Day 15: Regret

I woke up rather early. I don't know what it was or why. I got up and looked around the room. The Wii was glowing with a blue light. I quickly turned it on. I then went over to check for any new messages. There was one. I clicked it.

"You've been in here for 15 days. Are you afraid yet? Your memories should be slowly coming back by now. If you want to join us, come out to the park. I'll send some people to pick you up." I just deleted the message.

Like hell I'd join you… Wait, did you type all that out with the pointer controls and the onscreen keyboard? Good grief, don't you have better things to do with your time?

The room around be began to get blurry. And my head began to spin. I could tell that several of my memories had returned, not that it was anything important. I remembered my first dog's name, along with several other pet names. Nothing too relevant or special. I got up and looked down at the bed, I didn't feel like going back to sleep. I wondered if any other Smashers were up right now.

I doubt it.

I got out of my room and walked through the Smash HQ, taking in a few sights. This would be my last chance to really enjoy the Smash HQ.

I went into the Cafeteria, and looked around. There was no one else there. It looked like I was the only one up. I went to get some food, however there wasn't any workers making anything. There were only some fruits out. I grabbed a few apples and went to sit down.

When I was done the apples I looked up at a giant clock. It was still only 5:30 AM. I doubted that anyone would even be up.

A vague memory seemed to return to me. During the past few months I had been up late 'studying', in reality I had actually been waiting for the Smash Dojo to update at 2, (or was it 3?) in the morning. Boy, was my sleep schedule ever screwed up royally. The amount of caffeine I got from tea and ice cappuccino's to keep up, the afternoon powernaps that I had when I got home (and the few times in class), probably also did quite a bit of damage to my body.

How much longer until useful memories actually return?

I got up. I didn't know what to do or where to go.

For whatever reason I returned to my room. I looked at the games that I had. My hands went over each of the cases, and then automatically stopped on one. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Some more memories seemed to flow back into my head, these ones seemed much more relevant to my current situation.

"So, what are you buying?" I could hear the Reaper's voice in my head.

Boy that was creepy...

"Well, the system for starters."

"Don't be a smart ass." The Reaper snapped. "I meant the games, and you knew it."

I laughed. "Well, Zelda, Excite Truck, and Trauma Center. And with Wii Sports bundled in I should be set for the next few months! Although Elebits comes out next month, and WarioWare Smooth Moves some time after that. And then I'm sure Super Paper Mario some time in the new year."

"Freak man, can I borrow some money?" He laughed. "I need to go through college soon."

"No. You have a job, don't you?"

"I'm saving up for college."

"So am I!"

"Then why are you spending so much!"

"Well I've got everything planned out." I said. "Besides, I'm staying here in town, I don't need to spend money on food, or residence."

"You know, being in residence might do you some good. It might help you break out of your shell."

I came back to reality, letting off a heavy sigh. Well thankfully that one was a little bit more relevant to my current situation.

I decided to play a game. Eventually deciding on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, perhaps hoping that it could trigger more memories. The first file was 100% completed. All of the heart containers were there. The name on the file was "Link".

I stared a new game, using the name Nugai. After two hours of playing, most of them being frustrated at the stupid fishing controls, and only getting a fish after putting down the remote so it didn't move, I gave up. Well, at least now I really knew who Colin was.

There was suddenly a knocking at the door. Quickly I turned off the Wii and the TV. I then opened the door. Standing there was Lucas. "Hello Nugai." He said.

"Hey."

"I was wondering if you were up." Lucas said.

"Yeah." I said.

"Want to go get food now?" Lucas asked. "There is something I want to talk to you about."

"Sure." I said.

We walked down to the cafeteria. It was much more lively this time around. Although I seemed to notice quite a few glares from some of the Smashers. I got some more food, and sat down. Just as some Smashers were getting ready to leave, Master Hand appeared in the room.

"Hello!" He said. Everyone didn't really move a muscle, I guess they all knew about a giant talking hand. There were a few responses, also saying hello or good morning. A few seconds later Master Hand began to talk again. "Well, Smashers, tonight, we will be moving out of the Smash HQ and into the Smash Mansion. Please get everything you're taking with you in your room, and I'll take care of the rest. Please be ready to depart at the hanger tonight at 6 PM, sharp!"

