Ness and the Beanstalk

(Cubed Cinder and DJYellow22)


Chapter 1, written by Cubed Cinder

Inside the Polestar Preschool in Twoson, which doubled as the home of Paula Polestar and her mother, the two were sitting down at the dinner table. Paula had just finished eating and was about to politely excuse herself, when her mother ended up speaking first.
"Paula, would you like to read to the children tomorrow during story time?" Mrs. Polestar said.
"Oh, I would love to read to the children again, Mommy!" Paula said.
"Very good. Do you have a good book in mind?" Mrs. Polestar said.
"Well, not yet. I'll go through my bookshelf and pick a good one. Um... may I be excused?" Paula said.
"Yes you may." Mrs. Polestar said with a smile. Paula happily got up from her seat and went up to her room.

After arriving in her room, Paula scanned through her collection of children's books, which was pretty vast especially since Paula liked to read so much. After looking left and right through the collection, Paula finally pulled out the book that read 'Jack and the Beanstalk' on the side.
"Ah, here we go. The kids are sure to love this one." Paula said. She opened the book up and looked at all the words and colorful pictures inside. Naturally because it was a children's book, the stuff was very easy to read and the pictures would no doubt be attractive to the preschoolers. But as Paula was reading the story out loud, something weird happened. As she was looking at the pictures, she suddenly watched as some of the characters transformed into some of her friends. Jack looking more like her 'knight in shining armor' Ness, the mother looking like Ness's mother, the giant looking like... herself?
"What's this?" Paula said. Of course, the images weren't really changing. It was just her eyes playing tricks with her. Still, they did a great job, especially as Paula closed the book and saw a picture of herself towering over a tiny Ness, with the story now reading the title, 'Ness and the Beanstalk.'
"Ness and the Beanstalk? Hmmm... I kinda like that, and I'm sure Ness wouldn't mind either." Paula said. So as she opened the book once more and read the words out loud, making sure to add some words in order to take some creative liberties, Paula imagined the story playing out in her head.

====

Ness's home

Outside of the city of Onett is the run-down home of Ness and his family, which includes his mother, younger sister Tracy, and dog King. Things were looking tough for our hero and his family... the father hadn't called or even sent money in weeks, so they couldn't afford to buy food or even keep the water running. The three humans of the family (while King slept lazily like he almost always does, unaware of the plight the family was facing) were all huddled at a table trying to think of ways to scrounge up the money they needed to keep their home.
"I could hock my jewels..." the mother said.
"You already hocked them." Tracy said.
"I could re-mortgage the house..." the mother said.
"You already did." Ness said.
"(sigh) I've tried everything, my young children. We've just gotta do something or we'll be living with that Frank Fly character the rest of our days." the mother said. Ness glanced out the window and noticed the cow that was mulling around behind the house of the Minch family.
"What about that cow the Minch family never does anything with?" Ness said.
"What about it, brother?" Tracy asked.
"Well... nobody lives in that house anymore ever since Porky got banished to that Spankety Dimension or something like that." Ness said.
"Hmmm... he does have a good point. Ness, maybe you can take that cow to the cow salesman down in Onett." the mother said.
"Well, okay. Are you coming, King?" Ness said.
"(Arf... no dog chow in weeks? Forget it! Besides, I'm quite comfortable here.)" King said in a telepathic message to Ness.
"Right... I'll be back later then." Ness said as he left the house and walked next door to the abandoned Minch household.
"Well, time to take a walk, cow. Don't have a cow, okay?" Ness said, oblivious to the bad pun he made as he opened the fence in the backyard and dragged the cow carefully by its leash all the way to the city.

