BEFORE ANYONE SAYS SOMETHING BAD ABOUT OCs...

This story only contains a single OC through the whole fic. Don't THINK this OC came out of nowhere because there is a prequel to this fic so my OC and Lucario could be developed (if you want to read it). However, the most important aspects of the two will be briefly shown in here to give you an idea.

Also, it would make much more sense if you read "The Bond of Aura" so you don't get a wrong impression of this OC (Chris). I've taken precautions about the Gary Sues and Mary Sues...

...Well, with that away...

Well, the start of my series begins now with this story. I hope you all enjoy this long story about the struggle of a prolonged fight against the Subspace Army… Basically, this is an "if" version of what would've happened if the Smashers never defeated Tabuu the second time they fought him.

I encourage all Brawl fanatics to read on, enjoy, and review.

Disclaimer: AuraChannelerChris doesn't own anything in this story and future chapters. He only owns his OC.

Chapter 1: START OF DISC 1: New Game

-Subspace-

Deep Inside the Great Maze

It had been a long battle for survival, but he managed to stop the imbeciles from defeating him for real. Tabuu, though, had been weakened during the battle. As he floated along in the void of the Subspace surrounded by darkness and swirling purple and blue colors, he reflected on the disastrous end of the battle.

Master Hand had shown up right before Tabuu could terminate the big group of Smashers. As a last ditch attempt, the omnipotent hand used his space-bending powers to recall each one of the Smashers to their worlds, back into the past before they participated in the Brawl tourney and the war against the Subspace Army. He then called Crazy Hand, and both of them escaped from Tabuu's clutches, effectually putting a sudden end to the conflict for the time being…

Unfortunately, not everything was right.

Master Hand couldn't manage to save certain Smashers. Roy, Pichu, and Mewtwo had been killed by Tabuu in the ensuing battle. Furthermore, ROB seemingly betrayed them all by siding back with Tabuu. It became a huger disaster once Mr. Game & Watch had been caught once more.

There was more. An unlucky Smasher was captured as well in his trophy-fied state. Master Hand didn't manage to save that one Smasher, much to his chagrin. Tabuu kept him as a prize, but he would use his unrequited help very soon.

Tabuu grunted. It felt like an empty victory against the Smash Force, but he could at least relax and recover his power. As he pondered about what to do, a figure rolled into view over the cracked black floor of purple outlines. It was ROB, or rather, the Ancient Minister wearing his clothes. The robot was alone with the biggest threat the universe faced, but there was complete and absolute trust between the two of them.

The Ancient Minister looked up at his boss. "Lord Tabuu," he began, "what is your next course of action?"

Tabuu remained silent for a few minutes until he spoke. "My next course of action…is to mobilize the army beyond this realm," he said. "We managed to seize the land down below, even though I was weakened in this big battle…"

The minister looked down. "It is going to take you a lot of time before your powers are back, right?" he asked.

"Sadly, that is the case," Tabuu said nodding, his body glitching a bit. "But until then, no one can reach us. It is dangerous for anybody to enter this place knowing that I rule it… I will muster up my power to create an ideal place for our base of operations. You, however, will be in charge of the outside world."

The minister looked up and nodded. "Yes, I will gladly reassume control over the facility," he said. "Just give the word and we shall move out."

"I had my eyes…on the other worlds," Tabuu said. "The worlds that those accursed Smashers come from… I wish to conquer them all before they even have a chance to reunite and assemble their force," he explained. "Once we have gathered enough worlds…we shall move on and conquer the biggest one there is…"

"What?" the minister said. "…Oh…you mean the rumored real world…"

"Yes, you catch on very fast," Tabuu said. "It is the real world that is the real prize behind the entire war. Those fools do not even know about the real world existing, but they are missing the big picture…" He turned around. "Ancient Minister, begin preparations to invade one of their worlds. The facility is slowly being taken out from the Subspace. I want a Subspace Bomb to be deployed in Ness's world."

The minister nodded and turned around, moving away from his boss. "It shall be done," he said as he vanished in the darkness. "(…And so begins my long struggle to work with this person once more…)" the Ancient Minister thought to himself. "(This isn't the time to rebel again. I need…I need to find the right time…)"

The Gathering Saga

Begins

-Real World-

Chris's House – Living Room

March 9 – Sunday - Morning

Behind the scenes of the big war in another entirely different universe, the real world was safe from getting into a big fight of epic proportions. Life continued its pacific time of peace. Today, however, was a time of rejoicing.

A particular teenager with a big secret hidden inside the walls of his semi-luxurious house entered his home, carrying a bag holding a game he purchased that very same day. It was the release date of the game "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", and he was greatly looking forward to play it along with a very special person who took residence in his house half a year ago. He had paid the reservation in full as soon as the announcement came to the internet and the general media.

Sighing, the teen smiled to himself and looked around his house, trying to find his special guest…

Hello, I'm Chris. I'm a 16 year-old teen. You're getting this so far, right? Okay, I'm just making sure. I'm a 16 year-old. I have short black hair, and you could say that I look Hispanic due to the color of my skin. Truth is, I AM Hispanic, but yet I live in the U.S., specifically Los Angeles, California, in a house where I rule by my lonesome due to some…rather unfortunate decisions I've done in the past…

...Well, not exactly alone…

I have someone special here who has taken me out from my horrible curse of solitude... That someone is really, really special because he's not a person you'd expect to find here around the city…or for that matter, in the entire world itself.

…Let's talk about me before you decide to hog that person, okay? Firstly, let me tell you this. I'm an Honor High School Student who manages to keep a balanced life with studying and playing video games. I'm a huge video game fanatic, but I look beyond video games. By that, I mean that I care about the love and effort put into every single game I have ever bought. I enjoy the story and the characters besides the gameplay. In fact, I learn so much about the values shown in some games that inspire me to find something good in real life. As you can tell, I'm a high school student with an everlasting dream to discover what I'm good at...

And that's basically it about me. I'm an ordinary high school student living a…pretty particular life due to that person I mentioned to you…

The teenager couldn't find the person in his house. Looking around, Chris shouted, "Lucario, I'm hooome!"

