Triple Threat Reformed part 9
"A New Perspective,"
After the intense battle with Nova everyone began to calm down a bit. Attempting to gather themselves together, and recover. Jeff, Loid, and now Lucas began work on the time machine codnamed: Slapped Together. Even though they finished it they opted for Nefarious to take them back through time once he regained power. Of course he was against this since that would leave him utterly powerless and defenseless, but this in fact was the reason they wanted to do it this way. A powerless Nefarious made a healthy everyone else.
"Well how'd we do?" Loid asked.
Lucas scanned it over. "It should work, but what I don't get is why finish it,"
"We need a back up plan don't we? We're bringing it with us so we gotta make sure this thing is fully charged. So while it charges up energy and while Nefarious charges up energy as well, all we can do is wait," Jeff said.
"I was afraid of that," Lucas said crossing his arms.
Outside on the field Nefarious was relaxing on a cliff side where the other Mr. Saturn's sized holes are, but being watched by Poo who was only slightly higher then him. He sat with his hands behind his head lying on the ground facing the sun, resting his foot on his knee, and his shades resting over his eyes.
"Why so on edge?" Nefarious asked looking up through his shades.
"Why aren't you?" Poo shot back.
"Well if you're gonna keep me company you might as well give good conversation at least,"
"I'm not keeping you company I'm watching you,"
"Listen I explained already. I wanna take down the Starmen, and you know my reason why,"
"But you must understand my doubts in the full story,"
"I do, but why distrust me if you trust Ness so much?"
"You aren't Ness,"
"Aren't I? I'm sure you remember how he used to behave just like how I am right now. Even in the heat of battle, and in high-pressured situations, he could actually crack a smile or a pun or two,"
"…"
"Look at him now. Being worried, heh, its so funny,"
"The fact is he can't win without you, and you without him. The fact he got this far in the journey is a miracle itself," Nefarious huffed proudly. "The same goes for you,"
"Hey! I'm way more powerful then Ness,"
"Correction you have his power in its rawest form, and ruthlessness. Key differences in your fighting style,"
"Can Ness travel through time?" Neferaious asked as a rhetorical question.
"As I said his power in its rawest form. Beside you also posses some of Ninten's power too,"
"Which means I'm stronger then Ness,"
"You just have more muscle then him, but not more then Ninten,"
"Why don't you go away, your company isn't as fun as it used to be,"
"You have his memories?"
"Of course I do. I remember the time Paula had that bad hair day, I remember when Ness 'accidently' smashed Jeff's glasses for him to only have a spare, and I remember your face when Paula gave you a hug when you saved her in a fight with a Starman," Poo was surprised. "But these memories aren't mine, and I don't cling to any of them. I want to create my own memories, but I can't do that stuck inside Ness,"
"You must return to him one day," Poo said.
"…I know, but I aint goin without a fight,"
Poo eyes widened. This was the fight and valor that Ness had been missing for about eight months. Familiarity began to flow through Poo, and he felt uncomfortable about it. Nefarious sensed it. He just smirked at Poo then turned at the view. Poo gave him a confused look which looked very out of the ordinary for his facial expressions.
Everyone began to unwind a little taking in this little break they had from battle. They knew that neither the Slapped Together or Nefarious were ready to go, so waiting was all they could do. Many questions did want to go toward Lucas, but it felt weird and didn't seem like Lucas was in the mood to answer. He sat with his arms crossed and looking at the ground. He was obviously troubled. Lucas let out a loud grunting clutching his head. His eyes opened wide then flashed in between red and blue, until they finally settled for blue. Lucas then started trying to catch his breath.
"You okay!" Claus exclaimed.
"I'm fine…it's just that vision again," Lucas muttered.
"Vision, like of the future?" Kumatora asked curiously.
"Of the past, my dark past,"
"What was it?" Flint asked.
"It starts off with me running with someone in my arms. I'm running down a long hallway, with a long window on the side of the hall. I see that I'm in outer space in a space ship maybe. I'm running as fast as I can, and then suddenly my path is caught off by these…things. I put the person down then raise my hand to block their attack then knock them back. I turn to hear a scream, and I see some giant blue thing holding a human woman,"
"Who was it?" Ninten asked.
"I can't remember, her face was covered in shadow, I'm not sure why, but I was really scared and angry,"
"What did she look like?"
"White dress, and dirty blonde hair…I can't place her face,"
"That might've been her…" Ninten trailed off.
