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Last time on Plan B: Ballad of Swords

After escaping the attack on Onett, Ness and Rock awoke and found themselves naked in the strange land of magicant. Magicant seemed to resonate with Ness's emotions; his doubts, fears, and self conscious worries all manifested into more troubling conditions until they faced off against Ness's Nightmare who became an eerie skeleton form who reveled in taunting Ness further.

Though Ness had difficulty throughout the challenge, he found his courage and determination to go on before it was too late and stopped his skeleton counterpart from doing any more damage. Ness and Rock then escaped Magicant leaving Ness wondering if it was all just a dream. He didn't have long to ponder as a large castle could be seen in the distance with a stained glass window in the front of a praying lady in pink dress.


Chapter 4: One Fateful Knight


"Wow, where are we?" Ness gazed on at the castle still starry eyed.

"That's right, you've never seen a castle up close before huh?" Rock leaned down and examined the plant life, "Aha! I thought so."

"What?" Ness looked over Rock's shoulder wondering what he was doing.

Rock held up a cluster of mushrooms, "You see the red coloring of these mushrooms with the white dots?"

Ness waved his hands as he backed away from the fungus in Rock's hands, "Sorry, I'm not a big mushroom fan."

"You don't have to eat it," Rock laughed, "But this type of mushroom only grows in one place, that means we must be in the actual Mushroom Kingdom."

Ness's mouth opened like he was about to say something but he stopped himself as he thought about it more and then tried again, "But… isn't the Mushroom Kingdom… like really far away from Eagleland?"

Rock nodded, "Other side of the continent."

Ness scratched his head under his hat, "How'd we get here so fast?"

"Don't know," Rock admitted, "but it works well for us, no one will be looking for us out this far."

"That's true…" Ness kept staring up at the castle with a blank look on his face.

Rock tried to get a look at Ness out of the corner of his eye as if gauging him for something.

After a long moment of silence passed Ness finally asked, "Can we go see the castle up close?"

Relief became apparent in Rock's expression as he nodded, "Definitely, let's check it out!"

The two boys walked the short distance up the road that led to the castle. The road ended at a stone bridge that arched over a large moat that surrounded the castle. Both Ness and Rock stood on the bridge and admired the large structure.

"Castles are cool," Ness seemed genuinely fascinated at his first castle visit.

"It's kind of odd though…" Rock looked around the surrounding area.

Nothing seemed out of place to Ness, "What is?"

Rock tilted his head and tapped on his chin in thought, "That this is a castle meant for the royalty of this kingdom, but there doesn't seem to be anyone around."

Despite banners waving on top of the castle towers, there was no one around, no guards, no townspeople. Ness realized too that it was a little odd.

Both boys felt the temperature rising from behind. They turned around and saw a fireball falling towards them.

"MOVE!" Rock pulled Ness out of the way as the fireball hit where they had been standing and burst into a large green flame.

"What the hell was that?!" Ness shouted in panic.

Rock looked down the field and pointed toward three fast approaching riders. The three warriors appeared to be riding giant green lizards which were dashing towards them quickly. The leader held his hand up towards the sky and green flames formed a ball over his palm, "They don't look happy that we're here…"

Another fireball was shot in their direction. Without much choice in direction, Rock pushed on the door to the castle. He seemed surprised that it opened and motioned for Ness to hurry inside.

The two quickly pushed the door shut. They got a brief look at their pursuer who wore a knight's full plate armor stained a green color. His lizard like steed was also armored in green and had a tongue that draped far below its mouth as if it were hungry. The furious gaze of the green warrior pierced through the two boys as the door slid shut and blocked out the explosion.

The door shook and heated up but withstood the attack from outside.

Immediately Rock braced himself against the door while Ness looked to the side of the door and noticed a barricade bar leaning against the wall, "Help me with this!"

"That'll do it!" Rock grabbed onto the other end of the bar as the two picked it up and placed it over the brackets on either side of the door.

The door shook violently as soon as the barricade was down, "OPEN THIS DOOR AT ONCE!"

Ness slowly backed away from the shaking door, "Seriously, what the hell is their problem?"

"Well…" Rock looked around the bright open lobby of the castle, "If I had to guess, they're probably the guards of this castle…"

"Oh…" Ness realized that made some sense, "But they could have just said 'hi' or something, they didn't have to start shooting."

The shaking and yelling from the other side of the door didn't cease.

Rock nodded, "Yeah… Something is seriously wrong… but as long as they're this angry we can't just leave that way. We're going to have to find another way out."

"Right," Ness helped Rock look around the first room they found themselves in. The ceiling was high with hallways leading left and right, stairs going up to a landing with more hallways leading left and right from the second floor. There were also at least five large doors against the back wall leading further into the castle. Ness gulped, "This place looks huge…"

"Yeah, so let's try not to get lost," Rock grinned as they stepped further into the castle.

A burning smell reached their noses as the boys looked behind them and noticed the barricade on the door was being burned through from the outside.

