NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 14

Pretty much all the ponies that she had spent time with the day before were there. Even Rarity, much to her surprise was in amongst the crowd gathered around trading cards and duelling one another, though to the purple unicorn’s complete lack of surprise she could see that there was a rather pretty looking mat underneath her.

It was to that group that she headed, figuring that she probably had more in common with them then she did with some of the other local ponies. Raindow Dash budged over to make room, smirking at her. “Decided to emerge then?”

“Spike said you were duelling?” Twilight nodded, not bringing up the earlier prank if no one else was.

“Yeah, Pinkie set it up.” Rainbow nodded, grinning, “She might be prone to pranks but she knows how to get everyone enjoying themselves.” Twilight winced slightly at the ‘pranks’ comment causing Dash to chuckle at her, “You realise there’s not a pony in Ponyville who hasn’t been caught by Pinkie once or twice, right? Well, except Fluttershy, no one pranks Fluttershy.”

That kind of made Twilight feel better. Pinkie had not singled her out, she had been including her in the general pranking. It was an odd way to think about it, but it did help her mood considerably even as she snuck peeks at the shelves, trying to see if she could spot anything on the Elements of Harmony upon them.

It was hard to see anything around the horde of ponies that were gathered in her library and for a few moments Twilight resented it. Libraries were supposed to be quiet and this was her space. None of those present besides herself and Spike had permission to be in her home, but they had invaded anyway. She had wanted a nice, quiet night to get some research done before Nightmare Moon showed up. That plan had gone spectacularly out of the window.

Then she did not have time to resent it as Rainbow set her up to duel against a stallion she had never met before and by the time that they were all due to leave, Twilight had not only gained a small following of impressed Duellists but had gotten to know them all a little better. Since this was a step towards the Elements of Harmony working with her, or even possibly understanding the ‘Unity’ mentioned in Celestia’s letter, it did not feel like she had completely wasted the night, but she still not in the position she had wanted to be in when she was herded from the library and along to the town hall.

Something was off as she entered the building, not that she was entirely sure what it was. She could just feel an odd taint creeping through the building. To her magically honed senses it felt like a strange mist that was slowly oozing between their hooves and spreading out into the streets of Ponyville through the open double doors. She did not know what it was, or why it made her feel so uneasy but as she moved towards the front of the crowd she had a horrible feeling that the alicorn on the balcony was not going to be her tutor, Celestia, but her tainted sister.

The mayor stepped forward to give a speech but Twilight was not listening. She was too busy paying attention to the fact the darkness was building around the balcony where the Princess was due to appear. Something or somepony was coming and the darkness knew it. Twilight just did not know how she was supposed to deal with that fact.

If she was the ‘Guardian of the Shadows’ now, then this was her first test in her new role. She would have to stop Nightmare Moon here, before she could do any damage. She just was not sure how.

“And now,” The mayor announced after thanking everyone for their hard work, “I welcome to Ponyville, Princess Celestia!”

Fluttershy’s bird chorus started up and Twilight held her breath, praying that she was wrong. That the tales of darkness and shadows in Celestia’s letter had made her just image the mist at her hooves and the creeping tendrils of power she could feel surrounding the balcony and reaching behind the curtains.

When they opened, Princess Celestia was missing, causing panic to start rising in the assemblage, including Twilight, who sidestepped, having feared this would happen. Fluttershy’s birds trailed off mid-chorus as Rarity let out a frightened cry of, “She’s gone!”

A dark and slightly deranged cackle started as a purple and black fog swirled around in a tornado of power. Power that was far too reminiscent of the pulse of magic that had erupted from the puzzle when she had completed it for Twilight’s liking, but like it had been multiplied by a thousand.

“Oh horsefeathers…” Twilight whispered to herself as she watched it explode out, coating the walls and ceiling in the same weird maelstrom of an odd mixture of purples, blacks and blues. With the tornado gone, a midnight blue alicorn whose mane and tail were made up from the night sky and flowed like water stood tall and proud where Princess Celestia should have stood. Her silver armour glinted ominously in the strange light that was cast by the power and she looked around with a toothy smirk at the terrified crowd below.

“Bow before your Princess.” Nightmare Moon demanded, “For I have returned and the night will last forever!”

Twilight could feel the power coating the room like a lead weight baring down on her and the temperature had dropped several degrees, leaving most of those in the room with her shivering, though it was hard to tell if it was because of the cold or the fear. It was hard to think through the oppressive atmosphere and Twilight struggled to react to the possessed alicorn’s ravings.

