They knew. They all knew. Some prayed it wouldn't happen, and that maybe fate would somehow spare their beloved hero, but inside, nobody could deny the inevitable. Eagleland's usual lighthearted buzz turned into a somber quiet. The sun still shone brightly and the air was warm with a light breeze, but all the windows were shut and the blinds closed, with only a few souls wandering silently through the streets. Many citizens visited the cemetery, and a few visited the home of Tracy and her mother.
Paula was one of those few. She stepped up onto the porch, but the door swung open before she could knock.
"Hello, Ness," She said softly. Ness stared down at the doorframe with a downcast expression. "Are you alright?" Paula asked.
Ness shook his head. He closed the door and sat on the porch steps without looking up, and Paula sat down beside him.
"I know you can do it," she rested her hand on his back, "You always do."
Ness nodded.
Paula looked down on the bright pink scars on his arms. Ness was 8 when he was invited to the first ever Smash tournament. Back then, it was a lighthearted event. With a very limited selection of competitors, each one of them smiled at each other off-screen, shook hands, and quickly became the closest of friends. Sure, the entire event was beating each other, but the brawlers were properly protected with high tech gear and after each battle, they were carefully tended to in order to prevent injury. Smashing was safe, but then it got popular. The fighters were thrilled to be invited back for the second time, but to their dismay, things had changed. Words could not describe the shock they felt when they received their first blows onstage and it hurt.
Ness, who had emerged from the first Smash with a generous reward and a healthier body than when he left, exited the second tournament with a meager prize and a mild series of wounds all over his body. He never wanted to go back. Nobody wanted him to go back, except for the audience, and the audience was hungry. When the 3rd annual Smash rolled around, Ness didn't get a choice. The letter still came, worded like a polite invitation, but when he sent his refusal, the escorts showed up all the same. This time, however, Ness was not alone.
For the third Smashing tournament, Ness had a companion. Lucas, a boy his age from the neighboring Nowhere Islands sat opposite of him on the escort helicopter. Ness could see he had been crying. Ness left his seat and sat next to Lucas. He took his hand and for the rest of the trip, neither of them let go. Neither Ness nor Lucas talked much at all, but their friendship grew in the following days of preparing for battle. Lucas looked up to the veteran fighter, and Ness felt extremely protective of the new boy. They soon became inseparable to the point where even when Ness was invited to practice with his fellow veteran Smashers, he chose to train with Lucas instead. It turned out Lucas had grasped many of the same PSI powers Ness had during the Smash tournaments, and they were able to learn a lot from each other. Ness quickly picked up that while Lucas couldn't pack much of a punch using his body or weapons, his PSI abilities succeeded even his own, and good thing too, because the roster was fuller than ever and he had a lot of top names to beat.
The fighting didn't take long to begin. Ness wasn't introduced until later in the fights as was tradition, but before he knew it, his name was called over the intercom and he was shown to a teleportation room. Each teleportation room was unique to a fighter's trademark entry. The room Ness was taken too was long and spacious, so Ness took a breath and bent down into a sprinting position. When the lights in the room turned green, he dashed to the far end of the room at breakneck speeds, leaping through a rip in space right before he reached the wall. The other end of his teleport automatically led him onto the stage. He came to a skidding stop, tiny flames kicking up at his heels, and took in the view. The stage was beautiful; there was no doubt about that. It was bathed in dark shades of purple, but was all the while it was lit in such a matter the entire stage seemed to be speeding towards a sunset. The crowd was opposite the artificial sunlight in a semicircular seating set up around the stage. There were transparent plastic walls between the brawlers and the audience in case of flying KOs, but that didn't stop the wild roar of the audience, hyped up by all the fighting and thrilled to see one of their favorite heroes back in action, from blasting into the arena.
