As the days passed by, everyone already knew about the dark aura Lucario felt, but since the Pokémon couldn't give the exact coordinates, the Alloys spent days and days searching for the invisible force and never returned. Even Pit and Palutena had a hard time finding any sort of suspicious activity in the region, since everything seemed normal. Since nothing happened, nor anything that could be considered a threat showed up, most part of the Smashers quickly forgot about that and centered more on their trainings and their own lives.

But Lucario wasn't convinced. Something wasn't right, he knew that. Every day he would go to that same spot to meditate and concentrate. Every day he felt that strange energy emanating and every day he couldn't pin point exactly from where it came from. Sometimes it would appear, sometimes it wouldn't. Lucario had no idea how something as powerful as that aura could simply appear and then disappear like thin air, but somehow it did just that.

None of the Smashers had the guts to tell him to stop, be it because they've felt sorry for him, or because they had better things to do than to just try to talk a Pokémon, who clearly has lost his senses, out of that idea that Subspace was still present.

"What do you think Lucario's problem is?" Nana asked one night, while surfing the TV channels.

"Maybe his aura powers are having problems, who knows?" Popo said, seated by her side on the floor.

It was three in the morning when Popo thought that it was an excellent hour to go visit Nana in her room. Visits like those happened every couple of days, with the siblings changing the room they visited. One time it would be Nana visiting Popo and the other it would be Popo visiting Nana. It was almost like a silent deal between the two.

That night it was Popo who decided to visit Nana. The two really didn't have much to talk about and stayed silent most of the time, but they still enjoyed each other's company while they watched television nonetheless. Staying together calmed their nerves, especially because the new Super Smash Bros tournament would begin in three days. The two still couldn't get over the fact that they would one day fight against each other. In previous tournaments, the two couldn't even stand having to fight alone for too long. They just dealt with it because they needed to, especially if the two were down to only one life.

"You think he's okay then to participate in the tournament?" she asked, concerned for Lucario.

"If Master Hand had a problem with it, he would have kicked him out, right?" Popo said getting up and heading to the door. "Besides, if that's the case, and I know that what I'm about to say is super mean, but at least it is one opponent less to worry."

"Wow, Popo, just… wow!"

"Don't tell me you didn't think about this too!"

"At least I don't go around saying it!" she then turned to him. "What? You going already?"

Popo chuckled and pointed to the clock beside her bed. "Already? It's 5:00 AM. I need to sleep a little too, you know?"

Nana got up in a jolt. Oh crap, she didn't realize it was that late.

"What are you waiting for, then! Go to sleep! We've promised we would train with Ness and Mega Man tomorrow early."

"Don't you mean today?"

"It only counts as "today" when I wake up. Now go and don't forget your keys," she said pushing him.

Popo showed his keys on his hand and left the room. The first few times he visited Nana, he would always get cautious to not get caught returning to his room and so walked as slowly and silently as possible. Now he just walked normally, knowing that the mansion really does get empty at night and that the chances of him being caught were slimmer than him being hit by a lightning bolt.

Not counting Pikachu's lightning bolt in battle, that is.

He walked through the silent corridors with ease and, thanks to the silver light of the full moon outside and the mansion's numerous windows, he could guide himself without fearing of bumping into something. On his way to his room, he suddenly spotted a pink puffball leaving his room as silently as possible. Well, what were the chances? Being careful to not startle him, Popo approached him as delicately as possible.

"Leaving your room at this time of the night? Tsk tsk," he whispered.

Despite all of this, Kirby still jumped in surprise, but at least he didn't scream. Then they'd be in real trouble.

"Poyo, don't scare me like this!" he whispered, trying to contain his heart attack.

"It wasn't my intention, sorry," Popo apologized.

"Poyo, poyo! Don't do something like this again! Poyo, I don't like it!" Kirby said in the verge of tears.

Normally, Popo would just call him a big baby and say that it wasn't that bad, but Kirby seemed genuinely distressed. His breathing was short and his eyes were flooding with water.

