Hiding in my Skin, Broken from Within
Chapter 2 - Cry for Help
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
The rock Charizard was carrying fell on Lucina's left leg. Immense, unbearable crushing pain flooded the blue haired Ylissean's whole being. The pain was so intense that she could only gasp, her face contorted into an expression of suffering, the pupils in her eyes shrinking in response to the sheer agony.
Panicked screams filled the arena as spectators and disqualified participants began to run for the exit. Lucina was lying on her stomach, pinned to the ground by the huge rock on her leg. The intense pain was making her delirious and everything she saw and heard seemed like a blur. She looked at Robin, who stood there looking on with a shocked expression on his face. Feebly reaching out her hand, she tried to shout his name but all that slipped out of her lips were incomprehensible murmurs.
Robin...she thought. Please...help...
Frightened, Robin slowly stepped away, knowing there was nothing he could do to help.
No...Robin...where are you going? Where is everyone going...? No...my nightmare...it's happening...
She heard a muffled yell to her right, and slowly tilted her head in that direction. Shortly after, she saw two men running toward her.
Shulk...? Is that you...? Before blacking out, she briefly saw the form of a tall, muscular man clad in blue.
Is...that...?
Several hours earlier...
"Are we ready, everyone?!" Master Hand's voice echoed throughout the arena as he hovered over the stage equipped with virtual simulators of the various worlds' stages, that replicated them in almost lifelike quality. "Smash City's first All-Star Championship is about to start! Our first six rounds will consist of free-for-alls with eight combatants, and the four combatants with the highest amount of points at the end of each round will be able to advance. The semi-finals consist of team battles in which the participants that advanced from the first few rounds get to choose their partners, which will lead to the final round: the members of the remaining team in another free-for-all against Lucas and Roy! The last one standing will have the honor of fighting in the Championship Match against our newest fighter, Ryu!"
"This sounds really exciting!" Shulk said, as he waited with the other Smashers in the waiting room.
"Oh yeah!" Luigi chimed, his voice brimming with enthusiasm.
"Wow, Luigi," Mario said. "I'm-a surprised to see you as excited as Shulk here. Normally in these kinda situations you'd -"
"Brooooooo..." Luigi protested, puffing his cheeks in an irritated matter. "You know-a me better than that, Mario. Do I need to mention the many times I -"
"Luigi! Don't-a mention that in public!" Mario felt a bit embarrassed when it came to Luigi bragging about the times he went on his adventures and often ended up saving his own older twin brother in the process.
"Sibling rivalry, am I right?" Sonic asked Shulk, observing the exchange between the plumber brothers.
"Haha, yeah..." the blond wielder of the Monado agreed with a chuckle. Looking over at Captain Falcon standing against the wall, he noticed the blank expression the F-Zero racer had on his face. Falcon's helmet hid his eyes from everyone's view, but Shulk didn't need to have eye contact with Falcon to know that Falcon seemed somewhat stoic at that moment.
"Everything okay there, Falcon?" Shulk asked.
"Huh?" Falcon asked, looking up from the floor to look at Shulk. "Yeah, I'm alright." After seeing Shulk talking to everyone else, Falcon pulled his smartphone out of his pocket upon hearing the text notification sound. It was from Snake; this time Snake took the initiative to text Falcon first.
"Yo, Cap," the text began. "I'm watching the live broadcast of that championship. I'm looking forward to seeing you do your best."
"Thanks," the Captain texted back. "I kinda wish you could have been here, too. I imagine you would have liked to fight against Ryu if you were given the chance."
"THE Ryu?" Snake's reply began. "I dunno, I've never been one to want to meet too many famous people. As it stands now I might not even come back to Smash City..." Snake sent another text that said, "Although, I am curious if you were able to patch things up with that girl yet."
As the Captain was about to reply, Master Hand's voice boomed through the loudspeakers. "The first round is about to begin! All combatants are to enter the arena in an orderly fashion, and from there, those participating in the first round will be selected. Please put away all your personal devices before going through the doors."
Following that announcement, Falcon texted Snake, "I'll message you later.", before dropping his phone off in the box of personal belongings.
"And here they are, our strong and brave Smashers! I am looking forward to seeing you all fight your hardest!"
The audience erupted into cheers.
"And now, the combatants for the first round..."
Mere minutes before the incident...
