And with this chapter, the story passes 100,000 words... Yeah that's not really a big landmark in this section anymore. *Looks at a story that's over 3,000,000 words*

Day 21: Replacement

I was awoken by some noises. I got up off of the couch and saw a spiky blob in front of the front door.

"Crap, crap, crap!" A voice was shouting. He was paying no heed to the time, and that people might be sleeping in the mansion. "That hurt! Whose bright idea was it to put a bench there? Do they just want people to stub their toes?"

"Sonic?" I said confused.

The sudden calling out of his name had scared him. Sonic jumped into the air. He turned around and breathed a sigh of relief. "Nugai, it's just you."

"Yeah," I replied. "It's just me."

"What are you doing up so early?" Sonic asked.

"Well, I really couldn't sleep." I lied.

"Oh, I see."

"And you?" I asked.

"I'm going out for an early morning jog." Sonic said. "Would you like to join me?"

I just looked at the hedgehog. "No," I said.

"Well, suit yourself." He said. "I'm sure that would have tired you out." And Sonic was suddenly out the front door.

I sat down on a couch in the living room. I picked up the remote and began to flip through the channels.

With the power of thousands of channels at my fingertips, I learned that there was absolutely nothing on TV, and it probably didn't help that it was all infomercials since it was still early in the morning. I sighed, eventually going to a biography channel. There was actually a biography on Sonic right now. It showed him developing some games, or at least in my world they would be games. Here they were just like a TV Show. Everything seemed to be an act. Dr. Robotnic's fortresses were just some elaborate and expensive sets. The roboticized animals were just animatronic props, or CG monsters. And the video games in our world were just licensed video games here.

I wish there was that level of quality in licensed video games in our world.

The special seemed to be rather old. "With the Sega Movie Studios recently closing down, will Sonic the Hedgehog ever reclaim his former glory?"

Something in the back of my head was telling me that a lot had happened between Sega closing down, and now.

I sighed and began to flip through more channels. It was two hours later when Sonic came back into the Smash Mansion. "You're still up, Nugai?" He asked, rather surprised.

"Yeah." I replied. "I don't think I'll be going to bed any time soon. I'm no longer tired." He ran and jumped onto a chair. "Sonic, I saw a biography about you on TV."

"Oh?" Sonic laughed. "What did it say?"

"I'm not sure, I just caught the end of it, but it seemed like it was really old. It didn't mention anything about you joining the Smashers. It just went to when the Sega Movie Studios closed down."

Sonic gritted his teeth. "Things were different back then." He sighed. "I miss all the old Sega Superstars."

"Sega Superstars?" I asked.

"We're a group, much like the Smashers." Sonic said. "We are some of the talent from the Sega Movie Studios. Although, there isn't a lot of A Rank talent. That's one of the reasons why they had to close down. There weren't enough people wanting to see a bunch of B list talent."

"I see." I said. "Although I wish to see them someday."

"If you're still around I'll take you to the reunion party." Sonic laughed.

"Thanks." I said.

"So, Nugai, what are your plans today?"

"I have no idea." I sighed. "I guess just relaxing around the mansion, possibly reading some stuff in the library, and trying to figure out how to get home."

"That sounds boring." Sonic said. "Well, I've got other places to be, so see ya!"

And with that Sonic was gone.

Despite my earlier claims, my eyes suddenly felt heavy. With nothing to watch, and no one to talk to, I once again fell asleep on the couch.

I had a strange dream. I was just playing in a green field with a little Riolu. I was just throwing a ball, and it would hit it back. Soon it was lying on the ground, curled up like a cat. I just scratched the Riolu's head.

Several hours later I was woken by several of the Smashers stirring.

They looked at me rather confused. "Why would you sleep on the couch?" Link questioned. "You have your room back now."

"I was too exhausted to go up to my room." I answered. He just nodded.

I got up off of the couch. I figured I had a long day ahead of me, and I wanted to figure out why everyone had forgotten about Lucario. Though, I didn't know where to begin. Eventually I decided on checking the library, even though most of the contents seemed dedicated to fighting, there might be a little something that I could find. I'm sure there might have been books on memory loss from head injuries.

I suddenly stopped and began to walk towards Dr. Mario's offices in the mansion. If there were books on that, then maybe he would let me look at them.