"H-Hey, what's up with you? Are you alright?"

"Poyo, I… I just w-want nightmares to stop!" Kirby sobbed.

The Ice Climber sighed in relief. It was just a stupid nightmare, nothing serious.

"Want to go get something in the kitchen to make you feel better?" that was all he could think of to make his friend stop crying.

"Poyo, yeah…" he sniffed. The thought of food always cheered him a little bit.

The two went to the kitchen to prepare Kirby a light snack. The snack consisted of 1/3 of the fridge, which made Popo deeply regret ever offering food to the little guy. Suddenly he remembered why Kirby was always kept away from the kitchen.

But there was nothing else he could do to make Kirby stop crying, so he guessed Master Hand would have to deal with that.

"Say, Kirby," Popo said with a hand supporting his chin as he watched Kirby finish his meal. "What did you dream of that made you cry? Must have been pretty bad."

"Poyo, the problem is not that it was scary. Okay, poyo, that too, but it is the same stuff every night."

"So you've been having recurring nightmares, uh? You stressed or something? I mean, usually recurring nightmares are because of…"

"Poyo, no! It isn't stress! I shouldn't have bad dreams in the first place, poyo."

Kirby explained that, as a resident of Dreamland, he was protected from all bad dreams, thanks to a powerful purifier fountain called the Fountain of Dreams. The first time Kirby had the nightmare, he and Lucas went to talk to DeDeDe about the puffball's nightmare. DeDeDe said it was impossible for Kirby to be having nightmares, because the Fountain of Dreams was working as usual and showed no signs of corruption. To prove that that was true, the self-proclaimed king affirmed that he wasn't suffering from any negative dreams. For the king, Kirby was just making excuses to wake up in the middle of the night and make some snack.

"The part of you making snacks is kind of true," Popo commented after hearing all of that.

"Poyo, this is serious!"

"I know, I know," he raised his hands defensively. "But I don't know how to help you with that, I'm really sorry."

"Do you believe in me, at least?" Kirby asked.

"Sure. I mean, it's not like you need to lie to get food anyway."

"Ha ha, true!" Kirby then jumped off from the table, ready to return to his room. "Poyo, I'll try to talk to Master Hand. He is smart."

Popo accompanied Kirby to his room, just so the puffball would feel better. Not to mention Kirby's room was located in the same corridor as his own, so Popo wasn't even getting out of his way to make sure his friend didn't break down in tears as he went back to bed. He was sure Master Hand would be of more help than him. Once they've reached Kirby's room he said his goodbyes to the puffball and left.

The Ice Climber was about to return to his room when a sudden shiver on his spine made him stop. He had no idea where it came from, nor what made it happen, but he could feel something wrong in the air. Popo stayed still in the middle of the corridor for a good couple of minutes, looking around him as if searching for what could be giving that terrible sensation. Only the sound of his anxious breath could be heard.

Unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything clearly, and whatever could be causing that spine chilling sensation could easily be hiding in the shadows and he wouldn't even notice.

"Uh?"

Popo could swear he saw a shadow sneak by him, but whatever it was, it vanished as soon as it appeared. Could his mind be playing tricks on him? He was so tired and it was so dark and silent, so it kind of made sense. But what was that bad sensation he had a few seconds ago?

Tricks or not, he quickly retrieved to his room, wanting to go under the covers of his bed as soon as possible.

Pit flew by the trees, the chilly breeze of the morning blowing the sleepiness off from his face. The ground below him was still covered in the fog from last night, which made it more difficult for him to see what was going on. Not that he needed to worry that much about this, as Lady Palutena, who was controlling his flight path from her room in the Mansion, was already doing the fine job of observing what was going on.

"Lady Palutena, I know that it is important to find the missing Alloys," Pit got interrupted by a sudden sneeze. "But couldn't we have done this in another time of the day? Maybe noon? It's so cold now that I think I might catch a… well… cold."

"Sorry Pit, but noon is out of question. You know as well as I that we need to do this before everyone in the Mansion wakes up," Palutena answered with a sheepish smile.

