Chapter 14: History Lesson

He was very grateful Ness taught him how to teleport like this a little while after that Subspace catastrophe: it was the ultimate power for an introvert like him, one he had used time and time again to escape from the terror of crowds and being put on the spot. It let him escape to somewhere he had just been...

The hospital. He burst out of a blue portal in the air and left skid marks across the floor, which fortunately was not flammable. Mario jumped from surprise so high that he nearly bonked his head against the ceiling.

"Mama Mia! You nearly a-gave me a heart attack!"

"S-sorry..." He would have rubbed the back of his head sheepishly if he wasn't busy carrying Rosalina, who still wouldn't wake up. Carefully, he put her down on one of the available beds, which was a little difficult since she was so tall. Mario raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Wait, what a-happened to Rosalina?"

"I don't know...she just passed out when she got revived...is she ok?"

"Relax, I'm sure she'll be a-fine! Just let me check..." He quickly looked at some of the screens that showed him medical data from whatever strange technology was scanning her. Lucas never bothered to ask how it worked as long as it did. "See? There's nothing to a-worry about; all her vital signs are stable. If anything, they're a little too stable!" He chuckled at that, managing to lighten the mood. "Hmm...since she used a Final Smash without a Smash Ball too, she must have pushed herself too far like Pikachu...she just needs some rest, that's all."

"Are you sure..?"

Mario sighed, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't a-worry so much. You should know already that all of us Smashers are under Master Hand's protection while we're in this world, and he was powerful enough to bring us all here across a-space and even a-time! The Links can say a lot about that...It would take a god to do more than turn us into statues, and one with a very big G!"

"Yeah, I know...Thanks."

There was nothing more he could do to help here. Looking back at Rosalina, he could wait around until she eventually woke up, but that would one, break the visiting rules, and two, just watching her unconscious like that only reminded him why that was the case and who was responsible. Sighing, he shook his head, realizing just how long this day had been in the span of a little over an hour.

He desperately needed a break.

[Lucas tried PK Teleport β!]

Once again he jumped through the fabric of space and slid across the ground...

The Observatory's ground.

It would be a lie to say he was alone here with all the Lumas floating around, but he didn't feel much pressure from the cute little stars compared to the audience and the looming threat of being mocked and judged by them. Still, he could tell they were bound to bombard him with questions before long. It was out of the frying pan and into the...less hot frying pan.

Why was he here instead of somewhere with no people? There was the fact that it was in space, which had an amazing view. Then there was the fact there was still a dome in here that he hadn't explored, and they were usually empty, so he wouldn't have to deal with people...assuming he could get there. He wondered if he could sneak around without getting caught, like Mr. Snake...Unfortunately the secret agent was no longer here to ask for tips, and he had no cardboard boxes to hide in. That left only one other option.

Lucas ran as quickly as he could to the nearest beam...elevator...thing, ignoring all the comments and surprised looks sent his way.

A yellow one pointed. "It's that human kid again!"

A blue one waved. "You did great against that scary cat, until you both stood there doing nothing...That was soooo weird!"

A pink one pouted. "You're no fair: Mama gives you aaaaall the attention now! And I thought she said she doesn't have favori-hey, stop ignoring me!"

The old one tried greeting him, then shook his head..which was mostly his entire body. "Youngsters these days, they don't have any patience..."

The beam carried him to the area of metal platforms circling the central spire above the observatory's reactor. There was a dome on the other side of this circle that led to the Engine Room. That wasn't the one he was looking for since he didn't exactly like machines. Instead, he looked up to the small, pink-colored platform even further up, close to the top of the observatory. Up there was another of those Dome rooms, one he still hadn't visited. He could kill two birds with one stone (not that he would ever kill birds!) and escape the attention while also exploring the new place.

[Lucas tried PK Thunder!]

He jumped, jumped again and did a backflip with his PSI, and finally guided the sphere of lightning towards his feet to launch himself like a missile. Even though it was admittedly the element he was worst at using, it still got his hand onto that ledge. Barely. After pulling himself up onto the platform and almost slipping, he looked down for a moment to enjoy the view. The observatory's design was almost as beautiful as the view of the stars and the planet below, which meant more now that he knew Rosalina built it herself (the observatory, not the planet!). From up here, he wouldn't even know what time of day it was if he hadn't experienced the sweat-inducing sunlight of high noon a few minutes ago.

He cut his stargazing short, seeing one of the Lumas floating up towards him, waving her stubby little arms angrily.

"Hey, new kid! I said stop igno-"

Just before they could say anything, he quickly ran into the dome.

"-dang it..."

The room looked nothing like he expected, but not in a bad way. If he was seeing this right, this one was much bigger on the inside! He found himself in a circle of rocks in a wide grassy field that stretched as far as he could see, with a Pull Star floating above the ground in the center. There was even a sky above him with some white fluffy clouds. He couldn't believe how vast this garden seemed to be for something inside that small dome. Just what was this place..? Whatever it was, it was beautiful.

