Chapter 1: Ask Your Mother

(Author's Note: This is my interpretation of what happens when Bayonetta uses a certain taunt on Lucas. Due to the nature of the plot, beware major spoilers for both MOTHER 3 and Bayonetta 1 and 2! Also, I prefer staying true to the games they're from more than sticking with just their Smash Bros movesets, so they'll be using some powers from their games that didn't make it to Smash Bros in addition to their usual moves. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and please leave feedback!)

(Edit: 5/26/21: It's hard to believe I've been writing this fic for over 2 years already! I've edited the chapter and tried to clean up the prose as much as I can, and I'll be doing the same to other chapters as well. Thank you so much to everyone who's still reading after all this time and to new readers too!)

(Edit: 5/1/2022: Cleaned up the prose a little more and added a few minor details. Also, this fic is now being posted on AO3.)

It all started with a taunt.

The three months long rollercoaster of events all sprung from this moment. It was Lucas's first official match of the fourth tournament and a fresh start from the failures of the third.

Lucas jumped out of a blue portal crackling with electricity and slid across the cracked pavement of the arena. His sneakers left a trail of flames. The roaring audience assaulted his ears while a surreal simulated landscape met his eyes that looked around anxiously. Beneath his feet was the broken top of a clock tower falling endlessly near a cliff. The Mystical Stick shook along with his hands.

"LUCAS!"

Master Hand's voice boomed across the arena.

"VERSUS..."

At the same time, a swarm of bats gathered together and shape-shifted into a tall and beautiful dark-haired woman who wore an outfit that could only be described as...questionable. She looked down on him through glasses with confidence and composure.

"BAYONETTA!"

Master Hand held up three fingers.

"THREE..."

Sweat went down his neck that bent looking up at his foe, who twirled her guns and struck a pose for the audience. Bayonetta had challenged Pit in an unofficial match shortly after arrival because of his angelic nature. She easily beat him with combos that launched him into the sky, and not in the way he wanted. Lucas couldn't even hear her thoughts or feelings. However, that didn't mean she was unstoppable. What was it that Red had told him once when they fought Galleom, that mech that seemed invincible?

"Lucas, don't panic: if there's one thing I've learned as a trainer, it's that everything has a weakness. Just calm down and help me find it, and I know we'll win!"

Ah, that was it.

"GO!"

Master Hand snapped his fingers and snapped Lucas out of his memory, officially starting the match. Bayonetta started by twirling her guns and looking away, then looking at him again, causing her eyes and glasses to glow purple.

"Let's dance, boy!"

She pointed her guns but didn't fire, inviting him to attack. So he did. Lucas ran in and quickly closed the distance, jumping into range before using a move he learned from Kumatora.

"PK Fire!"

A fireball flew from his palms and detonated in an explosion that knocked Bayonetta backwards. She flipped in midair and landed with a handstand, then fired four guns simultaneously. Her high heels were guns too! Wincing from the pain of magic bullets hitting his shirt, Lucas created a blue forcefield from his left hand that absorbed the energy bullets. A PSI Magnet.

Bayonetta rushed forwards with a sliding kick, forcing Lucas to roll back to dodge. She raised her foot next and made a dark portal to appear above him. Lucas put his hands together near the ground as if he was pulling some invisible object from it, causing them to glow. Then a giant high-heeled foot made from Bayonetta's own hair stomped down and tried to squash him flat.

"Huwah!" Lucas pointed his hands skyward and unleashed a large yellow and blue hexagonal explosion of PK Love that blasted the demonic foot straight back into the portal.

Bayonetta grabbed him then kicked him up into the air, following up with a tornado-like jump that knocked him even further up. Psychic power propelled him through the air into a backflip just in time to avoid another one. She flew at him with another kick that he blocked with a PSI Shield, the impact on the psychic barrier making him land ten feet away.

"PK Freeze!" Lucas put his hands together and sent an icy projectile in an arc towards Bayonetta. She shielded herself from the icy blast that detonated and froze the ground around her, but Lucas ran in and pulled Rope Snake from his pocket to grab her like a lasso, then hurled her back behind him.

The green glow of PK Lifeup covered some of his bruises until they faded away. He forced a smile; he could do this if he tried...he had Kumatora's elemental PSI and Duster's kicks plus Rope Snake.

His smile vanished at the sight of a horde of monstrous winged creatures simulated in the background. They reminded him of what Pit said while asking his goddess Palutena for guidance in his battle with Bayonetta.

"But the angels Bayonetta fights aren't nice angels like me. They're monsters...right?"