But what if he doesn't? No, wait, I can say it's for my amnesia.

However, I was soon intercepted by the kid Smashers. "Nugai, we've been looking all over the mansion for you." Ness said.

"Oh?" I said.

"What were you doing?" Toon Link wondered.

"I wanted to go to Dr. Mario's office to see if he had any books on amnesia." I replied.

"Oh?" Ness said. "Why?"

"Well, it's just I wanted my memories to return a bit faster." I said.

"Haven't they been coming back at a fine pace?" Popo wondered.

"I guess, but I really just want them back now." I said.

They all nodded.

"Do you want to play a game?" Lucas asked.

I glanced at all of the kid Smashers; I needed to find out what happened with Lucario, and why everyone forgot about him. But I figured I had a bit of time. "Sure." I managed to say.

"We'll just play a game of hide and seek." Ness said. "You do know how to play that, right, Nugai?"

I think my heart skipped a beat. Perfect. I could play, and look for the information without bringing up any suspicion.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Okay." Ness said. "So, we'll use the whole mansion, and a 100 meter radius around the mansion, that will be our boundaries."

Everyone nodded.

It was decided that Popo would be it. And we all separated. Several others went towards Dr. Mario's room. I decided that it probably would be better if I went there later, and went back on to my original plan of going to the library. It was probably big enough to use for a game on it's own. While there, I went and grabbed a book on Aura and began to browse through it, until I eventually found a picture of a Lucario.

If I show them this, they will surely remember.

I went around the library, going up to a second story, so I could see if someone entered, and if I should find a better hiding place. There were also a lot more books up there, and it included the section on injuries. I found a few books and quickly browsed them. I was hesitant on using the libraries search system to find the books, since I didn't know if the searches were logged, and it might be a bit suspicious.

Mewtwo knocking me unconscious yesterday had constantly remained in my mind. I wanted to confront him and ask what the hell he was thinking, or why he did that. But I didn't want to go empty handed. If I didn't go with proof, or something else to confront him, I felt that I would once again be knocked unconscious. And I felt that he couldn't know what I was doing no matter what.

It was a bit of a pain. I could only go by the title of the book, and that just got annoying. I found a book on head injuries, and read a bit about punch drunks. I wondered how much time had passed, and if Popo had actually found anyone. Then again, the mansion was a huge place, and it would be a matter of time. I just kept on looking through the books.

I waited, but no one came. I looked around the room and just sighed. I didn't know what was happening.

The doors to the library suddenly opened, and in came Popo and Toon Link. "I think I saw Nugai go into here." Toon Link said.

"Let's find him then." Popo said. He closed the door and placed his hand on it, causing the door to be frozen shut. They began to look through the library. I stayed hidden, and tried to figure out where to hide. I quickly jumped onto some statues that were hanging on the walls. Toon Link and Popo then came up to the second floor. The two of them looked around. "Are you sure he came in here?" Popo asked.

"I know I saw him in here." Toon Link replied.

They looked over the entire library, however never bothered to look up. I was nervous, and was wondering why they weren't using the Smash Pendant to look for me, but I just figured that was because they were being fair, and didn't want to cheat. They eventually left to look for some other Smashers. I waited a few minutes before dropping down to the second floor from the gargoyle that I was hanging onto.

I looked around the library a bit more, holding onto the book about aura.

Slowly I exited the library. The game however was put to an end, when Ness came running towards me. "Nugai, there you are!" he said. "Lucas just talked to me via telepathy, we have a problem."

He grabbed my wrist and began to pull me down towards the foyer, where all of the other Smashers had been gathered. They were all just as confused as I was.

"Come on out." Ness said.

While we were all walking outside, I got beside Toon Link and Popo. "Popo, Toon," I said. The two of them looked at me. "Next time, look up." I said. "I was hanging onto a gargoyle."

The two of them just laughed. "Oh." Popo said.

"Also, I was wondering if you two had ever seen this." I pulled out the book, and went to the page with a Lucario on it. The two of them just looked at the picture for several seconds.

"No, I've never seen a creature like that." Toon Link said.

"Same." Popo said. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason." I said.

So much for that plan.

As we got outside, we heard another voice. "Somebody, help!" Lucas was shouting.

Everyone rushed to Lucas, we went into the forest and found another Lucario. Somehow, I could tell it wasn't the same Lucario that we had lost. "He's badly hurt, he needs help!" Lucas said.