And as sudden as Master Hand appeared, he disappeared. Some of the Smashers got up and walked out to do their own thing. "So, you wanted to talk to me about something?" I asked.

Lucas nodded. "Yes. It's about the Reaper." He said in between bites.

"What happened while you were kidnapped?" I asked.

"Nothing really, they all treated me with respect, since I was the Reaper's guest." Lucas said. "It was only when I tried to escape that they attacked me." I nodded. "I'm a bit afraid of everyone now. What will they think if they knew I sold them all out to the Reaper?"

"I don't think anything." I said. "For your own safety, keep it to yourself, don't worry about anything. Okay?"

Lucas nodded. "They're probably all preoccupied with thoughts on the Manager and her sister's death though."

"Yeah." I said.

Besides, I had a feeling that the blame for the attack might be going to me. I had a motive to work together with the Reaper to kill the Manager and her sister. He helped me in the past. Ah well, 20 more days and it wouldn't matter. I could endure any hate for that long.

There was a jolt of pain going through my head.

"You'll just ruin our project." A voice said. I didn't recognize it.

"Who would want to be in a group with you?"

"No one likes you."

"Boo!"

None of those voices were familiar. All I heard was insults and ridicule.

I must have gone white. "Are you okay?" Lucas asked.

I looked around the cafeteria, trying to get back to reality for a few seconds. "Yeah, I think so."

"You don't look so good." Lucas said. "Maybe it was something you ate."

"Yeah maybe." I said. "I think I might need some fresh air."

"Maybe you should go to Dr. Mario." Lucas suggested.

I walked out of the cafeteria. I didn't exactly want to go to Dr. Mario. I figured that I should go back to the old man playing chess in the park, and tell him about what's going on.

On my way I bumped into Snake. Literally. "I'm sorry." I apologized.

"No, I was the one at fault." Snake replied. "Sorry, my mind has been in other places recently. Be careful Nugai."

"Thanks." I said, thinking nothing of it. I walked out of the Smash HQ and looked around at the city. I inhaled, but began to cough. There was so much smog and pollution. Living here probably wasn't a good thing. No one seemed to notice that I was a Smasher and was out and about into the city.

I really didn't understand, eventually just assuming that they were used to the Smashers walking around the city. I looked in the windows of several shops. Eventually, I made it to the park.

I approached the old man who was playing chess once again. "I'm surprised you came out."

"I wanted to talk to you again."

"And you're unguarded. You're quite gutsy." How did he know that? He suddenly began to rearrange the chess pieces so that only the white king remained in an open area. All of the black pieces suddenly surrounded the white king. "You're quite vulnerable right now."

"They are recovering from the attack from the Reaper. The manager and her sister had been killed." I explained.

"Why are you telling me this?" He inquired.

"I figured you would want to know."

He just sighed. "No, not particularly. I don't care for the well being of the Smashers. But what I do care about is your restored memories."

"How did you-"

"Please, let's talk over a game." He quickly began to rearrange the pieces.

Once again we began to play a game of chess.

We talked a bit about my restored memories. He seemed interested in the few memories that I had gotten back. Specifically, the one that I had just gotten back this morning.

"So, it sounds like you faced a bit of hardship." He said.

"Yeah."

"Kids can be so cruel, don't you think?" Tabuu said.

I just nodded.

"You've gotten much better." Tabuu noted. "I guess in your memories you played chess."

"Yeah." I replied. "The Reaper taught me how to play. He was really pissed off the first time I beat him." I suddenly stopped and realized what I just said. More of my memories had returned with out me realizing it.

"So, the Reaper taught you how to play chess. In that case, you will probably be the best sort of person to fight against him. You will know him the best."

I just sat there. We continued our game, and Tabuu still managed to beat me.

"Let's play another game." Tabuu suggested.

I nodded.

"This time however I want you to close your eyes and use aura to see the board."

I did so and used my aura on the board. Everything was weird. I looked at Tabuu, but all I could see was a vast emptiness. I didn't know what to say or do. So, I just continued playing chess against him. Whenever it was his turn, I tried to look into him with Aura, but I constantly just saw a void of darkness with no end in sight.

