Damaged Heart part 20

"Operation Ω Day 3: part 2

"Let's see how good you guys bleed!" exclaimed Gregory as he rushed forward towards Sonic, Ness, and Lucario. The three heroes quickly removed themselves from the path of this psychotic terror. They hadn't realized that the fighting around them was still going on. Despite the crippling blow the Freedom Fighters struck the Pigmask were still determined to win the day. Of course, no one was going to go down that easy. Gregory grew upset that he missed and swung his claws at the closest person, which was Ness. Ness leaped over the boy dodging the claws effectively, and then countered with a PK Rocken. Gregory only received the glancing blow of the blast as he leaped to the side. Ness was surprised by his quickness, but did not let that distract him. Gregory extended his claws out to try and impale Ness, but ducked under them as the red PSI energy flowed over him. Gregory tried to enclose his fist on Ness, but Lucario quickly intervened throwing an Aura Sphere at the boy. It knocked Gregory off his feet and into a pile of rubble. Sonic then came down on the boy hard with slamming spin attack.

"I wish I could smack some sense into you, but I just don't have that many smacks," Sonic stated bouncing off the boy's body.

"Well between the three of us, let's certainly try," Ness said with PSI energy dancing around his hands.

"Lets try and hurry this up, we have friends that need us," Lucario said slamming a Focus Punch into the boy's cheek.

"Ow, I'm supposed to make you hurt!" Gregory whined.

"Sorry didn't get the memo," Sonic said slamming into the boy's chest in spin mode with the force of a cannonball. Sonic dodged back avoided the crazed boy's claws. Sonic smirked as he flipped backwards also getting out of the way Ness who rushed under him to push his palm into Gregory's face.

"PK Flash," he said simply. At such a close range there was no way the full effects of the attack didn't hit hard. Gregory wailed out as he started to cry uncontrollably and he was sent careening into a pile of rubble. "Stay down already,"

However, the boy was not done as he burst through the rubble covered in demonic like PSI energy strands around his entire body as his eyes screamed bloodlust. "I'm gonna tear you open now,"

"Is that so?" Sonic challenged wiping his nose with his thumb. "Let's see you try it!"

At his challenge Gregory went into a complete and utter rampage. He started lashing out with his PSI claws in random directions hoping to slash the three of them to pieces. Though crazed, the pattern of attack was still there showing the boy was still in some small amount of control. They also noticed he never stopped crying after Ness's attack. Gregory noticed that the three moved to fast for him to strike down so he decided to slow them down. He slammed his hands into the pavement sending a powerful shockwave that shook up three well enough for them to lose their balance. Gregory lunged for the closest one which happened to be Ness. Ness quickly caught the boy by his arms preventing the claws from enclosing on his skull. Ness kicked the boy off for Lucario to send a pounding attack to the boy while in midair.

"I gotta say, I've seen some crazy, and buddy you take the crazy cake," Sonic said drilling him into the ground by performing a charging spin dash on his face.

"I…I must…" Gregory staggered to his feet. He is heavily beaten down, his bruises showing, and his tears never stopped flowing. "Come on already, this aint over till someone's dead!"

"Well we're wasting time then," Lucario said with crossed arms which greatly disarmed Gregory.

"What?" the crazed boy questioned.

"We don't kill," Sonic said.

"And you're not about to kill us," Ness said with a glare.

"B-b-but that's not how it works!" Gregory yelled with tears staining his eyes. "Someone always has to die, always!"

"Well time to play by a different set of rules then," Sonic said with a hand on his hip.

"NO!" Gregory yelled slashing at the hedgehog who lazily dodged the attack with indifference and without moving from his spot. "No new rules!"

"Sorry, but the board has already decided, we would've did the gavel thing but ya know budget cuts," Sonic said vaulting over another of Gregory's blows. Ness and Lucario combined for an Aura Rocken attack that plowed Gregory into the pavement and leaving him unable to move. The boy was still alive which was obvious to his rapid breathing as he laid face first in the dirt. Seeing he was down for the count the three turned around. However, that was a mistake for as soon as they did the boy jumped up to bounce on them. They were struck in shock that they couldn't move in time. However, an ice shard the size of large sword skewered the boy before he could even break into skin of the three warriors. Sonic, Ness, and Lucario turned to a still injured Alicia who had an outstretched hand with Araboo and George at her side.

"Hey, are you guys-," Ness began.

"Go, Lucas needs you more than us right now," George said.

