The Amazing Ken

         Brock screamed as he was lifted higher and higher into the night sky, and farther and farther from the street below. His intentions that night were to break into the bank and steal enough money to feed his family of squirrels living at home with him. Brock had a flashback of the week before...
         Brock had gotten fired from his job, and now he only had enough money to feed himself. His squirrels were starving. Brock needed to act fast. And so he decided he would attempt to rob the bank. He planned all week long: mapping out the location of security cameras, what the best point of entry would be, and how he would escape. All had gone according to plan that night, except for the fact that The Amazing Ken happened to be flying overhead just as Brock was picking the lock to the bank's front door.
         And now Brock was 100 feet above the bank, and still rising. He looked up, and The Amazing Ken stopped. They hovered in mid-air for a minute, and then The Amazing Ken released his grip on Brock. Brock began falling, arms flailing, towards the ground. He closed his eyes, and waited for the rough impact that would cause immense pain . . . but it didn't come. Instead, Brock fell into something soft, which cushioned the fall. He opened his eyes, and saw he was in the back of a pick-up truck, filled with pillows. The Amazing Ken was in the driver seat and leaned out the window and laughed. The Amazing Ken pulled a lever, and the bed of the pick-up truck tilted up, spilling the pillows and Brock off the truck and into a police van. A cop slammed the van door shut, and walked over to The Amazing Ken.
         "Great job tonight, Amazo. Good thing we have you with us, or psycho's like this would be all over. How about you come with us to the donut shop? It's about 11:30 and the donut shop will be empty this late," said the cop.
         "Sorry officer, I have things to do tonight. Maybe another time," said Amazo. He opened the door of the truck, stepped out, and flew off into the starry night.
         The Amazing Ken arrived at his house, and walked in the front door. He took off his costume, threw it in the washer, and then went into his bedroom. He stood in front of the mirror, and grinned. "Good job tonight, Ken. Another nutter off the streets." Ken turned on his computer, and sat down in his chair. As he turned on Instant Messenger, he saw that one of his best friends was online.
         That night Ken and Neno had a conversation that spanned three hours; involving subjects ranging from school, to underwear, to movies, and back to underwear. After Neno signed offline, Ken took off his glasses and lay in bed. He smiled in the dark as he remembered something Neno had said: "I kept hearing noises from the tree outside my room earlier, but I couldn't see anything. It was really weird!" He was glad she hadn't seen him hiding in her tree. He sighed as he rolled over, and fell asleep.

