A/N: And now... where things get pushed to the extreme. There have been many occasions where Lucas was pushed further and further away from the truth, but all of them will be eclipsed now by the sheer inanity of what is going to happen next.

But before that, there are a couple of changes to the previous chapters that I overlooked and will now list:

-In the chapter where Princia reveals she was in the latest Super Smash Brothers tournament, I've put a description of how that tournament went down.

-In the Intermezzo where Shadow said he was always watching Lucas, I made it so that he wasn't and never has been, and that Giegue was the culprit behind that. Shadow is just very good at predicting Lucas' moves.

-A quick change to the previous chapter, Lucas retrieved his Mystical Staff from his room during the breakouts. (Not updated yet though.)

These revised chapters aren't up yet mind you, but these are the changes they will feature so no one gets confused.

And now, without further ado...

Chapter 23: What Comes from Darkness

"Hey Lucas, can you turn up the lights a bit? I can't see a darned thing!"

I'm not sure if that was intended to be a joke or not, but I didn't approve of it nonetheless, and the glowing of my eyes is directed straight at Bowser as a glare. That was... actually the first snide remark anyone made about my new form. And I didn't like it. It's not like I have any control over the brightness of the red glowing in my eyes... I'd rather not have them at all if I had a choice. "Oh, stuff it, Bowser. Now's not the time for your lame jokes." Ness retorts in my defense. I silently thank him... though I also withhold my statement that his jokes aren't much better.

I do understand the basis of the joke, though... as we descend underground in this elevator, there isn't so much as a speck of outside light. In fact the only light in here is actually coming from my eyes, and their red glow isn't much illumination. I can't even tell what kind of wall the elevator is surrounded in... metal? Wood? Or is it just ground? Regardless, I find this whole glowing thing really eerie now that I've actually seen it in practice... it isn't really an effective sight method. It's just not bright enough. It's only a cosmetic change if anything.

"Mario, can you make a fireball or something? I don't like being in the dark like this!" Peach complained.

"Not-a without-a burning-a someone. We're-a too-a cramped." Mario replied, evident by his Italian accent. I often wonder why I don't hear this accent from Peach since these two are from the same world and know each other quite well...

"Oh, quit whining about a light, guys. We're nearly to the bottom." Samus interrupts. I suppose she of would know best out of the fourteen of us crammed into this elevator, having just used it herself a couple of minutes ago.

Sure enough, a crease of light begins to form in the bottom of the mesh-style elevator doors. Even without my PSI, I can tell that the atmosphere has turned from lax to serious as silence falls upon us all, preparing for what might await us at the bottom. As we descend, I can see clearly that the path in front of us is a hallway composed purely of metallic materials. It would all be pale grey with blue fluorescent lights reflecting off of it... at least if it weren't for Samus' earlier Zero Laser. The mesh doors slide open, and we can all clearly see the aftermath of her ultimate attack in the form of charred walls, floor and ceiling. Half of the fluorescent, tube-shaped ceiling lights are broken and sparking, and remnants of Alloys charred pitch black are strewn all the way down the corridor where a large cavity had been burned out of the far wall. "Sheesh... you sure know how to wreck a party." Sonic compliments Samus.

"Alright people, this is how the next phase breaks down." Snake says. "There are two machine lines in this complex that produce the Alloys, one on each side of the Manor for quick access to the outside. If all is going well, the Alloys should be diverted by Philanthropy and the Meta Knights. All we need to do is sneak in from behind and destroy them."

"That's all we need to do? This'll be cake then!" Bowser said with confidence, mashing his fists – pardon me, claws – together.

"If that's all we need to do down here, why'd you bring so many of us?" Jeff asked.

"Because this is Master Hand we're dealing with." Snake replies. "He has complete control over this place, so we have to hit hard and fast. We can't do that with a small group. It's a simple plan: split up into groups of three, two of them disable the Allow makers, while the third confronts Master Hand."

Snake looks directly at me when he says that last part... he probably knows which group I'll be going with. "Well, this shouldn't take very long then!" Peach says, holding a finger up. "All we have to do is shut down some machines. Once that's done, we can help anyone else who needs it, right?"

"Exactly." Snake confirms. "Now, enough talk, let's go."

That's all that needs to be said to start everyone running down the damaged corridor.

"The western Alloy makers are directly left from here." Snake informs us as we near the end, where the hall branches off to the left and right.

"That's my cue!" Sonic says with excitement. "Anyone wanna join me?"