Ness found himself facing off against two fighters new to the tournament, and to his disappointment, they had bloodlust in their eyes. It made him sick to see that people wanted so badly to participate in the tournament and that they couldn't wait to cut into their opponents. The announcer gave his usual 3-2-1 countdown and the fight began. Ness did his best to avoid hitting or being hit, letting the other fighters duke it out, but whenever one of them managed to land a blow to him, he felt it, and it hurt. When the first fighter was knocked out and the second was worn down, Ness delivered a starstorm attack that did quick work of his rival. After the announcer victoriously proclaimed Ness the winner, Ness was elevated on a platform for the audience to see and applaud. A short clip played on a screen above him, showing prerecorded and edited footage of him celebrating his win and his competitors clapping good-naturedly behind him. Ness' lip turned up. He didn't have to pretend like he wanted to be there, that was already taken care of.
Next thing he knew, the platform lowered until Ness found himself on the padded floor of the arena. A man in a white doctoral uniform waved him over to an exit and took him to the recovery room. His bruises were treated with a duller, which helped them fade a bit and took some of the biting sensitivity away, but a look in the mirror informed him that unlike the first Smash, he wasn't going to come out without a few scars. Ness retreated to the "rec" room, where the fighters could relax between battles, but before he knew it, he was called back into action. Ness fought through 14 matchups his first day alone, and each one earned him another cut or bruise, along with the occasional gut wrenching blow of hitting the wall after a high-speed KO, which never failed to knock the breath out of every competitor. The fights went on into the evening, but eventually, they had to end, leaving the Smashers with some time to rest. Ness immediately searched out Lucas. He hadn't watched any of the fights on the TVs provided in the rec room, his personal room, or the recovery, despite the potential insight it could bring, so he didn't know what had become of his friend during the fights, He found Lucas in his room. Lucas was battered, not as badly as Ness himself, but scared out of his wits. Ness wordlessly sat next to him on the bed and they laid together in silence until they fell asleep.
Fighting resumed early in the morning, and Ness took another beating drowned out by the bloodthirsty screams of the audience, cheering for whoever managed to pack the hardest blows that round. Ness cracked his knuckles in the teleportation room as he waited for the light to turn, and when he finally dashed down the hallway onto the stage, he was greeted with a most unwelcome surprise. Standing timidly between him and another fighter was Lucas. When Lucas turned to face Ness, the horror on his face mirrored his own. The audience cheered so loudly, Ness could barely hear the announcer shouting the countdown. The fighter behind Lucas immediately launched himself, sword out at Lucas and Ness threw a shield between them as quickly as he could, blocking the attack long enough for Ness to get between him and Lucas.
"If you want him," A hush fell over the audience as Ness spoke, (which was dreadfully uncommon except for an occasional "okay" or PSI command) "You're gonna have to go through me."
"No problem," the fighter gave a dark grin and the crowd screamed and shouted louder than they ever had before.
The fighter was strong, and though his sword was treated so it couldn't kill another Smasher, Ness took a lot of damage. He fought as hard as he could, throwing fireballs and smashing his bat against the taller fighter's legs. Lucas shouted behind him as he hurled projectiles at the fighter, but soon Ness was overpowered as he was launched off the stage with such force that he lost consciousness when he hit the wall..
He woke up in recovery just as the announcer shouted "game" over the roar of the audience.
Ness sat up quickly and watched to see if Lucas would be entering into recovery conscious or not, but to his surprise, the other fighter was the first to enter, struggling angrily against the helpers.
"Lucas?" Ness asked aloud, but nobody paid him any mind. He fumbled for the remote on the side of his bed and turned on the TV in the recovery. The screen flashed on and showed Lucas, striking a victory pose with Ness and the other fighter applauding, and the stats scrolled across the screen. Ness lay back in the bed and laughed softly. He let out a happy sigh, and then he fell asleep. He woke shortly after to find Lucas shaking him gently awake. He smiled shyly and Ness quickly threw his arms around his friend. Their reunion was short lived when Lucas was called back to prepare for the next fight, but Ness flashed him a thumbs-up as he went and Lucas smiled and returned the gesture. Ness lied back down on his side and felt calm for the first time since he arrived at the tournaments.
Ness' following fights, while still dangerous and painful, came to be so much easier to stick through. In fact, they were almost fun again. He wiped a bloody nose with a laugh after he ported onto the next stage to fight. He bounced readily in his spot while he waited for the other competitors to teleport up with him. The first to appear was the fighter he and Lucas had combated before, and almost to Ness' delight, Lucas appeared behind him. The crowd began to chant his name, "Lucas! Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!"
