The Purest of Evil

by Super Shadowsonic

Doing the right thing has never been easy, but that's why the good guys are strong. They're always willing to do the right thing, always ready to be a hero. But is evil so easy to see? Is what's evil decided by the majority or the strongest? How can one fight it without seeing it in themselves? Truth is you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

12. The Past is the Present

The Purest of Evil part 12

"The Past is a Present"

"So now what?" Ness asks from his place sitting next to a prone Lucas. The two had been sitting in silence for the past few minutes. Ness actually had been at home all day, so he was actually a bit surprised to see the sun beginning to set in the distance. The two of them hadn't shared any words after sharing their names. Only just sitting with each other. It was odd, despite only just meeting, and having an all-out brawl. Ness glances over to Lucas who has his eyes closed. Clearly not asleep though judging by how his face moves. Finally, he opens his eyes.

"I have to find Porky, but that's more a goal than an actual plan." Lucas finally answered as he sat up.

"Well, that's how plans start, that's what I say at least." Ness says with a shrug. His eyes scan over Lucas seeing the blonde. It was hard to believe that he was from the future, especially based just on how he's dressed. It wasn't too much different from the attire Ness favors. "So, do we get flying cars in the future?"

"Hover cars, but there aren't that many of them. I honestly don't even know what cars are or how they work…"

"That's kinda weird…" Ness mutters confused.

"And that's all the spoilers you get."

Ness flinches, "What!? I deserve at least one more question!"

"Well, you had one freebie, but you wasted it on flying cars. You should've asked first, besides knowing too much about the future can cause problems, I'm beginning to learn that now…"

"So, what Pokey said about you becoming a tyrant…"

"Is true. I don't know how it came to that, but that's what ended up happening. I even had a chance to meet my future self, definitely not what I want to become."

"Well problem solved then, right?"

"That's not how time travel works, from what I've learned. Especially since…" Lucas pauses thinking on his earlier actions. He lashed out only focused on violence. His mind may've been a bit scrambled, but where did that part of him come from? "Normally, I wouldn't have attacked you like that. Maybe something is happening to me… is all of this going to turn me into the monster that everyone is trying to destroy."

"That sucks," Ness responds.

Lucas snorts, "What a way with words, but yeah it kinda does suck."

Ness lifts one of his legs then begins rolling his ankle, "Huh, it felt like I twisted my ankle when you grabbed it, but it feels fine now…"

"It wasn't actually twisted, I sent an EMP surge through your nervous system from your ankle to simulate the pain of a twisted ankle," Lucas explains. Lucas looks at Ness blank face that simply stared back at him. Lucas sighs, "I tricked your brain into thinking your ankle was twisted when it wasn't…"

"OH!" Ness eyes lights up now understanding. "That's awesome I didn't know that was possible…well not that I understood it…but that's so cool! I didn't know PSI could do that!"

"Yeah, I've had time to really understand how my powers work," Lucas begins to move to get to his feet, but he winces falling back to his butt. After the painful journey through the 4th dimension and then jumping into a fight with Ness. He was thoroughly spent, he's injured and even too weak to heal himself at the moment. Ness noticed his struggle as he climbed to his feet.

"Get on," Ness says gesturing to his back as he crouches before Lucas. After a bit of arguing against it from Lucas and insistence from Ness, Lucas is now being carried on Ness' back as the walk down the hill.

"I'm sorry…" Lucas mutters.

"I heard you the sixth time, its fine man, so stop apologizing already!" Ness exclaims exasperated. "It was just a misunderstanding. In your eyes I was trying to protect a bad guy. From my eyes you were trying to kill someone that used to be a friend of mine, who I was thinking of giving the benefit of the doubt to. It was just a misunderstanding."

