Hello all.
Apologies for the long delay, and many thanks to Souldin, NinjaSheik, Shadow Blues, Dusk-N-Dawn and lupyne! Thank you very much for your kind words. Thanks must also go to all readers (even if you didn't leave reviews).
I realise that many of these things may seem slightly out of place in later chapters, so I will clarify it here – the Smart Shields' implementation are described in Days of Our Lives, and basically they are shields to ensure that the Smashers don't get limbs lopped off or so on by the many swords and weapons in Brawl. And this system was suspended once for Claustrophobia, because of the nature of the fight, I suppose.
Did anyone figure out where Lucario went during the second chapter, before his Brawl with Olimar? That place will be significant for the rest of the arc.
In any case, please do read and review, and I hope you'll enjoy it. Thank you.
hawk
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Introduction – Chapter Four
The next morning, Snake cracked his knuckles, rose out of bed, and made his way stealthily down to the cafeteria. Confident that he was the first, he sauntered in, only to see a blue figure already seated, a tin can in front of him. Surprised, he walked over to Lucario, intending to sit down next to him. Lucario's eyes darted up, and followed the mercenary as he walked across the cafeteria.
"Morning." Snake yawned as he seated himself. Good morning, Lucario nodded his head in return. There was an awkward silence.
After the numerous incidents of the first rounds of Brawls, where participants had to spend long amount of time in the infirmary, or develop a slight phobia of swords and their wielders, Master Hand had decided to implement Smart Shields, a system where the Smashers would not endure physical harm during Brawls. After the announcement, the Brawlers were more willing to return to the battling arenas.
Snake had chosen this fine day to challenge Lucario to a one-on-one friendly Brawl. Lucario had earlier resigned himself to his new life in the Smash Mansion, and had simply nodded curtly at Snake's announcement. Apparently, Snake couldn't wait to test out his new attacks, and deemed the magic board ("...electronic board," corrected Snake) too slow for his purposes, and decided to confide in Lucario about his excitement for Brawl.
Lucario nodded politely, but said nothing.
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Snake and Lucario prepared for the Brawl, making their respective entrances onto the stage. Much like Lucario's first Brawl, the stage had been set to Final Destination, but now instead of facing a diminutive space captain Lucario found himself staring straight at a master of stealth. Master Hand's voice announced from somewhere unseen the seconds counting down to the Brawl's beginning. Lucario tensed, blue fire encircling his paws as Snake faced him.
Go! Lucario was started out of his reverie as Master Hand's voice boomed through the stadium, Snake immediately dashing forwards, his hands poised to strike. Lucario dropped down, his hindpaws whipping about him in a practiced motion as he tripped Snake and sent him flying. Snake recovered, however, and resumed attacking Lucario with gusto. Lucario instinctively raised his forepaws to block Snake's chops, counterattacking with his own Aura-based attacks, and even got in an Aura-powered hindpaw to Snake's gut for his efforts. Snake, realising that Lucario had the upper-hand in hand-to-hand combat, retreated, opting instead to toss a small round ball at the Pokémon.
It bounced with a clang as Lucario stepped backwards, avoiding the projectile, the Pokémon surprised at its metallic sound. Seeing it come to a stop, Lucario dismissed it as a missed attack, and rushed forwards, his forepaws flaming with Aura, ready to deliver a strike. Snake didn't even move, and Lucario suddenly noticed that his entire being was radiating confidence and a kind of pride, just like seeing an opponent Pokémon being drawn into a trap –
The grenade suddenly exploded in a burst of flame and fury as Lucario passed over it, violently launching the Pokémon skyward and nearly giving Lucario a mild heart attack, not even leaving him any time to cry out. Fortunately, due to the Smart Shields the Hands had forced the Smashers to wear, his fur wasn't even singed, although the blast reverberated loudly in his ears, causing him to screw his eyes shut. As he shook his head to clear it of the sound, he noticed Snake leaping up towards him, but in his disorientated state, the pummel he threw missed the spy entirely. Snake struck Lucario twice, sending the Pokémon crashing back to the floor of the stage.
He hit the stage back first, and groaned. Immediately he staggered to his feet, his forepaws held defiantly in front of him, and the Aura about his paws burned slightly brighter. What was tha- he thought to himself, before his vision caught sight of a smiling Snake and a metallic capsule being launched straight at him, through the barrel of some miniaturised cannon holstered on Snake's shoulder.
