Super Smash Brothers: Guardians Arise!

by PitFTW

An old enemy returns, this time ripping the souls of the Smashers away from their bodies. By taking possession of them, he hopes to take over the Smash World. 100 years later, the Smashers must turn to humans for help. But some just can't get along...

21. Xavier, Drake, and JB

Confrontation

The next chapter is here… geez, I'm so tired… Good news is that the last band competition is on the 20th of November. After that… MORE TIME TO WRITE!

You will notice that Mario no longer puts "-a" at the end of his words. Just imagine he has the accent, alright? It got annoying for me to put them.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything!

---

"It's weird, isn't it Snake?" Captain Falcon asked. Joe was getting settled in Room 15 and Ridere was nowhere to be found. Taking advantage of the free time, Snake and Captain Falcon had decided to catch up on things.

"I guess you can say that…" Snake muttered. He was currently suffering from cigarette withdrawal. Captain Falcon knew this somehow and shot a look at him that was pity mixed with slight annoyance.

"I know what you're thinking of, Snake…" he said gravely. "Those things destroy your body, you know…"

"What can I say, Falcon," the mercenary said gruffly. "Those things are addictive…"

"Not nearly as addictive as taking care of your car, Snake," the racer mused. "One day, I swear to you, you're going to get a sweet ride someday and just forget all about those petty little things…"

Snake snorted. "What world have you been living in for the past hundred years, Falcon?"

"One filled with cars, racetracks, and of course, hot girls…" the racer purred slightly. "Particularly Samus…"

"… Dude, that's scary…" Snake shivered. "I'm going to back away now…"

"You can't deny it, Snake!" Falcon called after him as the gray cloud of gas floated away.

Snake found his guardian in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables and stuff for food. The other guardians were all busy either laughing like maniacs or sitting quietly in the next room. Of course, with that many teens in one place, it was inevitable that there would be something thrown. Ridere had to duck as a chair went flying out of the dining room and slammed against the opposite wall.

"Sorry!" someone- sounded like Mars- called. "Rinku was being an idiot, as usual!"

"Why you…" the sound of tackling followed that. In spite of himself, Snake chuckled before heading back into his guardian's head.

Ridere spun his butterfly knife in his hand before chopping up the carrots in front of him and adding them into the pot. There was something sad about him almost as he did this. Snake's curiosity ended up getting the better of him.

"Anything on your mind, kid?" he asked. The soldier never really took advantage of the thought reading abilities he had been given as a result of sharing a mind with his guardian.

Ridere paused for a moment as he got ready to pick out the spices. From the look on his face, it was easy for Snake- or anyone from that matter- to tell that he was troubled. Still, it took a while for Ridere to finally find the words he needed to answer with.

"… Have you ever… you know, looked at someone you've just met and… just felt really sad somehow…?" he said finally as he dumped a few spices in. "Like… like you were supposed to be… connected to them somehow, but never got the chance to be…?"

"… Not really," Snake said loftily. "I mean, sure I miss the old crew, but I've never really felt guilty over someone I've never met… unless I killed them and they were innocent or something…"

"That's the thing, Snake," Ridere sighed. He shoved the pot on top of the ancient stove and started trying to light it with matches. "It's Nask… there's something weird about her… I mean, she gets this messed up look on her face every time she looks and me and then when I ask her about where she's from and stuff, she starts getting all teary eyed and instead goes back to fight some more…"

"What, you have a crush on this chick or something?" Snake asked in disbelief. Ridere reeled in disgust at the thought.

"No! No! Dude, that's disgusting!" he became solemn again. "… It's just… I don't know…" He looked out the window, breathing in deeply as the sweet scent of fresh vegetable soup reached his nostrils. "… Have you ever… just woken up one day and… didn't know who you were? Where you were? Where you came from?"

Snake shook his head. "Sorry kid, but I'm not really the type of guy to catch any form of amnesia…"

"That's how I was…" Ridere whispered. "The very first thing I've ever remembered is waking up on that ship… I didn't know who I was… where I came from… why I was there… well, that pirate guy that came in and threw the bucket at my head told me what my name was, but that's it…"

"…" Snake remained quiet.

"All this time… I didn't know who I was…" Ridere whispered. He pulled the soup pot off of the stove and mixed it. "I didn't know why I was on that ship… why I didn't smell like or look like any of those idiots on board…" He tasted the soup and nodded approvingly. "And… there was just nothing to do on there except swab the decks… then one day, one of the pirates left the door to the kitchen open… I snuck in, started fooling around with ingredients, and the next thing I knew…" The boy broke a piece of break from a nearby loaf, dipped it in the soup, and nibbled on it. "I was cooking… and I still don't know how the heck I can cook so well…"

Snake chuckled. "You never know, kid… you might surprise yourself someday… finding out who the Hell you are and all…"

Ridere sighed. "I don't know, Snake… I just don't know…" he blew on the soup before continuing. "There's just something about Nask that really… bugs me… who knows, maybe she'll end up being some kind of super secret agent trying to help me out or something…"

Snake rolled his eyes. "Sure… as sure as she'll be your long lost sister…"

Ridere sighed. "I just don't know…" He paused, wondering. "… Is there anything on your mind?"

Snake opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. What could he tell this kid? "... Nothing..."

Ridere picked up the soup pot. "Yeah, whatever…" It was almost as big as he was, which was needed if you were to feed over thirty mouths and people like Cam, whose appetite rivaled that of Ike's. He began struggling towards the dining room. "Soup's on!"

---

Samus was miserable.

Golfer was miserable.

Roy was miserable.

Traca was miserable.

Pretty much everyone else at the table was anything but. Though Master Hand was trying to keep order in the crowded dining room, there was no way thirty something people could stay in the same room without killing each other first. In fact, he was right now trying to restrain KOR. The IC's guardian was trying to challenge Aly to a gun battle, but that was kind of tough considering that there were a lot of people in the room and that they wouldn't be able to go five seconds into the battle without killing somebody.

Miles looked around and sighed, wondering how much crazier this place could actually get. Across from him, the two twin boys exchanged looks. They were both wearing identical smirks and there was a gleam in their eye.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, bro?" Picho asked, laughing deviously.

"Burn the kitchen or lock Cimar and Rinku in the closet?" Pichn asked.

"BOTH! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Hey, hey!" Miles shouted. "Why would either of you want to do that?"

Pichn looked at him. "The closet thing or the burning thing?"

"Both!"

"That's easy," Sonic laughed. "They'll burn the kitchen because that Ridere kid's too slow and they'll do the closet thing to prove once and for all that-"

"WE'RE NOT GAY!" Cimar and Rinku shouted at the same time from across the table. One of the guardians on the other end had heard about the events in Hyrule from Picho and Pichn. And seeing that most of the guardians were teens, gay jokes were imminent.

Was it really a bad thing that Mars ended up with singed hair because of it?

The blonde girl sitting next to Miles, Sakura, looked over towards the kitchen door where Ridere was struggling with the huge soup pot. She stood up and walked over to help him out. Miles was practically drooling by the time the sweet scent of fresh vegetable soup reached him, his eyes bugging out of his head as the cover was finally removed. It took all of his willpower just to keep him sitting down with the thing in front of him.

"Dig in, everyone!" Master Hand said cheerfully. Of course, he immediately regretted it.

Imagine a huge food fight. Now multiply the amount of chaos times twenty. Even that wouldn't be enough to describe what happened next.

Miles, being the fastest, was the first to reach the soup pot. But just before he could grab the ladle, MS ran up and shoved him aside. But before MS could grab anything, Green zapped him with lightning and stepped over him to grab some food. He was then forced to run away as he was peppered by Aly's infamous laser. Aly was then trampled by both Eric and Mars teaming up on her, who were then forced to get out of the way of Rinku's, Cimar's, and Wrath's drawn swords. All in all, it was pure chaos and fighting until finally…

Beeh took a bowl full and sipped. "Hm… too much carrot, Ridere…"

Ridere gasped. "NOEZ! MY COOKING HAS BEEN INSULTED!" He pretended to choke and fell on the floor. "I AM NOTHING! NOTHING!"

Bzzt!

A single noise broke through the relative chaos of the room. The light bulb hanging overhead had flickered on at last. A few more followed it. Soon, the entire base was illuminated. For the first time, the guardians were able to see each other clearly without the interruption of the dim light outside or the relative darkness of the base before the lights were turned on…

And were horrified at what they saw…

A long time ago, those of them who weren't slaves or Heather were relatively healthy, their faces free from any heavy scarring and scratches. Though it was true that through their fights and numerous travels, the guardians would acquire marks of some kind that would show what they were forced to go through in order to even give Smashville just a little bit of hope. In the dim light of the gray mornings and the black nights, it didn't seem as horrible. But in this light, almost as bright as the sun that had once shown its face over the hills of the former Smashville, they saw what they had become.

Everyone was scarred. It was evident on every part of their bodies from their cheeks to their arms. Wherever a sword or a Primid knife had struck, a dark mark had been left there, as if the Subspace Shadow Bugs were slowly eating them away. Dark circles ringed everyone's eyes, only accenting their horrible scars even more so. Even the most athletic of them had long since shrunk down to the most skeletal of degrees. Because of days upon days of malnourishment, everyone was white as a ghost.

Miles shakily reached over and touched the horrible scar that ran from his right shoulder to his forearm, wondering where in the world he got it. It was white as snow, accentuated against his dark skin. It even burned slightly when he pressed his fingers into it. He looked up at Green and MS, who both bore a similar scar.

