Day 24: Flee

I woke up to the sound of water running. It took me a few minutes to get up and register everything. I looked down at the ground, where there was a blanket that just looked like it had been tossed aside, against the dresser.

It didn't take me long to realize that Ness was in the washroom, taking a shower.

Damn kid better not take all of my hot water.

Soon the water stopped. Ness came out of the washroom, dressed in his normal clothes. Although his hair was still wet, and his hat was covering it.

"You're up." He said rather surprised.

"Yeah, I thought you abandoned me." I said.

"The thought had crossed my mind." He teased.

"Well, stay here while I do my morning routine."

I did just that… and the little snot had taken all of the hot water. I was out rather quickly in that case. He just had a devilish smile across his face. "Think of it as revenge." He said.

"I'll get you back…" I replied.

He just laughed. "Sure you will"

"Just watch your back!" I said.

"Is that a threat?" He said in a rather teasing voice.

"And what if it was?" I asked.

Ness just smiled. "So, we're going down for breakfast, right?"

"I guess so." I said.

Ness just nodded. "Especially since your fridge only seemed to have alcohol in it."

I just glanced back at him. I made a small mental note to check if any of the garbage bags had a bottle in it when I got back to the room.

We made our way down through the hallways. Passing several Smashers along the way. They didn't seem as though they were avoiding me today. I guessed because both Lucas and Ness were still alive, and there were no incidents they thought I really was on their side.

We got into the kitchen Bowser was sitting there reading the newspaper and drinking a coffee. He got up.

"I think you should see this." Bowser said, placing the paper on the table.

"What am I looking for?" I asked.

"You'll know when you see it." Bowser replied.

I just took the paper, and much to my horror, I did indeed know what he was talking about. All I had to do was look at the front page. There, front and centre was the remains of a city. The Reaper had attacked and destroyed an entire city.

I just cringed. He had to be stopped.

I found it hard to eat breakfast. I think I spent more time actually dissecting the food than actually eating it.

Ness glanced up at me. "Do you think I poisoned your food?"

"No, not at all, it's just, I just can't get the Reaper out of my head. He destroyed an entire city…" I replied.

"He's done it before." Ness sighed. "And he will keep on doing it. You saw that other city right?"

I nodded.

"There are several cities just like that out there, where the Reaper has destroyed them, and killed countless people." Ness said. It certainly was odd being lectured by someone much younger than me.

"Aren't the Smashers supposed to protect everyone?" I asked.

Ness just shook his head. "In these times, we're only a group of entertainers."

I just sat there, somehow managing to finish breakfast. "Ness, can you take me to where Mewtwo is?" I asked.

He just looked at me a bit confused. "Why?"

"There is something I need to do." I replied.

Ness closed his eyes for a few seconds. The next moment Mewtwo teleported down into the kitchen.

"This better be important." He said.

"Mewtwo, I need to complete my aura training."

"Your aura training is complete." Mewtwo said.

"That isn't what I meant." I said. "I need to awaken to my aura fully. I need full mastery if I'm going to beat the Reaper. There is an unlocking chamber here, right?"

Mewtwo looked at me a bit shocked. "How did you know that?"

"I didn't." I replied. "I just figured that the Smashers would have access to one."

He just remained silent. I was positive that he was debating about it in his head. If he gave me access to this, I would become much stronger, and if I stabbed them in the back it would fall on him.

"Mewtwo, please, I need to become stronger." I said.

"You could die." Mewtwo said. I knew it was a real possibility, since I read about it in that one book, but I couldn't help but think he said that to try and deter me.

"I understand the risks." I said. "I need to awaken my full power. One way or another."

Mewtwo just cringed. "Is there another way?" I didn't know if he was genuinely concerned about me, or if he was trying to stop me.

"This is my choice." I said. "I have to stop the Reaper, and if this is the only way, I'll do it this way. Any other ways will take far too long."

Mewtwo just nodded. "Then, perhaps your determination will let you live through it." He said. "Very well then, Ness, go to Master Hand and Crazy Hand. Tell them that Nugai is about to undergo Aura Mastery Training."

Ness just nodded. He then ran off. Mewtwo glanced at me.

We were both teleported into a dark room. I had no idea where it was, but something about it was scaring me. Mewtwo just waved his hand and hundreds of candles were suddenly lit with an eerie blue flame. "Where are we?" I asked.

"We're in a hidden room in the Smash Mansion." Mewtwo said. "This is the only way to get in, teleporting."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because, we wouldn't want anyone accidentally walking into this room." Mewtwo replied. "It's just a safety precaution."

"Are there other rooms in the Smash Mansion that you can only get in by teleporting?"

Mewtwo was about to answer that however, Master and Crazy Hand suddenly teleported into the room. I figured they were looking at Mewtwo. "What's going on?" Master Hand asked.

"It's come to this." Mewtwo said. "Nugai, this will be the ultimate test of your aura mastery."

"What is this room?" I asked.

"We call it the room of darkness." Mewtwo said. "Go into the centre of that circle, and we will begin."

I walked over to the circle of candles. "Take off your shoes and socks." Mewtwo said.

I did so, and much to my surprise, I was standing on grass. "Take off your shirt as well."

I did. I just stood there. I could feel a faint wind. "Air, water, fire, earth, and the void." Mewtwo said. "These are the five elements that are in play in this room. Once this begins, it won't end until either you've mastered it or died. Do you know what you have to do?"

"No idea." I replied. "The books didn't describe what happened, only to pursue if death seemed like the better option."

Mewtwo closed his eyes. "I see." He said. "Tell me then, is death the better option?"

"No." I said. "But that will be the only option if I have to fight the Reaper in my current state."

Mewtwo nodded. "Well then Nugai, this is good bye."

The candles began to go out. "This is your last chance Nugai." Mewtwo said. "Step out of the circle before the darkness swallows you."

"I know what I must do." I said.

Soon all of the candles went out. I was surrounded by a void of darkness. No matter how long I stood there, my eyes couldn't get adjusted to the darkness. After several minutes, I noticed that I wasn't standing; I was floating in the darkness. I then noticed that the only light was coming from inside of me. It was as though I was glowing.

"So, after so long, another foolish person is trying to complete the ritual." A voice laughed.

I looked around rather afraid; trying to find the source of that voice, however there was nothing. I closed my eyes and tried to see with aura, however, there was nothing, I was just completely surrounded by a void of darkness.

"I can see it in you, fear." the voice said. "It will consume you. You will not leave here alive."

I tried to speak; however no words came out.

"In my presence, you can't even speak." The voice said. "Well, can you still scream?"

I was suddenly stabbed right through the chest with a sword. I tried to scream. Even though my mouth was open, no sound came out. "Maybe you just have a high pain tolerance."

I was stabbed twice more, this time in the palms of my hands. Only upon being stabbed could I actually see the swords. They also looked like they were absorbing all of my aura. My body went numb, and the pain seemed to vanish. My eyes felt heavy. I wanted to fall asleep... I was exhausted. I was tired. I wanted it all to end...

The pain came back. I screamed in silence once again. The swords had been removed, but now a new pain was going through out my body. I felt like something was burning various parts of my body, and slowly writing something across it. I looked down at my arms and legs, and writing was appearing everywhere. Each letter looked like a tiny fire.

Soon my whole body was covered in letters.

"You're still alive, I'm surprised." The voice laughed. "But I wonder for how much longer? It will only get worse from here."