On the second floor of the house, a figure entered through the terrace's entrance. His black feet touched the white tiles on the floor. A deep, gruff voice then said, "I'm up here, Chris."

Hearing the sound of footsteps rushing up, the person saw the teen coming from the stairs, all the while flashing a small smile as he carried with him the game he had bought. If the situation had taken place half a year ago, Chris would have screamed at the sight of a Lucario in his house. Alas, this was not the case anymore.

That special person I mentioned is a Lucario…

The teen and the Pokémon approached each other…and the first looked up at the towering Pokémon looking down at him with a smile.

...And he's beyond special in many ways than one.

First things first. You're surely wondering how a Lucario like this one appeared in this world. Well… I have no idea how it happened back then, but at the start of Summer Vacations during a rainy night, a lightning bolt struck by DS down, and from it, Lucario's Poké Ball came out. It accidentally opened up and he appeared…sprawled over the floor because he had a fever. When I saw him the first time, I was at a complete loss of words, and I feared that he would rip me apart… Luckily, doing the right decisions led me to become acquainted with him.

It was a long struggle for me to get him to like me. He was a very oblivious Pokémon who knew almost nothing about life. Fortunately, this Lucario can use telepathy to talk, but he can actually speak with his mouth just fine. It doesn't mean he knows how to read, though. During many days in the past, I took it upon myself to look after him by teaching Lucario how to live life while we tried to find a way back to his home. We had lots of fun moments together. I vividly remember his first shower and his first steak… But still, he longed for his dream to reunite with his real trainer…

When the day he was debating himself what to do about his issue that was being stuck in this world…I cried out, and after a while, he turned around and…he also cried. Without warning, he embraced me and yelled out, "I don't want to leave you like this! You're…you're my real trainer!"

…And ever since that fateful day, my solitary life changed forever for the better. I was a teen whose parents worked away from home to assist important corporations with revolutionary ideas. I didn't know much about what they do, but they're almost never at home. That made things easier for me to raise the special Lucario as…my loyal Pokémon.

You see, this Lucario is not normal… He's a 6'07" foot tall Lucario. I'm just 5'05". My head only reaches the murderous weapon that was his chest spike.

"Oh no!" Chris said as he accidentally let go of the bag, slipping down the white couch.

Lucario merely stared at the direction the item slipped down into. He bent down a bit and lifted the couch with a single hand. The couch was heavy to carry for two people, but the Lucario didn't struggle a single bit. "There it is," Lucario said, looking at the bag.

…And this Lucario just so happens to have Herculean strength. For reasons unknown, he is surely my world's strongest being there is. Mundane tasks such as cutting down logs with an axe and do some furniture redecoration were easily taken care of with a single hand of his. Despite having the strength of obliterating my house in a single punch (I don't even know if he can do that much, but do you want me to find out? Fat chance), he's an incredibly likeable person.

He just doesn't have the strength of a thousand men. He's really got a tough body of steel under a coat of fluffy blue and yellow fur (yes, I said fluffy. Don't you look weird at me). I remember how a brick fell on top of his head from the third floor's roof to the garden outside, and he just kept staring me while that brick broke apart the moment it landed on his head. Morbidly enough, we were talking that day and he didn't stop when said brick fell on him. He just kept talking and rubbed the dust on his head.

On top of that, Lucario knows four moves: Force Palm, ExtremeSpeed, Double Team, and the ever so devastating Aura Sphere. Coupled up with his almighty strength, these moves became…what's the word? Broken. Force Palm released a rather small blow, but just you wait until that thing goes off. It looked pretty small, yet its intensity was deadly. A tree would shatter into pieces. And then there was the Aura Sphere. If he wanted, he could make some monstrously big Aura Spheres and charge them in two seconds flat.

In a world where there are no Pokémon and battles, Lucario had no choice but to enjoy life with me. We never complained, though. We absolutely enjoy every single second of our time together… Oh, did I mention he was a gamer? I taught him how to be one. And today, we were going to waste away our time playing Brawl.

That's about it…

Chris sighed and went to pick up the bag. Once stepping out from the couch's shadow, the teen saw the towering Lucario putting the couch back down to the floor. He looked at his trainer. "Did you find it?" Lucario asked.

Chris then took out the item from the bag and placed the game in front of him. "Yep, I got it!" He smiled. "Now we can play it... Oh god, we have to do it now before the shows start later," he said. "I'm sooo excited to play this with you."

Lucario nodded and looked to the game. "Since you were this excited...hmm?" he stared at the game's case. "…Huh…"

The teen raised an eyebrow once he saw Lucario giving the game's box a hard look. "...Lucario?" he said. "Lucario, what's wrong? You're glaring at the box…"

"...There is something wrong with this game," Lucario said, staring at the box.

"Wrong?" Chris asked confused.

"I don't know what it is...but it feels evil."

"...Were you watching TV during the whole night again? I told you not to do that."

"I-ah-no..." Lucario blushed, shaking his head. "But Chris…"

Through Lucario's eyes, he could see a purple aura coming out from the very box. This Lucario was a master of auras. Unlike the normal Lucario stated in the descriptions, the Herculean Pokémon easily tracked down auras beyond a hundred miles. Not that there was any use to this highly developed sixth sense. Lucario only watched from afar how Chris's life developed in high school. However, only the living could exude auras.

An item exuding a dark aura was not normal.

"There is definitely a dark aura on that box…" Lucario added, shrugging at the aura trying to reach out for them.

"Hmm…" Chris looked worried. "Well, I don't really feel anything evil from the box. I believe you, though," he said. "But how can an insignificant item like this give out a dark aura?"

"Perhaps we shouldn't put it into the console," Lucario said. "I don't want to find out what could happen if something were to come out of it."

Chris was used to having a supernatural Pokémon accompany him all the time. It was half a year ago that they met, but there wasn't anything else besides Lucario that happened until he brought up the unbelievable fact that a game box had a dark aura. "That dark aura is red, right?" Chris asked.

"Yes," Lucario said. "I'm trying to pierce through it to find out more about its reason to have such thing, but… I can't find anything."

"That's…impossible…" Chris muttered. "You're a master of auras, but you can't discern anything from this?"

