The Shadows of Past part 10

"The Spoils of the Past,"

His body hits the floor harshly again for who knows how many times now. He let out a horse breath then began to rise again, his body felt like it was weighted down by a bag of steel on his back. He stared back up at the being staring down at him. He was a gigantic monster with shiny metal armor, it's a cobalt color with a strange energy swirling around in his torso that was visibly seen, he as a pointy part of his armor sticking out his elbow and on his kneecap, it stood tall over him. He didn't hesitate though as he leaped at the beast without a second thought. The beast swung at him, but he latched onto the fist to turn the attack against it throwing it in another direction. The beast was able to get its feet back on the ground, but he was upon him sooner than expected slamming his knee on the head of the beast.

"PK Spark!" he said waving his armor unleashing six sparks of PSI energy. All of the attacks seemed to hit their mark as an explosion followed the attacks. He assumed the beast had met his limits, however, that was foolish of him. Suddenly, the beast pounced bringing his cupped fist down. This made him cringe in terror of not seeing the attack, and expecting great amounts of pain. However, it never came. "Huh?" he said opening his eyes.

"Not bad," the beast said his fist inches above his head.

"Really, but…you were about to…ya know…drill me," he said curiously.

"Yes, well the task was to see how you perform in combat, not defeat me. The task was completed," the beast said turning to walk away.

"That's all?" he asked straightening up his body.

"Yes, allow your body to recover and restore itself before doing anything else," the beast said offhandedly. He proceeded to walk toward the exit of the room until suddenly he felt a tug on his arm. He turned to look down and see a the strange albino creature with thick fur on his torso, black eyes with red irises, a tail, and sharp claws. "What?" the beast asked impatiently.

"Gigantor, why is it always the same thing?" he asked.

"What do you-wait does this have to do with those human creatures again?" He looked away guiltily. "How many times have we all told you to ignore them, they are primitive creatures that are naïve of what goes on around them,"

"Yeah…but…Can I ask you something?"

The beast let out an exasperated sigh. He knew the look he was being given and knew he would not be satisfied until he was appeased. "What?"

"Where does your strength come from?" he asked. The Sturdy General looked at him bemused.

"What kind of question is that? It's the same place your power comes from, the MOTHER cores inside all of us,"

"Well, yeah I know that-,"

"Then what is it you're asking me Gigue?"

"I want to know…where your strength to fight comes from. Not the source of your power, but what makes you fight," Gigue clarified.

"What brought this on?" Gigantor asked.

"Well, I was conversing with the humans…they said that sometimes there race fights against each other,"

"Sounds barbaric,"

"That's what I thought too. However, they explained this thing called 'will'. It supposed to be a drive of some kind that ignites the soul and helps push the mind and body past its given parameters. At least that's what I gathered," Gigantor chuckled at Gigue. "What?" Gigue said frowning only to hear more chuckles. Gigue's face contorted glaring up at his brother. "What is it?"

"Gigue, always with the scientific approach, a bit of a shame you weren't created with feelings," Gigantor looked down at him. "You see, that strength is something that every living being has. The will to live, and fight for what they believe in," Gigue tilted his head not understanding. "Okay, we fight because we want the universe to be safe for all creatures. We want total peace however there are some who don't share these ideals. When two conflicting ideals come in contact it creates a bit of a disagreement. All creatures have the right to live as they want to, that is a right born into,"

"So, what we do is, make sure that everyone has this will to live and fight for what's right," Gigue concluded.

"Exactly,"

"But what about the planets we destroy?" Gigue asked. Gigantor stared down at him for a moment then took a knee to become partial to his level.

"They live on in us, so that they may have the chance to fight for what's right as well. We fight for our survival. It's not always the strongest, or the smartest that lives on, and it's not always the weakest, or the most ill prepared that fall. But the ones whose wills are strong to fight for what their belief is, and allow that strength to flow through their very being,"

"Wow…that sounds even more powerful then the MOTHER cores we have,"

"Indeed, so with that power in one hand and my training in the other I'm sure you will become the ultimate bringer of peace," Gigantor said reaching out his giant hand to pet Gigue on the head.

"You think so?"

