Countdown... 2

In his usual fashion, Ness appears on a new planet, in a new time, in a crack of thunder! He shoots out of his PK Vortex like always, and promptly smacks into a wall, knocking himself out.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Ness comes to and hears a commotion over head. It seems that he's in a locked room, in some kind of underground bunker of some kind.

It wasn't hard for Ness to break the lock on the door and had top side. It was overcast an there were Many people waiting around an airstrip. Some of them were only dressed in their underwear and others in full military clothes.

Ness takes a quick scan of the area as well as the people. He was on Earth and they all Were Human, but what was goin on?

He walks over to a particularly nervous young woman, who's surface scan came back positive. She only had on the basics as well, front tie shirt, shorts an hightops "Hey.What's going on here?" he asks.

The young woman doesn't het to answer as an obvious team of four guys come over "It's almost time to load up for the annual battleroyal! Last man, woman, or squad standing will become Stupidly rich and insanely famous." he laughs, which causes the rest of his teammates to laugh as well "And this years winner, winner, chicken dinner, is gonna me me and my squad, so watch out, little man!" he shoulder checks Ness and looks over at the small young woman "Because we're coming for ya." he chuckles, then walks off.

Ness watches him leave "I'm the same heigh as that jackass..." he mumbles, then he feels some Seriously scared vibes coming off the young woman, and looks over to her, she seemed like she was moments away from a panic attack "Whoa, whoa! Calm down a little..." he says "Freaking out now, won't help. I'm Ness, by the way." he says, holding out a hand.

The young woman extends a shaky hand, lightly taking ahold of Ness' "I-I'm Samantha..." she says in a small voice. It was hard to hear her over the sound of 99 other people raising hell.

Ness took this chance to use his telepathy to calm Samantha's nerves. Of course he could have done so without contact, but that made it easier "Wanna fill me in on what this battleroyal is?" he asks.

After Samantha calms down, she nods "I-it's a yearly televised contest where one hundred people sign up to be dropped on an island and they try to, um, try to kill each other, for a generous amount of prise money as well as the fame from being the years winner." she explains "I'm... gonna die out there..." she says, staring off into the middle distance "Why did I sign up for this? I don't know anything about guns! I I die out there, will my family be able to recover from it? My brother will be all alone in the world without his big sister!" she starts freaking out again.

Ness places a calming hand on her shoulder "Samantha, calm down. Things will work themselves out. I'm here now and as corny as this sounds, I'll see you through this." he assure her. Just then, the buzzer to board the plan sounds *It's game time!* he thinks, his serious face on.

There was a guy checking in everyone and when it came to Ness, he asks his name, and Ness tells him, making the guy see what he wanted him to see, before boarding. He took a seat next to Samantha, then looked around. The various squads were all seated together, as were some of the solos. There were a few duos as well. But what stood out to Ness, were all the parachutes behind each seat.

*Time for a little instructions...* he thinks to himself as he turns to Sam "Okay, it looks like we're gonna have to parachute out of the plane." he says.

Samantha nods "Yes. I see them do it every year... But I've never used a parachute, let alone jumped out of a perfectly good plane before." she admits.

Ness nods "I have. I'm gonna give you some tips for skydiving and, if needs be, I'll be there to help you down." he says.

Over the course of an hour, as they flew to the island, Ness was explaining to Samantha what to do in certain situations. The yellow light on the plane blinks on, and all the teams start getting their chutes on. Ness helps Sam, who also gets a digital mini map to help her out on the island.

The cargo ramp drops and the light flashes green as people start pouring out of the plane! Ness let Sam go first, and he would catch up to her and help her down later.

After he jumps, he scans the area to see what was out there. He was taking note of where most of the teams were heading. They wouldn't be the problem. The problem would be the solo players. More people meant more chances to be spotted, that wasn't the case with a solo.

After he catches Samantha, who was struggling, he ties her down, locking her chute to his, motions for her to hold on, then pops his chute! He looks around for the others and there were some that were dropping close by, but they could be avoided. Ness picks a few houses to land.

After the two touchdown and unbuckle, Samantha runs over to a bush and throws up. Ness simply waits as he looks around, taking note of a blue, mist-like, barrier that had gone up "What's that? Surrounding the island." he asks.

Samantha catches her breath "T-that an energy barrier... put in place so no one can escape the island. They'll reduce the size in..." she checks the map "Three and a half hours. It's harmful to touch. Not right away, but over time." she warns.

Ness nods as he motions for them to start out towards the houses "Okay, I got the general idea of what's going on by the people shouting on the plane, but what are the Actual rules here." he asks.

Samantha shakes her head "Last person or squad standing wins. Eliminate the others by any means. Anything goes on this island..." she says, suppressing a shudder, thinking about the goon from before.

