oo: application

[rockinmelody]

An Note: This Ness won't be a clean slate. Instead I am going to try and interweave both previous Ness' because I love them and I would hate to see their interactions kicked to the curb. So, an adoption. Hopefully not a confusing one.
Double Note: A Shocky and a Lizzi have been conversed with.

In-Character Information
Name : Ness
Game/Series: Earthbound
Canon Point: Post-Game.
Age & Grade Level: 17, Senior.

Personality:
On a surface level, Ness is a pretty swell kid. He's that guy in high school that obviously had his own group of friends, but tried to be pretty nice to everybody anyway. You know the one. Yeah that one. People tend to either like that kid or dislike him. Ness will accept either opinion pretty willingly. He can't be everybody's friend, but he certainly wouldn't mind trying.

Once you get to know him, it turns out that Ness is… still a pretty swell kid, actually. He was brought up to be a nice boy, and it shows. Be kind to others and do what's right. Those were words to live by, and Ness has done his best. He's really devoted to his family, and is… kind of a mama's boy (but you certainly never heard about that). Being away from them from a long period of time can really get to him after a while, and the kid can get really homesick and that just ruins everything. No, trust me, it ruins everything. You just want to have a conversation with the guy but he's too busy daydreaming about steaks. Oi. Deep down he just… doesn't want to be his dad. He just really wants to actually be there for people, not just help from afar. So yeah, he's got a few family issues.

But more often than not, he's usually a really cheerful guy! Ness is very energetic and he has a strong, outgoing personality. He wants to get out and do things. Does something need investigating? Well holy crap what are we doing here LET'S GO CHECK IT OUT! Then we can make a baseball team and he wants YOU on his team, cause golly you're his friend and he believes you can hit a billion home runs. You can only hit fouls? WELL THOSE ARE HOME RUNS IN HIS HEART. (He'll make you a hitting machine yet, just wait.) Sometimes he just wants to goof off and hit the arcades or do something completely trivial and stupid. He's a good kid, yeah, but don't let anyone call him a perfect saint. Ness is certainly not that (but who REALLY is), and he's gotten into his fair of trouble spots.

Baseballs through windows, telling white lies, getting into the standard troubles that all young men do… It's all happened to Ness too. But beyond that, everyone has a negative side, and Ness is… was… no exception. He beat up on stray dogs and crazy ladies with handbags without really giving it much of a second thought. He can be a patient guy, but it's not endless. He can get angry. He used to get angrier. Angry at Pokey's parents for being who they were, angry at his own father for being gone so often, angry at street punks for being a nuisance in his town… maybe it was justified, maybe it wasn't. The fact is that it was there, and Ness won't deny it, though he does keep a lot of it locked up so it's hard to tell sometimes. A lot of spiteful crows and taxi cabs saw the wrong side of his baseball bat though. That might be a clue.

It's unclear how much of that negativity was actually himself and how much of it was the influence of the Mani Mani statue. However, since he defeated his own nightmare, there was a period of time where all of that negativity had been swept clean from his heart. Some of it has very slowly crept back over the years, potentially explaining why he still has issues with his telepathy. He notices it and it bothers him, so he tries not to keep his feelings locked up anymore. If something bothers him, he lets something know. He tries really hard to see things from every angle and really earnestly believes that there's good somewhere in everybody. Sometimes he just runs into a wall and it can get really frustrating, and there's nothing like sending a ball crashing through the trees to relieve some stress. But no. He's not a saint. He gets angry, he gets frustrated, sometimes he can be a jerk. Don't call him a saint.

People are more likely to call him a brave hero. It's a title that Ness has gotten used to being called, though he's never really sold in to the idea. What others would call brave, he just thinks is the right thing to do. He doesn't hesitate to jump into action, which is a trait that could be considered pretty reckless at times, and he doesn't give up easy on the task at hand. If a friend's in trouble, you can bet Ness is going to be there to back them up. Maybe those are the traits of a hero, but he doesn't really think so. Not by himself anyway.

On his own, he's just some plucky kid from Onett that's got some sweet powers and the heart to do something about big alien menaces. Having the heart isn't quite enough though, and Ness knows that pretty well. He's not at his best unless he's got his friends by his side. Each of them bring out another part of him that's a little hard for him to summon up on his own sometimes. When he's with Paula, everything is a lot calmer and he has a better sense of what he should be doing. (Or… at least, that's how it usually is when he's trying not to be an idiot and isn't busy flustering around. Oh Paula, the crazy things you do.) Jeff makes him a little bolder. Leaving them alone on the adventure was probably a horrible move. Diving in to adventure with guns blazing! In a sharp contrast to that, Prince Poo of Dalaam helps him see things in a way he normally wouldn't have thought of things. When all of them are together, Ness just feels whole. He normally wouldn't think himself as a leader, but he's willing to try with them backing him up.

