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Plan B: Ballad of Swords	By : Revu Category: +S through Z > Super Smash Brothers Views: 1523 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: The author does not own any part of the Super Smash Bros video game series, or any of the various sub game series. No money was made from the creation or distribution of this fic.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
Notes: So I’ve got another chapter this week. I’m kind of surprised myself but I really like this concept and want to know where this is going too! Things are going to start getting exciting in this chapter, so here we go!

Last Time:

Ness and Ninten are cousins living in Onett where the Baron Mr. Minch was about to burn whole stockpiles of food intended for the people of Onett in order lower public morale. Joined by their friend Rock the boys were able to expose the location of the food stock to the public. Mr. Minch’s sons then appeared at Ness’s doorstep in an attempt to escape their father’s rampage and took Ness to an unusual site near the top of Mt. Itoi where a strange purple crystal fragment imbedded itself into Ness’s body. Unsure what to make of it Ness returned to Rock’s home where the the three boys spent the night together.

Chapter 2: A Shot of Crisis

Rain fell over Onett throughout the night. Pattering of thousands of water drops kept most people sound asleep and dreaming pleasant dreams. The distant booms of thunder rolled over the town like a soft lullaby.

Some of the residents who were still awake stared off at nothing in the cloudy sky. A few of the residents squinted their eyes for a moment, convinced some kind of shadow was moving through the clouds; perhaps their eyes were playing tricks on them.

In Rock’s house, three boys remained huddled close and sound asleep. A distant boom caused Rock to stir. His eyes slowly opened as his senses slowly registered both Ness and Ninten still pressed up against him. He took in a deep breath, still relaxed from earlier and closed his eyes again. The sound of an explosion immediately jolted all three awake.

“Was that thunder?!” Ninten asked while catching his breath from the rude awakening.

“That didn’t sound like thunder…” Rock jumped over Ness and looked out the window. The glow of fire was visible just a street down. Several more booms echoed in the sky before more buildings exploded.

Ness and Ninten covered their ears as the sounds of the explosions were close. “Is Onett being attacked?” Ness asked as he tiptoed closer to take a look.

Rock dragged Ness away from the window, “Get dressed, hurry!”

Screams and the sounds of panicked running clattered just outside the window. Another explosion rang out and shattered the glass letting a searing heat enter the house.

“We gotta get outta here! Come on!” Rock pushed Ness and Ninten out of the house as they shoved their feet into shoes.

Outside, rain was still falling and the light of the burning village reflected off the clouds.

There were no signs of invaders, but cannonballs were falling and erupting all around. Ninten put his hands against his head and began to panic like many of the nearby people. “This can’t be happening… not again… Please, this can’t be happening!”

Ness took Ninten’s hand and held him still for a moment to keep him calm but was feeling just as anxious as he watched fires spreading across his home town.

Rock looked up at the rain and pointed, “There!”

From within the clouds a group of airships slowly descended over Onett. Atop the lead airship the boys could see a behemoth of a man with fire red hair wearing a horned helmet. A dark skinned boy with the tattoo of a star on his face raised his hands and immediately everyone in Onett clutched their ears as sound waves spread through the town.

“Attention citizens of Onett,” As the behemoth man spoke his voice was carried along with the sound waves so everyone could hear him, “Your village is now within the borders of The Golden Empire, there will be NO resistance, we require only your unconditional obedience and you will be rewarded with fair lives and adequate resources.”

Cannonballs stopped falling for the moment as the airships simply circled over the town.

Ninten gripped his fists tight and anger washed him, “We can’t just let these guys fly in and take over our town!”

“Come on,” Rock ran in the direction of the city center where most other people were going.

Ness brushed some water from his hair and looked ahead, “Why is everyone going in this direction?”

Rock bit his lip, “It might be to prepare a resistance.”

Most of the town had gathered in the town center. A few buildings were still burning, but the combination of the rain and a few volunteers had the fires under control.

The people gathered were scared and angry. The airships floating overhead were most definitely built for war, and Onett had very little in the ways of defense against such a force.

