And here another new chapter, "It has Begun." You'll see what will happen with Pokey's threat towards Lucas and what will come with it.

Anon : Thanks for the suggestion, but I have already planned the rest of the story :)

Last night... Last night I was glad Ness didn't begin asking questions. Sure, he may have had a bunch of questions, but maybe he saw my face and knew he should wait to the next day. To today.

I'm surprised that after last night's events I could sleep well. My body tells me to wake up. I open my eyes, which adjust to the dim light entering through the blind. The clock on Ness' night table reads 10:34 A.M. Pretty late considering my discussion with Porky last night. I notice there's no one in Ness' bed. The pillows are on the floor and the blankets are half their way down on one end of the bed.

I spot Ness coming out of the bathroom; his right hand grasping a towel over his head and his left one on his trademark cap.

"Oh, good morning," he tells me.

"Morning."

He throws the towel on his bed and walks towards me. "I know you just woke up, but…"

"You wanna know about last night."

"Exactly," he backs up and heads to the door. "Might as well eat breakfast as you tell me."

I sit up, "No." He looks confused. "I need to tell you in private."

Bad decision, Lucas! I didn't have time to think of more… If he still cares and wants to listen, I will have to tell him Porky's and I "deal". My plan, however, is to reject Porky's offer. I can't go with him and give up without a fight; it would ruin everything I've worked for. I can't let my people and my family down… again. I don't have the slightest idea of what will Ness suggest doing. I remember our fight days ago… He didn't hesitate to save those people of my PK Love. If he almost sacrificed himself to save two hundred lives (the number of people in that building stays as a fresh memory I can't forget), why wouldn't he sacrifice someone else for thousands?

Ness closes the door, as his confused eyes fall on me. "Private?"

I shake my head trying to fix my error. "No, forget it, I'll tell you later."

"Better tell me now."

"I can't–" the wrong words slip through my lips. "I mean, it's not that important. Come on, let's eat breakfast first."

I stay still for a few seconds, expecting Ness to believe the lie. He glares at me, as if I was disrespecting him. "Tell me what happened between you and… him."

"Chill, Ness, it's not a matter of life or death." I feel a knot in my throat caused by my last words.

"I have to know."

I get up from the bed, walk up to the door and force a light chuckle. "Let's go, I'm quite hungry." I signal him to come with my left hand.

"You don't understand," he growls at a low volume I haven't heard before. He grasps my left wrist with his right hand. He jerks me away from the door, and with both hands pushes me into my bed. In an instant he pins me down with both arms. I try flailing my leggs, but a strong force keeps my legs from moving.

A certain anger appears on Ness' eyes. Anger I can easily recognize. But more than anger is hatred towards someone.

"What's your problem?" I shout him in the face.

Ness' glare softens into a regretful gaze. The PSI pinning my legs down goes away. He let go my arms and staggers backwards. "I-I am sorry…"

"Seriously, what's your problem?" I ask him, this time wanting to know the reason of that brief outrage.

"Couldn't sleep last night," Ness says. "He caused me nightmares… That same twisted dimension," he finishes, whispering to himself the last part.

"I wanted to know his purpose in here. I'm not oblivious to what's happening between you and Pokey, but… but it's the first time I see him in years." Ness walks back and forth as he speaks.

It doesn't take me more than a few seconds to fully understand Ness. I can't hide from Ness my conversation with Porky anymore. He doesn't deserve this. "OK, I will tell you."

He takes a seat on my bed. His eyes still show some mix between fear, desperation and anger.

I hesitate, still not knowing what his reaction will be. Protecting me or the others. Is a selfish thought, I know that.

I won't enter into detail. Ness already looks he's suffered enough from last night. Yeah, he may see Porky again at some point, but I shall not hurry that event.

"I'm aware Porky–" Ness cringes slightly at the mention of that name "–didn't enter in my head to pay me a visit, so I will tell you what… he threatened me with."

"He threatened you?"

