Authoress' Notes: I think somewhere a while ago I said this story would end at either Chapter 30 or 31, including the Epilogue. Well, you know what? I take that back, as I'm terrible at making story predictions for some reason. If I had to guess, I'd say it'd end at either Chapter 32 or 33, including the Epilogue, but I'm not sure. There, now I can't be held accountable for being wrong anymore. I am so smart.

He Said, She Said

Chapter 26: Interrupting the Undeniable

Popo banged on a door. "Nana!"

"..."

"Nana, listen to me!"

"..."

"Look, don't be like this! I said I'm sorry, all right?"

"..."

"C'mon, Nana! At least gimme a chance to explain myself!"

She opened the door and stepped out, looking particularly annoyed. "...Popo, you've got some nerve crawling back to me like this."

"Look, I know the odds're against me, but hear me out first."

"No, I mean... you've got some nerve trying to apologize to me in the bathroom..."

"Oh." He blinked. "W-well, it's pretty urgent, y'see."

"No kidding." She disregarded him and left.

"Nana, wait!" He scrambled after her. "Listen, I know I've said it like a million times, but I'm really, really sorry."

"Popo, you only said 'sorry' once, and that was a few seconds ago, and even then, you acted like you'd said it before."

"Well, now I've said it, like five times."

"...Twice."

"Twice, whatever! I'm not good with numbers! The point is that I'm sorry I left you for Lucas and stuff, okay?"

"Do you honestly think a simple apology's enough to get back on my good side?"

"...Yes?"

"..." She scowled and stormed off.

"Nana, please! Just gimme another chance! I promise this won't ever happen again!"

"That's what they all say."

"No, Nana, stop! I'm not good at this apology stuff! I... It was a moment of weakness! I couldn't help myself!"

She stopped and glared. "...Give me one good reason why I should take you back."

He gushed. "I'm loveable and handsome?"

"..."

Popo's face fell. "...Look, Nana. I'm sorry, all right? Things just... got outta hand..."

"That's nice." She resumed leaving. "Why not go cry to Lucas about it? I'm sure she'll listen, considering how close you two are."

"No, Nana!" He clung to a leg. "Please! I've seen the error of my ways!"

Seeing as he didn't get the hint she was done with him, Nana put her glove to her mouth and, somehow or another, whistled.

The male Ice Climber perked up, smiling. "Woah, was that a wolf whistle for me?"

Popo soon came to the painful realization it wasn't, as he was smacked off Nana's leg and into the wall. Despite being upside down, he was able to see his assaulter was none other than—

He frowned. "Dedede?"

"Sorry about that, Nana." He hoisted his mallet onto his shoulder. "Was this troublemaker bugging you?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. He just needed some sense knocked into him."

"Whuh—" Popo stood, dumbfounded. "What's this all about?"

"Well," explained Nana, "since you decided Lucas was an improvement over me, I went off and got a replacement for you. I'm all about teamwork and togetherness and since you couldn't seem to comprehend that, I've moved on."

"You can't do that! We're registered together as the Ice Climbers, so only we can do stuff together!"

"You're right and wrong about that. Right, because yes, we are registered together. Wrong, because we're only supposed to fight together. Off the battlefield, it doesn't matter what we do."

"But that's not fair!"

Indifference tinged her voice. "All's fair in love and war."

"So, what? You're going steady with him now?"

"Just consider him to be my Lucas from now on. ...Now if you'll excuse us." She motioned to the penguin, then left.

"Sorry, kid." Dedede shrugged. "Them's the breaks. If it'll help any, I think she's just on her high horse. You know how girls are."

"Not really," he daftly answered.

"Eh. She's just being a little stoic now; keep trying and I'm sure she'll come around. If she could put up with you all last tournament and halfway through this one, she can't stay mad forever."

"Exactly! And that's what's so great about Nana!" He stood. "I'll just prove how much of an asset I am to her, and she'll come crawling back to me! You'll see!"

"I admire your enthusiasm, kid, but I don't think she'll be doing any crawling anytime soon..."

"That's right! Why, when I'm through showing her how capable I am, she'll be running back to me!"