Lucas let out a soft laugh and Ness smiled widely at him. He tipped his hat and they both turned to the competitor, who was visibly sweating as he adjusted his grip on his sword and gritted his teeth angrily.
It was quick work. After a few well coordinated PSI smashes and whacks with Ness' bat, the competitor was sent flying offstage and the audience first cheered, then let out a hushed "ooh!"
The victorious smile on Lucas and Ness' faces faded as they turned to look at each other.
A breeze seemed to blow across the stage as they stood, feet spread, on opposite ends of the arena. Lucas was the first to raise his hands, and Ness quickly tossed away his bat. He strode over to Lucas, who's fingers began to spark defensively, but Ness took his closest hand and raised it in the air. The crowd began to shout again. Their jumbled cries began to break into one screaming voice: "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Lucas glanced nervously at Ness, but Ness didn't turn away from the hollering crowd. His brow remained furrowed and there was a scowl at his mouth as the audience booed and shook their fists at the two of them.
The announcer declared over the speakers that the fight would not end until there was one winner standing, and then a giant hammer materialized behind Lucas. Ness looked Lucas in the eyes in anticipation, but Lucas matched his determined expression from before and nodded firmly. They both looked back out into the audience and raised both of their fists into the air, spreading out two fingers to create a pair of V's in the sky. The crowd did not respond positively. Booing ensued and popcorn bounced off the stage. Ness cast a comfortable shield to prevent flying items from hitting them. They sat quietly, feet hanging off the stage, holding each others hands as time slowly ticked on. Then the chimera came.
Ness didn't recognize the beast, but Lucas immediately stiffened with a gasp.
"Ness," Lucas said his name for the first time, but the fear in his voice was horribly prominent, "Ness, run."
They both scrambled to their feet and retreated to the end of the stage as the crowd began to cheer again.
Ness threw a fireball at the best, but it swallowed the blow without so much of a flinch.
"You can't kill it," Lucas whispered. "It's impossible."
"What do we do?" Ness asked under his breath.
"We can't do anything."
So they stood, hands locked as the beast drew closer. When Ness could feel its breath on his face, the chimera roared and it lunged, and Ness saw white.
The next thing he remembered was the air being knocked out of him before he even hit the wall, and for a split-second, he felt the solid surface smash against him before he lost consciousness.
He woke up that night in recovery. He was in more pain than he'd ever experienced in Smash before and the simple act of breathing was enough to bring tears to his eyes. He could hear his ragged voice in his ringing ears, struggling to inhale through his pained chest. He wondered if they even used the duller they usually gave him after a fight, and secretly, he hoped they didn't because he didn't want to know what would happen when the duller wore off. He turned his head carefully to look to either side, seeing only empty beds, except one on the far end of the room with a fellow veteran Smasher, who was sleeping turned away from him.
Ness stirred, moaning softly at the bitter sensation it brought on. He continued to slowly make his way up to a sitting position and when he was finally upright, he had to take a moment to slow his heartbeat and catch his breath. Taking hold of trolley cart next to his bed, Ness eased himself out of bed and began to roll out of the room in a painfully slow manner. It took some time to find Lucas, but only because of the pace Ness was setting, When he entered, Lucas was sitting upright on a bed, like Ness had been, and he was looking to be in far better shape than the black-haired boy. Lucas brightened up when Ness walked in.
"Ness!" he exclaimed softly, his eyes turning down to Ness' wobbly support.
Ness hobbled over to his bed and Lucas watched him as he came. Ness climbed slowly into the bed next to Lucas who gently tried to help him up.
"Ness, are you alright?" Lucas whispered. He pushed Ness' hair back like Ness' mother had always done. Ness wordlessly snuggled down into the bed and put his arm around Lucas who gently lied down next to him, and they slept.