Every letter began to burn brighter and brighter. Soon my whole body was covered in fire. I could feel my skin burning. Soon it stopped, if I wasn't floating, I would probably be on the ground writing in pain. Suddenly it became much harder to breath. I felt like there was much more pressure being applied to my body. It was like I was being crushed in the ocean.

Soon it ended, and floating in front of me was a young boy. "You've survived this long." He said. "Interesting. Most others had given up by this point. In here, in this void, minutes seem like hours. Hours seem like days, and days seem like years. Would you believe me if I told you that you endured, 3000 hours of torture all ready? Yet, only a minute has passed outside. But you can't speak. Your surprisingly resistant you know that."

"Who are you?" I managed to ask.

He seemed equally surprised by my question. "I am the embodiment of all of those who have studied aura. When you die, you will become a part of me. And you will die!"

He raised up his arm and sent a giant blast of aura down right on me. It exploded, I could feel my body being torn apart. I was now just floating there with only my upper body. I was terrified.

Suddenly my right hand was beginning to disappear. This scared me even more. Slowly from the tips of my fingers to my wrist it disappeared. When it reached my wrist it stopped.

"Look at you, pathetic." He said. "Just like everyone else."

I stretched out my left arm, to try and reach the kid. "Lucario." I weakly said. "Are you in there?"

"He is, and he's saddened that you are such an idiot and threw your life away." the kid said.

"Your training didn't go to waste. Your sacrifice won't be in vain." I said. My left hand sparked with energy, and a lance made out of aura suddenly appeared and stabbed the kid. He looked at me in shock.

"How can you do that?" He asked. "I thought I took away all your aura!" He had completely snapped. Aura began to explode out of his body. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" He shouted.

He blasted me with more and more aura attacks. Soon what remained of my body was just a head, and a good portion of the chest. My arms had been vaporized.

"I won't give up." I managed to say. "Not yet."

"How are you still alive?" He asked. He threw an aura spear right through my heart.

"I won't die." I repeated to myself.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" He shouted again and again. Cutting up what remained of my body into a fine dust. And yet, I was somehow still alive.

I did not know how it was possible, or what happened, but I was still there, had I transformed into a spirit? I did not know. But my body no longer existed. "I see." I somehow said.

He looked around. "Where the hell are you?" He shouted.

"I think I now truly understand aura." I said. My body began to reform much to his horror. "Aura is your life force, so I can never truly die. To master aura is to master life itself. Those in your body couldn't understand it. To succeed, you have to die. By fighting death and trying to survive, you lose yourself, and are trapped in here."

I placed my hand on his head. He was looking at me terrified. I just ruffled his hair and smiled. "I guess I better go back now."

He just began to beg. "Don't go!" He cried. "Please don't go, I'll be all alone again for who knows how long! Please stop!"

I turned back. "What's your name kid?" I asked.

"I have no name." He said.

"That's not true." I said. "You're Ryu, aren't you?"

He looked at me rather shocked. "Ryu?" He said. "It sounds familiar."

I placed my hand on the ground. Suddenly all of the candles were lit up, and I was back in the room of darkness.

"So, you survived." Mewtwo said. "That's rather surprising."

"Why?" I asked.

"I just didn't think you had it in you." He said.

"It was easy." I lied.

Mewtwo just nodded several times. "Well then, I think you should be returned back to your room." He said.

We were teleported back into my bedroom. I had to quickly close my eyes, as the light was now blinding. As I got adjusted to the light I could only stare at myself in the mirror that was in front of me. I no longer looked like myself.

For starters my once brown hair was now white. There were also now several tattoos on my body. Around my left wrist seemed to be one of a bracelet. On my right bicep there was another one that just appeared to be a ball of fire. But what was perhaps the most surprising of all were the tattoos that were just lines across my body.

"What the?" I said looking at all of the tattoos.

"They are caused by aura." Mewtwo said. "If you don't use aura, they will disappear."

I closed my eyes and did my best to concentrate. I then opened my eyes and the tattoos were all gone. "Amazing." I said. My hair was also back to being brown.

"Now then," Mewtwo said. "I guess I should find another person to look after you."

"What?!" I said a bit confused.

"I have some things to do." Mewtwo said. We were teleported back to the main entrance. Several of the Smashers were in the living room watching TV. At the door was Sonic who was just getting ready to go out. "Ah! Sonic!" Mewtwo said. "I'm looking for someone to look after Nugai. Would you be interested?"

"Not really." Sonic said. Just glancing at me. "I've got places to be, and people to see." And with that he was out of the door, not even waiting for a counter argument.

"I figured as much." Mewtwo said.

"Then why did you bother asking?" I wondered.

Mewtwo just shrugged his shoulders. We walked into the living room. Wario, Bowser, Ganondorf, and Wolf were all watching TV. "I heard what you asked Sonic. Not a chance in hell!" Wolf said. "Everyone else is in agreement."

"You're just watching TV." Mewtwo said. "He can just watch it with you."

Wolf pulled out his blaster and just aimed it at Mewtwo. "Well then." Mewtwo sighed. "Let's go elsewhere."

I just followed along, I felt like I was a dog on a leash being dragged. I thought that going through the training and unlocking the final aura state would of proved that I was going to be loyal to the Smashers, but I guess Mewtwo didn't want to take any chances.

The next Smasher we met was Red. He was just walking down the hallways, sort of looking lost in thought. "Red." Mewtwo said. "Listen, can you look after Nugai?"

Red just glanced at me and then at Mewtwo. "I guess." He managed to say.

"Great!" Mewtwo said. "I'll see you later Nugai!" and with that he teleported away. I was just speechless.

"Um, so what do you want to do?" Red asked.

I just glanced at the kid. "I don't know." I said. For whatever reason it was only now that I began to notice that my body was actually hurting all over. I guess it was from the training finally catching up to me. "What were you doing before hand?"

"Nothing, just wandering and thinking about something." Red said.

"What were you thinking about?" I wondered.

"A nickname." He replied. "Well, a team name to be more accurate. Master Hand just said that marketing wanted a title or a team name to give to all of my Pokemon, since just 'Red the Pokemon Trainer' sounds incredibly generic."

"I see." I said. "How about we get the other kid Smashers, and try to brainstorm one up together in the clubhouse."

Red just looked at me in shock. "That's a great idea! Okay let's go!"

He began to run away, and I tried to follow. Suddenly my body began to scream out in pain. I stopped, and he glanced back to see me lagging behind. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"I just can't keep up with you young kids these days." I said trying my best to do a fake old man voice. He didn't exactly buy it. "Sorry, I just sprained my ankle earlier, and can't really run."

"Oh." Red said. "Well, in that case, I guess we'll go slowly."

Ness suddenly turned the corner. "Nugai!" Ness shouted. "Mewtwo told me that Red was looking after you now!"

"Yeah." Red said. "Um, Ness, can you gather all of the other kid Smashers to go into the hideout?"

Ness just nodded. He glanced back at Nugai. "Oh, Nugai, to get in, you need an item to prove that you're a member."

I just nodded. "Okay, I guess we'll stop by my room first." I said.

We walked slowly back to my room. My mind was constantly on the pain, and where it came from.

I hope this isn't my body degrading again…

I just hoped that it was only a side effect of the training.

We entered my room, and as the door closed, Red was the first to speak. "You didn't sprain your ankle, did you?" He said.

"How could you tell?" I asked.

"You weren't limping." Red said.

I just sighed. "Caught. My body was just in a bunch of pain when I tried to run." I said. "Anyways, what's something I can use as an entrance fee into this clubhouse."