"One that we could've solved without fighting, but my head…I wasn't thinking right. I don't want to trouble you anymore or pollute the time stream anymore," Lucas truly wasn't sure where that side of him came from. The way he lashed out without pausing for an explanation. Was he prepared to kill Ness to get to Porky. Technically he's pretty sure he was only focused on removing Ness than killing him at the very least.

"Alright, so where'd ya plan on going future guy?"

Lucas ponders the question for a moment, "Well, it's possible for me to track Porky down. He has a faint PSI signal."

"Okay, so where are you going to start?" Ness questions.

"Where the signal is strongest, I suppose."

"And where is that?"

"Uh…" At this Lucas doesn't have an answer. He doesn't sense Porky at the moment, and he can't exactly expand his search to the entire planet. He needs some places to start. Also since Porky originated from this time period, he knows the landscape a lot better than Lucas does. This gives Porky a homefield advantage that could easily end with Lucas in hot water. "I am not sure…"

"My point exactly, lets rest for a little, my house isn't that far from here."

"But I was just your enemy, we were fighting tooth and nail a few minutes ago!"

"Yeah, but that was a whole 20 minutes ago man. Things change," Ness responds as he tilts his head back at Lucas. "Unless you think wandering the planet that you know nothing about is a better plan?"

Lucas sighs, "No it isn't…"

"Glad you see it my way," Ness says as he approaches a house. When Ness reaches the front door his eyes glow as the door opens by itself before he walks in and kicks to the door closed.

"I'm back mom!" Ness calls.

"Oh good, when I heard all those explosions, I got worried," She says from her spot in the kitchen. She seemed to be in the same spot where he had left her. "Are you alright sweetie?" She says walking closer to observe his battered attire and the blonde boy on his back.

"You should see the other guy," Ness smirks.

She smiles at him, before looking at Lucas, "And who is your new friend?"

"I'm the other guy…" Lucas remarks. She seems to tilt her head at him.

"Never mind that mom, this is Lucas, he's from somewhere faraway. He needs my help getting back home, is it cool if he stays here?"

"Only for a few hours, I don't want to impose," Lucas quickly adds.

Ness' mom smiles at him, "Nonsense, you're welcome to stay. It's always nice to meet someone so well mannered. I'm hoping that will rub off on Ness," She says with a bright smile.

"Seriously mom," Ness grunts as he moves to the couch to let Lucas drop onto it.

"I'm just saying Ness, anyway, what are we doing for dinner?"

"Some pizza would be great…" Ness says plopping down next to Lucas.

"Well then Mach Pizza coming up. Lucas is there something you would like on your pizza?" She asks.

"Um…whatever he gets I guess," Lucas says. She nods before moving to grab the house phone.

Lucas has no idea what the heck Pizza is, but he supposed he'd find out soon enough. However, that was the least of his concerns. Seeing this woman, Ness' mother, made his insides twist a bit. He didn't like the feeling at all and he felt it almost overwhelming him. That warm smile, that sweet voice, and the kindness shown to him. It was very reminiscent. The pain was throbbing in his chest, it almost felt like being punched in the stomach over and over. He felt like he was about to fall into a panic attack trying to suppress these feelings. He closes his eyes taking a deep breath, allowing his PSI to coat him and he finds himself relaxing a little bit. However, his concentration is broken by a poking sensation against his cheek. Lucas opens his eyes and looks to see Ness looking at him continuing with his prodding of Lucas cheek.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asks.

"Well, I always thought, well I was told, that it was impossible for organic beings to travel through time," Ness says.

"Well, it should be obvious I'm human with the whole breathing thing," Lucas says before moving his face away from Ness' prodding finger.

"I know, but you also have very pokable cheeks!" Ness snickers.

"My cheeks aside, in the far flung future, it seems that they've been able to solve that problem with time travel for organic beings. Any ideas where Porky could've gone?"

"A few, but I'm not totally sure…"

"We need to find him quickly!" Lucas says.

"Well first you need to recover. It seems throwing yourself into the time whatever really did a number on you."