"Well," Ness gulped, "I guess this means we don't have time for the tour."

"That way!" Rock picked a door that led behind the staircase and the two hurried down hoping to find a place to hide.

Behind the stairs led to a long corridor towards the back of the castle, and another set of stairs going further down into the castle cellar. "Maybe there's a way out the back!" The two ran as fast as they could past what must have been the kitchen from the amount of serving trays piled up outside of it, through the straight hall, and jumped at the door to push it open. Though the two found sunlight, serenity, and a beautiful open sky, they were also surrounded by a thirty foot high wall on all sides of the small courtyard.

"Damn…" Rock checked quickly at all the sides of the courtyard, but there was no other way out, "No good, we've gotta go back."

The two reentered the castle and ran back towards the lobby area. The sounds of footsteps above them caused them to slide to a halt. Someone was taking the stairs up just over their heads. The two started backing up slowly hoping to find another door that might lead them to a way out.

As Ness backed up he just barely bumped into a serving tray from the kitchen. His eyes opened wide in panic as he tried to turn and stop the tray from falling. He just missed the tray which had the domino effect of bumping into several other trays which knocked off their platters while making horribly loud clattering sounds.

Both Ness and Rock shut their eyes and went tense as the plate crashing rang out. The footsteps previously going up the stairs began to clamber downward.

"Time to move," Rock pushed Ness forward towards the stairs leading further down into the cellar. The door at the bottom of the stairs opened and the two hurried in, "I'm sure they'll check down here, we gotta find some place…"

"This way!" Ness called as he ran through a large opening to the right which appeared to be the castle's water system. The tunnels under the castle were more like a labyrinth, and the water was getting deeper.

Heavy splashing footsteps were definitely getting closer. Out of the corner of his eye, Rock caught sight of a room to his right with stairs going up to a door, and below it was a grating where water was flowing through. The duct behind it looked big enough to fit through if they could open it. He grabbed onto Ness while pointing at it to get the point across and the two of them hurried as silently as they could to pull the metal grate off before climbing in and pulling it shut behind them.

The piping was narrow and Ness and Rock found themselves pushed up against each other while trying to both stay hidden and see who was chasing them. The two boys tried to control their breathing and remain quiet as the running footsteps neared just outside their hiding spot.

First the knight in green plate armor ran into the corridor. After getting a better look at him the two could tell he was moderately tall and had a mustache under his helmet. Close behind him came two smaller warriors, one wore a blue checkered banner in front of his armor, while the other had a yellow checkered banner.

"I don't hear anything over here," the blue one said.

The green armored man nodded, "I could hear them running, but the sounds stopped not far from here."

"The water gate control is just over that way," The yellow one brought up.

A nod was the only response the green armored man gave as the walked up the stairs beyond the boys' sight. They could hear the creak of a metal door open, and then close.

Ness held his breath as he tried to listen for any other sounds. He unconsciously found himself pressed harder against Rock's bare chest to help ease his anxiety in the small pipe. He and Rock continued to wait, but several minutes went by without a sound.

"Think they're gone?" Ness's voice a soft whisper so only Rock could hear.

"Hope so," Rock replied as he crawled forward and pushed the grating open again. He climbed out and helped Ness up behind him. They started to slowly wade their way back out when the sound of a clearing throat froze them in their tracks.

Slowly Ness and Rock looked over their shoulders and saw the green armored man and his lackeys standing in front of the raised doorway. Ness realized they only opened the door and closed it in order to trick them.

The green armored man held out a hand and called forth more flames.

Rock put up his hands, "Hold on a second, we weren't here to cause any trouble, honest, we were just looking at the castle until you blasted at us in the first place!"

The man in green replied in a heavy accent, "You expect me to believe that you managed to make it past five defensive lines undetected to just see the castle and not cause trouble?" The green flames showed an anger building on the green man's face.

"We didn't really make it past the defenses so much as we…" Rock gulped at his own explanation, "...sort of… tunneled underneath them… or teleported… or something like that."

The green warrior looked unimpressed, "The punishment for invading the royal grounds is execution!"

"WHOA!" The green man threw the fireball causing both boys to jump out of the way. The fireball hit the water and filled the room with steam.

The green armored man pulled out a great axe from behind his back and jumped high off the platform. Ness watched as the man came down at him from near the ceiling of the maze. Rock managed to push Ness out of the way with one hand and pull out one of his metal blade disks with the other to deflect the axe coming down over him.

"Not so innocent after all are you, assassin?" The green man swung again with his axe but Rock jumped back out of the way.

"These?" Rock laughed, "It's dangerous out there, you gotta have something to defend yourself with against all the nutjobs that go around swinging axes at your head!"

The two warriors behind the green man rejoined his side and drew swords. The man in green pointed his hand forward and cast another green fireball towards the boys.

Rock stepped forward and threw his metal blade at the approaching fireball. The fireball exploded upon contact with the disk causing all three of the warriors to shield their faces and the disk to go flying into a wall where it became embedded with a loud clang.