Shots start ringing off in the distance. Samantha looks at her map, which shows how many people left on the island "It's already started..." she mumbles.

It doesn't take long for the two to get to the houses. Inside was some riot armor, bandages, ammo for a handgun and some shoes?

Ness picks up the gun "Okay, have you ever..." he starts, but Samantha was already shaking her head "Alright, never used a gun before... I can work with that." he mumbles "I'm going to teach you the basics of how to use a gun. We got three hours before they constrict us. That's plenty of time." he says.

It was about an hour later as Ness explains how to use firearms. They had plenty of time left to get to the next safe zone. Ness would, occasionally, tap the wall as he explained what to do "...And when you get a new weapon and you load it and it Doesn't fire, drop it and go with that you know works. Don't take any chances trying to figure out how a new gun works in the middle of a firefight." he finishes, then looks at his watch.

There were still shots ringing out as the counter continued to drop. Ness, for the moment, would hold onto the gun while Sam got the riot armor. She would watch his six, while he took point.

He takes a quick glance out the window, they were avoiding windows while inside, and takes Everything in. It's been a while since any shots rang close to the small house they were in, but that didn't mean someone wasn't camping out there, waiting.

Ness looks over to Samantha and hands her the gun "Find a shady place and wait. I'm going to scout the area, but I Will return. Just be patient and stay quiet." he says as he slips out.

Ness was walking out in the open, double Dog daring anyone to take a shot at him *Now would be a Great chance for anyone camping out there to take a shot at me. If they don't in a few minuets, than I suppose there's no one out here...* he thinks to himself.

After wandering around for a bit, tapping the ground on occasion, he heads back to the house, taps the wall again "Samantha! It's Ness. The coast is clear, come on out." he says.

A few seconds later Samantha comes out, a look of relief on her face "I wasn't sure if you actually Would come back." she chuckles a bit nervously.

To Ness, this was good. That meant she was relaxing around him. He holds out his hand "Can I see your map? There's some things I need to do to it." he says. Samantha nods and hands him the map.

Ness pulls out his tricorder and starts tapping some buttons on it. After a bit, he nods and hands the map back to Sam. She was staring at his tricorder "What Is that thing? It looks... Well, not like anything I ever seen before." she says.

Ness shakes his head and puts his toy away "It doesn't matter. What Does matter, is I hacked into the mainframe of this little 'Contest' and paired us up as a duo. That way we won't have to fight each other at the end." he says "Come on. Let's get going. We have a contest to win." he states as the two of them head out!

The two of them, Ness and Samantha, had crossed a wide open field with no resistance. Ness wanted to find a car, but every one they had found, was either out of gas or had been destroyed.

There were still shots ringing out. Every now and then, Ness would knock on a tree or a rock "Why do you keep doing that?" Samantha asks.

Ness looks over to her "It's a type of sonar that I have. It lets me find people hiding within a set distance from the point of my tapping." he explains. He didn't care if she believed him or not.

Samantha points off in the distance "Look! A house!" she says, excited.

Ness nods as the two make their way over to the house. Once inside, they make a grim discovery of one of the contestants. Having been gunned down by someone with a powerful weapon.

This instantly sent Ness on high alert, but he was a Bit too late to react, as a bullet slams into Samantha's hip, sending her to the ground!

Ness quickly drags Samantha out of the line of fire. The shock of being shot wearing off, she starts to cry in pain. Ness places his hand on her leg, numbing the pain for a bit "Keep pressure on it, I have to take care of this threat, then I'll be back to take care of you." he says.

He heads out, having stimulated her mind, so she wouldn't go into Actual shock and die. He races out, the sniper clearly in his line of sight and he in the snipers. The sniper fires a round at Ness, who deflects it, then telekinetically pulls the rifle out of the snipers hands!

Then Ness was on him in a flash! After a quick struggle, Ness puts a round in the snipers leg, then knocks him out, he then hits him with something from his hypospray, loots his items and weapons, and heads back to Samantha.

Ness was only gone got a few minuets, but he could see that the pain was coming back. He kneels next to Samantha, placing a hand on her lower leg "Your hip is shattered. I need to stop the bleeding." he says.

He was using his PK skills to heal up Samantha's leg, like cutting her shorts so her could Get to the wound, as well as stopping the bleeding, fixing the bone and the rest of the leg and stitching it up. He was simply using his hand, but Samantha was seeing Ness use tools.

She seemed amazed by his skills as a surgeon and within half an hour, her leg was good as new. She had seen him using some of those 'Odd' tools from before, only This time, she didn't say anything.

Ness stands back, looking over his handy work "Okay, your leg and hip are all better. Just don't over do it and try not to get shot again." he jokes.

