Rated as such for violence, language and some blood. Contains spoilers for Mother 3.
An unexplainable force roused Lucas awake. It was in the dead of night, so he shifted onto his left side to face the wall and tried to drift back to sleep.
Clearly, one of the other resident Smashers was not going to leave him in peace at this late hour. A blood-curdling shriek severed the silent air and frightened him so badly that he threw the covers right off his bed. Honestly, he nearly let out a scream himself out of shock as he shot up into a sitting position. He clutched the mattress subconsciously as he took a moment to take a deep breath and calm down.
Something moved just inside his range of vision. He spun his head around, but nothing was there except three empty beds.
He should have noticed before. Red, who normally would have been in the furthest corner, slept like a log, but either Ness or Popo – or both – would have been disturbed by the ruckus. Where were they?
Upon remembering the earlier scream with a chill, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, but stopped himself before standing up. He shut his eyes and allowed his psychic powers to heighten his senses for a moment. He frowned when he picked up an unusual buzz of energy.
The others must be moving around. But at this time of night? He concentrated a little harder, and it dawned on him that the others were not merely hunting for mischief or a midnight snack, as was usual. He could feel the nervous energy being exuded from the whole building.
Something was wrong.
"You did it."
A voice. Talking to him, the only one in the room. Or so he thought.
His search for the voice's owner was abruptly cut off when he saw a pale Red hovering next to the back window.
"R-Red!" Lucas stammered. "When did you come in?"
No reply.
"...Are you feeling al—"
"It was you, wasn't it?"
Lucas was taken aback. "What did you say?"
"You did it."
Just as Lucas opened his mouth to speak, Red walked over to stare blankly at the wall.
Wait, could Lucas see through him?
He moved a tentative hand to Red's, which was on the edge of the mattress. It felt as if he was going down a roller coaster's steep decline when his own hand ended up on the bed, having gone straight through his friend's.
The door, which had been slightly ajar, was suddenly flung right open and hit the wall behind it with a bang. Red dissolved into thin air, leaving Lucas to confusedly switch his attention between the new arrival and the spot where the Pokémon trainer had just been.
Samus stood in the doorway in her Zero Suit, silhouetted by the dim glow of the wall lanterns outside. She paused there for a moment.
"They're not here," she hollered into the room.
"What was that?" a distant, masculine voice replied.
Samus stuck her head down the corridor and repeated her earlier finding.
Lucas sat there frozen. He should probably say something.
An approaching flurry of heavy footfalls disrupted him mid-thought.
"But there's four of them," Captain Falcon said, catching his breath as he stopped next to Samus.
"They couldn't have all disappeared! So no sign of Ness, Red, Lucas..."
"I'm here!" Lucas cried. He finally stood up. Why had they not noticed him?
"Not one," Samus interrupted. "They're probably as panicked as the rest of us, if not more so. Let's check elsewhere."
The two bounty hunters disappeared to the left.
Lucas stared after the two – they'd never struck him as unobservant.
He had to do something to answer his own questions, which were piling up by the second. By chance, his gaze dropped to the floor. He was wearing shoes! He took a quick look over himself and found he was still fully dressed... Now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall going to bed.
Another scream echoed through the vicinity, so agonised to the point of being unrecognisable. That was it, he had to start moving. He had to answer the mountain of questions that was piling up.
As soon as he'd exited the room, three figures came charging from his right, so he flung himself back into the doorway to avoid getting bowled over. Before they rounded the bend, he managed to recognise them as three of the five sword-wielding Smashers. They were most likely Link, Marth and Ike, as Roy was most often around Pit and Meta Knight was much shorter than whoever he'd just seen. It was too dark to be sure.
They hadn't noticed him either! Had someone hexed on him?
He shuddered involuntarily. The air seemed to be growing colder by the second.
"A curse."
Popo's voice. Lucas whirled around to face the male Ice Climber who was standing there with an expressionless face.
"Your curse," Popo said absentmindedly, seemingly staring right through him.
Lucas's words escaped him and before he could find them again, the spectre was no longer there. All Popo left was an unsettling sensation that convinced Lucas to leave. He went the opposite way the other Smashers had gone.
