Authoress’ Notes: Damn me and my long chapters. This one had to be cut in half, so all the good stuff will go down next time. Sigh...

He Said, She Said

Chapter 20: Rectifying the Undeniable

Lucas squinted her eyes and swallowed as her stomach angrily told her she need to pay another visit to the toilet. It was only a slight nausea this time, so she hoped it’d go away if she stayed perfectly still. Motionless in bed, she bit her lip and quietly, but heated, huffed and puffed in order to contain her morning sickness. The sickly feeling wavered up and down in its strength as she struggled to keep it down. Ugh, mornings were supposed to be calming and peaceful, and here she was, miserable with these stupid symptoms.

A soft moan escaped her as she reached down to massage her queasy tummy when her hand hit something else. ...She frowned and tried to decipher it, rubbing it up and down. Whatever it was, it was wearing clothes and almost as big as her...

...Gritting her teeth in fear, she slowly pulled back the covers and gulped, afraid to look down. There was no telling what had latched onto her in this place...! Her eyes slowly trailed down to see a familiar yellow-and-blue striped shirt clutching onto her midsection for dear life. ...Huh?

Sitting up slightly, she saw her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her; the chair Ness was sitting in last night was empty and she had woken up sharing the bed with him... like so many times before. But unlike those times before, where she always greeted her sleepily happy partner with a smile or a soft good morning kiss, she found herself bewildered at not only his presence, but his pose.

In short, Ness slept like he was in a bomb shelter. He was tensed up, head buried so far into her chest, she couldn’t see his face. His hands clung tightly to her shirt’s sides, refusing to let go for anything. Lucas wasn’t sure if it was because they were both psychic or not, but she sensed all sorts of horrible vibes coming him, fear being the most prevalent.

Lucas tried moving to pry him off, but he wasn’t budging. His hold on her actually increased as he felt her wiggle about. She even tried pushing on his shoulders to get free, especially since he was starting to strangle her now. Geez, he was strong.

Sighing, she finally gave up and let Ness have his way. Her nausea had subsided, anyway... She was about to let bygones be bygones and go back to sleep when someone gently knocked on the door.

“Come in,” she softly called, wrapping Ness under the covers again.

Mario came in, clipboard in hand. “Oh, I see you’re already up. That’s a good sign. I also see you never got around to leaving last night, so I came to check on you.”

“I’m sorry...” She rubbed her head. “I got sick again, so I don’t think I could’ve made it back to my room, anyway.”

“No need to explain, but you should be better by now,” he said, furiously scribbling on his clipboard. “...So? Are you?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You haven’t eaten since R.O.B. brought you lunch yesterday, so you’re advised to get to breakfast ASAP.”

“Okay.”

“All right, well, if you think you can go, then you can go.” He looked around, noticing something was different. “...Hmm, I could’ve sworn Ness was in here at one time. I’d really like him to help you out.”

“Oh, he, uh, went to the bathroom,” she lied. “He’ll be back... sooner or later.”

“Oh.” He shrugged, leaving. “Well, when he gets back, tell him you’re free to go, and that he’s got a fight in 10 minutes. He’s got some time to make up for everything he missed yesterday.”

As he closed the door, she sighed. She was surprised Mario didn’t notice how oddly she was sitting in bed, due to Ness being latched onto her side. Pulling the covers back again, she looked upon her partner once more to see he was still curled up next to her stomach and, technically, the baby. As cute as she thought that was, she really had to get up. The nausea was coming back.

“Ness,” she tried, shaking his head. “Ness, wake up.”

She felt his face contort in her chest, his grip growing stronger as her pushing did. Well, at least that meant he was still alive.

“Ness, quit it, seriously... Get up.”

“...No...” came his muffled reply.

She frowned. “‘No’? What do you mean, ‘no’? Can you at least let go? You’re crushing me.”

“...” His strength lessened enough to where she didn’t feel like he was trying to squeeze the baby outta her, but she was still restricted.

“Good, now do you think you can let go all the way?”

“...No...”

Now she was starting to get a little annoyed. “Okay, Ness... I know you’re not a morning person, but morning sickness doesn’t care about that. If you don’t let go, consider your hat a barf bag...”

“...I don’t care,” he mumbled.

...What? Lucas was so shocked, it actually dissipated her nausea, replacing it with worry and confusion.