Samantha didn't think it was funny, as tears started to spring to her eyes "I thought... I was going to die... just now..." she sniffles.

Ness pats her on the back "Some day, yes. We all die some day. But not to day. You're going to die a very old grandmother, surrounded by your family and loved ones." he says, sounding so sure of himself.

He stands up and offers Samantha a hand, which she takes as she wipes her eyes. She looks at herself, covered in blood and half naked "I suppose... I need some new pants now..." she jokes lamely.

Ness was keeping a keen eye out, ever since Samantha had been shot. They had a sniper rifle now, so that made things a bit easier and since Ness was a great aim (Thanks in part to him telekinetically guiding the bullet where he wanted it to go), they would be able to get to the enemy, before they got to them.

Samantha had the hand gun, and had yet to fire it. Ness wanted to keep it that way. While he always took non lethal shots and popped smoke so those he shot could be  retrieved, he didn't want to tak a chance that Samantha would get careless and end someone.

He knew exactly what it was like to take a life and once one started down that path, it was hard to walk away. Samantha being such a pure young woman, he didn't want that for her.

Still, he couldn't help noticing that she was wearing animal print, side tie panties, which was an odd choice for a kill or be killed battle royal Though, he supposed it was a good thing she Was wearing side ties, otherwise when that bullet hit her hip, it would have shredded her panties as well and what followed would have been a bit too embarrassing for the young woman.

After looking through the complete rules of this 'Battleground' spectacle, because of course it was being televised, Ness found a rule that said that if a person is too badly hurt or otherwise unable to continue, they can pop a green flare to be picked up, provided that they are out of the path of the barrier. So Ness had been wounding, knocking out, inoculating, and popping green smoke.

So far Ness hadn't ended a single person and while there were twenty-five left, Ness still needed to be on guard. Wile he couldn't help those who were already down, he could, at least, keep all of them from dying a senseless death.

Ness holds up a fist, gets on a knee, takes careful aim, though it didn't help that he only had a 4x scope, and fires! Once, twice, three times! He runs over to the person he shot at. He took out both their weapons, then hit them in the shoulder, aiming so that the bullet wouldn't hit anything vital.

The person was far from down, as they pull out a frying pan! It was over in seconds, as Ness knocks them out, hits them with the hypospray again and pops green smoke.

He eyes the knocked out young woman, then looks over to Samantha "As much as I don't mind you wandering around in your underwear, I feel you should Probably take her pants, since she won't be needing them fo now." he says as he picks up her AR "I'll  be over here, fixing this." he says.

Ness could tell that his comment had mae Samantha blush a bit. That was good. She needed something to distract her from this FUBAR situation she now found herself in.

Ness went on work on the gun, but in truth, he just wanted it for it's ammo. He had picked up an AR from one of the other contestants, they wouldn't be needing it any longer, but it was out of ammo. Now, however, he had some ammo for it. About fifty, or so, rounds.

Samantha comes back with a new pair of shorts on. Ness knew what she did. She got a knife from the knocked out combatant and cut the legs off the pants, making them int shorts "What? It's easier to move in these." she points out.

Ness had to agree with her, as He, himself, was wearing shorts as well. After he loads the AR, he stands and nods to their unconscious fellow in the corner "Did you find anything useful on them?" he asks.

Samantha was looking out the window of the small shack thy were currently in "Someone's coming!" she hisses as she drops to a knee.

Ness looks out the glassless window, hearing a buggy in the distance, closing fast. Ness chambers a round into the AR "Stay here and hold the fort.I'll take care of this and be back." he says as he leaves the AR, taking the sniper rifle and heading out.

Ness runs into the open, where those on the buggy could see him, then he starts running, leading them away from the shack. He coul hear bullets whizzing past, but not for their lack of aim. Ness was deflecting them with his mind. He wanted them good and frustrated.

They were catching up fast, so Ness ducked into the trees. Getting behind a rather large oak, pulling out his rifle, taking aim and putting a round into the tree behind the buggy *Damn! Rookie move, Ness! he thinks to himself as he forgets to lead the target.

Only now, it was too late and he had to move again, as the buggy almost hit him, as it passes Right by him! Ness couldn't fire at the moment, as he was deflecting bullets as well as dodging at the same time.

After words, he starts off once more, and as before, the buggy was right after him. He needed to slow them down somehow, but with a free shooter and the driver pressing him, he would have little options at the moment, than to use his PK attacks, which he wanted to avoid using.

As the buggy was charging at Ness, he jumps into a tree to avoid it and maybe take out that gunman. Because they had a good deal going on there at the moment. One drove while the other fired. Each didn't need to worry about what the other was doing.

