Well, I've had this written for quite some time now, but I wasn't really sure about the idea. I guess that's what I'm about to find out! I planned to have all of this prewritten, but I'm such a procrastinator that it was never going to happen. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 1- Awakening

The masked man could not rest. Not that the chimera actually needed any sleep. Encountering the group opposing his leader's empire actually made him think. He couldn't help it. Seeing the blonde boy of the group triggered something in his mind. Also, the dog, which he thought was a strange choice for a party member. Maybe they were a part of his past. The commander stopped his thoughts, scoffing at that idea. 'That's ridiculous. I was made to serve King P. Why would I have a past?'

"Commander!" A pigmask burst into the room, with news for the commander. The masked man tried to show how annoyed he was, but how could he? He didn't have much emotion to express.

"What is it? What do you want?" The masked man responded angrily. The pigmask cowered in fear of his superior's anger. It was clear that the masked man was not one you would want to cross. Although you could never tell what he was thinking, you could see his glaring eyes clearly.

The pigmask quickly stood up and gave a salute of respect. "Sir! The ship needs to stop and charge overnight, sir! We'll be stopping near Tazmily Village. You should stop in to check on the residents, sir!" The pigmask was shaking in his boots, afraid that the commander would think the suggestion was a gesture of disrespect. He was just trying to earn a promotion by offering suggestions to make things run more smoothly. Unfortunately, things did not go as he thought.

But the commander's expression did not change. He simply said, "I'll see to it later. Now get out of my room you incompetent fool." He spat on the ground near the pigmask and watched his subordinate rush out of the room in fear. He heard an audible thump indicating that the pigmask passed out as soon as he left the room. He sighed at his subordinate's idiocy. 'He's in no place to be making suggestions. Small fry should learn their place.' He paused, also directing his thoughts towards the blonde boy.

The masked man clenched his fist in frustration. 'Why does that boy make me think so much? He looks so… familiar.' With that final thought the masked man drove his fist into the wall, denting the metal. He lay back on his bed, as a second attempt of sleep. 'No past for me. Remembering a nonexistent past is a waste of precious time, energy, and effort. All things needed for the greater good of King P's future.' The chimera closed his eyes and drifted off into a state of sleep.

"-!"

The masked man thought he heard a voice from the far corner of his mind. Of course as this was his dream, he deemed it as non-existent and brushed it off.

"C—u-!"

Again he heard the voice, and again he dismissed it.

"-l—s!"

Now it was undeniable that there was a voice, and it was calling for someone. The masked man couldn't help but wonder who.

"C-au-!"

The voice and name were starting to sound familiar. It could no longer go ignored.

"Claus!"

Then… masked man remembered. Remembered his past. Why he was there, who he had hurt from leaving. All his memories rushing back to him. Visiting his grandfather, ramming dragos, but most of all his family. His mind cleared instantly. "My… name. My name is… Claus?"

There was a woman in a red dress. She turned around slowly to look at Claus. "Claus, my son. Have you awakened?"

Claus turned around with his eyes widened, truly wondering what was happening. 'This is unbelievable.' He remembered seeing her death. A drago's fang driving straight through her heart. I went to avenge her, didn't I?' He saw himself three years ago holding his father's homemade knife. He was heading off towards the mountains. "Don't follow me, Lucas." He said.

"M-mother? I'm… sorry." Tears began to stream out of Claus's eyes. Hinawa held her arms wide open and embraced her son.

"Don't cry, Claus. You are not to blame."

"B-but I left them. D-dad and Lucas. I *sniff* was too selfish." His voice trembled as he spoke to his mother. "Everything I left behind. Everything!" Still his mother kept her tight embrace. "What should I do?" He whimpered.

Hinawa pulled back just to look at her son's face. She ran her fingers across Claus' cheeks to wipe away the tears. "Go to Tazmily, Claus. After you knocked your brother off of the airship, he was separated from his friends. Go now, if you truly wish to apologize." After that, everything started to fade away. Hinawa was vanishing. And Claus had to watch as she disappeared from him once again.

"No, Mom! Don't leave!" He reached out to his mother, only to wake in the bed of the commander. Claus touched his face realizing that he was sweating. He glanced at the foot of his bed, seeing a fresh commander's uniform. He picked up his helmet and wondered, 'What do I do now?'

Claus began to work the gears in mind, trying to formulate a plan to meet up with his brother. 'Disguise is important because I can't let the army know that I'm a traitor. They can't find out that my heart has changed to light. But that means as soon as I see Lucas, I'll have to go back.' Claus then realized something. Something… very important. 'It doesn't have to be me that returns. I can switch places with Lucas! All the other pigmasks were dumb enough to fall for it the first time. I just need to teach Lucas how to be threatening. That way, the army will never find out! Lucas isn't fused with machinery, so they can't program him to be evil. But as long as I stay as commander, I have the risk of turning back.'

