Chapter 8: Bonding and planning
Despite his connections with his villainous and power-hungry father, Lucina welcomed the Prince in the Smash Mansion, along with his bumbling caretaker Kamek.
"Thank you so much Ylissean, there was an issue at Bowser's kingdom and he advised to bring his son here…" Kamek said as he took Lucina's hand and shook it gratefully, Lucina was taken aback from such thankfulness, especially if that someone was a loyal minion of Bowser.
"You're welcome?" She said, her voice was toned in confusion, Kamek nodded as he entered into the Smash Mansion, his broomstick was noticeably damage, many of the broom head strings were missing and frazzled and the handle seemed cracked.
"Master Junior, what would you like to eat? We're going to be here for quite some time, so you might as well have something to nibble on…" Kamek said as he attempted to take care of the Prince, Bowser Jr. growled at him, already getting mad despite the Magikoopa's compliance.
"I'm not a baby anymore Kamek! I can get my own food!" The Prince barked, folding his arms as he got out of his clown car, Kamek yelped in fear as he hid behind Lucina, fearing that the Prince would beat him in a fit of rage.
"You're scared of Bowser Jr.?" Lucina asked the shuddering Magikoopa, he gulped in response, explaining the Blue-haired Heroine his situation
"Yes…He's one of the biggest brats I ever have to deal with! The only problem is, if I try to stand my ground, it's either a fire ball from the Prince or a month in the dungeon by the King! It's aggravatingly frightening!"
"That sounds awful…Well, at least now you don't with your king if you plan on staying here…" Lucina said as she placed her hands on her hips, purposefully moving away so that Kamek wasn't hiding behind her.
"Well…We are planning on staying here…" Kamek said as if he was hiding something, Lucina took notice but didn't want to interrogate.
"There's plenty of empty dorms you two can sleep in…We're happy to take you guys in." the Blue Haired Heroine said with an honest small smile.
"Really?! Thank you thank you thank you! It's no wonder why The King would even suggest the action of fleeing to here! His Sworn enemies' headquarters! Lucina of the Ylisseans! Oh! How may I pay for this act of kindness and generosity?" Kamek flattered the Blue-haired heroine as the Magus shook her hands rapidly once again.
"Ummm…Stop shaking my hand?" She asked with another curved eyebrow, Kamek's face flushed a deep red before he broke off the handshake.
"Hehehe…Sorry…I'm not really used to such kindness…" He admitted in a sheepish tone, Lucina simply patted the Magikoopa's head.
"Well get used to it…We're not the nicest group around, we can even be cynical and mean sometimes…But we're still a family."
"Why is this little guy doing here?" Robin asked the Prince of the Koopa's with a remorseful smile on her face, the Prince of Koopa's took a random seat on the main hall table, quickly toying with one of his wind-up koopa bombs.
"I'm not little! And I'm just working on my toys…" He said rudely as he continued to tinker and tamper with one of his wind-up bombs, Robin could notice that the Prince was clearly unconformable in this new environment, no doubt his Father kept him sheltered and spoiled him beyond belief.
"That's cute…How do they work?" Robin continued in a curious tone, attempting to converse with the childish Bowser Jr.
"Well…They explode! Cool right?" Bowser Jr. said, Robin, truthfully was appalled at such a dangerous plaything, but to make Bowser Jr. Ease in with his visit, Robin pressed on.
"Really? That sounds, very grandiose…" She attempted to compliment the Prince's deadly toys, the Prince actually smiled, flashing a tint of child-like excitement.
"Thanks! Dad always that I was a good tinkerer." Robin smiled lightly back, hiding her previous despair underneath a small grin.
"Your dad was right, keep on it little one…" Robin said, Bowser Jr. sighed, disliking being called 'little', a common trait that he's usually associated with.
"I'm not little! You'll see lady, I'll be as big as my Dad!" Bowser Jr claimed in an exaggerated tone, quickly doing a little pose, imitating his father roaring, Robin could only chuckle half-heartily as she saw that Junior lacked his father's set of sharp teeth, in fact all he had to even call a fang was a short and stubby snaggletooth.
"We're back, Lucina, Robin." Meta Knight suddenly said as the Star Warrior entered into the Main hall, the other Smashers following, Pit, Palutena, Pac-man and Wario, along with James being the last to enter.
"You missed one of a kind fight you two!" Palutena said honestly as her Guardian Angel pit chimed in, supporting Palutena's claim.