"Exactly, Porky told me he would come here," I pause for a second, noticing Ness' shocked expression. "And then he gave me two options, to meet him somewhere and go with him…"

"And the other option?"

"He said if I didn't obey him, he would invade this world and destroy it."

Ness was speechless, looking everywhere as if the answer was written somewhere in the wall. "I suppose you are not going to go…"

I gasp silently. Does that means he will tell me to go or not? "Yeah, I was thinking about that." My eyes turn downwards as I fidget with my hands. "Albeit, I cannot stop thinking of all the lives I'll give to Porky, just to survive one more day."

"I see…"

He doesn't show any signals of disagreement. If I had to bet on it, I would say he will keep this as a secret. A secret worth thousands and thousands of lives. "And that means you will do what about that?"

"You've just put so much weight on my shoulders with that." I expect a chuckle at the end of his words. I never get it. Instead, his gaze turns stern as he looks to his feet thinking in an answer.

A selfish sensation fills my mind when I watch Ness struggling with himself. He groans, and his stern gaze shifts on me. "I can't let you go… Let alone turning you in," he finishes with certain disgust in what he just said–I notice.

I can't help but feel empathy for him. It would be an insult if someone asked me to protect someone and let other thousands of persons die. I can't let the empathy consume me, though. Technically, I will help killing a whole planet but I will save another one. Mine. Besides, maybe I can save this one too. "A part of me was hoping you said that… and it doesn't feel right."

"That, however, does not mean I won't try saving this us," he said, standing up. "We have to warn everyone about this, while, obviously taking out the part about you."

I can see a spark on Ness' eyes. Determination. I have to follow him. After all, how much has he sacrificed so far to help me? "Right." Before I leave the room, I take the thunder sword. I may need it.

We trot through the colossal mansion, where Smashers and people I haven't met yet look at us with puzzled eyes.

We finally arrive in the place I was before, Master Hand's study.

Ness pushes the door when he notices it is slightly opened. "Oops, guess I didn't lock it," Master Hand says. "Hello, Ness… and Lucas."

"Good morning Master Ha–" Ness tries saying, but gets interrupt by the hand.

"What brings you here?"

"We have an emergency, Master Hand. A huge one."

I am aware that Master Hand can see but doesn't have eyes, and thus I would bet he's reading the papers on his desk and not heeding us.

"If by 'emergency' you mean we have run out of steak, you just got to–"

"By emergency I mean a serious emergency, Master Hand," as Ness finishes he signals me to explain the situation.

Master Hand shifts his position on his hand-like chair, and "looks" straight at me. "You better not be wasting precious time, young man."

"No. Last night, inside my dreams I was visited by Pokey, which Ness can verify," when I say that, Ness nods. "He said he would come and invade your world, and cleanse it from life, literally." I add a pair of extra words there. I couldn't risk the real information slipping through my lips.

"He said he will invade the planet just for the hell of it?" Master Hand doesn't seem to believe the lie. Thankfully, Ness comes in.

"Well, MH, last night I noticed how Lucas seemed troubled when he was sleeping. I decided to read his mind" –so that's how he knew Pokey was there– "After I saw who was inside I went inside, too, and then had a small chat with Pokey before he disappeared. Maybe he's seeking revenge."

"I see. Still, is not a good idea to mobilize every Smasher, Assistant and Ally just because Pokey said something." Did he say Assistant and Ally? I should ask Ness about that later.

"Better safe than sorry, MH," Ness says, a slight annoyance creeping through his voice.

"Alright, Ness, I will send scouting teams and order them if they notice any anomaly to inform me."

Ness puffs–which I can barely hear–and says, "Hopefully that will be enough." He turns towards me, with a tensed expression. "We have to tell Link and Lucario, let's go."

"I'm behind you."

Without more words, Ness headed to the door, exiting the study.

I wait until Ness leaves and then turn to Master Hand. "You know that my 'escape attempt' wasn't that, right?"

