Chapter 1: Ask Your Mother

(Author's Note: This is my interpretation of what happens when Bayonetta uses a certain infamous taunt on Lucas. Due to the nature of the plot, beware major spoilers for both MOTHER 3 and Bayonetta 1 and 2! Also, I prefer staying true to the games they're from more than sticking with just their Smash Bros movesets, so they'll be using some powers from their games that didn't make it to Smash Bros in addition to their usual moves. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and please leave feedback!)

The fourth tournament of the Super Smash Brothers was well underway, and a large audience consisting of some of the other Smash Bros as well as many Miis (three of which were also fighters) eagerly awaited the upcoming match. The rules for the battle were simple enough: It was one on one, and the first combatant to knock their foe out of bounds would win. If time ran out, they would enter "Sudden Death", which severely wounded both combatants so that one blow would settle it. This time, it would be a fight for glory with no items or stage hazards. The stage was set to Umbra Clock Tower: the broken top of a clock tower that was knocked off of the rest of the building, and now fell through an endless abyss and occasionally went near other platforms. The participants were just about to arrive...

A blue portal suddenly appeared in the air of the stage, crackling with electricity from the rift it made in the fabric of space. A teenage boy was sent flying out of it, sliding across the ground and leaving a trail of flames from the sheer static discharge. He wiped some soot off his striped yellow and red shirt and his short, blonde hair which had a noticeable cowlick. He had a nervous look in his blue eyes as he prepared for battle, wielding a wooden stick as his weapon of choice. He also used a power called PSI that made a yellow glow from his left hand's index and middle fingers as he pointed ahead, trying to stay focused.

"LUCAS!"

A deep voice boomed across the battlefield and spectator stands, inexplicably coming from a large, gloved and floating hand which was not connected to any other body parts let alone a mouth. He was known as Master Hand, for he was the master of this World of Trophies and...he was also a hand.

"VERSUS..."

At the same time, a swarm of bats gathered together and shape-shifted into the Umbra Witch herself: A tall and beautiful dark-haired woman who wore glasses and an outfit that could only be described as...questionable. She had a look of confidence and composure, certain she'd win this battle just as easily as the last one against the angel named Pit. After all, how difficult could fighting a teenager be for a woman who had slain gods?

"BAYONETTA!"

Meanwhile, Master Hand started counting down with his fingers as Lucas prepared for battle, trying to calm his nerves. Bayonetta had been able to easily beat the angel named Pit with her dark magic and devastating combo attacks which sent Pit flying to the sky, and not in the way he wanted. However, that didn't mean she was unstoppable. He remembered some advice Red gave him back when they fought an enemy that seemed too strong to beat...

After defeating Wario, Lucas and Red had explored the ruins nearby. They managed to catch Red's Ivysaur and Charizard in the process, and now they had finally reached the center of the ruins. They found themselves in a vast and empty room with a ceiling far above them, and no apparent way to get up there. Had they gotten lost? Was this a dead end? Would they ever find Ness's trophy? All these questions were cut short as that ceiling suddenly caved in.

CRASH

Both of them looked up as a shower of debris came crashing down to crush them, along with some giant object that had made the ceiling collapse with its immense weight. Lucas desperately used PSI Shield Omega as Red's Charizard shielded the Pokemon Trainer with his wings, while Squirtle and Ivysaur used jets of water and a vine whip respectively to knock and pull the debris away. At the same time, the huge impact of the largest object shook the ground and knocked them back on their rear ends. Within the cloud of dust that emerged, a pair of glowing eyes glared at them ominously...

They were the eyes of a giant, monkey-like robot armed with rocket launchers on its shoulders. Steam hissed from vents as it slammed its left palm to shake the ground in anger, looking up at the sky for a moment before looking back, deciding to take its anger out on them instead. Lucas shuddered in fear of the enemy that made even Porky's spider mech look small. Just how were they going to fight that..? Red seemed to sense Lucas's fear and surprisingly, he spoke up for once.

