Three Leaders and a Hero

No guardians names up there! Woo! The title would be waaaayyyy too long if I actually put them. XP

Well, after listening to "Angel of Darkness", Pit/Psyche's Guardian's theme song, I present to you guys this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Smash Brothers. But I do fight for my friends. I also take crack and heroin! (insert awesome face here)

She had almost no time left…

The clock was ticking away…

Second by second, minute by minute…

Time was almost up…

"The girl is dying…" Lucario murmured, "I must help her now."

"Uh… can she wait to die until after we get out of this mess!" Eric asked as he fired lasers at the group below. Eric slammed his thumbs down two red buttons on his controllers. Two machine guns popped out just under the wing and began firing right at the front lines. The recoil of firing off so many rounds shook the Wolfen, throwing Heather's aim off. She lost her footing and slipped, sending a blast of her Psyforce right into Eric's back.

"YEOWCH!" Eric slammed his arm into another button, releasing rocket launchers every this way and that. An explosion nearby told them that the launchers had hit something. Primid heads and limbs flew up into the air, raining dead and dying Shadow Bugs every which way.

"Watch it!" Falco's annoyed voice crackled over the radio, "You almost took me out with those things!"

Heather uneasily staggered over to the pilot. "I'm sorry, Eric, but-"

To her surprise, Eric shot up immediately and gave her a gentle push out of the way. As he passed, she caught a flash of deep amber in his eyes. No noticed when the nose of the ship took a dangerous dip downwards…

Lucario took the unconscious girl by the shoulders and squeezed her shoulders, a familiar blue fire building around his hands. He watched as the memories of her life, from the time she first met her best friend, to the time she was united with her Smasher, danced in front of him. Each memory hit him like a painful stab to the heart, but the Pokemon held on despite all the pain he felt.

Heather looked on in fear and fascination as Psyche's body was engulfed in these blue flames. She was writhing, her face contorted in pain. Heather started forward to throw Lucario off of her, but Wolf held her back.

"He's trying to help her," he growled, "Unless you'd really like to have a dead body on your hands, I'd suggest you don't interrupt."

Heather trembled slightly at the thought of such blood on her hands. There was already enough bloodshed in her past to last a lifetime. She wouldn't be able to bear another innocent soul lost.

Or in this case, two innocent souls…

Meanwhile, Lucario was ready to give up. The girl's aura was rapidly weakening and he couldn't see Pit's anywhere. The Aura Pokemon could only see a deep purple veil covering every inch of her aura. Soon enough, the Shadow Bugs would break through her system and begin eating away at her very flesh and bone. Her life would be forfeit…

Then, he heard a voice. "Palutena! Grant me strength!"

There it was! He saw a flash of golden light twinkling from deep inside the girl's mind. He watched as this light blinked thrice before growing into a near unstoppable force. A single sharp cry was ripped from the tiny throats of the Shadow Bugs as they retreated as far as they could from the light. Lucario sighed in relief. Pit was winning the battle.

But just then, the Shadow Bugs that were just retreating clumped together and formed one giant mass of fear and evil. They lashed out like a whip against Pit's light, putting it out like a candle. There was still the tiniest flicker of the golden aura through this unexpected counterattack, but it would soon go out. Lucario gripped the girl's shoulders harder.

"ACCEPT THE AURA!" he concentrated with all his might, channeling as much power he could spare into Psyche's body. The girl writhed even harder now, a scream was torn from her throat.

"Psyche…" Heather whispered, biting her lip in worry, "She's hurt…"

Wolf ignored her, sensing that there was something wrong with this situation. Other than the fact that there was a writhing, screaming girl on the ground and that they were still getting hit pretty often, there was nothing that he could tell was wrong. His eyes traveled over Aly's suitcases, to the rather large toolkit tucked in the back, to the parachutes…

… all the way to the pilot's seat.

"Who the Hell is driving this ship!" he yelled, "Someone grab the wheel!"

Heather shot an imploring look at Lucario's form, still gripping the girl's shoulders. By this time, the fire around his hands blazed electric blue and Heather could practically see the blue fire- the aura- dancing within Psyche's eyelids. Now Lucario's face was contorted in pain, but he managed to give her a shaky look.

"I-I… c-c-ca-… can't…" he panted, "N-Need… to… s-save… her…"

His guardian's mouth never moved, since the Pokemon retained his powers of telepathy from when he was in his body. For a moment, Wolf wondered if Mewtwo had retained his Psychic powers as well. It took him a while to notice that Heather was still staring transfixed as the battle between aura and Shadow Bugs continued. He lost his patience.

"DAMMIT, HEATHER! GRAB THE WHEEL!"

His guardian blinked, tearing her eyes away from her little companion long enough to look in the direction of the wheel. Without a moment's pause, she had grabbed it and was trying to navigate her way through the multiple black arrows that were coming their way. Four flew at them, but only one of them missed the ship. Heather winced as the alarms of the Wolfen began blaring.

"AAAHHHH!" Psyche's eyes flew open, Lucario's fiery aura shooting out of them like laser beams. Out from her eyes and her mouth, strange black lights flew out and twisted themselves into a solid form. Throbbing and pulsing menacingly, it leaped for Lucario, trying to revenge itself upon the thing that dispelled them from their host.

Too weak to do a thing, the Pokemon readied itself for the impact. He closed his eyes and said a single prayer to Arceus to spare the life of his guardian. Weak and dull though his senses were, he could see very clearly the oncoming shadow that was all too ready to consume him. At the wheel, Heather looked around, her dark eyes flashing in horror.

"NO!" in one swift movement, Psyche leaped forward and from out of nowhere, pulled out a large square object. It shone brighter than any star in the universe as the Shadow Bugs made impact to it, sending them hurtling straight back. The great lump of Subspace slammed into one of Aly's suitcases and sank down to the floor. The cherry red piece of luggage wobbled slightly upon impact before falling forward with a loud thud!, crushing the Shadow Bugs underneath it. Lucario blinked in surprise, his head swimming.

"Oh! So that's where the boss keeps her extra weights," Eric commented.

Heather struggled to regain controls of the Wolfen. Unfortunately, one of the tail wings had been snapped off by an incoming arrow. She felt the thirst for adventure rising in her, but it was not her desire.

It was Wolf's.

Heather sensed a slight disturbance in the air. Looking over her shoulder, Lucario was meditating to regain his energy. Psyche, meanwhile, was nimbly climbing up to the sunroof, Pit's bow in hand. Heather thought that it was strange that the girl would have so much energy after going through such an experience.

"Hey Heather, mind if I drive?" Wolf asked, unable to hide his eagerness.

Without even waiting for an answer, he yanked Heather's mind back and took over himself. A feeling of belonging came over the former pilot as his hands grasped the familiar controllers. The desire for adventure filled him once again as he flexed his fingers experimentally. A malicious grin broke out on his face as he grabbed hold of the wheel. It was his turn now.

Heather, meanwhile, had been yanked back so hard, she had been tossed right out of her body. Wolf had told her that this could happen on occasion. Heather turned her transparent hand over in slight fascination. Well, this was lovely.

"Heather!" a voice half yelled beside her, "Are you alright!"

The voice was very high and panicky. In spite of herself, Heather smiled and turned to face the ghostly form of Psyche, who was alternating her gaze from Heather to Pit. The angel was currently in control of her body, explaining why she still had the energy to fight even after suffering through so much trauma because of Lucario's treatment.

"It's good to see you alive and well, Psyche," Heather patted the girl's shoulder, "Are you alright?"

A dark shadow flitted across the other girl's face. "I… erm… well… I'm alright, I guess…"

Behind them, Wolf let out a piercing howl while Lucario gave him a reproachful glare. Heather frowned at the hesitation in the other girl's voice.

"You don't sound like it… what happened…?" Heather shifted her position so she was fully facing Psyche, "What's wrong…?"

"…" Psyche threw a small glance at Pit, still shooting away. Heather watched as her bottom lip trembled when she looked, her eyes blinking rapidly. She was holding back tears.

"Pit again?" Heather whispered, "Did Pit say something to you again…?"

Psyche wrung her hands. Heather could almost see tears rolling down her cheeks, though she could not cry in this form. Lost for words, Heather reached out and pulled the girl into a hug. Psyche's spirit trembled against her, as if wracked with sobs. The sound of Wolf's triumphant yells and the explosions below seemed miles away now…

"He… he never stops to listen to what I have to say…" Psyche's voice was choked with tears, "he talks to be like… like I'm… like I'm the worse fighter he has in his stupid army or something… he doesn't… he doesn't understand…"

"Mm…" Heather nodded, seeing the reason, "But maybe… maybe it's because you also don't understand him yet, either…" she felt the girl stiffen. "… do you know what he was before he was stuck inside that jar?"

"…" Psyche remained quiet.

"He was the commander of an army," Heather continued, smiling a little at the memories, "I learned about him and all the Smashers from stories told long ago… it was said that his army, every single one of those soldiers, were braver and stronger than anything in the world. They were angels, just like him, but they were also something more. They were Centurions, who followed all his orders to the best of their limits…"

This time, Pit's guardian glanced once more at her Smasher. He was fighting with the strength and valor of a tiger, occasionally even jumping right out of the sunroof to shoot his arrows before leaping back in. Her long brown hair, which he often complained about, whipped around him like a great tornado, but he didn't let this bother him. His aim seemed to be just as sharp as ever. Though he had often told her that her lack of strength hindered how far she could draw the bowstring, there he was right now, drawing the powerful string of Palutena's Bow as though it were made of nothing but air. The angel had never truly struck Psyche as a very competent fighter, but at this moment, he wasn't fighting a battle.

He was living it.

At the same time, Heather looked at Wolf. He was wrenching the steering wheel of the Wolfen to and fro, causing it to lurch dangerously in all directions. Lucario, still meditating, glared at him but he didn't care. He was laughing and howling, his pride in himself and his thirst for adventure radiating off of him in one golden glow. They way he blasted off the enemies far below caused Heather to wonder if he really was a pure villain like he had claimed.

