Three and a half years ago:

Ness knew that it was the only logical thing to do.

He walked into Polestar Preschool, waiting in the doorway as a pair of toddlers ran by with paintbrushes. It seemed like fate that he saw Paula there in the back of the room, talking to a crying child with a toy car with a wheel that had fallen off instead of being out campaigning for food banks or relief for immigrants or whatever wonderful task she had set her mind to.

She smiled at Ness when he walked up. He took occasional glances down at his feet so that he wouldn't miss a child darting in front of him. By the time he stood next to her, she had put the wheel back on the toy car, and the child started laughing as the rest of tear residue ran down his cheeks.

Ness placed two fingers over the major artery on his neck and counted his heartbeat. Eleven beats per ten seconds. He should be more nervous than that, right? Boys weren't supposed to have an easy time with this.

"I don't think I've ever seen you in jeans before," Ness said.

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on seeing you today." Paula ran a finger over a red paint stain on her blue shirt. "And you know. Kids are messy."

"I know my opinion probably shouldn't mean much," Ness said, "But I think you look good in casual wear. Brings me back to how you would smash UFOs and starmen with just a frying pan."

Paula raised an eyebrow. "While also in a dress."

"I could see your grit then. I see it now." Ness shrugged. "I think it suits you."

Paula beamed. This had to be the feeling of love, right? Wanting to protect that smile and making sure that it never went away.

Ness took a deep breath. Everyone had known this was coming long before Ness did. Paula's parents had mentioned it to him even as he was returning home over a year ago after beating Giygas. Tracy made fun of him whenever she got the chance and laughed as he turned his back to her. And the news was full of speculation.

Maybe Ness never had a choice in this matter after all.

"I found a Scaraban restaurant in Fourside," Ness said, "And I was wondering if you wanted to check it out with me."

"You mean as friends?" Paula met Ness' gaze.

"If you want. I was thinking about going out as something… more."

Too easy. The words slipped out of Ness' mouth like a politician's speech. Maybe this was fate at its work. It had brought the two of them together to help fight Gigyas, and it must now be holding them together and never letting go.

"So it's a date." Paula put a hand on Ness' shoulder. "I was wondering if you'd ever ask."

"So that's a yes?"

"I don't think any girl in this world could turn you down."

Ness drank in the warmth in Paula's eyes. She deserved a life of joy after all of her hard work travelling far from home and fighting Giygas. And Ness was in a position to create a perfect happily ever after for her.

He silenced the voice in his head asking if this was really what he wanted.

#

209X:

"That's right," Lucas said. "I'm investigating Pokey, and so was your friend Jeff. Although he goes by Porky now."

Ness rubbed his temples. That message from Pokey five years ago, promising that it wouldn't be the end. Every day, he had prayed that Giygas' defeat meant that Pokey could go back to being a regular kid. Because if bringing people together in worship could defeat a cosmic destroyer, surely it could heal one confused boy.

And day after day, Pokey hadn't returned.

"I need to tell Paula," Ness said. "She'll know what to do."

He walked past Lucas and slid open the steel door. During the motion, he caught Lucas raising an eyebrow.

"He was your acquaintance, right?" Lucas said. "I was thinking this would be more in your wheelhouse."

"Whatever we decide, I'll need Paula's approval anyway," Ness said. "I can't fight Pokey on my own without PSI."

Lucas shrugged and walked out into the common room. He nodded to the various people on couches and computers, children and adult alike. Ness' gaze crossed with Wess', and the thief smirked at him.

"They don't mean you any harm," Lucas said. "I know Wess from the future. He's hard, but he just wants what's best for this world."

Right. Because Wess had good intentions, it was okay that he pointed a gun at Ness' head and talked about killing clones. Ness wanted to say that this future world was a strange place, but he knew that his own Eagleland played by the same rules. Pirkle blamed Eagleland's problems on the recent "invasion" of people from Winters seeking modernization, and Ness wasn't supposed to criticize him because the mayor supposedly was "genuine" about trying to help Onett.

Ness placed two fingers over his neck artery. Seventeen beats in ten seconds. He forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths before walking over to Paula, who was typing away at the same computer as before. Ness had seen the bright flashing lights of arcade games before, but the amount of different parts of the screen flashing with advertisements and all the little icons at the top and bottom of the screen made it almost painful to stare.

"You know," Paula said, turning her swivel chair around and facing Lucas, "I still don't trust you."