Lucario looked down in shame. "I'm sorry," he said. "Maybe I need to hone my aura skills even more…"

"…No," Chris said, making Lucario look at him. "You're a master. There just has to be a good reason behind this box giving you that evil aura… You know what, I think we should just go ahead with this and try it out ourselves," he said. Lucario looked a bit dismayed at the proposal. "Maybe you are imagining things…"

"No, I'm not," Lucario said, looking a bit serious. "But maybe I'm hallucinating a bit. I mean, this is just a game…"

Chris forced a smile. "Then let's go to my room and boot this up," he said. "I'm so looking forward to play as a Lucario."

Lucario grinned a bit. "That makes two of us."

"Dibs on the blue one!"

"What? I don't like the other palettes. They make my species look silly…" As the two debated on choosing the right color palettes, the dark aura that the box contained lingered in the air…

Chris's Room

Chris's room on the first floor was very clean. The teen, though, was not the one who cleaned it up. It was his dutiful Lucario who took it upon himself to put game cases away on the lower left corner of the room on a pile of ordered stacks of video games, next to the closed closet. The bed on the upper right corner was neatly made up, facing sideways at the HD TV on the upper left corner of the room. The two house residents entered the room. Lucario sat down on the bed as Chris went over to insert the disc inside his Wii. The Aura Pokémon turned the TV on.

The box stopped radiating the ominous aura, Lucario could tell. But now, the dark aura came from the disc itself. "See? Nothing seems evil or something..." Chris said as he then inserted the disc inside the Wii. The TV came to life with the friendly warning. Grabbing a nearby Wiimote, Chris went to sit next to Lucario. He moved the pointer over its game channel screen. "...Seriously, nothing is happening." And then he selected the game screen.

Irony was on Lucario's side. As soon as Chris wanted to boot the game, the Wii turned off.

"…" Chris remained silent as Lucario looked down at him. "I told you before that something isn't right," he said.

"Huh? Why isn't the game starting?" Chris said. "You don't really think that the evil aura you saw has something to do with this, right?"

Lucario nodded as he said, "It must be that dark aura's doing."

There surely was some logic behind this that didn't involve the dark aura. Chris rubbed his chin as he pondered on the issue. "Maybe those rumors about the disk being made as a double-layer disc were true. I think I put my Wii in the wrong place where dust gathers the most..."

Lucario could see that his trainer didn't want to believe it, so he tried to support the thought. "...I hope so..." Lucario muttered.

"That's weird. Let me check it." Chris approached to the Wii. "...Hmm..." He approached his right ear to listen to the disc spinning inside. "...There's a weird sound coming from within the Wii..." And suddenly, a purple light came from where the disc slot was. Chris looked at it and Lucario glared at the light. "Hey, what's the big deal here? I never saw a mention of a purple light in the manual." He was suddenly pulled back by a growling Lucario. The Aura Pokémon put his trainer under his left arm as he showed his fangs at the light. "L-Lucario, what's wrong?"

"The dark aura is growing!" Lucario said. "I don't know what's going to happen, but we better brace ourselves!"

Chris was so unfamiliar to listening to such an order that he looked frightened, but with a Lucario capable of carrying a couch with a single hand, he felt protected. "Why ar-" The light shone brightly and a force pushed Chris back. He was being held by the big Lucario, so he avoided being flung away recklessly. "U-ugh!"

"Are you all right?" Lucario asked, looking down at him.

"What in the world is happening here?!" Chris asked in terror as he saw the light illuminating the whole room. "Please, don't let it explode because there are no Wiis in the store!"

"Would you stop minding those things?" Lucario asked enraged. "This is very serious! I can't even tell what's going on!"

"At least I take care of everything here," Chris said. He was desperately trying to distract himself from the potentially hazardous purple light. "Not like you, Mr. I-Break-The-Wiimote-Because-I-Failed-To-Pass-The-Final-Boss!"

Suddenly, purple lights came from the disc and they started to fly in a circle in the middle of the room. Both of them looked shocked at the whole event happening just in the morning, and in their room. Chris looked horrified while Lucario growled menacingly at the lights. Not even the dawn's light coming from the window could overcome the bright, ominous lights.

"Okay, this is getting pretty insane..." Chris said with a gulp. "First, my Wii goes nuts, then, it shines, then, it shoots...g-ghosts out? Is this some kind of a new application I never heard of before?"

The Aura Pokémon frowned at his trainer's suspicions. "I told you," Lucario began as he growled silently at the lights, "…there was something wrong with it!"

Surely, Lucario could do something useful. Strength was not an option, but perhaps he could manipulate the lights using his aura. "W-well, do something about those lights! If my parents ever come back and see these abnormalities, what do you think they will say?" Chris ordered and asked.

"Too bad."

"W-why are you saying that?"

"Those lights aren't lights. Those are auras."

"O-okay, good. Now, get rid of them!"

All the purple "lights" fired to all the video games of Chris's collection and began to glow in a purple aura before fading out. Both of them stared at the games that shone purple from time to time. With the lights having seemingly merged into the stack of games, the intense purple light dimmed down a lot. The two exchanged looks before staring at the collection.

"...Lovely," Chris said with a bored look after his room returned back to its normal color with the sun's lights shining through the window. "My games surely got corrupted by purple auras from a new game I just bought from my local store... I'm NOT getting all of them through the internet either."

Lucario groaned with a frown. "...I told you, something was wrong with that game you got," Lucario pointed out.

"And yet you didn't do a thing..."

Lucario looked ashamed. "I'm sorry…"

The teen would feel guilty just seeing the powerful Lucario look down. Chris's eyes looked apologetic while his lips formed a small smile. He rubbed Lucario's head with care, making the Aura Pokémon look happy. Unlike other Lucario, this one liked that his trainer groomed him a bit from time to time. "It's okay," Chris reassured Lucario. "We're going to get to the bottom of this… Maybe you can pull the auras out from the collection."