This only made me question who Tabuu was.

He seemed to notice that I was constantly looking into him, and took great amusement in to it. "You're turn." He would constantly remind me. I would quickly make my move and return to trying to pierce whatever darkness there was.

"Your aura is amateurish." He eventually said. I just flinched. "Besides, I don't think you want to know who I really am. If you knew who I really was, you would wonder why I'm helping you. Now, you're going to lose in a few turns. Tell me, how would the Reaper react in this situation?"

I looked at the board. I could see it, within a few moves, no matter what I did, I would be defeated. "He would go all out." I replied. "He would take as many pieces as he could with him."

Tabuu nodded. "Good. But, can you last 5 turns in this situation?"

I looked at the board once again. It was possible, to have my King survive for five turns, but that would mean, I would have to sacrifice every single piece.

"I can, but the pieces would all be taken out of the game."

"Tell me, would you sacrifice the Smasher's lives for your own?" Tabuu wondered.

"No." I said.

"Let's start a new game." Tabuu said.

He rearranged the pieces once again. And we played another game.

"You seem to know a lot." I said, "Is there a way to disconnect the two worlds, so that more people like me aren't dragged here?"

"You ask a dangerous question." He laughed. "Those that rule this world, that council, believes that this is the only way for the world to remain prosperous. We feed off of the thoughts of your world. If your world were to stop making videogames, our world would step into decline. The same thing would happen if you seal the entrance. Everyone would be forced to continue doing what they have been doing in an endless loop, ignorant that this world drifts slowly to destruction."

"There has to be a way around that!" I shouted. "A way to seal it so that people can't be sucked in, yet at the same time, make sure that this world doesn't fall apart."

"There may be. But no one has found it yet. Or, if someone has found it, the sacrifice required was too great."

Wait what?

"How did this start?" I asked. I honestly wasn't expecting an answer. But if I knew, perhaps I could find a solution.

"It started with a fool, who played as god." There was something in his voice, a sort of familiarity; he knew what he was talking about. "He wanted to create a prosperous world. But, he lost sight of his goal and everything went wrong. He went insane. He believed that everyone in the world was his enemy, and he was banished to a different dimension, when he returned people fought against him. He tried to rip up the world."

I'm sure his tale made sense in context, but a lot of it was just gibberish to me.

"What do you mean by rip up the world?" I asked.

He ripped apart the world and built it into his own." the old man replied. "The aftermath upon this world was too great, and it would eventually be destroyed. In order to make sure that it wasn't destroyed, we opened up our world to your world to form a link."

He pulled out a gold pocket watch, in it was a strange symbol, a circle with a line going through the centre of the circle, however it only seemed to go halfway before stopping. "Our worlds were then chained together. Not physically, but you get the idea. In order to make sure that our world prospered, we allowed a select few people to know of our existence. And their thoughts would rebuild our torn world."

"I see."

"However it had the side effect of sucking people into this world."

"So where is an exit?" I asked. "Where were the worlds originally linked?"

The old man just laughed. "Even if you knew, I doubt you would be able to get there."

"Try me. I made it in here, I can make it out."

"So, what exactly do you think you are?" He questioned. "Some kind of world traveler?"

"Maybe." I replied. "After all, I did jump between worlds."

"Normally I hate people like you. Those that can go between worlds with little consequence. But you are different."

"I lost my memories so you have pity over me?" I questioned.

"Perhaps. You suffered a consequence." He calmly replied.

"I wonder, if I return to my world, will I retain my memories of this place?"

"Perhaps. Or you may lose them again."

"It might be better that way." I calmly said. "I doubt that anyone would believe me if I told them that I was sucked into a videogame. That sort of stuff gets you thrown into the asylums."

He laughed.

"Ah well, I know there is at least one place that I can tell my story with out raising any eyebrows." I calmly said. "Although, I know no one will believe me there. It will just appear to be as fictional as anything else on the website. In fact, stories like this are posted all the time about how someone is sucked into their favourite game."

"Think any of them are true? Did you read any of them?"

"No, and not really. I tried to read a few, but they were abandoned or went on for far too long." I sighed. "In hindsight, I should have really read a completed one, and seen how they got out of this world. But, my guess would be once they finished the plot of the game. Unfortunately, I know that my adventure so far has had little resemblance to the plot of the game I was sucked into."