"Lucas, don't panic: if there's one thing I've learned as a Trainer, it's that everything has a weakness. Just calm down and help me find it, and I know we'll win!"

Red then got up from the ground, pointing one of his Pokeballs at the giant robot with the same stoic look as always. It gave Lucas the courage to get up too, focusing the glow of PK Love into his left hand as he prepared to fight yet another killer robot...he really hated robots.

"Y-yeah, we can do this..! Let's turn this robot to scrap metal!"

Then the mechanical monstrosity that R.O.B later told them was aptly named the "Giant ALLoy Extreme Ordnance Machine" (Galleom) roared in anger, swinging its fists down in an earth-shaking impact as Lucas and all three of Red's Pokemon jumped into action...

"GO!"

Master Hand snapped his fingers and snapped Lucas out of his memory, officially starting the match. Bayonetta started by taunting him, twirling her guns and looking away, then looking at him again, causing her glasses to glow purple.

"Let's dance, boy!"

Lucas ignored the taunt, trying to stay focused on the fight at hand. He remembered Red's advice, knowing that he might have a chance even against the one feared as the strongest newcomer if he could keep his cool and figure out what she was weak to. It was too bad his dog Boney wasn't here, since he was always good at sniffing out weaknesses...

Bayonetta didn't do anything just yet, waiting for Lucas to make the first move. So he did. Lucas ran in and quickly closed the distance, jumping into range before using a move he learned from Kumatora. "PK Fire!" He launched a bolt of fire from his hands that exploded on contact, knocking Bayonetta backwards a short distance. It didn't faze her much, and she showed off her acrobatic skills by flipping in midair and doing a handstand, using that to rapidly fire all four guns at once. The bullets didn't hurt a lot, and in this world no one could bleed, but even so it'd slowly rack up damage if he kept getting hit. So as Bayonetta shot another volley of bullets, Lucas created a blue forcefield from his left hand that somehow absorbed the bullets: It was PSI Magnet, a move that let him drain the energy of other people or even energy blasts they fired. Bayonetta stopped shooting after that, but the real danger wasn't from her guns...

Next she closed the distance with a quick sliding kick (called the Heel Slide) to try to trip up Lucas, who quickly rolled back to dodge it, fearing being caught up in her deadly combos. However, Bayonetta saw it coming and raised her foot next, which caused a dark portal to appear above Lucas. Remembering the demonic limbs she'd summoned against Pit, Lucas put his hands together near the ground as if he was pulling some invisible object from it, causing them to glow as a giant high-heeled foot made from Bayonetta's own hair came down from the portal and tried to squash him flat.

"Huwah!" Lucas pointed his hands skyward, unleashing large yellow and blue hexagon that clashed with the demonic foot, blasting it straight back to Purgatorio. It was his only original PSI attack: the power known as "PK Love", named after his favorite thing. Even though it was used for attacking, its strength still came from his compassionate heart.

For a moment, Bayonetta was surprised by the flash of light, but she was quick to take advantage of how Lucas's huge attack left him wide open. The witch's hands glowed with dark power as she grabbed Lucas, then kicked him up into the air, following up with a tornado-like jump called a Witch Twist that knocked him even further up. He narrowly escaped being hit by yet another Witch Twist thanks to his abnormal 'double jump', using PSI to telekinetically backflip through the air and away from the scary lady. She was quick to pursue him once more with a midair version of her Heel Slide (known as the Afterburner Kick), but this time Lucas used PSI Shield to block the hit enough for him to be mostly unharmed and escape the combo as he landed.

"PK Freeze!" Lucas tried making use of the distance between them, sending an icy projectile that traveled in an arc towards Bayonetta. This move was also one he'd learned from Kumatora, good for putting enemies on ice…literally.