“Where’s the Princess!? The real one!” Rainbow Dash demanded, trying to fly up to the balcony only for Applejack to catch her tail between her teeth and hold her back.

“What’s the matter?” Nightmare Moon demanded with a snarl, glaring at the Pegasus pony, “Am I not royal enough for you? Does my crown no longer matter after five thousand years?! Do you know who I am?!”

“I do!” Twilight bellowed, saving Pinkie Pie from attracting the attention of the dark creature on the balcony by bellowing over her, “I know who you are! You’re Nightmare Moon!”

Several ponies whinnied in terror as the alicorn turned an amused smirk on her, only to freeze, her eyes widening as she took in the unicorn who had called out. “You.” She hissed, anger clear on her face, “You will not stop me this time. I will kill you again! And this time you won’t come back!”

Twilight did not understand what she meant, but she did understand what the wave of purple the alicorn sent at her meant and she threw up a hasty shield spell that protected not only herself but anypony close enough to her to be hit. The powerful attack washed down the sides of her shield and joined the darkness coating the floor around her.

“Who are you this time, Princess?” Nightmare Moon demanded, sarcastically emphasising the title as she glowered down at her, her wings flaring up as she snarled out, “What name should I put on your headstone?”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, I am Celestia’s Personal Student.” Twilight replied as her shield flickered out of existence, its magic spent, “And the Guardian of Shadows. I won’t let you win. I can’t!”

“The last time you were an alicorn and even then, alone, you could not defeat me, you stand no chance now, little Twilight.” Nightmare Moon hissed, drawing up her magic for another strike. “You will die here and now, before you can seal me again! My Shadows will destroy you!”

Twilight’s world slowed down as the demonically possessed alicorn unleashed a wave of Shadows that would kill everyone present. She could not stop it. She knew she could not stop it. She was not strong enough, but she tried. She dragged up every ounce of magic that she possessed and then drew more from the puzzle, building it into a shield that would cover the ponies in the hall.

The Shadows hit it with the force of a hurricane and Twilight shuddered, barely able to maintain her protective barrier against the sheer weight and potency of the dark power she was facing. Her hooves slid backwards as the barrier shuddered and slowly retreated back from the force pressing against it. “I…I’m s…sorry…” She bit out to the ponies surrounding her as her forelegs buckled for a moment and she only just caught herself in time, “I…I can’t…”

“Die!” Nightmare Moon crowed, knowing she had won as she drove more of her power into the blast.

The shield buckled as Twilight did. The unicorn started to collapse as her shield started folding in on itself, unable to take the force of the attack.

Then the puzzle glowed brightly, surrounding Twilight in a golden glow as the same golden glow bolstered the shield and helped it hold. The ponies of Ponyville watched in shock as the glow took the shape of an alicorn and then died down, leaving a tall, proud, purple Princess in the place of the unicorn, her cutie mark the same as before, her wings badly torn and damaged and quite clearly unable to sustain flight, but sweeping gracefully along her back and draping over her like a noble’s cloak. She glared up at Nightmare Moon with narrowed ruby red eyes. “I don’t think so!” She snapped back, “You will not hurt anyone here!”

Nightmare Moon watched in furious shock as the other alicorn’s magic soaked up her blast and stood firm. She was not prepared for this battle. Not tired as she was from fighting the Sun Goddess. She had expected to sweep into the peaceful, quiet city and take over, not wage war with another Goddess in the middle of her victory speech.

She had the advantage though. The Princess before her was ground bound. The wounds that had occurred during the battle so very, very long ago seemed to have latched onto her soul and been carried over to the modern day.

Which meant that she, in this mortal frame she had stolen from the Goddess of the Night, could fly away and recover, while the Princess before her would have to walk to find her and burn up more energy, not really getting the chance to pull herself together before they fought again.

“If you think you can stop me,” Nightmare Moon crowed, “Come and find me. I will be at the heart of my old Kingdom!” With that she flapped her wings and lifted off, flying out of the window and into the night. Rainbow Dash broke free of Applejack’s grip and tried to fly after her, but Twilight did not get to see the result as her shield failed and she collapsed, her wings vanishing, her form shrinking, returning to the unicorn she had originally been as her world went black.

C.N. April 2014: Digital Distraction Part 21

When Yami nodded and moved to the spot indicated, Harper spoke up, his voice carrying around the now silent dining hall. “Activate ‘Stageshow Protocol’ Include players Edmund Harper and Yugi Mutou.”