The fight with Bowser Jr., perhaps?

Master Hand cleared his throat awkwardly as the realization sank into the humans and Pokemon standing around the table. "Guardians… when you were first revealed, many of you were…" He searched for the right word.

"… Just starting out…" Heather whispered. Miles could've sworn that he saw her staff glow slightly as she spoke that one phrase. Master Hand seemed to look at her for a moment before he continued.

"Yes… well… I suppose that's a proper way to say it…" he shifted awkwardly. "I… I suppose what I'm trying to say is… um… just eat, please…" With a snap of his fingers, fresh bowls of soup and hot dinner rolls appeared in front of each of them. The guardians eagerly dug in, but the sight of their scarred, weather beaten faces had completely doused the good mood that possessed them only a few minutes ago…

Dinner was an almost silent affair. There was the occasional "pass the rolls" or "gimme the potatoes" to break it, but that was it. Some of the guardians spoke to their Smashers. Others tried starting conversations only to have them die out after a couple of seconds. Still others could only sit there and stare. Whether or not Master Hand noticed this behavior, he simply floated there and watched.

Suddenly, someone stood up at one end of the table. Miles recognized him as Samus' guardian. From what he could gather from his fellow guardians, this guy and this other girl, Traca, caused quite a bit of trouble. From the moment he stood up, the atmosphere around the table seemed to shift immediately from slightly stunned to tense. A few of the guardians, Pikana and Heather namely, reached for their respective weapons. Others, mostly the younger ones, stiffened significantly, as if bracing themselves for something. Those who didn't know what the Hell was going on, such as Miles and the Hylians, only kept eating.

Silence…

"… I'm sorry, Traca…" Golfer finally muttered, trying not to look at her or Heather's scrutinizing gaze of him. "For everything…"

"Everything…?" the winged girl asked. Something shifted behind her eyes for a moment, a flash of doubt. But this soon passed and was instead replaced by a rather neutral gaze. "What's it to you? I mean, you won't believe a word I say, so why should I-"

"I'm sorry…" Golfer cut across her. "Because I finally actually stopped being a jackass long enough… to listen to someone tell me your story…" Next to him, Mars grinned smugly.

"…" Traca stared down at her soup.

"I… I guess what really got me riled up was the thought of you ditching me, Traca… after everything we went through… after all of our hard work and training… I was just really, really hard for me to accept that… that you could ditch me… just like that…"

A single tear landed in the girl's soup. "I had to… he promised that he'd tell me who I was… where I came from… why I have these wings and these powers…" The table seemed to tremble under the weight of her anger. "He lied to me…"

"He did more than just lie to you, Traca…" Wrath whispered. He stood up, his face drawn and pale. From his position, Roy could easily see the dark circles under the teen's eyes. "If the man you're talking about is the same one I'm thinking of… he's done more… much more than just simply telling a little lie…" Wrath's tone was so bitter that it took a great many guardians by surprise.

"Little…?" Traca repeated. Her eyes flashed with anger. "Little! That's all you can say! Little! I freaking ditched one of my best friends because of his 'little' lie!"

Wrath looked taken aback. "I'm sorry, miss, but when compared to his other crimes, the man-"

"He promised me that he'd tell me who I was, Wrath!" Roy's guardian continued shouting. "WHO I WAS!"

"Traca! Calm down!" Roy was run ragged trying to keep her temper from exploding. Of course, the girl didn't listen to him. She was already too angry. It was a very, very lucky thing that Nask had still not yet given back her Dragon Stone.

"And what's more? I believed him! I was stupid enough to believe the guy! He made a fool out of me!" her vision was red. "And all you can say is that it's a 'little' crime!"

Wrath held up a hand. "Please, miss, I know you're angry, but-"

"But what? But you can explain? What is it this time, Wrath! Is the guy who lied to me really a hero? Did he lie to me because he wanted to set the stage where I find out through a sequence of events that you're my brother! That I'm not really supposed to be a guardian! That this whole thing was all a dream! Huh!"

"Traca!" Roy said warningly. The last thing he wanted to do was start another rift in between guardians. In fact, quite a few of them were already pointing their weapons at his guardian, as if waiting for her to explode into her dragon form at any moment. Roy was shaking as he spoke, but his voice- strengthened from facing off against the horrible enemy of his adventures- was that of a commander. "Traca… I know you're angry… trust me, I'd be too if someone I trusted beyond anything in the world backstabbed me…" The marquis felt a pang in his gut as he spoke those words. There was something in him that said that there was something wrong, very wrong about what he said.

Traca was practically crying. Golfer, looking guilty, started forward towards her. But before he could reach her, she exploded again.

"And then you say he's done worse? What can be worse than lying to a girl about promising her things about her past! Do you really think that there could be something, anything worse than lying to someone like me! Well, do you?"

The sound of a chair flying through the air and slamming right into the wall opposite of it rocked the room. Every guardian turned their attention now to the thrower of the chair, Pikana. They were expecting another explosion out of her as well.

But it was quite the opposite, actually...

"Traca stop! Please! You're digging a very big hole here! Please listen to us and try to get some sense into your head! You're hurtng everyone senseless here with your anger..." tears streaked down Pikana's eyes in misery.

"GOOD! Guess that means my anger will be very effective in taking out Tabuu and that man who lied to me! I'm gonna let them feel the pain they caused me! I TELL YOU ALL NOW! I SWEAR TO GOD I AM GOING TO SHOW YOU JUST EXACTLY WHY YOU SHOULDN'T LIE TO M-"

THWACK!

Everyone jumped in shock upon seeing a certain female's metal greet Traca's jaw. Traca had been punched hard enough to go crashing against the walls of Mount Smash. Wrath's mouth was open like a codfish as he stared at Heather. When...when did she move in front of Traca? Did she even move at all? She just suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of Traca and smashed her in the face! But now unfortunately was not the time to ask the mad woman questions, a point Wrath gathered from the fierce magma glare Heather was showcasing.

Traca managed to sit herself up slowly, her jaw throbbing from the nice, new purple bruise added to her collection of wounds. It didn't help her body was still sore from those wounds. Traca could taste her salty tears mix in with the blood that now came from her mouth.

"Don't...EVER...use your anger...against other people. EVER." the venom was evident in Heather's voice. But instead of a whimper, a hysterical laugh escaped the girl's mouth.

"HA! HA HA HA HA! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! OF ALL PEOPLE! OF ALL PEOPLE TELLING ME TO NOT USE ANGER AGAINST PEOPLE! YOU! OF ALL PEOPLE! HA! HA HA HA HA!" Traca shouted in disbelief, laughing all the while.

"AND BECOME THIS?"

Traca's laughing was immediately cut off by the terrified screams of the Guardians. She could hear feet shuffling and many steps moving further away from her. What was more though...was the change in Heather's voice. Right then, it was sharp like a snake and two dimensional in sound. Traca slowly raised her head...

...and was greeted with the psychotic red eyes of Black Heather.

"So you want to squeeze the blood out of them with your raging fist? I'm more than happy to help you do that my dear sweet child. I can assure you the taste you get will be DELECTIBLE!" Black Heather licked her lips, moving towards Traca.

Now it was time for Traca to whimper. Her own bones were shaking with her skin, goosebumps crawling up as Black Heather drew ever so nearer. Inside Traca's mind Roy was crying and praying to get away from his prison. He pretended he was lying on the sand at the beach with Lilina and far FAR away from the abomination. He could almost not bare to look when Black Heather bent right down near Traca and place her thumb on Traca's jaw.

"You and I are bound to make a great team," Black Heather wiped away the blood on Traca's jaw with her thumb. "Somewhat like mother and child...I'm the one who finds your prey and kill them...and you're the one who drinks them up afterwards."

Every Guardian in the room were frozen down to the core of their hearts. A chill air filled the cave turning the sweat of their fear cold water dripping from their hair. Traca said nothing but her eyes spoke all her emotions when seeing Black Heather lick the very blood she had wiped off Traca.

"It's warm...warm like your anger...I can feel it burn my tongue. But it's also salty...salty with the tears of the pain you've felt all these years. I would more than happily accept you as a daughter, dragon child." Black Heather sighed in annoyance.

"But of course that bitch of a counterpart of mine already has plans set in motion that I'm to obey. Stupid how I just HAVE to be part of someone like HER. Anyway, I'm pretty sure you can see her point, right?" Black Heather gave Traca a bored look.

Roy blinked. Traca blinked. All the guardians blinked.

What the fuck?

"I take that as a no. Point is, do you really want to become...a psychotic, cannibalistic, sexually hyped, blood lusting bitch," Black Heather groaned. "Which is what the careless, reckless, stubborn-ass, rage-filled bitch puts me as."

"So you just think I'm going to become you do you? Psychotic and lusting for revenge? Eating peoples' corpses? YOU... YOU ASSUMPTIVE BITCH!" Traca stabbed her claw into Black Heather's shoulder, who made no motion to stop the claw from embedding itself into her left shoulder.

"...what I'm saying is you don't want to live the life I am living..." a broken voice sounded from the Scion of Rage, placing her metal hand on Traca's arm. Traca looked back at Heather to see she had returned to normal.