But what was the curse? His invisibility?
As he jogged down the corridor, the uneasy atmosphere seeped into him even without the need of his psychic abilities. The flames of the wall lanterns appeared to dance more fervently than normal, casting fleeting, ominous shadows around the place. The other Smashers' bedroom doors were wide open. He passed the swordsmen's room.
Out of the blue, his foot slipped on something and he met the floor, jarring his elbow in the process. He moaned quietly as he got up onto his knees, clenching his teeth as he waited for the throbbing to subside. He glanced over his shoulder and found a jagged, hemispherical shell that blended in with the red rug. No wonder he'd tripped. The other half of the object was scattered around it in a mess of white shards. He reached over to pick up the red piece – the largest shard – but as his fingers brushed it, a minuscule spark of familiarity wound around his hand.
The aura could not belong to anyone but a Smasher or an intruder with dangerously close relations to one. The figurative pieces fit themselves together – he'd found a shattered Poké Ball.
Lucas abandoned the wrecked object, scrambled to his feet and ran. His heart thudded wildly and forced his feet to keep up the pace. He nearly passed the first closed door he'd seen since waking up – one of the linen cabinets. As he skidded to a halt, he saw that several cloths were strewn across the floor.
Lucas paled. The cabinet emitted a foreboding aura that simultaneously enticed his hand toward the doorknob and repelled it.
He tiptoed toward the cabinet and gripped the knob, but after that he found himself unable to move any further.
It had to be paranoia.
A third, more ragged scream caused him to jerk away with a gasp. That was when he saw the smeared red hand print on the knob. He started shaking, then cracked open the door and hesitantly took a peek inside.
In all his nightmares, he never would have thought such a sight possible.
Red. Lying face-down on the floor. Not moving.
"No!"
Lucas tore his eyes away and slammed the door shut with all his might. Immediately upon stumbling into the opposite brick wall, he collapsed to the floor with his knees drawn up, trying to quell his uncontrollable shivering.
It had to be his imagination. It was some Smasher's idea of a cruel joke. The blood was counterfeit – it had to be!
Deprived of the courage to take another look, he wove his last fragments of desperate hope into a mental probe that reached out to any slightest sign of life.
Nothing reached back.
He didn't need another glimpse of the darkened, blood-stained clothes to know what he'd seen was terribly real. Despite his body protesting against it, he forced himself to stand.
"Help!" he shouted, struggling to keep his voice level. "Somebody!" He waited, then continued, "Please!" He choked on his words, unable to bring himself to say Red's name. "SOS! Smasher down!"
Mocking silence. In frustration, he shattered one of the lanterns with a PK Thunder.
A faint, high-pitched cry of "What was that?" was music to his ears. With that in mind and an idea of how to attract attention, he pulled the nearest bedroom door shut as loudly as he could.
Finally, the shuffle of footsteps approached.
"Goodness me!" Peach exclaimed, sweeping the floor with her gaze. She turned to her cohort. "Is it just me, or does this reek of suspicion?"
"You're not mistaken," Zelda replied quietly. "I see no explanation for this mess."
"Shall I open the cabinet?"
"Hello?" Lucas walked right up to the two princesses, but they didn't bat an eyelid in his direction. He forgot to avert his eyes when Peach opened the cabinet, but he regained his composure in time to see her fall limp and into Zelda's arms.
"Milady, please!"
"I'm still awake... nearly out mind you, but... oh my stars. It's happened again!"
Again? That likely explained the screams... One of them had been Red's.
So whose were the others?
Leaving the anguishing Peach and Zelda with Red, he raced off, heading for the cafeteria which happened to be close by. He hoped by chance that somebody was standing sentinel there.
Just outside the door, he happened across a large wooden mallet with a handle that appeared to have been hacked off with a blade. He bent down and touched the stub that remained attached to the head. Another tendril of familiarity snaked up his fingers, as had happened when he'd found the Poké Ball.
Accounting for the mallet's size, there were two possible owners.
"Nana! Popo!"
He left the weapon there and burst into the cafeteria. He shielded his eyes from the dramatic change in brightness. The fact that the Stadium utilised both modern and traditional means of light – to cater for its diverse residents – had slipped his mind. His eyes took some time to adjust. As he squinted to see, he noticed something – not with his vision, but his hearing. Somebody was sobbing.
