Chapter 15: Rest

Lucario, Snake, Marth, Mewtwo, Ice Climbers, Wii Fit Trainer, and Brawler followed the path until they came back to the tunnel. The fighters had took off their gas masks and rode the tram back to HQ; when they arrived back home, they immediately went to Dr. Mario's office, where they were examined for contamination. They await their results.

Dr. Mario was asking Nana to open her mouth wide open; swapping the inside of her cheek with a cotton swab. When he was done, he put the wad into a test tube; swirling it around in a crystal-clear fluid.

"Why is he swabbing our spit into those tubes?" Whispered the instructor.

"He's testing whether we are sick or not." Replied Mewtwo.

"How?"

"See the fluid inside the glass? That's a chemical solution created by the Doc himself. You see, we may or may not have been infected by Tox Fall's Pollution; there are no visible side effects to determine if someone has the sickness. The only way to detect contamination is to introduce a sample of the subject's bodily fluids into the solution. It'll change colors depending on the result. If it stay's clear; you're safe. It turns yellow; it means you're positive."

"Oh no." Groaned the Woman. "Why couldn't I have realized I was mediating in a nuclear wasteland?! I could have been serious danger. I was so stupid.

"Don't beat yourself up Fit." Said Lucario. "You were hallucinating under the effects of the pollution. Your senses were being manipulated, it wasn't your fault."

"No it's not that Lucario, it's-"

"Excuse Me!" Interrupted the physician "I'm in the a middle of testing this a sample, Silence is much a needed in such a procedure. Do you mind?"

"Sorry." Said Wii Fit as the doctor continued his work.

After several moments of swirling the swab inside the tube, he found that the solution had remained unchanged. After he was done, he settled the glass near the other 6 samples, all of which were crystal-clear.

"It's a official!" Said Dr. Mario "All of you negative for the sickness."

The Smashers in the room took a sigh of relief; being glad that they remain in healthy condition. "That was too close to comfort!" Commented Brawler; stretching his arms. "Not only did those freak skeletons almost took us down; but the dam was seconds away from being destroyed!"

"I agree. That was possibly one of the most tenses moments of my life." Said Popo.

"Yeah. So why the hell is that place still allowed to exist?" Said the fist-fighter, hopping of the examining table. If that area has ability to cause so much damage. Then why not just get rid of it. Seems like a better plan than just to leave it alone. Now that sounds stupid."

"Trust me Brawler, we tried." Snake told the Mii; lighting a cigarette. "There's a vast concentration of pollution and radiation inside the plant. It's impossible to purify it with the current technology we have; not to mention that are ghouls lurking around every corner. Removal is physically impossible, so instead, we settle with containment. It's was the best alternative we had."

"Ugh, of course there's no solution!" Complained Brawler. "That would have been too easy!"

"Let's just be thankful we sealed the dam in time." Marth told the Newcomer. "I couldn't imagine what would have happened if we failed."

Right after the prince was finished talking, three new fighters entered the room: a red plumber, an armored woman, and an anthropomorphic fox. "We came down as soon as we heard." Said Samus. "Is everyone alright?"

"We're A-OK!" Replied the blue Eskimo. "We tested negative for the sickness!"

"That's a relief." Said Mario, adjusting his red cap.

"We also heard from R.O.B that the dam over by Tox Falls almost broke today, but you guys put a stop to it." Said Fox. "Was that true?"

"That was indeed true." Spoke Lucario. "We were only seconds away from the whole thing collapsing, only saving the day with the skin of our teeth. If we wasted anymore time. The whole region would have been done for."

"Oh Mama Mia!" Cried the plumber. "That's sounds a terrible, how could this a happen?!"

"Yeah I agree." Said Samus. "That dam. Despite how old is; is one of the strongest structures in the world. How did it exactly break?"

"Someone one tried to bomb it!" Replied Nana. "The explosion was so powerful it pushed us back!"

"Bomb?" Spoke Mario.

"Yes, a bomb." The solider told the plumber, taking another breath of his cigarette. "After we met up with the Newcomer, we saw that someone planted an explosive of some kind on the outer walls of the dam."

"You saw the a culprit?" Butted the doctor.

"Not really." Answered Marth. "The device was already set in place when we got there, and was activated when we were present in the area."

"But why would someone do that?" Questioned Fox. "There is nothing to gain from destroying the dam, all that would do is cause an environmental crisis!"

"Perhaps that was the point." Said Samus. "Maybe our suspect goal was to cause as much damage as possible. This world is the center of the Omniverse after all; it's connected to everything."

"Are you implying that our bomber wanted to destroy the WOT, effectively ending existence as we know it?" Said Mewtwo.

"It's not that far-fetched." Answered the bounty hunter. "We had our fair share of gods and tyrants who wanted to destroy or take over this realm for themselves in the past. Blowing up the dam wouldn't end the WOT by itself, but it would've certainly harmed it.

"Well, how does one exactly destroy the WOT?" Said the Brawler.