Backstory:
As any good silent protagonist can tell you, the best ones start their stories by being woken from their slumber by the sounds of impending adventure. Ness was no exception. Meteors falling to Earth near his home roused him from his sleep, and if it weren't for his mother's quick reflexes, he would have run straight up the hill in his pajamas. But alas, he couldn't see a thing. Not yet anyway. This had been more of a false start. Later than night, however, once he was all snug back in his bed… That's when the first knocks of destiny came knocking as his door to wake him up. Gosh who was even knocking so loudly, they were waking up the whole house geez.

It was Pokey! Pokey was Ness' friend that lived in the house besides his. Pokey certainly wasn't the most pleasant of children, but that didn't change the fact that he and Ness were friends. A friend was a friend no matter what, and it turned out that his friend was currently a friend in need. His little brother Picky was missing and their parents were going to be home any time and oh gosh Ness can't you help a brother out. Ness could in fact help a brother out. They got Ness' faithful dog King to come with him, and they set off in search of Picky.

After three hours of running around beating up small woodland creatures and eating steak It didn't take too long to thing to check near where the meteor had landed. Unsurprisingly, the Onett police had checked in for the night, leaving the site wide and clear. Also unsurprisingly, they found Picky sleeping behind a tree near the impact. He had been looking for Pokey, who had apparently run off scared. No one was surprised. One little brother acquired, they began to leave when the surprises started happening. There was just something about that meteor… Well, Ness had never seen a meteor before so he wanted to take a closer look at it anyway, but outside of his own natural curiosity there was just something about it that drew him closer. There was a weird buzzing noise in the air and…That's when they met Buzz Buzz, a strange flying insect sort of fellow. Buzz Buzz wasted no time in blowing the socks off of our young hero Ness and his current companions.

He was from the future, he said. A future where everything was devastated and the universal cosmic destroyer, a being called Giygas, had consumed everything. But there was a legend, Buzz Buzz continued, of a chosen one. Of four friends, three boys and a girl, that would defeat Giygas before his evil intentions could take hold of the Earth. It was of Buzz Buzz's opinion that Ness was just the boy he had been looking for. There was more to the story, but there was much to be done before it could be finished. Ness could only agree, because whoa this was really weird and geez they needed to get Picky home.

He wasn't really sure what to think about all of this. It was a lot of stuff to digest all at once! However they met a Starman Jr. on the way back home. A servant of Giygas that had come to destroy Buzz Buzz. Ho. Ly. Crap. If Ness had needed any sort of convincing about all of this, this guy was just the guy to do it. The battle did not last long with Buzz Buzz's help, but it was rapidly putting things into perspective for the young boy. Oh. Geez. But they pressed on. Picky and Pokey got home to find… their parents were already home. Things got awkwardly very quickly, and Ness was about to leave when something spectacularly horrible happened.

Lardna, Pokey's mother, displayed a much higher degree of quick reactions and precision than Ness would have ever given her credit for and smashed Buzz Buzz after he flew a little too close to her. Buzz Buzz was dying. Ness didn't know how to fix a bug. How was he supposed to fix a bug? Well he couldn't. All he could do was hold on to the little guy as he tried to muster up the rest of the story he had to tell his hero. In order to defeat Giygas, Ness would have to become part of the Earth. There were eight sanctuary locations that he would have to find and visit to be able to do this. Each would have a melody that he would be able to record on a Sound Stone, of which Buzz Buzz gave to him. With that, the brave little bug passed from the current world.

He went home and his mother sent him off to bed. When he awoke he told her and his family all about his tale. Ness knew what he had to do. So with his family's blessing, he set out on his grand adventure.

And what a grand adventure it was. Ness started in his hometown of Onett, sweeping up the crime on the streets as he searched for his first sanctuary location, Giant's Step. Locating it wasn't hard, it was a relatively well known tourist thing. It was the first stop of many, and there he recorded his first melody. It was becoming apparent that this task was going to be pretty tough if he did it on his own. What was it that Buzz Buzz had said? There were three other kids involved in this, weren't there? He didn't know how he was supposed to find them, but he was sure he would. For now he would just head to Twoson to see what there was to see. (You know, after beating up Onett's police force. What the heck. Were they always like that or was this what Buzz Buzz had meant by evil intentions?)

