"GO!"

Lucas just stood there as his opponent, Falco, rushed towards him.

"Wait, I-" Lucas began.

Two shots fired from Falco's handgun, connecting with Lucas' chest. The blows knocked him off his feet.

Before he fell onto the floor, Falco grabbed him by the Collar and flung Lucas into the air, shooting him in the meantime. Then, the bird joined him in the air and gave him a great kick to the stomach.

Lucas slammed into the ground. The pain was immense. The crowd, meanwhile, was mad with excitement. "FALCO! FALCO! FALCO!"

Lucas could see Falco ready to pounce on him from above. The sun turned the bird into a dark silhouette with glinting eyes. Lucas hid his face with his arms and closed his eyes shut. He wanted to see his mother, or his brother, or his friends. He wanted to see Ness. Ness lied; he wouldn't be fine. He wanted to go home.

Falco's foot twisted into Lucas' stomach, making him lurch. Then, in one swift flow, Lucas was flung off the stage. He flew through the air while the crowd yelled and cheered.

Then, everything went black for a second. He saw five big spheres. One of the spheres shattered.

Then, he was transported back onto the stage on a glowing platform, where Falco was waiting for him.

The fight, if it can be called a fight, continued on for another ten minutes. Falco relentlessly threw expertly aimed attacks at Lucas, who could do nothing but cower and try and defend himself.

Eventually the crowd was booing him. "BOO LUCAS. BOO LUCAS. BOO LUCAS." He wanted to cry.

Finally, he was thrown into darkness again. The last of his five spheres shattered.

"GAME!"

And then Lucas experienced the all too familiar feeling of being transported from one place in space-time to another. When he landed on solid ground, he was in a small room with washroom facilities, a shower, a sauna, and several benches.

Falco was also there.

"You really suck, kid." He went to a receptacle on the wall. Five shimmering stars were there. Falco put them in his pocket, laughing. "Oh well. All the better for me, loser." He exited the room, leaving Lucas all alone.

Lucas sat down on a bench, shaking. He drew his knees up to his chest and started sobbing silently, rubbing his eyes occasionally. Eventually, he mustered what little remaining strength he had and stepped out of the room, back into the main atrium.

Ness was waiting for him there. Wario was nowhere to be seen. Lucas let out a sigh of relief.

"Lucas!" he rushed over to where Lucas was standing, puffy eyed and shaking. "…no good, huh?"

Ness put an arm over Lucas' shoulders and lead him to a couch, where they sat down. Immediately, Lucas put his arms around Ness and unsuccessfully tried to hold back tears.

"Aw, Lucas…" Ness patted Lucas on the back and tried comforting him. There was something so irresistibly cute about the boy that made Ness attached to him.

"Why do I have to fight?"

Ness looked at him soberly. "It's just the way it is."

The image of Lucas holding onto Ness like a crybaby attracted the attention of the other Brawlers, who were all manly and cold.

Falco passed them. "Hey Ness, your new partner's a weakling and a gaylord. He'll be dead in a week."

Ness threw him a cold glare. "Go fuck yourself, moron."

Falco just laughed and walked away.

"He's… he's probably right," Lucas said, letting go of Ness. "I can't fight. I just can't."

"Yes you can. Did you do what I told you to do? Did you fight like you normally did?"

Lucas shook his head.

"You gotta try, Lucas. I bet in your world you were one of the most powerful people around."

Lucas looked at his hands. That much was true. He could nail chimeras using 16-hit combos with his stick. He could wipe out pigmasks by the dozen with his PSI. But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do it here.

"I've got an idea," Ness said. He took Lucas' hand and marched him to the administrator's room. The butler-like man was sitting at his desk as usual, clacking away on a keyboard.

"Um, excuse me," Ness began. The administrator looked up at Ness over the top of his glasses.

"I'd like to request something. A fight. A one-on-one between Lucas and me."

"You can't normally do that," the administrator replied.

"I know, but please? It's not fair that he had to join Brawl at a time when all the strong people are left. He needs practice. Let me teach him."