Bayonetta was able to shield herself from the icy blast as it detonated and froze the ground around her, but Lucas took that time to run in and suddenly take a rope-like snake (which was rather simply named Rope Snake) who he'd borrowed from his friend Duster out of his pocket, using him like a whip to make Rope Snake bite and grab onto her. Then, he swung Rope Snake and used PSI to telekinetically throw Bayonetta back behind him, making some distance between them. He didn't want to take any risks, remembering how quickly Pit had lost when he let his guard down out of fear of the angel-killing witch...She was definitely the most feared among the newcomers, and for good reason.

That was why Lucas stayed on the defensive, taking a moment to heal his wounds with PSI Lifeup. This caused some of the bruises on his body to glow, and then fade away completely. Honestly, other than his one original attack, PK Love, healing and defending was his true talent. Most of the other offensive moves he'd learned were thanks to Kumatora and Duster teaching him their deadly PSI powers and fancy kicks respectively...he smiled, grateful for his friends and everything they taught him.

Unfortunately, his mood went downhill when he saw a horde of creepy winged creatures flying in the distance. They reminded him of what Pit said while asking his goddess Palutena for guidance in his battle with Bayonetta.

"But the angels Bayonetta fights aren't nice angels like me. They're monsters...right?!"

They sure were. Most of the 'angels' looked only vaguely humanoid, having clawed hands and feet with only two spiky toes, wearing a red mask with a white 'eye' in the middle. Or was that their actual face..? Their body and wings looked more like metal than actual skin and feathers, and the shining halo above their heads only made the rest of them more disturbing in contrast. Their unnatural forms reminded him way too much of the monstrous Chimeras...

"See? That's why I hunt their kind: they're much too ugly not to put out of their misery! It doesn't help that the angels would love to send my soul down to bloody Inferno..."

Lucas didn't say anything, surprised that the witch wasn't as bad as he thought if she didn't have any choice but to fight these angels. They didn't seem to be 'nice angels' like Pit, and probably answered to a much less benevolent deity than the goddess Palutena who Pit was always talking about. Since he didn't respond, Bayonetta went on to ask a question:

"That was quite the light show you put on earlier. Tell me, just how did a cute little boy like you learn that trick?"

Lucas wasn't sure how to satisfy Bayonetta's curiosity. He didn't like talking much about his past to anyone other than his closest friends. Bringing it up to others would just make people feel bad and pity him, and he didn't want to burden anyone...

"You're a shy boy, arent you?"

He couldn't deny it. Lucas had always been quiet and kind of cowardly, unlike his twin Claus who was brave, strong, and outgoing. In other words, he was pretty much the Luigi of the two. Lucas met the 'Eternal Understudy' back in the Brawl days, since they had a mutual friend in Ness after what happened with King Dedede's revival badges in Subspace...it was a long story, but he found out they had a lot in common. They had twin brothers with the same brave and energetic personality almost the opposite of them, yet who they shared a close bond with anyways, and they both really loved their 'Mama Mia'. They even both had a lot of things they were scared of, like robots, monsters, ghosts...well, Lucas wasn't scared of ghosts, but maybe he would be if he had to clear an entire haunted mansion of them.

Bayonetta decided to tease Lucas a little more while he was still reminiscing those crazy days in Subspace. She taunted him again, twirling her guns and striking a fancy pose as she gave him a joking suggestion which she would soon regret.

"If you need to learn how to talk to a lady, ask your mum."

Lucas was shocked speechless for a moment. The boy started shaking, feeling like his heart had suddenly snapped in two.

Mother?!

Lucas wanted to cry. He was used to being called a crybaby or even a coward, since they were both true, but hearing someone joke about his mother made him just...snap. His voice was shaky, yet filled with anger as he finally stood up to the witch that dared talk about his mother like that.

"'Ask your mum'?! I'd like to ask my 'mum' a lot of things..."

Lucas clenched his fists, unable to hold back his tears anymore as he was reminded of the many things he wanted to 'ask his mum' about. He wanted to ask her how to talk to girls. He wanted to ask her if fighting was the right way to cope with his feelings. He wanted to ask her if she was proud of him...but most of all, he wanted to ask her what the place she went to was like, and if she was happy now.