Mr. Minch stepped through the crowd and climbed onto a platform to speak to the citizens. Before he was even up people were shouting, “Where are the city guards?” “Put the shark guards to work doing something useful for once!” “Aren’t you going to do anything?!”

Mr Minch put his hands out to shush the crowd, “Everyone! Please! Tonight has turned into a state of crisis and we all have reason to be concerned, but I implore everyone to remain calm!” The people stopped their shouting to hear what Mr. Minch had to say, “Up in the sky Onett is surrounded by Doomships, a caliber of airship that makes the most advanced airship of Eagleland’s military seem little more than a child’s toy. Eagleland has fallen into debt and recession in recent years and can no longer to afford to protect its people from external threats. The Golden Empire can! By submitting to the empire we still have the opportunity to secure our future and our children’s future!” The people quieted as the took in Mr. Minch’s words. The sounds of submitting to the empire echoed through the crowd.

Ninten grit his teeth, almost growling, and ran forward. Ness held a hand out to his cousin but wasn’t sure what was going on. Ninten climbed up another platform and started yelling over the crowd, “Don’t be fooled! You all already know you can’t believe anything that man tells you! He’s lied and cheated almost all of you already and only ever looks after himself! This is Onett and if this golden empire thinks it can use our town to launch a war into Eagleland then it’s up to us to tell them the war starts here!”

“You better step down you insolent brat! You’re not even from Onett!” Mr. Minch spat out angrily before turning back to the crowd, “Standing up against the empire’s forces will do nothing more than get this entire town destroyed!”

The people gathered looked torn, it was obvious they had no desire to fight, but giving up their town to the empire wasn’t something they wanted either.

“I know there’s a lot at stake,” Ninten started again, “But this empire charged into our town with guns blazing, setting our homes on fire, no talk, no diplomacy, they’re using fear and threats hoping to get us to step down, and I don’t like bullies who get their way using fear and threats. Sound familiar Mr. Minch?”

Mr. Minch was fuming at Ninten’s words, “I am ordering all of you to surrender to The Golden Empire! If you do not listen to me then I assure you that you will regret it!”

Ness and Rock climbed up to stand beside Ninten. Their resolute posture as they stood in the rain proved to provide more inspiration to the people than Mr. Minch’s steaming performance.

“What do we do?” A person in the crowd finally shouted up to the boys.

Ninten looked torn as he looked up at the massive airships.

“We use what we can, and we drive them back!” Rock put a hand on Ninten’s shoulder, “Those of you who know some magic need to get ready to use it, those of you who have weapons or tools capable of defending yourselves need to get them right now!” The three boys raised an arm and many of the townspeople did as well to show their solidarity before finding weapons.

The people dispersing could be seen from the airship in the sky and it slowly made its descent over the town square. “Are you ready to swear fealty to the empire?” The man shouted down once he was close enough.

Mr. Minch looked terrified as his teeth rattled and he backed away from his platform. The behemoth man noticed Mr. Minch’s strange actions and wondered for a moment what was happening.

“Let’s see if just maybe we can bring that ship down to the ground,” Ninten psyched up with Ness, “Think you hit the main propeller shaft?”

Ness nodded back, “I can hit it, I just don’t know how much damage I can do.”

“Power up?” Ninten grinned.

Ness smiled and gave a thumbs up.

Ninten stood behind Ness and put his hands on Ness’s back, “POWER UP!”

Something Ness had never felt before came over him. The sky above them began to crackle with static as he felt something inside of him go warm. It was more than warm, it was hot, and it was overflowing.

Ness pointed his hand out in the direction of the airship’s propeller shaft. The behemoth man noticed the boy on the ground giving off a glow, “What is he…”

“DIGUVORUTO!” An enormous bolt of lightning shot from Ness’s hand, eclipsing any spell he’d ever used before. Even Rock jumped from the platform and took cover as as the light and sound blew out every window that faced the town center.

The man on the airship barely ducked in time as the massive bolt of energy tore past and ripped all three masts of his great ship. The branches of the bolt were enough to singe the deck and set anything flammable on fire.