"We do, we do!" says both Popo and Nana at once. I can't get over how they always do that, saying the same thing at the same time. Are they sure they aren't distant relatives or something? As they excuse themselves from our group when we turn the corner, I hear them shout, "Hey, wait up!" Were the circumstances better, I would probably laugh; Sonic just can't slow down...

This next hallway is very long... I imagine it's as long as the manor is wide, possibly even longer. "Nothing of importance down this next one." Snake tells us as we approach a branch in the corridor. But before we even get close to it, a pair of Alloys rush out of it. One red and one blue, both carrying Super Scopes. Both of them get into a crouching stance, and we can hear the distinct hum of their weapons charging up.

"Ness, I think that's your cue!" Paula shrieks, and I can hear her and several other people skidding to a stop as we realize we can't get to them in time to stop them. The aforementioned child suddenly yells and stumbles in front of us just as their weapons fire out big balls of light at least twice the size of my head. For a moment I fear that he won't get his PK Magnet up in time... but my fears are unwarranted; he absorbs both blasts into his personal bubble which he spawned not a moment too soon. They begin to charge their weapons again, but Paula and Snake take them down from afar with their PSI and pistol respectively.

Ness turns to Paula with an angry expression. "Geez, Paula! Warn me next time you do something like that!" he shouts at her.

"You're the only one here who can stop those things, and you were behind us all!" Paula retorts.

"Well you didn't have to throw me!" He snaps back at her. "What would've happened if I'd tripped and didn't get the magnet up in time!"

What? So Paula threw Ness in front of us all so he could absorb the blasts? That was... really risky, and an apparent lack of foresight on her part, since Ness is even clumsier than me sometimes. Seeing that they're glaring at each other as if they hate each other's guts – which I know isn't the case, they love each other dearly – I decide to break them up. I grab both of them by the collars of their clothing and pull them apart. "Enough, both of you! This isn't the time!" I say forcefully, before shoving them forward to get them going down the hallway again, and they are quickly followed by everyone else.

A little while later, we reach another path branching off from here. "Master Hand's bunker is that way." Snake tells us. "I'm going for the other Alloy maker, so this is where we split up. Whoever isn't fighting Master Hand, you're with me."

I can hear a low growl coming from Samus. "As much as I want to make him pay for locking me up, I don't think I can fight someone that powerful without my Varia Suit. Guess I'm going with you, Snake." she says. We reach the next corridor, and those of us eager to confront Master Hand turn and head down it. "Good luck, guys! Hit him once for me!" I hear Samus call out to us.

I turn to face the path... but suddenly, the ground below my feet changes and disrupts my balance. The floor has begun to tilt downward and the walls expand outward, leaving me with nothing to grab onto. Despite my best efforts, gravity wins out and I fall face-first into the ramp. Ow... that was embarrassing. I try to shrug it off and ignore the laughter of my friends while I get back up, seeing the... door? It's huge... a gigantic metal slab, probably twice the size of the one I had punched my way out of back at San Miguel... and considering Snake said this was a bunker made by Master Hand, it's probably twice as thick. There's no doorknob or hinges or anything, it's just like a big, grey obstruction. "Whoa... that's kinda excessive, don't you think?" Ness comments.

"Mister Snake said it was a bunker. It's supposed to be as impregnable as possible." Jeff tells him. He jogs up to a large control panel beside the door, a numberpad from the looks of it... a very big number pad, attached to the wall. Well, Master Hand is a big glove, so I guess he made buttons to better fit his fingertips. Above the numberpad there is a green screen of some sort, about as wide as the whole numberpad but only as tall as one of the keys was. This must be a password lock for the door. Experimenting, Jeff presses a few of the oversized numberpad keys – having to press the buttons with his whole hand because they were so big – and a string of numbers gradually appears on the screen. It ends up as, "6848393458." Then, a couple of seconds later, the numbers disappear and the sound of a buzzer reverberates through the corridor. The door is not moving, so I can only assume he did something wrong. "A ten-digit password... that could be almost anything!" the boy genious says with evident frustration.

"Can't you hack it or something?" Ness asks.

Jeff starts inspecting the huge numberpad with both his hands and his eyes, as if feeling for something... but he eventually turns to Ness and shakes his head. "The whole thing is sunk into the wall. If there is some way for me to tamper with it, I can't get at it from here."

"Well then, all we have to do is get it out!" Bowser says, stomping up from behind me, and I can hear him cracking his knuckles. He moves in front of us and is about to try and work his claws around the sides of the numberpad.

