Hi everyone! Gardenia here.
Sorry for the inactivity. I was busy with life on my end. So as a compensation, something interesting happens in this chapter.
This chapter is longer than the average chapter in this fic. So it should compensate for the short previous one.
I would really appreciate reviews! This chapter was particularly fun to write, mainly because of Crazy Hand who is just so fun to characterize.
Enjoy! :)
[Edit 4/23/18] I included the colors of Ness's bathing suits. Since it sets up the next chapter well.
Prologue:
Okay, I need your help. I really don't know what to do anymore…
I'm sure it's not as bad as you're making it seem.
No really! Hey! DON'T HANG UP!... Okay good. If I really could, I would just not reveal it at all.
You know very well that the Glamour PSI is not going to last forever. And from what you have told me, some smashers are starting to suspect something. That's why you should reveal it as soon as possible. Time is not going to be helpful in your situation.
I know… But I'm not ready… At home, it's not a problem. But I don't know how to act "proper". Nor do I know how to deal with it as a Smasher.
[A groan of exasperation is heard on the other line]
I'm not the best person to ask for advice on this. You should talk to your mother.
No freaking way! I don't what the hell to say to my mom! Please! You're the only person I can trust about this. Everyone else just keeps on trying to pry in my business. Even my freaking best friend is looking through my stuff! I can't deal with it.
Like I said, you are blowing this out of proportion. You've always identified yourself as one of them your whole life. It's nothing to be ashamed of.
I know, but… I just don't know what I can do if the media finds out. I could get kicked out of smash.
...You should really call your mom. She really misses you… And you should know her. No parent wants their children to suffer. Especially her. So you should stop ignoring her phone calls.
… I haven't talked to her since… since Dad left…
That's not-
I saw how devastated she was… The divorce wrecked her and she blames me for it. It doesn't help that I remind her so much of Dad. That's why I left home a week early.
You CAN'T keep running away forever. You CAN'T keep talking to me to avoid talking to your mother...Last week, she called me. She knows that you're trying to avoid her, and she apologized. You have no idea how worried she was! She sounded like freaking shit! Both your mother and sister are worried about you, Ness!
…I got the feeling they would be…. But I can't take this all into my arms now! I'll take care of this crap after the Winter Tournaments are finished.
Don't make promises you can't keep.
I swear, I will! I actually keep my word most of the time!
… Could've fooled me.
Cross my heart and hope to die! Pinky promise! And I'm not crossing fingers!
I don't believe this.
Okay fine. I'll admit it. I'm lying. But I will admit it eventually. That's inevitable.
… Fair enough. Too bad I can't read your mind through the phone. Listen, I have to leave for school. But hey, at least this time, you remembered to not call when it was 2 in the morning here!
[laughter] Hey! That time was an emergency! But this time, I upholded that request just fine!... Shit, I think Lucas is coming by.
Just remember. You'll be okay. If anything happens, you can call me. But just remember to talk to your mother soon.
I will.
Well, good luck! I'll be rooting for you! You better kick ass or I'll go beat you with a baseball bat!
[laughter] Fuck yeah! And you won't have beat me with a bat! [Laughter stops]
Goodbye! Good luck!
[Call Duration: 5 mins 15 secs]
…
…
…
Chapter 7: Interrogation to vexation is a true combo
After the baseball game, Ness was so tired he could hardly walk. Luckily, his team had won. It was Ness and the Ice-climbers V.S Lucas, Toon and Pit. He had to admit, his team kind of had an advantage. Ness was a baseball champion in Onett and both Popo and Nana had decent hand-eye (or rather, hand-bat) coordination.
Ness's cold also went away. He felt fine, although he probably shouldn't have felt this way. After all, he had recently slept in a tree, crashed into a wall, passed out, got smashed by a door, and hadn't had sufficient rest. Baseball somehow refreshed him.