He let off a small laugh. Suddenly he looked down at the board. "We're surrounded." He muttered. "By others from your world." I didn't know what to do, I began to glance around. "Don't draw attention that you know that they are there, they will attack. Let's just continue to play this game. If they approach us I will take care of them."

"Understood." I said. I just played the game of chess.

"All right then, listen, have you ever heard of Akashic Points?"

"No." I replied.

"Okay, they are points in this world and yours where strange things happen. It's believed that people can crossover. There is also another important thing about these points. They hold something called an Akashic Record. If there is ever a point where you can find out anything about everything that has ever happened, it's there."

"So, all I have to do is go there?" I asked.

"Perhaps, but I don't know where any Akashic points are located." Tabuu replied. "Actually, wait, that's not true."

"Where is it?" I asked, perhaps a bit too loudly.

"The centre of the Universe." He calmly replied.

I on the other hand just stared blankly at him. "What?" the words somehow managed to escape my mouth.

"In a small town, there is a train station," Tabuu quickly began to explain. "It has been established that it is in fact the centre of the universe."

"How does that even work?" I questioned. "Does the entire universe somehow rotate around this single train station?"

"Don't ask me." Tabuu replied. "It's the magic of an Akashic Point. Okay. Listen, it is located in a town known as Smashville."

I sighed. I figured by now it had become painfully obvious that we weren't actually playing a game of chess and were fully aware of the four people watching over us.

They approached us. "Don't try to resist, you aren't a match for any of us!" They laughed.

Tabuu just grabbed all sixteen pawns. "You are nothing more than a pawn. I don't see why I can't be able to beat you."

The four of them glared at Tabuu. He fired four pawns at each of them. All of the pawns hit their targets. Now they were just nothing more than four people lying on the ground, unconscious.

Someone else began to clap. "Congratulations."

He was cloaked in a black cloak, while on his chest there was a red circle with four lines through it, dividing it into eight sections. Tabuu's expression suddenly switched to that of a serious one.

"Nugai, get back!" Tabuu ordered.

"That's not my name..." I muttered. I don't know why, but everything suddenly felt dangerous, that within a single moment I could be killed. "Wait, is he The Reaper?"

The person just began to laugh! "Hahahaha! I'm not some weakling like that guy! Now please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Maou."

I had to wonder, if The Reaper was there, would he of attacked Maou.

"And what do you want?" Tabuu asked.

"I just wanted to see Nugai." Maou casually replied.

"That isn't my name." I groaned annoyed.

"It doesn't mater. Anyways, you may not believe me, but I come from the future." Maou said.

"I don't believe you." I quickly replied.

"I knew you wouldn't. Such a claim is hard to believe. But I'm from a future that has been screwed up by you!"

Ah crap...

"Don't listen to him!" Tabuu snapped. "His words are poison."

"So, I'm going to kill you!" Maou said. "No hard feelings."

"Wait, what?"

There was a sudden energy ball that rushed towards me, however in front of me appeared a giant robot that blocked the attack. "Why did you call me out Tabuu?" The robot asked.

"Galleom, we have a pest to take care of." Tabuu replied. He snapped his fingers and another robot appeared. This one seemed to be two robots fused together in one. "Duon, let's kill him!"

Maou however just began to laugh. "Please, Tabuu, you don't stand a chance against me! You didn't in the future. What makes you think you even stand a chance now!"

A sphere of darkness appeared in Tabuu's hand. He lifted it up and it suddenly expanded. There was also a weak wave of energy that pushed me back, and left me lying on the ground. When I looked up there was a giant purple sphere of darkness. However as soon as it appeared it disappeared. Something suddenly came back to me.

In this world... trophies fight. Fighting is the sole reason for their existence. These are the rules of this world. However when someone or something breaks those rules, the world will pay a terrible price.

I didn't know what that memory meant. And I didn't really have any time to think it over; all four of those people who tried to attack me had regained their composure, and had now surrounded me. "Are you going to come with us or die?" One asked.

"I'll take a third option." I said. "I'll kick your asses, and live."

