Day 18: Fear

When I woke up, the rain had stopped. My stomach growled, and I probably smelled like BO. I couldn't wait to get to the Smash Mansion and have a nice shower.

I looked outside and began to walk. With any luck, I would be at the Smash Mansion by the end of the day.

Of course that was the attitude that I had when I started yesterday.

It would only be a matter of time before it was crushed once again.

I traveled for what seemed like hours. There was a few times where the arrow suddenly changed direction. The first I was a bit hesitant in following it, but I did. It directed me to a small cave. I went inside. Several seconds later I could hear soldiers crossing through the forest.

I was actually afraid. I couldn't make out how many there were, but if I had to guess, it would have probably been about thirty. If there was a confrontation, I would have probably died. It looked like the jewel was protecting me.

"The dogs smell something."

I froze, knowing that the something was me.

Shit, shit, shit!

"Release them, let's see where they go. Maybe they will liven up the mood."

I put my hand on my beam sword, ready to activate it at a moment's notice. Much to my surprise, they didn't find me.

"Oh, it looks like they found a family. Take the children away, let's have some fun with the woman."

There was screaming. The children didn't want to be separated from their mother, and the mother was trying to fight off her attackers. I stood there in the cave terrified. This was happening right in front of me. I couldn't stand for it. Almost instantly, my body began to move by itself.

Curse you chronic hero syndrome

I activated the beam sword and jumped out of the cave. I then turned and confronted them. "Don't hurt her!" I said, trying to summon forth the strongest voice I could. There were 25 soldiers. All of them had their hands on their weapons, ready to attack. "Oh, you and what army?" They taunted.

Damn you chronic hero syndrome.

"I don't need an army to beat you." I replied. "I just see some sad and pathetic men in front of me. Come!"

They pointed their guns at me and began to open fire; automatically I activated a barrier in front of me. Somehow, it was able to stop every bullet. They stared in shock. "A Smasher, this is our lucky day!"

"They want the Smashers alive!"

"If we bring him in, we'll be seen as heroes."

The dogs came rushing for me. In an act of self-defense I cut through them, killing them. I was terrified. I hoped that nothing on my face showed that. They were silent.

I slashed my sword through a nearby tree. It fell towards them, they all scattered. One rushed towards me, I quickly beheaded him. One by one they all attacked me, trying to capture me. Being unable to rely on their guns. I was hoping that in the confusion the woman and children would escape. Unfortunately, one was making sure that the woman and her crying children wouldn't escape.

With twenty four dead bodies around me I faced the last person. He cocked his gun and aimed it at the children.

"How cowardly, taking hostages!"

"Surrender, or they die!" He heartlessly said.

Shit, what should I do?

In my mind I was trying to figure out how to escape from this and save the three of them. I was sure that the soldiers' screaming during their deaths had attracted more of their soldiers. I deactivated my beam sword and began to walk towards him.

"Go-" he was unfortunately cut off. A scythe had cut off his hand and then immediately stabbed him through the chest. Standing right behind him was the Reaper. "How cowardly." He said.

Once again I stood face to face with the Reaper. I reactivated my beam sword. "Get out of here now!" I shouted at them.

They agreed and began to run away. "So, tell me, is it just like old times?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look at the plies of bodies at your feet, are they triggering any memories of the last time we came here?"

I looked down. A sharp pain jolted through my head, and the sight of what I had done made me throw up. "What the hell?" I said.

"We are the same, leaving destruction in our wake."

"It was in self defense!" I replied.

"Excuses." He laughed. "You liked it, didn't you?"

As I had expected some more soldiers came. We were both suddenly surrounded. "The Reaper!" one said. "And another!"

"Kill them both!" A voice said.

Once again I was thrown in battle, bullets flied everywhere, and I cut through several people. From what I was able to catch, there was a reason why the Reaper was feared. No one could even get close to him, except for me. We were both eventually cornered, both of us were back to back.

"I don't have any plans on dying here." He said.

"Neither do I." I replied.

"Good, don't get in my way."

"I was about to say that to you."

The two of us ran for them, and cut through them all. With the battle over we began to laugh, perhaps out of relief.

We were laughing like old friends… which I guess technically we were, but that's beside the point… it took me several seconds to realize that I was standing in a pile of bodies. I faced the Reaper once again.