“...Ness?” she asked again, this time, concerned.

“...What?”

“Are you feeling alright?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I dunno.”

“Well, if you let go, maybe I can help you.”

“No...”

“...Please?” she sweetly asked. He couldn’t deny that voice, right?

Apparently, he could. “No...”

Lucas sighed. She really didn’t wanna do this, but he left her no choice. Taking a hand, she grabbed a clump of his messy hair and pulled. Ness’ nails dug into her sides, trying to ride out the pain, but as her pulling increased, he broke down and finally let go with a yelp, fingers now fixated to his throbbing head.

She looked at him, half-annoyed, half-puzzled. “...Ness, what’s gotten into you? What was that all about?”

“...” His back turned, he refused to answer, still tending to his burning follicles.

“...Hello?”

“What?” he grumbled, sighing.

“...” Curious, Lucas sat up and leaned over to see Ness’ face. He eyed her from the side as she did, but remained unmoved, turning before she could get a good look at him. “Is there something wrong?”

He turned his head more, literally snuffing her. “...No, nothing. I’m fine.”

“Well, you sure act like there’s something wrong.”

“Well, there’s not...”

“Fine.” An awkward silence passed before she said, “...Mario just excused me from the infirmary. We can go now.”

“...Good.”

She stood, stretching. “...So, are you coming?”

“...Yeah.” And yet, he remained on the bed.

Seeing he wasn’t moving, the blonde added, “You’ve also got a fight coming up. It starts soon, so you better go.”

“...” He let out an irritable sigh.

“...I would like some help getting back to the room, though. I can walk myself, but I still want you to come with me...”

“...Fine.” He stood, sighing as he slumped over to the door, seemingly not caring if Lucas followed or not.

The blonde smiled as he did this, happy he was actually moving now. Much to Ness’ dismay, she was a bit too oblivious to notice how indifferent he was about her doting perkiness. Regardless, she happily took a hand from his pocket and pulled him along. Ness wasn’t interested in anything aside from the floor at the moment, but he was willing to bet Lucas was smiling like an idiot. ...Well, at least one of them was in a good mood...

Getting back to their room wasn’t too much of a hassle. Well, actually, it wasn’t a hassle at all. Lucas felt great, much better than the other day. Maybe she did just need some downtime. Or maybe it was ‘cuz Ness was there? It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out him being around made her 50% happier, after all...

She was snapped outta her thoughts as she noticed Ness opened the door to their room, returning his hands back to his pockets and looking particularly bothered. ...Why wasn’t he as happy as she was? Didn’t she make him 50% happier when being there, too?

Despite this, she approached and smiled. “...Thank you.”

He hunched his shoulders like it was no big deal. “...Sure.”

Seeing how flat that left him, she came closer and kissed him on the forehead, making him squirm and groan a little. “Good luck with your fight. I’ll be rooting for you.”

“...” He snorted, turning his nose up in rebuttal.

She played with his hat, making him scoff and squirm more. “Oh, come on. Stop it with that face. I’m okay now, really.”

“...I know.”

She laughed. “Then stop worrying already. You’re making me worried.”

He tried to laugh, too, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t half-assed.

“All right. Guess I’ll see you later, then?”

He shrugged. “...Okay.”

She watched him slowly saunter off, perching on the upstairs railing to see him down below. A loitering Lucario leaning on a wall made conversation with him and the two went off to fill their quota for the day.

Now that Ness was gone, Lucas was about to enter their room and ponder on what to do until his return when a pink blur came rushing up the stairs. Before Lucas knew what had hit her, she had a princess staring her in the face.

“Hey, sweetie! There you are! Gimme a hug!” Peach squealed, embracing her. “Oh, poor thing... Me and the girls have been worried sick about you! What happened? Are you okay? Is there something wrong with the baby?!”

“No,” she responded, smiling. “I just need some downtime, that’s all.”

She sighed in relief. “Oh, good. So, now what’re you doing?”

She tried to mask a sudden yawn. “...Mmm, to take a rest, I guess. Ness has some fights, so—”

“Oh, phooey on him! Don’t think just because he’s not around all you can do is wait for him to come back!”

“...” Lucas decided not to answer that, as that’s basically what she was doing.

“You know, breakfast is going on right now. Maybe you should get something to eat.” She smiled knowingly. “Both of you.”

