Day 14: Attacked

When I woke up I was on the ground having fallen off of the couch in my sleep. I stood up and went to the washroom. However the door was locked. "I'm all ready in here!" Toon Link said.

I went to the couch and sat down. I looked at the TV and turned it on. After a little of channel surfing, Toon Link came out of the washroom in his green tunic. I went to the washroom and quickly did my business.

I came out of the washroom and sat down on the chair. I looked at the TV. Toon Link was now flipping through the channels. I just closed my eyes and tried to focus. If what Tabuu said was true, Lucas would come back to the Smash HQ today. However I wondered what he meant by with blood on his hands. "Are you all right Nugai?"

"Yeah, just hungry, I guess." I replied.

Toon Link nodded. "Well let's go get breakfast then."

The two of us walked out of the room. On our way there we found Ness, who was aimlessly wandering the halls. He looked up at us, however he seemed distant. "Hello." He said.

"Hey, Ness, you don't look too good." Toon Link said.

He seriously looked half dead. "Ness, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing."

Liar!

"Don't say 'nothing'!" Toon Link said. "Everyone can see that it is at least something!"

"It's about Lucas, isn't it?" I guessed.

Ness nodded. "I hope he's safe." Ness said.

"Well, why don't we go down for some breakfast." I suggested.

The three of us went down to the cafeteria. We got some breakfast. However Ness didn't seem to cheer up. He had barely touched any of his food. "Earth to Ness!" Toon Link said.

For Ness' sake I hope Lucas would come back soon.

"I should have stayed with him after the match." Ness sighed. "That way, he wouldn't of been kidnapped by the Reaper."

"Ness, you really should just cheer up. What happened, happened." Toon Link said.

"That's easy for you to say." Ness replied. "I could have stopped Lucas from being kidnapped by the Reaper."

"I'm sure everyone is thinking up a plan to get Lucas back." I said.

"I hope you're right." Ness replied. He just continued to dissect his food, showing little interest in actually eating it.

What could I do to cheer him up?

"Ness, listen, there is something inside me telling me that Lucas will be back here today!" Although right now that feeling was actually my stomach tying itself in knots and trying to tell me that I was about to regret saying this.

Ness however continued to remain a skeptic. "I'll believe it when I see it. Only a few people have ever escaped from the Reaper."

I just sighed. I really wish Tabuu had told me more, like when Lucas was coming back, or how he was going to come back.

We finished our breakfast. "Hey, Ness, if you're not going to eat that, can I have it?" I asked.

Ness just pushed his plate towards me. I knew he had barely touched it. I just began to eat it. "Ness, once I'm done this why don't we go hunt down the Reaper and kick him in the nuts?"

Toon Link seemed to burst out in laughter, I don't think Ness appreciated the joke. "Toon Link, can I get some water please?" Ness asked.

"Same." I said.

Toon Link nodded and quickly ran to get some glasses of water. Ness just sighed. "Ness," I said. "What are you going to do if Lucas doesn't come back alive? Are you just going to sulk the rest of your life?"

"I'd probably go and hunt down the Reaper." Ness said.

I nodded. "You should stop sulking. Lucas is a Smasher too, right? He'll be fine. And besides, I don't think you should beat yourself up over Lucas being kidnapped."

"Nugai, I don't know what to do." Ness said.

"I don't know what to do either." I replied.

Toon Link came back with the glasses of water and passed them to Ness and myself. We began to drink, and eventually I finished Ness' breakfast. "That was really good!" I said. "You have no idea what you missed out on Ness! It's not too late, you can still get some breakfast!"

"No, I'm fine." Ness said.

Maybe it was an omen, but I suddenly had to go to the washroom. "Guys, I think the water just went right through me." I said. "I need to go take a leak, I'll be back in a few."

However, the moment I got up, they also got up. "I'm not letting you out of our sight." Toon Link said.

I cringed. "Not even in the sacredness of the washroom?"

"Oh, well, we'll allow that. We'll just escort you there."

Well that was a slight relief. I guessed Mewtwo had decided to tell them telepathically to not let me out of their sight. They escorted me to a public washroom that was in the HQ. I quickly did my business and walked out. They were waiting outside. Ness continued to slouch over.