Somewhere in Onett

On the outskirts of Onett, Ness took the cow to a stand that simply read 'Cow-man Gallery.' He looked around and saw plenty of cows, but no other humans around.
"Hmmm... nobody seems to be here." Ness said. But suddenly, dropping from the sky and spinning himself around like a top was a white bearded man wearing a dapper suit, a top hat, and funny glasses.
"Hello, hello! Welcome to the Cow-man Gallery, where cows are bought and sold instantaneously!" Photo, er, I mean, Cow-man, said.
"Um... hi. I'm Ness and this is my neigh... um... I mean, my cow." Ness said.
"Say no more! I'm a cow genius, if I do say so myself!" Cow-man said.
"So... what can you give me for this cow?" Ness asked.
"Okay, get ready for an instant bargain! Hmmm... I really like you, kid, and this cow is worth quite the gift! Here you go!" Cow-man said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out... two fuzzy pickles, both of them whole.
"Huh? Pickles?" Ness asked.
"Not just pickles! Fuzzy pickles! Guaranteed to raise your spirits from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs!" Cow-man said.
"Gee... I was kinda hoping for something else. You know, like money?" Ness said.
"My boy, I hate to be dead honest, but this cow just don't cut it anymore. And besides, who needs money when you have fuzzy pickles! Trust me, kiddo, give those pickles a try! They will change your life forever!" Cow-man said.
"Well, okay. Thanks." Ness said. He still wasn't sure about the fuzzy pickles, but at this point, begging and pleading for quick cash wasn't going to work anymore. So he clutches onto the pickles and walked away from the establishment.
"Wow! What a great customer! He will always bring back the fondest of memories..." Cow-man said, before he spun himself around and sprung back into the sky, returning to wherever it was he came from.

Yeah, I'm wondering just as much as you are.

Ness's home

Ness walked to the front door of his home looking dejected. He knew the ladies of the house were not going to take the news of selling the neighbor's cow for fuzzy pickles well, but he walked inside anyway.
"Well, what did you get?" the mother asked.
"Yeah yeah! What did you get, big brother?" Tracy said. Ness sighed and opened up his hands.
"Fuzzy pickles." Ness said.
"Huh? Is that all? No money?" the mother said.
"He said the cow was outdated, or something like that. I tried pleading for decency, but there was little reasoning with him." Ness said.
"But fuzzy pickles? I don't even like pickles!" Tracy said. Even King was growling in disapproval.
"Oh, Ness. I'm sorry, but... there's just nothing that special about pickles... especially fuzzy ones." the mother said.
"You're right. I'm sorry for wasting everyone's time. Including my own..." Ness said. After taking one more look at the fuzzy pickles, even smelling how bad they kinda smelled, he opened the nearby window and simply tossed the pickles outside. They landed on the ground a handful of yards away from the house.
"Well, guess it's back to square one." Ness said.
"Now hang in there everyone. Something is bound to happen to us down the road. But for now, we better get some sleep." the mother said.

During that night, the fuzzy pickles had sunken completely into the ground. From that same spot, vines started to grow and grow fast. Over the next several hours, and through the overnight hours, the vines kept on growing until they formed a complete beanstalk that rose high up into the sky.

The next morning, Ness was sleeping lazily (with one foot hanging off the bed) when Tracy suddenly burst into his room.
"Ness! Ness! Wake up wake up wake up! You gotta see something!" Tracy said. Ness fell off the bed as he rolled to the side.
"Ow... what is it, sis?" Ness said.
"It's really big! You gotta see it!" Tracy said as she ran out of the room.
"No bigger than a meteor, I hope." Ness said to himself as he walked his way out of his room, still in his pajamas.

When he was outside, he could fully understand why Tracy, and also his mother, was so stunned. There was a giant beanstalk, reaching all the way up to the clouds.
"Amazing..." the mother said.
"Isn't that where Ness threw the fuzzy pickles yesterday?" Tracy said.
"Yes, I seem to recall that." Ness said.
"Well, what are we going to do with this monstrosity?" the mother said.
"Maybe we should climb it." Ness said.
"What? What for?" the mother asked.
"Well, who knows? Maybe there's a rich treasure at the top of that beanstalk." Ness said.
"Well... it's no surprise. You don't seem scared, Ness. You'll sneak out of your room even if I told you not to." the mother said.
"You know me too well, Mom." Ness said with a smile.
"At least change out of your jammies before you go!" the mother said. Ness nodded and ran back inside the house.

