Five Years ago:
Ness crawled into one of the tens by lake Tess in the dead of night to see Jeff tinkering with a bazooka as a flashlight in the corner of the room cast shadows on the opposite flap. Poo was sleeping with his eyes facing the light, his expression carrying the controlled ease of meditation even in sleep. Jeff set his tools down when Ness entered and reclined back, flopping onto his sleeping bag and yawning. Ness blinked and shielded his eyes from the flashlight.
"Nice of the Tessie-watching group to let us stay here, isn't it?" Jeff said.
"Why are you still up?" Ness said. "Paula's worried that you can't sleep."
"If she were the only one who was concerned, I don't think you would be in this tent right now," Jeff said.
Ness frowned. Of course he would check up on Jeff if Paula wanted him to. What kind of person would he be to make her crawl out into the cold of a Winters night?
"Don't worry about me," Jeff said. "This is how I make myself useful."
"There has to be another way that lets you rest."
"I do sleep." Jeff yawned. "Some nights."
"Well, could you make today one of those nights? It would make Paula feel better."
Jeff smiled. "Perhaps I should be more obvious. Your concern is valid as well. And appreciated as well, although unnecessary and ultimately unproductive. You are the one who needs sleep to restore your psychic energy."
Ness frowned. "I don't feel bad. I just need to make sure you and Paula feel okay, since-"
"Since you're the hero."
"Since I'm the one who's used to adventures."
"Because you're the hero." Jeff sat up and adjusted his glasses. "But not everyone is born with powers that let them break the laws of the universe."
"What does that mean?"
Jeff sighed. "Put the four of us in a line and it's easy to pick the odd one out."
"Because Paula's a girl?"
Jeff raised an eyebrow. "Because I can't use PSI. Yet I'm on this quest of with you. Not my friends Tony or Max. Not your sister Tracy or any of our parents. You're letting a mundane kid join your ranks, and it happens to be me. Why?"
"Because you're a genius. Everyone knows that."
"And what good is knowing how to tinker with machines when I spend all day travelling the world?"
Ness bit his lip. "We can rest more often if you need it. Paula might appreciate it as well."
"Don't worry about Paula." Jeff pushed his glasses up his nose. "She's stronger than you think. But you're right about why I'm useful, of course. I'm not sure how much of my skill with machines comes from the way my brain works and how much is practice, but I'm grateful for it all the same. And to use that power of mine," Jeff flashed a tired smile, "I have to work through the night sometimes. Otherwise, I'm no better than any other kid you'd find on the streets."
"Being a genius sounds like a lot of work."
Jeff laughed. "My skills are a blessing. It's not having PSI that's a curse. Still, we're all capable of amazing things if we put our minds to it. You'd still be a hero if you didn't have PSI."
Ness snorted. "Come on, Jeff. People like me need PSI to fight monsters. What else do I have?"
"You have your heart." Jeff pressed a finger against Ness' chest. "Another person with PSI might not have agreed to embark on such a dangerous journey. And here you are, leading us through jungles and deserts with smiles and laughs. The three of us would be scattered and lost without you, Ness. Remember that."
Ness grinned. Despite the winds howling outside, there was a warm feeling in his chest.
#
Year: 209X
When the world started to rematerialize around Ness, he stood beneath a tower with glowing windows that pierced the sky.
As he looked around, he saw more and more buildings stretching up towards the heavens. Then came the rain, and with it sounds of pitter-patter and vehicles zooming overhead. The last part of reality to materialize was the smell, the stale air with a tinge of smoke, the hint of metal in the air.
"Oh my gosh," came Paula's voice behind him. "This is amazing."
Ness whirled around to see her looking up at screens displaying 3D holograms on the closed shops behind them, advertising "augmented reality video games" and the latest "hoverpod." Paula watched the ads transition to a casino with machines instead of poker tables and a… person? Ness squinted his eyes and looked beneath the "Because you deserve it" tagline at a 3D image of their face rotating. This person, their appearance androgynous, had the slightly tan skin, pink lips, and brown eyes that would let them blend into a crowd without Ness being able to pick them out. Their only defining trait was baldness.
"Ooh, I hope we didn't stumble into an alternate reality where slavery is legal again," Paula said. "Although I don't know. This person could be a maid."
The screen switched to an advertisement for an elephant small enough to stand on a dinner plate, but the person's image remained in Ness' head. Something about them… wasn't quite right.
"This place is so big." Ness glanced around. "Are we sure this is where Jeff ended up?"
"Seems like his kind of place."