The penguin narrowed his eyes. "Popo, just how dumb are you?"

"It varies. Why?"

Lucas woke up to realize, once again, Ness had gone missing. Forlorn, she assumed he'd gone off to fight, meaning she'd be alone for an undetermined amount until he finished. Oh, well...

Getting up, she decided to clean things up, then maybe go eat and idle about until something of interest happened. That's what she did every day, and was all she could do. She sighed. Such was her daily schedule for the next six months or so.

No sooner had she yawned and rubbed her eyes, Ness came in. She noticed he had his hat back on, too. Maybe he just came from getting it back from Samus. Regardless, seeing him was a pleasant surprise. On the contrary, Ness looked kinda troubled; like he had something on his mind.

"Hi, Lucas," he lowly spoke.

"Good morning, Ness." She smiled, excited by his company. "Don't have any fights yet?"

"Not today."

"And you're up? This early?" She looked at the clock, astonished. "But it's not even noon!"

Ignoring that, he swayed about aimlessly. "...Lucas, I did a bit of thinking last night."

"Yeah?"

"And, well... I know the date sucked, so I wanna make it up to you."

She groaned. "Ness, so soon? I'm still a bit sore, you know. Ask me later, okay?"

"Ask you la—?" He blushed. "No! That's not what I meant..."

"Then what?"

"Well, see... I was hoping maybe we could..." He fumbled with his hands. "Y'know... do something more... personal."

"Ness, if you don't call sleeping together personal, I'm not sure I want to know what is..."

Oh, that's cute. That was really cute.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is... Maybe we should try and... y'know, pal around for a bit."

"And do what?"

"I dunno, Lucas, just do stuff together, geez!"

"Do stuff? Together? With you? That doesn't involve sex?" Overjoyed, she flashed a wide smile. You never want to do anything with me, and now you do?"

He pouted. "Well, you don't hafta say it like that... I just don't just usually feel like it—"

She lunged off the bed, smothering him. "That's okay, Ness! I just can't wait to spend the whole day with you! It'll be so much fun! Why, we haven't had any 'us' time since... since... Oh, since I don't know when! But I know it'll be great! Thank you!"

"Aw, well... y'know." He chuckled uneasily. "It's the least I can do. 'Cuz the date sucked, and you deserve better, and maybe I can take this time to... learn more about you."

Letting go, she looked at him. "...Huh?"

"Last night, you told me a buncha stuff I never knew about you, and it finally hit me that..." He backed away, looking disheartened. "I don't know as much about you as I thought."

"..."

"You don't know much about me either, huh?"

"Not really, sorry." She smiled sadly. "You know, Ness... My past isn't a very happy one. Recalling everything'll probably be painful to us both..."

"Well, we don't hafta talk about it or anything. There're other ways to do this, I'm sure."

"No, no, I do, but..." She perked up. "Why don't I let you see for yourself?"

"Huh?"

"Ness, the portfolios. We never finished reading ours, remember? We can go look in those and learn about each other together. There's more in those things than we can say in words."

He paled. "...Uh, well..."

She huffed. "Oh, come on, Ness. I know you're not the most avid reader, but I'm sure you'll find yourself speeding through it before long. Who knows? We could have more in common than we already do."

"..."

"Listen, I'll go take a quick shower and get dressed so we can go, okay?"

She was about to dart away when he gently grabbed a hand, giving her a piteous look. "Lucas, no."

"Huh?"

He bit his lip, unsure of how to dissuade her. "...I don't think that'd be such a good idea."

"But, why? I thought you wanted to know more about me."

"I do..."

"And I really want to learn more about you."

Lucas didn't notice, but Ness winced at that. "Yeah, I know..."

"So what's the problem?"

He sighed loudly, seemingly hesitant as he began his reasoning. "I just don't think... it's appropriate."

"What?"

"Reading about each other? C'mon, Luke. We're... closer than that. Why read a makeshift autobiography when you got the real thing right here? Seems kinda... cold to me."

Lucas suddenly looked horrified as she came to that realization. Relief enveloped Ness until he noticed she now looked depressed, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Omigosh, Ness, you're right. ...What was I thinking? That's so selfish of me... I'm sorry..."