I began to go through the cupboards looking for stuff. I soon found an old Game Boy Advance. The back plate that covered the batteries was missing and there were no batteries in it. I figured it would be good enough. My mind was telling me that I hadn't really used it for quite a while. I then saw a Pokemon Fire Red game box. "Fire Red?" I muttered to myself.

Red didn't hear me; he was just looking around the room at various different objects.

"Okay." I said. "I got the object to use as the entrance fee."

I showed him the Game Boy Advance. He just looked at it confused. "What is it?" He wondered.

"A toy." I said.

We walked out of the room, and for the first time I actually glanced to see if there was a game in the cartridge slot.

Golden Sun

We made our way outside, and into the secret base. After I got in, Ness just held out the box. "Place your item in."

I put the Game Boy Advance in. He looked at it for a few seconds. "Okay then." He said, hiding the box underneath the floorboards once again.

I looked around the clubhouse. All of the kid Smashers were there except for Nana. "Okay, so why did you call us all together, Red?"

Red just looked around, "Well, Master Hand said I needed a nickname for the network to use. Since he said I'd probably hate any nickname that they choose, I've been given a few days to come up with one that I would like."

They all just looked at Red. Each of them immediately began to get into a thinking pose. "Actually, can I release my Pokemon in here?" Red said.

Ness just nodded. "Sure."

And so Red just tapped his three Pokeballs. Out came a Charizard, Ivysaur, and a Squirtle. They just began to nuzzle up against Red. I stared at the Charizard for several moments, recalling that Pokemon Fire Red box.

Fire Red… Fire Red…

"I've got it!" Popo shouted. "The perfect nickname! Red the Pokemon Master!"

"No, no, no!" Red immediately began to say shaking his hands. "That sounds far too arrogant. And besides, I don't think I'm a master yet. I've always got a spot to improve upon."

The other kid Smashers just continued in deep thought.

"Geeze, how why does Red have to be so humble." Popo said out loud.

"Red and Company?"

"That sounds stupid."

They shot back and forth for several minutes. The suggestions getting much stranger. "Red, Destroyer of Worlds!"

Red was about to give up. "Maybe I should just accept what the network nicknames me." He said.

"Hey, Nugai has been rather silent." Toon Link pointed out.

All eyes were on me. I just looked at them a bit surprised. "What?!" I managed to stammer out.

"Don't you have any suggestions?" Ness wondered.

"How about Fire Red the Crimson Flame?" I said

There was silence. Everyone was glaring at me, as though I was crazy. I expected them to start saying that it was the stupidest nickname they had ever heard. Red however just smiled. "I like it." He said as he rubbed his Charizard's back. "Yes, I think that's a good name."

Everyone looked at Red like he was crazy.

"That's the stu-" Ness began, however Red just glared at him causing him to stop.

"I still like Red Destroyer of Worlds." Popo said. "Ah well, at least you get the choice to avoid what happened with us."

Red just nodded.

We continued to stay in the clubhouse for a while. Eventually the kid Smashers began to get hungry. We all got down for lunch. They found a giant frozen pizza in the freezer and just put that in. They then mostly dispersed for the time required.

I seemed to have been traded off, this time to Popo.

Geeze, I'm some hot commodity…

"So, Nugai." Popo said. "Where did you even think up of that name?"

"You mean Fire Red the Crimson Flame?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said.

"It just came mostly out of thin air." I replied.

"I see." He said. "Let's go somewhere before lunch."

He led me to the gym of the mansion. He immediately began to put a harness on himself. I glanced and saw a rock wall.

Uh… don't you think you should ask for my thoughts before doing this?

"Do you wanna rock climb?" Popo asked.

"Sure, I guess." I said. Looking up at the wall. He passed me a harness and began to help me put it on. Soon we were both climbing up the rock wall as 2 wireframes acted as spotters. As expected, Popo had a lot more experience than I did, and was at the top before I had even made it a quarter of the way.

My progress wasn't helped as my body began to hurt again. I must have been making faces or something, as Popo seemed to notice.

"What's wrong, Nugai?" He asked. "Are you afraid of heights?"

"No." I replied back. "My body has just started aching."

Popo dropped down and just looked at me. "Well, I'm no doctor, but it might be a good idea to not exert your body then."

I made my way down. Popo was constantly glancing at the clock. "Well," he said. "I think it's time to get back to the kitchen."

We walked through the hallways. He suddenly stopped in front of a washroom. He looked at me and then at the door. "I'll wait out here." I said.

"Thanks." He said. He looked down the hall. "Kirby!" he shouted. Kirby quickly just came rushing towards us. "Can you look after Nugai for a few seconds while I take a leak?"

Kirby just nodded.

Soon Popo went in. I looked at Kirby. A thought crossed my mind. If I made it out of here alive, I've only really spent time with a few Smashers. I barely even knew most of them beyond their names.

And then another thought crossed my mind. What does Kirby actually feel like? I just reached out and patted Kirby on the head. His eyes closed, and he had a smile on his face. He felt like… something… I couldn't really put my finger on it. Maybe it was like a marshmallow, but it had a lot more resistance, so a stale marshmallow? It wasn't quite like a rubber ball.

"So, Kirby do you ever talk?" I wondered.

"Yep, of course." He said.

I just nodded. "What exactly are you?"

"I'm a star warrior." He replied.

Before I could press further, Popo came out of the washroom. He just glanced at the two of us. "Okay, Nugai, let's go get lunch before it's gone."

He began to walk away, and I followed. The word lunch probably shouldn't have been used in front of Kirby, as now he was following us, kind of like a dog expecting to be fed food.

I think Popo realized his mistake soon after. He seemed to be muttering something to himself along the lines of "stupid, you stupid idiot!"

We got to the kitchen and several other Kid Smashers were there. As soon as they saw Kirby their eyes widened in horror. "Oh, no." Ness said.

The Pizza came out of the oven, and Ness quickly began to hand out plates, as he gave me one he whispered. "Take all the pieces that you're going to eat, you're only going to get one serving."

Several of the Smashers rushed for the pizza. They filled up their plates with 4 or 5 pieces, and quickly went to the table. When I had taken my 5 pieces, and there were about 7 slices left, Kirby went to it and began to stack the remaining pizza on a plate.

When everyone finished the Pizza they all glanced at me, trying to figure out who was going to watch after me next.

"Well Toon, I think through the process of elimination, you're next."

"What about Kirby!?" Toon Link asked.

"He watched over him all ready." Popo said.

Toon Link just cringed. "Fine." He said. "I'll watch over him."

And just like that I was shoved away, yet again.

You guys really know how to make a guy feel wanted…

Soon his look of annoyance faded, and it was suddenly covered with a devilish smile. I honestly didn't like the look of it. He glanced at me with a rather mischievous look. "Follow me." He said.

And so, I was forced to follow him. We went down into the basement to the item storage warehouse. I just looked at all of the items a bit surprised. He quickly began to grab several different items such as the smoke ball.

"This will be great." He laughed.

"Um… what are we doing?" I really didn't want to ask.

"We're going to play a few jokes on some people." Toon Link said.

I just cringed. I imagined that I would be there to take the fall, or just remain to carry the stuff.

"Okay, I think that's everything." Toon Link said.

I looked at the assortment of items that he had gotten. Some string, some smoke balls, some party balls. As expected, I was told to help him carry the stuff. We went out to the clubhouse. However, Toon Link stopped. He placed his index finger on his lips to tell me to be quiet. And then I heard why.

