Universe: Days of Future Past Apocalyptic Future
Lucas sat quietly on a fallen pillar as the others began walking around the stone edifice that they stood in front of. The mythical Dragon's Gate.
Some said that walking through it granted immortality. Others claimed that just touching it would grant one incredible strength and speed. A scarce few said that it would transport you to other worlds.
But they weren't banking on that legend. They were banking on something much, much less interesting. Well, as far as the Dragon Gate was concerned. And that was the fact that they knew that it had existed since time immemorial, and that executing their plan here meant that they didn't risk teleporting into a wall and hopefully didn't attract the unwanted attention.
To be fair, it was kind of a crazy plan.
In the waning years of the ancient Kingdom of Hyrule, the golden wish granting power of Hyrule, the Triforce, was split into its three pieces, and hidden across the vast lands of the world.
Lucas wouldn't have believed that the Triforce even truly existed of this about a year ago, before he'd first met Lucina. The Triforce, the Kingdom of Hyrule, and many other legends of the past had…. well, faded into legend.
But Lucina's words held truth. Backed by her possession of the Falchion, legendary blade of the house of Anri, and the Master Sword, legendary blade of evil's bane, wielded by the heroes of Hylian folklore.
She spoke of a time when the heroes of the world banded together to fight evil, creating a powerful organization made of the most powerful warriors alive. It seemed that nothing could stop them. Until one of their own betrayed them and led them to their early demise.
The world had plunged into chaos and had remained there for 200 years. Some powers had risen and fallen, while others endured. While Calamity Ganon and Grima had scourged the world with their fell malice since the beginning of the collapse, the rise of Heihachi Mishima and the Mishima Zaibatsu had only happened about 50 years ago, which made Pokey Minch and his Pigmask army the relative newcomers, having been a noteworthy force for less than a decade.
Lucina's mission…. No, their mission….. was to assemble the missing pieces of the Triforce, and wish to return to the past, so that they could warn the Smashers of the traitor and prevent their demise. And by extension, save their future.
Lucas had first met Lucina and her friends when they'd come to Nowhere Island, in search of the Triforce of Courage, said to be hidden there by the last Hero of Hyrule. Lucas hadn't really believed that such a mythical artifact existed, let alone be hidden in his backyard, but Kumatora had gotten real excited, and she'd more or less dragged him into it.
He hadn't actually expected to find the golden triangle. And that was when he'd really gotten onboard with this plan. While he and his party had driven Pokey off of the island, the foul man had managed to escape, and there was no telling when he'd be back. It wasn't a permanent solution.
However….. if they went back and changed the past…..
Pokey never would have taken over in the first place. Mom and Claus would still be here. Dad and Duster would still be here. None of this would have happened.
So here he was. Though, there was one thing that still bothered him.
It was said that only those who embodied Courage, Wisdom and Power could carry the respective Triforce pieces.
The Triforce of Courage had chosen Little Mac when they'd found it. It was no wonder it had chosen him. Lucas had seen the diminutive boxer weave in and out of fights with Tekken Force soldiers, the Pigmask Army, Grima's Risen, and Calamity Ganon's monsters. That took true courage.
Lucina had been chosen by the Triforce of Wisdom, after they'd found it hidden near the Fountain of Dreams. It was no surprise that it had chosen her, their intrepid leader. She was very smart, familiar with all kinds of history and legends, and capable of weaving brilliant strategies that defeated the bad guys and kept everybody alive. That made sense.
And then, they'd located the Triforce of Power, deep within the heart of the ruins of Mushroom Castle. Lucas thought that it would choose somebody else. Probably Owain, considering that he also hailed from the Exalt's bloodline. That, and the destruction the tactician wrought with his legendary Elibian Tomes. It was something else to watch him cast Forblaze or Aureola.
And if not Owain, either Inigo or Severa. Those three had travelled the world with Lucina, evading the various chaotic forces that vied for power in their world, collecting legendary weapons along the way.