This Lucario didn't seem trusting towards humans, he tried to escape the large group, and even fired several aura spheres at us. Eventually just Pikachu, Pichu, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard, Jigglypuff and Mewtwo approached him.

Popo and Toon Link were just looking at me rather shocked, and at the book. "What are the odds of encountering that creature here?" Popo asked.

"What does the book say about it?" Toon Link wondered.

I just handed it over to them, and turned my attention to that Lucario. This was too strange, and it was actually beginning to scare me.

What the hell is going on?

"I won't trust you Pokemon!" He growled. "I know you side with humans!"

"That's really nice." Mewtwo said. "Now, please come with us before you get hurt further."

I could feel my heart pumping. I didn't know what was going on. Everything was happening far too fast. I just punched a nearby tree in frustration. I don't think anyone actually noticed. "I hope they can get through to that Lucario too." Red said. "It's in pretty bad shape."

"Huh?" I just looked at Red absolutely confused.

"I thought you were frustrated because of the condition it was in." Red said. "It looks like it was abused and then released by its trainer. At least that might be part of the reason why it's not trusting us humans."

It took me several seconds to realize that Red had never once looked back at me when he said that. He was just looking forwards.

I looked at the Lucario. Ivysaur was now trying to put it to sleep with sleep powder so they could move it, but it was staying awake somehow. "I won't fall asleep." Lucario growled.

Mewtwo just looked annoyed. "That's it." He said. He just used a disable, and suddenly Lucario fell down unconscious. Everyone looked at Mewtwo a bit stunned. "Stop looking at me!" Mewtwo barked. "He needs treatment now!"

Dr. Mario just nodded and rushed to Lucario's side. He pulled out several spray bottles. He began to order a few things, mostly that some people such as Donkey Kong, and Captain Falcon helped carry the Lucario back to the hospital wing and that the other Pokemon be with him just in case Lucario woke up and attacked.

I had so many questions so I decided to follow them to the hospital wing in the odd chance that I could find something out.

Mewtwo actually seemed a bit suspicious. "What's wrong Nugai?" he asked.

"I just wanted to check that the Lucario was okay." I replied. I was relived that he could no longer read my mind to find out that I was lying. He also seemed to be having a bit of difficulty deciphering my true intentions. He just kept looking at me as though I was suspicious.

"He's in professional hands now, he will be fine." Mewtwo said. "You should know better than anyone how good Dr. Mario is in healing people. It's probably best if you don't approach him, you saw how hostile he was towards humans earlier."

"Red said it looked like he was abused by humans." I said, I decided that this was probably the best time to feign ignorance, and act like I didn't know what was going on. "Why would people hurt pokemon?"

Mewtwo just looked down at the ground. He was also frustrated. "People aren't truly good. Not to mention, it's a product of the times we live in. If pokemon can't protect you in this war, than they can be as good as gone." I walked past Mewtwo. I think he knew that I wanted to go there for other reasons, but he didn't stop me instead he said, "You won't get your answers from him. You have to go to Master Hand."

I glanced back at Mewtwo. "Thanks." I said.

I briefly debated about going to Master Hand, however I decided to go to the hospital wing first. I wanted to be 110% sure that that Lucario wasn't the Lucario that had died. I made it in there, Dr. Mario was currently away from his desk, and I sneaked in.

I heard some growling, and then opened the door a small crack to peer in. There were several Pokemon in the room. Ivysaur had vines wrapped around the Lucario to try and restrain him. Also holding him down were several belts. The bones that stuck out of his body as spikes had been covered by something to act as padding so no one got badly hurt by being impaled. Despite all of this, the Lucario was continuing to struggle and making sure everyone was having a hard time.

I walked in the room, he suddenly stopped moving his eyes fixed on me.

"Stay away!" Lucario growled.

I just stood at the entrance. "Lucario, I have a few questions for you."

"I'm not going to cooperate with you Human." Lucario growled.

"I didn't think you would." I said. I held out my hand and made an aura sphere. He just looked at me unimpressed.

"So what?"

"I'm sure you know that aura is rare in humans." I said. "I just wanted to see, what was your aura like."

From one of his restrained hands an aura sphere rushed right towards me. It hit me, but it didn't blast me away. "I see." I said. "It's weak, nothing like his."