Claus quickly tossed on his clothes and placed his helmet on his head. He grabbed an extra set of clothes for Lucas to use and then he was ready to leave. Or so he thought. "All right! Let's go." Claus said to himself satisfied with his plan. All of a sudden, the pigmask from earlier burst into the room.

"Sir! Are you prepared for your departure to Tazmily? Is there anything I can get you, sir?" The pigmask was still fearful of Claus, or to him, the commander.

"Ah, yes." Claus started unsure of how to act now that he was in control of his consciousness. Being a harsh, cruel commander was not in his previous nature. "Can you get me a bottle of blonde hair dye please?"

The pigmask was obviously very confused. To him, it seemed as if the commander had gone mad! The commander, going out of his way to be polite! "Are you feeling okay, sir?"

'Oh shoot!' Claus thought realizing his slip up. Attempting to add the tone of harshness to his voice, he began to yell at the pigmask again. "Yes, I am fine. Just get me the bottle of hair dye! I'm visiting someone in Tazmilly who will need it, so go get it now!"

"Yes sir!" The pigmask squeaked before rushing out of the room to fulfill Claus' request.

'I kinda feel bad for the guy.' Claus thought. 'I'm going to regret this.' He sighed. He pulled out a pen and a piece of paper from his desk. 'The least I could do for scaring him earlier.' Claus wrote a short promotion letter for the pigmask. "Not exactly heart and soul, but it's not that important." Claus murmured before folding the letter closed.

The pigmask returned with the bottle of hair dye. "Here you go, sir! Top Brand."He quickly placed the bottle on Claus' desk before scrambling for the door.

"Wait!" Claus exclaimed as he grabbed the back of the pigmask's uniform. "I must thank you for this." The boy felt like slapping himself for how stupid he sounded. "Here, give this to one of your squad leaders to receive your new uniform." Claus handed over the folded letter to the pigmask. "I shall take my leave now." He stated exiting his room and walking towards the exit of the airship.

"Okay!" Claus started to observe his surroundings, recognizing familiar paths now covered in pavement. "So, the house should be that way." He said turning south of where the airship was. "I don't think anyone will see me there, so that's where I'll start looking for Lucas." Claus started to run towards his destination, as the start of his new adventure.

"Where is the commander?" A pigmask colonel screamed in frustration.

"He went out to Tazmily, sir." The new pigmask captain replied calmly.

The colonel turned to his subordinate in anger. "What do you mean? We need him here right now for our departure to Oshoe Castle!"

"H-he said he was visiting someone, s-sir!" The pigmask captain started to tremble as he did earlier. But now this time he was afraid of the colonel.

The colonel started to calm down, realizing that the disappearance of the commander was simply on his own whim. "There is nothing we can do but wait for him to return. Hopefully, that will be soon."

"GAHHHHHHHHH!" A scream could be heard from above as the boy and his dog made their quick descent from the sky through a freefall. Luckily, said fall was cushioned by a large pile of hay. "Whew! That was close!" exclaimed the boy in relief. He ran his fingers through his blonde cowlick and dusted off his yellow and red striped shirt. "Are you okay, Boney?" He asked his brown furred dog.

"Arf (Yes)!" The dog barked in reply. The boy sighed in relief. Knowing that the impact of the fall would have killed them if they landed anywhere else besides the water wasn't very assuring to the young boy. He was glad that both he and his dog were alright.

"Oh, Lucas! You're safe. I see that my dream was correct." It was Lucas' grandfather Alec, still clad in his same attire from three years ago. Wess, Duster's father, was standing next to him also looking quite relieved.

"What do you mean? What dream?" the confused Lucas asked.

"I had a dream where Hinawa told me to pile hay in that spot. Thank goodness you're alright. Say Lucas, was Duster with you?"

"Um, yeah. But I got separated from both him and Kumatora. Boney's with me though," Lucas replied.

"Hmmm, I see." Wess nodded.

"I'm going to go home first to get some new clothes, then I'll look for Kumatora and Duster. You don't need to worry." Lucas cheerfully said, because that's exactly how he felt about his other two friends. "I know they're strong, so I'll find them and they'll be okay!" Lucas started to run off towards his house turning back to smile and wave at Alec and Wess. But before he could at least make it back to the village, he was stopped at the bridge by a small crowd.

"What in the world? Excuse me. Please let me through." Lucas pushed his way to the front of the crowd only to see... Ionia the Magypsy?

"Mmmmmph! Mmmph! ... Oh! I undid the gag all on my own! Huh?" The Magypsy responded in response to seeing the blonde boy. "I hate to be a bother but, could you please stand me up?"

"Um, sure." Lucas helped the struggling Magypsy into a standing position.