Owain wielded the ancient blade Misseltain from the ancient kingdom of Valm on top of his tomes. Inigo was armed with the mythical Monado, the Mirror Sheild of Skyworld, the Power Bracelets, and the Black Knight armor, salvaged from the ashes of the recently fallen Begnion Empire. Severa carried with her the Hylian Sheild, Palutena's Bow, and the Star Rod. Each one a powerhouse in their own right.
And it wasn't as if their other companions were any less well armed. Bandanna Dee wielded the fabled Galaxia as a secondary weapon to his spear. Shiro and Seigbert wielded their hereditary blades, and Magnus dual wielded Ragnell and Alondite as if they were toothpicks. Blaze's pyrokinesis was a sight to behold, and Kumatora and Silver were both stronger PSI users than he was.
And then there was Lucas. Just a kid from literally nowhere with no living family to call his own. He literally used a stick in battle.
And the Triforce of Power chose him.
And Lucas still didn't know why.
Lucas didn't pretend to know what ancient artifacts were thinking, and his telepathy had always been much stronger with animals and Pokemon. He had no idea what this shiny golden triangle was thinking when it chose him.
Doc Louis had wondered if it had been attracted by his untapped potential and started having him train with Little Mac in the hopes of somehow unlocking it.
It hadn't worked, though it had improved his footwork and agility somewhat.
Lucas was shaken out of his thoughts as Boney licked his hand. He looked down, and petted Boney on the head, as his duck friend Quackers jumped off of his back and settled down next to him. Pichu jumped onto his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek.
"Thanks guys…." said Lucas. He reached into his pocket and produced a bag of granola. Carefully, he pulled out a few clusters and fed them to each of his friends. A part of him wondered if it even mattered that he was still trying to ration the granola. If they succeeded, they'd end up in a much more prosperous past, and if they failed…. Well, was a singular half eaten bag of granola going to make a difference?
Lucas looked around as he watched his companions survey the area.
"What if we combined the Triforce here?" asked Inigo from the middle of the paved area. "If this pillar was standing in the past, the entire area would be clear!"
"The same could be said for back there," said Magnus, pointing behind him to what appeared to have been the entrance at one point.
"C'mon, its not like it actually matters," said Severa. "It's a magic triangle, it's not gonna teleport us in the middle of a pillar!"
"My sword hand tingles! Over here must be more auspicious!" said Owain from an open area to the right of the Gate itself.
"Dude, for the last time, you have carpal tunnel, the only thing that means is that you should see a doctor!" said Blaze.
Lucas just sighed. Well, at least the others were still feeling all right.
There was a thump next to him.
"You look down. You doing all right, kiddo?"
"Oh, hey Doc," said Lucas. "I'm ok, I guess."
"Tuckered out from all that walking? Don't worry, me too. Back in my prime, that would have been nothing! But…. well, I'm a bit over the hill now. It's a crying shame I lost my bike back in Isle Delfino. I miss it, you know!" said Doc with a chuckle. "I'm gonna have to get Calamity Ganon back for destroying my bike!"
Lucas managed a small laugh in reply.
"Oh, come on, that was a good one!" said Doc. "But seriously, are you doing ok? You look like you're carrying the world on your shoulders. That's no way to be living or fighting!"
Lucas didn't say anything for a moment, searching for the words. Thankfully, he didn't have to.
"This is about the Triforce of Power choosing you," said Doc.
"Yeah…. I can't figure out why it picked me, and it's bothering me…." asked Lucas.
"Now, don't you go start thinking that you're not strong enough or something," said Doc. "You might be small, but you hit like a train in your own right with your PK stuff. Listen here. That Triforce…. Maybe it saw something that nobody saw, not even you. It looked past all those legendary weapons, and saw something in you! In your heart, in your mind, in your soul! Listen, I dunno what the thought process of a glowing triangle is, but I guarantee you that glowing triangle saw something!"