Lucas sighed. "This is why I wanted to leave her out of this. Because I have PSI, I'm a threat. I saw how you treated my grandfather Alec."

"Oh, and I would threaten to melt his face off again to protect my friends." Paula flashed a toothy grin. "But it's not about your PSI. You claim to be from the future future, but you're clearly not comfortable with computers."

Ness glanced over at Lucas, who was looking at the flashing lights from the screen with the same hesitation as Ness. While Paula could hop onto the keyboard and type away, Lucas still seemed transfixed by the brightness of it all.

"How about you tell us your real story?" Paula said. "We have plenty of time to listen."

Lucas glanced over at Ness. "I don't mind sharing. Is this something you want to hear as well?"

Ness nodded. "I don't think you're a bad person, but it can't hurt to know where you come from."

"In the future…" Lucas glanced around the room. "Why don't we go to my room so we have more privacy?"

Paula's eyes narrowed. "Pull any tricks, and I won't hesitate to bring this entire bunker down."

"Paula, please." Ness gnawed on the inside of his mouth. "I think we can trust Lucas."

"It's fair to be skeptical when the rules are different in this world," Lucas said. "It was one thing I struggled with when arriving here. Along with your friend Jeff."

"You know way more than you should about any of us," Paula said, her voice dangerously soft.

"And I can explain why." Lucas started off. "Follow me."

Paula swore under her breath. "He knows I can't stay away if Jeff's at stake. Don't worry, I'll protect you if anything gets out of hand."

"But you won't actually hurt innocents, right?"

Paula sighed. "Of course I wouldn't. I don't think that Lucas is fazed by my threats, but better to try every trick in the book if I want to avoid conflict."

Paula walked off to follow Lucas. Ness took one last look back at the computer screen. Is this what he would be forever? Lost in a world he didn't understand, relying on his ex to keep him safe when it was probably painful for her to even be around him when he couldn't bring himself to love her?

Ness closed his eyes and muttered a prayer that he wouldn't be just a pawn in a game outside his understanding.

#

Since Wess and Alec looked up to Lucas as a leader, Ness expected more furnishings in Lucas' room than the metal bedframe, glossy wooden dresser, and plastic desk. But other than a pencil drawing of a sunflower field hanging on the wall, the room looked barren of extravagance or personality.

Lucas hopped onto his bed and grabbed onto the head of the metal bedframe for support. Paula leaned on the far side of the wall, keeping her eyes trained on Lucas. Ness stood in between the two, glancing back and forth.

"I come from the future," Lucas said, "And was born after a catastrophe tore apart this society that you see today."

I come from the future. And in the future, all is lost…

Ness closed his eyes. He had been one of three people to hear those words from Buzz Buzz before the future warrior was swatted out of the air. And another one of those people had been Pokey Minch.

Ness looked over at Paula. "Sounds like we're going to save the future again?"

"Not so fast," Lucas said. "The life that the few of us led on the Nowhere Islands after the catastrophe struck was perfect. You've seen all the corruption around you. Advertisements flashing in your face. The government and corporations tracking your every move. And then they mess with the essence of life itself and create millions of clones." Lucas shivered. "None of that existed in my little town of Tazmily. We didn't even have money."

"So you lived in a barter society." Paula sounded unimpressed.

"We didn't even need to barter. We just helped each other out with whatever we needed. We had a jail, but nobody ended up in there except for my father, once. That's a separate story, but the point is that we were all good people who just wanted what was best for everyone. And then Porky came."

"Okay," Paula said. "I call bullshit on all that. I'm supposed to expect that you were just living in a communist utopia that worked? No social structure, no conflict when tiered societies have been in our bloodline since before we were human?"

"I can only tell you what I saw," Lucas said. "It's possible that our society was doomed to crash from the start. But we lived as close as possible to paradise."

"I guess that explains why you're as unfamiliar with computers and the internet as I am," Ness said. "But how did you convince people to give up those inventions?"

Lucas smiled. "I'm glad that someone's paying attention. The people of Tazmily knew that people would always go back to their conveniences and comforts if they had the chance. So they wiped all their memories of the past away. Sometimes, that's the only way to return to nature."

There was no way that could work in Ness' Eagleland. Forget about convincing everyone to give up the devices that put a wall between them and their loved ones when he couldn't even get Paula to recognize how destructive these computers could be.

