A/N: It's been a while since I've posted anything. A few weeks maybe?

Anyways, I'm getting a lot deeper into the Earthbound community. Woot! It's a really cool game that I've neglected for too long, and I'm running through all the games and having a blast. Unlike others who would totally prefer Mother 2 or 3 over the first game (which is totally cool 'cause the whole series is kickass), I really love Earthbound Zero 'cause it gives me such a nostalgic feel. Not that I'm from the 70s or 80s, but I LOVE vintage games like those.

So I decided to create a new story based off of ideas that popped into my head while I was running through Zero and battling against Giegue. I really hope you all don't mind since it's an old game that pales in comparison to its successors, but I tried to make it as worthwhile as possible.

NOTE: I kinda twisted things around a bit and made Ninten and the others like... six or so years older.

That's all. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

To Reach the Summit

by -PastaUnit01-

Chapter 1

Can't stand the crap that goes through the minds of teens these days…

Speaking of which, the days had indeed gone by. Already, time was rapidly slipping away as though it had suddenly decided to shift a few gears forward, and Teddy could only grumble and trudge along as he was led by a group of peculiar adolescents through what seemed to be an endless stretch of nowhere.

He missed it already… the Live House, every one of his Bla Bla brothers, and the passersby in Ellay who always respected him as a gang leader. Time progressed slower then, and it was all spent seemingly in a much more peaceful manner. He was looked up to, envied, adulated, and praised. He used the energy from the Live House to keep him going in life… and oh, how Teddy hated being away from it all. An unfamiliar yet potent wave of homesickness was creeping its way inside of him. How the hell did he end up here?

It's 'cause of bratty Ball Boy and his little cult.

He shifted his sight up from the dusty, sloped road as he was walking and looked towards the front of his three-man pack. Carrying a wooden bat against his shoulder and nonchalantly taking in the view of the arid mountainside setting around him was Ninten. Trailing close behind him was one of his two other followers, Ana the PSI girl, who sometimes seemed to be shielding herself timidly from behind Ninten in times of great danger. The second, Loid, who was the dorky mechanics geek with glasses that loved rockets and fixing appliances, was supposedly just lounging back at Ellay for the time being… Anyways, no matter how much of an irritation Ninten was to Teddy, this guy was now his leader, the first one to look out for danger and the first to take action… like he did in the Live House.

Oh, how it was almost enraging to think about. First, he beat up Teddy's mates just outside the square. Then, the confident teenager, after getting thrown in the clink for a night because of some stranger offering him alcohol when he was underage, walked right up onto the stage with his little squad and caused an even bigger racket. When confronted by the intimidating presence of the Bla Bla boss, he just shrugged, turned his red ball cap sideways and threw his tee ball bat to the ground prior to the ensuing fisticuff. As inferior as the boy looked, Teddy realized after a minute of almost getting his ass whooped that he was quite a formidable and experienced opponent.

Naturally, as reluctant as he was to do so, he covered himself up in a pinch by offering to join Ninten's team so that he could avenge his long-deceased guardians. That was one thing he still lived for other than basking in the glory of his fame in Ellay… Deep down in his heart, he always desired payback towards those coldhearted beasts that resided on Mt. Itoi who thought it would be a good idea to put Teddy in such an inconsolable state for years and turn his life around completely by killing his parents. The fucking bastards…

His face was growing red again, and he knew now wasn't the time to get worked up over his past. Teddy coughed once and wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead. Instead of glaring at Ninten and Ana from behind his shades like he always did (nobody could see past his tinted aviators, and because of that he always seemed to kiss up to them and beg for pity on the outside with the way the rest of his face looked), he softened up a bit and let out an exhausted sigh. He couldn't really stay mad at Ninten… After all, he was the one who agreed upon letting him join the team so he could do what he always wanted to do ever since that life-changing incident.

Teddy just had to suck it up and deal with it.

Thus, he loosened up his massive upper body and adjusted his red sleeveless shirt so that it wasn't so uncomfortable, which was a tad difficult since it had gotten damp from the immense humidity that made him sweat profusely. Even though his arms were big and bulky, they were growing tired of carrying around his sword. That was another thing… Before Ninten came along, the only thing Teddy could find as a suitable weapon was a practical butter knife. Then his new team brandished a shining blade seemingly out of nowhere, just for him to use, and since then the gang leader pretty much never put it down.