"I can manage…"

"You don't take great care yourself, do you?" Ness questions. At this Lucas pauses a bit surprised Ness would state such a thing so plainly. He's also not used to someone reading him like this, a stranger no less. He didn't want to worry anyone anymore, he's stronger now, so he doesn't need to rely on others.

"I'm strong now…I have to be strong…" Lucas mutters clenching his fist.

"Being strong doesn't mean you don't need help sometimes," Ness says overhearing Lucas' mutterings.

"I can't afford to rely on others…because then they'll be…" Lucas stops himself as his body tenses. He can't reveal his past to this person he just met. He can't pollute the timestream any more than he probably already has.

"It's okay man, no need to cry," Ness says. Lucas is astonished at that. He hadn't even noticed that he was. He raises a hand to rub under his eyes to see he is indeed crying.

"NO! YOU ARE BEYOND THIS! YOU ARE NOT WEAK!" a voice yells deep from within his heart. Before Lucas could heed those words he feels a hand on his head. He looks at Ness surprised to see the boy ruffling his hair.

"Don't worry we got this," Ness says with a friendly smile. Lucas could only nod. Ness smirks before his eyes venture over to his mom hanging up the phone. "Alright, I'm gonna make a call to someone who might be able to help," He says before hopping to his feet to move over to the phone. Lucas watches after him for a moment before looking down at his hands.

"Oh dear boy, you have the magical gift of PSI!" Ionia tells him.

"I do?"

"Yes, I can help you awaken those powers if you want."

"If I can help then please do!" Lucas demands.

"Hmm…" Ionia mutters when she places a hand on his head. "Seems that they've been poking out on their own for a while now. They just need a little push…" With that the Magisypy awakens his PSI. Lucas' veins are filled with energy as his eyes begin glowing. "My oh my, you have such wonderful powers sweetie!"

"Really?"

"Indeed, you even awakened to PK Love. A very rare ability, but…it seems that your powers are quite interesting. They can affect your physical state quite a lot. By suppressing emotions, feelings, and other things. You may have more power than you know what to do with. It will be a scary thing to deal with, but I know a little trick to help you out with that~."

"Focus on the present…" Lucas mutters closing his eyes. "Allow the energy to build and flow. Don't be afraid, it is a part of me, it won't harm. It is your strength, and it is your heart. Let your heart flow freely…" Lucas sighs as he opens his eyes feeling his PSI flowing around him. He starts channeling it in order to heal himself. "PK Lifeup…" he mutters. A green aura encases him as he begins recovering from the damage. "Let the past rest in peace…"

"Who are you?" a new voice questions. Lucas slowly comes out of his trance to look at the new voice. A little girl who stares at him in interest.

"Hi, my name is Lucas, nice to meet you," He responds with a small smile.

"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Tracy. Did you know that you glow?" She asks.

"I do that from time to time," Lucas says simply.

"Tracy don't bother him, he's trying to become one with the universe or whatever," Ness says appearing over the head of the couch as he leans over. "Ignore her, that's just my little sister."

"Don't tell him to ignore me!" She exclaims.

"Sorry can't hear you, you're being ignored!" Ness says tilting his head away from her. In response she sticks her tongue out at him, and Ness does the same.

"Tongues are for tasting, not showing," Ness's mom states from the otherside of the room. She didn't even need to turn around to know. At her admonishment both of them pull their tongues back into their mouths. Lucas can't help but chuckle at their antics. Tracy huffs as she walks away.

"The joys of having a sibling…" Ness says.

"I know what you mean," Lucas responds.

"Do you have siblings?"

"I have twin brother. Older twin if anyone asked him."

"Oh wow, that must be so weird having someone walking around with your face," Ness says.

"Well, his hair is a different color, but its not so bad. It's like having a built-in best friend," Lucas says.

"I guess you two get along really well then huh?"