"He is a good fighter…" Psyche admitted reluctantly, "But… that doesn't give him any excuse to treat me like that…"

"Maybe he isn't aware that you shouldn't be treated like that," Heather told her gently, "Remember what I said? He had some of the best warriors in the known universes under his control when he had his body… and he's lived for so many years now… he's never had a truly weak soldier, ever! Psyche, you're not what he's used to. You're… well… you while he's used to soldiers who never talk back to him and who are more powerful than any mortal alive… he hasn't really had the experience of working with someone like you… you two are a team."

"…"

"Even though he's not exactly the best partner in the world, give him a chance. All his life he's been in the commanding position, no question. Give him a chance… let him get to know you better… and soon, you'll be kicking everyone's butt out there. Even…" Heather let out a small chuckle. "Even mine and Wolf's…"

"I don't know…" Psyche said doubtfully.

Heather smiled. "Trust me on this one. Just give him a chance… who knows, maybe you guys can develop something a bit beyond the whole professional partners relationship."

Psyche wrinkled her nose. "Doubt that…"

"Guys! I'm taking some pretty bad hits over here!" Fox's voice broke slightly as he struggled to speak. By the sound of the explosions in the background, the Primids had managed to breach his defenses.

"You're not the only one!" Falco answered, "Those damned Shadow Bugs are clouding up my windows! I can barely see a thing!"

Wolf grabbed the radio. "Why don't you two shut your yaps and figure out a way to defeat all these guys at once! We can't be here forever and sooner or later, these things will be out of gas!"

"Wolf!" both pilots said at the same time.

"No time for explanations, Star Fox," Wolf snarled. He looked at how much gas he had left. Barely an eighth of a tank. "What's important right now is that we have to get outta here, pronto!"

Fox nearly dropped his radio as Wolf roared those last words. Pronto? He checked his gas tank. Sure enough, he had barely an eighth of a tank left. He bit his lip. There wasn't much he could do about it without a certain toad on hand…

"Hey! That Slippy guy sounds just like Eric!" Aly said cheerfully, "Only… he's not a toad, he's not that annoying, and he complains a lot about stuff he has to fix. And I keep telling him that it's not my fault Mars and I always trash our ships by the end of the day! He just needs to add more shields!"

"Or maybe you can stop trashing it so much," Fox suggested. He wrenched the steering wheel to the side, narrowly missing Falco as he zoomed by. The defeaning sound of metal scraping against metal filled his ears, as well as multiple bangs as he was hit by arrows because of this avoidance. He picked up his radio. "Falco! Watch where you're going! I almost got my engines taken out!"

"If I could see you, I'll make sure to swerve!" Falco shouted, "These stupid Shadow Bugs are stuck on my window and they won't come off! The idiot who designed these things forgot to put windshield wipers!"

Alarms went off in Fox's mind. "Aly!"

"What!" his guardian shrugged, "They slowed us down and they got in the way of my shots! Besides, we weren't really expecting to get all caught up in this war!"

Fox paid no attention to her. His hand shook in horror as he trained his gaze to the farthest corner of his window. A small purple lump had appeared, dark and pulsing. It was now quickly spreading along the window pane, leaving not a single dot of the outside world left.

"Falco! Your ship's contagious!"

"Now see here, Fox, my ship is not some kind of virus that-"

"Oh yeah? Well, then how did these Shadow Bugs get all over my windowpane!"

"Shadow Bugs on your window pane! What are you talking ab-"

The sound of crunching metal filled the background, as well as the familiar blare of Falco's alarms. Fox listened as the bird gave a shout of surprise, the clicking of many switches being frantically flicked. Falco's pants clouded up the microphone and it was not long until the crackling of electricity filled the air. And all through this, the alarms got louder and louder…

Wee- ooh! Wee- ooh!

"Falco! What's wrong! What's going on!"

"That's the alarm that sounds when an important part of his Arwing gets blown off…" Aly murmured, "Has he been shooting things without me!"

Fox had no time to answer her. Between the increasing amounts of static over the radio and the rapidly growing parasites that were ready to engulf his window in darkness, Fox had no time to worry about his guardian's constant want to shoot something. Then, an idea struck him. Flipping a few more switches, he brought out what was left of Aly's rocket launchers. To his dismay, Shadow Bugs clouded up all but one tiny hole of the aiming scope.

"What are you doing!" Aly demanded as Fox squinted to look through the tiny window that was left. Without answering, the pilot slowly moved the scope so it aimed not at the group of Primids below…

… but at the window of the ship itself.

"Aly, are these windows missile proof?" he asked, readying his thumb to press down on the button.

Aly hesitated before answering. "Well… yeah… Eric did say they're missile proof, but-"

"Good enough for me! FIRE!" Fox slammed his thumb down on the button that activated the missiles. Two explosions on either side of the Arwing shook its walls as the missiles were let loose, aimed straight for the window covered in Shadow Bugs.

BOOM! POW!

Three different explosions slammed into the Arwing only seconds later. The ship shook in the air, smoke roiling from its cockpit. Wolf, who was flying by, stopped to gape at the smoke. Whatever Fox did was complete suicide!

It wasn't long until the smoke cleared. The Arwing, though badly battered and missing almost half of its tail wing, still just barely managed to stay in the air. Fox coughed as the smoke filled his lungs, but covered his nose and mouth with Aly's shirt collar and squinted.

To his complete dismay, the missiles proved to only knock off a few Shadow Bugs at most. The little parasites were now slowly eating away at his window. Fox was at an altitude that would kill him if the bugs managed to shatter his window. That is, if the bugs didn't eat him up first! Tiny cracks appeared on the invisible barrier that was his window. Fox bit his lip in worry.

Suddenly, his alarms began blaring. Fox recognized this as the same alarm that was in Falco's Arwing only minutes before. He checked his status screen, which was thankfully still working. His tail wing was being slowly eaten away now, and the crunching of metal filled the air. It wouldn't be long…

"What is wrong with my ship!" Aly yelled angrily, "I'm am so docking this from Eric's paycheck later!"

"It's not your ship, it's the Shadow Bugs!" Fox began hurriedly turning on his radio. There was an awful lot of static on the line. "Those things eat anything they touch! Anything from human flesh to signposts aren't safe from those things!" He held the radio up to his mouth, hoping that the Shadow Bugs had not yet eaten up his connection.

"Falco! Wolf! Are you guys still alive!"

"Right here, Star Fox," Wolf replied lazily. His connection was pretty clear, save the light amounts of static. "Since when did you and Falco decide that Shadow Bugs would make a good cover up for your Arwings?"

"This isn't the time to joke around, Wolf!" Fox snarled, "Falco? Falco?"

"Here…" his teammate's voice was just barely able to break through the static. "Shadow… eating…. Arwing… not… time… left… before… consumed…" His voice gave in to static there. Fox stared at the radio, his hand trembling.

"F-Falco…?"

Aly bit her lip. "His connection's been eaten up… Mars and Falco are both on their own now… there's nothing we can do…"

In the Shadow Bug covered Arwing, Falco watched in horror as the cracks that had already appeared in his window widened with every passing second. Soon enough, the window would shatter under the potent power of a million Shadow Bugs slowly eating it away. According to his status screen, they had already eaten up the tail wing and was starting on his right wing.

Falco gripped the controllers to his Arwing all the more harder. If he was going down, he'd take at least a few thousand Shadow Bugs down with him. Maybe throw in a few Primids.

Mars' eyes swept over the situation, taking in every detail. He watched as the Shadow Bugs, liquid in every respect, slowly pulsed and moved about. He winced as the largest crack, the one right in the middle of his cockpit window widened even more. It wouldn't be long now…

Falco had already tried to shoot at them, like what he took Fox had done earlier, judging from the explosions. But like Falco, Fox had failed to shake off the Shadow Bugs with his lasers and rocket launchers. Unlike during the first Subspace War, the Shadow Bugs this time were powerful, much more powerful. It was bad enough that they consumed everything they touched. But now they were unaffected by even the most powerful of weapons?

That was just ridiculous.

"There's got to be a way to get rid of these things…" Mars murmured. Even while he was nothing more than a spirit, he still flipped the coin he always carried up in the air and back down.

Falco shook his head. Though he had braved many battles and seen through man near hopeless situations, he was just about ready to give up hope in general. The bird gripped his controllers harder, tears stinging his eyes. Though he was never one to admit it, Team Star Fox- and later the Smashers- were like family to him. It was a hard thing having to have members of you family pass on…

But an even harder thing to be leaving them himself.

Though still blinded by the Shadow Bugs, Falco jammed the controls forward and he sped off, opening fire in all directions. Explosions from down below told him that he was hitting something. With his radio off, he couldn't tell if he was hitting the Primids or his teammates.

Right now, it didn't matter.

The roar of the engines filled his ear, the smoke roiling out of it coiled up his nose. But Falco was senseless to it all. The lust of his final battle filled his mind, the strange desire to die and take down as many people as possible as he died was all that commanded him. For a few moments, he was like Aly, never letting a second go by without letting off a couple of rounds.

"FALCO! DO A BARREL ROLL!"

"Huh!" Falco blinked, snapping back to earth. Gone was the bloodlust of the battle, gone was the rush of pride that overtook him as he zoomed blindly through the air. He was relieved to be stopped in the middle of his rage, but angered at Mars for snapping him out of it. What kind of guardian ruined his Smasher's fun in his last hour?

"Do a barrel roll!" Mars commanded again, "trust me on this!"