Master Hand doesn't seem to care for my opinion, as he starts rearranging the papers that were on his desk with. "Those same handcuffs we used on you were used on Mewtwo, a psychic that is far more powerful than Ness in my opinion. There was no way you would escape from that. However, I barely know you, so I can't judge."

"It was Mario, by the way. He went into my room and made that whole mess."

"In case you're curious, Mario is the co-creator of this organization. First, no one will ever think he did that, and second, he's immune to any issue, legal or not. Also, I didn't take into account that 'escape attempt'; otherwise you would not be here."

"Hmm." There's nothing to say after that. He acknowledges the chances that I could escape were slim, but possible. Yet, he didn't think about that when I was here yesterday. Master Hand hinted Mario wouldn't do that, yet he still told me how Mario was immune to any thing he does.

"Anything else?" Master Hand seems to lock his gaze onto mine.

Before I can respond, Ness peek his head inside the study. "Lucas, what's the matter? We have to tell the others."

I break eye contact with MH and exit the door. "Sorry."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Lucario and Link must be outside the mansion, training–"

"We're right here," Lucario's words sound inside my head. Probably Ness also got the message as–just like me–he searches for the source of it.

I spot Lucario and Link walking downstairs near the lobby.

"Hey!" Link greets us with a hand waving at us.

"I'm glad we found you," Ness says.

"I say the same, we heard some people were being gathered by Master Hand," Lucario says.

"We figured you had to do with that since someone told us they saw you going to MH's office."

"Yes, we were there," Ness grunted slightly at his own words. "There's something ya need to know; everyone must know."

"What is it?" Lucario's neutral expression changes into a more serious one.

Ness raises a finger to start talking, but his body denied. His stomach makes a short, food-demanding growl. A giggle escapes through Link's mouth. "First, I need to grab some food, but I tell you in the way there."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ness gives another huge bite to his sandwich, and we continue our way out the dining hall.

"Glad you're OK, Lucas," Link tells me.

Ness had just finished explaining the duo what happened yesterday. I added a few details on my conversation with Porky (some of which I had not told Ness before). "Thanks."

"Wait, will Porky really try invade us? This place has already suffered a couple of attacks and we have already fended them off successfully. What makes him so deadly?" Lucario asked.

Ness swallows down the mouthful and says, "Trust me, Porky is both, serious about this, and deadly… Extremely deadly."

30 minutes passed since Ness and I talked with MH. Suddenly, interrupting Ness, a strange metallic sound invades the dining hall. I look up to find its source: several small speakers across the walls.

"This is Master Hand," his metalized voiced booms through the speakers in the dining hall. "I'm declaring 'Burning Glove' code. I want every Smasher, Assistant and Ally to gather at the nearest emergency station and do as told. Smashers Ness and Lucas I want you on my study, double time.

"Oh no…" Link whispers.

"Porky's here," Ness growls, baling up a fist. "Let's go, Lucas, as fast as you can. Luc, Link, come with us, we may need your help with whatever Master Hand wants."

I get confused by Master Hand's sudden declaration, which I can only figure–due to what Ness said–it has to do with Porky. Wordlessly, I get ready to follow Ness' instructions. In a blue blur, Lucario sprints off of the hall, followed by Ness and Link. My only reaction is to follow them, lagging behind due to their superior speed.

The floor tremble as dozens of people run across it, Smashers I know, Alloys and more people–or creatures–I've never seen. The decoration found in the halls of the mansion is put aside or thrown rather, as everyone seem to forget the decoration is there, and focus on getting to their destination. In the middle of the chaos, I ask, "What's happening! What's 'Burning Glove'!"

"Not now, Lucas!" Link shuts me off.

"It's an emergency code," Lucario's voice sounds in my head. I silently thank the clarification. "It is used whenever the planet is under attack and the best option to combat the danger is Smashers, Assistants, Allies, or the three. According to Link and Ness it has happened twice so far. I've never been in one, but I have informed myself."

"Thanks!" I shout at Lucario, who's the one leading us.