"Ness, do we have to push you in the pool to get you to cheer up?" I wondered. "Just try to forget about Lucas." In hindsight, I should have said something else.

"That's easy for you to say!" Ness snapped. "And what happens if I forget about him? He may be dead, don't you care about him? Isn't he your friend?"

"Yes." I said. "We're all nervous about Lucas. But we just have to put our faith in him and believe."

Ness just laughed. "Yeah right. You're just saying that! Maybe the manager is right maybe you are working with the Reaper! You just want me to forget about Lucas because you know he is all ready dead!" He was beginning to get more and more upset. "Well, do you?"

Generally getting fed up with this crap, I decided to punch Ness in the abdomen. He collapsed on the ground gasping for air. "Toon Link, can you help me carry Ness to the pool, he seriously needs to cool down."

Toon Link nodded and we began to drag Ness to the pool. Ness seemed to struggle, and put on a show. He was even calling for help, but none came.

We eventually got to the pool, and Ness began to struggle more. "You're trying to kill me!" He shouted. Toon Link and I grabbed him by the arms and legs and began to swung him. We then let go and he went into the pool. He came out a few seconds later not at all impressed.

"Now, are you going to calm down?" I asked.

"I will." He said. He suddenly pulled out his yo-yo and flicked it towards me. It wrapped around my legs and he pulled me in to the water. A few seconds later Toon Link also jumped into the water, or rather it looked like he was pushed by an invisible force.

The pool was freezing. "Okay, let's get out of here." I suggested.

We got out of the pool and began to shiver. Ness directed us to the change rooms. Quickly, he directed us to the sauna. "This will help warm us up a bit, and dry out our clothes." Ness said.

We went in. It was really hot in there, and quite hard to breath. But it did the job of warming us up and drying out our clothes a bit.

"Everyone is afraid that the worst has happened to Lucas." Toon Link said. "We all have to stay optimistic."

"You're right."

I had to step out of the sauna. I was having an extremely difficult time breathing in there. I just went over to the showers and turned it on, and let the hot water go over me. Once I had warmed up a bit I stood around and used aura to push the water out of my clothes. Within a minute I was standing in a puddle of water.

I went back to the sauna. Ness and Toon Link were looking at me rather confused as to why my clothes were now dry. "I heard the shower going." Ness said. "Why are you dry?"

"I used aura to push the water out of the clothes." I replied.

"That's actually a good idea." Ness said. He stood up and created a barrier, it pushed the water out of his clothes. Toon Link did the same thing. They stepped out of the sauna with perfectly dry clothes. "So, why did you leave?"

"I had a hard time breathing in there." I replied. "But I'm fine now."

Ness nodded.

We stepped out of the changing rooms. Suddenly sirens began to ring. "The Smash HQ is under attack!" Ness said.

"What should we do?" I asked.

"Didn't they brief you on emergency procedures?" Ness asked.

"No." I replied.

"We'll we have to get to a hidden room in the basement. It will transport us down 500 meters underground, where there are escape tunnels." Ness explained.

The three of us began to run, both Toon Link and I was following behind Ness. I was looking for a way to separate from them, so that I could see what was about to occur. However, Ness was constantly glancing back making sure we were both behind him.

There was a sudden explosion. I was sent flying back into the wall, and the ceiling collapsed. I gasped in horror. "Ness, Toon Link, are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine!" Ness replied. "We were able to avoid the ceiling falling on us. But now this way is blocked, you have to go some other way."

"Okay, I understand!" I replied.

I quickly ran in another direction. There was something about that explosion. It didn't feel natural, like it was from an attack. It felt instead that there was a motion sensor bomb hidden, and set to go off the moment I passed it, would the Manager of placed it there? No, she wouldn't of known I was going this way to the emergency route?

Would she?

I ran down the hallway, and eventually got to the second floor of the lobby. Standing there was the Reaper. In his hand was his giant scythe. At his feet were the corpses of the security guards. He just swung the giant scythe around. I grabbed the beam sword that was at my side. Immediately, the Reaper looked up at me and jumped into the air. Somehow, he was able to reach the second floor. He landed in front of me and swung his scythe. I blocked the attack with my beam sword, and tried to push away his scythe. I quickly rushed in up close, however he just thrust his palm into my abdomen, and sent me flying back into a wall.