“Well...” She turned her head. “I guess I am a little hungry.”

The princess beamed. “You’re finally in the mood to eat something? That’s great! I personally think you need a TLC after yesterday, so why don’t you tag along with us and we’ll go get some warm, yummy blueberry pancakes?”

“Us?”

“Samus and Zelda, silly. They already went on to eat, but I wanted to come and ask if you’d want to join.”

“Oh.” She smiled. Since Ness had gone off to battle, she was a little lonely. “Then, sure.”

“Oh, perfect! Quick, let’s see if we can get there before they run out of syrup again!” She giggled and pranced off, leaving her fellow blonde behind.

“...” Lucas stood stupid as she flew down the stairs and into the living room. Seconds later, she came back, looking apologetic.

“...Sweetie, I’m so sorry. Maybe you shouldn’t be running around like that now. You need to be taking it easy.”

“Guess so.”

She playfully waggled a finger. “‘Guess so’ is right, little missy. Now we’re going to take it nice and slow today. Promise?”

She grinned. “Promise.”

Lucas had to admit; she was expecting to inadvertently go against her word and end up hurting herself, but Peach said she’d give her some TLC, she meant it. At breakfast, she literally couldn’t do anything without of the girls volunteering to do it for her. She’d so much as voice a desire for something and it’d be placed before her in seconds. All the girls ate a nice, long breakfast with her, asked how she was, showed concern, and even got some other Smashers to stop by and talk. Most of them admitted her being better actually took a load off their minds. How nice! She was starting to like all this attention.

After breakfast, the girls pretty much led Lucas around to do a bunch of girly, sissy, prissy stuff. If Lucas didn’t know any better, she’d say this was like a really long baby shower. They were particularly giggly and girly and silly today for some reason. ...Well, they always acted like that, but it seemed more prevalent today. She wasn’t sure why; maybe today was just one of those days where everyone was in a good mood. Sure seemed that way.

...Well, maybe not.

It was around five in the afternoon now, with the girls deciding to end a nice day by checking out some fights on the living room TV. Lucas still felt a little weird coming in there, though. It was hard not to snicker, knowing everyone was sitting on a couch she’d made out with Ness on.

...Speaking of which, Ness had been absent from her side all day. She hadn’t heard or seen him since that morning. Sure, he was probably going to fight after fight to make up for lost time, but still... Well, at least the girls were doing a good job in taking his place.

A blast form the TV startled her as the fight between Captain Falcon, Luigi, and Wolf came to an explosive end. Apparently, Luigi had tossed a rogue Bob-omb at Wolf, missing and sending Captain Falcon into oblivion. Wolf was already in last place, so he didn’t bother getting in one last shot as time ran out.

(“Bogus!”) spat Pikachu, almost falling off the couch and onto Samus’ head. (“He cheated! I called it! He cheated! Go to Sudden Death, ‘cuz he cheated!”)

“How? What’d he do?” asked a puzzled Link.

(“That thing was ready to blow when he picked it up! Why didn’t it?”)

Making a rare appearance outta his box, Snake shrugged with crossed arms. “Quick reflexes, maybe.”

“Oh, be quiet, Pikachu,” scolded Peach. “You’re just mad it didn’t end in a stalemate.”

(“But that’s the best part! You gotta love Sudden Death! It’s so intense!”) He scoffed as Peach glared. (“Ah, whatever. I’m up next, so I’ll show you all how to end a match in style. You guys need a crash course in how not to suck, anyway. C’mon, Snake.”)

“Right.” Snake catapulted off the couch, doing several unnecessary flips and stalking movements until he was outta sight.

“I was kind of rooting for Luigi to win, so I’m glad he did,” beamed Lucas, gnawing on a chicken sandwich she’d gotten a craving for earlier.

“Ew, no,” snorted Zelda. “Luigi always messes things up. Why go for him?”

“I always go for the underdog. Never know, they could come out on top.”

“The only thing Luigi’s on top of is the list of losers,” input Link.

Everyone nodded with a collective, “Uh-huh”, making Lucas pout a little. Rain on her little parade, why don’tcha?

“Oh, whatever,” said Zelda, pointing at the TV. “Look! The next match’s starting!”