"W-wait, Bowser!" Jeff says pleadingly, running in front of him... that was a bold move coming from him, or anyone for that matter. He's lucky Bowser wasn't running, or the kid genious would've been flattened like a pancake. "If you damage it, we might never be able to get in there!"

Bowser stops in place, claws millimetres away from the technology. His head tilts downward towards the freckled blonde at his feet and he asks, "Well, what else are we gonna do!"

No doubt Jeff is trying to come up with a feasible response to his question, but his silence tells me he's not having much luck. Neither I nor anyone else seems to have an answer either. "If it were a word or a phrase, I'm sure we could figure it out... but numerical passwords are completely random. We could try for days, weeks or even months and still not get the right one." Peach says.

"Exactly. Ripping the thing out of the wall is the only thing we can do right now, so get outta the way!" Bowser finishes. After a moment of hesitation, Jeff moves aside, allowing the giant turtle full access to the numberpad. But there's a problem with it being sunk into the wall, which Bowser makes clear as he tries to pry it out: his claws don't fit in between the tiny, tiny gaps between the electronics and the steel. Try as he might, the only success he has is in accidentally snapping the "9" key in half. Dropping the piece of plastic he broke off and probably very frustrated by this point, Bowser growls, "Oh, to hell with this!" and resorts to bludgeoning the numberpad with his fists. The screen displays up a "5" before his claw tears its way through the centre of the number pad.

Then the entire screen turns green and a "ding-dong" sound is heard. I feel a low rumble as, somehow, the door begins to rise. "Wha?" both Bowser and Jeff say at once, probably as dumbfounded as I am.

"...The-a password-a was only-a one digit?" Luigi asks.

"That or-a Bowser-a broke it." Mario replies.

"Huh... I see." Jeff mutters just loud enough to be heard, his hand on his chin. "No one would think to enter a one-digit password. It's risky, but it's clever."

"Haha! That was lucky!" Ness cheers.

Bowser crosses his arms and snorts, wearing a superior, toothy smirk. At least that's what I think it is, it's hard to tell whether he's smiling or not with such a rugged face. "Who says violence never solves anything?"

"WHY IS THE DOOR RISING!" bellows a voice from... not any of us. But I definitely recognize it. The hilarious moment ends in my mind when I remember who the owner of that voice is. It's definitely Master Hand. As the door rises more, I bend down to look under it... and I see him. No, wait... I see two of him. Two giant, floating white gloves, except one of them looks like a left-handed glove. Crazy Hand, Master Hand's psychotic brother. So he's hiding here too? "You!" Master Hand growls, pointing at me with his index finger. I can tell he's very angry even without my PSI. "How dare you return here!"

The door has risen enough to walk under normally, and I enter the bunker. I take a brief moment to look at my surroundings. The bunker is a huge room, but most of its size seems unneeded. It's a giant dome, all made of dark-gray steel like the door I entered through. The exterior of the room is lined with giant computer screens and terminals of many sorts, some suspended on the walls, some sitting on the floor, most of them displaying parts of the inside of the manor. An Alloy mans each and every one of those terminals, quickly getting out of their seats at my entrance... to my relief, they aren't armed, but there are still a lot of them. I roughly estimate at least thirty.

Sightseeing complete, I'm eager to return Master Hand's hostility. This is it... he has nowhere to run. I have a gut-feeling that whether it were my intention or not, that this will turn violent no matter what I do now. "What do you mean, 'how dare you?' I live here, just like you do!" I shout as I hear the footsteps of my friends gathering around me.

"You used to." Master Hand replied. "Until you ran away. You left so you wouldn't hurt anyone here... why are you back now of all times!"

"Because you crossed the line!" I answer, shaking my fist at him. "You lied to us about Shadow, you sent Mewtwo to try and kill me, and you locked everyone up for no good reason! It's about time you told us why! We know something big is going on, and we know you have something to do with it, so start talking!"

If I didn't know better, I'd think Master Hand's reply was a snort. "Did it ever cross your ignorant mind that perhaps I simply can't tell you the truth? What if, for reasons you couldn't possibly comprehend, telling you the truth would open a whole new world of disaster for us all?" he says, trying to sound calm, but I can still hear the raggedness in his voice..

"And you haven't done that already!" Ness shouts.

"Not even close!" Master Hand replies immediately. "My Smashers... I will tell you right now that you are getting yourselves involved in matters much bigger than you can imagine, much too dangerous for you all and for all of the worlds. So I will only warn you once." He breathes in and out, slowly, as if hesitating in what he wants to say next. "Turn back and leave us be, or I will be forced to disband the Super Smash Brothers Organization, and end all of your existences here and now."