I'm thankful we have left all the chaos behind once we arrive to MH's study. Link pushes the door open, and we enter. Once we are all inside I close the door.

"What are you two doing here?" Master Hand points at Lucario and Link. Ness is about to respond, but MH cuts him off. "Never mind. Ness, I called you because of the attack that you two foresaw. I'm disappointed it happened. I didn't want to see this place attacked again," Master Hand said. A mix between sadness, fear and stress filled his voice. Something I haven't seen before from him.

"I hope you have an idea, because even if Porky did come, I wasn't expecting him to avoid our main line of defense so easily."

Ness' face turned into a worried expression. "What you mean by that?"

Master Hand makes a long sigh, and points his index finger to an artifact on his desk. The small machine makes a "click" and static washes over the voice record before a deep voice speaks. "This is Snake." The man in military outfit… "We've ran into several of strange creatures inside the city. Some of them look half animal and half machine; others I can't describe what they look like. The people on the border of the city have spotted creatures there as well. This is definitely some kind of invasion. Send reinforcements, Snake out."

The brief message was accompanied by the painful roars of–what I'm sure Snake's talking about are chimeras–chimeras and people. Gun shots and explosions take over the background noise.

"Were not the people on the border supposed to warn us?" Lucario asked, with crossed arms.

"Yeah. Snake's message got here first though, so I can only suppose that these creatures didn't enter the city by normal means."

"You can't expect something normal from that freak!" Ness says.

"He once said he could teleport across space. He brought Dr. Andonuts from one era–" The memory of Andonuts gone come back to me... I need to find him "–to mine. Maybe that's what he did now." An image of the chimera Drago flashes in my head. "And those creatures are called chimeras."

"OK, now, I want to hear ideas. We may be able to fight the chimeras now, but if we get rid of the source it'll easier."

"First we need to find Pokey," Link adds.

"Yeah, obviously, just tell me how!" Ness yelled, throwing his arms on the air. His mood is passing onto me as well. I want to find Porky as bad as Ness, and finish this once and for all.

"It's possible…" I think out loud.

"What's possible?" Master Hand asks.

"When Porky was gone, Dr. Andonuts once said he was taken to a bizarre dimension. Porky had thought it was a good idea to prove… my brother's potential in there. A place Porky could twist however he wanted. Andonuts told me that; maybe he can lead us there."

"The scientist disappeared the night you escaped…" Master Hand says. "That will be your mission, you four, get Dr. Andonuts back here and make the necessary arranges to stop Pokey."

"I understand," I say.

"Take these, you will need them." Master Hand took out a bunch of objects from a drawer in the wall behind him, and handed them to Ness. "Go to the teleport room, and depart from there, now!"

Ness hurls one of the small objects to Lucario, then to Link. I wait for mine, but instead he approaches. "Headsets," he says, giving me a rectangular object with a small rubber curve on the side. "Put them on your ear. This button–" he points one of the 5 buttons "–is to speak; these two control the volume… and that's the basics; now we need to go."

Asking what/where is the "teleport room" is not a good idea. Time is not on our side and stopping to respond a simple question is useless.

Like last time, I follow the other three. Now, after some time since Master Hand sounded the alarm, there have been noticeable less people than before, with just a few Alloys or persons going here and there. I can only suppose everyone else is on the city fighting.

Ness stands in front of a bright-green door. He opens it and waits until everyone is inside. The inside is more like a maze to me with a large corridor covered by doors.

"This will take us to any part of the planet," Ness tells me quickly, searching for something in the doors.

"The problem is we don't know where Dr. Andonuts went…" Link says.

"I doubt he left the city," I respond.

"We will have to go separate ways then," Lucario says.

"We can easily navigate through the city, but Lucas has barely seen it," Link points out.

"In that case, you can use the headset if you feel lost or something. Don't worry, though, you may come across with some Smasher or Assistant," Ness says.

He stands besides a door, hand on the knob. An address is written over the door: CRYSTAL SHARD AV.

