Ness
“The Young Hero of Earthbound”
“zzzz....” Ness snored away, dreaming about the new bat his father promised him for his birthday. It had been one year since that fateful day he, Paula, Jeff, and Poo had saved the entire world from Giygas, the embodiment of evil. Since then, his life had calmed down a lot, and he was back to a regular life as a normal teenager. He and Paula had become “pen pals”, so to speak, and they were writing letters back and forth. Ness was hapy to have his life back to normal again, but one thing was missing from his life now: adventure. Since Giygas’s downfall, everything had become normal and everyone was peaceful again. There was nothing exciting anymore. But Ness knew he had to accept this, and so, he led his normal life. But, Ness wasn’t totally right about the dullness of his life, for in a small, dark corner of the universe, a new threat, poised to rip apart the entire fabric of the multiverse, lies in wait...in wait for a time to strike...a time when no heroes can stop it...when nothing lies in between it and victory...NOTHING. Meanwhile, Ness lies cozy in bed, asleep, dreaming of that new bat, when suddenly, a horrendous explosion juts him out of bed. As he looks around frantically, wanting to know what hit him, he thinks, “Oh no, could it be happening again? Could Pokey have returned on whatever made that explosion?” Ness got up and put on his clothes. He headed out of his room and his sister met him there. “What is going ON,” she asked her brother. “I don’t know,” Ness responded. He passed her and made his way down into the living room. “Now Ness honey, don’t get yourself involved in another battle to save the world, okay,” his mom cautioned him as he made for the door. “I’ll try not to,” Ness replied. He made his way out and used his psychic powers to fly through the sky. As he flew, he looked for the impact point. What he saw when he laid his eyes on the impact point was a huge, glowing, perfect-circle-shaped rock, which had crashed into the Onett Bakery. “man, that’s huge,” Ness said as he flew down to investigate. He landed, and made his way over to the rock, when suddenly, it turned into a portal, and sucked him in.
Crono tossed and tussled in bed as the visions of the nightmarish creature known as Lavos rushed through his dreams. Crono had been having this dream for a week now. It was horrifying him, and his mother was worried about him. As the visions of Lavos rampaged through his dreams, the phrase kept echoing through his head:
“Death.....suffering.....doom......” All of the sudden, Crono’s mom came in to wake him. He woke up, and instead of his mom, he saw a huge drooling beast. Crono yelled and fell out of his bed. His mom looked at him, worried. “Crono, are you ok? You’ve been acting like this for a week now! I think I’d better get the doctor over here.” Crono’s mother turned to go downstairs and use the phone. As she left, a portal opened behind Crono. A demonic hand reached out and grabbed Crono by the shoulder. Crono grabbed for his sword, and just barely had enough time to grab it before the hand jerked him into the portal...
Locke sat around the cafe, looking bored. He sighed, and got out of his chair. With Kefka dead, there was nothing interesting to do anymore. No treasure to hunt for, no villians to fight.....life was just plain dull. “Maybe I’ll go visit Sabin...he always seemed like an interesting guy...” Locke walked off, heading south, to Figaro Castle. As he walked, he suddenly noticed a sparkling item lying at the base of a tree. “Hey, maybe.....TREASURE!!!” Locke rushed over to the sparkling item. Once he reached it, he found nothing but a sparkle. “Hmm? But, where’s this coming from?” Locke bent over to touch the sparkling item. At the very second he touched it, it turned into a huge portal. “AAAAAH!!!” Locke shouted as the portal sucked him in.
