Four Years ago:

Ness flopped onto the grass, staring up at the white clouds floating in the blue sky, flanked by mountains on either side. He yawned, rolled onto his front, and used his elbows to prop his head up as he glanced over at Jeff tinkering with the Phase Distorter as Mr. Saturns strolled by. The "boing," "ding," and "zoom" noises didn't seem to bother Jeff as he shoved his glasses up and fiddled with wires inside the metal Mr. Saturn statue.

"I'm bored," Ness said. "Wanna play baseball?"

Jeff sighed, lowering his pliers and screwdriver. "Not my kind of thing. Can't you ask Paula?"

Ness frowned. He wasn't sure how Paula's parents would take it if their sweet little girl came home with grass stains on her legs and sweat staining her clothes.

"She's busy," Ness said. "Going from town to town raising money for food banks."

"That sounds like an excellent thing to do," Jeff said. "Why don't you go help her?"

"Me?" Ness turned his baseball cap around. "I don't know what I would say."

Jeff snorted, and then pulled a wire out of the Phase Distorter.

"What?" Ness sat up and crossed his arms.

"Remember when I was moaning about travelling through the Scaraban desert? You called us to a halt, gave me a wet towel to cool myself, and launched into a pep talk about how we needed to stay strong for just a little bit longer to obtain the Eight Melodies and fight Giygas. I remember I tried to stay mad at you for bringing a poor Winters boy like me to a scorching desert, but that I couldn't keep my scowl while you were grinning the whole time. Do that, but for fundraising."

"It's different." Ness flopped onto his back again. "You're my friend. All those people out in the world are distant and strange. Paula was able to connect with them when we needed to most during the Giygas fight, and I was helpless."

"I wouldn't say helpless." The wire sparked in his hand sparked, and Jeff muttered a curse. "You revived me at least three times."

"Pretty sure one of those was Poo. And just because you were even more useless doesn't make me a hero."

Jeff smirked. "So did you come here just to sling insults at me?"

"Nope. Still bored."

"Well, I think that you can do whatever you set your mind to," Jeff said, "Be it fundraising or anything else. You have the strongest heart out of anyone I know. Push through your own challenges like you helped me get through Scaraba. And we're always here to help if you need it."

"Thanks, Jeff. That really does mean a lot to me." Ness sighed. "I guess… I feel like I'm only good at hitting things. Baseballs, evil mushrooms, my neighborhood bully in a spider mech, doesn't matter. I'll take aim and swing. But things are different now. We're supposed to do less hitting and more talking."

"You could join a baseball team." Jeff wiped sweat off his forehead. "You'd probably be good at it. And if not, it will be something for you to learn."

"I've tried." Ness followed a cloud as it floated through the sky. "They all just want my autograph. I can never get them to focus on the actual game."

"Hmm." Jeff frowned. "It does seem like there's a larger issue here."

"I know, right?" Ness sat up. "This world was less crazy when we had to fight dinosaurs and floating records."

"No, not that. An issue with you."

Ness crossed his arms. "Hey. That's not nice."

"Not in a bad way." Jeff waved a hand. "It's common for soldiers to have trouble readjusting to normal life when coming back from war. I wonder if this is the childhood equivalent of that. The rules are starting to change for us anyway as we get older, and civilian life is definitely a change from what we've been doing. Personally, I like not having to fight barf monsters and psychic aliens," Jeff grimaced, "But of course a part of me misses our adventure, too."

"Listen. I don't have PTSD or anything."

"I believe you. I also think that you could use counseling from someone who works with veterans. I can get my father to give me names and set you up with someone, if you like."

"No, it's okay." A Mr. Saturn strolled by, and Ness patted it on the head. "That wouldn't look good, right? A hero who can't even help himself and has to go cry on someone else's shoulder. I'll find a way to protect the people I care about, Jeff. You, Paula, Poo, everyone. And then nobody will have to worry about me being weak ever again."

Jeff hesitated, but nodded.

#

209X:

Ness shivered, wiping the rainwater away from his brow as he followed behind Lucas through dark alleys in the dead of night.

"What about the clone woman?" Ness said. "I didn't see where she went."

"Ah, now I'm starting to piece together how this little conflict happened," Lucas said. "Clones aren't allowed to harm humans, so she probably ran off while calling the authorities. All the more reason we need to be discreet."

"Why do you want to hurt people like her?"