A few minutes later, after changing into his normal clothes and chomping on a small loaf of bread for 'breakfast,' Ness was back outside where his mother and Tracy were still looking up at the beanstalk. Ness ran up to his mother where she gave him a kiss on the head.
"You be careful, Ness, okay?" the mother said.
"I will, Mother." Ness said. And so, Ness was on his way up the beanstalk, climbing it as carefully as he could.

====

It took several minutes, but Ness finally reached the top of the beanstalk and stopped to rest atop the cloudy world he had just discovered. He was breathing heavily from having to take such a long trip to reach the destination.
"(huff-puff-huff-puff) Next time, I'll remind myself that hundreds of feet of beanstalk takes a long time to climb!" Ness said. He then looked out in the distance where he saw the gigantic castle.
"That castle... it's so huge... bigger than Onett it would appear." Ness said. But that didn't let him stop his quest to seek out the riches. Another few minutes later, he made it to the huge castle. So huge that the young boy could just crawl underneath the front door. He made his way around the large corridor into another large room. Once he entered the room, he could only rub his eyes and be stunned over what he was seeing, especially the glass table full of oversized food (such as hamburgers, cookies, bread rolls, and pizza) in the middle of the room with the large stove to the right of that.
"Look at all that food... we'd never go hungry again." Ness said.

Just then, he could hear some booming noises eminating from the open hallway beyond the food table, and then there was a surprisingly cute feminine voice to accompany these footstep sounds. Ness was so stunned over what he saw next, he didn't have time to find a hiding place.

Coming out was a young girl, big enough to make Ness look the size of a cockroach.
"Fee fi fo fum! I smell the blood of a gifted young boy!" the giant Paula said. It was like she knew Ness was coming, because she stomped right past the food table and planted her glass red shoes inches away from Ness.
"*gulp*" Ness said as he looked all the way up at the giantess that towered over him. He could only wonder what her plans were...


Chapter 2, written by DJYellow22

The Gigantic Paula chuckled slightly before stomping her foot in front of the itty bitty(compared to her!) Ness. "Be he 'live, or be he sleepin', I'll snuggle him to make me giggle!" She chuckled.

Ness continued to stare up at the giantess, getting more scared and terrorfied at every moment. "Uh.." Ness was speechless, he bet that the giant Paula probably couldn't even hear his tiny little whimpers..

Ness soon shook his head, and started to run away from the giant, sadly, due to his size compared to her, AND the fact the castle was gigantic, he had only ran a few inches away from her in about a minute.

Paula finally looked down at the fleeing little Ness, she giggled slightly, that little boy was so adorable to her. "Hoho... If it isn't a little gifted young boy!" She giggled, she finally noticed Ness! Now he was in trouble...

Ness suddenly stopped when he heard the gigantic cute girl's booming voice, he planned to run a little faster but was suddenly caught in Paula's gigantic hand. "Gah! Let me go!" He cried. Yet, Paula either didn't hear him or ignored him.

Paula pulled her fist towards her face, and opened it up to reval a small boy, sitting in her palm. "Little Boy, what are you doing in my palace?" She asked, sending shivers down Ness's throat.

"I... I came up here from a magic beanstalk grown from Fuzzy Pickles.." He said, a little nervous. Despite the fact he was a brave young boy, this girl seemed very frightening to him, mostly because of her size.. If she wasn't so gigantic, she probably would be very cute to him..

Paula giggled at the tiny Ness, she poked him with her index finger a few times, causing Ness to flinch each time. "There There, I can forgive you.." She said, smiling at him. "I'll let you go... If..." Ness looked at the giantess with a shocked face, 'oh man.. What is she up to?' He said in his head, mentally.

"You'll play some games with me." Paula smirked.