The Aura Pokémon looked at the collection and held out his hands. Chris pulled his hand back and saw the big Lucario glowing with an intense blue aura. Much for their dismay, the purple aura that engulfed the games disappeared as soon as Lucario tried to pull them out. "N-no…" Lucario muttered. He didn't sense the auras anymore, and then his intense aura faded away. "They got away…"

Chris looked disappointed as he got up and approached the Wii to examine it. "Oh, great…" he muttered. "It just feels like the time you came to this world, only now it's far worse and confusing…"

Lucario nodded, but then, he felt a blue aura emanating from the Wii itself. Being unfamiliar with this aura, the Aura Pokémon narrowed his eyes. "Back away from that thing," Lucario said. "A new aura surfaced…"

"What? Now this Wii has an aura?" Chris asked and Lucario nodded. He looked at the Wii with a bored look. "Good, this machine may as well be corrupted...heavily corrupted...and my games as well... Lucario, do you know what this means?"

"We have to toss them all to the trash?" Lucario asked as he got closer to the video games. "I don't want those boxes exploding in midnight if that ever happens."

The teen gasped. "You BACK away from those video games now," Chris ordered. "I'm NOT going to get them all one by one. Those are my video games from my entire life as well! T-they have to be just fine!"

"You're asking that after we saw those auras merging into your collection?" Lucario questioned, crossing his arms below his chest spike. Sensing the Wii's aura shaking, the Aura Pokémon gasped. "Chris, look out!"

Suddenly, the Wii's disc slot was shining again, but instead of purple, it was a yellow light. The teen gasped and backed away from the yellow light, grabbing his chest as if he was getting a heart attack. His dutiful Lucario went over to shield him. Lucario subconsciously liked the fact that he was protecting his dear trainer during these confusing times, but he shook the thought away. It was far more important to keep Chris safe.

Chris looked at the light and groaned loudly. "Aw, god, it's seriously messed up this time!" he said.

Right after, the yellow light vanished. As Chris blinked confused yet again, Lucario could still see the blue aura engulfing the Wii. "The aura is still there, Chris," Lucario said. "It'd be best if you don't approach it."

"...Lucario, hand me the phone."

Grimacing at the weird order, Lucario looked down at him. "Why?"

"I'm calling Nintendo."

"..."

"Give the phone!"

"..."

"Lucario!"

"...Chris, I don't think they know about this..." Lucario said, looking away from his trainer simple yet piercing glare. "What are the chances of them knowing about this?"

"Then let me call a ghost hunter or aura hunter o-" Chris shook his head. "What am I saying? They really don't know about this."

"There are no ghost hunters in this world...or anywhere," Lucario said. Chris gave him an awkward look. "You started it," Lucario shot back. His trainer sighed.

Despite the warning Lucario had given earlier, the duo approached curiously to the Wii. "...Well, do you think it's time to get a new one?" Chris asked. "It's going to be a real drag getting all that time spent on the games we achieved a hundred percent completion…"

"That would be for the best," Lucario said. "Besides, I do look forward to replaying games with you."

Chris smiled. "That's a really nice thought," he said. "With you around, it's always bound to be an enjoyable experience."

"GUARGH!" Lucario growled proudly and nudged his muzzle against Chris's face. The teen chuckled heartily as the Aura Pokémon playfully rubbed the tip of his nose on his black hair. Chris then rubbed the Aura Pokémon's chin with affection. The Lucario looked up with eyes closed, growling with pleasure. Unlike many Lucario, this one completely enjoyed the idea of being groomed as proof of their strong bond. It gave him a powerful proud feeling that he cherished a lot.

The two never saw that the Wii shook violently in front of them. In slow motion, the Wii suddenly shot a faint image over the happy team. Once a big shadow loomed over them, the two smiling characters looked up just in time to see two heavy figures appropriately crushing them both on the floor. Whatever happiness had taken place before was crushed down along with them.

Under the two foreign bodies, Chris's right hand stuck out, its fingers wide open as if trying to reach out for outside support. "I…I had a good run…" Chris muttered under the bodies.

The bodies were not normal. They weren't normal people, but rather, two huge disembodied white gloves: a right glove and a left glove. From the looks of things, the two gloves were pretty much alive and kicking judging the fact both were groaning in pain. The right glove lied down on top of the left glove, unaware that they had seemingly killed the only two owners of the house they had entered without previous warning.

"Where are we, brother?" the left glove under the right glove asked casually, "looking" around its surroundings. "Hey, guess what! We made it to the real world after all! And here I was thinking we were going to end up somewhere nasty like a hot sauna with naked men."

The right glove on top floated up, looking around the room. The walls had multiple posters of several video game characters that he knew very well. "Oh, good," he said. "It looks like we got into the right place at the right time."

The left glove was lying down upside-down on its back. "Check this out," he said as he felt rumbling under his body. "This room has a massaging floor!"

The right glove looked down at him. "The floor isn't even shaking," he pointed out until a loud roar came under his companion. He backed away at the intensity of the roar, seeing that the window behind his wrist shook. "What in the…? That deep, gruff voice…"

"Sounds kinda familiar," the left glove said as blue aura shone underneath its body. "But this one sounds a hell deeper!"

"…Wait a minute," he said as he looked at the blue aura down below. "What th-"

An infuriated Lucario stood up to his full height, lifting the big left glove with a flaring right hand. Growling, the Lucario tossed the left glove aside to let his trainer gasp for breath. "Air! Oxygen! How much I missed you both..." Chris said in relief as he got up with his Lucario's help.

The two parties then stared at each other, falling in silence.

"…Oh…" the right glove stared long at the towering Lucario. "…Oh my…"

"…Goodness…" Chris muttered, staring up at the floating glove. "…I…"

There was no doubt. Chris and Lucario saw before their eyes none other than Master Hand and Crazy Hand. The two bosses were not even in their minds, thinking other things that took much more importance. The two gloves had come out from Chris's own Wii for sure. There was no other explanation…

Then Chris remembered something crucial. "...Wait a minute, aren't they supposed to be bad?" he asked and hid behind his Pokémon. " LUCARIO!"

"GRRRRR!" Lucario growled furiously as his body caught up with a powerful aura. His eyes even glowed yellow.

Master Hand screamed in a high-pitched voice as he saw the Lucario holding out his open palm, creating a rather big Aura Sphere that violently shook with destructive power. "AAH!" Master Hand screamed. "C-calm down! W-we're not bad, I swear!" Master Hand pleaded. "W-we're in dire need of help! Please, don't let that dog of yours blast us!"