"I know so…"

Lucas's eyes shot open. He blinked a couple times wondering where Gigantor went, but after a moment went by he realized that it was only a dream. However, a dream was a bit weak for what it was, it felt more like a revisit to the past. He had to admit that he was little put off at the moment. The last thing he remembered was duking it out with Gigantor, now he's in a bed. Lucas took a quick glance around to realize that he is back in Ness's room. Lucas tried to sit up, however it felt like his body was fighting against him as he moved. At first he suspected Carnicise, but noticed the silence in his mind. He found it odd, but decided that the quiet was a good thing. Lucas however felt his body was so weak, so he supposed he went a little overboard when he accessed his Devil Mode again. It seemed the more he used it the worst the after effects were. Sure he felt unbelievable strong during this phase, and nothing bothered him. However, it never fails that he's completely useless after it. He understood he would be exhausted, but this seemed like a bit much. Lucas let out a low sigh.

Suddenly the door to the room opened up and in walked Tracey, Ness's little sister. She looked at him and seemed surprised. "Oh, you're awake,"

"Yeah, in a sense…" Lucas groaned. Tracey walked over to his bedside to look down on him. "So…where is everyone?"

"Oh, well quite a bit has happened. Ya know you've been out for five days,"

"Five days!" Lucas gasped. Lucas had to admit the irony of it. "I have to stop doing that…"

"Yeah, after that battle with your bro, you were super tired and just past out. Ness went to go get you, but Gigantor was gone,"

"Gone?" Lucas gasped. During the fight Lucas had damaged Gigantor's armor. It should've been impossible for him to move yet alone so quickly after that last move. Something was fishy, and as much as he wanted to look into it his body said otherwise.

"Yeah, while you were out Carnicise tried taking over," Tracey said offhandedly making Lucas freak instantly. "Don't worry, he was so weak all he could do was fall out the bed. Ness had him under control,"

"He didn't hurt you did he?"

"Nah, he said he was too tired, and that he'd eat me some other time. We actually had not too bad a conversation,"

"You actually talked to him?"

"Well yeah, he was forced to take over since you were so deep in your subconscious or something like that. He said that something was wrong with you, are you alright?"

"Something's wrong with my body, I can hardly move anything and everything hurts. Where is everyone?"

"Well Ninten and his friends went back to their time since he was hurt pretty bad," Lucas had a guilt look on his face. "He said he'd be back soon. He's been through a couple of times to check on ya. Though he still had a funny walk last I saw him. That battle must've been big we could feel it all the way from the lab in Saturn Valley,"

"It got intense…"

"We were afraid the planet was gonna fall apart," Tracey said sighing. "Well anyway, the rest of them went back to their homes and wait for you to wake up. Ness stepped out a minute ago to go get a pizza or something," Lucas tried sitting up again, but it was difficult. "Maybe you shouldn't move yet,"

"Something…something is wrong with me…" That's when Gigantor's last words played in his mind. 'Word to the wise, you should think about getting a few pieces of MOTHER'. "MOTHER?"

"What about your mom?"

"No, not them, but…I have to go somewhere," Lucas again tried to move and the more effort he put into it the more it was starting to exhaust him.

"Lucas wait!" Tracey exclaimed gentle trying to lay the boy back down. She was surprised that she was actually able to with him resisting her. After all wasn't he supposed to be able to uproot forest with a simple flick of his wrist? This alerted her of his weakness.

"What's going on?" exclaimed a voice entering the room. Both Tracey and Lucas look to see Ness enter the room a bit concerned. "Oh, Lucas you're up, that's good had me worried for a little while," Ness said walking over to his black haired friend. "Good evening,"

"Thanks…" Lucas said weakly. Ness's cheerfully demeanor faded slightly.

"You've been asleep for five days straight, how could you still be tired. That's not humanely…wait never mind, but even so you shouldn't be tired anymore,"

"I shouldn't, but I am really exhausted and I think I may know why,"

"Well spill I gotta hear this,"

"It's something alien like…"

"I figured that just what is it?"

"I think I need something called MOTHER,"

Ness looked at him utterly confused. "What…so…you wanna eat my mom?"

"What, no, don't be stupid!" Lucas snapped offended he would think that way.

"Well I don't know what that is, do you?"

"Kinda, I had a dream about my past…Gigantor was there too…he seemed really…kind. I felt like I looked up to him and he respected me,"

"We humans have a saying for situations like these," Lucas looked at him curiously wanting to hear it. "Where'd all the love guy?" Lucas chuckled at how fitting the words seemed.

"There seems to always be a human saying for everything," Lucas said. "By the way, I want to say I'm sorry…"

"For wh-wait no, Lucas stop apologizing for stuff that you can't control. I don't even know it is but I know you couldn't fully control it,"

"But I could this time," Lucas protested. "I was tearing up your planet with my battle with Gigantor. I destroyed so much life, and the animals that lived in that forest are probably homeless thanks to me,"

"Awe, I wouldn't worry too much, I'm sure everything will be fine," Tracey said touched that Lucas felt for the animals. Ness however rolled his eyes.