"I saved the world just like the two of you did," Lucas said. "I had to fight Porky, just like you. And at the end, I passed by heart onto the Dark Dragon. I prayed that it would protect all the life on this Earth. And afterwards, the world was born anew and we returned to nature, where I helped us reforge a community."

"See, Paula?" Ness said. "It sounds like the three of us could get along."

Paula crossed her arms. "Sounds crazy, but I guess we've seen crazy too. I'm still waiting until we get to the part where he talks about Jeff."

"It's coming," Lucas said, "After I explain how my new society was a failure."

"Why wouldn't it work?" Ness said. "I would think that everyone would love a whole new natural world to explore."

"Right." Paula frowned. "No vaccines or medicine. Caught in the same little community where people don't really understand who you are and try to force their norms onto you. Sounds like a real utopia to me."

Ness bit his lip. Paula had a reason to be bitter about her own family, of course, but not all small societies were like that. In Lucas' community, people were probably freer to be themselves.

"It didn't work," Lucas said, ignoring Paula, "Because people don't change as much as I thought. The people who worked for Porky and were corrupted by money didn't want to give up their power. So they built new factories using the limited technology we had. Roped more of my people into becoming mindless workers. Within a few years, we were on our way to building another city just as corrupt and lifeless as the city Porky had created for himself."

"That's one thing I can agree with." Paula smirked. "There are some people you just can't reason with. A person who fights for evil and hatred isn't the type to change their beliefs."

Ness thought back to the night he had first seen the meteorite crash in Onett. Pokey had stared at the glowing rock with the same wide-eyed curiosity as Ness. Could someone like that really be doomed to their depravity forever? Maybe Pokey just needed someone to show him love.

"Well, there's one person I'd like to win back on our side," Lucas said. "Porky's followers brainwashed my friend Kumatora. Flint and Alec mistook you for her."

"I don't know enough about this person to understand if I should be flattered or annoyed."

"So Kumatora got sucked into this timeline too?" Ness said.

Lucas nodded. "We clashed with each other at the top of a mountain, and she used some PSI that brought us back in time." Lucas pressed a hand over his heart. "Her PSI energy has a signature that smells like roses whenever I sense it. I've noticed it around the city. She has to be here."

"Or there could just be roses," Paula said.

"Your friend Jeff agreed with me, when I saw him," Lucas said. "He was the one who introduced me to this group after detecting my PSI powers with one of his fancy gadgets. Said that he didn't agree with how they treated clones, but told me that they could teach me how to avoid the government imprisoning me for not having a brain chip."

Lucas walked over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a pair of rings made out of blue glass. He tossed one to Paula and the other to Ness, who watched the glass glitter under the ceiling light before snatching it out of the air.

"He told me to give you these if you came by," Lucas said. "Try putting it on, turning the knob at the top of the ring, and squeezing your hand."

"It's cute that you think I'll trust you the moment you mention my friend's name," Paula said.

"It's okay, Paula," Ness said. "I believe him. I'll try it first so that you can be in fighting condition if these rings take control of our minds."

While Paula was opening her mouth to object, Ness slipped on the ring. Nothing yet, which was a good sign. He twisted the glass dial at the top of the ring clockwise, and the glass turned from blue to green. He looked over at Lucas for confirmation.

"Might want to make sure nobody else is close," Lucas said.

Ness stepped back and squeezed his hand. When he opened it, he held a long blade made out of green glass in his hand. It was heavy at the tip, giving it the familiar weight of the baseball bats he had used five years ago on his adventure with Jeff.

In a way, it felt like home.

"Turn the knob in the other direction to deactivate the weapon," Lucas said. "I don't claim to know how any of it works, but your friend must be some kind of tech wizard to understand future materials so well."

"What a show-off that kid is," Paula muttered. "Guess I should give mine a try."

She followed the same procedure as Ness, and after twisting the dial and squeezing her hand, an axe made out of the same green glass appeared in her hand. The weapon itself looked short and stubby, and it took Ness a moment to put together how the double-sided head of the axe was about the same size and shape as the frying pans Paula had fought with.

"Never mind," Paula said. "I am definitely okay with Jeff showing off."

"Now," Lucas said. "I gave you weapons that could be used against me. Do you believe me when I say that I only have your best interests in mind?"

Paula glanced over at Ness. "Do you really believe this guy?"

"There's something about Lucas that feels genuine," Ness said. "His story is so crazy that it only makes sense that he ran into Pokey. I think it's in our best interests to stop Pokey together and get this Kumatora person back on our side."