Ness kept his mouth shut. Jeff's machines were different than these buildings and electronic billboards that seemed content to distract and shove images into his face. Surely nobody… wanted to live in a city like this, right? Granted, Ness had the same thoughts when he had first seen Fourside, but at least there was grass and benches next to Jackie's café and the Monotoli Building. When Ness looked up towards this sky, he only saw grey or black. In the dead of night, there wasn't a single star twinkling above.
"Guess we should find Jeff so that we don't spend any longer here than we need to," Ness said. "But where should we even start?"
"Aw, do the holograms freak poor Nessie out more than the starman base?"
Ness grunted, and scanned the sidewalk to see a person striding down the street with the mechanical poise of a businessman. He glanced back at Paula. Still staring up at the screen like a child entranced with a cookie jar on the top shelf. He sighed and walked over to the stranger.
They looked over when Ness approached, and Ness halted upon seeing that the stranger had the same face as the person on the holographic billboard. The newcomer walked towards Ness, eyebrow raised in exaggerated confusion, before taking a bow.
"You don't appear to have a brain chip," the person said.
The voice sounded vaguely female to Ness, so he decided to think of this person as a "her" unless she corrected him. "A what?"
The stranger narrowed her eyes. "Could I see your neck, sir?"
Ness took a step back. "Are you a vampire?"
She tapped to a spot on the side of her neck, overtop her major artery. Ness squinted in the dim light flooding above and saw a barcode etched to her skin. He glanced around to make sure no more people were moving to surround him.
"I am required to see if you are like me," the stranger said.
"Who are you?" Ness said. "And why do you look like the person in that advertisement?"
"Your neck, sir."
Ness looked to the side and stretched his t-shirt so that she could see the spot on his neck where the barcode had been on hers. He made sure to look at her out of the corner of his eye, at least enough to catch any sudden movements. When he turned back, the stranger had a finger on her chin.
"You appear to be human," she said.
"I would hope so."
She cocked her head. "You don't know what I am, do you?"
"Care to tell me?"
She looked over his shoulder, and the fear that entered her eyes a moment later looked somehow seemed more real than her measured words or obvious motions.
"We need to run, sir," she said. "Those people are terrorists."
Ness turned around to see two hooded figures approaching, their boots sloshing puddles in the rain.
"Terrorists?" Ness frowned. "Like the Sharks?"
"We need to go, sir."
One of the hooded figures raised a gloved hand and pointed at Ness. "You don't look like one of them. Step away from the clone, and we'll take things from here."
"Clone?" Ness looked back at the stranger. "As in…?"
"There's only one definition for a clone, sir." She grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry, but I can't save you if we don't escape now."
Ness shook free of the strangers grasp and took a step towards the cloaked figures, water dripping from his hair. "Are you going to hurt her?"
The same man let out a laugh. "Clones aren't hims or hers. They're its."
The man went from standing to dashing towards Ness in the blink of an eye. Ness rushed forward to meet the charge, setting his shoulder in front to ram into the man's chest. At the last moment, the hooded figure leaned out of the way, and Ness flew past him.
"Ah, so the clone hugger has some fight in him." The man cracked his knuckles. "This will be fun."
The second man waved his hand in the air. A chill ran down Ness' spine as he recognized the specific motion.
"PK Freeze Ω," the second man growled.
Ness rolled out of the way, feeling an icy chill on the back of his shirt as he tumbled and rose back to a standing position, his clothes soaked.
"Where did you learn how to use PSI?" Ness said.
"Oh, it's not something you learn," the PSI-user said. "It's something you are. And something that these clones will bleed from you until you have nothing left."
A set of lightning bolts descended from the sky, striking both hooded figures. Ness shielded himself from the brightness of the blast, and saw Paula walking up next to him.
"Sorry to walk in on your big hero moment," Paula said, lighting a fire on the tip of her finger, "But having only one side use PSI is a little unfair, don't you think?"
"Next time, don't let me flounder for so long."
"Well, well," the PSI-user said. "You must be the witch he mentioned. Same age and everything."
Ness turned his gaze on the man who had first attacked him. He had to trust that Paula could take care of the PSI-user on her own.
The hooded man danced towards Ness and lashed out with a kick. Ness knocked his leg aside with an arm motion and slammed his other palm into the man's stomach. As the man staggered backwards, and his hood fell back. Another round of lightning bolts struck, and in the afterimage Ness saw the man's face, with cherry brown hair transitioning into grey at the roots and a smirk plastered on his face.
"Ooh, you're not as helpless as you look," the man said.