As he walked back to his room with Lucas, he remembered that the first major tournament of the year (conveniently placed in the middle of winter and named as such) was next week. He had been doing these tournaments ever since N64. Just, not performing as well as he was now. He couldn't count how many small tournaments and practice matches he had won since last month with fingers on 10 hands. He really improved a lot. He thought he and Lucas were in good shape. Neither of them were new to this as this was the second year of the Brawl tournaments.
"Lucas." he said, tapping his friend on the shoulder. "The Winter Tournament is starting in a week. I think Master Hand just posted the line-up."
Lucas shook his head. "Didn't get a chance to look at it. But I heard practice matches are going to be pretty frequent."
"Better practice all you can." said Ness. "We'd better kick ass in doubles and each get high placings in singles. For doubles, we're counting on each other. So don't mess up."
Lucas nodded. "Let's check who we're fighting first." Lucas said. "Wait, doubles is first, right?"
"Yep." Ness nodded.
"So, are the schedules posted?" Lucas asked as they approached their room.
"Yes. They have paper copies of the line-up that are handed out during meals and they have displays of them on the TVs in the lobby." said Ness, opening the door to their room with the key and stepping inside.
"And the preliminary stage is to earn the highest scores to make it into the main tournament bracket?"
Ness looked at him with a deadpan stare. Seriously, where was Lucas's mind during all of these tournaments? No wonder he hasn't gotten far in a lot of them. But no need to say that out loud.
"Yes…It's always been like this for brawl."
"Oh, yeah. Now I remember." said Lucas. "Sorry, I just….forgot this stuff for some reason."
"Good. I don't have to reteach you this stuff," Ness said. Though he realized he could've made his tone sound less annoyed. Lucas's eyes widened.
"Sorry!" Lucas said, looking considerably frightened.
"What are you so scared about? I don't bite," Ness frowned. Though he probably will if this trend continued.
Lucas relaxed. "Well, anyway, if you really don't, don't get mad when you hear this."
Oh no. Not this again. Ness prepared himself. "What happened this time?"
"Nothing too major! I just want to ask you a few questions," Lucas reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. An orange stain on the back of it caught his eye. He knew exactly what it was. He braced himself for a bombardment of questions.
"Can you tell me a bit more about your family?" asked Lucas, still not showing Ness the other side of the paper.
Oh dear. He'd better not ask about his parents again. "My family… I have a mom, a dad and a sister called Tracy. I also have grandparents and great grandparents too. Then, I have cousins, second cousins, third cousins, fourth cousins, fifth cous-"
"Ness..."
"What? That's my family!" Ness crossed his arms. "What do you want me to tell you? You have to specify!"
Lucas sighed. "Fine. How about I show you-" he flipped the piece of paper so the picture faced Ness. "-this?"
"It's a photograph of a family gathering!"
"Who's in it?" Ness came to Lucas's side and took the photo into his hands.
"My mom and dad," Ness pointed to the couple standing near the left side of the photo. "And that's my sister." he pointed to the girl standing in front of his parents. "And that's me." he pointed to the a boy with a tuxedo on, standing in the middle (still in front of another couple), next to a girl who looked like a prettier, girl version of Ness (who stood in front of Ness's parents).
"I know that!" Lucas said, annoyed. "I meant-" he pointed to the second family. Two (most likely twin) sisters, and the girl copy of Ness. "These people!"
"You didn't let me finish! Okay, let's make a deal. I won't interrupt you, and you don't interrupt me. I think that's been becoming a huge portion throughout our conversations."
"Okay." Lucas nodded.
"Well, that's my aunt and uncle. They're distant relatives." said Ness, pointing to the second couple standing next to his parents. "Those are my distant cousin's twin sisters. Well, I'd prefer to call them really close friends." he said, pointing to the identical girls, standing in front of their parents. "So yeah."
"Who's that?" Lucas asked, pointing to the girl clone of Ness.
Ness breathed deeply. He couldn't mess this up, or else Lucas might find out his secret. "That's Ninten." he said. Look calm. "My distant cousin, and friend."
Lucas didn't look convinced. "I thought Ninten was a boy."
