Untitled

Takumi wasn’t gonna lie. For being from a world where they don’t use weapons, solve almost all of their problems with battling and working together with these admittedly mysterious and fascinating creatures, not big fans of war and conflict, AND being more of a non-violent tactical commander role. These ‘Pokemon Trainers’ as they’re called…

They can be pretty darn intimidating when they want to be.

The black haired girl called Astral in particular was glaring at him with a mix of ‘should I trust you’ and ‘what do to do with you’ while stroking a foot tall yellow mouse with a lightning bolt shaped tail and puffy red cheeks, who was too distracted by the pets to even look intimidating. His smaller counterpart on Astral’s shoulder, a smaller paler yellow mouse with triangular shaped black tipped ears and pink cheeks, was trying and failing to mimic Astral’s glare for both of them. He just looked plain cute.

The other two girls, Dawn and Serena, weren’t quite so severe with their gazes as they held or petted their adorable companions. A foot tall blue bird Takumi later learned was called a ‘penguin’ being held by Dawn and a small fluffy dog, or was it a cat, like fox with brown and cream colored fur and big brown eyes having its fur brushed by Serena.

The girls, sans Astral, were there when they sought Takumi out for answers during the whole Wraith incident, but they were still suspicious of Takumi’s motives for seeking them out about the Pokémon specifically. Up until now, he never even showed interest in learning about Pokémon so what changed? Astral decided to take the initiative after Takumi expressed his desire.

“Prince Takumi Shirasagi.”

“Y-Yes?!”

“I have considered your request, but I wanted to make sure you understand the importance of accepting this task. The mission I’m giving you is just as incredibly difficult as it is rewarding. Not just in terms of earning trust with the Pokémon and Trainers living in this mansion, but also in obtaining your own partner Pokémon per your request. Are you prepared?”

Takumi gulped, mostly because of the intense gaze and the seriousness of the situation. But he wanted to do this. He’s not entirely sure there is another way to gain their trust in any way other than working together with them in battle. That method was pretty slow and he wasn’t sure if it was working or not. So he had to change tactics and as Rira quoted, ‘put himself in their shoes and see things from their perspective’.

He couldn’t really blame them for being cautious though. When he and Prince Leo had accepted to go back to the mansion and help the Smash Brothers rescue Corrin, his older siblings and younger sister, along with Prince Xander, Princess Camilla, Princess Elise, and Princess Azura had followed them to the Smash Brothers world and tried to pick a fight with everyone in the mansion thinking the Smash Brothers had kidnapped both of the younger princes, hence why he’s so nervous about this endeavor.

While the misunderstanding was cleared up and Azura and the youngest princesses welcomed with open arms, the unexpected invasion had made some Smashers, including the Trainers and Pokémon, wary of both groups of elder royals. A dilemma that Takumi feels incredibly embarrassed and guilty for, and wanted to take responsibility on behalf of all the royals involved.

Takumi looked Astral in the eye, still nervous but determined to earn their trust even with a bunch of admittedly adorable creatures trying to be intimidating being kinda funny and cute at the same time. He replied.

“I am. Whatever I must do to earn your trust after what the people of my world had committed against the Pokémon your people covet.”

Astral stopped petting her mouse, taking a moment to look into Takumi’s eyes, searching for any hints of dishonesty or ulterior motives. After a tense moment, she took a deep breath, adjusted her hold on her mouse friend, and stood up from the chair she was sitting in. She then gestured with her head.

“Very well. Follow me.”

Takumi nodded, shrugging to the bewildered Trainers, and left the room. He followed Astral out to a building in one of the courtyards of the mansion, passing by lots of different small and large but docile Pokémon as they walked. Entering the building, Takumi recognized it as the Smash Bros Pokémon Center, a facility that the Trainers often go to when their partners needed to rest and relax, especially after a rough match.

The small mouse leapt from Astral’s shoulder and scampered over to a blue and black furred bipedal canine, chirping in its ‘language’ about the situation. It just sounded like it was just saying its name. The canine named Lucario, looked at the humans and nodded. He then motioned for the mouse, Takumi, and Astral to follow.

He led them to another room, where one of the tables was covered by a large tarp. Takumi stopped a foot away from it, confused by what could be hiding under the tarp. Astral however, reached forward and grabbed the tarp. She didn’t lift it yet, but did motion for Takumi to come closer. The Wild Card took a deep breath and stepped forward. Astral then spoke up.

“The others and I have kept these covered up until everything could settle down between the royals of your world. Especially since that ninja Saizo is such a hothead.”

“Y-Yes, I can’t apologize enough for what he almost committed.”

“It’s okay. You, Leo, Corrin, Kamui, Azura, and your younger sisters, Sakura and Elise amongst the others, are probably the best people from your world to start off with teaching about Pokémon. And I need to be a little more trusting in the Smash Bros and with you and your family without being forceful and guarded.”

“You were just protecting the Pokémon though. You shouldn’t feel guilty for protecting what you love. And I did things I’m not proud of either. So I have a lot of things I need to improve about me as well.”

Astral looked at Takumi and smiled gratefully seeing the genuine sincerity in the archer’s eyes.

“Thanks Takumi. Now as for what we’re here for.”

She gestured to the tarp, getting ready to remove it.

“The mission I mentioned is probably the most significant part of a Pokémon Trainer’s job in raising Pokémon. Though catching a Pokémon is one way, this is another. And one that is the most difficult but rewarding task of an entire Trainer’s career.”

Astral then slowly removes the tarp, revealing what was underneath. Takumi’s eyes widened as he gasped, his mouth opened in a little ‘o’.

One timeskip later…

“And she just let you have one, just like that?!”

Leo’s eyes were wide open as Takumi finished his explanation. The Wild Card now had a very large white egg with a pale blue flower pattern wrapped in a sling, keeping it close to his body as he gently rubbed the shell.

“Yeah. I still can’t believe it either. She actually allowed me to have one of these. It sucks that I can’t go into battle without endangering the egg, but it’s been moving around quite a bit, so it should be hatching any day now.”

A cute little ‘Ralts’ chirped up from a small white creature with a green ball cut hairdo and pink horns peeking out of the hair, currently sitting in Leo’s lap. It was looking at the egg Takumi was holding, its head cocked to one side in a curious and very adorable manner. It looked up at Leo and seemed to be having a mental conversation with Leo before he smiled and let Ralts approach the egg.

It crawled over to Takumi and started to gently pet the egg, smiling cutely as the egg wiggled a bit, making both boys surprised and Takumi smile. Leo looked at Takumi’s expression and smiled softly. Seeing Takumi smiling at the egg made Leo feel happy. Takumi had a lot of guilt for the whole invasion during the Wraith incident so seeing him happy and smiling made him happy too. Especially since his new little friend helped out.

A furry feeling on Takumi’s other side made the archer notice and look at a very long cute creature with little green eyes and tan and brown colored fur. Takumi chuckled and petted the creature’s head, making it snuggle up to him more. Leo sees this and chuckles.

“Hmhm. That little Furret is really attached to you.”

“Yeah, I think I might be its favorite client.”

Leo nodded in agreement. The Furret that Takumi was petting didn’t belong to any one person, but it’s comfortable enough to be around humans. This was because this Furret was being trained by humans to be what Serena called an ‘emotional support’ partner, a Pokémon who was trained by humans to help other humans with mental issues like depression and anxiety.

However, right after Furret finished up its training, it was ripped from its home before it could start doing the job it was training for. But, even when it was found by the Trainers and brought to the Smash Mansion, it didn’t stop Furret from seeking out patients to help.

Takumi actually ended up being one of Furret’s regular patients before Corrin was rescued from the Wraith, since he has been known to have some incredibly bad dreams that keep him up at night. Since Furret’s inclusion into his life, Takumi was feeling a lot better.

A cry from Leo’s Ralts alerted the boys back to the present moment. At the same time, Takumi noticed a bright light coming from his peripheral vision and when he turned his head to see what it was, his jaw dropped.

The egg he had been entrusted with and meticulously took care of for weeks was glowing with a bright light. The sign that the egg was finally going to hatch!

Ralts immediately used its psychic abilities to undo the sling and allow Takumi to hold the glowing egg in his arms, which he wasted no time in doing and could only stare as the glow got brighter. Leo was similarly surprised and in awe of a Pokémon egg actually hatching. As was Furret and a few others in the courtyard who noticed the glowing egg.

Finally, the shell of the egg dissolved into light and Takumi found himself holding something warm, alive, and fuzzy instead of a smooth oval shape. The new creature was still curled up in Takumi’s arms though he can see that it had four legs.

The creature then shifted, causing a floofy fanlike tail to fluff out. Followed by a pair of ears with a floofy cloud like tuft on its head. The creature then finally woke up fully, letting the boys see that it is a little fox with fur as white as snow with pale blue accents in the head fur, paws, and tail. It let out a cute little yawn as it opened its big ice blue eyes and looked at Takumi.

“I-Incredible! Your egg hatched Takumi!”

“I saw Leo! Wow…”

Furret lifted its paws up and cheered, congratulating Takumi and celebrating the white fox’s birth. Ralts also cheered and waved over the others in the courtyard, causing a small crowd to form. Sakura and Elise, both holding their Eevees, smiled at the little fox as their Eevees chirped a hello. Bonnie gave a big smile and introduced her Dedenne to the fox who squeaked out in greetings. Serena and Dawn smiled and cooed over how cute it was as Astral looked on with folded arms and an impressed expression on her face.

“An Alolan Vulpix, who knew? All your hard work paid off Takumi!”

Takumi looked at her and blinked, then smiled with a small blush. Though the Vulpix on the other hand didn’t seem so thrilled with all the attention, shrinking back and curling up again trying to make itself look small. Furret chirped to it, asking what was wrong and getting Takumi’s attention.

He figured out what was making his new little friend so nervous and started to pet the Vulpix, making it blink and look up at the softly smiling Wild Card.

“It’s okay, Shiron. They’re your friends. Just like I am.”

The Vulpix, now dubbed Shiron, took another look at the crowd again. Seeing nothing but friendly faces and kind smiles made the newly hatched Pokémon smile too, mewling out a shy hello. The assembled Pokémon all replied kindly in turn. Ralts also crawled over from Leo’s side and said hello as well, giving Shiron a pat on its floofy head and making it smile.

Astral smiled in approval, then told the crowd to part and give Shiron space to play with the other Pokémon. The Eevees, Dedenne, Furret, Ralts, Pikachu, and Pichu, all grouped up on the ground and invited Shiron to play too. Takumi gave Shiron a smile and set it down on the ground.

“Go ahead, Shiron. I’m going to ask Astral about food so I can make us a meal to eat later.”

Ralts also reassured Shiron it would be fine, then the two joined the other Pokémon in playing together, with the older partners watching on and Bonnie and Elise dragging Sakura by the arm to join in. Takumi couldn’t help but laugh a little, watching them all play. Leo’s musings interrupted his train of thought.

“You know Takumi? Despite everything that happened to get us here today, I’m glad that we came along and stayed.”

Takumi looked at Leo and smiled. He looked back to the playing Pokémon and leaned against the Sorcerous Prince, making said Prince stiffen then smiled and relaxed as he allowed the Wild Card to lean on him.

“Yeah, but we had a lot of drama getting here. And it won’t be the last time it happens.”

“Yes, but I think we’re going to be okay. As long as we rely on each other when things get rough.”

“Hmm, true. Though getting back to the present moment…”

“Hmm?”

Takumi straightened up and looked at Leo quizzically with a blank face.

“Who’s going to be making our partners lunch this time?”

Leo stared at Takumi, then burst out laughing at the way he delivered that question.

“Hahaha! Oh gods! Did Joker teach you how to make that face?!”

“If he did, his lessons paid off. But seriously, I know I cooked last time and most of the rice is being saved for dinner tonight.”

Leo calmed down from his laughing fit, and held out his arms for Ralts to jump into. Shiron also ran up and waited for Takumi, who also bent down and picked it up, gently cradling his new partner in his arms. They came running up at the mention of food, having worked up an appetite while playing.

“Well, we still have some bread. There should be enough to make sandwiches. Or there’s always leftovers. You do need to figure out what to feed Shiron after all.”

“Yeah, I know. I see Astral going inside, so let’s catch up before she disappears.”

“Indeed. Hehe.”

Takumi

“You’ve come quite a ways since learning the Fire spell, Prince Takumi.”

“T-Thanks Leo, but that’s only because you’re a great teacher.”

Takumi still couldn’t believe that they’ve known each other for a year and yet, the time that they knew each other as enemies felt so much longer. More like a completely different life that he reincarnated from like in one of those ‘other world’ novels he read once. The differences couldn’t be any more clear and honestly despite everything he experienced, he was glad he met Leo.

They had quite a lot in common and some of the same tastes in reading, foods, and even games they enjoy playing. Sure there was a lot of denial of them ever being friends or even more than that when they first started talking to each other, but as they kept running into each other, their relationship gradually warmed up until it bloomed into the bond they have now.

Heck, Takumi never even considered having any magical potential until he asked Leo for magic lessons one day. He told Leo that it would help wield his Fujin Yumi better, but it was actually an excuse to hang out with him more and maybe a little bit worried that their routine was getting stale at the time.

Now, he was learning his third element of the five known elements of their world, Wind, and probably the element that Takumi probably might have the best affinity for according to Leo. His Fujin Yumi practically uses arrows made out of wind magic or something similar. But he needed to learn how to use magic in general before thinking of experimenting with Wind.

He got off to a great start with learning Fire, though it didn’t take quite as long to learn Thunder as it did with the first element. Light and Dark though, he felt like he needed more practice with the other elements before attempting those two.

Today he was in the training area suited for practicing magic. Leo had explained it was the best place to practice without breaking anything important because he admitted with an embarrassed blush that he had accidentally made a mess when he first learned Wind and wanted Takumi’s first time practicing the element to go much smoother than his first time did.

Takumi had a hard time believing it, let alone imagining Leo of all people making a mess, but he did appreciate Leo’s assistance in this endeavor. He admitted he was a little bit curious as to how much wind affinity he had. Guess they’ll find out.

“Okay, you remember how you manifested the Fire spell by imagining burning flames bursting from your fingertips, correct?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Well, with the Wind element, beginners have better luck with imagining wind swirling around their fingers or sharpening wind into blades that they can swing around or launch towards their opponents similar to summoning a fireball with Fire magic. Does it make sense so far?”

