After the open space of the cavern where they'd fought the ghosts that could only be healed, the cave system narrowed down. After a while, there wasn't even enough room for the boys to walk side by side anymore.
Lucas reluctantly let go of his brother's hand- he'd been clutching it ever since he'd caught up- and let Claus go first.
Claus stepped forward, eyes focused on the path ahead of them- then stopped. He turned around and patted Lucas's head, messing up his hair gently, before turning around and starting forward again.
Lucas followed quickly.
Even though he'd calmed down some, even though he felt better after walking side by side with Claus and holding his hand, reassuring himself that his brother was there and safe, Lucas was still worried.
The ghosts with one red eye each... it couldn't be just a coincidence that their eyes were just like Claus's when they didn't match. Lucas had seen his eyes change too many times for that. And each time, Claus had been hurting and thinking about the past.
Maybe- maybe those ghost creatures were just because of Lucas's worry about Claus- because Claus had been hurt and Lucas didn't know how to help. Maybe that was it.
But there were those memories too…
Those memories he'd seen- they'd only been brief glimpses, no real answers in any of them. But still…
Lucas opened his eyes and stared at his big brother's back.
"There's a guy at Cub Titiboo who really looks like Duster."
"If Lucky really is Duster, why doesn't he recognize me?"
"Word is, everyone in the DMCM's lost their memory."
Lost their memory…
Claus wasn't the only one who'd been missing. Right after Claus had disappeared, Duster had gone missing too- he'd been missing for…Lucas shut his eyes and tried to focus- he'd been missing for a long time, hadn't he? So long, that when Lucas told Mr. Wess that someone had seen him, for a moment, he hadn't believed him.
But the reason that Duster hadn't come home wasn't because he didn't want to- it was because he'd lost his memory, and he didn't know who he was, who his family was, where their home was- he didn't remember anything, not even his own name.
Duster had been found by a group of guys who played music, and they called themselves the DMCM- he joined up with them and they called him Lucky, and he called himself Lucky because he didn't know what else to call himself.
But Kumatora had found him- by the time she'd found him, he'd already been with them a while. After she found him, they'd been together, and they'd been friends again- but she hadn't been able to bring his memory back. Because she hadn't been able to bring his memory back, they'd stayed at the Club Titiboo place until Lucas had come and found them. That was when they'd set off on the journey. They'd just been looking for something that Duster had hidden at first- something that his dad had told him was important…and they had found it eventually…and it was only when they found it that Duster's memory had finally come back.
And after they found it, while they'd still been looking at it… a Pigmask had driven up. And he'd called out to Lucas- but he hadn't realized Lucas was Lucas. He'd called him-
Lucas shuddered at the sudden fear and worry that surged up-then shook his head.
No! We will fix this! It's going to be okay!
He looked at Claus. His older brother was walking ahead of him, but he was still close enough to be touched if he reached out.
Whatever happened in the past, Claus was okay now…it did seem like he was still hurting, but he was healing, and when they were back home again, back where they belonged, he'd probably heal even faster- but until then, Lucas would have to keep an eye on him and be careful, because Claus wouldn't be careful for himself, because he was too impulsive, too-
"He was just hasty, that's all. You'll forgive your hasty brother, won't you?"
Lucas shook his head- not refusing forgiveness, but refusing to probe that memory right now.
Caves didn't have a habit of smelling good, but this one was beginning to smell weird, worse than any other cave Lucas had smelled- like things that had sat out in the dark too long, so long that they'd completely forgotten the sun…like blood and uncared for wounds that had been left to rot…
Both twins gagged momentarily, as they paused in an opening that led further in, as the last smell sunk in. Claus growled, irritated, and covered his mouth and nose and grabbed Lucas's wrist and marched in.
The darkness was too complete- Lucas tugged at him, pulling him to a stop. Claus turned to look at him- it was so dark they could barely even see each other. Lucas pulled off his backpack, letting go of Claus's hand to do so, and began going through it. It was difficult, searching only by touch, but eventually he found what he was looking for.
It took a couple tries, but Lucas got the lantern burning. When he held it up, showing it to Claus, the light revealed his brother's smile.