This brought a few cheers and applauds from the couch as Marth and Ike walked in, hanging over the couch’s back to watch out of interest. According to the screen, the next match would be a regular one; 7-stock, 4 fighters, throwing items only, Smashville. Eh, nothing spectacular. The fighters would be Meta Knight, Snake, Pikachu, and...

Lucas perked up, as did Peach. “...!”

The princess cooed. “Ooh look, Lucas. Ness is in this fight. Ooh, won’t this be interesting to see?”

“Doubt it. He’ll probably lose if Pikachu’s there. You know he’s in it to win it,” snickered Marth. Ike and Link soon joined him.

Seeing how downtrodden that made Lucas, Peach swatted him away. “Stop it, that’s not nice! Ness could win! He’s beaten Pikachu before and all those other guys, too, so what makes this time any different?”

“How quickly he’ll be KO’d,” chuckled Ike.

“Stop it!” growled Peach again, swiping at them once more as Lucas’ sadness deepened. “You’ve got some nerve! There’s no telling what’ll happen in a Brawl, so hush!”

“My money’s on Pikachu, anyway,” said Samus, shrugging. “He may be a little cute guy, but he’s a tough, little cute guy.”

Lucas pouted, a little jealous of that remark. That’s what she was gonna say about Ness...

“Meta Knight, since he’s got a sword,” laughed Link.

Zelda rolled her eyes. “So predictable. Guess I’ll go with Snake. He’s got something up his sleeve, I’m sure.”

“Pikachu,” said Marth. “In it to win it.”

“I don’t really care who wins, but I guess I’ll go for Meta Knight,” said Ike. “Pikachu may be in it to win it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will.”

“Snake, I suppose,” said Peach. “Looks surly enough.”

...So that was 2 for Pikachu, 2 for Meta Knight, 2 for Snake... and 1 for Ness. ...Didn’t she feel the odd one out? Well, whatever. Just as well Ness was the underdog, anyway. Pikachu had the fame, Meta Knight had the expertise, Snake had the firepower, and Ness had... Well, her?

...Yeah, he had her on his side. She just knew he’d come in first with her going for him.

...

...

...Right?

...

...

...No, of course not, ‘cuz the fight started and any chance of Ness winning went out the window. It was like he wasn’t even trying... Well, no, he did try, but failed miserably. It was like... Ness couldn’t get his head in the game. He barely managed to land a hit and always seemed to use the wrong attacks at the worst times. Meta Knight and Snake were doing pretty good, but, as Marth predicted, Pikachu was in it to win this time and showed them no mercy. Meanwhile, Ness fought like a newbie. ...Why?

Lucas wasn’t sure if it was her or not, but she felt something was wrong. Ness was just messing up way too much to even qualify as fighting. His efforts were more like... struggling. The fight raged on for a good while, but the blonde found herself losing interest at around the 6-minute mark.

Everyone on the couch was still hooting and hollering at the TV, cheering for their respective fighter, but Lucas decided to take a rain check and leave. She couldn’t bear to watch Ness get pummeled anymore. It made her stomach hurt...

Down on the battlefield, Ness stood stupid before all the chaos and madness and noise before him. This being almost his 23rd fight of the day, the psychic found himself starting to stall. Then again, he’d been doing this all day; just falling short of his usual expectations and barely making the cut...

What made this situation even worse was the fact that he knew what the problem was, but wasn’t sure how to rectify it. Truthfully, Ness had a feeling talking about it would help, but... talking was for wusses.

A warning jolt of electricity snapped him awake as he spotted Pikachu dash towards him, poised to attack. Knowing he had to do something, but not sure what it should be, Ness gritted his teeth and grabbed the Pokémon in a hold, hoping his next form of action would come to him soon. ...Unfortunately, it never did, leaving Ness to stand stupid with the struggling mouse in his hands.

(“...What’re you doing?!”) growled Pikachu, trying to get away. (“If you wanna hug, go hug Lucas! We’re in a fight, man!”)

“...!” Hearing that bit about Lucas seemed to startle Ness, shattering his concentration once more.

Seeing he was stalled, Pikachu broke away and grabbed Ness instead, throwing him over the edge and into oblivion. He didn’t even try to recover. Didn’t feel like it...

(“What’s the matter with you?!”) demanded Pikachu as Ness came back. (“You sucking’s one thing, but at least look like you’re trying!”)

“I am trying!” he hissed, slapping him with his yo-yo. “Shut up!”

