A (very) Brief Introduction:

So this here is my first fanfic. It's brawl centered in the first part (cause brawl is my favorite smash game) but it'll eventually move on to the current Smash Game (which will hopefully be Smash 5 very soon). Just a few things to note:

-I do not own Smash Brothers, nor any of the games featured in it.

-I harbor no bias to any minority groups or LGBT

-There is crude language

-There are chapters with their POVs dedicated to either Ness or Lucas (my mains)

-Length and quality might be inconsistent for the first few chapters

-I apologize for any grammar errors

With that being said: Have fun and Review! :)

[Edit 5/6/18]: I will now have brief explanations of things that might be confusing or unfamiliar to some readers.

Chapter 1: A Change in Character

It was hard to pinpoint when the crazy batshit began. Of course, in Smash Mansion, crazy batshit stuff always happened - Pit playing pranks on people, Sonic and Shadow having speed fights, Ike constantly shouting to fellow smashers and fangirls that he and Marth were "JUST FRIENDS!", occasional unauthorized fights that were punished by Master Hand (usually resulting in no serious injuries) - but those were often part of the daily routine. Lucas, being the timid well-behaved child he was, often tried (mostly successfully) to avoid those ordeals (because anything can be publicized). The blond psychic was often overlooked by the bigger, antagonistic smashers much to his relief and appreciation (Though unbeknownst to the boy, some of the older smashers even developed soft spots for him). He was not the best at dealing with difficult situations like Claus and Ness were. However, this time, he couldn't avoid the crazy weird stuff because it somehow seemed to involve him (albeit indirectly), despite his best efforts to not take any part of it.

Out of the 35 Smashers, Lucas was considered to be the most level headed and reserved. And even though he improved gradually, he was still hesitant in loosening up and having fun with his friends (well except for one). Now, his reputation as the reserved one is being transferred to the most unexpected person of all: Ness.

If there was one thing all the crazy batshit stuff had in common, it was that it seemed to take root in Ness. Lucas's closest estimate to the initiation of the batshit had to be about 3 or 4 months ago. While subtle at first, the crazy batshit became more prominent after Christmas break (around last month) which allowed the Smashers a one to two week break home and treated the ones staying in Smashville to a nice Christmas feast. Most of his friends opted to take a break home. Toon Link had gone back to Hyrule, Red had went back to Japan, Pit went to Skyworld to "aid Lady Palutena in her duties", while Ness had gone back to Onett. The only others who stayed back were Popo and Nana. As for Lucas, he did not feel like going back to Tazmily with only the company of his father and the reminders of his journey, his dead brother, and dead mother. Nothing really felt the same in the rustic village ever since he had pulled the Final Needle. So the Smash Brothers tournament was a pleasant change.

When everyone finally returned from their breaks, he and his friend group caught up and chatted like they normally would. He was thankful for his friends he made in Smash, he really was. Especially towards his best friend, Ness. But then, he began to notice some things different about said best friend.

The first was Ness's morning/bedtime routine changes. Lucas respected routine and all, but still, it was weird especially when Ness always insisted to change in the bathroom. And then proceed to HOG it for about an hour. And then use about a quarter of the body wash. And then leave it completely stuffy and misty. Naturally, Lucas got annoyed and meekly confronted Ness who (kind of rudely) replied:

"Lucas, if you want to go use the bathroom when I'm in here, you can go somewhere else! I'm not your mother. OKAY?!" and slammed the door, leaving Lucas in shock.

Lucas was taken aback by this. He couldn't help but flinch at the mention of his mother. Ness rarely lashed out at anyone. And on the rare occasions he did, Lucas would almost never be on the receiving end. With his feelings hurt, Lucas hung his head and decided to go to the main bathroom to do his business. The worst part about this was that Ness seemed to be deliberately avoiding him by waking up/hitting the hay an hour or so earlier/later. Luckily, Ness began taking showers in the main bathroom or at different times so Lucas didn't have to make constant trips. Lucas treated the consideration as an apology of sorts.

The second weird thing was the theft of Peach's prized possessions and "the talk". This event happened before the break. At first glance, it may not have seemed like Ness had any involvement in it. It started out as gossip that Peach was angry about someone stealing things from her and Lucas suffering the consequences. The odd thing was that she was only targeting the other girls in the mansions with her wrath. A few days later, Lucas found Peach standing outside his and Ness's bedroom. She was smiling pretty tightly.