Takumi nodded, remembering the explanation from his first magic lesson. It took a while to figure out how to use his untapped magic potential and bring out the power in a tome, but it all paid off in spades. He listened as Leo continued his explanation. Unlike with Fire which can only be summoned in the form of a ball, Takumi has a bit more versatility with shaping the Wind magic like a blade or chain so the only thing Takumi had to worry about was the shape of the spell he wanted to use.

But he decided that summoning the Wind spell into a ball was a safer choice than a blade or twister as it would make less of a mess. With the go ahead from Leo, Takumi opened up the tome and started to cast the spell, closing his eyes in concentration. He started to move his free hand, imagining the air currents forming into a ball.

Though Takumi was trying to use as little power as possible, he could hear Leo frantically trying to get his attention, that the wind ball was getting too big! Takumi wasn’t using that much power, right?

Takumi opened his eyes and saw the wind ball was indeed as large as his head and he felt it was a lot stronger than what he intended. Without thinking, he throws the wind ball at the target at the other end of the arena…

And it exploded halfway into a huge twister that knocked both princes down!

The winds lasted for a few seconds before dying down, allowing both boys to move around again. Takumi and Leo groaned as they recovered from the ‘Wind Bomb’ that Takumi had accidentally summoned. Leo managed to sit up first, shaking his head as he asked the Wild Card if he was okay. Though Takumi was also getting up at the same time with a groan, and when the two princes made eye contact…

Their gazes immediately went up to each other’s hair.

Leo’s hair was sticking up every which way like one of those ‘mad sorcerer’ comics that Takumi read once as a kid. While Takumi’s own hair was all floofed up and poofy like clouds, while still being in his signature ponytail somehow.

Both princes stared at each other and their funky new hairstyles blankly for a few seconds…before their cheeks puffed up and they burst into laughter. They had a hard time forming words as their appearances are apparently that funny. With Leo trying to smooth down his crazy hairdo and only laughing more when it sticks up again.

Takumi simply held his sides as he laughed at his and Leo’s hair. While this lesson was kind of a flop, Takumi actually wasn’t deterred by this little surprise and looked forward to resuming his Wind spell lessons.

After the boys get their hair fixed.

Leo

Oboro and Hinata bicker and frantically clear Leo’s path to the Hoshidan archery area where Takumi usually goes to practice every day, or at least every chance he takes to train. Leo couldn’t help but smile fondly at the two carrying the extra arrows from the market Hinata bought and the extra fabric Oboro needed to complete an archery outfit for Leo to wear during archery training or any sort of ranged weapon training.

As he walked, Leo flashbacks to when he asked Takumi for archery lessons, humorously mirroring the time Takumi had asked him for magic lessons a year ago…

*Flashback*

(Huh? M-Me? Teach you archery? N-Not that I’m offended but just curious? Why the sudden interest?

*smile*(Well, I distinctly remember you asking me specifically for magic lessons a while back and calling me the best mage Nohr had to offer. So, I figured I could return the favor and learn from Hoshido’s best in archery.)

*blush*(I-I-I’m flattered Leo, and you have a point, I asked you first. But before I could commit, why didn’t you ask the best archer Nohr has to offer?)

(Ah. That would be my retainer Niles, at least to my knowledge. And I did think about asking him. But I’m sure you interacted with him long enough to know what he’s like on a regular basis.)

(Ugh. Yeeaah. I have. I wouldn’t really ask him solely for his dirty mind.)*shiver*

*chuckle*(I had a feeling. Also, if there was a best Nohrian archer other than Niles, I'd never have met them. There aren’t really that many noticeable archers that would be a suitable tutor. But that’s another reason why I asked you. You’re my friend and I trust you with my life.)

*blush*(O-Oh. Um. T-Thank you. You said you have some time off soon to visit Hoshido right? We can start your lessons then since I have to return to Hoshido tomorrow.)

*smile softly*(Of course that works out perfectly. And Takumi?)

(Yeah?)

(Thank you for agreeing to teach me.)

*BLUSH*(N-N-No problem.)

*Flashback end*

Leo smiled fondly at the blushing expression Takumi made at the conclusion of his visit to Nohr. Maybe Takumi teaching him archery would give him a confidence boost in his own skills. A loud crash snapped him out of his musings and he sees the two Hoshidans tangled up on the floor after running into Felicia, who was carrying clean laundry.

Leo bent down to help clean up the mess, but the trio, sorry quartet because Jacob came running, immediately told him he shouldn’t keep Takumi waiting any longer. The fabric Oboro bought was for a cloak to match the actual outfit he would be wearing.

The tailor then escorted the Nohrian prince down the hall so he can get changed and be on time for his lesson, also adding that Hinata will bring the extra arrows he bought from the market later. Unfortunately unable to argue with Oboro, Leo agreed and followed the tailor’s daughter.

An hour later…

After changing into the new outfit, Leo finally arrived at the archery area to find he was early for the lesson because Takumi wasn’t there. Oboro remembered that Takumi had been on a mission with Hinoka and Corrin, but he would be back soon. He was told he can wait and read until Takumi arrived before heading off to her own project, but Leo figured he can get some practice in before the actual lesson.

He chose a bow from the weapon rack and took a stance at least fifteen feet in front of the target, before taking an arrow from the quiver next to him. He loaded it and took aim, then noticed how much his hand was shaking. He took deep breaths to try and calm himself, trying to focus on steadying himself and strike the target as close to the center as possible.

When he was ready, he released the arrow…

And completely missed the target.

Leo blaunched in shock. How could he have missed?! He was positioned correctly and he kept himself calm enough to not let go of the arrow or the string or both. He even made sure not to let go of the bow and keep his eyes on the target! Frustrated, he grabbed another arrow and tried again. And again. And again. And again. And at least five more times, all ending with similar results.

The sound of muffled laughter at the tenth attempt finally caught Leo’s attention as his tutor finally arrived.

“You could’ve waited for me until I came. That way we still have ten more arrows to work with.”

*blush* “I-I’m sorry, Takumi. I didn’t know how long you would be so I tried to get some practice in with what I’ve read about. Obviously, the real thing is a lot more difficult than it looks.”

*snrk* “Heh heh. Yeah, Corrin said something similar when they wanted to learn archery too. Luckily I’m here now, so let’s start by firing another arrow so I can see what can be improved.”

Leo nodded, then turned back to the other ten or so arrows he had left. He grabbed one and then loaded it. He stuck out his tongue in concentration and fired, but the arrow was aimed too low and the ground in front of the target. He scowled in frustration, and heard Takumi chuckle and approached.

“Ok ok. You had the right idea to line your position up with the target so you can narrow down where your arrows fly, but you also weren’t paying attention to where your arms were angled when you were aiming. You also keep looking at your hands and not solely focused on what you were targeting at.”

“Sorry, my hands kept shaking so I thought I wasn’t calm enough to hold the bow right. Deep breathing helped little with that. I don’t want the bow slipping out of my hands because of shaking hands.”

“You’ll be able to steady yourself with enough practice as your body gets used to it. That’s normal, believe me. If you’ll let me touch you, go ahead and get another arrow and take your stance again.”

Leo was a little confused, but nodded his consent and did as instructed, getting another arrow and took his stance again. This time, he stood still as Takumi carefully nudged his limbs and his hands ghosted his shoulders, with Leo’s eyes trying to follow what the archer was doing.

“Okay, you’re keeping yourself too stiff which is uncomfortable, so relax yourself a little bit, but not too much or you can’t pull the string tight enough.”

“Mind how your arms are angled. You’re using both of your entire arms to use the bow and arrow so every part of your limbs can drastically change your aim no matter how lined up you are with your target.”

“Also, keep your eyes on your target, not your hands. Don’t stress too much about your hands. If they aren’t cramping or injured, then you’re fine to keep going.”

“And deep breathing actually does help with calm and focus. You were calming down a little, but you need to stay focused on your target. Like when you’re casting a spell right?”

Leo nodded without looking. It did make sense.

“Ok, elbow down just a bit so the thumb on the hand holding the string and arrow is level with your mouth. Then, touch your mouth with that hand.”

Leo nodded, making the recommended corrections to his stance. Then he feels one of Takumi’s hands on left, the one holding the bow and the other on his right shoulder, as if to steady him.

“Grip firm but relaxed.”

Leo nodded, looking at Takumi’s hand before it gently tilted his chin up to the target.

“Eyes on your target.”

Another nod, steadying his breathing as he focused on the target in front of him, waiting for Takumi to give the call.

“Breathe in…”

Another breath in…

“Release.”

Leo barely registered the arrow leaving his hand until he heard the *thunk* of it hitting the target, almost dead center! His eyes widened in awe and surprise.

“Well, that made a-oof!”

Leo was so overjoyed and relieved by his first successful shot that he had wrapped Takumi up in a hug and happily spun him around, only registering his action when he saw the surprised blushing look on the Hoshidan prince’s face. He blushed as well and let go, laughing awkwardly.

“Hehe, a-apologies. I got carried away…”

“H-Hey it was fine. It took me a few years to finally get my first bullseye so I know the feeling.”

“Hehe, yes. My earlier and very embarrassing performance still shows that I have a lot of work to do, though.”

“Don’t worry, practicing often enough will help you improve yourself, so I’ll help as many times as you need until you can shoot bullseyes on your own, okay?”

Leo looked back at Takumi, then gratefully smiled.

“Thank you, Takumi. I’d like that.”

Takumi groaned as he came to, feeling a pounding headache he definitely almost doesn’t remember receiving. He reached up to feel his head, slowly lifting himself up to a sitting position as he carefully rubbed his tender wound.

He tried to recall what happened. Takumi had been leading a squad to capture and kill a notorious serial killer. A vile Hoshidan mage named Akuzetsu, who had been responsible for killing many people from both kingdoms of Hoshido and Nohr. Which irked the Wild Card greatly because Akuzetsu used to be the Head Mage for Hoshido before his treachery.

Akuzetsu had been secretly kidnapping people from both nations and using them as experiments for something. Takumi didn’t know the motive, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. It was bad enough with the war going on, especially when the war participants were ignoring a common enemy. So when sightings of Akuzetsu and his monsters targeting the eldest princes of both nations, Corrin and Azura led the charge to stop him at one of his strongholds so Ryoma and Xander could avoid the fate that Akuzetsu had subjected so many others too.

Takumi himself was especially invested in this endeavor, because he was kidnapped by Akuzetsu earlier in Izumo and taken to a labyrinthine prison lab place, where the traitorous mage was going to do, well something, to the younger Hoshidan prince. Thankfully, he never got the chance to find out because Leo had found him and busted him out of the lab he found him in.

The two princes escaped the labyrinth, but even after completing a treacherous game set by Takumi’s captor, Akuzetsu wasn’t so keen to let them live. Until Corrin and his ragtag army appeared and chased him off. The Archduke then told the two princes that it would be much safer for them to go with Corrin as they would be very important for the battles ahead, especially if Akuzetsu were to appear again.

He heard a groan next to him, a very familiar one. Takumi looked up towards the sound and sees Leo, also sporting a pretty bad headache if the bruise on his head was any indication. The other prince rubbed his head, wincing as he gingerly tended to his head wound as best he could.

“Leo?”

The Nohrian prince turned around and met Takumi’s gaze at the tentative call. His eyes widened in recognition.

“Takumi? What happened?!”

“Don’t know, woke up with a bad headache like you did a bit ago. I was hoping you would know, but I’ve got a feeling we’re both in the same situation.”

“I was leading my squad to the target location and we managed to complete our mission, but we were ambushed by enemy forces hiding in wait and they tried to bring the building down on us. I was the last one to escape the collapse after ensuring an escape route for my team but then I felt an attack from behind and I must’ve passed out.”

He winced at the memory and still nursing his head wound, bringing out Brynhildr to use healing magic on himself. Takumi listened intently, trying to ignore the pain he was feeling in his own head injury. But what Leo had said sounded familiar, and made his eyes widened as he realized it.

“Wait a minute! That sounds exactly like something that happened to me! I was leading my team and when we accomplished what we needed to do, enemies started coming out of the woodwork! I cleared a path for my teammates to escape and was about to follow them, but I was struck from behind and I-!”

“You were knocked unconscious as well?!”

“It sounds that way. Ngh.”

Takumi winced at his head, then started to feel the pain ebbing away. He looked to see Leo casting healing magic on him, having healed his own wounds as well. Takumi got a sheepish look on his face, his cheeks turning a little red as he lowered his hand.

“U-Um, thanks.”

“Don’t feel so embarrassed, Prince Takumi. I’d imagine that injury is a pain in the neck, especially since we don’t have any more vulneraries on our person.”

“Really?”

After Leo was done healing him, Takumi rummaged around in his pockets and found his companion to be right. Another reason to be so careless.

“Rats! I gave some of mine to my retainers because Elise couldn’t get to them in time and I used up the rest.”

“Same here. Sakura was healing Camilla and couldn’t get to Odin in time, so I gave him my last one.”

Takumi groaned as he ran a hand through his hair, trying to focus on one thing at a time. He took a look around them. The floor and walls were stone with a few rotted furniture pieces that have seen better days and a single locked window. The only other way out was the door which had some kind of glyph on it that pulsed with an eerie light. Takumi pointed to the door.

“Leo? That weird, glowing, chained lock symbol on that door isn’t what I’m thinking and might have been casted by who I’m also thinking could have cast it in the first place, right?”

Leo stared hard at the door, then slowly stood up and walked towards it, Brynhildr in hand. As Takumi slowly got up off the cold stone floor himself, Leo carefully waved a scanning spell he summoned into his hand in front of the door, trying to get a read on what the glyph’s purpose is.

But as he did so, the glyph reacted by violently blasting Leo back with a harmless yet rough shock that knocked the Nohrian Prince off his feet and to the floor! Takumi was surprised and immediately went to Leo’s side, checking on the other prince like a worried mother hen.

“LEO! Are you okay?! What was that?!”

Leo groaned, irritated by the glyph and its intended use. But he does accept the Hoshidan Prince’s help and takes his hand, letting Takumi pull him back up onto his feet, picking up his precious tome with his other hand.

“I’m alright. Apparently that glyph is for imprisonment purposes, but unfortunately this one is much stronger than previous ones because this one can rebound any kind of magic, including that harmless ‘Scan’ spell that I was using. But thankfully it’s restricted to the door only, so there’s nothing to worry about in using the window without any sort of knockback from the spell.”