"So, do you remember anything yet?" He asked.

"No, and I don't want to remember if you're saying I did this in the past!"

"So even knowing that this world is nothing more than a fabrication, you're still going to act like that?"

"Even if it is, it's real enough for me!" I replied. "I didn't want to kill these people."

"You were enjoying yourself." The Reaper calmly said. "Just admit it!"

"I was fighting in self defense!" I retorted back. "I'm here in the middle of a war zone because you attacked the Smash HQ!" I had my beam sword ready. I was ready to fight the Reaper and put an end to this.

"Don't attack me." He sighed. "If you had your memories back you would realize how pointless it would be, you were never able to beat me."

"Well, that's the old me!" I shouted. "I'm sure I'll be able to beat you here and now!"

I ran for the Reaper, however he just jumped into the sky. "I don't want to fight you." He said. "In fact, I want you to join me. After all, we were best friends!"

"People change!" I shouted. "You've changed!"

"No, you have changed." The Reaper replied. "You wouldn't have questioned this slaughter if you were still you."

"I am me!" I shouted. "I know who I am!"

"You know nothing!" The Reaper said. "Where you come from, your family, your friends, the school you went to, your aspirations and dreams, you know nothing about them. Why don't I tell you the first time you brought me to this world!"

"I brought you here?" I questioned. Part of me was telling myself to not believe a single word he said. The other part of me was actually terrified of what he was about to say.

"Yes, you brought me here, you introduced me to this world. You gave me the ability to go through the two worlds at will."

"I gave it to you?" None of this made any sense.

"The game was Gunstar Heroes, for the Sega Genesis. You rented it from Blockbuster Video. It was a weekend, during the school year. Possibly grade 3. You played a bit before I was dropped off to spend the night."

"Enough!" I shouted. "I've heard enough!"

"Why?" The Reaper asked. "Are you afraid that you may just be like me?"

"I only care about the present and the future. What happened in the past has happened, and there is no going back to change it!" I shouted. "I only care about surviving here and going back."

"I can send you back." The Reaper said. "Join me. Of course, you're going to have to work to get sent back."

"No." I shouted back. "If what you're saying is true, I created the monster known as the Reaper, and I can destroy it as well. I will fight to protect this world from your slaughter. Even if it isn't real, it is real enough for me!"

The Reaper stood there. Eventually a smile crossed his face. "I see." He said. "Well then, good luck. You've never been able to beat me before. Little brother. Although, perhaps you should know about the last time we met. We went to different high schools, and stopped talking to each other. November 18, 2006, in the frigid cold we met once again in the line in front of Best Buy. Well then, good-bye, little brother. If you're ever interested in joining me, just bring me each of the Smashers' heads. Even one will suffice, and I will give you the key back to the world you so desperately wanted to escape."

He disappeared. I reminded myself that we weren't related by blood. I wondered what we were like back then. Perhaps we were inseparable at one point. Everything seemed to be going by so fast. I just began to walk away, hoping that the next person who finds the mountain of corpses has a stronger stomach than I did. Or hope that some wild animals found themselves a nice meal.

It took a few minutes for me to realize that once again, I was completely alone in a forest. With no idea of where I was supposed to go. I pulled out the necklace. I was surprised that it hadn't fallen off during the fight. But also relived that I didn't have to go back.

As I walked through the forest, my mind was trying to sort through all the different things that just happened.

Did I really give him this ability? Does he really know the way home?

I punched a nearby tree in frustration. "Damn it."

Off in the distance I saw smoke and fire. Against my better judgment I ran to the source. It was the army camp that the soldiers who attacked us came from. Only now, everyone was dead, and it was on fire. Once again I threw up. I knew the Reaper had to have come here after he left me.

I followed the path that the stone gave me. I began to think about the soldiers who were on patrol duty and were just coming back. Would they have known that the Reaper was there and attacked? Because of that I was extra cautious. I hoped that I wouldn't run into anyone who was mad after the slaughter of their comrades and would shoot on sight.

I came to another camp. This one looking a lot more mobile. There were a bunch of people under a different flag. An X, a Triangle, a Circle, and a Square arranged in a cross like pattern.

I wouldn't have stayed very long; unfortunately I saw an all too familiar face. "So, tell us, where do your loyalties lie Snake?"