Inside Red and Ness were talking.

"Listen, can I ask you a serious question?" Red said.

I began to eavesdrop.

"Sure," Ness replied.

"It's about Nugai." Red said. "Do you think he's with the Reaper?"

"If he is, he sure has been working hard to make sure that we're all fooled." Ness said.

"What was with the sudden change of heart?" Red asked. "Weren't you one of the most vocal people who wanted to get rid of him?"

Toon Link suddenly realized that we shouldn't be listening into this. He tried to grab me, and pull me away, however I just stood firmly in place, actually shaking my arm to break his grip.

"I just remembered something else." Ness said. "Anyways, I do have a question for you."

"I guess it's only fair." Red sighed.

"Are you really going to go with 'Fire Red, the Crimson Flame?' Isn't that just a bit redundant?" Ness asked.

I could only imagine that Red was nodding in agreement. "Yes, perhaps, but you don't want to hear some of the nicknames that I've heard people give Pokemon."

"Try me." Ness said.

"Acooltent." Red said.

I had to hold back my laughter. I didn't know why, but I thought that was funny.

Ness however wasn't exactly having that much luck with piecing the parts together. "I don't get it." He said.

"Tent a cool." Red explained.

Ness however just continued to be dumbfounded. "I still don't get it."

"Never mind." Red sighed. "Still, I can't help but feel that Nugai was faking it…"

I glanced at the items. I reached for a Smoke ball to throw it in, and hopefully scare them a bit. Toon Link however grabbed my arm and used all of his strength to actually try and stop me from throwing it.

"Don't!" Toon Link said.

I just glared at him. "In return, I want a bunch of answers." I said.

Toon Link just began to look like a nervous wreck. He just looked down defeated. "Okay." He muttered.

"Oh crap." A voice said. We both looked up to see Ness and Red staring down at us. They were both actually terrified.

"How much of that did you hear?" Ness asked.

"Enough." I said. "Get back in there, I want some answers."

They just all nodded, and went into the clubhouse. I went in and Toon Link followed. There was just silence. They began to fidget, and I made sure to block the entrance so they couldn't run out.

"So, you don't trust me?" I said.

"They're just orders." Ness said.

I just looked down at the ground, almost completely defeated. "Just orders?" I questioned.

"We have to keep an eye on you, and report any suspicious activity to Master Hand." Red said. "It's not that we don't trust you, just all things considered, we don't know where your loyalty lies."

That's kind of, sort of, the same thing…

They were extremely clear about the whole if I even joked about joining the Reaper they would have to kill me part. It was just their complete lack of belief in where I stood in this battle that annoyed me to no end.

"You have my word, I won't betray you." I said.

"I think you should know how weak someone's word is." Ness said. "But, it doesn't matter, I believe you now."

"Why?" I asked.

"Just the games we played yesterday." Ness said. "It was while we were playing chess."

I looked at him confused. I didn't know what he meant. As far as I could remember, it was just several games of chess.

"And you Red?"

"I believe you now." Red said. Was that because of fear, or was he actually sincere? I didn't know. "Honestly, I'm expecting you to switch over to the Reapers side. You'll die unless he sends you back, right?"

I just nodded. "But, I'm sure I'll find another way back home." I said. "And once Palkia is free from his control, maybe Palkia will send me back."

"I hope for your sake." Red said.

I turned to Toon Link. "And what about you Toon?" I asked. "Do you trust me?"

Toon Link was just quiet. Ness and Red stared at him, hoping to force out an answer. "I believe in you." He eventually said.

"And why?" Ness wondered.

"We were in the item storage room earlier." Toon Link replied. "If he wanted to ditch me, and escape the mansion to join the Reaper, I gave him the perfect opportunity. He just had to get a cloaking device and then run. I doubt anyone would have caught him."

I was a bit in shock, that us going down there, and getting the materials for what I assumed was a prank was just a giant test. I was also wondering if this was also part of Toon Link's plan. That he always intended for us to overhear Red and Ness. Well, if it was, or if it wasn't, it worked.

The three of them felt like a load had been taken off of their shoulders. They all just fell back onto the ground and looked up at the ceiling. "So, what's next?" Red asked.

"No idea." Toon Link sighed. "Ness, did you restock the comics in here?"

"No." Ness sighed.

"Well, I need to check on something in the mansion." Toon Link said. "I'll be back."

He quickly ran out. Ness also got up. "There's something I need to get too." he said. "Red, can you watch over him for a few minutes?"

Red was a bit shocked. Eventually he just nodded. "Okay." He said.

Ness quickly rushed out of the clubhouse. I didn't quite know if Ness was being sincere or not. Ever since the ending of the aura training it had been much harder to read anyone's true intentions.

Which was especially strange since aura was what let me see everyone's intentions earlier. For the first time I realized that ever since I had finished the training, I hadn't been using aura at all. It had just stopped. Despite having complete mastery, I wasn't able to do anything. I stretched out my hand, but I couldn't even send out a small aura sphere.

What's going on?!

I don't think Red was actually paying attention to me. He was just constantly fidgeting in his seat, as though he was trying to say something. I just looked around the room. I was exhausted; maybe just maybe the aura being gone was because of fatigue. I wanted to lie down. I got up and walked over to a bench with several pillows and a blanket on it. I just lied on it.

"Um... Nugai..." he eventually said.

I looked at him, through a half closed eye. "What?" I asked, doing my best to try and fall asleep there. The bench was strangely inviting despite just being made out of wood. I didn't care that it wasn't comfortable. I just wanted to fall asleep.

"Nugai, thanks." Red said.

"For what?" I asked.

"The nickname."

I let off a sigh. "Oh, no problem."

"Despite what Ness and the others say, I think it's pretty cool. It appeals to my star Pokemon too, Charizard." Red said.

"Well, that's good." I said.

"Charmander was my first Pokemon." Red said.

I nodded. "Mine too."

He looked at me a bit confused. Truth be told, I was also a little confused. "What?"

"Forget I said anything." I said.

He laughed rather amused. "Okay."

I didn't know how that had slipped out. I was confident that it was because of my memories that were coming back.

"Listen, last night I had a dream."

"A dream?" I questioned, not exactly sure why he was telling me this.

"Yeah." Red said. "I was on the top of a snowy mountain, and just waiting, and waiting for someone to come to me."

"And?" I questioned.

"Someone did come." Red said. "He was about my age. But for some reason I think it was you."

"Oh?" I said. "Anything interesting happen?"

"Well, we just battled." Red said.

I nodded a few times. It didn't sound all that interesting. It was probably just the same old stuff to him. I adjusted one of the pillows, trying to make it fluffier. It wasn't exactly working.

I dozed off for what I thought was several minutes. However I was woken by Red. He just looked at me for several seconds. "Um, I think we should go back in."

I just nodded. Slowly we went back towards the Mansion. We got into the mansion and he immediately went into the kitchen. I just followed. "Eating all ready?" I said.

"You were asleep for a few hours." Red said.

I just looked at him surprised. I did feel rather energized. Still not as much as I normally do, but a bit better. He went into the fridge and looked at various items, occasionally glancing back at me. "Is there anything you want to eat?" He asked.

I looked around for a while. "Schwarma." I said.

Red just sighed. "We don't have any of that."

"Well, what do we have?" I wondered.

He looked in the fridge, and just seemed to rearrange some of the stuff. "There's a bunch of lettuce, and dressings, along with some vegetables."