"Trust me, this place isn't as big as it looks."

Lucas gasped, hearing a voice he didn't expect. It came from a blonde woman stepping out from behind one of those rocks in the circle, wearing a familiar pink dress.

"Peach? W-what are you doing here? And what do you mean?"

She must have noticed him staring. Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised Peach would be into gardening with all the turnips she threw around in battle. She was holding one right now, actually.

"I could ask you the same thing. As for that…"

Peach threw the turnip across the flowery field and beyond the circle of rocks. It stopped in midair, bouncing off of seemingly nothing before falling to the ground.

"See?"

An invisible wall? No…she had said it wasn't as big as it looks. It could only mean everything past it wasn't there at all. The clouds and the fields outside the circle were just illusions projected on the curved walls of this dome. Still, they looked so real…

"Wow…"

"So, what brought you here? For me, it was all of these flowers. Aren't they lovely?" She gestured with her gloved hand to the small clusters of flowers scattered across the dome. Some were blue, some were purple, some were white, and a few were yellow.

"Yeah…" For a moment, he stared and forgot the rest of what she asked. "S-sorry! I..um…I just came here to take a break. It's been a long day…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, realizing how messy it was now. But that could wait. Even after only being awake for a few hours, he was mentally exhausted, so he sat down with his back to one of the rocks. She sat down next to him, not wanting to make him bend his neck to look up at her.

"Long day..? It's only the afternoon…oh, you must be tired after that match. Honestly, I don't know what Master Hand was thinking having eight people fight at once! It's almost like a miniature war zone…"

"…You were watching?"

"Yes, I was watching your match from here with Rosalina. She was so proud of you when you won!"

Lucas looked away to hide his reddening face. "I-it was the team that won, not me…I barely did anything, really!" After all, all they would have seen him do after the early part of the battle was standing still for several minutes straight alongside Mewtwo.

"You know, there is such a thing as being too modest. Aren't you and Mewtwo psychic? I heard psychics can fight intense battles in their minds, just ones no one else can see! So, what happened?"

"Uh…I'd rather not talk about it..." He didn't want to mention the part where Mewtwo accidentally reawakened his most traumatic memories, or the part where he had to fight his own negative emotions. He definitely wasn't going to talk about Mewtwo's memories…He shuddered, remembering Mewtwo's ominous warning not to tell others about his newly remembered childhood. Even though he now knew the world's strongest Pokemon was once a cute little cat, both those traits were long gone, and it would be anything but cute what happened if he angered him.

"That's fine, you don't have to say anything…how about something else?" She pointed to the nearest patch of flowers. "What's your favorite flower? If I had to choose, it would be daisies."

"Sunflowers." He blurted it out without thinking. "They, uh...they look nice, and they're my mom's favorite, too…" His voice trailed off for a little while, and he looked off into the sky. Saying that made his thoughts go back to the match he just spectated.

"Um…is it ok if I ask something personal?"

"Yes, it's all right."

"Well…it's about you and Junior. I met him earlier and he called you his mama, but then he changed his mind and said he doesn't have one…Why'd he say that? You sure don't look related…"

"He started calling me that when we were taking a vacation, but it was only because Bowser told him. I'm certainly not his real mother, as you can see."

"So why'd he lie? If you're not his mom, who is..?"

"His mother was Bowser's wife, Queen Mikame. But she..." She paused for a moment, hesitating. "She passed away in childbirth..."

"That's awful…"

"I know, but I believe that was where everything started. In the past, when I was younger, she helped balance out his rough edges. Ever since then, he's been obsessed with kidnapping me and terrorizing the Mushroom Kingdom…the first attempt he made was just under a year later." She sighed, remembering the countless hours she spent in those dreary castles filled with lava. Knowing what he knew, including what he heard just now along with that story he heard in the previous tournament about how Bowser had tried to force Peach to marry him before during that incident with Count Bleck, Dimentio, and the "Chaos Heart", Lucas could only come to one conclusion.

"Wait…is that why he keeps kidnapping you? That's…that's awful!"

He knew a thing or two about how a father could lose his way after the death of his wife.

"I know, it's terrible…but there's nothing I can do about it. No matter how many times I reject him or how many times he fails, he never changes his ways…"

Lucas had learned more than a few times how stubborn and arrogant Bowser was. He never stopped trying to beat Mario both in and outside of tournament battles, and he wouldn't sincerely apologize for his actions in the Subspace War, insisting it was all Tabuu's fault for tricking him. Still, there was something else he didn't understand after all his experiences with Peach in these tournaments.

"Even if he won't change, why don't you try to stop him? I think you're pretty strong…Ness said you did really well in the second tournament!" Then he looked away with an apologetic expression. "S-sorry, I'm not trying to blame you or anything!"