"Come on!" Rock urged Ness and the two started running back out from where they came from.

"AFTER THEM!" They could hear the green man shouting behind but kept running.

A fork in the labyrinth ahead made Rock slow slightly, "Was it left or right where we came from?"

Ness pointed to the left, "That way!"

The two ran as fast as they could, the sound of their pursuers still only a turn behind them. Light ahead signalled their return to the well lit portion of the castle cellar. Once out of the water, Ness turned around.

"What are you doing?" Rock asked while urging Ness to hurry.

"I'm done with this," once the warriors were back in view, the green armored man began forming a fireball again but Ness kneeled down first and put his hands to the water, "THUNDER!" A blinding light was given off by the whole water way as the three warriors were caught by the conductive electricity. Ness pulled his hands out of the water and the three warriors fell back into the water, at least stunned for the time being. "I hope you all rust!" Ness shouted as he turned and started moving again.

"Way to go!" Rock high fived his friend, "That should buy us enough time to get out of here!"

Ness beamed, happy for the praise and glad he was able to help, "Definitely!"

The two boys ran back up the stairs towards the front of the castle. They were back in the grand lobby when they noticed something was different. Rock looked confused as he stopped running, "Is it brighter in here than it was before?"

Ness also noticed the difference, "Yeah, it's coming from…" He walked toward the center of the room, "up there." He pointed up towards a mural of the sun and found himself being levitated off the ground, "WHOA!"

"Ness!" Rock ran and jumped onto Ness, grabbing onto him just as everything turned white.

Air, just the sound of air could be heard as the boys vision slowly returned to them. They rubbed their eyes and then realized they were falling. They were somehow insanely high up off the ground and falling fast.

"Oh shit!" Ness watched wide eyed as the ground approached.

Rock also panicked. "Oh man, was that some kind of trap?" He looked all around trying to find a way out of hitting the ground with a splat.

"Hey look!" Ness pointed to something red falling within a beam of light not far from where they were, "I think I can get it!" Angling himself to catch air properly, Ness started inching his way closer to the falling object.

Rock tried to stay near but seemed to have less control over his falling movement. He had to yell over the sound of air whooshing past their ears, "What is it?"

"It looks like…" Ness tried getting closer, "A hat?"

"A hat… right… because that makes sense..." Rock grumbled sarcastically as he looked down again. A castle tower was approaching fast through the clouds.

Ness slowly drifted towards the red hat at a much slower pace than they were all falling at, "Almost!"

Rock gulped as he saw Ness's fingertips reach for the hat while the tower of the castle was coming up just below them, "I sure hope that actually does something otherwise we're…"

"Got it!" Ness shouted and again blinding light filled their vision until everything went white.

"OOF!" Both boys hit the ground with a hard thump, but no where near as hard as they would have hit after falling such a height.

Ness opened his eyes and checked the item he'd grabbed, "Hey look, there's an "M" on the front."

Rock rolled over and took a closer look, "I guess it's like how some people mark their names on their clothes."

A loud dong went off behind the boys, startling them for a moment. They finally took a look at their surroundings and saw they were inside a large foyer with a great clock behind them and a staircase leading up to a wide double door.

As the tolls of the bell finished ringing, the large doors atop the stairs opened.

Ness and Rock watched the door carefully, but there didn't appear to be anyone nearby, "Should we umm…"

Rock nodded, "It looks like we're being invited up."

Cautiously the two boys made their way up the stairs and slowly peeked into the next room only to find many more stairs leading straight up.

"I wonder where this goes…" Rock was the one looking nervous which was something Ness wasn't used to.

"Only one way to find out," Ness started up the stairs with Rock close behind.

At first the two walked, but the staircase was so long they couldn't see the top. Ness became impatient and started skipping steps trying to get up faster. Rock kept pace and was hopping along side him.

"Do you think we're still in the castle?" Ness asked as he was almost jogging, "How far up can these go?"

Rock tried running up the stairs and passed Ness, "I'm not sure, but you'd think you could see the top by now."

Ness stopped and looked back down, "Rock! Stop!"

Rock hopped up a few more steps and stopped, "What is… the hell?" The two boys looked behind them and saw that after all the running they did up the stairs, the bottom of the staircase was still just behind them.

"That…" Rock walked back down about ten steps and was back on the landing at the bottom, "doesn't make sense…" he looked around to make sure it really was the room at the bottom of the stairs as he remembered it.

Ness took a look as well, "I know we went up at least five or six stories, no way were just a few feet from the bottom…"

Rock sighed, "It must be some kind of spell…" He looked more closely at the stairs themselves, "Like some kind of repeating space spell or something to make the stairs neverending…"

Ness kneeled on the stairs and examined them closely alongside Rock, "So what do we do?"

"I'm not sure yet," Rock leaned back in thought.

Ness held his head as close to the stairs as he could and looked up to try and see the top, "So anything that goes up doesn't actually make it to the top right?"