"Well we're going ahead, you'd better catch up with us," Sonic said he turned to Lucario and Ness. They both nod back at him and this made them turn their heads toward the Empire Building that seemed to touch the clouds. Before they could even take one step though the ground began shaking violently as a cloud of dust began to form around a portion of New Pork City. Specifically the area occupied by the Empire Building, and then the loud roar of rockets began to sound in the air.

"That doesn't sound good…" Lucario muttered.

"Sounds like we need to change the station, shall we?" Sonic motioned toward the slowly elevating area. They both nod as the rush off and Sonic quickly follows.

"WHAT IS THIS!" Lucas yelled somewhat enraged at the accusation.

"Like I said, you're a clone and that is the original Lucas," Claus said nodding toward the giant tank where the beat up Lucas resides. This Lucas however on closer studying was a bit older than him, possibly sixteen or so. The boy also had a breathing mask over his face from the bottom of the container. His clothes were the exact same as his save they were torn and revealing his pale skin under them.

"WHY?" Lucas yelled as white PSI energy began flowing around his fist. He didn't like this joke, if it was one, and he most certainly wouldn't stand to be lied to.

"I'm not lying," Claus said calmly and coldly. "You are a clone of my twin brother. Why keep a clone in such a condition?" Claus questioned pointing toward the tank. Lucas noticed Claus looked at it longingly.

"Why not free him?"

"If I did that, he'd die only a few minutes from his injuries," Claus said.

"What about using PSI to heal him?"

"My…healing PSI…it won't work, his body would reject it because PSI shouldn't come in direct contact with this liquid,"

"Sounds like a whole lot of excuses to me,"

Claus's calm composure suddenly snapped off as a vicious glare turned toward Lucas. Lucas somewhat flinched seeing this look, "Shut up…"

"You think-,"

"Shut up!" Claus yelled blasting Lucas with an intense bolt of lightning from his sword. Lucas's body slammed into a number of metallic devices until his body finally found the floor. Lucas groaned as he tried to pick himself up, but Claus suddenly came to slam his face back into the floor using his boot. Claus moved his boot then reached down grab Lucas by his golden locks. Claus slammed Lucas face first into a metallic contraption next to a tank, then the floor, and then into the empty tank. "Damn clone!"

Lucas pulled himself out the tank feeling the glass shards stinging his face, and the blood that eased out his nose a bit. Lucas flopped to the floor in a heap after getting served a volley of dizzying facial strikes and feeling a slight concussion work it's way. Lucas's shaky vision stared up at a moving blur with a top of orange. Suddenly a hand reached down and he felt a tight grip on his hair again. With a tight whine of pain he was raised up to his shaky feet. The blur reeled back it's other hand then swung for Lucas to feel a metallic force slammed into his face dislocating his jaw. Then the force slammed into his stomach making him cough up more of his life fluid. Lucas felt the agonizing sensation flow throughout his entire body. He felt so utterly powerless and unprepared to defend himself. Despite his anger, his confusion and longing for something…anything different then the answer he got. Was he truly just some creation in a lab, that wasn't even a real person? Was he just something that didn't deserve to live? He felt a darkening veil start to slip over his vision, but he was pulled out of it by another blunt force to his head. He hadn't realized that he was on the floor again, but also being dragged by his hair.

"Don't you dare pass out on me," Claus seethed with anger as yanked the blonde's hair again which slightly agitating his dislocated jaw. Claus walked over to the giant tank with the original Lucas and tossed the clone over toward the tank. "Look, I can hardly tell you two apart now," Claus growled as he unsheathed his thunder sword. Lucas's vision was still swimming, he couldn't even tell up from down at this point. Claus was thorough by the numerous blows to the head. He had little to no chance of fighting back, and even without being in this state what reason did he have to live. He was a mere copy of the original, but his ears still worked despite the ringing. He weakly raised a hand at Claus who at first expected a PSI attack, but realized that this was a form of a weak time out. Claus huffed as he walked over to the clone then placed his boot on Lucas's chest pinning his weak form to the floor. "Now, you want mercy. Too late, orders are to kill you now. The PSI Duplication project was a bust,"

"I wouldn't say that," came a voice from a monitor. Claus turned his head to see the visage of the pig king, in all his childish glory. The blonde child smirked ear to ear to see the Commander. "Well, you've done quite a good job, and with a small mess I see, very well done,"

"Porky, I had your word, the clone for my brother," Claus said. If Lucas's face hadn't hurt so much and he didn't have a few broken ribs, he would've gasped. But the position he was in prevented in way of revealing his shock.

