Earthbound: Right at Home [Complete]

Chapter 14: Thank You

You listened to the whole story, not even caring how insane it got.

It started with a meteor crashing in Ness's back yard in the middle of the night. Police surrounded the area and he basically went out to explore on his own.

You don't remember this. You do remember hearing a lot of sirens and waking up to a loud rumble.

Since you were close friends with Ness, then you had to live close to him right?

But... all of those forgotten childhood memories played when you were younger. Much younger. Maybe... six years old at the most.

This happened only a couple years ago.

When Ness was thirteen.

He was fifteen now, and it amazed you how much he had grown.

You remember being taller than him, but now he had caught up. His clothing used extremely baggy as well... they were handmade. He was poor, and they couldn't by clothing on a regular basis. You wondered if his mother purposely made the clothing three times larger so that he could grow into them.

Smart.

Ness clearly wasn't that scrawny little kid from your past anymore. As side from looks and psychical features, he hadn't changed much at all.

The only thing that did change was how reserved he could be, how much of and introvert he had become. In the past, he was always outgoing. Ready to befriend anyone who needed one, now he seemed... selective.

He was friendly, but kept a distance. Judged a person based on their actions. Only allowing them in when they seemed to be the right type.

Like... right now.

Either way.. he was still that strange little kid from across the street, nice and kind to practically anyone who came his way.

You blamed that kid who used to live across the hill.

Porkey Minch... treated Ness the way he did simply because he was... different.

That wasn't fair. You just couldn't do that to someone... and in Ness's case he really couldn't help it.

He was born with it.

You wondered how long he knew about these powers...

The stories end came about when Ness defeated the element of fear.. Giygas the alien from the distant future.

It was fascinating, Ness and his three other companions weren't even in their own bodies... more like mechanical ones.

It was interesting... they had to use a machine to get there, one that couldn't even transport organic matter. They had to put their souls inside robots, with a slim chance of returning home.

And they did it.

"Geeze... Ness." Was all you could really say. You were speechless.

Ness nodded simply... not really looking for a congratulations, or even an applause. You could tell the story wasn't even easy to tell. He had a pained look on his face the entire time constantly looking around the room to find something to distract himself with.

Though, something still wasn't right.

Society was still treating him the same way. Not even thanking him for risking his life to save the world. Was it because it didn't occur in the same timeline that the victory of The Chosen Four went completely unnoticed?

Then you remembered that PSI wasn't even accepted yet in the real world. Ness was still seen as a freak and an outcast... not a hero.

Then another question you could only ask yourself.