Lucas shrugged. "I stumbled onto this group just a few months ago, after your friend Jeff vanished. Ask Wess and Alec what they have against clones."

Ness glanced over at the middle-aged men. Wess didn't make a noise as he stalked through the streets, looking around at broken windows and trash cans with sharp eyes that reminded Ness of an eagle. Alec had his hood back up and walked in stiff motions, his gaze trained on Ness.

"Wait." Ness looked back at Lucas. "You know about Jeff? What happened to him?"

"Guess it was too much to hope that you'd have that answer." Lucas frowned. "He was definitely here, working for…" Lucas scratched his chin. "He was doing his engineering gig, and then one day he didn't come back to the bunker."

"We'll find him, Ness." He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to see Paula. "At least we know he's here."

"Yeah." Ness looked down at his hands. "I just wish that we had either done this sooner, or not at all."

"Before you lost your powers, you mean?" Paula said. "We couldn't have known that would happen."

"I can't say I've ever heard anyone forgetting how to use PSI for extended periods of time," Lucas said. "Unless you got sprayed with some pretty powerful forgetfulness gas."

"Guess there's a first time for everything," Ness said. "Lucky me."

As they continued walking, Ness fell silent as Paula started to ask Lucas more about where he was taking them and the anti-clone group that he worked with. Ness tried to pay attention, but as Lucas' answers slipped from his mind he drifted over to Wess. The thief smiled at Ness as he approached.

"Nice fight," Wess said. "I can't remember the last time someone forced me to pull out all the stops on them."

"Why not shoot me at the start?" Ness said.

"Come on. I didn't want to hurt you."

"I saw that you're not above murder." Ness met his gaze. "She's human too."

"Ah, the clone? I can tell there's something weird about you, so I'll cut you some slack. But everyone else knows that they're not real people. Someone who was created instead of born can never be more than a tool."

"You were going to murder her," Ness said. "And you were going to murder me, too. So why not start with that? I can already tell that you're a terrible person."

Wess snorted. "I've heard worse. Still, it's not your fault that LifeTech has wrapped you around their finger. You'll see our side once Lucas leads you back to the bunker."

"The last time someone I knew tried to kill me," Ness said, "He never pretended to be on my side. He always talked about wanting to watch me writhe and suffer. I never thought I would appreciate his honesty, but here I am. You're no better than him, and hiding behind words won't change that. I'll keep fighting you if you try to hurt another person."

Ness put a hand on Wess' shoulder and locked eyes with the thief. He saw Wess' hand go into his coat pocket.

"Do it," Ness said. "Whip out the gun and pull the trigger."

Wess grinned. "Lucas talked about you like you're supposed to be some hero. What kind of noble warrior lets anger get the better of them?"

"I'm just tired of giving people second chances," Ness said. "If you hurt innocents, I take you out. Doesn't matter if you're a starman, a corrupt cop, or a regular person like you."

Ness could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He had never really killed someone before, of course. Tamed rabid dogs by knocking sense into them, returned gang members of the Sharks to their docile selves. But never ended their existence.

Except for Giygas.

"Ah, I see what this is," Wess said. "Trying to play the strong man. Lucas will protect me if you try any of your tricks."

Ness gritted his teeth. Why did this world have to be so murky? How could someone who stalked through the night hunting innocents see themselves as righteous? And if Ness made sure that they couldn't hurt anyone else, suddenly he was the bad guy. His mind went back to a man dressed in blue, eyes blazing with religious zeal, as he knelt down beside a statue of glittering gold. His mind went back to a man in a suit at the top of Fourside's tallest tower, surrounded by paintings and crystal goblets.

What would Ness have done if Carpainter insisted that he was using his cult to fight evil instead of attacking Ness outright? What if Monotoli had sworn that he wanted to bring down Giygas with his wealth? It would have been ludicrous, with the consequences of their corruption laid at their feet, and it was exactly what Wess was doing here.

"I'm watching you," Ness said. "Because this world is simpler than you think. There is real good and evil, and I know which side you're on."

#

Eventually, Ness and Paula arrived at the "bunker" Lucas was talking about. It looked less like a bombshell shelter and more like an old concrete tunnel that someone happened to divide with walls in order to create multiple rooms. In the main room, most of the people were on computers smaller and sleeker than the large machines Ness had seen in pictures of colleges or workplace offices.