It was incredibly weird to see someone like a big floating hand begging for mercy. Through his yellow eyes, Lucario's mouth opened a bit as he detected that the two hands' auras were blue instead of red. However, he didn't want to take any chances. The Lucario couldn't read their thoughts as there was some sort of mind lock that prevented him from dwelling in their minds. He could break that lock apart if he put some extra effort, but it was obvious to him that they had no ill intentions.

Thus, Lucario's intense aura faded away for a second time along with the big Aura Sphere. Seeing this, Chris asked, "Lucario, why did yo-?!"

"They have blue auras," Lucario interrupted.

"Blue auras…" Chris trailed off. He remembered that Lucario taught him a bit about auras. Blue auras belonged to good people. Red auras belonged to bad people. Therefore, if the gloves had blue auras, it meant they were good people… "They're…they're good, then?"

"Yes!" Master Hand said, making the two look at him. "Geez, how lucky we are that there was another Lucario in this world… But…" He stared at the wary Lucario. "How on earth did this one get here?"

Feeling that situation looked awkward, Chris sighed. "I…I don't think this is a good place to chat," he said. He felt unsure around the two gloves inhabiting his house. "This is a very extremely confusing event to me…"

"Huh, we think alike," Master Hand said, looking at the worried teen. "But it looks like it's going to be safe to explain everything to you two. I assume the initial shock of having a…big Lucario like the one you have makes things easier for the two of us."

"…Not really," Chris admitted. "He at least looks like a person. You two, on the other hand…"

Crazy Hand floated up, startling the teen. "Other hand? We've got a second brother?" he asked, sounding excited.

Master Hand chuckled nervously as the duo stared at them with weird looks. "Before we move, let me tell you this: he's my insane brother," he said. "He's technically the only person I can look after to avoid feeling alone, y'know. He drives me crazy many times, but we're still brothers."

Crazy Hand turned around and looked at them. "Oh, hello!" he said, forcefully shaking Chris's hand with two fingers. Lucario's glare stiffened. "Nice to meet my first human from the real world! We're gonna be best friends forever."

His brother slapped his wrist. "Stop that," he hissed. "We need to make a good first impression."

"Whoopsie-daisy," the insane hand said. "Sorry."

Master Hand looked at them with a frown. "Look, just don't get too close to him or else you might experience severe massive damage one way or another," he said. Chris cautiously moved behind Lucario.

Living Room

The teen never thought that it was going to be possible to have two extremely unlikely guests in his humble abode. If things weren't crazy with Lucario, they were crazier with two disembodied hands floating around in midair. Chris closed the curtains from all the windows just in case an unlucky person with a weak will happened to scream their heads off. Then, Chris sat down on the sofa while Lucario remained standing up at his side as both hands were in front of them.

Master Hand was admiring how lustrous the living room looked like. On the far left corner, there was a chimney facing some couches and a table, which were standing in front of a big flat screen TV. On the upper right corner, there was a dining room that faced the kitchen counter further up. Along the walls, several photos and other decorative furniture adorned the light gray walls. "Oh, good," Master Hand said as his brother sat down on his wrist on the opposite couch that faced the duo. "I'm happy to know we got the one with the nice-looking house."

"U-um, thanks," Chris said. "I do my best to keep this place clean while my parents are away…"

"Oh!" the hand "nodded" his body. "You're one of those who… I mean, I see," he said. "That kind of makes things even easier."

The teen nodded, interlacing his fingers over his knees. "First off..." Chris began, "...my name is Chris, and this is Lucario." Lucario responded with a silent growl. "He won't kill you..." Chris reassured the hands. Lucario sighed with a small frown.

"Okay, nice to meet you," Master Hand said. "I'm Master Hand, and this here...is my pretty insane brother, Crazy Hand."

"Hell-o," Crazy Hand said. "Don't mind if I take this couch as my bed."

Chris grimaced a bit, but he knew things weren't going to stay like this any longer. He saw that both hands stared at him...if it was easy to tell that apart. Their bodies were facing him, so he had a feeling he was being watched. "...I don't know what to ask first..." Chris said.

"C'mooooooon," Crazy Hand said. "You have something, don't you?"

"H-hmm..." Chris got something to talk. "I got something… Before you came here, there was this weird event where purple auras came out from my console…and then they entered my video game collection…" He raised an eyebrow. "Do you know anything about that?"

Master Hand cleared his invisible throat before speaking. "...Those purple lights were surely the Subspace Army spreading their reach, the culprits for invading the Smash Bros. Universe," he explained. The two blinked at him. "The disc you got, Chris, happened to harbor a wide open universe that had its own fair share of issues."

"What the…" Chris trailed off. "You mean to say I just so casually picked some kind of corrupted copy at my local store?" he asked. "How does that even make any sense?"

"Hello," Crazy Hand said, "six-foot tall Lucario?"

"T-that…" Chris exchanged glances with Lucario, "I-I admit we already went through something of the sort before, but this is just too much!" he said. "What are the chances that the people who manufactured that single copy of the game knew about this?"

"I don't know about that," Master Hand said, dismaying the teen. "But the thing is, things are happening. It was…how you say…destiny working by itself."

"Oh, don't give me that…" Chris trailed off until he saw that Lucario was giving him a worried look with his red eyes. "…You…you believe in this kind of destiny, I imagine…"

Lucario nodded. "Yes…" he said. "The two of us never found out how I even came here."

"I…I guess you're right…" Chris muttered, recalling the vivid event from a half year ago. "…Still…this makes even less sense…" He looked up at the hand. "It's just too much for me to believe that I'm living through this."

Master Hand sighed. "Look, Chris," he began, "you're going to break a blood vessel if you think too hard about that. You need to concern yourself with the information I want to give the two of you first." He saw the teen shaking his head. "I know it's pretty incredible, but it's happening. That's all you need to know about the situation as a basis."

"Ugh…" Chris grunted a bit. "…Okay… I'll listen to your story, then," he agreed. "So you're saying that…uh…this Subspace Army is trying to…"

"It's trying to conquer the worlds," Master Hand said. The duo widened their eyes. "The army's main goal is to conquer any world they come across using the Subspace Bombs."