"Okay, a salad then." I said.

He just nodded. Within a few minutes he had made a giant bowl of salad. When it was done, we just began to clean the dishes when there suddenly was a loud banging sound. The sound of shattering glass came from all around the mansion. Red and I just both looked at each other confused as to what that was. But soon a speaker began to blare.

"Code red! We are under attack by the Reaper, he has gotten through the barrier!" That was all it said before it suddenly switched over to a different voice.

"I've found you, Smashers!" He laughed. "You can't escape me!"

We quickly began to run, it didn't take long to find everyone gathering together in front of the basement stairs. Lucario was being restrained by belts and was being carried by several wireframes. I went through each of the Smashers and tried to do a head count. We were currently missing a few, the one I was the most focused on not being there was Toon Link.

Everyone was rather shocked. "How did he get here?" Mario asked.

"Brother, the barrier faced a power surge!" Crazy Hand said.

"Crap. Activate the last defences!" Master Hand said.

Suddenly the windows were covered by thick metal sheets. The doors were bolted shut. "Is that really going to stop the Reaper?" I asked.

"No, it will only stall him." Master Hand said. "We are all escaping down to the basement!"

I wanted to question how that would work, but I figured Master Hand must of had a plan, otherwise he wouldn't have gathered all of us here. We all weren't here... we were still missing Toon Link.

"What about Toon Link?" I asked.

Master Hand just clenched his fist. "I've contacted some wireframes to find him. They will protect him."

"What if they can't protect him?" I asked. The other Smashers were all looking at me. I'm sure plenty of them thought I led the Reaper to here, and was apart of this attack.

"He will be fine." Master Hand said.

I couldn't allow another Lucario to happen. I couldn't go through all of that again! I just bolted through the mansion, hoping to find Toon Link as quickly as possible. The other Kid Smashers were also with me, or were trying to tackle me to the ground to stop me. "Nugai!" Red shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"We have to find Toon Link!" I said.

"He'll be fine!" Ness said. "Just get down into the basement!"

"No, he won't!" I snapped. "I can't let anyone else die!"

I won't let the Status Quo make anyone forget about their friends. Not again!

They all nodded. "Okay, let's find him." Ness said.

"Wait, you're just letting me do this just like that?" I said confused.

"Well, we might as well." Ness sighed. "We kind of are now a good distance between them."

It didn't take long to find Toon Link. He was running towards us, looking for where everyone had gone. We were now in what appeared to be one of the many studies in the mansion. Just fairly large room built with several bookshelves, some windows, a desk, and some comfy chairs.

"What's going on?" Toon Link asked.

"The Reaper is attacking!" I said.

Perhaps as if he was on cue, The Reaper suddenly cut through a wall and flew towards us. I activated my beam sword and it clashed with his scythe. The kid Smashers were all staring at me like I was crazy. "Back me up!" I shouted.

"Nugai, I think it's time I stopped holding back on you." The Reaper said. I was suddenly pushed back by some unknown and inhuman strength. I just fell onto the ground and Lucas, Ness, Red and Popo quickly rushed to my side. The Reaper began to spin his scythe; suddenly he stopped and just held it in front of himself. The black blade suddenly began to glow with a white energy. The energy grew much bigger, and made the scythe double sided. Worst of all, it now made the top half a blade, as opposed to just the bottom half.

I reached into my pocket. All that there was several smoke balls that I had put in my pockets when Toon Link asked me to carry them. I was rather surprised that they hadn't actually gone off yet. I pulled all of them out. "Can you promise me that you guys will escape?" I asked.

"Not without you." Ness said.

"Well, they are loyal to you." The Reaper said. "That must be a first. How does it feel to actually have people like you enough to die for you?"

I doubted it was that, and just more of a chance to make sure that the previous fight wasn't an act, and once they fled I wasn't just going to defect to his side.

"Get going!" I said. "I can take him on. My awakened aura state should be able to do it."

They just stayed by my side. Not flinching, or moving.

"Awakened aura state?" The Reaper laughed. "Really Nugai? You believe that something like that will be able to turn the tide of the battle?"

I struggled to get up. I clenched my fist and concentrated as hard as I could. The aura tattoos appeared on my body and my hair began to turn white. It was a far cry from a full transformation, but it was at least a start. I looked at the Reaper.

"This is my awakened state!" I said. "Prepare to meet your end!"

I ran for him however he just swung his scythe. I blocked it with my beam sword, but I was still tossed back. As soon as I hit the wall, I lost my awakened state. He just sighed. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He asked.

Almost everywhere there was now a giant gash. On the ceiling, on the floor, and on the wall behind me. It was as though he had sent a blade of air along with the attack just now. At most there was a light scratch on my clothes. I guessed my awakened aura state protected me enough from the attack.

"You're far too dangerous, Nugai." The Reaper said. "To believe that you had also entered the awakened state of aura."

Also? Wait then...

"You can also use aura?" I said shocked.

"I've underestimated you, little brother." He replied dodging my question. He just clenched his fist and suddenly there was a burst of aura. "But, let me show you what true aura mastery looks like!" His hair began to go white. No tattoos appeared on his body, but he was definitely much stronger. The scythe's energy blades grew much bigger. It was now apparent that there was nowhere in the room that he couldn't reach.

I just was frustrated.

Why? Why was my energy drained? Why haven't I been able to access aura at all!?

Ness cast a shield of PSI energy, however it was quickly cut through by the blade.

Why can the Reaper control aura as well? No, wait; I should have seen this coming! Lucario said about him using aura to cut through his aura. Crap...

"So, Nugai, which of the Smashers do you want to see die first?" The Reaper asked. "Maybe Lucas? I could rebuild him into a cyborg to attack and kill the remaining Smashers!" he laughed.

Lucas just seemed to shake. It also looked like he was trying to hold back some tears.

"Or what about Toon Link? I could send his body chopped up into tiny little bits and mail them to all his friends. Melody, Tetra, and we can't forget his grandmother." The Reaper said.

Toon Link just began to try and reach for his bow and arrow.

"Or what about Ness?" The Reaper said. "Beat him to death with his own baseball bat?

Ness' fingers began to spark.

"I guess there is always Red." The Reaper said. "How about putting him in a pit of savage Pokemont to be torn apart."

Red reached for a Pokeball.

"And how could I forget Popo." The Reaper laughed. "I could put an ice axe in his body, and have his mangled corpse nailed to a mountain!"

"You're morbid!" I said.

"Now, choose someone to die Nugai!" The Reaper laughed. "Choose who dies, and who gets to fall into despair."

I looked at all of the Smashers.

Someone has to die?

"What's wrong? You can't decide? Why, don't you have any grudges? Didn't they talk about you behind your back? Didn't they not trust you?" The Reaper asked.

How did he know about that?

I just struggled to get back up. I used the beam sword as a cane and slowly began to walk forwards.

"Well tell you what, I'll spare all of them if you join me!" The Reaper said.

"No, I decided who is going to die." I said.

All of the Smashers' eyes just opened in shock. "What!" Ness shouted.

The Reaper was also clearly shocked, he wasn't expecting me to give one of them up. But then again I didn't plan on having one of the Smashers die.

I just stretched out my arms. "I'll die."

The Reaper looked at me shocked. "What?!"

"You told me to choose who dies." I replied. "I choose myself! If only I die, and the other Smashers are let go, then I think it's worth it!"

"Well, if that's your choice, then prepare to die!" The Reaper said. "I see no reason to not kill you now, after all, I'll still get what I want!"