I got back up. My body was shaking. Quickly I ran for the Reaper, he once again swung his scythe towards me, however I blocked the attack with my beam sword.

"Stay out of my way Nugai!" He said.

"No!" I replied. "I won't let you attack the Smashers!"

"They are all ready in the secret base 500 meters underground, aren't they?"

"How did you know about that?"

He just smiled. "Good, then they won't interfere."

I thought for a moment that I had just dug myself in a grave, that he was willing to kill me. His hand reached for my head, and the next moment all I knew was that we were falling to the ground of the first floor.

We landed on the ground, and my body was in pain. Somehow I survived, and I half expected myself to be in a crater. He forced down the wooden staff from his scythe on my abdomen, winding me. I gasped for air. "It will all be over in a few seconds." From my body emerged a ball of light that looked like several hundred tiny bar codes. "I'll repair your source code."

He grabbed the ball of light, I could suddenly feel pain coursing through every single inch of my body. I even blacked out for a few seconds. A few minutes later and he was done. He forced the Source Code back into me, and I screamed out in pain. He stepped away from me and turned his back.

Big mistake!

I grabbed my beam sword and tried to stand up. The key word in that sentence being 'tried'. As soon as I got on my two feet, I immediately collapsed, unable to support my own weight. My legs had suddenly felt like they had run several marathons and were no longer even capable of supporting me. "Did you honestly think that I would have shown you my back if I didn't know whose side you were on?"

I tried standing up once again, this time even using my beam sword as a cane, how that worked, I have no idea. I guess the floor was beam sword proof.

"What did you do to me?" I asked.

"Well, I made sure that you wouldn't be able to do anything besides eat for the remainder of the day. I also restored your memories."

I paused for a second. I didn't remember anything different; he seemed to sense my disbelief. "Don't worry, they will gradually come back to you."

I had quickly put my legs full of aura to give me an extra little but of umph for a surprise attack. I launched myself towards the Reaper and delivered a punch. "Now, was that just a desperation attack, or was that because you remembered who I was?"

"Nothing's come back to me yet!"

"That's too bad!"

I was suddenly sent flying across the room right into the wall. This time, I actually left a crater in the wall. I screamed out in pain and the Reaper slowly began to approach me. However, a sudden sphere of energy rushed towards him. He just cut through it with his scythe. He turned to face the Manager. In her hands was a super scope. "Just what is your goal Reaper!" She shouted.

The Reaper laughed. "Fantasia." He calmly replied. Fantasia, the word rang out. It was familiar for some reason. "At least that's my real goal. Today, however, I plan on killing you!"

"Why?" She asked.

"What you did to my little brother is unforgivable. You intentionally erased his memory didn't you?"

"No, I came in here with out my memory." I tried to plead, however I was suddenly unable to speak. I had lost my voice.

"What? He lost his memory when he entered into this world!" The Manager replied. "I had nothing to do with that!"

"Really, then why have you edited his source code!"

"What the hell is a source code?"

If those glowing barcodes was a source code, perhaps it was the Nanomachines.

The Manager fired another fully charged shot at the Reaper. This time he turned his scythe so that side just knocked the energy ball away into the wall.

"You're protecting him, aren't you?" She said. She aimed her super scope at me and fired another shot. The Reaper quickly cut through the shot. "You are, you two are working together!"

I really wished he actually let that hit me.

"Sorry, but I can't let him die just yet. He is absolutely vital to my plans!"

Crap...

That was just the absolute worse thing that he could have said.

"You brought him here!" She shouted. "It's your fault!"

"She's stubborn, isn't she?" The Reaper asked.

I sat there horrified.

"It looks like she is just going to believe it to the bitter end, that you're responsible for everything. Apparently she could never of thought that it was one of her Smashers that led me in here."

He suddenly threw a badly bruised Lucas. Going by the smell of urine, and his clothes being wet, I figured the Reaper had tortured him. "What did you do that for?" I asked.

"I didn't do anything." The Reaper said. "He tried to escape and get back to you, in order to warn of the upcoming attack. That was the guards who did all that to him."

"You bastard." I muttered.

The Manager and her sister began to attack the Reaper. In the back of my head I decided the best course of action was to get away from here as fast as possible. I grabbed Lucas, and carried him in my arms.