It was definitely a necessity for his current situation. Ninten and Ana were a bit low on psychic energy, and it wouldn't be much longer before one of them collapsed. Why? They were in the middle of the Eastern Mountains in the blazing afternoon heat with barely any water, and the only passersby that greeted them were buffalos and starmen looking to pick a few brawls. Not to mention, there were also a few menacing hunks of nuclear machinery lurking about that didn't seem to make the atmosphere any more bearable, what with the hell they let loose every time they were pelted with even a mere pebble.

Were they friendly much? Well, only if getting shot with a PK Beam gamma or having violent explosives hurled at you from all directions counted as a cordial gesture… or a survivable one at that. Maybe it would have been the equivalent of a "How do you do?" If the conversation drew out by any chance, then a lot more was to be anticipated than deadly laser beams. Ninten and his teammates were quite familiar with that, earning their fair share of war scars and bruises all over their bodies by battling hordes of those damned Mt. Itoi commoners.

Speaking of which, there was another.

An Ultra Barbot appeared in front of them just as they were scaling the last few yards of another steep, rocky climb. Teddy refocused his mind and felt another rush of adrenaline course through his veins after he saw that the strange, stick-like robot was accompanied by a few Omega Saucers and an atomic Energy Robot. They levitated and rushed into the scene, crackling and bristling with energy. They wanted to disassemble the intruders before them… painfully and maliciously. Meanwhile, Ninten and his squadron had gone through the same process for who knows how long. Business as usual for the tired trio.

Teddy gripped the handle of his sword and tried to formulate a plan. He adjusted his aviators and tensed a bit, glancing over at the other two as they dropped into a defensive stance and braced themselves for an attack. Seeing as now wasn't the time to discuss a team offensive strategy, the gang leader decided on a whim to do something risky and go solo for the time being. The enemies were drawing closer and threatening to viciously fry them all as though they stood on a burning skillet, so Teddy had to act fast.

In his mind, he drew a route through the sloped, stone-covered surface beside him and burst into a quick stride, following his path. He subconsciously exercised caution to keep his footing so that he didn't screw up and slip down the mountain. Then, keeping the sword drawn and held with both hands, he curved his running path and made an ellipse around the group of enemies in a bold effort to draw their attention away from Ninten and Ana. The two teenagers widened their eyes in alarm and shouted out, careful not to break from their sturdy positions.

"Teddy! What are you doing?" Ninten called out urgently.

"We can't do this on our own! Come back and help us!" Ana darted her eyes back and forth from her enemies to the lone gang leader.

Meanwhile, Teddy was forced to ignore his teammates since turning around and running back would make his efforts useless. He kept a fifteen yard radius away from the Barbot and the Saucers, lunging hard up the slope after making his descending curve and smacking his sword against a large clump of stone jutting out of the ground. After the sound of clanging metal rang through the air, he made sure to take shelter behind another nearby wall of sediment as he knew that a PK Beam attack would probably be coming his way. Sure enough, the two saucers began to whir and hover towards his hiding place, blasting PSI and causing the ground beneath them to vibrate, but destroying those would have to come later as he knew he had to target the Energy Robot first before the team could handle the rest.

The Barbot kept inching towards Ninten and Ana, preparing to unleash a powerful finishing blow. Teddy observed this out of the corner of his eye and frowned out of concern. He would have to trust that the two had enough in them to take out at least one Barbot since those things were pretty vulnerable to physical attacks… Ana kept close to Ninten, holding her hands out in front of her as they glowed yellow and began to form a weak PSI shield for protection. Ninten kept backing up at the same rate at which the Barbot was progressing, and instead of relying on his psychic powers, he pulled out his tee ball bat from behind him and readied himself to dish out a huge swing if the robot came any closer. Once Teddy saw that they could at least remotely defend themselves, he felt a bit relieved.