Takumi sighed in relief, both from Leo’s confirmation of his safety and from the explanation. It means that there’s still hope for the duo to escape from this prison located, wherever the heck they were. He turned to the window with narrowed eyes.

“Then let’s open that window and see where we are and what our options are in escaping back to the others.”

“Agreed.”

The two princes approached the window, with both of them able to hear the faintest noises of battle taking place outside their current position. They looked at each other hearing this, then they began to carefully open the window and, once the lock fell from its chain, they allowed it to swing open revealing the outside world.

What they saw made them both gasp and step back.

The castle itself in which the princes are imprisoned inside was in need of repairs quite badly. Chunks of some of the castle walls were broken off and halls were completely caved in. The battlefield they were at a few hours ago was sprawled out before them from at least an hour long horse ride away, the sounds of the battle raging on echoing across the vast area of the fortress the castle was barely standing in.

Surrounding the castle was a large battalion of additional heavy duty artillery, including cannons, catapults, and turrets. The stone house-like structures that dotted the ground near the castle and battlefield and castle all sported a glyph similar to the one keeping the door locked up tight.

Except the glyphs on the structures were ones that the princes have seen before and were responsible for the current towering titans that were now surrounding their friends and allies.

Massive lumbering monoliths of grotesque flesh and bony protrusions at least thirty feet tall stomped across the ground, leaving destruction in their wake. There were a few of the beasts that lay dead on the ground, but from the number of the structures that the princes have seen, there were still at least ten of them remaining that haven’t been slaughtered.

A flash of color suddenly blurred from one spot to the next before stopping in front of a burning pile of debris. Creamy white colored hair, silver and black armor hugging a slender male body, and red eyes glancing around looking for something with a worried look on his face. It was Corrin, probably searching the battlefield for the missing younger brothers currently held captive miles away.

And about to be surrounded by the monstrous behemoths still hunting the battlefield for new victims.

“Corrin!”

Takumi’s voice snapped Leo out of his horrified trance just in time to stop the Wild Card from jumping out of the window, pointing out the 50 foot drop that neither of them would be able to survive. The Hoshidan prince’s face looked frustrated, but he did abandon the far too risky plan.

“It looks like Akuzetsu was far more prepared than what we originally thought. He wanted us out of the way in order to take out the others. Weaken our forces by abducting some of our army’s best warriors and killing off the rest. I can’t believe we can’t even provide ranged support from this far away.”

Takumi couldn’t help but bitterly agree, but what Leo said struck a chord in his memory. He reached into his pocket again, this time knowing for sure that he possessed the item he needed in order for this to work. Leo looked at his fellow royal confused as the archer pulled out a gleaming gemstone, one that seemed to pulse with power.

“Takumi is that -?”

“Yeah. Corrin’s Dragonstone. I found it a while back after he threw it away and I was going to give it back to Corrin. But then all of this happened and now if we don’t survive this, he might not get it back ever.”

He then turned to the Sorcerous Prince, holding out the gem as he explained his plan to the genius Mage Knight.

“We may not be able to get back to them on our own, but we can at least get this out to Corrin by warping it to him.”

Leo examined the stone, digesting his companion’s words and realizing what he had in mind and started rummaging through his own pockets, eventually pulling out a Warp staff. He then opened up Brynhildr again, starting to wordlessly weave a spell. He turned back to Takumi.

“This sounds crazy, but we don’t necessarily have very many options available. If I use this staff along with my ‘Targeting’ and ‘Advanced Item Enhancement’ spells, it can reach Corrin in time for him to turn the tables on the monsters!”

“That can work! But we gotta do it fast!”

Leo nodded, determined to make this work if it’s the last thing they were going to do. Takumi kept his arms outstretched in front of him, Dragonstone in his spread out palms as Leo got to work. The magic swirled around the Dragonstone as Brynhildr and the Warp staff glowed brilliantly in unison. Both princes can only hope that this last minute idea works and brings their army victory.

With a flash and a pop, the Dragonstone suddenly disappears. The princes waited with baited breath as they turned back to look at their brother on the battlefield, now panting with ragged breaths as a behemoth approached his position. They almost blinked as after feeling like an eternity, but only lasted a few seconds, the Dragonstone reappeared in front of his face and gently floated into his hands.

The Fateful Prince looked surprised to the see the Dragonstone to Hoshidan and Nohrian royal’s position, but a look of realization and hope bloomed on the three sibling’s faces and in the case of the former on the battlefield, along with anger and determination, he turned to the behemoth and pressed the stone to his chest.

It all happened all at once. An explosion of power and light exploded where Corrin was standing. A shockwave burst across the ground that can be felt from the ruined tower, making the princes inside stumble a bit. And a shape within the tower of light started to rise up and grow in size as the behemoth, and everyone else on and off the field, stopped to stare and marvel as the transformation finished.

The light faded away and standing much larger than the behemoths on the battlefield was Corrin. Now in a massive weredragon Kaiju form.

The results afterwards most definitely turned the tables on the enemy with Corrin viciously ripping and tearing through the monsters and gently aiding their friends and family still on the battlefield. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt and a good chunk of the enemy forces laid dead on the ground, including most of the massive monsters that were hopelessly outmatched by Corrin’s incredible strength.

The Draconic shapeshifter himself stood tall and proud in the center of the battlefield after the carnage, his towering stature illuminated by the burning debris scattered across the field. His form was as awesome as it was terrifying, his red eyes gleaming like two ruby red stars in the night sky.

Takumi and Leo only looked on the whole time during the whole very much one sided victory, secretly glad he was on their side and still shocked and relieved that their plan had worked out so smoothly.

Now however, the giant slowly exhaled through his nose and started to carefully look around the wrecked battlefield, resuming his search. It hit the brothers like a rampaging wyvern. He was still looking for them!

Every few times they could see him, he had found a dead horse and Kinshi amongst the dead animals on the battlefield, making the Fateful Prince look extremely saddened by their deaths. He was an animal lover, but the Kinshi was the key clue to Corrin’s behavior because it was still wearing a saddle! And Takumi very clearly remembered that his mount was killed by enemy forces before he was captured!

Leo flipped the pages of Brynhildr again, the Warp staff having crumbled to dust after its one time use, and started to cast a spell that will allow their voices to reach the giant across the field. He gets Takumi’s attention, tapping his shoulder.

Takumi looks confused for a second, before realizing what Leo had in mind and nods. He then steps in front of the windows as Leo uses his magic on his friend, as Takumi takes a deep breath. He lifts his hands up to his face, frames his mouth, and calls out in a briefly amplified voice.

“CORRIN!!! OVER HERE!!!”

Takumi wasn’t sure for a split second if it worked, but then he saw the horns on the giant’s head twitch and straighten up and the giant whipped around and met Takumi’s gaze. Corrin’s eyes widened slightly as he realized where Takumi and Leo were.

A blue figure soon ran up to Corrin’s huge foot and called up to him. Corrin looked down at them and knelt down. Neither captive prince could hear what was going on due to the distance from Corrin, but Corrin pointed to the castle and seemed to convince the tiny person, whom Takumi and Leo realize was Azura, to head back to the others while Corrin investigated the castle.

She nodded and ran off, leaving the giant Corrin alone to get up and face the castle again. The two princes then see their huge sibling take off in a light jog, making the ground quake until he got closer to the wall separating the Fateful Prince from his precious little brothers. He then vaulted over the wall and landed perfectly on the ground on the other side, briefly shaking the ground and almost making the duo in the tower tumble.

Takumi felt his breath catch in his throat. The few times he interacted with Corrin, he had secretly seen his shifting power firsthand, but he had admitted that the Dragon Prince never shifted up this big before.

The huge royal, panting from the previous battle, jog, and vaulting, met the Wild Card’s eyes again. The massive red eyes looked a little watery, like he was going to cry at any moment. Corrin held his hands to his chest and slowly approached the ruined castle, not even bothering with the canons and catapults that he was completely crushing under his clawed feet.

Takumi and Leo craned their heads up at the giant when he stopped in front of the castle, the tower only coming up to Corrin’s chest. The shifter’s eyes widened even further, tears forming as he slowly brought one hand up to his mouth and the other one laying carefully on the windowsill as he quietly rumbled out.

“T-Takumi? Leo?”

The two princes inside the tower smiled at the giant and approached the window again, with Takumi reaching out to gently touch the huge clawed finger. He looks up to the giant’s teary face.

“We’re glad you got our gift.”

It was meant to provide a little levity, and it actually worked as Corrin laughed a little and smiled for a bit. He slowly lifted the claw from the window and carefully cups his huge hands around it, wordlessly offering. One that Takumi and Leo don’t hesitate to accept. Takumi went first, stepping onto the windowsill and then after a few seconds, stepped onto the soft, smooth surface of Corrin’s gentle hands.

Leo, more unused to the fact that his adopted brother was a huge and powerful Kaiju for one moment and now a still huge, powerful, but incredibly gentle Kaiju for another. He was also pretty tired from using up so much of his magic, his hands trembling with waning energy. Takumi noticed this and helped him onto Corrin’s huge hands, letting Leo sit down as the fingers carefully curl around them, blocking them from the window as Corrin lifted them up to his gigantic and weepy face.

Corrin slowly, finally broke down into sobs as he gently held his brothers to his face. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he cried and purred softly at his tiny siblings, gently nuzzling them with his nose as he tried to quietly speak.

“Y-You’re ok. *sniffle* E-E-Every-Everyone-. *hic* W-When-. *hic* I-I- w-was-.”

“Corrin, shh. Shhhh shhhh. Deep breaths.”

The giant slowly breathed in at Leo’s urging, the smaller prince gently petting the larger’s cheek alongside Takumi, who was rubbing the tip of their weeping sibling’s nose. A few breaths later, Corrin calmed enough to speak again.

“W-When your squads returned w-without you, I got s-scared that something horrible happened, so I s-split off from Azura to find you only I f-found your mounts dead! I-I didn’t want to g-give up on you! T-Then my D-Dragonstone appeared and I r-realized that the m-monsters k-kidnapped you a-and I-. I-. I’m sorry!”

“Corrin, it’s okay. It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. That jerk Akuzetsu was responsible for the monsters. HE’S the one who was playing mind games with everyone and exploited our weaknesses to HIS benefit.”

“Takumi’s right. He’s the one who played everyone for a fool, not you. Besides, you used your Dragonstone to fight back and found us so it’s going to be alright.”

They see Corrin’s eyes well up with a fresh wave of tears, and were gently moved to his chest, the larger being able to do nothing more than cry as he hugged them close. Takumi and Leo were a little confused by the sudden change of position, but they were still gently held by their Kaijufied sibling so they just leaned into Corrin’s soft chest, letting him get the tears out of his system.

The two princes eventually heard Corrin’s crying subside after a few minutes, still holding them in a gentle embrace. Takumi was still getting over the fact that Corrin once used these massive, gentle clawed hands to shred a bunch of monsters to pieces a short time ago, and that his scaly harder than diamond armored body was now so soft Takumi could just sleep on Corrin’s chest and listen to the soothing sound of his sibling’s huge heartbeat and breathing.

However, a noise from afar made Corrin’s horns and pointy ears twitch, making the giant look up at movement coming from the battlefield. Takumi and Leo see this and inquired as to what was happening. Corrin turned back to his brothers in his hands.

“The monsters! Some of them must’ve survived and are heading this way! I thought I took care of them all!”

“Akuzetsu must’ve had some Revival Stones on some of them, to give his forces a second wind!”

“What’s worse, those monsters can sense if any prisoners of that treasonous mage broke out so they can hunt them down and kill them! We gotta get out of here!”

Leo was about to say something to Corrin, but he saw the Dragon Prince had closed his eyes and his horns were glowing. This lasted for a few seconds before the glowing stopped and Corrin opened his eyes, looking down at his siblings again.

“I sent a message to Azura. She got the last of the prisoners out and is currently transporting them to the Astral Plane. The monsters can’t follow us there so they’ll be safe.”

“Good, we just need to get out of here.”

“But how?! Those monsters will be targeting us and will try to get us away from Corrin! He can’t stay big like this and protect us from the monsters outside the Astral Plane forever!”

“Takumi’s right. I can stay this big long enough to destroy the monsters, but even if you guys stay here, there’s too many of them for me to fend off by myself. If only you guys could hide somewhere safe where the monsters can’t see you…”

That actually struck an idea in Leo’s mind when Corrin said that. This idea he admitted was even crazier than with the Dragonstone, but if what Takumi had told him a few days ago was true, then this could work. He spoke up, getting the attention of the other two princes.

“There is somewhere Corrin can hide us. Where the monsters can’t see or even smell me and Takumi, and it’ll keep us very close to Corrin at all times.”

From the look on his face, Takumi was seeing that Corrin wasn’t liking where Leo was talking about.

“Where?”

Leo looked Corrin in the eyes, well as best as he could from his position hugged against the giant’s chest.

“You’ll have to hide us inside you.”

Corrin’s face went blank as his brain processed what was told…and his face bloomed into a bright blushing red hue that spread to his neck along with the giant sporting a mortified expression, like Leo had told him to do something incredibly indecent. Takumi couldn’t help but laugh out loud at his giant brother’s reaction and tried to salvage the situation.

“Hahahahaha! Gods Corrin, relax! Let Leo explain! Hahahaha!”

“B-b-b-b-b-bu-but. WHAT?!?!”

Leo also snorted and laughed at Corrin’s reaction before speaking.

“I-I’m sorry for springing that on you, but it’s true. The monsters won’t be able to get to us while we’re in your stomach and we’ll stay safe and close to you while you rip and tear them apart.”

Takumi saw that Corrin wanted to protest, but the more the giant thought about it, the more this option seemed like the best choice. The giant gently pulled the two smaller princes from his chest and lifted them up to his face again, looking very serious and unsure.

“Are you guys sure? You’ll be stuck inside of me for hours. Maybe even a day. I don’t want to force this on you if this ends up freaking you out.”

“It does sound crazy I’ll admit, but you also held a bunch of bandits in your stomach for a day once and when you finally spat them out, they were completely fine. You can’t digest people when you're giant sized, that’s the drawback to gaining all this size and strength. Besides, unlike the monsters, you’re using this power to protect us. We’ll be fine.”

The two younger brothers waited for Corrin’s response to Takumi’s reassurance. Finally, the giant took a deep breath and nodded. He didn’t like it, but now it was their best shot.

“You’re right, Takumi. I’ll do it.”

