So yeah.. Here's my next chapter. It was a little later than I expected it to be.. I hope playing Mother 1 on virtual console and playing Lucas in Smash 4 are worthy excuses. This one- like my other chapters- has six different versions that I had to chose just one of. I chose the best one, so don't worry.
Reviews/Comments/Criticism are very appreciated. And yeah, I've said this many other times, but it makes my day sometimes when I read reviews, and it's just an amazing feeling to know someone actually cares about what you're writing even if it's complete trash. I'd like to see more people on this site write some stuff, because getting reviews just feels awesome.
Anyway *disclaimer* and on with the story!
Lucas stared in awe of the scene that appeared in front of him. It was mostly flat land. The grass in the moonlit darkness reflected a green-blue color. A dirt road was behind him, and lights from a small town lit up the sky half a mile away. Then directly in front of him, was the burned remains of a building.
"N-Ness," Lucas's breathing staggered as he spoke. He felt like his throat was almost closing.
Ness, Claus, and everyone else stood beside or behind Lucas. Ness and Claus both had a blank expression. Lucas could tell that Claus was angry from the way he clenched his fist. Ness didn't answer Lucas, but instead was thinking back on his teleportation decision.
Lucas was trying to fight back the urge to break down and cry when he saw the remains of his home, but it was a futile effort.
"Ness!" Claus shouted angrily, "Why the hell would you bring us here?! How did you even teleport us here? This is probably the first place the pigmasks are going to look." Ninten, Kumatora, and Paula blinked in confusion.
"Well, I erm-" Ness hesitated telling the truth, "I kind of looked into Lucas's dream the other day and-"
"You what?!" Claus responded. Lucas looked at Ness with questioning teary eyes.
"I'm sorry," Ness shamefully said, "I just thought-"
"Well I thought you were smart and actually would've taken us to a place that wouldn't get us killed!" Claus retorted.
"Calm down," Kumatora tried to settle the dispute, "What is going on?"
"Kumatora, I thought you knew where we were. Didn't you live around here before?" Claus asked her before returning to glaring at Ness.
"I honestly don't know where we are," she answered.
"This is Tazmily," Claus said coldly, angrily gritting his teeth.
"Then this is probably a better place than anywhere else to hide out," Kumatora told him. "This is probably the last place they would expect to find you."
"Or the first place."
"Still it's a 50/50 chance when you think about it like that, and we can leave if they find you," Kumatora pointed out.
Footsteps sounded in the grass about 20 feet away from the group. "Claus?" the unknown voice sounded in the dark, "Lucas?" They turned to see another boy standing there. "What are you doing here?"
"Fuel!" Claus said in surprise, "why are you over here anyway?"
"Well, I was taking a walk and I heard shouting. So I came over here and, yeah," Fuel explained. "So why are you here?"
"Well we were at a pigmask base trying to take it down and then some crap happened, and this moron," Claus motioned to Ness, "decided to bring us here of all places."
Fuel wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, "Oh," he said, still somewhat confused. Then he noticed Lucas, sitting down on the ground, hugging his knees and facing away from them. "Hey Lucas," he greeted.
"Hey," Lucas answered softly and distantly. Lucas reached in front of him and rubbed his hand across the charred foundation of what used to be his family's home.
"I noticed you guys don't have-" Fuel stopped, trying to handle the subject delicately, "You guys can come sleep at my place, since you don't have anywhere to go."
"No thank you," Claus replied, "We can manage on our own. We'll all just go to the Yado Inn for tonight."
"Do you have any money?" Fuel asked rhetorically.
Claus inhaled sharply, "Not here too.."
"Yeah, pigmasks really jacked this place up," Fuel sighed, "But come on, I'm sure Boney will be happy to see you?"
"Boney?" Lucas, removed from moping, turned around with a tinge of hope.
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind me and my dad taking care of him for the past few months," Fuel explained, "You know, since you guys had to go."
Hearing about Boney was enough to relieve Lucas from his awful memories for a moment, and he stood up and the party began following Fuel into the forest. Fuel led them through a short cut around town he had discovered a few years ago, which Claus and Lucas knew about as well. It would have been safer to go through town this late due to recent elevations in crime rate. However Fuel figured he'd save Claus and Lucas the pain of seeing how much the town has changed for now.