"Mars, I plan do die without hearing my guardian trying to copy Peppy the Hare, thanks," Falco said wearily. He gripped the controllers again, ready to take off. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as the large crack widened still more. He saw the stars and focused on them, knowing that this would be the last time…

"Wait a minute…"

"I don't know what happened," Mars told him, "But some of those things fell off while you were zooming around. It's like they dried out and just flaked off! That's what I'm trying to tell you! Doing a barrel roll will create a whole tornado o air around you…"

"And shake those stupid bugs off…" Falco finished, realization dawning on him, "Mars… why didn't you notice that earlier!"

"What, no 'Thanks, Mars'?"

Falco had no answer. With a new intent in his mind, he shot forward like a bullet, watching as a few Shadow Bugs dried up- just like Mars said- and fell off. Quite a few fell, but even more were produced to take their places. In the background, the alarms blared even louder. This time, the blinking thing was the engines.

"Now they're attacking the engines!" Mars groaned, "Eric is going to kill me! And Aly's going to… be Aly…"

With all his might, Falco wrenched the steering wheel to the left, his gut wrenching as the ship followed. His blood rushed to his head, his vision soon began to swirl before his eyes. Though any normal pilot would've immediately shied away from such a complicated technique, Falco was no ordinary pilot. He was a proud Smasher, a former member of Team Star Fox.

Quickly but precisely, his hands moved in the intricate patterns that had been so brutally taught to him long ago by Peppy Hare. Peppy's never ending corrections and demands filled his memories and as the layer of Shadow Bugs slowly peeled away like a scab, he could've sworn that he saw Peppy's likeliness reflected in the stars, smiling at him.

His vision now crystal clear, Falco checked his status. Part of his wing was missing and his entire tail wing. What was more, his engine was damaged. He wouldn't be able to stay in the air for much longer. He picked up his radio and tested it, smiling as he heard the satisfying sound of static.

He looked in the direction of Fox's Arwing. The thing was almost consumed by the Shadow Bugs. Though some fell off because Fox was frantically zipping about, it would not be long before the Arwing was completely consumed. Thankfully, the Shadow Bugs that covered Fox had not covered his radio signals.

"Yo Fox! You still alive in there?" Falco asked, praying that he was.

There was heavy static on Fox's end. "… co? … alive? How… you… that?"

"Mars saved my butt," Falco answered. He checked the land below him, satisfied that most, if not all, of the Primids had been taken out. "And it looks like the guys who were shooting at us have either been blasted to bits or ran away."

"Blasted to bits is more like it!" Wolf drawled, "Unlike you two, I still had plenty of ammo to spare!" Lucario's voice sounded in the background. "Right, right… why can't you just meditate on the mainland, again?"

"Listen, Fox," Falco ordered, "You're going to hate me for this, but it's the only way to get those things off of you!"

"… tell… please…"

"DO A BARREL ROLL!"

"You got… be kidding! Stop… Peppy!"

"Listen, man, I didn't exactly like that rabbit yelling that at us either," Falco told him, "But you've gotta do it! Those bugs will dry up and break off like crazy!" His eyes widened as he noticed sparks and even a small fire dancing around Fox's engines. "Fox, your engines are going! You have to do it now!"

"I can… another… way!"

Before Falco could answer, Wolf's growl cut through the static. "Listen here, Star Fox… I don't know about you, but I'd like to make it out of here without wrecking my guardian's pretty little face. The only face I'd like to wreck right now is Tabuu's and I'm pretty sure that you two want a shot at him too. If you really give a damn about your guardian's face or about ripping up that stupid Subspace filth, I suggest you both shut the hell up and JUST DO THE FREAKING BARREL ROLL!"

Falco held his breath at the awkward pause that followed. In the distance, even the Subspace parasites seemed to stop eating their way through Fox's ship long enough to notice that pause. All time froze.

And then…

Fox slammed his controls forward, allowing his ship to propel at top speed. At the same time, Falco's and his engines failed and they soon began to hurtle towards earth. Falco ripped off his seatbelt and grabbed the nearest parachute, kicking open his cockpit in the process. He leaped out, his parachute unfurling with a snap! as his Arwing slammed to the ground, its parts flying everywhere.

Though his engines had failed, Fox was still able to maintain enough control over his ship to do the intricate hand movements that would make it do the barrel roll. His stomach lurched, his head ached and pounded. For a moment, he was tempted to stop right in the middle, but he knew it wouldn't be good for him. He had to slow down gradually.

He could sense the ground as it approached. It seemed so close now. Fox took a deep breath and closed his eyes, awaiting the impact.

BOOM!

BOOM!

"Huh?" Golfer looked up into the sky at the sound, watching as something that looked a lot like a plane of some kind hurtled towards the ground. Most of its surface was on fire, so it was a wonder that the thing was still in mostly one piece. A small trail of smoke curled up from where it had landed.

Behind him, Traca was wiping the black blood off her clothes as she stood up, thankful that she was still able to see. Even after all the pain she felt from those twin stabs, she was actually quite glad Cameron and Nask stepped in when they did. She was also just as glad when this strange black haired boy ran in and managed to cut off the stone, despite hers and Roy's constant thrashing about.

"T-that… was… too… close…"

Speaking of Roy…

She glared up at the Son of Eliwood. "It's your fault, you know! If you hadn't tried controlling my dragon form, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Next to her, Cameron and Nask fell on either side of her wings with a loud thud! Both of them were completely covered in jet black blood. Nask even sported multiple cuts on her face from where she had slipped while climbing Traca's hard dragon scales. She spied the dragon stone on the ground. At Marth's suggestion, she picked it up and pocketed it. Though she wasn't able to use it, she could at least prevent another out of control dragon attack.

Golfer pointed to the trail of smoke still curling up into the horizon. "Anyone know what that was?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious that it was a ship," Samus replied, "But it doesn't look like any ship I've seen in a while…"

Truth be told, Samus knew exactly what kind of ship it was. It was easily Fox's Arwing. But what concerned her was what it was doing out in the open like that. Tabuu had destroyed both Fox and Falco's Arwings, plus Wolf's Wolfen. Was it possible that he somehow had tracked down Slippy? Or a mechanic talented enough to build such intricate contraptions? The bounty huntress had no answers.

Wrath ran over to the three on the ground, concern evident in his voice and actions. "Are you three alright? That was some fight!"

"Indeed…" Meta Knight agreed.

Click!

In a flash, Pikana was behind him, her bazooka out and ready. She was fingering the trigger and boy did she look pissed.

"Oh… shit…" Wrath took a step back.

"Now listen, you!" Pikana snarled, "I don't know who you are, but lemme tell you something… I am not some prissy little damsel in distress, got it?"

A bead of sweat dripped down Wrath's forehead. "W-Well… you were in trouble, and… didn't look like you were able to hand yourself, so…"

"DIE, NON BELIEVER!" she screamed, "EAT MAH BAZOOKIE!" She blasted a bullet at Wrath, who just barely dodged it.

"S-Settle down now, girl…" Wrath pleaded, "I'm sorry…"

This only served to make Pikana even madder. "And now you talk to me like I'm some sort of animal! EAT CHAINY!" She revved up her chainsaw and grinned maniacally.

"Pikana…?" Pikachu asked nervously, "Maybe you're overreacting just a bit…"

"Get away from me you crazy chu!" Wrath began running, Pikana chasing after him. Despite their tiredness, Nask and Cameron managed small grins as the boy was chased about.

"Guys, focus!" Golfer shouted, glaring at Traca like it was her fault Wrath and Pikana were fighting like that.

"Get this chu away from me!" Wrath yelled form behind a tree.

"Teach that guy some manners!" Pikana shot back.

Nask stood up, still sticky with Traca's black blood. The wedge in her pocket was still pulsing with pure energy. Cameron stood up as well, but not before helping Traca up and wiping the sticky blood from his hands onto his clothes. He picked up Sigmund from the ground and wiped the legendary blade on the grass.

"He's right, guys," Nask told them, unable to keep herself form smiling at Wrath's situation, "We should really go investigate that blast."

Pikana frowned. "But I was just getting started…"

"Pikana, I think he had enough. Besides, you can always get him again later, right?"

Pikana grinned at Pikachu's suggestion. "Good idea, Pika- kun!" She gave Wrath one last glare before putting away her weapons and running after Golfer on all fours as he led the way. Wrath stared after her, his heart still pounding from being only inches away to being sliced apart and blasted to bits.

Meta Knight, on the other hand, was quite amused. "She is quite the warrior, is she not? Perhaps a small bump in the correct direction when it comes to her temper will further strengthen her…"

Wrath dusted himself off and began following Pikana, taking care to stay as far away from her as possible. "I just don't want to get on the other end of that bazooka again!"

The pathway, once obscured by trees, was now cleared thanks for Traca's flame breath from before. Despite the bright light gently shining through the foliage above, Marth couldn't help but feel a strange foreboding build up in him as Nask confidently walked the path. There just seemed to be something so wrong about how there seemed to be more than just the ashes of leaves upon the trees.

They looked an awful lot like dead Shadow Bugs.

"Nask…?" Marth gulped, "Do you ever get the feeling that there's someone else around here besides your own group?"

Nask stopped. She wasn't usually a fast walker, but immersed in her thoughts, she had gotten ahead of the group. The sounds of two voices arguing came up in the distance. They sounded an awful lot like Traca and Golfer. She sighed. This was going to be one long war.

She looked around before answering. "There's no one here, Marth. And judging on what I could tell during that blast, there's no way anyone could survive that explosion…"

She continued walking, slowing her steps so the others could catch up. She noticed that Golfer and Traca no longer seemed to be arguing. Looking back, she realized that Cameron had his rapier pointed right at Traca's neck while Wrath had his sword pressing against Golfer's neck as they walked. She shook her head.

Typical…

"Aly, a little help here, please!" That voice was one that Nask did not recognize. Marth restrained the urge to say "I told you so!"

"It came from up ahead… be careful, Nask…"

The girl stopped in her tracks. "I don't feel like going in there." She turned to the group. "Anyone wanna go investigate?"