The smaller two princes smiled at Corrin before Leo turned to look at Takumi, not noticing that Corrin was starting to open his mouth wide.

“Now that it’s settled, I suppose we should decide who’s going-AAAHHHmmph!!”

Takumi probably would’ve missed it if he blinked as he fell onto his rear in surprise. Corrin had tipped the hand with Leo on it and sent the Sorcerous Prince tumbling into the giant’s wide open mouth. The hand pulled away, letting Takumi see Leo’s legs sticking out from between his larger brother’s lips before they were gently slurped in, the Nohrian royal fighting inside the whole time.

The Wild Card briefly looked up at Corrin’s huge face to see his reaction. The giant blinked in surprise, his pupils narrowing into slits, then started to slowly lick the little morsel in his mouth, gently rolling Leo around but making sure that he was nowhere near his teeth. Takumi realized that Leo had triggered Corrin’s more predatory behavior as he heard Corrin starting to purr and moan, enjoying the tasty little treat in his mouth.

But Leo wasn’t going down without a fight however, as he managed to force his head and shoulders out from between the giant’s lips, making Corrin groan irritably. Takumi couldn’t help but smirk at Leo’s cranky expression as he chuckled.

“Hehe. I think he likes you.”

“Oh very funny Takum-eepmh!”

Leo didn’t get to finish as he was slurped right back into Corrin’s mouth, the giant gently rolling and sucking on his squirming prey again. Takumi then watched as Corrin tilted his head back and with a slow *GULP* swallowed Leo down whole, a struggling bulge forming in the Kaiju’s throat as the Nohrian was sent down to his huge sibling’s stomach.

Takumi couldn’t help but feel nervous about the fact that he’ll be next as Corrin exhaled a giddy sigh. Leo must’ve entered the stomach, making Corrin look very relaxed. The giant then looked at Takumi still in his hand as the Hoshidan Prince nervously laughed.

“Um, hehe, I’m next huh?”

He jumped when he felt a large object gently stroking his head. Takumi looked up at Corrin, smiling softly as the Kaiju continued to pet his tiny little brother with a gentle clawed finger.

“Don’t worry little brother. I’ll be gentle. I only swallowed Leo first because it was his idea.”

The giant blinked then rubbed his middle as a muffled voice irritably made itself known from Corrin’s gurgling stomach.

“(Dang it, Corrin! I wasn’t ready yet!)”

Takumi and Corrin both chuckled at this. It brought a little levity to the situation even with the roars of the monsters creeping closer to them. Corrin brought his hand a little closer to his face, softly smiling at Takumi again. Takumi smiled back, wordlessly expressing his trust to his huge brother, even as the hand around him shifted to carefully being held by two fingers and being placed gently inside the open mouth.

As he lays on his back on the slimy wet tongue, Takumi sees the whole mouth go dark as he hears the jaws close with a click an inch away from his head. Immediately, the giant started to lick the Wild Card, completely soaking him from his head to his boots in drool. Takumi groaned at this as he was pressed against Corrin’s palate, feeling the vibrations of the giant’s purring and moaning.

Takumi noticed that Corrin was far more ‘eager’? Excited? Whatever it was, he noticed that Corrin was drooling more than usual and being rolled around and sucked on like candy. He squirmed a little, making Corrin giggle and moan. That made Takumi groan, realizing that Corrin was that kind of gentle predator that still absolutely loves squirming prey.

Before Takumi could think any of anything else, Corrin had apparently been satisfied with Takumi’s taste and started to tilt his head back, sending the Hoshidan sliding to the back of the throat. Takumi squeaked a bit as he slides into the throat and then…

*GULP*

Is sent down with a gentle and slow swallow.

Takumi feels the throat muscles gently constrict and squeeze his body as he slides down further to the giant’s stomach. He squirms as he tries to stay calm all the while slipping deeper into Corrin’s body, making his gigantic brother moan giddily. Takumi moaned as he started to feel the waves of flesh getting to his head, his body becoming more relaxed as he descended.

After what felt like forever, Takumi gasped as he felt the intense pressure suddenly leave his body and dropped into a larger, warmer chamber, startling the other occupant inside. He squirmed a little as he found himself squished by walls of flesh on his right side and the body of the other person on his left side.

Takumi finally turned to his left…and found himself staring at Leo, who had just stretched an arm out to press against the stomach wall behind him. The stomach was either small enough to hold them or the stomach walls were closing in enough to keep them so close together. Both boys yelped as the stomach walls suddenly squeezed them both, making them blush as they heard a soft voice echo all around them.

“Mmmmm..you two ok?”

Takumi blinked, then recovered from his surprise and awkwardly reached past Leo to rub the fleshy wall behind the Nohrian prince.

“Y-Yeah, w-we’re ok. Just trying to take it all in.”

Leo shook his head and voiced his own reply.

“It’s rather warm in your stomach, but it’s a good comforting warm.”

They hear another purr from Corrin as a result of Takumi rubbing the stomach wall, and also feel the giant’s hand gently rubbing the two princes from the outside. Takumi and Leo both blush as they were gently massaged from all sides as they looked at each other, and realized how close they are to kissing each other. Corrin spoke up again, as his younger brothers were trying to ignore the awkwardness between them.

“Mmm…I’m going to check on Azura and the others and see if they need help so you guys make yourselves comfortable. I let you out when we return to the Astral Plane. And Takumi? Leo?”

“Y-Yeah?” “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Takumi smiled and rubbed the stomach wall again. He figured that, even without any predatory instincts, Corrin would be incredibly uncomfortable with swallowing people whole, even though the person would be completely fine. He and Leo probably greatly helped with their giant brother’s own discomfort with the situation.

They hear Corrin purr one more time, then feels the giant brother starting to walk, probably to reunite with the others. Takumi looked at Leo, the awkwardness coming back with a vengeance as they continued to lay there close together in the warm fleshy chamber. The Wild Card finally broke the silence and laughed awkwardly.

“Hehe. I guess we’re going to be in here for a while.”

“Y-Yes, I suppose so. Although…”

“What?”

Leo smiled, then wrapped his arms around Takumi and pulled him to his chest, making him squeak. The Hoshidan blushed and squirmed a bit at the sudden hug as the Nohrian chuckled.

“Relax. Corrin gave us some alone time to rest. We might as well enjoy it.”

Takumi pouted a bit, but he had a point. Today was insane and a nap sounded good right now. He then wrapped his arms around Leo and the two carefully shifted around till they were comfortable enough in each other’s arms.

It wasn’t all that hard either. The stomach walls were so soft and squishy that they easily bent and formed around their frames, providing the perfect balance of support and comfort. Warmth from the massive body they were being held in enveloped them like a cozy blanket, and surprisingly breathable as well. As Leo said, a good warmth, not the kind of heat that strangles you. The lack of harmful stomach acids was a major relief as well, making the stomach mostly empty with the exception of themselves and the drool that soaked their clothes.

What made it easier was the sounds. The soft gurgling of Corrin’s stomach and other bodily organs were worrying at first, but the sleepy princes slowly grew used to them. Corrin’s breath whooshing in and out of a pair of huge lungs stood out enough for both boys to even out their breathing. But the most comforting of all was the tranquil heartbeat, pulsing in a soothing lullaby. Both Takumi and Leo agreed they liked that sound the most.

It was moments like this where the darkness covering his homeland is a major pain in the rear end when he needs something to help guide him through the forest he was running through. As he ran, his thoughts went to the last words his now ‘so-called father’ had said before he was chased out of the castle.

“Leonidas Augustus Lyonhart. Your traitorous conspiring with the enemy demons have disgraced your kingdom! No soldier of Nohr’s will be bringing about the destruction of our country as long as I sit upon this throne! The punishment for your treachery is execution!! IAGO, SEND YOUR BEASTS UPON THIS TRAITOR!!!!!”

Leo couldn’t understand why his own king would deem him a traitor to his kingdom when he only uncovered the truth behind the deaths of thousands of innocent people during the Black Plague. It felt as if the king was purposefully ignoring the truth and now wanted Leo dead to keep it from being discovered by anyone else. He didn’t even call Leo his son, just a soldier. Was the father he knew as a child no longer there?

A howl pierced through the air, reminding Leo that his pursuers weren’t far behind, and tried to pick up the pace. He had a horse for a good few hundred miles before Iago’s beastly abominations unfortunately ripped his beloved mare to shreds and forced him to run on foot. Luckily, he was far more familiar with the Forbidden Forest than those monsters since he was exploring them since he was a child.

But the beasts had noses that were probably stronger than a bloodhound’s so they were proving to be incredibly dangerous and very annoying hunters. Unless he comes up with some kind of plan to get them off his tail, it would be a matter of time until his strength gave out and he fell to his pursuers.

He almost trips and loses his footing on a bunch of tree roots sprawling on the forest floor. But as he clears the tree roots, he bumps into a warm body and would’ve been sent careening to the ground if they hadn’t grabbed him by the arms and pulled him back to his feet. He’s further surprised by a familiar voice not scolding him for bumping into them, but expressing concern and worry about him.

“Whoa! Leo?! What are you doing back here?! I thought you went home!”

Leo recognizes who it is and looks up. A young man around his age, give or take a year or two younger, was standing before him looking a mixture of worried and confused. It was Takumi, a teenager who is actually a Dragonborn, a demon from the Forbidden Forest that Leo had met before. Apparently, they supposedly met when they were kids and Takumi helped escort Leo home when the latter was lost in the forest.

As much as he hates it, Leo realizes he has no other choice if he wants to remain alive, even though he won’t be going home for a long time. Already feeling his exhaustion starting to set in, Leo quickly explained what happened to the Dragonborn.

“The king branded me a traitor when I shared the truth about the Black Plague. I never even mentioned any demons since they weren’t even responsible for the disease happening, but the king refused to believe me and now I’m being pursued by his advisor’s abominations.”

As confused as he was, Takumi realized that there wasn’t any more time to waste if he wanted the ex-prince to live. Keeping his eyes on the path Leo came down, Takumi carefully guided the taller boy to a large patch of plants he recognized as being very useful for throwing off any pursers, human or monster. He sets Leo down on a patch of soft moss hidden within the plants.

“Stay here and catch your breath. I got an idea.”

“W-What are you going to do?!”

“Just stay here and keep quiet until I come back for you.”

Obeying his orders, Leo could only watch as Takumi then quietly stepped out of the plants, taking a fistful of the blossoms with him. He wondered why the teenager would take some of the flowers with him if they weren’t useful as they were. Another howl pierced the air, sounding much closer than before. Leo mentally wondered what Takumi is doing and what he’s planning when the enemy is coming closer.

Before he could hear the beasts come a step closer, Leo suddenly caught a whiff of a strange smell in the air followed by an incredibly thick fog that blanketed the entire area and the monsters started to make noises of confusion and disgust. From the sounds that followed afterwards, the monsters had lost Leo’s trail and were now retreating to another path, just to get away from the smell.

He held his breath, the smell wasn’t uncomfortable enough to make him gag like it did with the monsters, and continued to wait as Takumi ordered him to. He wondered where Takumi was and if the Dragonborn had left him to keep running alone.

“But he said to stay where I am until he comes back. Where is he?”

Before he could ponder more on whether or not he should stay or keep running, Leo heard the faint footsteps approaching his location. Luckily, it was Takumi. As his hand stuck out through the cover of the plants, and gestured to the exhausted prince.

“I’m back. Can you stand?”

“Y-Yeah, I-I think so.”

Leo reached out to grab the outstretched hand and was pulled up to his feet, wobbling a little bit before being steadied by Takumi, who had a concerned look on his face. The demon looked back at the foggy path the monsters almost came down, thinking about what to do next before turning back to Leo.

“That fog won’t last forever, but it’ll be long enough for us to get to safety. There’s a temple we can take shelter at and gain access to a safer location should they pick up on your scent again.”

“O-Okay.”

Not arguing with Takumi, Leo let him lead the way to the temple since he was getting a little bit woozy. With the former steadying the latter, the two of them resumed their trek through the forest, using the cover of the fog to avoid any further trouble from any more pursuers. Thankfully for both of them, Takumi had been taking walks in the forest for much longer than anyone, so he has a better idea of where the temple was, even in thick fog.

After walking through the forest for another hour or two, the two boys come across a clearing with a huge gate and two lanterns on the other side. Leo couldn’t help but notice the sky was actually a little bit clearer and could actually see the clouds passing over the forest, hiding the moon. But it looked like they would clear away soon. Takumi spoke up after a long time since they started walking.

“We can get to safety through that gate if those monsters come back. The monsters won’t follow us because the gate is enchanted by magic that keeps out those who would harm us.”

“W-What about m-mindless monsters. T-The creatures that w-were c-chasing me only f-follow o-orders from whoever c-commands them.”

“The monsters will just disintegrate upon touching the gate. It’s happened before. By the way, you didn’t get hit by those monsters did you? You look pale.”

Leo was absolutely sure he didn’t suffer any injuries, otherwise he would’ve noticed. He shook his head, not wanting to worry his companion.

“I’m f-fine. J-Just took a f-fall into a b-berry b-bush.”

Takumi stopped at his response, then he stepped in front of Leo and started to look him over, like a worried mother hen. Leo didn’t think they had time for this, the monsters could come any minute. After critically looking him over, Takumi finally spoke up.

“Fine my backside, there’s blood all over your clothes! And you’re pale because your body temperature is dropping! Did you really forget a coat?!”

Leo groaned as he remembered the cause of the blood. It wasn’t his and it would be a pain to wash out. But even if he had more stuff packed up properly, he probably wouldn’t have enough time to change out of the bloodied clothes anyway. Also, he was used to the cold so he would be fine as long as he gets somewhere warm in time. He gently pushed Takumi away for some space and replied.

“M-My horse. I got a-about h-halfway past the f-forest e-entrance before the m-monsters r-ripped my mare t-to p-pieces. T-They p-practically m-massacred the h-horse b-before I e-escaped and r-ran into you.”

Well, ok. Takumi can believe that. But before he could even respond, a terrible and familiar howl ripped through the air, making the two boys turn around at the source of the terrifying sound. The clouds that had obscured the moon before, cleared and allowed the moonlight to shine down on the clearing as a pack of huge shapes bound into the boy’s vision. The monsters had caught up to them.