Ness was able to use the tree as cover, while he worked on a plan. He got a crazy one and he would need to use some of his PK Focus to make it happen, but if it worked, he would be able to take both driver and shooter out at the same time!

As the buggy passed again, Ness launches himself at the buggy, drop kicking the shooter from behind the buggy, catching the roll bar, shifting his weight, and kicking the driver out as well! It all happened in slow motion for him, but for anyone who had seen it real time would have been simply stunned by the speed of what had just happened.

Both were knocked out and Ness makes sure they wouldn't be a problem later, then goes to gather his weapons, as well as theirs, and makes an upsetting discovery.

He suddenly looks up *Samantha! She's in trouble!*{/i] he thinks as he takes off back towards the shed!

* *

Inside, Sam had her hands tied behind her back at the jerk from before they launched held a gun at her "You know, I Was planning on just shooting you, after I had my fun with you of course, but since I can't get my squad mates on the radio, I guess that teammate of yours Some how managed to take them out!" he says.

He stands and motions for Sam to stand as well "I guess I'll keep you alive for now, take him out, then you and be the winner." he chuckles as the two start out.

[i]"Chester..." a voice whispers, just by the man's ear.

He spins around, gun waving around wildly, looking for whoever said that "What the hell? Who the fuck said that?!" he demands.

"That, that was Ness... He's here and he'll stop you." Samantha says, completely certain of it.

"You shut the Hell up!" he yells as he brings the butt of his gun down on the back of Samantha's neck, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Chester.. Where are going (where are you going)... " the voice seems to echo everywhere, but nowhere at the same time.

Chester was now spinning around, shooting at random and wildly in every direction "Who the hell are you? Where the fuck are you?" he demands as he runs out of ammo. He stops his mad firing as he frantically goes to reload his gun.

"Here... (i'm right here)... I'm over here... (i am everywhere)..." the voice was Everywhere all at once now, repeating the same thing over and over, getting louder and louder, until "I'm right here." Ness says, as he was suddenly There!

Ness was Armed to the teeth! He had his Kar98k, an M416, two P92s, and a crossbow "You have something of mine. I would thank you to return my teammate, unharmed..." he levels the M416 at Chester "Now, if you don't mind." he says in an even voice.

Chester grabs Samantha painfully by the hair "Drop your weapons..." he points his gun at Sam's head "Or I'll put a bullet in her brain." he says in a cool tone.

Ness shakes his head "No. I don't think you'll do that. After all, she's the only thing keeping me from lightning your ass up." he says "I think it's You, who will drop their weapon first." he corrects.

For a few minuets, both men were frozen in place. Chester's gun pointed at Samantha, and Ness' gun pointed at Chester. Chester slowly lowers his gun "Tell you what. How about we fight like men. Without guns. Just fists and knives." he suggests.

Ness nods slowly "Alright. You're on. Lower your gun and I'll do the same." he says.

Chester places his gun on the ground, then motions for Ness to do the same. Ness unslings his three guns and places them on the ground. Chester whips out a Karambit knife while Ness slowly pulls out a Kabar.

Ness moves out of the way so Chester can exit the small shed and both men stand off against one another, both waiting for the other to make a move. Ness was as still as a statue, while Chester makes the first move, which was a lunging slash, aimed at ending this fight quickly!

This Chester fellow had some skill with a knife, that was for sure. But Ness had More skill with a knife. Ness was able to dodge, block, or counter everything Chester was throwing at him, and wile Chester wanted to end this quickly, Ness did not.

Ness wanted to teach Chester a lession in humility before ending the fight. So until then, they were playing a little game of back and fort.

Chester takes a skillful stab, then a quick and sharp slash as Ness, who dodges the stab and redirects the slash "Why the Hell can't I hit you!?" Chester demands as he slashes at Ness once more, only to have Ness dance back out of his range.

"That's a simple question t answer: Because I don't Want you to hit me, silly." he says, taunting his foe "Now here's something to take to heart, as good as you believe you are..." he starts, blocking another attack "There's Always someone Better! Unless you're me that is." he says with a cheeky grin.

This only serves to enrage Chester even more, who lets out a bellow as he lunges at Ness, who dances out of the way and was getting ready to counter attack when all of he sudden *CLUNG!!* Chester suddenly goes down and standing behind him was Samantha, who was holding a frying pan.

All he wind was Just taken out of Ness' sails by this as he lowers his knife "Did you just knock that man out with a Frying Pan?" he asks.

Samantha lets the pan drop to the ground "It was the only thing around. Besides, we're on a clock, remember?" she reminds Ness about the barrier.