The burning airship immediately plummeted to the ground like a stone. The ship crashed onto a building and flipped onto its side before it slid to a stop. The man behemoth clung tightly to the railing of his ship and dropped to the ground once everything settled, “No way that could have been… Fox?”

Static bolts still lit up the area all around Ness. Ninten slowly poked his head over Ness’s shoulder, “Holy shit Ness!”

Ness breathed deeply as his eyes remained staring at the airship his lightning bolt had brought down, “How did…”

Rock crawled out from under the platform. He could still see the trail Ness’s bolt had made as nearby objects were melted and glowing hot. Rock whistled, “Wow!”

The people of Onett were silent for a moment, but soon erupted in cheers.

Ninten poked Ness’s shoulder, “Think you can do that again?”

“I don’t know, but let’s try!” Ninten nodded and pumped more energy through Ness’s back. Ness picked the next closest airship and fired another impressive lightning bolt at it. The crackling lightning tore through the hull of the ship and snapped the main propeller shaft causing it to spin out of control.

The behemoth man saw another of his ships go down and growled lowly, “Morton!”

The teenage boy with the star tattoo pushed himself up from the rubble and returned to the man’s side, “I’m sorry Uncle Bowser.”

Bowser growled at the boy, “Project my voice to the fleet! Now!” Morton concentrated and radiated sound waves back up to the sky as Bowser spoke, “All ships descend, we’re taking this fight to the ground!”

Another lightning bolt went off and another ship made a crash landing. Bowser grit his teeth as he dragged Morton into an upright position, “Find my sword!”

The airships began to lower past the building line along the outskirts of Onett. Ness looked from side to side for a target, “They’ve gone too low, I can’t hit them anymore.”

“You took down five ships! That’s freakin awesome!” Ninten as well as many of the townspeople cheered, “We’re just going to have to go hunt the others down!”

As the three boys made the charge down the side streets of Onett a crowd gathered behind them with what weapons they could find.

Ninten shook his head, “How did you shoot off lightning bolts that big? Have you always been able to do that?”

Ness shook his head, “No way, I thought maybe it was you who gave me a bigger power up than normal?”

“I don’t think so,” Ninten scratched his head, “I’m pretty sure I gave you the same power up I gave you yesterday.”

The group turned a street corner and could see a group of armored warriors at the other side. The soldiers facing them wore solid suits of armor covering their whole bodies like shells. The soldiers charged the townsfolk carrying weapons like war hammers and spiked bucklers.

“We’ll have to figure it out later,” Rock stopped the conversation.

“Let’s give’em another one,” Ness charged his lightning magic in his hand while Ninten gave him another power up. “Thunder!” Ness lit up the street with lightning magic. The wave of oncoming enemy soldiers had no time to take cover as the electricity blew them all away.

Both Ness and Ninten were looking out of breath. Rock patted the two, “You guys are doing awesome, but you’re not used to expending this amount of magic so quickly, be careful.”

Ness nodded, “I’ll be fine.”

“And if he’s fine then so am I!” Ninten kept his bravado high but was definitely showing signs of breathing difficulty.

Rock gave Ninten an extra pat and Ness’s eyes widened as he noticed it too, “Ninten! Your asthma!”

Ninten brushed them off, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

More enemy soldiers came charged from around another street corner.

“We’ll hold them off!” One of the townsfolk with a sword charged in followed by many of the others. Weapons clashed on the street and swords, spears, and pitchforks met hammers and armor.

Another squad of enemies came around from behind threatening to surround the group, “We can’t let them get too close!” Ninten placed his hands again on Ness’s back and strained to pump more power into his cousin, “Power up!”

Ness brought his hands forward and launched another powerful bolt, “Thunder!”

The street was cleared of approaching enemies, but both boys were starting to get really tired.

“Take a rest you guys,” Rock urged them, “you can help again once you’re feeling better.”

Ness nodded as he took Ninten to the end of the street where they could take cover. Rock stayed near in case anything happened.