Now there was a cacophony of surprised yells and "What's" from the crowd of Smashers, and I joined in. Disband Super Smash Brothers! Is he really that desperate! "Disband us!" Peach shrieked. "But this organization is the only thing that keeps the peace in some of the worlds! You would risk all of those lives just to keep this mystery from us!"

"You're damn right I would!" Master Hand bellowed. I can hear the princess shuffling backward a bit at the sudden tone of anger... were I not so determined in my purpose here, I would probably be scared too. "The secrets that I am forced to protect are bigger and more dangerous than you could possibly imagine! And I will protect them, at any cost! The potential lives lost from the breaking up of this organization are nothing compared to what will happen if the truth is discovered!"

When he says that, a small gasp escapes my mouth as I lower my head in thought. Those words...

Some must live and some must die. 'Caring' for my comrades, as you put it, only makes it harder to accept that simple fact. Besides, if Shadow's plan comes to fruition, a great deal more lives than that of the Smashers will be lost. I will do what must be done. Nothing more, nothing less. A few lost Smashers are a small price to pay.

Mewtwo... he said nearly the exact same to me, when he tried to kill me despite that I needed to get back to my friends, that they were in mortal peril at the time... that he was willing to lose so many lives for the sake of his ideals... but I'd thought Master Hand was better than that...

"...The last person who said that to me is dead..." I spit at him. I can hear everyone behind me gasping at me, whether at the venom in my tone or admitting that I killed someone before, I'm not sure. But right now that's not the point. I raise my head again, looking straight at the glove with a furious scowl. "How dare you gamble with the lives of others!" I shout. "I don't give a damn how important your reasons are, nothing can justify the loss of that many lives! You... you're just like Mewtwo! You're a power-hungry creature without a soul!"

"SILENCE!" Master Hand retorts at me. "You understand nothing about the trials and turmoil Mewtwo and I have went through! Do you think my position is all fun and games! The demise of all beings is something that must eventually come to pass! If I must save the worlds by sacrificing a few of them, that so be it!"

"Sacrificing them to..." I begin to say, but I stop there... I really don't understand. "You're not making any sense!"

Stomp, from the left of me. Bowser seems ready to voice his own opinion. "Sacrifice... that's the talk of someone who's given up!" he growls, and I look to him to see him in a battle stance. "I'd never do something to put that many lives at risk, even I'm not that bad! If your secrets or whatever mumbo-jumbo you're talking about are really that dangerous, you never should've done anything with them in the first place!"

I hear a "click" from my right... I look over to Lyn, who has her Mani Katti ever-so-slightly unsheathed. "And you say that your reasons are so dangerous, yet you just want us to ignore them?" she asks. "I'm sorry, but that isn't how it works. You imprisoned us and forced our friend into exile with your plans to kill him, even breaking the laws of our organization that you made. You owe us an explanation for everything you've done, and we're not leaving until we get it, simple as that!"

I face Master Hand again. "Me neither. I came here not only to save my friends, but for the truth." I put myself into a fighting stance, my staff pointed at him. "Even if I have to beat it out of you."

"Ooh... you're so scary..." For the first time I hear Crazy Hand contribute to the conversation. His voice is discordant and higher-pitched than Master Hand's. "The mortals are angry... I'm so terrified~" He then descends into one of his trademark laughing fits, twitching erratically and sinking from the air to the floor, thrashing around...

Wait, did he just call us mortals? Like... Shadow did?

"Then... I will do what I must." Master Hand says, his fist clenching up. "As much as it pains me to admit it, the Super Smash Brothers Organization has become too involved in higher affairs. Very well, I will take responsibility and end it here before it gets out of hand."

"Ugh! How can you making killing so many innocent people sound so simple and calm!" Ness said, taking a spot beside me and readying his baseball bat. "And to think, we worked for this two-faced freak!"

"No, not anymore." Peach is the next to speak, and I see her gripping her umbrella... rather tightly. This always meant she was going to smash something with it. Even now, it gives me the chills, that and the determination in her voice. "He can't just throw all of those lives away... I won't let him! We'll just have to keep protecting everyone without him!"

"Right, we don't need this loser!" Bowser added. "Let's just get what we want out of him and get rid of him!"

"For-a once, I couldn't agree-a more." Said Mario, stepping in front of Bowser. It's faint, but I can see sparks of flame licking at his white gloves. Luigi stood beside his brother, wordless, but lacking his usual shaking... was he brushing his cowardice aside for now?