They started walking again- but even though the lantern's light helped, the light didn't go very far ahead of them. Things still lurked around the edges of the pool of light surrounding them, half-hidden by the dark-
What might've once been a well, covered and overgrown by purple mushrooms-
A scrap of red cloth, fluttering in the wind, anchored by a thin, dead tree branch- and then the wind tore it away and it disappeared completely-
- there was a table- four places set- and on the plates sat four helpings of rotten omelets, foul smelling and crawling with bugs-
Claus almost tripped then, Lucas reaching out and steadying him just in time. Both of them looked down once Claus regained his balance- it was a bloodstained yoyo- that was what had caused him to almost fall…
After staring at it a moment, Lucas tried to move on, trying to lead Claus forward, but Claus instead pulled him to the side.
"Claus?"
"Hold it up higher." Claus said, gesturing with his free hand to the lantern Lucas was holding.
Lucas did so- a flash of light came from the ground, the lantern light reflecting off something.
Before Lucas could see what it was, Claus picked it up.
"Claus, what is it?"
Instead of answering him with words, Claus turned around and showed it to him.
"…Dad's homemade knife?" Lucas almost asked how it got there, and then shut his mouth, remembering that they were in Magicant.
"I took this with me when I was going to fight the Mecha-Drago." Claus said softly, then carefully cleaned all the dark stuff off of the knife and put it in his backpack.
"You're taking it with you?"
"Well, I can't leave it here, right? I need to give it back to Dad- besides, you never know when a knife might come in handy."
"I guess that does make sense." Lucas said. Part of him wanted to take the knife from Claus's hand and throw it into the dark and lose it forever, but he knew that was silly. It was only an object- it wasn't the knife's fault that Claus had gotten lost and then gotten hurt so bad… that Porky and his minions had hurt him so bad.
Claus nodded, satisfied with Lucas's answer and they moved on, Claus still not letting go of Lucas and Lucas still not letting go of Claus.
There were more things looming up in the darkness- ripped apart teddy bears that looked just like the ones they'd played with when they were little, a glittering sword that looked almost like it was glowing with lightening, things that just loomed in the darkness, too far away to be seen, but seemed to move closer when they looked at them-
Looking up, trying to avoid the painful sights around them, Lucas saw that the ceiling was something like a mirror- he could see himself in it, and he could see Claus in it, but it wasn't right, couldn't be right- in the mirror, the two of them were too big, too tall and Claus's clothes were wrong too-
Claus's hand was still around his wrist, still pulling him forward-
Pushing past it all, the twins rushed into the light. Once they were finally out, they let themselves fall on their knees, gasping and breathing in the finally fresh air-
"I can't wait to get out of here." Claus mumbled, unmoving. "I can't wait to wake the Dragon up and finally get out of here."
Lucas gave a tired, jerky nod of agreement. He hated this tug- tug-tug at their wounds- it'd be better to get it off all at once, like ripping off a bandage. He allowed himself to stay still and just breathe a little longer, then pushed himself up and brushed himself off, before turning to offer his hand to his brother.
Claus looked up and blinked, surprised to find Lucas up already, before him even. And then he smiled, a little wryly, but a real smile and took Lucas's hand, and Lucas helped him up.
"Think we're close?"
Lucas shrugged. "We have to be closer than we were."
"True." Claus sighed. "And the sooner we start walking again, the sooner we'll get this over with, right?"
"Right!" Lucas said, determined and feeling better. He and Claus were stronger when they were together, like they were now. And they were finally out of the tunnel too, finally breathing fresh air again.
Lucas took a deep breath and looked around, trying to see where they were. They were surrounded by scrubby patches of grass, still alive but not looking very good. Close to the cave exit, where they were still standing, there were a number of rocks, both big and small, but there was less and less the further away you got. It was getting dark…judging by the amount of light, Lucas thought that evening had to be approaching once again, but the sun hadn't left yet, and there was enough light to see.
Lucas put out the lantern and put it away, saving it for later, before he started looking up, having some idea of finding the sun- only to find the cave ceiling still above their heads. He stared so long and hard that Claus noticed and then turned to see what his brother was staring at.
"Okay, that's just weird." he said after a moment. "I mean, I guess this has been weird since the beginning, but this is really really weird."
"Yeah."
"I mean- we're still inside the cave, but all around us is just the same as outside- and where's the light coming from?"
"I don't know." Lucas said, looking away from the sky that was not a sky. It made him feel dizzy when he looked at it, like spinning in a circle for too long. He looked around, trying to figure out where to go next, hoping the other surroundings made more sense-
And what he saw made Lucas stop, made his heart twist itself in knots.