They threw several punches, however, I could see all of them coming towards me in slow motion. I just effortlessly dodged all of their punches, even the ones that were aimed at the back of my head. I quickly pulled out the beam sword and slashed one of them, surprisingly, it didn't cut through him, but it still hurt him as though he had been struck by a blunt object. I quickly jumped into the air, using Aura to send me even higher.

"Is he really from the same world as us?" One asked.

"That's what the boss said." Another replied.

"Why would he learn this world's abilities?"

"It doesn't matter, he's soft, if he was serious, we would all be dead by now. The boss won't find out if we kill him, we will just tell him that he fought back and we couldn't take him peacefully."

Part of me was telling me to run back to the Smash HQ. That they wouldn't be able to follow me there, and that the Smashers would help fight them off.

"Are you crazy, the boss knows everything." Another said. "He even knows that they plan on escaping tonight and moved the planned attack to then."

I was in shock How did the Reaper know that?

I held out my beam sword. "Come!"

All four of them rushed towards me.

I wasn't sure what it was. Was it because I was angry, or was it because I was determined to get back to the Smash HQ and warn everyone? Whatever the reason was, I put up a shield to block their attacks, however it was much bigger, and actually pushed them away. I was slightly shocked that I had done that, but quickly regained my composure. I didn't know if they had more people out there, and if our fight would have gotten their attention. It would be better for me to end this quickly. All of them got back up, and I put my aura over my beam sword. They all rushed towards me, and I sprang towards them. By putting some aura into my feet, I was able to run much faster. I swung my beam sword and cut through all four of them.

It took me a few seconds to realize what I just did. I turned around and they were screaming in pain, on the ground.

I stared absolutely horrified, shaken. I killed them with out a second thought.

What the hell?

There was a sudden clapping through the air. "Good job Nugai." I felt a chill go down my spine. Walking towards me was The Reaper. "I knew you had it in you."

"No!" I shouted back. "I only did it in self defense!"

"Excuses." The Reaper said. "How much of your memories have returned?" I backed away from him. "Not a lot I see."

The four of them began to scream in pain. Their bodies suddenly began to disintegrate. "Help us!" They pleaded.

However the Reaper just remained indifferent. Their screams went through the park, until eventually they had fully disintegrated.

"What happened?" I asked.

"They died." The Reaper replied, completely indifferent. "Tabuu was right, they were just pawns. Pawns sent to die by your hand."

"They were just like us, from our world!" I said.

"Yes, indeed." The Reaper said. "However, they weren't equals like us. Join me, Nugai, and we can return to our world."

"No." I said.

The Reaper chuckled. "I see. Will you oppose me, and Project Fantasia?"

"Yes!" I replied.

Wait, Project Fantasia, what's that? It sounds familiar... He said something about Fantasia yesterday to the Manager.

"I guess it's too late for you then. I can't believe that you would turn your back on our dream." The Reaper sighed. "Well, the next time we meet, I will be ready to kill you with out any hesitation. Your memories better come back soon. If they do, you better find me if you want to live."

The Reaper disappeared. I quickly ran for the Smash HQ. They had to know that the Reaper all ready knew about us leaving early, and planned on attacking. But then, how would I say that with out acting suspicious? Would the Smashers still trust me, or would they think that I'm a mole.

Much to my surprise Snake was out there to greet me. "You're coming with me kid." He said.

"Snake, I need to talk to Master Hand."

"He all ready knows." Snake said.

"What? How?"

"I put a bug on you when we bumped in earlier. We heard the majority of what happened."

"The majority?"

"The bug was destroyed, we were beginning to fear the worst and I was going to go out and look for your remains." Snake said.

"What was the last thing you heard?"

"About how the Reaper knew about our plans to escape and was planning on attacking tonight." Snake said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I didn't have to bother with explaining how I knew that. But I wondered how the bug was destroyed. "Going by the power surge, you let off a large amount of aura didn't you?" Snake asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Bloody kid, you almost blasted out my ears." Snake said.

"I'm sorry." I apologized.

"Well, all that matters now is that you're safe." Snake said. "Let's go in."

We went into the Smash HQ. Everyone was quickly running around. "There have been a change in plans, we're going now."

"Now?" I said.

