Awww, come on, doesn't anyone want to review this?

Roy: You're late in returning, I would guess.

Marth: Too bad for you!

Link: So, I hear good things are coming up?

Yes yes! I have another story idea in the making! Alas, I won't start it until after this story is complete.

Roy: Yeah?

Yep. Now, someone needs to disclaim already!

Marth and Link: She doesn't own. Duh, or There would still be Fire Emblemers in Brawl. Besides Ike

Now go read!

Chapter 8: Realization: Welcome Back and Fare Thee Well!
"So who exactly are we fighting?" Link quickly asked Samus before a lizar leapt over his head, the huge clawed feet barely missing his head. The hylian immediately shot an arrow after its scaly hide.

"The Empire." Samus explained calmly, shooting an oncoming soldier before he could attack her with his own bayonet. "They make random attacks on Home when possible."

Young Link had his sword out, nervously wielding it against any oncoming lizars or anything that attempted to attack him. The Empire had large cats, trained for battle, in their ranks. A soldier stumbled by the group before being leapt upon by a flash of orange spotted fur.

Samus was all over the cat quickly with her gun. Soon, the cat's scorched body was stretched out upon the ground. "Be careful guys!" She called.

Roy had his entire focus on the area of the battle where a single wyvern was air borne; it struck out with its ferocious talons, whipping its horn-studded tail in another direction, with fatalities everywhere. It screamed its defiance at the grounded soldiers, who seemed to cower in its wake, in spite of the beast's former alliance with the Empiric Soldiers.

"ROY!" someone shouted. He returned to himself in time to spot a soldier about to stab him with a long curved bayonet. He threw his sword up and managed to save himself from serious injury, though the bayonet bounced and sliced into his sword arm. With a gasp of pain, Roy went to finish off the man, only for the man to fall onto him, an arrow sticking out of his back.

"You okay?" Link called, shouldering his bow and redrawing his sword.

"Yeah, just a scratch." Roy quickly swung at another oncoming soldier. After finishing off several more soldiers, Roy's arm was going numb, and he groaned. This was bad. The worst thing to happen to a swordsman was to loose control over his sword arm. Though he had slightly trained in left-armed combat using a sword, he hadn't trained enough to be effective for more than a few minutes.

"Need help?" Pichu shot off the body of another soldier and landed on his shoulder. With a shock from the baby mouse, the feeling returned slightly to Roy's sword arm, but not without a jolt of pain.

"Thanks Pichu." Roy hissed between gritted teeth. Pichu gave him an apologizing look, and shocked an oncoming soldier, slightly shocking Roy as well. Hedoes seem to have better control over his attacks… Roy thought, swinging clumsily at an oncoming soldier.

Soon, the overwhelmed soldiers of Home began to retreat to the safety of the city, the wounded being quickly loaded onto lizars. Several dark shadows sailed over the battlefield, the colors of the desert people painted onto the wide wings of the wyverns as a wyvern brigade covered the retreat to Home, but they were soon engaged by another brigade of the Empiric Wyverns, screeches and shrieks frightening both the retreating Homian soldiers and the Empiric soldiers. Katan and her new wyvern were no where to be spotted.

"Roy! Hurry!" Fox called from the gate as Roy wearily stumbled forward, fresh soldiers covering the retreat while another wyverns brigade dropped what looked like bombs from the air on the Empiric soldiers. Pichu urged him on as well, its ears swiveling in fear and shock. Both were covered with blood, Pichu having taken a gunshot to his tail and a bayonet slice to the side and his left paw, Roy having both arms cut from bayonets and a gunshot as well to his sword arm.

"Fox!" Roy called out gratefully. Ignoring his own pain, he stumbled forward, ignoring the blurring at the corners of his vision. The orange vulpine himself was injured, with cuts and bruises covering his arms. His nose now sported a bloody gash of its own, and one ear had a v-shaped split.

"Hurry inside Roy, they're going to close the gate once everyone's inside. You'd better get yourself healed as well." Fox pushed him into the city with a quick glance. He didn't even notice Pichu.

"Fox! Its good to see you again!" Pichu squeaked, still holding his tiny tail. Fox gawked, doing a double-take.

"Pichu! You regained your memory?" Fox grinned. "No time for catching up, I'm afraid. Now go, follow the rest of the soldiers. I'll wait for the others."

"Who's already back?" Roy called to Fox, but the vulpine had already disappeared into the growing crowd of wounded and unwounded soldiers.