"No she isn't! I'll tell you a little story. Ninten isn't her real name."
"Really?"
"Yes! It's actually because of me. So, when Ninten was a little kid, ha-*cough cough* she had a huge obsession for Nintendo games. I started calling her Nintendo." Ness chuckled a bit as he remembered Ninten's expressions of indignation. "At first, She would get so freaking mad to the point she would try to punch out my teeth. But then, she became okay with it when I wouldn't stop.
Then her sisters started calling her that. Except, they were very young at the time, so they pronounced it Ninten. And the name sort of stuck. So that's how people started calling her Ninten."
Lucas raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
Ness tried to look convincing. "Yes! Silly, right?"
Lucas sighed. "Alright. I'll believe you."
Ness felt relieved. Gosh, hopefully Lucas didn't try to pry any further."Anything else you need me to tell you?" he asked, trying to look annoyed.
Lucas hesitated. "Yes."
Shit.
"What could possibly be so interesting?"
"Um-" Lucas looked ashamed. "When I was looking in your drawer for the batteries and found the b-bras, well, I also saw some… other stuff."
"What?" Ness's heart pounded.
"I saw some photographs." Lucas admitted. God, how much did he look through his drawer?
"And?"
"And, the one that most intrigued me was one with a girl, the same one in the photo I just showed you. She looks just like you." Lucas shuddered. "The resemblance is creepy, she even has the same violet eyes! Is that Ninten, too?"
"Yes." Ness rolled his eyes. "Duh!"
"So why was she holding your baseball bat?"
Ness frantically thought up some excuses. "She also likes baseball, a lot, actually. She wanted to see my baseball bat and compare it to her own. And she asked me to take a photo of her, so we copied two photographs and I got one copy. She has the other."
"Why does she have your cap on?"
"That's hers! We have matching ones. Somehow."
Lucas frowned. "Fine. But I also have-"
This was starting to turn into a full interrogation. Ness decided to divert the subject. "Anyway, let's go check for our first fights! We have our next meal in…" Ness checked the clock. "20 minutes."
"Fine." Lucas agreed. "But I also saw another photograph of-"
"Amazing." Ness said quickly. "But I really have to go to the bathroom," he crossed his legs and tried to look like he was about to piss his pants. "so bye!" then he raced out of sight into the bathroom and closed the door, breathing heavily. He then took off his cap and filled it up with water from the sink (turning the tap on just a little bit to not make noise).
"Ness!" he heard Lucas complain from the other side of the closed door. "I just wanted to ask you about the other photos I saw-"
Ness, wanting to avoid this interrogation, started to pour the water in his cap into the toilet, making the sound of a person going Number 1. Although his cap was now soaked, it would be perfectly fine.
"Ahhh…" he sighed, trying to make the sound of a person relaxing and relieving themself. He then dropped a mostly used bar of soap into the toilet, making the sound of a person going Number 2. "Ahhh…"
Lucas cleared his throat awkwardly. Ness hoped that he wouldn't dare to talk to someone while they were doing their business, as it was uncomfortable and sort of rude.
Unsuccessful.
"Um…" Lucas began hesitantly. "I just wanted to ask about-"
"Lucas, can you go get more toilet paper?" Ness interrupted. Gosh. Talking to people while they were supposedly doing their business wasn't Lucas's thing! "There's none here." he added.
This was true, as Ness had thrown all the toilet paper that remained on the roll out the window. If Lucas came in next to do his business and saw that there was an extra roll of toilet paper, he'd surely remember this moment and therefore suspect Ness of something (even more than he did now). And anyway, the toilet paper was decomposable, so it would be fine.
"Sure." Lucas said. Ness heard footsteps receding, and breathed a sigh of relief. He was gone, and hopefully forgot what he was about to ask Ness.
Ness waited until Lucas was back, then he opened the door just a crack and Lucas handed him the toilet paper, unable to see that Ness was actually not doing his business, and was just dropping things and pouring water into the toilet.