"Yeah, Master Hand believed that this was the best course of action to take." Snake continued. "So, is everything you need in your room?"

"Yeah." I replied.

However I suddenly remembered about Chocolate. "Wait, where's my cat?"

"Snake just seemed to cringe in pain. "Is it black?"

"Yes."

"It's in my cardboard box." Snake said. "It wouldn't let me get it. And that cat is vicious!"

I just let off a small chuckle. Despite being declawed, Chocolate was still able to leave some pretty nasty scratches. "I've had some pretty nasty cuts from Chocolate before." I said. "A word of advice, don't close the box and try to move it."

Snake nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

I went into the cafeteria. Ness, Lucas, Toon Link, Popo, and Nana were all sitting at a table. I walked over and sat down with them. "Nugai, are you okay?"

"Yeah." I said. "I just had a four people try to kill me. The scare of my life. Someone telling me I would destroy the future. So, nothing new since I came here."

They let out some nervous laughter. We began to talk. Eventually we were called by Captain Falcon. "All right kids, and lazy asses!" I looked around the room, also sitting in the cafeteria was Pit, Bowser, Ganondorf, Wario, and King Dedede. "It's time to go. Say good by to this place."

We all got up and walked out of the cafeteria. Everyone seemed a little depressed. I glanced around. After everyone was out, the lights turned off. We went to an elevator and began to go down. I figured we were going to that room that was 500 meters underneath the ground. Eventually the elevator stopped, and the doors opened.

We were suddenly in a giant hanger. In front of us was a giant ship. I just stared in awe. "This is the Pleiades." Fox said walking towards us. "Everyone else is inside all ready."

"If we're attacked, will this protect us?" I asked.

"We will find out."

I didn't like Fox's tone of voice. We got into the Pleiades. It was much bigger than it looked on the outside. We all sat down and remained quiet. It was tense. There was a brief head count, and after determining that everyone was here the engines started up. I didn't know what to do. I just closed my eyes and hoped that this would be over soon.

I was consumed by darkness. "They have abandoned the Smash HQ earlier than anticipated." A voice said.

"No, I predicted this would happen." The Reaper replied. His voice was coming from my body, or rather, I was in his body. "Shoot down the ship as it is escaping! Capture him alive."

I awoke with a start. I jumped out of my seat, everyone looked at me like I was crazy. "He knows we're escaping by ship!" I said. "He's going to shoot us down the moment we are seen."

They all looked at me like I was crazy. "What?" Ness said flatly.

"I just had a dream, The Reaper ordered for the ship to be shot down as it's escaping."

"It's just a dream, right?" Lucas questioned.

"Dreams are mysterious things." Mewtwo said. "I fear that Nugai may be right."

"Don't worry." Master Hand said, floating towards us. "I've got everything planned out. There are five Pleiades planning on launching at the same time."

The Pleiades suddenly started moving. I felt myself being forced back into the seat. I looked out the window as we emerged from what appeared to be a cliff side. Below us was an ocean. The Pleiades began to go higher, and I could see the city. Flying above the city was four other copies of the ship. Each one of them was having lasers being fired at them. It took me several seconds to wonder why our ship wasn't having lasers being fired.

I looked out however couldn't see any wings of any other features from the ship. It then hit me, we were cloaked. I closed my eyes, however we were suddenly hit by something. The entire ship began to shake. Everyone began to panic.

Damn it! How did they know we were cloaked!

"The cloaking isn't perfect." Roy pounded his fist. "It acts as a mirror, and reflects the surroundings!"

Snake gritted his teeth. "We can't be shot down. There has to be something this ship has."

"There is." Fox said. "We've been modifying this ship so that it has reflector shields much like our own. However the problem is, if we activate those shields, they will drain all of the power from the ship and leave us defenseless."

Snake glanced at Lucas, and Ness. "Get those kids generating electricity with the two mice!" He barked.

"What?" Everyone said.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Snake said. "If we want to live, we have to do this!"

Ness and Lucas quickly got up. Pikachu and Pichu also followed. Ness however stopped them. "I can do this myself." Ness said. Everyone just looked at him shocked.

"You're going to need all the energy you can get." Snake said.

"I'll use all the energy that they throw at us." Ness said.