What should Ness say? He didn't know what Paula had planned, all he knew was that they would play "games". But what if he said no to the giant gal? Would she drop him and step on him like a fly? Would she decide to eat him? "Sure." He stated blandly, not knowing what may happen next.

Paula giggled at Ness. "Alright, you little boy.." Paula placed Ness on the floor. "Now don't move m'kay? Anyway... We're gonna play a game of... Cat 'n Mouse!" Paula shouted in a gleeful voice..

"Oh man.." Ness whispered to himself, he knew who was gonna be the cat.. And who was gonna be the mouse. "Uh, okay?" He said.

"Alright then little boy.." He sighed, Paula kneeled down to him with a grin. "I'll give you a twenty second head start, M'kay?" She told him, Ness nodded at the giantess. "Starting... Now!"

Ness knew he had to start running before the giantess caught him, so, he quickly ran as fast as he could towards a wall, a wall that happened to have a small little mousehole he believed he could be able to past through.. "Time's up!" She shouted, Paula looked beneath her to find the little Ness, running towards the Fridge, she smirked. "Heehee, here I come!" Her Red shoes made stomping noises and shook the floor as she slowly stomped her way towards Ness...

Because Paula was going so slow,(purposely..) Ness was able to run into the little mousehole. "Heh.. Finally made it, that was kinda a workout, but hopefully that giantess won't be able to get me now.." He sighed, wiping some sweat from his little forehead.

Suddenly, he heard the footsteps get much louder, the tiny Ness gulped as he looked behind him, only to find a gigantic eye, peeking at him from the mouse hole. "fee fi fo fum! Looks like I found my little mouse!" She giggled..

Ness stepped back slightly,  He felt a fuzzy fur touch him from behind, he looked to his back to see a even worser problem! A mouse about the size of Ness himself! "Oh, uh... Hi there.." Ness said, nervously.

"Oh hey!" The mouse said, surprising Ness greatly. "I'm the mouse with no name!" The mouse said. Ness looked up at him with a unsure face. "Uh.. So what are you doing here?"

"Well, this is a mouse hole, right? Well, I live here... Got-" Suddenly, a hand reached into the mouse hole, Ness and the mouse were able to jump out of the way from the gigantic hand before it could possibly grab one of them... "I'm gonna get ya, my little mouse!" She giggled, moving her hand around the hole, hoping she'll feel Ness and grab the little boy...

Ness ran to the side of the mousehole, gazing nervously at the gigantic hand, as it pushed things back and forth, trying to find HIM. Scary thoughts, eh?

Paula's gigantic hand felt the body of The Mouse with no Name. Thinking it was Ness, she grabbed the Mouse, and pulled him out of the hole.. Ness was slightly relived, but it wouldn't be long till Paula finds out that...

"Ew!" Paula screamed, in a shocked high pitched voice. "This isn't my little Mouse boy! Its that Mouse who has no name!" She shouted, dropping the little mouse on the floor, making it scramble away from the giantess.

Paula stomped her foot in anger, and embarrassment, she kneeled back down at the mousehole and dug her hand back inside it. "Har har, very funny little Boy! But, there's nothing you can do to stop me from finding you!" She threatened.

Ness saw the gigantic hand reach into the mouse hole again, the brave little boy gulped as he quietly ran from side to side, avoiding the giantess's goddess like hand..

Alas, Ness was caught by Paula's hand. "Ha ha!" She
laughed. "I finally have you now!" Ness had to think of something QUICK, and FAST..

Paula pulled her hand out of the mousehole, with a smuggy grin. "Well, I guess I- OW!" Surprisingly, Ness bit Paula's finger, causing the gigantic girl to flinch and drop him to the floor.

  Ness stood up, and simply started to run away from the giantess! "Hey!" Paula yelled, now very irriated. "Come back here my little mousey!" She yelled, starting to chase after the little Ness.