"Thanks." Ness said, ripping of some squares and throwing them into the toilet (along with the soap and water). He replaced the toilet paper roll, washed his hands, dried his cap as best he could, and came out of the bathroom.
"What do you wanna do?" Ness asked, wringing his hands.
Lucas shrugged. "Mario Kart for the next fifteen minutes until lunch?"
Well, that was better than asking questions. "Okay. But promise me that we'll do Rainbow Road first!"
Lucas groaned. Ness knew he hated Rainbow Road, but Ness loved it. "Fine."
"Yes! Finally!" Ness raced over to the TV and picked up his controller. He handed another one to Lucas, who had glumly followed Ness into the room. "Here."
Lucas sighed. He sat down on the couch and beckoned Ness to sit beside him (after he turned on the Wii got the video game disk in place). "Let's play then!"
Soon, the two friends were racing along down Rainbow Road and bringing doom to other cars with power ups. Or, rather Ness was. Lucas was being lapped by Ness (even after using a few bullet bills). Ness could see Lucas getting increasingly frustrated, to the point of wanting to rage quit. But luckily, the car in 11th place finished (when he was on lap 2) and he was put out of his misery. Ness had won first, and was cackling with glee.
"I won! And I lapped you!" Ness gloated.
"Aw, be quiet!" Lucas complained at Ness's boasting.
"OK, sorry!" Ness laughed. "Anyway, let's play Mushroom Gorge now, it's easy and fun to bounce on the mushrooms, and you like that - "
Suddenly, there was a stinging pain in his lower abdomen. He dropped his controller, groaned and clutched his stomach. "Oww!"
The stinging subsided quickly. Lucas looked concerned. "What is it?"
"Fuck." Ness winced. "Ganondorf Warlock Punched me yesterday." he pointed to his stomach. "Right here! Right after Marth broke my shield."
"Ouch!" Lucas grimaced. "Yeah, I hate being Warlock Punched."
After a few moments, the pain was gone. The desire to play Mario Kart was gone. "I'm gonna go get some water." he said, wanting to escape the company of Lucas.
"Why?" Lucas frowned. "You just suggested that we should play Mushroom Gorge 3 seconds ago!"
"I have to get some water." Ness repeated, feeling a bit irritated.
"Just stay for a bit so we can play some more Mario Kart!" Lucas said. "Anyway, we're going to eat in 12 minutes."
Ness suddenly felt cranky. He glared at Lucas. "Did you not just hear what I said?!" he growled, irritated.
"I-I did!" Lucas stammered, looking afraid. "Sorry!"
Seeing the fear, Ness tried to reassure him with a calmer voice. "Lucas, I don't bite! Why are you so scared?" Ness leaned in close to Lucas's face. "What's so scary about me?"
"Nothing!" Lucas cowered.
Lucas was scared of him.
Hurt gripped the back of his throat. "Just play Mario Kart by yourself, cause you're so scared of me!"
"Ness! I never said anything!" What a load of bullshit.
"You didn't have to."
Lucas stood up and ran next to Ness. Ness walked faster, but Lucas followed. "Ness, please! I can never be scared of you!"
Another load of bullshit.
"At least get good at lying!" Ness snapped back. "Leave me alone." he added on with a more dejected tone.
Lucas stopped, looking like a sad puppy. Something inside Ness told him to go back and apologize, but he kept walking. He walked out of the room and into the hallway. He walked, not even saying a word or thinking a thought. His expression was stiff on his face. But as Ness opened the door and stepped outside into the cool air, regret seeped into his mind.
"God damn it! What is wrong with me?" he cried, once he was outside. "Why don't I learn? I ran out again! Why can't I control my anger?"
He sniffed and broke into a run, trying to escape the image of Lucas's hurt expression in his mind.
"Why?" yelled Ness into the open sky. "This is the FOURTH outburst in the span of 2 days!" his voice turned quiet. "It's a wonder I still have friends."