         The next day, Ken was at work. The Dollar Tree had called that morning, waking Ken up at 10:00 in the morning. They wanted him to come in early, and so he did. Later that night, he was running the register when he saw someone come in the door that made him do a quick double-take. He thought maybe he had imagined it, when a few minutes later she came up to the register with a pack of tampons. "Hi Ken!"
         "Hey Neno, what's up?" he asked. He scanned her tampons, and she handed him two dollars.
         "Not much. How's work." She asked him. Ken was trying to get the change, but he couldn't keep his hands still.
         "Lots of fun," he said, and tried a laugh but it came out shaky and awkward. He kept his eyes down, avoiding hers, and stared at the three pennies that just wouldn't stay in his hand. He finally grabbed them, and reached out to hand her the change . . . but dropped it all over the counter. The coins rolled everywhere, some dropping on the floor. She bent over to grab them, and Ken looked up at her. Her hair was tied back, and she had on a silver necklace with a peace-sign hanging from it. Looking at her, he felt warmer, and was glad there was no one else in line. She looked up at him, and laughed.
         "Thanks a lot Ken. Throw my change on the floor; real nice." Ken laughed too, this time it sounded normal.  All of a sudden he felt a strange feeling of anxiety hit him. The last time this happened was right before Ken saw a plane that he had to save, because it had caught on fire. He now associated this feeling towards something bad happening soon.
         ‘No, not now. What could it be?' He thought.          He looked around, and didn't see anything that could go wrong. He couldn't see anything outside except the moon and some headlights from cars. Someone walked through the doors, and Ken gave him the "welcome" nod. The guy returned it, and kept walking.
         "What's outside?" Neno asked, as she stood up. Ken stopped looking outside, and looked at her.
         "Nothing. Nice night out tonight, huh?" Ken said, hoping nothing was going to happen.
         "Sure, I guess. How late do you work tonight?" she asked.
         "Umm, till ni-nine thirty." He noticed his stutter, and noticed his hands were still shaky. He put his hands down firmly on the counter so they would stop. She smiled again, and Ken couldn't help but smile too. Just behind Neno, something caught his eye. The man who came in earlier had his back to Ken, but Ken could see with his x-ray vision that the man was putting things in his coat pocket. He felt his pulse quicken after realizing that this guy was stealing. Ken's first reaction was to run and change into his costume; the one he kept under his clothes just incase it was needed. But he couldn't let anyone know his true identity, and Neno would know something was up if he just left. He would have to take care of this one without his powers.
         "Uh oh." Ken said.
         "What?" Neno asked, she followed Ken's gaze behind her, and saw the man.
         "That guy's putting stuff in his pockets." He paused, "I'm going to have to stop him."
         "What about your manager? Just call him, don't put yourself in danger."
         "No, he's outside taking out garbage. He wouldn't hear me calling. I'm going to have to do it myself." Ken said as he walked around the register.
         "Ken, don't do it! What if he has a gun or something?!" Neno grabbed Ken's hand and pulled him back. Ken stood for a minute, Neno holding his hand. He suddenly wanted to stay with her, to not move. But she let go of his hand, and the feelings dropped.
         "No, I have to. You stay here." Ken said as he walked towards the man. Ken had seen with his x-ray vision that the man did have a gun, which is what made him want to confront the man. If the man decided that he wanted the money from the cash register, which would put Neno in danger. So, Ken had to stop the man.
         "Excuse me, sir. Can I help you find something?" The man turned around, and looked at Ken.
         "No, I'm doing fine on my own." The man said, and then turned around. Ken cleared his throat.
         "You know you've hit all time low when you're stealing from a dollar store." The man turned around again.
         "What?"
          "You heard me. Why don't you put this stuff back where you found it, and get out of the store? I won't call the police, you won't get in trouble, everyone will be happy. What do you say?"
         "I say, why don't you just walk back over to your girlfriend, and leave me alone before I punch your face in?" Ken smiled.
         "She's not my girlfriend. And no, I'm not leaving. You are." Finally the man pulled out a bunch of candles and pencils and a paint-roller out of his pocket. He put them on the shelf, and walked out the doors.
         "Oh my god! Ken! That was amazing! You made him leave!" Neno said as she ran over to him.
         "Ah, it was nothing." Ken said, his face burning.
         They talked a little longer until Ken's manager came in the door. Neno told the manager everything that happened, and Ken said she was right. The manager told Ken he did a good job, and gave him a raise.
         When Neno was leaving, Ken had a strong urge to call her back, to ask her out on a date, to ask her if she wanted to hang out, anything. But he didn't. She stopped before leaving, and said "See you online tonight!" Ken smiled and waved as she walked out.
         As he was remembering what happened, Ken felt that anxiety again. He knew this time it had something to do with that guy again. He put two and two together, and realized Neno was in trouble. He told the manager he was going to be on his ten minute break, and ran into the bathroom. He bumped into someone as they were walking out of the bathroom, but didn't have time to apologize. Ken stripped down to his costume, and ran out the Emergency Fire Exit. Luckily the Dollar Tree doesn't take care of its stuff so the alarm never went off. Ken flew out into the air, and looked down at the parking lot. He saw Neno stopped at the stop sign, leaving the way of the back-roads. He noticed this was weird, because her house is the other way. He decided to follow her from up above, and watched as she drove down the road at a steady speed of 5 MPH. Something was wrong. Ken used his x-ray vision to look into the car, and saw the man who attempted to rob the DT was sitting in Neno's backseat with a gun. He had it pointed at her, and Neno seemed upset.
         Ken felt raindrops on his head, and stopped to think. How could he save Neno without risking her being shot? At once the idea came to him and he flew over to get into position. He took aim, and fired his eye-lasers at the two back tires. Both tires exploded, and suddenly the brake lights flashed on. He saw Neno get out of the car followed by the man. They both walked to the back of the car, and this is when Ken took his chance. He dove out of the sky and smashed into the man. They both went flying through the air, landing in the road. The man shot at Ken, but Ken dodged it. Ken ran at the man and punched him, sending him into the air and landing hard in the street. Ken ran over and grabbed the man, but as he did, the man shot him in the leg. It didn't faze Ken though, because Ken automatically healed himself. Ken flew up into the air again, and before he zoomed off to take the man to jail, he called down to Neno and told her to stay there. A second later, Ken was back and fixed her tires by blowing them back up with air.
         "Thank you so much for saving me, Amazing Ken!" she said. By now the rain was really coming down, and Neno slipped and fell. Ken grabbed her before she hit the road, and for a second her face was right in front of his. Normally he would be very nervous right now, but because he was wearing his bandana across his face to cover his identity, he was fine. He helped her stand straight, and told her he had to be going. She called out to him, but he flew off into the sky.
         Ken checked his watch, and saw that he had only a minute left of his break. He flew back into the store through the fire exit, and back into the bathroom. He changed, dried off with the paper-towels, and went to clock back in.