"There's an extra room for the two of you," Lucas said. "As you can see, we're a bit off the grid."

This was off the grid? Child and adult gazes alike were glued to flashing screens. Paula shook the rainwater off her hands and hopped onto one of the desks with computers.

"This is so cool." She placed her hand on the mouse. "I'm sure all my programming skills are useless by now, though."

"I didn't know that you were a computer person," Ness said.

"Yup. Jeff taught me, and I was better than him within months. Ooh, Lucas. I've been meaning to ask. In my time, we were talking about this big thing called the 'internet.' Did that end up going anywhere?"

Ness heard snickers from around the room. Lucas held up a hand.

"Ness and Paula here are time travelers from the past," Lucas said, "Just as I am from the future. We must be patient while answering their questions."

Had Paula and Lucas talked about this while Ness had been threatening Wess? So these people were from the future, but Lucas was from the future future. Maybe he unlocked PSI powerful enough to transverse time.

A chill ran down Ness' spine. If he were dealing with someone who came here by choice, with the power to alter the fabric of reality, Lucas must have some sort of agenda. And if he were as powerful as Ness suspected, he might be a force stronger than Giygas or Pokey. Without Ness' PSI, Lucas could probably wipe the floor with him and Paula both.

Ness' eyes narrowed as Lucas walked around the room, chatting with various people as an easygoing smile rested on his face. He knew too much already, and he was a wild card that could shift either direction. At least Ness had always known where Giygas had stood. There had been no question of betrayal all throughout his innocent journey.

How did regular people do it, knowing that strangers might always be hiding knives behind smiles? And if Ness were the one to strike first without proof, he would look like the bad guy.

And yet Paula seemed to thrive in this world. He looked over at her as she typed questions into a bar at the top of the computer screen. This must be the "internet" that she had mentioned. Ness had heard people talking about it at school, but it just seemed crazy that the answer to any question in the world could be available at his fingertips. Still, this was the future. Anything could be normal here.

Ness approached Lucas and asked what room he was staying in. Might as well let Paula do her own digging and come back to him with the information. Still, his fingers itched to punch something.

Lucas gave him the directions, and Ness walked through a sliding metal door into his designated room. It looked like a dorm room from Ness' recent college tours, the one he had to get the student guide to shut up about Ness' accomplishments to actually see. A couple of beds on metal frames, a desk with chairs, and a dresser underneath each bed. That was another funny thing about Ness' adventure. He had sworn that he had basically worn one set of clothes the entire time, and none of the others had done differently. Too much of a hassle to pack multiple changes of clothes. Whether or not he wanted to, he might be getting back into that routine.

As Ness turned around to close the door, Alec stepped inside the room and threw back his hood. Ness kept his hand on the steel door and peered out into the main area. If Alec tried to go aggressive on him with PSI, Ness should have enough time to shout.

"Relax," Alec said, leaning back on one of the bedframes. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Where did you learn to use PSI?" Ness said.

"Some people are born with it." Alec held up his hands. "And it only cost me everything."

"What's your beef with me?"

"Oh, what's this?" Alec scratched his chin. "Not interested in who I am because you're too important?"

"Not interested because there's no point in learning about people who only know how to hurt and kill."

"Hey." Alec smirked. "I'm just what they turned me into."

Ness narrowed his eyes.

"Come on," Alec said. "You'll want to hear this. For your girlfriend's sake."

Ness kept his gaze trained on Alec. "Is it something about PSI-users, then?"

"Hey, not bad." Alec summoned a flame in his hand. "You're from the past, right? I don't imagine you've heard of a company called LifeTech?"

"Wess mentioned it to me. Said I was being brainwashed by them into having human decency."

Alec chuckled. "I like your fire, kid. LifeTech's the one who makes the clones. And they're always looking for new models to base clone lines off of." The flame in his hand went out. "Psychic ones."

Ness glanced back out into the common room. Knowing Paula, she had probably found this all out through the fancy "internet," anyway.

"PSI runs in the family, you know," Alec said. "I always made sure to hide my powers, but when they realized my daughter Hinawa was psychic…"

"What did they do?" Ness said.

"Oh, now you're interested. Well," Alec spread his arms out. "They kidnapped her. Beat her near death so they could catalog how strong her PSI was when she was in real danger. Then they extracted her DNA so they could make an entire clone line. And what do you think they do with the broken husk of a human they did all their experiments on?"