"Well, we had a pretty rough fight recently, but I think we're working on it…" Lucas says simply. "But what about Porky-,"

"Dude relax!" Ness says cutting him off as he drapes his arm on top of Lucas' head partially leaning on him. "We'll get him. Pokey isn't as smart as you give him credit for. We'll catch him, but I want food…"

"You're going with me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Ness questions leaning off Lucas. "He clearly did some messed up stuff to you. Maybe if I did a better job, he wouldn't have done anyone else any harm. The only thing we can do is focus on the now after all, and right now we're waiting on pizza. Seeing as future boy doesn't know what pizza is."

"Heh, you picked up on that huh," Lucas said.

"There is no person who doesn't have a preference with pizza toppings, unless they've never tried it before. One of my friends never had pizza before too. Still, weird pizza didn't make it to the future, makes me think something apocalyptic must of happened..."

Lucas's eyes narrow, "Ness, why are you being so nice to me?" Lucas questions.

"Because you're a nice person," Ness said simply.

Lucas looks at Ness confused, "Is it that simple?"

"I mean, why can't it be?" Ness counters with his own question.

"How can you know that, especially with how we met? I'm not even sure if I'm a nice person anymore."

"Hmm," Ness pauses thinking of an explanation, then he begins ruffling Lucas' hair again with Lucas making a face at the mistreatment of his hair. "I could say its cause I sense it from you. You just have good vibes pouring off you. That I could trust you so easily because you said sorry a grand total of six times. That you did something super dangerous just to stop Pokey from doing something bad. Put simply, I think you're pretty cool, plus its fun ruffling your hair."

"Even though you know I'm going to be a bad person later?" Lucas asks. He honestly hadn't wanted to admit how unnerved he was by his future self. How cruel he becomes, and the scary thought of how all his future self's action made sense to him.

"You're doing everything you can to prevent that future. Far as I'm concerned the real you is right here," Ness says simply. "I mean again, you did apologize to me six times about potentially hurting me. Last I checked, tyrants don't care who they hurt, so I find it hard to believe you become a tyrant…"

"That's nice of you to say," Lucas says.

"It's not just that though. I don't think you would become that person unless something really big happened. Honestly, that's how I see things," Ness explains.

"Okay, I'll relax, and I won't raise any more problems," As he said that the doorbell rings.

"That must be them," Ness says as he suddenly warps over to the door. He opens it to pay the delivery man and quickly closes the door with a kick. "Pizza's here!" Ness calls.

Lucas watches as the family gathers around to take their slices of the greasy looking substance. It at least smelled good. Lucas looks away before letting out a breath. He wasn't sure if he has the time to relax or take things easy at the moment. He's sure that his actions may have some sort of consequences for his time. That is if Porky knows how to operate the Phase Twister properly. He's tempted to see what changes he could make here but decides against it. Not worth the chance of creating paradoxes or destroying his time period for creating his ideal world. Lucas closes his eyes seeing if he could sense Porky's location. With the Phase Twister he could potentially teleport anywhere, theoretically. It's not a teleporter, but he was still hopeful it would lead to something. However, he can't sense anything out of the ordinary, and he doesn't have the strength to expand his search. He sighs seeing as they was a fruitless effort.

"Hey," Ness says poking his cheek again. Lucas opens his eyes before looking at Ness again to see a half-eaten slice of the pizza in his hand. "Come on, eat."

"Fine," Lucas says standing to his feet. He walks over looking at the pizza seeing the assortment of toppings. He was unsure what this was but grabs it the same way he had observed from the everyone else in the family. After a quick glance at Ness who is trying to be subtle as he stares at him expectantly. He sighs, before taking his first bite, he chews, and swallows. His eyes light up a bit as he looks at the pizza in his hand, amazed. In that brief moment, he also wonders how the hell pizza didn't make it to his time.