The three words make me go back to the image of Ness lying on the floor unconscious. Behind him a group of people, all frozen, are looking at me. All of the sudden I want to apologize to Ness, and tell every person that perished it was not my intention; that I'm going to restore everything to how it should be… but I can't. I stay with the bitter feeling of regret to myself as I stare into the distance. Sorry.

"Lucas?" Link's hand in front of my face snaps me out of the horrible memory.

Ness doesn't seem flustered by my behavior. He knows where he is going. He knows I remember.

"Pick a random door, Lucas. Once you're in just step inside the teleporter," Lucario tells me. He walks up to a door. It reads FIRE AND LEAF ST.

"No, better go to that one, that way we will be at different sides of the city." Link points one almost at the end. "And I will take this one." He heads to a door not far from mine. TIME AV.

Once everyone is on their door, I walk up to mine. RED MUSHROOM ST. "Remember to keep in contact. Good luck, guys," Ness says his last words before walking through his door.

Link and Lucario nod and then enter. I follow their instructions, and enter the room. It is quite small, with blue walls, in which there is a poster with instructions of the teleporter at the opposite end. "I don't have time for those.

I approach the teleporter, and stand in its pad. Aside me, there is a button, which says the same address as outside the door. RED MUSHROOM ST. Around the red button, there are also others, with more complex configuration. I decide to ignore those. I ball up a fist, and punch the red button.

Two curved arms over my head start spinning. The pad below me shots a blue light upwards; it connects with the two arms and the light coats me entirely. The same sensation as when I first arrived into this place strikes me again: I feel my body as if it was being torn apart but without the pain.

The intense light forces my eyes to blink. When I open my eyes again I find myself in a similar room. However, this time there's a slight rumble on the floor. I open the door and find out I'm inside a building. I don't have to walk too far to see where the lobby is; the typical wooden desk facing several glass doors and windows, and several plants decorating the place.

Outside, several men and women in uniform try leading startled people to a safer place. All of that between roars coming from seemingly every direction. I decide to turn away from that scene.

Something else gets my attention. Finally, I understand the cause of the rumble: a bunch of people trying to escape the building… as a blood-thirsty roar echoes from far inside the building.

A young man trips in front of me. "Run!" he tells me, and then when he looks at my eyes, a shiver seems to go up his body. "Lucas…"

I raise my hand, trying to say I'm not going to harm him, but it is useless, as the man gets to his feet and runs away.

That was not my fault…

I step in front of a woman, whom I suppose due to her clothing, works in the building. She looks shocked to see me at first. "Can you tell me what's inside?" I ask.

"T-There's a huge m-monster!" When the last word leaves her mouth, she runs past me.

I give a few steps forward, and then start running deep into the building. I step into a barely working escalator. Another roar followed by a thump tells me to go faster, so I stride my way up the escalator to the second floor.

The lights barely work in the second floor. When I get there, scarcely any people are still trying to escape. The inside would be dark if it was not for the sunlight entering through a few open windows in the hallway. Screams fill the lower floor, but they soon fade as I walk deeper into the hallway. A couple of minutes go away, and the whole floor falls into a depressing silence.

I find a body lying on the floor, face-down. I crouch beside the body. Hopefully he's still alive. I lean closer to the body, and then reach out with my hand to touch it, but a strange sensation shocks my body. I quickly retract my hand. Is this how the people wound up after I fired my PK Love?

That's horrible. Now that I see the body, it's obvious it won't come back to live. I better let it go away peacefully.

My brief trance is abruptly interrupted by another roar not far from me.

I walk away the body with certain disgust, trying to forget what I saw. I haven't seen a lifeless body in years; since I traveled all across the Nowhere Islands to be exact. I was so young… I don't want to remember.

In my way towards the noise, another body lays in the floor… and another, and a couple more. I count 4 more bodies all tainted in blood and surrounded by spots of the same red fluid. My stomach reacts negatively as it seems to spin in the inside, bringing nausea to my mouth. I get the urgency to throw up at the horrible scene. I almost fall trying to back away from the bodies. However, the nausea goes away when another roar comes out from a room a few meters from me, followed by a slight rumble on the floor. I use the noises to make my mind erase what I just saw. Was the origin of that roar what caused this slaughter? No, it was Porky.