Paula glanced over at Lucas and sighed. "So you want to get your friend back. Then what?"

"Then she can teleport us back to our own times. We can look for your friend Jeff along the way. Wouldn't want to leave him behind."

"Come on, Paula," Ness said. "Think about it. We don't have a way to go back to our own time, and this Kumatora person is our first lead. Lucas could be our quickest way to find her, and maybe she's even connected with Jeff somehow."

"Seems like a stretch," Paula said, "But I guess I don't have any better ideas right now. Tell me, Lucas. When did Jeff disappear? Where did he say he was going?"

As Lucas opened his mouth to respond, the sliding door to his room slammed open. Wess peered into the room and smirked at Lucas.

"You had better see this, kid," Wess said. "Porky just sent us a message through the computers."

Ness glanced over at Paula, who was narrowing her eyes at Wess. If she hadn't put the pieces together about Pokey time-travelling to this year in his spider mech, it wouldn't be long until the truth dawned on her. And what then? Would Ness and his friends be locked in an eternal battle with Pokey, chasing him across both time and space until both lost all meaning?

Jeff must have the answer for how to finish this. Maybe he had only disappeared when he figured out too much about Pokey Minch.

#

It turned out that "sending a message through computers" was more right than Ness expected.

As he stepped out into the common room behind Paula and Luas, he noticed that each of the computer screens had a background of pitch black with the same white letters plastered on each screen.

"I KNOW YOU ARE HERE, NESS. YOU WILL COME TO MY FACILITY AND MEET MY CREATIONS."

"Paula." Ness crossed his arms. "What did you do to the computers?"

"Hey, I didn't change any of the settings," Paula said. "Porky must have known how to access these machines for a long time. And they all have cameras, so he's probably been spying on you the whole time."

Lucas glanced around at the computer screens. Hesitated. Then his eyes turned to steel.

"Follow me," Lucas said. "If we disobey, he'll probably blow this whole bunker to smithereens. But I've been in this situation before and gotten out alive."

"If you play by his rules, how can you possibly win?" Ness said.

Lucas looked back and grinned. "That's the thing. Porky doesn't have rules. Around him, everything turns to chaos. And that's where I thrive."

#

Ness was surprised that he didn't have to persuade Paula to follow along. As Lucas said a quick goodbye to the others in the bunker, Paula looked down at the glass ring around her finger. As Lucas led them to the surface, she ran a finger over the blue glass and rotated it under the lights from above.

When Ness stepped onto the surface layer of the city, it was still the dead of night. Yet despite that, the towers above glowed with white lights from each window.

A black limousine pulled over on the street in front of Ness. A man in a business suit stepped out and offered his hand. Ness responded by narrowing his gaze.

"Master Porky welcomes you to the Empire Porky Building, Ness," the man said. "If you would be so kind as to step inside, we can offer you a variety of refreshments on your journey."

Ness glanced over at Lucas. "Do you really think we should do what Porky wants?"

"Worked out for me the first time," Lucas said. "Wasn't perfect, but you'll have me to lead you through the bumps."

Turning towards Paula, "Are you going to argue about this one?"

Paula cracked her knuckles. "Nah. We won't figure out anything about Porky by hiding from him. Might as well start searching for clues now. Maybe I can even give this Kumatora person a piece of my mind."

Ness clasped his hands together and fixed his gaze back on the man in the business suit. "It's settled, then. We graciously accept your master's offer of… hospitality. Rest assured that we will be on our best behavior."

Hey hey. :D I just got done with finals, so now I'm busy spending time with my family. I can't make any more promises about my upload schedule.

There weren't too many obscure references here, but the one that's a little specific is the limousine. It's how Lucas gets an invitation to enter New Pork City, so I thought it would be fitting here.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. :)

Review Responses:

Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf: Yeah I always felt like the "perfect" society at the start of Mother 3 was never really perfect (Paula's views this chapter might make that clearer), and both Wess and Alec were characters I had a little beef with. So that ended up coming out in this chapter. Haha through writing this chapter I've been discovering how much Paula really does not like Lucas. Always nice to have a bit of conflict, even though Ness agrees with you about Lucas being a decent person.

Bananaseed: Thank you! :D

Genie: You just posted your ch. 2 review as I was editing this chapter lol. I don't want to desync the reviews and responses too much, so I'll respond in PM. :)