Snake threw a grenade at him. “Yeah, kid. Wake up. You act like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

“Don’t bother,” said Meta Knight, tossing a Mr. Saturn at Pikachu. “He’s been doing this all day. Talking to him won’t help. I feel he may be waging two battles; ones against us... and another against something else.”

(“That’s stupid,”) snorted Pikachu, dodging the Mr. Saturn. (“You’re gonna need a better excuse if you wanna get off that easy, loser.”)

That remark sent the rat plummeting into oblivion as Ness got a lucky PK Thunder into him, but Meta Knight decided to knock some sense into the psychic with a Smart Bomb. He then had the nerve to abandon Snake and KO him on the spot with his ridiculous skill of swordplay. He almost felt betrayed by that.

“...” Ness came back and scowled.

Pikachu returned as well and went after Meta Knight, then decimated and KO’d Snake due to the damage the swordsman dealt him earlier. Snake returned just as Pikachu cancelled out Meta Knight’s retaliation and KO’d him as well. Since that was going on, he decided to go kick Ness’ ass.

At this point, Ness had had enough and promptly sat on the floor, ending the match. If for any reason someone wanted to end a fight early, all they had to do was sit on the floor and not move for a few seconds. For some reason, tripping didn’t count, but since purposely sitting was considered as failure to cooperate in a collective activity, the fight would be dubbed as a No Contest.

Ness couldn’t have been happier.

Lucas felt she needed to go outside and be alone for a bit. The house was getting a little stuffy, anyway. She found a place on the large water fountain in the shape of Master Hand in the front and watched as a few people out there went about training, sparring, or relaxing like her. It was starting to get dark, so she didn’t have long before everyone would be required to go back inside for the night.

She sighed, Ness’ awful attempt at fighting still fresh in her mind. Lucas had heard of bad fights and even had her share of them, but sometimes, fights were just downright atrocious... And when this happened, it almost always meant something was wrong with the fighter themselves, not their luck. Not to mention, Ness didn’t seem like himself that morning. Lucas figured he was just concerned about her, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that wasn’t the case. ...Aw, great, thinking about Ness so much was starting to make her feel alone. She needed the girls...

She’d been out there for a few minutes, so maybe the fight had ended and she could suggest they go and do something else before they ended up having to watch Ness fail in another match. Sighing for what seemed like the umpteenth time, Lucas slowly stood and was about to go back inside when she spotted someone giving chase to someone else in her peripheral vision. Probably just some silliness going on, as usual. She decided not to pay them any mind—

“Man, go away already! Leave me alone!” one of them snapped.

Lucas perked up. That scratchy voice! Could it be? She hurriedly turned around and looked to see she was right; it was Ness!

Unfortunately, her excitement didn’t last long as she noticed he was being pursued by none other than Red. Ness was angrily storming off, all while the trainer stomped behind him, trying to grab ahold of him.

“I’ll leave you alone when you leave Lucas alone!” retorted Red, pushing at the back of his head. “Now, where is she?”

“I haven’t even seen her since this morning!” Ness barked. “And I got another 15 fights to go through before I’m done for today, so I sure as hell don’t have any time for this! You wanna talk? We’ll talk on the battlefield, now go away!”

“Why should I?” he snorted. “Tell me what you did to Lucas, or else!”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Then how come I haven’t seen her today?!”Another push at the head. “Popo, Kirby, and Toon Link haven’t heard from her either and you were the last person she was with, so I know you’re lying! Don’t make me beat it outta you! You know I can!”

Seeing as his escalating anger wasn’t working, Ness stopped and sighed, calming himself. “Look, Red. I’m not in the mood for this, okay? There’re, like, 30-plus other people in the house you can ask about her. You see Lucas isn’t with me, I haven’t been with her all day, and I’m pretty sure she’s off sleeping somewhere, so just... bug off.”

With that, he turned to leave, but Red wasn’t done with him yet. Frowning, he stomped forward and yanked Ness back. The two got into a light scuffle before Red got Ness’ arm in a hold behind his back.

“I don’t hafta ask anyone else but you, ‘cuz you’re lying! So you’re not going anywhere until you fess up and tell me what you did to her!” he demanded.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?! Lemme go before I break your friggin’ nose!” roared Ness.