Ness clearly found entertainment of teaching Lucas how to eat pizza. Once Lucas reaches the end of the pizza leaving only the crust, he is clearly confused at what to do next. He looks around for some sort of guidance. Ness knows that Tracy and his mother don't eat the crust. He elbows Lucas letting him know that every part of the pizza is edible as he bites into the crust. Lucas looks at him a bit mystified that he was able to eat the bread at the end of the pizza. Lucas follows Ness's example, biting into the crust of the pizza. He chews a bit as if testing the fact that it is edible. After confirming this bit of information on the subject, he decides that it is one of his favorite parts of this 'pizza dish'.

Lucas won't lie, he was enjoying the moment. For a while he's been going from one problem to the next. Finally, he can forgot about all that and focus on the moment. It didn't make things less painful. The way Ness's mother smiled at him, the way everyone seemed happy to have him here, and the fact that it was honestly also wrong. Lucas felt it in his bones. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be interacting with a person that lived in the past. He shouldn't be eating pizza and just relaxing as if the world couldn't end in the next few moments.

"Thank you for sharing your food," Lucas says simply after eating. He didn't feel good eating more than he should've. Honestly, he wouldn't have taken a bite if Ness wasn't so insistent. Lucas excuses himself before moving to step outside the house. He opens the door to be greeted by the night air. Honestly, he was tempted to just camp outside. As if him sleeping would disturb anyone in the house. He knows that he has issues after all. Still the night air was relaxing, it felt like nostalgic. The warm night air that was accompanied by the cool night breeze, ruffling his hair and the grass below. The stars are harder to make out, but Lucas could still see splashes of them for here.

He sits down on the grass, to just feel the world around him. He isn't sure if it's just him or his PSI but feeling the world around him was always so relaxing. It was as if he could become one with the Earth to feel it at peace. Feel the way it turns, feel the way the wind blows, and the air he breathes all around him. These moments were always some of Lucas' favorite. That he can simply sit and feel the world at peace. Despite, what problems he may be dealing with, or the vile things people are capable of. The world turns while still maintaining a certain beauty in it. He can feel the world still at ease. That feeling transfers over to him. Like the world is whispering to him, telling him that things are okay and that whatever he may be feeling is only for the moment. That right now, he can relax.

"Hey Lucas," Ness says as he joins him at his side. Lucas is taken from his trance to look up at Ness. "Whatcha doin?"

"Listening to the planet," he says.

"Groovy," Ness says plopping down next to him. "We can leave out in the morning to hunt down Pokey," Ness says.

"Alright," Lucas responds.

"Wow, you seem relaxed," Ness points out surprised.

"I just needed to take a moment. Thank you for being so accommodating."

"Geez so formal," Ness says with a wince.

"Sorry I don't have a lot of friends my age. Actually, I don't have a lot of friends period. I always had my brother, I never needed a friend besides him. He was my everything, my best friend and my confidant."

"You make it sound like he died," Ness says confused.

"He did, at least he was presumed dead the first time. The second time felt more permanent. When I saw him, he was brainwashed by Porky. I couldn't save him…I couldn't help him when he needed me most. It was just my mother all over again. Unable to save someone who meant so much to me." Lucas shakes his head. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that…"

"Why, because you think you might create a time paradox or something. Forget that man, you're here, damage has already been done. Especially since I already know time travel is possible. I didn't know Porky caused so much pain for you. I didn't understand why you hate Pokey so much, but that makes sense. We could be friends though."

"We exist in two different time periods. We'd never be able to meet outside of messing with the timestream. Besides you don't want to be friends with me?"

"Why is that?" Ness questioned.

Lucas seems to pause in thought, "I don't really trust myself anymore."

"Friendship doesn't have to be that complicated. You like me right?"

Lucas flinches being put on the spot with the question. "Uh, I…yeah."