He pulled back the scythe. "Just one clean cut across my neck." I said.

The Reaper smiled. "It's the least I can do for a friend." he said.

I closed my eyes. I was a coward right until the very end.

I felt a gust of wind across my neck and then heard all of the Kid Smashers scream out in horror.

And yet, I didn't feel any pain.

So, this is death.

Their screams didn't stop. "NUGAI!" Lucas cried out. His voice was becoming a sob. Several of the other kid Smashers were also beginning to cry.

I'm sorry, that you had to see this…

It was strange, I was more in tune with everything then when I was using aura. I guess it was just a sixth sense thing.

"What the hell is going on!?" I heard the Reaper say. I suddenly felt several more gusts of wind against various parts of my body. Somehow I just opened my eyes, and found myself okay. The Reaper's scythe on the other hand it had looked like something had eaten through the aura blades. He swung it once again, this time I kept my eyes open and saw that as the aura blades hit me, that they just seemed to completely disappear.

"I'm still alive?" I said confused. Beyond that I actually felt energized. He sent the scythe towards me one more time, this time trying to stab me with the aura blades. The aura blade hit me, but it never went through me. I quickly reached out and touched a portion of the aura blade. As soon as I touched it, it disappeared.

Or to be more accurate, as soon as I touched it, I absorbed it.

The other Smashers were just staring at me shocked. I kept on touching different parts of the aura blade. Reconfirming what had just happened. Now it had tons of little holes in it. I glanced back at the other Smashers. They just seemed mostly relived that I was okay.

"What's going on?!" The Reaper shouted. "Tell me!?"

A smile just crossed my face. "Why don't I tell you, you fake!"

I began to run for the Reaper. He kept swinging at me with his aura blade; however, each and every time it touched me the aura was just absorbed into my body. I put some of the aura that I had absorbed into my legs to make me faster. To him it must have been like I had suddenly disappeared, and was now in front of him and out of the range of his scythe. I just pulled back my fist and delivered the strongest punch I could muster directly to his face.

He fell back onto the ground and just looked at me frustrated. He had let go of his scythe and I caught it. Instantly all of the aura was absorbed into my body.

"You don't have aura mastery." I said. "You cheated to obtain the power over aura that you do have. You've made a mockery of aura. You know absolutely nothing of how it works, and what it can do! Lucario was wrong. You never used the opposite aura or anything. You just used an overpowering destructive aura!"

His hand was on his face. He just looked upset. "You know that's a foul." He said. "You can't punch someone's face, you can only kick them."

"You want to talk about rules now?" I said rather disgusted. "How does it look now that the tables have been turned?"

The Reaper just sighed. "You know, the only reason you even hit me was because I let you hit me." He said getting up off of the ground. "If I wanted to that attack could of just go right through me."

The next thing I knew I was sent flying and crashed into the wall. The Reaper had just suddenly disappeared and reappeared right in front of me. "What?"

"Even if my mastery of aura is fake, I still have plenty of other powers, Nugai." He had two red chains wrapped around his wrists.

"Dialga and Palkia." I muttered. "You just stole their powers."

"And their stolen powers is more than a match for you. Grovel, Nugai." He laughed. "So what? You just absorb aura, there's an easy way to avoid that, I don't use aura."

I gritted my teeth. He just laughed, enjoying it. He picked up his scythe. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. I hoped that the aura I had absorbed was enough. Soon the tattoos appeared on my body, and my hair became white. I just looked at him. I grabbed the beam sword and rushed for him.

"REAPER!" I shouted.

The beam sword and scythe clashed. He was actually surprised by my strength. "I won't grovel. I will not bow before you! I'll end this!"

"You can't!" The Reaper laughed.

And then, as we were clashing our weapons together, I turned off the beam sword for a second, and the turned it back on a moment later. I was now inside his range of using the scythe, and I cut away part of his cloak. It didn't take long for him to just send me flying, but for a brief second, I noticed something around his neck that had been concealed by his cloak earlier. It was a Smash Pendant.

"A smash-" I realized that I was talking out loud, and quickly stopped myself, but The Reaper realized what I had seen.

"You caught me off guard!" The Reaper said.

My mind was racing. Any concentration I did have vanished. One of the Smashers let him into here. I tried to get up to fight again, but unfortunately, all of the absorbed aura had been used up. My body was having great difficulty to stand. Lucas suddenly jumped between us. He put his hand on the ground and suddenly pillars of earth began to shoot up. I just fell forwards, but Ness and Popo grabbed me. "We're getting out of here." Ness said.

"Okay." I weakly said. As much as I hate to admit it, I don't think I was going to be able to fight another round right now with The Reaper anyways. My vision was beginning to go blurry.

Lucas kept on doing several PK Grounds, and Popo was summoning an iceberg. I was half expecting the Reaper to go through concrete matter using Palkia's power, but for some reason he didn't.

Why isn't he chasing after us?

We managed to get back into another room where Master Hand was waiting. "What happened?" He asked.

"Nugai held him off for a few minutes." Ness said.

"Well, get down into the basement." Master Hand ordered.

They began to carry me down the stairs. Soon it looked like a dead end. However Ness and Popo began to carry me towards a wall. Lucas and Toon Link just followed. The Reaper suddenly cut through the ceiling and landed in the room.

"Go!" Master Hand ordered.

Him and Crazy Hand quickly rushed for the Reaper.

Quickly Ness and Popo took me through a sliding door. There were several wireframes that came to help us. They quickly put me on a stretcher. We got into a rather big room that was full of the Smashers. Master Hand and Crazy Hand were then knocked through the fake wall and sent into the room. The Reaper followed.

Several wire frames just rushed to stop him. But it was a fruitless effort. They were quickly cut through.

It was now I realized that we were trapped. He looked around the room with all of the Smashers. His eyes then fixed on Lucario.

"You've all ready got a replacement." He laughed. "Should I kill this one too?"

Master Hand and Crazy Hand however rushed right for the Reaper. "You will not kill any more Smashers!" They shouted, pushing him away. As soon as they left the room, the door shut and it suddenly felt like we were moving. It felt like we were falling.

And then the feeling of falling stopped. I looked around at the other Smashers, I then noticed that we were all in here.

"What just happened?!" Sonic shouted confused.

"They sealed us in this room, and separated it from the mansion." Mewtwo explained. "We're now safe from the Reaper for the time being."

"Can Master Hand and Crazy Hand win against him?" Toon Link asked.

"I don't know." Mewtwo said. "They might just try to get him away from here."

We all waited in silence. Each of us migrated to a different area in the room, and tried to keep ourselves occupied.

"This is so boring!" Sonic shouted, as he ran around the room. "Can something happen?"

Princess Zelda went over to a cupboard and began to pull out some blankets. Now that I thought about it, the room was also cold. I went over and took a blanket from the cupboard. It was nothing special, just a grey blanket, which happened to have a hole in the middle so you could wear it like cloak.

Others followed suit. There was also a mini refrigerator with some drinks inside. We took some bottled water, and poured it in a kettle and eventually had either our choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate.

"This is just getting scary." Ness said. "I hope Master Hand is okay."

"He'll be fine." Mario said. "Against the Reaper, I'd be more sorry for the Reaper."

"Especially since Crazy Hand is there." Bowser laughed.

"But what were they talking about with the replacement?" Lucas asked.

I looked at them rather shocked. "I don't know." Ness said.

"Lucario," I said. "He was talking about Lucario."