Angered, Red shoved him away. “...Y’know, you’re just prolonging the inevitable. I’m gonna kick your ass again one way or another, ‘cuz guess what? Charizard’s in intensive care, thanks to you. He could be sterile for life and it’ll be all your fault.”

Ness made a face. “...My fault?”

“And I’m telling you, if that happens, there’ll be hell to pay. You thought yesterday was bad?” He laughed. “Oh ho, that’ll seem like a walk on the beach compared to what I’ll do to you if he can’t have little Charmanders.”

“My fault, my ass! You’re the one who shot ‘em!” spat the psychic.

“Well, I wouldn’t have missed if you hadn’t moved!”

“Well, what was I supposed to do? Sit there and take it?!”

“Yes!”

Sputtering sarcastically at this, Ness turned to leave again. He was done with the trainer’s bullcrap and steaming at this point. He had a 5-minute Coin Match to get to, then a 9-minute Team Battle, and about 13 more stupidly long fights to endure; he didn’t have time to waste his anger on this ass.

This action got Red even more pissed, causing him to grab him once more, this time, by his shirt collar. It was at this point Ness had gotten tired of warnings and promptly turned to slug him. Unfortunately, Red foresaw this from the way he reared back and grabbed his fist, twisting it and throwing him to the ground. Wow, this was shameful...

“Ness, maybe you haven’t realized it yet, but since you’re refusing to cooperate and tell me where Lucas is, I’m gonna declare yesterday as Round 1.” He cracked his knuckles. “You’re gonna be a little late for your next match, ‘cuz Round 2 starts now.”

Ness had to admit, as pissed as he was, he wasn’t up for a fight, against Red or anyone else. He was still recovering from the other day; yesterday morning was his physical assault, and last night being the mental assault. He was down, all right? Maybe when he got over the last 24 hours of torture, he could try and properly retaliate, but now... Now he just wanted to be left alone.

Ness conceded his defeat by laying motionless on the ground, hoping playing possum would yield at least some pity from the trainer. A foot angrily nudged him in the side.

“C’mon, get up. Ain’t gonna be much of a fight if you’re laying there like Sandbag.”

He inhaled and sighed. “Red, stop... I don’t wanna fight you anymore...”

“Too bad. Get up.”

“No, I give up, okay? You win, I lose. I’m done...”

He grinned. “Last chance... Get up, or I’m gonna go all Ike on you and show you no sympathy... Well, I take that back; I’ve never shown you any sympathy. Heh heh.”

“...This isn’t about Lucas anymore, is it?” he darkly muttered, face still concealed. “You’re just a jealous, spoiled bastard who has to win no matter what. That’s why you’re such a sore loser when you lose a Brawl. It’s not enough that I’m down in the freaking dirt; you hafta plow me into it.”

“Again with that mouth or yours,” he laughed. “I guess you’re all talk and no walk, huh?”

“...” Ness didn’t feel like talking to Red anymore. What was this guy’s problem? This was as low as he was gonna get. He was face down. In the dirt. Covering his face like someone sprayed mace on him. What else did he want?!

Not hearing an answer, Red put a foot on his head. “Ah, Ness. I feel we’ve been rivals for a good while now, and I knew we’d probably get into a real fight one day, but I never thought you’d be so easy to beat. You hardly even tried.”

“...”

“I was honestly expecting more of a fight from you. I could understand the no-special-powers thing, since that’d just be totally unfair, but... yeah.”

“...”

“And here I thought you were pretty good. Sure, you can hold your own in a Brawl, but I guess it’s only ‘cuz of the handicapped damage. Poor guy can’t take any real pain.”

“...”

“Guess those psychic attacks got you a little spoiled, too, and now that you can’t really use them without being a total cheater, you’re kinda screwed.”

What a load of ass. He didn’t use them that much. That honor or, more preferably, shame belonged to Lucas; she was the one spamming them everywhere like they were going out of style. Excuse him for using a PK Flash every once in a while, while she busted out PK Fires, Freezes, and Thunders every time someone so much as sneezed.

Red removed his foot and seized Ness’ hat, probably as another warning. “But, oh well. Some got it and some don’t. That’s just the way things are, y’know?”

“...”

“Okay, fine. I’m just gonna assume you’re okay with me officially starting Round 2 now. It’ll be for what you did to Lucas and Charizard, so it’ll probably leave a bruise.”