There was clear tension in the air between Claus and Ness. They both refused to speak, and Lucas was reluctant to. Every time Fuel asked one of the twins a question, he would get cold silence from Claus being too busy glaring at Ness, and Lucas would mumble an inaudible answer to him.
They reached the house and Fuel opened the door to the large wooden house. Lighter, Fuel's father, sat in the front room of the house, reading. Lighter seemed surprised to see Fuel come back with so many people.
"Why are all the people here, Fuel?" Lighter asked his son with a raised eyebrow.
"Well I found them all south of town, and they have nowhere to stay," Fuel answered.
"Well we welcome you to our home," Lighter kindly accepted the guests. Lighter inspected them all, and just then he noticed, "Claus and Lucas? What brings you back here?"
Claus, being much more of a conversationalist, answered, "We came back to hide from the pigmasks. They're looking for us." Claus decided to let the Lighter, who was being so generous to the group of six, not feel the tension between himself and Ness.
"Well you came to the right place then," Lighter smiled slightly, "The pigmasks have pretty much left the area, not having found anyone who can use PSI. There's still a few remaining, so still be cautious."
Boney emerged from the back of the house, and he excitedly ran and jumped towards Lucas, as he was standing on the far left and was closest. "Woof woof! (Lucas! You came back!)." Lucas started petting Boney's back and sides. Boney wagged his tail happily as he noticed Claus as well.
After the confusion that half of the present company had just undergone, each of them had been offered a place to sleep on the floor, which wasn't too bad. The living room held a soft carpet in the center, and Ninten, Kumatora, Paula, Ness, Claus, and Lucas were all given a pillow and blankets, along with dinner.
Ninten had his own conflicting feelings about this. He used to be in charge of the pigmasks, but now his used-to-be-enemies were providing shelter for him. Realizing the hospitality, he was very grateful, but said nothing in his own confusion.
Ness woke up around four in the morning feeling nothing but guilt. Teleporting them to Tazmily was clearly not the best idea in the world after seeing Lucas's and Claus's reactions to it. Both of them were angry or agitated or in some way upset with Ness, and it made him uncomfortable knowing that two of his good friends held something against him. Ness assumed that Claus was currently dreaming of ripping his limbs off one by one and throwing them into a pit of fire. Lucas was probably... 'Where are they?' Ness wondered to himself. He recalled when he went to sleep they were on the floor right in front of him along with the still present Ninten, Paula, and Kumatora.
Ness stood up and quietly maneuvered around three sleeping bodies doing his best to not wake them. The door sounded a loud creak when the hinges were turned. No one was woken, and Ness left the house, attempting to find Claus and Lucas.
His search for them didn't last long, as he found them about forty feet from the house, sitting on a low hill and facing the city that gave the forest a dim light through the walls of trees. Lucas seemed to be crying over something; probably what supposedly kept him up all night. Claus was fidgeting with the grass to his left while Lucas was on his right.
Ness approached, hoping he wouldn't be seen before he reached them. Claus quickly turned around as Ness was approaching at about 10 feet away from him. Claus glared back at him. "What do you want?" Lucas was startled, and looked back to Ness as well, but then immediately turned back around.
Ness was taken back by Claus's agitated tone, though he could expect no less. Ness began to speak, but his throat didn't want to cooperate as the guilt flooded over him. "I'm sorry," he managed to say, his voice not cooperating. Claus turned back away from Ness, without a word to say. "I'm sorry I brought us here," Ness apologized again, "I didn't know it would have hurt you two so badly, and I didn't mean to do that to you."
Claus immediately stood up and walked away at a brisk pace. Lucas seemed to be brought out of his thought by this, "Claus," Lucas called to his brother, who was ignoring him and everything else in order to avoid Ness.
Lucas began to stand up and try to follow him, but Ness caught him, "Lucas, wait." Ness sternly looked into Lucas's gentle blue eyes, and it seemed like something in him was broken now. Of course he was broken. He had just heard his mother was dead, and then was brought back to see the crumbled remains of brick and soot that once composed his home.
