(A/N: This chapter and last were originally going to be one, but I realized the length it was turning out to be could be split into two. So here we go, the final chapter to my Ponyo fic.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 17: Down to Earth

Unsure if the Kazehime was still actually around, Sosuke glanced around nervously before Granmammare placed her hands on his shoulders. "Rest easy, child, she has gone."

Sosuke let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Was she threatening me just then with the living up to her expectations thing?"

Granmammare chuckled. "An empty threat, as you and your family are under my protection."

"And I would never let her harm any of you." Eclipser replied.

"Not to mention," Pangaea added, "that your many times over great grandchildren will be long dead by the time she comes back to this world."

This earned a blush from both Sosuke and Pony while the others snickered at the two teens' discomfort.

"Well," said Lisa, "as exciting as this has been, I would really like to get home now."

"And I have much work to do with my new role." Eclipser added.

"As do we," said Granmammare. "Especially if we are to clean up the mess our battle created."

Pangaea scoffed at that. "Speak for yourself! The land was affected the most by miss sky goddess' tantrum. Now I have to fix that and still push the continents. Talk about backbreaking work. Why do we have to clean up Kazehime's mess while she gets to go live it up in the Spirit World?"

Ignoring the earth god, Eclipser walked over to Ponyo. "It was a real pleasure to meet you, Ponyo. I am just sorry things didn't work out between us."

Ponyo happily slapped his shoulder. "Hey, don't sound so down. You're a great guy, just not the one for me." She lowered her voice. "I'll be sure to put in a good word to my sisters about you."

Eclipser chuckled, then turned to Sosuke. "You are a very lucky boy. Make sure you take real good care of her. Show me I did the right thing by letting her go."

Sosuke wasn't exactly sure how to respond to a god after that and simply said, "Um… sure."

The sky god chuckled. "What, are you feeling intimidated by me now that the excitement has settled down?" He smirked. "Well, here's a taste of my power!"

He snapped his fingers and clouds came rushing over, surrounding everyone except for him. The group was lifted up and then were being carried through the air, down away from Eclipser, who waved to them as they went.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

When the cloud finally reached land once again, it popped like a bubble, dropping its passengers. Eclipser had returned them to their hometown. Fortunately, it didn't appear to have been hit that bad by Kazehime's storm. Even their little house on the hill was still in tact, though a few of the windows were broken from the heavy wind and a bit of the roof had been torn off.

While Granmammare, Fujimoto, and Pangaea seemed perfectly all right, as if cloud-travel were the most natural thing in the world, the other four looked rather shaken up.

"That…" Ponyo muttered, "was… AWESOME! Did you see that? We were flying! Is that what it's like inside an airplane?"

"I wouldn't know," Lisa replied shakily, "I've never flown before."

Ponyo glanced at her. "Lisa, are you afraid of heights?"

The older woman gulped. "Heights? No. Being thousands of feet in the air with nothing but a cloud to prevent us from falling? Yes."

Sosuke seemed to be recovering from the unnerving travel experience as well. "At least it was faster than getting there."

"Thanks a lot," Pangaea grumbled, glaring at him. "Next time you need a ride to the heavens, you can just get there on your own. Honestly, I get no appreciation around here."

Granmammare chuckled. "You have my appreciation, and my gratitude for helping my daughter and future son-in-law. If not for your mother forbidding me to aid you, I would have been happy to help you move the continents."

Pangaea sighed. "Thanks, I guess. But, geez, you'd think she'd cut me some slack. So I made a mistake a long time ago. She doesn't have to be such a stick in the mud about it."

At that moment, the ground trembled slightly. A surprised look crossed the earth god's face and then he looked worried. Quickly, he turned to the others, grabbing and shaking each of their hands.

"Well, it was nice meeting you! Have to do it again some time! Bye!" Then he began melting into the ground, seeming to faze right through the street. "Sorry, Mom! I didn't mean it!"

Granmammare simply shook her head, an amused smile on her face, then turned to Fujimoto. "Come, my love, we have much work to do too."

"Yes, my darling," Fujimoto replied, allowing the sea goddess to take him in her embrace.