"You don't want to live my life...you don't want to life a life where people cower in fear every time they see your face. Where parents cover the eyes of their children the minute they see you walk in the room. Where people spit on your face and tear your clothes apart in disgust of you because they know you can snap right on the spot at any point in life and kill them all. Where you have the uncontrollable rage to murder the world and have a person live inside of you who craves to relish the pain her own rage causes herself upon all..." Heather took out Traca's claws from her shoulder slowly, still not looking up at the dragon.

"...don't do what I do...don't live how I live...I beg of you and pray to God...don't..." Heather stood up from her place and walked away.

"Don't become what I have..."

---

Mario had had enough. Master Hand was trying his best to soothe the chaos that ensued after Heather left the vicinity. The plumber watched with fearful, yet slightly interested eyes as the Wolfon walked away. He watched as a certain cloud of gray smoke slowly emerged from her ear, knowing that Wolf probably wanted a moment to himself to think. Looking back at the chaos, the plumber chose to leave the mind of MS...

And found himself facing every Smasher whose guardian was present.

"… Wow… did I miss a party or something? Where's the pasta?" Mario asked, trying to make a joke. The remark only served to deepen a few of their scowls. After a moment of silence, Peach was the one that chose to speak.

"Mario… I don't know if you got the message, but Pit called a meeting… a meeting between Smashers… we're talking about…" she shot a fearful glance at Master Hand and went silent. The giant floating limb was too trying to stop Eric from killing Mars to notice.

"Who, Master Hand?" Mario asked. "But c'mon, guys! I mean, sure he could've shown up earlier, but at least he's here, right? He can help us train our guardians for the final battle, and-"

"That's the thing, Mario," Falco spat. "He could've… but he didn't…" The bird shot a glare at their leader. "To think that I actually used to respect that dipshit…"

Mario was confused. "Wait a minute. What's going on? Did I miss something here?"

The Smashers all exchanged looks. A few even whispered amongst themselves. There was a rather tense feeling in the air, as if the Smashers were going to break out in an all out brawl at any moment. Even Bowser and Ganondorf seemed solemn. After what seemed like hours, his brother finally spoke.

"Brother… do you remember when Pit was reading on the battlefield?" he asked.

"Of course I noticed!" Mario said rather sharply. He turned to glare at Pit. "Pit, I know that there are many good books out there, but you don't just run off the battlefield and read! You could've accidentally killed your own guardian by doing that!"

"I'll have you know that I was reading for a good reason!" the angel shot back irritably. "And it was to know how the Hell we get past that barrier!"

That quieted the plumber down. "Oh… well, I suppose that's understandable…" he frowned. "But that still doesn't explain why you're all suddenly so… angry with Master Hand…"

"There was more in that book than just a way to get past the barrier, Mario…" Zelda whispered. If the princess was able to cry in her ghostly form, there was no doubt she would be doing so right now. "So much more…"

"What else could there be in there?" Mario asked. He could sense an undertone in all of this, but he chose not to speak of it just yet. "Master Hand may have his faults, but they can't be that bad-"

"It's bad, Mario…" Lucas said quietly. "It's really bad… Master Hand kept so many secrets from us…"

"Well, he had his reasons," Mario pointed out. "I mean, everyone has secrets they keep from others. Like I have reason to keep it a secret why the pasta always disappeared on Pasta night, but I'm sure that unless he had a really good reason to tell us, he didn't…"

"What if said secrets involved us?" Pit asked. "What if said secrets involved him knowing that we'd all end up like this?" He gestured around him at the ghostly shadows of the Smashers' former glory. "What if… what if said secrets involved him knowing that no matter what happened… our guardians won't make it out of this war alive…?"

The plucky plumber froze at this new bit of information. Master Hand had always had his faults, dark secrets that he kept behind locked doors. But to hide information from the Smashers that could've helped them in some way? What was he thinking!

Then again, there had to be some good reason that the great hand had kept this information secret from them all throughout the war. If their guardians truly were going to die during the war, there had to be some other plan Master Hand had in store for them all.

"What is wrong with you all…?" Mario whispered in disbelief. Never in a million years would he ever believe that a few words in one book would turn them all against the hand that had treated them like his own children. "Master Hand does everything to keep us safe and you're just… just turning on him just like that all because of one book?"

"It's not just that, Mario," Ness said evenly. "According to said book… he knew, even after we beat up Tabuu, he knew that we were all going to end up this way someday… and he didn't do anything about it…"

"You all have no one but yourselves to blame for that," Mario said sadly. "You should have… kept up your training like I asked you all to during the vacation… instead of lazing around… or go shopping… or terrorize the local kids or something…"

"I'll have you know that those kids totally had it coming!" Ganondorf retorted.

"Mario…" Luigi lowered his head. "We do appreciate Master Hand… for all that he did… but what he didn't tell us… what he could've done to allow us to prepare our guardians better for this-a war… is unforgivable…"

"What you guys are doing is 'unforgivable'," Mario said hollowly. "Turning your backs on the guy we all looked up to as a leader… for the past hundred years…"

"Mario…" Sonic, the hedgehog Mario had come to respect as both a great ally and rival, was filled with misery. "It's going to happen tonight… if Master Hand is going to keep secrets like that from us…" He took a deep breath. "… We have no choice… we're going to overthrow him… spirits or not… we have to do something about it…"

"But… why…?" Mario was disgusted by the selfishness of such a plot. "You'll all be putting your guardians in danger!"

"Sir…" Lucario, one of the most reasonable of the Smashers now spoke. "It is the only thing that can be done… Meta Knight and Mewtwo both agree…"

"He abused his power… our powers for his own gain…" Mewtwo's eyes flashed with anger. "He must be punished…"

"… All of you…" Mario shook his head. "Forgive me, but… whatever you plan to do… I do not wish to play a part…" he turned around and began to leave. But he stopped at the door to say a last few words.

"Rest assured, Smashers… all of you shall see his reason… someday…"

---

When Eric walked into the kitchen that morning, he was greeted by two guardians already in there. Cimar was reading a book in a chair while Cam was digging through the fridge.

"Good morning," Cimar said as he marked the spot in his book and put it away. "You're… Eric, right?"

The pilot nodded. "Yes… and you are…?"

Cimar grinned. "Call me Cimar, Guardian of Zelda."

"Cam, Guardian of Ike," said guardian bit into a turkey leg. "My roommate is fun to beat up!" This one was said rather loftily, since Ike's guardian looked bored at the moment.

Eric saw a coffee pot already brewing and decided to wake up with a hot cup. "I'm glad someone seems to be satisfied with their roommate…" His tone was just bordering bitter.

"Who are you stuck with, Eric?" Cam asked. He managed to find some beef jerky in the cupboards.

Eric scowled slightly. "Mars… it's bad enough that I have to be on the same team as the guy, but… let's just say the next time I see someone with a coin, they're going to get shot at." He took a nonchalant sip of the coffee. "And unlike Aly, I actually aim…So… what are you three doing up so early…?"

"I wanted to check out the library," Cimar said eagerly. "It's got a ton of great reads!"

"I'm up because the bookworm over there woke me up!" Cam scowled at Cimar.

"It was only one book!" Cimar protested. "And it wasn't a very big one anyways!"

"It was still a big one and now I'm up at who knows what time in the morning and now I'm raiding the fridge to satisfy Ike's appetite!" the other young man snapped back.

"Will you two shut the Hell up!" a door had opened near the end of the hallway and the annoyed face of Rinku stuck out. "Some of us are trying to sleep, you know!"

"It was him!" Cimar and Cam both pointed at each other.

"Well, whichever of you did it… SHUT UP!" Rinku slammed the door shut.

If the argument actually bugged Eric in any way, he didn't show that it did. "Eh, I couldn't stand Mars' snoring anymore… that and Lucario has this weird fetish of getting up early in the morning to meditate..."

Cam tapped his chin with the turkey leg. "I'm thinking of whipping the rest of the guardians into shape… we'll need all the training we can get if we're going to even stand a chance against Tabuu…"

Cimar frowned at him. "Sorry, Cam, but I intend to teach the younger guardians a little something called the alphabet today."

Cam gawped at him. "… We're in a middle of a war here… AND ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT ARE TEACHING KIDS THE FREAKING ABC'S!"

"SHADDUP!" Rinku yelled as he opened the door and slammed it shut again.

Cimar glared at Cam. "Just because we're all going to die and possibly become possessed doesn't mean that we have to miss out on our studies. Besides, being smart is good for you. It prevents you from… say… charging headlong into a huge fire blast without any real way to protect yourself from heat except maybe some cheap leather armor…"

Eric choked a bit on his coffee because he laughed so hard. Cam was about to open his mouth and say something more when Eric decided to cut in.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but Aly, Mars, and I are going to get in our planes and see if we can locate the three newly released Smashers," Eric took another sip of coffee. "You know, since this world's pretty big and all…"

"Tch… more like an excuse to skip out on some proper training…" Cam grumbled.

"Or schooling!" Cimar pointed out. "There's still a lot that needs to be learned about battle tactics and such before we can even get our butts on the battlefield!"

"Listen you two, as much as I want to spend the day getting my ass kicked and having to read useless books, the pilots and I all have our own jobs to do and those guardians out there aren't getting any closer by the day, so-"

"Books are not useless! They are filled with plenty of-"

"Random crap we don't need on a battlefield! I don't give a damn on how many times Edward kisses Bella in an hour!"

"Not those kinds of books! Strategic books for tacticians, since those are very good to have on the battlefield, and-"

"WHY DON'T WE ALL SHUT UP AND DO ALL THREE?" Rinku slammed his door shut again.