Ness slides his knife back and moves towards his guns "I guess you're ri-" he was suddenly cut off as something hits his shoulder, spinning hm around and to the ground, not even a second later they hear the sound of a Very high powered gun going off in the distance, as the two scramble for cover!

ness starts working on his shoulder while Samantha gets some of the weapons "Most of those are useless. The Kar's bold is bent, so it's useless... he says as he heals the bone "The SMGs don't have he range needed to take down that sniper..." he was calm the whole time he was working on his arm "The only thing that could hit tem is the AR,but it only has one shot." he finishes.

Sammy was panicking "How are you This calm? You were just Shot!" she points out as she starts to hyperventilate.

Ness pauses in what he was doing and places a hand on Sam's shoulder, like before "Samantha. I need you calm. We'll get out of this, one way or the other." he says. She slowly nods and Ness goes back to work on his arm "As hard as it is to believe, this isn't my first firefight or my first tim getting shot." he says as he finishes up his arm.

Ness rotates it with very limited results "It'll have to do for now." he takes the AR and looks through the scope, making adjustments here and there, before handing it to Samantha "Okay, this is how it's going to work out..." he starts "I'll draw their fire, while you line them up and knock them down." he says, hading the AR back to Sam.

She looked unsure of this plan "It's easy. You simply need to line the target up with the scope, then squeeze the trigger, don't pull it." he advises.

Ness gets up and heads over to the door "Okay, let's do this!" he says as he rushes out of the door and shots start ringing out almost immediately!

Ness was intentonally making the shots miss, like usual, hoping to cause them to use up all their ammo, but it seemed like they spent this whole time looting ammo for that one gun.

Ness ducks behind a tree, as the sniper starts to Tear he tree apart! Ness had an idea as he pulls out a small mirror and angles it so he suns light catches Right in the scope of the gun and a single shot rings out, but Ness could tell of was from Samantha.

Ness' radio crackles "Ness! I did it! I destroyed their rifle!" she radios in, sounding excited "Oh hell! They're coming this way! What do I do?" she asks, sounding panicky now.

Ness looks around for something, but didn't really find it. So  he takes off is backpack and pulls out an old six shooter and fires three shots into the air "Sam, are they coming to see what's going on?" he asks.

There was silence on the other side for a moment "no... but they hid behind the same rocks we were hiding behind..." she whispers.

Ness took this time to high tail it back to where they were hold up. He could see the two running, so he jumps in a tree to keep an eye on them, until he sees Samantha also running! The circle, it was closing in!

Ness jumps down and catches Samantha before she passes him "Whoa here, show down!" he says "The circle can't hurt us, remember?" he reminds her as the blue radiation passes them with no effect "See? Now we have time to plan out what we're gonna do." he says, patting Samantha on the back "Come on. We have work to do."

Since they had no ranged weapons, they needed to play things smart. The frying pan, Ness found out, could deflect incoming bullets, which would be handy. So Ness took it, and gave Samantha the crow bar.

They were entering the final phase of the battle, as there were only a dozen people left, it seemed. Ness was slightly upset that he couldn't go all out and prevent all those people from dying *Damn that Eye of Magnus energy messing with my PK skills...* he thinks, bitterly.

He wasn't going to dwell Too much on it, after all, he learned the lesson that you couldn't save them all when Krypton exploded and he could do Nothing to save it or most of it's population.

There were some shots ringing out off in the distance and Ness decided it was probably a good idea to avoid them, since they didn't have any guns... so Ness started out towards the fighting!

There weren't any drones watching this skirmish, so Ness used his PK skills to knock both teams out and he and Samantha looted them. They now had some guns!

Ness nods, after checking the weapons over "These will do nicely." he says as he looks over to Sammy. She looked tired and Ness checks the barrier clock, they had a little time to rest.

Ness heads towards a house that's long since been looted "We'll rest here for now. I think we earned it." he says as he sits "Here, eat something." he says as he hands Samantha a ration "Once you win, you and your family will never have to eat crap like this again." he says.

Samantha frowns "What about you? You'll also have a share in that prize as well." she points out.

Ness shakes his head "Money isn't important to me. Besides, I've got all I would ever need." he says with a wave of a hand "Truth be told? I have a bit Too much money. So much so that I don't use it all." he mumbles.

Samantha pauses mid way eating her ration "So... why did you join the Battle Royal, if you don't need money?" she asks, a bit baffled.

Ness shrugs "I entered because you needed my help. Simple as that." he says "As hard as it may be to believe, there Are good people out there. I just happen to relate with that group." he says as he keeps look out.

Samantha had conked out after eating. She needed the rest. They had been going on adrenaline for a little over two days. And while Ness could endure, Sam couldn't and was quickly going to burn herself out.

When they had fifteen minuets until the zone shrank, Ness woke Sam up "Hey, time to wake up. We have to get moving before the zone comes in." he says.