"There are a variety of ways to end the WOT." The blue canine said to the fist-fighter. "Most of them requires physically damaging the planet to the point where it becomes inhabitable or corrupting the entire realm with evil or dark energy, but there many possibilities to choose from for such and ungodly plan."

"And if I was psychopath that wanted to end the world as quickly as possible, that's the first step I would take." Spoke Samus.

"Now hold on a second." Said the fox as he butted in the conversation. "We don't know if that's the case. A bomb was purposely planted on the dam, yes. But it could just be a one-off incident. It's not wise to jump to conclusions." The canine turned his head to the expedition team and said. "Did you find, or see anything at Tox Falls? Something that might give us a lead on why this happened?"

"Actually, for a matter a fact we did." Replied Marth. "Before we left the plant, we found some pieces that were left over from the explosion. We took it with us in hopes that we can analyze it for any clues. "

"Well, can we see it?" Questioned the bounty hunter.

Snake pulled out the baggy from his backpack that was lying on the floor, to which he gave to the armored woman.

"That's what's a left of the bomb?" Spoke the plumber. "Why is it a glowing?"

"It's glowing because it's covered in a liquid that is capable of generate luminescence." The psychic Pokémon told Mario. "According to Snake, that substance was contained inside the bomb. I don't know of its exact compound, but if I had to take a guess, I have to say it's a gel of some kind."

"Very Peculiar." Said the fox that was examining the baggy. "Anything else?"

"There was a name on one of the scraps!" Spoke the sister.

"Yeah! It was all written in black ink." Said the brother.

"A name?" Questioned Mario.

"Yes, there was a tag on one of the pieces." Explained Lucario "It didn't give us much to go on, but it was better than nothing."

"Well don't just a stand there!" Said Dr. Mario, being very curious. "Don't keep us waiting, spill the beans already!"

"Alright then. According to the scripture, this bomb was owned by someone called FW, inventor of something called: Tesseract. Does any of that seem familiar to you?"

"Nope." Said the Doctor.

"Never heard of it." Replied Mario.

"Don't think so." Answered Fox.

"First time I ever heard of it." Spoke Samus.

"So you don't know either? Hmm this might go deeper than we thought." Said the jackal. He was looking off to the side, very engrossed in his own thoughts.

"So what do we do now?" Replied Wii Fit, joining the conversation despite not knowing what's going on.

It was a few moments before the aura Pokémon responded, but when he did, a sense of confidence soared through his body, being ready to handle the task at hand. "We need to get to the bottom of this. Even if the chances are slim of it being an attack on the WOT, we cannot just dismiss it outright. The last thing we need is another Subspace Emissary incident."

Lucario turned to Fox, Samus, and Mario; standing there expectantly as they wait to what he had to say. "We need to investigate this as soon as possible, do you 3 think you can analyze the pieces of the bomb, as well as to search anything in our files that might give us more insight on the FW character? Can I trust you all with that?"

"You can count on us!" Replied the bounty hunter. "We'll get on it, first thing in the morning."

"Glad you're up for the task." Said Lucario, the canine was about to continue when he had a sudden realization, he took a quick peek at Wii Fit Trainer before rotating hid head back to Samus.

"Hey. I'm sorry to ask you of this, but I need to request a favor."

"What is it?" Said Samus.

"We rescued another Smasher today, and all of us know that the policy requires informing The Newcomer about everything. I also know that we usually decide on who gets to go by doing the lottery, but everyone is usually in bed at this time at night. And we've been through a tremendous amount of stress in the last few hours. So do you think you three can do the honors?"

"Lottery?" Brawler whispered to Snake.

"Pulling names out of a hat; pretty basic."

"Ah."

"Usually I would decline and wait for the lottery, but I can see that the whole incident with the dam has put a lot of strain on all of you. So I'll accept your offer." Answered Samus. "Fox. Mario. Would any of you be kind to assist me?"

"Of course, I'll be happy to assist." Said Fox.

"Might as we come a long." Replied Mario.

"Okay, let's get this started." the bounty hunter said to herself as she walked in Wii Fit's direction. "Hello there, you must be the one they call: Wii Fit, Correct?" The Female Veteran said to the Newcomer.

The mannequin-like woman looked at the armored Smasher, observing every detail of her appearance before speaking. "Yes, that's my name."

"It's nice to be of acquaintance. I'm Samus, and these two behind me are Fox and Mario; we were wondering if you would like to come with us for a little chat."

"Why?" Said the instructor, feeling very uncomfortable. "Am I in trouble?"

"Not at all, we hoping if we can answer your questions, I guessing you have no idea what's going on right?"

"Oh yes, Please! I so much to ask. Where am I? Who are you? How did I get here?"

"Trust me, sweetheart. I'll answer your questions in due time." Samus turned to the exploration team, and asked "You should all go to bed, we'll have a long day tomorrow."

Everyone except doctor nodded and exited the room; closing the door behind them as they left Samus, Fox, and Mario to deal with telling Wii Fit the reality of her situation.