To his surprise, it turned out the friends he hadn't met yet would actually come and find him instead during the course of the adventure. … In a matter of speaking. Paula found him in a dream, asking for his help. She had been kidnapped by a cult in Peaceful Rest Valley! That wouldn't do. He enlisted the help of one Apple Kid to get him there, and found one Paula in one shack. The cutie gave him the invaluable Franklin Badge, and with it Ness went and kicked some Happy Happyist cult butt. Oh yeah. It seemed as though the leader, Mr. Carpainter, had been getting warped by some totally weird Mani Mani Statue. It… really creeped Ness out. He didn't like it one bit. But hooray, Paula was free! And hooray! The second sanctuary location! YEAAH! Oh Baby.

The fantastic new duo helped out the musical sensation, the Runaway Five, with their debt problem and they were on their way to Threed! The way had been previously inexplorable due to a bunch of ghosts in the tunnel… which were… also… all over Threed. Along with a bunch of zombies. And beautiful zombie women. Oh. Er. Hmm. That was problematic. Especially when beautiful zombie women captured them and locked them up somewhere underneath the cemetery. So maybe following his male urges wasn't the best of ideas… Paula sent a message to their third friend who was somewhere far to the north...

And he came south with a bang. Or a boom. Anyway he certainly raised the roof (by destroying it) and was a sight for sore eyes. Jeff, the reckless boy genius, was a worthy addition. The trio put a stop to the zombie menace in the town of Threed with Apple Kid's continued help, using the Zombie Paper to stick them in one place. Awesome. Battling evil tents, getting fly honey, learning about some horrible, horrible being named Master Belch (honestly he just sounded disgusting)… it was time to find this guy and put a stop to his really gross plans.

They encountered very strange, and very helpful, creatures called the Mr. Saturn. They got rid of the Belch, saved the Mr. Saturns that were forced to do his bidding, and enjoyed a relaxing and altogether trippy cup of joe, all the while picking up more sanctuary melodies. They traveled the breadth of a desert, slathering Jeff in wet towels along the way, finding themselves in the city of Fourside without a fourth friend in sight. There wasn't time to worry though, they had things to do! Beating up on moles, getting some diamonds, clearing the Runaway Five's name again… How did they get into so much debt anyway? Oh well. At least Venus was a lovely stagemate. (Oh Venus…) Things were going pretty swell until HOLY CRAP Paula just got kidnapped what the heck Oh god Jeff we have to save her RIGHT NOW. And by right now they meant investigating Monotoli and by investigating Monotoli that obviously meant transporting to the trippiest place this side of Magicant. MMmmooOoonsssiiiIIide.

No really. It was seriously pretty trippy. But whaddya know, the Mani Mani Statue was the cause of that. Ness was getting pretty sick of that statue. They beat it up, things went back to normal, and the dynamic duo felt it was time to raid Monotoli's Building and save Paula. Once again it was Apple Kid to the rescue, as it happened that Monotoli's secretary really wanted a yogurt dispenser and ohoho. How convenient! He had just invented one. They got it, learned a thing or two about teleportation, raided the building, had an epic brawl with the help of their favorite musical artists, saved the girl and… found out that Pokey had been pulling strings this whole time. POKEY. WHAT. That was ridiculous, but it was totally true. There he stole the helicopter they could have used and flew off with it. (When did he even get a license for that?)

It was the backstory adventure that never ended. A lot of other things happened that were all equally as important as the things before now, but more important things to cover were beyond them. They tripped out on cake and met Poo, their final friend. They found sanctuaries, fulfilled Dungeon Man's dreams, saved more kidnapped friends, helped the Tenda overcome shyness, learn things about evil and walk amongst dinosaurs. All things that were very important but were unfortunately expressed through a brief summary at this point in time.

Upon the collection of the final melody, something odd happened. The melodies all began to play, and Ness found himself… somewhere else. Now every time he had collected one before, he had felt something. A memory, a feeling of something that was important… This was his mind. His Magicant. There was something here that was incredibly important that he needed to do. For a while he felt lost, swimming in his own thoughts as he talked to those he had met during the adventure. He met the Flying Man, and he came to his aid. He was Ness' courage where his friends could not breach. Somewhere within himself was the Sea of Eden. Within it he could touch the universe itself and realize the powers he still had within him, locked away by violence and evil in his mind… His Nightmare. It was another piece of the Mani Mani Statue, locked away in the recesses of his mind. Fighting himself was the weirdest experience. And difficult. And… immensely relieving once he proved to be the victor. He heard a voice, his own, talking to him, telling him where to go from there. The Apple of Enlightenment had shown that Giygas would fall. He had to return to Saturn Valley.

At that moment he could touch the Earth and feel it within himself. His mind cleared, and he stood ready to face the challenge that was still yet to come. He made all of the hidden powers his own. He absorbed the powers of the land into his heart, and Magicant was no more.