Sure enough, a small figure was huddled near one corner of the room, behind the counter. A young Smasher garbed in pink.
"Nana?" Lucas called softly, approaching his friend's sibling cautiously. Her head was tipped to the floor and the hood of her parka pulled back. She did not hear him. Containing a bout of annoyance, he turned to what had her so distraught.
An explosion of hideous black covered the wall, in stark contrast to the rest of the room. There was a scorched, mangled heap on the floor. Lucas didn't need to look at it with his eyes crossed to know what it was. Who it was. He'd met the victim's spirit.
Lucas stared back at Nana and blinked several times in disbelief. She was usually so collected. He could only empathise with her loss and felt a hole digging itself into his stomach. He'd lost his brother, Claus, and his mother. Nana was inconsolable. In an effort to comfort her, he laid a hand on her shoulder. Unexpectedly, she froze, as if in response. It was a glimmer of hope. This glimmer was promptly extinguished when she began crying again.
He stubbornly banished his old feelings and his frustration. Apparently there was a serial killer on the loose. Time was running out.
To do what? he wondered as he ran, exiting the cafeteria through the opposite side. Two of his roommates had died that night and there'd been a third scream. This he knew in hindsight.
He didn't notice Pikachu, Jigglypuff and Kirby until after they'd dashed out of a room and straight past him, squealing all the way.
Could nobody see or hear him? He was getting scared. Could he do anything in such a state?
Who was responsible for tonight's crimes?
"Someone like you."
"Sonic?!"
The translucent hedgehog appeared before Lucas, leaning against the wall with barely a hint of his usual liveliness.
"It was, indeed," Sonic said airily, "one in likeness."
"Wait a minu —"
Lucas cut himself off when Sonic faded away, just like the Red and Popo had.
He ventured towards the sliding door the three passing Smashers had tried to so frantically close behind them. He feared the worst. His veins turned to ice as he opened the door.
The blue blur lay inside. Sonic had been tossed into some mops and buckets in the corner of the laundry in a bloody heap. Dead as a door nail.
Lucas looked away, only to find a golden ring at his feet that had been snapped in half. One of Sonic's.
He connected some dots: three deaths and three broken belongings. There was no discernible pattern, however it was a frightening combination – the fastest person alive had been overcome!
Could they be stopped? Who would be next? The first person that came to mind was Ness, his sole surviving roommate. His best friend.
He kicked the door to draw attention, then bolted. The Stadium was huge! How was he going to hound out one person?
"Ness!" he cried. As expected, his call was in vain.
As traitorous as he'd felt at the prospect, he'd already concluded that it was a Smasher. Popo's mallet had been sabotaged with a blade, so unless the killer had raided the storage room for a beam sword, that narrowed down the suspects.
The tumultuous thoughts began forming a knot in his stomach that became so unbearable that he slowed to a walk, trying to convince himself that this was no longer a problem of whom he'd befriended, but a matter of life and death.
Life and death. Ness was still unaccounted for. His thoughts were eating into time, so he threw them out the window.
CRASH!
It wasn't the sound of his thoughts shattering a glass pane, but he nearly jumped out of his skin. It had come from the storage room. No shriek accompanied the clatter... so perhaps he could save somebody this time.
It was wishful thinking. Nevertheless, he barged inside without a second thought.
In neither his dreams nor nightmares would he have imagined such a sight.
"It's you!" Lucas could only point and stare wide-eyed at the helmeted figure that was crouching on the floor amidst some smoke balls, which had presumably been knocked off the shelves.
The figure suddenly spun on its heels and cocked its arm cannon. Lucas's heart skipped a beat and he screamed as the weapon fired.
A stumble, then a heavy forward fall that mercilessly knocked the air from his lungs. Unbelievable gravity pinned him to the floor like lead. He couldn't breathe. Everything rang deafeningly in his ears in an indistinguishable slur. The world turned white as he stopped struggling. The sounds died down.
Then he saw red, orange, yellow...
Green.
Huh?