Rock didn't have a chance to answer as Ness pointed his hand up at the angle of the stairs. Rock shielded his eyes as a lightning bolt formed in Ness's hand and he threw it. The bolt shot up the stairs and once it reached the edge of their vision both boys were surprised when it disappeared only to repeat the path from several feet in front of them and then became stuck in a loop. The bolt made several fast loops before it dissipated into darkness.

Ness blinked a few times unsure of what he just saw, "That was weird." Rock nodded in agreement.

Again Ness held his hand forward, "I'm gonna try something else…" Ness concentrated and his hand began to spark. Bolts of static lit the room and cast wild flickering shadows on the walls. An incredible amount of electricity danced in Ness's hands and once he felt it was enough he pointed it up the stairs again. A huge sustained bolt shot out from Ness's hand. Once the bolt hit the edge of the repeating spell it began to loop again from just up the stairs where the boys stood.

Ness didn't let the spell end, in fact he intensified the bolt so it took up more area in the staircase. The looping spell began to cause the lightning bolt to feedback onto itself, making it even bigger and more powerful than Ness had originally created it to be. The sound of thunder was deafening as Ness pushed one more time to put everything he could into the bolt.

"Keep it up!" Rock encouraged, "It looks like you're overloading the spell!"

The very air around the staircase formed a series of splintering cracks. The lightning bolt made one final loop through the repeating spell and then looked as though it punched a hole through the center of the cracks. Like a shattering window the cracks worked their way across the entire staircase before the image of the stairs broke into thousands of pieces and fell to the ground revealing the same staircase behind them.

Ness ended his lightning spell and everything calmed. After the shattering pieces of air disappeared, the staircase didn't look any different than it did before. Nothing else seemed to be happening as the two boys stared up the steps again.

Ness took in a few deep breaths, still recovering from the exertion, "Did that do anything at all?"

"I think it did!" Rock began climbing the steps again and Ness hopped up quickly to stay at his side. This time after climbing a few dozen steps the next floor came into view, "That's it!"

With renewed energy the two bounded for the next floor. At the top of the stairs was a long room, a serene light filtered in through the stained glass window of the praying woman in pink high above the room. The first thing in the room was a long meeting table with many seats surrounding it. A layer of dust covered the table as if it hadn't been used in a long while. At the back of the room under the window was a large portrait of the princess in the pink dress.

Ness and Rock stood in front of the portrait. Ness pulled off his hat, "I've never seen a portrait drawn so lifelike…"

"Yeah, she looks so real…" Rock was awestruck as well by the beauty and detail of the painting.

As the two boys examined the portrait closely, the eyes on the princess slowly opened, "AHHH!"

Startled by the moving portrait, both boys jumped back and took cover behind the chairs of the meeting table.

"Do not be frightened," a light pitched but soothing voice came from the portrait.

Ness and Rock looked at each other again before they slowly emerged from behind the furniture and approached the portrait that was obviously moving now.

"How…" Rock gulped as he tried to look behind the portrait; it was completely flat as would be expected from a painting, "What kind of magic is this?"

The princess closed her eyes and nodded, "I was placed under a dark curse and sealed away within this painting, but there is no need to fear me, I would never hurt either of you."

The voice was so sincere that immediately both boys were put at ease. Ness stepped a little closer, "Who are you?"

The lady in pink smiled, "I am Princess Peach, sovereign over the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Oh wow…" Rock nodded as he recognized the name, "What happened here? How long have you been trapped like this?"

The smile faded slightly from Peach's face, "It was three years ago, The Mushroom Kingdom was one of the first targets of the newly formed Golden Empire."

Ness and Rock shared another look understanding that The Golden Empire has been causing a lot of trouble. Before anything else could be said, the sound of clanking armor was heard running up the stairs.

"They found us!" Ness put his hat back on and turned. Both he and Rock got ready to fight if need be.

The green armored man reached the top of the stairs. Behind him was a young man wearing a red and white checkered doublet. His eyes locked onto the two boys and a new wave of anger flooded over him, "You DARE desecrate this place…"

"Luigi, that's enough!" the green armored man stopped and kneeled before the painting.

"Your highness," The man's accented voice quivered as he spoke, "I apologize, these two somehow made it past our defenses, and I underestimated their abilities in the cellar."

Peach shook her head, "These two boys are not the enemy, look."

Luigi turned his gaze up towards Ness and noticed the red cap in the boy's hand with the "M" embroidered on it, "Where did you get that?"

Ness gulped, "We were trying to get out of the castle and when we looked up at the painting of the sky it was like we got warped to a place high in the sky where we were falling, and this hat was there so I grabbed it."

"You understand now?" Peach grinned sweetly, "To have made it here with that, this boy has a heart not unlike your brother's."

Luigi stood and shook himself off, "He attacked my men and I…"

Ness bowed in apology, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you but I was really afraid you were going to hurt my friend Rock and me."

"I would have killed you had I caught you," Luigi still spoke menacingly but crossed his arms as he became quiet, "Just know, this country has already suffered greatly getting caught up in this legend of champions once before, we will not do so again." Ness looked confused as Luigi turned, his cape ruffled and the young man behind him jumped aside to give him room as he began to leave, "I will take my leave, I'm sure the outposts are in need of refortification."