They sure were. Most of the angels looked only vaguely humanoid, with clawed hands and feet with only two spiky toes, wearing a red mask with a white 'eye' in the middle. Or was that their actual face? Their body and wings looked more like metal than actual skin and feathers, and the shining halo above their heads only made the rest of them more disturbing in contrast. They were too much like Chimeras...

"See? That's why I hunt their kind: they're much too ugly not to put out of their misery! It doesn't help that they'd love to send my soul down to bloody Inferno..."

Lucas didn't respond. Maybe she wasn't as wicked a witch as she seemed if these were her enemies.

"That was quite the light show you put on earlier. Tell me, just how did a cute little boy like you learn that trick?"

Lucas didn't respond. The answer was complicated.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue? You're a shy one, aren't you?"

He turned away with a blush. He couldn't deny it. Why wouldn't she just attack him already? That would be easier.

She taunted him again, twirling her guns and striking a fancy pose as she gave him a joking suggestion which she would soon regret.

"If you need to learn how to talk to a lady, ask your mum."

Lucas froze.

How dare she? Insulting him was one thing, but mocking his mother's death was another. Something in him snapped. His voice became as shaky as his clenched fists.

"'Ask your mum'?! I'd like to ask my mom a lot of things..."

Hot tears streaked down from his glaring eyes and across his scowling face. He wanted to ask her if she and Claus could forgive him. If he had done the right thing. If fighting was the right way to cope with his feelings. If she was proud of him.

"...but I can't!"

The audience gasped. Only some had known before, but now everyone else did too. He could sense the pity of the crowd, but it all faded away clouded by his own rage.

"Oh."

Her eyes widened behind those glasses, hesitating when he rushed at her and swung his stick like a baseball bat. She blocked it with her two guns until the orange glow of PSI Offense Up engulfed the stick and started pushing her back.

"So how dare you make fun of her?!"

Lucas broke through Bayonetta's guard and sent her flying right into another platform. Instead of falling she stood upside down on the underside of the platform.

"Fuck. Listen, boy, I was only teasing! I didn't mean t-"

"Shut up!"

He jumped at her and imbued a kick with PSI, which Bayonetta stopped with her own kick, leaving them briefly suspended in midair as they clashed. Then Lucas spun in midair like a pinwheel and surrounded himself with gold hexagons to knock up through the platform. He chased her with a double jump and hit her with a backflip kick to send her crashing down to the ground. She rolled on impact and dodged a blast of PK Fire in the process, then parried his rapid falling kicks with her guns.

He landed stumbling next to her, exposed to a sliding kick that pushed him across the stage followed by an upwards kick that knocked him skyward. She pursued him with a tornado-like jump, but he retaliated with another series of downward kicks that knocked her into the ground hard enough to bounce off it, where in the air he kicked her forwards and off the stage before landing.

She sprouted magical butterfly wings to return to the ledge to his shock. Just before he charged again, a voice echoed in his head. Ness's voice.

"Lucas, calm down…she didn't know about your mom!"

Ness might have calmed him normally, but not today.

"I don't care!"

He charged forwards and blasted her with even more glowing hexagons, but she sidestepped and hit Lucas with a barrage of pistol-whips ending in a blow that knocked him upwards. She held out her hand and manifested another portal, from which a huge demonic arm mimicked her uppercut to send him flying.

Lucas cried out in pain and went far too close to the blast zone. But he abandoned fear in place of rage and drifted away from her while falling to attempt a dangerous move.

"PK Thunder!"

Lucas's hands sparked with electricity as he created an orb of lightning and guided its path, sending it up, backwards, and around to hit his back and turn himself into a makeshift missile.

"Lucas, wait! She can slow..doowwnn...tiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmeeee...!"

Ness's warning came too late, his voice slowing down along with everything else while Bayonetta flipped to the side just before Lucas could hit her like a missile. Lucas tried to get up and face her again, but lost his footing, having landed on the ground he froze earlier as time slowed down.

WHAM!

Lucas's face was greeted by another demonic fist that sent him flying across the stage. Bayonetta chased him across the stage while he went flying in slow motion, somehow turning into a panther temporarily. Lucas furiously blasted more hexagons at her with a kick, but she dispersed into a swarm of bats to dodge the slowed projectile and reform next to him as he went over the edge of the platform.

Time slowed even further, leaving Lucas helpless in midair off the stage. Bayonetta raised her foot again and formed another portal as Lucas's last tears were suspended in midair...

"I'm sorry for your loss."