But during the split second that he averted his attention to assure the safety of his teammates, a loud blast forcefully shoved him out into the open from behind his hiding spot as one of the Saucers had aimed a laser beam in his direction, narrowly missing and hitting the surface next to him. The resulting burst from the beam's impact disoriented Teddy for a few seconds and pelted him with shards and pebbles as he tumbled once over and struggled back to his feet.

"Agh! Shoo fly, don't bother me, damn it!" Teddy shook his head around to snap back into the situation and retaliated by striking one of the incoming Saucers hard with the flat of his blade, sending it into a distorted flight pattern before it bumped loudly into a large rock.

The gang leader turned his attention towards the Energy Robot, which stood not too far above him, as it immediately sent magnetic waves of energy to replenish the Saucer that received the sudden impact of Teddy's blow. He put his other thoughts behind him and let out a grunt, finding footing on a rather flatter surface after rolling over the same stone edge that the Energy Robot was standing upon, and he dug his feet into the ground in another forward charge. The machine turned around slowly to confront its oncoming assailant, but it was far too late.

Teddy slowed down after sprinting a distance of twenty yards as he quickly approached the alarmed machine. He stabbed his sword deeply into the ground right next to it and leaped towards the side, lifting his legs up in the air while keeping a strong grip on the handle of his lodged weapon with one hand so that he could circularly swing around in midair. He made a full revolution around the sword once to build up speed before he lifted his foot out in front of him and aimed a kick at the robot once he began spinning around a second time. When Teddy came around half a second later, he drove his shoe at the dead center of the robot's square chest at high momentum and velocity with a loud clang, and before the machine could even comprehend the situation, it was sent flying into the air. It plummeted down the slope before hitting the rocks far beneath, tumbling over violently until an extremely violent blast echoed through the air as the Energy Robot finally exploded into bits in a miniature mushroom cloud.

Fortunately, Teddy turned towards the Barbot as it was only a blink away from zapping Ninten and Ana to see that its attention had been interrupted. The stilted machine turned its gaze towards the side of the mountain in confusion as the explosion from the Energy Robot temporarily scrambled its processes and almost froze it in place. Teddy jolted up and cracked a grin as he realized that the same thing was happening to the Omega Saucers as they whirred about in confusion trying to regain their senses. With another grunt, he pulled his sword out of the ground, took a deep breath and bellowed out in Ninten's direction, after he saw that he and Ana were now standing up a bit straighter and with more confidence now that their enemies were vulnerable.

"Aye, Ball Boy! Now's your chance to mutilate that Barbot! Don't just stand there!"

After hearing Teddy's shouting, Ninten didn't waste another second as he sprung into action. He gathered strength in his arms and let out a yell, swinging his wooden bat from its original cocked position behind him and bringing it around with full force into the Barbot's body. The slamming impact that resulted split the Barbot's body in half and caused it to go limp instantly as its internal wires snapped apart and sparked with dying electricity.

Ninten and Ana prepared themselves to attack the Omega Saucers in midair, but they stopped once they saw that they had both split into halves, one after the other, all in the blink of an eye. Teddy had already effortlessly sliced through one of them in midair, then landed on his two feet and leaped towards the other Saucer to unleash the same lethal attack until the enemies were left shattered in a pile of scrap metal on the ground in front of the trio. The two teenagers lowered their offenses and stood up straight after affirming that the battle had finally concluded.

Teddy kneeled down on one knee and dropped his sword beside him, trying to catch his breath as he wiped the sweat from his forehead and heaved his chest. Adrenaline leaving the body during the aftermath was a difficult and unforgiving experience to recover from, and the gang leader, feeling the worst of it, was just about drained after exerting that kind of effort in the heat of another intense battle. He took a minute or two to himself before he shakily got to his feet and put his hands on his hips, his whole body drenched with sweat and covered in dirt and bloody scratches. He frowned once he saw that Ninten was walking towards him, a look of frustration and irritation exuding from his visage.

"What gives, Teddy?" The boy began. "Why'd you leave us in danger like that? We were about to be ripped apart!"

"Well, here's a news flash, Ninten," Teddy scoffed and retorted. "You two love birds need to realize that cowering in the face of an enemy ain't really gonna accomplish much. Next time, you gotta act on instinct and take action so that you don't get ripped apart, kapeesh? Y'all would've been screwed if I hadn't taken out that Energy Robot first."