"Yeah, you did didn't you…" the child said scratching his head. "Well first things first, kill the clone and claim your brother,"

However Claus's eyes narrowed, "If I kill the clone then there goes my bargaining chip. You can only get the data you need from him only if he's alive,"

"A dead clone is better than no clone. I still fail to understand what made this one so different," King Porky stated scratching his chin. Lucas had the question burning inside of him and he was going to ask. He weakly tapped Claus's boot t gain his attention. Claus glanced down at the clone with no sentiments or remorse. He supposed that in the beginning Claus had been somewhat resentful of fighting him, even if he was a clone, but Lucas unknowing nature possibly rid him of these feelings. Lucas attempted to gasp out the question inside of him. Claus however was a bit too dense to understand so he eased off of him just a bit to hear.

"…wh…y…." He gasped. Claus huffed at him.

"What he say?" King Porky asked curiously.

"He asked why, which is a question I want answered to,"

"Why what?"

"Why the PSI Duplication project, why Operation Omega, and why to that new weapon you've been developing,"

"Simple, because I can," Porky said snidely. "The PSI Duplication project was in a way of obtaining a power unlike any other. You see, your brother possessed power unlike anything I've seen, more power than even you. Funny, especially with that weak nature of his, but it was something that I wanted. However, it took a lot to get him. The good old days when you didn't talk and I had complete control over everything and everyone. However, when that punk pulled the last needle and changed everything…I had to adapt. And adapt I did!" Porky exclaimed throwing his arms up.

"You used people…" Claus growled.

"Oh whatever the case," Porky said waving the comment off. "I did what I had to, but again, Lucas kept getting in the way. That damn kid was even stronger! He was creating a force to rise again, it was history repeating itself, so I did what was best. I sent an army after him, and his brother performed the finishing touches on finishing him off," Porky glanced at the giant container. "I'm sure you can tell he didn't go down easy…"

"I get it now…" Lucas muttered. Claus and Porky were thrown off by his sudden ability to talk now. Claus assessed that the dizzy spell that he was under was wearing off a bit. Deciding to end this before Lucas gathered anymore of his bearings Claus flashed his sword and aimed for Claus's neck. However, Lucas casted a PSI Counter Shield that made the attack only a fraction of it's strength. Lucas only received a mild painful scratch while Claus was thrown to the floor. Lucas began sitting up rubbing his head as he did so. He grabbed hold of the metallic part of the original Lucas's pod as he hoisted himself up. "It all makes sense…"

"What are you talking about?" Claus asked rubbing his head to shake off the surprise defense. Claus saw Lucas get to his feet and so he immediately got up to skewer him with his Thunder Sword. Though Claus thought he had a clean shot, Lucas dodged by jumping back thus the sword slamming only into the metal floor. Claus was surprised by such a fast movement for someone who supposedly had at least a mild concussion. Claus turned his head only to be greeted by a fist into his check which knocked him down. He turned to look at Lucas with an eerily calm look on his face.

"I'm so…relieved…" Lucas said to which confused both Claus and Porky. "Porky said he created me, simply to obtain the power of the original Lucas. But that's not it, is it?" Lucas questioned looking at Porky now. "This is all one big game to you. You tried to clone Lucas, because he was the hope for some of the people in this city, and they needed him. You planned on turning that very hope against them to put them in a pit of despair. Also, you liked pitting Claus and I against each other,"

"Oh, well you're quite an interesting creature aren't you?"

"No…I'm not…" Lucas said now turning to Claus who was back on his feet again and charging toward him. Claus began swinging his sword in a complete blur of flashing yellow steel. However, this steel never touched Lucas's skin, not even a small cut. Lucas dodged the blade with the stone cold look on his face as Lucas began moving back. Lucas jumped to the side just as Claus jabbed forward, but Claus instantly jerked his weapon back as it almost came in contact with the original Lucas's tank. Taking advantage of his moment of hesitation Lucas grabbed one of Claus's wrists and performed an elbow slash that made contact with Claus's jaw. Lucas then threw Claus to the ground. "At first…I thought there was no way I could be a fake, but then I realized how true it was. These memories, and these feelings, none of it matches up. I thought…I had to become what everyone thought I was, what my memories told me who I was. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't become that, and now I know why,"

"Oh, please do tell," Porky said as Claus got his bearings to go another round.