Sunflowers. Dead sunflowers. A whole patch of them, lying all over the ground, wilting and limp, petals turning brittle and scattered everywhere-
And it looked like someone had done it deliberately. The bottoms of the stems still reached out of the earth, but the ends of them were too straight and clean to be natural- someone had deliberately destroyed these flowers.
Why? Why would anyone do such a thing?
If they needed to plant a field, to grow some more food or something, that would be one thing- that would still be sad, but it would be understandable. People needed to eat. But the flowers had just been left there- like whoever had done this hadn't even cared enough to finish the job.
Lucas reached down and tried to pick up the closest sunflower- at his touch, the remaining petals turned to powder and the flower itself crumbled away into nothing, leaving him clutching only dust.
"I'm going to find whoever did this and make them pay." Claus said quietly.
"Claus-" Lucas started and then stopped.
They're just flowers. He wanted to say that, but he knew that wasn't true. It would be if he and his brother were in the normal world- but they weren't. They were in Magicant, where things were just what they seemed, but not.
And sunflowers meant just one thing.
Mom.
"I'm going to find them and make them pay." Claus said again, and began moving forward.
Startled, Lucas stared after him a moment- "He was just hasty, that's all. You'll forgive your hasty brother, won't you?"- and then dashed after him. "Claus, wait up!"
Why was Claus trying to leave him behind again?
The land around them was jagged, pieces of land sticking out and then ending abruptly, almost like the Drago Plateau, but there were more things growing and less sand- but even here, the things that grew were short and stubby- not healthy at all.
There was something ahead of them- lights in the distance. Strange lights, glowing strange colors. Not warm and friendly, like the light from a campfire.
Lucas was getting closer to Claus-almost catching up to him- when suddenly Claus stopped.
"Claus?" Lucas called as he got closer.
His brother didn't seem to notice him- didn't turn to look at him- he was stiff as a board, frozen-
"Claus?" he reached out and his hand was about to land on his brother's shoulder- and then Claus was moving again, and Lucas's hand dropped through empty air before he recovered and began chasing after his brother again.
Claus was moving quickly- how was he moving so quickly and so stiffly at the same time? - Lucas couldn't catch up, he was so fast-
Lucas tried to call out- it felt like something was crammed in his throat, like someone was choking him- he couldn't get the words out.
Vaguely, Lucas was aware of the lights getting closer and closer and closer- Claus was headed right for them-
Claus was headed for a cliff!
"Claus, don't! Wait for me Claus!" The words came out now- sounding hopeless but out.
Claus didn't even slow down.
Desperately, Lucas pushed himself just a little harder- just a little faster- he threw himself at Claus, and using their momentum, he swung himself around- pushed Claus away, pushed him away from the edge of the cliff- but he couldn't stop himself from falling instead-
For a moment, everything seemed to move so slowly-
Falling backwards, one foot leaving the ground- and his body following, one hand still outstretched from holding onto Claus before-
On the ground above him- Claus was stopping, regaining his balance- and then he looked around- almost as if wondering what had happened - and then he looked at Lucas, their eyes meeting-
"Claus." Lucas said softly, the words finally leaving him easily- happy that his brother saw him again, that he was aware of what was going on around him again, and happy that he was safe up there-
Then everything sped up again and Lucas was falling so fast and Claus was out of sight now-
Then he reappeared on the edge of the cliff, staring down at Lucas- somehow, the speed and the falling- it blurred him, making him look different- taller and bigger and wearing a black jacket and orange pants- just like he'd been wearing in the distorted reflection in the caves- and his arm-
"Lucas!" and then it was shattered- his brother was throwing himself at him, catching up to him and wrapping his arms around him, trying to curl around him- Lucas clutched at him too- both of them trying to cover their brother's body with their own, trying to protect them-
Lucas hit the ground first, but it was only a glancing blow, they didn't stop- they'd landed on a slope and they kept moving, moving until the slope suddenly ended and dropped briefly and then hit the ground.
This time Claus hit the ground first.
Breathless and stumbling, Lucas pushed himself up, almost falling before recovering and then reaching for his brother, hands on his shoulders- "Claus?" voice quiet, scared because of his brother's silence, his brother's closed eyes-
But then his eyes flickered and Claus winced, before opening his eyes and their eyes met. "…Lucas?"
"You're okay!" Lucas exclaimed, throwing his arms around his brother.