He gave a sigh and continued flying, knowing that he couldn't turn around anymore. Ever since the day the Alloys went to investigate the mysterious force Lucario had warned about, flying to the outskirts of Smashville had become a routine to him. Every morning, right when the sun was rising, Pit would leave the mansion to investigate where the missing of the Alloys went, with Palutena observing everything that happened from a mirror. Meanwhile, the two would communicate telepathically, just like they would do back in their world.

"If only Lucario could specify more… A simple "at the outskirts of Smashville, in the east" would have helped a lot more," he thought.

Despite his complaining, Pit had to admit that at least it was a beautiful morning, with a sunrise giving the land covered in fog a faint golden glow. He would enjoy the scenery much more if it wasn't for the fact that he needed to concentrate on his mission. That and that it was super cold, so not even the most beautiful of sceneries could make up for that.

"How much time to I still have?" he asked.

"Just one more minute and we're good to go for today. And don't worry, I have a cup of hot chocolate here, waiting for you when you come back," she said, trying to make the angel feel better.

"Alright!"

Pit made a sharp turn to the left, half disappointed that today had no results as usual, but also half relieved that he would be returning. However, had he not done that, he would have spotted the lonely blue Alloy wandering around the vegetation. As soon as she saw the familiar angel turn to the opposite direction from where she was, she tried to shout. The Alloy desperately wanted shout for him to turn back and make her go back home, but she didn't have a voice to do that. Desperate to call for her only chance of surviving, she waved her metallic blue arms frantically with no avail. The angel was already gone.

Disappointed and frustrated, the Zelda clone sat beneath a tree and hugged her legs. She had been wandering alone through the forest since her group got attacked by the Primids days ago, after them discovering a portal not that far away from the city. All of her partners had been destroyed or taken away, only to possibly be destroyed later. She managed to escape somehow. And now all that she wanted, with that limited intelligence of hers and obedient mind, was to be able to return to the mansion and report that Subspace has, indeed, returned. She didn't mind her current situation; she just wanted to complete her mission.

She just wanted…

ZAP!

The Alloy fell cold and steady on the soft ground. Getting out from the shadows, two Primids armed with lasers appeared, their bloody red eyes staring at the dead body of the last remaining Alloy.

Mission complete.

Just a little after breakfast time was over, Ness, Mega Man and the Ice Climbers went to practice a free-for-all battle at the Lumiose City stage. This new stage had a joyful atmosphere, with a main platform floating around the city, just occasionally stopping at certain spots. It was also very distracting, with flashy lights and abundance of buildings in the background. Stages like those were usually created to test the concentration of the fighters.

Or so everyone in the mansion thought. Stages like those could be a case of bad design, but nobody wanted to think the Hand brothers were terrible at stage building.

Ness' psychic attacks seemed to have gotten stronger, or at the very least, more difficult to avoid. He seemed more in sync in his fighting style than he was in Brawl, and had sent at least all of the Smashers battling there flying off the stage at least once. As expected from a full-time veteran. Mega Man also seemed to be proving a valuable fighter, with his wide variety of projectile attack and decent melee skills. His joy of finally having become a Smasher also lifted his fighting spirit up, so he was doing his best on becoming a worthy opponent for everyone there.

Now for the Ice Climbers, battling was a little more complicated. Not because of the stage, Ness' attacks or Mega Man's projectiles, but because they were having problems hitting each other. Sure they liked competitions between them… but not in that way. They just weren't used to hurting one another. They fought together, or even separated if it was really necessary, but NEVER against each other. If the siblings wanted to see how they could handle this type of battle, then that was their answer.

Seeing the way they "accidentally" missed most of their attacks, Ness simply stopped fighting and sat on the floor. Noticing that, the other three Smashers also stopped battling and looked at him, confused.

"Ness, what are you doing?" Popo asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me what are you doing?" Ness replied with another question directed at the Ice Climbers.

