it was interesting in a few ways. The common structures resembled those of Fourside, but this city and its buildings were much larger. There was a lot less green to be seen as well. He hadn't even noticed a park on their route. Maybe there was one elsewhere. Hopefully it had a baseball diamond...

Ness' reverie was broken as Dr. Wakeman greeted the two. He held a backpack strap in one hand while shaking with the other. Paula shook Nora's hand next. "It's good to meet you too, Miss Wakeman. It's true, we did come here from another realm though not exactly by our own means. My name is Paula Polestar. This is Ness. We can't thank you enough for allowing us into your home." She thanked the scientist. Ness looked around the living room. It didn't look anything like Dr. Andonut's place... Maybe he was just weird like Jeff said.

"It's not a problem dear. I'm more curious about your home. For now though we can talk about it tomorrow and let you sleep." Nora turned to her daughter. "Could you please show them their guest rooms?"

"Sure. C'mon guys." Jenny motioned for the two to follow her, going up the stairs and down the hall. Towards the end where two rooms. "Here you go. It doesn't matter which one you go into. They're both plain, but you could fix them up later if you want."

Paula came forward to take the first room, knowing Ness would allow her to choose first. "Thank you. I'm going to turn in for the night and get some rest. I'll see you both in the morning. Goodnight." She entered the first guest room and sat on the bed. It was still hard to believe that she woke up this morning in a different world entirely. She fell back onto the pillow and quickly fell asleep.

Ness nodded goodbye to Jenny before entering the farthest room. He set his backpack next to the bed and removed his shirt. He started to take of his bandages, but decided to at least wait until morning. He tossed his shirt and hat down next to his backpack. Before going to bed, he practiced levitating and moving his hat about the room. He wanted to gain full focus as quickly as he could. After a while, he went to bed.

Around the next morning, Jenny woke up with a slight yawn, stretching. Ever since she got a new body rebuilt, it had come with a lot more features her old ones didn't. For example, not only could she sleep and dream, but she could eat, cry and even feel things. It amazed her how advance the Eldarian's were, her new existence was something her mother couldn't even have even begun to start. It wasn't just techology either; but a fusing of magic.

In short while she didn't understand the details the core principal was awesome.

Wait what time is it?

She checked her internal clock. It was around 9 AM...still early. She could lay in bed but mom would come for her eventually. That and she could smell cooking that seemed like her mother wasn't experimenting this time.(read: real food) so she forced herself up.

The first stop were Paula and Ness' door which she knocked on. "Hey. You guys awake? Breakfast is coming up."

"I'll be out in a minute!" Paula responded to the knock at her door. She was finishing up her morning hygiene and fastening her large bow to her hair. She hadn't been up for too long; long enough to complete her morning ritual at least. In addition to getting her well needed rest, Paula felt a great deal of her focus return. She felt confident enough to attempt telepathy again. Paula exited her room and greeted Jenny. "Good morning!" She tried calling out Ness with her mind, but couldn't feel his. "Huh? Ness isn't here." She bit her fingernail and mumbled. "He'll be okay, but it's rude to run off so early in the morning..." Spreading her range, she could detect where he was. He wasn't too far off from Jenny's house, but still a considerable distance.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Around this time Ness finally arrived at the park. He was an early riser, a habit he couldn't really kick. It gave him ample opportunity to look around the streets a bit and find what he was looking for. A group of kids occupied the large baseball field. They were visibly younger than him, but he didn't mind. They were more than eager to allow an older pinch hitter who even brought his own bat. He dug his shoes into the dirt and gripped his bat. The pitch came in low and fast. Ness was in his element.

Jenny frowned slightly at this. "He went out already? He can take care of himself but he probably should say something before going out. Oh well. Is he close or far away?" She didn't really know Ness too well to really say all that much. But if he had PK like Paula did he could more then defend himself, if taking into account it was strong enough to take them to entirely different dimension.

"He's still in the city. I suppose he's far off, but with his speed he could be back in seconds if I were to call him. He may have telekinesis, but my telepathy has a much farther reach." Paula was silent for a moment, concentrating on reaching Ness. After a moment, she opened her eyes again. "It looks like he went to a park. He's playing baseball with a group of kids." Paula sighed. "He's always running off to do whatever. Why doesn't he get tired? I'm sorry for my friend's rudeness. I'll lecture him later."