Indeed, Solid Snake was there. He was smoking a cigarette, and doing his best to remain calm. The person he was talking to was a man with blond hair that went to his shoulders.

"My loyalties lie with the Smashers, Raiden." Snake replied. "We remain neutral through out this pointless war. We don't want to be apart of it and only fight back to defend ourselves."

"Snake!" Raiden said.

"Sorry, but some of us remember what it was like before this pointless war. We aren't as young as you stupid kids." Snake growled.

Every head in the camp turned to Snake. "Well then Snake, you can't leave here alive." Raiden said.

"Like you rookies can do anything to me." Snake said.

Raiden was the first to react. He threw a punch at Snake, who quickly grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back. Snake then pulled out a concealed knife. "Let me borrow this." Snake said.

"Snake!"

"Sorry, Raiden." Snake said, quickly knocking him unconscious. Several other guards rushed towards Snake. Snake quickly reacted and got the first guard that came close enough to him. He used him as a shield; however, the guards didn't care and opened fire. The guard screamed out in pain, before finally dieing. I reacted before they could attack again. I used my beam sword and cut through their guns. They all stared at me in shock. "What?"

"Knock them out!" Snake said.

I followed through by delivering several aura attacks. They were all quickly knocked unconscious. Snake then quickly fled. I followed. I was so glad that I had actually met up with another Smasher. What were the odds?

"I could have escaped my self." Snake growled.

"I'm sorry, I just thought I should have helped you."

"Whatever Nugai."

"That isn't my name." I sighed. This was getting old fast... "Well, let's just go to the Smash Mansion. We should be safe there."

Snake nodded and the two of us went through the forest.

"I'm rather surprised I met up with you." I said.

Snake just nodded. "Same, I hadn't seen any humans for the past few days, and I was getting worried. Then I saw that camp. They let me in since I used to be with them, before I joined the Smashers."

"I'm just glad I can have an actual conversation." I said, I began to think of something we could actually talk about. "Actually, I think there might be a mole in the Smashers?"

In hindsight, I realized how stupid this was.

"A mole?"

"Yeah, someone is relaying information to the Reaper."

"I know what a mole is!" Snake snapped. "But what makes you say this? It's a rather dangerous thing to say. I hope you have proof for an accusation like that."

"Well, how they knew that we were escaping earlier, or even earlier than our original time." I replied. "Or how they knew we had energy absorbing shields, or anything really."

"Observational skills." Snake replied. "The energy absorbing shield they could just see with their eyes. But how did they know we were leaving early? Perhaps they were just ready for us no matter what time we tried to escape."

"That's always a possibility." I said.

"Anyways, have you told anyone else?" Snake wondered.

"I'd have to meet up with someone else." I sighed.

Snake pulled out the knife and pointed it at me. "If I was the mole, I could have killed you right here and no one would have known the better." Snake said. "If I brought back your body to that camp, they could have disposed of your body in such a way no one would ever be able identify who you are. In the future, be more careful about who you talk to this sort of stuff with. Besides, if I had to bet on someone being the mole, I'd guess it would be you."

"Why me?" I asked.

"You are from the same world as him. The Manager's death. There are plenty of things. But for the time being, I'm going to trust you. Once they regain consciousness, they will come after us. So we better start covering a bunch of ground to try and get away."

I nodded. I looked at the necklace and began to run in the direction it was pointing. I was actually rather surprised at how fast Snake was, then again for a solider; I guess you did have to be in tiptop shape. He began to out run me, but then I added aura into my legs to help increase my speed.

"Oh, you're cheating now." Snake laughed, he hit a button on his watch and suddenly he began to get faster.

"What?" I said, trying to keep up with him.

"This suit helps stimulate muscles." Snake said. "It allows me to use them beyond the natural limits of a normal human."

"Isn't that rather dangerous?" I asked.

"In some extreme cases, your muscles can liquefy." Snake said. "However, I've been trained in such a way that at least this amount is possible. I should be able to keep up with your aura."

We ran for several minutes. Eventually I had become exhausted. I stopped running and Snake just laughed. "You've got quite the endurance."

"You've hardly broken a sweat." I said.

Snake nodded. "I doubt you've eaten. I'll go get us some food. Start a fire if you can."

I walked around and gathered several sticks. I then started a fire. Snake soon came back with some dead snakes. I just looked at them horrified.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Lunch." Snake said.