The stranger reached into his pocket and pulled out an amulet. The gold surface of the pendant started flashing bright lights on and off. Ness shielded his eyes with one hand and rubbed his temples with the other. He searched for the inner focus that should have let him use PSI, and was now relegated to making sure that he didn't collapse in a migraine. When he thought he found the cool sensation of emptiness, memories of him blasting waves of starmen with PK Rockin surfaced, and frustration pulled him out of focus.
Ness' headache returned right as the man's shoe slammed into his stomach. As his vision swam with pain, Ness smiled. This he knew how to deal with.
Ness stepped forward, feinted right, and then waited for the dodge left to ram his shoulder into the man's chest. His adversary staggered back, grimacing.
"That was a pretty cheap trick," Ness said. "Guess you can't win fair and square."
"That's what's different about you and me," the man said. "I'm a thief. I don't have to play by your rules."
The man threw a ball on the ground, which moments later exploded into smoke. Ness coughed, his vision blurry as tears numbed the stinging in his eyes. He stumbled out of the smoke cloud to see the thief wearing the mask of a demon with a long tongue that extended out of its mouth.
"Face it," Ness said. "Your theatrics aren't going to win you the fight. You're just wasting my time."
An ear-splitting screech sounded behind Ness. In that moment, Ness remembered the clone woman that the men were originally threatening. Had she made the sound? Ness turned around, and instead of spotting the clone he found himself face to face with a bug with a red shell zooming in front of his face.
Ness paused. The next moment, a force slammed into his back and he fell to the ground. Ness muttered a curse under his breath as he wrestled with the thief on the concrete sidewalk. The ground shook from a nearby explosion, followed by a flash of lightning, and Ness got another view of the man's white teeth gleaming as he smirked.
"Check," the thief said.
The man pulled out what looked like a ladder rungs bent in the shape of staples. He slammed one of the iron rungs down over each of Ness' wrists, pinning him down. Ness frowned, but even after the thief took his hands off the oversized staples they didn't budge when Ness pushed against them.
"And mate." The thief smirked.
Ness lashed out with one of his legs, and the thief jumped back, leaving Ness pinned on the ground and unable to reach him.
"Whoa, whoa." The thief held up his hands in mock defense. "Let's not throw any tantrums here."
With his wrists restrained by his waist, Ness used his core strength to lean his shoulders and head up. The motion felt like holding a sit-up halfway, but Ness kept the position upon seeing Paula pinning the wrists of the other PSI-user down with her knees. The thief looked over at Paula and his comrade, chuckling as he paced back and forth.
"Oh dearie me," he said. "Whatever shall I do."
Then he pulled out a gun and leveled it at Ness' head.
"Normally this is for clones only," the thief said, "But you know how it goes."
Burning flames appeared from Paula's hand. She brought her fiery palm close to the other PSI-user, keeping eye contact with the thief.
"Lay a finger on my friend," Paula said, "And I melt his face off."
"Ooh, aren't you a tough little girl." The thief ran a hand through his hair. "What makes you think I even care about that man's life?"
"So do it." Paula's smile was ice cold. "Shoot my friend."
Ness stayed quiet, taking deep breaths as the gun remained leveled at his forehead. If he had taken attacks from Giygas and survived PK Starstorms from Starmen, he could probably live a bullet to the skull. Only probably, because the danger now felt more visceral and real than it ever had before. The time of fighting corrupted cops and barf monsters with baseball bats and frying pans felt like a lifetime ago.
Still, Paula had to know that Ness' physical resilience would give her leeway in a hostage situation. If the situation devolved into violence, she would always have the upper hand.
She wouldn't give up at the thought of Ness getting hurt, would she?
"Oh," Paula said, pretending to be surprised. "That's right. Shoot my friend, and you don't have any leverage over me. And I've studied from the best." Paula's blue eyes burned in the light from her flaming hand. "I'll kill you both if I have to."
The thief and Paula stood still, remaining at an impasse. Gun pointed at Ness, burning hand held up to the other PSI-user.
"Damn," the thief said. "You really are tough as nails, huh?"
"Wess." A new voice came from afar. "What's going on?"
A boy in a rain jacket ran up along the sidewalk, throwing off his hood to reveal a tuft of blond hair sticking up in front. At first, Ness wondered if the boy was the thief's son or apprentice, but soon dispatched idea. The boy carried himself like a military general, eyes steely as he looked back and forth between the thief and Paula.
"These two were working with a clone." The thief glanced around. "A clone who got away."
The boy sighed, and forced a smile in Paula's direction. "My dearest apologies. If Wess lets your friend go, will you release Alec?"
"If you also agree to tell us what the hell is going on," Paula said. "We just got here."
Ness thought he saw the boy's eyes flash with understanding. "Deal. Wess, stand down."