Samantha slowly gets up "W-why... do we need to move? It can't hurt us, right?" she asks, still groggy.

Ness nods slowly "Yeah, it can't hurt us, but we don't want to appear to have cheated the system. That's kinda frowned upon." he points out as he takes out a small syringe looking thing that had no needle in it "Here. It's a stim. It'll wake you up as well as give you a boost for most of the day." he says as he hands it over.

Ness had checked their weapons for the fifth time. He had a VSS and Sam had a UMP, both used 9mm ammo, so they would have to share. Neither of them had a scope, but Ness really didn't need one and since Sam would only be providing cover fire, she didn't need one either.

Once they were ready, both headed out, ready to take the lead. They would need to be careful and pick their fights. As it turned out, there were some Very skilled shooters out there. Skilled enough to give Ness a pause, if he were a cautious person.

Ness shouldered his VSS in favor for a hand gun and the skillet. He was more than confident in his ability to block oncoming fire with the skillet, and return fire with either his gun or Sam's SMG.

He didn't have to wait to put that to the test, as he senses a bullet heading towards him and raises the kitchen utensil up just in time (because it's Always 'Just in time') to block the bullet meant to take his life.

He didn't need to wait long for someone to open fire, as Sam started shooting in the direction of where she saw the muzzle flash, this prompted Ness to do the same. Though he had to admit that his plinker wasn't doing Nearly as much damage as Samantha's SMG.

Ness could almost Hear his gun making a *PEW-PEW* as he fired. So he took a second to switch out and provide Sam some cover fire so she could find something to hide behind. She would do the same for Ness and he chose to hide about ten, or so, feet from Sam, that way their foes needed to divide their focus.

"They're zone camping!" Sam says "They stay at the edge of a zone and pick off those who try to come in from the closing zone area." she says.

Ness nods *Very clever . By pinning down anyone trying to get out of the blue, they ensure they get stuck in it and than die from it.* he thinks to himself*They don't know that tactic won't work on us, though, so that gives us an advantage...* he thinks.

"Ness! Another team is coming up on our position!" Sam warns, snapping Ness out of his thoughts and sure enough, there was another duo coming up on them. They had their weapons slung, showing that they weren't a threat or going to attack.

"Whoa, Whoa! We come in peace!" he says as he throws his hands up "Look! No weapons drawn!" he says "We're just trying to get out of the zone like you two and thought we could help each other." he explains.

Ness thinks for a bit "Okay. We'll take it. But if you two try anything funny until then, I'll take you both out myself." he warns.

The guy nods "I saw you deflect that bullet from before, I believe you." he says "What are we dealing with?" he asks.

Ness taps the rock he was behind and pauses for a moment "We have a full squad of four. Their sniper has an AWM, two squad mates have scars and the last one has a Thompson. They're loaded and while they have level 3 vests, they're damaged as well." he explains, then looks over to his new squad "We have our work cut out for us." he says.

Ness thinks for a bit "Okay, I'm gonna distract their sniper, you two come in from the sides to get the others and Sam, I want you to come up from the rear and flank them." he says.

Both from the other team nod "Okay..." he says as he hands Ness a smoke grenade "Use it when you feel the need to. But use it wisely. It's my only one." he cautions.

Ness looks around, placing his hand on the rock "They are holding positions... we're too far out of their throwing range, so we don't have to worry about nades... I'm gonna pop the smoke as a diversion for you three can head out." he says as he pulls the pin and throws it.

A second later the smoke grenade explodes! The sniper shot it out of the air, which was what Ness was looking for "He's a damn good shot... I can see why he's got the rifle..." he mumbles.

Still, the grenade did what it was suppose to as smoke filled the area. Ness turns the others in the directions he wanted them to go and pats them on the back to get them moving. Ness grabs the skillet and hops over the rock and charges through the smoke!

As soon as he emerged, shots started to ring out as Ness smacked them away with the skillet! It was when the other started to open fire is when he was forced to take cover. As good as he was, he wasn't That good.

He pulls out his VSS and starts blind firing at the group, trying to keep their attention focused on him. But unless he's a threat, that sniper won't fire any longer. He Also couldn't risk throwing any nades, because if it was shot out of the air once before, there's a good chance it'll happen again.

Ness listens to their pattern of fire. They were staggering their fire. One would fire while the other held off and the others would fire while the one was reloading *Very smart...* he thinks *The only thing I can do now, is Batter Meditation for the others...* he thinks as he sits down and starts meditating.

While Ness sat there, meditating, the others suddenly became more aware of their surrounds and everything not only became more clear, but sharper as well. They seemed to be able to hear everything, see everything and could react many times better than they once could!