Turning, the flame-headed swordsman stumbled along, not able to see very well anymore, as spots began to fill his vision, blurring everything else. Roy felt far away from himself and could only watch as the ground rushed up to meet his vision. As he drifted into his dark unconscious state, he could hear Pichu calling, as everything else went blank.

"…Hit his head. Is he going to…"

"…Kind of hungry, how about you? Let's go get…"

"…I think he's waking up!"

Roy's head swam. He'd been drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness for however long. He couldn't move, and even if he could, he felt he'd puke if he tried.

"Hurry, go get Doctor Mario!"

Roy blinked awake, bright white light filling his vision.

"Roy?" Link's face filled his vision. "You feeling okay now?"

"What… happened?" Roy asked groggily. Last thing he remembered, he had been trying to find help… he was bleeding from the arm…

"You fell down the stairs. You got a bit drunk last night." Link commented. "Nearly took Katan down with you. Good thing Samus was there to save her, you might have squished her, you great lump!"

"…What…?" Sitting up, Roy realized he was in the Hospital Wing at the Smash Mansion. "What… How the…?"

Link stared at him. "What?"

"What's today?"

"Christmas."

"What happened yesterday?"

"Christmas Eve? You know, the party. You and Katan won cutest couple… Don't you remember?" Link looked alarmed.

"Ah, Roy." Before Link or Roy could say anything, Doctor Mario stepped in, Marth behind him. "How are you feeling?" he asked, ignoring Link's worried gaze.

"Confused."

"Confused? How?" The doctor pulled out a clipboard to take notes. Link almost seemed to sigh with relief as the doctor questioned the flame-headed boy.

"I… Guess I had the strangest dream…" Roy replied. "That… The Smash Mansion was blown up, and the rest of the world, and all the kingdoms and other places split into individual worlds…" Roy began to go into detail about Samus's death, the three years spent before Fox and Falco came to get Roy and Marth from their mourning grounds, their attempt to save Hyrule, and their short time in Desert. "You're telling me none of this happened…?" He looked between the three and paused on Marth, who had taken a seat in a chair.

"Oh, but it did." Marth said, standing up. To Roy's horror, his body began to melt until he became Luan, pointing his gun directly at Roy. He shot the gun, but it missed. A scream came forth, and Roy re-witnessed the death of Samus. He felt a pain in his arm as he turned to see Link biting down on his arm, where he had been stabbed. Only Link suddenly became a wyvern, its eyes staring at him crazily.

Roy sat up, sweat pouring down his face. "Sit still you!" Zelda cried. Roy looked around. A tent, Zelda was wearing Desert Garb, and a familiar figure sat in the corner, sleeping.

"Katan!" Roy cried, ignoring Zelda's gasp of alarm.

"Roy, careful! Your arm!" Zelda grabbed it to keep the wound from re-opening.

Katan stirred, her blue eyes opening wide in alarm. She sat up so fast that her stool fell over, taking her with it. "Roy!"

"Katan!" Roy felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. There she was, the Katan he knew. She scampered over to him and threw her arms around him.

"I missed you so much!" She cried, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Katan!" Zelda barked sharply, bringing the girl back to her senses.

"Oh, are you alright?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"I'm too happy to be in pain!" a wide grin spread across his face. She smiled in return while Zelda gave an exasperated sigh of relief.

"Well, sounds like Roy's awake." Young Link called, leaving his post by the tent where Roy had been. Link and Marth paused in their dueling, twin grins spreading across their faces.

"Well, wait a moment, let Katan get herself resituated." Samus called sharply as the three went to greet their fiery friend.

"Aw, but Roy's been sleeping for days." Link pouted a moment before grinning. "But I guess you're right."

"Hey, what's up?" Fox appeared from between two large adobe mud buildings. His arms were no longer covered in blood, but scabs had formed all over them. His nose too contained a thick scar that was lathered with a non-itch salve. From behind him emerged Falco, who had his wings crossed and a grin on his… beak.

"Roy-Boy woke up. We're waiting for Sammy to let us go visit him." Marth crossed his arms, a look of distaste on his face, as though he had just been forced to eat his vegetables. He then winked at Samus, who shook her head, a smile on her face.

"Well, looks like you won't have to wait any longer." Falco spoke, his gruff voice causing everyone to look at him. "What, I have a sore throat. It's sandy and dry. Anyways." He pointed towards the tent that acted as hospital as a familiar redhead limped out, Zelda and Katan at his sides.