I walked away.

"What do you mean nothing like his?" Pichu asked.

I however didn't respond. Everything was changing. They had all ready given that Lucario the old Lucario's Smasher Necklace, as though Lucario's sacrifice meant nothing and he was just some replacement. It was seriously pissing me off.

I passed by Mewtwo in the halls. He hadn't moved since I had left for the hospital wing.

He sensed my disdain about their decision. "We are all saddened by Lucario's sacrifice." Mewtwo said.

"Well, you could try showing it!" I snapped. "You just can't hand away that position like it's nothing!"

"In case you've forgotten, he was here even less time than you were." Mewtwo sternly replied.

I froze. He was right. We had met at that city. "We only made him a temporary Smasher to train you, and to try and find out anything else about the Reaper!"

"So, why does he need a replacement?" I snapped.

Mewtwo just looked down at the ground. "It was predetermined." He said.

"What? Predetermined?" I said annoyed.

Mewtwo just nodded. "It's best if you talk to Master Hand about this."

I looked at Mewtwo. "Fine." I said. "And I better get the answers I want."

I walked through the mansion. If any Smasher called out to me, I didn't hear them. I was determined. I need to know what was going on. I knocked on the door of the office. "Who is it?"

"It's Nugai."

"I'm busy." Master Hand said. "Come back later."

I placed my hand on the door, and just blasted it clean off the hinges with aura. "This can't wait." I said, walking in.

Master Hand was panicked. He shook, and looked around the room. "Nugai, I'm busy." He repeated. "I got your room in here, what more do you want?"

"I want answers." I said. "And I'm not leaving until I get them."

Master Hand just sent several energy bullets towards me. I was rather surprised, but I was able to dodge the attacks. At least with the finger gun he gave plenty of warning. He sent several more attacks towards me, each time I was able to dodge. I felt like I had seen his attacks and mannerisms hundreds of times before. And soon, his office was a wreck. A few of the Smashers came rushing in, wondering what the commotion was about.

"Everyone, restrain Nugai!" Master Hand ordered. "He broke in here and attacked me."

I waited to be tackled down to the ground, however no one charged at me. I turned around and saw the Smashers they were all looking at me in confusion. Mewtwo was also there. He had used disable to paralyse everyone. "No." Mewtwo said. "Master Hand. It's time he knew the truth."

Master Hand clenched his fist in frustration. I could somehow feel a piercing gaze upon me coming from the hand.

"I won't." He replied stubbornly.

"Do it, or else." Mewtwo said. He motioned to the other Smashers. It suddenly seemed like Master Hand was afraid.

"Very well then, everyone you're dismissed." Master Hand said. Everyone but Mewtwo left. "That includes you, Mewtwo."

"I'm making sure you keep to your word." Mewtwo said. "And don't just attack him again when everyone else's back is turned."

Master Hand snapped his fingers, and the doors were put back onto the hinges and then they closed. "What do you want to know?" He asked.

"Why did that other Lucario appear? This quickly after our Lucario died, that Lucario appeared?" I asked.

Master Hand let out a sigh. "It's the Status Quo." He replied.

"Status Quo?" I questioned.

"A divine law that makes sure that things must remain the same. That there must always be a Lucario, or a Mario in the Smashers, you get the idea, right?" Master Hand said.

I didn't know how to react to this. "So if one dies they are just replaced?" I snapped.

"Nugai," Master Hand said. "Please try to understand that this is the way it has to be."

"Tell me, if I go back home, will there be someone set in line to replace me?" I asked, probably not in the nicest of tones available.

Master Hand sighed. "Nugai, I know you're not happy about this. But for you, there will be no replacements. You were never apart of the Smashers, so the Status Quo doesn't apply to you."

"Why does this status quo exist?" I asked.

"It was made in order to make sure that the universe is always protected." Master Hand said. "It was made to make sure that the Smashers fulfilled their duty and would be able to kill one man."

"That's the Smasher's entire purpose?" I said shocked. "To just kill one person?"

"Yes." Master Hand replied. "This man is responsible for the deaths of billions."

"And what is his name?" I asked.

"His name is-" However, before Master Hand was able to finish his sentence, Ness rushed into the room, he had kicked down the doors and sent them flying off of their hinges.