"And," she continued, "I think we need to have a talk about that deal you made with Kazehime regarding our daughter."

Fujimoto paled, then glanced over his shoulder at the three humans. "Goodbye, for now. See you soon."

Granmammare's body reverted to pure water and launched into the sea, taking the sea wizard with her.

"Bye, Mommy, bye Dad!" Ponyo cried, as if such a thing were completely normal.

Lisa sighed, feeling the stress of the situation hitting her. "Well, this has been a very exciting day. I think I'll go to bed now."

Looking exhausted, she wondered into the house, leaving the two teenagers alone. Slowly, Ponyo's hand reached out and grabbed Sosuke's. When he looked her way, she pressed a kiss against his cheek.

"Thank you for coming after me, Sosuke. Eclipser was a nice guy, but you're the only one for me."

He gave her a smile. "Me too, Ponyo. I'll never let you go." He looked up at the sky. "I can't believe we went through all that because of a silly arranged marriage. Your father should have tried to fix it long ago."

"My dad can be an idiot sometimes."

Sosuke chuckled. "So can mine. Speaking of which, what are we going to tell him when he gets back?"

"About what happened?" She shrugged. "Who says we have to tell him anything? As far as he and the rest of the world know, a freak storm occurred; nothing more."

"Mom doesn't like keeping secrets from Dad."

"Then let her deal with it." Her eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, look at that sky! It's beautiful!"

Sosuke rolled his eyes as she ran further up the hill. That was his Ponyo, so carefree. He made to follow after her, but a grip on his foot held him back. Looking down, he saw a hand made of dirt and stone gripping his ankle.

"What the…?" He stared at the hand. "Pangaea, is that you?"

Two eyes appeared next to the hand with a mouth underneath them. "Oh good, you noticed me."

Sosuke motioned to his leg that the earth god was still gripping. "Kind of hard not to."

The hand released him and sank beneath the ground. "Don't tell the redhead I'm here. This is a surprise. I got something for you, if you want it."

Sosuke eyed him suspiciously. "That depends, what is it?"

The earth god snickered. "It's nothing strange. I just thought it was something you could use, since I'm such a nice guy." The earth rumbled, and Pangaea's eyes darted around nervously. "Sorry, Mother." He looked back at Sosuke. "Ok, really I was going to use it to try and bribe more years of assistance in moving the continents from Granmammare, but since my mother has forbidden any assistance, you can just have it, otherwise it'll go to waste."

The stone hand reemerged from the ground again and tossed something at Sosuke. He caught it on reflex, realizing that it was a diamond ring.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"That, my friend, is the most valuable, most perfect diamond ring to ever have been made. I should know, I made it myself from the most valuable particles of the earth. There's no other like it, and that there diamond is one of a kind. It'd be worthy several millions if you sold it."

Sosuke's eyes widened. "M-Millions? Then why are you giving it to me?"

"Well, I'm not going to use it for anything. And I can always make another one if I meet the right person. Besides, I own all the riches of the earth; what's one little ring? You could make use of it though." His eyes darted over to Ponyo. "I made it in her size. Give it to her. Make your engagement official. Or sell it and buy a different ring with the money. Whatever you choose; it doesn't matter to me. Just be sure to invite me to the wedding. Adios. I'll be in touch."

His eyes closed and the earth god was gone. Sosuke stared at the spot he had been before turning his attention back to the ring. He wasn't a jeweler, but even he could see the value of it.

"Sosuke, what are you doing?" Ponyo called.

Sosuke's gaze shifted to her. From up on the hill, with the sunlight hitting her just right, she was far more beautiful than any ring, and far more valuable to him than all the money in the world.

"I'm coming!" he cried, and hurried up the hill towards her.

Pangaea was right. It was time to make their engagement official.

THE END

(A/N: I'm not entirely satisfied with the way the story ended. It just felt, I don't know, anticlimactic. But I hope you all enjoyed it just the same. It was a fun story to write, and I'd like to thank everyone that stuck with me. I'm not sure what I'm going to write next. I got a lot of ideas, now I've got to put them on paper, so to speak. I hope you'll look into my other stories, and thanks again for all your support.)