The thief grumbled and lowered his gun. "Lucas, isn't this the PSI-user you were talking about?"
The boy—Lucas—narrowed his eyes. "I told you that Kumatora has pink hair. Are you colorblind or just stupid? Wait, I already know the answer."
Lucas extended a palm in Ness' direction, and the iron rungs pinning him down lifted up and floated in the air.
"Seems like everyone can use PSI here," Ness said, standing up and backing away from Wess.
Lucas ignored Ness, turning his gaze back towards Paula. "If you would be so kind."
Paula hesitated, and then shook her hand and the fire went out. She rose to her feet and eyed Lucas.
"I don't think you would have revealed your PSI so easily if you planned to turn on us," Paula said. "But just so that you know-"
"Yes, you're extremely powerful and went on a journey to save the world," Lucas said.
Ness and Paula exchanged a glance. Wess and the PSI-user Alec looked even more confused.
"You've heard of us?" Ness said.
"In a manner of speaking. Why don't I sense PSI from you, Ness?"
How did Lucas know his name? "That's none of your business."
Lucas shrugged. "It's dangerous for PSI-users to be out in the open. You should follow us back to our hideout."
"Wait," Alec said. "Lucas, how do you know these people?"
"That's a good question," Paula said. "Along with why we should listen to anything you say after your friends tried to kill us."
Wess scoffed. "I was bluffing. I'd never actually harm a real human."
"Everybody, shut up." Lucas took a deep breath. "Ness, Paula, I can explain more when we're out of sight. Don't worry, nobody else should know who you are. Alec, Wess, stick with me so I know you're not causing any more trouble."
Lucas whirled around and started walking away. Alec and Wess exchanged a glance, shrugged, and followed. Ness walked up to Paula, and only then did he realize that he was shivering from the cold.
"Guess we don't have much of a choice if we want answers," Paula said. "Still, we should watch our backs around Lucas."
"Tell me." Ness hugged his arms for warmth. "Would you have actually hurt Alec if Wess had tried to shoot me?"
Paula looked offended. "Of course. Never doubt that I would kill for you, Ness."
Ness bit his lip and focused on the feeling of raindrops running down his cheeks. He was still picturing Paula as the same person who closed her eyes and clasped her hands together in prayer whenever a fight went out of control, but the person next to him now had the eyes of a killer.
Which might be the only thing that was keeping Ness alive and well.
Hey hey everyone. :) I hope your day's going well!
Hopefully the time jumps weren't too confusing. "X years ago" means that many years in Ness' life, so the five years ago means that the flashback is taking place during the events of Earthbound.
Also, I didn't want to make this painfully obvious in the text, but Wess and Alec are substantially younger than they are in Mother 3, which might give you a hint as to what's going on...
Anyways, references for people who haven't played through the Mother games recently:
-Jeff staying up through the night to fix gadgets is an actual thing in Earthbound. The flashback was my take on it in a way that introduces some themes for the story
-Duster's main weapons are shoes, so I had Wess' basic attacks be kicks here
-The pendant flashing lights, smoke bomb, demon mask, screeching bug, and iron rungs are my takes on some of the thief's tools that Duster has access to in Mother 3 (hypo pendulum, smoke bomb, scary mask, siren beetle, and wall staples, respectively)
-Lucas recognizes Ness and Paula because in New Pork City, there was a movie shown of Earthbound's chosen four and their adventure
Review Responses:
ShroomishUnibrow: Okay first comment, I love your name. :D Sapphire was my first pokemon game, so I had enough of a mental image of Shroomish in my mind to go "oh yeah, it does have a unibrow." Anyways, thank you so much for your kind words! Yeah I figured the sex talk in this story wouldn't be over the top by fanfiction standards, but better safe than sorry. Good to know that there's not much of a concern there though. :) I did also have the semi-serious thought that promising no sex would cause some readers to click away from the story immediately when I was writing that intro. I'm glad you got what I was going for with my characters! Part of the way this fic shaped out is that Ness, Paula, and Lucas are all different than their "stereotypes" from the game/other fics due to a transition into the adult world. And yeah my side characters are often more interesting than my point-of-view characters. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Phew hopefully I didn't talk (or write) your ear off!
Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf: Of course I remember you! :) Your reviews are always so enthusiastic! Thank you so much for your praise. And I hope you're happier now that you're out! Aww thank you for the support. :) I'm not entirely sure what the character arcs are going to be about sexuality and how it plays into the larger plot, but my current plans are to have sexuality be important for at least Ness and Paula (both in different ways). I still need to get a better feel for the other characters.