         That night, Ken got online and Neno was already on. He didn't talk much that night, because he was tired from the earlier battle. He still enjoyed their conversation, and was sad to have to sign off early. After shutting down his computer Ken got into bed, took off his glasses, and closed his eyes.
         Ken was standing in a corn field. Corn was everywhere. It was day time, but the immense fog that surrounded him blocked out most of the light. He heard screams for help and recognized the voice. "Neno?!" he called out. The only answer was more screams. Ken started walking through the corn, towards the screams. He tried using his x-ray vision to see through the corn, but the fog blocked out his vision. "Hello?" he tried yelling, but no answer. Suddenly there were footsteps behind him, the crunching of corn stalks. He turned around, and was hit in the face before he saw who it was. Ken awoke in a dark room, where there was only one lit light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Under the light bulb was Neno, tied to a chair. He tried calling out to her, but all that came out was a whisper. Her eyes were closed as if she wasn't awake. A door opened up somewhere in the dark, off to Ken's right.
         Suddenly the whole room lit up. The florescent bulbs shone down, causing Ken to squint against the sudden brightness. All he could make out was a man standing in front of him. Ken looked down, and his eyes adjusted so that he could see he was tied to a chair like Neno.
         "Hello, Amazing Ken. I finally found you."
         "Who are you?" Ken asked.
         "My name is Nightmare. At least, that's what everyone calls me."
         "What do you want with me?"
         "I want to defeat you, of course. You see, it's very hard to commit any crimes when YOU'RE around. Without you I can do as I please."
         "Where am I?"
         "You're in a dream. A nightmare, if you will. Except in this nightmare, anything that happens to you here happens in real life."
         "Why is she here?" Ken said, trying to make it seem like Ken didn't know Neno, in hopes to keep her safe.
         "Who? This girl?" he pointed his thumb over his back at her, "I thought you knew her, seeing as though you saved her today."
         "I save everyone, what would make her special?"
         "You tell me. You sure ran out of that bathroom pretty fast." Ken suddenly had a flashback of running out of the dollar store bathroom. He remembered seeing someone, and figured it was this guy.
         "I knew I didn't have long. I do that for everyone."
         "Hmm. You know, I can usually read people's minds, but for some reason I can't get into yours. You must have some great powers. Shame you won't have them much longer." Nightmare said as he started walking towards Ken. Ken pulled on the ropes that tied his wrists to the chair as hard as he could, and they snapped. He then got up, and grabbed the chair, and smashed it across Nightmare's face. Nightmare flew into the wall, and fell to the ground. Ken ran over, and untied Neno. She was still asleep, and he couldn't wake her. He picked up her, and carried her as he ran out of the room.
         Ken was running down a long hall, and all the way down at the end he saw an EXIT sign. He figured that was the way out of the dream, so he was headed that way. Black smoke suddenly filled the hallway, and something hit Ken in the face. Ken flew backwards and Neno flew up into the air. Ken hit the ground, pushed himself back up, dove, and caught Neno before she hit the ground. Something came at Ken again, but he dodged it, and kept running at the door. He could hear the thing right behind him, keeping up. Ken reached the door, and burst through it.
         Ken awoke, freezing cold, with goose bumps on his arms. He was breathing hard, and his face hurt where he was hit in the dream. He checked the clock, and it read 6:24 AM. Ken lay back on his pillow, and tried to calm down. Everything was silent, except for a loud meowing coming from nearby. Ken used his night-vision to see his room, and saw his cat sleeping on the ground, twitching around and meowing.
         "Tigger. Hey, wake up! Hey!" Ken called, but his cat didn't wake up. Ken walked over and shook him, but he still wouldn't wake up. Ken felt the cat's heartbeat, and it was very fast. Ken realized that Nightmare must be in his cat's dream too. Ken grabbed his cat, and flew to the vet's office.
         Still in his pajamas, Ken was sitting in the waiting room at the vet's office. The vet had taken his cat into a room, and was still in the room. The door opened, and the vet came out.
