Byleth pours two cups of tea and gives them to their next guest, the PSI kids Ness and Lucas. Beth comes out to the garden with a plate of chocolate chip cookies that Dedue and Ashe baked together.
Beth places the tray on the table. "Here you go kiddos. Thought you two might want to sink into something sweet while you're enjoying the tea."
"Thank you Ms. Eisner." Ness and Lucas replied. They both take a cookie from the tray and start to eat it.
The female teacher puts her hand on her cheek and blushes. "No need to be so formal boys. You're gonna make a young woman feel old, I'm only twenty one." Beth takes a seat next to her brother.
"I hope the tea is to your liking. I know a lot of children are not fans of tea. If you don't like it, you don't have to drink it." Byleth says.
"No, it's okay. I don't mind tea at all. I see my mom drink it all the time. I don't really drink much myself, but I won't deny the offer." Ness says.
"I know a lot of rich and fancy people like to drink tea." Lucas comments.
Noticing that his sister didn't appreciate the implication that they were rich, Byleth started asking the children questions immediately. "So I've heard from other fighters that you both have psychic abilities. Is that true?"
Ness nods his head. "That's right. There are tons of abilities Lucas and I can use. We can create fire, ice, lightning, make people levitate with our minds, shield ourselves, and even absorb energy attacks. Not only that, but we can speak to people telepathically and teleport to places."
"There are different levels of PSI. Ness and I use the most advanced levels, which is omega. Master Hand and Crazy Hand did limit what abilities we could use." Lucas added.
"Wait? So like...you can speak to people using your minds or something? That's pretty amazing. Psychics in our world are only able to see the future, or so they claim. I've never believed in that stuff." Beth says.
"I do. I've always found such an ability to see the future as a wonderful gift. To be able to speak to someone using your mind, now that is amazing. I want to know more. Does that mean you're able to read people's minds as well?" Byleth asks.
"W-Well...we can, but I don't really choose not to. I don't think its right to listen to people's thoughts without their permission." Lucas says shyly as he picks up his tea and starts drinking it.
"Really? Well I guess it must be pretty hard for anyone to lie to you since you can just read what they're thinking. You must be reading our minds now aren't you? What am I thinking?" Beth questions out of curiosity.
Ness stares into Beth's eyes intensely. A frown then appears on the boy's face. "I'm sorry…" He apologizes. "Your dad is gone. Someone killed him and you never got to get your revenge."
Byleth and Beth's eyes widened. Ness was telling the truth about his abilities. Things went silent for a little bit between the four smashers, only the sounds of the wind echoing.
Beth leans back in her chair and folds her arms. She looks away from Ness, not wanting to make eye contact with the PK kid. "Okay. You can read minds after all."
"Yes. Someone murdered our father recently. Back in our world, we were planning to get revenge on the one who killed him. However, we were summoned here before we even got the chance to prepare." Byleth continued somberly.
"You...lost a family member too?" Lucas shyly spoke up. "I understand how you feel. I lost my mother and brother at a very young age. On top of that, there were a lot of terrible things happening back in my world. Witnessed a lot of horrible things that changed me. I had to grow up faster than a lot of other kids." He continued.
"I'm sorry for your losses Lucas. The loss of family members is the most traumatic when you're a child. Children at such a young age are not able to comprehend losing their loved ones. Sometimes it can drive them mad."
Ness turns to Lucas. "You're getting a little better at being more open about it buddy. You usually tend to tear up when talking about your family."
"It's still not easy…but I can't dwell on the past forever. I have to move on and become strong for my family." Lucas replies.
Byleth smiles. "I'm glad you're able to keep moving forward Lucas." The male professor turned to his sister who was still looking away from everyone. "Are you okay Beth?" He asks with concern in his voice.
"Yeah. I'll manage." Beth says not turning to her brother. She stands up from her chair. "I'm gonna go blow off some steam in the training room."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. No need to worry about me. Just got a lot on my mind. Tearing that sandbag apart will definitely give me some release. I'll see you in a bit Byleth. You can handle the rest from here." Beth begins to leave the garden.
Ness frowns. "I didn't mean to make her upset. I'm sorry Byleth."
Byleth turns to Ness. "It's okay Ness. She's still trying to cope with it all, much like how I'm trying to. I won't try to keep you kids here for long, so I do have one more question. How did you two meet each other?"
"W-Well...Ness came and saved me after I was being attacked by this...mad person named Porky. Ness defeated him. I didn't see Ness much after the Brawl days. I wasn't invited to the last tournament the first time around. One day I saw Ness in a losing fight against Bowser, I rushed in to save him." Lucas explains. "Master Hand and Crazy Hand were surprised to see me, but they gave me another opportunity to join the tournament. So I got to be with Ness again." He smiles.
"Yeah. I really appreciate you saving my butt Lucas." Ness smiles as he slightly ruffles up Lucas' hair. "There was a lot of other stuff that happened after I saved Lucas years ago, but it's a lot to explain. We were actually in the middle of a war." Ness says.
Byleth ears perked up as he raised an eyebrow. "A war? In this realm?"
Ness nods. "Yeah. It was a long time ago. It changed the very fabric of the entire Smash Realm. You've probably heard this from others, but Master Hand and Crazy Hand weren't always good guys. I've been fighting him for years with eleven other smashers when I first arrived here. There was a much bigger threat we had to fight during the Subspace War. A threat so powerful that the entire universe was at state."
Byleth is surprised to hear all of this. He wondered what that being was to put the Smash Realm in such danger. Who or what was responsible for that war? Just who Master Hand and Crazy Hand really were? These were questions that he would have to research for himself.
"Well, I don't wanna keep you boys here for any longer. I really appreciate you two coming out to talk. It was nice speaking with you both." Byleth says.
"It was nice meeting you too Mr. Eisner. I thought you were scary looking at first, but you're really kind." Lucas says.
"Hey, can we take these cookies with us?" Ness asks.
"Sure, they were for you after all. Enjoy them. Have a good day you two." Byleth waves goodbye.
"Thank you." The two PK boys waved back. They take the tray of cookies with them back to the mansion.
Byleth puts his fingers under his chin and begins to ponder. "That Subspace War they mentioned. I really want to know more about that. I'll try and do more research on that, but I should check up on Beth. Just to make sure she's okay."
Author's Note: Next is going to be the Ice Climbers, Captain Falcon, Little Mac, and Olimar and Alph, with another flashback for the twins.
Also incase anyone ask how I feel about the next DLC being an Arms character. Meh. That's all.