Dammit! Mood swings!

Ness scrambled to pacify her, taking a hand and frantically rubbing it. "Uh, hey y'know what? It's okay, all right? It was just a mistake, nothing to get this upset over. No harm, no foul."

"B-b-but..." She sniffled. "It was such stupid idea. I've got you right here to talk to... and I say we go read about each other... What kind of a person am I?"

"Look, I don't care about that. You didn't know. What, you think I'm mad?"

"No..."

"Then it's okay. Forget about it." He rubbed her stomach. "You hungry? I think that's it. You're just hungry, that's all. And eating for two, you need to eat something. Hell, I need to eat something. Food solves everything, right? How about something really yummy? Like maybe, uh... pancakes with..." He shuddered. "...Barbeque sauce."

In an instant, Lucas' tears impending tears dried as she lit up. "...Actually, that doesn't sound half-bad. I really want that now. Can we get some?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever you want," he mumbled, trying not to show how disgusted he was.

"Yay! Let me hurry and get freshened up then, before we're too late to get the pancakes." And with that, she sprinted off to the bathroom and slammed the door.

Ness sighed as he plopped himself on Lucas' bed. Despite getting what he wanted off his chest, he couldn't help but still feel a bit guilty. Thank his lucky stars Lucas never thought to ask for more reasons or, even worse, go and look at his portfolio anyway. He couldn't stop her with brute force, and if that had come to pass...

He made a face. But why was he worried about this? It was over with. Lucas was happy, and he was doing good by spending the rest of the day with her. And it wasn't like he lied to Lucas or anything; only got her off a subject. That's all. He did nothing wrong, right?

...

...

...

Yeah. Nothing was wrong.

Of course, it took Lucas freakin' forever to get ready, so by the time they got to the cafeteria, breakfast was over. Lunch was being served, so that meant no pancakes. Fortunately, Lucas had since built up another craving for the scrumptious delicacy that was macaroni and cheese covered in honey, sided with hot dogs slathered in peanut butter.

...Let it never be said he didn't hafta suffer to please her.

"This stuff is just so good," swooned Lucas, scarfing down the repulsion that was her meal. "I can't say it enough; it just is! I know I'm going to look back on this and just wonder what in the world I was thinking."

"That makes two of us," muttered Ness. He looked down as a measly cheeseburger he'd gotten, not sure if he could even stomach it now.

The blonde noticed his disgust and swallowed, smiling. Reaching out, she touched a hand. "Sorry, that was a bit rude if me. This is 'us' time; we should talk about things we both love. ...Like each other."

He could already tell by the sound of her voice some sappy material was bound to follow. ...But turning his nose up and rolling his eyes at this every time weren't exactly the best ways of showing he cared. For fear of being the laughing stock of the house again, Ness wasn't too keen on getting all sentimental out in the open, but he'd just hafta bite his tongue for now. A small price to pay to show Luke a little love.

This in mind, he tried his best not to scrunch his face up. Instead, he forced a grin. "Heh, all right, then. ...What'd you have in mind?"

"Well—"

"Oh, Ness! There you are!" called someone. Looking up, the psychics saw Fox run over. "Listen, I need a quick favor—"

Ness snuffed him. "Go away. I'm busy."

"You need to report to the battlefield right away."

"No, I don't. I'm off today. Besides," He eyed Lucas, "I got things to do."

"Sorry, but due to circumstances beyond their control, the Ice Climbers won't be able to fight today, so you'll need to stand in for them."

At this, his mouth dropped. "Wh—? That's not fair! I never volunteered switching fight times!"

"I know, but their schedule clashes with everyone else who fights today. You won't have any fights tomorrow if you do this. Please?"

"No, I'm not the only one off, so ask someone else."

"I don't have time! The fight starts in 10 minutes!"

"Sucks for you."

"Well, if you choose not to come, the fight'll be cancelled on account of your refusal to show up. Not sure if you're still in hot water with Master Hand, but—"

Ness slowly turned to glare at him. "...Are you saying my schedule's already been changed?"