"The PSI Duplication Project was made so Porky could have his fun. He loved pitting the two of us against each other Claus," Lucas said while dodging Claus's wild swings. Claus performed a roundhouse kick but Lucas was quick as he bent his torso under it. "All of us Lucas's were made to fight you Claus, till Porky grew tired of you eventually and then have all of us fight each other and see who comes up as the last one standing. That would be his new Masked Commander,"

"What do you know?" Claus yelled as he pointed his cannon at Lucas. Lucas smirked as he jabbed a thumb behind him. Claus noticed the giant tank again and instantly pulled back his charge attack. However, Lucas did not do the same as he unleashed a powerful PK Love that slammed into Claus's chest sending him into the thick metal wall that formed around the impact of his body. Claus collapsed to the floor to his hands and knees. "Damn clone…"

"That's all I ever was…" Lucas said looking at his hands, and then he turned his head to look at the original Lucas. "A copy..."

"Well I must say you're pretty perceptive of what's really going on. Now that you know all this, now what will you do?" Lucas eyes widened not even considering the thought. He looked over to the recovering Claus, then to Porky, and finally his eyes lay on the original Lucas. A twinge of pity for the beaten boy panged at his heart strings.

"I'm going to finish what he started…" Lucas finally said turning to face Porky.

"Why, you have no reason too, you're no hero? You can be whatever you want now, wasn't that the point of all that crap you were talking about before?"

"Yeah, but…" Lucas glanced back at his original. "There are still some things that we both can agree on, and it's that you need to be taken down once and for all!"

Porky huffed, "Commander if you please," he said as his image vanished from the monitor.

Lucas's eyes widened upon realizing he took his eyes off of Claus for too long. Lucas jumped back as Claus's lighting sword came down at a vertical angle. Lucas cupped his hands then slammed them into the side of Claus's head. Claus's body slammed into a piece of machinery. Claus regained himself just as Lucas was upon him again pummeling his face with his fist. Claus placed his foot against Lucas's chest and pushed him back to gain some distance. Lucas fell back, but as he did he shot out a PK Spark that knocked Claus's weapon out of his hand. The weapon fell into a darker portion of the room so Claus couldn't see where it went. He turned back to Lucas who raised his fist. Claus pointed his cannon hand at Lucas and steadied it to fire.

"This is stupid Claus," Lucas said dropping his hands to his side. Claus sent him a questioningly look. "Porky doesn't even control you anymore, but you still fight for him,"

"I have to save my brother, I can't let him down again!" Claus said as energy began feeding into the cannon. "I'm the reason he's like that…I'm the reason for so much of his scars…"

"So it's guilt?"

"I love my brother," Claus corrected.

"It shows…" Lucas said looking over to the giant container again. "You're willing to kill something with his face on it, and not even bat an eye of hesitation. I gotta say that's a lot of love,"

Claus mashed his teeth in great anger, "You don't know-,"

"But I do," Lucas cut in as he tapped his head. "I have a lot of memories of you and him. I have to ask you, do you really love him?"

"Of course I do," Claus answered without a bit of hesitation. "If I'm not out there fighting and dealing with meetings and stuff, I spend my free time here. I speak to him, I don't know if he can hear me, but I don't care. I know he's alive, I know there's a way to fix things. I want to see him smile again, and…I want to save what's left of my family,"

"And you think Lucas would've done all this if the roles were switched?" Lucas asked waving a hand at all of the machines and the clones. "He'd do this for you to live in a pod day by day, your body aching and throbbing every waking moment, your life hanging by a mere thread, and your DNA is being tampered with used in ways that can hurt people!" Claus cringed at the truth those words held. Claus's steady cannon arm began to shake.

"…no…"

"Then I gotta say, your love is very twisted,"

Claus's body began shaking, "I-I-I can't lose him…"

"You're only thinking about yourself and what you want. Just like when you tried to kill yourself with that lightning attack," Claus froze at the truth of those words. Claus had felt so much regret and so much shame he was willing to take his own life. He didn't even allow Lucas a few words to comfort him, or to even be there for him. He simply acted. Claus allowed his arms to hang limply at his side as tears began to fall down his face.

Suddenly, a giant explosion sounded as alarms was raised. Both boys looked surprised as the explosion rocked the tower from even the floor they were at. Porky was up to something big obviously. Lucas looked back at Claus to see the boy collapse to his knees as he repeatedly slammed his fist against the metal floor in frustration. Lucas pitied him, but now that he had the answers he needed he didn't need to stay. Lucas calmly began walking as he passed Claus and kept walking without a backward glance toward Claus. Lucas reached the door and noted that it was now unlocked. He thought it odd but didn't read too much into it as he left the room leaving the door creaked just a bit. Lucas looked around the hall wondering where his next stop should be. He felt this odd sensation of rising ever since the loud explosion outside, and the noise hadn't ceased either. He hated the idea of going back down, but he supposed he should if he wanted to meet back up with his friends.

