Meanwhile, in another new location…

No one knew for sure why this world had a zoo in it - perhaps it was once used as some form of entertainment for the locals. Whatever it's purpose, it had long since been abandoned and left to disrepair. There was not a soul in sight in the whole place.

Except for one lone Smasher wandering through the area, lost in thought. He was a newcomer, a young blonde boy with a stripy T-shirt. He didn't look much like a fighter, but his psychic power and potential said otherwise. Despite his age, the look on his face was that of someone who'd been through more than anyone his age should ever have experienced.

His name was Lucas...and boy was he lonely.

Really, was it too much to ask that he be allowed to bring a friend or two along to this strange world? Duster had helped him smuggle his Rope Snake here, but it didn't exactly make for great company. It didn't help that the lack of company allowed his mind to wander...and when THAT happened, he always ended up at the same thoughts.

Namely, thoughts of his mother and his brother.

Having friends around had helped lessen the impact of their loss when he went on that long journey back home, but now that he was alone it was coming back full force. The crushing sadness after his mother's death and his brother's abduction, both at the hands of a murderous manchild. He wondered if they were at least both together now in the afterlife. At least he could be sure that maniac Porky couldn't touch either of them now.

As he was wallowing in his melancholy musings, he suddenly noticed some pebbles on the ground seem to jump, as if something huge was stomping towards that location. Lucas gave off a shudder of dread. Another thing that was coming back was his old nervousness - who knows what could be lurking in this world, and he didn't have anyone around to back him up if something hostile came coming.

Lucas tried to shove that thought aside as best he could. He was a fighter in his own right - that was why he was here in the first place, after all. What could there possibly be here that he couldn't handle?

His question was answered seconds later when a MASSIVE figure stomped into view. A massive, chillingly familiar-looking figure in the form of a massive statue in the shape of a human child. Lucas' blood ran cold as he gazed up at the ginormous golem. He'd seen and fought this thing before. It was the statue of his enemy Porky - the one he only managed to defeat before thanks to a New Year's Eve Bomb. Faced with this kind of an enemy, there was only one course of action that came to the young psychic's mind.

He screamed and ran, the statue stomping after him in hot pursuit.

As Lucas ran for his life through the Ruined Zoo, he ran into quite a bit of unexpected resistance in the form of large numbers of Subspace creatures. Some he ran right past, others he tried to fight through while slowing down as little as possible. His efforts weren't helped by the number of gates he ran into on the way. They were all pretty easy to open, but each one took time to do.

And when you're running for your life from a giant robotic statue, you don't have much time to lose opening gates on the way. Especially when said statue seemed to be completely invulnerable, simply smashing its way through any and all obstacles in its path, including the assorted Subspace Army members. Nothing seemed to even slow it down.

Lucas eventually ended up running towards a large and deep pool, with several platforms rising up from the water. Desperate to get away, Lucas jumped on each of them until he was clear across the pool before taking a second to catch his breath.

'How the heck is that thing here?!' he thought to himself. 'I thought it blew up last time! And why is it here, anyway?!'

Before he could think much further, the statue just about caught up to him. He jumped to his feet and prepared to make a run for it again when something unexpected happened. The statue stepped towards the pool...

...and promptly fell in, sinking beneath the surface like a stone.

Lucas just stood there, a bit stunned at it all. Was that it? Tentatively, the young blonde started to walk away, occasionally glancing back in case the statue rose back up like a Japanese movie monster. He'd just decided it was safe enough to leave...when suddenly another statue, exactly like the first, dropped down out of nowhere.

The Smasher was sprinting away as fast as he could as soon as he heard it land. There was only one thought going through his head at that very moment.

'WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!'

Some time later, Lucas still hadn't been able to shake off his colossal stone pursuer, despite his best efforts. He took a second to look back over his shoulder and see how close it was...

...and in that second, he tripped on a root and fell flat on his face. He quickly recovered, but wasn't able to get back on his feet before the statue had closed the gap and was now bearing down on him. Lucas simply cringed in fear and closed his eyes, waiting for the end to come. Luckily for him, someone else had other ideas.

"PK THUNDER!"

At that shout, the statue was blown backwards by a ball of lightning, landing on its back in a heap. Lucas looked up, grateful that he hadn't yet been flattened but at the same time confused as to what - or who - had saved him from being flattened.

The answer to his question came floating down in front of him seconds later in the form of another young boy - a bit similar to him in design, but with different colours on his striped shirt and black hair underneath a baseball cap. Sparks of psychic power twinkled at his feet, and a determined expression showed on his face. Lucas gasped at the new arrival, who didn't seem to notice him very much. He'd seen this kid before - but only in really old pictures.

This kid was another Smash veteran - Ness. He was a legendary kid hero from Lucas' world...specifically, from many years in it's past.

"You okay over there?" Ness asked. It took Lucas about a minute to register this enough to answer.

"Uh...y-y-yeah, I-I'm fine."

"Good." Ness nodded, before turning his attention back to the recovering statue in front of them, narrowing his eyes in recognition. "Because this thing right here looks like it could be major trouble."

As if in answer, the statue kipped up to it's feet, getting into a rough approximation of a battle stance. Ness did likewise. Then, as Lucas watched, both of them jumped high into the air...

"PK FLASH!"

...And Ness shot off an attack that destroyed the massive construct before landing with ease as debris fell all around the two psychic boys. Lucas just stared at it all in awe.

"Huh." Ness muttered. "Little easier than I thought that'd be." He then turned back to Lucas. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you a newcomer, by any chance?"

"Y-Y-Yeah..." Lucas replied, shakily extending a hand. "M-My names's Lucas."

"I'm Ness." Ness smiled cheerfully, before noticing something about his new companion. "That's funny...your design looks kinda, well...like me. Are you from my universe, by any chance?"

"Ummm...sort of?" Lucas answered lamely, not wanting to mention that he was technically from the future of Ness's world. This only succeeded in drawing a raised eyebrow and look of confusion from the other psychic boy. Before either of them could say anything more, however, there was a sound of mechanized limbs coming from the cloud of debris created by the destroyed statue. A sudden chill ran down Lucas' spine - not helped by the voice that rang out soon after.

"My my, what a surprise!"

Something emerged from the cloud of debris. Something large, mechanical and spider-like in design. Lucas paled a little when he saw it, while Ness didn't seem to react much...until he noticed a glass capsule on the front of the robotic abomination. And more importantly, what - WHO - was inside of it.

"PORKY?!" Ness exclaimed in horrified shock. "Is that you?!"

"The one and only, Ness old friend." the old man in the capsule responded with a sinister smile.

"W-W-Wait..." Lucas stammered out. "Y-Y-You know this guy?!"

"Let's just say we had a bit of a history." Ness responded, before turning back to Porky. "But none of it involved him becoming...THAT!"

"Let's just say that time travel had some...unexpected side effects." Porky grumbled. "But enough about that! I've got a golden opportunity in front of me: a chance to get my revenge on two of the biggest pains I've ever had to deal with!"

With that, the mech changed it's stance slightly, readying itself for battle. Ness and Lucas glanced at each other, nodded and did likewise.

"Now you two will face...THE FURY OF PORKY THE PIG KING!" Porky proclaimed with a maniacal laugh as his mech charged headlong into the fight.

I originally planned to put the full fight here, but couldn't figure out how it would go, plus I figured this took long enough already. I'll hopefully figure it out by the time of the next chapter. Please read and review this one in the meantime.