Claus hugged him back, but seemed to be distracted- Lucas pulled back to find his brother staring up at where they had fallen from.
"Claus?"
Slowly, he turned to look at him-Lucas wasn't surprised at all to see his brother had one red eye, one green.
"We fell?"
Slowly, Lucas nodded.
Looking confused and worried, Claus looked back up, then, as if remembering something, took his arms from around his brother's torso and put them on his cheeks- Lucas winced.
"Ouch. I guess those are going to bruise, huh?"
Claus's eyes narrowed, the confusion and the worry retreating slightly before anger. "I don't think so. PK Lifeup!"
Lucas sighed in relief as the warm healing energy spread through him. "Thanks Claus."
He smiled in response, but the smile vanished from his face as he lowered his hands.
"Claus, what is it? Oh! I'll heal you now-" Lucas reached for his brother, but Claus intercepted him before he could- grabbed his hand and held it in midair as he stared back at where they'd fallen from. "…Claus?"
"Lucas…what just happened?"
A sour and foul taste forced its way up in Lucas's throat and he swallowed.
Claus turned back to him- eyes still mismatched, but focused on Lucas and aware of him. "You got hurt because of me."
Lucas found himself able to smile at that. "I'm okay Claus. You healed me."
"Yeah, but you wouldn't have needed to be healed if it wasn't for me."
"If it hadn't been for you, the zombies and ghosts would have gotten me." Lucas said firmly, pulling his hand away from Claus's and placing it on his shoulder. "Don't feel bad about it Claus."
Claus's face was crammed with expressions- as Lucas healed him he smiled, but Lucas could see that he was still- less than before, but still- feeling worried and guilty. "I'm still sorry Lucas."
"It's okay, I already forgave you." Lucas said as he finished healing, and then he pulled his hand back.
Claus smiled slightly, but still looked worried. He was silent for a moment- thoughtful. And then he spoke.
"Lucas…what was that?"
Lucas fought to speak a moment, even though he didn't know what to say. For just a moment, he remember the reflections- how Claus had been dressed differently- and he remembered the memory he'd had- the masked figure in front of the needle- and even though in the memory, they'd been wearing the helmet that covered their face, Lucas knew whose face had been hiding beneath.
Lucas looked up and met his brother's eyes, and Claus met his.
"Lucas, I want you to promise me something."
"What?"
"If I…if I start acting like that that again, you gotta stop me." he shrugged at the way Lucas stared at him. "I don't know what I was doing or why I was doing it, but I don't think it was good. I mean, when I heard your voice-"
"Then you did hear my voice!"
"Yeah, but- I don't know why, but when I heard it, it didn't sound right. It didn't sound like your voice at all- I still don't know what you said."
"Not much. Your name, mostly. I asked you to stop- to wait for me too."
"Well, I don't think anything that makes me unable to recognize you- unable to recognize your voice- can be a good thing."
A vision of the masked boy pulling out his sword flashed in front of Lucas's eyes and he nodded slowly.
"So promise." Claus prompted him, confusing Lucas briefly before he remembered what Claus had said before.
"Don't worry Claus. I won't let you do anything stupid."
Claus looked relieved, nodding as he accepted his brother's promise, before standing up and offering Lucas a hand, which his brother eagerly accepted.
Finally reassured that Claus was okay, for the first time, Lucas looked around. And froze.
Big buildings, lights so bright they hurt their eyes, colors that were just wrong for buildings- why would anyone make pink and purple buildings?
Lucas shuddered, another memory slipping back into place- at least this one didn't slam. He knew this place. He wished he didn't, but he knew this place.
He turned to Claus, who was also staring at the city with a weird look on his face- and realized something that slammed into him like a blow from a hammer.
Claus's eyes were still mismatched- one red and one green. Feeling Lucas's stare, Claus turned away from the city and faced him. "Lucas?"
"Claus-" Lucas started and then stopped again. "Do you recognize this place?"
"I don't recognize it." Claus said, turning back to look over it again. "But it does…it does look familiar, I guess. Oh Lucas, look. There's a sign over there."
It was the biggest sign either of them had ever seen, even bigger than some of the buildings around.
The twins drew closer and Lucas began to read it out loud as they got closer. It was big enough that he could've read it from where they were, but the words left a bad taste in his mouth. "Welcome to New Pork City."