"Crap, Ike's really bringing his A-game to the battle," Captain Falcon murmured as he walked out of the waiting room and toward the water fountain in the general hall. He had been eliminated from the last round due to not having enough points to advance. Shulk had been eliminated the round before. Robin and Lucina, however, were among the Smashers that had been able to advance.
"Oh, hey, Captain," Shulk said, standing near the water fountain.
"Hey, Shulk," Falcon replied. "I can't believe Ike took my advancement spot by only 40 points. He's really gotten stronger since the last time we fought." By "the last time", Falcon was referring to the Brawl tournaments.
"It's understandable," Shulk said, as the Captain helped himself to a drink of water. "Everyone wants the chance to be able to face off against Ryu. I was in a similar spot to yours. Kirby, of all Smashers, beat me the round before for the last advancement spot!"
"Haha, really?" Falcon said with a laugh, wiping the water off his mouth.
"And now for the semi-finals! Our first semi-final round is a team battle, where the Red Team, Charizard and Mewtwo, will face off against the Blue Team, Robin and Lucina!" The loudspeaker announcement boomed throughout the whole building, followed by the reverberating echo of the audience's cheers.
"Heh," Falcon said. "Looks like Lucina and I won't be having that rematch."
After hearing the Captain's words, Shulk seemed silent for a moment, and then said, "Maybe it's for the best this way. Maybe the next time you two interact, things will be a bit better. And maybe she'll get to face Ryu - "
"Shulk?!" Captain Falcon immediately turned to Shulk, surprised that Shulk didn't get to finish his sentence. The first thing he noticed was Shulk's eyes glowing blue.
He's having a vision... Falcon thought, familiar with Shulk's Vision Counters in battle as well as when something bad was going to happen.
The minute Shulk's eyes stopped glowing, the expression on his face grew dark. "Oh...my god..."
"Shulk!" Falcon called out to the wielder of the Monado. "What's wrong? What did you see?!"
Shaking, Shulk said, "It's terrible...Lucina is gonna be hurt real bad!"
"...How bad are we talking?" the Captain asked, apprehensively.
Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, Shulk answered, "Charizard will go out of control and attack Robin with its Rock Smash, but at the last minute Lucina will push him out of the way and...her leg will be smashed badly..."
"Damn it..." Falcon murmured under his breath. "But...isn't there still time? We can still do something, right?"
"Well..." Shulk lamented, "We can't actually step into the battlegrounds ourselves, but we can try telling Master Hand or Ryu to call it off, but I doubt they'll believe us..." He sighed. "This is...just like what happened with Fiora..."
"Fiora?" Falcon questioned.
"...It's nothing. I'll explain some other time," Shulk answered. "Let's go!"
...
Midway into the battle, as the Blue Team of Robin and Lucina had the upper hand, Charizard began to act strange. The look in its eyes changed to one of bloodthirst.
Charizard...? Mewtwo thought. Something's wrong... The Psychic-type Pokemon cautiously advanced toward the dragon-like fire-breathing Pokemon. "Charizard, are you - "
Charizard immediately turned around and smacked Mewtwo with its tail, knocking him away.
"Urgh..."
Charizard then launched itself toward Robin using its Flare Blitz attack. In an attempt to shield Robin, Lucina ran to attack Charizard, but was knocked over.
"Argh!"
Thankfully, Flare Blitz stopped short of Robin, at which point he found it fit to try to counterattack. "Elwind!" He figured the quickest attack would be best to protect himself for now, but Charizard immediately jumped above the stream of wind blades.
"What!?"
From above, Charizard began to use its Flamethrower attack. Robin immediately shielded to protect himself from the flames, but within a few seconds, the shielding aura around him shattered, leaving him stunned.
Getting up slowly, Lucina saw that her partner was in trouble. "Robin!" she cried, dashing toward him. It was at that moment that Charizard grabbed a rock and prepared to drop it on top of Robin.
...
At the topmost seating row, Ryu was watching the battle when he saw Shulk and Captain Falcon running to him. "What's the matter?" the world warrior asked the two.
"Listen," Shulk blurted, "You need to call off the battle right now! Something terrible is going to happen!"
"What...?" Ryu asked, confused. "How do you know this? What's going to happen? How should I -"
"Guys..." Falcon gasped faintly, his gaze directed at the battlefield. Shulk and Ryu followed suit.