He took a stick and put it through the snake, and did the same with the other snake. He then put them on the fire to cook. When they were done, Snake handed me a snake on a stick. I looked at it rather disgusted. "It tastes like chicken." Snake reassured me.

"I'm a vegetarian." I lied.

"Well, your loss, if you want some leaves or something else, you've got to pick it."

With great disgust, I prayed that this would be one memory that was erased when I exited this world. "Well, how do you like my five star forest cuisine?"

"I hate your guts." I managed to say. I figured that was a nicest way of saying what I wanted to.

"What have you been eating before hand?" Snake wondered.

"Fish. Some nuts and raisins that was in the survival kit." I said.

"In that case you don't want to see the things that I had to eat during survival training." Snake said. "And here I thought that was going to be the only time I was going to eat a snake."

I just whimpered. I took out the bag of nearly done nuts and raisins and finished that off. After several minutes Snake got back up. He quickly began to climb a tree. My guess was that he was trying to get a vantage point. He was up there for several minutes, eventually he came back down. "I think I saw something off on the horizon where the necklace was pointing." Snake said.

I was so happy. "Yes!" I shouted. "I can finally get out of this stupid forest and see the rest of the Smashers!"

"It's still quite a distance though." Snake said.

"I don't care!" I replied.

"Okay." Snake said. "Can you run again?"

I nodded. And we were off once again. It hadn't even been two minutes of consecutive running before I suddenly stopped. Snake sighed. "Well, I guess that answers that question."

"We at least made some progress."

"Yes, that's true." Snake said.

We walked some more. Suddenly the necklace began to glow. I hadn't seen it do this before. "What now?"

"It glows when other Smashers are nearby." A voice said.

I looked up, walking towards us was Mario. "Welcome back." He said. "Come follow me, I'll lead you to the mansion."

We followed Mario. Walking for ten minutes. At one point I could have sworn I felt something pushing against me, as though to try and keep me out.

Eventaully we got to the Smash Mansion. It was a large white building. Going at least four floors up, and who knows how many down. There was even a detached building. It was bigger than any pictures of any mansion I had ever seen. "You're speechless, aren't you?" Mario asked.

"I've never seen anything like it." I said.

"It's rather excessive." Snake said. "How do you hide something like this in a forest?"

"Ask Master Hand." Mario said. "But, don't expect an answer, he didn't explain it to us."

Snake sighed. "All right then. I'll ask that Hand."

We walked in, and Mario instantly shouted out. "Nugai and Snake are now here!"

Several people rushed to see us. I didn't expect to be the first person there. Almost instantly I was tackled on the ground by Lucas. "Nugai!" He said. "You're safe!"

"Yeah." I replied. "Please get off of me."

Lucas smiled. However my face went white. I remembered what happened in the Caves of Madness.

"So, who all isn't here?" I asked.

He directed me to a wall, where there were several tiles. Each of them had a symbol, and then underneath that symbol a name. For instance, Lucas' symbol was that of the earth. While Pikachu's was a Pokeball.

It took me a few seconds to decipher what the symbols meant. Some were darkened, and others were lit up. The darkened ones I figured were for people who hadn't appeared in the mansion yet. "Lucario, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Luigi, ROB, Mewtwo, Roy, Pit, Sonic, and Toon Link." I said reading out loud all of the Smashers that weren't accounted for.

"Are we seriously some of the last people to find this place?" Snake grumbled. "Well, whatever. I need to go to sleep now."

Lucas looked up at me. "Nugai, you've got to see this mansion, it's huge!"

"Maybe in the morning." I said.

"But it's only the afternoon." Lucas said.

"You're right." I replied. "However, I need some food, and I want to retire to my bed as soon as possible."

"Retiring to your bed might be difficult." Master Hand said. "I haven't transferred everyone's rooms over."

"What?" I asked.

"You're room is giving me a bit of difficulty and I have been unable to transfer it over. It remains at the Smash HQ."

"What, why?" I asked.

"Because there seems to be an anomaly with your room." Master Hand said.

An anomaly?

"Like what?" I asked.

"It seems to be partly there, but partly in another dimension." Master Hand replied.

I was confused. That didn't make any sense to me.

"The space in the room is just so weird. It's not any other room in the Smash HQ. Just yours."