"Then why can't I see it?" asked Lucas.
Doc paused for a moment. "Now I know you're awful hard on yourself a lot, and that's something you need to work on, but why don't we stop for a minute. I've been thinking that I need to apologize to you. I got so caught up with the idea that you needed to unlock that power that I didn't ask any other questions. So, sorry for doing that. But also, I think we need to ask a different question. What if you have that power within you already?"
"I mean…. you know I don't hit as hard as Kumatora….." said Lucas.
"Ok, so then what do you have that Kumatora doesn't?" asked Doc. "If we know that Kumatora outclasses you in…. say PK Fire, PK Thunder, and the other PK moves, then that narrows it down a little. What do you have that she doesn't? I'll give you a hint, as much as I like him, I don't think it's Rope Snake."
Rope Snake poked his head out of Lucas's backpack and hissed at Doc.
"Oh, shush you," chuckled Doc.
Boney stood up on his hind legs and made a laughing pose.
As his animal friends started to bicker, Lucas began to think. It wasn't the stick. As much as everybody liked to make much of his "legendary weapon", the "Mighty Stick of Justice", it definitely wasn't that. Especially since legendary weapons apparently didn't count.
It couldn't be PK Fire, Kumatora's was stronger and even that paled in comparison to Blaze's skill and power. And while his fine telekinesis was better than Kumatora's, Lucas was pretty certain that he was better because he was more careful than she was. And anyway, Silver blew both of them out of the water in that category.
There was only one thing that he had that Kumatora didn't. Which mean that…..
Mom
Claus
Dad
Duster
Lucas closed his eyes and winced. No. Not now.
"What's wrong?"
"I… uh…."
Suddenly, Doc shifted in his seat.
"I heard you, punk! Show your face!"
Immediately, Lucas opened his eyes, and turned. Boney, Quackers, Pichu and Rope Snake immediately took fighting stances, and the others began to run over.
As they did, several figures walked out of the dense forest that surrounded the Dragon's Gate.
"Well, well, well," said Doc. "Look at what the cat threw up, and the dog dragged back in! Kazuya Mishima. How's it going, old pal, old chum, old shoe, old skunk bait, old fish head?"
"You will give me the Triforce," said Kazuya, as his Tekken Force soldiers began to mass out of the woods. "Where is it?"
"What, you think I'm going to tell you?" asked Doc. "Please, you know me better than that."
"Then you will die," said Kazuya. "You know you cannot defeat me."
"Oh, I know I got closer to beating you then your old man did at the first Tekken Tournament," said Doc. "And he came back to beat you at the second. You don't think I can't pull off the same?"
"You are not as young as you once were, old man," intoned Kazuya.
"He's not alone!" said Silver.
"You got a lot of guts to follow us here," boomed Magnus.
"Do you all wish to die? Give me the Triforce and I will let you go. I do not have time to waste," said Kazuya. "You are outnumbered. You have no hope of winning."
Lucas's fists clenched as Inigo clanked up behind him, and Kumatora and Severa jumped in front of him.
"You wish, ya creepy old fart!" snapped Severa.
Blaze only produced fire from her hands, while Shiro and Seigbert took fighting stances.
"Lookit this geezer, trying to intimidate us! Hah! Your fancy Air Jordans aren't gonna save you, ya know!" scoffed Shiro.
Kazuya's eyebrow twitched. "Hmph. Then perish."
"Wait!" said Lucas. "We don't need to fight!"
However, before he could continue, Lucas sensed somebody behind him and whipped around on his heel to see a blonde woman in a trenchcoat drop down behind them.
He blasted her on pure instinct.
"PK Love!"
The woman was sent flying through the air for several meters, before crashing into the side of the Dragon's Gate, and slumping to the ground.
Lucas looked down at his hands in shock. PK Love was powerful, but he'd never sent anybody flying that far with it. How had he done that?
"Nina!" gasped Kazuya.
"Oh yeah, you show her, Lucas!" cackled Kumatora.