         "Ken? Your cat will not wake up, and I don't know why. I think its best just to wait it out, and see how he is when he wakes up. If you'd like, you can wait in the room with him. Call me when he wakes up." The doctor said, and walked away. Ken went into the room, sat on the chair, and fell asleep.
         He awoke to the sound of a door opening then shutting. He opened his eyes, and after they adjusted, he had to rub them to make sure he wasn't still sleeping. Neno was sitting in the chair opposite his.
         "Good morning Ken. How're you doing?" Neno said.
         "Wha--. How did you know I was here?" Ken asked. He still thought he may be sleeping.
         "My dad is a vet here; he told me you came in this morning with your cat."
         "Oh. Umm," he cleared his throat, "yeah, I'm doing OK. It's just my cat, he was acting weird when he was sleeping and wouldn't wake up."
         "Oh, I see. He's still not awake. But he's not moving around, so that's good."
         "Yeah, it is." Ken said.
         "Oh my god, Ken I forgot to tell you what happened to me yesterday. You'll never guess."
         "Um, does it involve the Amazing Ken?"
         "How did you know?!" Neno asked, surprised.
         "Lucky guess." Ken said with a grin.
         "Wow, nice. Anyways, yeah, so after I left the dollar store yesterday, I got in my car and started it. All of a sudden I hear a voice behind me that says ‘Do what I tell you to do, or I'll shoot you.' It was that guy who you kicked out of the store! He had me driving out the back roads, and would have probably killed me if it wasn't for the Amazing Ken. He shot out my back tires, and when we got out of the car to look, The Amazing Ken attacked the guy! It was really amazing."
         "It sounds like it." Ken said.
         "Did you really guess, or did you know somehow that I was saved?" Neno asked.
         "Well, I'm friends with The Amazing Ken. He told me about it." Ken said. He straightened up in his chair, and leaned forwards a little bit. "He actually helped me get here this morning faster, so I could help my cat."
         "Aw." Neno said, and held Ken's hand. "Its fine, you're cat will be OK. But wait, did Amazing Ken mention me at all? Me in particular, not just the part where he saved me?"
         Ken laughed a little, and felt strange. His hands weren't getting all sweaty from being close to Neno, and he felt comfortable. He wasn't sure what was going on. He could think much clearer.
         Ken looked up at her. "Yeah, he did mention you."
         "What'd he say?"
         "Uh...he said...he asked me what I thought about you."
         "And what did you say?" Neno asked. She was looking back at Ken.
         "I said...uh...'Amazing Ken', I said ‘The great thing about Neno is... when you look into her eyes and she's looking back in yours... everything... feels... not quite normal. You feel like you can do anything you want, but weaker at the same time. You feel excited, and at the same time, terrified. The truth is... you don't know what you feel. It's as if you've reached the unreachable, and you weren't ready for it."
         "You said that?" Neno asked. Her voice was soft and quiet.
         "Well," Ken cleared his throat, "something like that."
         "Ken - ", Neno started to say, but the door opened up and the vet came in.
         "Oh, sorry Neno, am I interrupting something?" The vet said, seeing Neno and Ken holding hands.
         "It's fine." Ken said. The doctor put down his clipboard and looked at Ken's cat. The doctor rubbed its stomach, and the cat opened its eyes.
         "It seems to me like Tigger is fine now. He must have just been having a little nightmare." The doctor said. At the word ‘nightmare', Ken shivered. He still felt the sting on his face, and the chill from the fog.
         "That's good. Thank you." Ken said. He started to stand up, and let go of Neno's hands. He had to get home and think about how he was going to stop Nightmare from attacking him again, or anyone else he knew.
         "Ken, how are you getting home?" Neno asked him. Ken realized that he had flown here. How was he going to get home?
         "Umm, I don't know. Amazing Ken flew me here, but I don't think he's giving me a ride home."
         "Well, I can give you a ride home." Neno said, and smiled.
         "OK, thanks." Neno stood up and said good-bye to her father, and Ken picked up his cat and the three of them walked out to Neno's car. Ken got into the passenger side with his cat and Neno into the driver side.