"Thank you darling! I don't know what happened. I was just minding my own business, taking off my makeup. When suddenly, I was physically assaulted! What an un-fabulous time to be attacked! Oh my! You're that boy I met at the hot springs the other day, aren't you? Lucas, was it?"

"Yes, that is my name." Lucas responded, nodding his head slightly.

"From the moment I realized you could use PSI, I knew there was something special about you. You're undoubtedly the one that we Magypsies have been waiting for. Can't you feel it too? We've been waiting for tens and thousands of years. I knew you were the chosen one because you were able to learn PK Love."

"I'm not really sure what you're talking about." Replied Lucas sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his head in an apologetic manner. Of course Lucas knew that something was happening. He wasn't that stupid. But the strange events occurring troubled the boy. Most of that fear coming from not knowing the purpose of these events.

"It's okay that you can't feel it. The 'time' is drawing near. But I'm not too sure about it myself." Suddenly, the look in Ionia's eyes changed. "Wait a second… If I was attacked, could it mean… I hope Aeolia is alright. Lucas, will you come with me to her house to check on her?"

"Okay. But I have to go pick up something from my house." Lucas replied, remembering his original objective.

"Oh, is that so? Well then, I'll just have to go with you then!" The three started off towards Lucas' house, Ionia, still tied up, awkwardly hopping behind.

"So, I guess your house is down that way. It's out of the way of everyone else's houses though," said Ionia.

Lucas started to explain "Well, it's got a nice view. It's near the ocean. We also have sheep, so we have to have more open space."

Upon arriving at said destination, Ionia's reaction was quite positive. "My, what a lovely place! Say Lucas, who's that over there?" The Magypsy jerked his head towards a lone figure standing on the slope leading up to Lucas' house. He had a helmet covering one of his eyes and was wearing a brown jacket, orange pants, and dark boots with a sword strapped to his side.

Lucas' expression turned hostile upon recognizing said figure. He pulled out the friend's yo-yo that he obtained from Thunder Tower. "Hey you! You're the one who threw us off the airship!" He readied his weapon to attack the masked man.

"Lucas…" The masked man murmured to himself. He slowly removed his helmet revealing a head of orange hair.

"C-claus?" Lucas's eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn't think or move and his body felt numb. When he finally regained his movement, the first thing he did was embrace his brother tightly. "How… are you alive?" Tears were steaming out of his eyes. Claus placed his arms around Lucas in response.

"I'm sorry I left you and dad. There was nothing I could do by the time they found me." Claus responded dully, looking away from his brother.

"Wait, Claus. What are you talking about?" Lucas asked confused.

Ionia interrupted the two. "Aren't you that boy who visited Aeolia's house three years ago? Alec was the one who told you about us. Claus, wasn't it?"

"Gah!" Claus' eyes widened upon seeing the Magypsy. 'Oh no! What do I do? Someone saw me!'

Seeing his expression, the Magypsy reassured him. "Not to worry, little Claus! I won't say a thing!" Claus sighed in relief.

Later, the three had gotten into the house and they were discussing Claus' appearance.

"So Claus, where have you been for the past three years?" Ionia asked.

"Well…" He started, his expression turning dark. "You know, when I went to get revenge on the Drago for killing mom, Lucas?" He asked his twin, swallowing his tears. "I fell off the plateau, and some of my body parts were very broken. The pigmask army found my body and they turned me into a human chimera." He held out his arm to show them the cannon connected to his wrist. "They fused me with technology and easily used the technology I was fused with to turn me into a heartless soldier. But then I saw Lucas and Boney." Claus stretched out his arm to pet the dog. "I think it started to awaken my old self rather quickly. I remembered everything overnight." He paused for a second before continuing his explanation. "I had a dream telling me to come to Tazmily to find you, Lucas. I can't go back to the pigmask army now. But also, they can't know that I left."

"Why can't you go back and fool them into thinking that you're still in the army?" Lucas asked.

"I still have technology infused into myself. If I return they could still reprogram me." Claus explained.

"Oh, I see!" Ionia exclaimed. "So, what is your plan?" The Magypsy asked.

"Well you see…" Claus began He pulled out the bottle of blonde hair dye. "I can switch places with Lucas!" He said, his gloomy attitude switching to a more positive one. Even after being the masked man, the boy's personality did not change. He was determined to go through with his plan, whether his twin liked it or not. Claus couldn't help but remember that things went that way when they were younger. Thinking back made him feel a bit sad, but he would not let that nagging feeling quell his determination. "Lucas, even though you might have a higher risk of being discovered, can you please do this for me? I-I … never want to go back there again! There are too many bad memories there."

"Oh my! That's a splendid idea. I'd love to help you two out!" Ionia offered.

Lucas sat there quietly for a moment, contemplating the choice to make. No matter what he chose to do, the choice would have put both of them on the line of risk. Knowing this, he raised his head slowly and stated his fateful choice, "I'll do it."