"I'll go, if it means getting away from him!" Traca shot a glare at Golfer. She didn't mind when Cam's rapier lightly touched her throat, drawing blood.

"Traca, are you sure about this?" Roy asked, "I mean, you nearly killed everyone, nad-"

"That was because you tried controlling me," Traca pointed out, "And I can take care of myself pretty well!"

"A little too well," Golfer murmured darkly. Wrath glared at him.

Traca gently pushed Cameron's rapier away and began hopping from tree to tree. Despite her nimbleness, branches often fell after she landed on them and jumped off. Roy winced every time this happened. You never know when you would fall off and break a leg.

"There!" he shouted as Traca passed by the edge of the forest. Even a blind person wouldn't miss the three huge ships in the middle of this place. Two out of the three were badly battered, lying either on their side or smashed headlong into the ground. The third ship seemed to be in reasonable condition as it stood upright. Roy didn't know what the third ship was, seeing that he had just rejoined the Smash Tournament before being captured, but he recognized the two beat up ones as Fox's and Falco's Arwings.

"Weren't those things destroyed…?" he murmured to himself.

"Sh!"

There were four- no, five- people standing around. A tiny girl was almost obscured behind the other four people. Two of them, a black haired male and a female with guns hung all around her body, seemed to be arguing. Another male, meanwhile, was staring at the two thrashed planes as if someone had just died. Meanwhile, the tall girl with a mature face and the small, skeletal girl next to her looked on as the two argued.

"I was the one who thought up of doing a barrel roll!" the male argued, "I should get something for it!"

"I don't pay you to sit around and take forever thinking up plans!" the girl argued.

"You don't pay me at all!"

"Yeah, so?"

The male who was once staring at the Arwings ran over, a large part in his hand. "What I want to know is what the hell did you two do to these things! This is going to take hours to fix!"

The girl turned to him. "Just stick in a couple more shields and give me a few more rocket launchers and we'll be fine."

"I am not giving you of all people any more weapons than you already have! Besides, you never put up your shields anyways!"

"Those things get in the way of my shooting," the girl said with a shrug.

"But they're transparent!"

"They sound like quite a team…" Roy muttered, slightly amused, "But are they friends? Or foes…?"

Traca leaned forward to get a closer look at the small group. They all seemed like pretty nice people, despite how ticked off the three in pilot's clothes looked. As she leaned forward, the branch began to tremble. Roy watched as a tiny crack appeared at the base of the branch.

"Traca, you're leaning too far out! You're-"

Snap!

"AHHHH!" the girl's scream echoed to the small party still just outside the border. Wrath was introducing himself to them when the scream was heard. Wrath and Cameron were the first ones to react. While Wrath grabbed his stuff and started running in that direction, Cameron ran over to a napping Nask and roughly shook her awake.

"What is it this time…?" she mumbled sleepily.

Marth was amazed. "You didn't here Traca screaming!"

Nask yawned. "I was too lazy to keep my ears open…"

"No time to make sure she actually gets her butt moving, we have to get to that girl," Ike told Cameron.

Shooting back a glance at Nask as she calmly walked to the clearing, Cameron decided to listen to Ike and broke into a run. He dashed headlong into Wrath, who was holding a defensive position. The two boys fell to the ground and looked up facing the barrel of not one, but two powerful looking guns.

The five people in the clearing had seen Traca fall out of the tree and were now in complete attack mode. The three pilots all had their pistols out and ready. The girl pilot was somehow able to hold four at once, rather than two, like her partners. The tall young woman grasped a formidable looking staff in her hand. A red energy gently menacingly danced around the top of it. Ike winced at the thought of magic. He had always been weak to magic, and he wasn't too sure if his guardian was resistant against that either. The fifth and final member of the group, the little girl, held a gold and blue bow in both hands, an electric blue arrow drawn and ready. Her dark brown eyes flashed defiantly.

Ike looked at each weapon, weighing their options. They could easily overpower the girl with the bow, seeing that she was rather thin. The pilots were a huge maybe, but with the right tactics, they could be beaten. What worried him most was the tall, formidable looking girl with the staff in her hands. None of them truly had the means to counter magic.

Ike's eyes traveled o the golden bow in the smallest girl's hands. He was surehe had seen that somewhere before…

But where?

A shuffling behind him told him that Nask had entered. Her sudden sharp intake of breath told him that she was extremely surprised to find this ambush. However, Ike's attention was still trained on the golden bow in the girl's hands. There was something awfully familiar about it…

Click!

Pikana pointed her bazooka at the girl with the staff, ready to fire at will. She and the three people with the guns gently pressed their fingers to their triggers. The tall girl's magical energy around her staff swirled even faster and grew brighter. The girl with the gold bow pointed her arrow right at Pikana, ready to fire it.

As the girl moved her bow, Ike could've sown he saw a pair of pure white wings flare up from behind her. It was at that moment realization dawned on him. "Tell everyone not to attack! One of them is Pit's guardian!"

Cam jumped at his words, but managed to get the words out of his mouth at the exact same time one of the pilots, the guy with blonde hair spoke in Lucario's voice. His mouth didn't move, but he lowered his gun and his eyes flashed amber. Most of the people were caught by surprise. The girl who held four guns even fired a couple of rounds into the sky on accident.

They watched with wide eyes as Lucario stepped forward and pointed to each of them in turn, naming off their Smasher. "Meta Knight… Pikachu… Ike… Marth… Samus… and Roy…" He smiled. "We meet at last…"

A grin appeared on Pikana's face as she put down her bazooka. "A Lucario? Wow! First Pikachu and now Lucario! What's next? Jigglypuff?"

The girl with four guns burst out laughing as she sheathed them all. "Aw man! I was so ready to shoot you guys to pieces too!" She pouted. "Now who am I going to use for target practice?"

The raven haired boy grinned mischievously. "Well, you can always shoot Eric, later!"

Lucario's guardian blinked and regained his usual eye color. "Not fair! I was the target last time she practiced!"

Ike watched as Golfer shot a glare in Traca's direction. "We probably would have gotten off on a better foot if it weren't for someone's clumsiness!"

Traca's eyes flared in fury. "Excuse me! It's not my fault that I can't really balance my weight as well as you! These wings make it tough!"

"Calm down, Traca…" Roy urged, "He's just in a bad mood, that's all…"

"Bad mood! More like being a huge jerk!"

Golfer opened his mouth to retaliate, but Samus cut him off before he could form words. "Don't. If Roy and I have to put up with your guys' bickering until we get our bodies back, I'll rip out your vocal chords as soon as I get the chance!"

"Why? It's her fault we almost got into a fight with these guys! It's her fault that this whole damn forest is such a big mess! It's her fault that Nask," he gestured to the girl, who was trying her best to inch away from him. "Almost died! Let's face it! She's ruining everything, just like she ruined my life before this whole mess!"

Pikachu suddenly became aware of a memory clouding Pikana's mind. This memory was mostly obscured by shadow, but its meaning was clear. Two adult figures- a man and a woman- stood above a tiny group of three, screaming unheard of words back and forth. The three children- one of them Pikana's human form- huddled close together, as if trying to protect themselves from the grown ups. Pikana held the boys- the twins- close to her as the adults screamed and screamed.

"They shouldn't fight like that..." Pikana whispered, her body trembling with anger and disbelief.

Pikachu was still concentrating on the memories he saw before him. "Pikana... what is this?"

"..." Pikana remained quiet.

Psyche stepped forward to come between them, but a strong grip on her arm stopped her. She looked up questioningly at Heather, who only shook her head. Now was not the time to come between two people arguing.

"That was years ago!" she insisted, tears welling up, "that was years ago and I had no choice! You knew the risks of going on that mission, but you went anyways! You could've just said no to going!"

"Well… well you could've asked some other sucker to go with you! You could've told me that it was practically a suicide mission!"

Pikachu watched as the memory before him faded to be replaced with one of four figures sitting around the table. The man seemed to be gone, leaving only the woman and the three kids. They seemed happier as they threw back their heads and laughed. Pikachu was suddenly reminded of happier times at the Smash Mansion.

By this time, Traca was in tears. "I did tell you it was a suicide mission! But you didn't listen! All you did was shrug and say that you could handle it! You… you just wanted to run out there for fame and glory and take all the credit for it! You're just like the others I worked with! I thought you were different, but you aren't!"

"Guys…" this was Nask. She could hear Marth biting his nails with worry. The Prince of Altea hated it when two allies fought. Often times, things did not end well.

"I wasn't the one who told the headmistress that we both were capable enough to take on the mission, even though it was meant for the Elite Hunters!"

Traca furiously wiped her tears from her cheek before answering again. "I saved your life! You owe me your life!"

"Yeah, you did save my life… only to totally ditch me later!"

"Well maybe I should've let you to die, then!" Traca shouted.

"Maybe you should've! Then I wouldn't have to live with those stupid memories and all the stupid ones later for the rest of my life!"

"Memories aren't stupid..." Pikana whispered, tears stinging her eyes, "Sometimes... it's all you have left... after everything's taken away from you..."

Pikachu watched as a sharp knock on the door jutted the family from their happy moment. At the moment the mother wrenched her head up, three figures entered the memory. All three were recognizable as the Fire Emblem Trio from their capes.

All, except Pikana herself, were shrouded in shadow.

The Pokemon watched as the first of the figures, Ike from the size of his sword, swung the blade through the air and brought it whistling down upon the mother's throat, lopping off her head in one easy swing. It flew off in a random direction, spraying blackened blood everywhere. Pikana ran off, screaming. A second figure- either Marth or Roy- grabbed one of the boys by the hair and forced him to his knees. Unsheathing his sword, he brought down through the boy's back. A flash of fire lit up the memory for the tiniest moment, but soon disappeared into the shadows.

Roy...