It was time for the Chosen Four to do what their destinies had dictated. Doing so would be no easy task. They needed to go back in time and defeat Giygas in the past. How were they to get there? It was science to the rescue once more (at least after a quick trip back to Onett). Dr. Andonuts had… improved upon his Phase Distorter, and with the help of Apple Kid and the Mr. Saturns (who were actually quite brilliant in their own way), made it functional. The only problem was… well. It couldn't really transport bodies. But they could have their souls transplanted to some robots! That would definitely work! …But who knew if they'd ever be able to come back alive….

It was a risk they would have to take.

Giygas was in the Cave of the Past. There beyond the cliffs and in the darkness, they found the universal cosmic destroyer contained in the bounds of the Devil's Machine. It was a truly horrible device the pulsed with an evil life of its own. And there with him, to Ness' sickening dismay, was none other than Pokey. He had been a leap ahead of them every step of the way through their journey, and now was no exception. There was nothing he could do about him now except fight him. They were going to destroy Giygas, and an old friend was not going to stand in their way, not after they had come so far. After barrages of taunts and farts, Pokey turned off the Devil’s Machine. Ness couldn’t fathom why, Pokey was just as terrified as any of them were, but there it was. Giygas was free. Encompassing. Writhing. Even in a cold robot body, you could feel it. Giygas was evil incarnate. He needed to be stopped. They threw what they had at him, but in the end it was not something they could do on their own. Giygas felt happy. Giygas felt… g…o…o..d… Giygas called his name. Over. And over. And over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over… Paula prayed. They all prayed. All the people of the world prayed. ….And it hurt.

And it was over.

He was in his own body. The Earth was firm beneath him and the sky a brilliant blue above him. They had done it! They had done it and now it was all over. While of course it was something celebrate and he never felt so relieved, it was still… bitter sweet. Suddenly they were all returning to their own lives. There was of course the option of visiting but it still seemed like such an abrupt end to it all. He escorted Paula home and then went home himself for a bit before he set off again, just to see how much the world had changed now that Giygas’ hold was gone. Gosh golly gee, there was a whole lot of difference! Ness didn’t linger too long though, he needed to get back home. His birthday was in a week, and his dad was gonna try real hard to be home for it. All and all, it was a good end. Though that letter he got from Pokey sure was mysterious…

Then again, was it really the end? No, of course not. His story didn’t end there. It just took a little break, until two years later when he enrolled in high school. Smash Academy seemed like a really good fit! All the benefits of an education coupled with being able to further hone his powers despite already being a god of this new world what with the touching the earth thing. What could possibly go wrong? … Well that was a loaded question. Pokey could have gone wrong. Really, really horribly wrong. But… but his friends were there! And there were new friends to be had! So even though Pokey had gone through space and time and done something horrible beyond imagining… Things would be alright. They had each other, and maybe.. just maybe. Maybe they could bring Pokey back too… though Ness was pretty sure that he was the only one holding on to that hope.

Time progressed as time tended to do. Evil plans were thwarted, old totally more evil but hopefully not so evil friends were sent to asylums, wars were waged… the universal cosmic destroyer was briefly revived from the depths of memories to destroy the present. You know, all the totally normal high school things. Whoever it was that high school was the toughest challenge of life yet wasn’t lying!

Ness still got plagued by homesickness every so often though. It was his greatest weakness, apparently. But he went home for a while to spend time with his family and make sure everything was still a-okay at the Onett front. And then he got picked up by Not Aliens to go on an intergalactic adventure in the Starship Enterprise or something and holy geez you guys. HOLY GEEZ. After that, though, he ended up staying home a bit longer than he thought he did, oops. It seemed as though home was just where he needed to be at the moment. He needed to think things over. The things he had done, the people he had met... Pokey... There was a lot to think about. Time slipped by before he knew it, and though he still wasn't sure what he was going to do about any of it, he came to the conclusion that he wasn't ever going to actually do anything if he stuck around home any longer. Wasn't he supposed to be a doer?

So he went back to Smash Academy and... what the what do you mean the Sharks had been by. What do you mean they smashed up part of the city. It must have been some renegade guys, Frankie wouldn't have... Gosh and darn and gosh again, that really ticked Ness off. Having missed it, he just kept a look out for stragglers. Went investigating in the night like a true creepin' hero. It was nice to know that his high school experience was being renewed with vigor. And Grimers. (Did he smell bad? Is that why piles of sludge followed him? UGHhhh.) ...And also Moonsides. Oh god Moonside what were you doing here you didn't belong in Final Destination Cities. You were like raisins but worse because you were horrible illusions caused by horrible evil statues full of evil and... Wait. They destroyed the statue what was even going on??? So even though it was just a weird Smash Academy thing and the city of Moonside fluttered away after a day, Ness was still on his toes and hunting around for remains of evil statues and was generally bad at paying attention to much else because... Evil statues were a big deal, ok. He really didn't like evil statues. Much to his relief, there were no evil statues to be found.