"Luigi," Princess Peach managed to get the man to stop in his tracks.

Nervously, Luigi turned and bowed his head, "Yes mi'lady?"

A tender smile grew on the Princess's face, "Please come visit more often."

Luigi closed his eyes and sighed, "I will make every effort." He turned and began to descend the stairs.

The other young man looked around the room, "Should I accompany Luigi or should I stay?"

The princess grinned at the young man, "Please stay Toad, I hope you don't mind seeing to our visitor's needs while they're here." Toad gave a slight smile before he moved to the back of the room and waited patiently.

Peach turned to her two guests, "Now where were we? Oh yes…" She straightened out as if getting more comfortable within the portrait, "Three years ago, the world was a much more peaceful place, the various kingdoms were thriving, and though tribulations existed there were heroes willing to stand up and fight for the people."

Ness and Rock sat down in front of the painting and listened intently.

"During this time a legend was due to come to fruition, six heroes, each chosen by one of the six prime elements were to gather and bring the world into a magical harmony. This is necessary as the primary elements are naturally opposed to each other and will erupt into chaos should they go unchecked for too long." Peach looked down at Ness, "That hat you hold in your hands belonged to the Champion of Fire," her voice lowered into a sigh as she said, "His name was Mario."

Ness's face lit up as he took in the story, "Mario!"

Rock nodded, "I've heard a lot about Mario… wait… you called that other soldier Luigi?!"

Peach smiled sadly, "Yes, his younger brother, please forgive him. You see, three years ago when the ceremony was set for the champions to bring harmony to the magic of the world they were… interrupted…" Peach had to think for a short moment, "When the champions were at their weakest, They were attacked. There are those who who aspire to great power, and our world has none greater than that of the raw force of the elements. During the attack however there was one last unexpected safeguard to stealing the primary element's powers. Each element took their champion and hid themselves across the planet. Sadly, without our heroes, many nations were left without their defenders and were unprepared for the ferocity in which entities such as The Golden Empire began to expand. Our Mushroom Kingdom was one of the first targets. Once composed of eight self governing lands within the kingdom, all of them fell to the empire. When the empire reached the castle I had no choice but to evoke the protection of the stars over the last remnants of the kingdom who came seeking shelter. Though the castle was preserved, I was caught in a dark spell which sealed me within this painting. Since then Luigi has fought hard to reclaim enough land to produce the resources necessary for our remaining people. Though it seems the empire has set their sights on other targets and the small portion of land we have left is no longer of much concern to them."

Ness stood back up, "Yes, they attacked my home town Onett just a day ago!"

Peach sighed, "And I'm afraid Eagleland may very well fall soon, they have little in the way of defending their outlying towns and will be unprepared for the influx of refugees moving inward."

"My family is still there," Ness's eyes and fists clenched tight, "Is there anything that can be done to stop them?"

"Yes," Peach's warm smile helped Ness calm down again, "Like the champions who came before, the elements have chosen a new set of champions to complete the ritual of harmony. Once all six heroes gather they will be able to summon the power of the primary elements and rid the land of all that threaten peace."

Starting to piece things together Ness nodded, "So if we can find the new champions like Mario was then we'll be able to stop The Golden Empire and save Eagleland and everywhere else. There's six of them, one for every element. How do we find them?"

"Ness…" Rock slowly got up as he thought about how to explain to Ness what he needed to know, "This is what your mom, what everyone was talking about."

Still not comprehending, Ness tilted his head to the side, "What my mom was talking about?"

"When we left Onett, your mom said you're special, it chose you," Rock put his hands on Ness's shoulders, "Ness… The new Champion of Lightning is you." Ness took a moment to grasp what his friend just told him. He looked towards the portrait of the princess who gave him a small smile and nodded.

Ness's mouth hung open, almost quivering as he tried to wrap his head around the words his best friend had told him. Ness took a step back and shook his head, "I can't be it, I mean, I'd know if I was something like that right?"

"Do you remember when the empire attacked?" Rock tried to explain patiently, "You found a greater power within yourself to fight them than you've ever had before. Enough to take down entire doomships in a single shot. No ordinary lightning user can do that."

"I just…" Ness tried to find his words, "I've only ever been normal, and now I'm one of the ones who's supposed to save the world? I was just barely getting comfortable with having to save Onett."

Rock couldn't help himself and laughed, "Then it's a good thing it's not a big stretch of mindset to go from saving your town to saving the world."

Ness felt infected by Rock's mood and chuckled slightly with him, "Okay, so let's say I am this "Champion" guy, what am I supposed to do?"

"It is a difficult task before you," Peach began again, "Because the ceremony was already interrupted once, gathering the power of the elements will be even more difficult to do a second time. The essence of each element crystallized during the ceremony and broke into many fragments. As the Champion of Lightning it will be up to you to collect the crystal fragments of lightning and restore the elemental force to its original state before the ceremony can continue."