"..." Chris was utterly miffed by that truth. "...Okay...that sounded so scaring..."

"But how did you two manage to get here?" Lucario asked suddenly. "For that matter, since Chris and I already spoiled ourselves of the plot of the game… Where are the others?"

Master Hand chuckled nervously. "You see… There was this big fight against Tabuu, the leader of the Subspace Army," he said. "This fight was supposed to be the one that would end with his defeat, yet…it never happened…" He looked up at the ceiling. "Tabuu was weakened due to some outside help, but he managed to fight back just fine, which ended up with us losing the battle."

Chris looked away in thought. "…You're saying the supposed final battle ended up on a bad note?" he asked, looking sideways at the hands. "And that's how things spiraled out of control?"

"Oh yes, they did," the sane hand said. "You see, I barely managed to escape safely thanks to Crazy Hand here." Crazy Hand waved his body at them. "Using his help, we used our powers to pull all the people involved in the fight back to their worlds of origin…with the added fact that we manipulated their memories so that they wouldn't remember anything that took place during the entire war plot."

"Wait, why?" Lucario asked. "Why would you do that?"

"I'm a hand of creation," the hand said. "I can't heal people! I can only use my powers to bend reality to my will! So then, I was desperate during that confrontation that I had no choice but to return them all to their worlds. If they went back in time with their memories intact, it would create so many nasty outcomes for their individual stories."

Chris looked back at him, bewildered at the statement. "You…tossed them all back in time?" he asked.

"Yeah…" the hand trailed off. "I did it so that they had time to prepare themselves for the worst at this point in time. Because I'm not that good at time-bending powers, however…I guess I overlooked a few mistakes here and there that…might have pulled them all further back in time…"

"…Oh…" Chris muttered in a low tone.

"You saw those lights going to your games, right? Well, they were going after them..." the hand explained. "Tabuu still has some reserves and he's using them to put an end to them. So, Crazy Hand and I fled away, and then I remembered that this world existed beyond our realms." He shook himself. "I didn't want to go recruit other people and drag them into this mess because the army is also hunting the two of us down."

The teen put two-and-two together and gasped. "Wait, there's a whole army coming into MY house?!" Chris asked. Sensing aura waves of desperation, Lucario bared his fangs.

"No, no, no!" the hand reassured them. "They can't easily barge into this dimension! T-they need to gather enough space to power up Tabuu so that he can invade this place! Luckily, he's very weak at the moment!"

Chris grabbed his chest as he calmed himself down. "P-phew…" he sighed as Lucario calmed down as well. "S-sorry for the outburst…"

"Eh, I expected that," the hand said. "So anyway… That's not the end of the story…"

"There's more?" Lucario asked.

"There were…other small accidents as we fled," Master Hand said. "…There were casualties."

"Casualties?" Chris wondered. "You don't mean people got killed or something…right?"

"Well…" the hand trailed off. "Roy, Pichu and Mewtwo gave their lives in the battle."

"!" the two responded with hoarse breaths. Lucario blinked in shock while Chris covered his mouth.

"It was a very shocking scene to be sure," the hand muttered. "Mewtwo fought with all his might until Tabuu pierced him through with a spear… Roy yelled and tried to help him, but then Tabuu sliced his body and left a very mentally-scarring wound that ran across his body… And just to clarify how evil he was, he spotted Pichu shivering in a corner and promptly blasted him away with a laser."

"...My…my god..." Chris muttered as he shook with fear. "...This is...unbelievable..." he muttered.

"To make a point, Mewtwo did a lot of help," Master Hand said. "He's a Legendary Pokémon of sorts…but Tabuu went all out and overwhelmed him."

Lucario looked away. "I wished I could've met Mewtwo," he said. "But it never crossed my mind that… Wait… Roy, Pichu, and Mewtwo…" He looked back at the hand. "Those are Melee characters that didn't make it to Brawl. How did they eve-?"

"Pfft," the hand interrupted. "I forgot you guys think that our dad canned those three. Well, I took it upon myself to keep them around for the Brawl era," he explained. "Besides, there's a whole new world out there for the tourneys I have organized a decade ago! You guys know about it for sure, right? The first Smash Bros. tourney…the Melee tourney…and the cancelled Brawl tourney. If I were to end a contract with one of the Smashers – that's how I like to call the participants, mind you – the ratings I get would take a long fall down."

It sure felt like the serious conversation had turned into some kind of advertisement. "…What?" Chris asked. "What do you mean by tourneys? What kind of barbaric name is Smashers? You have a show?"

"And, more importantly," Lucario began, "you have a father?"

"Let me answer every single one of those questions," the hand said. "Yes, I'm the boss that runs all those tourneys I mentioned, pitting the universes' greatest personalities to pit them against each other for a fight for supremacy. 'Smashers' doesn't sound that barbaric to me. I make a living using those tourneys to gain me some hard-earned money." He took out a photo and handed it to them. Where he took out that photo was a fine topic of wild-mass guessing. "And this is our dad. He looks pretty cool, don't you think? Look at that young face of his!"

Chris and Lucario stared with morbid looks at a photo of Masahiro Sakurai walking down a red carpet saluting an audience in front of a concert. One of Lucario's eyebrows twitched.

"What do you think?" Crazy Hand asked. "I think I got his looks!"

The teen grimaced at the thought of two disembodied hands knowing full well that the creator of the games was this man. He decided to go along with the flow. "Uh… I-I would really like to meet him one day," Chris said, forcing a smile as he handed the photo back to the hand. "(They don't even look alike!)" he thought.

The Aura Pokémon wanted to make things look serious once more. "Why are you here?" Lucario asked. "We know you're on the run…but what did you hope to accomplish by running into this world?"

"We're here because...we want to find help in order to fight them back," Master Hand said.

"...Do you want me to call the police, the NAVY, or the army?" Chris asked with the suggestions. "The two of us are…uh…very busy people…"

"We are?" Lucario asked.

"Yes," Chris hissed.

Master Hand groaned. "Hey, I wasn't talking about that! I was talking about recruiting a special human," he said. Chris didn't like where this was going. "A human I could convince to take upon the task of reuniting the team for a final confrontation against Tabuu while ensuring that their worlds are safe from danger…" He floated over to Lucario. "But screw that clichéd fan fic idea! I found myself a better recruit in this guy."