"That's the outcome of when two titans clash against each other Lucas, tons of destruction. Gigantor was a power unlike anything I've ever seen, other than you. I didn't think anything could stand up to Ninten, but boy that guy did a serious number on him. Gigantor actually managed to break some of his ribs, fracture his forearm, and on top of that he nearly caught the flu out there with no jacket. That guy was no joke,"

"And it only gets worse. I'm the one responsible for bringing them here, and now our battles are gonna tear the very planet apart. I can't be the cause of that,"

"You can only do so much Lucas," Ness said ruffling Lucas's hair. "I gotta say you've got a pretty strong will for everything else to live,"

"…thanks…but Ness, we still have work to do, Gigantor's gone!"

"Yeah, I know, but I doubt he would cause any trouble. Sides, he's all banged up probably got beamed to his ship or something. I wouldn't worry about him, he knows whose boss now. Although I really wanted a crack at him,"

"Your attacks wouldn't have been any good, and your body would be in twice as bad shape as Ninten's,"

"Yeah, I know, I just hated the fact of standing around watching my friends get beat,"

"Well you may have another chance, when is Ninten coming by?"

"Beats me he just pops in and out on a whim, why?"

"We need to get to Tazmilly Village," Lucas said trying to sit up, but again failing. "It's serious,"

"What's going on there, don't tell you can sense things through time too!"

"No, but Gigantor told me that was under surveillance the entire time I was there,"

"Seriously?" Ness asked surprised. "So, you're saying that they have spies there watching you,"

"Or possibly people I've interacted with, there's no telling what might happen. If they find out about Gigantor they may move in on everyone there and I don't know if Claus could handle everything even with the help there. I don't know whose there, but I gotta get there to stop them!"

"Well you're not in any condition to move, let alone fight Lucas," Tracey said bringing up a good point. "You should figure out what's wrong first then go to Tazmilly, after all you wouldn't want to worry them with half your life beaten out of ya,"

"Yeah…"

"Good going little sis," Ness said. "She is right too,"

"I know…fine…we'll go to the lab tomorrow to see what's up with me. I guess I'll just sit here and wait,"

"Want some pizza, I know you don't need it, but it helps pass the time?" Ness suggested. Lucas shook his head then closed his eyes allowing drowsiness to come over into sleep. Ness ushered Tracey out the room in order to allow Lucas his sleep.

"Hey, kid…wake up!" yelled a voice. Lucas's snapped open to see it was pure darkness all around him. His eyes quickly adjusted allowing him sight in the dark. Lucas looked around. "You must feel it right?"

"Carnicise?"

"No, the Tooth Fairy,"

"You don't even know who that is,"

"Well as far as I know neither do you,"

"What do you want?"

"Hello, can you not feel the power source practically calling your name…I was too tired to say anything before…but I got some sstrength, damn already slipping. Listen go to the power source,"

"How, I can't stand?"

"Be cr-crecreative…" Lucas then felt Carnicise's presence fade slightly. Even his symbiont was weak. Whatever is powering his body is starting the fail from the sounds of things. Lucas decided he needed to move, but was at a lost for what do. Lucas looked down at his hand, and then suddenly realized that he has on the shirt that the symbiont made for him. Lucas focused hard to get the short sleeved shirt to become a long sleeved shirt. Once he did that he focused hard to shoot out a thin tendril that stuck to the ceiling. Lucas grabbed onto it and with all his might pulled himself up. He swung his body out of bed. Noticing he didn't have shoes he imagined them up and then they appeared. Lucas then laid all his body weight onto the tendril knowing it was the only thing supporting him.

Lucas knew he had to be creative for this next part. He needed to leave out Ness's window. He didn't want to disturb Ness and his family. Lucas removed the tendril from the ceiling then quickly shot another closer to the window, and allowed his upper body to get him over. He repeated the task till he made it to the window. Lucas leaned on the wall as he pushed the window open letting the cold crips air rush at him. Lucas looked down groaning. Even at half strength a jump like this was nothing, but now he was gonna have to be a bit more tactful. Lucas leaned over the window then shot out one thin tendril from each hand on the outside of the house near the window. Lucas took a deep breath then allowed himself to slip out the window. At first he fell straight down headfirst, but thanks to his preparations the tendrils held strong enough for when Lucas reached the end of his line that made his upper body jerk up making his body up right itself. This allowed Lucas to touch down on the snow softly as he retracted his tendrils. However, now he was in open space with nothing to support him. Lucas fell on his hands and knee breathing heavily. The cold air getting to him pretty bad.