"Wait, Ninten you think that was…"Ana trailed off as well.
"Oh, you mean her!" Loid exclaimed.
"Well don't leave me in the dark!" Lucas exclaimed.
"Well, we think that could be Ninten's great Grandmother. Maria," Loid said.
The name Maria began to reverberate off the walls inside Lucas's mind as his eyes flash red and blue. He closed his eyes to stop his vision from spinning out of control. Finally Lucas settled his thoughts then opened his eyes again.
"I know that name, and I think you're right,"
"Do you remember anything else?" Duster asked.
"No, my memory is still being bottled up. For some reason I can't access them, even with my true power starting to come out," Lucas then scowled. "The Starmen know everything. They know about me, and about my past. They're gonna give me answers,"
"Careful Lucas," Ness warned.
"Why should I be?"
"Sometimes when ya want something really bad you might do anything to get it. You end up losing yourself, and the other you is something we don't wanna deal with,"
"Things are spinning out of control, and I don't think I can stop them,"
"You don't have to by yourself," Claus said.
"This is my past, meaning its my burden. The fact you're all here is mere coincidence,"
"Don't say that!" Kumatora yelled. "We're here because we want to be,"
"I can understand your thinking Lucas. I get what you're going through," Claus said placing a hand on his shoulder.
"No…you have no idea,"
"What? Of course I do, Lucas my arm isn't even real, like most of my body. I was made to be used as a weapon, to hurt people. I understand,"
"No, you don't Claus. You're beginnings from birth are happy times. You were always happy, and you always had a heart and feelings. When you were changed into the Masked Boy you simply were…disconnected from those feelings, but clearly they never left you,"
"I missing your point,"
"The point is you had a heart, and feelings before and know how to deal with your past mistakes. You've gotten stronger from moving past them and moving on. You've escaped your past, but on the other hand the melancholy of mine still haunts me today,"
"I don't get it,"
"I'll use small words so you can follow," Claus glared at him. "Three years you were stuck as the Commander of the Pigmask army. I'll even give you four, maybe. I on the other hand was a killing machine far before any of you were even alive. I was made not to have feelings or compassion. The humans I've come in contact with helped me only imitate that feeling through their teachings. What I'm saying Claus is now that I truly have feelings, all those years of emotions just come falling down on me, all at once. The real problem is how do I get past something when I don't even know its there? How do I know where to go, if I don't know where I've been? That Claus is how our situation is totally different!"
Claus could only stare for a moment completely mesmerized by this. Lucas instantly tried calming himself down, but to little effect.
"There's a lot of rage built up inside me Claus," Lucas said offering that as a weak apology.
"Hey Ness," Paula whispered. Ness leaned in. "You don't think the Devil's Machine still has some effects on him do you?"
Ness glanced at Lucas. "Probably, I mean after all his mind was supposed to be destroyed when it was turned on. The fact he was able to salvage anything is a miracle,"
"Well Lucas, I'm sorry my life doesn't suck as much as yours does, but at least I know where you're coming from!" Claus exclaimed obviously not going with such a weak apology.
"I keep trying to tell you that you don't, and you should stop saying that. I understand you want to relate to me, in a way of saying everything's going to be okay, but it wont be unless something is done,"
"Well since you don't want any help, what are you going to do, just go around blowing stuff up! You're pretty good at that already!"
"Claus…GET. OUT. OF. MY. FACE," Lucas growled each word slowly.
"So, I should be especially scared since you could supposedly beat me in a fight, get real Lucas. Even though you were some space monster we still grew up together, and every fight we got into I always came out on top,"
"So, you want me to break that record?" Lucas said facing Claus. The others clearly felt tension building up in the worse ways. Some looked to Flint to stop the fighting, but he remained indifferent. "Fact is I've always been stronger then you, the thing was this power scared the tar out of me. Truth is I still am, but I can control. You'd be nothing but a warm up,"
"I dare you to try!" Claus exclaimed. And that was all the fuel needed as Lucas lunged at his 'brother'. They began wrestling against the ground rolling and yelling. "Cry Baby!"
"Dumby!"
"Wimp!"
"Insensitive!"
"Loser!"
"Parasite!"
"Dork!"
"Schlemiel!"
"Blo- wait what?" Claus said perplexed.
"Too big a word?"
"Shut up you-you… dork!"
"You already said that!"
"Yeah, I just wanted to remind you!"