With all of the forces that are aligned against Master Hand, I can't help but smile. With all of us working together... we can't possibly fail. I look back to Master Hand. "No more hiding, no more running! I'll make you talk if it's the last thing I do!" I threaten him.

Crazy Hand stops having his spasm on the floor and joins Master Hand hovering in the air. They curl up into fists, as if they were held by an actual giant person, while the right hand pointed its index finger at us. "The only thing you've gotten by challenging me is a one-way trip the great beyond!" Master Hand replied. "Remember just whose wrath you've brought down!"

At that moment, the inevitable confrontation began. As if given an unseen signal, the masses of Alloys along the walls of the room came out swinging, rushing at us as fast as their robotic legs would let them. But they're all unarmed, and we took down armed Alloys without even breaking a sweat... even if they were swarming us like this, surely they wouldn't be too difficult to handle, right?

Bowser didn't seem to think so. Three of the Alloys, two red and one yellow, had tried to gang up on him, only to damage their hands on his spiked shell which he then dashed into them with. A blue and green Alloy both team up on Princess Peach, but in one clean swipe of her umbrella, they stumble backwards with their heads cracked open and spewing electrical sparks. The Mario brothers rush to defend their princess upon seeing her attacked, fending off a pair of red Alloys.

Before I can see how that confrontation turns out, I see a Blue Alloy out of the corner of my eye, dashing headlong for me. I respond by rushing at it myself, not giving it the chance to actually prepare any sort of attack or counterattack before punching its head right off; using my staff wasn't necessary for this hunk of junk. Two more of the same Alloys attempt to get at me as soon as the previous one fell, but faster than I can even blink, Lyn is in front of me with the Mani Katti drawn, and the robots are both cut in half horizontally. While they finish falling over, I look back at the others... no one seems to be having a great amount of trouble dealing with them despite that they outnumber us by well over double. But again, they're all unarmed. Hand-to-hand combat is no problem for any Smasher as far as I know.

Knowing that they'll be alright, I turn my attention back to Master Hand. It seems we're both aware that nothing is standing between us, because both he and Crazy Hand are balled up into fists, ready for the battle to begin. I glance at Lyn, and she nods, knowing what's about to happen. I brandish my staff and let out a war cry, signalling the charge. We sprint, and they fly at us. Looks like we're about to meet in the middle of the room...

"Lucas, Lyn, get away from there! Now!"

Or not!

It was Paula's voice, sounding genuinely panicked. I barely have enough sense to grab Lyn by the collar of her shirt to stop her from moving as well, and it appears it was just in time, as not a minute later I hear an impactful crash from directly above us. I look up just in time to see the very top of the dome cracking... I impulsively drag Lyn back with me trying to get away from the center of the room, not even a second before the dome breaks open, and a torrent of bright-blue light breaks through. It impacts the floor, and the sheer force it puts out is enough to blow us both backward a few feet and onto our backs.

I hear a surprised scream from both Master Hand and Crazy Hand... did they have time to react? When the beam of light fades away into nothingness, I can see that they did not; both hands are on the ground a couple of feet away from the blast, probably pushed backwards from it, and have a scorch mark over their middle finger going all the way up their wrists like a racing stripe.

"Merciful Father Sky!" Lyn wailed, clearly as surprised as me. "We were nearly right under that!" She's right... and looking at the part of the floor where it hit, there's now a literally red-hot indentation worn into the solid steel, about as wide as the blue light was. It had to have been a laser, and a powerful one at that. I don't think either of us would've survived if we were caught in that...

"Are you two alright!" Paula calls out to us, and I turn around briefly to see her, Ness and Jeff running towards us.

"Thanks to you, yeah!" I call back, getting back onto my feet. Lyn is quick to follow suit.

"Where did that laser blast come from!" Ness asked. "I didn't see anything on the ceiling that could do that!"

"There wasn't." Jeff confirms for him. "In fact, there shouldn't be anything like that above-ground either; we're right under the manor. Something just blew through it, a few feet of earth and that reinforced steel ceiling."

Oh yeah... Lyn and I definitely would've died if we'd been directly hit by that. I don't even think my monster body would've lived through that! "Then what the hell was it!" Ness yelled. "The only one who could do that around here is Samus, and even if she weren't down here, her suit already fell apart!"

"Guys... it's... I..." Paula... her voice was suddenly faint-sounding. In fact, she was even starting to fall over.