"...but I CAN'T!"

A loud gasp could be heard from the audience, stunned by the revelation. Only a few had known before, but now everyone else did too, and there was no taking it back. Most in the audience pitied him, but among the other Smash Bros, there were many who could feel his pain, including Samus, Rosalina, Chrom, Lucina, Marth, Ike, Roy, Shulk, Bowser Jr...

"Oh."

...and ironically, Bayonetta herself. It made her hesitate enough to be caught off guard by Lucas who rushed at her, swinging his wooden stick horizontally at her like a baseball bat. She was too late to dodge and could only block the blow with her guns. But then the boy started glowing with an aura, somehow boosting his strength as he lashed out at her verbally and physically once again.

"Why don't YOU go ask her?!"

Using PSI Offense Up, he broke through Bayonetta's guard and sent her flying right into another platform. However she was quick to recover, somehow standing upside down on the underside of the platform, firing her guns once again.

"You've gone to heaven to fight angels, right?!"

Lucas didn't even try to dodge or block the bullets as he rushed at Bayonetta. They couldn't hurt nearly as much as her words anyways. He jumped towards her with a flying kick imbued with PSI, which Bayonetta stopped with her own kick, leaving them briefly suspended in midair as they clashed.

Then, Lucas pushed her leg away and spun in midair, surrounding himself with PK Love as he flew into the Umbra Witch, knocking her back and upwards. He continued to pursue her with the air by turning around and double jumping, using a midair backflip kick to send her crashing down to the ground. She managed to roll as she hit the ground, avoiding the usual vulnerability that way. Then as Lucas fell towards Bayonetta, he kicked downwards with both feet in rapid succession, but she was able to guard the kicks with her guns, deflecting them so he landed right next to her. Bayonetta struck back with another Heel Slide that pushed him across the stage, following up with a flipping kick that knocked him up into the air once more. The Umbra Witch tried to combo him with another Witch Twist after that, but found out painfully that he was able to recover fast enough to hit her first with another series of downward kicks, followed by a PK Love-infused forwards kick that knocked her to the other side of the stage.

Somehow, Bayonetta sprouted butterfly wings temporarily, allowing her to jump in midair and reach the ledge. She was reminded of how enemies in her adventures would get enraged when she taunted them, becoming faster and resistant to being stunned…it was because they were angry enough to ignore their pain, like this boy was doing right now. He was about to charge at her again, but stopped for a moment, distracted by a voice in his head that wasn't his own.

"Lucas, calm down…she didn't know about your mom!"

It was Ness, who had been his best friend in this crazy mixed up world ever since that fateful day when he saved him from the Pig King Statue and the greedy jerk Wario. He was talking to Lucas telepathically, doing everything he could to try to help him calm down. Most of the time, hearing his friend's voice would be enough, but not today.

"I..I don't care!"

Unfortunately, Bayonetta was starting to use Lucas's anger to her advantage, getting used to Lucas's constant attacks as he dashed towards her and attacked again with another blast of PK Love. She read his movements and dodged it by sidestepping, then hit Lucas with a barrage of pistol-whips while he was vulnerable to knock him upwards. Bayonetta then used her Wicked Weave to summon another demonic limb, hitting Lucas with a devastating uppercut.

Lucas cried out in pain, being seriously hurt now as he was sent flying up close to the out-of-bounds line. But he didn't feel fear, being too full of anger for that. He also knew Bayonetta wouldn't know about the trick he could use with his next move as he fell closer to the stage, since infamous or not, she was still a newcomer and hadn't seen him fight before.

"PK Thunder!"

Lucas's hands sparked with electricity as he created an orb of lightning and guided its path, sending it up, backwards, and around until it was right behind him as he faced Bayonetta. He intended to turn himself into a living lightning bolt, one that would be fired right at the witch who he nearly called a word that rhymed with witch.

"Lucas, wait! She can slow..doowwnn...tiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmeeee...!"