"Well gentleman." Said Marth. "I think we can all agree that today was absolutely crazy."

"No kidding." Replied Snake. "Not only did we save the world from being flooded with pollution, but now we have with possibility of the WOT being attacked? Today just can't get any worse."

"Hopefully that's not the case." Said Lucario "Let's wait till tomorrow to figure this out. Samus and her friends will analyze the evidence and search the records to find anything that might help us on finding this 'FW'. And now that I think about, we should assist R.O.B. with creating a new Generator. It'll be gratefully to have an extra boost of power in the long haul."

"Yeah it sure would." Answered Snake, before he finished the last of his cigarette. "Now that we're done for the day, we should all go to bed. Its past midnight, and we're going to need all the rest we can get for the morning. I'll see all you when the sun rises. Goodnight!"

Everyone said fare ware to each other as they left to go to their separate rooms. Lucario and Snake were about to leave when the jackal suddenly realized what he promised himself earlier to do. "Snake, why don't you go on ahead? I need to have a chat with Brawler."

The solider nodded, heaving his backpack over his shoulders as he put his finished cigarette in a nearby ashtray. Disappearing down the hall. The canine then caught up with the fist-fighter; exhaustion and tiredness becoming much more visible on his face.

"Brawler, you got a second?"

The Mii stopped. Closing his eyes and taking a breath. He faced the Pokémon, asking "This is about what happened on the elevator isn't it?"

"Unfortunately so."

"What about it?"

"Why did you go off on Wii Fit? You were way too harsh. I know she froze up on that enemy but that didn't justify on going off on her like a nuclear bomb."

"I was pissed to how she reacted. I mean come on! The woman was just about to stand there and let the freak of nature tear her apart. You can't do that crap when you're on the sidelines of an actual battle or war. Not only is it cowardly, I find it to be pretty selfish."

"She was confused and scared Brawler." Said Lucario. "Wii Fit was literally born into this world and was immediately attacked by freighting skeletons and ghoulish birds! She probably doesn't have the skills to deal with these sort of situations. I mean what would you have done if you were in her position?"

"Stomp the featherless freak with my boots and continued to be an asshole?" Deadpanned the fist-fighter."

"Okay. Bad example, but you get my point! Do you honestly think that Wii Fit is truly at fault here? Do you?"

Brawler huffed quietly from his throat as he looked away from the jackal. He didn't want to say it, but Lucario had a point. Based on the Newcomer's clothes, she appeared to be an exercise coach of some sort. If that was true, then it would explain why Wii Fit acted the way she did. Her Mind probably shut down from the amount of stress she's been receiving.

Still. He didn't approve of Wii Fit's handling of that monster, but hopefully that was a one-time thing and she'll toughen up to fight the good fight. Hopefully. Of course, Brawler would never admit this to Lucario, his personality would never allow it. So instead. He stayed silent.

"There's something else I wanted to ask you about." The Pokemon told the Mii. "When you talked down to Wii Fit, my aura sensors picked up on your emotions. I felt anger and annoyance, which I expected. But I saw something else: Sadness and Worry. Why?"

Brawler demeanor changed from bitterness to weariness. For what reason is beyond Lucario; even with his empathic abilities, it was difficult to decipher what he was seeing.

"I don't know." Replied the Newcomer. "When I saw the instructor giving up, something lit up inside me. Like a piece of machinery that hadn't been turned on in a very long time."

"Do you think it has something to do with your past?"

"I don't know." Answered the fist-fighter. "Perhaps something happened in my life to make me act this way or maybe I'm finding a new piece about me that I never knew before. I'll never know because this damn amnesia won't allow me to remember!"

"Don't fret Brawler." The aura Pokémon said to his friend. "Those memories of yours may have been forgotten, but not erased. It's still in there, you just need to search for it have hope."

"Yeah, well I'm not holding my breath. 'Cause if I did, I'll die from asphyxiation." Brawler said, cracking his neck as he went down the corridor. "Catch you around." The Newcomer said to the jackal as he took a turn over to the right.

Lucario felt very mixed about this Smasher. On one hand, he appears to be hateful to the world around him, a guy who carries a lot of weight on his shoulder. On the other, he appears to be very unhappy, exhaustion plaguing his aura like rust on a once well-maintained car. What could had happen to him to make him act like this? There's got to be a reason for this.

Lucario was deep in his thoughts when he gave out a yawn. 'I'm too tired to think properly, I need to rest. I just put this on this on my ever-growing To-Do list.' The canine then walked in the direction where Snake went earlier. Leaving the hallway dead quiet once more. With the only sound penetrating it, is Wii Fit Trainer's cries from the doctor's office.

Hey, guys. I got something to tell you. I have a huge math exam coming soon so I need to study for the rest this week and next week. I will try to type more stories in between whiles studying so I got that going for me. If you have any questions you want me to answer personally. Just be PM me

Till next time.