"P-Paula!" Ness stammered, catching her before she fell over. What's wrong with her all of the sudden!

"Something's coming..." she rasped out. "Something really powerful is coming through the roof!"

I look up at the hole in the roof... suddenly all is quiet in the room. It helps me to listen... I can definitely hear some kind of whistling... I get the faintest feeling I've heard it before, but I can't place it. "Oh boy..." Ness says, and I can hear him gulp afterwards. "This feeling... I haven't felt like this since we got attacked at Princia's place..."

Princia's place... does he mean the Magican Royal Palace? But I don't sense it... oh right, monster body. "And for those of us who don't have access to our PSI right now!" I remind him. The only person who immediately comes to mind that they could've sensed is... "Don't tell me Shadow's coming through there!"

As if to add to my frustration, Ness and Paula are silent for a moment, as if contemplating their answer. "No... it's not Shadow..." Ness finally speaks up. "This doesn't feel anything like Shadow, its not as cold and twisted... but I definitely sense PSI and I know I felt this at Magica..."

More silence, and I can hear the whistling getting closer... no, it's not whistling. It sounds more like an engine... a jet engine. What could Ness be feeling? From Magica with the ability to use PSI, but not Shadow? Then who else could...

...Oh no.

...Oh God no.

Please no... not him! Not him!

The source of the laser blast finally emerges, slowly descending into view... and a horrible, deep sensation of fear falls onto me. The sight or those orange pants and black jacket makes the colour drain from my face. The sight of that wing-shaped jetpack and the smoking cannon that replaces his right arm makes my heart leap into my throat. And his head... the sight of it... I can't accurately describe what I'm feeling when I see that ruffled orange hair... and those eyes... one blue, one glowing red... and... and... his face...

My face...

No... no... please just let this be another nightmare... please don't let this be real!

I scream. I scream like I've just seen the angel of death descending from the sky, coming to take my life. My body begins to slowly and shakily step backward of its own accord, wanting nothing more than to get away from him. Him... "C... C... C-C-C..." I can't even say his name... my mind is so close to snapping right now that my entire core is shaking.

"Lucas... is that...!" "Are you alright! You're as pale as a ghost!" "Dude, snap out of it!"

The words of my friends are going in one ear and the other... I'm too focused on him...

My brother...

"CLAUS!"

I finally manage to say his name, shouting his name at the top of my lungs before I fall down. Even then, my arms and legs are pushing me backward along the floor. I recognize everything about the boy my age who flew through the new hole in the roof... I recognize it so much, it's like my nightmares are coming true... no, they have come true...

"It is him... Lucas' twin brother..." Lyn murmurs.

"Why... why is he here! Why now!" Jeff asks. "You told me his task is to kill Lucas, but why would he have to show up now of all times!" Gee, thanks for the reminder, Jeff!

"You... why are you here!" Master Hand shouts at him, he and his brother slowly hovering over the floor again. "And confound it, pay attention to where you're aiming at! You did more damage to us than them!" He starts flexing himself... I can hear the cracking of knuckles... "No matter... you're here now, so I'll let you do your job."

Claus speaks then... "How generous of you."

The sound of his voice... hearing it again, in reality, after all this time... it sends shivers down my spine. That terror multiplies inside of me when green sparks begin to arc around his body... it's even beginning to glow green... he reaches his free hand up into the air... oh no. Not that attack.

"E-Everyone, run!" I shout to everyone. "He's going to use PK Love!"

"What!" Ness and Paula wail. They don't heed my warning, but instead erect a respective PK Magnet and Psycho Shield around all of us. But what about the people behind us, still at the door! "Darn it guys, we can't shield all of you! Get out of here, now!" Ness screams at the others.

Claus' body begins to glow brighter and brighter... he's moving his arm down...

...And points it behind him.

"Wh... wh-wh..." Master Hand stammers. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

Its disbelief all around, every Smasher in the room voicing question of why in the world I'm no longer the target, but Master Hand instead. And no one is more confused than me right now! "You overestimate your power relative to that of your former pawns, Master Hand. My task is only to erase Lucas, not any of the others. You will easily be overpowered by those that remain." He turns his head to the awestruck glove. "And you will be forced to divulge our secrets. This I cannot allow... thus, the only solution is that you must first be erased."

The glow moves from his body into his arm... and then out his hand comes the PSI technique that the Smashers know me so well for. A barrage of blue-green hexagons flows out of his hand, and rains down on Master Hand and Crazy Hand. I can only hear their screams of terror as the attack makes contact, but the explosions that results are so bright that I can't see them... in fact, the force of the attack is so great that it knocks me backward even further. A quick series of thud sounds tells me that everyone else was pushed back too. I'm almost afraid to get back up again... what became of the Hands? I sit up... and among the smoke, I see barely anything of them...