They were absolutely grotesque creatures. They ran on all fours like a giant dog but looked nothing like a canine. The claws and back legs were oversized, the closest thing to skin on the body was a wriggling mass that looked like it had worms crawling around underneath it. Bony protrusions stick out of the ribs, tail, and spine that flex and stretch with every breath they take. And the head was mainly a massive nose, huge dead blackened eyes with dark pink pupils that seem to look everywhere, and a maw filled with sword sized overcrowding teeth and tentacle like tongues that stretch out of their mouths when they let out a loud roar that sounded like a mix of a wyvern, a boar, and maybe even a horse.

It was the stuff of nightmares that neither boy would have probably for the rest of their lives. Both boys took a step back in horror, disgust, and downright disturbed, noticing the monster’s numbers as well, about a dozen or so. Takumi’s expression soon turned to anger and frustration.

“No! I thought we would have more time!”

Leo couldn’t help but agree with that statement, but he also noticed something that prevented him from responding. Takumi’s eyes started to softly glow, his pupils were narrowing into slits, his teeth seemed to sharpen into fangs, and his voice sounded like a growl rumbling from deep in his throat. He wanted to know what it meant, but that had to wait. They had bigger problems.

Good thing Leo isn’t completely defenseless in this situation and neither is his friend. Dragonborns were incredibly powerful, even in their more human-like forms. He wasn’t worried about Takumi losing the fight. And he himself had a couple of powerful tomes in his bag that will allow him to fight at a distance. One that he was taking out of his bag right now.

“So it’s come to this. We must defend ourselves! I don’t intend on dying here!”

“Got it. Watch my back and I’ll watch yours!”

Leo nodded, then opened the tome and readied his spell, just as the biggest looking monster let out another one of their terrible roars, commanding the others to attack their prey.

Takumi’s nails extended into claws and he charged at the closest monster that approached him. He feigned a jump to trick the beast into jumping to intercept him before he slid underneath the monster and slashed at it, dragging his claw along its underbelly to split the beast’s innards open, blood spraying out of the wound. The beast then landed on the ground dead, many of its organs split open from Takumi’s attack.

For Leo’s part, he charged up an Arcfire and launched several powerful fireballs at another monster just as it opened its mouth to launch its tentacles, only to get a mouthful of fire and it spread so rapidly to the rest of its insides that it began to explode from the inside out. The monsters may be tough on the outside, but not so much on the inside. Leo smirked as this happened, then turned to another monster and started charging up a Thoron, waiting for its mouth to open.

Takumi then turned to two more of the monsters, grabbed them by their tentacle tongues, and swung them around like a couple of maces, catching three more monsters by the sharp bones on the tails of the ones he’s swinging around. The three monsters were being slashed apart, already blinded and blood spilling out of the eyes, throat, and brain.

Once the three were dead, Takumi then threw one at the slashed up trio, knocking them over and the one he threw landed on its back, its rib protrusions flexing up. Takumi smirked, then threw the other one so it landed on top of the other one he threw. This caused the bones on the bottom monster to pierce the top monster’s head and chest, killing it instantly.

Takumi grinned a feral smile. Things were looking good, they can definitely survive the horde without so much issue. Until he hears an extremely pained scream that makes his heart drop.

He turned around. He saw four more monsters were dead on Leo’s side of the battlefield, one was burned from the inside like it had been electrocuted, one looked like it swallowed a ball of fire and exploded, one was pierced by light lances and dark flames ate a good chunk of its flesh, and the fourth looked like it had been sliced in half by powerful wind blades.

But the remaining two still alive had ambushed their target and one had destroyed a tome under its claws as the other one had the smell of human blood on its right side. They both were encircling their downed target, waiting for the opportunity to get a killing blow before the other, as the victim looked up and met Takumi’s gaze. Fear, pain, and a silent plea to run was what Takumi saw in Leo’s eyes.

And Takumi saw red.

Leo had been thinking the same thing as Takumi as he launched an Arcwind at his opponent and the spell sliced it in half. He thought they were going to make it out of this crazy situation in one piece. And he had to admit, he and Takumi made a good team in battle, despite the latter not being very fond of fighting. He would have to ask over a bowl of miso soup when they get the chance to catch their breath.

But Leo then heard a branch break and immediately dodged an incoming attack from another monster, the claws coming within an inch from his face. As Leo tried to ready another spell at the monster, he looked over to Takumi’s side of the battlefield, wondering if Takumi was having trouble. Doing a mental count, he saw the one Takumi sliced its underbelly open, the two he was swinging around like massive dual maces, and three getting sliced up by the bones on the swinging ones. Adding the four he just slayed and the one he was dodging, Leo’s headcount came up short.

“Oh no! Where’s the leader?!”

Another snarl came from behind Leo, the leader! Its slimy tentacle tongues lash out, making Leo turn around and dodge out of the way. But this time, he was too slow and the tongues knocked the tome out of Leo’s hand, scratching his hand, arm, and shoulder. Leo gasped and the two monsters took the chance to attack, brutally slashing the boy’s front and back.

Leo let out a bloodcurdling scream, his mind briefly overwhelmed by the immense pain before he dropped to ground on his stomach. The wounds weren’t too deep so the monsters didn’t pierce his organs, but his injuries still hurt very badly. He cursed his own weakness for landing in this situation.

The monsters circled around him, waiting to see which one would deal the final blow to end his life. Leo struggled to get up, using every ounce of willpower he had just to stay awake. He could feel the blood coming out from his wounds, staining his clothes and dripping down to the ground from between his fingers. Tears started to prick his eyes as he managed to look up and made eye contact with Takumi across the battlefield. The Dragonborn stared with horror at his companion about to meet his premature death.

The monsters then let out another terrible roar and their tentacle tongues began to lash out at the downed Leo. Leo saw this and could do no more than cover his head and close his eyes, waiting for the attack. Before he could meet his end, a loud roar suddenly boomed across the battlefield, causing a shockwave to spread from the source and the tentacles to halt.

“THAT HUMAN IS MINE!!!”

Leo opened his eyes and looked up to find a far more incredible sight.

Takumi’s eyes were glowing, wind whipped around in a frenzy, and lightning seemed to crash and flash from everywhere, supposedly summoned by the Dragonborn. But what made Leo gasp was that Takumi was GROWING. Stretching and expanding larger and larger with draconic features emerging as he grew.

Horns grew from his head, a large thick tail grew from his lower back, and his hands and feet became golden scaled claws and talons. Bright blue fur also burst from his exposed skin except for his face, which only grew a few bright blue scales from underneath his glowing eyes and his exposed chest gained an armored underbelly like that of an actual dragon. Leo could only stare as his companion transformed until he was towering over the monsters at about 40 or 50 feet tall, looked down at the monsters, and snarled viciously.

Leo remembered that Takumi had once told him that all Dragonborn can transform into a bigger, more powerful form, even into true dragons in the most extreme circumstances. Takumi had said that he never really had to use this power because he’s usually strong enough to deal with his enemy. But, he did say he will use it if necessary and had Leo promise that he would try to stay calm and trust him while in his far more powerful state.

But obviously, seeing it actually happening was way different than being told about it.

Leo was confused as to why Takumi decided to transform now, but there wasn't much he could do while in incredible pain from his injuries as his powered up companion took a rumbling step towards the monsters that had him pinned down.

The monsters had been frozen in their attack on Leo, but when Takumi transformed and approached, they turned their attention to the much bigger threat and began to charge at him. Any warnings that Leo could muster wasn’t needed because Takumi snarled and summoned powerful lightning to strike back at the monsters and blew them back, causing them to slam into the tree trunks behind Leo.

Leo blinked at the now downed beasts, in complete awe at Takumi’s incredible power. But he also let out a pained cry when he tried to turn his head and continued to press his hands against his bleeding wounds. As he attempted to hold on, a warm breeze brushed his bloodied hair.

He looked up to see a huge gold claw descending towards him, making his heart pound and he let out a confused and frightened whimper. Because of his injuries, Leo could only look as the massive claw very carefully wrapped around his body, leaving his head and shoulders and lower legs exposed to the open air.

Leo felt his body lift into the air, the grip around his battered body was firm but not too tight to cause any more pain to him than he already was in but not too loose for more blood to spill from his injuries. He was lifted right up to the giant Takumi’s face, which had an unreadable expression and seemed to carefully look over Leo, trying to decide what to do.

Leo pitifully squirmed in the giant’s grip, not knowing his intentions and despite being so high up, he could hear the beasts below struggling to get back up, starting to gain a second wind. Leo attempted to talk, but the giant’s other massive claw came up and gently started to pet him, slowly stroking his bloodied hair and having his thumb carefully placed over his lips, quieting his words into worried whimpering. Finally, Takumi spoke up in a quiet but rumbling voice.

“Shhh. Leo please, trust me. You will be safe. Ok?”

Leo still doesn’t know what the giant had in mind, but even if he was far bigger and scarier, this was still Takumi, his friend. Taking a deep breath, Leo looked his giant friend in the glowing blue eye and gave him a nod, wordlessly conveying his trust to the giant. Takumi’s eyes softened and he seemed to smile apologetically…

Before slowly opening his huge fanged mouth.

Leo’s eyes widened as Takumi very carefully turned his fist to put the wounded prince’s feet and legs into his mouth. He then felt the giant’s head lean back and allow gravity to assist in devouring the poor boy. Despite his pain, Leo attempted to struggle and grab onto something to prevent his eventual devouring, but he was kept still by the giant’s lips and his shoulders and head were still out of his mouth.

“TAKUMI!! WHAT ARE YOU-! AH!”

Leo’s cry was cut off by the giant’s head righted and his tongue carefully licking the injured boy’s body, more so his injuries, coating his body with thick slimy drool. The saliva seemed to seal shut his wounds, preventing anymore bleeding, but still slickening him up to eventually swallow him. Leo tried to struggle again, but his shoulders are slurped inside, leaving only his head gently held by the massive lips, and that intruding tongue still licking him all over like a tasty treat.

As Leo let out a frightened “N-No!”, he heard and felt a deep vibration in the giant’s throat. Takumi was gently humming a soothing tune, trying to calm the frightened prince in his mouth. And as much as Leo wanted to be wrong, it was working.

Leo started to calm and he felt the tip of Takumi’s tongue slowly slipping behind his head, and gently pushed his head completely inside the giant’s mouth, sealing him in darkness and his feet started to slide into the throat. Once completely inside, the tongue pressed Leo to the roof of the giant’s mouth, carefully sucking on his body and subjecting him to more soothing hums and moans of pleasure. Takumi seemed to enjoy his taste.

The hums stopped and Leo felt the head tilt back again, feeling his body slide further into the throat until he was up to his torso. Leo could only brace himself as he felt the throat tighten very slightly, readying for the swallow that will seal Leo away from the outside world. He took a deep breath…

“GLURK!”

…And was immediately sucked down the giant’s throat with a startled gasp.

Leo could still hardly believe he was swallowed so slowly and easily. Like Takumi was purposely being gentle with his prey for an unknown reason. But it was too hard to think about what that reason could be, because he was subjected to relentless but gentle pressure from sliding down the giant’s throat, bringing him deeper and deeper into the massive body.

Leo barely registered sliding past the giant’s huge heartbeat, further calming him, as he continued to make the trip down. After what felt like forever, though it was only a few seconds, Leo felt his feet enter a warmer, larger space, and knew where he was going to end up. The rest of the pressure on his body suddenly released and he found himself swiftly sliding into the chamber with a startled cry.

Leo was now in the stomach. Takumi’s stomach!

Leo started to struggle, trying to get out of the thick glowing slime that he was practically soaked in, but he was promptly reminded of the extent of his injuries forcing him to just lay and squirm slightly in terrible pain. Even if he wasn’t hurt, the fleshy chamber that was the giant’s stomach rippled and gurgled around him.

The waist high slime he was partially sitting in suddenly started to secrete out of the walls of the stomach, raising the level of the slime up to his chest. Leo squirmed and pushed against the flesh, feeling his fear spike and his heart race…

Until he felt a powerful and surprisingly familiar feeling surge through his body and he let out a surprised and startled cry.

At the same time, like with the throat, the stomach walls started to collapse in on itself and subjected Leo’s injured body to more gentle and relentless pressure as he seemed to feel the slime soak into his skin, causing the surge he was now feeling. He recognized the feeling as the result of being healed by one of Elise’s staves, but this felt so much more powerful than what his sister could do.

It also seemed to remind Leo of his own exhaustion and that returned with a vengeance. His movements slowed, no longer able to fight the gentle movements of the stomach and his own body’s own need to rest and recover. Everything that had happened today was just too much, and now he was going to get some much needed sleep, despite the questions in his mind.

Another healing surge pulsed through him, finally draining the last of his strength and leaving him at the mercy of the giant’s stomach. Leo groaned and felt his eyes start to flutter shut. Before he completely fell asleep, he lifted his arm up, wondering if his body was healing or just melting the skin of his bones.

But what he saw may have proved the former right because he definitely remembered having painful scratches on his arm and hand. Except they had vanished from his body and he noticed looking further down his body that the wounds on his chest and torso were glowing and slowly sealing shut!!

“W-Whaa…*groan*”

Leo felt the stomach continue to gently squeeze and massage his body, bringing a little yawn out of his mouth as he finally fell sound asleep, completely slipping into unconsciousness….

“Ugh, I hate doing this.”

Takumi thought to himself as he licked his claws. The addictive flavor of his friend was still present on his tongue, even though said companion was now sealed inside of him. He shuddered when he felt his friend struggling for a bit, trying to get out. Though his friend settled down after a bit as he started to feel his body’s healing ability work on his friend’s injuries.

“I can’t stop licking my claws, he tasted so good.”

The very action of what he had done both disgusted and elated him.

Leo’s flavor was tangy and savory, reminding Takumi of some sort of tomato soup. The feeling of his friend descending into his stomach was as thrilling as it was worrying. Even the slight amount of movement he felt once his friend entered his stomach tickled and delighted him.

His predatory instincts were always so powerful that he only registered he swallowed someone until after he had calmed down. But this time, he was completely in control of himself and willingly swallowed Leo because of his injuries.

“But, he’s safe. That’s all that matters.”

The feeling of Leo finally falling asleep inside him because of Takumi’s healing abilities finally brought a smile to his lips as he gently and slowly rubbed his slightly swollen stomach, feeling his little human inside, knowing that Leo’s condition was stabilizing, and that his healing was proceeding smoothly. It was essentially worth the discomfort he felt in using his abilities and the fright he had unintentionally caused his friend.