"Hello Lucas, sweetie." She addressed him. "Can I talk to you quickly?"

Lucas got worried. "Am-am I in trouble?"

"Of course not! I think you're too sweet to get yourself caught up into trouble!" Peach said. "I want to ask you a few questions. Now." She took a pad that looked like a small diaper.

"Do you know know what this is?" She asked him as if she was educating a preschooler.

Lucas stared at it. "No." He replied honestly.

Peach raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Yes ma'am." Said Lucas nodding his head.

Peach then took out something else. A tube with a string in it. "I don't suppose you know what this is then?"

Again, Lucas was perplexed by the second weird object. "No. I don't. What- what are those things?"

Peach stared at him."If you don't mind me asking, how old are you child?"

"13."

Peach seemed deep in thought until she seemed to make a decision. "I guess a little education on 'the time' wouldn't hurt."

Lucas may have been dense but he pretty much figured out what was going to happen. Blushing, he tried to dissuade her. "Ms. Peach. I don't think that'll be necessary…"

"Oh I insist! I know you are a boy but you should know what these things are and their importance! So be quiet and come with me!" And with that, Peach whisked him away to the girls' quarters where they were joined by Samus and Zelda. He couldn't really resist. Peach was well-respected by Master Hand.

Just what Lucas feared, he ended up getting an entire explanation on what puberty was and how it affected people and how it differed among each gender. In the process, Peach told him about the 2 objects she showed him earlier. Lucas had to admit, some of the things the three women (well mostly Peach) talked about were new to him. By the end of the lesson, Lucas's face was as red as Ness's cap.

"Now Lucas, do you have any additional questions?" asked Peach still in her teacher voice.

Lucas looked up and silently shook his head.

"Sweet! I'll get straight to the point now!" She said clapping her hands. "So I told you what happens to girls when they go through puberty. Do you remember what I said about how those two objects are used?"

Lucas remembered that all too well. He bit his lip and nodded his head.

"Sweet! Can you tell me?" Asked Peach, a bit too enthusiastically.

"Now Peach," Zelda interrupted. "I think you have told him enough. Poor kid looks ready to come." Lucas silently thanked Zelda for saving his pride, not catching the (unintentional) innuendo or the dirty look Samus shot her. Zelda, noticing it now gasped and covered her mouth. "Oh dear… that didn't come out right…" she whispered.

As if just noticing Lucas's mortification, Peach said "My apologies sweetheart! I hope I didn't scare you too much."

Samus and Zelda cast Lucas apologetic looks.

"Well I'll stop stalling now. While I was on garbage duty as punishment, I was picking up the trash in your bathroom," She picked up a trash bag causing Lucas to recoil in distaste. That was definitely trash from his bathroom. "And these," she took out an empty tampon applicator and a few wrappers "were inside the bag."

So basically, Lucas learned that Peach suspected either him or Ness of stealing and using her period products. Poor Lucas. He was so embarrassed by Peach's interrogation that he never felt so thankful towards Bowser when the koopa king dragged the Mushroom Princess to a brawl.

He told Ness of Peach's accusations (purposely leaving out the puberty lesson) but Ness denied any knowledge. Lucas knew he himself wasn't behind it so Ness seemed to be the only plausible suspect.

That's when they heard Pit laughing behind them. Yep. Now they know exactly who it was. It didn't stop Peach from hounding them occasionally.

The third weird thing that was changing was Ness's fighting style. Before, Ness often started out by throwing out a bunch of PSI (mostly PK Fire) to approach, using his aerial moves and bat to rack up damage, then concluding with a swing of his bat to finish them off. Now, Ness seemed to be more unpredictable. He would stay back and consistently space and dodge his opponent's attacks while throwing occasional PSI without warning to rack up percentage. After a while of this he would start stepping up his game using mostly Dash Attack (which annoyed the hell out of most smashers), his Aerials, grabbing and pummeling, and PK Fire to get his opponent to a higher percentage. Once his opponent was trapped in a consistent series of about 5 PK Fires, he would go in and bombard his opponent with his yo-yo, bat and aerials, tossing them around and ultimately leading to ego-crushing 0-to-death combos that happened at least once a match. Sometimes, he would start by grabbing and pummeling, then going in for a few PK Fires, and once his opponent was at a high enough percentage, he would grab, down throw, and forward air. He closed up the match with a swing of his bat. If the opponent was good enough to last long enough to make it to 100% damage (most died pretty early), he would finish up the match with his ultimate back throw. It even made it tough for Smashers who had unfair advantages against the capped psychic to fight him. While it was strange at first, Ness quickly dominated the weeklies and quickly rose on the tier list, making Ness mains especially happy as they could gain many wins through the combos in the game version. High placings, earned him more monetary awards and popularity.