"Guys, report in!" Ness voice sounds in my left ear. The headset.

"There's no signal of the scientist," Lucario responds. "I have asked other Smashers and no one saw him leaving."

There's a brief silence. "Link?" Ness asks. "Are you t-there?"

"Yeah," When Link responds I hear a sigh coming from Ness. "Is just that… There's a chimera in here… No signal of Andonuts, though…"

"Same here, I'm clueless." I glance at the room where the roars came from… but they have stopped. "I suspect there's a chimera in the building I am, by the way. I'm going to investigate."

"Aight, guys. Take care, Ness out." After a bit of static the silence reigns my ears once again.

Hesitating on my actions, I get closer to the door. From the outside I catch a glimpse of what looks like a paw. Resting in the floor, a gray paw with long, deadly claws.

I take out the thunder sword from my pocket and activate it. As the electric blade appears a few sparks are shot in random directions. I create a small fire with my right hand and put a foot inside the room, and then make a small leap inside.

I get surprised when I find out the gray paw belongs to a dead chimera. A wolf of my size, with the half of its head, and its two front legs metallic. Sharp silver fur coats its entire body… And a hole in the middle of its torso pours out blood.

I quickly spin my head towards the opposite side of the room.

"Lucas…" the man says between breaths. "…what a surprise."

My eyes widen when I see him. The memory is still ablaze in my head. "You're the one who was with Mario the day he set my room on fire!"

He drops a crowbar dyed in blood into the floor. "I am Wario, kid… And Mario wondered where you were…"

I stare into Wario's eyes, being careful he doesn't move. I put out the fire on my hand and place it in the headset and press the button to talk. "Wario is in here, guys. He was with Mario the day he put my room on fire."

"Ness told me he encountered a chimera, too, Lucas. I will see what I can do… For now you should go away, Wario is quite dangerous… Don't get close to him."

"Watcha' doing there, kid? Begging for help… Ha-ha!"

I want to respond to Lucario, but if I must pay attention to Wario's words and actions. "No, but I was pursuing the chimera I saw entering the building," I lie. "I don't want to fight."

"What? You're just trying to save yourself." His words turn into a hysterical laughter. "I know very well Mario wants you dead."

"Maybe, but does that have to do with you… or you are the one who do the dirty work for him?"

"Ha! There's no such thing as a dirty job if you get money."

"Forget that. We shall fight to get these monsters out of the city. Is not that why you joined the Smashers? To protect the others." For what I have seen so far, the Smashers are proud of what they are: a group of heroes to fight for a common goal. If I convince Wario of going away, I can go back to my mission before the time runs out.

"Protect the others… I'm going to throw up at such corny words. I joined the Smashers 'cause here," he throws his hands into the air, "is where money is that. There's nothing as precious as money."

That's when I realize I won't be able to speak my way out. Wario reminds me of the people that discovered money and its uses in Newpork city (the place where Porky ruled and he used its people to join his brainless army). People led by the desire of having more money, even if they didn't need more; it didn't matter the cost.

"The day Mario went to see you, he paid me a great amount of money just to keep that little event as a secret." He takes out a big gold coin, and grasps it with ecstasy."Imagine how much he will pay me when I tell him I killed the murderer of his little brother."

"Murderer? Luigi is not dead!" I yell at him. He can't say something like that.

"He is dying right now, unfortunately. Maybe Mario is at his side, or not… The case is that you took that life, and I will take yours, and then after I have my money everyone will be happy."

This man won't stop now. Sorry, Andonuts, you will have to wait.

The invasion has begun and you will see more of it in the next chapter. Now, with Lucas crucial decision already done the time runs out faster than before, and with Dr. Andonuts missing everything seems to go even worse.

Thanks for reading :D