Ness disappeared, and soon there was a strange barrier around us. "Is this PSI Magnet?" I asked.

"Yeah." Lucas replied. "It feels like it, but I didn't know Ness could do something like this."

"The kid can do amazing things." Snake said. "He constantly has to have his powers repressed, otherwise he would alter reality with out knowing it. This is only a small taste of what he can do."

"How do you know that Snake?" Dr. Mario wondered.

"If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the results of 100 battles." Snake replied. "I researched everyone for when I would get to fight you."

The ship began to shake once again. We looked out of the window and the PSI Magnet had vanished. "What happened?" I asked.

"They switched from energy weapons to something else." Falco shouted frustrated. "Damn it! Get us out of here!"

"I'm trying!" Fox shouted back.

The Pleiades was buffeted by more attacks. Each one shook the ship. Smoke began to enter into the ship. All of the Smashers began to cough.

This is bad.

Everyone was panicking.

"Everyone get ready for a quick warp and then an emergency ejection!" Fox shouted. "Meet up at the Smash Mansion!"

The ship began to fly away; the city underneath us had vanished. Now it was just forests and more forest. Suddenly the ship was out of control. The seats suddenly began to eject. The seat went down into the ground and then was covered by a bubble, and was then shot out of the Pleiades. Several moments later the Pleiades exploded. I hoped that everyone got out safely.

In the bubble, it felt like I was floating in air. The bubble shot towards a forest and impacted in it. Somehow I didn't feel any shock. After several minutes the bubble popped and I stepped out of it.

I was now alone; I didn't know where any of the other Smashers had gone. I was alone in the woods. What could I do?

My cell phone began to ring. Quickly I answered it, perhaps hoping that it was another Smasher. The thought of normally not even being capable of getting service in the woods never even occurred to me. "Hello?" I said. Perhaps it was a bad idea, as on the other end was The Reaper.

"I knew you would survive." The Reaper said. "Now continue surviving!"

"Wait!" I said. "How did you know that I survived?"

"There is a mole in the Smashers." The Reaper replied. "You ought to watch your back."

"You're lying!" I said, trying to remain calm. "You're lying. I don't believe you."

"Believe what you want to believe. And just as word of warning, it gets quite cold during the night." The Reaper replied, before hanging up.

I looked around. I was in the middle of nowhere, and I didn't know what to do. I looked at the seat, and then noticed that there was a strange container underneath it. I reached for it and opened it up. Inside were some basic survival tools. A small knife, some matches, some nuts and dried raisins, a blanket, a poncho, and some stuff for first aid. I put the blanket over my shoulders and covered myself with the poncho. Almost immediately the poncho seemed to make me blend in with the environment. I looked at it; I figured it must have been made out of some special material.

I closed my eyes, and used aura to try and find any other Smashers that had fallen. However I couldn't see any humans. I realized that my ability to perceive was also extremely limited. I wouldn't be able to do giant distances. I focused for several minutes; I learned that the radius I could perceive was about 20 meters. However, if I focused on just one direction that distance could be raised to about 30 meters. I'm sure it could help a bit.

I also learned that the poncho suppressed aura, so that if the other Smashers had used it I wouldn't be able to find them.

For the time being I gathered the remaining materials and got away from the seat. When I had gotten 20 meters from the seat I suddenly heard a noise I turned around and saw that the seat was collapsing upon itself. It then vanished. The only trace that something used to be there was branches that had been broken. I quickly collected several of the branches and began to run.

Eventually I found a cave to hide in. I went in, however a moment later I paused. I closed my eyes, and saw inside was a bear.

Crap

I backed out of the cave. However it was able to sense me and followed. Quickly I pulled out the beam sword, and got ready for the kill, if it was necessary. However the bear didn't pursue further. I decided to walk further, until I found another cave. This time I looked in using aura and saw nothing inside. I looked out, it was beginning to get dark and I was beginning to get cold. I just started a fire deep in the cave, I also made sure that no light would give away my location.

I warmed myself and began to think about how I was going to reunite with the Smashers.

When the fire died down I fell asleep.

To be continued...

Achievement unlocked: fourth wall breaking joke about posting a story where the shameless self insert character will write about their adventures on this website.