Beside him, Claus shuddered but said nothing. Lucas turned to look at him and Claus turned and gave him a wry smile. "Don't worry, I'm not freaking out again. But this place…it feels creepy."
Lucas nodded. "But just like before-" he gestured around them, at the buildings surrounding them the way the cave walls had before, "there's no other way to go on."
Claus made a face half heartedly. "Maybe we could go back the way we came?"
The brothers turned to look at the place they'd fallen from.
"It's too steep." Lucas said reluctantly. He hadn't really thought that they'd be allowed to escape that easily, but it was still disappointing.
"We don't have a choice then, do we?" Claus said quietly.
Lucas's hand quickly shot out and grabbed his brother's.
Claus turned and looked at him, surprised. And then smiled. "Don't worry. This place must've been one of the ones from the journey, which means we had to face it apart, right? Now that we're together, it'll be a lot easier."
Lucas nodded- warmed by his brother's words, he even smiled a little bit.
"Come on, let's get going."
The city did not get better as they walked further in. If anything, it got worse. There were statues scattered around- at least, Lucas thought they were statues. They were human shaped, but they didn't really look human. Their skin wasn't really the right color and it was too tight, too stretched, and they didn't seem to move at all… they were just frozen in one pose. Some of them looked almost like they were about to start moving, others were just standing there. Lucas didn't think they were human, but all the same, when he looked at them, he felt sick.
As they traveled through the city, when he wasn't looking at the statues, Lucas kept looking over at Claus, partially just to make sure that he hadn't disappeared while Lucas had been looking away, and partially because Claus's eyes still hadn't gone back to normal, and Lucas kept expecting that they would.
They always had before. When Claus was hurting, when he was thinking about the past and hurting because of it, his eyes would change, but they would change back afterwards, when he started focusing on the present and feeling better.
But this time they weren't. Why? Was it because this was one of the places Claus had been hurt the most? Was it because they were coming closer to the end? Closer to where the Dragon was?
Or was it both?
Lucas almost jumped out of his skin when they turned a corner and found a statue there waiting for them, mouth far too wide in a smile that looked like it was about to explode. It was clutching a sign in its hands.
"NPC loves you." Claus read it out loud, then snorted quietly. "For some reason, I can't believe that."
"Same here." Lucas said, just as quietly.
This city was the center of Porky's plans- this was where he lived, where he made his plans that hurt everyone-
And Claus recognized it, which probably meant that the Pigmasks had taken him here after they had captured him.
Lucas's fist darted shut, curled into itself before he managed to make it relax.
Whatever had happened before, he and Claus were together again now. And they were stronger when they were together, just like Claus had said, and they were going to stay together-
The earth shook beneath them, throwing the twins off balance, shoving them to the ground and separating them. They kept trying to struggle to their feet, no success-
Something emerged from the ground in front of them- long, shiny, silver legs- cold metal-
"Porky!" Lucas yelled as the earthquake stopped. He jumped to his feet, scooped his bat up from the ground, and glared at the Pig King.
Porky giggled as he towered over Lucas. He was in the machine that he'd used to fight in before, when Lucas had been with Duster and Kumatora and Boney. Or was it the same machine? It looked the same… but something about it seemed… off.
"Who's this? Why, it's crybaby Lucas."
The hand holding his bat twitched, but Lucas didn't say anything- just continued to glare at him. He barely even noticed the old insult of "crybaby"- too much of him was focused on the fact the one responsible for everything, the monster responsible for everything, was right in front of them.
A few feet away, Claus pushed himself up too- more slowly than Lucas had. He stared at the scene with horrified, confused, fascination.
"Hey crybaby Lucas." the Pig King said conversationally, "I think I'm going to kill you." He shot at Lucas suddenly, faster than Lucas remembered him moving before.
Lucas shot off a PK Flash, but it had no effect- Porky smashed into him and knocked him over. Lucas cried out as he hit the ground.
"Hey Lucas, you hate me, don't you?" the Pig King giggled as he drew closer, as if the thought of hate was a funny thing. "You want to smash my face in and turn me into pulp and kill me in the most painful way possible, don't you?"
Lucas tried to push himself to his feet, but Porky did something and one of the legs twisted and changed, becoming more arm-like, and it darted forward and pinned him down.
"Some hero you are!" Porky went on, still grinning, just like a Tanetane Island smile, "You think the Dragon wants your pitiful heart? So full of hate and darkness?"
