Chapter Two

New Hope


Two trophies, shot out from the Midair Stadium, soared through the air to the east, heading straight for the large Emerald Forest. The inhabitants of the area, most of which were Pokemon, gazed up, watching them as they eventually crashed down near a river-bed.

One of the Pokemon, Pichu, gazed out from a tree with wonder. Then, something caught its eye, and it looked towards the west to see two mysterious, blue lights with trails moving towards the crash site.

"Pichu!" The Electric-Type Pokemon quickly descended from the tree and ran out into the forest, determined to get there before the trophies' hunters.


Lucas opened his eyes to the blue sky above the Emerald Forest. He sat up, looking around in confusion. I...I was in the Stadium, he thought, remembering that he was due for a fight. Looking around, he noticed another figure on the ground, unmoving.

It was the pink puffball Pokemon, Jigglypuff.

"H-Hey!" Lucas' call received no response. He stood and quickly ran across the riverbed towards the Pokemon. Examining her for a few moments, Lucas reached out to touch her, but backed out, blushing shyly. Thus, he resorted to grabbing a nearby branch and poking her. "Are you alright?"

After a few moments, Jigglypuff seemed to awaken, her eyes opening slowly. She blinked, then her eyes shifted over to Lucas. Upon seeing him, and seeing that she was in an unfamiliar area, Jigglypuff quickly jumped up to her feet, puffing herself out and glaring at Lucas.

"Jiggly-" The pink Pokemon pointed accusingly at Lucas. "Puff!"

Lucas tossed the branch away and held his hands up innocently. "I-I didn't do this... Something must have happened." He looked over towards the Midair Stadium, barely visible in the distance. His mouth gaped in shock as he noticed the large, blue vortex lingering high above it.

Jigglypuff looked that way as well, deflating herself back to normal as she noticed the sight too. However, she also noticed the mysterious blue lights heading their way. She squinted her eyes to make it out better, but quickly realized that it was coming their way at a rapid speed.

The pink Pokemon tapped Lucas' shoulder, pointing towards the lights. Lucas noticed them.

"I don't think that's good sign," Lucas said, taking a step back, fearful. The lights grew closer and closer, their speed seeming to increase. "Run!"

Jigglypuff and Lucas ran in separate directions as the lights descended upon their location. To their surprise, the lights split up at the last second to accommodate, landing in front of the two, cutting them off. As the lights hit the ground, they created a shock-wave that made them tumble back towards each other once more. As Lucas and Jigglypuff recovered, they watched as the smoke from the lights cleared...

And there stood a wire-frame Jigglypuff, and a yellow wire-frame Lucas.

"W-What?" Lucas stared at his faceless clone, and looked over his shoulder at Jigglypuff's clone.

"Puffff!" Jigglypuff became enraged at the sight of her clone, puffing herself up.

The Pink Pokemon ran forward. Seeing this, Lucas turned to her. "Wait!" However, she didn't listen, rushing towards her clone, bringing her arm forward to strike it. The Jigglypuff clone puffed itself out, taking the attack without budging. Jigglypuff's hand seemed to get sucked into the fat of the clone for a moment, before it bounced back out. Lucas stepped forward to help, but his clone suddenly appeared at his side, leaving fiery skid-marks on the ground from his quick movement, and slammed his back-hand across Lucas' head, sending him flying into the nearby trees.

The Lucas clone nodded to the other clone before turning and walking over to where Lucas had flown off to. Jigglypuff backed away slowly from her clone, a worried expression on her face.

"Do not restist," the clone said in a surprisingly deep-toned, robotic voice. "We... love... the trophies." As it spoke, its voice seemed to become choppy, as though it wasn't programmed very well.

Jigglypuff didn't approve of this, glaring at the clone. She curled her arms and legs to make herself completely rounded, and began to spin in place. As Jigglypuff's spinning grew faster and faster, sparks began to fly around her from the friction.

"Resistance... is death," the clone stated, staring down the Pokemon. "Do not-"

Before it could finish, Jigglypuff shot forward at an incredible speed, sparks flying all around her. She slammed straight into the clone with such force that it began to slide back as the Pokemon pushed against it...

However, it never lost its balance, and, after sliding back a ways, Jigglypuff's spinning began to cease. The clone took advantage of this, grabbing hold of Jigglypuff, stopping her in place, then tossing her up into the air.

Jigglypuff looked down at her clone, watching as it raised a hand, producing a spherical, purple device of sorts. The clone threw it up at Jigglypuff, who closed its eyes, prepared...

Bam! Suddenly, a figure leaped onto the scene, right in front of Jigglypuff, punching the device with such immense power that it was sent right back to the clone in an instant. The device hit the clone, and suddenly dispersed into a dark-purple aura, enveloping the wire-frame and seemingly devouring it, until it was no more.

Jiggly puff fell to the ground, looking at the unfamiliar person. They were wearing a pink hoodie, and had green boxing-gloves on their hands.

"Seemed like you were in trouble," the person spoke. His voice was fairly deep, but it was oddly calming. He turned to Jigglypuff, taking off his hood, revealing his tanned skin and jet-black hair that was spiked only at the front-right. "Where'd the other one go?"

Jigglypuff turned and pointed towards the forest, where the downed trees were.

"Alright, let me do this," the boxer spoke, cracking his neck as he walked towards it. "The name's Mac by the way-"

"Little Mac."