Finally, the third figure, Marth, grabbed the second boy by the neck and slammed his face to the ground. The shattering of the boy's nose shook the already crumbling walls of Pikana's mind. And all at once, the memory faded away again...

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fi-"

At this, Pikana absolutely lost it. Activating her chainsaw, she threw it with all her might at the arguing guardians. Both of them just barely managed to duck in time, but they were not fast enough to avoid her emotional electric attack. The other guardians backed up a bit as Pikana unleashed her electricity. The three pilots even activated what looked like anti- electrocution shields around them as they moved.

A bright yellow light filled the area, almost blinding each of the guardians in turn. Even the Smashers had to shield their eyes from such a light. Once the light faded, they saw Golfer and Traca, every part of them badly singed. Pikana was on her knees, sobs wracking her body.

Being the first to regain her senses, Nask started forward to help the poor Pokemon. But as soon as her hand brushed Pikana's fur, a small bolt of electricity shocked her and she backed off. Pikana staggered to her feet, eyes gleaming in anger and frustration.

"Don't you two hear yourselves!" she screamed between tears, "You're fighting! Fighting among yourselves! Don't you know what that does to you! To us as a group! Don't you!"

"…" Golfer and Traca remained silent. Wrath shifted his weight uncomfortably as he took a step forward and placed a hand on Pikana's shoulder. If the girl noticed, she did not show it. She only continued glaring at the two.

"It breaks us up! We have to work as a team if we're ever going to beat Tabuu and if we're fighting with each other, we aren't a team! We're going to get people killed if we don't work together! I…" she wiped her nose and continued, "I lost everything because people fought against each other… I hate it when a team fights! I hate it, hate it, HATE IT!"

The last two words were screamed so loudly that the leaves on the trees shook as she spoke them. An awkward silence fell between the guardians as Pikana continued to glare at the two, angry tears in her eyes.

"Pikana…?" Pikachu asked concernedly, "Are you okay…?"

Pikana nodded. "I-I'm fine… I just want to know what these two have got to say for themselves…"
Golfer and Traca looked at each other. He coughed while she shifted uncomfortably. Nether of them knew what to say.

"Start with 'I'm sorry, Traca...'" Samus offered.

"I'm sorry, Traca…" Golfer began.

The girl smiled. "I'm sorry, too…"

"Yeah, I'm sorry… sorry that you ruin everything no matter what you do!"

Pikana looked absolutely shattered as the argument was rekindled. Wrath started forward to ask if she was okay, but both Mars and Eric held him back.

"A Pikachu is dangerous when it is emotionally torn," Meta Knight explained, "You must allow her to channel her emotions if you are ever to touch her."

"Well then I'm sorry that you're such a dickhead!"

"I'm sorry that you can't do anything right!"

"I'm sorry that I saved your life!"

"I'm sorry that you were too selfish to save it again!"

"STOP IT! JUST STOP!" Pikana shrieked. Both were silenced again.

"Pikana…?" Pikachu asked.

Tears flooded down Pikana's cheeks. "Y-You're… you're going to… to destroy us all… if… if you keep fighting like this… stop… just… stop… please…"

With that, she turned tail and ran off into the woods. Her fellow guardians watched her retreating tail as she left, a strange feeling in the pits of their stomachs. The Smashers, meanwhile, worried for her safety.

"That argument between those two was really uncalled for," Pit sighed, "If she dies, we're all doomed…"

"Someone needs to go after her, make sure she's safe," Marth said, "I don't like the idea of a Pikachu wandering those woods alone. Who knows what's out there now!"

Nask nodded. "I'll go." With that, she picked up her Naginata and took off after Pikana. "Pikana! Pikana? Pikanaaaaa!"

Eric took a step back. "I… I need to go work on those ships now…" he said awkwardly before running for his toolbox.

Now it was just Mars, Aly, Wrath, Heather, Psyche, and Cameron in a half circle surrounding Golfer and Traca. All of them looked furious, especially Heather. Heather, however, was desperately fighting alongside Wolf to keep Black Heather down. It was an exhausting struggle, to be sure, but for the time being, the two were winning.

"Those two…" Ike spat, "They make me sick the way they keep fighting amongst themselves…"

Cameron stepped forward. "What is wrong with you two! Don't you see what you're doing when you fight with each other! You're both guardians, Ashera dammit, guardians! You have to work together if we're ever going to kick Tabuu's butt around!"

"I've had enough of this," Golfer spat, "if I have to spend another moment with her, I'm done." With that, he stormed off to the right. In his mind, Samus couldn't keep herself from slapping her forehead.

"Fine!" Traca stormed off to the left, despite Roy's protests.

Cameron threw up his arms. "That's just great! Now we're all split up!"

"Some should go after Traca to knock some sense into her…" Fox told Aly.

Aly grinned. "Extra target practice for today? Hell yeah!" She grabbed Mars by the ear and began dragging him away, despite the other pilot's struggling. She left in the direction Traca went.

As he watched them leave, Wrath picked up his sword. "I'll go after Golfer and…"

Cameron shook his head. "I don't think so… no offense, but you are Tabuu's foster kid, after all…"

Wrath rolled his eyes. "Seriously, if I was really out here to kill you guys, would you all be alive right now?"

Cameron hesitated. "Well… no, but I have to admit that you aren't exactly… trustable yet… I mean, thanks for saving us and all, but…"

Wrath nodded, his expression slightly hurt. "I see… then how about someone comes with me…?"

"I'll go," Cameron offered, "I need to kick that guy's ass, anyways."

"Save some for me while you're at it," Ike told him.

"I think Psyche and I will go after Pikana," Heather decided.

"Aw man… I wanted to go kick Golfer's ass…" Wolf groaned.

"Sounds like we're in for one long discussion," Pit sighed.

In spite of herself, Psyche put on a small smile for him as she followed Heather into the woods. "Look at it this way… now we can actually talk rather than argue…"

Pit sighed. "Yeah… I guess…"

"Come on, Beeh," a girl with purple hair whispered, tugging at her ragged red tanktop, "We have to get out of here!" She glared back at her little friend, who was petting a Shaymin as it chowed down on a few tiny dried up Oran Berries.

"But Shaymin still needs to finish her berries!" a chubby brunette answered. Her brown eyes were filled with concern for the little lost Pokemon she had found as she and her two friends escaped. Tucking her baseball bat under one arm, she stroked the Shaymin just behind the ears. The Pokemon crooned happily in response.

The tall blonde kneeling next to Beeh looked up at the sky. "…We have just a little bit more time, Lin… just enough for Shaymin to finish her berries…"

Irritation crossed Lin's face. "We need all the time we can get if we're ever going to actually escape! Let's not forget that this is Team Rocket we're dealing with, Sakura! Team Rocket!"

Sakura nodded, her dirty ponytail bobbing. "I know, I know, Lin… but we have to be patient. They'll spot us if we run across the border…"

Behind her, Beeh stuck her tongue out at Lin. Lin's face turned an angry crimson, but she said nothing. They waited in silence as the Shaymin finished off the berries and smiled up at Beeh, nuzzling its head against her knee.

Sakura gently stroked the Gracidea flowers that grew on its back. Though normally pink, these lovely flowers were pulsing and swirling with color. It was a beautiful and strange thing all at once. She wondered what its Sky Form would look like if they ever got a hold of a Gracidea anywhere in this world.

Up above, three of the four released Smashers floated over the three girls. The pink cloud turned to the other two and seemed to smile.

"Well, it looks like it's time for us to be united with our guardians!" Peach said cheerfully.

Red, the Pokemon Trainer, considered each girl. "They all look like they would be nice to Poke- is that a Shaymin!"

Olimar slapped his forehead. "Oh boy… here we go again…"

"Where did they get such a rare Pokemon! In this world of all worlds! Team Rocket always makes sure to grab every rare Pokemon they can find and if they didn't get this one, maybe this means that there are still Legendaries out there! That'd be so awesome! Maybe if I can find any Pokeballs anywhere, I can capture a few and-"

"Red!" Peach shook her head. "Remember Master Hand's rules? You only get to have three Pokemon!"

Before Red could answer, he noticed that the girls had moved onto the main road. Peach and Olimar floated after them. Red followed not long after.

"So where are we going, Sakura?" the purple haired girl was asking.

"And can Shaymin come too?" the brunette begged, "She'll be good and I'll take care of her! Promise!"
The blonde smiled and took both of their hands. "Yes, Shaymin may come with us…" she turned to the purple haired girl. "But as for where we're going… I'm not sure... we'll have to just wing it, I suppose…"

"Or you three little ladies can come back home with us…" a gruff voice growled. To Red's surprise, three Team Rocket grunts stepped out of the shadows. Their looked hadn't changed at all, he realized.

Typical…

The two younger girls backed behind the tall blonde, who shielded them with her body as the grunts approached. Peach and Olimar dived down at the moment they regained their senses, leaving Red as confused as ever. Once he realized they were gone, he too dived and found himself hurtling through the corridors of the purple haired girl's mind. He was spit out into a great Pokemon stadium, lights almost blinding him. Before him, he could see her biggest dream.

She wanted to be a Pokemon Master.

The grunts approached a few more steps, unhooking their Master Balls as they went. Red bit his lip in worry. Team Rocket was mass producing Master Balls? That wasn't good…

"Go, Alakazam!" the grunt nearest to them shouted, throwing his Pokeball on the ground. Red's eyes widened in fear as the feared Psychic Pokemon appeared in front of him. This was not the typical Team Rocket grunt Pokemon! So they had gotten stronger…

Meanwhile, Olimar was meeting Beeh for the first time. He had introduced himself to her and she was currently trying to get over her moment of freaking out.

"Looks like we have some trouble," he observed, "It's best that we pluck up some Pikmin!"

Beeh blinked in confusion. "Pikmin…?"

"Start plucking fast," Olimar told her, "That thing's coming!"