When Ness woke up again, Lucas was gone and the TV was on in his room. His pain had lessened drastically and he was able to sit up with ease. He turned the volume up on the television and saw Lucas was back in action already. Either he had healed faster or had taken less damage from the chimera, but Lucas was back on his feet. And he was doing splendidly. Ness he sat back and watched as Lucas sent blow after blow with his PSI powers upon his competitors and leapt nimbly out of the way when they tried to strike. Ness winced whenever Lucas took a blow, but he spent more time silently cheering as Lucas blew away the competition. Ultimately, he won the battle, and before the camera could switch to the shopped victory screen, Lucas stared right into the camera and raised his hand, holding two fingers in the air. Ness startled as the screen quickly switched. He raised his own fingers towards the screen, and let them fall as it faded to black.
Lucas came back into the room shortly after and plopped down on the bed next to Ness. He immediately wrapped his arms around him.
"Oh sorry," Lucas withdrew, "Are you still hurt?"
Ness shook his head and smiled. Lucas hugged him again. After a satisfying embrace, Ness raised his fist in the air, and Lucas laughed softly and bumped his fist against Ness'.
They spent the rest of the evening playing cards in the rec room before they went their separate ways to rest in their own private rooms. Ness was called up early in the morning for smash and he was pleased to find he was paired against another veteran from the very first tournament. When Ness teleported onto the stage, he thumped his fist over his chest and the veteran raised his in the air. Ness did the same, and then together, they raised two fingers and faced the crowd. The audience booed loudly and began to call for the return of the chimera, but Ness' opponent took his hand and motioned off the end of the stage., Ness nodded with a smile and they turned to see the chimera spawn on stage. Before the beast could even get it's bearings, the two Smashers leapt from the stage and were swallowed by the KO light before they hit the padded surface under the stage and rolled. The screen automatically cut to a victory clip for Ness, as the other fighter had hit the ground first. When the two of them scrambled to their feet, unharmed, they began to laugh as trash and food from the audience began to rain upon them. The recovery crew ran in as usual, confused to see them both on their feet and laughing, but the two Smashers ran past them out of the arena. They resigned in the rec room and were met with mixed reactions. Some fighters (especially the newcomers) scowled and left the room, but others cheered and hugged the rebellious fighters Lucas was upon Ness in a moment and the laughing and celebrating in the room overpowered the continued booing of the audience outside.
"End the violence!" Ness' previous opponent shouted, raising his fist, "Bring back a safe Smash!"
There was a loud cheer from the Smashers in the room.
"End the violence, safe Smash!" everyone chanted and they raised their fists, two fingers pointing in the air.
The outrage against Smash was immanent, and the Brawl series of tournaments was met with harsh response as it continued through Smash week. With more and more of the fighters dropping out with deuces in the air, the audience began to disappear, and the Master hand could not let that happen. The games closed for an entire day, much to the outrage of new Smashers and the delight of the long time players. The "rebel" fighters were all over the news, but the most common image was of Ness and Lucas, standing together after their second fight with their fingers in the air. People called it an uprising and an atrocity against Smash, but a few began to question the humanity of the practice, showing violent stills from previous Smashes, including the first chimera encounter. The games were the talk of the times, but for completely different reasons than before.
The week of Smash was soon drawing to an end, and the turnout continued to get worse. The officials knew they had to take action, and they did. The news was everywhere: Smash was going to have a big finale. They were going to end this season's Smash with a bang and Brawl would to down in history. This would be a series of events no one wanted to miss.
After Ness briskly jogged into the rec room after another "suicide" jump against a newcomer, he was surprised when the door slammed closed behind him. Two Smash officials in white masks had entered behind him, guns held at their shoulders, and two more entered through the opposite door with Lucas between them. Ness instinctively got into a fighting position.
"Do not struggle," One of the officials raised a gun to Lucas' head and he cried out softly. Ness opened his fists unthreateningly.
"The Master Hand will no longer put up with your nonsense and we are taking serious action," The officer continued.
"What do you want with Lucas?" Ness felt his PSI crackle at his fingertips.
"We want you to stop with your little stunt and get the fight on, or else we won't hesitate to end this."
Ness' collected position grew quickly more defensive.
"Do you understand, Ness?"
Ness nodded.
"Good," The officers re-opened the doors and began to escort Lucas back out.
"Lucas stays," Ness demanded.
"No, he doesn't, and you won't speak a word to anyone." The officers left and the other Smashers began to filter into the room.