The crowd let out an appreciative noise as the VirtualNet hubs hummed into action and the floor beneath them converted from the plain white tiles to a cobblestone surface, the walls seeming turn into stone bricks, with torches giving off light.

Yami couldn’t help but be impressed and both sadness and anger flickered through him as it occurred to him that Yugi would have loved to see the VirtualNet in action. If, of course, Dimension Software’s sponsors hadn’t kidnapped him.

“I’m just here to summon an opponent or two for you,” Harper explained to Yami, “And give you a demonstration of what to do and what can happen.”

Yami nodded warily, waiting for him to make his move.

“Your deck goes in the holster, here.” He demonstrated, his stack of cards obviously not Duel Monsters cards unlike the ones Yami slipped into his DimDisk. “Then to fight the opponents within the game, we’ve set it up to allow you to summon your Duel Monsters as your ‘protectors.’ You can have five on the field at any given time and you can have five magic or trap cards set, ready to cast at any point.”

With that he drew five cards and set two cards before sliding two cards into the monster slots. Two men appeared in full suits of armour, wielding swords. Yami took a step back and glanced at Harper, who nodded to him, “Use it like a Duel Disk.”

Yami nodded, drawing five cards and setting one face down before summoning out his Queen’s Knight to attack one of the men.

One of them shattered, but the other, without direction from Harper, tapped a face down card, which glowed brightly for a moment, turned into a gemstone, which equipped itself to his sword, causing it to gain a flaming aura. Then it tapped the second card which caused a set of angelic wings to appear, just before the first guard reappeared. The second guard attacked his Queen’s Knight, which shattered just like the first guard, and Yami’s health decreased by four hundred points.

The first guard then attacked and there were more than a few horrified sounds as it looked like the guard had run Yami through. Then Yami let out a pained howl as the guard pulled his sword back out again and the Pharaoh fell to his knees, clutching his chest.

“I know that must have hurt.” Harper apologised, as Yami got up, glowering at the Guard that had struck him, completely unharmed. “We’ve yet to implement safeties on our VirtualNet so I’m afraid that any attack will feel very real, even if it doesn’t leave any lasting physical damage.” He glanced at Yami, whose health had decreased by another eight hundred points. “Care to call it a day?”

“No.” Yami replied with a shake of his head, “Is it my move again?”

“Once a battle starts, when the enemy creatures have all attacked, it’s the player’s turn again.” Harper nodded, intrigued as to what Yami had planned.

Yami drew, then his scowl turned to a smirk as he played Monster Reborn, which created the same wing effect as the card the guard had activated. Once Queen’s Knight was back on the field, Yami sacrificed it for Dark Magician Girl, activated his face down Sage’s Stone to summon out his Dark Magician and the pair of mages took down the Guards with no sweat.

“And once the enemy creatures are defeated, the battle ends and you can go back to the adventure part of the game.” Harper looked torn between amusement and disappointment as the virtual surroundings disappeared. “You guide books have the plot and the rest of what you need to know about the game in them. We’ll be disembarking in about an hour.”

With that he left, leaving Yami to rejoin his friends, a frown crossing his features when he realised that his health points had yet to recover.

“You okay?” Joey asked Yami.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve had worse from the Duel Disk system.” Yami shrugged, grabbing up his game guide. “But I think I need to know more about this game system.”

Subspace Battle - Part 2

Pit, who was still watching from above, watched events unfold with horror. Pokemon Stadium was engulfed in a black orb, which didn’t vanish, hovering there where Pokemon Stadium had once floated.

A light behind him made him wheel around startled, his wings flapping.

It was the Goddess Palutina. Long golden hair flowing, her gold and white dress shimmering. Pit knew she already knew what had happened.

Pit instantly rushed forward and bowed on one knee. “My Goddess, I…”

“I already know Pit. I know you are concerned for your friends.” She smiled gently at him, “You may go, but take this with you, it will help.”

Pit looked up to see a glowing orb above the Goddess’s hand, taking the shape of a great golden bow with sapphire markings. As he grabbed it two golden, glowing rings surrounded his left wrist. “Thank you.”

“Go and protect your friends. They will need your help before the end.”

Pit nodded, hastily bowing and racing for the double doors that were slowly opening. Spreading his arms and his wings he smiled slightly. He loved this part.

Falling backwards, Pit waited till he had passed through the first layer of clouds, into Smash Planet’s sky, before wheeling around and gliding on the air currents.