"Ness, I don't want to talk to you right now," Lucas quietly replied with a weak voice.
"No, I need to talk to you," Ness insisted. He put a hand on the blond boy's shoulder and calmly, but strongly, sat him down. "This is important."
"Ness, I-"
"No, Lucas. I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry," Ness was almost in tears with Lucas, "I didn't mean to do this to you. It was stupid and foolish of me to even think it was a good idea to come back here after what you and Claus have been through in the past year. I-"
"Ness," Lucas cut him off, "That isn't why I'm angry with you." Ness raised his head in confusion, wondering how Lucas could verbalize his emotions like no one else he knew. "I'm angry with you because you looked into my memories the other day. It doesn't feel good when someone uses your memories like this, and I don't like it. Especially those kinds of memories."
Ness was speechless. "I'm sorry... for that too." There was a long pause.
"I wanted to just forget about everything," Lucas started, "I wanted to forget Tazmily, I wanted to forget my mother died. But that won't fix anything." Lucas sighed, "I guess this can be a good thing." Lucas began to leave Ness and try to catch up with Claus.
"Lucas, wait," Ness stopped Lucas, yet again. "Uh..," Ness stood there for a moment, then started digging into his pockets, "Here." Ness handed Lucas a small pin. It didn't look like much.
"Thanks," Lucas said confusedly.
"It's a Franklin Badge," Ness explained, "I don't quite know what it does, or what it's for, but I've held onto it for a few years. I want you to have it now."
Lucas showed his questioning gratitude by putting the badge on. It looked like any other pin would, but it felt like some kind of foreign metal with microscopic ridges covering the sides and front. "Thank you," Lucas addressed Ness's apology.
Ness followed Lucas back to Lighter's house from a distance, feeling that Lucas still held a hint of enmity towards him while the truth was that Lucas completely forgave Ness. Lucas wasn't the type of person to hold a grudge or any type of anger towards a person. He offered instant forgiveness if one would ask for it, and sincerely apologized when he was in the wrong.
Claus was not as forgiving however. Claus stood outside the house, waiting for Ness to come by. Lucas entered the house, likely going to sleep. Claus stopped Ness and looked straight into his eyes with a clenched fist, "If you ever do something like that to my brother again, I'm going to put you in more pain than you have ever felt."
Ness blinked at Claus with uncomfortable surprise. "Claus, I didn't mean to do that to him."
"What made you think that would be okay?" Claus retorted.
"It wasn't," Ness looked down.
"And what made you think it would be right to bring us back here?"
"I thought it would have the opposite effect it did," Ness truthfully said. "I expected it to make you happy to see your town again."
"No, Ness," Claus told him firmly, "We went into town late at night. Neither of us could sleep." Claus swallowed, "It wasn't the peace in this town we were used to." Claus took a deep breath and let it out, then resumed speaking, "It changed. It changed a lot. The people," Claus took another pause, "the people were different. I don't remember anybody acting as horrible as those people did."
"They can't be that bad," Ness told him.
"No, Ness, they were greedy. There was gambling and there were clubs and people were getting drunk," Claus stopped.
"Claus, that's what normal cities do," Ness tried to explain to him. If Claus was getting angry with this behavior from the town, it was hard to think about what Tazmily was before.
"No, not this one," Claus denied, "Everyone used to help each other, there wasn't any money, nobody fought over possessions..."
"Claus, things change," Ness tried to reason, "The pigmaks obviously brought this change."
"Ness, you don't understand what Lucas and I are feeling right now," Claus almost shouted, "You don't understand what it's like to lose someone you care about! Or to need to run away from home, knowing your parents are under arrest and being beaten for your own faults! You don't understand what it's like to lose everything you own except the clothes on your back! You just don't understand it, Ness," Claus clenched his teeth together, taking short, shallow breaths.
There was a long pause between them. Claus couldn't say he was entirely proud of what he just yelled to someone he considered his friend. Ness wasn't happy with what he had done either. Both now felt that they were the ones at fault.
They silently walked into the house to find everyone gathered near the front of the house, having been woken up by the shouting.
"Are you guys okay?" Paula asked Ness and Claus with a concerned expression on her face.