"What happened? Why were we locked out? Ness, are you alright? You look live you've seen a ghost." They all began to ask at once. Ness turned away wordlessly and retreated to his private room, but before he could open the door, his name was called over the loudspeakers to announce the next fight. It took everything he had in him to turn away from his room and head towards the stage. He had to do it. He had to do it for Lucas. He got into the teleport room and waited for his cue. Soon, he heard the announcer's voice come in over the speakers, out of time with the voice in the arena above.
"Thank you for coming out ladies and gentlemen," It sounded like there was a big crowd above, "You've watched and waited and after a disappointing few rounds of Smash, we promised to make things bigger and better before we close out for the season. So! Without further ado, we present: The Final Smash!"
The light in the teleportation room came and Ness appeared onstage. He was relieved to find it was a new Smasher and not a fellow rebel.
His opponent laughed and griped about how the rebellion was ruining his fun, and he taunted Ness as the countdown began. "You gonna run like a wimp again?" the Smasher asked jeeringly.
"Not this time," Ness whispered under his breath, but apparently, the speakers picked up his voice because the crowd that had been turned against fell into an electric hush. Ness put one foot forward and put his fists up.
"Oh is that how it's gonna be?" the competitor put his fists up as well. The announcer shouted out the countdown and before the fighters could launch themselves at each other, a pair of red beams shot from the sky and encased the fighters. For a solid 3 seconds the beam was over him and it felt like lightening running through every vein. Ness screamed but at the last moment power surged through his body and he was dropped back on the stage. His opponent had clearly experienced the same phenomenon based on the fire in his eyes.
"Sudden death!" The narrator shouted, and Ness' eyes widened in realization. The other fighter smirked. He shouted and launched himself at Ness, who quickly dodged out of the way and threw a fireball. The fighter shouted at the burn, but it wasn't a strong enough attack to launch him offstage. The fight went on for what seemed like eternity, and Ness fought like his life was actually on the line because, for all he knew, it was. Ness launched another fireball in hopes to incapacitate the fighter long enough for him to give the final blow, but the fighter dodged behind Ness and before he could turn around, a lightsword cut into his back and Ness found himself being launched face first into the barriers. The crowd rose to its feet and cheered loudly as he fell to the ground offstage and hit his head roughly against the padded floor. The recovery crew came out to assist him, and he waved them off, sitting up with his dizziness giving him a headache. He stumbled to his feet and the crew intervened as he stumbled and helped him out of the arena.
After they gave him a pain duller and patched his aching back, (which he never knew if it was bleeding or not) they left him alone in recovery, and he quickly shuffled to Lucas' private room in hopes of finding him there.
He pushed the door open, but the room was empty. A fellow "rebel" Smasher walked out from a different room and Ness immediately grabbed his arm.
"Lucas?" He said quickly. The fighter pointed down the hall and Ness took off before he could continue. Ness dashed around the corner and into the far room, ramming the door with such force that it was torn from its hinges.
He stumbled in and immediately saw Lucas surrounded by officials with guns pointed to his head. The loud blast caused by Ness' entrance startled the men and before Ness could say a word, Lucas' blood was spattered over the coat of an official. Ness and the blood-spattered officer screamed simultaneously.
"Don't shoot!" the bloodied official shouted. He grabbed the arm of his fellow officer and yanked the weapon that he pointed at Ness away. Ness ran forward and grabbed Lucas, then turned on his heel and made record speed back into the hallway before the officers could regain themselves.
"Stop him! Stop him!" An official screamed, right before Ness' teleport completed and both he and Lucas disappeared. Ness wasn't sure where he teleported to, he had done it too quickly, but before he could even think, they skidded onto the stage Ness tripped, dropping his fallen friend and taking a brick stage to the face. To his luck, two fellow "rebel" fighters were onstage and they immediately stopped what they were doing at his abrupt appearance.
"Help him!" Ness shouted, trying to get up, "He's been shot, help him!"
The first Smasher quickly registered the command and scooped up Lucas before leaping off the stage like he had 100 times. The second fighter helped Ness up and tried to tend to his bleeding face, but Ness shook him off.