While Sam was on her way, she instinctively knew a better place to go, would be the high ground, that way she could snipe the sniper, while the other two take care of his friends and while she found a good vantage point, it would normally take some time to get up there, but she found herself climbing like she never thought possible!

Meanwhile, the other two were moving with the stealth of a cold wind and just as fast. Once they got into position, they waited for Sam to check in and when she did, they would attack!

With the VSS, Sam Really didn't have a good scope on it. But it was like someone was guiding her aim as she slowly moved the sights on what looked like the sniper who was pinning Ness down, and squeezes the trigger.

The two heard the shot ring out and there was sudden cursing from the sniper "God Damn! Take cover! We're under attack!" he orders as the others scramble!

Ness was still sitting by his cover, meditating when he heard shots ringing out and cursing, once everything quiets down, Ness keeps still until Samantha comes jogging over, then he stops.

"What were you doing?" she asks, slightly annoyed that he was meditating while she, his teammate, was risking her life.

"I got pinned down by that sniper, who was a Very good aim, and did the only thing I could do. I used a technique called 'Battle Meditating' to help you and the other two." he says, then raises a brow "I assume you took them down after we got the campers handled?" he asks.

She nods "Yeah. They would have become a problem for us later, so I handled the situation..." she nods towards the rock "They're over there if you want to give them their injections." she says, confirming what Ness already knew, that they were still alive.

Ness nods "You did great out there. Come on, lets go win us a chicken dinner." he says, patting Sam on the back as the two headed off.

There were now six people left on the field. One full squad of four and Ness and Sam. It would be tricky to get the win, since all eyes would be focused on them, so Ness couldn't use his usual tricks. Which was alright with him. He had many more Other tricks he could rely on.

It wouldn't be hard to find them either, as they would likely be located near the center of the circle. Which was some distance away. They would need a vehicle to get there before the blue came in. It didn't take them long to find one either. Ness would drive, since Samantha didn't really know how, preferring to walk where she needed.

After giving the bike a quick check, it was in decent shape, if a bit low on gas. But Ness would have to make the best of it. He knew how to baby a throttle.

Once on the road, they traveled in silence. Ness was working out how they would take down the final team. They Had enough weapons and ammo now. Thanks to the campers. The problem was, he was pretty sure the final team were good at 'lay-and-wait' tactics, otherwise they wouldn't have made it This far.

Ness stops the bike some distance from the next town, where he Knew the last team was waiting "Listen, when we get there, find a shady place to lay low and let me do all the work." he says "We've come so close to winning, I don't want to risk losing it all now." he says.

Samantha frowns "I don't like the idea of you taking on a full squad all by yourself." she says "There has to be something I can do to help out with them." she offers.

Ness nods "There is, stay hidden and leave them to me." he says "This is what I do and believe me when I say, I'm Very good at what I do." he points out as he continues towards the town "So when we get there, I want you to Stay hidden. I can't do my job correctly if I have to worry about you as well." he says.

Samantha doesn't say anything, but only nods somberly. She didn't like leaving this all to Ness, like she had been doing since he approached her. However, that seemed to be how he liked doing things, on his own and while she didn't like it, she had to admit, he Was pretty good at it.

Ness stops again and jumps off "This is as far as we go on the bike. We have to move quickly. They would have heard us coming and are moving to get a good line of sight on us." he says as he hoists the AA12 and starts jogging to the nearest building. Sam followed close behind.

Ness suddenly stops "What? What's wrong?" Samantha asks, almost running into Ness.

"We're being watched..." he mumbles as he slowly reaches for his skillet. They both hear a shot ring off not Too far away and Ness moves at speeds that one would call 'Not normal' and smacks the bullet away with the skillet! "Run!" he commands as he blocks another shot!

Samantha takes off running towards an old garage to hunker down in as Ness makes his way towards their would be attacker. She pulls out her handgun that Ness first gave her and finds a place to hide.

She could hear the shots of a single gun ringing out, but it was soon followed by the sounds of multiple weapons, one was Ness' AA12, there was also the sound of a high powered rifle, possibly a KAR.

Suddenly, all was silent, then an explosion rocks the silence of the small town, followed by more shooting. It was moving away, to be sure, probably Ness herding the remaining squad members away from Sam. Another explosion, more shots, finally silence once more, then an air raid siren sounds off, signaling the end of this years Battle Grounds. Ness had done it!

Samantha blinks, surprised. She had Actually survived? Not only did she survive, but she had Won? She shakes her head, clearing her thoughts *What about Ness!* she thinks, alarmed. That was a whole Lot of shooting that had gone on and Ness only had an AA12, a handgun and that damned skillet!