More than half the smoke ball's hue cycle had passed when Lucas realised he wasn't dead. It was a miracle that he'd avoided the attack; there was no pain save for his lack of air. Mysteriously, he had trouble getting up, as if he was carrying the weight of another person. His arms were burning from the effort.
The familiar figure had fled. Lucas spun his head around as the smoke dissipated.
"OH MY —"
He managed to crawl out from underneath second body before his strength diminished completely and he could do nothing except lie on the floor. He'd barely endured the previous three deaths. Now his will to persist had all but collapsed on itself.
His hands curled into fists as he pushed himself up onto his knees and shuffled over to the boy next to him.
"N-Ness?" he stuttered, shaking the Smasher's shoulder lightly. "...Hello?"
Not a breath escaped either of them as Lucas silently begged for a reply.
"Ness, I can get help." He carefully turned Ness over so that he faced the ceiling, and his vision blurred as he glimpsed the horrid bullet wound, visible even in the dim light. "Can you hear me?"
No twitch of the hand. No flutter of eyelids. Ness was completely still.
"No, no, no," Lucas murmured repeatedly. He shook harder. "Ness? Ness?! Open your eyes!"
He fell away and curled up in the corner, swallowed by the darkness. He wanted everything to be erased, rewinded, to fade to black. None of his prayers would be answered on this blood-soaked night.
But he knew who the killer was. The helmet and jacket, the arm cannon and sword he was armed with – they unmistakably belonged to one once lost.
With a sniff, Lucas straightened. To whom would doom next befall?
He moved back to Ness and whispered a hasty "Sorry", nearly breaking down again but managing to keep himself in check as he got back up.
Then there were footfalls, and a pair of passing Smashers saw Ness's limp form.
"By Pop Star!" King Dedede exclaimed in horror.
"Oh no, oh dear!" Luigi cried, nearly fainting on the spot. "We should have stayed in bigger groups. I shouldn't have left Mario on his own!"
"Th' ruckus must be causin' all of us t' react irrationally," Dedede mused darkly.
"Hey, I'm right here!" Lucas snapped, waving his arms about, to no avail.
"We've got to do something! Should we stay or go?" It was impossible for Luigi to stay still.
Lucas groaned, fed up with whatever 'curse' he'd been afflicted with. He slipped past the two Smashers.
A distant, but oddly piercing scream rang out like a siren.
He ran as if his own life depended on it.
When he re-entered the cafeteria, there was already a small crowd there conversing in a panicked buzz. The Smashers he'd encountered previously were in the room, save for Samus and Falcon, and the addition of another.
"SILENCE!" ROB blared ferociously. The eight-odd Smashers immediately ceased talking. "Nana, tell us what happened."
She was on the floor again, fumbling with her mallet. Lucas ventured closer to listen in. He stood next to Snake. The man seemed not so oblivious to the psychic boy's presence, as he shifted uncomfortably before the Ice Climber spoke.
"He came for m-me," she said, forcing out the words through intermittent sobs. "He got Popo... then he returned.
"I fought back. I was so angry... and s-scared! I thought he would ki-kill me too, but I slammed him into the wall. After that, he was gone..."
"Who was it?" ROB demanded.
"I don't know!" Nana buried her face in her hands. "... He was about as tall as me. Had an arm cannon... which is how he...
"He's gonna get us all, one by one!" she languished. "He might cut us or blow us up or... or..."
She cried out helplessly.
Lucas was caught off guard by Nana's hysterics, but believed every one of her words. The killer was still on the run. Still hunting.
"Where did he go?" ROB asked firmly.
"... He went that way." Nana pointed toward the third exit.
"Towards the arena?" Ike said.
"Don't forget that the library is that way, too," Marth reminded them. "If we decide to pursue him, we should split up."
"We can't all go," Peach protested. "Some of us should stay back to take care of Nana and the casualties."
"I agree, there is safety in numbers in such —"
"More casualties!" Dedede burst as he and Luigi appeared, nearly tripping over their own feet in urgency. "It's Ness and Sonic!"
Silence enveloped the room as the news sunk in.
What broke the silence was an anguished, muffled cry.
"Was that Mario?!" Luigi and Peach exclaimed in unison.