"They shot him, they shot him," Ness rambled. The screen projecting the fight had already switched to a technical difficulties still, but the live audience was on their feet, murmuring and pointing.
"The officials!" Ness shouted, "They're going to kill him! They're going to kill me!" Ness screamed and clutched his head. "They're going to kill s all!" A pair from the recovery team was quickly lifted onto the stage and took Ness away, kicking and screaming.
As soon as they were out of view of the audience, they injected something into his arm and Ness screamed again, "They're going to kill him!" before he passed out.
He didn't wake up again until he was on a plane in the air. Familiar Eagleland nurses held his hand and tried to soothe him as he stirred.
"Lucas, Lucas," Ness tossed groggily.
"Shh, Ness dear, it's going to be fine," a nurse tried to assure him.
"Lucas, Lucas!" Ness' cries grew louder and he struggled to get up until he was put under again.
His mother's voice was the first he heard when he returned home. "Ness, honey, wake up."
He stirred, and he felt himself lifted into a hug. "Ness honey, my baby, my hero," Ness heard her whisper.
"Mom," he blinked his eyes slowly to adjust to the sunlight that came in through the windows, "What happened?'
"You made it honey," His mom said, still hugging him, "You're home, it's over."
"Where's Lucas?"
His mom covered her mouth with one hand.
"He didn't make it honey. He died a hero,"
Ness put his arms around his mom and held tightly to her dress. Tears began to fall and for the longest time, they stayed in each others' embrace, crying until there were no tears left to cry.
A memorial was set up for Lucas in the Nowhere Islands cemetery. It couldn't be classified as a grave as the Smash Bros industry never gave up the body, or the news of Lucas' death. The actual incident still remained a mystery and the rumor could only be spread by confused witnesses of the event, Lucas' memorial stood next to the graves of his mother and twin brother. People from the Islands and Eagleland alike came to pay respects and all three graves where soon covered in flowers. Ness teleported there regularly. A picture in the news showed Ness kneeling at Lucas' headstone, which was bedded in flowers, with Paula beside him, hand on his shoulder. The report spoke of the two heroes who fought to end the violence of the annual smash tournament, and Nowhere Island's own hero that died trying to stop it. The world of Eagleland and the Nowhere Island soon became top opposition to the Smash practice, with two fingers in the air.
Now Ness was here, on the front porch of his house in Onett, awaiting the "invitation" for him to return. Paula leaned her head on his and they watched the horizon as the sun moved slowly across the sky.
Soon Ness' mom joined them on the steps, and Tracy soon after. They all sat in silence as the sun went down and a helicopter appeared over the horizon, drawing close to the home.
A solemn mailman reached the porch first, and he passed a crisp white envelope with the infamous Smash Bros seal holding it closed. No tears were said as they all gave their wordless farewells. Each gave and received a kiss from their hero before an official with a weapon exited the newly arrived helicopter and escorted Ness inside, leaving the invitation unopened on the ground.
A week later, the games were ready to begin. It began with a grand ceremony, with the assisting Smash crew parading through the newly built stages that lay in the center of a fully ovular space full of excited fans. Then, from 50 openings around the stage, each fighter entered one by one, ending up on a protruding platform to show off or wave at the audience. The starter veterans came first, then the newcomers, then the those new from last year's Smash, then finally, the secondary veterans. Every door opened slowly, revealing an expected fighter, but soon they were running out of doors, and Ness had not yet appeared, Paula, Tracy, and Ness' mom, who sat huddled around a home TV watching, had hearts racing in fear that they might not see him enter at all.
The final door opened, but no one was there. Then, emerging from the shadows, was a familiar red hat. Ness strode through the opening, turning his hat backwards. His skin was covered in battle scars instead of being covered in makeup and instead of his usual blue and yellow striped shirt he wore a white one with big red letters that read "REMEMBER LUCAS 2014". He raised his fist in the air, two fingers skyward, which was met by screams of outrage and delight from the audience. The voices at Ness' house and all over Eagleland and the Nowhere Island cheered in unison, raising their own fingers towards the sky. Together they would fight to end the Smash, and Lucas would not be forgotten.