He must've moved something else, because suddenly the arm pressed down against Lucas harder, making it harder to breath- Lucas was almost choking now- still, he kept trying to wiggle free, and Porky just kept watching with a smile on his face-
Where was Claus?
"Lucas." giggled Porky, "Lucas Lucas Lucas, crybaby Lucas, don't you hate Claus for abandoning you?"
Lucas froze.
"If Claus hadn't run away, then your daddy wouldn't have left, and you would've had them both- you wouldn't have been all alone for so long. It was all his fault, wasn't it?"
"No."
"What was that, crybaby?" inquired Porky in a syrupy sweet voice as he pushed Lucas deeper into the ground- but not before Lucas caught a glimpse of his brother's silhouette behind Porky- and all at once, he felt more hopeful and more fearful.
"Don't talk- about Claus- like that!" he managed to grit out.
"Oh?" Either Porky was actually curious or he wasn't paying as much attention as he should be, but the pressure on Lucas's chest relaxed.
"You don't- know anything- about him! Claus- Claus - that was the only time I've needed him that he wasn't there! Claus is the one who comforted me whenever I was scared! Claus is the one who searched until we found Mom's journal when she lost it! Claus is the one who held my hand and searched with me when I lost my toys, even though it was dark outside already! Claus is the one who found Boney when he was just a tiny little puppy and scared the mean animals away from him! Claus is brave and kind and when he says he's going to do something he's going to do it!" Lucas reached out and dug his fingers into the dirt- glared up at Porky. "Stop talking bad about my brother- I won't let you keep talking bad about him like that!"
"Oh, brave words for a crybaby! You can't stop me- you can't save anyone, not even your mommy or your brother!"
"I'm still right here, dummy!" Claus yelled, "PK Love omega!"
It slammed into the Pig King with almost as much force as he'd slammed into Lucas. He was knocked off and rolled away and Lucas pushed himself away and started to stumble to his feet.
"Lucas!" Claus ran to his side and pulled him up the rest of the way. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay Claus." Lucas said, grabbing his bat off the ground. As a rule, Lucas didn't like fighting. Sometimes though, you had to fight. This was one of those times. That said… Lucas forced himself not to tremble, to breathe deeply as the Pig King maneuvered himself upright again.
Porky was strong enough that he had managed to hurt Claus really bad… Claus hadn't been able to beat him at all. But it wasn't just Claus fighting him this time- Lucas was by his side now, the way he should've been since the beginning.
This was a time when Lucas needed to be strong. He tightened his grip on the bat.
Finally upright, the Pig King smirked at the twins. "Hello toys. I'm glad to see you will amuse me one last time before I break you."
"What do you want?"
"To be amused of course. Everything in this world is my toy- the only purpose it has is to amuse me."
"You're evil." Lucas said softy. "Lots of people mess up and do bad things, but you're just evil. You don't even care- you're worse than those poor chimeras you had your scientists create."
At Lucas's side, Claus was silent-
Porky just laughed. "You're right, crybaby. I don't care." He raised two of the mech's spider legs and shot one of those strange attacks.
"Look out Claus!" Lucas shoved him out of the way, but didn't have time to dodge himself- he managed to throw up a shield- it wasn't powerful enough to stop the attack, but it did cut it in half.
"Lucas! PK Lifeup!"
The warm comforting feeling of the healing PSI spread through Lucas and he jumped to his feet. "PK Defense Up omega!"
"PK Thunder omega!" Claus cast, causing Porky to dart away, giving Lucas time enough to cast enough Defense Ups to raise their defenses to the max. And Claus cast Lightening again, keeping the Pig King away for just a little bit longer. "What are we going to do?"
"We're going to fight."
Claus turned to stare at his brother in shock- Lucas met his gaze head on. "He's an evil person Claus- even if he left us alone, he'd go and try to hurt other people. We have to stop him."
Claus looked at him- looked at his steady stance, his firm grip on the bat, his determined expression- Claus nodded, slowly- and then he smirked. "I never thought I'd see the day where you were the one who wanted to fight- but you're right. Let's go. I'll pound him and you hit him with PK Loves and heal me when I need it, okay?"
Lucas nodded, and brought up his bat.
"PK Love!" Both twins cast at the same time- the words had hardly left their mouths when Claus dashed forward- while Porky was still reeling from the PK Loves Claus smashed his bat into the mech's spider legs, with all the strength he had.