A snarl let him know of the monsters that had injured his friend and weren’t very happy about the massive interloper who took their prey away. Ah, he would have to deal with them before he opened the gate. He turned his gaze down to the monsters and viciously smirked, his eyes glowing with power.

The monsters snarled angrily. Takumi only continued to smirk, finding their now smaller size at his own towering height almost cute if it weren’t for their disgusting appearance before speaking.

“You see what I meant now? The human is MINE, you mutated maggot bags!”

Whether they understood or not, the monsters didn’t take kindly to the taunt. They angrily roared and clumsily attempted another attack, still weakened from Takumi’s previous assault. But Takumi knew that was the last mistake they could ever make.

He turned around and swiftly sprinted to the gate, made even faster by his storm powers and his larger size carried him across the clearing in almost no time at all. He was mildly impressed that the monsters were still running after him at a faster speed than he thought. But not fast enough.

As he neared the other side of the clearing, the gate began to intensely glow and crackle with lightning, just like Takumi would when he uses his storm powers. He planted his foot in front of the gate, causing a portal of energy to burst to life inside the gate. The storming energy lashed out in erratic lightning and swirling winds that stopped the monsters in their tracks.

Takumi just smirked and jumped through the portal, knowing full well what was going to happen next. The moment he was gone, the storm let loose one last cannon of lightning, light, and power, swallowing the monsters and the corpses of their dead pack members. The light persisted for a few seconds before being sucked back into the gate and causing it to brightly burn before fading.

The clearing was still and quiet once more, the monsters and monster corpses vaporized by the portal’s feedback. The only evidence that remained of the gate was a pile of rubble, the gate having collapsed in on itself.

Takumi skidded to a halt as he exited a swirling portal of wind and light. It did suck that he can’t use that portal again, but at least he’s back in his home world. The aura he felt, the aurora like night sky, and the silhouette of the castle in the distance were dead giveaways. He took a deep breath, finally allowing himself to relax and plan his next move.

He stopped his train of thought when he felt sleepy little kicks in his stomach. He softly smiled and gently rubbed his middle again, feeling his passenger settle back down into the soft flesh of his stomach. He must’ve been trying to get comfortable.

“Heh. So cute.”

If he wasn’t so enamored by the way his friend laughed, Leo would’ve slapped him by now. Takumi wasn’t an easy person to get into a giggle fit but today was one of those rare occasions where he couldn’t help himself. Even when he tried to calm himself down, one look at the results got him laughing again.

“*snrk* Hehe. I-I can’t help it! *giggle*”

Ever since the incident where they had to prove themselves against the Hands, the Smash Brothers, and Corrin that they’re family in all but blood, the two princes have been aiding their step-sibling in recovering from his Wraith induced trauma, as well as learning about the Smash Brothers and each other.

Despite being from opposing sides of the two kingdoms’ feudal war, Takumi and Leo never really met each other on and off the battlefield so neither of them knew anything about each other other than their statuses as the second prince of their respective kingdoms.

But after the Wraith incident, they slowly got to know each other better and see that they have a lot in common than they originally thought. One of them being the library was their favorite place to relax and read. Especially about history and strategies from past warriors.

Today however, they decided to read about a different topic. The cultural differences between their nations were just as fascinating as they were confusing so Leo proposed that he and Takumi would read something about each other’s cultures they didn’t know about. Takumi gladly accepted the proposal and chose astrology as a change to their usual routine. He was a little curious about how Nohrians were able to tell the time or weather within the darkness of their home when it was so dark that even the stars couldn’t be seen.

For Leo’s part, well it was completely by accident when Takumi was looking for something for Leo to read about Hoshido. One of the books fell off the shelf and bounced off his head before landing on the ground. He wasn’t hurt, but it was surprising. The reason was he didn’t recognize the book from his personal collection or from the library in Hoshido.

But it did match what they were looking for and was a book in which one can find out which one of the twelve Zodiac signs they have based on their birthdate and which constellations were seen on their birthdate. Takumi was born in winter during a meteor shower which was rare as opposed to Leo being born in the middle of summer. But when they started reading the book, it led to Leo’s current predicament…

“Well, at least I didn’t get-,”

“Didn’t get what?”

Both boys perk up at the sound of another voice from the door of the library. They turned to find a girl with reddish brown hair and big square glasses around Takumi’s age leaning against the doorway with her hand on her hip.

“Also, why are you laughing like a hyena, Takumi? Last time I checked, joke books aren’t exactly your forte.”

“Oh, h-hey Rira.”

This young lady was Rira Nijimoto, who is considered the prince’s link to the Smash Brothers. In fact, one could say she was the reason for the Smash Brothers forming their group in the first place. Rira had lost her home to some particularly nasty villains, so vile it would make King Garon look like a cakewalk in comparison. Then she got all wrapped up in the formation of the very first tournament of Smash Bros and helped set the Hands straight.

As much drama as she went through though, Rira also gained quite a few friends in her travels, some of those being the Smash Bros. She’d even extended invitations on behalf of the Hands to invite new fighters to join the Smash Bros’ ranks, one of them being Corrin.

She stopped leaning on the doorway and approached the two royals, noticing the star maps and notes strewn about along with a couple other books on the floor. Raising an eyebrow, she carefully stepped closer and sat down on an empty spot between the two of them so she wouldn’t disturb their work as Takumi explained.

“Well, Leo and I wanted to read something different for a change so we picked out astrology books. I was more curious about how anyone could tell time in Nohr or decipher the weather since it’s covered in darkness.”

“In finding an astrology book from Hoshido, we found this one that someone can use to find a person’s Zodiac sign, though the results are questionable.”

The Nohrian prince held out the book in question for Rira to see. She cocked her head to the side as she took it into her hands and started to leaf through it, her face scrunching up as she looked at its contents. Takumi, no longer laughing, looked a bit annoyed at the ‘questionable’ response.

“‘Questionable?’ It’s not supposed to be wrong if you’ve read the maps and guidelines properly. Also I’ve seen goats in the mountains before and they have to be tough and stubborn in traversing the mountain terrain and finding a mate.”

“I have read them, and triple checked them! At least, I didn’t get the monkey sign, which describes individuals who are emotional and sometimes impulsive with their actions and behaviors in social, political, and battle situations!”

“Say what?! I-,”

“I think you both are wrong.”

The two boys turned to their female companion with surprised and confused expressions. She had spoken up to hopefully keep the two boys from getting into a bad fight. They had made a lot of progress in their relationship, plus the fact that two royals from two vastly different cultures were getting along was a very big deal so any deterioration in that relationship would not look good. Plus, she hates seeing her friends fight.

“What do you mean by that, Rira?”

“I normally don’t make any errors in my research because I don’t. Why do you think there’s been a mistake?”

Ignoring the arrogant comment from Leo, Rira sighed softly. There were times when very pompous and arrogant people often got on her nerves. But she knows Leo isn’t completely prideful to the point of being blinded by it, but she had to be patient with him. She replied back calmly.

“While you guys were getting settled into the mansion a while back since you didn’t want to leave, I overheard Ryoma talking about Yukimura being busy with clearing away damaged material from the library in Hoshido.”

“Oh, I remember that. A bad storm ripped through Hoshido and damaged a lot of buildings in the process, including the castle. No one was hurt but cleaning up was a major pain. The worst part was the library roof partly collapsed. Again, no one was hurt but the books…”

He stopped as his face took on an expression that was a mix of horror and queasy, and hugged himself with a shiver at the memory. He felt a hand find his own and felt a gentle squeeze. He looked to see Rira giving him a soft smile. She figured seeing all of those books being utterly destroyed by violent forces of nature was traumatizing for him so she quietly shows her support. Takumi smiled back. He continues.

“Anyway, the library had to close down until repairs could be done. I know that the roof had partly collapsed but I didn’t know anything about the condition of the books inside. From what you’re telling us, it’s pretty bad.”

“It was. Luckily, the original writers of the damaged documents can rewrite a copy to replace them since they have the original documents. But apparently there was one document missing from the inventory that he had labeled as damaged. He put a leaf on the spine of the books that were damaged so they wouldn’t be mixed up with the ones that weren’t.”

Rira turned the book around and showed the two princes a little green leaf sticking out of the inside of the book spine. Takumi noticed it looked a little folded and realized in his head that it got hidden in the book when he grabbed it. Leo also noticed the cover had a dark line on it and pointed it out, tracing it with his finger.

“This part of the book looks darker than the rest of the cover. The way it looks drippy and wavy is telling me that this book got damaged from the storm when the roof collapsed and the water came in.”

“That’s right Leo. But there’s another good reason why Yukimura put a leaf on this and I think it was before the storm hit the library.”

Rira flipped through the book again, going to the middle of the document where she saw it. When she found it, she angled the book so both boys could see her discovery. Leo and Takumi peeked at it and saw as Rira slowly turned the pages, the edges of the pages looked like something very small chewed on them plus holes of varying sizes plagued the document, some partially cutting off some paragraphs or completely omitting them.

“It’s not just the water damage from the storm smearing and fading the words within. The inside of this looks so chewed up that some of the information inside is fragmented or completely gone. Some of these are so big they can be peepholes.”

She stopped at a particular page and positioned the book in a way where the page stuck out, then held it in front of her eyes to show them what she meant. The boys looked confused until they saw the holes and cracks on the page that seemed to almost overtake the paper and sure enough, the holes were big enough that they could see the girl’s eyes and skin through them.

Leo’s face winced at the damage, now understanding why some crucial information was missing from the book. Takumi grimaced, another older memory surfacing from before he and his siblings came to the mansion on their past crusade to win Corrin back.

“Ooh, termites. A swarm of them invaded the capitol and damaged a lot of structures, including the castle. The damage could be repaired but, now I think it played a part in the library and many other buildings collapsing on themselves, because the storm hit before the damage by the termites could be fixed.”

“It’s alright, Takumi. The book can be replaced and buildings can be fixed, but that still doesn’t tell me how you think the information is wrong, Miss Nijimoto.”

Rira closed the book with a blank look on her face as she told them as straight as possible.

“The info that survived is outdated. I found a copy and read it and almost none of the information lines up with what’s in here. I think the original author must’ve updated the document and published new copies, but the new version never made it to the library in time.”

Both boys blinked like owls at her and “ohh” in realization of this new information. Neither of them took into account the original writers updating their stories to be more accurate than the original version they wrote. Leo then realized something about the book and hung his head with a groan. Takumi and Rira looked at him in confusion, as the Sorcerous Prince explained his troubled thoughts.

“That means we can’t use this copy of the book, even if it wasn’t damaged. How are we even going to complete our Zodiac sign research?”

Rira smiled as she put the damaged document aside. Already having an idea on how to settle this, especially without a conflict.

“I think I have an idea for that, let me get it set up.”

She reached to her right side, her hand briefly glowing softly before her hand seemed to sink into a ball sized white portal. It looked like her lower arm was slipping into another dimension, the space around her arm like bright rippling water as she rummaged around for what she’s looking for.

Takumi couldn’t help but stare. No matter how many times he saw it, he still couldn’t believe that Rira had this ability and could use it as naturally as she can breathe. She could store a number of different items in a pocket dimension that only she can access. He sees Rira stick out her tongue in concentration, before she seems to find it and starts pulling it out.

Leo was having a bit of a harder time processing what he was seeing as his female companion carefully pulled out a smooth crystal ball on top of a jutting bed of raw crystal, setting it down in front of her while she dug through her pocket for another item. He heard about Rira’s ‘Item Box’ ability while researching her world and how it differs from Nohr, but nothing could have possibly prepared him for actually seeing it in person.

Rira next pulled out a small rectangular box with a glass screen from her pocket and she seemed to use a minimal amount of mana to more or less ‘connect’ the box to the crystal ball, drawing a line from the blue gem on the top of the box to the ball. She then turned back to her right to use her ‘Item Box’ again and this time, pulled out some notes and journals that was obviously written by someone else if the handwriting was any indication.

“Rira? Why do you have the Oracle Gem out for? I thought that was for sensing a person’s inner element?”

“It can be used for a lot of things, as long as you know how to properly alter its behavior without breaking it. These things are a pain in the neck to look for and more so to try and craft one.”

She then carefully set the Oracle Gem on top of the journals and notes. The moment the items made contact, they started to glow. Words seemed to flow out of the papers and into the crystal, swirling around in a colorful vortex until the colors and words blended together and shifted into the image of a starry night sky.

Rira sat back, satisfied with the result and looked at the two princes staring gobsmacked at the whole spectacle. She then held out her hand above the gem in a gesture to the boys.

“Leo? Go ahead and touch it. The Gem is using the knowledge written in the notes to be able to sense your Zodiac signs. All you gotta do is touch it like normal and see what you get.”

As wary as he was by the item before him, Leo was still mesmerized by the magic within the object and still wanted to know what his Zodiac sign was and he wasn’t going to know what it is by staring it down. He slowly and hesitantly reached out and laid his hand on the gem’s surface. Immediately, Leo felt a harmless tingling of magic jolt through him.

The gem glowed and the starry night sky inside of it started to spin and shift until lines appeared connecting the stars within into a simple shape of two swirling stars. The silhouette of an animal also appeared along with the constellation, taking the shape of a huge, striped, and muscular catlike creature that seemed to be moving as if it was really breathing.

“Well look at that. Leo has Cancer.”

“WHAAAT!?!”

Leo snapped out of his trance to look at Takumi, whose face was pale in horror and shock. He read about cancer in his research, but it usually happened to someone who didn’t take care of their body properly or were exposed to harmful substances that becomes the cause of cancer down the line. Last they checked, both princes and their families were healthy enough to not have it. He turned to Rira with a worried look, but she snorted and explained.

“No no, Takumi. Not THAT cancer! I mean the two swirling stars on either side of that tiger. That is the constellation of Cancer.”

Rira picked up the box with the glass screen on it. Although the boys couldn’t see what she was doing, the screen lit up and she tapped and swiped on it a few times before seeming to find what she was looking for and started to read out loud.

“It says ‘Those born under the Cancer constellation are intuitive, emotional, and protective. Deeply caring and nurturing with strong family values and loyalty.’”

The boys calmed down at the explanation, but it soon raised another question. One that Leo was more than willing to voice.

“How are you able to tell us what the signs mean without the notes explaining them?”

The girl smiled and flipped her phone around to show them both what was on the screen. A carefully constructed list with small photos was shown on the phone screen as she explained.