"That's not a bad idea …" Cimar muttered thoughtfully.

Cam nodded. "Yeah… if we make those guys get up at six, that'd be one hour for breakfast, another for basics like… Smash the Targets and stuff like that, another for hand to hand combat, another for swords…"

"Considering that half of them probably don't use them anyways," Eric snorted. "The other two and I can take two guardians each and rotate it every day…"

"Swords are good for you! They're… sharp and stuff!"

"Guns are better!" Eric shot his out the window to prove it. It spliced a sapling nearby neatly in half.

Cam was still planning out his part of the training program. "Then after swords, we can move on to some Smasher power thingy practice. We'll all have to learn how to master our Smashers' respective power…" Cam tried opening the nearest cabinet, but instead ended up ripping the door off its hinges. "… So that doesn't happen…"

Cimar did a few calculations. "That'll take us all the way until noon, which will be the perfect time to sit down for lunch. And after lunch, we'll end the day with some good old fashioned schooling!"

Eric took another drink of coffee. Then, he pulled a pen and some paper out of a nearby drawer. Sitting down at the table, he waited until Cam and Cimar gathered around before speaking.

"First off, we should start out with this…"

---

The training grounds of Mount Smash's summit were a vast, open space. According to the memories he had seen popping up now and then in Lucas, he knew that the Smashers had often used these grounds for their own training. But back then, it had pretty much been every Smasher for himself, save for the occasional spar between swordsmen. Master Hand apparently had tried to get the Smashers to work together and train together, but something stopped them from doing so.

It was then that she saw something silhouetted against the fog. Frowning, she looked closer at the light fog of the morning and could just barely make out the shape of a small figure sitting at the very edge of the summit. The shadow itself seemed to pulse and fade slightly as the fog moved, but from the long black hair that flowed lightly in the breeze, it was easy to tell that the person was a girl. Most likely, it was Crystal.

Teal stood up. "I'm going to take a bit of a walk outside…"

Stepping from the warmth and comfort of the Mount Smash base, Teal found that the air outside was cold, just bordering freezing. He took in the cold mountain air, smiling a little as the mist touched his fur.

In the distance, he saw the two guardians. With nothing more to do, he walked over. He saw that Crystal seemed to be speaking to KOR.

"It's a beautiful morning, isn't it?" Crystal asked conversationally, hoping to draw Teal out of his shyness.

Teal nodded. "Yes… it's… lovely…"

KOR shifted awkwardly. "Sure…" He hid his claw- like hands in his lap, not wanting to provoke anyone with them. Heather could tell that he was still extremely uncomfortable around her.

"May I asked what you two are doing up so early?" Teal asked. "After all, people your age usually sleep in until noon or something…"

Crystal gave her a strange look. "Why would I want to fall asleep while I'm in a dream?"

Both Lucas and Teal were taken aback by this statement. "A dream?" he asked Crystal. "… This is… a dream to you…?" She gestured around her at the slowly pulsing early morning mist, the colorless world around them. For a moment, it looked to Lucas that this truly was a realm of dreams, a place where neither time nor life existed. But as soon as Lucas blinked, the realm of dreams became a vast, desolate wasteland once more.

Smashville…

"This isn't real… None of this…" Crystal shook her head, as if trying to ward away Heather and KOR. "When I wake up, I'll be at home… just like I was before… I won't be here… no one has died… I haven't hurt so many…"

"Crystal…" KOR nearly blanched in disbelief. "What are you saying…?"

"I'm saying that none of this exist… neither of you two exist… you're just figments of my imagination… this is all a dream… this is… too weird to be real…" She shook her head. "You're not real… none of you… the voice in my head… that's just something that's there…"

"Is she alright…? I mean, she seems kinda crazy…" Lucas asked in disbelief. KOR seemed to be thinking the same thing. His eyes flashed with anger and he suddenly ripped off his glove, revealing his horribly warped hand underneath.

It was rotten to the core, the fingers were ragged to the bone. The fingernails themselves had long since been elongated into horrible claws, shining almost jet black in the faint light. They were the cold, dead hands of a demon, a miserable whelp from the very depths of Hell itself, with a horrible stench to boot.

Crystal and Teal both recoiled slightly in horror. KOR had kept his hands hidden in his gloves all through dinner, even taking them into the bathroom when he went to go take a shower the night before. According to his roommate, Chi, the teen had even refused to take them off when it was time for bed.

"See this, Crystal?" KOR asked, anger dripping from his every word. "See it!"

Crystal shook in fear at the sight of the hand, watching as a small chunk of flesh slowly peeled off from the bone itself and fell on the earth. "Y-Y-Yes…?" Teal could only look on as the events unfolded.

"Do you know how I got this hand…?" KOR whispered harshly. "Does this hand look fucking fake to you?"

Crystal hesitated slightly. "W-Well… such a thing can easily be faked by makeup, and-" A scream escaped her as a small piece of KOR's flesh was flicked onto her. She quickly brushed it off like it was poison.

"Does it?" KOR growled.

Crystal quickly shook her head. "N-No! Of course not!"

"My whole goddamn village died, Crystal!" KOR shouted. "Every person in the freaking village except me died because of some stupid plague those stupid Shadow Bugs brought along! I only survived because I was the only one smart enough to get my ass out of there before it was too late instead of praying to the 'Great God Tabuu' to save us! I told them that Tabuu was no god… that he wouldn't listen to them no matter how hard they tried!" His hand clenched in rage, biting into the already rotting skin with his nails and tearing slightly at the mottled flesh. "But did they listen? NO! I had to stand on a hill and watch as they all died! Sure, I got a bit of an infection as well, but at least I made sure not to let it spread! But the village… my family… THEY'RE ALL DEAD!" He shoved his glove back on. "IS THAT FAKE? IS THAT ALL SOME STUPID DREAM I'M GONNA WAKE UP FROM?"

Crystal shook in fear. "N-No! I mean, yes! I mean, well-"

"IT'S NOT, IS IT?" KOR yelled. "IS MY FAMILY GONNA COME BACK? ARE MY FRIENDS? HUH?"

"KOR…" Teal reached over and put a calming hand on his shoulder. "That's enough!" He wanted to avoid a fight.

KOR stood up. "I'm outta here…" he mumbled angrily. "Gonna go grab some grub…" With that, KOR sauntered off towards the base. For a few moments, Teal and Crystal only sat there in silence.

Crystal wrung her hands. "I… I honestly didn't mean… I hope I didn't offend him…"

Teal sighed. "I'm afraid that there is much that I'll have to talk to you about… For starters-"

He was cut off by the roar of engines not far away. It was a familiar sound, the gentle humming of a well oiled, well built machine. Every guardian on top of Mount Smash had heard this sound before. After all, they had either ridden on these very ships or watched as they had landed on the top of Mount Smash. Teal and Crystal watched as the three Arwings slowly lifted themselves in the air, spewing jets of air into the stormy gray sky.

"Look, Teal!" Lucas said excitedly. "They've already picked people to go!"

True to his word, there were indeed a few faces of certain guardians waving from the windows of the three planes to the others down below. Teal recognized Squall and Lin on Aly's Arwing, Pikana and the twin boys on Eric's, and Wrath and Sakura on Mars'. The rest of the guardians were waving and shouting at them, wishing the voyagers luck on their first day out.

Just before the three ships activated their infamous Ludicrous Speed function, Wrath caught Teal's eye. There was a rather strange light in his eye that Teal hadn't seen before. It was a light of triumph and excitement. He looked exhilarated to be in the ship, as if he had been waiting for something like this his whole life. It wasn't long until the ships sped away, leaving Mount Smash for their own destinations.

"Do you think they'll be able to locate the newly released ones?" Crystal asked slightly wistfully. It was easy to tell that she too longed to be on those ships.

Teal shrugged. "You just never know…"

---

"Lalalala!" Jigglypuff was in a good mood. In fact, she was in a great mood. After waiting for hundreds of years, she was free. She had been waiting for this day for what felt like her whole life, ever since she saw Pit fly out into the wide blue skies for the first time so long ago.

Beep! Beep! Beep! A black cloud traveled behind the Pokemon, unable to say anything beyond the strange beeping sounds it made. Whatever language this cloud spoke, Jigglypuff was quite able to understand it.

"Oh, you catch up, Game and Watch!" Jigglypuff turned around and stuck her ghostly tongue out at him. "Just because you've been locked in an 'extra tight jar' as you call it, doesn't mean that you have to 'slowly take in the scenery'! I mean, we have guardians we need to find before they die!"

Beep! Beep! Beep! Game and Watch protested. It was true that though he was eager to get to his guardian, the 2D Smasher wished to slow down for a bit to take in the all too familiar landscape of Smashville. After all, it had been an extremely long time since he had last seen it. He remembered exactly and in great detail of how when he used to take long, lonely walks near the many streams and through the woods of Smashville. It made him sad, in fact, to know that as long as Tabuu reigned supreme, he would never get to see the beautiful sights the natural environment of Smashville had to hold for him.

And Jigglypuff's impatience wasn't helping either.

"Guardians first, scenery later!" she sounded pretty angry. Truth be told, Jigglypuff simply wanted to see if her guardian was much of a singer. It would be pure suicide for the Pokemon if she was stuck with a non- singing guardian. "We have time, you know!"

