First shipping fic! Whoo!
I never write in this genre, so I feel a bit nervous about writing it...
But EarthBound needs more fics, so here I am!

Please review, I need to have feedback for my first attempt at this type of writing!

It was a warm September morning. The frost had freshly melted from the strands from the golden grasses of autumn. Light glimmered from the tips of the fur-like meadows within the town of Onett.

The daybreak of the day had marked the first two weeks since the War Against Giygas had ceased.

The day that four very brave children had saved the world itself.

Three boys and a girl...

Currently, one of the four heroes was lying lazily on his cream colored sofa in the first room of his house. He still felt the fatigue of the whole ordeal, so his mother had decided on allowing him a month's extra rest from school.

Ness obviously wasn't complaining.

His mother was out running errands and told the thirteen-year-old to watch his little sister while she was out. Why couldn't have she just taken Tracey with her? He really didn't know.

The sun began to filter through the window positioned behind the couch, and while the blue curtains appeared to glow like the sky, the furniture cast a shadow onto Ness's face. The boy grumbled as he pulled himself up to a sitting position.

He glanced at one arm of the chair and saw a scrapbook that he had got familiar with over the past couple of weeks. He hadn't opened in over a week, so he decided to give it another go.

The very first page that was next to a note on the left hand side (most likely written by the Photographer himself) showed a photo of himself on his first day of his adventure. He couldn't help but notice that his cracked baseball bat was blurred and his facial expression showed nothing short of alarm.

Well, wouldn't anyone else be startled by a man who literally came from the sky? Ness reasoned and turned to the next page.

The next snapshot was of himself in the rickety old cabin he had wasted a good $7,500 on. And by the looks of the picture, Ness looked both miserable and angered.

He had actually forgotten about that cabin until right then.

The third photograph was of, once again, just himself, standing in front of a bike shop in Twoson. Nothing unusual, he only rode the bike once after purchasing it. It proved to be quite the useless item when its sluggish movement and impossible-to-steer handlebars. On top of that, even, he had more friends with him to collect the melodies, he couldn't exactly leave them behind with his bike, could he?

He flipped the the next page.

This time the photograph wasn't just of himself, but this time he was standing next to a girl the same age as himself. They were both standing in front of a brick building with a sign stating "CHAOS * THEATER" in bold, blue and green letters. Obviously, his companion looked startled with her pink teddy bear clutched tightly in her arms and her light blue eyes round with fright.

Just by looking at this picture, memories instantly washed over him like the crashing waves of an angered sea.

He remembered receiving the quite literal "Pencil Eraser" item from a clever boy named Apple Kid.
He remembered fighting the Blue-Blue cults and getting a key.
He remembered the click the lock made and afterward opening the rusty door that groaned when opened.
He remembered the look of joy of his friend when she stepped outside of her prison...

The smile upon Paula's face when they went to the Runaway Five's concert when they were in town, and the glow in her eye whenever they won a fight...

But it wasn't always fun and games.

He remembered the first time Paula was effortlessly knocked aside by a Territorial Oak's exploding flames.
He remembered when everyone was mushroomized at once and were throwing heated hits at random.
He remembered getting trapped it a pit thanks to a horde of zombies in Threed.
He remembered having to say farewell to Paula once their journey was done...

The departure still made the boy very sorrowful. He swore he could feel the grief claw at him like cats rubbed the wrong way, thankfully only on certain days.

Ness tightened his grip on the book and set it carefully onto the sofa's arm where he usually placed it, and closed his brown eyes tightly, hoping the sadness wouldn't overcome him.

And then, of course, the boy heard the sound footsteps creaking down the stairs.

Any other time would've been fine... Ness said to himself as he forced his eyes open.

"Ness?" a young girl's voice sounded from the bottom of the stairs. Tracy began to advance toward him, "Do you know where King is?"

"I think he's outside. Why don't you go too, Tracy?" Ness responded curtly, wanting to be left alone.

"No, that can't be right," Tracy reasoned, "King never goes outside unless somebody's with him."

Ness struggled to keep up with the pain welling up inside of him, so he didn't answer. But Tracy continued to keep her gaze on him as Ness closed his eyes even tighter.

"... So you don't know where he is, then?"

Ness looked up at his younger sister.

"Why don't you go outside and play with Picky?" he suggested calmly.

"But Picky-" Tracy was cut off.

"Please just go." Ness pleaded quietly.

Tracey, knowing that this was sincere and somewhat of a plea, walked towards the brown, wooden door without complaint, opened it slowly, and looked back at her brother.

"Bye, then."

Ness waved back and smiled weakly as she swung the door gently behind her and it closed with a soft 'click'.

The boy tried to recollect his thoughts as he stared blankly at a wall, he wasn't this upset when Jeff and Poo left, so why act up like this when he said goodbye to Paula? She was clearly an excellent friend as well as a fighter, but the others were also great to him...

So what made Paula so special?

Was it her ability to put so much faith into humanity as to pray for help to them while fighting Giygas?
Was it just that she could use any old Frying Pan as a lethal weapon?
... Was it just him?

And then it him.

"Ness, thank you for escorting me home."
Blue eyes met brown, but then they quickly dove for the girl's shoes.
"I wanted to tell you something, but I forgot what it was..." She mumbled.

He replayed the thought in his head a couple more times.

Paula rarely said anything not worth anyone's time and she was anything but forgetful.

Was it important? If it was, how could she possibly forget?

Thinking for a moment longer, realization struck upon his head like a well-aimed strike of a baseball bat.

Did she try to tell me that...? Ness's facial expression brightened but so quickly that it was almost comical.

I hope I'm right about this...

The boy practically leapt up off of the couch and headed cheerfully to the door, thrusting his red and blue hat onto his head as he swung open the door.

The tone of the day seemed to match Ness's new found, upbeat spirit. The sun shined brightly upon the housetops and casted shadows upon the trees and fences behind them.

Ness grinned as he pulled his baseball bat to his side.

Tracey will be fine by herself for a little while, won't she?

So the young hero bounded from the porch of his white house and began to run as fast as he could-

And hit a tree, causing soot to coat his entire body.

Well, it looks like I'm walking for a while, then. He thought to himself as he began to head south to the busy part of Onett.

As he walked, he brushed the black soot from his blue and yellow polo shirt and his face. Ness eventually found a much more open space to perform PK Teleport in. In as much time as it takes to snap your fingers, Ness had vanished.

And with his shirt and face still bearing the remains of the ashes, he was headed for Twoson.

Terrible? Okay? Dare I say good?
Please tell me in a review, like I said earlier!