A high-heeled demonic foot stomped down and drove the air from his lungs. Yet he hardly moved until the purple glow faded from the air, making time resume and Lucas go flying into the blast zone where he disappeared in a pillar of light.

"GAME!"

Lucas blacked out.

He woke up to find himself sitting on the hard ground of the Midair Stadium's arena that no longer simulated the clock tower. She looked down and offered a hand to help him up.

He turned away with a frown and got to his feet with his own aching hands.

"The winner is...BAYONETTA!"

Lucas didn't bother clapping for the winner as was tradition. He only clenched his jaw and put his hands in his pockets in frustration.

"...I'm sorry for what I said about your mum. You might not believe me, but I know how you feel." She said quietly enough that only he heard.

"Huh?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I lost my mother too...and my father."

"T-that's awful…" His eyes widened in shock. "I...uh...sorry I yelled at you..."

He looked down and away, conflicted. His hands still trembled with anger, but it wasn't fair to direct it at her if she'd been through just as much. Was it?

"There's no need to apologize. All I'll ask is that you don't blame yourself for what happened to your mother. I'm sure wherever she is now, she would want you to be happy..."

How did she know he felt guilty? Could she read minds too? She didn't stick around for him to ask and stepped through a dark portal to who knows where.

Then he felt the audience's gaze upon him, their collective mental presence flooding his mind now that it was no longer clouded. Reality finally set in and made his face burn with shame. How could he have been so stupid again?

Lucas ran faster and faster in a straight line, causing a blue glow to surround him as he built up speed. Finally, a blue portal appeared in his path. He jumped into it instantly, eager to be anywhere but here.

Lucas reappeared in a familiar location and slid to a stop after emerging from another portal. He extinguished the flames with PK Freeze followed by PSI Lifeup to avoid burning the plants. Especially the sunflowers.

Around him was a vast grassy plain, and near where he stood was a field of sunflowers. Mom's favorite flowers. Her and Claus's graves weren't in this world, so this was the closest he could get to visiting them.

"I guess you're rubbing off on me, Claus...I did another reckless thing." He shook his head. "No, I'm nothing like you...I was supposed to be brave, but I let her get under my skin, and now everyone knows! I'm sorry, Claus...you too, Mom...I'm sorry I'm such a failure..."

He looked back on his past and saw failure after failure. He failed to save his mom from the Drago. He failed to stop Claus from seeking revenge or even go with him. He failed to avenge their deaths with Porky stuck in the Absolutely Safe Capsule. He failed to bring them back with the Dark Dragon's power. He'd failed to prove himself in the tournament. He'd made some friends there, but some of them hadn't returned, like Popo, Nana, Snake, and especially Red...

Why had he shown up late in the first place? Had Master Hand considered leaving him out this time? He would be right to doubt him...

A boy wearing a red baseball cap slid out of a blue portal and interrupted his thoughts.

"Ness?! How'd you find me?"

"You really thought you could hide from me? I was the one who taught you how to teleport, you dummy! I knew you'd go here."

"Haha, you know me too well..." Lucas said with a fake smile.

"Hey, Lucas...are you ok? I haven't seen you that angry since…well, a while ago."

"Sorry...I really messed up, didn't I? Now everyone knows what happened to Mom, and they'll either pity me or think I'm pathetic..."

"Come on, don't blame yourself...it's not like you should have to keep your past a secret. If all they feel is pity, that's their problem! Plus, I've been in these tournaments since the start, so I know everyone pretty well. You're not the only one to lose someone like that...it's kind of sad, but I think they'll understand how you feel."

"You really think so..? People won't just think I'm a crybaby or a wimp?" Lucas could name at least a few who might.

Ness just smiled. "Remember when I taught you how to play baseball?" Lucas nodded as Ness got out his baseball bat, remembering the Home Run Contest. Those were fun times…they'd even gotten the world record when they teamed up to send the Sandbag flying, although only briefly.

"If someone makes fun of you for crying, I'll teach them how to be a baseball!" Ness pointed off into the horizon with his baseball bat like he did before a home run, demonstrating the painful fate any bullies would face.

Lucas laughed. "You don't need to go that far, but thanks for sticking up for me..."

"Hey, it's not like you haven't done the same for me. Remember when you saved me from Turtlezilla?"

Four thoughts haunted Lucas as he held the magic letter that could take him to the World of Trophies once again.

Would he lose as badly as last time?

Was he about to step into a warzone again?

Would he meet all of his friends again?

...Were they all still alive?

There was only one way to find out. He signed his name at last on the dotted line.