“...” Wow, Red was actually taunting him now. Ness could tell by the sing-songy way he said that. Whatever, he didn’t care anymore...

His face was still in the dirt, so he could only imagine Red about to elbow drop into his back or something when a familiar, albeit, pissed off voice barked at him.

“Red!”

Startled, the trained perked up to see a peeved Lucas stomp over. Immediately, he smiled and approached.

“Lucas!” He outstretched his arms fondly. “Aw Lucas, you poor thing! There you are! Where’ve you been? I’ve been worried sick about—!”

“Move!” She angrily shoved him away and approached the fallen Ness, rubbing his head. “What’d you do to Ness?!”

“What?” He grinned and shrugged. “Oh, him? Nothing... Just roughed him up a bit; y’know, guy stuff. You don’t need to get involved, though. ...It’s a bit too rough for you.”

“Yes, I do!” she spat, standing. “I saw what you were doing to him just a moment ago, and I don’t approve of it!”

He snickered. “Lucas, see, that was the guy stuff. Shockingly enough, Ness is a dude and he can take it. ...Maybe not as well as yours truly, but hey, whaddaya gonna do?”

“Red, tell me how picking on someone who wants to be left alone is supposed to be ‘guy stuff’.”

He rolled his eyes, hands in his pockets. “Oh come on, Lucas. I didn’t mean any harm. You know that, right? C’mooooooon...”

“You meant no harm, yet you threatened to beat him up again?” she asked, annoyed.

“...I meant a Brawl,” he chuckled, obviously trying to cover up a lie.

Lucas frowned. “...”

“...” Red kept grinning, nervously now, but still.

“...” Lucas outstretched an arm, hand commanding Ness’ hat from his grasp. Humbled, Red dopily handed it over. Once it was back in her possession, she crossed her arms with a quiet, “...I think you should leave now.”

“Heh heh, uh, sure.” He began backing off. “As long as I know you’re okay. I gotta fight to get to, anyway.”

“Then I suggest go fight an official one before I report you for starting an illegal one.”

...Yeah, Red doing this outside of the battlefield was illegal, wasn’t it? And without his Pokémon, nonetheless.

Red finally got it through his thick skull that Lucas wasn’t screwing around and decided to back off, but not before grinning that stupid grin of his and tipping his hat suggestively. This failed to make Lucas crack a smile, so he just turned tail, still snickering and grinning like this whole ordeal was just so damn funny. Snorting at his leave, the blonde turned to Ness on the floor, reliving déjà vu in trying to revive him. It was yesterday all over again.

“Ness?” she softly spoke, rubbing his head. “Are you okay?”

“...”

“Ness?”

“...”

“Come on, Ness. Please get up. Red’s gone now.”

“...”

She sat on her knees. “...Can you at least look at me?”

“No...”

“Why?”

“I don’t wanna...”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“...I dunno.”

She frowned sadly. “Ness...”

“...”

“...Ness, please...” She shook his shoulders. “Stop it, you’re worrying me.”

“...”

“If this is about what happened last night, I’m sorry.”

“...”

“I didn’t mean to blow you off like that. I just thought you were overacting. ...But was it really that bad?”

“...If I said ‘yes’, it’d be an understatement...”

She scoffed. “Now, see? What kind of an answer is that? You’re so vague about everything, so how am I ever supposed to take you seriously? And besides, how much harm could those guys do, anyway?”

“...”

“Don’t be afraid to talk to me about it. If whatever they did really bugged you, just tell me.”

“...”

Sighing, she rubbed her face in frustration. “Okay, Ness. This is a bit getting stupid. Stop it with the silent treatment and look at me.”

“...”

“...Please?”

“...”

“...” She scowled.

“...” It must’ve been ‘cuz they were both psychic, ‘cuz Ness practically felt that scowl. He had to admit it intimidated him a bit, so he sighed and slowly sat up, still not making eye contact.

Seeing this, Lucas lightened up. “Now, seriously... What in the world is wrong with you?”

“...There’s nothing wrong. Just forget it...” He stood, careful to keep his face concealed. “S’not like you can do anything about it, anyway...”

Lucas perked up on how dismal that sounded, tilting her head in pity and confusion. Now concerned, she also stood, outstretching an arm to him. “What do you mean? What’s wrong? Why can’t I do anything about it?”

“...” Ness didn’t answer. He just slightly turned his head to solemnly acknowledge her concern, then began to leave.