“I saved a copy of the list on my phone so I can read it to you guys. I would read the actual copy, but since it’s being used by the Oracle Gem to sense your astrological signs, I can’t just take out from under the gem to read you the list without breaking the gem itself. Doing so would mess up or even damage it.”

Both princes didn’t know as much about magic items from other worlds as Rira did, but it did make sense that interrupted magic can lead to drastic consequences for everyone involved. Takumi glanced back at the Oracle Gem, looking curious at the tiger inside the crystal.

“Okay, the Cancer sign isn’t the only one in there though. What does it mean for Leo, especially when combined with the Cancer sign?”

Rira turned her phone back towards her and scrolled down the list again, finding the Tiger sign a bit further down.

“‘For those born in the Year of the Tiger, their traits are brave, confident, and competitive. Tigers are natural leaders with magnetic personalities and courage.’”

Takumi smirked at the description, slyly looking back at Leo who noticed the look and glared, recognizing the teasing that’s going to come out of the Wild Card’s mouth. Which he gladly did.

“Competitive, huh? Yeah, that fits a ‘magnetic personality’ like Leo to a ‘T’ *chuckle*”

Leo bristled at the taunt. He was annoyed, but he already had an answer for a comeback against the Hoshidan Prince, as he retorted back.

“Oh? Well, then let’s see your Zodiac sign, Prince Takumi! We’re both positively anxious to see what you have!”

“Alright, I will!”

Takumi replied, accepting his challenge. He then looked back to the Oracle Gem and reached his hand out, gently pressing it against the surface of the crystal. His eyes widened a bit, feeling the magical jolt, but saw the stars swirling away the Cancer Tiger sign, knowing it was sensing his own astrological sign.

Lines appeared connecting the stars again, but the shape that forms is different from the swirling stars from before. This time, it was an unusual arrow or anchor-like shape that took form. Alongside the shape, another animal form appeared that was long and skinny like a serpent. But there were a few key differences. One of them was that the creature had sharp clawed feet and razor sharp talons attached to short but powerful limbs.

Horns and a long mane of fur, or could be hair, flowed out of the head of the creature and from the tip of its tail. It’s also moving as if it were breathing. As it let out a bellowing roar, it showed off a huge mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Takumi and Rira couldn’t help but stare in amazement at the animal that appeared with the constellation, though Leo is the one to voice the trio’s thoughts.

“It’s…a dragon. Takumi’s Zodiac sign is a dragon!”

Rira just smiled in response. Even though she was just as amazed by this revelation, she never expected this kind of result for Takumi. She never met very many people who have the Dragon Zodiac sign. She checked her phone and scrolled through the list again to look for the descriptions and read them out loud when she found them.

“The constellation is the Sagittarius sign. ‘People born under this sign are optimistic, adventurous, and philosophical. Freedom-loving explorers seeking knowledge and new experiences.’ And the traits of the Dragon sign are ‘confident, intelligent, and enthusiastic. Dragons are charismatic and lucky, known to be born leaders.’”

Leo blinked and looked over at Takumi, then smirked at seeing his face. The Wild Card had a soft blush adorning his cheeks at the description of his Zodiac sign. Leo however, saw a counterattack.

“My my, Prince Takumi. I may have been hoping for your sign to be a Rabbit, sweet, quiet, and cute, but I guess the Dragon fits an adventurous and intelligent young man like you much better~.”

“H-HEY!!!”

Rira gave Leo a “Don’t Tease Takumi” face, then turns to the madly blushing prince and tries to calm him down. All the while, Leo tried to keep his giggles quiet so he would hopefully avoid being slapped in the face after a successful retaliatory tease back at the Wild Card.

Although the sky was mostly clear for the moment, Orochi did say that there was a strong chance for rain later that day before he left. Nevertheless, he wanted to be alone just for today, especially today. Not even his retainers came with him, strictly because he wanted them to stay behind.

“I’m just going out for a while, I’ll be back before it gets dark.”

Was what he said before he hopped on his Kinshi and flew off. That was an hour ago, still flying fast, but being careful not to push his mount too hard. His destination wasn’t too far now as he flew in silence, the wind whistling by as it blew his hair like a long banner. Normally when he took his Kinshi out for a flyby, he would be enjoying the freedom of flying around through the air and doing tricks for any excited kids that would see him in the air.

But that wasn’t the case this time. In fact, his path took him to the border between the two kingdoms, not too far from where the Bottomless Canyon once stood a year ago. He almost couldn’t believe that it’s been this long since the terrible war with their neighbor and the deaths of his kingdom’s Queen, his mother in all but blood, and the sibling he never truly gave a chance to know.

His mount cawed, the agreed on signal of his arrival at his destination, a single solitary shrine that stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the plains. It was a bit of a long trip to come here, but it was built out of respect for the deceased to be in between the kingdoms that birthed and fostered them. Putting it in one kingdom or the other would just spark another unnecessary conflict. And after everything that happened, everyone was looking forward to a well deserved peaceful future.

“If only everyone was here to enjoy the future.”

But that was neither here nor there as he landed his trusted mount near the small monument, his thoughts now on the subject said memorial was depicting. While many soldiers died in the war, one aside from his mother and father, could’ve been a close friend, confidant, and true family member if this were another life. The only one of his surviving siblings who shouldn’t have been taken by that cruel twist of fate. The one who deserved to live the most.

Now all that remained of them was silence and memories.

He forced himself to look up at the small memorial that was the only evidence remaining, proof that they too walked this earth before their tragic death. A plain stone structure with the only mote of color being a stained glass window on a sealed tight door. The faint outline of something stuck in a pedestal could barely be seen through the glass, which held his gaze the most at the moment. As he stared at the glass, his mind flashed back to the last memory he had of their appearance before the tragedy.

Cream, or a very light grey colored hair that shone like bright silver water in the sun, grey and black armor hugging a slender but fit build, and the most striking detail, beautiful ruby red eyes holding nothing but tender kindness and love for those around them.

The window did a decent job in capturing an abstract look of them, but could never, would never, come close to the real deal in his memory. Not even close.

He could feel the stinging in his eyes grow, he squeezed them shut desperate to hold in the incoming tears. More memories of his last ‘interaction’ with his sibling flashed again. A whole year of rebuilding the damage done from the war was never enough to hide the fact that he would never see them again. And the last thing he said to them was that he hated them.

There was nothing he could do now but carry those memories with him. Along with a whole lot of shame, guilt, and regret. Feelings that he would gladly take with him to his grave. Maybe fate would be kind enough to let them meet again in another life so they can start over…

No, he shook his head in a defiant manner. He knew fate was just manipulative as it is cruel. He won’t be deceived by such a fantasy. Because that’s how the most loyal ones to his dead sibling were found after the funeral. Hanging from a noose from the ceiling in their bedroom, with a note explaining why.

If only he had been stronger, wiser, more mature like everyone else wanted him to be. If he had been actually there instead of storming off like a spoiled brat. If he truly, genuinely gave them even a ghost of a chance. If only…

“Well, it seems we had the same thing on our minds today.”

He opened his eyes and turned around, another individual carrying a book in one arm stood there with a horse pawing at the ground a little bit away next to his own Kinshi. He’d been so wrapped up in his spiraling thoughts and feelings that he hadn’t noticed the other boy so close to himself in age arrive a little after he did.

Said boy slowly walked towards him, his footsteps almost quiet so as to not startle his emotional compadre. Who turned his head back and downward towards the memorial steps, embarrassed by his unsightly display and unwilling to look at the abstract glass that fueled his temptation.

The shrine’s newest visitor stopped a few steps away from the only other company in the area, gazing at the stained glass with an unreadable expression.

Neither of them said anything, they just stood there in near deafening silence. The only sounds were the slight breeze carrying the scent of the incoming storm, the distant rumbling of thunder nearly upon the two visitors, and the whinnies and coos of their mounts mingling with each other, comfortable in each other’s presence. The newer arrival finally spoke up.

“I’m not going to say something like ‘they’re resting in peace, be happy for that’ or coddle and treat you like a child because you hate that,”

“I’m simply here to pay my respects to the deceased. Even though I had a rocky relationship while they were alive, I didn’t have animosity for them. I was…”

He went quiet for a bit, trying to find the right words, before he continued.

“Simply jealous. They always stole the spotlight and was the center of attention for everything. My family always seemed to love them more than anything else to me. Even when they make mistakes, they always got a slap on the wrist from my family members.”

“But, I guess I was the same way, even when I tried to be hard on them. They always seemed more worried about others than of themselves and they always found ways to make others feel better just by being around them. As much as it irked me, they cared about me. They still wanted to be around me. Treat me like an equal.”

“I’m still amazed they still called me ‘little brother’ even after everything that happened. I may be a genius mage, but I don’t get along well with other people outside of my family and retainers. I don’t have any real friends my age I can relate to, and I’m always stuck in the shadow of my siblings.”

“I suppose I never gave them a chance to explain why they still care so much. How they stay so strong, kind, and true to themselves. And when we were finally home after ending that hellish war, I shut myself up in the Northern Fortress with questions that will never be answered. Only regrets of what might’ve been. And what will never happen.”

And everything that came out of his mouth irked him, even though he's much more sad than angry at the moment to snap or quip back. But he also couldn’t deny it, because he was right. Most of what he said was also true for himself as well, so he could relate to his companion’s previous experiences. As different as the two of them are. And because of that, he couldn’t stop the words he had bottled up from spilling out of his mouth.

“It should’ve been me.”

Though he couldn’t see, still too ashamed to look at his company, he could tell the other boy was surprised by his response. He wanted to stop talking, to jump on his mount and fly away. But he didn’t. He stayed and kept talking.

“When I was younger, I heard about how folding a thousand paper cranes would grant a wish. But I never folded a thousand because I gave up. After they were taken away all those years ago, I thought it was pointless. The wish became a childish fantasy. I was never going to see them again and even convinced myself that they were dead.”

“Then when they came back and proclaimed that you and your family were their real family, I didn’t want anything to do with them. I told Mother that the Throne of Truth would help recover their lost memories but the truth is, I wanted to be right about them being a traitor to Hoshido and just wanted my siblings’ attention.”

“What’s worse, they were talking with Mother about something serious and they got really upset over what Mother wrote in a letter and that Mother said it was too early for them to see that letter. Then they got quiet and started talking all formally with her and asked if what everyone thought about them was a lie. I only learned about that last part during our jaunt through Valla.”

“I should’ve paid more attention back then. I should’ve cared a bit more. If I wasn’t so selfish and stuck in my own head, I’d try to get to know them like Sakura, who was too little to remember them. I’d try to show them the bow and flying on a Kinshi like Hinoka was showing them the naginata and flying on a Pegasus. I’d try to be more patient and understanding with them like when Ryoma was answering questions about Hoshido and sparring with them with the katana.”

He felt his legs getting wobbly, all the pain and guilt he held inside was making him feel sick, like his confession was draining his strength. His voice cracked as he continued to speak, his eyes feeling the same stinging sensation.

“Now, I’ll never know my Mother loved them so much. How strong and kind they were. How they just drew people together by standing in the room. How Ryoma and Hinoka felt about finally getting them back and spending time with them after so long apart despite the memory loss. They even reached out to me and all I did was reject them like an idiotic brat!”

“I’ll never know what it’s like to be their brother now. To love them wholeheartedly like my family did. In a way, I’M the one that killed them in the end!”

Though they didn’t fall, the tears he held the whole time pricked in his eyes, just waiting to fall in a single heartbreaking moment. He grasped at his sides, his chest heavy with grief. All that was left was regret and guilt, a heavy burden he’ll carry for the rest of his natural life. The sky above rumbled with thunder, darkened with grayed clouds and ready to drop the inevitable rain they held.

The other boy slowly approached him as he spoke, as quietly as when he arrived. He waved a hand over his book, calling on his power and whispering words to bring forth the magic laying within. When he stopped a foot away from him, he cast his spell. Then he slowly reached up and tilted his chin up to look at him.

“Takumi Shirasagi. I never wanted to acknowledge them as my older sibling when I was younger. So much so, I ran away from my family while we were on an outing in a fit of anger and jealousy. But even when I ran into the deepest part of the forest, they led the search party just to find me. They never stopped looking for me. And when they finally found me, they said that they were happy to be out of that blasted fortress, even for a short time, and with ALL of their precious siblings, including me. I can admit that I cried back then that they still accepted me as their younger brother.”

“I’m absolutely confident that if they weren’t kidnapped and you got to grow up with them, then you would’ve acted like I did back then and they would never stop trying to find you and accept you as their younger brother, even on the chance you would never reciprocate the feelings. And I know 100% that you weren’t the one who killed them, even though I wasn’t there to witness it. The cursed blade Gangalari, the command of my father’s controlled corpse, and the deeds of the Silent Dragon was the object of their death, so I don’t believe you should take the responsibility of a dead criminal’s actions.”

That did it, the dam that he held onto, the crumbling facade that he tried to keep up for so long, was broken. The first tears streamed down his cheeks and his quiet sniffles turned into loud open sobs. The rain held by the clouds above also started to fall, as if the world was waiting for that moment. He fell forward, like he’d been struck in the chest, but his companion caught him, arms around him in a gentle squeeze, firm and supportive.

Surprisingly he tilted back and he felt them both land in a soft cushiony thing under a tree that definitely wasn’t there before, still in an embrace. He could hear the rain coming down, but didn’t feel it soaking him to his bones. His companion must’ve grown this tree to shelter them from the storm. And the ‘cushion’ was actually a bed of flowers and fluffy cotton.

If his heart wasn’t feeling like it could break down into a million pieces, he probably would’ve tried to push the other boy away out of embarrassment, but he would’ve been lying to himself in this particular moment and feeling worse at the same time. He genuinely needed this, to just let his emotions run free with someone who he can connect with. His companion gently stroked his long hair, unraveling the ponytail and letting it fall down his back. But he didn’t care.

He just rested there on the flower bed in his friend’s arms, crying his heart out for what felt like forever. Eventually, the rain above their heads subsided, as he tired himself from tears. Even with his eyes feeling swollen and red from crying, he feels lighter, like a huge weight lifted off his chest. He wasn’t alone in his struggling grief. And even though there will be days like this where he feels like he can’t go on, he has his siblings, his friends, and the boy he’s been the happiest with in a long time to pick him back up when he falls.