Rock’s ears picked up the sound of something charging. He looked from left to right and didn’t see anything, but there were definitely the sounds of heavy footsteps running, and getting closer, “You guys, get ready to move…” Rock lowered his stance to ready himself for whatever might come from around the corner.

Rock focused on the road and steeled himself for whatever giant thing was coming his way. Instead of from down the road, the wall next to Rock collapsed as something enormous plowed through it. Rock barely had time to pull out his metal disks and block a gigantic sword that came down over his head. An enormous weight pushed down on Rock as the gigantic Bowser himself held the sword that was slowly sinking passed the blades towards Rock’s head.

Rock grit his teeth as he leaned backwards with Bowser’s weight on top of him. He could feel Bowser’s hot breath on his face as his hands began to sting from the weight digging into them from defending with the metal blades. Knowing he couldn’t push Bowser back he kicked off the street and rolled out of the way of the attack losing one of his blades in the process.

“Rock!” Ness got up and started channeling more magic to his hand.

“So nimble,” Bowser grinned as he swung again. The blade of bowser’s sword looked as though it extended out of the maw of a demon carved into the hilt. Every time Bowser swung the weapon it left a streak of red in the air.

Despite Bowser’s large size, it was hard to get a clear shot at the man where Ness could be sure Rock wasn’t in the way with all the jumping around each other the two of them were doing.

Rock flipped himself over another swing of Bowser’s sword and grabbed onto his dropped metal blade in the dodge. While he gripped his metal blades from the center rings he began to swing them like melee weapons as well as guard against Bowser’s sword, but the force of Bowser’s swings still knocked him back each time. Rock jumped completely over Bowser’s head expelling three light blasts as he did directly into Bowser’s face.

Bowser shook off the spells, “You’re a light mage? HA! Give up before you embarrass yourself!” Bowser held the sword up and the entire city block began heating up.

The center of the hilt of Bowser’s sword began to give off a great red light as the heat intensified. Ness’s eye widened at the site of something familiar attached near the guard of Bowser’s sword, “That looks like the crystal I saw yesterday, but it’s red.”

“BWAHAHAHAHA!” Bowser laughed maniacally as everything around him became consumed in violent flames. Ness’s eyes widened as he realized he was in range of the massive fire spell, but something else ran into him and tackled him down as the shockwave of fire flooded over him.

Ness felt dehydrated from the heat wave that hit him. He put a hand against his forehead and shook it off as he tried to stand but finally noticed Rock’s weight on top him, “Rock?” He looked over Rock’s back and could see Rock’s clothes had been burnt through and his back was hit by the fire spell, “Rock!”

Bowser continued to laugh, “Not often you see a light mage who actually tries putting up a fight, stupid boy!”

Ness grit his teeth as he stood up, “Ninten, can you heal Rock?”

Ninten ducked down to take a look at Rock’s burns, “Yeah I think so.”

“Then do it while I do something about this guy…” Ness lowered himself into a fighting stance and once he had Bowser’s attention started circling around to move his focus away from his friends.

Ninten looked worried but put his hands against Rock’s back, “Alpha Healing!”

Bowser shook his head at Ness, “You’ve got guts kid, but if you don’t stop this game then they’re gonna end up spilled all over the street.”

Ness picked up Rock’s metal blade from the ground and tried to look ready for a fight. Bowser swung at the boy and Ness jumped out of the way but threw too much force in his jump. Bowser swung sideways to chop at the boy before he regained his footing. Ness tried to block the sword with the metal blade the way rock had, but when the sword hit the blade he felt his wrist snap backwards and he dropped the blade.

Bowser held his sword back to strike Ness down “I’ve had enough of playing with kids today.”

Ness reached into his pocket with his good hand and pulled out his toy yoyo which he swung out hard rode up Bowser’s face, successfully knocking the behemoth man back a few steps.

A menacing growl escaped Bowser’s throat, “You’re making me mad kid.”

“Sparking!” Ness pointed a finger at Bowser and let another lightning bolt loose. Bowser shielded himself with his sword, but the electricity flowing through the metal object and caused his reflexes to drop the weapon.