Only tatters of what was once their gloves... floating up and fading away like smoke...

No way...

Claus just... killed Master Hand and Crazy Hand... with one shot...

"But... but... NO!" I hear Bowser roar. "We were supposed to do that!"

"What on earth! I thought he was on their side!" Peach asked.

"Apparently-a not..." Luigi said, his voice quivering... his fear has returned. I can't blame him.

"Master Hand..." Ness says, getting back onto his feet, only for me to hear him sink back down to his knees. "He... he was our only lead..."

Claus' arm becomes lax, and he turns back to me... looking straight at me. There's no emotion on his face... his expression is completely stoic. "Now that our secrets are safe, I will now carry out my duty and erase you, Lucas, before the Eternal called 'Shadow' can be allowed to use you for his purposes." He reaches into his vest, and pulls out a golden... tube... I hear it click, and a beam of orange light comes out of it. It's his sword... "Consider what I must do an act of mercy, for your fate will be much worse should Shadow's ambitions succeed."

What... what is all of this stuff he's saying? He's not speaking like usual... but I'm too terrified to contemplate it as I see him raising his sword up above his head. My mind flashes back to back then... back at Nowhere Island, when we were together at the final needle... when he took his helmet off, and called down his final lightning strike... my badge reflected it, and it took his life instead... but this time I don't have the Franklin Badge. Psycho Shields don't reflect lightning, PK Magnet doesn't absorb it, and there's no way to outrun it... no one in this room has any way to stop the attack that's coming...

I can finally feel my heart freeze over in a lump of cold, hard truth... I'm... I'm going to die... all I can do is let out a loud whine and cover my head as I hear the lightning crackling on his sword, about to be released... I don't want to see what's going to kill me... just... let it be painless...

CRASSSHHHZZZT!

...

I'm... not hurt...

My eyes shoot open in terror; the only reason I could not be hurt is... if something was in front of me...

"NESS!" I shout, seeing that it is indeed him who is standing between me and certain death, arms spread wide as if shielding me from the lightning... this is just like during the Subspace Incident, when Wario shot me with the Dark Cannon... but... this wouldn't turn him into a trophy, this would vaporize him! "What are you doing! My life isn't worth losing your own!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" He replies. My jaw goes completely slack... he... doesn't sound like he's in pain. In fact, now that I look closer, he doesn't seem hurt at all! He even turns his head to me and smiles! "No one's dying here today! Just watch this!" He then turns back to Claus. "Back at ya, sucker!"

Both of his arms are pointed upwards at the source of the lightning strike. The lightning begins to circle around his arms, before arcing and firing right back to where it came from. There's another loud "crash" as the lightning explodes right on target... oh god... this is just like before... without a yell or a retaliatory action, Claus falls through the explosion and hits the ground with a thud.

How... how in the world... "Ness..." I say in a light voice. "How did you do that...?"

He turns to me with a big, goofy grin on his face. He points to the breast of his shirt... and that's when I see it. Something is pinned to his shirt that wasn't there before we entered the bunker. A blue badge with a golden outline, with a decorative lightning bolt symbol in the middle. "You told me your brother used lightning, and I knew we'd have to go up against him sometime, so I dug this out of my room. Stuffed it in my pocket just in case."

I can't believe what it is that I'm seeing pinned to his shirt... it's the Franklin Badge...

"But... how... how do you have the Franklin Badge?" I ask him in disbelief. "I thought it was smashed up!"

"Huh? I don't remember that ever happening... I've always had this." Ness replies in confusion. "Hey, wait a minute... how do you even know what it is?"

How do I know? There's no way I could forget! "The Franklin Badge was how I beat Claus before!" I tell him immediately. "It was the only reason I survived his lightning..." It's for the first time that I wonder if there was more than one Franklin Badge... but... this... this isn't right! I'd journeyed all over Nowhere Island, and I only found one Franklin Badge... everywhere else in my world was destroyed! "What is this? How do you have something from my world!"