"I knew you'd get cheesed off and waste more time if I did, but yes; you're technically no longer free today." He tapped some papers on the table. "In case you didn't know, if someone doesn't show up for a fight, it's up to one of their opponents to find a replacement, or else it's cancelled. And no-show cancellations are easy ways to get on MH's bad side. Due to this, someone else already volunteered you to fill in. Time is of the essence, so I came to get you."

"Who did this? You?"

"I don't know. I just came to tell you." He dropped the papers before him, leaving. "Here're the battle changes if you want to see who you'll need to murder later."

"..." Enraged, Ness snatched up the papers and scanned through them. Eventually, he came to a list of the fighters. He noticed the Ice Climbers' name had been crossed out, his written in. So it read: Fox, Ness, Meta Knight, and... Pokémon Trainer.

...AKA, Red. That whore!

Sighing, Ness dropped the papers all over the floor, not giving two flips, as he begrudgingly faced Lucas.

"..." She smiled sadly.

"Luke, I'm sorry. I..."

"It's okay. I understand."

"This wasn't supposed to happen. I had the whole day planned out, I swear..."

"It's fine. You'll have tomorrow off. We can do it then."

"..."

He was glad to see her so optimistic about it, but he couldn't help but feel... cheated. That bastard Red was still up to his old tricks, but using his schedule against him? That was low, very low. He was willing to bet he probably sabotaged the damn thing. Just to get to him.

Lucas could tell he was brooding, gently pushing him. "Go on, Ness. I'm sure you'll do fine. It'll be over before you know it."

Ness sighed loudly. He hated being totally pissed off, only to have her gentle demeanor pacify it.

"...I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

"Okay. I'll be rooting for you. I mean," She blushed, "we'll be rooting for you."

Yes, yes, a million times yes, he knew! Did she hafta say that every time? He sprinted off without responding, knowing it'd only make things more awkward.

In a matter of minutes, he trudged his way to where the others were waiting. Fox, Meta Knight, and who else but Red idled about as they waited for the match to start. Upon seeing the psychic, Red dismissed the others and grinned.

"Oh hey, Ness," he slyly greeted. "Fancy seeing you here. Didn't think you'd show up."

"Didn't think you'd show up after last night. How'd you like sleeping where you belong for once? Y'know, in the dirt?"

Immediately, Red's face fell. "...Still got that mouth of yours. Bet you think you're real funny with it, don'tcha?"

"I dunno. Lucas thought something about something on me last night."

Fox preempted Red's retaliation, holding him back. "All right, you two. That's enough of that. The fight's starting now, so settle the score in there."

"Oh, I'll do more than settle the score," chided Red. "Let's just say when I'm done with Ness, Lucas won't even know who he is anymore. Heheheh..."

Ness didn't know what that meant, but it just oozed foreshadowing. Problem was, he didn't know what exactly he was getting at.

...What could he possibly do to him so Lucas wouldn't recognize him? Dismember? Disfigure? Outright kick his ass? Sure, maybe it seemed like a cocky threat on the surface, but knowing Red, there was always something more to things than that. He never was one to take literally.

This proceeded to bother him as the fight started, as well as its duration.

Nana sat in her room, back to the door as he ex-partner banged on it mercilessly.

"Nana!" he called. "Please don't be like this! What I did back there... It was an accident, I swear!"

"..." Nana decided she was gonna, possibly literally, give him the cold shoulder from now on. What he'd done earlier was inexcusably stupid, even for someone like him.

Apparently, Popo had gotten the bright idea to show off his "capabilities" by attending a fight, only to wail on everyone involved. Very little could be applied to what on earth he was thinking, but from what Nana could tell, he was trying to prove his usefulness in the ways of battle. ...And the only way he could do that was by trying to beat up everyone before the Brawl even started.

Of course, this brewed a pre-Brawl battle, so she decided to leave. She no longer wanted anything to do with Popo, not even fight with him. Their agenda would be passed over to someone else for the rest of the day, so she'd deal with that problem tomorrow.

Unfortunately, being excused from the fight just gave Popo more reason to follow her, hence, why he was now minutes away from giving himself a concussion trying to get in.

"I just wanted you to see how cool I am! ...Temperature way included!"

"..."