"Cool, I like you, so friends. Doesn't have to be more complicated than that. Its not set by who is worthy of it or not," Ness says simply. Lucas seems to balk at that statement. He looks down at the grass below him. It wasn't as if he didn't know that, but it felt foreign to him. He couldn't understand why Ness would want to be friends with him. Doesn't he see the baggage that he has? Lucas had been so sure of himself throughout this entire ordeal. He was sure he could solve the problem of whatever was going on in the future and get back to his life.

Things have suddenly changed though. That trip through the 4th dimension, rattled some things loose in his mind. He's scared there is something darker in him that he didn't know about. He noticed how cold he was becoming, but he always tried not to respond that way towards those he cares about. Towards those undeserving. For the first time in his life, he genuinely fears he might hurt someone innocent.

"You don't want to be friends with me," Lucas says simply.

"Well, considering you're spending the night at my house, my mom likes you, and my sister likes you. That's grounds for us to be friends, sorry not sorry. I am sorry that those things happened to you. It sounds like you lost a lot because of Pokey which I can understand why you hate him." Ness reaches out a hand to ruffle Lucas' hair again. This makes the blonde glare at the raven head boy. "But then we wouldn't have met! You seem like a great guy Lucas, so I don't think you're a bad person. Honestly, I bet we'd be great friends if we were able to hang out more."

"Don't say that. I know you can't mean that. I'm not worth-,"

"You can stop right there!" Ness says cutting off Lucas. "Everyone is worthy of friendship. I know that if something were to happen in the next second, you would do everything you could to protect my family. I can tell it as a fact, and you would try to protect me if you could. You would protect the whole world if you could! That's pretty much the reason you're even here."

Lucas sighs not saying anything in response. Only enjoying the night air with Ness beside him. Ness didn't seem to be bothered with his presence either. It was as if this was something Ness would do on his own as well.

"Also, you're not sleeping outside," Ness added suddenly. Lucas looks at Ness confused. "Don't look at me like that, I'm sure you were thinking that. You don't want to be a bother to me or my family or whatever. You tell me you don't have many friends, and you expect me to treat you like a nobody. No way bro, you're spending the night here."

"Why are you so aggressively friendly?" Lucas asks.

"Only because you feel like you aren't worth basic human decency."

"I didn't say that…" Lucas remarks weakly.

"I had to beg you to eat food," Ness points out with a dead pan expression. "Like I said, it doesn't seem like you take care of yourself. I think friends should take care of each other."

"Do you really consider me a friend?" Lucas questioned confused. It really didn't make sense to him.

"Yeah," Ness responds simply. Lucas seems to balk at easy the statement is. "The look on your face is the reason I have to be so aggressively friendly…"

"I attacked you!" Lucas exclaims.

"It was a misunderstanding! After hearing what Pocky did to you, it makes total sense you would lash out like that. Anyone defending Pocky after what he did to you would be my enemy too! I'm capable of introspection!"

"What about me becoming a tyrant?"

"You're not a tyrant right now, are you?"

"Well…technically no…"

"Well, that's all I need. Like do you wanna make it official or you do like being super formal? Lucas," Ness says turning to Lucas and extending a hand. "I would like you to be my friend."

"I…" Lucas is unsure how to respond.

"We're friends," Ness says grabbing Lucas' hesitant hand and shaking. "No backsies."

"Uh," Lucas mutters as his hand is grabbed. Lucas smiles a little. "Thank you Ness, for wanting to be friends with me."

"You're not a charity case, I want to be friends with you because of the person you are. It's not a service!"

"I guess it just seems like a person like you deserves good friends. I know it sounds stupid…but what makes me different to any other stranger you meet?"

"You're you, that's basically the only understanding I need," Ness responds.

"…Okay, I understand…" Lucas mutters. With that Ness sighs before jumping back to his feet.

"I'm tired, lets go to sleep," He reaches a hand towards Lucas. Lucas is surprised at the hand being offered to him. After a few moments he takes the offered hand. Ness pulls Lucas to his feet. "Again, you're not sleeping outside."