"They killed her," Ness said.

Alec launched into a slow clap. "Someone gets it. I'm telling you this because I wasn't strong enough to protect my daughter from LifeTech. And if I wasn't strong enough, you definitely don't stand a chance at protecting your girlfriend."

Ness recoiled back. "We're not dating."

"Ah, but you still want to be a gentleman and protect her." Alec jabbed a finger at Ness. "But you're a liability. She had to step in after Wess kicked your ass. I look into your eyes, kid, and I see someone who hasn't faced any real hardships."

"You wouldn't believe the things I've seen," Ness said.

Alec laughed. "Everyone thinks they have it hard, kid. But you're soft. Weak. Worthless."

The last word stung. Ness kept his expression neutral.

"Be angry," Alec said. "Let that anger drive you to be stronger. When this is all over, you'll thank me for warning you about this before LifeTech agents come for the people you care about."

"I don't think I'll ever be grateful for someone like you." Ness forced a thin smile. "Strength doesn't always work that way, you know. Each scar is a weight, and after enough of them pile up it's impossible to stand up."

Alec patted Ness' shoulder. "Then stay weak, kid. And try not to cry too much when everything crumbles beneath your feet."

Alec chuckled on his way out. After he disappeared from sight, Ness grabbed onto the door, reading himself to slam it shut. Lucas stepped into a room, holding up a hand for Ness to halt.

"Trust me," Lucas said. "I've heard all that before. I know how it feels."

"I don't believe that." Ness took his hand off the door. "He listens to everything you say."

"This Alec does." Lucas grabbed onto the bedframe. "The Alec from my childhood did not. Or should I say, the grandpa."

It took Ness a couple moments to connect the dots. "Right, you're from the future. So Alec is your grandfather. Is your mother or father here with him as a younger version of themselves?"

"That's the strange thing," Lucas said. "My mother Hinawa appears to be dead. But that's not the important part."

"I'd say that's pretty important."

"Oh it was." Lucas looked up at the ceiling. "More than I could have known. But it's not relevant right now. I'm sorry Alec said those things to you."

"Maybe he was right." Ness glanced down at the floor. "If I'm too weak to protect Paula, what good am I?"

"I…" Lucas shook his head. "This is like talking to my younger self. At least you still have time to learn. I was too late to save my mother and twin brother. And there are some things that you'll never be able to hold onto, not with all the strength in the world."

Ness looked up to see Lucas pressing a fist to his chest. For a moment, Lucas looked like a scared child ready to curl up into a ball. Then he cleared his throat, and authoritative Lucas was back.

"I heard all the same things from my grandfather Alec," Lucas said. "That I was scared. Weak. Couldn't do anything by myself. And I'm only now starting to see that it only made everything worse. So I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

Ness turned away. "I don't need your sympathy."

"Not pity. Just…" Lucas sighed. "You don't have to do everything on your own. I've been talking with Paula, and I think our interests align. Because the person I'm trying to stop is the same person Jeff was investigating here, and the same person who made sure I knew who you were."

Of course. A person who with enough power to travel with time. Someone obsessed with Ness, someone so dangerous that Jeff would risk everything to vanish into the future and devote himself to bringing their plans to a halt.

"Pokey," Ness said.

Meh the flashbacks and inner thoughts I write could be better, but I'm not sure how to fix them. Inner thoughts are always hard, especially when extended. And my flashback is a little unfocused, jumping between "Ness you have the power of heart" and "Ness wants to hit things". Like I said, I wasn't sure how to fix it here, but I'll work on that in the future.

I'm not planning for this to be a super long fic, so the character arcs are going to have to be pretty tight and concise. Here we have a focus on Ness' lack of combat strength. Let's hope I can develop that. *Crosses fingers*

I wasn't sure what to do with Wess' character here but Alec is a bit more clear. I'm basing a lot of his personality off of when he says the forest road is so safe that "Even Lucas" could make it home safely, which clearly makes Lucas uncomfortable. So I had him make Ness uncomfortable in the same way.

Also, all the memories from the Mother 3 townsfolk got wiped so they could start anew in Tazmily, so the world before that really could have been anything. This is my own imagining of it. :)

Anyways hope you're all having a good day! :)

Review Responses:

Genie: This is for your ch. 1 review. I'll PM you since my responses to your reviews are too damn long lol

Royalwog: Here I am!