         When Neno pulled into Ken's driveway, Ken looked over at her. He thanked her again for giving him a ride home, and she told him it wasn't a problem. Ken made a final decision in his head, and decided to go for it.
         "Neno, I want to ask you something."
         "Sure, what is it?" Neno asked. She was looking back at Ken.
         "Will you - ", Ken started to say, but he was interrupted by a loud noise. Neno dug around in her purse, and pulled out her phone.
         "Oh shoot. I have to go Ken. Ask me tonight, online, OK?"
         "Yeah, I could. See you later, Neno." Ken said, as he climbed out of her car.
         "Bye Ken!" she said as she pulled out of his driveway, and Ken watched her drive away.
         
         That night, Ken was anxious for Neno to sign on. It was 10:00, the usual time their conversations started. He was listening to Matchbox Twenty, and still trying to come up with a good plan to take down Nightmare.
         When he looked at the clock, and saw that it was 10:45, he wondered if she was going to get online tonight. He started feeling disappointed, and almost signed off until he saw Neno's screen name come online. Ken sent her a message saying "hi", but she didn't respond. He tried again:
         Ken23: hi
         Neno04: Hello Ken.
         Ken23: what's up?
         Neno04: Ken, I have some bad news.
         Ken23: what do you mean? What's wrong?
         Neno04: This isn't Neno.
         Ken23: ...who is this?
         Neno04: Think.
         
         Ken thought for a moment, and then he realized who he was talking to. The very person he had been planning against.
         
         Ken23: Nightmare?
         Neno04: LOL, how'd you know?
         Ken23: where's Neno?!
         Neno04: She's safe. For now. Now, The Amazing Ken, let's make a deal.
         Ken23: a deal?
         Neno04: Sure. I'll tell you where she is, but only if you come alone. Deal?
         Ken23: sure. Where is she??
         