"He must have been in the library," Link said. "Let's go before we lose the culprit!"
"Hold on!" Ike shouted as he and Marth pulled Link back. "We need to plan ahead a little."
"Pyo!" Kirby proclaimed, bouncing on his heels alongside Jigglypuff and Pikachu. "Poyo pyo!"
"I'll go with you," Snake volunteered. "Just incase."
"Chu," Pikachu agreed.
Kirby gave the Mouse Pokemon an indignant look before dragging his two allies out of the room, with Snake trailing behind.
"We'll check the library!" Snake confirmed before exiting the room.
Lucas watched on for a moment, then decided to follow them.
"Then, we've got the arena," he heard Ike say as he took the right corridor.
Snake had herded his party against the wall outside the library's entrance when Lucas caught up.
"Make not a sound," he warned them. He pushed open the door and they hurried inside.
Lucas saw the three swordsmen heading down the opposite direction. He entered the library.
It was pitch black. A crunch underfoot startled him. He summoned a fireball and saw the scattered remains of a wall lantern, the firelight reflecting off the pieces of metal.
His skin pricked as he extinguished his light source to get accustomed to the darkness. He used the walls and shelves to feel around in the meantime.
There was a thud, followed by a yell of "Holy... !"
It was Snake. Lucas pinned himself to the wall, listening hard and not daring to breathe.
"Jiggly!"
"Chu?"
"...Pyo?!"
"Mario's been frozen solid! Where's the little d****** who did this?!"
Snake's party erupted into panic.
A shape suddenly emerged from the darkness and disappeared as quickly as it had come. Lucas rubbed his eyes and shook his head disbelievingly. Was he seeing things?
No, it would makes sense for the murderer to use the cover of unrest to escape.
He crept out of the library, making sure that the coast was clear before charging down the corridor, passing the cafeteria and reaching the arena.
He was immediately bathed in the light of a full moon and a blasted by a sudden drop in temperature. He shivered and folded his arms.
"See anything?"
Link had been silently stalking around the upper grandstands until then.
"Nothing," Ike replied from the arena floor.
"I thought I saw something..."
"We should regroup before we're caught with our guard down," Marth said, emerging from behind the announcer's podium.
"But we split up to cover this place more quickly, didn't we?" Ike said.
"Then who's keeping an eye on our —"
Marth never got to finish his sentence as an explosion sent him flying. He landed on a higher level with a barely audible groan.
"I've got him!" Link yelled, hurdling over some rows of seats to the injured Smasher.
"Was that a motion-sensor bomb?" Ike hollered. He began making his way to Link and Marth.
"By Din, Ike, BEHIND YOU!"
"What?"
A small shape shifted in the shadows across the arena and fired a huge PK Thunder at the mercenary, whom threw himself to the floor and let the lightning bolt shoot over his head.
Ike stumbled to his feet and faced his attacker, only to see a fireball flying in his direction. He blocked it with his sword.
"Show yourself!" Ike growled.
His addressee emerged, the moonlight striking his robotic features and orange blade.
"The Masked Man," Lucas whispered to himself. He started descending the steps, keeping an eye glued to the intruder – his brother.
Ike and the Masked Man circled each other like animals ready to pounce.
"Ike!" Link called.
"Stay with Marth," Ike commanded, holding up a hand. His opponent took the opportunity while he was distracted to launch another fireball in his direction.
Ike dodged the inferno and demanded, "Who are you? What is your purpose here?"
No words were spoken, however his addressee slowly removed his helmet.
Ike was dumbfounded and took a step back, transfixed by the fiery-haired boy that stood there.
"You look..." he trailed off.
"Familiar?" the boy finished, cocking his head with a sinister smirk.
The mere sight of his brother, back from the dead, made Lucas's limbs feel like jelly. He was nearly as astonished, but he ripped himself from his melancholy trance and shot a PK Freeze at the ground in the middle of the arena.
Ike backpedalled a little and yelped, "Is there an accomplice?!"
"Can anybody see me?" Lucas cried. "I know who he is!" He waved his arms frantically from the bottom of the stairs.
"Did somebody call out?" Link asked as he helped Marth to his feet.
Lucas suppressed an exasperated groan.