At the thought of them and all the people he knew had had no idea how he was going to tell them. Should he lie? No he could never pull it off. He could be cryptic, but that wouldn't last either. Lucas didn't know how he was going to tell them how he wasn't who he thought he was. Lucas sighed as he reached for his pocket to pull out a cap. Upon pressing a button on the bottom the cap expanded into a headset. He placed it in his right ear then waited for the connection to establish.

"Lucas!" called a panicked voice on the other end.

"Ness, where are you guys?" Lucas asked.

"We just made it on the Empire State Grounds,"

"On?" Lucas questioned.

"Yeah, the whole area around the place just took off into the air. I don't know how high it's going, but its climbing pretty quick, where are you?"

"I'm on the 99th floor, right below the last floor. I'm betting Porky is on the 100th,"

"Let us get to you before you face him,"

"Don't worry, I already had my showdown, now it's your turn,"

"How'd that go by the way?"

"I learned a lot about myself,"

"Really? That's great! Like what?"

"…I'm…gonna have to tell you guys when you get to me if you can stomach the anticipation," Lucas could feel Ness frowning in annoyance on the other end.

"Fine, we'll meet you there," he said.

"Alright and be-,"

"Well, I see the commander was too much of a wuss to finish you off," came Porky's voice from his left. Lucas looked to see Porky was operating a giant killer machine that's size alone took up a massive portion of the hallway. The creature had robotic arms with five fingers on each hand, four legs with one half bending on way and the other bend the opposite direction, wheels in place of feet, and the most notably part is the body was an angry pig's face with red eyes. In the head on the top of the robot with a glass covering was Porky operating the machine. Lucas thought it odd the boy had a red bulb on his head, but was more concerned about the robotic fist that was coming at him. Lucas dived to the side as he dropped on his stomach barley dodging the fist that was about the size of his entire body.

"I strongly suggest you guys hurry," Lucas finished his message before the machine was upon him again.

"Sounds like Lucas found trouble," Ness said to his teammates who stood at the destroyed entrance to the Pigmask base of operations, The Empire Building.

"And trouble has found us," Lucario said pointing to the squadron of soldiers in their path.

"I thought most of the muscle the Pigmask had was sent our way already," Sonic said spinning in a wheel to avoid the laser fire.

"These guys must've been put in reserve and for pretty obvious reasons too," Ness said barley having to do any fancy maneuvers to avoid getting hit. Ness unleashed a powerful PSI Rocken that dispatched of the squadron easily. "They were lousy shots, and wimps,"

"I guess we get it easy then," Sonic said. No sooner had the words left the hedgehog's mouth multiple gun torrents popped out the walls and aimed at them. "Why did I just say that?" The laser torrents opened fire on the three as they danced around the room in a show of skilled of acrobatics and evasive maneuvers to avoid being turned into swish cheese. "I don't know how this can get worse!" Suddenly, the entrance sealed shut and the roof of the entire lobby began to descend rather quickly and mechanically downward threatening to crush those below. "I did it again didn't I?"

"STOP TALKING!" Ness and Lucario yelled as they blasted the torrents shooting at them. Sonic did the honors of leaping toward the slowly approaching ceiling then began spinning to dig through it. Lucario and Ness quickly got under the hole Sonic made as the hedgehog continued digging until he broke through to the other side. Lucario and Ness soon joined him on the second floor now.

"Great, and we didn't even see an elevator either…" Sonic groaned.

"New rule, let's not comment about how easy things are," Ness gasped as he was trying to catch his breath for such a close call.

"Yes, well maybe the elevator is just where we aren't looking," Lucario muttered closing his eyes. Through his Aura Vision he could see numerous types of machinery heading there way quickly. He also saw something high above them and it looked massive especially compared to the other small aura which Lucario assumed was Lucas's. He also saw a mass collection of auras as well, that felt almost exactly like Lucas's. Though odd and a bit disturbing, Lucario tried to ignore all these things as he found the shaft of the elevator. Lucario's eyes shot open again to see Ness and Sonic standing in front of him waiting patiently for their next step. "Here," Lucario said simply placing his hand on a wall. With one mere Force Palm the wall exploded to reveal an empty shaft.

"Dang it, the elevator isn't there?" Ness complained.

"I doubt it would be that easy," Sonic said sticking his head in to see that the shaft was a straight shot up as it blurred a little at the top.

"Well we'd better move fast before the robots come," Lucario said leaping into the shaft and began to climb the shaft by wall kicking. Sonic reached down and hooked his arm around Ness's waist as he hoisted the boy under his arm. Sonic then leaped up after Lucario to catch up. No sooner had he numerous flying spheres came rushing up at them.