Link grinned. He remembered limping into the city a ways behind Roy, dragging Ness along as the boy held off a large portion of the Empire for the retreat of the soldiers of Home. As they were a few of the last ones in, Link watched the reinforced gate slam as the last of the live Homian soldiers got to safety. Ness dropped the paralyzing shield, gasping in shock as the connection snapped.

"I… Did… It…" Ness huffed.

"LINK!" A pair of slim arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind. At first, he thought it was Zelda, only to remember that Zelda's arm was wrapped and splinted. Craning his head, he spotted the familiar black hair and a blue eye.

"Katan!?" A wide smile covered his face as the young swordswoman released the hylian, who in turn, hugged her before doing a very short dance of joy.

"Where's Roy?" She asked, looking around worriedly.

"I don't know. He was injured, so he should…"

"Link!" Falco rushed up. "Roy's badly injured. Is that Ness? Is he ok- Katan!" Katan had dashed passed Falco, determined to find the injured Roy. Link had merely smiled, before he thought.

"How bad?"

That had been a week ago. Roy had slept deeply for a week, recovering slowly but surely. Ness too had been sleeping deeply until a few days prior. Now he was with Pichu and Nix as they oversaw the mass burial of their soldiers and friends. A captain had been lost, as well as two generals. Captain Izu had suffered a broken arm, and was forbidden from doing anything but overseeing the battle that had ended finally two days earlier.

Now, Roy stumbled forward, Katan and Zelda neatly balancing him. Young Link quickly grabbed a padded stool, where Zelda made Roy sit. Katan stood by his side, once again taking on her shy personality. It was all too good to be true, having the three missing Smashers and the previously dead Samus back. Greetings quickly took place before business got underhand.

"I guess… We need to get in touch with another smasher to get out of here… if we can." Fox grumbled. "The gravity pull is so great…"

"I'm sure a ship could get out." Samus spoke up. Ness and Pichu appeared abruptly. They were both smiling sadly, not used to having to bury so many.

"Nix will be joining us shortly." Ness spoke, pulling out his trusty yo-yo.

"No, I'll be joining now." Nix, Izu, and Amina the wolf followed the two from the same direction. Izu sported a splint on his right arm and a new scar across his cheek while his wolf looked at the gathered Smashers, her eyes daring them to attack Izu. Nix looked to the gathered smashers. "I suppose you will soon be leaving." A hard look crossed his face.

"Yes sir." Katan spoke up. The three who had previously lost their memories had regained them, keeping the memories they had made over the previous three years.

"Well, I dismiss the three of you from your services." Nix said, a bit of pain in his voice. "You were our best riders, but once your memory's regained, being a rider doesn't work as well."

The smashers looked at him, puzzled. "Why's that?" Young Link spoke up, asking the unspoken question they all shared. Only Samus looked as though she knew what the Leader of Home was talking about.

"Well, I don't know how, but bandits loose their minds upon coming here. They can only be truly distracted by similar conditioned people. Now that your memories have been regained, they would be harder to distract." Nix spoke thoughtfully. "It's a confusing thing, I agree, and I assure you that it makes little sense to even myself. The laws of Desert, I guess."

"Right." Zelda tapped on her splinted arm. "But how do we get out of here is our question."

"Well, obviously, the gravity pull is great up there." Izu pointed up. "So we've decided, we're going to have to figure something out. You guys need to save the universe, correct?"

"Yeah." The smashers all nodded.

"Well, for now, rest. We'll be on it by tomorrow morning. For now, everyone's to rest. The Empire isn't about to stop. Unless we could somehow bomb the city itself, we're pretty much doomed, as spies have informed us that they will be making one final attack, and the plans would devastate Home. But perhaps by creating a machine strong enough to withstand the gravity pull, we could also make a bomber, which would serve us well. Anyways. Dismissed." Nix turned and left, Izu and the wolf right behind him.

Silence.

"Well… Who's hungry?"

The streets were bustling with people as emergency gear was being sold or traded and the rebels prepared for the worst. Roy looked about at all the strange races and animals that wandered the streets. There were the normal dogs, cats, a few hylians, humans were in abundance, and Roy swore he even saw what Link called a 'Goron' carrying a barrel of water. At Roy's side, Katan was watching the people.

"We're almost there." Katan looked up at her flame-haired lover. "I'll miss him when we have to leave."

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Roy looked down at her deep blue eyes, seeing love and worry mixed together.