"Speaking of being reminded!" Lucas finally got underneath Claus then flipped him to the ground. "I'm at least three times stronger then you!"
"Oh yeah!" Claus dived toward Lucas, but Lucas stepped aside making Claus fall face first to the ground.
"Yeah!"
Lucas and Claus charged toward each other again. However, Paula jumped in between. "HOLD ON!" She yelled as she pushed them away from each other showing a surprising amount of strength on her part. "You two need to calm down. This fighting is pointless,"
"He started it!" they both yelled.
"Well it ends here," came Nefarious's voice. They turned to him to see him with his arms crossed. "You two are trying to knock each others brains out. Claus weather you admit it or not Lucas could have seriously hurt you by accident,"
Claus huffed as he crossed his arms. "I could take him," he muttered.
"What was that!" Lucas yelled from the other side of Paula.
"Chill out Lucas. We understand that you've got some SERIOUS problems," Lucas shoulders sunk has he was reminded of that. "But surely you've learned that you can't do everything alone. The reason you're in this position now is because you were alone. Now you've got friends to help you, so stop trying to get rid of them,"
When Nefarious was done with his speech he simply turned and walked back over to his resting spot near Poo. "Oh, and I'm ready to go whenever you guys are, just give me a shot," Then he returned to his perch.
"Well…don't I feel silly…" Lucas said.
"You should Lucas. We followed you all over Nowhere Island, do you really think we would have a problem helping you out in your time of need?" Kumatora said huffing.
"I guess, I've been so caught up in my problems…I never stop to think how you guys felt about it….so how do you guys feel about this?"
"It doesn't matter to me who you were, but who you are now," Duster said.
"I don't care, since we are friends, I should help you out," Kumatora said crossing her arms.
"You may not be my biological son, but its close enough for me. Everyone needs a family," Flint said adjusting his hat.
Lucas turned to Claus. Claus crossed his arms then looked away. "Why, you looking at me like that? You already know my position. You're my bro Lucas, I don't care about any technicalities. That little scuffle should've proved that,"
Now Lucas turns his attention to his newer friends. The ones who have had direct contact with his past self, and have actually witnessed his horrors.
"In truth Lucas…I had always kinda felt bad for Gigue. He was so angry, but didn't have a proper way to express it. He was filled with so much anger wait I mean you were. I'm just glad that after all that you can smile," Ana said sweetly.
Loid adjusted his glasses a bit feeling a bit unnerved with eyes falling on him. "Well…uh…when I met you…you scared the skittles out of me, but I remember when you heard that lullaby after all those years, you simple broke down. It was a…sad sight, and honestly I had pity for you. It's great that you're finally gonna settle things from your past,"
Lucas looked at Teddy and prepared himself for the sting of hateful words. "Well…I still hate Gigue, so I guess we can be friends Lucas. Since you two are completely different,"
Lucas looked toward Ninten who simply smiled. "What's left to say? Facts are facts. You're Lucas, and that was Gigue. You may not remember everything, but you know what you did was wrong. As far as I'm concerned you're my friend first, and my enemy second,"
Lucas smiled at him. Then he turns his head to the second generation of chosen. "Well our encounter with Giygas was nothing short of terrifying, but its not so much that you yourself was terrifying, but more of what happened to you was. To know you lost everything and then you lost your very mind…almost made me not want to fight," Paula said.
Jeff jumped in surprise when all eyes fell on him. "W-Well…Giygas scared me to the point I couldn't stand it. To see something in so much pain, and still fighting is startling. I almost lost my life, and was especially scared since I didn't have PSI. However, the very fact that I could think and feel, was why I was able to help defeat you. I'm glad to see we can be friends after all that,"
"Thanks," Lucas said. Lucas looked over at Poo who decided to walk over at that moment. Poo sat with his eyes closed.
"You're sprit has so much turmoil, but to see you being able to regain yourself is…inspiring. You've have a powerful heart, and you have a humanity that can match or exceed anyone here. To see someone like you come back from the brink is a showcase that anyone can,"
"Plus immortality helps with that," Ninten commented.
"Thanks Poo that mean a lot," Lucas said with a slight bow of respect. Lucas finally turned to Ness.