"And there's more where that came from!" said Blaze. "You really want to try your luck?"
"She's right! You have no idea what you're dealing with!" said Seigbert.
"So this is the power of the Triforce….." said Kazuya. "Very well, child. You made your point. Give me the Triforce and we will leave without further mess."
"You can't handle it!" blurted out Lucas.
"Excuse me?"
"You won't be able to use the power of the Triforce!" said Lucas.
"Hmph! Foolish boy, you clearly underestimate my power!"
"Well, it's not just power. There are three parts of the Triforce. Courage, Wisdom, and Power. Power's only one of them."
"Do you think I lack wisdom or courage?" demanded Kazuya.
"Well, you showed up with an army, so I don't think you have courage. If you had courage, you'd come by yourself!" said Lucas. "And you didn't have enough wisdom to surprise Doc!"
"Kid's on to something, what can I say?" agreed Doc.
"Those are terrible examples," said Kazuya.
"Yeah probably. But what I do know is that you probably won't be able to get the Triforce of Courage to work with you."
"I have all the power."
"Power isn't always an external thing. Almost everybody around me has at least one legendary weapon, and the Triforce of Power chose me. I don't think its idea of power is the same as yours. Your power comes from your army and your evil transformation thingie. You're rich and you have a big company. In that respect, you're not that different from Pokey. You know what happened to him? He tried to fight us over the Triforce of Power. It actually blasted him away when he tried to take it."
"Then the Triforce was right to reject that weak fool. And do not compare me to that sniveling wretch. There is nothing in common between us."
"Whoa! No, ok that came out wrong!" said Lucas. "Pokey's the extreme end of that spectrum, you're like physically able to walk around and stuff! And like…. probably have been working out and stuff!"
"Your point?" demanded Kazuya.
"Listen, the Triforce of Power chose me. I didn't choose it. I don't know why. A long time ago, the Triforce of Power chose the guy who turned into Calamity Ganon. Why'd it choose him? Why did it eventually reject him? I don't know either. But I don't think just walking up to the Triforce and demanding that it work with you is going to work! And your power of being in charge of a big company isn't the type of power that the Triforce recognizes! There's no point in fighting us because it's not going to listen to you! I don't know how it defines power, but I also don't know what me and Ganon have in common either! Why don't we all just talk this..."
"Do you think that I cannot bend it to my will?" demanded Kazuya.
"Well, I bet you'll try. But it's an ancient artifact with a mind of its own and none of us know what it's thinking. I don't think that it will listen to you! This is a waste of time!" said Lucas.
"I will compel it then, end of story. Enough talk. If you refuse to give me the Triforce, I will take it from you. Soldiers! Attack!" said Kazuya.
Suddenly, Lucas felt a hand on his arm. It was Lucina.
"Nice speech, but we need to go. C'mon!"
She practically dragged him towards the center of the clearing, where Little Mac was waiting, as the others began to fight Kazuya and his soldiers. Boney grabbed Lucas's backpack and followed them with Quackers, Pichu and Rope Snake.
"All right, do you feel that tug?" she asked as they reached where Little Mac was standing in the middle of the stone courtyard.
"Yeah," said Lucas.
"Ok good. Uh, according to our best records, we need to all raise our arms, and the Triforce should assemble by itself."
"Uh what?" asked Lucas.
"I don't know, the translation from old Hylian is probably not that great, just try it, ok? We don't have time!"
"Uh, sure….." said Lucas.
He looked down and saw the Triforce mark glowing on the back of his hand. That was probably the arm, right?
Lucas and Lucina both raised one arm, while Little Mac raised both. Lucina raised an eyebrow.
"What? You said raise your arms!" said Little Mac.
"You know what, as long as it works," said Lucina.
"It's not…." started Little Mac, when suddenly, the three pieces of the Triforce appeared above their heads and formed the full Triforce above them.