So he’s been around, but he’s been a little quiet lately. Holiday blues and all that. The general case of homesick. Again. (Sorry Lash, would have come bashed some robots but you have no idea just how crippling this whole homesick deal is. UGH.) Nothing to worry about though. He's had his fill of turkey and gravy and happy family fun times, so he’s due to bounce back again right about… now.

Anything Else?:

• His favorite homemade food is steak and his favorite thing is slime gifts rockin.
  
• His (high school level) batting average is .385 at the moment.
  
• He looked around everywhere for a Slimy Little Pig to be that Grimer's boyfriend, unaware of the unholy offspring such a union would probably create. He was unsuccessful in this endeavor. For the best, really.
  
• His favorite band is the Runaway Five, always forever. Fandom Secret: Lucky's phone number might be in Ness' phone. Maybe.
  
• Despite being one with the Earth and learning awesome things like Teleport β, Ness still has issues with telepathy. He has a basic grasp of it when others initiate it, but he has problems starting a conversation or really poking around someone else's mind on his own. He's been trying to practice it.
  
• I don't care what Brawl says his Final Smash is PSI Rockin' Ω, he's not going to steal Poo's thunder. Extreme primary colors.
  
• Speaking of stealing one's thunder, once upon a time ago Paula taught him how to use PSI Fire and PSI Thunder. He tries to use the latter for recovery purposes. He's kind of insane.
  
• He's kind of an average student. He can be pretty smart, but he's not really all that committed to his studies so he's kind of... rusty. Are you sure they can't grade baseball instead?
  
• Despite the "can be pretty smart," he's pretty technologically stupid. He probably only knows how to make some things private because of Jeff's excellent (multiple session) tutoring. Thanks Jeff.
  
• He's starting to get really worried about King, so most of his calls home are regarding him. Especially after that shrooms incident. Zombie King no ;o;
  
• Uhhhh Black and White sesame seeds are his OTP don't tell anyone.
  
• THAT RED CAP. It's extremely important to him. It's like... an extension of himself. He may or may not shoot lasers from his eyes if you steal it from him. Willingly placing it on someone else's head is another matter entirely. It looks good on you, Lucas.
  
• His bead head/hat hair could easily be the inspiration for a few sentai show enemies. It is fierce.
  
• No Giygas, he will not help you cheat!

In-Character 1st person writing sample (journal):
[Please accept this DR cruising in addition to…!]

Alright I'm back! Thanksgiving was great! The turkey was huge and there was more stuffing than any of us knew what to do with. We invited Picky and Mrs. Lardna over… Picky came at least! I think he and Tracy are trying something. I don't know if I approve. TRACY ISN'T OLD ENOUGH TO BE DATING… It was real nice!

Sorry for being quiet lately. I think a trip home was exactly what I needed to get back into the swing of things. Hope everyone else had a swell break!

In-Character 3rd person writing post:
He hunched over, grasping his knees as he gasped for breath. King licked the back of his hand with his big pink tongue, and Ness could only wheeze out a laugh. The familiar old dog was wheezing a little himself, but his tail was going a mile a minute. Maybe his worries had been for naught… sure he was getting old, but King still had a lot of pep in him, if their sprint up the hill had been any indication. Ness lifted a hand and scratched behind the canine's ear, grinning broadly at him. "Good job, boy. You're still giving me a run for my money!"

The dog gave a rumbly whine in response, taking the opportunity to sprawl out in the green grass of the hillside. As far as he was concerned, they were quite done with exercise for the day and it was time for a nap. Ness laughed. Okay, sure, they could be done. He stretched his arms out behind his head, shifting his gaze to look out over the hill.

…It had been a while since he'd really been up there. You couldn't tell that anything significant had happened there anymore. There wasn't a smoking crater, or a hot chunk of interstellar rock. No, what had been left of that had been taken to museums. There was nothing physically there but a boy and his dog and a tree that an old friend's brother still had the habit of sleeping under. His memory still knew where it was. Ness stood next to the spot. It almost still felt warm. He lifted a hand to the brim of his cap, looking up at a passing cloud.

"…Hey King, do you hear a buzzing sound?"

He only got a yawn in response, but Ness smiled anyway.