Ness realized with a start that he was smack in the middle of the Smashville City Park, and was already starting to gain some attention. He was catching the eye of some teens walking through. If he were to stand here for a few more seconds, he would be discovered. He rushed back to Smash Mansion to avoid a possible mob .
As soon as Ness was back in the safe hallways of Smash Mansion, he checked the clock on the wall. Time for lunch. Ness wasn't hungry, but he knew he would be later. So he headed to the cafeteria to pick up a meal. As he walked past Lucas's table, he tried to keep his expression blank and to not look at the blonde psychic. He could sense stares (mostly) from his friends boring into his skull. Great. Just like during breakfast. Guess Lucas had told them. Well, can't blame him. Ness had been too harsh.
That is why he picked up the first appetizing item he came across and rushed out. As Ness passed the counter on the way out, he snagged a copy of the Winter Tournament schedule and went back to his room. No fights for him for the day. And he had the room all to himself for the entire afternoon since Lucas had his fights to go to.
Ness checked his tournament schedule as soon as he got back. His first fight was against Jigglypuff on Pirate Ship. Not too bad. He could beat her easily which was drastically easier to do than it was in Melee.
The major tournaments in Brawl took a different procedure from Melee and N64. This time, there were 35 smashers so Master Hand had them compete in a round robin for 16 spots in a single elimination tournament where the top 16 will compete for first place.
While it was a bit hard to adjust to at first, he got used to it quickly. Not only that, he was always able to secure a spot in the bracket. Sometimes barely. He also hoped he didn't have to fight against Marth, Snake, or Donkey Kong in the tournament. That would mess him up.
Ness wasn't a very good swimmer, so he decided to head down to the olympic sized pool-for all he knew, the sole purpose of it was-to practice. He had lost several fights because of WATER. And water just so happened to be one of the elements that PSI users were somehow unable to summon. So needless to say, fuck water. And fuck smashers who shot water as their forms of offense.
…
Correction: Never say "fuck water."
…
As he was about to open the door to the pool, he quickly closed it as his ears were assaulted by a bunch of indistinct noise. TOO MANY PEOPLE. Ok, scratch that. Swim practice will be late at night where no one will be there to bug him.
He just remembered the plate of steak in his hand so he decided to go back to his room to eat it. Sounded like a plan. In the process, he'll be able to avoid everyone which sounded like paradise. Even though he liked his friends, there were some moments that called for a respite of lonely-Ness. Heh. Stupid puns.
As he went approached the door, he stopped and made sure that no one was inside. Seriously, what was with him? He was being way too overly paranoid. Heh, he couldn't believe he was afraid to encounter Lucas after he himself was the one that scared Lucas with his wrath. Talk about ironic.
.~o~.
Finishing the steak opened up a new problem. Boredom. Ness typically would talk his mouth off with Lucas but now that avoiding him was his first priority, he had no one to talk to.
Jeff seemed like a viable choice. But the young inventor was almost always holed up in his room tinkering with random objects or in a match assisting whoever summoned him from an Assist Trophy. Then he remembered that Jeff was out of the mansion again, probably to search for any leads on his missing father.
To Jeff's dismay, Dr. Andonuts had disappeared without a trace and was just about to make a more efficient Phase Distorter to make traveling between worlds easier. That left Jeff to finish the project, of leading portal gates between Smashville and every world each Smasher originated from. Therefore, Smashers and their families were able to converse easily and Jeff was lauded and took his father's role as a famous inventor. Something told Ness that Jeff had done this to enable Ness's family to finally visit him during Smash. He couldn't help but feel guilty that he wasn't making full use of Jeff's contribution lately, but luckily Jeff understood why. He was a good friend.
Ness and the Chosen 4 had offered to help Jeff find his father but eventually had to stop combined efforts when Ness had to go to Brawl. Jeff continued to search despite the hopeless situation. Ness even searched for more clues during his days in Patrol Duty, most yielding no results.
So to ease his boredom, he decided to go down to the training grounds or beat his in the home run contest. He took a different path to avoid any encounters with other Smashers.
.~o~.