Ness came to a screeching halt for a few seconds, he needed to find someplace to hide from Paula again... and quick! "I can't go back into the mouse hole, cause that giant girl would probably expect that..." He sighed.

The footsteps of the giantess grew louder at every second, Ness panicked slightly as he started to run again, away from the giantess.  Until, the little boy ended up in front of a huge door.. He stopped in front of the gigantic door, gazing up at it for a few moments. It wasn't the front door, but it was somewhere he could hide in for quite a while.. "Where are you my little itty bitty cutie?" Paula said, her steps were getting louder and louder... So, Ness quickly ran under a little crack he was barely able to pass by..

Ness was in a very dark room now, the only light was from the little crack he just passed through. He noticed several objects in the strange dark room, such as neatly lined up Shoes, Coats, Dresses, and shirts neatly hanged on the wall.. Where was he?

"Hey." Ness heard a voice, it wasn't the loud and cute voice from the giantess, in fact.. It sounded like a boy.. Ness finally noticed another living being in the room, he was wearing a golden suit... And had golden hair, glasses, shoes.. And a golden body apparently... "Yes, I'm talking about you.." Ness walked up to the golden boy, a little curious.. "So, who are you?"

"I am, The Golden Jeff."


Chapter 3, written by Cubed Cinder

For a brief moment, Ness wondered what was the more unusual sight he had seen so far in this giant castle. A young girl that was the size of a city building, or this young boy, the same size as Ness, covered from top to bottom in gold.
"So, who are you?" Ness asked.
"I am The Golden Jeff." Jeff said.
"The Golden Jeff?" Ness said.
"Yep. I guess you're the next victim of the giant Paula, huh?" Jeff asked.
"Victim?" Ness asked. Jeff nodded his head.
"Everyone who has ever come to this castle has mysteriously disappeared, because they weren't able to escape the giant girl. Although there was this one guy named Poo who managed to survive for almost 24 hours." Jeff said.
"Really? But what about you?" Ness asked.
"Well, I was her first capture, actually. She said she wanted to have someone as a friend, but when I refused, she ended up using some spell that made me all gold. She says I'm her good luck charm for the rest of her life now." Jeff said.
"Ouch... that must be hard." Ness said.
"You best get out of here while you're still alive. You must be here because of the rumors of gold being in this castle... well, the rumors are false! There's no such thing as a pile of gold! It's only a trick to lure people like you here!" Jeff said.
"Well... you're made of gold." Ness said.
"D'oh! Well, regardless, if you value your life, you should find a way to escape." Jeff said.

Just then, both boys could hear the booming footsteps from outside, plus a shadow that cut some of the light that was beaming from outside.
"Where are you, my little boy?" Paula said.
"Quick, hide!" Jeff shouted. Ness, acting on his first instinct, took cover behind the row of shining red shoes. And just in time too, because as soon as he took cover, the doors opened up with Paula looking all around her closet.
"Hmmm... he wouldn't hide in here, would he? Nah, little boys wouldn't think of hiding in my closet." Paula said. She then looked down and saw the golden Jeff sitting pretty on the floor. She reached down and picked him up, wrapping her hand all around his body.
"And how is my little good luck charm today?" Paula asked.
"Well, other than getting squeezed at by your hand, just fine!" Jeff said.
"Good. Say, have you seen a little boy wander around here?" Paula asked.
"Another little boy? What does he look like?" Jeff asked.
"Well, he wears a red baseball cap, a yellow-and-blue striped shirt, and shorts. We were playing cat and mouse and he's doing quite a good job!" Paula said. Jeff of course recognized the boy as Ness, but he wasn't about to rat him out anytime soon.
"Nope... no little boys in here." Jeff said.
"Awwww.... well, if you do see him, let me know! I'll share dinner with you even!" Paula said.
"That'd... that be nice!" Jeff said. He was then put back on the floor of the closet by the giantess, and Paula soon closed the doors, encasing him and all her clothing in total darkness once again.