         Ken wrote down the address that Nightmare gave him, and then signed off. He quickly changed into his costume, and ran up the basement stairs. Once on the top floor, he burst through the front door, and off into the night sky. It was 10:54.32 when he left, and when he arrived 30 miles away in front of a warehouse, it was 10:54.52.
         The dark warehouse in front of him towered three floors high. The windows were boarded up, and the only way in seemed to be through the garage door. Ken used his x-ray vision to look through the walls, and see if there was a trap ready, but he couldn't see into the building. His x-ray vision was being blocked by something. Ken looked around, and decided to fly to the roof. He landed quietly on top of the flat roof, and looked around. There was a door across from him, which probably held the stairs to descend into the warehouse. Ken decided that the stairs would probably be a better way of entry.
         He pulled the door knob, and began to climb down the metal stairs. The stairs ended on a metal balcony three stories up, which was slightly illuminated by a few hanging light bulbs. Ken stuck to the shadows, and searched the top floor for any sign of Neno. He heard scratching noises, but couldn't see where they were coming from. He saw little shadows darting around on the floor, but couldn't make out what they were. He used his night-vision, and saw that tons of little squirrels were running around. Ken couldn't understand why they were all here, until he noticed some dust falling from the ceiling. He looked up, and saw a man climbing along the ceiling. Suddenly the man dropped, and landed a few feet in front of Ken. The man was wearing brown tights that were covered in fur. Ken recognized this man from a few days ago.
         "Hello, Amazing Ken." The Squirrel Man said.
         "I thought you were in jail for robbing a bank?" Ken asked him, not believing his eyes.
         "Nightmare helped me out. He freed me from jail, and promised to feed my squirrels in return for my help in destroying you."
         "You are going to destroy me?"
         "That's right, get ready for the pain." Squirrel Man said as he ran at Ken. Squirrel Man attempted to tackle Ken, but Ken just stepped out of the way. Squirrel Man hit the wall, and crumpled to the floor. He yelled out, "Get them my friends!" The squirrels all ran at Ken and leapt into the air. Two landed on Ken's arms, but Ken shook them off. One landed on his face, and Ken grabbed it and threw it. Ken looked around, and saw a bucket with the word ‘Glue' on it. He grabbed the glue and dumped it on Squirrel Man. Ken then grabbed Squirrel Man's pouch of seeds and dumped them onto the glue. The seeds stuck to Squirrel Man, and within seconds all of the squirrels were attacking Squirrel Man. Ken lol'd, and walked away as Squirrel Man screamed for help.
         He needed to find Neno before Nightmare hurt her. Ken walked down some more stairs, and landed on the second level which looked identical to the above level. He had just stepped foot on the metal floor, when he felt it shake. As soon as it started, the shaking stopped. Ken thought maybe there was an earthquake, but he then felt it again. He could hear the metal rattling, as if someone was walking towards him. The floor shook again, and finally Ken saw something walk into the light that made him gasp. It was a man, 10 feet tall, looking as though he weighed 500 pounds. He recognized this man as The Fat. Ken had fought The Fat before, resulting in The Fat being carried off inside a food truck. It looked to Ken as if this man had eaten all the food that was in the truck, plus more.
         "KEN!" A loud voice boomed, coming from The Fat.
         "What are you doing here?" Ken asked him.
         "I am here because Nightmare made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He would give me endless amounts of food added to the chance to destroy you. All he needed from me was my help."
         "You are going to try and destroy me also?"
         "Ha-ha. Neither I nor Nightmare believed that the squirrel guy was going to do much. But he seemed like he really wanted to fight, so we let him. You passed that test, but this is as far as you go." The Fat said, as he ran at Ken. Ken prepared himself, but didn't prepare enough as The Fat grabbed Ken in a bear hug. Ken felt his bones crunching as The Fat squeezed him tighter and tighter. Ken started kicking his feet, and finally one connected between The Fat's legs. The Fat immediately let Ken go, and Ken dropped to the floor. He felt his bones healing themselves, and watched as The Fat sank to his knees in pain. As soon as Ken's bones healed, Ken stood up and ran at The Fat. He tackled him, pushing him towards the iron balcony. They both rolled towards it, and crashed through. Ken felt himself falling fast, and struggled to keep The Fat towards the ground. He succeeded as The Fat hit the ground, and Ken had a soft landing in The Fat's stomach. Ken stood up, and saw that the man was unconscious. Ken sighed, and looked around.