Welp, going down to the training room ended up costing him his sick day. Marth, being the goody two shoes he was, spotted Ness practicing combos on a CPU Jigglypuff and told Master Hand he was down there. So he ended up having to go to Master Hand's office and endure Crazy Hand's idiocy, yet occasional helpfulness, a second time that day. Well, the conversation went something like this:
"You seem to be well enough. As one of the original 12 Ness, you are to return to your fighting schedule."
"Okay. When is my next fight?", Ugh. Even though being one of the Original 12 has advantages, it had its downsides as well such as being unable to slack off. And screw Marth too.
"Your next fight is in 20 minutes. A 4-stock practice match with items against Fox. Can you handle it?"
"Yes. But, why items?"
"Your match after that has no items."
"Okay. Thank you for your leniency."
Before Ness could leave, Crazy Hand blocked him.
"OohH nESsie! YOur BLonDie fRIend wAS loOKinG fOR yOU thIS moRNing!"
Wow, thanks for stating the obvious. Of course he knew that! He didn't wake up in the library!
"I know. So what?"
"DiD he FInd YOu iN The LIbrARy?"
"Why does that concern you? Did he ask you for help or something?"
"YEs hE Did! I ToLD hiM You MIghT Be iN TheRE!"
"And I was taking a nice nap there."
"BUt yOU do NOt sEEm tHAnkFUl aT aLL! Hmmpf!"
"…Isn't thanking Lucas enough? And I did!"
"BUt yOU diDN't tHAnk MEEEE! YOu oWE me NOw!"
Oh god. This wasn't good. Crazy Hand was probably going to make him do something stupid and force him to comply. Getting on Crazy Hand's bad side was worse than suffering through some of Pit's worst pranks.
"Crazy, I don't have time for this!" Hoping for some kind of escape. Where was Master Hand when you needed him?!
Apparently, he was there all along. "Crazy, please. Don't annoy both of our earthbound representatives."
Crazy Hand ignored him and said "I DarE You TO weAR a bIKinI WHen YOu gO SwiMMinG!"
Okay. No. "HELL NO!" He had to prevent himself from shouting profanities inside Master Hand's office.
"YOu cAN't dEClinE! I wILl bE moNItorINg yOU!"
"Of course I can!" Ness defiantly yelled back. "What can you do?!"
"I wiLl haUNt yOU dOWn! AnD I knOW yOU aRE plANninG To sWim!"
Master Hand finally came to his rescue.
"ENOUGH WITH THE FOOLISHNESS!"
"WHy?!" Crazy Hand lamented. "iT WilL bE fuNnY!"
"Blimey." Master Hand breathes out. "Ness, ignore him. You alright there?"
Ness on the other hand was red like a tomato. He had gotten a horrible image horrible image of himself wearing a bikini, which was bad enough. Then, because of his fucked up thinking pattern, the image had turned to picturing all the male smashers in female clothes. And thanks to that, his thoughts eventually reached Wario in a bikini which—
Well hello again, lunch. How nice of you to make your reappearance inside my mouth. Only this time, you taste horrible. Ness quickly swallowed the vile substance again.
And that almost lead to another sick day. But Master Hand wouldn't let him skip out on fights.
.~o~.
Ness decided to skip dinner once he finished his last fight.
God, the fights were horrible. Not because he didn't win any, but because his victories were just dissatisfying. Ness was sluggish throughout everything and all his opponents seemed to be spamming despite it being a week before the Winter Tournament.
Fox was using his reflector as if it were still Melee and was trying to run away while shooting his blaster, Sonic was spindashing at every opportunity, Game and Watch was only using Judge in hopes of getting a 9, and Snake kept hiding underneath his freaking box. FUCKING HELL! Thinking about it caused his blood pressure to rise… you know, from the salt. But Ness always made sure to keep up a respectul facade even when he was salty.
