I have absolutely no excuse for taking actual years to post this chapter, I am deeply sorry for taking literally forever. Some things happened irl and they made writting anything almost impossible. Man, even a new Smash game came out before I finished this! That's just silly ffff... but I do want to finish this some day, and some people seem to have been able to dig this out from under a lot of other fics so it's only right to try and continue!

I would like to tell you all that I fixed some little bits that bothered me from past chapters and that while this is in smashverse I'm not gonna change it to SSB4, so still in Brawl's time! (Mostly because idk most characters and do not have SSB4...)

It's been years but thank you to Passerbyanon, shygirl2009, Sheikan Laguz, somestars, Roseal, Distressed Clover, SomeRandomGuy, TrollingForever, Akabari, Golden sadness, LadyGlitchy, (all of them from 2012/13 cries pls forgive me) and more recently EB fan and RagefulThief! And thanks to the BUNCH of new story followers, I'm honestly super flattered!

And with that, on with the chapter.


Chapter IV:

Roll With It

The battle went on just a little bit longer, the past tournament's contestants taking a different approach as they started learning the patterns of both the newcomers. Getting too close to Lucas was proving to be very dangerous for both of them and their long range attacks weren't exactly the best, but the blond's slow moves were predictable enough and Wolf's fierce power was countered by the equally explosive swordsman.

It wasn't too much a surprise when they had sent the psychic off limits with a quick and relentless combo, making him lose one of his 'stock' and then Pichu finishing him off with a Thunder as he tried to recover from another throw that had sent him off the edge, using up both of their last 'stocks' and leaving the arena for Wolf and Roy to finish.

Back in the transporters' room, Lucas shook his head and sighed quietly with his eyes closed, unmoving from his spot on the floor before feeling a gentle nudge against his leg. He opened his eyes and saw the small mouse Pokemon staring at him intently, a wide smile on his face and small sparks jumping from his pink cheeks. Recognizing his powers to be similar to those of Ness, Pichu didn't bother trying to find a way to communicate what he wanted to say with gestures, knowing Lucas would be able to understand.

"(That was a great battle! I hadn't got to fight like that in a while! Thank you pii!)" Pichu did lift his arms in the air, bouncing a bit on his feet before his attention quickly switched from Lucas to the monitors, swiftly jumping from the floor to the counter that would let him see the images with more ease.

Lucas opened his mouth to reply before recognizing the Pokemon was more focused on the match than on him and decided to keep quiet, the shame weighting him down for losing the fight easing a little at the possibly unintentional reassurance. It was good to know he had given a good impression even though he did end up losing.

The end of the fight had been very close, with both the swordsman and the bounty hunter refusing to back down and giving their all, using all in their arsenal to send the other flying off the stage. Their match all too close and suddenly a Bob-omb appeared between them.

They both saw it but only one was able to divert his attack away and jump back. The sword connected with the item.

"Game!"

Pichu whined and pulled his ears as the monitor displayed Roy flying off in a ball of fire, stomping a tiny foot down and puffing up his cheeks, charging for the transporters and colliding against Roy's leg, glaring up at him with dark eyes in what was more a pout than the intimidating glare he intended.

The red-head laughed and rubbed his nape sheepishly, turning to look at Lucas and Wolf as Pichu climbed up his clothes and perched on his shoulder. "That was an exciting match, you guys really are great! Good to see the tournament is not slacking!"

Wolf huffed, a proud grin on his snout as he started marching out of the room, waving his hand. "Great match." Lucas smiled in mild embarrassment, rising from the floor and shuffling a bit on his feet.

"Glad you two enjoyed it. It was a great battle...! Don't feel umm... i-insulted by Wolf, he's really proud, but I'm sure he enjoyed it as well." He said, feeling a little awkward staying there by himself with these two he didn't know, especially so after Wolf's exit. His worries were met with a quick laugh as Roy waved them off, turning to follow Wolf back to the main areas of the mansion.

"Don't sweat it! You know, you're really stronger than I expected! With you being so shy, I didn't think you'd hit that much harder than Ness, especially with that magic you got!" With that, they were off and Lucas was left by himself in the room, looking at them as they left.

Now in the silence with only the soft humming of machines as company, he noticed something.

His head wasn't hurting as bad.


Lucas walked with his eyes focused solely on his feet, his expression blank and far away as he pondered.

Had the headache been a product of an accumulation of PSI? That was possible but not probable... and so, why would it stop being so prevalent after that fight...? It was unusual, it hadn't happened before. He thought he had recognized the symptoms as the fever he had endured a few times before, they had been so similar... but perhaps he was simply actually just falling sick instead, or being exhausted and not getting enough rest.

"Lucas!"

His head snapped up and his train of thought halted as he heard someone call his name, catching sight of Ness and Nana sprinting towards him with huge grins. Blinking in shock, he managed a sheepish smile as Nana raised her hand up for a high-five as soon as she was in reach, with Lucas answering it easily.

"That was amazing! You did really well against them!" Ness exclaimed cheerfully, sending the blond a thumbs up.