"No, don't apologize...I understand. I've been kidnapped so many times, I've almost gotten used to it. It's no wonder people think I'm helpless. I wish it were that simple, that I could just fight him like I do here..."

He kept listening intently, waiting to hear what the difference was.

"The problem is, in my world, I'm not a normal person. Sometimes I wish I was, but I'm not: I am a princess, the Mushroom Kingdom's only heir. The Toads wouldn't want me to risk my life, and if I did, they would try to protect me. They aren't trained for war like the Koopa Troop, so if they were to fight seriously..." She winced just at the thought of what would happen.

"Oh…when you put it that way, you're really nice..."

"You're too kind…Still, I wish I could do more to help. I've spent more hours in those dreary castles than I can count, and too many times I haven't been any use at all." She sighed, wondering just how many more times it would be before Bowser finally gave up. Even so, there was one silver lining.

"If there's one thing I can be grateful for, it is that being kidnapped let me meet Mario. Ah, I still remember the first time he saved me so clearly…"

"...You like him, huh?"

"Of course I like Mario, he's done so much for me and the kingdom and-" She stopped for a second, seeing that innocent yet knowing look on his face. "Oh…you mean like that? I…wherever did you get such an absurd idea? We're only friends, n-nothing more!"

"…" Lucas didn't say anything. He just kept staring at her with a knowing look, holding back the urge to facepalm. It would be much more absurd to not get such an idea with how those two acted around each other. Even right now he could see her cheeks pink as her dress with embarrassment, her normally polite and composed aura collapsing utterly. Adding the fact that he was an empath, he felt almost insulted.

"Besides, even if I did like him in that way, it simply wouldn't be possible…" She was starting to look very uncomfortable about all this. It was ironic in a way. Usually, she was such a romantic that she was the one trying to get others she thought liked each other together, but now that it was her turn…She was about to open her mouth again when he interrupted her.

"I know...you can't be with him because he's a commoner, right?"

She gasped, since he had taken the words right out of her mouth. It wasn't that he was being rude enough to read her mind...he just remembered what Mario had said very recently.

"Yes, that's one reason...Unfortunately, someone of royal blood like me could never marry a commoner, especially not when I'm the sole heir..." She sighed.

It was times like these that reminded Lucas one of the few things he'd kept from his childhood. Maybe not the innocence. Maybe not that pure happiness. Maybe not that blissful ignorance of what pain, suffering, and true evil were, and just how fast they could rip his family to shreds. But he did still have one thing: the stubborn power of a five year old to ask "Why?" over and over. Or more accurately, the power to question why things had to be the way they were and not accept the unacceptable...it was something most adults grew out of soon enough.

"Well...why? What makes your blood so, uh...royal?"

Peach tilted her head in confusion: this wasn't a question people asked often, since the answer was so obvious.

"...Because I inherited it from my father, the former king, and he from his father, and so on..."

"Former?"

"Former, as in...no longer with us. It's the same with Mother."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorr-"

"Don't be, please. I was too young to remember much of my parents in the first place...Honestly, Toadsworth is the closest I've ever had to a father. But it's all right: even if we aren't related, he's always watched over me. Sometimes a little too much...but I can't blame him for being overprotective with how often I get kidnapped."

There was a moment of silence as he mentally kicked himself for not realizing it earlier, considering none of their stories ever mentioned a king or queen being alive. He couldn't help feeling a little jealous; at least she had lost them before she could remember them that well...He shook his head, mentally kicking himself again. It wasn't right to be envious since pain wasn't exactly a competition where only the most miserable person ever was allowed to feel bad. Eventually, he broke the silence and went back to what he was trying to say.

"Anyways, uh...that's not what I meant. I know you're descended from your parents and them from their parents, and that's where they get their royal blood...What I mean is, what made your family so special in the first place?"

"…Just what are you trying to say?"

"How did the first king become the king?"

She gasped, putting her hands to her mouth.

"Oh my..! I've never had anyone ask me that before…" She had to pause for a moment, surprised someone would actually question something as basic as that. "Well...You see, it's a tale everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom hears as children, even the Monty Moles who live under rocks! It all began long, long ago…"

Lucas listened intently to as she paused to think, her mind going back to that old story...

"Our kingdom was founded over a thousand years ago. In those days, we were simply called the Toad Tribe. We lacked the modern technology we have now, and in some ways we were quite barbaric! Even so, we were not so primitive that we could not find...it."

"Huh..?"

She paused for a moment, then gave an ominous tone to what came next.

"It was a star sleeping deep beneath the earth that our miners dug up. It was not benevolent. It was a frightful star that hid a great evil. The Dark Star. It sought nothing more than to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Fearing that, the Star Spirits above sought to seal it beneath the earth once more…but they did not do so alone. They chose a hero among the tribe to use their Star Rod to vanquish this terrible foe."