Once Ness heard Paula stomping away, he came out from behind the shoes.
"Whew... that was too close." Ness said.
"But it's only a matter of time before she finds you. She does get suspicious after a while." Jeff said.
"I know... but how am I going to escape? Even without her, this castle is so big... it would take a long time to run across the rooms." Ness said.
"It's too bad you can't run at a very fast speed. According to calculations I've done in my head while stuck like this, it would take someone running almost 88 miles per hour to be able to run around the castle as if that person were the same size as the giant girl. And also..." Jeff said. As he was spewing out more of his brainy talk, Ness was thinking about what Jeff had said to start off his thought, and suddenly he slapped his head as he realized something.
"Wait, of course!!!" Ness shouted.
"Of course what?" Jeff asked.
"My Teleport Alpha spell! It allows me to run at super speed!" Ness said.
"Huh? Come now, young lad, you're pulling my golden chain, aren't you?" Jeff said.
"No, I... I was born with psychic powers. I can do things that ordinary people can't do, like talk with animals, telepathy, telekinesis, and other spells like Fire and Thunder." Ness said. He wasn't too comfortable telling someone he had just met about his special powers, something he rarely did in Onett, but amazingly, Jeff took everything in stride.
"Ah, so you are one of those children." Jeff said.
"Huh? One of those?" Ness asked.
"Sure! There were two other kids, I believe their names were Ninten and Ana. They had psychic powers too, but didn't last long. In fact, I'm pretty sure they died... er, I mean... disappeared together." Jeff said.
"Well, I'm gonna be different. I'll be the first to make it back home with my life!" Ness said. He started to run into the light so he could walk underneath the opening to the closet. But then he looked back at the golden Jeff.
"Would you, um... like to come with me?" Ness asked.
"Are you kidding? I have longed for years to escape this dump... despite the tremendous generousity of the giant Paula that knows no bounds. And you may say I'm a fool, feeling the way that I do. You can say I'm crazy as a loon but I believe in silver linings... and that's why I believe in you." Jeff said.
"Hmmm... okay then! Come on, but nice and slow." Ness said.

As the two slowly made their way underneath the closet door, Ness looked to see where the giant Paula was. And sure enough, she was still in the room, now looking underneath one of the tables.
"Wow... you sure are a good hider, little boy. But you can't stay hidden from me forever." Paula said. Ness didn't like where Paula was. He would have to run right past her in order to make a clean break for the front door of the castle.
"Okay... just hold onto my hand and run as fast as you can." Ness said as he took the golden Jeff's hand.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Jeff said. Ness prepared his mind for the Teleport Alpha spell. He just had to remember not to hit the top speed of 88 miles per hour... otherwise, who knows where he might end up?
"PSI Teleport! Alpha!" Ness shouted. With that in mind, he and Jeff started running, and already they were running faster than an ordinary human would.
And as Ness predicted, Paula just happened to turn around and look over her backside, where she saw Ness and the golden Jeff running by.
"Ah! There you are! But what are you doing with my statue!? No stealing is allowed in my castle!" Paula said. She turned herself around and tried to grab both tiny boys with her hand, but the two just barely avoided the grab thanks to their speed.
"Wow... they're so fast now! But at least this'll make the chase more fun!" Paula said as she got up on her feet and followed Ness and Jeff.

With the two boys running at almost 80 MPH, Jeff looked behind and saw the giantess quickly approaching.
"Um... young boy, you might want to speed it up! The giant girl quickly approaches!" Jeff shouted.
"The name's Ness, and don't worry, Jeff, we'll make it!" Ness said. Luckily, the two were just able to make it underneath the front door after coming just a yard away from being stepped on by Paula. Paula pouted over not being able to catch the two, plus the fact she would have to step out of her castle for the first time since the long lost story of EarthBound Zero was told.
"Oh no, you're not getting away from me, little ones!" Paula said as she swung open the front door and watched as the two boys were now climbing down the beanstalk. Paula made her way towards the beanstalk and started to slowly climb down.