"What are you talking about?" Nana tilted her head to the side in confusion.

Ness shook his head. "Look, do you even know what "free-for-all" means?"

"It means-"

"Rock, dude, I wasn't asking you."

"O-Oh, sorry…" Mega Man said while backing off from the very irritated psychic.

"Listen; I'm tired of you fighting only me and Rock," Ness said turning to Popo and Nana again. "You are battling in the same way you fought in Brawl. This is practically 'Two versus One versus One', if you know what I mean!"

"Ness is kind of right. This battle does seem unfair…" Mega Man said, awkwardly sitting on the floor also.

"Oh, come on! We are not-"

"If you're not, then prove it," Ness said with a smirk, cutting Nana off.

Popo and Nana looked uneasy at each other. "O-Okay…" they stammered in unison.

Nana ran and swung her wooden hammer to hit Popo in the stomach. The swing; however, was slow and gave time for him to dodge it. Right after that, he tried attacking her with Blizzard. But the attack was considerably weak and didn't do a lot of damage. The two boys shook their heads as the shameful fight continued. The Ice Climbers knew how to fight way better than that. Ness could recall the battles he had with them back in Brawl and Melee. Oh, they knew how to do better than that just fine.

"So these are the Smashers who got second place in the last tournament?" Mega Man asked confused.

"They are better than this, trust me," the veteran answered and then proceeded to taunt them. "Hey, slowpokes! Have you two gone worse or something? Even Pichu would have an easy time battling you two!"

Popo stopped everything he was doing to protest. However, he forgot that while Nana's hammer was moving slower it still would hurt if he got hit in the head. So it came to no surprise that when he got distracted by Ness' comment he accidentally got knocked to the ground by his sister. Nana dropped her hammer as soon as she realized what she had done, while Ness couldn't stop laughing at the blue Ice Climber's disgrace. Mega Man tried to hide his amusement in respect for his fellow Smasher, but he too couldn't help it and let out a chuckle.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Popo," she said examining his head. "You okay?"

"I've had a lot worse," he said gently shaking her hand off and getting on his feet. "But thanks for worrying…"

Ness sighed exasperatedly and got up. It's almost like they have never done this before! "Are you serious?! That was soooooo lame! Like, really lame!" he exclaimed, pointing fingers at the two very embarrassed Ice Climbers. "Let me ask you guys something: have you two EVER fought against each other during this whole month of training?"

Their silence was already enough of an answer. Ness rubbed his temples with his index finger, acting way more annoyed than he should be.

"We've been training, okay?" Popo said.

"But have you ever fought against each other?"

"…No," he muttered in defeat.

"Have you even practiced separately? As in, in separate stages and at a different time?"

"Ah, of course we have… twice," Nana scratched the back of her head.

Ness slapped his forehead. Oh, if only Master Hand were there to listen to that. Wasn't the whole different move set shtick supposed to separate them? Those two were so inseparable it was reaching levels of ridiculous, almost as if they couldn't function properly without having the other by their side, especially in the battlefield. Even for siblings that was some pretty extreme dependency. Despite his constant joking of the two looking like magnets, sometimes Ness got worried about his two friends. He wished he knew what passed in the twins' minds sometimes.

"We are three days away from the tournament. You really better start getting used to fighting alone from now on, or Master Hand will eat your kidneys," the psychic boy kneed beside Mega Man and put an arm around his shoulders. "And Rock and I will help you with that, right buddy?"

"Uh… I g-guess?" the robot stuttered. He just wanted to finish practice and call it a day, nothing else.

"Let's go then!"

I like to imagine that Ness is a sarcastic little shit that deeply cares about his friends. I have a soft spot for characters like this…

Also, from now on my updates might get a little slower. The reason why I could pull all these chapters off so quickly was because I already had most of them complete and I just needed to change some plot points here and there.

But now with the story taking a different direction, I can't rely on what I have already written in the original. Especially because I have never gotten to the part where the tournament starts to begin with (and it had seven chapters… I can't believe I took this long)