Locke looked around. He saw in front of him two kids: one in weird clothes with oversized pants that did not cover the lower half of his leg and a red cap; the other with a huge head of red, spike-shaped hair and a yellowish bandanna. The two seemed to be arguing. Locke walked over to the two youths, puzzled. As he began to speak, the kid in with the red cap shouted at the other kid, “Oh yeah? Well, if you didn’t bring me here, then what explains that sword?!?! Only a grown-up would carry a sword!” Locke looked at the other kid, who shot back. “Hey! This just happens to be my own personal defense OK?!?! I saved my world with the help of this sword!” “Well, I saved my world too! From the embodiment of evil, Giygas!” “Hah! YOU saved your world? In that clown suit? Hahahahaha!!!” “Well you don’t look like a king of fashion yourself pal!” “Ok, that’s it, you’re gonna meet your death for that one!” “Hahaha, you’re bluffing!” Locke watched as the two drew their weapons; the kid with the red cap pulled out a strange club, and the kid with the red hair drew a rainbow-like sword. Locke saw this, and shouted, “Hey! Calm down! We don’t need to kill eachother! We all seem to be heroes from our respective...worlds, and hey, we’re all human and we all speak the same language! So let’s just calm down!” The two kids stared at Locke, and burst into laughter. “Hahahaha!!!! Check the grown-up!” “Yeah, he looks pretty funny! He thinks he can order US around hahahahaha!!!!” “Well, maybe we could teach HIM a lesson!” “Yeah, good idea, uhm........what’s your name anyway?” “Oh, me? Name’s Ness. And you?” “Crono.” “Ah, nice to meet you Crono!” Locke watched as the kid with the red hat, apparently named “Ness”, extended a hand to the one apparently named “Crono”. The two shook hands, and looked at Locke, smiling. “N...now come on...do we really have to fight?” The two kids looked at eachother, and then put away their weapons. Locke wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead off. “Phew...Thank you very much.” Locke shook the hands of the two kids. He said to them both, “I’m Locke, world-famous treasure hunter. I helped to defeat Kefka, the villian who plauged my world.” The two kids said in unison, “Hello Locke.” Locke looked at them both. “well, maybe we should find us a way out of here?” “Good idea,” responded Ness. Crono was already searching. Ness joined him. “Heh, guess I’ll let those two do the work. Then they’ll have to yield to my great powers of detection.” Locke took a seat on the ground and got some shuteye, while Ness and Crono searched for an exit. “Hey, you think that guy’s what he says he is?” Ness asked Crono. “Nah, gotta be a thief,” responded Crono. “Heh...hey, I found an exit!” Ness exclaimed as he started to crawl through a hole. Crono shouted to Locke, “Hey! You! C’mon! We found a way out!” Locke jolted awake. “Hmm? Oh, good!” he responded. “Stupid kids,” Locke thought, “I was sleeping!” Crono crawled through the hole. Locke proceeded to follow, barely squeezing through the hole. “Uggh, that wasn’t made for me,” Locke stated as he squeezed through. “Hey guys, why are you taking out your weapons?” Crono and Ness did not speak, only stood ready to fight. “Err...guys?” Locke looked up, and saw a smirking warlock in a black cloak. “Who’s this wanna-be Kefka?” Locke asked. “I am not Kefka,” the warlock responded. “I am Arc-Marcin, and you are my enemies, brought here by my rival, Arc-Sashor. He brought you here to destroy me...but that shall not be so!” Arc-Marcin fired a blast of fire at the three. Crono rolled to the side and unsheathed his rainbow sword. Ness flew upward with the help of psychic power and pulled out his bat, the Legendary Bat. Locke leaped backward and unsheathed the Atma Weapon. “Ok joker,” snapped Locke, “no one shoots fire at the World’s Greatest Treasure Hunter and gets away with it!” Locke leapt at the warlock, and viciously attacked him. Unfortunately, the slashes were blocked by a strange shield, and Arc-Marcin sent Locke flying backwards with an ice beam. Crono and Ness attacked at the same time, both attacking with their weapons. Arc-Marcin’s shield blocked them still, and he blasted them backward with a tornado. “Aggh!” shouted Ness as he struck the wall. “If only I had the shield killer,” thought Ness. Crono got back to his feet quickly, and used Luminaire on Arc-Marcin. The shield sent the attack back at him. “AGGGGH!!!!!!!” Crono shouted as he was sent flying into the wall, still crackling with electricity. “Hahahaha,” Arc-Marcin cackled. “You can never defeat me! My shield is unstoppable!” “Uggh, he’s tough...anyone got something to take out shields?” Locke asked Ness and Crono. “Nope,” Crono replied. Ness reached into his backpack and found what he was looking for. “Hey! I have something!” “What the heck is that?” Crono asked. “It’s a shield killer,” responded Ness. “It takes down shields.” Ness aimed the device at Arc-Marcin. He fired it, and the shield dissolved. “What the...NO!!!” Arc-Marcin screamed. “Without my shield, I’m a goner!” Ness used a psychokinetic attack called PSI Gaming Omega. Arc-Marcin sailed backward, where Crono struck him with a Luminaire spell. He sailed forward now, where Locke was waiting. Locke unsheathed the Atma Weapon, and charged at Arc-Marcin. His aim was true, and Arc-Marcin was run through by the Atma Weapon. Locke waited for a minute or two, and then pulled the Atma Weapon from Arc-Marcin’s body. Arc-Marcin fell to the ground, mortally wounded, and turned to dust. “It is time for you to return,” said a wise, sagelike voice. The three heroes were enveloped in a golden light. Ness landed on his doorstep, dropped there by a golden portal. Crono was dropped into his bed, just in time for breakfast. Locke ended up about 300 feet from Figaro Castle. The heroes returned to their lives again, and they seemed to completely forget about how boring their lives were now.