But along with the success came… various degrees of rudeness. Ness became rather proficient at using PK Thunder to gain easy and early kills either by shooting himself at his opponents or knocking them so far away to the point they could not recover. Then he would footstool/spike them down while they were helpless. This tactic induced lots of salt. Lucas remembered the most recent match he had against Ness.

It was a two-stock practice match on Final Destination. Right when Master Hand's automated voice gave the signal to start, Ness quickly bolted toward him and launched a PK Fire. Ness followed up by grabbing him, pummeling him and dousing him with flames which followed with a few PSI bursts, then an I-don't-know-what-the-hell-is-going-on-combo. Lucas tried hard to escape it but Ness seemed to be able to read his exact moves and caught him again in the same combo. So Lucas said goodbye to his first stock in about 20 seconds.

When Lucas got back from the revival platform, he knew he had to get away to avoid being caught by another huge combo. He dropped down and sidestepped Ness's PK Fire. Lucas opened his magnet and tried to release it on Ness to knock the other psychic backward. Unsuccessful (Lucas cursed inwardly at the lack of platforms on FD). Ness avoided it by rolling behind him. He then grabbed and pulled Lucas in to the point they were nose-to-nose, giving him a nice view of his violet eyes.

Well that was weird. Pulling in someone that close for a few pummels was definitely unnecessary. Lucas tried to break free and... succeeded. Unfortunately, breaking free did not buy him enough time to run away. Ness followed by his trip foot to PK Fire to bat, knocking Lucas offstage.

That was enough to put Lucas in danger of losing his last stock. The blond found himself caught in a midair PK Fire and the capped boy spiked him down. But… Ness screwed up! He didn't sweetspot the kick! Lucas tried to use this opportunity to recover with PK Thunder 2. Unfortunately, the capped psychic was prepared and merely followed Lucas and absorbed his thunder with a quick magnet. As Lucas fell to the depths of loss and frustration, also known as the blast lines, Ness, in #1 asshole mode, smirked and called down to him:

"HA! I stole your thunder!" and proceeded to laugh at his own joke.

The results: 2-0; Ness.

After the match, Lucas retreated to his room, miserable about his loss, to avoid the taunts of other Smashers for getting JV3ed in under a minute. He flopped onto his bed face-first, not bothering to change his clothes. Even though it was an untelevised practice match, it wasn't any less reassuring. This was reminiscent of his humiliating first match where he shot himself with PK Thunder 2 right into an explosive crate, SDing in the process. Only that time, Ness had comforted him and eased his distress by encouraging him to try again. Ness cheered him up with a small game of "Ride the Rolling Crate" across Luigi's mansion and they both laughed so hard that Lucas forgot why he was so upset. This time it was different because Ness was the cause of his distress.

When Ness came back to their room, Lucas did not spare him a glance, still not fully recovered from the humiliation. Even though Lucas knew his roommate was not evil at heart, he was mildly surprised that Ness was abnormally (well not so abnormally now) quiet and not making an attempt to apologize.

Oh right. The sudden reservedness and quietness also fit into the batshit weirdness. It was just so out of character for Ness that it creeped Lucas out. If anyone in the mansion were to describe Ness, the answer would be that he was the exact opposite of Lucas. Charismatic, friendly, daring, fun, everything Lucas wasn't. The blond boy first became drawn to Ness after the capped boy saved him in the Ruined Zoo. After things settled down, Lucas found himself following and admiring the capped boy because he couldn't sum up his gratefulness in simple words. First he relied on Claus, in Smash, he relied on Ness. Now, Ness's personality was anything but the Claus-like personality.