He loved to fly.

Using the fast moving air currents above Smash Planet’s own clouds, he flew towards where the Stadium had once stood, landing on top of a floating platform to try to get his bearings.

A loud roaring and rumbling made him look to his side, where Metaknight’s ship was rising out of the clouds. Pit was tempted to fly towards it and see if the Masked Swordsman knew what was going on, but froze as it released the same purple spheres that Pit had seen in the Scrying Mirror.

It shouldn’t have been possible, but the creatures forming were actually walking on the clouds.

Pit found himself surrounded and examined his bow. There was a split down the middle and as he twisted it split into two. Two sharp edged gold and sapphire daggers. He wished he’d had something like them when he’d fought against Link during his last match, where the Hyrulian had knocked him out in under two minutes.

(insert fight here)

Taking out as many as he could, Pit spotted something glinting in the clouds.

It was Mario’s Trophy.

Pit flew over, grabbed the statue, brought it back over to his platform and tapped the statue on the head, activating it and revealing a very confused Plumber, who took a moment to remember what had happened then turned to Pit.

“Thanksa Pit.” Mario nodded, “What’sa happened?”

Pit explained as quickly as he could, causing Mario’s confused look to turn into an outraged one and then a rather angry one. Pit, who’d seen Mario angry only once before, waited for the Plumber to decide what he was going to do.

“Wea have to stop them then.” Mario said, a slight growl in his Italian accent.

“I know.” Pit agreed, turning his daggers back into a bow.

The two of them leapt off the mountain top. Pit gliding and Mario using the strange floating platforms that seemed to be scattered around the area as they went after Metaknight’s ship. (insert level here)

It got away from them and Mario kicked at the ground, frustrated, until Pit held up a hand. “Mario, something’s…”

Mario had heard it too and wheeled around in time to see an Arwing fly overheard at a ridiculous velocity, the slip stream knocking them over.

“Wasa that Fox? Or Falco?” Mario asked.

Pit didn’t know. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

In the Jungle hundreds of miles below them, a skimmer loaded with bananas and driven by a Koopa, was making a hasty escape from two rather enraged gorrilas in clome pursuit, knocking out any Goomba and Koopa that got in their way.

Reaching the cliff edge that the skimmer had narrowly avoided just a couple of seconds ago, Donkey Kong, number seven in Brawl and his monkey sidekick, newcomer to Smash Bros and eighteenth overall, Diddy Kong, arrived in time to see the skimmer escaping down the road at high speed. Dropping bananas everywhere.

Donkey Kong roared at the operators of the vehicle causing the Goomba on top to look back and jump down onto the back, flipping the cannons over and shooting Bullet Bills at the huge ape.

Diddy Kong leapt into the air, using DK as a spring board and drew his peanut guns in midair, shooting two of the Bullet Bills down before they could get close and knocking the other one out of the sky, landing at DK’s side as the last one exploded safely behind them.

The skimmer was still escaping and, copying his hero, Diddy Kong pointed at it and leapt from the cliff into the forest below. (Insert level here)

The skimmer overturned, the bananas safe again and the thieves defeated, Donkey and Diddy Kong were celebrating as Bowser came up behind them, his huge pounding feet giving him away instantly.

The ape and the monkey wheeled around to face the King of the Goombas, who roared at them.

Thinking he was being brave Diddy Kong jumped in front of DK, wanting to impress the big ape.

Bowser had just pulled out a dragonic looking gun, which he pointed at Diddy, charging the shot up.

Realising how much of a bad idea getting hit by it’s firepower was, DK charged up his Giant Punch and lashed out at Diddy, wincing as it impacted and Diddy was sent flying.

Just a millisecond later DK was hit by the black energy arrow, turned into a Trophy and picked up by Bowser.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Subspace Battle - Part 1

Smash Bros Brawl was in full swing as Princess Peach and Princess Zelda waited the two combatants eagerly.

The match today was Mario against Kirby, both highly ranked in the league table so far, second and fourth, the match was being held at Pokemon Stadium, Red, Pikachu, Jigglypuff and Lucario’s home turf as it were.

The first to arrive in Trophy form was Mario, self activating to reveal the Hero of Mushroom Kingdom, ready and raring to go.

All three Smashers looked skyward as Kirby’s Trophy activated in mid air and the pink puffball of Dream Land flipped in mid air and landed with a wave for the crowd.