Beep! Beep! Beep! Bloop! Game and Watch shot back irritably. He had just told her that they might not be alive any time soon if she continued to be as impatient as this.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Jigglypuff made a movement with her cloud, as if she was waving his comments away. "But hey… I'm not the one that gave Crazy Hand a barrel of sugar… AND THEN ALMOST GOT SHOVED IN A PAPER SHREDDER!"

Beep! Beep! That had absolutely nothing to do with the subject they were talking about. Shaking his head in exasperation, Game and Watch remained silent for the remainder of the trip.

The two had been traveling for about three hours when Jigglypuff suddenly halted in place. Game and Watch, being nothing more than a mere cloud of gas, was able to pass through her, but the sudden fog of pink that appeared in front of the 2D Smasher startled him for a moment.

Jigglypuff stared at something down below, her large blue eyes narrowed in concentration. "… I've found them…"

Beep? Mr. Game and Watch barely had time to say that one word before he was forced to dive down after Jigglypuff.

The pink Pokemon hurtled herself downwards, ignoring the leaves of the trees that got in her way. She had sensed something as she flew over the forest and she was determined to find out what it was.

Of course, what she wasn't expecting was the arrow that came hurtling at her.

"AH!" Jigglypuff ducked out of habit, but the shaft sailed harmlessly through her and instead slammed against a nearby tree trunk. She whirled towards the source of the arrow.

It had come from a nearby tree, one with some low branches that a skilled jumper could use to get to the top. Jigglypuff could just barely make out a small figure hidden within the canopy of leaves. He was small and of slight built, just the right type to be climbing trees or dodging attacks.

Of course, the bow he held in his hand also gave him a bit of an edge if it came to fighting.

The figure leaped down and examined his arrow. Jigglypuff could now see that he was dressed in the garb of a hunter. Though it was true that said garb was covered in dirt and patches, it was garb nonetheless.

He had black hair and dark eyes, his face was pale and pinched. There was a very, very hungry light in those dark eyes as well. He had the look of a person who had gone for days without eating and if they went any longer, they might just eat themselves. Of course, seeing that he missed the mark on the tree by a few inches, it was safe to say that he wouldn't be able to immediately kill anything.

Jigglypuff pitied him. No, in fact, she felt for him. It had been many a night back during the war where she was forced to go to bed with little to no nourishment because Tabuu had destroyed their food stores. What little food that the remaining Smashers had managed to salvage was not nearly enough to feed powerful fighters such as they.

The boy walked up to the arrow and yanked it out of the tree, holding it close to him for inspection. They were finely made arrows, but it was easy to see the many chinks and such on the broad heads and the dull points, which were extremely unsuitable for archery. Despite this, he placed the arrow back in his quiver and proceeded to tromping through the trees. Jigglypuff, knowing that there was something about this guy that she had to find out about, followed. Mr. Game and Watch reluctantly followed as well.

They soon found themselves in a clearing of sorts, one of the ones that were quite common throughout the woods. But it was the tiny copse of trees in the very back of this clearing that caught their eye.

There stood the tiniest cottage ever seen under those trees, made out of what looked like timber from fallen trees and mud. It was an extremely simple place to live to be sure, not nearly as conspicuous and flashy as the former Smash Mansion. But there was just something about it that gave it the homey touch neither Jigglypuff nor Game and Watch had felt for the longest time.

The hunter entered the cottage and lit what looked like an old oil lamp, placing his things on a nearby table. Like the rest of the place, the table looked like it was roughly hewn from a tree and the oil lantern was most likely stolen. The cottage itself was freezing and even with the tiny bit of heat that came from the fire crackling in the fireplace nearby, it did little to lift the cold air already blowing around the place.

Slowly, the roughly cut furnishings of the place appeared before their eyes. A couch appeared, followed by a rug and another table. The more the light grew, the more the cottage seemed like a home. As the light from the lantern and the fire reached to the four corners of the single room, another thing was illuminated. Jigglypuff and Game and Watch both gasped in surprise at what they saw.

There was a bed in the cottage as well, a tiny one made for only one person. However, this bed was currently occupied by someone else, not the hunter. The person's back was to the wall and they laid very still, but from the slight rise and fall of their chest, it was easy to tell that they were alive.

The hunter pulled up a chair next to the unconscious person and heaved a sigh. "… Listen…" his voice was soft and a bit light with just the barest trace of mischief. "I don't know who you are… and why you're here… but if you can just wake up for a bit… that'd be greatly appreciated…"

"Poor thing…" Jigglypuff murmured.

Beep! Beep! Boop!

"Not the guy on the bed! The hunter! He spends so much time taking care of the poor guy…"

Now that the two Smashers were floating close to the bed, they could see that the unconscious victim was a young man with fiery red hair. There was a pair of goggles on his head. His face, like the hunter's, was pale and extremely pinched. Not far away, there sat a pair of glasses that were broken beyond repair. All in all, it created a sad, pitiful scene.

"I know you probably can't hear me anyways," the hunter continued. "But I need to get you outta here… I don't know what the Hell you did to get those Primids so pissed at you, but I won't be able to protect you for much longer… I know you haven't seen my archery skill, but… look, all I can say is that it's bad… I may be able to take on a couple of severely injured Primids on my own, but that's it…"

"Oh… it makes me so sad…" Jigglypuff sounded like she was ready to cry. Mr. Game and Watch, on the other hand, felt more for the unconscious one than the hunter. Then again, of course, his face bore the marks of one that had worked hard all his life but was unloved, underappreciated.

Mr. Game and Watch had never truly met someone like him…

"Something must be done…" Jigglypuff murmured. "I can't just keep floating here and watching him sacrifice everything to help someone… I know! When I meet my guardian, I'll-"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The hunter jumped and whirled to look at the door. The large piece of wood was splintering heavily, as if it was being rammed from behind by something. There was also a ton of gurgling on the other side. Jigglypuff and the 2D Smasher knew immediately what they were…

Primids.

"No!" the hunter frantically grabbed his bow. "Not here… not now! Why!" He raised his eyes to the heavens. "Why do you hate me!" As he spoke these words, the boy on the bed stirred slightly. For a moment, the hunter's eyes flashed with hope as he moved. But he was soon back to being limp and the hunter was alone once again.

Meanwhile, the crack in the door had widened all the more…

"No!" Jigglypuff screamed as the door finally gave way. It was blasted right off its hinges where it flew through the air and immediately splintered against the nearest wall. Again, the red head on the bed stirred, but didn't open his eyes.

"I must do something!" Jigglypuff sobbed. She shot right towards the hunter as he sprang into action and loosed a flurry of arrows at the Primids waiting in the doorway. Out of the three he shot, only one found its mark.

Beep! Beep! Game and Watch protested as the pink blur shot past him. But the next thing he knew, said pink blur had disappeared, almost into thin air. When the 2D Smasher attempted to float around to search for the Pokemon, he only got peppered right through the cloud of gas with bullets.

Suddenly, the hunter's eyes went from brown to light baby blue, the exact eye color of the Pokemon that had disappeared only moments before. Game and Watch reeled in surprise, but nothing shocked him more than the speed at which the hunter dodged the scope Primid's shots. Jigglypuff had never truly been the fast type, but it was pretty cool how she was able to use the hunter's speed to her advantage. Of course, there was the whole thing where she could no longer Rollout, but that was a small price to pay if it gave her such speed.

Game and Watch knew she could keep this up for quite a while, but though she was a great fighter, the body she was sharing was still human through and through. One wrong move and it would all be over for her. The Smasher knew this and determined to help, he started out the window to search for his own guardian.

But something stopped him.

Now Game and Watch wasn't normally one to fuss with magic. Magic was a complicated thing, a power that no mere mortal could possibly understand. With his much simpler outlook of life, he saw magic as a mere nuisance that could be done without. But this time, of all times, he chose to give magic one chance at proving itself to him.

He followed the gentle pull of the strange wind upon his cloud and entered the mind of the red head.

The very first thing that met him was a fog. It was thick as pea soup and as white as snow. It pulsed around him and came at him in swirls, spiraling off into the vast oblivion just before they touched him. Game and Watch had never encountered such a strange phenomenon before and he certainly didn't know what to do about it.

At the moment, he was unsure of whether he should wander about this world or stay put. On one hand, if he chose to wander, he'd figure out just where he was and maybe even find life here. But on the other hand, if he stayed put, it would prevent him from getting lost in this strange world. After pondering for a bit, he came to a decision.

He started walking.

Shadows flitted past the 2D Smasher as he passed, shadows of what looked like figures form a long forgotten past. He could see the faint outlines of men, women, and children, all bent and warped in the strangest positions. Their faint mouths were open, their arms were raised to the sky…

Almost as if they were screaming in pain…

"Who's there?" a voice called out, echoing slightly in the din. "Show yourself!"

The Smasher, unable to see the source of the noise could only shout back in return. Beep! Beep! Beep!

As per usual, he was met with a stunned silence. Humans were usually completely unable to understand him the first time they met him. He was used to this by now, despite that no human had come in contact with him for about a hundred years.

"… Whoever you are… please… lemme outta here…" the voice was pleading. Never one to simply pass over someone in need, Game and Watch walked in the direction he believed the voice was coming from.

Once again, he found himself walking past shadows of things he could not see. He tried once to get closer to them to find out what they were, but they simply went farther back the closer he got. Giving up the pursuit, he walked on.

He soon found a strange structure in the distance. It was extremely unusual for something like this to show up in a random place like someone's mind, but there it was. It was a large square cage, one of the ones that was normally used to hold tigers and lions. But Game and Watch squinted through the fog and saw that instead of holding an animal, it held a human.