She paused for a moment, now having a prideful tone to her voice.

"That hero was my distant ancestor, and his name was Shiitake Toadstool. He was revered by the people throughout the land for being chosen by the stars above and sealing the Dark Star…and that is how he founded the Mushroom Kingdom. That's why my blood is different from Mario's...because it lets me use the power of the stars, just like my ancestor did."

Lucas was left in awe. She certainly was good at storytelling…At any rate, he had learned what he asked for. Apparently, the Mushroom Kingdom's system of monarchy had its origins in 'divine right'. It was nothing like the former monarchy in Lucas's world where "King P" took power through a combination of assassination, propaganda, supernatural powers, technological superiority, and even outright brainwashing. It left him lost in thought, his gaze drifting off into the distance...

"Lucas? Is something wrong?"

He shook his head, remembering what he was trying to say. "No, nothing, I'm fine…That was a nice story. But hold it...where is that star now? Is it still sealed away?"

"Well...no, no it isn't."

"What?!"

"Don't panic, there's nothing to worry about! You see, a few months after the last tournament, one of Cackletta's former minions named Fawful was up to no good, and he was ever so awful! He freed the Dark Star from its seal to use its power for his own wicked goals, but it corrupted him and tried to plunge the world into darkness again. It even made a dark copy of Bowser…"

He waited on the edge of his seat, not that he had one. They were still sitting on the grassy floor, leaning against one of those rocks circling the center of the dome.

"Thankfully, in the end Mario and Luigi were able to stop it. Bowser even used that brutish strength of his for good for once! Although he only helped since he didn't know Mario and Luigi were aiding him from inside his body…"

There was a pause. Then, realization hit Lucas like lightning. Not that he liked that sort of metaphor...

If he were a braver sort, he might have shouted "Objection!" while pointing his finger a little too dramatically, then slammed his hands onto a nonexistent desk. The princess's story combined what he heard earlier told him everything he needed to know...

"Wait...You're saying Mario beat that thing too? And if I'm remembering that story Pit told right, Mario also helped save the Star Spirits and used their power to beat Bowser a long time ago. If all your, uh, royalness comes from your ancestor doing cool stuff and passing down his powers...and I'm guessing the other nobles who think they can marry you say similar stuff about their families..."

He paused for a moment, then this time actually did point his finger dramatically.

"Then there's no reason you can't be together, cause Mario did all the same things your ancestor did and way more!"

The princess gasped once more.

"Oh dear..! I never considered thinking of it that way! If I could convince the nobles with that argument, then it wouldn't be a problem at all. But doing that would likely be as difficult as proving Mario's innocence in Isle Delfino's corrupt courts...Even if what you say is true, most of them would sooner eat a dozen Poison Mushrooms than have Mario rule over them. Not only is he a commoner, but he's also a foreigner since his parents came from the Metro Kingdom..." Which, contrary to the name, was not a monarchy and had democratically elected representatives like New Donk City's current mayor, Pauline. Or as Peach knew her, Mario's ex-girlfriend.

She sighed, shaking her head in disappointment, then looked off into the illusory clouds longingly.

"Ah…if only I had been born a boy! Then there would be no question about me ruling the kingdom, I would not have to keep rejecting all those suitors who only want my hand so they can become king, and Bowser never would have become so obsessed with kidnapping me…" She paused for a moment, lost in thought of just how much more could have gone differently. Lucas normally wouldn't have heard these thoughts since he wasn't feeling so rude as to spy on them. However…

"Perhaps I would have even fallen in love with Daisy instead of Mario! Ahahahaha..!"

"Um...you just…"

"What? I just what?" There was a pause, then her face went red as she covered it with her hands in embarrassment. "D-did I say that out loud?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Oh my stars!" She grabbed his shoulders, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Please, you mustn't tell anyone, no matter what! Especially not Mario...if you want, I'll buy you toys, or do your chores, or give you a thousand coins, just please keep it a secret!"

He couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.

"It's fine, it's fine, you don't have to do anything! I promise I won't tell anyone how you feel about Mario, ok?"

He could sense a huge wave of relief coming from her as she slowly relaxed, letting go of him as her face went back to normal. Then, she did something unexpected.

"Oh, thank you so much!"

She smiled and hugged him in gratitude for everything he said. Normally, he liked hugs, but because of her being about a head taller, it was a little awkward...very awkward for a boy his age.

P-please let go..!

Finally, something distracted her enough to let go: someone else barging into the room.

"Hey, you! Let Ryuka-I mean Luke-I mean…whatever his name was, let him go! He's not like us Lumas, he still has to breathe!"

Immediately, Peach let go, face going red as she finally realized the implications and stuttered out a response. "It's not what it-I didn't mean to-Ah! I'm so sorry!" She practically vanished behind the nearest rock in embarrassment, gaining at least some awareness of how dense she could be. It was things like this that made Lucas sure she and Mario were meant for each other...