         Ken was on the floor level now. There were more lights down here, but Ken still didn't see Neno. He did see a door on the opposite wall of him. He walked across to it and opened it.
         The room was very dark as the only light sources were hundreds of candles. The candles were either on the floor, on tall stands, or on the shelves. Ken scanned the room, but still couldn't see Neno. His night-vision wasn't working in this room, but Ken knew that she had to be in here. Suddenly he heard a noise. It sounded like a muffled cry, and Ken thought that it could be Neno.
         "Hello?" Ken called out. Another muffled sound answered him, coming from close by. Ken began walking forwards, towards the sound. He thought that he had to be getting close, when he heard the door behind him close. He turned around, and saw Nightmare standing in front of the door. He was wearing a mask like Ken's, but unlike Ken, Nightmare had a cape. Ken made a mental note that he should get a cape, because he thought it looked cool.
         "Ahh, you passed my tests. Good job Ken." Nightmare said with a grin.
         "Where is she? You said she was here."
         "Yes, yes. She's here. Look behind you." Ken turned around, and saw more candles light up, illuminating Neno sitting in a chair. She had tape over her mouth, and rope binding her wrists and legs to the wooden chair. Ken was relieved when he saw that her eyes were open, which meant she was at least still alive. Ken turned back around, just as Nightmare punched Ken in the face. Ken fell to the ground, not expecting such a painful hit. Neno made a noise that sounded like a scream, but all that came out was "MMMMM", because of the tape.
         "That's right, Mr. Amazing Ken. I have powers too." Nightmare said, as he stood over Ken. Ken used his eye-lasers and shot Nightmare in the chest. Nightmare flew back against the wall, hit costume's chest smoking. Ken then stood up, and flew as fast as he could towards Nightmare and tackled him. They both wrestled on the floor, exchanging punches to the face and knees in the chest. Ken zapped Nightmare again in the face, and Nightmare pushed Ken, hard. Ken flew up and hit one of the candle-stands, knocking it over. Ken then got an idea. He stood up, and looked around. He found what he was looking for, and ran over to a stack of cardboard boxes. Ken waited for Nightmare to stand up, and as expected, Nightmare flew at Ken in an attempt to tackle him. But Ken stepped out of the way, and Nightmare hit the stack of boxes causing them to topple onto him. Ken took his chance, and grabbed the candles and threw them onto the boxes. The boxes lit on fire, with Nightmare underneath. Suddenly the flaming boxes flew up into the air, and Nightmare stood up. Yet, his cape was on fire still. Nightmare began dancing around, trying to put out the flame. Ken dashed at Nightmare, and grabbed him by the back. He flew straight up, up and out of the warehouse, up into the night sky, up into space, and threw Nightmare towards the moon. Ken heard a last cry of "Nooo!" from Nightmare, but Ken knew he had to get back to the warehouse. He flew back down, and saw that the warehouse was on fire. Ken figured the boxes must have caught the building on fire. Ken flew back into the room, and fought his way through the fire.
         He found Neno again, surrounded by flames. Ken rushed in, and tried to grab the chair. But the chair was bolted down, and wouldn't move. The flames were coming closer, and Ken had to act fast. He suddenly felt very hot, and realized that it was his mask burning. The fabric was smoking, so he pulled it off and threw it. He then untied Neno, and pulled the tape off her mouth.
         "OUCH!" she screamed as the tape came off, but Ken grinned and picked her up. He flew her out of the building, just as the fire-department showed up. He kept flying, because he didn't want anyone else to know his true identity, and ended up landing in a park.
         
         Ken touched down near a pond, where the moon and the stars reflected against the water. The crickets were chirping, and a gentle wind was blowing. Neno looked up at Ken, and her eyes widened.
         
         "Ken! You're a super hero! Why didn't you tell me before?" she asked.
         
         "I didn't want anyone to know. If my enemies found out, then they would know to go for people that I care about... like they did this time."
         
         "Aw, Ken." She stopped and looked out at the pond. Ken figured that this was the best time. He stepped towards Neno, and grabbed her hands in his. She looked up at him again, and Ken looked back.
         
         "Neno, I think you were right when you said I should wait to ask you this. This is a much better place than in your car, and I'm glad I didn't have to ask you online. I mean, I would've rather done all that without you getting kidnapped... but you know what I mean."
         
         Neno laughed, but Ken kept looking at her.

         "What did you want to ask me Ken?" she asked as the crickets stopped. Everything was silent, except for the subtle rustling of the trees.

"Neno.....will you go to prom with me?"