Ness's warning came too late, his voice slowing down along with everything else while Bayonetta flipped to the side just before Lucas could hit her like a missile. Lucas tried to get up and face her again, but lost his footing, having landed on the ground he froze earlier as time slowed down. Wasn't this what happened when you were about to die..?

WHAM

Lucas's face was greeted by another demonic fist that sent him flying across the stage. Bayonetta didn't stop there and somehow turned into a panther while time was slowed, chasing him to the other side of the stage as he was sent flying in slow motion. Lucas attacked again as soon as he could recover in midair, furiously sending another blast of PK Love with a kick, but it was too slow to hit Bayonetta during the slowed time. She evaded it at the last second by dispersing into a swarm of bats, making Witch Time activate while it was already active and amplify its effect. Time slowed almost to a stop for everyone except Bayonetta, leaving Lucas helpless in midair off the stage. Bayonetta raised her foot again to deal the finishing blow as Lucas's last tears were suspended in midair...

"I'm sorry for your loss."

She summoned a demonic foot, stomping Lucas with it in the near-frozen time. A moment later, time begun to move at its normal speed again, and Lucas was sent down into the blast zone where he disappeared in a pillar of light.

"GAME!"

It would be some time before Lucas woke up, as he had become a living statue, also known as a Trophy. Both he and Bayonetta were transported back to the Midair Stadium with a snap of Master Hand's fingers as the battle ended, and she was quick to turn Lucas back to normal by touching the base of his trophy. Lucas was surprised to see she offered her hand to help him up despite her past ruthlessness in battle, even having a look of guilt on her face. He didn't take it, too bitter to accept help as he got up on his own.

"The winner is...BAYONETTA!"

Normally, this was the time when the winner would do a pose while the loser clapped respectfully, but this time, no poses were made, and Lucas didn't bother clapping. He usually wasn't this much of a sore loser, but it wasn't the losing he was upset about. Then, Bayonetta talked to Lucas, but not loud enough for the distant audience to hear.

"Little one. I'm sorry for what I said about your mum. You might not believe me, but I know how you feel."

"Huh?!"

"I lost my mother too...and my father."

"T-that's awful…Sorry I yelled at you..."

Lucas wasn't sure what to do anymore. He couldn't be that angry at Bayonetta after hearing how she had gone through as much pain as him, having lost not one but two people close to her...Even so, he didn't feel much better either, since the memories she brought back weren't just going to go away.

"There's no need to apologize to me, little one. All I'll ask is that you don't blame yourself for what happened to your mother. I'm sure wherever she is now, she would want you to be happy..."

"..."

Lucas was surprised, feeling like she'd read his mind. How did she know he felt guilty..? He didn't know how to respond, and didn't want to talk about it anymore. Bayonetta seemed to realize that and made her exit, stepping through a dark portal to who knows where.

Lucas was quick to leave too, not wanting to deal with all the people watching who were probably going to ask him all about his past. He used PSI Teleport again, running faster and faster and then jumping into a portal that appeared once he gained enough speed, warping him away from the Midair Stadium.

Lucas reappeared in a familiar location, sliding to a stop after he emerged from the portal. He quickly put out the flames that caused with a miniature version of PK Freeze followed by PSI Lifeup, not wanting to burn any of the grass and especially not the sunflowers. That was because he'd landed in the vast grassy plains of the World of Trophies, specifically in an area where there were many sunflowers growing. He'd planted some of them himself back in the Brawl days, and now there were a lot more than before...he wasn't sure why, but it made the place look nicer. He had always preferred spending time outside in the beauty of nature rather than being indoors all the time, and sunflowers were his favorite flower...

They were also the flowers he left at his mother's grave. It didn't exist in the World of Trophies, so this sunflower field was the closest he had to it. It was a place he went sometimes when he missed his mother, and after that battle, now was definitely one of those times. He needed to vent a little.

"I thought you said anything can come true as long as we prayed from the bottom of our hearts?! It's not fair…I saved the world, so why couldn't I save you?!"