Normally, he would have swatted it aside, the metal tin can it was, but he knew now to treat Snake's attacks with caution. Leaping backwards, he fired a small Aura Sphere at the projectile, the blue orb colliding with the capsule and exploding. The rocket exploded too, with a large cloud of flame and cloud which Lucario would not have thought possible from such a small tin can.
Leaping through the cloud, he emerged from the wispy smoke with an Aura-powered paw ready to sink into Snake's body, but the sly spy had already anticipated that, and had prepared another missile; such that Lucario found himself staring straight into the barrel of his launcher.
With an almighty blam the Aura Pokémon was sent flying, spinning in mid air until he landed heavily on the floor, sprawled dangerously near the edge of the stage. His right paw throbbed heavily with pain, and it hurt for him to move it, much less attack with it. Gritting his teeth and deciding to continue anyway, he stumbled to his feet once again, only to realise that another of the metallic messengers of explosions were sent his way.
Aaron-sama, why? Lucario sighed quietly to himself.
Closing his eyes, the Aura Filters on the back of his head rose, suspended behind his head. Looking now as if a blindfold had been placed on his eyes, Lucario's vision in fact was now washed in a blue haze, the missile tracing a streak towards him and Snake a visible silhouette of Aura behind it. Roaring, he leaped into the air, evading the missile and rushing towards Snake in mid-air. Startled, he loosened his grip on the controller, allowing the missile to drop and detonate harmlessly against the ground.
Opening his eyes, now a burning red, Lucario struck Snake a blow on his head, Aura burning the spy as his vision swam. Landing in front of him, Lucario launched into a series of quick punches and kicks, racking up damage and leaving Snake little room to counterattack. The pain in his paw gave him some extra motivation, leaving Snake breathless and winded from his quick attacks. He ended by gripping Snake by his collar, twirling him around before throwing him some distance away, where he landed face-first in the ground.
Snake took some time to get up, but when he did, he immediately tossed one of his grenades at Lucario. It bounced once, a metallic ching sounded when it hit the floor. Lucario kicked at it with an Aura-powered paw, sending it flying back to the spy covered in a cloud of blue flame. Before it exploded, Snake quickly dodged out of its path, leaving the detonation to connect with a harmless patch of air.
Unfortunately for Snake, his dodge led him right into a steely paw-grip, Lucario delivering pummel after pummel into his abdomen. Snake retaliated by suddenly delivering a punch to Lucario, narrowly missing the sharp chest-spike, sending Lucario reeling backwards. Closing his eyes to regain his bearings, his Aura vision picked out not only Snake but also a hidden canister in the ground, probably some magical metal canister of Snake. Knowing better than to disturb it, Lucario made a mental note to stay away from it. At the same time, he noticed Snake himself approaching him, so he struck out with his front paw, sending Snake somersaulting backwards.
They continued battling like this for a while longer, Lucario gaining the advantage sometimes and pushing Snake to his limits. However, the mercenary proved to be as resistant to pain as the Pokémon himself, striking back with his own counteroffensive. As trained as Lucario was, even he admired the spy's physical prowess – even if that did pose a problem to him in the Brawl.
Snake leaped upwards into the air, and Lucario did likewise, intending to strike him with a burst of Aura. However, Snake got in the first hit, suddenly gripping Lucario by his neck with one hand, and his good paw in the other, and sending both of them plummeting towards the ground with it. Lucario realised that they were going to impact where the metallic packet was buried, and struggled in Snake's vicelike grip, letting off bursts of Aura into Snake's hands. Snake didn't let go, until moments before impact where he launched himself off Lucario's chest, propelling himself upwards and sending Lucario slamming back-first onto the C4.
Lucario bit his lip as his back arched from the explosion, flinging the Aura Pokémon unceremoniously from the stage boundaries, as Master Hand announced Game!.
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The spy leaned back on his bunk, pleased. Around him his gadgets whirred, and the light was turned slightly down so their green electronic displays shone a little brighter by contrast. Their electronic whir provided him with some level of comfort, reminding him of Otacon, Mei Ling and the Colonel. Speaking of whom, they were pretty pleased to see Snake win his first ever Brawl. He allowed his mind to wander for a bit, before he realised that he hadn't seen Lucario since the Brawl ended. Was he in his room?
Snake pondered for a moment, then got to his feet and exited his room, locking his door silently behind him. Across the corridor, there was a plain wooden door set into the wall. Snake approached it, rapping his knuckles smartly on the wooden board. There was a muffled thump, and then some movement of the handle. The door didn't open. Snake scratched the back of his head.