Porky struggled with the mech's controls, forcing it upright, only for Claus to attack again- but while he was springing back, he collided with one of the mech's legs, tripping him and sending him to the ground.
The Pig King giggled again before coughing. "Oh such a hasty toy, always so hasty, never thinking- so easy for me to-"
"PK Love omega!" Lucas yelled, dashing forward- the attack off balanced the Pig King enough that Lucas had enough time to reach his brother, who was already pushing himself to his feet, and quickly healed him.
"Thanks Lucas."
The Pig King had recovered and was approaching again- giggling in a high pitched voice that sounded like a door hinge that needed to be oiled, like nails on a chalkboard- "That's right toys- struggle more, amuse me until your very last breath."
Claus stepped forward, moving like he was going to dash forward again, but Lucas grabbed his wrist, holding him back and quickly Shielded both of them.
"Claus, isn't Lucas a weakling? I'm much stronger than him."
Still being held by Lucas, Claus tensed but didn't say anything, just moved his bat up and getting ready.
"Weren't you waiting to be rescued? Lucas got to stay happily in the village while you were all alone. Don't you hate Lucas for not saving you?"
"Shut up."
Porky giggled- then moved so fast he blurred- before either of the twins had time to respond, he was right in front of them, throwing both of them to the ground.
Lucas hit the ground with a grunt, dazed for only a few seconds before he was pushing himself up and looking around.
Claus was on the other side of the street- and Porky was looming over him like an oncoming wave.
"See, look at how weak the two of you are- look at how easily I tossed you around."
"Leave him alone!" Lucas yelled, jumping up and grabbing his bat- he dashed forward and then jumped up, slamming into the top of the mech from behind- Lucas had time to see the faintest crack appear in it before Porky backed up- backed into him, knocking him to the ground and once again pinning him.
"See, look at what a weakling he is." Porky said to Claus, not even looking at Lucas. "Still, he is everything you aren't. Should I get rid of him for you?"
Claus, in the middle of pushing himself up, froze and stared at the Pig King.
Porky giggled. "It's not like anyone needs him, right? Wouldn't everyone be much better off if you were the one around, and not this crybaby?"
Lucas struggled and Porky- still not looking at him- pushed him deeper into the earth.
The last time, he'd only managed to escape because of Claus- he looked over at his brother. Claus was staring up at Porky in horrified fascination- feeling Lucas's eyes on him, he slowly turned his head around- met his brother's eyes. They were still red and green, just like-
Porky shoved Lucas even deeper into the earth- Lucas cried out before all his air was stolen-
"Leave him alone."
"What was that?" Again, the syrupy sweet voice while he shoved Lucas- his torso hurt so bad- felt like it was being clawed open-
"I said leave him alone! PK Love omega!"
The psychic attacked knocked Porky back only a few steps- Lucas gasped as he was once again able to breath.
Claus was slowly straightening up- he and Lucas looked at each other briefly- before he turned and faced Porky.
"Don't you dare touch him again- and don't you dare talk about him like that anymore either! Lucas isn't weak, and he isn't a crybaby! I might be stronger than Lucas, but Lucas can do more things with his PSI than I can- that's why we make a good match- our strengths and weaknesses balance each other out." He was moving forward now- he came to Lucas and stopped beside him at the last sentence.
Slowly Lucas held up his hand and after a moment, Claus took it, healing him as he helped him up- and as he did so, Lucas began strengthening the shields on both of them that Porky had damaged before.
"It's my fault that I got lost, not anybody else's." Claus said quietly, before looking up and meeting Porky's eyes. "You took Mom away- you're the one responsible for her death- I won't let you hurt Lucas too! PK Love omega!"
Porky staggered- Claus sprang forward, Lucas casting Refresh on both his brother and himself, then followed his brother's lead.
Porky steadied himself and sent another of those weird attacks- the twins stumbled but didn't fall and the Refresh banished bruises even as they formed.
Claus smashed his bat into the glass separating Porky from the world even as Lucas used PK Love again- giving Porky no time to respond to either one of them.
"PK Love omega!" both twins cried- the shield of the tube cracked.
Claus sprang on it and began bashing on it like a madman as Lucas stayed out of his brother's way, casting PK Love after PK Love, until, finally, Porky screamed- a long, high pitched scream- both boys froze- and then Porky fell- hit the ground- and was quiet.