Lucas knew no one heard him, but it was something he felt like saying anyways. He remembered that fateful day when he pulled the final Needle, made his wish, and awakened the Dark Dragon that had been sleeping beneath the Nowhere Islands. The Dark Dragon was the will of the Earth itself, having the power to restore the entire world or destroy it depending on if the one who pulled it was good or evil, and yet somehow it couldn't (or wouldn't) bring back the dead like he wanted...it felt like some kind of sick joke.

For a while since that day, Lucas was devastated by everything that had happened, and that had carried on to when he got that strange letter in the mail. It was supposed to take him to a tournament, but instead he was thrown into a disastrous war against the forces of 'Subspace'. However, despite all the hardship and conflict that brought, he had met new friends in the process. Ness, another PSI user who had saved him more than a few times and helped him regain his courage, quickly became his best friend. Red, the cool Pokemon Trainer had taught him so much despite saying so little…he really missed Red.

"I even lost another friend…what's wrong with that stupid hand?!"

Lucas had no idea why only Red's strongest Pokemon, Charizard, had been invited this time. From his conversations with Charizard (one bonus of telepathy was talking to animals), he was relieved to know Red was still doing well back in his world, but he still missed him. It was just another reminder of how strange Master Hand was, as Lucas couldn't understand why Snake, Popo, and Nana (and Wolf, but he was kind of scary) hadn't been invited back either. According to Ness, this had happened between the Melee and Brawl tournaments too, and that time Pichu, Roy, Mewtwo, and the younger version of Link hadn't come back, although Mewtwo and Roy were back now for this unnamed fourth tournament. Even Lucas had only gotten an invitation at the last minute, as if Master Hand initially decided against his return and then changed his mind…it was kind of depressing. Maybe the mysterious floating hand was right to doubt him that much…

That depressing thought was suddenly interrupted when a portal appeared in the sky, out of which came none other than a boy Lucas's age wearing the same red baseball cap as always, who landed on a less grassy area before heading over to Lucas.

"Ness?! How'd you find me..?" He thought he'd be alone here, but somehow Ness had shown up as if he read his mind. It was just surprising he'd found him despite being in the middle of nowhere.

"You really thought you could hide from me? I was the one who taught you how to teleport, you dummy!" Ness had taught Lucas the PSI Teleport in the Brawl days in case they ever got separated again, and he knew one of the limitations is that you can only teleport somewhere you've been to before. This was one place Lucas had been to a lot…

"Haha, you know me too well..."

"Hey, Lucas...are you ok? I haven't seen you that angry since…since a while ago."

The angriest he'd ever seen Lucas had been when they fought Porky, whose mech had been inside the statue Ness blew up to save Lucas. Ness had been shocked when he heard from Lucas about the kind of things Porky had done after escaping to Lucas's era by time traveling, kidnapping Jeff's dad on his way out...Porky had never been a very nice kid, and had even teamed up with the almighty alien Giygas during Ness's adventure, but what he did in the Nowhere Islands was something Ness could only describe as...evil. He could hardly believe he was the same kid he'd once called a friend. He didn't want to bring up his name again, still wondering if there was something he could have done differently that would have stopped Porky from becoming such an awful person or at least stopped him from escaping to the future…Ness hadn't let Lucas know, but he had feared for a while that the horrible things his friend went through were indirectly all his fault…

"Sorry...I really messed up, didn't I? Now everyone knows about what happened to Mom, and I'm just making them feel bad and pity me..." Lucas hated the thought of burdening people with his problems, but he'd done just that to everyone by letting them all know what he'd kept a secret to most until now.

"Come on, don't blame yourself...She kind of had that coming, and it's not like you should have to keep your past a secret. If all they feel is pity, that's their problem! Plus, I've been in these tournaments since the start, so I know everyone pretty well. You're not the only one to lose someone like that...it's kind of sad, but I think they'll understand how you feel." There were more than just a few Smash Bros who had lost one or both of their parents, as disturbing as that was.