Pichu sat on Katan's shoulder, his tail and paw still bandaged. He held onto Katan's white scarf that she refused to take off at any time that it wasn't required, even though it got hot in Home as it did anywhere else in Desert.

The three arrived at a large domed building. A loud screech was heard inside, but no one looked up in alarm. They entered the building to find many cave like formations inside. The center of the building was open to the sky, and spanned almost forty meters in diameter.

A long head poked out of a cave and looked at the three. It was the wyvern Katan had captured during the battle. He watched the three, eyeing Roy warily as they approached.

"Xennen's his name, or so he says." Katan murmured to Roy. They were the only two who could understand dragonese, which fortunately was the language of all the winged lizards. Even the poke'mon, Charizard, could understand dragonese.

"Good afternoon, Xennen." Roy greeted the wyvern in dragonese.

Good afternoon yourself, friend of Katana. The wyvern lowered its head as it relaxed. Pichu, who could not understand dragonese, just watched in admiration.

"I will be leaving soon, Xennen, and you will be free to go where you please." Katan informed the wyvern, who merely nodded.

If you do not mind, the wyvern eyed the opening in the ceiling. I would like to depart now, to fly around Desert, and to find the legendary oasis of the dragon. Xennen eyed the two, waiting for imput.

"Then fly my friend, and may the warm winds take you to your destination." Katan smiled. Xennon gave a cry of joy and without further ado, staggered out of his den and launched himself into the sky, the cries of the rest of the wyverns sending him on his way.

Running outside, Katan watched for a while until the wyvern disappeared from sight. Turning to Roy who had followed slowly due to still being a bit unsteady on his feet, she smiled. "Let's go join the others."

Roy smiled and nodded. Pichu gave a squeak of joy, and they walked back through Home.

The smashers gathered on a rooftop that night, to admire the stars. The house had belonged to the White Riders, but as they no longer existed, the house was temporarily given to them to use. It overlooked a field of grass ("Wow, there's grass here?!" Link had gasped. "We need to feed our animals for meat." Ness had pointed out blandly.) where strange creatures sat and ate all day long. The creatures were a mixture of a large pig and a cow, and had a tangy taste to their meat.

"Hey." Marth had started. "Look there."

A star was moving slowly across the sky, gaining speed as it approached their overhead position.

"It maybe a satellite. It'll probably end up falling into the desert somewhere, knowing Desert's gravity." Samus yawned and cuddled closer to Marth.

The star was momentarily forgotten as the group began to drift off to sleep. After ten or so minutes, they were awakened. This time, Link disturbed the peace.

"Hey, that star, its getting bigger. And closer." Link said, alarm inching into his voice.

Katan, Samus, and Ness sat up. "Well I'll be… it is getting bigger… closer… Oh sh-"

The warning klaxon began to ring wildly. An emergency speaker came on. "WARNING, DANGER, APPOROACHING OBJECT! EVACUATE UNDERGROUND! I REPEAT, WARNING, DANGER.." the warning went on.

"Shit shit shit, we're in trouble." Falco hissed.

The falling object was getting bigger way too fast. The Smashers could only watch, horrified, as the object headed straight for the field.

"Its going to crash!" Young Link wailed. Pichu was screeching in fear.

To everyone's amazement, the object slowed its decent, showing it to be a ship.

"No… How… That's…" Samus jumped up and ran down the stairs.

"Sammy!" Marth dashed after her. The rest of the smashers followed in alarm.

"Are we being attacked?" Young Link asked as they grabbed their weapons.

"I don't know, maybe." Zelda said, hurrying outside.

The streets were dead as the group of smashers burst out and ran down an alley towards the field. There, they jumped the fence and approached the landing ship. They paused.

"Wireframes?" Link asked, ready to attack. "I'll take them on!" The smashers gave their battle cries, drawing their weapons and getting ready to charge. Except one.

"No, wait." Samus held up a hand. The Smashers stopped in confusion, looking at Samus. They then turned and watched what would happen. The ship's hull opened slowly, causing dust to kick up that wasn't already floating through the air from the landing. Soon, the silhouette of a man appeared. As the dust from the landing settled, the smashers recognized none other than

"Captain Falcon, reporting for duty!"

Ooo, cliffhanger. Be very, very afraid!

Roy: (Yawns)

Link: Pfft, why the Captain?

Marth:(eating a wonderful treat called a brownie)

Link: Eeeh, she fell asleep. Read and Review so I can have a brownie!

Pichu: Yeah!