A/N: This took a different turn than I was planning, so I apologize if it doesn't make much sense.

The sun was setting, casting colors of orange and red and light pink across the sky. Fifteen year-old Ness sat a few feet in front of the meteor crash landing, his backpack on the ground beside him and his baseball bat resting on his lap. His gaze, if it were seen by someone else, might've seemed a bit unfocused. He had told himself that he was watching the sun set for the evening, although the sun and its display weren't really his concern at the moment.

It had been about two years since Giygas's attack, since Ness's great adventure. Paula, Jeff, and Poo kept in touch, but their visits weren't as often as he'd hoped. Ness really couldn't blame them; they lived somewhat far from Onett, and they were busy with … their own things.

The psychic boy's train of thought was interrupted by a voice with an accent that definitely wasn't from Onett.

"Mind if I joined you?"

Ness looked up to see the face of the stranger. The man seemed to be somewhat young, probably in his late twenties or early thirties, but something, maybe the look in his eyes, told Ness that that estimation wasn't correct. The man was dressed in black boots and slacks, a tweed jacket over a white button-up shirt, with a bow tie to top it all off.

The psychic stared up at him for a short hesitant moment. There was something odd about this stranger that just made him very curious.

"No," Ness finally answered. "Go ahead."

The man smiled and sat next to him, and Ness picked something from the back of his mind: this stranger, with the odd accent and strange wardrobe was definitely not from Onett, or Twoson, or Threed, or any of the places Ness and his friends visited on their journey two years ago.

"What's your name?" Ness found himself asking.

"Hm? Oh, I'm John Smith," the man reached into his jacket and pulled out a white paper in a blue cover and showed it to Ness, rambling on about being a part of some sort of investigative organization or something.

"It's blank."

"Sorry?"

"Wait, I know what this is." Ness tilted the paper back a little, examining it with curiosity, and muttered, "Psychic paper." He then handed it back to the other, a smirk creeping on his face. "Lying to a child?"

The man looked embarrassed. "Well, I…"

"It's fine, don't worry about it. What do you go by?"

"The Doctor," the man answered after clearing his throat. He extended a hand. "And you?"

"Ness," the psychic gripped the offered hand and shook. Of course, he could tell that "the Doctor" also wasn't the stranger's real name, but somehow he knew that trying to find out his real name would prove to be fruitless and a waste of time.

"Ness," the Doctor repeated, as though the name was familiar. He shook his head as though to clear a thought. "Mind telling me the date, Ness? And where we are? I'm a bit lost."

"A bit" sounded like an understatement. "We're just outside of Onett," Ness said, "and the year is 199X."

"Onett! Ah, but that would mean…" the Doctor looked over his shoulder towards the meteor, and a look of realization lit up his face. "No, you're not—the Ness? As in the one who fought against Giygas?"

"I don't know any other Ness." He could understand the other's tone; saving the world from a galactic destroyer is bound to give one at least some recognition, but Ness was certain that his fame had died down a few months after the end of his adventure.

The Doctor, however, didn't seem to know that, and began asking about his adventure—the meteor and its origins, the Starmen, Ness's own PSI abilities, his friends, the places they saw, whether or not they got any information on what happened to Pokey—mostly questions Ness felt he had answered several times two years ago. In return, Ness asked about the Doctor, and learned that he was a thousand-plus year-old alien with a spaceship that could travel anywhere and to any time in the universe.

"…So what do you say, Ness? Fancy a trip with me?"

"I—wait, what?" The question was so sudden that it threw Ness off guard. A trip to anywhere in the universe? It sounded promising, but…

He looked towards the horizon. The sun had set completely now. Ness reached for his belongings and stood, and the Doctor did so as well.

"I can't," was Ness's answer. "Not now."

The Doctor's smile faltered. "Why not?"

"'Cause, it's after sunset," Ness began. "My mom's gonna worry about me."

The other laughed lightly, and the boy smiled, promising to give a straight answer tomorrow.