"An attack came from nowhere," Ike said.
"Nowhere?" the Masked Man said. "Nothing comes from nowhere." He tossed his helmet away.
Right to Lucas. He caught it and held it uncertainly.
"How is it floating?" Ike asked the Masked Man cautiously, staring right through Lucas.
"So many questions, so little time," the Masked Man sneered, "for you."
He advanced on Ike with his sword raised high. Ike parried several attacks and eventually began beating back his opponent, using brute force to gain the upper hand.
"So, you said I look familiar?"
"No, you finished the sentence off for me."
"Oh, that must have been fun."
"Your little trip here must have been as well." With that, Ike ducked underneath a sword slice and swept his foot beneath the Masked Man, tripping him. "But I'll have to cut it short." He knocked the sword out of the dazed Masked Man's grip and pinned him to the ground, Ragnell raised threateningly at his side.
"We can choose to do this peacefully—" Ike began.
He was suddenly on the floor when he was slammed in the head with the butt of an arm cannon. His recoil was enough for his opponent to scramble away and retrieve his sword.
"Let me ask you a question. Is anybody missing?" The Masked Man brandished his blade.
"What's it to you?" Ike retorted.
"What's the harm in me knowing?"
The mercenary stopped.
"Come on, answer just one little question."
"…Fine. There are a few missing and you happen to look like one of them." He stood up. "Now answer one of mine."
"Ike! Hello?!" Lucas shouted. Ike appeared to flinch, or maybe it was a trick of the light.
"Go figure." The Masked Man dashed forward to attack once more.
Ike somehow managed to weave around the attacks and knock him down again.
"Guys!" Ike's attention strayed from his opponent for a moment. "Go get —"
His breath was cut off with a sharp gasp as the underestimated Masked Man impaled him through the chest. The blade remained lodged there for a moment before it was wrenched out and Ike was kicked away. He staggered back, hunched over in agony, before his knees buckled and he collapsed forward heavily.
"So, I don't get a challenge?" the Masked Man taunted. "No... resistance?"
"Hold on, Ike!" Lucas cried, discarding the helmet and nearly tripping over his own feet as he rushed across the arena to Ike's side, feeling a weight lift off him as he did so. He squeezed the fallen Smasher's shoulders and begged, "Please pull through. He and I are not the same!"
Though rasping his final breaths, Ike's eyes flickered to Lucas's, acknowledging that the murderer was indeed someone different. And that Lucas could be seen and heard – that the curse had worn off.
"I'll get help!" Link burst as he and the silent Marth shuffled away in the darkness.
"Come on…" Lucas panicked as Ike's eyes closed and the rest of his body fell limp. The life that had once been was spirited away on a breeze, yet the blood continued to flow. He withdrew shakily, though remained horribly fixated on the body.
"Enjoying yourself?" a familiar, yet unfamiliar voice jeered.
The voice's owner was standing with his sword over his shoulder. Lucas glared at him and felt his blood boil furiously, even in the frigid night air.
"Why have you done this?" he demanded stiffly. "How did you get in?"
The Masked Man met his gaze, then let his focus wander aimlessly.
"Is there an accomplice?" Lucas got to his feet when he was ignored once again. "Who sent you?"
The Masked Man began pacing back and forth.
Heat flared up in Luca's veins. "Say something, damn it!" He barely managed to contain a PK Fire that sprung to life in both hands and illuminated the silvery arena. He took several breaths to calm his nerves, but kept his stare locked onto his brother.
"Claus," he said, "this isn't you. What you did tonight was… not under your own volition." He was trying so hard to convince himself of that.
"What makes you think that?" Claus – no, the Masked Man... This person that stood before him... He was neither the rambunctious twin, nor the mindless puppet Lucas had once known him as. This was someone, something completely different. What, he didn't know.
And he was scared.
"Claus..." he repeated, hoping something might get through to the Claus that might be buried beneath the aloof exterior.
"Hey," the Masked Man said without warning, "do you want to know my agenda for tonight?" He leaned on his sword's pummel, the blade perpendicular to the ground.
Lucas's reply was forced back down by the lump in his throat.
"You've got a mighty bunch of friends, haven't you?"