The administrator stared at the two of them with raised eyebrows.

"Very well, then." He typed something on his keyboard and then looked back at them. "You're on in three."

Ness smiled at him, and then returned to the atrium with Lucas. They waited there for a little while, and then the all-too-familiar P.A. system rang out. "Free for all. Ness, Lucas."

"All right, let's go."

Ness and Lucas stepped up to the transport tubes and went inside. After being drawn out into wires and hearing "Ness versus Lucas. Five stock. Stage: final destination", they landed on a single, blue platform. Around them, what appeared to be outer space zoomed past.

The crowd was there again, shouting and screaming as usual. Lucas felt nauseated.

"Three! Two! One! GO!"

Lucas stood there, rooted to the spot. For some reason, he expected Ness to rush up to him and start pummelling him. He put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes.

Instead, a warm hand gripped him on the shoulder. "You're really hopeless, aren't you?" Ness asked.

Lucas looked up at Ness. The crowd was shouting, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

"The first thing you have to learn," Ness began, "is to ignore the crowd. Pretend they don't exist. They don't matter to you, and you don't matter to them."

Lucas nodded, and did his best to ignore the crowd. Ness made it sound so easy.

"Now, hit me," Ness instructed.

"What?"

"I want you to hit me," Ness repeated. "As hard as you can."

Lucas looked at him fearfully. "I- I can't."

"Why not? Hit me, or I won't be your friend. I'll leave you here to rot at the mercy of other brawlers."

Lucas shut his eyes and aimed a fist at Ness. He was reminded of that final fight he had with his brother, Claus. It hurts to hit someone you love.

The fist barely moved Ness, who giggled. "Don't tell me you saved your world using that kind of a move."

Lucas tried again, weakly kneading Ness in the chest.

"You're a physic like me, right?. Put some PSI into it, I know you can."

Lucas hadn't used his PSI in what felt like forever. Gathering up what concentration he had, he drew a wealth of energy into his fist and struck Ness directly over the heart.

Ness was launched back several meters before staggering back onto his feet.

"Ness! Are you okay?"

"Of course I am. Nice punch."

Ness walked up to Lucas. "Again, harder."

The two of them fought like that for nearly an hour. Lucas punched and kicked harder and harder, and each time Ness got right back up, smiling, not showing any signs of pain.

"Again," he'd say.

Lucas continued to gain confidence, and soon he was throwing attacks as if he was fighting Porky's army once again. Eventually,

Ness ran out of lives.

"GAME!"

The two were transported back to the recovery room. Lucas picked up five stars and looked at them guiltily.

"Here," he said, "you ought to take these."

Ness shook his head. "You're not allowed to. Give people stars, I mean. Those are yours. Besides, I already won a few this morning, so I'll be fine."

Lucas put the stars in his pocket. "Well, thanks." He gave Ness a great big hug.

"No problem," Ness said, looking away. Lucas didn't notice his face going red. Lucas' body was warm and soft, and suddenly Ness had a desire to grab hold of Lucas and kiss him all over.

"You okay?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine. Let's go." They exited the recovery room.

Most of the brawlers were gone now. Another fighting day was over. Ness and Lucas retreated to their room.

Lucas was tired and hungry. He would give so much just to have an omelette right now.

"Ness, I'm hungry. And tired."

"Well, there's no food in this world. Only stars."

Lucas looked down at his five stars disappointingly. He clutched them in his right hand, where PROPERTY OF NINTENDO was still written. Suddenly, he felt a warm feeling spread from his right hand throughout his entire body. His hunger was gone, and he felt completely alive and awake. He looked around with an unbelieving expression on his face. The feeling was more satisfying than omelettes. He felt as if he'd just taken a twelve hour nap and enjoyed breakfast in bed. There was something euphoric about those stars.

Ness looked at him and grinned. "Stars feel really good, don't they?"

Lucas nodded.

A/N: Btw, I hope you people have played Mother 3... (and EB) If not, you don't know what you're missing :)