"Master Hand, you need to come see the news. You too Nugai!" Ness shouted.

I didn't like how he said that. Something told me that it would probably be better for me if I lived in ignorance.

We went to the TV room; everyone was staring at the screen in horror. Soon, I also saw what was waiting. On the screen, perfectly fine was The Reaper. He was sitting on a car that was badly damaged.

"Nugai, I'm waiting for you!" He shouted. "On the top of Spear Pillar!"

"The Reaper is still alive!"

Everyone was horrified. "No!" Peach said shocked.

"This can't be, he sacrificed his life to kill him! No one should have been able to survive an explosion like that! He promised us that there would be no chance of the Reaper surviving!" I said.

It was a senseless sacrifice.

I wanted to be alone. Perhaps now Lucario's death hit me harder than it had before. It was a pointless death. I walked away, and Mewtwo followed.

"Nugai, are you all right."

Tears were going down my face.

"What have I done?" I asked. "All I've done so far is get people killed! I should just hand myself over to the Reaper!"

Mewtwo had clearly had enough of my whining, so he proceeded to slap me with his tail, but not just any slap, this slap was so fast that it warped the very fabric of reality so it looked like Mewtwo was actually just giving me a death glare, but it sure as hell felt like a slap.

And to be completely honest, I needed that.

"Quit your bitching." Mewtwo said. "Calm down! Lucario didn't die just to protect you! He made sure that The Reaper couldn't follow you to the Smash Mansion. And made sure that he was unable to access it, everything he did was to protect all of us! And then you ask what have you done? If it wasn't for you we wouldn't of know about the Reapers attack in advance and we would have been slaughtered. We would of been used as experiments by the Manager, and the Manager would still be alive doing who knows what. You've done a lot."

"Thanks Mewtwo." I said. "But that doesn't exactly make me feel much better. I'm still the one who showed the Reaper how to enter this world and, I just don't know what to do anymore."

"I don't know what you should do either." Mewtwo said.

"Mewtwo, I really need something to cheer me up." I said. "Can you tell me the story about when you were drunk?"

"No." Mewtwo bluntly replied. "Some things are better off being forgotten."

"I really need an upper." I said. "Please tell me!"

"No." Mewtwo said.

"Come on!"

"Don't be stubborn." Mewtwo said. "It won't end well for you. I assure you that you don't want to know."

I will find out what happened... even if it kills me!

Master Hand floated back to us. "I want to talk to you two in my office."

He snapped his fingers and we were teleported back into the office. "So, the Reaper is still alive." Master Hand said.

I looked at the two of them. Mewtwo had his hand on his chin and was rubbing it. "It seems that way, what sort of power does he have to avoid getting incinerated?"

"I've got an idea." Master Hand said. "I'm now beginning to piece everything together."

"Then, what is your current train of thought?" Mewtwo wondered.

"A month ago, I met up with Arceus." Master Hand said. "He was distressed that Dialga and Palkia had vanished."

"The Reaper." I said.

"Precisely, he has gained control of the Spatial Pokemon Palkia, and the Temporal Pokemon Dialga." I suddenly felt sick. I didn't believe it, that guy. I told them about those two. "He holds two physical Gods in his hands."

"Then what are you?" I asked.

"A physical God." Master Hand pointed out. "But that's not what is important. I believe that if he is behind their disappearance, and he was just haphazardly using their abilities, there may be grave consequences."

"Such as?" I asked.

"I fear that your world and our world are slowly fusing together." Master Hand replied. My heart seemed to skip a beat. "If they were to fuse together, what do you think would happen?"

"Chaos." I replied. "I'm positive it would be absolute chaos."

"Correct." Master Hand said. "I don't think your world would appreciate it. They will fight back. Of course, that is the best case scenario, there is also the possibility that when the worlds do fuse together both of them will be destroyed. Every single person, and being will die."

"I can't let that happen! I'm sure if the Reaper knew about that, he would stop what ever he was planning! We can't let this go on!"

"I know." Master Hand replied. "And we know where the Reaper's base is located. Spear Pillar."

"Then we should go and stop the Reaper!" I said.

Master Hand however seemed to hesitate. "I don't want to sacrifice anymore Smashers through this." He calmly replied. "One is one too many."

"I understand, then I will fight the Reaper myself." I said.

"Wait, stop Nugai!" Master Hand shouted.