"Looks like we have a few party poopers heading our way!" Ness exclaimed. The black spheres were simply that, black spheres with a single barrel in the center of it, and a slit like eye. It was pretty obvious what the thing was used for. The cannons then all began to repeatedly open fire on them. Lucario knew that fighting them in such a tight space and the danger of falling was already great enough without these things. Lucario clung to a wall for a moment then launched an Aura Sphere at an exit to the shaft. Lucario leaped through and Sonic soon followed right him as the yellow lasers ceased for a moment as they began to converge on the intruders. A mistake on their part, for as soon as the large number of sphere like robots appeared Ness and Lucario launched a Aura Rocken that decimated all those in it's path.

"Whew, that was all kinds of crazy," Sonic said.

"This is turning into quite a crazy day," Lucario stated.

"It wasn't crazy to begin with?" Ness questioned.

"Good point," both his friends said in agreement.

"I think I'm done with surprises," Ness said walking over to the elevator shaft. Suddenly, the super speedy elevator makes a stop in front of Ness so suddenly Ness fell back. The doors opened and tendrils reached out the elevator to wrap around Ness and pull the boy inside.

"What's one more gonna hurt?" Porky questioned as the elevator shot up the shaft before Sonic or Lucario could get to it.

"NESS!" Sonic and Lucario exclaimed.

"Oh come on, who get's kidnapped by an elevator!" Sonic whined as he and Lucario began wall kicking once again to climb up the shaft. Sonic would've ran along the side, but he was well aware of the lack of a grip these walls had. He'd plummet faster than the speed of the sound if he tried that. His best bet would be jumping…all the way to the top… "My heart hurts just thinking about this workout…"

Lucario was in agreement about the lack of time for such a detour. "Alright then we're going to try and do it this way," Lucario faced a wall then used Metal Claw to grip his claws into the metal wall. "Grab on,"

"Well this is a new twist," Sonic said as he wrapped his arms around Lucario's neck. Sonic noticed an intense amount of energy building up in Lucario's body. "Uh, Lu, whatcha doin?"

"You know my Final Smash right?" Lucario questioned his voice somewhat a little fuzzy in Sonic's head. This was proof of how much energy Lucario was putting into this, he barley had in reserve energy to use his telepathy. Sonic understood that when Lucario performs his Final Smash he leaps into the air first then fires down an intense blast of aura. Sonic wondered if Lucario was actually gonna attempt the jump, or maybe even the actual blast. Sonic felt he waited for hours, which were only a few minutes as Lucario concentrated. Lucario's body tensed up suddenly. "So, are we ready now?"

In response Lucario simply pushed off the wall with his hind legs to launch him and the hedgehog skyward at startling speeds. Sonic felt like he was flying which almost made him want to open his arms. However, he refrained from the motion knowing that would him plummeting downward to a very unforgiving floor. Sonic felt the floors go flying past them as they rose higher and higher, and the sounds of quite a ruckus was beginning to get clearer as well. Sonic felt there ascent greatly lessen they began to reach maximum height. Lucario however wouldn't give in as he placed his feet against the wall a second time and launched himself again, with less power and force the second time though. Sonic felt Lucario greatly tired out that he couldn't even give conversation, and the hedgehog also knew that they would be getting to Lucas soon. Since they hadn't seen the elevator yet it was safe to say it was on the top floor where Porky is, and now Ness. Ness knew Porky the best out of everyone and felt that he could take care of himself for the time being. The real priority was helping Lucas with whatever behemoth he was dealing with.

"Alright, Lucario, one more push should do it then I'll take it from there," Sonic instructed. Lucario gave a quick nod placed his feet on a narrow ledge then leaped off of it so hard it shattered to pieces. Sonic heard a sharp cry of pain coming from just a few floors up. "Alright, my turn," Sonic threw himself off Lucario allowing the Pokemon the time needed to find a good foot hold as he adjusted to the sudden weight loss. Sonic and Lucario stared at the door that was their target and leaped up toward it, both smashing straight through it. Lucario fell to a knee trying to recover from all of his exploits.

"Lucario?" Sonic questioned.

"…go…" Lucario telepathed weakly to the hedgehog. "At least…both of us won't be too tired to be…of some help," Sonic nods understanding Lucario's motives. They both tried to do it the original way and they'd be fried before they even got to Lucas or Ness. This way Lucario can catch his breath and aid can still be administered.