Usually, a Smasher would be on freaking Cloud 9 after beating a spamming opponent, but not Ness. He hated it when his opponent wasn't trying because it just dampened the fun of the Brawl. So it was no surprise he was in a sour mood. Not only from spamming opponents, but having to dodge 3 Super Sonics because the Smash Ball seemed to know how to give the underdog an easier time to break it. Not only that, but the events from before lunch already put him in a bad mood.
Now, it was 11 PM. He wasn't breaking curfew or any other strict rules. So it was a perfect time to finally go to the pool and master the art of Not Drowning. So that was exactly what he did. He changed into his bathing suit and packed goggles, a swim cap, the tissue box, and a towel into his backpack and headed down to the pool. Only this time, there was no one there.
It was peaceful, quiet, and nice. The only illumination he had was from the glass ceiling, which allowed the moonlight to splash down a silvery glow on the still surface of the water, and the dim pool lights which gave the water and the room a deep blue tint.
Unfortunately, the peace and quiet was interrupted.
"I Am wATchINg yOU liTtlE bOY!"
"AAAGGHH!" Ness jumped high in the air and conveniently fell right into the pool. The sight would've been comical for any observers, but certainly not comical to Ness.
Ness immediately resurfaced and shivered from the cold and glared at his disturber, Crazy Hand, who was visible with the white glow, was laughing his imaginary ass off. Oh boy, just when it couldn't get any worse.
"Pfft- HOW THE HECK DID YOU GET IN HERE!?" he yelled amongst sputters.
"HAveN'T yoU HeaRD Of TElePOrtATion nESsie?!"
Ness climbed out of the pool and wrapped his arms around his chest. "OF COURSE I KNOW WHAT TELEPORTATION IS!" Ness was pissed that his peace being disturbed. "I'll rephrase. WHY ARE YOU HERE?! I'm not breaking any rules!"
"SIncE WheN dID I, ThE MaJEsTic CrAZy HaNd, cARe fOR ruLEs?"
"...… True."
"I'm heRE tO mAKe sURe yoU fuLFiLl thE dArE!"
…
It took Ness a few seconds to realize what he was talking about.
"Okay, NO! I'm NOT transgender! And I'm never going to wear a bikini!"
"YeS YoU wILl!" Crazy Hand pointed his finger at Ness and caused a puff of smoke to surround the boy.
Ness coughed and fanned his hands around to get the smoke away. Then he looked down.
His blue swimsuit had changed to a purple bikini. It was just as horrifying as his earlier mental images in Master Hand's office.
"GAH!" He quickly covered himself as a blush colored his cheeks. "Don't look!", he conjured a PK Flash to temporarily blind the hand.
It had no effect. "SOrRy bOY! BUt PK FlaSH dOEsn'T woRK oN Me! JUst ACcePt yOUr faTe aNd sWIm!"
"You better change this back! I'm not a girl! Or at least make it blue! Not purple!" Ness tried to get Crazy Hand to change it back who was still admiring his handiwork. Heh, that fit.
"DOn't WOrRy abOUt yoUr mASculInITy! YOu'rE sTiLl a BoY! ANd nO oNE hAs tO kNOW abOuT tHIs! I CaN kEeP SecREts!" The big hand assured the mortified psychic.
Well, guess he would just have to go with it. "Promise?"
"PInkY SweAR BoY!" Crazy Hand stuck up his pinky.
I can't believe I'm agreeing to this shit. "Okay." said Ness. "Consider this as your payment. You get to watch me swim in this skimpy getup…" and he quickly jumped into the pool which was still cold as fuck.
Even though Ness was not the best swimmer, the bottoms slipped off every time he streamlined through, so he was swimming and cursing every time he had to pull the damn things up to his hips; as if wearing a bikini was not bad enough. How girls could deal with this crap was beyond him.
Aside from the bottoms falling and Crazy Hand occasionally causing large waves, he still got a pretty solid workout. He stripped off his swim cap and goggles and let his hair free: a perfect way to rewards yourself for a hard workout. He jumped out of water, making sure to land right next to Crazy Hand.
"Well? Are you satisfied?!", Ness looked at the hand pointedly.