"Yep! It was amazing! It was like the classic David vs. Goliath story!" Pit said in a cheerful tone, agreeing with his Goddess.
"I'm going to be like Pit and agree with Palutena, it was amazing!" Pac-man said as he gave his trademark thumbs-up.
"Eh…It was a six out of ten at best, but good effort though." Wario said with a joking snicker, fully finishing his bag of potatoes that he was guzzling down during the fight.
"Wait…Which one is the David in this case? Because honestly, I feel like I'm the David in this matter…" James said softly as he entered into the main hall as well, the Knight of Dishonor noticed the Prince of the Koopatroop, it was surprising, to see the Prince around but not the King of the Koopatroop.
"Well, in terms of height, you're the Goliath…Although in terms of chances of actually winning? David." Palutena answered as she sticked her tongue out at the Dishonored Knight, James couldn't help but sigh.
"I'm like a song writer…My efforts go in vain as the singer gets all the credit!" James said in a fake woeful tone, acting as if he was a penniless playwright, earning a small chuckle from the Goddess of Light.
"I didn't get to watch the battle…But I know that your efforts weren't in vain James…" Lucina said in a serious tone, not understanding the joke that James just told.
"Thank you Lucina…I appreciate your words…Are you and your Mother…you know…" James went into a silence as he walked to the Blue-haired heroine, taking her serious words in rather than explaining the joke.
"Yeah…We'll manage…" Was all she said, James could see, she was still very upset, James spread his metal arms out, asking for her permission to hug her sympathetically without a need to say a single word.
"Thanks…" She suddenly said as she hugged the Knight of Dishonor, James felt a warmness inside him along with his nonexistent cheeks blushing as he hugged her back.
"Hey you guys are hugging…Can I join in too?" Palutena asked in a joking manner walking close to the two huggers.
"Of course you can!" James suddenly as he suddenly pulled the Goddess of the Light, she yelped in surprise as she was now a part in this hug routine, she was at first blushing like a tomato, surprised beyond her belief that she was, but she eventually calmed down to actually partake in the hug.
"Hey! I wanna join too!" Pit exclaimed wantonly as the Guardian Angel joined in with the hug upon seeing his Goddess be embrace, The Angel mostly glomped Palutena with a gleeful smile on his fac.
"Hey! Save room for me!" Pac-man said enthusiastically as he joined in the hug voluntarily, wanting to be a part of this.
"…Can I join?" Robin asked as she slowly got into the embrace once James motioned her hand to come on in, a hug between two heroes eventually evolving into a group hug was something that interested Meta Knight, despite his stoic nature and cool attitude, it was an anomaly to the Star Warrior, such a strange way to show bond and care towards one another.
"Hmph, I rarely experience opportunities like this, I will join you all." Meta Knight growled as he simply stood right next to Lucina who was being hugged by James, Robin and Pac-man, not even uncloaking his dimensional shroud so he can properly hug.
The Smashers felt a surge of internal warmth inside themselves, while the embracement was corny and childish, it gave the Smashers a feeling that seemed to raise their spirits, they didn't know exactly what this feeling was called, but Palutena was able to sum up this whole ordeal with a single sentence.
"This is nice…" The Goddess cooed in a soothed voice, the other Smashers barring the silent Meta Knight agreed, the only Smasher that wasn't in the glomp fest was Wario.
"Wah wah wah! You gits look like one big giant Onion blossom!" He said as he laughed loudly, his shrilling annoying the silent Bowser Jr. who was still tinkering with his toys, the Smashers chuckled at Wario's comment, surprising the Anti-Plumber, he expected an insult coming from towards his way.
"Well…We do stink…" Lucina admitted in a sheepish manner as the rest of the Smashers laughed.
"Grrr! Let me in! I wanna be a part in this!" Bowser Jr. finally cracked, getting off of the chair that he was sitting upon, Robin scooted some space so that the Prince of the Koopas could properly join in the hug.
"Remember, we still have to deal with the Iron Legion." Meta Knight reminded as despite the bonding he felt, he still remained stern as stone.
"Don't be such a party pooper Meta Knight, there'll always be tender moment, besides, we all know that you're enjoying this as much as the rest of us." Palutena quipped to the Star Warrior; he noticeably flinched from such a truthful statement, but remained in his spot, scoffing at the Light Goddess.