"I made you, do you think I can't unmake you too?" Porky sneered at the beaten up blonde in the vice like grip of the giant killer robot mech. The creature squeezed it's red fingers around Lucas's body earning a shout of pain.

"L-Like to…see you…try…" Lucas chocked out.

"Well let's get started then," Porky stated darkly.

"Not without me," came Sonic's voice as he spun in a blue flash of light that slammed into the cockpit of the mech making it fall back onto the floor and releasing Lucas. Sonic quickly stopped underneath Lucas as he caught the boy. Lucas looked pretty beaten up, but he knew the boy has had worse. A few bruises on his face and arms, and a slight bit of blood oozed out the corner of his mouth.

"Thanks Sonic…" Lucas gasped as he got out of Sonic's arms.

"You okay?"

"Fine, where's Lucario and Ness?"

"Lucario needs to take five cause it took a lot out of him getting here, and Ness got kidnapped by an elevator," Lucas eyed Sonic curiously but said nothing knowing of the nonsense the hedgehog usually spits out. "I'm sure Ness will be fine,"

"You should be more worried about yourselves!" Porky said managing to get his machine back on his feet.

"I see someone doesn't know when to quit,"

"Ya got that right!" Porky exclaimed as the mech slammed it's fist down in a hammer strike. Both boy and hedgehog moved to avoid it. Lucas unleashed a PK Love attack that was registered as Gamma level, however it fizzled out as it slammed into the armor of the Giant Killer Mech. The eyes of the mech began glowing as it shot out twin beams of pure concentrated energy at Lucas. Lucas raised both his hands to put up a PSI Counter shield. The barrier held strong as the laser beams let out electrical feedback that struck Lucas, but also was sent back toward the Killer Robot Mech.

"Never been much of a ham person anyway," Sonic stated as he used his buzz saw spin attack to cut off one of the robots hands.

"H-Hey, that was mine, you can't break my stuff!"

"Dude, where have you been?" Sonic said jumping back away from a handless swing. "I've been breaking your stuff since day one,"

"And now you're about to see how angry that makes me!" Porky cried chasing the hedgehog.

"Maybe you should try channeling that aggression into something positive, like I don't know, art and crafts?" Sonic replied as he dashed off down the hall as the wheels on the robots feet allowed it to give chase faster.

"That's such a stupid idea from a stupid insignificant creature like you,"

"Oh stop you'll make me blush,"

"I am the King of this world, this world is mine, why don't you idiots get that yet!" Porky yelled as the mech tried to slam it's fist on Sonic.

"Guess we're just slow learners," Sonic said coming to a sudden stop as he about faced and started running toward the mech. "But I'm sure you can relate being a slow leak and all," Sonic said as he slammed into the cockpit of the mech in his spin mode again making the the head tip back as the lower half kept going making the contraption fall flat on it's back.

"Damn you and this piece of crap!" Porky yelled.

"Such a bother," Lucas muttered as a white aura surrounded his body as he levitates above the mech. With the wave of his arms two PK Strikes launch forward one of each slicing the mech's arms clean off and making Porky panic.

"NO!" Porky yelled as he made the mech sit up forcing Lucas back to the floor. Lucas looked back up to see the mouth of the pig face open to reveal a very large cannon barrel. Lucas stared at it in awe as it began charging a giant blast golden colored blast ready to end him. Suddenly Sonic landed next to him on a knee with a smirk on his face.

"Shall we?" Sonic questioned. At this Lucas brightened up catching on to Sonic's idea.

"PK Comet," Lucas said as he uses telekinesis to levitate Sonic above his head as he begins to charge Sonic with intense PSI energy. The discharge given off causing Sonic some discomfort but knew he needed to take in the power, as much as he can, as quickly as he can. Sonic began to spin which gave Sonic the appearance of a great orb of power. Lucas launched the sphere just as a golden blast left the cannon barrel. Sonic's spin was so fast however that the attack wasn't able to withstand the sheer vibrations the attack gave off as it sliced through the cannon's blast, the cannon, and the mech itself. Several moments passed with the robot simply standing there, almost as if awe struck that it was run through. But eventually it sunk in as the robot fell forward and to the floor. It's defeat clear, even as Porky still fumbled with the controls.

"Come on stupid thing, get up!" Porky growled.

"You're done," Lucas said smashing the glass with a psychic force.

"That was pretty nice, if I do say so myself," Sonic said walking to Lucas's side.

"Nice work you two," Lucario said sounding much more energized, but a slight tinge of fatigue was noticeable.