Annoyed, she seized his arm. “Ness, stop. Come on, really now... I want to talk about this...”

He sighed, making a weak effort to pull away. “Lucas, let go...”

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

“...There’s nothing wrong, okay?”

“Yes, there is! Stop lying to me!”

...Geez, talk about tough love. That was a little louder and more demanding than she meant it to be, but Ness was really starting to get on her nerves. The uncertainty, the cluelessness, the lack of overall confidence; she’d had just about enough of it. If there was one thing she hated, it was being left in the dark about something, and Ness had been doing this for as long as she could remember. He was gonna be a father in a few months and it was time for him to start acting like it.

“...” Ness was obviously pensive on what to do now. That outburst was pretty startling, despite him refusing to show it. Still...

“I won’t laugh or anything. Really,” tried Lucas again, feeling his pull weaken.

“...”

Ness saw her smile from his peripheral vision and bit his lip. Oh no... He knew her more than well enough to know what was coming next. Don’t say it. Please don’t say it. Don’t make him feel like even more of a loser. He wasn’t in the mood...

“Come on, Ness. You know me better than that. I’d never laugh at your expense,” continued the blonde. And she just had to finish with a coy, “...I love you.”

Urggggggh! He inwardly groaned. Why’d she hafta go and say that?! Now he couldn’t refuse her anymore, lest he face the risk of being the biggest jerk in the house. Stubborn was one thing, but rejecting someone’s love was just downright disgusting. He knew that, had a feeling she didn’t, but whatever.

“...” He sighed, letting his arm go slack in her hold.

“...Pretty please? For me?”

“...It’s them,” he quietly grumbled.

“Them? ...Who is ‘them’?”

“Your little fan club,” he snidely answered, voice dripping with disdain.

“...” Lucas’ naiveté kept her in the dark for a second until a light finally clicked in her head. “Oh, them! The guys? Well... why? What’d they do to you?”

At this point, she let go, trusting him not to run off. He didn’t, instead, turning to face her with a flat, somewhat sad expression. And, as well as she knew him, she also knew that face did anything but suit his character.

Over from in some bushes, Red sneered. That crack about him having a fight was a lie; he was surprised Lucas didn’t catch on, since girls usually seemed to have, like, a built-in lying radar. He decided to hang around and scope the two out, just waiting for Ness to dare try something on her. Unfortunately, he was a little too far away to tell what was going on, which really hampered his spying... But whatever was going down, it couldn’t have been good.

Basically, the two seemed to’ve gone from completely negating each other to getting closer and closer to the point where it seemed like they were bonding. After what he assumed was their obligatory sentimental moment, Lucas asked Ness something. Red couldn’t quite hear what, but Ness declined it. She smiled and sweetly asked him something else, to which he said no again. Once more, she asked him something else and Red was barely able to make out, “...You want to go talk about it?”

This time, Ness nodded and she continued with, “Okay, we’ll go back to our room and talk. Do you have any more fights today?”

“...A lot...” he mumbled. “...I’ve actually got another one to go to now...”

“How about we come with you and watch again?”

“...?”

“Who knows? Maybe we’ll bring you good luck this time.”

He made a face. “...‘We’?”

Lucas didn’t bother answering with anything more than a smile. Immediately, he knew what she meant.

“Oh...” he blushed.

“...Yeah,” Lucas laughed. She was about to add on to it when Falco appeared outta nowhere and snatched Ness away.

“C’mon, c’mon! I don’t care if you wimped out in the last fight! That’s no excuse to skip out on this one! You’ll just have to do better this time!” he scoffed, hauling his opponent off.

Lucas blinked, looking a little blank on what to do as Ness was dragged away, complaining to Falco about how he had legs and could walk himself and didn’t need to be dragged around like a Crate. Suddenly running her fingers over his hat, she remembered it was still in her procession and deiced to follow.

As they left the scene, Red popped outta the bushes and scowled. Huh, Ness was a lucky little bastard, always having Lucas showing up as his saving grace. But hey, in a sense, everyone there had been a lucky bastard at one point, himself included. Therefore, and he knew from experience, everyone’s luck had to run out sometime...

Authoress’ Notes: Consider this chapter to be a prologue to the SHOCKING OUTCOME of the next one, especially since it was all supposed to happen in this one, anyway.