Lucas wasn't faring much better as he got up and looked away awkwardly, finally catching his breath and looking at who walked-no, floated in.

It was that same red Luma from before, the one unoriginally named "Red" just as Fox was a anthropomorphic fox named Fox, Wolf was an anthropomorphic wolf named Wolf, and Falco was an anthropomorphic falcon named-actually, he wasn't a falcon, he was a pheasant. He took a little pride knowing his own mother was much more creative in naming him and Claus, whose names both meant something and were anagrams...

He frowned; it wasn't that hard to remember. "It's Lucas...my name's Lucas." Still, some people did use the nickname "Luke" sometimes, and Ryuka was sort of also his name...

"Right, whatever...Anyways, I'm supposed to tell you about your next matchup. It's sometime tomorrow evening. This time it's a two on two on that fancy new coliseum arena, and you're up against the librarian girl and that guy with the big sword."

"Um...sorry, but you'll have to be more specific...I'm guessing the girl is Reflet, but which guy with a big sword?" There were at least four as far as he remembered.

"The really evil one!"

Oh. Lucas gulped; Ganondorf was one of the enemies he least wanted to fight. The Gerudo king was known for his ruthlessness, his dark magic, his long and very confusing history, and above all his ability to send people to the spectator stands (or the hospital) in as few as two or three punches.

"Tell me I've at least got a good teammate…"

"What's the matter, scared? Don't be a wimp! Anyway, this time you're teaming up with…"

Chapter 14.5: Too Many Swordsmen!

"Link! Don't you remember me? I was in the third tournament too!"

"..."

Link stared down his sparring partner with as much intensity as he could muster, which wasn't very much right now. Compared to the other Links, no one seemed to take him seriously, maybe because of his height, or because he was just a little...goofy, despite his occasional attempts to look cool and composed. Like someone out of a cartoon. Of course, he had no idea what a cartoon was until the other kids explained it to him, and he was still convinced it was some kind of illusion magic.

As for the other swordsman, he didn't recognize him at all. Like the many other Miis, he didn't look quite natural, having what looked like a line for a mouth and what looked like stubs for hands, which somehow held a sword that looked ordinary other than the Smash Bros logo on its hilt. Their appearances varied more than when they were Alloys in the previous tournament, with this one having blonde hair and blue eyes like Link himself, but nothing really stood out. He had no idea who this guy was.

"I don't even know who you are."

The swordfighter's eye twitched. Clearly that wasn't what he wanted to hear as he launched himself forwards to attack, unleashing a flurry of blows that Link deflected with his own sword and sometimes his shield. He would have used the shield more if fighting someone with the opposite handed-ness wasn't so awkward. There were advantages to that too, though...bashing the guy in the head with his shield definitely worked in making him recoil away and talk some more.

"Seriously? I was one of the Alloys, remember? The one with the beam sword in your Hundred Man Brawl? My name's Tristan, but we didn't have names back then...My designation was Fighting Polygon 03, or just Mr. Three. You don't even remember that, do you?"

Seeing the lack of recognition on Link's face, he swung his sword, somehow creating a tornado-like projectile in the process, which hit Link and carried him into the sky...sort of.

He performed a spin attack as it hit, dispelling the tornado and sending himself high into the air with the updraft. From up there, he lit the fuse on a bomb and threw it down, and a lightbulb went off in his head when he reached the apex of his jump. He couldn't help laughing when he remembered.

"Oh, now I remember! You're the guy who went down in three hits!"

Right as he said that, the bomb exploded in midair, hit by some kind of chakram the swordfighter threw while frowning at him.

"I've changed since then. Besides, most of the others went down in only one! Why do you think I became a Smasher while they didn't?"

Link gave him another teasing smile. "I don't know, but I do know there was one time DK beat a hundred of you guys just by slapping the ground!"

While saying that, he fired an arrow from the distance that was now between them. It flew past the swordfighter who rolled away, but he didn't count on it hitting in the first place, just giving him a better chance to do a jump att-

"Watch where you're aiming!"

They both stopped, turning around as they heard a familiar voice from the direction the arrow went. It turned out that it actually had reached someone after all.

Marth.

"Sorry, Sir Hero King, I didn't mean to hit...wait, what?!"

Link's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Somehow, Marth had caught the arrow with his bare hand, the one not holding his sword. Come to think of it, he always had been freakishly good at grabbing things, like that one time he outreached Yoshi's tongue...

"Please stop calling me that..." He dropped the arrow and sighed. He heard noble titles more than enough in his homeland, so his time over here was one of the few breaks he got from that...

"Would you prefer 'Your Highness'?"

Now the only thing his hand held was his face in disappointment. Link couldn't help himself, not until someone coughed to get their attention.

"Ahem...if you don't mind, he and I were having a duel and would like to continue it."