"But who was he replacing?"

I was devastated; they didn't remember Lucario who sacrificed his life. I just curled into a ball, buried my face in my knees and began to cry.

This isn't right. Damn this status quo!

"What's wrong is Nugai afraid?" Ganondorf taunted.

I looked up at Ganondorf. If looks could kill, well Ganondorf would have been blown to pieces. He suddenly backed away afraid.

"Are you okay?" Popo asked.

"No. I've got some stomach pains." I lied.

"Do we have any aspirin down here?" Popo asked.

Princess Peach went looking into the cupboards. However, there was none to be found. A lot of the Smashers seemed to be interested in searching for the aspirin; I guessed it was at least a distraction that they could use to keep their mind off of the current situation. Not even Dr. Mario had any on him.

"I'll deal with it." I sighed. Deep down I feared that this was going to be my fate. That the moment I disappeared, the Status Quo would kick in and they would forget about me. "Damn it. It shouldn't be like this."

My mind began to wander. That battle I just had with the Reaper. Despite having Dialga's and Palkia's powers he wasn't abusing them like I thought he would. I just began to draw something on the dust in the floor. It wasn't anything too good. It was just a stick figure wielding a scythe.

Theoretically, none of us should of been even able to touch him. Between using Dialga's power to slow us down, or Palkia's power making himself intangible. An attack should never be able to land on him.

I drew a circle around the stick figure. The punch I had landed on him, he definitely wasn't expecting, same with the attack where I quickly turned the beam sword on and off. If he had plenty of warning, or could see the attack coming a mile a way, then he could just dodge. So, the close combat was probably the best method of attack with him. And then I would have to get past his scythe.

There was also him not chasing after us immediately after we set up the barrier. He should have been able to effortlessly pass through it, and yet he didn't. And then again, with Master Hand and Crazy Hand knocking him out of the room so we could escape. If he just made it so that they went through him, the two hands would have been out of the picture, and we would of been slaughtered.

Then there was the other thing that didn't add up. If he had a Smash necklace and could pass through the barrier, why did he destroy it?

I looked around the room, all the Smashers were present. That also had to include the mole. A thought crossed my mind. What if the Reaper destroyed the barrier not to let himself in but to let the mole in? I pulled out my smash necklace and fiddled with it for a few seconds. "Show me the person who doesn't have a Smash Necklace in this room." I said.

However it didn't point to anyone. The flame just floated inside the gem.

"You look like you've been in deep thought for a while? What's the matter?" Ness asked.

"I've just been going through a few things that I learned in the battle." I replied. "Ness, can you get Mewtwo?"

Ness just nodded. He rushed over to Mewtwo and a moment later Mewtwo floated over to me. "What is it, Nugai?"

"Mewtwo, can I ask you to order all of the Smashers to pull out their Smash necklace?" I wondered.

"Why?" Mewtwo asked.

"Before I tell you can you pull yours out and show me? You too Ness."

They both looked at me rather confused. Ness just pulled his out of his pocket, while Mewtwo just had his tail come in front of him. He pointed to back of the tail, where there was a string wrapped around it, along with a smash pendant.

I nodded, and pointed at my rather crude drawing of the Reaper. "When we were fighting, I was able to do some damage to his clothing and I saw a Smash Pendant around him." I said. "I think whoever is here without the Smash Pendant is the mole. He only destroyed the barrier to let the mole in."

"Then why didn't he give back the Smash Pendant after breaking the barrier?" Mewtwo wondered.

"I think it's because he couldn't. He knew that as soon as he broke the barrier the defences would activate trapping the mole out of the mansion." I replied. "The Mole had to have been in the mansion somehow, without the Smash Pendant."

Mewtwo just nodded. "Well then, I'll see what I can do."

He teleported on top of a table. "Excuse me." He said, his voice filling the room. "I'd just like to make a quick little check that none of us are somehow the Reaper in disguise. Can you just pull out your Smash Pendants so we can confirm that we are all who we say we are?"

Everyone looked around confused. They began to grab where their Smash Pendant was. For Donkey Kong it was behind his tie. For Peach and Zelda they wore it around their neck. Sonic reached into one of his gloves to pull it out, Pikachu just pulled it out from underneath his fur. Soon everyone had a Smash Pendant out.

Mewtwo just held his Smash Pendent in front of him. It floated and suddenly all of the Smash Pendants were projecting something. I looked at the one in front of me. It was just a small ID card.

Mewtwo looked around and breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, then, thank you." He said.

Everyone just nodded, and put their Smash Pendants away. Mewtwo teleported back to us. Ness looked a little worried. "It didn't do anything." I said disappointed.

"No, not really." Mewtwo said. "It confirmed that the Reaper had to have returned the pendant to the mole somehow."

"Were we the last ones in?" I wondered.

Mewtwo just nodded. "Yes."

"And everyone else?"

"They all came in this room immediately, when you separated from the group to find Toon Link, and the other kids followed, that was when the last batch of Smashers arrived. We were waiting for you the whole time."

"We were fighting the Reaper for most of that time." I said.

I didn't want to think that one of the Kid Smashers was the mole. And with everyone being in the room and waiting for us, there was no chance that the Reaper was waiting behind to meet with the mole.

I just looked rather frustrated at the ground. "What's next?" I wondered.

"That's your choice." Mewtwo said. "I'd be careful before you accuse anyone though."

"Mewtwo, do you know who the mole is?" I asked.

Mewtwo just glanced back at me. "Just watch your back Nugai," he said.

I glanced at Ness and then back at Mewtwo. I just figured the best thing to do was bounce off more ideas off of Ness, and he might be able to say something that could lead to a breakthrough. "So, what were those ID cards?" I wondered.

"They were just that." Ness replied. "ID Cards. If someone who didn't have their own pendant was holding it, it wouldn't activate."

"So, Mewtwo was just able to get everyone to show their smash pendant." I said.

"Well, if the Reaper was disguised as one of us, it would have been given away instantly." Ness said.

"But we saw him get knocked away by Master and Crazy Hand." I replied. "How would he still be in the room?"

"He told you during that fight." Ness said. "He let you hit him."

I felt so stupid. He could of used Dialga and Palkia's power to avoid the attack. Or maybe he did and just switched places with someone. That was what Mewtwo was trying to check out. "Okay, so for right now, besides the mole we were safe. The Mole won't do anything to attack us, because we most likely outnumber him or her." I said.

Ness just nodded.

"So, the Reaper needed to enter the barrier, so he had a Smash Pendant, meanwhile, the mole didn't. I think the reason he came into this room, wasn't to attack us, but to return the pendant to the mole." I said.

"I think that's fair. Once he did that, he let himself get attacked by Master and Crazy Hand." Ness said.

"Then the question remains how did the mole get into the mansion without a pendant?" I wondered.

"It's not the first time it's happened though." Ness pointed out. "There was Lucario."

Ness was right, they hadn't given Lucario the Smasher Necklace until he was in the hospital wing recovering. How did he get through the barrier? I wanted to ask him, but A I doubted he wanted to talk to me, and B even if he did want to talk to me I doubted that he would even know what I was talking about.

"Okay, so why would a barrier let Lucario in, even though he wasn't a Smasher yet?" I questioned.

"I don't know." Ness replied.

I however did. It was the Status Quo. Making sure that Lucario did become a Smasher to replace the one that had died. That was the only explanation that I could think of. Yet I couldn't say that it was a replacement in this case.