"I did find a crystal yesterday, on the mountain where Pokey and Picky took me," Ness recalled the event, "It was glowing so bright when I got close to it. I could feel more power than I've ever felt before, but then it disappeared."

"It didn't disappear," Peach shook her head, "it was absorbed into you, I can sense its presence within you, feeding into you it's energy. You feel it don't you?"

The concept seemed foreign to Ness at first that something like that could be inside him. He became quiet in thought and listened to his own breathing for a moment before he closed his eyes and tried to feel inward. It was difficult tune out even the things he was barely aware of normally, such as the feeling of his clothes and his own heartbeat. He realized though these were things he was feeling so much more acutely than before. He focused on these sensations and pushed past them. He began to feel it, a sensation like a buzzing coming from deep within him, filling him, energizing him, "I didn't… I didn't want to believe it before before, but I have felt something in me the last few days, filling me."

"Remember now that it's part of who you are," Peach's eyes closed slowly as she began to look a little tired.

Ness looked more determined, "Okay so I'm one of the champions, what do I have to do?"

Peach explained, "The journey ahead will be long and having made enemies with The Golden Empire it will also be very dangerous, but you must join the other five champions, and all of you must collect the shards of your elemental crystals."

An important question crossed Rock's mind, "Do you know of a way to help us find the other shards or the other champions?"

"Please hold up Mario's hat," Peach instructed as she lifted a hand forward as if she was touching the barrier on her side of the painting.

Ness held Mario's hat close to Peach's hand and the hat gently lifted on its own and gave off a bright glow. The light receded and the hat returned to Ness's hands. Ness felt a slight tug as if the hat was trying to pull him in a certain direction.

Peach let out a deep breath looking even more tired than before, "I'm afraid I don't have much power left while trapped in this painting, but that hat once belonged to the Champion of Fire. It will now guide you toward fire's new champion."

"Are you alright?" Ness asked out of concern for the portrait princess.

Peach smiled sweetly, "There's no need to worry, it's just difficult to act while in this state." Peach looked up at the young man who was still standing silently at the back of the room, "Toad, we cannot let these young heroes venture unprepared."

Toad stepped forward, "What would you like me to do your majesty?"

Peach pointed her gloved hand down into the castle, "These two need clothes, armor, weapons, supplies, anything we can spare them. There is a locked room in the armory where the Wizard of Light left many mysterious and rare materials. Can you please..."

Rock's eyes widened and the world slowed around him for a moment. He looked almost disoriented as he stepped closer to the painting, "Did you say… the Wizard of Light? THE Wizard of Light?"

The princess nodded, "Yes, he was here just after the kingdom was attacked and assisted us with creating defenses for the castle."

"What's wrong?" Ness wasn't sure what to make of the way Rock's mood changed.

A look of understanding reached Peach's face and then immediately melted into sympathy, "Toad, could you go ahead and show Ness to the armory, I'm sure Rock will join him shortly."

"Yes, your majesty," Toad stepped up to Ness, "Please follow me this way."

Ness looked worried as reached a hand towards Rock's shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"Of course," Rock forced a smile to help Ness feel better, "Don't worry about it, I'll be down in just a second."

Ness half grinned before stepping away from his friend. Toad began leading the way out so Ness followed closely. Princess Peach waved weakly as Ness descended down the stairs.

Past the room with the great clock was another doorway which led further down into a roundabout room with several branching hallways. "It's just over here," Toad opened a door into a room with gigantic mirrors. Toad reached for a torch sitting atop a decorative pedestal and twisted it several times. Ness jumped with a start as the wall opened up into a secret room.

Toad walked in and motioned to the chests in the room, "Pick a box, its contents will help you on your way."

"Thank you," Toad stayed back as Ness looked around the room. He peaked Inside the boxes and found swords and gauntlets and spikes and reams of fabric.

Ness got caught up looking through things and didn't hear clanking footsteps approaching, "All of these weapons were here this entire time…"

"Luigi," Ness jumped back, still unsure what to make of the man.

Luigi entered and held his hand over one of the gauntlets as if he were sensing it, "I see, these aren't just normal pieces of armor, they're magically imbued. These could turn the tides of many a battle. Most definitely left here by The Wizard of Light."

Overcoming a bit of apprehension, Ness asked, "Who is The Wizard of Light?"

Luigi pulled his hand back from the gauntlet and shook his head, "He is a sage from a far off land. If not for him we would have been unable to defend what small portions of our kingdom are still under our control outside the castle."

"He sounds pretty great," Ness bit his lip as he rubbed his hand over a soft cloth.

"FOOL!" Luigi pulled Ness's hand from the fabric.

"I'm sorry!" Ness took a quick step back but saw the look on Luigi's face soften.

"Don't touch an item within this room without knowing what it does," Luigi pointed out a large sword with intricate symbols etched into the blade, "As I said, these items are magical, an armory such as this could win wars."

