Disclaimer - And here is the weather report...what the heck? WHO'S MESSING AROUND WITH THE DISCLAIMER?! *Throws things at certain people in the back* ...Okay, here is the disclaimer. I own nothing of Earthbound. That is made by Squaresoft. If you have never played any of their games, you are missing out on something extreme. I do own The Shadow Man (also known as Ness' brother, RIP), half-own Trigas, because someone else came up with that name, I think. I own the Princess, Poo's sister.

The Shadow Man's time on Earth has ended, and so has Trigas. And now, after a long battle, Paul is unconscious, Ness is weakened though alive, and everybody is journeying home, however Ness has one more stop to make (and just remember, since this is G, possibly PG, there won't be anything over- rated, so if you're looking for that, trying changing the thing to R. Thank you for listening.)

Epilogue: The Way Back Home

It seemed a welcome relief to get back to the surface. The five adventurers (Dr. Andonuts, Mr. Saturn, and Pokey had been sent back earlier) were breathing fresh air. Well, four were anyway, Paula was still unconscious, and she was being carried by (yep, you guessed it) Ness. They continued down the road, smiling, because the end of the world had been cancelled for a good few hundred thousand years. Poo silently whispered to Jeff, "It's amazing what simple love can do..." Jeff replied, quietly, so as not to get Ness into the conversation, "Yeah, and just think, I wonder how he feels now he finally knows the truth?" "This ought to be humourous, if only we could see it." "What do you mean, Poo?" Poo gained a mischievous smirk on his face. "We should leave the two lovers alone." "What? Awwww...but I wanted to see..." "Hey!" Ness shouted from up front. "What's going on back there?" "Nothing..." Jeff and Poo stated, then simply went to the guilty whistle (You know the one, I think anyway) Ness rolled his eyes and continued onwards. "Now do you see why we've gotta leave?" Poo whispered to Jeff. "Groan...alright..." The two silently teleported out, just as Ness (and the unconscious Paula) entered Twoson, to go to Paula's home, Polestar Preschool. Ness looked back behind him, and noticed that Jeff and Poo were gone. "Hey, where'd those two loons go? Ah well." Dismissing the fact, and of course, eyes mainly set on a girl carried across his shoulder, he quickly walked to Polestar Preschool. The note said,

'Dear Paula,

Sorry we aren't able to stay here, there's some special grocery shopping we have to do for the kids. They've been quite worried about where you've been. We knew you'd be back soon, so stay calm. Everything will be OK just as soon as we get back home.

Love Mom and Dad

P.S. Hurry up and get home! The Kids from Polestar Preschool"

Ness smiled. If Paula were awake she'd love to see this, however, she was unconscious, so she wouldn't be seeing anything till she woke up. He quickly took Paula up to her room and closed the door behind him (A/N: For all you sick freaks out there, nothing R-rated happens behind these doors).

Paula soon woke up. She murmured something about 'having a nice dream', and was about to go back to sleep when she remembered fully what had happened. She'd fainted in a strange room, and woke up in bed. That dream was so vivid that it couldn't have been a dream. She sat up in bed, wondering if anyone was watching her, and sweating like there was no tomorrow. Then she suddenly calmly walked over to the window, stuck her head out and said, "Ness, get down from there." A few seconds later, a red and yellow blur that looked like a human shirt fell down from the roof. That same blur jumped into the window (A/N: Don't ask. Please DON'T ask.) and into Paula's room. "How did you know it was me out there??" Ness asked, bewildered. "That spot never failed for 100 times!" "That's why I knew you were there." Paula explained. "Oh."

(A/N: WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! THIS IS WHERE THE LOVE STUFF BEGINS! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, I DON'T CARE, GET TO THE BOTTOM! And also, I am putting a lot of effort into this part, so please excuse me if it's bad (And there is NO R-rated stuff) (Longest Author Note in the fic! Woo hoo!))

Ness never seemed to take his eyes off Paula during that entire conversation, and Paula didn't take her eyes off Ness either. They seemed to be magnetized towards each other. And suddenly, in what seemed to take less then a second, they (wait for it, ladies and gentlemen.3.2.1.) put their lips together, and held each other in a strong embrace, both enjoying the kiss. The kiss seemed to take a long, long time (in reality, it lasted about 5 minutes), but it didn't seem long enough, as they immersed themselves in the kiss deeper and deeper. How long it lasted to them is a mystery forever known. They've never told anyone. When at the long last, they did finally separate. They stared each other for a few more minutes. Then Ness stepped away. The thing was, they both knew they'd enjoyed the kiss, and just stared at each other like something completely insane had just happened. Ness quietly murmured, "I have to go now". Then he kissed her again (much shorter this time, and ran. Paula just stared as he left. Then later she fell on the bed and went back to sleep, that kiss spinning around in her head.