On the other side of the street, Ninten had Rock back on his feet. The older boy tossed aside his burnt shirt and the two ran to Ness’s side, “Let’s finish this!” With a nod from Ness, Ninten put his hands at Ness’s back again, “POWER UP!”

Bowser recognized an insane amount of electricity building up in Ness’s hand as his face paled, “How’s this kid using those powers?”

Ness’s eyes gave off a bright violet glow as he held his hands over his head, “DIGUVORUTO!” Ness threw his hand forward and released a lightning bolt that once again shattered windows and blinded everyone around.

The light faded and the spots in everyone’s eyes began to recede as well. Ninten blinked and looked at where Bowser should have been, but saw instead a different man, this one well dressed in a suit with an “R” patched onto his jacket, and in his hand he was holding another elaborate sword. At the center of the sword’s hilt was a yellow gem that was glowing brightly.

Bowser breathed out a sigh of relief, “Was wondering when you were going to show up Giovanni.” Bowser recovered his sword and pushed himself to his feet and stood beside his ally, “With your earth magic we can say goodbye to lightning magic having any affect on us here!”

Giovanni grinned, “It’s always best to use the element your opponent is weak to against them.” Giovanni tapped his yellow sword against the ground and a crack formed along the street which quickly snaked its way towards Ness where a pillar of stone burst from the ground and bashed him in the face. “Battles are won most effectively that way.”

Ness knew a powerful earth mage could easily turn the tables on him.

“Ness,” Ninten sounded worried, “Lightning spells can’t get through earth defense magic, what are we gonna do?”

Ness clenched his fist tight, “We have to try anyway…”

Ninten’s worried expression lifted and he nodded, “Right, one more time!”

Giovanni squinted his eyes, “What are those brats…”

“Power up!” Ninten pumped the last of his energy into Ness as Ness concentrated as hard as he could on conjuring his biggest lightning bolt yet.

“Sometimes you just gotta push through head on! DIGUVORUTO!” Ness threw both hands forward and unleashed a bolt of lightning that immediately evaporated the falling raindrops.

“Tsk,” Giovanni held his sword forward, “Child’s pla…” the bolt hit Giovanni’s sword and the man found himself having to concentrate on his defense. His boots slid along the the ground as he was pushed back. Bowser’s eyes widened as he stood behind Giovanni and braced him against the lightning bolt.

Both Giovanni and Bowser were pushed back by the force of the lightning blast. The stone pathway beneath them was melting from the force. Giovanni couldn’t even hear Bowser’s shouts over the crack of thunder. Once he realized his defense was failing, Giovanni reached back and put a hand on Bowser’s shoulder, “Stone skin!” Both Bowser and Giovanni turned to stone as the lightning penetrated Giovanni’s defense and washed over them.

Ness and Ninten fell to their knees. They were panting as though they’d sprinted miles. They looked up and saw the statues Giovanni and Bowser had turned into.

Ness swallowed hard while trying to take in enough air to speak, “What happened?”

Ninten shook his head as looked up at the statues as well, “We won?”

Rock stepped forward and poked at the statue. He noticed the gem in Giovanni’s sword was still glowing brightly, “It’s a defense spell, it’s going to wear off soon and they’re going to be mad.”

“We put everything in that spell!” Ninten whined.

Rock nodded as he turned and helped Ness and Ninten to their feet, “Yeah it was awesome! But we’re going to need more help to deal with these guys, come on!”

With Rock’s help Ness and Ninten were on their feet and moving, but it was obvious they were both exhausted. They made it back to the town square where more residents had gathered with weapons.

“Everyone! Trouble is coming, we need to know right now what abilities we have amongst us.” Rock started trying to organize the crowd, “Please raise your hand if you can use magic!” A few tentative hands raised in the crowd, “Great! And out of those we specifically need water and wind mages!” Most of the hands lowered leaving just a few people with their hands risen, “Alright, now listen, in just a moment two very powerful magic users are going to be coming from around that corner, the big guy uses fire and the guy in the suit uses earth. You need to focus your spells on the one you’re strong against. These guys have some powerful magic, but together you can cast powerful spells too!”