The same boy whose mind he was currently in.

The boy's eyes widened. "Oh thank goodness… please, if you can get me out…" He gestured to the lock on the cage.

Now Game and Watch was unsure of what he should do. Though it was true that it was cruel and unusual to lock someone in a cage, there was always a reason for that. It was quite possible that the boy was locked in here because he was dangerous, dangerous enough to even potentially harm Jigglypuff and her new guardian. But on the other hand, he could just be another innocent soul that had fallen victim to Tabuu's treachery.

"Please… whoever you are…" the boy's eyes shined with the innocence of youth. The lock fell right off at Game and Watch's touch…

And then, the next thing Game and Watch knew, he was lying in a bed and staring at the ceiling. He could feel the warmth of the thin sheets that surrounded him, smell the dust filled air. He moved his fingers experimentally, reveling in how they obeyed his ever command.

"… Who are you?" the voice of the boy he saved asked. He sounded timid, scared almost. "I'm Drake…"

Game and Watch opened his mouth to reply, but he was immediately cut off by the sound of a body hitting the floor. Throwing off the covers, he leaped to his feet in time to see the body of Jigglypuff's guardian collapse to the floor. The Primid who stood over him was holding a wooden club and was now staring menacingly at Game and Watch.

"Watch out!" Drake shouted. Game and Watch had almost no time to react as the same Primid with the club rushed at him, swinging the deadly weapons in circles over its head. Game and Watch ducked under it and grabbed the thing by its head. One throw later, there was a Primid shaped mark on the left wall of the cottage.

"Well look who's awake!" Jigglypuff said cheerfully as she struggled to her feet. She saw the color of the eyes of the boy before her, recognizing the blank blackness that was Game and Watch's eye color. "Nice, Game!" She got up. "My guardian's name is JB Cristal. Yours?"

One again, Game and Watch opened his mouth to answer. Once again, he was cut off by more Primid attacks. Exchanging looks, the two Smashers dashed outside to escape the confinements of the small cabin and readied themselves. Suddenly, three motorcycle- like enemies appeared from nowhere and nearly ran the two over. They barely sidestepped in time, but now they were surrounded. This was truly life and death now.

The Primids came out of the cabin, their red eyes flashing with hate. The yellow eyes of the motorcycle- like enemies bore right into their very souls, sending a message of pure hate and bloodlust. Back to back the two Smashers stood, too scared to make a move in case they would make a mistake and cost their ally their life.

"Game… if we die here…" Jigglypuff sounded like she was going to cry.

"We're gonna die?" Drake sounded panicky. "I never signed up for this! Get outta my head!"

Game and Watched shook his head. They weren't going to die here. He was going to make absolute sure of it. Even if it cost him his own life, his friend Jigglypuff would make it out no matter what. He placed a hand on Jigglypuff's shoulder and gestured to the tiny opening in the surrounding wall. It was only big enough for one person to get through safely. The signals were clear to the Pokemon.

When he attacks, she runs like Hell.

"No way!" Jigglypuff said angrily. "I can't just ditch you like that! There has to be another way!" She was answered with a silent shake of the head. This only aroused her more. "Game, don't do this!"

Game and Watch put a hand on Jigglypuff's shoulder. There were tears in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak…

Rat- tat- tat- tat- tat!

Like magic, the earth was suddenly peppered by bullets from the heavens. They fell upon the Primids and motorcycle beings like hail, biting into their disgusting Subspace flesh. As the Shadow Bugs hit the earth, two figures leaped down from above as well, landing on them like Mario hopping on the Goombas.

One of them, a girl with a cap that was similar to Red the Pokemon Trainer's grinned at the two Smashers. The other one, a dark haired male, pulled out what looked like a gunblade and started making Swiss cheese out of the remaining enemies. They fell easily to the powerful weapon as it weaved in and out of them. But what truly carried the day was…

"YAHOOOOOOOOO!" someone shouted from above. An Arwing dived towards earth, spraying even more bullets in every direction. Game and Watch and Jigglypuff were both forced to dodge to avoid the bullets biting into their flesh. The bullets peppered the ground and laid waste to any enemies the boy had missed. Then, they were followed by what looked like Subspace seeking rockets that vanquished all the Shadow Bugs as they grouped together to reform.

"We're saved!" Jigglypuff breathed. Her smile widened when the girl with Red's hat ran over to them. Her eyes flashed with concern.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked. "We thought we were too late when we saw you two surrounded like that! Then again, I guess danger around every corner is sorta the consequence of having Smashers living in your heads…"

"Thank you for saving us!" Jigglypuff's adrenaline was still racing. "I honestly don't know what we would've done without you!"

The girl grinned. "Well, I'm glad you're safe. I'm Lin, by the way. Guardian of Red, the Pokemon Trainer."

Jigglypuff reached and shook her hand. "I'm Jigglypuff, Smasher of JB Cristal!"

Lin grinned. "Awesome! Nice to meet you, Jigglypuff! Red told me all about you!" She turned to look at Game and Watch. "And you…?"

Game and Watch looked at the two women smiling expectantly at him, feeling uncomfortable. He had never really been accustomed to the spotlight and now, these two were putting them there. The 2D man couldn't help but wonder if his life was taking a turn for the better. Being mostly ignored all his life, it was strange to be paid attention to so much at the moment.

"Just say your name," Drake said encouragingly. "It's alright…"

Game and Watch took a deep breath. It was now or never…

"M-M-My… n-na-name… is G-Game… and W-Watch…"

---

"Hey man, are you alright…?"

He was floating. He couldn't feel or see anything. A black cloud surrounded him, clouding out his vision. He couldn't even remember his own name…

"H-Huh…?"

"Great, you're alive… can you hear me…?"

That voice penetrated the darkness, bringing just the faintest trace of light. He reached out for it. The light moved away, fading into the darkness once again.

"Hello…? Move a part of your body of you can hear me…?"

Another light appeared and disappeared just as quickly. Frustrated, he felt himself beginning to descend, falling into a sleep he knew he would never wake up from. But he had to stay awake, he had to keep fighting…

… But why…?

"If I were you, I'd get up…" a voice suddenly spoke up. Now the black world was tinged with a faint white light. In the place with the most white, there seemed to be a cloud of some kind floating there. When the voice spoke again, it was as if the cloud was speaking to his very soul. "Concussions can have lasting effects on the brain, you know…"

Wake up… he had to wake up…

"I-I…"

"Yeah, that's it… c'mon, open your eyes… you're going to make it…"

"You better. If you don't, I won't be able to perform any emergency CPR on you."

He opened his eyes. He saw the ash gray sky up above. There was a tiny sliver of light that made it through the clouds. The air smelled like ash.

"I…" his vision was blurred. But he could tell that there was someone kneeling over him, making sure he was okay. That someone was wearing something dark.

"C'mon … fight it! You're almost there!" the voice was encouraging. He continued to try waking up.

"I…"

"Take deep breaths and don't rush it. You'll make the concussion of yours worse if you do. Trust me, kid… I'm a doctor."

"I…" he blinked. His vision cleared. His nose was filled with the rancid stench of ash.

He remembered who he was. His name was Xavier. He grew up in a small village on the outskirts of Smashville. He was prepared to be shipped off to the nearest Smashball factory to become a slave. He and all of the others that were about to be shipped off had rebelled.

And then… nothing…

"Don't panic… you seem to be suffering from post traumatic amnesia… it'll all come back to you soon…"

He coughed.

The person kneeling over him gently thumped him to help him get the ashes out of his lungs. He was a rather strange looking person wearing a long black cloak and equally as black gloves. What was more, he wore a black hat and a black scarf that covered most of his face. Only his eyes, strangely yellow, glittered out from beneath all of this. Under normal circumstances, this would've been pretty scary and would've raised alarms in any sane man's head that they should run away immediately.

But then again, this was Smashville…

"Are you alright?" the man in the coat asked.

"I am… thanks…" Xavier blinked. He was still having trouble remembering what happened after the rebellion. He could remember screaming, people running, fire everywhere…

The man shook his hand. "I'm glad you're alright… it seems you're the sole survivor of that… burning incident…"

Xavier's breath caught in disbelief. "W-W-Wha-…?"

"I suppose that would explain the air quality," the voice continued wistfully. "It's pretty bad right now…"

"Who are you?" Xavier asked. He wasn't sure if he was talking to the voice in his head or the person in front of him. Despite this, they both answered at the same time.

"I am Doctor Mario M. Mario," the voice said.

"I am… the man seemed hesitant in telling his name. "… Sol… my name is Sol…"

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "Sol… I'll remember that…" He struggled to his feet. "What… what happened…?"

Sol's eyes seemed to dim as he asked this question. "… Look around you, Xavier…"

The entire landscape around him was black with soot. What was left of houses of any kind stood off pathetically against the wind. In addition to the ruins, it was easy to tell that there were bodies as well. Their burnt flesh sent a reeking stench into the air. Their faces (or what was left of them) were contorted in pain and torment. Many of them had died reaching out for another person, whether it was a loved one or a friend.

Xavier felt weak in the knees as he saw this, his vision once again became blurred. He remembered now. He and the other would- be slaves had rebelled and attacked the Primids about to take them away. When they had tried fleeing into the small huts, one of his fellow rebels set it on fire.

But the fire could not be controlled. There was not a single drop of water to be spared in the village. No matter what they tried to do, they only helped the fire spread even more, consuming everything in its wake. What was more, the village had been barricaded by the Primids. They had set up special force fields around it so no slave would escape.