"Lucas, you and Ninten saved me eight months ago. I would of never imagined that Giygas could save ANYONE, but you proved me wrong. Lucas you past expectations and become a hero yourself. In short I'm proud of you pal,"
Lucas after a long time just smiled happily and genuinely. "Thanks…all of you. Ever since I was little as a human, I've been scared of myself. I've been scared of what I could do, and what I was capable of. Every time I got in a fight, I always had to pull everything, to hold back. I was always scared I might hurt someone I don't mean to, and because of that I gained a fear of everything especially fighting. I didn't like fighting not because I might get hurt, but because of whom I might hurt. It felt like I was living in a world made of cardboard. That power that I've been holding back for so long is exactly the thing I need to end this, but…" Lucas begins to shake. "I'm still scared of it. That's why I pushed everyone away, that's why I don't want you all involved. I don't want to be the one to hurt any of you. The thought of you guys hurt because of me…I couldn't bare it,"
Everyone gave a slight inhale at the realization of Lucas's fear. They never thought this would be the cause of Lucas's strange behavior. Pure fear, and terror of what he could become. The fact that he's heard so many stories of how he was should make that feeling of fear worst. Being reminded of his past mistakes only makes things worse for him, and he only knows the surface!
"If you're scared you're gonna have to let us be there for you Lucas," Claus said.
"It's easier to have more courage when you have the support of those you care about," Loid said.
"Most defiantly!" Ninten agreed.
Lucas looked at them with sad eyes. "You think so?"
"We know so!" Kumatora exclaimed.
"I used to have the same problem Lucas," Ness admitted. "Sometimes it scared me how powerful I was at times, and how I could accidently hurt my friends. Paula helped me out a bit,"
"It's just like I told him. I've seen you fight before Lucas. I haven't seen you use your power selfishly and your not reckless with it either. Letting go of that fear is the first step in gaining total control," Paula said leaning against Ness. Lucas gave her a nod of thanks.
"Wait, Nefarious said he was ready to go didn't he?" Claus asked.
"Yes he did," Poo said.
"I'll get him," Lucas volunteered standing up then running over to where Nefarious lye. He approached Nefarious while he was lying on the ground his eyes covered with his shades. "Hey, uh, Nefarious," One of Nefarious's eyes opened behind his shades to look at Lucas. "Listen, uh, I wanted to say, uh, thanks,"
"For what?"
"Well, uh, you pointed something out really important,"
"What, that you're scared of your own shadow?" Nefarious huffed. "That was no secret,"
"But you've helped me gain a bit of reassurance in myself," Lucas said.
"Well we don't need a repeat of Giygas, so I think it would be in everyone's best interest to help you,"
"I'll take that as a 'no problem'," Lucas sat down. Unsure he should, but felt there was something he needed to say. "Ya know Nefarious, just cause you're Ness's Nightmare doesn't mean you have to be evil,"
Nefarious huffed then closed his open eye. "Really?" he asked mockingly.
"Nefarious you have good inside you. I can tell. You try and hide it, but I can tell its there. You can be who you are, but still be good,"
Nefarious was silent he then sat up then rose to his feet. "You guys are constantly trying to make me into him,"
"I'm just telling you to stop trying to be everything Ness isn't and be what you are,"
Nefarious crossed his arms then began to think on those words. He quickly went out his stupor then half turned his head to Lucas who awaited his reply. Nefarious fully turned around and walked toward Lucas who only looked up at him. Nefarious ruffled Lucas's hair a bit as he walked past.
"Well aren't we a smart kid," Nefarious said as he walked off. Lucas stared after him a bit confused. "Lucas lets go!"
"R-Right," Lucas said hopping up and following. They returned to the others who gathered around the Slapped Together. "We ready to go?"
There was a collection of nods. "Alright, this is your captain speaking," Nefarious started. "Be sure to keep all hands and feet in the ride at all times. Stick close the time stream can get a little disorienting, and please for the love of whoever's up there do not get a sudden urge to see what you're grandchildren will look like. That is if you live that long," Everyone huffed at his joke. "Well, tough crowd,"
"Let's go Nefarious," Ninten groaned out.
"Alright, final battle and possible Apocalypse here we come! PK Time Jump!" A red barrier appeared around everyone. A great discharge began to build up around the orb.
"Good luck you guys!" Apple Kid called waving.
"Do not to mess with the flow of time please!" Dr. Andonuts called.
"Awe," moaned Ness and Ninten. Lucas chuckled at them then got a serious look on his face.
"The answers are only a time jump away now…" Lucas muttered. Claus eyes darted to his 'brother'.
"GO!" Nefarious exclaimed and the sphere shot forward into a red portal. It then vanished once they entered.