He could not believe he was exhausted hardly using any energy of his own. However, the signal that he had been trying to ignore ever since he woke up here five days ago just kept getting stronger and nagging at him. Lucas began crawling slowly, hoping no one would see him in such a pathetic state. He didn't even have the strength to summon even the tiniest bit of tendrils. He had never noticed that it actually took energy for him to use the symbiont's powers. Lucas kept crawling now crawling on his stomach like a worm. He felt utterly humiliated, and hoped that this would never come up in his never ending life. However, he stopped his trek when he noticed a pair of bright red shoes in front of him. One of them was tapping impatiently. Lucas groaned as he looked up to see Ness's annoyed, yet concerned face. Ness has on his jacket zipped up tightly, with sweat pants, no hat showing his nasty bed head, and he has on gloves.

"What are you doing out here?" Ness hissed. Lucas cringed a bit, but he understood Ness's worry. He did after all try and sneak out knowing full well he couldn't walk. Especially when it was so cold at night and he was dragging his body through snow!

"I need to get to something Ness, it's really important," Lucas said trying to move around Ness. Ness however placed his foot on Lucas's back hindering him.

"Its early morning whatever it is can wait,"

"It can't Ness, it's…I don't know what it is…but it's been calling to me since I got here…please just let me go…" Ness looked down at him sternly. Lucas knew full well that no matter how mad he made Ness he could never stay mad at him long. Soon enough Ness's face soften.

"Do you really have to do it right now?" Ness groaned. Lucas nods.

"I think it's important…"

Ness groaned again, "Alright, climb on," Ness said turning around and bending to a knee so Lucas could climb on his back. Lucas looked at him surprise. "No matter how annoyed I am with you right now I'm not gonna let you crawl through the snow to get there. I already watched you do that and I'd have to say not your best moment buddy," Lucas supposed he would let Ness have his moment. After all he needed sleep unlike him, so Lucas felt it fair Ness got to poke some fun at him. Lucas managed to get himself on Ness's back thanks to a little shrug from Ness. Lucas put his arms around Ness's neck while Ness firmly grabbed hold of Lucas's legs. "Where are we going anyway?" Lucas had to smile. Ness wasn't even concerned with where it was just as long as Lucas got there.

"It's actually pretty close, up there I think," Lucas said pointing over Ness shoulder.

"Up there, you sure?" Ness asked suddenly a bit more curious.

"Yeah, why?"

"You'd think I'd piece that together sooner," Ness said and from his tone it sounded like he was slapping himself in the face. Lucas wanted to question it but Ness assured that he would understand. Lucas simply enjoyed the nice easy pace Ness was going, even though Ness could barely see in the dense darkness he still followed the path as if he could see through the darkness. Lucas was mildly in impressed with that. Ness didn't offer much conversation besides a yawn ever now and then. However he did tend to quicken his pace when Lucas's body started to feel a little limp. Suddenly, Lucas let out a yawn.

"Whoa, I've never seen you do that before," Ness said.

"Me either…" Lucas was extremely spooked now. He was tired? He was never truly tired, exhaustion is one thing, but tired is another. "What's up here anyway?"

"You'll see in a second it should be right on top of this hill here," Ness said passing a house and then continuing further.

"Oh, I didn't know you have neighbors,"

"Yeah…that's Porky's house…" Ness said dryly.

"Why haven't you blown it up yet?" Lucas asked. Ness looked back at Lucas shocked.

"Lucas, I'd never expect something like that from you," Ness said startled.

"Well, I feel that's fair. A life for a life, don't humans have that philosophy?"

"Yeah, but the sane ones don't live by that,"

"I find it strange that you guys come up with all these sayings and philosophies yet only half of you live by them. What's the point in having them if you're not going to apply them?"

"It's just how some people express their ideals in a way people may understand. Some do, some don't,"

"I'm still lost,"

"Ya see humans aren't as complicated as you make us sound Lucas,"

"I've lived my life following orders and doing what I've been told and to simply carry out orders using the training that I received. Nothing more, nothing less. You humans intrigue me because your lives aren't bounded in such a way, and literally have unfathomed potential. Yet instead of progressing you stumble and fight each other. You all, as entire race, hold great promise and could create something beautiful, yet you all fight and argue with each other. You all claw at each other not wanting another to succeed over you simply because of your own selfish reasons. It's a miracle you guys made it this far in my opinion,"

"Well, that's a very tactful way of saying your impressed. I'm afraid we are a bit more complicated than I thought. It's true there are selfish people in this world who want nothing but their own success. But there's always good to balance out the bad, and it creates a perfect balance. We all know there's no such thing as a perfect world in this life, so all we can do adapt with what we have. One day we may be able to become unified, but it doesn't seem possible in my lifetime. All we can do is hope and keeping moving forward with our dreams, it's the least we tiny humans can do,"

"Dreams?"