Nana nodded in agreement, clapping her hands and informing him further. "You won't believe how excited they are still. They really enjoyed the fight!"

"R-really? I thought..."

"Ah-ah! None of those thoughts, Luke." Ness interrupted him with a friendly kind of scolding, clasping a hand on Lucas' shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "They had fun, it was an edge-of-seat battle to watch, and you fought amazingly even when you seemed a little out of it earlier!"

Lucas paused, blushing at the praise, before frowning a little bit at the last sentence. "I seemed out of it...?"

"Well, you did oversleep..." Nana started, bringing a gloved hand against her chin in thought. "And you were a bit quieter during breakfast, right?"

Ness nodded in agreement before shaking his head and pushing Lucas the way he and Nana had come running from. "But hey, now that your fight is done, we gotta go see if Roy and Pichu can't hold their energy in and start come sort of contest!"

"Yeah! They're so pumped they'll probably try. I'm going to go ahead and catch up with Popo, so hurry you two!" With that, the pink Ice Climber ran off, leaving the two psychics with their slower pace.

Silence stretched for a moment before Lucas finally turned to look at Ness, seeing him staring at him with mild worry in his expression. "Hey, Lucas... about being out of it earlier, are you alright? I was going to ask before but..."

Lucas smiled back, nodding. "Yes, I'm alright, Ness. Thanks for asking and... not putting me in the spotlight." He muttered, blushing slightly and wringing his hands. "Being honest, I wasn't feeling too good earlier... b-but I think I'm a little better now?"

"Did it have to do with how strong your PSI was?"

The blond froze, staring at Ness' serious expression with one that resembled a deer caught in headlights. Sputtering, he struggled to find the words. "I w-was... I d-don't- I g-guess?" He chewed on his lip nervously. "I h-had a real bad headache b-but..."

A hand touched his shoulder, squeezing again. "Lucas, I'm not mad, no one is. I was just wondering if that had something to do with that. You sure you don't want to go to the infirmary to get a check-up or something?"

"N-no!" He exclaimed quickly, shaking his head. "I mean-no, no, I'm alright now, I promise. My head is fine and I've got it under control. L-let's catch up w-with the others!" He finished hurriedly, jogging down the hallway as Ness stared after him confusedly before conceding defeat and running after him.


True to Ness' prediction, Roy and Pichu had been too excited to stand still for long, and didn't have scheduled fights to attend to, which lead to plenty different games and short contests of different kinds and abilities in which a portion of the residents had been dragged into.

Ranging from tests of quick reflexes, revisiting well loved sectors of the training grounds with the reforming painted targets, games of endurance and luck, and tests to see who could swing a bat harder at the right time... it had been an eventful day with little breaks between activities. Certainly not unusual for the mansion, but a tad more hectic than usual.

Especially considering the fact the last, biggest event had been an all out water fight from which there were only few places considered 'safe' from sudden attacks and even fewer people were not involved in one way or another after being either the intended target or victims of the crossfire. Master Hand ended up being the one that broke up the war, confiscating every water gun, ballons, and sending all the water pokemon that had been recruited back to their pokeballs (with the exception of Squirtle, who had immediately latched to his trainer's head in fear). And of course, for good measure, basically casted a bucket of water over everyone's head with a snap of his fingers.

Needless to say, most everyone was exhausted and in good spirits, with the exception of the few that were not interested or involved in the whole situation.

Ness and Lucas took their turns in their shared bathroom, with the dark-haired boy managing to finish his own warm shower and exit the bathroom before Lucas had managed to fully dry his hair with a fluffy towel, sitting at the edge of his bed.

"You sure you aren't gonna take a warm shower? We have been soaking wet for like two hours now." Ness asked, climbing onto his bed and stretching himself on the covers, sitting up to look at his roommate.

Lucas, on the other hand, didn't look back at him as he continued rubbing the towel against his scalp, finally pulling it off and shaking his head, running a hand through his hair, satisfied with how much he had managed to dry it off. "Yeah, I'm sure. Kinda used to cold water, so I'll be fine."

"Eh, alright!" Ness shrugged, scurrying on his bed and quickly hiding under the warmth of the covers before poking his head back out and grinning at Lucas from amongst the comfort of the pillows and blankets. "Your turn to turn off the light, I'm too comfy to do it."

In turn, Lucas scoffed and pouted at him before shaking his head and standing up, a smile tugging at his lips. "I had to get up anyway to put the towel back." Playful banter bounced between them as Lucas went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, choking a few times and ending with both of them laughing and pulling faces at each other before finally the lights were turned off and Lucas shuffled to his own bed, curling under his own blankets and closing his eyes.

He truly thought he'd have a harder time, fully prepared to shift restlessly for a couple minutes to get comfortable after a day so full of activity he was sure his mind would be buzzing too much to settle with ease. And yet, he was out almost instantly.

He dreamed of green plains and a forest, dirt paths, and the sound of the waves nearby.