"THE TRIFORCE! GIVE IT TO….." roared Kazuya, before getting cut off suddenly.
"SIT DOWN, SON!" boomed Doc from somewhere in the tussle.
"All right," said Lucina. "Ok. Uh…. where's that paper…."
"There's another step?" asked Little Mac.
"Yes! Well no….. uh…. I worded the wish really carefully and wrote it down….." said Lucina.
"We don't have time for that!" said Little Mac. "Hurry! Do it from memory!"
"Well, what if I fumble it and screw up the wish?" said Lucina.
"What if you don't get the wish because Kazuya gets it first?" asked Little Mac. "Do you really want to give a Mishima a freaking wish?"
Suddenly, Kazuya burst from the crowd and rushed towards them.
"Do it, hurry!" said Little Mac, before rushing at Kazuya.
"Make the wish! I believe in you!" said Lucas as he took a defensive stance in front of Lucina.
She placed her hand on the side of the Triforce and began to speak.
"Triforce, hear my wish! I wish to go 200 years in the past to the week before the 523rd Star Festival with my companions!" said Lucina as Lucas watched Little Mac struggle against Kazuya. A sudden roundhouse kick sent him flying to the side.
Lucas tensed as Kazuya rushed directly towards him. He raised his stick and braced for the worst.
"With my friends! To change the past and save the Super Smash Brothers and in doing so….."
Before Kazuya could reach him, Lucas was engulfed in a golden light. The wind went still, the din of battle ceased, and he could no longer sense the mental presence of anyone, friend or foe. And then, everything went dark.
...
...
...
...
"…..ok…"
"….do you think…we know Link has it…"
"…..lots of temporal energy….maybe that means…."
"….. call Ike….before, right? Maybe he knows…"
...
...
...
...
Lucas regained consciousness and sensed a number of mental presences. Had they made it? He tried to move his arm, but his arm ached in protest. Lucas let out a groan.
"We have movement! Hold still, let me heal you!" said one of the voices.
A warmth of healing magic washed over him.
"Ugh….. did we make it?" groaned Lucas.
"You did at least. As did several of your companions," said the voice. "You make for an odd group, not that I'm really one to speak on such matters."
Lucas opened his eyes and looked around. The man who stood in front of him had silver hair and piercing red eyes. Everybody was there, lying on the ground. Lucina, Little Mac, Boney, Quackers, Pichu and Rope Snake were lying near him, while the others were sprawled out farther away. They'd all made it. And no sight of Kazuya or his soldiers to boot.
The wish had worked.
Lucas let out a sigh of relief.
Near the rest of their unconscious group, a woman in a black trenchcoat stood, next to a blue haired man with a familiar looking tattoo on his shoulder.
"Corrin! The guy in the Black Knight armor is waking up too!"
"Hold on a second Robin! I'll be over there in a moment!"
"You….. you're Prince Corrin of Hoshido? Brother of King Ryoma of Hoshido and Princess Corrinne of Nohr? Hero of the Valla War and one of the Smashers?"
Lucas and the man with the heal staff looked over to see Lucina trying to sit up, a few feet from where Lucas was.
The man's eyebrows raised in surprise as he moved over to attend to her. "You flatter me with fanciful titles, but yes, that's me. Though, you have me at a disadvantage. May I ask your names?"
Lucina groaned and collapsed again. Corrin caught her as she fell and turned her over onto her back.
"Steady now. Let me heal you, it's going to be all right."
Lucas pushed himself into a sitting position. A wave of dizziness washed over him as Corrin began to heal Lucina. How long had they been lying there? Lucas felt like he'd been sleeping on the ground for at least a week.
As the dizziness wore off, Corrin turned back to him.
"Are you feeling all right?"
"Yeah….I think so…." said Lucas. "Um….. to answer your question, I'm Lucas. Lucas from Nowhere Island. And she's Lucina. She's a descendant of the Hero Exalt of Ylisse. I…. well, all of us…. we're from the future. We're here to save you."