So I was playing Earthbound, and finally got to the Cave of the Past. I didn't save there, as I knew it was the point of no return. So anyway, after a lot of enemy-running-away-from, I reached the end of the cave and went on into the intestine-looking room.

I went up to fight Pokey. Made sure not to attack Giygas, as I know from Metroid: Zero Mission that attacking your character's face tends to hurt you. Of course, I was an idiot and had Paula put up PSI Shield Omega after noticing that that Giygas had PSI Rockin'. Not a great idea. But anyway, Paula and Poo spammed PSI Freeze and he eventually went down.

Giygas was up next. Suddenly, I remembered I forgot to give Paula the Franklin Badge like I was going to after reading that Giygas had an electric attack. Ness had roughly around 400 PP left by that point, though, so I wasn't too worried. Well, I don't remember how much he had, but it was a lot. So this was... nothing compared to the mistake I made next.

See, I knew Paula had to pray against Giygas, but wasn't exactly clear on what point of the fight. So... she starts praying from the beginning. Because of this, I soon had the entire party as well as Giygas feeling strange. That led to some pretty bizarre things, like Jeff using the Hungry HP-Sucker on himself, draining and absorbing his own HP, and Giygas becoming solidified and falling asleep. But some things just got worse, like when Ness tried to throw a snake at Giygas, but threw it at himself and got poisoned... also, Poo had Healing Omega, which would help immensely if he could pull it off. Unfortunately, he was too low on PP from the fight with Pokey. So he tried PSI Magnet a few times, but kept trying to take PP from Jeff, except for the one time he got 2 PP From Paula. He had a Bottled Water DX, and decided to try that... but he GAVE THE WATER BOTTLE TO GIYGAS, at which point I found out Giygas didn't have any PP to steal with Magnet anyway. It did not help when Ness tried to heal... either himself or Paula, but of course healed Giygas of his strangeness (wait, what?).

Anyway, the party was pretty much stuck, as nobody could attack reliably; all they could really do was have Paula keep praying and hope something good happened. It did not look good. Even with the almost-hopeless feeling, though, thanks to a friend relentlessly cheering for the party, we gained a new hope and motivation.

Ness and Jeff eventually healed somehow after Giygas did a particularly powerful attack. This attack knocked out Paula, but that was just fine because it meant Ness could revive her and she'd be free of status effects. Then it was time to finally go on the offense and kick some... well, whatever the Giygas equivalent of a butt would be... anyway, Giygas was beaten up, shot, poisoned, and had very powerful ice blasted at him. Poo didn't do much, but got revived when he fainted just because I wanted everyone alive for this.

Then Pokey came up and teased us with something about how we could try telepathy, but no one would hear it. Like cross-examining a parrot, that seemed ridiculous enough to work! Paula's prayers did reach everyone whose lives the kids had touched, and those people sent their own prayers back, doing progressively more damage to Giygas.

But that made him mad... Paula tried another prayer, but it was swallowed up by the darkness! The battle was lost and the heroic children, and the entire planet, were doomed! But... someone heard the prayer. Paula called out again, and the mysterious person again responded. It was me, the player! I heard the cries of help from these kids, and despite having never met them, I helped them out with prayer damage WAY OVER 9000! It was amazing! Giygas was flickering, and then became static and turned off like a bad TV. The war was over! Victory was ours! It was time for the kids to go home, with memories of the most fantastic adventure they would ever have, and friendships that will last forever.

As for me... well, had not been there with her own prayers when all seemed lost, the experience wouldn't have had as much of an impact, and I might've also lost the fight. But, as the characters in the game worked together with their prayers, so did the player and the friend who never gave up.