Not fully understanding, Ness looked to Luigi with confusion, "Then why don't you use these weapons to fight back the empire?"

Luigi sighed, "I was unaware that this room even existed, and without knowledge of how such things work I wouldn't dare touch them either." he glanced almost menacingly at Toad who gulped but remained where he stood, "Though if the Princess withheld knowledge of this room from me for so long then it can only be for one reason."

"What's that?" Ness asked curiously.

"The Wizard of Light intended for these items to be used by someone else…" Luigi crossed his arms and began to leave the room.

"Wait, please," Luigi stopped but didn't turn around to face Ness. "Umm… I'm sorry if this is none of my business, but how hard has it been? Fighting the empire?"

Luigi sighed and slowly looked over his shoulder at the boy, "It's like fighting a plague. They come without warning, strike hard and fast, their warriors are some of the strongest in the world. And once they have brought the people to their knees they convince them that subjugation is what's best for them."

Ness's mouth dropped, "That's… and that's what's happening in Eagleland right now."

Luigi nodded, "You have my condolences." Again Luigi began to leave.

"I'm going to stop them!" Ness shouted before Luigi got far.

Luigi turned again, "And I hope you do, with all my being I hope you do." The clanking footsteps continued on, echoing down the stairs, and then were gone.

Ness looked over the weapons again, this time being more careful not to touch anything.

"Would you look at this?" Ness grinned as he heard Rock's voice at the entrance. He turned and saw his friend looking normal again.

"Pretty cool huh?" Ness pointed to the trunk of weapons.

"Yeah," Rock reached for the gigantic sword with the etched markings in its blade.

"Luigi said we should be careful!" Ness tried to warn but Rock reached in and lifted the sword up in front of him. The symbols on the blade began to glow and then the blade lit into plasma like flames.

The light the sword gave off reflected in Rock's eyes as he looked as though he was remembering something. He grinned and swung the sword to the side, "Yeah, these will help us out a lot." The sword returned to normal and Rock put it down as if it hadn't just been hot enough to melt iron.

"How'd you do that?" Ness held his hand over the blade and couldn't feel any residual heat radiating from it, as if it had cooled instantly.

"Don't worry, I can teach you how some of these work, we'll have to come up with some good weapons to use while we train with swords too," Rock looked over the cloth and grinned, "And we need some protection, Toad, is there a tailor in the castle?"

Toad nodded, "My mentor Toadsworth, the caretaker of this castle, is very skilled in multiple crafts."

"That's great," Rock held the cloth out to Toad, "then if we could get some help crafting these materials into clothes and armor we'd be very greatful."

"Of course, I'll let him know right away," Toad took the fabric from Rock, "I should also show you to some rooms where you can stay until you're ready to depart. Please follow me." Toad led the way to the other side of the second floor hallway, "This is the guest wing, no one has stayed in quite sometime so I apologize for the dust, I'll clean it up right away. You can stay in the first two rooms on the left."

"Thank you so much for your hospitality," Ness noticed Rock spoke with a formality beyond his normal speech.

Ness and Rock helped Toad clean the rooms quickly and then settled in for the evening. The guest rooms were mostly open spaces. An intricate canopy bed against one wall and a large wooden armoire across from it. A small desk with a brass oil lamp was beside an open bay window. Ness wore a set of pajamas that had been found for him while sitting alone on the bed and stared around the empty room. Though he was originally quite charmed by the castle, the wide empty space had started to feel lonesome. He fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, "I wonder how Ninten is doing…"

The bed was plush and soft, but somehow Ness didn't feel comfortable as he rolled from one side to another. He closed his eyes and tried to force himself to sleep. Through the silence Ness heard a slight metal panging. At first he didn't pay much attention to it, but as it softly continued at almost random intervals his curiosity got the better of him.

Ness's bare feet set down on the carpet and and he quietly opened the door of his room while listening for the sound again. Everything was quiet for a moment but then he heard it again coming from Rock's room. Ness slowly pushed Rock's door open and peeked inside.

Rock was sitting at the desk with his back to the door. He had a hammer in his hand that he was gently tapping something with.

Ness knocked on the door, "Whatchya doin?"

"Hey," Rock pushed what he was working on aside, "I just had an idea for something and was trying to see if it would work."

"What is it?" Ness moved closer and tried to look over Rock's shoulder.

Rock showed Ness the metal disk attached to a steel cable, "It's not working right yet, but if it works then it'll be a yoyo."

"Huh?" The contraption was metal and looked more like a saw blade than a yoyo.

Rock laughed and put it back, "I'm probably just tired and not doing it right. Sorry if I kept you up. We should sleep and I'll try working on it again tomorrow."

Ness shrugged, "It's okay, I wasn't able to sleep very well anyway. This place doesn't really feel that comfortable yet."

Rock tilted his head to the side, "I guess it is kinda weird trying to sleep in a different place all of a sudden. Do you wanna stay in here?" Ness nodded quietly. "Don't worry about it, the beds are bigger than mine was back home, so there's plenty of room for both of us."

