Nesspaula

Nesspaula is the het ship between Ness and Paula from the EarthBound fandom.

Canon
After Ness defeats the guardian at Giant Step, he receives a telepathic message from Paula in his sleep, asking for him to come rescue her. Ness finds Paula locked up in a shack in Peaceful Rest Valley. She tells him that is happy that he came to help her, and she had a dream that Ness was her "destiny". In the original Japanese, she says she would have cried if Ness didn't come. Then, she gives Ness a Franklin Badge so he can reflect Mr. Carpainter's thunder attacks. She tells Ness she'll wait for his return, and not to worry about her.

After defeating Carpainter, Ness is given the Shack Key and he frees Paula from her prison. Paula thanks Ness, and joins his party. Together, the two defeat the sanctuary guardian Mondo Mole, and then go back to Twoson. They explore Threed together, and get knocked out by some zombies, causing them to be trapped together underground until Jeff comes to rescue them. Later on, in Fourside, Paula gets kidnapped inside the department store. The Department Store Spook makes provoking announcments over the loudspeaker, telling Ness to hurry get to Paula. Once Ness finds Paula again, she says that she believed he would save her.

At the end of the game, Paula asks Ness to escort her back to her home in Twoson. If Ness says "no", Paula says then she'll escort him instead. Ness doesn't have to take Paula home right away, and can take time to go anywhere in Eagleland with her. When Ness drops Paula off at her house, Paula thanks Ness for escorting her home, and then says there was something she was going to tell him, but she forgot. She says she'll probably remember it the next time they see each other. She appears to stall a bit by saying multiple forms of goodbye, and pauses in front of the door, before finally entering her house alone. Ness can still go inside as well, and Paula's father tells Ness he's okay with him dating Paula. Alternatively, Ness can take Paula to visit his house. Before they go in, Paula says she probably shouldn't be wandering about wherever, but if Ness disagrees with that, Paula agrees to stay with Ness a bit longer. Ness brings Paula inside, and both his mother and Tracy tease him about having a girlfriend, and then everyone looks at Ness's photo album together.

Fanon
Nesspaula is a popular ship within the EarthBound fandom, likely due to the fact that both are main characters with hinted attraction on Paula's side. Most people think that before Paula went inside her house at the end of the game, she was about to confess her feelings toward Ness, but decided not to. Many shippers wish that she did actually say something, or that Ness wasn't so oblivious and just let her leave. Some of its shippers reason that Ness is the ideal choice for Paula, since they spent the most time together in the game and can bond over having similar PSI abilities. Nesspaula rivals the ship Nesscas. It is often considered the EarthBound equivalent to MOTHER's Nintenana.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Paula/Ness tag on FanFiction.net
 * Paula/Ness tag on FanFiction.net

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Trivia

 * Paula follows right behind Ness in the party lineup.
 * Many people think Ness and Paula are dating, including Ness's mom, Jeff Andonuts, the Runaway Five, and various NPCs.
 * Calling Ness's mom after Paula joins the party causes her to say she heard he got a girlfriend.
 * When the Runaway Five give Ness backstage passes, they tell him to "come with your girlfriend".
 * An old woman in Twoson says she thinks the two of them make a nice couple.
 * An NPC in Onett says they heard Ness "asked a Twoson girl out on a date".
 * At the end of the game, Jeff says if the two of them ever "get hitched", maybe he could be the guy to repair appliances for them.
 * In Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Paula appears alongside Ness during his Final Smash.
 * In the description for Paula's trophy in Melee, it is implied that she is the one who taught Ness how to use PK Thunder and PK Fire.