"We're fine," Ness answered with a hint of agitation, "Just leave it."
They all kept looking at the two with concern. Even Kumatora, who normally kept to her own concerns and never showed her softer side. There was really nothing wrong with either of them as Ness said. Nothing except the fact that both of them refused to admit they were wrong anymore. Ness believed he had done his share of apologizing to Claus, and was angry about Claus lashing out at him. Claus knew he had done something wrong, but wasn't going to admit it until Ness did first.
"Claus, if it makes you feel better," Fuel cut in, "We don't like how the town has changed either. We rarely go back."
They both wordlessly shoved through the wall of people, and returned to their sleep. As did everyone else.
Morning was close, so the three who were up half the night–Ness, Claus, and Lucas–stayed and slept. Kumatora decided to go into town and see what Fuel and Claus had spoken about when they said the town changed. Paula and Ninten tagged along with Kumatora.
Fuel led them out of the forest, but didn't dare go into Tazmily. It would no longer be considered a village by anyone's standards. Kumatora was surprised to see cars, trains, and television screens. Things she hadn't seen until she joined the military a few months ago.
"Wait, so you didn't have TV until a few months ago?" Ninten asked, slightly confused. "I don't mean to be rude, but this town must have been pretty primitive before the pigmasks came along."
"Primitive is a relative term," Kumatora explained to him, "One thing this town had before was community. People cared about their neighbors and everybody knew everyone. I understand why Claus was upset by this."
This concept seemed somewhat foreign to Ninten and Paula. In their hometowns, people knew others, but it wasn't like the taxi driver who lived on the other side of town knew everyone else on a personal level.
Then they noticed a large congregation of people at the center of town. They all seemed to be gathered around something, trying to get closer and closer. There was a decent amount of pushing going on between members of the crowd. As they moved closer, a loud powerful voice became clearer.
"If anyone is caught aiding these traitors, they will be put to death," the voice stopped talking.
After a few people left someone asked, "Who are they again?"
"Was I not clear the first time? Oh well, it seems not everyone was listening," some people began leaving, and it allowed Kumatora, Ninten, and Paula to see that the voice belonged to a pigmask. He was dressed in white and gold and wore a cape–clearly of a high rank in the pigmask army.
"We had captured two PSI users," the pigmask continued, "and they escaped. They are needed in King Porky's plan, and anyone who has any kind of loyalty to their nation will aid our search throughout the continent," he stopped talking for a moment.
Ninten took in a sharp breath of realization. He looked to Kumatora and Paula, wondering if they understood what he was talking about. They knew about it, shown by their suddenly rigid posture and blank expessions.
"The third one," the pigmask continued, "The third one was one of our own leaders, and he was driven away by the two other PSI users. They're working together to take down our king." Ninten realized that now he was being included. Fassad and the other pigmasks apparently have a very strong grudge against him if they want to find him this badly. "If you refuse to help our search, this town will be burnt to ashes and soot in three days. If the three criminals are turned in at any location, all towns and cities will be spared. And," the pigmaks added, "the ex-general's sisters will be spared as well."
Ninten felt a stinging pain, as well as a spike of anger and hatred for the pigmasks as the crowd uttered an ocean of whispers. No, not my family, please, Ninten begged to himself, wanting to protest and kill the pigmasks present right now. But he couldn't. He had no offensive PSI, and even if he did, there were dozens of pigmasks there, and no normal person would be able to fend off all of them without being beaten.
"Any more questions?" the lead pigmask asked the crowd. Kumatora and Paula turned to see Ninten, but Ninten was in a full sprint away from the town.
Paula and Kumatora followed him quickly, but not too quickly. They caught up to him to find him sitting against a tree looking down at the ground between his knees.
"Ninten," Paula said, "we'll find a way to help them."
"Paula, it isn't that easy," Ninten argued back, "I'd be willing to turn myself in to protect my sisters. But I don't know if Claus and Lucas would be," he waited, and realized more, "There are hundreds of towns and cities at stake here also. Didn't you hear him?"
They were all in a terrible position here. Hundreds of people could potentially die if all three of them did not turn themselves in to the pigmasks. If Lucas and Claus were given back to the pigmasks, then Porky would eventually succeed. The pigmasks wouldn't hesitate to kill for Porky. Ninten would also likely die if he surrendered himself.