"I'll worry about it after a meal then." I said.

I was directed to the kitchen where some food remained. I took it and ate it. With my energy restored, I got up. Master Hand floated over to me. "I tried some more, but your room is still in the Smash HQ. Is there something in your room that could be causing it?"

"I don't know." I replied.

"Crazy Hand and I will continue to work on it." Master Hand said. "But, I can't promise any results. If worse comes to worse, you can sleep on one of the many couches in the Smash Mansion. I hope this won't cause any problems?"

"Well, after those days out in the woods, I was looking forwards to my own bed, and I also need a shower." I sighed.

"Well, you can come to my room." Lucas said. I really didn't want to, and Master Hand seemed to suggest my hesitation.

"It's either that or the change rooms to the pool for the shower." Master Hand said.

"I'll take Lucas' shower then." I said.

Lucas directed me to his room. I decided to just make this as quick as possible, so I didn't look in, I just entered into the washroom. It looked pretty much like every other washroom back at the Smash HQ.

When I was done, I saw that my clothes were now miraculously clean. (Lucas said it was a Wireframe that cleaned them). I changed into them and walked out of Lucas' room.

Master Hand floated next to me. "I'm sad to say that our continued efforts have ended in failure." He sighed.

"That's okay." I said. "If you could just get another room from the Smash HQ into the Smash Mansion for me as a replacement, I won't mind."

Master Hand snapped his fingers. "It's done." He said. He directed me to a room. On the door was the name Nugai. I went in, and it was plain. It was just a single bed in the middle of the room. There were white sheets on the bed. There was also an empty dresser. There were no photo's hung up around the room. "It's a start." I said.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Master Hand asked.

"Can I have a pen and some lined paper?" I wondered.

Master Hand snapped his fingers and the objects appeared right in front of me. "Is there any place where I can have some peace and quiet?" I wondered.

"Yes." Master Hand said. "Please follow me."

I did so, and eventually we got into a giant library. This single room appeared to be bigger than the entire mansion itself. "What the?" I said.

"If it's because of the size, I altered reality so that this giant library could fit in the Mansion." Master Hand said. "I'm sure you will find some peace and quiet in here."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. Back when we used this mansion constantly during the Melee days, hardly any Smasher came in here to read." Master Hand said. "But you can find a work desk towards the back."

Master Hand left me and I walked through the giant library, eventually finding a desk. I sat down at a chair and began to write:

The following is all true, for those who find these documents thank you for taking your time to read through them. I reiterate that the following is all true and written down from my memory exactly as I remembered it. All of those days that I spent in that mysterious place, and the friends I made. I will not forget you, ever. Now let us begin:

I looked up; I had finished recounting what had got me here to this point and looked around the library. From a nearby window it had gotten dark out. I traveled around the library a bit more and then found a rather nice looking couch. I fell on it.

It was really comfortable.

I then drifted to sleep.

I have quite a bit to say.

It was sort of depressing walking around the Blockbuster Video while it was having its bankruptcy sale, remembering that the games used to be in one place, but now moved to another. Remembering all the games that I used to rent from there. Remembering the Pokemon Snap printout display...

Wii launch... Funny story, there is a reason why this date is important to the story. In real life, the person the Reaper was based off of was actually at the local Best Buy, I didn't find out that he was in the Best Buy line until a couple months later, when we met up once again through the wonders of the Internet and facebook, and he asked when I got the Wii. I just responded the first day. He then asked where and I said EB Games. I asked him if he got one, and he said yes. And he got it at Best Buy.

I broke out laughing.

He stayed outside the store overnight, and when I got there at seven in the morning, the line was all ready way too long... so yeah. Although he said if he know that I was there he would have let me in the line, it would have pissed off the 55th person in the line... (The number of Wii Units) but it would have been so totally worth it after he laughed in our faces and gloated that he was the 55th person in line...

Imagine, if I just took some advice from my father asking if they knew how many units there were and if I was wasting my time I could have saved myself going to 3 other stores looking for a Wii unit on Launch.

ToysRus only had 15 or 20, but it didn't matter since the line was done.

The first EB games I went to had 10, and I was 12th in line.

The second EB games had... No idea, and I didn't care since I was 6th in line and got a unit.

So, while Nugai remembers what transpired on launch, it is a bit different than my experiences.