This kid is really damn heavy!

I used the aura to support my legs and I tried to flee, however it was much harder due to carrying Lucas. With every step it felt like my legs were going to explode.

Damn it, what did he do to me?

The Manager began to shout, and soon I could also hear the voice of her sister. I didn't know where else to flee, so my legs seemed to take me instinctively towards the stadium. I could hear several shots from ray guns being fired towards me, however the Reaper just blocked the attacks with his scythe. "What are you trying to do? Make sure your accomplice gets in with the Smashers so you can kill them all!"

I kept running however I suddenly tripped. Quickly I turned around so that I would hit the ground and that Lucas would be safe. It hurt. I estimated that he was about 100 pounds. How I carried him, I had no idea, I guess the aura actually helped increase my strength, or maybe it was adrenaline. Suddenly I was unable to move. It was as though I had exhausted all of my strength just trying to run away with Lucas.

"Damn it wake up." I muttered.

I could hear three sets of feet rushing towards me. I tried to look up over Lucas and saw the Manager, her sister, and the Reaper quickly rushing towards me.

This is bad...

The Reaper suddenly disappeared and reappeared right above me, he reached for Lucas' and pulled him up by the shirt, it was actually a wonder that the shirt didn't rip. He then delivered a kick that sent me into the air and flying into a wall. I slid down the wall, and was now sitting on the ground. He then threw Lucas into me. I cried out in pain.

"So, you're still trying to protect your accomplice, aren't you?" The Manager said.

How the hell are you getting that we're accomplices? He's practically killing me!

"You're just buying time!" The Manager's sister said.

"You're right." The Reaper replied. "I am just buying time. Now, if you try to attack Nugai, Lucas will also get hurt!"

The Manager however didn't care. "Kill them both!" She said. "We'll just tell the Smashers that Nugai sided with you, and killed Lucas."

The Manager's sister held up a ray gun and aimed it directly at me. However before she could pull the trigger, The Reaper had beheaded her with his scythe. I stared in shock. It took the Manager several seconds to figure out what just happened, and then she began to scream. I looked at the Reaper, even though he was covered in a cloak, I could tell that he had no hesitation.

The Reaper picked up the Manager's sister's head and held it by the long hair. "Now, then Manager, how quickly are you going to join your sister?" The Reaper asked.

The Manager just suddenly collapsed to her knees and began to cry. Lucas also began to stir.

Now you wake up... Damn it.

Lucas slowly woke up. He was rather shocked to see me against the wall, and in rather bad condition.

"Lucas, you're conscious, I'm glad. I'm going to have to personally thank you for everything. This attack was only possible after you had given me all of the information. I didn't think you were the kind of person!" The Reaper laughed.

The Manager was crying, her eyes still transfixed on her sister's beheaded corpse.

"You sold out everyone in the Smashers just so your brother and mother could be brought back to life." He said. Lucas buried his head into his arms in shame. He couldn't bear to look at me. "There's no use hiding Lucas, I told you that in order to bring them back, two people have to die."

How was I supposed to react to this? The Reaper killed the assistant manager, just so he could revive Lucas' mother and brother. This didn't sound too believable.

"Lucas, we need to get out of here." I said. "Can you help me up?"

Lucas glanced at me. He was shaking. His eyes were running, and snot was falling down his nose. There was suddenly a bright white light, I felt some pain go away, and I could suddenly move. Slowly I got back up. "Can you walk, Lucas?" I asked.

He nodded, and also got up. However, I had difficulty walking away, during all of this, when I tripped, I must have sprained my ankle. Immediately, Lucas supported me, and we walked away. Lucas looked down at the ground in shame; he brought up the sleeve of his t-shirt and quickly wiped his face. "I'm sorry, Nugai." He apologized.

"Don't apologize until we're back with all of the Smashers." I said. Lucas just continued to tear up. "Your safe and that's all that matters."

"But the assistant manager..."

"Don't worry about her." I said. "They wanted to use you Smashers as experiments."

He continued to support me. I could hear the sounds of battle resuming. "Listen, Lucas, there is a room in the HQ that is 500 meters underground. The Smashers have evacuated to there. Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah." Lucas said.

"Let's go there. Everyone's waiting." A faint smile crossed his face. All we could do now was walk forwards.