"Let's explain it to Claus and Lucas," Kumatora advised him, "They might have another idea."
Both Claus and Lucas didn't know how to respond when they were told about this. They had to join Porky within three days to save everyone. And as they join Porky, people will die as a result of his plans. Both of them would have blood on their hands as a result of either decision.
"I'd join Porky if this is the cost, but if we pull those needles the Dark Dragon will recreate the world, and who knows how many people will die during that," Claus evaluated the circumstances. Lucas was silently staring at the table they were sitting at. Everyone who was currently occupying Lighter's house was actually there, though Claus and Ninten did the majority of the talking.
"If you don't want to do it, I understand," Ninten told the twins, "Either way, I'm going to do my best to individually stop Porky."
"Ninten, you'd be crazy to try that," Ness responded almost immediately.
"I'm sorry, but I need to help my family. If I can do this, it might be able to repay what I've already done," Ninten explained.
"You don't need to do that," Claus said, almost angered, "You don't have anything you need to repay anyone for. You're half the reason we got out of the pigmask base, so you're clearly doing something right here."
"I'm not going to feel like I've done anything until this is all over," Ninten argued, "We three need to get out of here at least, to save Lighter the trouble. If I don't survive-"
"Ninten, stop saying stupid things like that," Claus jumped into action, "I'm going with you," Claus stated. "I know what it's like to not be able to do anything to protect your family. That feeling is one of the worst feelings that you can feel; to know that your family could die from your own mistakes."
"You didn't make any mistakes though," Ninten answered, "It was the pigmasks who took them from you."
"I consider it my mistake," Claus said coldly. Everyone, spare Lucas, looked to Claus in confusion, "It was my fault that I couldn't stop the pigmasks from taking them. I could have taken out two pigmasks with PK Love. It would have been easy. But I didn't do anything. I was scared. I let it happen. It's my fault our mother died, and I can't fix it."
Claus talked about this in the same way ever since it happened. He'd say it was his fault, he said he could have stopped them, he said he was too weak to do anything.
There was a long silence after Claus left it on an awkward note. Lucas broke the silence with a weak voice, "I'll go too." It was evident he was close to tears from the way he spoke. He and Claus both got very emotional over their parents' capture and mother's death, as any other person would. But they both believed that theirselves were the ones to blame.
"Lucas, don't-"
"Claus, they need both of us in their possession to not burn the towns and cities. If we get caught, it will likely be within three days," Lucas reasoned.
"But Lucas," Claus looked at Lucas, "If you get hurt, I wouldn't be able to stand it. I'm not going to lose someone else who is close to me."
"Neither am I, Claus," Lucas answered, "That's why I'm going with you." Claus seemed to approve of Lucas's decision now that he saw his reasoning.
"I'll do my best to help," Kumatora told them, "I'll take Ness and Paula and try to get the pigmask resistance armies to help, even though Flint might still hate me for what I did a few days ago."
Claus, Lucas, and Ninten left late that night, making their way to Porky.
"It's too bad I can't teleport you there," Ness was saying his goodbyes to the twins and Ninten, "But that would be too easy."
"Ness, we might see you later," Ninten felt a lump in his throat just thinking about what that meant, "But if we don't-"
"No, you're going to make it back," Ness assured them, "You're going to beat Porky's butt and make everything normal again." Ninten smiled back at Ness's somewhat humorous remark.
"Ness," Claus said, somewhat uncomfortably, "I'm sorry about what I said last night."
"No, it's fine," Ness told him, "I understand you were angry with me. I know that you were just trying to protect Lucas, and I just said and did a few things that were probably the rudest things a person could do. Let's forget about it, and make it easier for both of us."
Lucas didn't talk much to anyone, hating the concept of potentially saying goodbye for the last time. He didn't want to say goodbye, it made him uncomfortable knowing it could be the last time he saw someone. He instead stood back, trying not to cry or become emotional in some sort of way. At least not yet.
Having done all this, along with other conversations, Lucas, Claus, and Ninten made their way off.
They were headed for New Pork City, where Porky was waiting for them.