Turning serious, Kirby turned to Mario, just waiting for the call to start the battle.

“Ready! Go!”

The two launched at each other, in a mess of fireballs, inhaling, punches, kicks and a variety of other attacks. Mario needed to win this one to stay second, Kirby needed this one to advance and neither were backing down.

Kirby pressed on, pushing Mario towards the edge of the arena, hoping to push him off.

Mario grinned however and leapt up, breaking a Smash Ball.

Kirby knew what was coming and attempted to get away, was unable to in time and was hit by Mario’s Final Smash, the Mario Finale, a concentrated blast of flames that practically took over the entire stadium and which Kirby barely recovered in time from.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Way up in the Heavens, Pit was watching the match in the scrying mirror.

Called back to Heaven by his Goddess for a short time, she had been gracious enough to provide this mirror so her General could see how his friends were doing in the Tournament.

Pit himself was around fifteenth, but that wasn’t a bad place to be so early in the Tournament, when there were thirty five fighters competing for this year’s title.

Once again Pit was quite glad no one was around as he cheered on his friends enthusiastically.

Pit leant forward as Kirby dealt the final blow, knocking Mario out and returning him to Trophy form.

“Kirby goes up, Mario goes down.” Pit murmured, now unable to wait patiently for his next match.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

“GAME!”

Mario’s trophy hit the ground and Kirby hit it, activating it and startling Mario, who hadn’t expected to be reactivated outside of Smash Mansion. The plumber leapt back into a defensive stance, before realising where he was and what had happened and grinned, shaking hands with the puffball.

“Wella done.” Mario nodded to Kirby before they turned and waved to the crowd who went wild, screaming and whistling and cheering.

The screaming took on another tone as the Stadium shook. It wasn’t possible for it to be an Earthquake, there were no Pokemon around and the stadium floated off of the ground.

Mario, Kirby, Zelda and Peach all wheeled around to the south, where threatening red clouds were gathering. The only thing they could think of was ‘Challenger Approaching’ but no one had ever arrived in a cloud like that before and there had been nothing said before they’d left the Mansion…

Kirby looked startled as Metaknight’s ship came out of the rolling red clouds, opening it’s hatches and releasing strange purple glows onto the battle field, which turned into strange green and purple monsters. Lots of them.

Zelda and Peach ran to help their friends, Zelda teleporting onto the field and Peach floating in gracefully on her parasol.

The crowd, of course, thought this was either ‘Challenger Approaching’ or some sort of show and were going wild again.

“Thanksa guys.” Mario murmured as they wondered how best to come at the creatures.

“You think we’d let you have all the fun?” Zelda asked with a laugh, then leapt back as the first of the creatures attacked and was dispatched by a vegetable to the face.

Mario gave his Princess an appraising look and then leapt into action himself, helping his friends destroy the last of the things, which didn’t respawn after you knocked them off the edge and seemed to have no trophy.

What were they?

Mario was the first to look skyward and as such was the first to spot the strange green creature floating in the sky with the huge ball with the red x on. Mario and Zelda shifted back into offensive mode, while Peach looked started and Kirby looked confused.

Mario got it easily. They were under attack.

Two robots came around the side of the ball, confusing the Plumber, as they hadn’t been there seconds before, and jacked into the ball, opening it to reveal.

“It’s a bomb!” Peach yelped as everyone froze with a startled gasp.

That much was obvious from the bleeping and the countdown, but, as the green floating creature got away, no one called her on it as Mario rushed forward. If it had been activated, then surely it could be deactivated again.

The Brawl Trophy System sorted most injuries, but wouldn’t help them if this place was disintegrated and none of the crowd were under its protection, only the Smashers themselves were.

Something hit the battle field, causing Mario to pause and turn around just in time to see the huge black ball that knocked him flying for a Star KO.

Kirby watched Mario go with a worried look, then wheeled around as footsteps were heard and Peach screamed.

It was huge, a plant like thing with the two Princesses in cages. Petey Pirana… jumbo sized.

And Kirby had to fight it alone.

The puffball stood a step back as it slammed the two cages together, knocking both Princesses of their feet and roared at him.

(insert fight here)

The Pirana Plant blew up, knocking Kirby and Zelda clear of the explosion. The two wheeled around, both concerned for Peach and wondering  how a plant could explode, forgetting an important rule of Brawl, everything explodes.

Wario, an enemy of Mario’s, sporting a huge dragonesque gun, causing the two to shift into defensive stances. Zelda’s eyes shifted to Peach who was just picking herself out of the dirt.