"Then let's focus on something else. How could someone, who didn't have a key, get into a locked room?" I said.

Ness just shrugged. "Why don't we ask someone else?" He said. "Maybe they have an perspective that will open things up."

I looked around the room. The only other ones that I was completely positive wasn't the Reaper's Mole were the kid Smashers, and Snake. I figured Snake was probably the best bet. I decided to walk up to him.

"Snake, I have a question." I said. "Or rather a riddle."

Snake just glanced at me. "About what?"

"Well, Ness just asked me this to try and pass time." I lied. I didn't want to risk anything in case the Mole was listening in."

"Okay, shoot." Snake said.

"There is this room, it only has one entrance. And every person that enters it needs a key. However someone who doesn't have a key enters." I said. "How did he enter?"

Snake just looked at me like I was stupid. "Someone else let him in."

"But someone else couldn't of let him in." I said.

"Why not?" Snake asked.

"Let's say instead of a door, the only entrance into this room was just an opening." I said. "But as you went through the opening you were scanned by a machine. If you don't have the key on you, the security measures occur and force the person out."

Snake just looked at me. "Then, how about the person never left the room, he just threw his key out of the room for some reason."

I stared at him for several seconds. "Thank you Snake." I said. I walked away thinking it over. If the barrier only let them in, but didn't check once they were in, could they just throw out the Smash Pendant and go back in to the Mansion. I returned to Ness.

"And?"

"Snake thought about just throwing the key outside while you were still in the room." I said.

Ness glanced at me a bit confused. "Sorry, it's the analogy that I came up with, but I don't know the barrier's powers, would that even work?"

"If the barrier's only purpose was to only let people in with the key, that would be all that it could do." Ness said. "That's how it works with the Club House, the barrier around that only lets people who have paid their entrance fee, or people we have invited in."

"Has anyone ever dropped their entrance fee outside of the club house?" I wondered.

Ness just looked a bit confused. "I don't think so." He said.

"If we get out of here, I'd like to test it." I said.

Ness just nodded. "Well, we can't confirm or deny that right now. So, I guess we have to wait."

I nodded, and we separated. I observed the other Smashers to the best of my ability, hoping that the Mole would give some clue to his identity.

This would be so much easier if Mewtwo just came out and said who the mole is…

Time passed, and Master and Crazy Hand teleported into the room. Master hand had gathered all of the Smashers together from around the room.

"It is now too dangerous to stay at the Smash Manson. The Reaper has been chased away this time, but he will attack again. For this reason, we are moving to another place. Where an old friend can protect us."

"And who is this old friend?" I asked.

"His name is Mayor Tortimer."

In the back of my head the name sounded familiar.

"And the place is known as Smashville."

That place also sounded familiar. The room that they were in suddenly reattached itself to the rest of the Smash Mansion. We were then all sent to gather up our stuff. Master Hand had given us a strange cube that somehow sucked up everything in our rooms.

We were then given 30 more minutes to go around the mansion and find anything that was still in one piece and see if we wanted to take it. The place was a wreck. Everything that remained had at least a scratch on it. I just looked at an old grandfather clock in the foyer that hadn't been claimed. I just put the cube on it, and it was instantly compressed.

Ness found me and we walked outside to the clubhouse. We both nodded and climbed up.

The clubhouse was perfectly fine. The barrier looked like it held up. While other trees had been uprooted or had their branches cut. Though if one looked at the trees it would quickly become apparent where the barrier spread. We just went up into the club house.

"Okay, we'll try with you." Ness said.

I nodded. He took out the Game Boy Advanced and just dropped it out of the window. Part of me just cringed. "Couldn't we of just placed it on the ground?" I said with gritted teeth.

He glanced at me and shrugged his head. "What's done is done, besides, we don't have very much time." Ness said. "Now let's test it, can you get out of the magic barrier."

I nodded and just went out of the clubhouse, and down the tree. Soon I was out of the magic barrier.

"Okay, can you come back in?" Ness shouted.

I climbed up the tree effortlessly until I was back in the clubhouse. Ness just looked a bit confused. "Why could you come back in?"

"It's the other condition." I said. "You're practically inviting me in. Or maybe just because the magic still recognizes the item as my payment to be in the club."

Ness just thought about it for a few seconds. "Okay, let's try that then." He said. "Your payment has been revoked, get out of the clubhouse! Now!"

I nodded and climbed down the tree. The barrier didn't stop me from leaving. I then tried to climb up the tree. I suddenly just felt the barrier. It was solid wall; no matter what I did I couldn't even go through it.

A few moments later Ness jumped down from the tree and looked at me. "Okay, so it looks like you can still get out," he said. "So, what do you think this means?"

"That someone brought the Reaper to the barrier, threw his smash pendant out of the barrier, and then entered the mansion, and hasn't left since." I replied.

"Okay, grab the item, and then come back up."

I rushed to the roots of the tree where the Game Boy Advanced had dropped. I just looked at the screen. Much to my surprise it was perfectly fine. I quickly climbed up the tree. This time I wasn't faced with any resistance.

I put the Game Boy Advanced back into the box, and we quickly made it back to the mansion. The various Smashers were all gathered, each with the cube item in their hands. We were taken to a room with a hidden passage that then led to a garage where there would normally be tons of different vehicles. Now there was only one.

We then boarded a ship. We all waited patiently for the head counts, and the last few stragglers, and eventually we set off.

For whatever reason, it was decided that the ship took a scenic route. I just fell asleep, not the least bit concerned that one of the Smashers could be a traitor, and kill us all while we slept.

My writing process for this chapter: Eh, it's only 6 pages in Microsoft word (Arial, size 10 font) I'll just write a bit in Word Pad and copy and paste it in later… *Does just that*

HOLY CRAP!? 26 pages!? I didn't write that much.

I probably could of split this up into two days… Having the clubhouse segment as one, and the Reaper's attack as another. And I'll probably regret not doing it that way when I get down a few more chapters, where I have absolutely nothing written yet. (Actually...)

This was asked in the reviews, and the question was so good, I figured that it deserved it's own explanation at the end of the chapter. The question was: How do multiple saves work?

And my response, mostly copy and pasted:

The way I envision it; is as infinite parallel universes, constantly stemming out of all the variations that can happen in the game and from the people who play the games.

While the characters aren't really aware of them, they are affected by them a bit. Ness mentioned that he has dreams of various legs of his journey with variations of how they actually went, he mentioned that he saved a kid being attacked by The Sharks. While no such event happened in the game, that parallel universe was made from Nugai entering into the game, and influencing it.

Games that are no longer played, have had their save been deleted, through siblings, or say the battery dieing, or just abandoned and forgotten about doesn't necessarily mean that parallel universe is destroyed. Just think of it as the opening of The Wind Waker, where the hero never comes. (Geeze... On second thought that's sort of depressing...)

And now a bunch of new stuff:

So, every time a new game starts, a parallel universe is made. Using Pokemon Red and Blue as an example, there are countless male pokemon trainers named as Betty because there was no female option in the original games, and a girl put in her own name. And likewise, there are countless parallel universes where the rivals are named Douche, or other much more inappropriate stuff.

These parallel universes are also how the Status Quo is able to work. With Lucario's death it was able to overwrite the memories of the Smashers with another group where Lucario hadn't joined yet. All the Status Quo had to do after that was get another Lucario in to the Smashers some way. In this case, breaking the rules of the barrier, and allowing it in.

I don't know if I explained it all that well, or not... That's mostly just how I see it. I may write more in future chapters.