"Mmm hMMm! YOu hAVe sUCceSsfulLy pAiD yOuR deBT! CoNGraTUlaTIons!"
Ness decided to humor him and spoke with the highest voice he could muster. "Thank you, thank you!"…He curtsied too for good measure.
"HaAa HAAa! THiS iS WhY I lIkE yoU! YOu aRE fuNnY! BUt, hERe iS a sERioUs, aNd I rEALly dO mEAn sERiOUs, sTaTEmeNT!"
"Oh really?" Ness questioned him, slightly skeptical. But, then again. Who wouldn't be?
"YeP! YOur BOyfRIenD iS gOIng To wALk tHrOuGh tHe dOoR, iN 10 sEConDS!"
Ness flushed in indignation. "I DON'T HAVE A— wait WHAT?!"
"YOu hEArd Me fINe KId! bETter HiDE!" And with that, he was tossed back into the pool.
Ness yelped as he was airborne and caused another splash. He quickly resurfaced once again. That freaking hand. From his position in the water, he saw Crazy Hand float to the door and give a "BoO! hAH! I SCarEd yA! ANd tElL yOuR boYFriEnD hE loOkS stUnNinG in hIs nEW sUiT!" to the unfortunate soul who was about to enter the pool complex and push said unfortunate soul inside the room. Crazy Hand called back "SoRrY! yOU're goNnA hAVe tO kEeP iT! ThOUgh nOt gONna LiE! IT lOokS sNaZzy oN yoU!" and disappeared from his view. The words didn't sink into Ness's brain yet.
…
Then it hit him. Ness cursed inwardly.
…
Fucking shit. The unfortunate soul was Lucas; Ness could recognize that cowlick anywhere, even in the dark. And Lucas seemed to be wearing his swim suit. A boy's swimsuit.
"What in the world was that about?" Lucas inquired and continued walking.
Ness stayed still and tried to seem as small as possible. Maybe Lucas had motion based vision like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. Maybe the darkness concealed him well enough.
Nope. Both of those hopes were crushed when Lucas spotted Ness and jumped.
"N-Ness! I didn't know you were here!" Ness didn't have to be psychic to sense Lucas's unease, no doubt from before lunch.
Ness didn't reply and slowly made his way toward the edge where his backpack was.
15 feet away.
Lucas walked to the edge and stopped about 4 feet away from his backpack. "Is… Is it okay if I join you?" asked Lucas.
Ness rolled his eyes. "You don't have to if you don't want to.", secretly hoping Lucas would take the way out. He kept the water level below his nose to keep his body hidden while he inched closer to his backpack.
10 feet away.
Well, if worse comes to worst, he could always use PK Flash or explain Crazy Hand's stupid dare to Lucas. But he did not want to do either of those things, and to prevent any of them from happening, he had to keep himself hidden.
5 feet away.
Nope, once again, his hopes were crushed. "I want to." said Lucas. "I was planning to practice a bit."
"I just finished swimming so I'm going to leave." The backpack was right in front of him. And with his luck, it was right in the moonlight. An idea came to mind, and nope. It was not casting a PK Flash. Ness smirked.
"Have fun swimming!" he shouted and splashed water at Lucas, successfully making the blonde boy turn his head. He used that opportunity to quickly jump out and throw his towel around himself. Safe.
Lucas shook the water droplets away. "What was that for?!"
"To help you get used to the cold water!" Ness gave him a toothy grin. He was just picking up his backpack when the worst possible things happened: 1) the buckle in the back got caught on the towel 2) The backpack fell down. 3) The buckle was still caught in the towel 4) the towel fell off of his body. Ness's eyes widened in horror
Ness inhaled sharply and used his telekinesis to catch his backpack and towel just in time before it hit the water. He sighed in relief and brought it back to him. That's when he noticed Lucas staring at him with a blush on his face.
He realized too late why.
Well. Shit.
Sorry, cliffhanger :P
Thank you guys so much for the wonderful reviews! Chapter 8 will come soon!
