Chapter 23: Rage

'I broke my promise.'

The same words ran through his mind again, but it stung just the same. 'I failed to protect her, I failed to save her when her life was in peril.' The canine paw balled into a fist; his body tensing up with rage as everything went red. 'And it's all HIS FAULT!'

Lucario ran with extreme speed, jumping high into the air, ripping off one of the claw off from the celling as he blasted another claw with aura sphere. A shot of pain erupted in his gut as a beam of data blasted into him, mostly likely from another robot arm.

The fighters resumed their fighting with Rubrum. Samus, Fox, and Robot were doing their best battling the metallic appendages from above, whiles Captain Falcon struggled to lift the debris that crushed Gunner, with Snake covering him with his pistol and grenades.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." The prince said to himself anxious. He tried to harm the Smashers, yes. But never to kill them. He did send his army to hunt them down but he mentally ordered them to take the intruders out Non Lethally. It's been his life's purpose to prevent death. And now he's broken his code. If only he had been carefully she would still be alive. And it's all his fault.

The jackal slammed into the floor with a hard thud, landing on Snake's backpack; proving a decent landing. He groggily open his eyes to see the chaos, Rubrum and the trophies were fighting tooth and nail, causing much destruction to the room.

'I got to stop him, I can't let him win!'

When the Lucario tried to get up, he felt something round and warm touch his arm. He looked to his right to see a Smash Ball right next to him, glowing with a multitude of colors.

The Pokémon blinked a couple of times before furrowing his eyebrows. He grabbed for the Smash Ball, His body tingled as he pressed his paws against it. When he broke it, the canine felt a surge of new power ruin through his veins; taking a deep breath as he opened eyes to reveal two yellow pupils.

Everyone looked at him as he screamed "MAX AURA!" Transforming into a Mega-Evolved Lucario.

The Smasher snarled in rage as he jumped in the air, and started to take down the arms one by one—like a shark chomping down his prey. However this was fruitless, more claws came down to replace the one's that feral fighter destroyed. He was hit by two data beams as he was blasted to the floor, to which he quickly got up.

"Please, just stop." Said Rubrum, the tone of his voice suggesting he was pleading instead of begging. "You cannot win this battle, I'll only send more arms to deal with you all. Let's just talk about this!" Asked the prince, his words fell on deaf ear however as the Smashers were too busy fighting to listen.

Lucario growled in frustration, he hated to admit it, but the bastard has a point. The canine might be powerful but it won't last for long, soon his final smash will end and he'll go back to normal; being severally weakened for the arms to strike him. With the claws being controlled by his brain it-

'Wait!' Thought the jackal 'The brain! It controls every part of this city, including the arms!' His body tensed up upon realizing what he must do.

Springing up into action, the Pokémon immediately sprinted to the capsule; winding up his fist with glowing aura.

"What are you do-OH WAIT! NO NOO NOOO!" Hollered Rubrum as the Trophy slammed his fist into the container. The power of Lucario's Mega-Evolved form allowed him to generate enough strength for him to penetrate the diamond barrier. The heat created from the punch ignited a chain-reaction from the mucus inside, creating an explosion that erupted in the middle of the room.

All of the Smashers close their eyes and shielded themselves with their force fields, when the dust settled, they could see Lucario, just standing there panting as he tried to catch a breath, the power of the Smash Ball allowed him to be temporary invincible to damage, which is the reason why he wasn't harmed or even blown back from the explosion.

The canine glowed with bright light as he reverted back to his original form, still trying to collect himself.

"UgH *BZZT* I cAn'T *BZZT* BeLiEvE ThIs Is *BZZT* Happening!" A glitched distorted voice exclaimed down below. Lucario looked down to see the brain of Rubrum, just lying there on the floor. The organ apparently survived the explosion, however it was gravely wounded: Burns and cuts were all present on the cerebrum, with a tiny piece missing from it.

The canine knelt next to it, readying to punch it to a pulp until it spoke again. "I'm *BZZT* sorry! I dIdN't want to hurt any of you *BZZT* JuSt *BZZT* CaPtUrE! I dIdN'T Mean *BZZT* HuRTTT! Girl. I…I…I.," Was all that Rubrum could say before succumbing to his injuries, the voice getting quieter and quieter before fading out completely, dying in a puddle of it's own juices.

At the moment when Rubrum died, the binding holding down Mega Man released, allowing him to fall on to floor. A couple of the Smashers tried to help him up whiles Lucario was deep in though, too shocked to move.

The Pokémon looked down at his paws in horror to see the blue mucus still sticking onto his fur.

Murder. He had just committed murder. His life's teaching and training taught him all about on how precious life is, that is the one sacred thing that no one should take from anybody. And he just did that. Kill someone in cold blood, the one line that no one should cross. He was now a murderer.

Lucario shuddered uncontrollably on his knees, too shocked out of his mind to react, before he can do anything else. A deep voice called out to him.

"Lucario!"

The jackal turned his head around to see most of the Smashers trying to lift off the arm that feel on Gunner. The group appeared visible strained as they did their best to get rid of the piece of junk, but to no success. "We need your help. Come on!"

The canine was taken back to reality; he remembered why he got angry in the first place, to why he'd fought so intensely against the tyrant. He used his extreme speed to move to the arm, grabbing onto the bottom as the group tried their hardest to get the thing off.

"Here. Let me try." Mega Man said as he put one of his arms under the metal frame. Flipping the arm off to the side as they saw to what happened to the shooter.

Gunner had turned to what she feared, she'd became a trophy, the statue lied on it's side as the fighters stayed silent to the revelation.

"No." Spoke the Lucario as he quickly crouched down to tap the statue on the golden plate it was standing on.

The trophy glowed with light before it reverted back to normal. Gunner gave a harsh gasp as she lifted her back of the floor, turning her head side to side. Confused on what's going on.

"What…Who…What happened?! Where's Rubrum?!" Questioned the Mii, being clearly distressed.

Lucario put a paw on her shoulder as he did his best to calmly explain to her what happened. "Gunner, Rubrum is no more. We…took him down before he could do anymore harm." Replied Lucario, leaving out details to not further upset the Newcomer.

"You defeated him?" Said Gunner. "How did you do that. Wait. Why don't I remember seeing him being taken out? What happened to me?"

The blue Veteran gave a sigh before answering. "Gunner, the reason to why you didn't remember that is because…you perished in battle."

"PERISHED?!" Shriek the girl, feeling a large pit of panic forming in her throat.

"Yes." Lucario didn't want to finish the sentence but it must be said. "You became trophied when the arm fell on you. We revived you when we were done with Rubrum."

The Mii was distraught, feeling broken that her one fear had come true. The girl grabbed onto her shoulders as she cried into her knees. Lucario wrapped his arms around the girl, hugging her in a vain effort to calm her down. The group looked at the two in silence as the last living thing of Rubrum, leaked more fluids onto the cold hard floor.

Sorry if this chapters a bit short, i'm trying to manage everything.

till next time.