Lucas was running for his life through the Emerald Forest, constantly looking over his shoulder to see if the clone was still close... However, this proved to be his downfall as he eventually tripped over a branch that he couldn't see, and tumbled forward.

As Lucas recovered, wincing at his scraped knees, he turned, seeing that his clone was standing there, staring at him.

"G-get back!" Lucas held his right pointer-finger forward, and it began to shine. "I don't wanna fight..."

"Do not resist," the clone spoke, slowly walking towards him. "Do not fight." Lucas slowly backed away from the approaching clone, who extended its arm out to him...

Suddenly, from the trees, a bolt of lightning shot out. The Lucas clone quickly deflected it with a swipe of its hand, and turned its head towards the source. Lucas looked up as well, seeing the small, yellow-and-black Pokemon Pichu up in the tree.

"Piiiichu!" The Electric-Type Pokemon stuck its tongue out at the clone.

The Lucas clone turned towards Pichu, cupping its hands together. Pichu tilted its head, watching with interest. Lucas, however, knew what he was doing, and quickly ran forward. Just as the clone brought its hands forward and shot out a large PK Fire towards Pichu, Lucas jumped into the way, using his PSI Magnet ability to absorb it, though the power of the blast still sent him back into the tree, going straight through it. As the tree fell, Pichu quickly jumped off of it, landing on the ground and rolling out of the way of the tree as it fell.

Pichu let out a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived as the Lucas clone suddenly grabbed hold of him by the tail, lifting him up into the air.

"Chuuu!" Pichu struggled to get away, eventually resorting to charging up its electricity and unleashing it all around. After a few moments however, it stopped, exhausted after doing nothing to the clone and doing a bit of damage to itself.

The clone created one of the purple devices in its hand and brought it towards Pichu. Lucas, who was still on the ground in a daze, looked up, watching as his clone placed the device on Pichu. The small Pokemon cried out as the purple mist enveloped him, shrouding him. After a moment, it vanished, and Pichu was left in its trophy form.

"Side objective complete," the clone stated, then turning its head to Lucas. "Main objective in sight."

Lucas tried to get up, but found himself unable to, feeling weakened from the attacks he had taken. He eventually managed to get up onto his feet, but it was too late, as the clone was upon him, reaching out to him with a new device in its hands...

That was when the pink hoodie-wearing boxer arrived on the scene, appearing crouched in front of the clone in a flash, taking it and Lucas by surprise.

Little Mac let out a heart roar as he brought his right arm up, delivering a powerful uppercut to the Lucas clone, hitting it straight in the chin. For a moment, the clone didn't budge, seemingly taking the blow easily... Then, the power of Little Mac's punch seemed to settle in, sending it flying up into the sky, leaving a trail of smoke behind it.

Lucas watched in awe as the clone vanished among the clouds above. Little Mac turned to him, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Phew, thhat took a lot of power," he said.

Jigglypuff bounded over onto the scene, smiling at Lucas. "Jiggly!~" She seemed delighted that Lucas was alright.

"T-Thank you," Lucas said shyly to Little Mac, dipping his head.

Jigglypuff looked over towards the Pichu trophy that was lying over beside a nearby tree. She walked over to it and tapped it on the tail. Nothing happened. "Puff?" She tilted herself in confusion, and tapped it a few more times.

Little Mac and Lucas joined Jigglypuff, staring down at the trophy. "It's not coming back?" Little Mac tapped the trophy with his gloved hand. "Hmm..."

"W-What do we do?" Lucas looked up at Little Mac for confirmation.

"This isn't any of my business, I was just looking for where I could redeem this invitation," Little Mac told them, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a letter that had the clear, circular marking similar to that of a Smash Ball.

"...You're a new fighter?"

"Yeah, I heard there's some tough ones here, so I thought I'd test myself," Little Mac said, punching his gloves together. "Though it seems a bit dreary here right now."

Lucas and Jigglypuff pointed over towards the Midair Stadium. Little Mac turned, gazing up at it. The blue vortex had grown a bit larger since they had looked at it. The Midair Stadium itself seemed to be falling apart, as debris could be seen floating down from it.

Little Mac whistled. "Guess I came at the wrong time," he said, rubbing the back of his head with his glove. "Guess I'll swing by another ti-"

The boxer stopped speaking as a roar echoed through the forest, making the trees all around them rustle from its wake. The three looked all around, questioning where it had come from.

"...Just what is this place?" Little Mac looked down at Lucas this time for confirmation.

"I-It's not safe here," Lucas said, a worried expression on his face.

"Puff..." Jigglypuff moved back to be closer to the two, knowing exactly what was coming...

Through the trees, something large approached them. They all faced it, tensing up, Lucas and Jigglypuff preparing themselves, afraid. Little Mac calmly got into a boxing stance, ready...

But he wasn't ready for what greeted them. A large, green, snake-like Pokemon smashed through the trees, sending their fragments towards them. Lucas moved in front of Jigglypuff and used his PSI Magnet to absorb some of the tree pieces, while Little Mac expertly jabbed them away. The Pokemon quickly brought one of its claws towards them, up at the level of Little Mac's head, but the boxer expertly rolled out of the way as the claw went right over the heads of Jigglypuff and Lucas.

"What is this thing?!"

Lucas and Jigglypuff quickly moved over to Little Mac's side once more, staring up at the large, green Pokemon that was eyeing them menacingly.

"R-Rayquaza," Lucas explained. "This is-"

"His forest!"


To be continued...

Next Chapter: Four Swords