One of the men stepped forward, “What’s wrong with the kid with the lightning?”

Rock shook his head, “He’s just tired, casting spells that powerful took a lot out of him as I’m sure you can understand. They’ve been doing a lot and need your help!”

The people nodded understanding.

Ninten leaned on Ness, his breathing coming in raspy and ragged, “I’m scared Ness…”

“I know,” Ness wrapped his arm around Ninten’s shoulder, “I’m scared too.”

Ninten nodded, “But I can still do more.”

Rock put a hand on Ninten’s shoulder, “You need to rest a bit more or you’re going to have trouble breathing.”

Ninten smiled at his friends but pushed himself up past them, “I want… I want to show everyone what we can really do!” People were turning and noticing the boy standing up and moving forward, “I lost one home already, my parents, my town. I love this place now, my cousin Ness and his family who took my sisters and me in. That’s why I was always so angry when Mr. Minch did things behind people’s back to hurt them. How could someone do that to the people who were so nice to take in refugees from Podunk Town after it burnt to the ground? I may not have any spells that hurt people, but I’m going to do everything I can to protect this home, protect Onett!”

Tears were building in Ness’s eyes as he smiled at Ninten. He knew the boy had been through a lot and was proud that it hadn’t come close to crushing Ninten’s spirit. And the people were behind Ninten too, everyone who looked scared before was looking more determined to protect their village.

The people were looking ready to fight along with Ninten when the boy stopped cheering. His eyes widened and immediately Ness could tell something was wrong. Ninten’s hand went to his neck. He pulled something from his neck and looked down at what appeared to be some kind of dart. Ninten’s eyes clouded over and he fell to the ground. As Ninten fell Ness saw Pokey standing behind him, a blow gun in his hand.

Ness’s mouth went dry as he pushed himself to his feet and ran to Ninten’s side. Both Ness and Rock dropped beside Ninten and started shaking him, “Ninten, Ninten! Please! Get up!”

Rock lowered his ear to Ninten’s mouth, “He’s not breathing…” Rock started pushing on Ninten’s chest to keep airflow going.

Ness looked up and saw Pokey’s cocky grin still plastered on his face, “WHY?! Why would you do this?!”

A horrible sound washed over everyone in the town square causing them to drop to their knees except for Pokey. The dark skinned boy with the star tattoo stepped out from hiding and stood at Pokey’s side.

Ness was still clutching his head from the pain the noise had caused as Pokey approached him, “He’s always caused nothing but trouble, remember when you and I used to spend so much time together? He came and all of that stopped. He’s been a nuisance to you and me and everyone.”

Ness’s jaw quivered, “Pokey… You were my friend, I always stood up for you! Whenever anyone...”

“And you’re my best friend Ness!” Pokey smiled from behind his messy blond hair, “We can be best friends again!”

Ness shook his head, “That’s… how could you do this?”

A shrug was the response Ness received, “Look at it this way, The Golden Empire has promised to take care of all of us which is a lot better than anything your dead beat dad has ever done for you. Don’t let Ninten spoil your future, you have potential, join us and you can work for me!”

Ness’s fist shook as rage turned his vision red, “No… Never…”

Everyone was too distracted by the boys and their own aching heads to notice Bowser and Giovanni enter the town square until it was too late, “Looks like we didn’t even have to fight the brats after all, they take themselves out if you leave them alone long enough.” Bowser laughed sinisterly. The people who were nearby all began to take steps back from the threatening figure.

Giovanni tapped his sword against the ground and the very soil opened up around the feet feet of nearly every person in the square and ensnared every weapon around in stone pillars. Voices rang out in panic as the people lost their hope of winning this fight.

Rock looked back and forth between the people who lost hope, Ness who was struggling with his emotions, the villains who approached them, and Ninten who laid unconscious on the ground unable to breathe.