"Me?" Lucario asked, mildly shocked.

"Yes!" the hand said. "I can sense it from you. You're one big Lucario!" he rejoiced. "I saw how you lifted my brother with a bare hand alone. That just means you're very, very special! With you on my side, gathering the group will be an easy task! Here I was thinking I was going to recruit some headstrong boy who doesn't do well at school but is an expert at video games… That's a sad waste of time, let me tell you."

Lucario exchanged glances with Chris. The teen looked worried. "You mean to say you want to take Lucario with you?" Chris asked. "B-but…"

"…I can't," Lucario said, surprising the teen. "I can't just leave Chris behind knowing that he's going to be alone…"

"Lucario…" Chris muttered.

Master Hand groaned. "Aww, no, I knew this was going to be too easy to be true," he said. "Let me guess… You two are inseparable and would rather not leave the other behind."

"…Yes…" Chris responded weakly. But once he looked at Lucario's small smile, there was a sudden change of heart. "…And that's why you're not just taking Lucario for yourself." He stood up. "I'm coming, too."

The three gasped at the teen's decision. "WHAT!" Master Hand said. "T-that's not what I had in mind! Just a moment ago, you looked like you didn't want to take a part in this!" he said. "What made you change your mind? You don't look like a fighter unlike your superbly strong Lucario!"

Chris looked down, debating himself if it was a good idea to speak out his thoughts like that so recklessly. After hearing Master Hand's story, he thought that there was a small chance for him to help in some way… It was obvious that a great threat was trying to break into his world to conquer it. He just didn't want to let it all go so easily. "I…I know…" Chris muttered, looking at Lucario's worried expression. "It's just…"

"It's just that I'm thinking about your welfare," Master Hand said. "Chris, I don't want you to get involved in this. It's too dangerous for the likes of you."

"Just because Lucario is too damn strong doesn't mean everything will go the way you want!" Chris yelled, shocking the three at his sudden outburst. He looked worried once again. "A-and…and I can't just shrug this off and let Lucario go… I want to go and see what I can do."

"…You sure you're not the typical headstrong teen with a dream?"

"I'm not into fighting…" Chris admitted. "I'm a smart teen who works hard in high school…"

"That…doesn't fit my criteria too much," the hand said. "…Oh well, expect the unexpected, they say… But still!" He pointed a finger at the teen, startling him. "You know full well what you're getting into, right? You're entering a battlefield where anything can happen! You might get killed off!"

"Not if I'm around," Lucario said. He made a fist that got engulfed in aura. "I'm Chris's Pokémon. He is my Pokémon Trainer. I wouldn't want to think that he's going to be left behind doing nothing while I go out… Just the thought of leaving him alone doesn't bode me well." He looked at his trainer with a small smile. "I'm the strongest Lucario the world has ever seen… Using my power, I'll see that Chris pulls through without suffering."

The teen smiled a bit at his Pokémon's speech. "Oh, now I see how things are around here," the hand said. "It's the typical Pokémon bond between a Pokémon and his human. Yeah, I've seen that plenty of times before…" He grunted. "Okay, Chris, this is the last thing I'm going to ask of you… Do you TRULY want to join the Smashers, along with your Lucario, to fight against the Subspace Army knowing that you'll be facing danger a lot more than you've done in your life?"

"Join the Smashers…" Chris trailed off.

"That means you're working under me," Master Hand pointed out. "With my leadership, I shall guide you through."

"…" Chris stared long at Lucario. "…I have the world's strongest Lucario…" he said, smiling wide. "Why should I get worried about getting hurt out there?"

"Chris…" Lucario trailed off as he pulled his trainer under his left arm, nudging his muzzle against his head. The teen chuckled heartily and embraced him.

"Okay, that's kind of a moving scene," Master Hand said, "but there are things to be done around here. Are we okay that the two of you will work for me?"

"Yes," Chris said nodding, Lucario releasing his grip from him. "I'll do whatever I can to support the team…with Lucario, of course."

Master Hand turned away. "Well, that's just going to make me take some crucial decisions with you," he said. Chris and Lucario looked at him. "I'll tell you once we're ready to send you off in your first mission of the day…"

Chris was concerned. "Do we have to take a few items with us?" he asked.

"No, it'll be okay," he said as he began floating away to Chris's room. Crazy Hand hopped off from the couch and followed him. The duo looked at each other with flat looks before following the hands.

Chris's Room

Chris and Lucario stood in front of Master Hand and Crazy Hand. "Chris, Lucario," Master Hand began, "we have to stop the Subspace Army from conquering the worlds of my Smashers." He raised a finger. "Our first order of business is to keep their worlds safe by disabling the Subspace Bombs. It is also our top priority to gather them all once again when they're done with the plots of their games."

"Wait…" Chris trailed off, "so you do know that you're…part of video games?" he asked. Lucario looked away with a bit of disdain. "Lucario also realized that some time ago…"

"Oh… It's nothing, really," the hand said. "It only matters that we live. To me, it's far more important that I can have a conscience of my own to be aware of." It was hard to tell, but he looked serious. "For that matter, though…I FORBID you the idea of ever telling ANYBODY you come across about the fact that the worlds are part of video games…"

"It's going to be a pretty big thing to them, I suppose," Lucario supposed.

"Yes, right," the hand said. "The team doesn't even know about that. They'll react negatively to the whole idea if they were to find out… You better keep the secret covered and just tell them that you come from other normal worlds. I don't care what you do as long as you don't disrupt their stories."

"Disrupting their stories…" Chris repeated.

"It's unknown to me where you're going to end up," the hand said. "I will take you to the closest location where the plot is unraveling. That means that you'll be dropped off anywhere. You are expected to help the protagonists of any world with their issues while trying to find the army somewhere along the road… It's clear that the army wants to chase them down, so if you stick with them, you're bound to protect them. Do NOT stray away from their stories, though. It's not recommended that you make some alterations for better results…"

"How will we know when the mission is completed?" Chris asked concerned.