Sure enough, the sound of the Arcanine's roar was enough for Beeh to start grabbing at the numerous leaves that randomly littered the ground. To her surprise, and the surprise of others around her, she picked up a strange little being with each leaf she picked up. It wasn't long until she had a train of six differently colored Pikmin following her. Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

The second grunt recovered his senses first. "Go, Ivysaur!" The familiar plant Pokemon leaped out of its Pokeball. But Unlike Red's Ivysaur from long ago, this one carried an air of malice with it as it crouched low to prepare itself for battle.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Peach asked Sakura worriedly. The two women had bonded only minutes before. But the distraction of the impending battle kept them from really introducing themselves.

"Charge, Arcanine!" the grunt ordered, "Get those girls back where they belong!"

Arcanine, dashed at the three girls, using Extreme Speed to increase its velocity. Beeh and Sakura dived out of the way, but to Peach's surprise, Lin planted her feet on the ground and reached for her belt. Wait a minute…

She didn't have a belt before…

Lin grabbed the first Pokeball on her belt and spun it expertly, similar to how Red used to do it. She threw it between her and Arcanine and out popped Squirtle, Red's Squirtle. Peach wondered how it got there if the three Pokemon hadn't been traveling with them. There was some strange magic or something at work here.

"Squirtle, use Water Gun!" Lin sounded just like Red at that moment. A closer look at her eyes showed them to be the exact shade of color as Red's. The Pokemon Trainer had taken over to protect his guardian.

Squirtle opened its mouth and out came a great blast of water. Arcanine was completely soaked, but a single order from the grunt caused it to turn around, flashing its fangs. Arcanine charged into closer for a bite attack. When Squirtle flinched in pain, it lunged at it again.

"Water Gun, Squirtle!"

Squirtle blasted more water at the Arcanine, soaking it once again. The Arcanine, though still filled with energy was almost halfway worn out. The tiny turtle Pokemon could really pack a punch.

"Arcanine, use Flamethrower!"

"Dodge, Squirtle!"

The Arcanine reared back its great head and out from its mouth came a great pillar of fire. It was fast and hot, but Squirtle was ready. It leaped into the air, just barely dodging the blast of fire. Without even waiting for an order from its master, Squirtle blasted more water at the Arcanine, reducing its fire to steam. Before Arcanine could react, bam! went Squirtle's tail on its face.

"Start throwing, Beeh!" Olimar ordered as the Ivysaur began advancing on the girl. Beeh picked up a Blue Pikmin and threw it with all her might. The Ivysaur batted it away easily with a vine. She threw another one, this one purple, only to have it dodged. She hated it when things like this happened. The Ivysaur beat the ground with its foot before charging off after Beeh. Beeh jumped in the air and with a small squeal of fear, she took off running before Sakura could catch her. The Shaymin followed her.

Sakura clenched her hands into fists and turned to face her attacker. He had pulled out a Hitmonlee, who was currently threatening her with its rapid kicks. Though she was nervous, she knew enough karate to give her a small chance at beating it.

It had happened so fast. One moment, the Hitmonlee was kicking its long legs at her, glaring at the girl through malicious lidless eyes. The next, it was in the air, coming down at her with a powerful high jump kick. Sakura dodged by a hair, but she wasn't prepared for the Mega Kick straight to her stomach. She knew this wasn't a fair battle, but since when did Team Rocket ever play fair?

She braced herself and grabbed the leg of the kicking Pokemon as it came at her again. With all her might, she twisted it off to one side and slammed it into the ground. The Hitmonlee's eyes widened in surprise at this strange feat, but it quickly retaliated with a swift kick to her face, drawing blood and causing her to stagger back. Her head swimming, she felt a sticky wetness falling down her forehead where the kick had connected.

Blood.

"Sakura! Are you okay!" Peach asked worriedly, "You're hurt! We have to get that cut treated and fast!" It was at times like these that she wished Mario could be here.

Mario…

Sakura shook her head. "I'm alright, Peach… I'm fine…"

"You're not fine," the princess told her, "You can't fight when you're bleeding to death!"

"I'm fine," Sakura said emphatically, side stepping to dodge a flurry of Hitmonlee's kicks. A foot connected with her jaw, sending her back again. Peach's worry grew with every hit she took. Sakura was a competent fighter, sure, but Peach could tell that she wasn't enough to defeat an entire Hitmonlee, especially with its entire arsenal of kicks.

"Charizard, use Fly!" Red yelled, pointing towards the Hitmonlee. Charizard roared in reply as it grabbed the other Pokemon by the leg and spiraled upwards with it surrounded by a tornado of fire. For a moment, the two were suspended in midair. Charizard was clawing at its eyes while Hitmonlee wore an expression that could only be described as pain. Then, Charizard grabbed it again and rocketed downwards at lightning speed, slamming the Pokemon right into the grunt that had owned the Arcanine. The two met with a great boom! and out through a great cloud of smoke stepped Red's Charizard, only mildly scratched up.

Sakura's jaw dropped, while Peach only smiled. "That's Red for you! He's so helpful!"

"HELLLLLLLP!" Beeh shouted as she was chased around. The Ivysaur had not given up on its pursuit of her as it whipped at her legs. She kept switching back and forth with Olimar to no avail. Even the experienced Pikmin Master had some trouble. Though he knew that the Pokemon before him was weak to fire and poison, he seemed to only be picking up Purple, Blue, and Yellow Pikmin today.

Definitely not good.

Red and the third grunt were currently locked in a Pokemon battle. Red's Charizard was flaming at the Skarmory in front of it. Though type matchup said that Charizard could easily win against the steel type bird Pokemon, the Skarmory was fast, much faster than anything Red had ever seen before.

"Flamethrower, Charizard!"

"Steel Wing, Skarmory!"

Skarmory spread its sharp wings nad flew up in the air just as Charizard's Flamethrower brushed its metal feathers. It took damage, but not enough to weaken it significantly. Charizard only had seconds to react as its face was scraped against Skarmory's sword- like wings. It flew away before Charizard could flame at it.

Sakura ran over to Beeh to help her, but a Pokemon suddenly floated in front of her. It was a great black ball, with huge eyes and a menacing smile. A dark cloud of smoke trailed behind it wherever it went. Sakura's muscles froze at the sight of the thing as it appeared right in front of her and stuck out its tongue.

"G-G… GHOST!" Sakura dove into the bushes for safety and laid there, shivering. The Ghastly floated over to her, but she ran away again. Deciding that it liked this game, it started chasing the blonde around.

"Shaymin!" Beeh called as the Pokemon leaped into her arms. They had been chased around by that darned Ivysaur for a while now. Though Beeh and Olimar had plucked and thrown as many Pikmin as they could, not a single one was one they needed. Beeh had tried using her baseball bat, only to have it snapped easily in half by one powerful vine whip. It was as if this Pokemon was on steroids!

While his guardian leaned against a tree, panting, Olimar looked over her shoulder in concern. He could hear the footsteps of the Ivysaur drawing closer and closer to her. Soon enough, it would be upon them…

Beeh buried her nose in Shaymin's fur, inhaling the sweet scent of the oddly colored Gracideas. "You're okay…"

"But we aren't!" Olimar pointed right in front of her where the Ivysaur was waiting, along with its trainer.

The grunt laughed as Beeh shrunk back from him. "Wow, kid, you were really some great prey… Ivysaur here actually worked up a bit of a sweat…" his gaze wandered over to the Shaymin. "Listen, kid, I don't know what you're planning to do with that Shaymin with the rainbow back, but I suggest you hand it over to Team Rocket. After all, who knows! We might actually let you and your puny little friends live…"

"You can't have her!" Beeh shouted, "I found her! and it's finders keepers, losers weepers!"

The grunt spat into the ground. "Look, kid, I don't have all day. Sure that whole thing's cute and all, but that's not how Team Rocket works. Just hand it over, and-"

Beeh hugged it closer to her chest. "No!"

The grunt's hand curled into a fist. "You are really starting to bug me, kid… Ivysaur, Frenzy Plant!"

This was it. It was one of the most powerful grass type moves in the world. It would leech out of the ground, grab onto its opponent, and squeeze the life out of it. Though normally monitored and controlled in Pokemon battles, Team Rocket had long sinced "perfected" it. It was now a guaranteed slave killing machine.

Olimar watched as Ivysaur dug its vines into the ground, summoning up the powerful vines that would spell his and his guardian's doom. There they were! Covered in green glowing light, the vines curled up from the ground and shot straight towards the young brunette. Beeh closed her eyes, ready to feel the sting of the powerful vines all over her body.

But… nothing came…

Olimar blinked in surprise. "W-Wha-"

"NO!" tears rolled down Beeh's cheeks as she gazed upon the horrid sight before her.

Shaymin was locked in a cage of vines, a cage that slowly closed in on it until it had wrapped fully around its body. But still the vines continued to squeeze it until its eyes popped out of its head and its face was blue. The grunt called for the Ivysaur to retract the vines, but once this attack had been initiated, it was too late to stop it. Beeh watched as the air was slowly squeezed out of the little Pokemon, unable to do a thing.

"Throw a Pikmin!" Olimar cried desperately. Beeh threw, but the Pikmin only bounced off the vines and fell to the ground, where it became a ghost. With Shaymin's last breath, it looked at Beeh and smiled, closing its eyes forever.

The vines retracted. Beeh ran forward and grasped desperately at the lifeless Pokemon, but it did not move. Though she hugged it and covered its little face with kisses, its cold lips never returned them. The corpse fell from her hands and she began to weep, her tears falling gently on the now lifeless rainbow flowers upon the Shaymin's back.

As soon as the salty drops of water touched the flowers, they fell off and began to glow. A great white light filled the clearing, nearly blinding all within reach. Red and Peach, who had taken over for Sakura to ease the girl's fear of ghosts dashed into the clearing and was briefly blinded by the light. Once it faded, Shaymin's body was gone. In its place sat a small wedge, pulsing pure energy and power. It was the exact color- or colors in this case- as the flowers that once grew on the Pokemon's back.