It was Lucina. No surprise she had chosen to fight her own great-great-great...very great ancestor. A few exchanged looks and awkward apologies later, Link and the swordfighter got out of their way as they went back to fighting each other.

Their swords kept clanging against each other, and from what he could tell they used them in almost exactly the same way.

…Almost was the key word.

[CRITICAL!]

A cut that barely touched Lucina sent her flying, leaving her and any newcomers watching shocked at how little sense that made. Somehow, this cut hurt much more than the others.

That was something she couldn't understand as she picked herself up from the ground and charged forwards. Gritting her teeth, Lucina swung the Parallel Falchion at her ancestor once more, leaving a trail of blue light.

They continued to exchange blows once more, and Lucina continued to be at a disadvantage, even though she had the advantage in raw power and they seemed mostly equal in skill. It made no sense...that is, until she noticed something. Marth always kept at a certain distance so he was just barely in range of her, and whenever she happened to get any closer he would either throw her away with his deceptively long reach or back off himself. If she didn't know any better, she would think him insane for staying at such a distance, but the pain said otherwise.

She tried getting closer again and sidestepped to dodge his grab. Then she cut him as he cut her, and this time he was knocked further back. His cuts were now weaker than hers instead of stronger, despite more of the blade connecting. Her eyes narrowed in confusion at the inexplicable change, until she saw something different in their blades besides the hilts.

It was the divine light that radiated off of them each time they clashed. The tip of Marth's Falchion glowed like a little sun whenever he swung and especially when he taunted, while her Parallel Falchion was luminescent throughout the blade. Finally, her eyes widened in realization.

"I understand now...when the stories said you brought peace by the edge of a sword, they meant it literally!" In a sense, it was ironic. She had disguised herself as Marth once, taking up his legendary name to try to give people hope in her doomed future, and now she found his style was actually more graceful than hers...In fact, she was only able to pull off the disguise so well because of Marth being relatively pretty for a man and because of her own not very endowed chest, something she was still a little insecure about. It almost made her laugh. Almost.

Marth chuckled lightly. "Yes, I suppose they did."

For a moment, they took a break from their duel. Right in that moment, while they weren't looking…

"Watch out!"

A voice came from her right, making Lucina turn just in time to see a blue slash-shaped beam heading right at her. She gasped and barely stepped to the side before it carved a long gash through the floor where she had just been. She would have thanked the one who warned her if she wasn't so surprised…Marth, meanwhile, hung his head in defeat, wondering just what he had terrible deed he had done to deserve his duel with his somehow equal in age descendant being interrupted twice in less than two minutes.

He wasn't even looking at her, too busy fighting another blonde-haired man with an absurdly large sword that he carried casually with one hand. Were there eyes in the back of his head..? It seemed like there were, since he jumped away from another swing from that huge sword despite being distracted by talking.

"You're about to ask how I saw that, aren't you?"

"How did you se-what?!" Once again, another shocked face.

Pointing to the sword, Shulk continued. "Thanks to the Monado, I can see the future."

Lucina's eyes narrowed. "Seeing the future..?! That's impossible! The only way you could know the course of fate is if you experienced it and then went back..."

Just as I did...

If it was possible to see the future without time travel, it would have saved her so much grief. The best she could manage was going back to the past to prevent the future from ending in disaster, but that didn't change her painful memories. He proved it was possible, at least for him, by saying "Shield!" and switching that glowing symbol floating in the hole in the hilt of his strange-looking sword to an orange one, just in time to shield him from the next slash.

"Buster!"

The symbol changed again, and instead of making a forcefield, it made an energy beam that let Shulk stab from ridiculously far away. The other blonde was shocked by this and knocked back. When he got up from the ground, he tensed up and glared at the now extremely long sword…

This caught the attention of a dark-haired angel who casually sat on a nearby platform, overlooking the others as they fought. He was a loner, as always. At least, that was what it looked like. He was having a conversation no one could see with the voice in his head, the nature goddess who happened to sound like a twelve year old girl.

That guy doesn't like fighting people with oversized swords, even though he uses one himself…What a hypocrite.

"It might look like that, but don't jump to conclusions. That ridiculously long sword probably reminds him of Sephiroth.

So what? What's his problem with this 'Sephiroth' guy?

"Do you want the short version, or the long version?"

Is that even a question? I don't have all day.

"To sum it up, Sephiroth killed Cloud's friend Aerith, his family, everyone in his hometown except his crush, then tried to blow up the planet with a meteor and become a god! Oh, and he killed his best friend Zack."

What? That doesn't make any sense! Why would he do all that crap?

"You said you wanted the short version…ugh, fine, I'll explain. Sephiroth was always a little unhinged, but what really pushed him off the rails was finding out about his origins. It turns out he was infused with the DNA of Jenova; an alien that went from planet to planet, sucking out their Lifestreams one at a time. Yuck!"