"Glad you're both okay," Lucas said honestly. He returned his attention to Porky who was trying to squirm away. Lucas shot a weak PK Love at Porky's back making him fall over and to the floor with a smoking back. Lucas walked over and reached down to grab the boy. He turned him over then harshly slammed him against a wall.

"Strangely vicious for Lucas," Porky said with a smirk.

"You don't get it do you?" Lucas questioned which made Porky obtain a questioning look.

"I'm not Lucas, he would never ever considering killing anyone. Me on the other hand, has had the thought for as long as I can remember,"

"Lucas, a killer, preposterous,"

"You may think I'm trying to scare you, but I'm not. I've always been willing to kill, but my friends aren't into that and I've respected their wishes, honestly. I will not hesitate to kill you," Those seven words held great power to Porky as he realized that Lucas was deadly serious. This also made Sonic and Lucario greatly disturbed.

"Lucas, what's going on?" Sonic said feeling like he missed something.

"Yeah, go ahead, tell them what you found out about yourself," Porky teased with snide smirk. Lucas's bangs covered his eyes as he could bare to see his friends faces. They've been through hell and back with him and the least he could do is share the truth with them.

"I'm…a…clone…" He muttered feeling oddly liberated from the weight but daring not to look back at his friend's surely shocked faces.

"A clone of who?" Lucario questioned after what felt like a long moment.

"…t-the…the real Lucas. They keep the real Lucas is here, and I am one of his clones,"

"One of?"

"Yes, apparently Porky made a room full of them,"

It was quiet as no one said a word and Lucas still refused to meet their gaze, "So what does this mean?" Sonic asked.

"It means the friend you thought you had isn't really your friend. This thing was created by me, it was created to serve me, and it made such an ugly mess. It's lucky that it's the only surviving clone so far, no matter how many times I try the other clones are useless,"

"You are a sick monster," Lucario growled at Porky in fury never before heard. "You play with this child's life as if it's a game, and toy with lives like it's something to do. Even if he isn't the original Lucas, he is still our Lucas that we promised to help," Lucas's head shot up hearing those words as he turns to Lucario and Sonic in disbelief.

"Y-You…really?" Lucas couldn't bring himself to say it all.

"I gotta admit, I really didn't see this coming," Sonic said scratching his head with a down casted look. "But who you are shouldn't change the fact of why you're here. If the original Lucas can't be here, well then everyone will just have to get over it because now you're here,"

"This gives you a great chance to build your own life and make your own friends," Lucario said. "And your own choices, this is all on you now. You say you only respected our wishes of not killing, well I suppose just this one time we can simply let you be you,"

"That's all the incentive I needed," Lucas said returning his attention to a nervous Porky with his hand pulled back and sphere of glowing white PSI energy began forming. Before Lucas could strike though Lucas noted that the blub on Porky's head began flashing rather quickly and Porky himself smirked. All three of them stared in wonder as Porky began convulsing. Lucas suddenly knew what was about to happen.

"Get back!" he yelled as the sound of an explosion quickly followed.

"Geez, kidnapped by an elevator, that's gonna be quite the story back home," Ness complained as he snatched his appendages free from the tendrils as he walked out the elevator. He looked in front of him to see a throne room and it looked like a bed was placed upright at the end of the room. The room has ceramic floors with fair lighting, a red carpet, and strange random pieces of junk lying about the room.

"Sorry, I thought you wouldn't (cough) mind the mess," a weak shriveled voice came from the bed. Ness narrowed his eyes to see on the other side of the room was a very old looking man, ancient even and that was probably his death bed.

"Pokey?" Ness questioned with his eyes narrowed.

"Correct," he said as a barrage of coughs follow.

"Boy, the years have not been kind I see,"

"Poke fun all you want, you'll be dead like your friends soon enough,"

"Well I know they're still alive because they would never fall for your tricks. Second, you're not as smart as you think you are. I mean why bring me up here, the one guy you've been freaking out about this entire time. You've lived in this crazed paranoia that I've been hunting you down, when you've been the last person on my mind honestly. Get over yourself. And third, you never could beat me, so how is this gonna be different?"

"Allow me to show you," the ancient Porky responded as his bed suddenly obtained a glass casing and began rising off the ground. Soon enough spider like legs shot out the side until eight helped the bed walker become a terrifying looking enemy, despite it's purple color scheme. "I plan on ending this once and for all,"

"For once, you and I are in complete agreement,"

A/N: Ah, whoa this was a long one. So yeah I think about one or two parts and this things is done. Anyway next chapter will be the final rounds of this entire conflict. A classic Ness vs. Porky fight. And we can finally see what Porky has been working on for all these years.