Well, Lucas's previous assumption about Ness not apologizing was proven wrong when the called psychic opened his mouth.

"Lucas." Ness spoke cautiously, testing the waters.

Lucas didn't reply. He pretended to be asleep. However, the black haired boy was not fooled. Ness sighed.

"Lucas, I-I know you're mad about the match," Ness's voice was abnormally quiet "I understand that…talking to me…or-or listening to me… are the last things you want to do now."

Ness paused, presumably to wait for Lucas's reply. Lucas couldn't help but note that Ness, who was normally smooth with his speech, seemed to have trouble getting words out.

"But— I want to get this off my chest… I know I haven't been the…best person to be around…so-uh,"

That piqued Lucas's interest and he looked up. He caught onto Ness's guilty tone and was eager to hear what had been the cause of the changes.

"I'm sorry…Okay? I'm sorry for…embarrassing you and for being a bad friend. You didn't deserve the taunts…and it's my fault for bringing them onto you. I don't expect forgiveness in this situation, but I would greatly appreciate it. I don't want this to ruin our friendship." He paused, "You are my best friend here." He whispered that Lucas almost didn't catch it.

At the last statement, Lucas felt warmth rush into his heart. Although he was slightly disappointed that Ness did not tell him the root of his changes but he still cherished their friendship too much to give Ness up.

Lucas smiled "It's okay. I forgive you."

Ness's tense shoulders visibly hunched in relief. "Thank you. I'm glad. It'll take more than a brawl to tear us apart."

Lucas laughed. "Yeah."

After their reconciliation, things went on normally, albeit with the addition of a quieter Ness. Now it has been about a week since their JV3 incident. As for the weird changes, no one had any clue what was happening. Except for Jeff, one Ness's friends (from what Lucas knew), but Jeff wouldn't give anyone any leads.

He said… what did he say again? … Oh right, "Lucas, it is evident that you want to know the reasons behind Ness's strange behavior. However, it is not my duty to enlighten you. You'll have to get the information from the source itself." while tinkering with more bottle rockets.

Yeah. Jeff had been a big help. Lucas was the first to catch on to Ness's behavior but he chose not to do anything about it, a decision he came to regret later. Maybe it was short term. Maybe it was just Ness's down time as he was up most of the time.

.~o~.

"Hey. Hey, Lucas!" A small zap to the neck snapped him back to reality.

Rubbing the sore spot, Lucas cringed. "What?"

"We have a match against Pit and Diddy in half an hour." Ah, yes. Ness. It seemed to be just the two of them at one breakfast table with the rest of their friends probably off at matches. "What's with you? You were staring off into space?"

"N-Nothing!" Lucas lied. "Just…thinking." He took a bite of his omelette.

"About what?" Asked Ness. Lucas averted his eyes. That's when the playful smirk that Ness and Claus shared came to Ness's face and he leaned close to his friend's ear "Do I happen to be…enough to make it into your train of thought?" He hissed.

The blond psychic choked. "W-What?!"

"I'm kidding!" Ness cackled. "You should've seen your face! It was priceless!"

Mortified, Lucas took a sip of his water to hide his red face and he silently hoped Ness did not try to go into his mind. Then he remembered that he would be able to tell if another PSI user tried to do so. But luckily, Ness seemed to be acting like his old self.

But that changed in a flash.

"Well, if you didn't hear me earlier, the match is in half an hour. I'm going down to the training gym to practice a bit. If you want to join, we can leave now." Said Ness. Back to the formal tone.

"Sure. I'm done anyway," Lucas replied.

The training gym in the mansions was rather crowded. Many smashers were practicing for their matches in the day. They passed by Nana and Popo who were practicing throwing and passing a sandbag to each other, Pikachu practicing summoning a thunder after wall jumping, Lucario meditating with aura around him, and Fox and Falco practicing combos on each other.

After warming up a bit, both psychics practiced their reaction times by throwing random PSI moves at each other and either dodging or absorbing them. They then decided to practice a few team combos on the practice CPUs. At this moment, Lucas decided to bring up telepathy as it allowed the two psychics to secretly communicate.

And Ness instantly shot him down.