Aliens that eat planets? That sounds like the Aurum…

"You're not far off. The difference is the Aurum eat it all while Jenova only sucks out the life force. Kind of like drinking from a straw…"

Ugh, you're making me thirsty!

"Ahahaha! Ah…anyways, that's how Sephiroth got his hatred of humanity and delusions of godhood. Thankfully Cloud and his friends managed to take him down and use the planet's Lifestream to blow up that meteor. That reminds me…"

What is it now?

"Cloud reminds me of that other human. Let's see...they've both got blonde hair, blue eyes, weird hairdos, magic powers, one or more dead parents, an archenemy who was corrupted by an evil alien and destroyed or ruined their hometown in some way, plus they fought against greedy humans who would have abused the planet's power and then used it for good instead..."

Don't tell me you're feeling sympathy now. Watch out, or you might grow a heart.

"Hey! They're...they're exceptions to the rule, ok? Don't get the wrong idea."

"Don't get the wrong idea?" Seriously? Are you the goddess of nature, or the goddess of tsunderes?

"Don't make me smite you, Pittoo! You do realize I'm the one who lets you fly, right?"

Dark Pit went silent.

"That's what I thought. Now be a good angel like Pit and keep fighting for me! He may be an idiot, but at least he's loyal and cu-…I mean clueless!"

What was that just now?

"N-nothing! I was just saying that he was clueless and loyal! That's why he's trying to learn how to read instead of going here to fight like you wanted!"

There was a moment of mental silence as he decided whether or not to pretend he didn't hear that. On one hand, he enjoyed messing with her very much, and he didn't have any undying loyalty like his idiot counterpart. On the other hand, he did not look forward to being dropped out of the sky one day by a spiteful goddess.

You're right about one thing: Pit is clueless, and so is that kid…they're so naïve and trusting, it makes me sick.

She didn't need to say anything in response, simply nodding. At least, she did the closest equivalent there was to that in telepathic speech. He could tell their thoughts were aligned when it came to this. Mostly. The key difference was that he didn't trust Viridi completely, either. He was the opposite of Pit in that way, and almost every other.

…It wasn't normal for two people to be such opposites. He was reminded of how unnatural he truly was, just like that "Mew Two". Until the Mirror of Truth split them, he was Pit, just the repressed sides of his personality that weren't supposed to be dominant. He hated how stupid and loyal Pit was…but were those feelings really 'his'? Or was he being forced to feel that way thanks to being Pit's 'dark si-

"Aaaaahh!"

Apparently, he wasn't allowed to have his existential crisis in peace, since he heard someone screaming. No, two people. He had completely lost track of that duel while listening to Viridi's rant, until now. Looking down at them again, he saw the two blondes with huge swords worthy of crude jokes were no longer there…

"Poyo!"

Kirby had swallowed them whole.

A blue glow overtook the puffball and suddenly, he grew blonde hair that was spikier than Shulk's, but not as much as Cloud's. Not only that, but a miniature version of the Buster Sword appeared in his hands, still oversized for how small he was. However, the hilt was red and had a hole with a symbol in it like the Monado…

Since when could he copy two people at once?!

"You're close, but he's actually combining their powers! He learned how to do it when he was collecting the Crystal Shards to defeat Zero Two."

Why doesn't he do it more often?

"Don't be too hard on him…Kirby's just a baby for his species, so of course he'll forget things a lot!"

'Don't be too hard on him'?! He ate two people alive!

'Alive' was the key word.

A few seconds later, Meta Knight had something to say to Kirby who apparently wanted to use this new power on him.

"Kirby…please spit them out."

It was strange for Dark Pit to hear a deep, Spanish-sounding voice like that from something so small. The puffball gave a look that would bring even a puppy dog to tears, but it was no match for the masked knight's steely gaze.

"Poyo…"

The puffball reluctantly spat the two swordsmen out as a star, sending them flying…straight into Marth and Lucina. Neither were prepared for this, and in a starry explosion the four swordsmen were left collapsed in a pile, two of them shuddering from the disturbing experience of being in the pocket dimension that was Kirby's 'stomach'.

He almost felt sorry for them. Almost. But he had had enough of watching other people fight. He looked around the arena, searching for a sparring partner. He had been waiting for Pit to show up earlier, but thanks to Viridi he now knew that his counterpart's face would sadly be too stuck in books right now for him to punch. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be available, since they were all already fighting someone else.

Definitely not those two strange-looking swordfighters on the other end of the training area, as they were too busy fighting each other.

They both strangely had white hair and red eyes, wore armor with a mix of white and black coloring, and there was something they didn't wear: shoes. It gave them a more wild look. The differences were that one was a boy while the other was a girl, and the boy's curved sword with gold coloring was clashing against the girl's more traditional greatsword which gave off a dark glow. Just the uniform alone was enough to give them an idea of who their counterpart was and what they had done. They were taking the time to glare at and argue with each other instead of pressing the advantage…He scoffed at how stupid that was.