That's not my name; he must be referring to someone else...

I walked out of the office and down the hall, until Mewtwo teleported in front of me. "Nugai, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to stop you."

"Why?" I asked.

"You will die against him." Mewtwo said.

"That's always a possibility." I said. "But I know that won't happen. Are you coming with me Mewtwo?"

"No." Mewtwo replied. "To Pokemon, Spear Pillar is sacred ground."

"I'll do my best to keep it in one piece then." I said.

I walked past Mewtwo. He didn't look confident. I quickly began to run away before he decided to actually stop me. I made it to the garage, and quickly took out a ship. I fled the mansion and just put the ship on auto pilot to get to Spear Pillar as soon as possible.

I stepped out onto Spear Pillar. The air was thin. I looked around the ruins. They had certainly seen better days. Pillars were shattered across the ground. Pillars that were still up had been covered with graffiti.

I looked around frustrated. What was holy ground for the Pokemon was defaced. I suddenly got the feeling that I wasn't alone. My hand grabbed the beam sword and I was ready to activate it at a moment's notice.

I closed my eyes, and tried to find the aura of any people hiding, but the aura of this place was far too strange. Everything seemed to radiate a different aura, there were even other objects that seemed to suck up all the aura. From behind a rock came a small boy. "Are you one of those visitors?" He asked.

I didn't know how to react to him. "I heard that there were people here." I replied. "One who goes by the name of The Reaper."

"The Reaper?" he said. "Matrix, is there anyone here who has that name?"

Another child came from behind another rock. "I don't think so Numbers." The child said. "I don't think I heard any of those people calling them by name."

I closed my eyes and tried to figure out who these kids were. They however had no aura.

What's going on?

"What's going on? Why are they here? Why is this place's aura so strange?" Matrix said.

"You can see aura?" Numbers asked. He was suddenly right beside me. I didn't know when he did that. "So, that could probably explain why you can see us."

Matrix had suddenly appeared beside me. "You might have figured it out, but we don't exactly truly exist here. We're spirits. Ghosts if you will."

"Ghosts?" I asked.

"Yep, a long time ago, this was a battleground."

I reached out, however my hand just went right through them. "I see." I said.

"We've been sleeping for a long time." Matrix said. "We were sealed underneath the Spear Pillar, and recently we woke up."

"Dialga and Palkia were captured by the Red Chain." Numbers sighed. "Their capture had awoken us and altered this area."

"Do you know where he is, and if he comes here often?" I asked.

"Who?"

"The person who captured Dialga and Palkia?" I replied.

They just laughed. "Yeah, he's ahead. Be careful though, Dialga and Palkia will protect their master."

I just nodded. "Thank you, you two." I said. I walked through the Spear Pillar. There were others there, they were glaring at me.

"That's him, isn't it?" one thug asked.

"Well, there is one way to find out. Attack him, if you're still alive afterwards, he wasn't the one." Another said.

"I can hear you." I replied. "I'm Nugai, where is the Reaper?"

They just pointed deeper into the ruins and I continued walking, occasionally asking a nearby person. They just continued leading me deeper and deeper into the ruins.

Eventually, I came face to face once again with the Reaper. He was just sitting in the middle of what appeared to be a shrine.

"Nugai, so you came." He said.

Dialga and Palkia's eyes were fixed on me. I could feel their power, and feared that in a second I could be obliterated from existence. He raised his hand and the two of them just vanished into thin air.

"Yes." I said.

"You came, even though you knew what awaited you." The Reaper said.

"Listen, you have to stop this!" I pleaded. "If you go through with this, you could destroy both worlds!"

"And all of a sudden you start caring about that world?" The Reaper questioned. "Gee, I didn't think you would. After all, this was your idea. This whole plan to fuse together the worlds. To use Palkia's spatial powers to make our world more exciting, so you wouldn't have to grow up and work a 9-5 desk job. And now you're telling me that you don't want to go through with it!?"

This was all my idea? What the hell?

"You looked shocked. You still don't remember do you? But don't worry, I'll make sure that the two worlds fuse together properly."

None of this made sense.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

He looked at me. "You don't remember anything do you?"

"All I remember are bits and pieces! Please, let's just go back to our world. Quit being the Reaper!"

The Reaper looked at me. "That's easy for you to say. You can always go back."