Confused, Lucas relented and let it go. But Ness's unconditional refusal was still odd and a little hurtful. Ness never had a problem with it in the past but it won't be a huge deal.

"We can kick ass without it!" Ness reassured him.

When their match started, Lucas found it a little bit too easy. With Ness as a teammate, the two could heal each other easily and Lucas could just stall with his opponent while Ness practically dominated the other opponent and picked off his/her stocks one by one. Once one opponent was taken care of, the two of them could easily overwhelm the remaining opponent. So they won the first game without losing a single stock.

Pit, in his indignation, decided to go with a large stage as a counter pick against Ness and Lucas's combos. The final pick: New Pork City. Even though the city was destroyed when he pulled the final needle, New Pork seemed good as new whenever they fought on it. That did not make matches any more or less enjoyable than they already were. While recovery options were riskier with Pit's spamming arrows, Lucas found out he could use his PSI magnet to shift momentum. Lucas had 1 stock remaining and was currently in a fight with Pit. He knew everyone had only one stock left. He had managed to get Pit stuck into a chain of downtilts (a trick Ness had taught him) and waited until Pit was at a high enough percentage to knock him out with a rewarding smash attack.

CRACK!

The powerful upsmash blew Pit up to the upper blast zones. Lucas smiled to Ness in satisfaction and went to aid Ness to knock out Diddy Kong. He had just gotten a PK Fire thrown toward him for healing and was just about to do the same when-

CHOMP!

The ultimate chimera had appeared out of nowhere and sent him to oblivion. Lucas was caught completely off guard that he didn't have time to break his fall. It was funny how the chimera seemed to know exactly where to spawn and it always seemed to ruin a great combo or his chances of winning. As for ruining his chances of winning, it didn't. The chimera went for Ness but he managed to sidestep the bite right on time and it caught Diddy, sending the chimpanzee out of the blast lines.

Ness was a good sport about their victory and didn't gloat. No one really liked winning by accident. But that did nothing to alleviate the salt of their opponents when they refused to shake hands.

Ness cringed. "Well…that's going to get into Smash Highlights."

Lucas did not reply but also cringed when he saw Pit grumpily walk away from the teleportation room. He did not like it when other Smashers made a big deal out of matches and held grudges. It was inevitable, he guessed.

The rest of the day past by like any other. Even though Lucas would have preferred to hang out with Ness for the rest of the day, the two friends had to separate to do their respective tasks.

When he was going over to the cafeteria, he was stopped by a brown haired boy in a blue parka.

"Sup bro! Just the person I wanted to see! Come with me to the usual table." he greeted him.

Lucas chuckled. "Popo. You know me. I almost always sit next to you guys."

"Course I know that man!" he smiled, but his face darkened. "However, we are currently in the middle of a 'serious-'"-he gestured with his fingers "-discussion. And we must discuss it quickly!" he said whilst dragging Lucas over.

Lucas didn't get a chance to get his food when he was dragged to a table in the corner (weird). There, he could see his group, Nana, Pit, Red, and Toon Link in, what seemed to be, a heated debate. Jeff sat by the side tinkering with something else. Ness…. was still missing. Probably finishing up a last fight or two.

Popo made his presence known to them, "Yo Nana, I brought your order!"

"Great!" she said. "Lucas, please sit down. I know you hadn't had a chance to get your food, but I'll get Peach to cook you 3 omelettes tomorrow if you listen to us."

"Thanks. I'll take it!" Lucas said and he and Popo sat down in their chairs. Not like he needed the bribery anyway. He hoped Nana kept her word. Omelettes were always delicious and could brighten up his day in one bite.

"Ok!" Nana clapped her hands and gestured to the others at the table. Her expression changed to seriousness. "Why don't we fill him in on what we were just discussing?"

Toon Link spoke up. "We were about to discuss Ness's recent behavior and possible ways to approach him."

Oh dear. Lucas didn't like where this was heading.

Red spoke up continuing their discussion. "As I was saying before. I can tell something is bothering him but he refuses to speak up."

"I know right! He's been acting like a…. like a…." Nana trailed off trying to find a good way.

"Like a girl on her first period?" Popo supplies.

"Yes!" Nana gestured to him. "He's always been so confident and outgoing and now he's so hard to talk to! So we are trying to find a good way to approach him without angering him. All right, so Red just said what happened when he asked Ness." She turned to Toon. "Toon?"