A metal gate suddenly fell down, blocking our way. We looked at the gate in shock. I was about to use my beam sword to cut through it, however, The Reaper appeared and grabbed my hand. "Don't." He said. "Each of these security gates are flowing with enough electricity to kill you." Lucas was in shock; he tried to walk away from the Reaper.

"What are you doing here, aren't you trying to kill the Manager?"

"She got away." The Reaper said. "She used a smoke ball, and fled into these hallways. It's just a giant maze down here, and now she is planning on leading us somewhere."

The Reaper began to walk forwards, following the hallways that weren't blocked by security gates. Against our better judgment we followed. As soon as we stepped into the hall way the security gate fell down and locked. "This could be a trap."

"It could be, and it probably is." The Reaper replied. "Let's spring it."

We followed. Lucas was shaking, and his stomach began to growl. I wished I had kept something to munch on for the day, at least then, I could have given him something to eat right now. Although, if I did, it probably would have been crushed into billions of little crumbs by now.

Eventually, the hallways led to a room. Waiting just inside the doors was the manager. We all stepped in.

"Welcome to your funerals!" She laughed.

I realized where we were. We were in the item room. The manager just laughed, having grabbed several motion sensor bombs and bob-ombs. "I'll blow all of you to hell!" She said gritting her teeth. "I'll fucking kill all of you!"

The Reaper just ran for the Manager. I quickly grabbed Lucas and we ran away. I heard a deafening explosion, and felt a shockwave against my back, but we continued to run. Both of us were gasping for air when we finally decided to look back.

"Nugai..." Lucas nervously said.

I didn't know how to respond. All that had just happened. Suddenly there was a scythe around my neck, ready to cut it off at a moment's notice. "You survived!" I said shocked.

"Now Lucas, I've got one person for the sacrifice." The Reaper said. "Your mother or your brother, or do you want both."

Lucas just looked at The Reaper terrified. Once again, he wet himself. I couldn't blame him, I was positive that if my bladder was full I would have wet myself. "Choose Lucas, Claus, or Hinawa? Or you could have them both. Just say the word, and then you can all live safely at the Nowhere Islands."

"What about the Manager, didn't you kill her all ready?" Lucas asked.

"She decided to die rather than be killed. I don't have anything to sacrifice for a revival." The Reaper said. "Not even a single speck of her survived."

Lucas actually surprised me. He attacked the Reaper head on with a psychic blast. This forced both the scythe away from my neck and him back. For a moment, Lucas looked brave and strong. "I don't want you to revive them, at least not this way! I don't want their lives to be brought back by you killing others!"

It took the Reaper a few seconds to react. He was possibly still in shock that Lucas fought back against him. "Very well then. If that is what you wish."

He began to walk away. "Wait, that's it?"

"I guess," the Reaper said. "I restored your memories, and killed those two. I've done all that I wanted to." He began to walk away again however he suddenly stopped; he turned around and faced us once again. This time, he removed the hood to his cloak. He had short blonde hair, and hazel eyes. "Lucas, based upon what just happened, if the Smashers won't accept you back, I'll tell the guards to let you in. And Nugai, if you wish to join us, you may as well."

"What makes you think that I'll join you?" I asked.

"Because, in two days the Smash HQ will fall. Along with all of the Smashers."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

The Reaper just began to walk away.

I didn't hear if he responded. Perhaps due to exhaustion I blacked out.

When I came to sometime later I was in the hospital wing. Sitting beside my bed was Lucas. He was now wearing some clean clothes, and has some bandages across his face. Dr. Mario walked into the room, and looked down at me. "We really should just have you rent out a permanent bed here," he said. "Although I'm surprised that you made it out against the Reaper in that condition. You only had 50 broken bones."

I just sighed. "Only 50 broken bones?"

"Well, yeah, only 50 bones were broken. There were of course multiple fractures on each bone, and two of your ribs were a fine powdered dust. I forgot to mention all of the internal bleeding and-"

"Okay, I get it." I sighed. "Please tell me when I can leave."

"All right, I'll get the paperwork ready." Dr. Mario walked away.

I looked at Lucas. His hands were on his knees. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"It looks like you've been here for quite a while." I sighed.

Lucas just nodded. "Ever since you came out of surgery."