Lucas scowled.
"They've got all their strengths and weaknesses, bonds... One could devise a way to use those qualities... like chess pieces, wouldn't you say?"
"What are you getting at?"
"And if one was to strategically eliminate those individual forces one by one..."
"No—"
"They would crumble from underneath themselves!"
"Stop—"
"Lucas."
His heart caught in his throat when he heard his own name, and he noticed his tightly curled fists only after a long moment.
"Here's where it gets interesting." He swung his sword back over his shoulder.
Lucas glanced behind him. Ike was still there, lifeless.
"So who have I managed to do in so far?" the Masked Man wondered aloud, wearing an annoying glint in his eye. "There was Red, Popo, Sonic... Who was next? Come on, help me out here." He strode toward Lucas, taking slow, deliberate steps.
"You're stalling," Lucas said lowly. "Who else is playing your game?" He scanned the sky and found only the perfectly round moon in all its brilliance.
"What's his name again? Mario and Ike came after him—"
"Shut up!" With a feral cry, he released a PK Thunder. His target ducked to avoid it.
"Ooh, could have done some damage with that one. But I know you don't want to hurt me. I am your brother, after all. Your twin!"
"Did it take you that long to realise?" Lucas snapped hotly. After that, his anger dissolved.
Who was this villain that stood before him that claimed to be his brother? The twins stood within metres of each other now in the middle of the arena, illuminated by a ghostly spotlight.
"Ah, his name was Ness, am I right? Heard you two were best friends. Did you ever tell him about your past? About what happened to me, our home, our mother—"
"D-Don't go there!"
"Friends share things, yes? So I thought I'd drop by tonight and mess things up a little, let your fellow 'Smashers' have an experience they'll never forget. You haven't forgotten, have you?"
"You're standing right in front of me."
"It took me a while to figure out who to do away with, but it all eventually fell into place. I hunted your friends first, so that the others could empathise with you later after I'd killed Mario and Ike, and feel."
Lucas began to feel weak. He tried reaching out for something to support himself with, but his hand fell through thin air and he stumbled.
"I was aiming for Falcon, Zelda and Mewtwo as well. I knew I'd hit a few nerves, but here we are. You found me, and that spell I put you under wore out. I couldn't resist having a little fun with you."
"No…"
"So what are you going do now?"
"C-Claus...?"
"I'll tell you what." The Masked Man locked his gaze with Lucas's. The latter's heart thudded wildly. "I'm not willing to kill you either, so I'll let you watch as I take care of the others."
He winked, and the Lucas was paralysed by his own fear as the Masked Man conjured a crackling PK Thunder in the palm of his hand.
"This won't hurt… much."
He thrust his arm out in front of him.
Lucas couldn't even scream.
*.*.*.*.*
"Lucas? Lucas! Snap out of it!"
He clamped his eyes shut, waiting for the shock of electricity.
"Is he alright?"
"Hey, it's only us."
There was no pain. He didn't hear himself cry out in agony.
"Lucas, open your eyes."
Something nudged him in the shoulder and he flinched, opening his eyes at the same time. He saw three pairs of eyes to the side and jerked away, only to find himself backed up against the headboard of his bed.
"Lucas?"
It was Ness.
"Huh…?" Lucas mumbled, eyes half-closed as confusion overwhelmed him. His mind reeled and he felt a little nauseous.
"Are you alright? Do you need to go to the infirmary?"
Red.
"Did you have a dream?"
And Popo.
Lucas inhaled deeply and looked at his three friends, who were alive. He fingered with the sheets underneath him.
That meant Claus wasn't… Nothing had…
He choked on a quiet sob.
"Oh my gosh." Ness rested a hand on Lucas's shoulder.
"Nonono, don't worry about me." Lucas waved him away. "It was… just a nightmare."
"You woke up screaming," Ness said firmly. "At least let us do something for you."
"I did? …Are you sure?"
"We're serious," Red replied.
Silence blanketed the room as Lucas took a moment to think. "What phase is the moon in?"
"Uh…" Popo flashed a quizzical look, nonetheless he walked over to the window and parted the curtains.
"If my memory serves correctly, it's a waxing gibbous."