Ness was still only focused on Pokey and he took several slow steps forward, his anger apparent in the atmosphere as static bolts were discharging all around him. He was close to overflowing again when Rock placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered into his ear, “Close your eyes.”

Though Ness wasn’t sure what was going on, he listened to Rock and hurriedly clenched his eyes shut.

Rock held his hand up to his forehead, “FLASH!”

Screams filled the town square as a brilliant light flashed from Rock’s hand and blinded everyone who stood out in the open. No one could move while the light stung their eyes, it was as if for that moment the light froze them in time.

“Let’s go!” Rock picked Ninten off the ground and led Ness away from the Town Square.

“Where are we going?!” Ness demanded.

“Home,” Rock ran as fast as he could with Ninten in his arms towards Ness’s house on the north side of town.

“We can’t just run away!” Ness demanded still full of emotion.

“Ninten is dying!” Rock shouted ending Ness’s argument immediately. “There’s nothing else we can do for the townspeople for now. One powerful enemy we could have stood up against, two we would have done our best. We’re not ready and now Ninten is hurt and we can’t help him and fight off an army at the same time!”

Ness cursed under his breath knowing Rock was right. The two practically knocked the door down to Ness’s house once they made it.

“Boys!” Ness’s mother ran into the room and looked as though she were about to say something and ask questions until she noticed Ninten in Rock’s arms.

“He’s not breathing,” Rock spoke with urgency as he set Ninten down on a seat.

“I’ve got frankincense,” Ness’s mother ran to the kitchen and shuffled loudly through a few cupboards before running back with a bottle of oil. Rock opened up Ninten’s shirt as the Ness’s mother hurriedly rubbed the vapor oil under Ninten’s nose and over his chest. Rock started compressing Ninten’s chest again and blew into his mouth to get his lungs to keep working.

Ness watched scared from the front of the room. Rock looked over his shoulder, “Ness, you need to shock him.”

Understanding Ness ran up and put his hand against Ninten’s chest, “I’ve never done this before.”

“You can do this sweetie,” Ness’s mother encouraged him, “Just be gentle.”

Ness nodded as he focused on Ninten, “Spark!” A jolt flowed through Ness and into his cousin causing the boy’s body to jump in place and immediately Ninten started coughing.

“You did it!” Rock cheered as Ninten began breathing normally again.

Ness waited a moment but noticed Ninten wasn’t stirring. He started shaking him again, “Why won’t he wake up?”

Rock pulled Ness back, “He was still poisoned, there’s no telling what kind of an effect that’s going to have or for how long.”

“Poisoned?” Ness’s mother shook her head, “How?”

“Pokey…” Ness growled, “He turned on us and hit Ninten with a poisoned dart.”

The woman looked to Rock who nodded, “And out there?”

“The Golden Empire,” Rock explained, “They’re attacking the town and claiming it for the empire… we… tried to stand up to them but they’re strong.”

Ness’s mother nodded in understanding. She looked to the side and noticed the three younger girls in the doorway watching expectantly, “The Minch’s are helping the empire, and they saw you boys making a stand against them…” She got up and shook her head, “That makes this house the next place they’ll search to find you, you both need to run!”

Ness’s eyes widened, “Run? We can’t just leave, what about all of you and Ninten?”

“I’m so sorry sweetie, I will do everything I can for Ninten, but I can’t let the empire take you,” Ness’s mother held him close as it began to sink into Ness’s head what his mother was saying.

“No… I… I have power! Today, I found out I have a lot more power with lightning than I ever though I had before! I took down five of the empire’s airships, I can protect all of you!” Though Ness’s words were strong, the quaking in his voice came out almost as though he were pleading.

“Power? Five airships? What…” Ness’s mother looked at him closely. “You were able to…” She closed her eyes and put her forehead against her son’s as if to feel something, “...It chose you…”

“It chose me?” Ness shook his head not able to make sense out of his mother’s words.

Ness’s mother looked over at Rock and saw his eyes were clenched tight and his head downcast, “Of course, you came to be his guardian didn’t you?”

“Mom… I don’t…” Ness was almost in tears himself not understanding anything.