Rock motioned for Ness to help him pull back the covers before he blew out the lamp. Ness could make out Rock's outline in front of the moonlight filtering in through the window as he pulled his new tunic up and over his head and then pushed his pants to the floor. He picked them up and folded them before hanging them over the desk chair.

Ness took the right side of the bed and pulled the covers over him as Rock settled on the left.

"Are you alright Rock?" Ness couldn't help but ask.

"Of course I am, why?" Rock's smile was just barely visible in the dark.

Not sure how hard he should push for answers Ness brought up, "When we were talking to the Princess earlier, you seemed upset when she mentioned The Wizard of Light."

Rock nodded, "Sorry."

"No, it's okay," Ness fidgeted under the sheets, "It's just that I go to you whenever I'm upset and you know you can talk to me about anything too right?"

A light hearted chuckle came from the left side of the bed, "I know thanks. I'm still sorry, I don't want you to feel like I don't trust you, it's just there are some things I had to deal with before I met you that aren't easy to talk about."

Ness nodded into his pillow, "Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen."

"Thank you," Rock rolled over and pulled Ness into him.

Ness sighed in content as he wrapped his arms back around his friend, "I wouldn't know what to do if you weren't here with me. You're always there for me and I want to be there for you too."

Rock smiled over Ness's shoulder, and neither boy broke away from the other.

A few minutes of silence passed between them. Ness continued to hold on tight to his friend, his hands pulled on the smooth skin of Rock's back. He couldn't help letting the closeness get to him. Rock felt something pushing against his leg and tried to hold back a laugh but couldn't which made Ness laugh too.

"Sorry, ever since I found that crystal thing, it's like every touch makes me feel… well…" Ness tried to explain the feelings coursing through his body.

"Horny?" Rock blurted out without hesitation.

Ness couldn't help but giggle a bit, "Yeah, I guess so."

"You sure you're not just looking for excuses?" Rock teased his friend but didn't let him go.

Ness grinned mischievously as he pressed himself a bit harder against Rock, "You wanna…?"

"Yeah," Rock felt Ness's hand move from behind his back, gently over his side, and over his stomach. It pressed against his stomach muscles for a moment before moving under his shorts.

Rock sighed as Ness wrapped his hand around his stiffening penis. Ness slowly slid his hand up and down Rock's erection paying close attention the skin sliding over the ridge of the head. Rock lifted his butt off the bed enough to slide his underwear down to his knees where he was able to kick them off the rest of the way.

Ness felt Rock's hands under the covers begin to unbutton his pajamas. Ness had to let go of Rock's dick when his pajama shirt was opened up over his shoulders and pinned his arms to his sides. Both boys laughed as Ness tried to wiggle out of the shirt. Once it was off and discarded, Ness's fingertips returned to massaging Rock's erection. Rock's fingers began looking for the buttons of Ness's sleeping pants which were directly over his hardened shaft. Ness couldn't help but flex his dick against the hands as Rock fumbled with the button. Rock found two of the buttons before he started pushing the garment down Ness's legs far enough for Ness to kicked the rest of the way off his feet.

Rock's fingers ghosted over Ness's testicles and up the back of his shaft to the head. Ness closed his eyes and shuttered, "That feels really nice." Rock chuckled as he moved his fingers back down the same path.

Both boys stayed on their sides facing each other as their hands stimulated the other, up and down. The sheet on top of them kept moving from side to side with their arm motions and their breathing slowly became more rasped.

Their session was more like a game as they tried to bring the other close first. It was also all made more exciting by being in a foreign place. A place with guards who might check on them at any time.

Rock tugged on Ness faster pulling the skin forward and back. Ness squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face under Rock's chin while he tried to mimic the motion back. Their arms rubbed against each other and their legs began to entwine.

Ness unconsciously let out a moan; it was a high pitch which caused Rock to almost laugh. Ness grinned to himself but then moaned again. The feeling of someone else's hand moving back and forth from his balls to his dick excited him and was quickly bringing him close.

Rock's hips started bucking into Ness's hand so Ness reflexively gripped a little tighter. A mixture of groans and grunts filled the room for several minutes until Ness squeezed his eyes shut, his mouth opened wide and yet he almost squeaked as he ejaculated into Rock's hand. Rock watched intently as orgasm washed over Ness. The sensation building up in his groin slowly became more intense and he knew he had passed the point of no return. He bit down on his lip as Ness tugged a few more times on his shaft before he also shot his semen across Ness's arm.

Their hands finally fell away from each other but their legs staying crossed as they lied still for several minutes and simply breathed heavily while recovering from their orgasmic highs.

Ness swallowed to try and get moisture down his dry throat, "That was really awesome."

"Definitely," Rock agreed.

The two boys slid closer to each other and embraced in the darkness, not caring that they were both sticky. Exhaustion passed over Ness and his eyes grew heavy and began to close, "I'm really glad that you're my best friend."

"Me too," Rock held Ness a little tighter, "Me too."


End Chapter