He ran through stone corridors, the tapping of his shoes bouncing off the walls in an echo that reflected back at him and made the already huge place seem bigger. Steps almost followed him, and for a time he thought it might be an enemy. He realized the sound was much like his own, if a bit quieter, unlike the clicking of claws or pounding of heavy weight.

That was coming from up ahead, he was sure.

He approached a tall door, standing before it and staring at the intimidating size of it. The steps from behind him grew louder and suddenly he saw green on the corner of his eye, with a nod he put his hands against the dark metal door and pushed with a grunt, hearing the figure next to him mimic his moves.

A loud, long creak broke through the air and suddenly an explosion of noise assaulted their ears. Barely keeping from flinching back slightly, Mario narrowed his eyes and stepped into the room, hardly able to catch the slight sound of discomfort coming from his brother, who quickly followed him and joined him.

Both their expressions changed to surprise as Peach's voice seemed to extract a small choir of laughs from a myrad of different tones, coming from the pack of wildly different Drago-Koopas sitting around the room with their own devices and eagerly trying to catch her attention to show her something or another. Bowser Jr. was, of course, the one trying hardest to hoag as much attention from her as he could, practically sitting on her lap and laughing the hardest, snapping in childish anger at any of the Koopalings that held Peach's attention for longer than a couple of seconds. Not like that could deter them from continuing.

Bowser himself seemed amused by the display, though he wasn't much different from the smaller Koopas as he interjected from time to time to boost himself and his grandiour, or commenting with mild interest at some of the things the younger ones were chattering about.

Larry, the one with the light-blue shell, was the first to notice the arrival of Mario and Luigi, and immediately stood defensively, calling the others to attention to them as well. Silence stretched for a couple moments before Peach smiled at them and waved.

"Mario, Luigi! Come on in, you won't believe what these little geniuses had been working on!" She called, laughing behind her hand and motioning towards the tall and skinny Koopaling with light green shell and the shorter one with dark blue shell, Iggy and Ludwig. Both of them seemed a little weary for a moment before shrugging. Iggy grinned widely and pressed a button from a device he was holding on his hand that extracted a yelp of excitement from Lemmy, the smallest one with orange shell, as he was sent sailing through the air with a jet of steam. The room burst into cackles again as they watched it happen, and both brothers blinked in confusion before entering the room with the right amount of caution.


Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees above, the grass soft against his paws as he sprinted cheerfully, trailed by another chorus of steps with rhythms and weights far different from his own. A grin pulled at his lips and sparks danced from red cheek pouches, looking over his shoulder to catch sight of a duo of smaller Pokemon chasing after him.

Pikachu stuck out his tongue in challenge, laughing as Pichu's pink cheeks crackled with static electricity and Squirtle tried to catch up on all four, panting with the effort of keeping up with the speedy electric rodents.

A small distance away, Ivysaur happily paced by a bed of flowers of so many different colors and scents, her vines gently tending to them. Flying up in the sunny sky was Charizard, wings stretched and taking the full opportunity to do pirouettes and divebombing, roars of elation sounding from time to time as he enjoyed the freedom the sky granted.

On the ground, under the shade of trees, their trainer laid with his back against the grass, one arm cushioning behind his head and the other busy with the pokeballs, simply enjoying the cool sensation of the small spheres-almost like marbles at that size-twirled around his fingers.


Plains spotted with trees and stone walls far, far away in the distance called him. His boots thudding against the ground with a gentle, steady pace that had seen these makeshift paths time and time again. Missing was the sound of hooves, but it hardly bothered him as he continued forward with no urgency in his travel.

The call of a seagull jarred him slightly, but he merely looked up at the sky to try and find the source of it. The white and black bird cawing again as it flapped its wings to gain height, twirling in the air with stiffness that didn't quite feel right. Somehow, it all made sense when the bird fluttered down to land on the head of a young, blond boy clad in the same clothes he himself was wearing.

Toon Link opened his eyes, lowering his arms that he had been waving in slow circles as if he had been conducting something, aided with the white baton on his left hand. The younger one grinned at Link, waving a hand cheerfully from the distance, and the elder couldn't help the laugh leaving him.


Space stretched around him in all directions, blackness swallowing everything but the pinpricks that cut through its inky veil. The silence and calm of outer space were something that always stood out to him, in some way.

The Warp Star left a trail of yellow behind him as it took him through the nothingness, taking him somewhere-home, he guessed? Back home to Pop Star. But a mindless detour wouldn't hurt, really.

A distance away, he saw something small floating much like he was, somehow visible against most logic but he hardly cared as he floated a little closer and simply waved an excited greeting, fairly sure he had seen some movement from inside the strange windows of the spaceship. Again, his focus fell forward, to the eternity before him now that his small side mission of greeting whoever the one in the ship was had been completed.


Snores carried through the quiet air of the ungodly hour, most of them muffled behind the doors of each room the Smashers were sleeping in, aside from a couple that simply wouldn't go unheard. Mewtwo sat outside, floating above the fountain in the gardens, his eyes closed and arms crossed, tail swishing slowly under him.

Quite the strength to not have reign over, indeed...