"That's... wait, what? That's what I was about to ask you!" Ness counters. "Man, this is too weird..." Weird is a definite understatement... my entire world was already gone except for my home island... Leder said everything was wiped out. So how does Ness have something from my world, something I had and something I definitely saw smashed to bits? Just what is going o—

What the! My instincts make my head look straight up... it's... strange. I think I'm feeling something from up above... how? I don't have my PSI... but after taking a quick glance at Ness and Paula, they aren't looking at the ceiling... in fact, they're looking at me with confused expressions. But whatever it is... it's approaching... its approaching fast! Every survival instinct in my body is telling me to move! "Guys, move, now! Something's coming from above!"

"What! Not again!" Ness complains before he moves, dragging Paula with him. I pull back along with Lyn, and Jeff just hops backward. I hear a loud rumbling, and then quickly see something break through the roof again. Not a blue laser beam this time, but... a black one, nearly pitch black except for a purple outline, and at least twice as wide. It produces a "Vssshhh" sound as it hits the ground, the sheer force of the impact shaking the ground around us... damnit, that's the second time in the last few minutes that I was nearly crushed under a laser! But this one is strange... the light is almost totally gone from the room from where the beam is hitting. It's like the beam is sucking the light straight out of the room. And I can feel it... I can definitely feel power from this. A cold, malevolent power that almost makes my heart feel chilly... but how? It isn't PSI, otherwise Ness and Paula would've felt it... then what is it? Suddenly, as quickly as it came, the beam starts to fade away...

At that moment, many things happen at once. I hear Jeff complaining about having to deal with all of this "absurd crap." I hear Peach complaining about why the ground hasn't stopped shaking, despite that the huge, black laser has stopped firing. I see sparks of light erupting from where my brother landed, his body now standing up, nearly-ridiculous amounts of electricity arcing around him... before it simply stops and he falls back onto the floor, face-first. Not even a scream, his body smouldering with smoke coming off of it...

Why...? Why is all of this happening! All I wanted to do was get answers... why is all of this happening to me! No... don't I already know? Isn't this just like back at Mute City, when I was making progress in recovering my sanity? When I was "getting to happy?"

But this... this doesn't have anything to do with my state of mind! I wasn't only trying to find the truth for myself, but for everyone else too! Wait... maybe... maybe it is kind of the same thing... it's not so much my health, as it is me making progress in general...

It's just like when I thought everything and everyone was against me, when I went on that killing rampage... can't I do anything without going mad and putting everyone in danger?

Can't I do anything without every conceivable disaster getting in my way? Or... is that the whole point...? That things are supposed to go horribly wrong when I'm involved...?

Why can't I ever get a break...?

Is everyone really against me?

Why am I being made to suffer through all of this...!

Why do they want me suffer so much!

Who... who is "they?"

My "friends," obviously.

Pain. A terrible, intense pain throbs throughout my entire head, so bad that I can only grip it and scream, falling down to my knees and dropping my staff. It... it hurts!

Why would my friends of all people want me to suffer!

Because they aren't really my friends!

"AAAGH!" My head cranes backward and I scream louder than before. It hurts so much that I can hear a ringing reverberating through my ears and my skull... why! Why am I feeling this much pain!

"What the heck! What's wrong, Lucas!" Ness... I can barely hear it over the noise... it's so loud, it hurts! Ugh... make it stop!

"Ness. Something's wrong with his mind!" Paula's voice... "Something's going horribly wrong! I... I think he's losing himself again!"

"What! Not now!" Ness yells.

"Ness, use PK Hypnosis on him, quick!" Paula pleads.

Look, they're already conspiring against me! Why! Why would my friends do this! Why don't they experience some of my pain!

A loud whimper escapes my throat as I violently swing my head forwards again... it's unbearable! The pain won't stop! My right hand leaves my head and starts pounding the ground on pure instinct, trying to dispel the pain through violence, while my other digs into my skull to relieve it... but it isn't working! Why isn't it working!

Then, suddenly, everything becomes deafly quiet... dull... calm. The pain is relaxing away... I can't tell what anyone is saying... I... I'm suddenly... sleepy... I... need to... sleep...

A/N: And the evil author that I am, I left in a huge cliffhanger... just what kind of ridiculous crap happened in this chapter! Don't worry... everything is going to be revealed within the next chapter or two, where this arc will rapidly approach its climax. The whole truth, I promise, will surprise you. And that impending climax will leave you speechless.

And before I sign off, I extend my apologies, again, for making you wait so long for this chapter. The reason is that I was trying my darnedest to secure a co-op job placement, wrap up some last-minute college work, and other "fun" real-life stuff (mission accomplished, by the way!). Now we're getting into the part of the story that I really want to write more than any other part, so I promise these chapters will come out in the very near future. R&R, and remember, good things come to those who wait.