The raindrops stopped. A frog paused mid-hop. The paper and envelope remained perfectly dry.

A black circle glowed around him split by a white, off-center cross.

A blinding flash engulfed his surroundings with every color of the rainbow and more he couldn't describe. Equally indescribable sensations overwhelmed his mind before mercifully knocking him out.

He woke up in a room of checkerboard floor tiles instead of the abandoned zoo. That was a start. Seven other people stood on circular platforms like his, some more disoriented than others. He only recognized two through old recordings and others' memories...Mewtwo and Roy (although Roy had definitely grown up a bit). The remaining five were strangers. An incredibly tall dark-haired woman with guns, a muscular man in a martial arts outfit, a young man and woman wearing different styles of medieval armor who like the buff guy had no shoes and stared at each other with shocked red eyes, and a blonde guy who looked almost like a grown-up version of Lucas, except he had an oversized sword and his hair was spiky and weird.

But where was everyone else? Weren't they all supposed to arrive together? Was everyone ok? Lucas had to know. He closed his eyes and reached out his telepathic senses frantically...

Ness was here. But he was nervous, and in danger! Lucas jumped down to the floor and sprinted to use PK Teleport immediately. He ignored everyone's reactions and ran into the blue portal when it appeared...

"PK Fire!"

Bowser went flying before Lucas's feet even hit the floor of Battlefield and before Bowser's feet would've hit Ness's face. Lucas flashed a genuine smile before jumping and kicking the bug-eyed Bowser straight into the blast zone.

"AND LUCAS COMES OUT OF NOWHERE!" Crazy Hand exclaimed through his oversized mic. "...As planned! Did you viewers really think he was gone? We sure pulled a fast one on you, didn't we? And don't worry, he's not alone! Stay tuned for more reveals!"

The oversized glove snapped his fingers and Lucas's surroundings turned into Master Hand's office. An office where everything was oversized as if Master Hand was a regular hand writing down on a regular piece of paper while Lucas was the tiny one overshadowed by a mere pencil container.

Realization struck him like lightning.

"...I'm s-sorry..." Lucas stared a hole into the floor, his face flushed with shame. The word 'stupid!' repeated in his head on loop.

"You should be. You interfered with an ongoing match nearing its conclusion, violating Cheating Clause A, Subsection C. Normally you would be punished, but considering this is your first ever offense, you will only receive a warning. Admittedly, this is also to preserve the illusion my brother created that your intervention was planned."

"..."

"The match will be repeated an hour from now once both fighters have recovered. Your first match will be against fighter number 71, Bayonetta, at 5:30 PM. The stage will be Umbra Clock Tower and items will not be used. As long as you follow the rules you will receive no further punishments."

"..."

"I can tell what you're thinking. Here is a list of the roster." He snapped his fingers summoning a giant piece of paper that then shrank to normal size and floated into Lucas's hands. He looked through it anxiously...

Red, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Popo, Nana, Snake, and Wolf weren't there.

"Are they, um..."

"All of them are alive."

Relief washed over him. But it didn't fix the awful feeling in his chest. He didn't even bother asking how only Charizard was back, he knew what answer he'd get just like when Ness asked why Young Link wasn't back. Even if they were all alive...

Would he ever see them again?

"Yeah, but that was against the rules..."

"So what? It was awesome! You really showed him who's boss! I still can't believe a turtle got that fast, there should be a rule against that too..."

"I guess it was kind of fun, but I'm not doing that again..."

They didn't say anything for a little while. Even if he couldn't ask his mother anything anymore, he knew she would want him to be happy and keep moving forward. His friends had helped him remember how to smile again ever since the time of 'Brawl', and he wasn't about to forget now. Lucas smiled once more, looking up to the fluffy, unusually solid clouds of 'Skyworld'.

"Nice view, isn't it?"

"Yeah...it sure is."

"Wanna go up there and visit Pit? You know, he was cheering for you the whole time! Or maybe he was cheering against her, who knows."

"That sounds like fun, but I think I'll stay here a little longer first..."

"...Okay! I'll see you there!" Ness nodded and ran in a spiral, going faster and faster until he dashed through a blue portal. PK Teleport Beta sure was convenient with how it took up less space.

He left Lucas alone with his thoughts in the sunflower field once more, but in a better mood than before. He didn't ask his mother anything this time. Instead he had something to say, mostly as a reminder to himself.

"Mom...Claus...don't worry. Even if you're not here, I'm going to keep doing my best. So when we meet again someday, you'll be proud of me."