"What are you talking about? You can go back too, right?"

"No I can't." The Reaper said.

What?!

"Not unless the worlds merge."

"But-"

"You don't get it yet do you. With Dialga, I can try again and again. If I screw up and destroy both worlds, I can just reset time and do it again!" The Reaper said. "I can create it, the land that we dreamed of. The land of Fantasia!"

"But why do you need to merge the two worlds together?" I asked.

"You don't remember it do you?"

"Remember what?" I shouted.

"In our world, I'm all ready dead."

I looked at him a bit terrified. A jolt of pain went through my head.

I don't know where I was when I first heard the news; after all for a few months it was everywhere. It was really strange... A car accident. However, one car was completely empty. There had been indeed been someone in the car during the accident through witness reports and blood found on the seat. Something had pierced through the driver. When the authorities arrived, and tried to find the person inside it was empty. All there was, was an open DS on the passenger seat. It was also badly damaged from the crash. Although there was something etched upon the top of the DS, the word Fantasia.

This mysterious accident made international news. It was a bit frightening when they released the name of the person who had supposedly vanished.

My mind was in shock. I hoped that I had misheard his name. I hoped that he would post something online and just say that his car was stolen by some asshole and totalled... I hoped for too much. He had completely vanished off of the face of the earth.

"I get it now." I muttered. "You actually went into this world to escape your death!"

"Correct." The Reaper replied. "I was saved by some talented doctors in this world. Perhaps now they regret saving me. Then again, I guess I was lucky that the game I had in the DS was Trauma Center."

"My copy if I'm remembering correctly. I had to buy another one because it was totaled and confiscated as evidence you asshole." I snapped.

"I sat here waiting in this world. Waiting for you to piece together everything and come and get me. But you never came." The Reaper said.

"Because I didn't think of it." I replied. "We couldn't enter the Gameboy screens, we could put our hands through, but would get stuck somewhere on our arms. A DS Screen wouldn't be any different due to the size of it."

"Tell me, you remember jumping through inflatable rings in the pool?" The Reaper asked.

"No, I don't."

"Well, you would jump off of the diving board and through inflatable rings. Including ones where the holes were probably a bit too small, but you would fit through them."

"Well, I imagine that gravity helped and they weren't super small like a DS Screen." I replied.

"Still, you could force your body through it." The Reaper said. "I did something similar with that DS. More or less forcing my body in through the portal. It worked, but it hurt quite a bit." he pulled up his cloak to reveal his scared arm. "Essentially, I just expanded the portal using my own body."

"I see." I said. "Now how did you survive Lucario's Aura explosion?"

The Reaper just laughed. "A simple time stop using Dialga's powers." He snapped his fingers and suddenly he was right behind me. "Now you get it. In an instant, I could kill you." His scythe was right by my neck ready to cut it off.

"Yeah, I get it." I said. "You're a coward, and a cheater."

"Aren't you the same?"

"Maybe." I said. "Now, I want another answer. I'm guessing the way I entered the world this time wasn't like we did when we were younger."

"Correct, I decided to pull you into this world by force by using Palkia!" Things were beginning to make sense. "Not just you, but your whole room."

"And you could have killed me!" I protested.

"I could of, and if I did, I would of just used Dialga to reverse time and do it again."

I backed away from The Reaper. I didn't believe this. "So, you would of killed me since you could just reverse time!?"

"Do I have to repeat myself again?" He asked. "Yes, I would of."

"So, even if we are friends that meant nothing!"

"We're not friends. If we were, you would have found me!" The Reaper shouted. "We could both go to and from this world at will!"

Why didn't I try and find him here? Why didn't I go back into this world... Damn it... There had to be some other reason!

"So, I'm going to leave you in the same state that you left me!" He rushed forwards and suddenly impaled me with his scythe. It hurt like hell. "But don't worry, I'll leave you with the chance of being saved. Consider that a Christmas gift."

I was constantly blinking in and out of consciousness. I could see myself being dropped off in front of a hospital, people gathering around me, I seem to remember someone putting an needle in my arm.

The next time I woke was the next day…

Notes:

I feel much better about this chapter than I did the last.

Mewtwo slapping Nugai, was a reference to the rather infamous edit in Pokemon Adventures Volume 11, regarding the slap being changed into a death glare in the North American version.