"You really think so..? People won't just think I'm a crybaby or a wimp?"

Lucas could think of at least a few Smash Bros who would probably think less of him for being a crybaby, like the other king of evil pigs, the kidnapper tyrant turtle, and of course, the most smelly and greedy jerk of them all. He didn't care much what those jerks thought about him, but he didn't like dealing with their bad attitudes either.

Ness just grinned, letting him know what he'd do about that. "Remember when I taught you how to play baseball?" Lucas nodded as Ness got out his baseball bat, remembering the Home Run Contest. Those were fun times…they'd even gotten the world record when they teamed up to send the Sandbag flying, although only briefly.

"If someone makes fun of you for crying, I'll teach them how to BE a baseball!" Ness pointed off into the horizon with his baseball bat like he did before a home run, demonstrating the painful fate any bullies would face.

"Hahahaha! You don't need to go that far, but thanks...you're a really good friend." Lucas hugged Ness, grateful for him always being there when he needed him. A moment later he let go, feeling a lot better than when he had first arrived here.

"Thanks, but so are you! Remember that time you saved me from Bowser?" At the time, Ness hadn't been doing too well in the last few battles, feeling down about Lucas not getting invited. He found himself about to lose after taking a few ridiculously strong hits from the Koopa King who was in better shape than ever, moving surprisingly fast for an oversized turtle. But then just as Bowser was about to finish Ness off with a huge drop kick, Lucas jumped in and blasted him away with PK Fire to save Ness.

"B-but that was against the rules! I made your match a "No Contest" by barging in like that!" Master Hand gave him a lecture afterwards, and Lucas was lucky to get away with only a warning since he wasn't a repeat troublemaker. On the other hand, the other Hand had started laughing like a maniac, enjoying the chaos...he really was crazy.

"So what? It was awesome! You really showed that turtle who's boss!"

"Hehe...I guess it was kind of fun, but I'm not doing that again..."

Even though he'd gotten in trouble, he couldn't deny it had felt pretty good to rescue Ness for once instead of the other way around. The fighting here wasn't so bad most of the time, with this duel against the witch having been an exception. Lucas wasn't that competitive unlike most Smash Bros, but in a way the fighting was how he coped with his feelings...He'd always felt guilty over how so many times he'd lost people he cared about because he hadn't been strong enough to stop what hurt them, or brave enough to not be paralyzed with fear. That was why fighting all these battles made him feel better, since it was his way of making sure he'd change for the better and not lose anyone else. They could even be kind of fun, at least when the stakes weren't so high like they had been in Subspace...

They didn't say anything for a little while as Lucas thought back to the battle. Even if he couldn't ask his mother anything anymore, he knew she would want him to be happy and keep moving forward. His friends had helped him remember how to smile again ever since the time of "Brawl", and he wasn't about to forget now. Lucas smiled once more, looking up to the fluffy clouds of this world's "Skyworld", wondering if the place his mom went to looked anything similar to it.

"Nice view, isn't it?"

"Yeah...it sure is."

"Wanna go up there and visit Pit? You know, he was cheering for you the whole time!" Not that it was much of a surprise with who he was up against.

"That sounds like fun, but I think I'll stay here a little longer..." As much as Lucas appreciated Ness's company, he'd gone here alone for a reason.

"...Okay! See you later!" Ness nodded and said his goodbyes, deciding to leave the area in style. Instead of going in a straight line like PSI Teleport Alpha, Ness's PSI Teleport Beta had the user run in a circle that gradually increased in size until they went fast enough to escape. It even created a bit of a whirlwind just before Ness teleported, which was why he nicknamed it "Tornado Teleport". Showoff...

With Ness's departure, Lucas was alone with his thoughts in the sunflower field once more, but in a better mood than before. He didn't ask his mother anything this time. Instead he had something to say, mostly as a reminder to himself.

"Don't worry, Mom...Even if you're not here, I'm going to keep doing my best!"