Forgive me for the long absence. I keep running out of ideas a lot often. I don't even know what to write for the next chapter of a Hetalia crossover fic that I wrote back then. Because of that, I decided to start another fanfic, this time with Earthbound, one of my favorite video games.

Disclaimer: I don't own Earthbound. Earthbound belongs to Shigesato Itoi.

Chapter 1: It All Started When...

That night, Jeff, who is sleepy, is sitting calmly on his bed. Not a regular house bed, it's a hospital bed. He seems to have no idea why he ended up there. His face looks pale.

What's actually happening to him anyway?

It all began when the Twoson folks were planning a birthday surprise for Paula. It was a really fine day. Almost everyone in Twoson was busy preparing the birthday surprise at the park. Ness was there too, along with Jeff and Poo. Even the Runaway Five was also into that preparation.

"Ness, don't you think that it's too much?" Jeff asked.

"Meh. It's not my idea. But at least it's fun to prepare something this big!"

As everyone was still busy, Jeff was thinking about something for the surprise. "I shouldn't get bored. I need to do something. Anything." Jeff then heard a small talk.

"Ness, according to the Twoson people, Paula's parents took her somewhere far from this town. I guess that's fine since she has her parents." Poo said.

"Hmm... what if they got lost? I mean, it would be difficult for them to go back to Twoson if they went too far away."

Ness thought for a while, then looked at Jeff, who had heard their conversation.

"Ah, Jeff! I think I know what you can do right now! Come here!"

Jeff just walked to Ness. Ness whispered something in his ear. Jeff just nodded in delight.

"Ness, what is your idea?" Poo wondered.

"Just wait and see! Jeff will work on something big."

As everyone, including Jeff, was busy working, time had passed. Hours had passed. The sun had finally set. Jeff was still giving some finishing touches to his machine. Everything was fine until he realized that something bit his wrist. He looked at his right arm, at the wrist. There's a mosquito-like creature sucking up his blood. It looks like an ordinary mosquito, but it has green, glowing eyes. Jeff quickly moved his arm to let that creature go. Of course, the mosquito thing flew away and fled.

"Hmm... what a weird mosquito. But never mind, there are some weird creatures here anyway. Back to work."

A few minutes later, Ness ran into Jeff's place and said, "Hey, Jeff! I got some news that Paula and her parents will come back here! Come on! Light up your thingamajig!"

Jeff just nodded, then he checked his machine a bit more to make sure everything's fine. After that, he turned on the machine. It appears that the machine looks like a spotlight, giving out a bright light up into the night sky.

From far away, Paula's father, after seeing the light from Twoson, told her, "Oh, looks like we're going to find something nice at home!"

"Wow, I believe that must be Ness and the others! I'd like to see it!" Paula got excited. And so, Paula, followed by her parents, went back to Twoson after having a long trip at the forest.

As everything was working according to plan, everyone got into their own positions. Jeff just stood by his machine, planning for the grand surprise.

"Well... even though this seems overdone, maybe it's not that bad to just do it once. Whoever had this idea... never mind. Hmm... the bite on my wrist... it's not itchy at all." Jeff mumbled to himself.

Paula and her parents were getting closer to the park in Twoson. Ness saw this, and shouted at Jeff, "Now go! Let that baby roll!"

Jeff then searched for a switch on his machine, but as he was about to flip the switch, his vision started to blur.

Ow... my head... what's happening...?

"Jeff! Quick! Or you'll ruin it!" Ness looked back at Jeff's place, and he was shocked to see that Jeff began to clutch his head. Jeff then fell down, unconscious.

"Oh, no! Jeff!" Ness ran back. Everyone who was planning to bring out the surprise ended up ceasing their plan because of Jeff. As Paula and her parents had arrived at the park, Paula began to question about the situation.

"...Huh? Ness? Poo? What's going on?"

"Oh, it's you, Paula. We're sorry. It's supposed to be a big surprise for you, but the plans turned out wrong." Poo said.

"...Um, it's actually... fine... to me. But, why?" Paula began to get a little nervous.

"You might as well see..." Poo pointed to the unconscious Jeff. He looked awfully pale. Ness is standing next to him, trying to cure him with his psychic powers, but failed.

"Argh! Everything's an utter failure!" Ness desperately said.

One of the Runaway Five said, "It's okay, Ness. There are times where our plans ended up in failure. At least Paula's still happy, right?"

"Uh... that's your plan?" Paula asked the group.

"Yes, Paula. We wanted to do something special for you, but we're sorry that because of your friend over there we can't make our plan a success."

"Do you mean Jeff?"

The Runaway Five group nodded. Paula walked closer to Ness. "...It's okay, Ness. I'm still happy that you and our friends still care about me. The whole birthday thing doesn't matter to me."

"You're happy? You're still happy? I don't think you're telling the truth!"

"...It's true. I don't really care about the failure. At least we can get together in a birthday party like this. That's what friends do, right?"

Ness sighed. He then realized that several people started to walk away from the park, though he didn't care much. He began to explain something.

"Paula, for some reason, Jeff collapsed just before the plans worked. I mean, before that happened, he's still very healthy. But now..."

"Maybe he's just tired, or maybe... there's something really wrong with him."

"Huh?"

"I don't know why, but I'm having a feeling that Jeff should be taken to the hospital. After seeing your desperate attempts to revive him, I have this feeling that he should be taken there."

"You're right. Maybe there's something that can't be cured with my psychic powers."

Meanwhile, Poo was also trying to cure Jeff, to no avail. "My powers also don't work. I think Paula's right. Let's take Jeff to the hospital."

Since then, Jeff stays in the hospital for days. He still has no memory about the events before his collapse. Even none of his friends can tell him. It's unknown why.

At the current time, Jeff is getting very sleepy and he's already lying on his bed, but he still doesn't fall sleep yet, as if he's thinking about something. It's probably about the past events, which he finds it hard to remember. However, he's getting sleepier, then he finally closes his eyes.

Not sure if I'm writing this right, since it looks like my fanfic-writing skills seem to be decreased. Don't believe me? Compare my recent fics to the older ones. You'll see what I mean.

Also, I'm not sure whether I made Ness OOC or not. Probably yes, I think.

More chapters coming soon.