"I will contact you as soon as I can," Master Hand said. "I have powers beyond your imagination. I can see very well how you're doing by yourselves. For the time being, Crazy Hand and I will take residence in this house…avoiding people from seeing us from the windows, of course."

Lucario grimaced. "You better not cause any stupidity in here," he warned them. "I don't want to think what'd happen if you get out…"

"We won't do that," Master Hand said as his brother shook himself. "This is a safe place for us to hide from the army."

"But, how can we go to other worlds?" Lucario asked.

Master Hand saw a Wiimote on the bed and pointed at it. He fired a yellow light to the control and it went in front of Chris and Lucario by floating in midair. The two stared at the control. "And more of my belongings get corrupted..." Chris sighed.

"This is NOT corrupted!" Master Hand yelled before coughing a little. "Use this. This control is a key to go to the other worlds."

"What?" Chris said. "You did something to my control?"

"Your control has been modified to open portals," the hand pointed out. "Point forward and press the A button."

The teen could hardly believe that this was happening, but he did as he was told. Shyly pointing the control forward, Chris's doubtful thumb pressed the A button. Suddenly, a trail of light shot out and seemingly crashed against empty air. A small shining dot shone before the two, and then it started to grow into a big circle. When the big circle was seven feet big, they saw a swirl of bright colors inside the majestic abnormality. "A-aah!" Chris yelped, backing off from the vortex. It was a wonder to see that nothing was getting sucked into it.

"Yeah, that's the initial impression," Master Hand said. "What you see before you is a portal that will take you to Ness's world… I have sensed that the army's first target is Ness. I want you to rendezvous with him at the point where he's at and convince him to let you join his team."

"What if he doesn't let us join him?" Lucario asked.

"…Bug him a little more," Master Hand said. "Try to do your best to convince him. He's toasted if he gets targeted out of nowhere while walking through a city! You two are my only hope to see them safe…" He saw that Chris looked unsure. "Having second doubts now, Chris?"

"H-huh?" Chris said before looking away. "W-well…"

"…Look, because I don't want to see you chucking rocks and sticks at the enemies while Lucario does all the fighting," the hand began as he raised a glowing finger, "let me give you your tools for battle!"

"My tools for batt-?" Chris couldn't say anymore once the hand shot him with a bright light.

As Lucario watched in shock as his trainer's body glowed, Chris felt a funny sensation. However, it was still an odd feeling he never felt before, and it was by no means a negative one disguised as a positive one. He looked at his hands glowed briefly and, before he could see more, the light faded away. "What did you just do to him?" Lucario questioned.

"I gave him the Job System," Master Hand said.

"The…Job System?" Chris wondered, looking back up at him.

"I got this from a world I was spying on," the hand pointed out. "Basically, I gave you the potential to gain a wide assortment of powers that will unlock by themselves as time goes by while you fight battles. In short, let's just say that you're going to be a carbon copy of the Smashers… You're basically going to get jobs that will resemble them in powers and appearance. For example, someday, you'll get a Job that will give you a copy of Ike's clothes along with his sword Ragnell. There won't be any radical changes done to your body, though."

Chris thought hard about the Job System, but he was still unsure if this was such a good idea. Obviously, the hand spied on the Final Fantasy series when thinking about the system itself. "…Wait a minute," Chris said, realizing something. "How do I change jobs?"

"Oh, it's simple," the hand said. "You just have to imagine the job you want to change to in your mind… But the problem is that you don't have a single job at the moment."

"What?!" Chris said in shock as Lucario looked similarly with the same expression. "You're sending me into a foreign world without a single job?"

"I'm testing you," the hand said. "This is a test for you to prove yourself, Chris."

"Are you insane?!" Chris asked.

"No," the boss bluntly said. "Look, I do things around here pretty seriously. The people that work under me are expected to work hard. You're a special case, however," he said. "I know it sounds really bad that I'm giving you almost nothing to fight battles, but I wish to see how you develop your fighting skills as you progress through this long adventure. I can tell that you're not the adventurous type…so I wish to see how the likes of you mature."

Chris stared in pure disbelief at the hand for a few seconds until he sighed, scratching his right arm. "I suppose that…you're right on that…" he muttered as Lucario patted his trainer's back. "I already said I was going, anyway…"

"Don't be afraid," Lucario said. "You still have me to defend yourself."

"Lucario…"

"…I'll do everything in my power to help you out," the Aura Pokémon said with a small smile. "Nothing would make me very proud than seeing my trainer fight by my side."

"…" Chris's eyes looked away. He blushed a bit. "…I can really count on you, after all." Lucario growled and rubbed cheeks together with Chris, making his trainer laugh for a bit.

"Okay!" Master Hand said, startling the two. "It's time for you to start the big mission to gather the force! Now, go on into the portal and prepare yourselves for multiple worlds full of possibilities and unique characters waiting to meet you!"

"…Meeting other characters…" Chris muttered, a sincere smile forming on his lips. He stared at the portal in front of them. Curiously, the teen and his Pokémon stuck a finger each into it. "Uh… I don't feel so good just entering through this thing…"

The two never expected the big right hand to push them into the portal without previous warning. The portal then vanished once they were gone.

"And off you go!" Master Hand said. He chuckled and looked at his brother. "I should've said that before I pushed them in… Oh well, I have faith that they'll do just fine."

"And what if they don't do well and end up getting killed?" Crazy Hand asked.

"Pish-posh, brother!" Master Hand said. "Things will work out just fine… For the moment, though," he looked around, "we need to give them a big surprise once they're done with the mission."

Crazy Hand gasped. "You mean?!"

"Yup, we're going back home and do some special arrangements," Master Hand said. "I forgot that the Smash Mansion is all alone without any guests. I can't wait to see the look on their faces once they come back and see our base of operations. This house is not going to be enough!"

The hands kept talking to each other while keeping track of the two new recruits' progress in the first world…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Next Chapter:

"Bound To a New Earth"

Do you want to save your data?

Yes

Creating new file data…

-Winters-

Chris, Lucario

And so, the story begins with a good start…

How good the start is to you is up to your review, though. A few more things shall be addressed in the next chapters as more characterization will come up from time to time. You'll see conversations and battles in the incoming chapters, so please, I ask you to enjoy the read.

I encourage all Brawl fanatics to review.