She holsters her gun and draws her AR as she rushes out, trying to cover all the open areas she could find, like Ness had taught her to do. She Wanted to call out to him, but she knew better than to give her position away, just incase there was someone out there who didn't want her to win.

She pauses in her search as she sees the drone cameras following her. In the silence, she could hear the sound of an approaching chopper. She paid it little mind as she continued to look for Ness, her teammate, and her hero who came to her rescue when she needed help the most.

She finds where the last stand had taken place and it looked in shambles. Those grenades really did a number on the area. But than, so did the hail of bullets and it was clear that Ness had done his job well. She found three of the four people from the last squad, but the last one, as well as Ness, was missing.

The chopper was upon the island and Samantha pulls out a smoke grenade and tosses it after pulling the pin. Within a few minuets, the chopper was circling the town, but touches down outside of it and Sam goes walking out to meet it.

'Samantha Ramirez? Congratulations! You are this years Battle Royal winner!" says the BR representative "Let's get you on the chopper and to a hotel so you can get yourself checked out and cleaned up." he says, motioning for her to follow him.

"W-wait! What about my teammate, Ness? He was fighting the last squad and I can't find him!" she says, she needed to find him to thank him for going through all of this madness for her and her family.

"Here I am!""Ness yell, waving an arm about ten yards away. He was slowly limping towards Sam and the BR representative, a wound in his upper leg that had been bandaged off as well as him holding his arm, having been injured there as well.

Samantha runs over to help him "Ness! My God, what happened? Are you alright?" she asks, as she gives him a shoulder to lean on.

Ness nods "Yeah. I wasn't fast enough and caught the tail end of a nade. That's how my right side got messed up and soon after I took a hit to the leg." he says "It's all very embarrassing, really." he says with a chuckle.

There were two guys from chopper coming over to Ness with a stretcher. Ness had No objections to accepting their aid "There are multiple survivors on the island who also need medical attention." he says to the representative.

The man nods "We know. Although it's unusual to have this many people left, we're sending choppers to pick them up and tend to their wounds." he says as Ness is loaded onto the chopper "Come on. There are some people I would like you to meet." he says as the chopper lifts off, leaving the Battle Royal island behind.

It was the usual meet and greet for Sam and Ness. He had gone through all this before, after he had won the Hunger Games and Twisted Metal, so he knew how to put on a show for the people.

Sam looked just as nervous here, as she did when she was fighting squads bent on ending her. Ness leans in "Keep calm and let me do the talking." he says.

The two head out to meet the press and give a statement. Ness really shined in this aspect. He answered all the questions thrown at him and the ones he Didn't want to answer, he either dodged around or answered with a question of his own.

Once that was over, Sam and Ness had to go to a winners ceremony, where they would be crowned the champions and given all the perks afforded to them for winning this years Battle Royal.

World fame and unlimited money! Sam was beside herself, she was so happy! She could now take care of her family. She looks over to Ness "I, uh, I wanted to tell you, thank you... but that would seem pretty small, when stacked against everything you've done for me." she says.

Ness waves a hand "Don't worry about it. The only thing I ask for my help, is a picture to remember you by." he says, holding up a strange camera.

Sam blinks in surprise "You're not staying?" she asks.

Ness shakes his head "Nope. I've always had a bad case of wanderlust, so now with all this money, I can finally head out and see this vast world. So after we part here, we'll most likely never see each other again." he explains.

This got a sad look on Sam's face that she didn't try to hide "I understand. You need to take care of yourself the way you see fit and for you, it's traveling the world..." she smiles. It was the first time he had seen her smile "I will wish you the very best in all your endeavors." she says.

Ness smiles back "That smile looks good on you. Do me a favor? Never stop being positive." he says as he snaps a few pictures of her and at least two of the both of them.

After he puts his stuff away, he hefts his backpack with a baseball bat and that damn skillet. Samantha chuckles lightly "You're keeping that?" she asks.

Ness nods "You bet. I'm always on the look out for new and exciting weapons and this is one of those exciting ones." he says with a chuckles as well "Well, I'm going to head off. You take care of yourself and your family. Remember, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything." he says, holding out a hand.

Sam brushes his hand aside and moves in for a hug. Ness could tell that she meant that hug. This was why he did what he does, because people need someone to believe in "Thank you for saving me." she whispers, then kisses him on the cheek, lets him go "Good bye, my friend." she says as she backs away. Ness could see tears springing in her eyes as she heads into the other room.

Sighing, Ness adjusts his backpack and heads out. He pulls out a good amount of money before he heads to a secluded spot, doesn't even bother making sure the coast was clear before he opened a PK Vortex, then he looks back. He had a feeling that Samantha would be just fine now. With that, he heads through the portal, on to new adventures.

((This thread is now closed...))