Xavier had been forced to watch everyone burn…

"You were starting to submit to the ashes…" Sol explained quietly. "I saw that you still had the slightest chance of survival… so I waited until you were knocked out and dragged you to safety… I protected you until the fire went out…"

Xavier looked at him. "And the others…? My friends…?"

Sol could only shake his head. "Gone… I'm sorry…"

"…" Dr. Mario hesitated a bit before speaking. "Your friends… I do not have any doubt that their deaths… were all painless…"

Xavier couldn't believe what had happened. "They're gone… all of them…" His tears hit sprinkled the ground. "Gone…"

Sol placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I could only protect one at a time… if I had left you, you would've died instead…"

Xavier glared at him. "OH YEAH? WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU? HUH?"

His shout startled both Dr. Mario and Sol. While Dr. Mario tried thinking through the source of this sudden outburst, Sol could only stand and watch it unfold. After all, he had to remain calm or disaster could strike.

"I HAD FRIENDS, SOL! FRIENDS AND FAMILY! THERE WERE TONS OF KIDS YOUNGER THAN ME THAT COULD'VE BEEN SAVED! I WAS THE ONE THAT ORDERED THE FIRE! I SHOULD'VE PAID FOR MY CRIMES!"

"You don't understand…" Sol whispered hoarsely. "Your survival… it was crucial…"

"DON'T UNDERSTAND? HOW THE HELL DO I NOT UNDERSTAND? I SHOULD NEVER HAVE ORDERED THE VILLAGE TO BE BURNED! I KILLED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE! I SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL RIGHT NOW!"

Sol glared at him. "Like it or not, I saved you because I know for a fact that your survival is crucial! Don't ask me how because even I don't know why you're so special! But something tells me that if you die, all of Smashville is doomed!"

"ALL OF SMASHVILLE IS DOOMED IF I LIVE, SOL!" Xavier was practically sobbing right now. "WHAT IF I SCREW UP AGAIN, HUH? WHAT THEN?"

"Then you learn from your mistakes…" Sol was starting to cool down. "Xavier, please, listen to me…"

"YOU LISTEN TO ME! I DON'T DESERVE TO BE ALIVE! I DON'T DESERVE TO BE STANDING HERE WHILE THE BODIES OF MY FRIENDS ROT AND DECAY! I DON'T CARE IF ME BEING ALIVE IS FOR THE GOOD OF ALL SMASHVILLE! I'M GOING TO-"

Rumble, rumble, rumble…

Sol froze at the sound, his eyes widening in fear and surprise. He looked at the ground, watching the pebbles quake and shake every which way. He had heard this rumbling once before and it was something that he had hoped to never hear again. He had been running for so long, never resting, always traveling…

And now he had dragged another person into this…

"Run," he said simply as his hands began to glow.

Xavier looked at him. "… What…?"

"Run," he repeated. There was a huge dust cloud coming over the horizon. "They're coming… they're coming for me… and because you know me, they're going to get you too…"

"What are you talking about?" Xavier demanded. "Just who are you? Why are they looking for you?"

Sol shook his head. "Now's not the time… Xavier, RUN!" The cloud was approaching. Now Xavier could make out the shapes of Primids among other creatures of Subspace.

His insides went cold.

"I'm not running…" he said angrily. "If I die in battle… I'll atone for what I've done…"

Sol glared. "Dying isn't going to solve anything! RUN!"

"I'm not running…"

"RUN I SAY! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO TO YOU!"

"I'M NOT RUNNING!" Xavier shouted back.

Sol looked into his eyes and saw the determination, the great flash of bravery behind them. It was a truly rare thing to find someone with such a trait in their eyes and he knew that once their mind was set on something, there was no stopping them.

Stubborn fools…

He had no choice. The army was upon them now. It was either stand fast and fight for the victory or die trying. He grimaced, knowing that it was likely the latter would happen.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Xavier…"

Xavier nodded. "I do too…"

Dr. Mario took a deep breath. "Prepare yourselves!"

---

Pit was wide awake.

He didn't know about his guardian or frankly her roommate, Heather, but he was awake. If he tried to sleep, he'd probably only get a bunch of nightmares. Besides, there was no need for him to sleep now…

That was one benefit of his corporeal form.

To be exact, the angel was awake for only one reason. He was waiting for the signal, a small sound made by one of the Smashers that would tell him it was time. Pit was anticipating this, right to the point where he knew he'd be sweating if he still had his body. The angel was a nervous wreck, his gut twisting every which way at the thought of what was to come.

The pilots had returned today with only two guardians. Only two of the three guardians that had been released the other day had been recovered. That left one guardian to stand alone, out there where the stakes were high and the death toll higher. Pit knew that something had to be done to help the lost guardian, but it was not in his power. For now, he had to concentrate on the task ahead of him, a mission entrusted to him that he never thought he would carry out.

And then…

Tweeet…

Pit knew that whistle. He had, after all, been taught it by none other than the Hero of Twilight himself a long time ago. It was made by putting two fingers into your mouth and blowing. Gripping his bow, the angel emerged from his guardian's mind. When Wolf did not emerge from Heather, who was sleeping on the next bed, Pit simply jumped out the window and landed on his feet just outside. Like a ghost he glided over to the next three pairs of window and blew the same whistle. Inside, the Fire Emblem trio made not a sound as they emerged from their guardians. With a nod to them, Pit glided away towards the kitchen.

There was already a light in there. He could see it clear as day. Not only that, but he could also see the extremely faint outlines of his fellow Smashers as they moved about within. For a moment, the angel felt a pull in his gut at what he knew was going to happen. The Smashers themselves had planned this ever since they found out about exactly what secrets the little diary held. Pit braced himself and flew in, feeling the eyes of the others already boring into him.

They were fearful, every single one of them. Even the bravest of them were fearful. He could easily see it in the look of their eyes and the paleness of their cheeks. If any of them had hearts at the moment, it was evident that every single one of them would be racing faster even than that "final" battle with Tabuu long ago at the very end of Subspace War I…

But that was the past. Back then, they had trusted their leader, loved him, revered him as a god. He had been their guidance and their counselor, their sole light in the world where all had fallen to chaos. But after all these years, after everything they went through…

He had lied to them…

"Where is he?" Falco demanded after waiting for a bit. The Fire Emblem trio had just come in, dragging the little kid Smashers with them. The only one missing was Master Hand himself. Even Kirby, the heaviest sleeper other than Jigglypuff had roused himself up to come here. Falco's demand had cut through the silence, stunning many of them for a moment. They were so stunned, in fact, that they almost missed what happened next.

A small white ball of light appeared in the center of the room. This ball pulsed and rippled with a kind of ancient and powerful energy that could only be found if one looked way past the beginnings of time and space. It grew and took form, bringing forth fingers and a palm. Master Hand appeared in the room once the light disappeared and simply floated there, taking in the sight of his Smashers glaring at him through hate filled eyes.

"My Smashers…" he whispered. "My children… it's been so long…"

"Yeah, it has alright…" Wolf snarled. The embodiment of creation was taken aback by the tone of the lupine's voice. "About a hundred years, in fact…" Without another word, the former pilot gestured with his ghostly claws to something on the table.

It was a leather bound book, dusty and yellow with age. There were faint stains of blood on it, as well as a large, horrible red blemish upon its cover that could only mean that the person… or people that had managed to escape with such a thing had lost at least one of their kin. Master Hand felt a horrible twinge of guilt spark within him as he remembered that conversation with Goddess Palutena only hours before…

But now was not the time for that.

"Forgive me…" Master Hand's voice was laced with regret. He floated over to the book and picked it up, watching as the blood soaked cover caught the faint light of the single bulb. "I should have told you all the reasons why long ago… I should have said something to make you understand why I had to leave you so suddenly… I-"

"Enough is enough, Master Hand," Ganondorf said sharply. "You've lied to us… you said yourself that Tabuu was dead, but he's alive… you knew he was alive, but you never said a thing… you sought to see us get defeated… to reduce us to nothing more than mere clouds of gas!" The Gerudo King started forward. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't Warlock Punch you here and now!"

"Calm yourself, Ganondorf…" the hand said uneasily.

"No! You said the exact thing to me a hundred years ago! Though I calmed myself back then, I shall not now! Not when you tricked me and made me look like a fool… made us all look like fools!" Ganondorf's fist flared with purple fire, growing with every word spat out between his lips. "You don't deserve to have a body of your own… you don't deserve to live if you continue to lie to us this way!" He came forward, but some of the Smashers held him back. Others could only look on as Master Hand struggled to keep peace.