"I mean, Lucas is cool and all, but she'll never be as frigid as you!"

"..."

"And her stick'll never pack as much punch as your hammer! As both our hammers! Belaying with her would be a nightmare! That snake thing she has is nowhere near as strong as our pull! And I can't do it by myself..."

"..."

"I know we squall a lot sometimes, but in the end, we should really leave that to our hammers. And... it's so much more fun to use Iceberg with you and laugh at everyone getting frostbite from it. Lucas just isn't cut out for that kinda stuff... or dressed for it. She'd probably get frostbite herself..."

"..." Somewhat softened, Nana looked to the door.

Popo sighed. "But Dedede's a penguin, and a big one, too. He could definitely take it... His hammer's way bigger and he could probably carry you up mountains. I can't do that... So maybe you're better off with him, anyway..."

Nana opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. She was so used to putting up with his stupidity, what could she say to something that pitiful?

She waited a few tense moments for Popo say something else, but only heard shuffling, then silence. Slowly, she got up and stared at the door.

"...Popo?"

...

"Popo?"

...

She finally decided to unlock and open the door, looking around for him. Not much to her surprise, he was gone. She sighed, irritation shifting to confliction. Despite still being mad at him for leaving her, his lifelong partner, she was now beginning to feel for the little dimwit. ...Then again, dropping her like a hot potato for Lucas was simply unforgivable.

...

...She huffed, hardening again. The door was then slammed and locked from inside.

Ness exited the fight, rubbing his face. Of course he'd go and get third place after badmouthing Red, who ended up winning. He knew he'd never hear the end of it, so he got outta dodge before he had the chance to mock him. Better yet, he had to find Lucas and make sure Red hadn't gotten to her, either.

There was no telling where she'd wandered off to, but she did say she'd be rooting for him, and that usually meant she was somewhere watching the fight. So maybe...

He wandered into the living room to test his theory and sure enough, Lucas was planted in front of the tube. The results for his fights were still being listed, even more proof she'd been watching. Unfortunately, this also meant she knew he lost.

Sensing a presence, she turned to see him, grinning uneasily. "Didn't go over too well, huh?"

"Yeah, I lost. Yuk it up, if you want." He flopped onto the couch.

"Now what makes you think I'd do that?"

"'Cuz I didn't just lose, I stank."

"At least you didn't get dead last. Meta Knight did, and he's supposed to be all powerful and revered and stuff." She pat his head. "You'll get first place next time."

"Nyeeeeeh..." That was his way of saying, 'Yeah, you're right. No use in crying over spilled milk. Thanks.'

Sweetly, she embraced him. "When's your next fight?"

"In two hours. Then I'm pretty much booked until dinner."

"Then let's get cozy comfy and watch a few fights until then, okay?"

Annoyed, Ness fixated his pout on the next fight's listings. "I don't wanna watch any right now..."

"Would you stay and watch if I did... this?" Lucas carefully reached out to touch him.

"...! H-hey! Lucas!" He scooted away.

"Whaaaat?" She swooned.

"Don't do that out here..."

"Whyyyyy?"

"'Cuz... What if someone walks in?"

"If I heard you come in, I'll hear someone else come in."

"Save it for later, okay? I don't want things to get outta hand..."

Lucas proceeded to violate him. "They won't, I promise. Just want to loosen you up a bit."

"W-well, I'm loose, okay?" He reeled back as she continued her assault. "A-ah! I-I'm loose! I said I'm loose!"

Mistaking this declaration as a good time to intrude, Charizard walked up. ("Hey, Ness, uh...")

Squirtle stared. ("Um...")

("Ooh,") Ivysaur blushed. ("Maybe we should come back later...")

Caught in the oh-so-lovely position of his shirt rolled up, Lucas' hand down his shorts, Ness narrowed his eyes at her. "...You'll hear someone walk in, huh?"

"Ooooh!" Lucas angrily pushed him away, frowning at the Pokémon. "Well, what do you three want?"

Coming back to his senses, Charizard cleared his throat. ("...Oh. Uh, well. See... The guys and I just wanted to talk to Ness here.")

("And you too, Lucas, since you're here and all,") added Squirtle.