The next few moments seemed to go by in slow motion. The moment Robin regained consciousness, he saw Charizard carrying a large boulder above him, ready to drop it. Lucina immediately shoved him out of the way in a dashing leap, and the rock fell right on her leg.
"Ryu, Shulk," the Captain said. "Come with me. I may need your help. The least we should do is try to save her."
"Right."
"Let me help as well," Ike said, walking up to them.
Ryu said, "Alright, Ike. We could certainly use all the help we can get."
The four fighters descended down the seating rows into the arena as everyone else was in a state of panic.
"Everyone remain calm," Master Hand's voice echoed. "The battle has been canceled, and medical teams will be on site soon. I ask that no one panic."
The four fighters ran toward the downed swordwoman, Shulk and Falcon leading. "Lucina!" Shulk shouted as he ran.
As they all arrived by her side, Ryu asked Falcon, "How bad does it look?"
The Captain's helmet was equipped with bio-scanners on the inside of the helmet's visor. After scanning Lucina's leg, he said, "Her leg isn't as badly damaged as we thought. With some medical help, she should recover within a few days at a hospital. However, we need to be careful lifting the rock." Turning to the others, he said, "Shulk, guide the paramedics to the scene when they arrive. Ike, Ryu, you guys give me a hand."
"Okay," Shulk said as he stepped outside the arena, waiting for the ambulance. Ike and Ryu joined Falcon in grabbing the rock on three different ends, preparing to lift the rock.
"Let me help," Mewtwo offered to the other three. "I feel I am somewhat responsible for this. I should have tried to stop Charizard...I imagine it's acting this way because Red hasn't been controlling it for a while now."
"Don't blame yourself," Ike consoled him. "Where is Charizard, anyway?"
"Lucario and Greninja helped subdue it. It will be undergoing special training to control itself in the next few days." Preparing his psychokinesis ability, Mewtwo said, "Okay, everyone, on three. One..."
"Two..."
"Three!" Ryu, Captain Falcon, Ike, and Mewtwo lifted the rock clean off Lucina's leg with their combined effort, and slowly and carefully moved the rock a distance away before dropping it on the ground again. By that time, paramedics arrived on the scene with a stretcher, with Shulk leading them.
Walking over to the paramedics, Falcon instructed them, "Be careful putting her on the stretcher. Her leg will be able to recover with treatment and rest, but you should still exercise care when lifting her."
"Understood," the paramedics replied.
Shulk told the others, "Can I be with her on the ambulance ride? I want her to feel safe and know that I'm with her."
"...Okay," Falcon acquiesced. Shulk then stepped into the ambulance as the paramedics loaded Lucina onboard and shortly after drove off to the hospital.
"...Captain, if I may ask," Ike inquired, "Why didn't you go with her?"
"...Well," Falcon began with a sigh, "She and I don't have the best history...I figured that...I would just help her when she needed help the most, like a friend once told me...but I still can't face her, even like this."
"A friend..." Ike pondered. "...Snake?"
"Yeah," Falcon replied. "Right now, though, I can't even message him. What happened today...I'm just too shaken up."
"...I'm sure anyone would be," Ike replied, with a solemn twinge in his voice. "Robin seemed especially scared. He knew he couldn't do anything to help..."
"Yeah..." Seeing that everyone else had left, Falcon said, "Well, I guess I'll be heading home now."
"Good idea..." Ike said.
"See you later, Ike," Falcon said. Turning to Ryu, he apologized, "I'm sorry this had to happen, Ryu. I guess this means the championship is canceled, and on such a bad note, too..."
"Don't worry about it..." Ryu responded, in an attempt to console the Captain. "Master Hand and I are still thinking about what to do next. Just...know that you are not to blame. Nobody is."
"Of course..." Falcon replied. "I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow, then..."
With those words, everyone else headed home to their rooms in Smash Tower, a heavy, tense air lingering in the dark, starless night.
So...when Shulk mentioned what happened to Fiora, that will be explained in the next chapter. And it's safe to say there will be a Xenoblade spoiler in a later chapter *cough* a certain someone may make a cameo. And I use gendered pronouns with Mewtwo, Jigglypuff and Lucario but "it" with other Pokemon.
And Red is the Pokemon Trainer, obviously. I don't wanna say anything else, I may write the next chapter tomorrow or so. I think this ending for this chapter was pretty effective.