There was a slight metallic jingling, and then the door handle then turned fully, the door swinging inwards to reveal Lucario, the blue-furred Pokémon staring straight up at the taller Snake. May I help you? he enquired politely, one paw on the door handle.
"Oh, uh..." Snake mumbled. He hadn't exactly expected Lucario to be in, or even answer to his knock. "I – thanks for the Brawl today, that was good," he eventually managed to make out. When Lucario's features didn't change, he felt a vague sense of worry rising up in him. That's odd, thought Snake. I haven't felt worried since – ah – Think of something to say, Snake!
It was Lucario, however, who made the next move. Thank you, he responded simply, his telepathic voice in Snake's head. You won, though. Congratulations. He nodded his head slightly at Snake, who was relieved at his reaction, although none of it showed on his features.
Feeling slightly bolder, he looked over the top of Lucario's eartips to the rest of his room. To his surprise, it was completely whitewashed, with the occasional bit of old paint flaking from the walls, with a once-polished wooden floor. The room was devoid of any furniture, not even a bed, and the light streamed in through one window which overlooked part of the Garden grounds, where a tree cast a shadow on a small grove. The only other thing in the room was a length of wood, which Snake recognized as a 'staff' from Mei Ling's occasional lectures on Asian culture.
"Nice staff," he ventured. Lucario's eyes shifted in surprise, and he turned his head to look at what Snake was seeing. Thank you, but it is not my staff, he started, it – but as he turned to look, Snake had elbowed past Lucario into his room, stepping towards the staff, ignoring Lucario's sudden protest.
The reason was that the spy had suddenly espied the crystal on the staff's end, which drew him like a moth to a flame. It was brilliantly cut, made of some bluish-tinted crystal unknown to Snake. Quickly picking up the staff, he looked at it, seeing his face reflected a hundred times in its many facets. Whistling in amazement, his reverie was suddenly broken by a heavy paw on his shoulder, and a blue-furred face was added into the mosaic he saw in the crystal.
Give it back. Lucario had reached up so as to plant his forepaw firmly on Snake's left shoulder, the pressure from the forepaw increasing. However, there was no escaping Snake's senses – the pressure shivered slightly, reflective of the trembling of the paw that pressed down on his sneaking suit. He turned, his back now facing Lucario's door, seeing Lucario stare at him with fiery red eyes. "Hey, but it's a nice staff," Snake protested weakly, twirling the staff in a hand, the metal trinkets jangling loudly against their metal bracelet. Lucario tensed even further, his paw suddenly flaring with blue Aura, Snake's shoulder going numb.
Snake was no Aura Pokémon, but even he could detect the intense emotions flooding from Lucario, who had twisted Snake sideways with only a paw on his shoulder, so as to stare directly into Snake's eyes. "I was just wondering if I could show it to the others..." Lucario placed a paw under Snake's hand gripping the staff, intending for Snake to place it into his grasp, all the while maintaining his paw on the spy's shoulder and his eyes staring straight into Snake's.
No. Lucario's voice was soft but firm.
"Alright," Snake laughed nervously. "Don't get so worked up." Accordingly, Lucario seemed to obey his command, relaxing slightly, although his paw still remain firmly clamped on Snake's shoulder, blue Aura subsiding. His breathing seemed to shallow out and almost return to normal, but Snake was surprised to discern pleading in Lucario's eyes. Give it back, please. "Relax," Snake chided, "It's only a staf–"
The next thing Snake felt was intense fire burning his hand, and then the painful splintering of wood behind his back, followed by two more increasingly painful collisions with walls, the first of which gave way relatively easily. Lucario had burned his hand with intense Aura, forcing him to drop the staff, and had simultaneously slammed Snake through two doors and into a wall with a single Aura-powered punch. The impact had thrown Snake through Lucario's door; splintered Snake's lock, allowing the door to swing open; and finally set him up with a collision with his own room wall, right above his bunk.
At the same time the staff had fallen from his hand, Lucario had caught it in his paw, the crystal Snake had been eyeing glinting in the reddening light from the window behind Lucario. The harsh ringing from the metal plates soon quietened down, leaving a slight silence behind, as on other floors the Smashers continued their daily activities.
Slumping back onto his bed, he stared in surprise, mouth open wide in shock as Lucario gripped the staff firmly, eased past the splintered remains of his door, then glared at Snake.
It's not just a staff, he growled at Snake, his telepathic voice suddenly subdued. It's all I have.
Then he turned, tail brushing the ground, and walked off down the hallway.