“It’s okay dear,” Ness’s mother hugged him again, “You are so very special, but not just to me, you are important to this entire world, and that’s why you can’t stay here and get yourself captured by the empire. Go with Rock.”

“Go!” Ness’s mom pushed him back to urge him to run. The look of fear and anxiety was still apparent on Ness’s face, “I’ll find a way to keep us safe so don’t worry.” She looked to Rock, “You’ll protect him.”

“With my life,” Rock agreed.

Ness’s mother sighed as she stepped back and wrapped her arms around the girls, “Don’t go through town, go up to the mountain, there’s a cave. Half way up the mountain go off the main path towards the spring, but turn north and you’ll find it.”

Rock smiled and nodded as he grabbed onto Ness’s arm, “Let’s go!”

Tears were streaking Ness’s face as he was being dragged out from his home, knowing he was being dragged away from his family, away from his life and everything he’d ever known, “I love you!”

“And I love you son,” Ness’s mother held back her own tears as she clung to the girls tight as the door closed behind the two boys, “With all my heart.”

Rock and Ness headed north past the edge of town and up the mountain. Rain was still falling, drenching them further and making it difficult to see.

“Stay close!” Rock called as they ran through the brush.

Though cold and out of breath, the boys didn’t stop running. From the mountain they could see the glow of Onett as parts of it still burned. “We’ll come back when we’re stronger…” Ness gulped down his emotions, “We’ll come back and we’ll save everyone in Onett.”

“We will,” Rock assured his best friend, “We’ll save everyone.”

The two followed the directions Ness’s mother had given them and found their way past the spring and were up against the cliffside. The rain turned the ground to mud and the two found themselves almost wading through it as they searched for a cave opening.

Rock was using his magic to create a beam of light to help them see. He passed over a thick brush and was able to see the rock wall behind it opened up, “There!” The two ran to it and pushed just enough of the overgrowth aside so they could crawl into the cave.

Immediately the two leaned against the rockwall to catch their breath. Once their lungs stopped burning they started getting cold as they were still drenched from the rain. Rock looked around, “We can’t start a fire, that’d be a dead giveaway for where we are.”

“How deep does this cave go?” Ness got up and looked towards the back as Rock shined another light deeper inside.

The cave was large and extended a good ways back. Ness began walking deeper. “Be careful!” Rock called out to him.

Ness shook his head, “Do you hear that?”

“Huh?” Rock listed but didn’t hear anything, “That melody, I feel like I’ve heard it before…” Ness continued following the song he heard.

Rock followed close, keeping the light pointed forward. The cave extended at least a thousand feet into the mountain. “The melody’s getting louder over here!” Ness ran ahead and turned down a bend. Rock was close behind and when he shined the light down the next tunnel the two boys saw what looked like a gigantic sea shell at the end of it.

“What’s that?” An awe echoed off Ness’s voice as he approached the light colored shell.

“I’m not sure…” Rock took a closer look as well.

“It looks like you can crawl inside it,” Ness walked up to the opening in the shell but was stopped as a voice spoke in both their heads.

“To pass you must answer this question, who has lost his tail?”

Rock scratched his head finding the disembodied voice slightly ominous, “Who has lost his tail? That’s a little vague huh?”

Ness’s face scrunched in thought, “But it sounds familiar…” He thought back trying to pinpoint where he’d heard it before. Suddenly his face lit up, “My mom, she used to tell me these bedtime stories. And the one who lost his tail was the forgotten one of the ship that sails the cosmos.”

The opening on the shell lit up brightly and the two boys felt themselves being pulled in. Ness grabbed onto Rock as his vision went white and he could no longer see or hear anything.

End Chapter

Thanks for reading another chapter! I felt for a while that this chapter was getting really Ninten-centric, but it kind of had to since we won’t be seeing the poor guy again for a while. I hope the action sequences were cool and that the magic concept is working out. Please let me know what you think in a review or on one of my social media channels! I’ll try and reply to all reviews on my Tumblr.

‘Til next time!
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Plan B: Ballad of Swords