The capped boy stood to leave. "If it's from Red, tell him to shove it up his—"

("We wanted to say we're sorry about Red.")

"...What?"

("Yeah.") Arms behind his back, Charizard pawed at the floor. ("We knew you were off today and so did he, so when the Ice Climbers didn't show, he jumped on the chance to get you involved.")

("I even tried to tell him Ganondorf finished training early and was raring to go, but he decided to pinpoint you. Sorry,") added the turtle.

("It's come to our attention he's just being immature now, something we're quite used to,") said Ivysaur, rolling her eyes.

Charizard shrugged. ("Despite that, he's still a trainer and we still hafta listen to him.")

Squirtle nodded. ("So just know we are no longer your enemies, okay? Any hostility outta us will be channeled through Red, 'cuz honestly, we're tired of this.")

Ivysaur continued. ("Yeah. When Red locks horns with someone, they stay that way. I'd admire his enthusiasm if he knew when to cut it out sometimes.")

"..."

("That being said,") finished Charizard, ("is there anything we can do to make it up to you?")

("Red's got kitchen duty, but he let us take five as a reward for beating you...") Squirtle chuckled uneasily. ("He'll have his hands tied for at least a few hours.")

Ness seemed skeptical. "...And this isn't a trick?"

("We know it's hard to believe, but no,") assured Ivysaur. ("But if you want us to do something, tell us now before Red finds out. The walls have eyes in this place...")

"Oh, sorry," put in Lucas. "I don't think there's anything we could ask from you right now. Maybe later—"

"Wait a sec, Luke." Ness looked sharply at Charizard, the dragon lifting his head in approval. "...You said anything?"

His gaze was not averted. ("Anything. We're that sorry.")

After a brief, but intense staredown between the two, Ness looked to Lucas. "Then how about a favor for us?"

("Go on?")

He looked back to Charizard. "Lucas and I wanna spend some time alone together, and I bet you know how hard that is to do around here."

("I'm sure everyone does.")

"Ness, what are you getting at?" asked the blonde.

"So what I wanna ask is this. It's a bit of a long shot, but... you guys know any way we can get some peace and quiet?"

("...") The three looked to each other.

Lucas made a face. "Ness..."

"C'mon, Lucas. It's not like we have a whole lotta options. I wanna spend some personal time with you, but without Red, without unexpected fights, without anything. And it sure as hell won't happen around here." He faced the trio again. "So what do you guys say? Can you help?"

("...I know of a way,") blankly said Charizard.

"Really? How?"

He pointed out a nearby window. ("There.")

Ness followed his arm. "There? Outside? That won't work."

("No. I mean out there.")

He narrowed his eyes. "Is this some kinda metaphorical crap you're pulling here?"

The Pokémon grumbled. ("The boundaries, Ness. Outside the house boundaries, there's nothing but... well, nothing for miles and miles.")

"The boundaries?" He scoffed. "Charizard, you know we're not allowed out there. What're trying to do, get us expelled?"

("I never said you had to go; just gave you the directions.")

"..."

("We really wanna make this up to you so... what if I come with you? No, I'll even escort you. We put up with Red's nonsense 24/7, so we know how annoying he can get.")

"..." Usually, Ness woulda suspected this to be a scam, but something about the way he offered made him reconsider. He actually sounded sincere. Hmm...

("Besides, Master Hand never had a problem with letting us flyers spread our wings a bit. I could take you two on a little aerial tour if you want.")

"I don't know..." uttered Lucas, sounding uneasy. "We're still not allowed out there. If Master Hand catches us, I don't know what we'll do."

("We could cover for you two if you want,") offered Squirtle. ("If he asks, we'll just say you two're taking a snooze and aren't to be disturbed.")

("At least until your next fight,") said the plant. ("You're on your own then.")

Looking to Charizard again, Ness asked, "...What did you have in mind?"

Excited, he still had the psychic's trust, the Fire-type smiled. ("Don't worry. We'll play this plan by ear.")

Authoress' Notes: Hey, guess what? Guess what, guys? Guess what I had to do. C'mon, it's easy. Yes, that right! I had to split the chapter again! Go, me!