After a moment, Lucas stepped closer- Claus reached down, inside the capsule, touching the Pig King gingerly.
"Is he dead?"
"He's dead- Lucas- Lucas- we killed him."
"He was evil, Claus. He was evil, and he did lots of bad things. We've kept him from hurting anyone else now." Still, it was a little hard to talk- Lucas's stomach tied itself in knots and he had to swallow several times. It took him a couple tries to get his throat working again.
Claus was still trembling- stepping back from the corpse and staring at the ground unseeingly-
Lucas wrapped his arms around his brother. Claus twitched, almost out of Lucas's arms, startled, then relaxed.
"He was a bad man, Claus. If we hadn't fought back, he would have hurt us- maybe even killed us. When a bad person wants to hurt you or someone you care about-"
"Then it's not just okay- it's the right thing to do- the thing you have to do- to stop him." Claus breathed out. "…Lucas? Do you know what this means?"
"What?"
"I finally… I finally avenged Mom." Claus said quietly. "It doesn't feel the way I thought it would…" while Lucas was worrying over what to say to that, Claus looked up at him and misunderstood his expression. "Oh, you helped too Lucas- so I guess it was more we finally avenged Mom than just me, but-"
"That's not what I'm worrying about Claus." Lucas said, hugging his brother. "I'm more worried about you than getting credit for something I had to do."
"Oh…well, I know we had to do it. Not just for Mom either… but for everybody. But I couldn't have done it without you- Lucas?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for sticking with me."
Lucas hugged him tighter. "I always will Claus…and Claus?"
"Yeah?"
"What you said earlier…about it being your fault and only your fault that you got lost? Well, it is kinda true- but it's not your fault that you got hurt. That was only the fault of the people who hurt you, and you're not to blame at all."
Claus stared at him.
"It's true." Lucas insisted. "You made a bad decision when you ran off all by yourself and that was your fault, but not everything that happened to you because of that was your fault. It's not like you knew what was going to happen to you, right?"
Claus nodded, slowly, then smiled slightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks Lucas." And then he straightened up- and winced.
"You okay Claus?"
"Yeah, I think so. It's just-" Claus reached over and carefully felt his right arm. "It's my arm. It feels a little funny- kind of heavy. Do you think I sprained it or something Lucas?"
"I don't know- here, let me see it."
Claus held it out to him without hesitation and Lucas took it in his hands. For a moment, it felt so heavy he almost dropped it- it felt so heavy, and as hard as the metal used to make Dad's knife- but then the feeling passed, and Claus's arm felt like a normal arm.
"What is it Lucas?"
"…I don't know. But here- PK Lifeup gamma. Do you feel better now?"
"Yeah, thanks Lucas. It still feels a little tingly, but-"
A loud, thundering whistle- followed by the noise of machines and wheels- made both twins pull back and look around.
"I think it's coming from this way." Claus said after a moment, pointing.
Lucas nodded, somewhat reluctantly. He didn't want to see anymore of this city, but he didn't want to stay here either, and there was no way he was letting Claus go alone, so he followed his brother.
The sound got closer- and then they found train tracks. Train tracks, with a whistling train just pulling up.
It didn't look like the other things in New Pork City- it was a nice shade of red, and it wasn't overpoweringly huge. And on the side of the train, in big bold letters it said "Paradise Special".
The boys stared at it a moment in shock before Claus gave a loud whoop and Lucas laughed out loud.
They darted onboard, still laughing- inside, everything was just as nice as outside. The seats were covered with comfy red fabric, and there was smooth wood paneling on the floor and walls.
The train began to move again and began pulling them away from New Pork City.
Claus stuck his head out the window.
"Paradise special ain't never coming back!" he announced, and sitting in the seat across from him, Lucas laughed as he promised himself this would be true.
Looking at Claus relaxing, sticking his head out the window and enjoying the wind, smiling contentedly, Lucas couldn't help but smile too.
It didn't matter what color eyes Claus had. So long as his eyes saw Lucas, everything would be fine.
Claus had been hurt, but he was better now.
And Lucas wouldn't let anyone hurt him ever again.
OoOoOo
And the end is getting closer and closer- and now I'm worrying about the climax and if it works properly. Along with everything else. Well, at least I'm happy with the ending, so once I finish working on the climax, I'm good.
I hope you guys like this chapter, and I hope you like what follows.