"Yep, everything that ever was or will be starts out as a dream," Ness said smirking at Lucas over his shoulder. Lucas pondered on that statement when suddenly Ness came to a stop. "Here we are!" Lucas looked up to see a giant rock on top of the giant hill that they stood on. It was mostly covered in snow.

"This is what's been calling me?" Lucas asked somewhat shocked and disappointed.

"Well it fell from space, and you're from space, I'm shocked I didn't make the connection sooner,"

"It seems…familiar though…" Lucas said narrowing his eyes.

"It might, Buzz Buzz rode on it to get in contact with me after he escaped from you,"

"Buzz Buzz?" Lucas questioned not believing he even knew any creature with that name. "Might be an alien from a conquered planet…can you get me closer?" Ness obliged as he brought Lucas closer to the rock. Lucas reached out to touch the cold stone of the rock, and then suddenly it lit up as the snow simply burst away melting on the spot. A red light was resonating from it giving off a powerful force.

"Whoa, why am I just now sensing this?" Ness asked himself.

"Yes…I know this feeling…" Lucas suddenly pulled himself off Ness to touch the meteorite. "Its inside…must get it…" Lucas groaned as he weakly pounded on the rock. Ness powered up his PSI then performed a downward karate chop on the meteorite splitting it in two and letting the light pour out. Lucas stared at Ness shocked.

"Well I may not be as strong as Ninten or you, but I'm still pretty tough," Lucas smiled then reached inside the meteorite and retrieved a small sphere about the size of his palm. "Wait, that's it? What are we supposed to do with-," Before Ness could even finish Lucas simply popped the object into his mouth then swallowed it whole. "Lucas, who knows how long that thing's been in there!"

"Roughly, maybe 100 years, it's very purified and concentrated," Lucas said licking his lips. Suddenly, white sparks began dancing all around his body as if his body was reenergizing itself. "Much better!"

"Yep, that hit the spot!" Carnicise was in agreement.

"You just get weirder and weirder…"

"Never a dull moment I say!" Lucas said excited as he popped back to his feet. Ness saw that Lucas was clearly super charged now. "Wow, I feel great now, I think that was mine to begin with. Buzz Buzz probably stole it from me or something,"

"I don't think Buzz Buzz is the type to steal," Ness said quickly coming to his decease friend's aid. Noticing that he was treaded shaky ground Lucas decided to back off that topic.

"Still…I wonder why it was here…did I hide it or something?"

"What was that?"

"It was only a piece of my MOTHER core,"

"MOTHER, what's that?"

"Not sure entirely, but I know all us Immortal Soldiers have cores made of it. Of course the cores are a lot bigger then that little marble I just swallowed. I bet I may find a few pieces back home on Nowhere Island. That's even more reason to hurry up and head there. I may not be powerful enough to defeat whoever is there, but maybe I may be lucky and their MOTHER core is low on energy,"

"All this alien jargon is making me sleepy, can we go to bed now,"

"You go on ahead, I've got some thinking to do…I promise I'll be at the house before you wake up," Ness nods then yawns as he begins the trek back to his house. "Oh and Ness," Ness turns to face him. "Thank you," Ness smiled.

"Anytime bud, except the times between 12 am and 11 am,"

Lucas smiled as he watched his friend leave then his face turned stern as he looked over the meteorite. "So…this is what Buzz Buzz did with that piece of my core. I'm glad he wasn't dumb enough to turn it over to the human, otherwise things would be a bit more complicated," Lucas closed his eyes as vision passed through his brain. "I see…each fragment contains a bit of my memory, and when I piece them all together, my past should not only become clear but I'll be at full power again…"

"Well chief, what's the plan now?"

"Obvious isn't it, you're going to help me from here on Carnicise. No more trying to control me, I need you and you need me. We have to gather my core and put the pieces back together again,"

"That sounds boring,"

"…I might let you snack on a human or two, if you behave," Lucas said sternly.

"Why of course sir," Carnicise said shocked but excited about Lucas sudden change in his outlook. "Why the change of heart?"

"Just feeling a little…devilish is all…"