"Have you talked to any other Smashers?" I wondered.

"I'm afraid." Lucas said. "What will they say?"

"A lot." I said. Here I was, lying down in front of the person who betrayed the Smashers, all for his mother and brother to be revived. "Are you really sure you don't want your mother and brother back?"

"Not like that." Lucas replied. "Now the Manager and the assistant manager are dead, and it's all my fault!"

I was silent. I didn't know what to say. "In this world, there are dark forces that even we don't know about." A voice said. I was suddenly paralyzed with fear. There was something intense about this voice. It was both filled with compassion and power. Lucas was also looking around rather afraid. "Lucas, and you Nugai, please come to the Manager's office to meet us."

Dr. Mario rushed in; he had also heard the voice. "I guess it's time for you to meet them."

"Them?"

"Go, and find out. I've discharged you from the hospital wing." He said.

We began to walk out of the hospital wing. We walked to the elevator, however it was out of order. We both let off a heavy sigh and began to walk up the stairs. Several minutes later we came to the Manager's office. We both paused. "Someone is beyond this door." I said. I tried to use aura, however, I couldn't see past the door. My hand reached for the door. My heart was pounding with both fear and excitement.

I turned the knob and walked in.

The office looked the same, however, floating behind the desk were two giant gloved hands.

It took me a few seconds to actually realize that they were alive and not just giant decorations that the Manager had in her office.

"Welcome, Nugai, and Lucas." one of them said. "I am Master Hand, and this is my brother Crazy Hand."

I paused for a few seconds. "Um... Who's who, I can't tell who's talking."

"I am Master Hand." The hand on the right said, as he waved.

"And I'm Crazy Hand!" The other hand said. His voice was frantic.

"First, I have to apologize for what the Manager did." Master Hand said. "She was hired to manage some public relations, I guess that just failed miserably. She got power hungry and well, you now know the result. I am the real leader of the Smashers."

"I see." I said.

"I'm sure you have plenty of questions." Master Hand said.

"Yes." I said. "However, I don't think now is the time for them. We have to get out of the Smash HQ right now!"

If the two hands could some how see, I think they were looking at me rather puzzled.

"Yes, that's right!" Lucas said. "The Reaper said that there will be an attack in two days! We will all be killed."

Master Hand suddenly seemed hesitant. "I see. Well, I'll tell everyone that we're getting out of the Smash HQ before anyone attacks. Nugai, Lucas. Tomorrow will be the last day in the Smash HQ. We will move to the Smash Mansion, which is hidden. We leave tomorrow evening. When we get to the Smash Mansion, I'll answer any questions you have Nugai. Also, I've returned the stuff that the Manager stole from your room."

"Thank you." I said.

We were dismissed. We both went down to the cafeteria for something to eat. Ness had come over to Lucas, and asked if he was okay.

We ate. A few other Smashers came over patting Lucas' back and voicing their concerns. Lucas just seemed to be really happy to be back.

When I was done, I walked away. Mewtwo seemed to be the only one who noticed me going away. "Where are you going?" He asked, as he teleported by my side.

"Up to my room." I said. "I need to sleep."

Mewtwo just nodded. "Very well then." He said. "I guess you don't have to worry about the Manager trying to kill you in your sleep any more."

"Right." I said.

Mewtwo just watched as I walked away. I didn't feel like taking the stairs, so I went in the elevator. I just leaned against the back wall, and I broke down. I began to cry, I was afraid.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?

The elevator door opened and I walked out, dragging my feet, nearly tripping and falling several times.

I just wanted to disappear.

I got to my door and opened it. I locked the door. I fell back and slid down, until I was sitting on the floor. I punched the wall several times, doing more damage to my hand then to the wall.

I got back up and then went over to my dresser. Everything was back in my possession. Even the Wii.

I put the disk of Super Smash Bros Brawl in the Wii, picked up a remote, and went over to the window to start the game.

Or at least I would have started the game if there wasn't a stupid system update.

"System update. Damn it!" I clicked okay. However by the time it was done with the update, I didn't care anymore. I just collapsed on the bed.

"Well, Toon Link, I guess I now have an adventure to tell you." I chuckled. Soon after, I fell asleep.

The Manager is dead. The Reaper has a plan for Nugai, and threats are lurking around the corner.