Ness was just running, tears in his eyes, when he stopped by a tree, sat down in it's shade, and cried. He just cried and cried until he couldn't understand what had happened, and then just quietly sobbed. "That kiss couldn't have been real." He thought, "But does she love me? If she kissed me, she has to! Then why do I feel so sad and alone?" He sat down and sobbed. "Because you have doubts, brother." A voice inside his head said. "Shadow Man?! Where are you!?" Ness yelled out, hoping he would come out. "I'm nowhere. I'm speaking to you telepathically." The Shadow Man talked calmly to his brother. "I don't understand. Why is it I don't think she loves me?" "You have doubts, brother, and all, especially you and Paula, know that. Although I'm no relationship explorer, I believe it's because you don't fully understand the prospect of what you're doing. But don't worry. Any half-wit can see that you love her, and she loves you. You saved her life. She saved yours. Together, you two destroyed Trigas."

"She did?"

"Weren't you listening to Jeff and Poo, OR ME?! WHAT DO I HAVE TO SAY TO GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD?! SHE.LOVES.YOU. YOU.LOVE.HER. It doesn't matter if you're not ready now. You will be one day, and then you'll both know the true meaning of true love. It doesn't matter."

Suddenly, the Shadow Man's voice, broke into a song.

"Well I don't show off, don't criticize.

I'm just living by my own feelings.

And I won't give in or compromise.

'Cause I only have a steadfast heart of gold.

I don't know why I can't lead though it might be tough

But I ain't out of control, just living by my word.

It doesn't matter, now what happens.

I will never give up the fight.

Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight.

It doesn't matter, who is wrong and who is right."

Ness's shattered emotions started to put themselves together while the song was being sung. The music in it seemed to just drift into his head.

"Well I don't look back, I don't need to.

Time won't wait and I got so much to do.

Where do I stop, now it's all a blur and so unclear,

Well, I don't know, but I can't be wrong.

It doesn't matter, now what happens,

I will never, give up the fight.

Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight,

Place all your bets on the one you think is right.

Oh no, it doesn't matter, now what happens.

I will never give up the fight.

Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight.

It doesn't matter who is wrong and who is right.

No, no, no, no.

It doesn't matter!

(Sonic's Theme (It Doesn't Matter) from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. © Sega.)

The rest of the music faded into a few humming notes. Ness jumped up, renewed with spirit. "Thank you, brother!" he yelled around him, then completed running back home. Up in the tree, a figure smiled. "I always knew that book on throwing your voice would be handy." Then he too, parted, going a different way.

And then, the second adventure of the Chosen Four, with help, managed to defeat the evil Trigas. Although Giygas may return one day, for now it is the end of adventuring. (A little known fact is that Ness and Paula were happily married on this day, years in the future, but for now, they're still kids. But inside, they have the mind of adults.)

And now, the story comes to a close, as the curtain closes on our heroes. But you can be sure, that there adventures are never over.

THE END.

For now.

And now, to thank my reviewers. This is the section where all the people who reviewed get a special mention in this book, plus any Question's answered.

The Review Guy: Thanks for all your words of wisdom. Keep on going well with your...er...reviews.

Vivi239: Thanks for convincing me to get off my butt and post. The reviewers are the people who actually convince me something should be worth finishing. And no negative remarks so far!

Aurin Taco: The one who made me realise about the way I had to type up stories to show readability properly. I hope I took your advice well!

Masboy11(1?): The first who asked about the actual romance of the couple Paula and Ness. Was this what you were looking for? Hope you got what you wanted.

Phil D. Roadruck: The dude who was one of the recent 'keep it up' reviews. Thanks dude!

Robin: An anonymous reviewer who told me to keep fighting to the finish, and forgave me with the 'can't be stuffed to post another chapter' problem!

And last but definitely not least

YOU: For spending minutes of your precious time on earth to sit down and read this story. I hope you liked it.

There's no questions? OK.

Thank you for reading my fanfiction, and I hope to see people smile when they read my fanfiction (although I won't, I'm Australian and I believe most of you are American). I hope to see you reading another of my fanfictions.

If you're a Nintendo fan, check out my other fanfiction - Mario: City of Dreams

The Author - The D.J. C.J.