"We were already screwed! We were damn lucky that Barbot took his sweet time before it got its attention interrupted. Next time, tell us what you're gonna do before you take action!" Ninten held his hands out to the side as if pleading to make his point.

"Yeah? And what good would that have done? Not everything out here is a walk in the ballpark, dimwit! We're encountering the same brutes that fucking killed my parents, so we all have to man up and beat the heat, no matter how many waves of them we come across! And can't you at least be a little thankful I made that distraction with the explosion from the Energy Robot? Those dummies were seriously out of it."

Ninten opened his mouth to respond, but Ana replied weakly in his stead while standing beside him, "Actually, I… I used Brainshock to leave them in that state."

Teddy turned a bit red in the face and crossed his arms, turning his head to the side adamantly. "Whatever… Could've been both that and the explosion, ya never know."

At that moment, Ana fell over towards Ninten and fainted, going limp and letting out a fatigued sigh. Ninten widened his eyes and instinctively reached his arms out to catch the girl and cradle her so that she didn't hit the ground. Teddy raised an eyebrow as he saw Ninten's cheeks turn pink. The boy turned his ball cap around and then lifted Ana's legs in the air so that he could carry her once he saw that she didn't have the strength to stand anymore. Teddy cracked a slight smile and let out an amused chuckle before turning around and stretching out his sore arms a tad.

Ninten couldn't make himself narrow his eyes at Teddy in this situation. He instead made a quick glance at the gang leader and then looked back down at Ana as she coughed out delicately, "S… Sorry, N-Ninten. I can't-"

"It's alright. Just relax, sweetheart." Ninten replied gently and held Ana close to him, taking a deep breath. Then, his body grew hotter and tensed up as he felt her cling around him a little. He blinked a few times and swallowed, trying not to let his heart rate speed up too much, but he had scarcely been in this scenario before… perhaps once or twice in Snowman when Ana was first rescued from the chateau and she stayed unusually close to the boy's side. In fact, the two spent a lot of time with each other, so naturally she was often on Ninten's mind, and as they all travelled together he noticed many things about her that he hadn't before.

Ana was very pretty. She had gorgeous blue eyes, a pair that had alluring powers almost as potent as her psychic abilities. Ninten didn't care if her small, plain pink dress was roughed up and battered even the slightest after she had gone through so many battles with him… She still looked nice regardless. She had smooth, blonde hair that reached almost below her shoulders, but she kept it in two adorable bunches that were tied together by red ribbon and they fell down above her ears. Ana's outward appearance fit the mold perfectly as it complemented her timid, quiet qualities.

Ninten was entranced for a minute or two before he realized it… Ana had fallen asleep while holding onto him, so now he didn't have a choice but to carry her. Normally, since he was so exhausted, that would have been a potential issue, but he decided to reserve a bit of Life Up energy for Ana and himself along the road so that he could at least handle the task. Thus, he began to walk over and catch up with Teddy, who was staring into the distant horizon from a small rocky cliff.

"We're pretty high up, eh?" Ninten broke the silence, making Teddy turn his head slightly and glance at him from the corner of his eye. The gang leader just shrugged and sheathed his sword on his belt.

"Must mean we're close," Teddy responded as he began to make his way towards the final portion of Mt. Itoi. He walked along slowly and Ninten stayed behind this time, looking around to make sure that the scene was safe enough for them to continue. After he made one last panoramic scan and confirmed at last that there wasn't any nearby danger, Ninten stole a final glance at Ana as he cradled her even closer.

She looked even cuter when she was asleep…

A voice snapped him out of his hypnotism as he had apparently fallen behind slightly. It was Teddy, who was about thirty yards ahead, and he was turned towards the blushing boy with one hand placed impatiently on his hip and the other beckoning for him to speed up again.

"C'mon, Lover Boy. I can spot some sort of shelter up ahead. Wait until later before you start swooning over her, alright?"

Thus, they walked at a faster rate and continued their journey… Ahead of them, the sky was growing darker with clouds and flashing with a few strikes of lightning here and there. They had yet to realize their destination was farther away from them than they had anticipated.

…