"They say your name is 'Corrin', that name Garon gave you instead of your birth name, Kamui...that means you sided with Nohr, didn't you?!"

"I had no choice! It was either that or betraying the family who raised me for as long as I can remember!"

The boy, Kamui, and the girl, Corrin, jumped away from each other simultaneously. He had no idea what they were talking about, but whatever it was got them very heated. Perhaps heat wasn't the best word considering what they did next: Somehow, they each made their free hand shapeshift, turning it into some large draconic claw…mouth…thing, and fired orbs of water at each other that exploded into a shower of rain. Neither seemed surprised by this, and their hands went back to normal afterwards. Not to mention, their accounts of the past seemed contradictory. It was strange…

Corrin jumped into the air, once again transforming her arm, this time into a sort of spike that extended surprisingly far. Kamui narrowly avoided it, cutting at the limb only to miss as it retracted and reverted to normal. Both charged forwards, about to slash at each other with their light and dark swords when…

"That's enough!"

Someone cut them off, getting in the way and hitting both in the head with the hilt of his sword. Roy stood between them, ensuring they could not attack again as they both recoiled in pain, surprised how much the blunt attack hurt them. It was like being hit by a wyrmslayer…

"If I'm hearing this right, you're saying the two of you were forced to pick between your adoptive or blood family and go to war with the other one? That's horrible!"

"…Yes. We had to choose a side when Nohr invaded Hoshido, and I chose Hoshido, but she comes from another world where I was a girl, and apparently sided with the Nohrian invaders…"

It was Kamui who spoke up first, since unlike his counterpart who was still in pain, he had managed to heal the bump on his head with a staff. Apparently another difference between the two besides their outfits and choices was that he knew healing magic while she used the elements based on the tomes she had.

"I see…I'm sorry you had to make that choice. All I can ask is that you try not to be so quick to judge each other."

This time, they didn't respond, so he continued on. As tragic as their story was, he couldn't help but mention what surprised him so much.

"If you don't mind me asking, how is it that you transform like that? I assume your blood siblings bear the blood of dragons just like I do, but I never thought a partial transformation was possible! Even Mother couldn't do that…" His eyes grew downcast, reminded of how long she had been gone. He could only imagine what his life would be like now if Ninian was still alive.

Corrin shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that's not quite it. Both Nohrian and Hoshidan royalty carry the blood of dragons. That's how they use the Dragon Veins throughout the land. In Nohr, they worship the Dusk Dragon, and in Hoshido the Dawn Dragon. But…none of our blood or adoptive siblings can transform like us, partially or not…"

None of their siblings had their unusual traits like their white hair and red eyes either, not to mention their pointed ears. They both looked very confused, understandably so. Roy himself couldn't transform into a dragon at all, but that was because his mother Ninian was only half dragon while his father Eliwood was human, making him only one quarter. However, if he hadn't been an only child, it would make no sense if his brother or sister could transform while he couldn't. Not only that, but "Dusk" and "Dawn" didn't sound like the type of dragons to control water of all things…

Roy sighed. The conclusion was shocking, but obvious.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I can only think of one explanation for all of this…One of your parents is not who you think they are."

"WHAT?!"

The two of them were left in a shocked silence. Especially Kamui.

Meanwhile, the dark angel kept watching from above.

This is why I'll never understand humans…what is with them and their family feuds?

"Let me tell ya, I've had my fair share! Me and Tracy argue all the time about stuff like who picks the channel on TV, who does what chores, if I should help her with her homework by reading the teacher's mi-wait, don't tell anyone that! Still, it's never anything serious like this...it's a good thing Lucas isn't here to see them fight, cause he would be pissed!"

You're not Viridi! Get out of my head!

"Sorry, you just looked lonely sitting up there all by yourself...I forgot there's a voice in your head."

"That doesn't mean you can waltz into Pittoo's mind and violate his privacy…only I get to do that!"

Hypocritical as always, Viridi...

"Ok, ok, I'll stop…but first, I've gotta say…"

What is it now?

Somewhere else in the arena, Ness looked around at all those who had come here to train, counting on his fingers. He soon ran out of fingers and put his hands in his pockets, sighing.

"There's way too many swordsmen!"

(Author's Note: Ho ho ho, as my Christmas gift for all of you, I've finally updated with two chapters at once! Not that it makes up for such a long break, but I can try.

Anyways, I did add a little headcanon to the backstory for Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom, but I tried to add to canon rather than contradict it where I could considering her parents are never really mentioned. I also decided that Male Corrin will be named Kamui, the Japanese default name for the player character, since in this story he chose Hoshido while Female Corrin is from an alternate timeline where she chose Nohr.

Thanks so much and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone who still reads after all this time!)