Both Ness and the golden Jeff felt like they were in a sprint as they climbed quickly down the beanstalk, occasionally looking up and seeing the giant Paula trying to catch up with them. As they hit the bottom of the beanstalk and looked up from the ground, Jeff was hoping Ness had a plan for the giantess that was coming their way.
"Oh! What do we do, Ness!? The evil giantess beckons for us!" Jeff said.
"Don't worry, I have this covered." Ness said. He then turned around and ran inside his house.

Ness's mother, sister, and dog (King; who was fast asleep) were going about their usual daily routines when suddenly Ness came flying inside the house with the front door swinging wide open. Obviously, this took the two ladies by surprise.
"Ness! What the...?" the mother said.
"What's going on, Ness? What's the hurry?" Tracy said.
"Can't talk now! Kinda busy!" Ness said as he zoomed by and went up to his room. About 30 seconds later, he came storming back down, holding a baseball bat in his hands. As he ran out the house, both ladies started to follow him.
"Now I wonder what this is about..." the mother said.
"Yeah, I hope Ness found something good up in the sky!" Tracy said as both ladies walked out of the house. As for King? He watched the ladies leave, and then just went back to sleep like nothing ever happened.

As Ness made it back to the beanstalk, the ladies were wondering what he was planning.
"Ness? What are you doing with your baseball bat?" the mother said.
"Saving us all. Now stand back!" Ness said. The golden Jeff took Ness's advice and joined up with the other two present members of Ness's family.
"Alright... the 3-2 pitch, and...!" Ness said as he wound up his bat and took a mighty swing at the beanstalk, making contact with it. A few seconds after the distinctive ping sound (from Super Smash Bros.) rang through the skies, the beanstalk suddenly started to come apart from the bottom. Finally, it toppled over to the south, towards a small forest and away from everyone else.
"EEEEEEK!!!" Paula shouted as she tried to climb back up the beanstalk, but it was of no help. Both the beanstalk and the giant Paula crashed onto the ground, causing it to shake violently for a few seconds as the boom echoed throughout the area.

When it was all over, Paula laid unconscious in the forest area, and Ness and his family and new friend cheered over the victory.
"Alright, we did it! The giant has been defeated!" Ness said.
"Excellent thinking, young one. I couldn't have planned it better myself." Jeff said.
"Well, this is great, but..." Mom said.
"What is it, Mom?" Ness asked.
"But... we didn't really gain anything from this little adventure of yours, did we? We're still broke... all we have is this weird talking golden statue." Mom said.
"Weird?" Jeff asked.
"Oh, but it's not a total loss, Mom. Maybe we can donate this statue to a museum or something." Ness said. Jeff's eyes lit up when he heard that, and he ran up to Ness and grabbed him by his shirt.
"Really!? You really really really really would do that for me?" Jeff said.
"Um... yeah... sure, I don't see why not!" Ness said.
"Oh how I have longed to be displayed in a place where people can come and admire my genius! I would be eternally grateful if you did that for me." Jeff said.
"Okay, then it's settled. We'll find a museum that will lend us big money to buy this statue from us." Ness said.
"Of course! Great idea, Ness! Now why didn't I think of that?" Mom said.
But before anyone could take a step further and say they could live happily ever after... the giant Paula was waking up and she slowly sat up.
"Look! She's still moving!" Tracy shouted as she pointed at the giantess coming back to life.
"This does not compute! Nobody could possibly survive a fall like that!" Jeff said.
"*gulp* Not good!" Ness said. He armed his baseball bat, just in case Paula wasn't done dishing out the punishment.