"Why is Bowser Jr. Here? Shouldn't he be at his Father's kingdom?" Meta Knight questioned, it was Lucina that answered.
"Because he wants to be a Smasher like us, he and his Fathers assistant Kamek plan to stay here…" Bowser Jr. was taken aback from such an answer.
"I don't want to join you guys Loser Brigade! I'm the Prince of the Koopatroop! " Bowser Jr. chimed in a loud tone, showing his disdain in the concept of joining with his Father's sworn enemies.
"But Master Junior, we literally have no other place to stay and your father told me specifically to take you here! It would be best to join them, for all we know, it might prove a blessing in disguise!" Kamek intertwined, earning a glare from the Prince of Koopas.
"They have offered us kindness in our time in need when they can surely just slam the door in our face! The least we can do is to join them!"
"Grrrr…Fine! I'll join your stupid group! But I'm gonna stick with Robin!" Upon hearing this, Robin gave Bowser Jr. a look of confusion and curiousity.
"Erm…Why is that Little one?" She asked in a soft and almost flabbergasted tone, Bowser Jr. only huffed from being called little once more.
"Because, Dad always said bad things about this loser brigade…I feel like you can prove him wrong…" The Prince admitted, Robin was confused at first but she nevertheless accepted the Little Prince's reason.
"Don't really think you need me to prove him wrong…But I understand." She finished in a polite and soft tone.
After another minute of the glomp, the Smashers finally broke off the hug, Meta Knight sighed in relief, he quickly got ready to issue some plans.
"Everyone, take a seat…" He said in a polite tone as the Smashers and James did what they asked of, Bowser Jr. on the other hand went back to his seat at his own choice, tinkering with his contraptions.
"So, it was said that the Iron Legion will attack the Mushroom Kingdom, we must first warn them, evacuate the citizens and prepare to fight." Meta Knight as he snapped his fingers, a toad assistant came into the hall, with a scroll, larger than the toad himself in his hands, he plopped it on the table and unraveled it, showcasing a whole map of the Smash World.
This was the first time that James saw a map of the World, if he was being honest, it looked akin to the Subspace Emissary Adventure Mode map, the difference here is that they were plenty of cities and kingdoms relating to other franchises and games, instead of a generic fantasy world.
The West side had mainly landmarks and locations from games like Yoshi's island, Mario or Kirby, naturally magical and simple in nature with a built-in aura of jolliness, but deep down, they have plenty of secrets, may those secrets be good or bad.
The South side had more serious games but it still had tinges with magic and mystique, Franchises like Donkey Kong and Pokémon inhabit the south side, it was mainly the untamed wilds rather than being riddled with cities and landmarks like the west wide of the Smash World.
The East Side was simply like the Fire Emblem games and Legend of Zelda, darker and grittier than the other sides of the world, harboring a heavy sense of fantasy and medieval in their cities and kingdoms, in fact one side of the East side was labelled as Ylisse while the other was labelled Hyrule
And finally, the North Side was the most technological advanced, in fact, the north side took place in the clouds and in the air of the map rather than actual earth, inspired by games like Star Fox and Metroid, the landmarks were in fact, flying ships rather than actual towns or cities.
"Then, we will fight them off, we should alert Bowser Jr.'s father about this attack, perhaps he's willing to let of his grudges if it means saving the world and his kingdom." Meta Knight continued as he suddenly withdrew his sword, pointing at Bowser's kingdom which was erringly close to the Mushroom Kingdom
"The Leader said that in a couple of days they'll attack, Palutena, how old was that vision?" Meta Knight asked the Goddess of Light who answered quickly.
"About three days or two, so they'll most likely attack tomorrow." The Goddess answered as Pit was sitting beside her closely.
"Hmph, we shall split into two groups, one group will alert Bowsers Kingdom, and try to convince him to fight against the Legion, while the other group will alert the Mushroom Kingdom and evacuate the kingdom, understood?" Meta Knight explained.
"Understood!" The Smashers said altogether, all except for James who was silent, Meta Knight noticed the Knight of Dishonor's silence
"I just realized something…I feel like I shouldn't join you guys…To fight I mean…" He knew what the reaction was going to be from Lucina…
"Why…?" She and several other smashers questioned, Lucina looked almost betrayed, James sighed in a guilty manner as he was quick to explain his viewpoint with them.