Beeh picked up the shard and stared at it, not knowing what to say. The grunt coughed awkwardly and started backing away. The Shaymin was dead. There was no need to be here anymore.

"Where do you think you're going?" that was Beeh's voice, filled with anger and hate. His way was immediately blocked up by a whole wall of Pikmin that rose out of the ground. Beeh stood up, her eyes glowing because of the shard clutched in her hand.

"Beeh…?" Olimar asked uneasily.

"You… killed… SHAYMIN!" at her words, an entire army of Pikmin appeared out of nowhere. Among the purples, blues, and yellows, there were whites and reds as well. The Pikmin of fire and poison had come at her call. Beeh glared at her foe, her eyes flaming. "Get him…"

The Pikmin assembled into great waves, each one taller and more menacing than the next. They descended upon the wicked duo, crashing onto them and giving them all the status effects possible in Pokemon. Possibly the most deadly blow was delivered by the Red Pikmin wave. Right at their touch, both master and Pokemon were set on fire, with no way to put it out. They ran from the clearing, screaming bloody murder.

It was inevitable that they would be cinders before they reached the Team Rocket Base.

Though Lin and Sakura cheered at their victory, Beeh fell to her knees, sobs wracking her body. Peach knelt down and wrapped her arms around her while Red stood off awkwardly to the side. Beeh buried her head into Peach's shoulder and let her tears soak it. Peach ran her hand through the girl's hair, trying to comfort her.

"Shaymin…" Sakura whispered, biting back her own tears, "It was… so… so…"

Peach nodded. "So young… so pure…"

Red shifted uncomfortably. Being a male, he was not really accustomed to crying in public. Though he grieved greatly for the lost Shaymin, he didn't know how to express his feelings without making himself look like a sissy. For a moment, he pondered how to do this before looking around him.

They were floating.

Cimar shifted uncomfortably, trying to loosen his cramped muscles. He had been sitting like this for an hour already.

Why couldn't he have picked a better position?

"Well, for starters, you can't exactly blend in with the crowd," Zelda told him, answering his unasked question.

"I can blend in very easily, thanks!" Cimar retorted.

Zelda carefully eyed his still bloodstained cloak. "… Sure, you might fit in as a beggar…"

Cimar looked offended. "Well, excuuuuuuuuse me, Prin-"

"Don't," Zelda said flatly, "Just don't."

Before Cimar could answer, the great oak doors on the other side of the courtyard opened up. Making sure that he was concealed in the shadows, the young man gripped the bow he was holding even tighter now and held his breath. He only had one shot at this. If he failed, the results could be disastrous.

Or even deadly…

Zelda wrung her hands worriedly as Rinku was dragged out into the dim light of dawn. She wanted very badly to take control of Cimar right at that instant and run over to make sure Link was okay. To run her fingers through his hair and tell him that everything was alright. To caress his cheeks, stare into those powerful wolf like eyes, to feel the soft touch of his skin on her fingertips.

To taste his lips on hers…

"AH! Stop, stop, stop!" Cimar yelled, waving his hands over his head as those images filled his mind, "Aren't you aware of how messed up that is! I mean, you both have male guardians! Straight, male, guardians!"

"There is nothing wrong with liking another male, Cimar," the corners of Zelda's mouth twitched mischievously, "You never know… you might like it…"

Cimar took a deep breath to steady himself. "Princess… for the love of my sanity, please don't ever mention that again!"

Shaking his head at Zelda's giggling, Cimar narrowed his eyes and concentrated on a single point above Rinku's wrist, almost exactly where the rope was wound. The boy had been dragged, struggling and bleeding, from the dungeons deep below Hyrule castle and bound and gagged to a great wooden stake in the middle of the courtyard.

He was currently being "anointed" with "holy" oil and a priest stood nearby to hear him confess his last sins. Of course, seeing that the priest was none other than the same wheezy little man from before, it didn't matter what Rinku did. A guard with a flaming torch stood nearby the great pile of wood, also soaked in oil. His attention, however, was trained upon the Usurper King upon his throne.

Rinku struggled with his bonds, though his wrists were chapped and bleeding. He had spent a horrid night in the dungeon, where rats crawled all over his body and where unseen horrors dripped from the walls. It was a freezing cold place, seeing that he had nothing more than the clothes on his own back to cover him for the night. That and the food was horrible.

It actually felt good to be in the sun again.

Even if it meant he'd see it for the last time…

Despite himself, Link had been afraid, deathly afraid, as he awaited the hour to arrive in that dungeon. True, he had braved a great many other dungeons and steadied his head in near death experiences, but this was different.

The dungeons were never as cold as the tomb itself.

"Rinku, stop…" he whispered, his voice hollowed, "It's not worth it…"

"Urgh," his guardian grunted, "Don't sweat, Link… Zelda's somewhere in the castle, remember? And so are Ness and Kirby… but Zelda… think of her… she's not going to just sit back and let you die with me… she's a smart lady, so she'll think of something…"

Link sighed and traced circles on the ground with one finger. "I just don't know, Rinku… I just don't know…"

When was the last time he actually had a talk with the princess? Definitely not since they had talked about her… arranged marriage. She had only mentioned it once on yet another slow day as time passed while the Smashers were trapped in their jars. She was wondering what her father was thinking. It was the way she had said it so… so passively that shocked the Hero into silence.

Zelda was a strong woman to be sure. Link had witnessed that firsthand when she had ridden upon Epona's back with him as she fired her Light Arrows at Ganondorf. He witnessed more of her strength when she presented her arguments at Royal Council meetings and things like that.

He just didn't understand.

He had always thought of her as more than an ally in war, even when he had just met her in the form of a sacred wolf. And once Ganondorf had been sent to rot in the darkest corner of the Sacred Realm for good, he thought that maybe there was something more he felt for the princess then, but then again, he used to think that he had feelings for Midna.

Used to…

He remembered that he had been hired almost immediately as Zelda's bodyguard. It took very little convincing. After all, what father wouldn't want the hero of the land to protect his only daughter? Link and Zelda soon became fast friends and it was a perfectly normal thing to find the two training or reading together in the library.

That was when his heartstrings were pulled.

All his life, Link had thought that he would grow old together with Ilia. As a man growing up in the small town of Ordon, he had always thought of the princess as the woman who would rule the land when her father was too old. He had thought of her as his queen and nothing more.

A smirk appeared on Rinku's face as he read Link's thoughts. "Oh boy… do we have the tragic love story of the Hero falling in love with the woman he saves? Isn't that a bit of a… Mario and Peach rip off?"

Link jumped in surprise. "H-Hey! Mind your own thoughts!"

Rinku shrugged, still smiling. "Can't help it, Link! Besides, it's pretty obvious you have the hots for the princess. I mean, you guys were everywhere in the history books! And all the pictures? They never showed one without the other!" His smirk only widened as Link sputtered. "Oh yeah, and did I mention that there are certain… items that prove that you wanted her? Like… that one poem from-"

Link finally found his voice. "W-Wait a minute… I made sure that note was kept well hidden under the one loose floorboard in my room!"

Rinku shrugged. "I get bored easily. That and there was nothing else for me to do… my dad had locked me in that room so I couldn't go out and pull pranks on anyone… besides, I liked that poem. It was… pretty nice…"

Link said nothing. "…"

Sorius was making a speech up on the balcony. It was one of those boring ones announcing who all the important people were and what Rinku's crimes were. Since it did not really apply to him, Rinku kept his attention trained on the things he had seen when he read Link's thoughts. The Hero knew that his guardian had him well cornered.

"So when did that happen?" Rinku asked, blinking slightly as the sun rose higher over the horizon. It cast a golden glow that lit up his face, emphasizing his Hylian features. Hylian features, Link realized, that were now absolutely lost in nearly every other citizen of Hyrule. "When did you start thinking of her like that?"

Link paused a moment before answering. "… It was during the battle on horseback against Ganondorf… right after Zelda got her Light Arrows…" Link's memories awoke at the thought, filling the young Hylians' minds with images of what happened. "I was controlling her… and Zelda was shooting…" the Hero sighed. "Something… I don't know what, but something… just connected right there when we sat together… she was shooting, but this also exposed her to all the dangers. She could've fallen off… attacked by ghosts… grabbed right off by Ganondorf… she was in danger at every turn and I was supposed to keep her safe…"

"…" Rinku's smirk never faded, but he remained silent. He made a mental note, unseen by Link, to start plotting with Cimar or someone later.

"I think it was when she was grazed by Ganondorf's sword," Link continued, "Around that moment where… where I stopped thinking of her as my Queen. Instead, I thought of her as the person I wanted to protect from all harm… I wanted to take her away… to keep her safe… to take her to a nice, quiet place where we could be together…"

"Traitorous thoughts, Link," Rinku told him lightly, "Now normally, protocol says that I have to make you get on your knees and demand your head on a silver platter for stuff like that, but since I'm a bit tied up at the moment…" he gestured to the ropes around his wrists. "I'll just let it slide for now."

In spite of himself, Link chuckled. "Typical Rinku… cracking jokes even at this time…"

"And as Hyrule's rightful King," Sorius bellowed, "I hereby sentence Rinku of Hyrule… to death!"

A single cheer, fueled by a thousand throats, went up at his words. The guard next to Rinku, after receiving a nod from the Usurper, threw the torch upon the piles of wood. The timber caught on fire immediately and it was not long until the flames were licking the toes of the boy's boots. Rinku tried his best to prevent himself from inhaling the noxious gas, but did so anyways and coughed his lungs out.

Cimar bit his lip and brought up the bow he was holding, taking careful aim at the spot just above Rinku's wrist. If aimed right, the arrow he planned to send there would slice right through the rope, freeing the prince. If aimed wrong… well, Cimar hoped that Rinku could fight with crippled wrists.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Zelda asked worriedly as Cimar drew back the bowstring.