But what happened next surprised everyone. Paula started to tear up as she looked down at the little people.
"*sniff sniff* Why? Why are you so mean to me?" Paula said.
"Huh?" Ness said.
"I just... I just wanted to have some friends. Why does everyone have to be afraid or mean to me? It's not fair!! Waaaaaaaah!!!!" Paula said, and that's when the waterworks began as tears came flying out of Paula's eyes. Everyone scrambled to avoid the giant tears, but as big as they were, some were struck by the tears and drenched in the fluid.
"Make her stop! I forgot my umbrella!" Tracy shouted. Ness, while dodging as much of the tears as he could, started to feel sorry looking up at Paula and seeing her covered in sadness. Despite all the heck he went through in her castle, he felt the need to set things right, especially after he heard her say she was looking for friends. He started walking towards the giantess, eventually stopping near her knees.
"Ness, what are you doing?" Mom asked.
"Don't worry, Mom..." Ness said. He took a deep breath and raised his voice so Paula could hear him.

"I'm sorry... I didn't realize how lonely you must've felt being in that castle." Ness said.
"*sniff* Well, you're right about that. It's hard to keep company when you're bigger than everyone else and cursed to live in a giant castle the rest of your life." Paula said.
"So I guess that's why you took that statue?" Ness asked.
"Yeah. I was hoping he would become my friend, but he just kept asking to leave, so I changed him into a golden statue. I was a fool to think he could be a good luck charm... Sob... *sniff*" Paula said.
"Don't worry! I can be your friend if you want!" Ness shouted. And that's when Paula stopped crying and looked down at Ness through her tear-soaked eyes.
"Huh? You... you? Be my friend?" Paula said.
"Sure! Let's be friends!" Ness said.
"But... but... I'm so much bigger than you. How would that work?" Paula asked.
"Don't worry about that. A friend is a friend, no matter where you're from or the size you're at." Ness said.
"Really?" Paula said.
"Really! That's how life is here in Onett." Ness said. With one last big sniff to clear up her nose, Paula finally managed to crack a smile.
"Thank you. Thank you, little boy." Paula said. She then reached down and picked up Ness and actually hugged him against her face!
"You're... you're welcome! Ouch! Just don't crush me!" Ness shouted.
"Oh, sorry. I don't know my own strength." Paula said. She then placed Ness back on the ground. Everyone else joined up with Ness after witnessing what he did to cheer up the giantess.
"Alright! We have a new friend! I can't wait to play with you, giant lady!" Tracy said.
"Teeheehee... I'm looking forward to it as well." Paula said.
"Wait a minute, where is she going to stay, because she certainly isn't going to stay anywhere near our house!" Mom said.
"Don't worry, Mom, we can always build her a really big house with the money we get from donating Jeff to the museum. Maybe even have the city pitch in with some help!" Ness said.
"Oh, great idea, big brother!" Tracy said.
"Once again you outthink your own mother. No wonder you are my special little angel." Mom said with a smile. Paula's eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Thank you... I don't know how I can ever thank all of you." Paula said.
"Well, how about giving us a lift to Summers? I hear there's a nice museum there that this golden statue might fit in." Mom said.
"Oh, I hope it's nice looking and there's plenty of air conditioning!" Jeff said.
"Well... I'm new here. Where is this Summers that you speak of?" Paula asked.
"Don't worry. We'll give you directions along the way. That's what friends are for!" Ness said.
"Yes, you're right! Ahhh... you are the most special little boy I've ever had." Paula said. After lowering one of her hands and allowing everyone to step on safely. Paula finally got back on her two feet and started walking away from Ness's home.

Of course, as she went from city to city (like Onett and Twoson), everyone at first panicked, but she quickly calmed everyone's nerves by showing her new calm and friendly nature. And everyone lived happily ever after.

====

"The end." Paula said as she closed the book. She took a deep breath and giggled a bit, looking around and realizing she was back in her bedroom (and at her normal size of course).
"Wow... that is a great story! And that ending I thought of... oh, I hope the kids will love it tomorrow!" Paula said.

After putting the 'Ness and the Beanstalk' book on her nightstand, Paula tucked herself into bed and eventually went to sleep. And as good luck would have it, Paula dreamed about the very story she was going to share with the kids tomorrow, and perhaps one day with Ness himself.


END