"I mean…I am literally the Bad Guy's suit of armor…Isn't bringing me along is a little…Risky? I mean…It's like bringing a can of gasoline to fight off against an Arsonist, it's not going to help, it's probably going to only make things worse… "
"But look at us James…" Lucina said as she pointed to the plethora of empty chairs that used to have occupants a long time ago.
"We need all the help we can get…" She continued, James could understand Lucina's reasoning for joining the fight, Meta Knight suddenly intervened with his own reason.
"Think of it this way…Knight, Have you heard of the term…'Fight fire with fire?'' Meta Knight asked the Knight of Dishonor, it donned on James what Meta Knight meant by his words.
"You were the one that told us to come closer together...You're like glue, except sharper, you got us together for the first time in months. " Palutena chirped honestly as she gave a snarky smile to the Knight of Dishonor.
"…I'll try my best…Just…Lucina…Can you…Train me?" James asked suddenly, Lucina was taken aback from such a request.
"You want training from me?" She repeated the question, the Knight of Dishonor smiled inwardly and nodded, Lucina looked rather pleased when she realized that James was telling the truth.
"Of course I can, just be mindful, I don't accept slackers..."
"I'll keep that in mind..." James said sheepishly, inwardly blushing from Lucina's little joke.
"Anyway, we shall leave tomorrow, before sunrise." Meta Knight resumed with his planning.
"Robin, got any ideas on how to properly spilt us into groups?" Meta Knight asked the Tactician, she place a finger on her chin, she was hesitant, taking longer than usual to answer a simple question.
"You and I can be the leaders of the two groups, Pac-man and Bowser Jr. can tag along with me, with James as the added strength in case we need some heavy lifting…" She began, her voice was not firm, and unimposing but it wasn't enough to understand.
"That means my group will go to Bowser's Kingdom, Your group will deal with the Mushroom kingdom attack, so you're going to have more in general in case the attack is earlier than expected, so you're taking Lucina, Palutena, Pit and Wario." James was a bit surprised hearing that Lucina and he will be separated; he didn't want to comment on that despite this, it was pushing his boundaries, especially since Robin is Lucina's mother.
"Sounds like a good plan, Rest up and eat well, we have a long day tomorrow." Meta Knight finished as he cloaked himself back with his dimensional shroud, the Smashers nodded as the meeting was over.
The Smashers began to go about their business, Palutena and Pit left together to the Archery Range, Pac-man went to the Stadium to practice his fighting skills, Robin retired her bed to she can mourn the loss of Rob.
Wario simply went to the kitchen to get some food; Meta Knight simply disappeared with his dimensional shroud ability, most likely to his living quarters
Bowser Jr. was coddled by Kamek to go to the Kitchen with Wario so he can also snack on something, leaving James and Lucina alone.
"So, it's just you…And me…" Lucina awkwardly said as she folded her arms to the Knight of Dishonor, immediately, the Knight mentally blushed, a strange sense of flushness began to envelop in the Displaced Knight
"Yes…It seems so…Shall we train now?" James asked sheepishly, not wanting to rush things, Lucina thought about it for a moment.
"Fine, here's your first lesson…" She suddenly pulled out a paper fan, it looked exactly like the battle item fan, except it was normal-sized.
"Try to snatch this fan out of my hand." Lucina challenge, James was confused to say the least.
"Alright…Not to hard…" James said as he slowly grabbed the fan, only for Lucina to quickly move the fan out of James grasp, before James could even respond, he was then smacked in the face by the fan!
"By the words of Sonic, you're too slow!" She said as James attempted to grab it again, his movements to slow and klutzy to even have a finger brush the fan; he was rewarded with another fan smack, he growled in annoyance.
"You need to have your sword swing movements fast and uncostly, a single move can decide an entire battle like a stone in the river, but only if it's in a sea of strikes!" Lucina said wisely, raising a finger as she effortlessly moved the fan out of a James grab, smacking him right in the face again.
The two heroes continued with this silly but well-meaning exercise, James got progressively faster for every time he missed the fan, it wasn't a big change in movement, but it was enough for Lucina to take notice.
At the end of the day, James still couldn't snatch the fan out of Lucina's hands, meaning a whole ton of fan smacks for James, he growled in annoyance as he jokingly rubbed the side of his faceguard, as if he was actually hurt by Lucina's punishment.
Despite the constant failures, James did actually improve, his movements being more faster than before, forcing Lucina to move the fan faster than before, James even thought that he was like in his former human body with this improved ease in his new body.
