"I don't know who else to ask…" Paula drew in a shaky breath. She and her friends were fighting Giygas, the being that they had been trying to stop throughout their entire adventure, and Paula was praying to everyone she could think of to help them defeat him. She had managed to reach the Dr. Andonuts, her own parents, Ness' parents, and some girls in Dalaam.

But she couldn't think of anybody else to pray to, now.

She watched helplessly as Giygas let loose with PSI Thunder, and saw Poo drop to the ground from the shock.

She tried again. "If anybody is out there…" she cried. "Please, help us!"

She heard a name in her head, and a voice to go with it, but she couldn't place the name.

The prayer didn't seem to be enough, though. It dealt some damage to Giygas, it seemed, although it was hard to tell.

They couldn't keep it up for much longer. Giygas may have been wounded, but he was still really powerful.

Suddenly, Paula felt the name in her head again. She was sure it was someone they hadn't met throughout their journeys, and the person didn't even know the kids. But still, whoever it was, they kept praying.

And kept praying.

Suddenly, Paula noticed that Giygas was screaming. Jeff and Poo were collapsed on the ground, and Paula took out the cup of noodles she kept with her in case of this situation. She revived Poo, who then revived Jeff with PSI Healing.

The four watched in wonder, as the large, gaseous figure of Giygas, started to break up. Soon, it had flattened into small red wisps, which disappeared.

Pokey, who was watching the whole time, shouted something at the four, and bashed his mech into Ness, whose body crumpled. Then, he jumped into the middle of the other three, flashed a bright light, and disappeared.

Without Pokey there to manage the Devil's Machine, the passageway, and the machine itself, started to explode.

But the robot bodies that they had been transferred into had been broken, and altogether in disrepair after the battle. They couldn't even stand, much less run and escape from the explosion.

Paula weakly opened her eyes, saw the passageway collapsing around her, and one thought ran through her mind…

"We did it…"

And she collapsed.

The force of the explosion blew the robotic bodies out of the crevice from which they had entered, and they landed just outside.

Suddenly, four wisps of light rose out of the bodies. They all travelled together, as if the thought of being apart was just unreal to them.

The light travelled back through time, to their own time, to where their four bodies were lying motionless on the ground in Saturn Valley.

The first went into Poo, who awoke with a start and looked around.

The second went into Jeff, who weakly opened his eyes and rubbed his head.

The third went into Paula, who sat up quickly, and hugged her two friends.

But the last one didn't enter Ness right away, and when Paula saw his body motionless on the ground, she instantly thought the worst.

She walked over to his body, and knelt next to him, patiently waiting for him to wake up. And when that didn't come, she quietly put her head to his chest, and checked for a pulse.

Nothing.

Instantly, tears started streaming down her face.

"Poo!" she cried. "Help!"

Instantly knowing why his friend was so distraught, Poo knelt down next to her, and motioned for Jeff to do the same. He put his hands on Ness' chest, and tried to cast PSI Healing to revive him.

But no matter how hard he tried, Ness wouldn't wake up.

Realizing the same thing at the same time, the three friends knelt over Ness' motionless body and quietly wept.

And the wisp of light that was their friend swooped down and entered Ness' body, who sat up quickly and sucked in a lungful of air.

"Ness!" Paula, Jeff, and Poo cried in unison. They tackled Ness with a hug so hard, he fell right back down to the ground.

"Whoa, what's with the emotion all of a sudden?" Ness asked. He had no clue what had just been happening.

"Nothing," replied Jeff. "Nothing at all."

When Jeff and Poo released him, Paula still stayed for a while, still quietly crying, but this time, in happiness.

"I… I thought you had died…" she told him softly.

"Don't worry, Paula," replied Ness. "I don't plan to do that to you anytime soon."

They all stayed like that for a moment, Paula and Ness hugging, Jeff and Poo watching them with small smiles on their faces.

"Well, seeing as our adventure is over," Poo started, "I think it's time for me to go. Ness, Paula, Jeff, I had the best time with you three. Promise you'll visit sometime?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Ness.

"Well then," said Poo. "I should get back to Dalaam. I'm going to demonstrate a special PSI ability that I learned when I was a young child. PSI Farewell! And hoping that we meet again…"

And with that, Poo vanished in a puff of wind.

Now it was Jeff's turn. He pulled Paula and Ness into a hug.

"I think I'm going to stay here, with my dad, and the Mr. Saturns," he said. "And hey; if you guys ever get hitched, promise me that I'll be the guy who comes in and fixes your appliances!"

Paula and Ness looked at each other in surprise that Jeff would think they would get married.

"Ha!" he laughed. "You two should see the look on your faces!" Then, sotto to Ness, "Seriously, though, I won't charge you any money for it."

Ness smiled, and turned to Paula.

"Ness…" she said shyly. "Do you think you could escort me home?"

"Of course," he said, a little sadly. He took his hand in hers, and started to run in a circle. "Hold on!"

Paula was confused as to why he was teleporting; it would have been much better to walk. Her confusion left, though, when she saw that they didn't land in Twoson, but Fourside instead.

"I thought it would be a longer walk…" Ness said sheepishly.

Paula just smiled, and they started on their way to Twoson.

They constantly stood on guard, bat and frying pan at the ready. After spending so much time fighting monsters disguised as innocuous things, it was a bit weird to not have anything jumping out at them.

Finally, they reached the Polestar Preschool in Twoson. Paula let go of his hand and walked to her front door.

"Well," she said, starting to well up. "I guess this is good-bye…"

"Yeah, I suppose it is…"

"There was something I wanted to tell you," said Paula. "But, I think I forgot."

"Paula. I think I know what it was you're going to tell me, but before you do, I have something to tell you," replied Ness.

And with that, he walked up to her, took her hands in his own, and pulled her into a kiss.

Paula had opened her mouth to tell Ness that she loved him, ever since she first laid eyes on him through the bars of that cell, that she was too afraid to confess her feelings when Ness had kissed her. And oh, what a kiss it was! Paula could feel herself melting into it, trying to push the words out of her mouth and hoping that he would understand.

She wasn't sure if he did, but when she pulled away, she could see it in his eyes.

She blushed, said "good-bye," and walked away into her house.

Ness walked by to his house, strangely not sad about what had just happened. He knew that he could visit his friends any time he wanted to, whether by teleport to Dalaam, a walk to Saturn Valley, or a bike rid over to the Polestar Preschool.

Before he even knew it, he was back at his own house on the outskirts of Onett. He walked inside, and saw his mother.

She ran over and hugged him. "Tell me all about your journey," she asked.

"Well," he said. "I think it was the best trip I'll ever have."

[A/N] Shoo-rah! I finished another story! I came up with this one while I was lying in bed. Don't know how it came to me… maybe it was just DESSSSSSSTINY.

Anyway, leave a review! More is on the way!