"Please, calm yourselves, Smashers…" he whispered. "I beg of you… let me speak…"

"You've spoken enough, Master Hand…" that name rolled off of Pit's tongue like it was poison to him. "You knew what was wrong with us… how we would lose… everything leading up to us meeting up with those humans… and you never said a thing…"

The hand's voice was choked with tears. "Pit… please understand… though I did foresee that Tabuu would survive, I never knew… never thought until it was too late what power he had received from his dabbling in the Dark Arts of Subspace… I didn't know until it was too late, much too late, to train you… I believed… I hoped that he would see the error of his ways and return to the World of Light…"

"I believed the same thing about a certain Sephiran…" Ike snarled angrily. "And what did he do? He tried to kill my entire army… Michiah… Sothe… Soren… Elincia…" His voice broke as he said the next name. "Mia…"

Master Hand turned his attention to the mercenary, who was shaking with anger and grief as the memory of the peppy Trueblade's death was forced back into his mind. "Ike… I'm sorry… I never foresaw the death of that poor girl… if only I had known… if only I knew that there was no way Tabuu would change sides… I could've helped you protect her… protect your entire family…"

"IT'S TOO FUCKING LATE NOW!" Ike screamed. He tried picking up a chair, but realized that he was completely incorporeal. He instead curled his fists in rage. "MIA'S DEAD! SHE'S GODDESS DAMNED MOTHERFUCKING DEAD! AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Ike!" Marth shouted. "Ike, let him speak!" Unlike some of the other Smashers, Marth wasn't all that ready to hate Master Hand yet. Roy, on the other hand, was already charging at Master Hand. Torn between two of his best friends, Marth could only sit down and groan, his head in his hands.

"Smashers!" Master Hand shouted over the noise. "Stop! Please, stop! You'll wake up your guardians!"

That was the wrong thing to say. The mention of the guardians set quite a few Smashers off, most notably Pikachu, Wolf, and Pit. While the lupine pilot managed to just barely keep his temper under control, the electric mouse and angel were already charging as well. Master Hand blew both them and Roy back with a strong wind and forced them to sit down. It was easy to tell that the hand was panicking at the sight of the chaos the ghostly Smashers were causing and it was only natural that he had to stop it.

The Smashers glared at him, many of their faces twisted in hatred. Master Hand felt his very heart and soul rip apart at the sight of the people that were once like children to him. Trying his best to keep his voice from shaking, the hand gave one last effort to reason with them.

"I know… I know I have been a fool, Smashers…" he whispered. "I know that it was because of me… of my not telling you how the Subspace has tainted you… that you are like this now… that I have dragged in those poor, poor humans into this mess and that they deserve a much better life than just mere running away from dangers… I know they should deserve to live peacefully, without worry or fear…"

"There is but two questions I must ask…" Lucario whispered. Alone among the Smashers, he and Mewtwo had not yet taken a single course of action to either indicate they supported or shunned Master Hand. "I must know… why…? And how…? How has the Subspace tainted us…? And why did you not tell us before…?"

Master Hand took a deep breath, knowing that there was no way he could avoid this. "Very well… a long time ago, as you know, you defeated Tabuu in the first Subspace War… to do that, you were all forced to come to contact with Subspace… the most tainted substance in the all the known worlds… when Tabuu touched, he was tainted… and when you all did…" Master Hand paused for a moment before continuing. "I don't know if you've noticed, Smashers, but your skills were enhanced… every single one of your strengths were dynamically improved, almost to the point where it was… abnormal…"

"That's a good thing, right?" Kirby asked. He remembered how he was able to swallow bigger things than usual, but never minded it much until now.

Master Hand looked at the little cloud of pink gas with an expression that was a cross between pity and misery. "Kirby… it only depends on how you look at it… Subspace has gifted you all with great power… but at the same time… your greatest flaws were greatly inflated as well…" Master Hand turned to each of them in turn, as if he was trying to figure out each of these traits. "Pit… I remember you were always a rather fast, speedy fighter… you were also strong, for your size…"

Pit's cloud didn't move. "Yeah, and…?"

"Way back when you were fighting the Primids… in that last battle before you were reduced to this form… do you remember how unusual it was… how strange that though they were once powerful in Subspace War I, they fell easily to your blades this second time around?"

The angel hesitated. "Well… yeah… but that still doesn't explain-"

"I believe it does, Pit," the floating limb said sadly. "That though both your strength and speed increased that day… something else did as well…" He floated very still and some of the Smashers suddenly had a mental image of a man behind a desk putting his fingers together. "Tell me… what caused your downfall…?"

All eyes were on him now. Pit hesitated slightly, uncomfortable with the attention he was receiving because of tonight's events. After much pausing, the angel finally began his story.

"I was cutting through them… like scissors through paper… I was able to take out hordes upon hordes of them at once… not one of them was able to touch me… when the more powerful enemies came at me… those Armknights… those things that float around and shoot people… I was able to defeat them in one blow…" Pit's voice broke slightly. "I thought I couldn't be defeated… the feeling was amazing… I was the last of the Smashers… I thought I could do it… I thought that if I could only keep this up, Tabuu would fall down at my feet as easily as the Primids and the other members of the army did…" Pit's voice trailed off at that.

Master Hand nodded. "Yes, Pit… go on… I believe it would be best if they hear it from you rather than from another source."

Pit groaned. "It's just that… I don't know what happened after that… I rushed towards him… I was ready to take him down… he blasted something red at me and then…" Pit shook his head. "Nothing…I couldn't feel my body… my blood… the ground… anything…"

Master Hand nodded. "Yes… as you can see… though your strengths improved your greatest weakness, your cockiness was increased as well…" He turned to each Smasher in turn. "Smashers… I am afraid that I have no acceptable reason why I am unable to tell you why you were all tainted… I suppose that my reason from a hundred years ago was as selfish as could be… I sought only to give you a fighting chance… with such information on your shoulders, it would only stress you out… weaken the tiny fighting chance we had… alas, I should have known… I should have foreseen that if I did not tell you about how your most diminishing traits has weakened you, there was no way to keep them in check…"

"… So… what you're saying is that… the only reason you didn't tell us… was because you were afraid that we'd be too worried about it… to fight…?" Captain Falcon's tone was disbelieving.

"I am afraid that is the only reason I have…" Master Hand murmured sadly. "I know it is a foolish and selfish one, but I worried much… too much, about all of you… I told myself that your mental stability was much more important than your fighting spirit… that it was more important for you to fight at your very best rather than concentrate so much on one great flaw…"

"… Master Hand…" Mario stood up. Alone of the Smashers, he was the one that did not be so quick to jump to conclusions upon seeing the written confession of Master Hand. He had, in fact, been using the time between dinner and now to try to think up a logical explanation for all of this. What the great hand had said just now confirmed what he was going to say. "Master Hand… don't go beating yourself because you think you've caused our downfall…"

Every Smasher eye was on him. Mario had always been their leader, their role model. When he spoke, he always spoke for the Smashers and it was always for good reason. Thought there were occasions when some didn't agree with what he said, he still always would be their leader.

"I know a lot of us aren't exactly, happy with how you planned things out over this past century…" Mario said, choosing his words with extreme care. "I admit, there were times when I wondered if you had abandoned us or was laughing at us because you had been keeping us waiting for so long… we've had some bad times… and it seems like forever since the last time I've actually known what it was like to have a body, but… but maybe having our souls ripped out and stuffed into jars is actually for the better…"

Silence.

"… Mario…?" Snake asked. "What… what do you mean…?"

"I mean that if we actually somehow won against Tabuu… all the good times we've had since then would not exist… we would never have seen the world the way we've seen it already…" Mario paused for a moment. "And… and we would have never met our guardians…"

He let that sink in for a bit, watching as the Smashers all stared at the floor, lost in thought. In a few, he saw a noticeable change from doubt to pondering to acceptance. Others, such as Meta Knight, remained passive looking. The plumber looked earnestly at each Smasher in turn, taking in their looks of realization and neutral stares. A few of their expressions, namely the villains', did make him a bit uneasy, but the rest seemed pretty alright.

"… I believe I speak for all when I say this…" Mario said quietly. "If we had not become clouds, we would never have met our guardians… there have been bad times, but also good times with them… without them… what would happen to us…?"

"Indeed, Mario…" Master Hand agreed. "There is a reason why you were given to each of your respective guardians… they serve a much greater purpose than merely being there to help get your bodies back… they are, in fact, there to help you Smashers see your greatest flaws… the more I look at your guardians, the more clearly I can see each of you… you each have a guardian with a unique background and personality, a personality that in many ways help define you as the person- or Pokemon- you are. In many ways… your guardian has helped shaped you into something much more than a few flimsy characters in an ever changing world… you are your own person now, Smashers, and even without bodies, you'll always be that group of brave fighters no one has ever matched…"

"… We've learned an awful lot over these past months…" Link admitted. "It's just… so hard to believe…"

"Smashers… I know that you no longer trust me because of my foolish mistake…" Master Hand said. "But… if there's anything… anything I can do to help you prepare for the final battle… I will do all in my power to help…"

A soft rumbling could be heard as he spoke this. Though all of the Smashers had heard this sound before, each and every one of them turned to find the source of the noise. There was a soft thump! within the next room, as well as a light tinkling of glass hitting the floor. Slowly, each Smasher looked out the window, watching as a single streak of hazy green light illuminated the skies for just a moment before disappearing into the horizon.

A tiny sliver of light appeared upon the horizon. It was soft yellow in color and brought a beauteous golden glow to the gray skies. For a moment, the world was a flurry of color, more beautiful than anything ever imagined. The Smashers in particular were highlighted, twinkling like little stars in the din. One by one, each of them faded away, bound for the minds of their guardians as the bright rays of the morning snaked their way across the heavens.

Master Hand watched them all leave, his insides twisting slightly in anxiety. Though the talk had been long, he had not received a single indication on whether or not his Smashers still despised him for what he had done.

However…

Pit had remained. He was the last to leave. The angel was staring at the hand, his cloud glowing softly in the light. For a moment, they locked eyes and a sort of understanding passed between them. It wasn't long before Pit began fading as well, but not before he said a few final words.

"Today… is a new day…"