He shook his head. "Completely changed the subject."

"Pit?"

"Said he would rip my wings off if I tried to snoop through his stuff." Pit's wings seemed to shiver in fear. "That was scary. And I'm still salty over that Ultimate Chimera prank."

"Ok, well his anger is understandable if you were digging through his stuff." Nana gave him a dirty look. "Popo?"

"What?" he snapped back to attention. Nana shot him an annoyed look. "Nope. Told me to screw off."

"Ugh!" Nana facepalmed. "What do we do?! The next option would be to beat some sense into him" She hoisted her hammer to her shoulder. Then she seemed to have an idea. "I know! How about we have Lucas talk to him?" She asked everyone.

"Yeah!" said enthusiastically Pit. "If we can't do it, Lucas can!"

"I see nothing wrong with it" agreed Toon.

Oh no. He hated being put on the spot like this. "Wait, hold on!" Lucas admonished raising his arms. "I can't talk to Ness! He'll get angry at me!"

"Yes he might, but you're our best shot!" said Nana. "You're his best friend aren't you? No, you two are practically brothers! Don't tell me you haven't talked to him!" seeing him give no reply, her eyes widened "Wait, you never talked to him about it?!"

"I don't know what to say to him!" Lucas whined back. "I'm scared he'll yell at me or completely push him away. I don't want to lose him as a friend." he looked down ashamed that he couldn't help his own best friend.

Nana now looked uncomfortable. That's when Red chimed in.

"Lucas, I know you are uncomfortable about the prospect. But Nana is right, you are the only one Ness did not blow off. Yes, he has been lashing out frequently. But he has been lashing out at everyone but you. And at breakfast today, there were no conflicts or tension between you guys. Right?"

Lucas nodded. Damn, Red's argument was logical. And seeing everyone else look at him hopefully, he had to give in.

"All right. I'll talk to him tonight." said Lucas.

Jeff, who had been sitting quietly finally spoke. "Do not invest all of your hope on Lucas. I do agree with the idea that Lucas should talk to Ness to alleviate the tension between you guys. However, like I said, a personal talk with him would not solve all the problems."

"How do you know this?" Toon asked him suspiciously.

Jeff was not fazed. He pushed his glasses against his nose. "I know Ness from our quest." He turned to Lucas. "Lucas, even though you guys are best friends, I advise you to not pester Ness with too many questions. Especially concerning home-life. Do not rush Ness into spilling thoughts. That will exacerbate the situation."

Lucas nodded. "Ok. I'll follow your advice."

A loud yell pierced the room followed by a cracking sound. Lucas knew what it was. PK Thunder. Along with that PSI aura. Ness was fighting with Wario. And he did not look happy at all.

Popo cringed at the sight of the fight. "Oh boy. Someone woke up the monster. Wonder what he did to piss him off."

"Lucas, I still want you to talk to him tonight." said Nana. "The sooner we can address what is bothering him, the better."

Lucas called to Ness telepathically.

"Ness, please calm down"

No reply. Ness didn't seem to hear him. Lucas couldn't do anything to stop him either. He was not looking forward to talking with Ness later. Hopefully, Ness would be calmer.

AN:

Well, that was the first chapter. A extremely (loving) thanks to my little sister for helping me and keeping me inspired with this.

Whisper: Make an account too, (insert sister's name here)

:)

(Possible) Unfamiliar Terms:

Claus: Lucas's late older twin brother.

Bad Matchups for Lucas/Ness: In brawl, Lucas/Ness have horrible matchups against Marth, Snake, and DK because Lucas/Ness have 10 extra lag frames on their grab-release animations which makes them vulnerable for grab-release followups and chaingrabs. In the cases of Marth, Snake, and DK, their long grab ranges allow them to infinitely grab-release on them to death. This flaw is devastating in competitive play and prevents them from ranking high in the tier list.

Magnet Pull: I honestly have no idea how the heck this works. But it's super useful! After wavebouncing, using PSI Magnet will shoot Lucas across the stage, giving him a good waveland, recovery, and more approach options. This has been named magnet pull. In high level play, knowing how to execute magnet pulls is a lifesaver. Too bad it got removed in Smash 4