“Peach!” Zelda yelled, trying to warn her friend, as Wario wheeled around, laughing like a loonatic. The arrow like energy blast that shot from the gun passed straight through Peach, a one hit KO move that resulted in her reverting to the Trophylike state that had become the salvation of a dying Smasher and introduced just two weeks ago, but left them completely helpless until they were reactivated.

Wario leapt over, grabbed the Princess’s Trophy and leapt away, leaving Zelda and Kirby to try to follow him. As Kirby passed the bomb he noticed just how low the timer was getting and used the Warp Star he’d stashed away. Unable to save anyone else, Kirby grabbed Zelda and the two rode the Warp Star out of the explosion.

Subspace Battle - Part 3

The green creature that had bombed the Pokemon Stadium was getting away, chased from below by Mario who leapt, only to find the strange creature floated higher to avoid him, and then had his head trampled on by Pit who attempted to gain extra height, faster but missed, landing in a crouch just in front of Mario who’d landed on his face.

“Momma Mia.” Mario groaned as he sat up.

“Sorry.” Pit said as the green creature got away from them and he helped the Plumber to his feet. “I wonder where he’s taking that bomb…”

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Lucas was very lost.

They’d all had to flee from Smash Mansion this morning, when it had been attacked by those creatures, apparently called Primids. Pikachu had been captured and all those Smashers who weren’t away from the Mansion or in a battle had been forced to flee to prevent their own capture, or being caught in the explosion from the bomb that had been planted in the courtyard.

Why did everyone hate that Courtyard?

Lucas froze as some of those Primid creatures appeared, surrounding him.

He wasn’t one of the best fighters, he wasn’t even in the top half of the Tournament, if anything he was still unsure of his PSI powers and it made him wary of using them in combat.

To be fair to him he’d had bad matchups so far, Ganondorf, King Dedede and Bowser to name three of the five, but as a huge doll like thing stomped towards him, Lucas screamed and ran for it. (Insert level here)

Lucas tripped, his foot entangled in a root. The huge doll like thing stomped further forward, threatening to crush him as he struggled with the root, trying desperately to free himself. Lucas cowered as it loomed over him.

“PK THUNDER!” A ball of PSI Lightening hit the huge doll like thing, knocking it backwards.

Between Lucas and the fallen doll landed Ness, a veteran of Smash Bros and the true hero of their world, at least to Lucas’s eyes. The doll got back to it’s feet and Ness leapt, using his PSI powers to float in midair, “PK SPARK!” Ness shouted, sending the attack at the doll and causing it to explode.

Ness landed safely, only for a mechanical spider like creature to appear from the smoke.

Ness just wiped the sweat from his brow and destroyed that one too. (Insert real fight here.)

Lucas rushed over to Ness’s side as the boy turned to check he was alright. “Thank you.”

“You really should learn to trust your powers more.” Ness frowned, “You wouldn’t have been invited here if you hadn’t earned your place.”

An evil chuckle made them turn and look.

Wario was aiming the dragonic gun at them, or rather at Ness, who easily evaded the shots fired. Deciding to go for the easier target Wario switched to shooting at Lucas, who didn’t realise it until he’d already fired and Ness had pushed him out of the way, getting hit himself, turned into a Trophy as Lucas backed up, terrified.

Wario had already beaten him once and other then the now common place Link vs Ganondorf battles that took place in the, more often then not, wreaked Courtyard, no one had deliberately attempted to turn someone into a Trophy outside of a Smash Bros Brawl Battle.

Lucas fled, leaving Ness in the hands of Wario. The man’s laugh could be heard as Lucas ran through the rain and lightening storm.

(Insert level here I think)

The storm had stopped by the time Lucas was done running and looking backwards, feeling guilty, Lucas walked straight into the legs of Red.

“Careful.” Red murmured, pointing towards the growing Primids, “You nearly walked right into them.”

“There’s so many.”

“S’ok.” Red smiled slightly as he pulled out one of his Pokeballs, getting ready to release the Pokemon inside. “You fighting with me?” Red asked as he threw the Pokeball, releasing his Squirtle who stood up and looked at his Trainer, “Squirt?”

(Insert battle here)

Red looked around, scanning quickly for any more Primids before returning his Pokemon to its ball. “You alright?” Red asked, concerned, “You froze out there.”

“I…It’s Ness.” Lucas stammered, “He was captured and it’s my fault.”