Cimar smiled. "Yes…" His fingers began to release the bowstring…

"Hey Cimar!"

"AH!" Cimar, caught by surprise, accidentally jerked the bow upward so it aimed too high. At the same time, the arrow was released, causing it to fly through the air and lodge itself centimeters above Rinku's head. The young man tied to the stake had paled considerably when the arrows just barely missed him. Link, who had fallen over when he saw the arrow panted in surprise.

"What was that!"

Rinku stared at the still quivering arrow over his head. "I don't know… but someone's trying to lop off my head or something with that thing!"

"Dammit!' Cimar threw the bow on the ground in anger.

"Sorry…" Pichn said sheepishly, staring at the ground, "Uh… well…"

"What is it, Pichn?" Cimar groaned.

"Picho said that they're here," he said proudly. By now, most of the nobles were whispering among themselves, wondering where the arrow had come from. Up above, Sorius dismissed it as some idiot boy's bad archery practice. Cimar found that offensive.

"Good… send them in…" Cimar grabbed onto the nearest tapestry, one that was blood red with a gold lion on it. Pichn's eyes widened in surprise as he watched Cimar get up on top of the balcony railing.

"What are you doing!" he asked in disbelief.

Cimar gave him a look. "What does it look like I'm doing? I need to go save Princess Zelda's boyfriend." With that, he leaped off and sailed over the crowd.

"He is not my boyfriend!" Zelda answered reproachfully.

Pichn watched in awe as Cimar swung high over everyone's heads, his sword deflecting all the pathetic blows the guards tried to score on him. As he neared the stake, Pichn saw his eyes flicker from his usual blue to Zelda's sapphire blue. Rinku, gaping open mouthed at this spectacle, also changed his eye color suddenly, to be replaced by Link's piercing sky blue.

Realizing that he still had a job to do, Pichn cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs. "HEY BRO! SEND THEM IN!"

"And bring me some food!" Kirby added, though he knew he wouldn't be heard.

"Hey Kirby, wanna swing?" Pichn asked eagerly, grabbing onto an emerald green banner with a silver snake on it.

"YEAH!"

Pichn swung his short legs upon the banner and struck it with Kirby's sword. "YAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!"

At that moment, Picho burned down the door with Ness's PK Fire. All was chaos now as the Knights of Courage charged in to attack their foes. The nobles ran to and fro, stepping in blood as they ran. Some lost their heads. Others managed to slip away. Still others were simply consumed by the oncoming mass.

In the middle of it all, the two boys reunited and eagerly put together their powers to help. PK Fire combined with Kirby's sucking ability created a devastating combo as Pichn would create a great vacuum effect to suck the enemies into Picho's attacking zone so that they were easily dispatched by Picho's PK Fire and PK Thunder attacks. And the best part was, Kirby had plenty to eat as Pichn occasionally sucked up a helmet or something on accident.

"Link!" Zelda shouted as she dashed through the wall of flames to meet him. She was glad not to have a skirt on. Link's face lit up as he saw the princess approach. This happiness was soon replaced with fear, mixed in with worry.

"Zelda, what are you doing here!" he demanded as he noticed how her guardian's boots were already pretty scorched. Zelda took out Cimar's sword and brought it down with all her might upon Link's bonds.

"What does it look like?" she asked, sheathing it, "I'm saving you."

The Hero sighed with relief as his wrists were freed. Though they were chapped and bruised, they would heal by tomorrow. Together, he and Zelda leaped off the giant bonfire just as the wooden stake was engulfed in flames.

Link landed on the floor, Zelda on top of him. Both were covered in blood as it was splattered all over the place. The entire courtyard was in complete chaos as more and more blood was spilled. But though the sound of clashing swords nearly deafened them, the Hero and Princess did not care. All that mattered was that they were here.

Together…

"You're… safe…" Zelda panted, a smile lighting up her face.

"Yeah…" Link breathed. His left hand moved automatically to caress her face, relish the feeling of her soft skin upon his own…

"GUYS!" Rinku shouted, kicking at Link's mind.

"WE ARE NOT GAY!" Cimar growled angrily. He kicked at a few books in Zelda's mind, watching as the pages fluttered to a picture of Link framed in a heart.

Of course…

Realizing what they were doing, the two Hylians immediately got off each other, their faces beet red. They were so embarrassed, in fact, that they happily allowed their guardians to take over the fighting for now. The two young men, faces still flushed, looked around to make sure no one noticed. Luckily, no one did…

…except for two little boys…

Cimar's jaw dropped in shock as Pichn doubled over laughing, a camera in his hands. Picho, on the other hand, was rolling on the floor, clutching at his ribs. And yet, the chaos around the four never ceased.

"H-Holy… Farore!" Picho choked, "I knew you two were close, but not that close!" He never stopped laughing. "Wait 'til I tell all the other guardians that you two are gay!"

"We are not gay!" the two guardians yelled at the same time.

"Suuuure…" Picho snickered.

"What… who… Pichn, where did you get that camera!" Cimar demanded

"Where else? I stole it," Pichn said this as if it were obvious, "Besides, the guy's dead anyways so he won't miss it…"

"Kinda dead…?" Cimar groaned, slapping his forehead.

"Look on the bright side!" Picho said cheerfully, "Now you two can go public with your relationship with no worries that people will shun you, and-"

"That's it," Rinku growled, "C'mere and let me wring your neck you little son of a-"

"CIMAR AND RINKU ARE GAAAAYYYYY!" Picho shouted obnoxiously before dashing off. Still angered, Rinku took off after the boy, not caring that there were people getting killed all around him. Meanwhile, Cimar had chosen to chase Pichn since he was the one with the camera.

"Come back here so I can castrate you!" Rinku shouted fiercely, grabbing at Picho's shirt collar.

"Gaaaayyyyy…" Picho cackled evilly and leaped nimbly over each corpse that got in his way. Rinku, being bigger than he was, had a bit more trouble doing that.

The two boys led the two older ones around the entire courtyard for one circuit before tripping after blowing a raspberry at the two over their shoulders. Rinku grabbed Picho while Cimar grabbed Pichn. Without another word, Pichn placed the camera in Cimar's open palm and smiled sheepishly. Cimar's sharp glare told him that he wasn't completely forgiven yet.

"So… what now…?" Picho asked, struggling slightly in Rinku's grip.

"How's about you four bow down before me… and swear your allegiance…" said a voice behind them.

The Usurper was approaching.

He was floating…

Bobbing…

Riding…

Toon Link couldn't remember the last time he was at sea. It was certainly way before Tabuu had decided to attack them again. Definitely before the blue man had taken their souls just like that and stuffed them in jars.

The first time that his older self had been to sea.

It was a strange thing to hear, to be sure. Though Link had been to Lake Hylia, the Hylian had never truly been at sea. Not even when he visited the Lakebed Temple was he truly at sea. Toon Link remembered it as one of the most exciting and scariest adventure of his older self's life.

And he had loved it.

Toon knew the sea very well. He knew it so well, in fact, that he didn't need his guardian to be awake to know that he was currently bobbing about in the sea, his life preserved by a single piece of driftwood.

Oh yeah, and his guardian was unconscious.

It had happened so suddenly as well. From what he could tell from looking at the young man's memories, he was once the captain of a great ship. But that ship captured a young girl and the cabin boy had betrayed him to save the girl. Somehow, the ship had blown up after the boy yelled "This is Sparta!" Toony had the vaguest feeling that Snake somehow played a role in all of this.

"Mah, check this out…" a voice above him whispered. It was the voice of a young boy, yet tainted with the sounds of a boy who had witnessed a lot of bloodshed in his life.

"Oh! Ridere, it's Squall!" that was a pure female's voice. Though tainted with the memory of bloodshed as well, this sounded more pure than the boy's. Toon Link liked the sound of her voice…

"Squall?" that word was spat out like it was poison. "Then we should just leave him where he is… that guy caused enough trouble already…"

Toony could almost feel the girl shaking her head. "That won't be right, Ridere… I mean, I know he's mean…"

"And gross… and lazy… and smelly," Ridere added.

"… Right… he's still a human like us… besides… Yoshi thinks that he might be more than what he seems…"

"That dinosaur better have good judgment…" the boy grumbled.

Ridere grabbed a net from the back of the little boat and threw it over Squall, reeling him in. Meanwhile, Mah made sure that there was enough rations for the three of them to make it safely to the mainland. Yoshi observed Squall with intense eyes, unsure of why he felt so much energy radiating from him that he did not feel before.

But his attention was soon ripped away from Squall as three streaks lit up the night sky. "Mah, look!"

Mah looked up just in time to see the first of the three, a rather small yellow one with bits of black in it bounce happily among the clouds. Another one, this one brilliant blue with a little bit of red at the head zoomed across her path. She could almost hear the words "Falcon PAWNCH!" as it passed. The third and final one was forest green. It was about the size of the yellow one that had just passed. It seemed to turn cartwheels in the air before dashing off after its friends.

"Wow…" Mah whispered as she watched them all go.

Ridere, who had been watching as well smiled. "So… three more…"

"Tabuu's time is almost up," Snake said happily, "Soon, our world will be saved…"

I am exhausted! Whew!

Well, I'm leaving on a trip to Vegas, so I might not be able to write much… then again, I'm too young to gamble or get rolling drunk, so maybe I'll get the chance to write! (if my mom doesn't drag me along on her shopping trips… *shudders*)

Once again, thanks to SBJ and Wrath Draconian for everything they've done for Guardians.

Don't forget about the website! Visit it if you forgot what happened in this chapter and are too lazy to look back! XP

Now if you'll all excuse me, it's nearly midnight here. This chapter was finished at 27 pages at exactly 11:59:45. Yay!