He snuggles into his partner’s chest, comfortable to just sleep in this soothing flower bed for just a bit longer. He opens his eyes, seeing the flowers were a blossom very appropriate for the solitary memorial in this secluded plain. Forget-Me-Nots. Meaning ‘I will never forget you’.

“Leo? When I can no longer cry from their name, when I can feel anything other than guilt, will you tell me more about them? I know Camila loves to talk about them and has a lot of stories, but I want to hear about them from you.”

“I will, take your time.”

“Ugh, come ooon!! How does Kaze do this without cramping his hands?!”

Takumi’s brow was furrowed in concentration as he struggled to pick the lock on the door to the rather suspicious warehouse that Corrin insisted that Lilith build for him. He had been at it for a while, trying to get inside and just see what kind of little secret his ‘brother’ was keeping in there that he wanted kept away from the army.

Corrin had supposedly accepted an invitation to join a special tournament, one in which he would be a representative for their world and compete against other warriors from the OutRealms of all places. Takumi didn’t think other worlds existed until that day on the Plains of Hoshido, where instead of choosing a side in their war, Corrin had to represent both kingdoms or risk their worlds being destroyed.

Honestly, Takumi thought that was overkill just to invite someone to an inter dimensional tournament. Whatever happened to ‘please’ and ‘thank you’?

That wasn’t all though, the Wild Card had a bad feeling in his bones about the ‘people’ who ‘invited’ Corrin to participate. And by people, he literally meant giant disembodied hands that can somehow talk without a mouth. They showed up to stop the battle and explain why Corrin was chosen for this tournament, what his role would be outside of matches, and basically a lot of cross-cultural duties that Corrin must attend to.

It wasn’t completely bad per se, it could give Hoshido the opportunity to look into a collaboration with other worlds for trade and such. Except Nohr would undoubtedly do the same or even try to conquer other worlds.

The Hands, however, made a deal with Corrin that as long as they’re a Smash Fighter, no one would be conquered by each other or any other world, no matter what. With this, Corrin agreed to choose Smash.

But Takumi still had that bad feeling about all of this, hence why he’s now trying to break into the warehouse Corrin claimed wasn’t all that important and see for himself what the heck is going on.

“B-Big brother? S-Should we be d-doing this?”

Oh. He almost forgot about Sakura standing with him. The youngest Hoshidan princess was keeping an eye out in case Corrin came back to check on the warehouse. She was far more worried about what would happen if her brother got caught snooping around more so than what could possibly lurk inside.

“We-, or rather, I have to Sakura. You don’t have to stay and get caught like me. I can handle a scolding.”

“B-But big brother! I-Isn’t this violating Corrin’s trust in us? He even said in the meeting with the Hands that wanted us to be a family with him! Do you still think he’s lying?!”

Takumi stopped fiddling with the lock as his sister’s words sunk in. The way Corrin was practically pleading with Ryoma and the Crown Prince of Nohr was far too genuine for him to have been faking it. And he had to admit, having Corrin represent both kingdoms meant that he wouldn’t be their enemy on the battlefield.

But Takumi shook his head and started picking the lock again, voicing his own thoughts.

“It’s not about that Sakura. Something about all this doesn’t seem fake but it’s still not true. Like those Hands weren’t telling us the whole truth. They even have Corrin keeping secrets from us, something about a world order that must be maintained or Corrin will face consequences. Doesn’t that scream suspicious?!”

*click*

“Huh? Got it!”

Takumi finally got the lock to open, smiling in triumph. He then braced his body against the heavy door, grabbed the handle and metal bar with a firm grip, and pushed it open with all his strength. It slowly creaked open, being an entire slab of wood and steel it was incredibly heavy to open. It made Takumi wonder just how Corrin managed to open the darn thing regularly.

“Hnnrgh…almost got it..There!”

Takumi finally managed to shove the door completely open, revealing a rather large long room full with wooden crates containing many different items and each crate has a different sign detailing a different item. On the other side of the room was a book sitting on a stand closed shut. Takumi immediately began to cross the room, walking towards the book like a young man on a mission. Sakura slowly followed close behind her brother, pausing every so often to read the signs on some of the crates.

“W-What are these? There’s so many things I've never seen before.”

“I don’t know but that book might have more information.”

Sakura nodded, though she noticed that some of the crates on the top shelves looked a little too close to the edge, like the shelves are too small to hold them. Takumi stopped at the stand and picked up the book, beginning to flip through it to find answers. His brow raised at the book’s contents.

“Huh. This book is some kind of inventory log. Not what I had in mind but it’s something at least.”

“Um, big brother?”

“Hm? What is it?”

Sakura pointed upwards at the unstable top shelves. The siblings heard a wind blow outside, making the whole warehouse creak and groan. At the same time, the top shelves seemed to shift downward slightly and one of the crates began to wobble and slide. The siblings looked nervous as the crate stopped moving. Takumi laughed nervously.

“Heh heh. Maybe you’re right, Sakura. Let’s go before something bad happens.”

Sakura nodded, and they started to step towards the exit…before they heard the wind blow again, but much stronger! The crate at the edge of the top shelves was finally knocked off and started to fall towards Sakura! Takumi gasped and launched himself forward!

“SAKURA, LOOK OUT!!!”

He was successful in pushing his little sister out of the way of the crate. The crate was caught on the corner of one of the lower top shelves and popped its lid open making one of its contents bounce out of the box as it fell the rest of the way to the ground and broke apart, releasing the rest of its contents onto the floor.

Sakura and Takumi recovered and they looked at the destroyed box to find some large red mushrooms with white spots that had eyes on them for some reason. The mushrooms seemed to be slowly sliding around on the ground without any particular direction. The siblings could only blink at the sight.

“W-What kind of mushrooms are those?”

“I don’t know…”

Both siblings’ eyes widened as they both realized the same thing.

“The book!”

They look around before finding the book on the ground where Takumi dropped it, having landed open to a particular page entry. The page showed the mushroom like the ones sliding around on the floor as well as a description. The entry said, ‘Super Mushroom, an item commonly found in the Mushroom Kingdom that can make someone grow. The more Super Mushrooms one uses, the bigger they become. Current count x6’

The description made both siblings’ eyes widen as they looked back at the mushrooms on the floor and counted only five. Takumi and Sakura looked around before they looked up and found the last mushroom falling from one of the upper shelves. Takumi didn’t even have enough time to dodge or catch the mushroom before it landed on his head, splitting apart into spores that were quickly absorbed into Takumi’s skin and clothes.

The impact didn’t hurt, it was actually pretty squishy, but Takumi still had his hands on top of his head where it landed before realizing it didn’t hurt. Sakura gasped at this, both worried about her brother and guilty for making a mess inside Corrin’s warehouse. She noticed that Takumi was starting to tremble and slightly glow for some reason.

“B-Big b-brother? A-Are you o-okay?”

Takumi was busy looking at his hands as a strange rainbow glow covered his body. He was feeling really strange, like something inside him felt like it was going burst but without the pain.

“I-I feel--!”

The feeling pulsed through Takumi’s body, shocking both him and Sakura because like how the book described, Takumi grew, like three or five feet bigger than how he normally was! Takumi couldn’t help but look down at his now smaller sister, both of siblings’ eyes were wide and their mouths open. This shouldn’t be possible, but they were seeing, and Takumi’s case experiencing it firsthand.

Takumi suddenly felt another tingling feeling before he grew, and turned around to see four Super Mushrooms left. One of them must’ve touched him and burst, now ready to make Takumi even bigger as he felt the spores absorb into his body. He turned back to Sakura, who saw what was about to happen and backed up.

“Sakura! Get out of here!”

He gasped as he grew again, his head slamming against the ceiling and making him trip and fall, landing on top of another Super Mushroom! Takumi felt the mushroom burst apart from underneath him, and looked at where he saw Sakura. To his relief, she was already out the door. Just as he felt another pulse send him into another growth spurt.

The warehouse was now creaking and groaning, as if it could barely contain the growing prince for much longer. Takumi had his hands on the walls and his feet pressed against the other side of the room. He could barely move, all of this growing was getting to be too much.

He carefully turned his head to see the remaining three Super Mushrooms in a corner of the room, bouncing off each other but not too close to Takumi to make him grow again. But he noticed something odd happening to the mushrooms. His internal questions were answered when the mushrooms started to glow and change. The caps swelled in size, making the ‘heads’ smaller and a bit thinner. The glow stopped and the caps were now orange with red spots and so large they looked swollen compared to the thinner ‘heads’, which still have eyes.

“Oh, no!”

Takumi couldn’t do anything without wrecking the warehouse to get away from the now mutated mushrooms and before he knew it, all three mushrooms touched Takumi at the same time, bursting into spores and absorbing into Takumi’s body. It glowed like with the others, but the glow was stronger and the trembling a lot stronger.

Takumi realized with a groan that the mutant mushrooms are a lot stronger than the normal Super Mushrooms, especially when absorbing three at once. And from the feeling shooting through his body, the growth was going to make him REALLY BIG! He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to mentally brace himself for the inevitable growth. The pulse exploded through his body…and he GREW with a loud cry!

Takumi felt his body soar in size out of the warehouse, making it explode and collapse all over his body as nothing more than debris. He could only wait until his body stopped growing, which he eventually does, leaving him feeling like he ran a few miles. He finally opened his eyes.

He was absolutely enormous! The warehouse was reduced to rubble, nothing more than tiny splinters and dust. The rest of the crates were scattered about and looked to him like tiny brown dots or spots. His eyes slowly scanned the ground until he found the absolutely minuscule Sakura, safe and sitting on the ground, staring up at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. But the sight that made him feel horrified was the tiny silver figure of Corrin next to her with an equally shocked and scared expression.

Events flash to the Hands, pointing at Corrin in accusation, like he was guilty of a severe crime.

Ta..umi..

Corrin failed to persuade the Hands and became submissive and sad.

Wake..u…

Corrin, with his hands bound being led through a swirling portal like a prisoner towards execution as he slowly turns and says…

TAKUMI WAKE UP!!!

Takumi’ eyes snap open, raising his arms and whirling around in a panic until someone grabs his arms and makes him face them. Wide amber eyes met worried ones of the same color, belonging to a young blonde haired man around his age wearing clean black and purple clothes.

“Takumi, you’re alright. You’re okay. You had a nightmare.”

The Hoshidan Prince stared at his Nohrian counterpart, starting to calm down the longer he gazed into the other prince’s calm face but worried eyes. He looked at his hands, noticing that he was a normal size as compared to back then. Everything that Leo, the Sorcerous Prince of Nohr, was true, except for one thing.

That wasn’t a dream he had. It was a memory.

“I-I-I’m sorry. I-I need some air.”

“We are outside, Prince Takumi.”

Takumi took a look at his surroundings. He was sitting on a sleeping bag behind some bushes, right near the wreckage of Corrin’s item warehouse. It never got cleaned up after he left apparently. Next to the two princes was a burnt out fireplace, the flame having flickered out hours ago.

Takumi tilted his head back and groaned at his own ‘duh’ moment, making Leo next to him chuckle awkwardly. He had moments like that too when his siblings point out his backwards collar or any other piece of clothing didn’t put on right on different occasions.

“Why am I like this every time I can’t get a good night’s sleep?!”

Takumi hung his head after he spoke, his bangs shadowing the misery on his face. He felt hands gently touching his shoulders and jumped a bit. He looked at Leo, who then slowly wrapped his arms around the archer in a gentle hug from behind, pulling him closer until he was being snuggled.

Takumi felt a blush on his cheeks, and just leaned into Leo’s chest, placing a hand on the other boy’s arms. It was a surprise that they had gotten so close to each other. The time when they considered each other enemies felt so far away, Takumi could’ve sworn that it had been all a terrible nightmare. Leo finally spoke up in a gentle voice.

“You were dreaming about Corrin again, weren’t you?”

“Yeah…”

Leo ‘hmmed’ and gently tightened his hug by just a hair, trying to convey as much comfort as he could without using words. Takumi kept talking.

“I didn’t mean for things to turn out like that. I might as well have sent him to prison to be executed for my own mistakes.”

“You know he doesn’t hold it against you, Takumi.”

“He had every right to punish me though! I could’ve pressed Corrin harder for answers or just waited for him to talk to us about it on his own terms. But I had to go and do something so stupid and embarrassing, and it got Corrin in big trouble!”

Takumi felt his eyes swell with tears as he tried to hold them back. But one escapes down his cheek only to be wiped off by Leo’s gentle touch. The gesture calmed Takumi a bit too.

“T-The worst part about it, Corrin got banished for my mistakes while I got off scot free! I’m the one who should be punished for it, but I’m not and Corrin’s the one who paid the price.”

Leo couldn’t help but think about how much guilt Takumi had been carrying since that day. He must be thinking about how everyone must hate him now since Corrin was so beloved and coveted by their elder siblings.

“Takumi…”

But before Leo could say anything more, both princes heard the snap of a twig, bringing them both to attention and realizing they’re not alone anymore. Releasing Takumi from the hug, they ducked back under the cover of the bushes to see who was coming.

As the two princes lay in waiting, the clouds in the sky parted, revealing the full moon and the duo soon counted five figures emerging from the forest, walking towards the warehouse ruins as if looking for something.

Two of the figures were female and around their age, though they were both very different. One of the girls had blue hair and eyes, odd looking bracelets on her wrists, and wore very strange clothing consisting of a white cap with a pink symbol, a short dark pink scarf around her neck, a black sleeveless top with a white underpart, black knee length socks and a really short skirt and boots that were the same shade of pink.

The figure next to her was humanoid, but also not at the same time. It was a bipedal canine with blue and black fur. Its chest fur is pale yellow and had a spike coming out of its chest and the backs of its paws. It’s red eyes scanned the area carefully, as if looking for something hidden in the shadows. At the same time, it’s staying close to the girl as if to protect her from any threats that could appear.

The other girl was wearing more familiar clothing to Takumi, being the garb of a ninja. Though it obviously has some personality to it. Bright pink with a darker pink flower pattern over black undergarments and a much longer red scarf than her fellow human companion with a white petal pattern on the ends of the scarf. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail with a pink flower-like bow and a headband around her forehead with a gold plate marked with a flower symbol on it.

The creature accompanying the ninja dressed girl was a dark blue bipedal frog with a long pink tongue wrapped around its face like a ninja’s scarf. It also has pale blue markings on its upper legs and like the canine, it was searching the area carefully for something, while staying close to its companion to protect her.

The final figure was probably the most surprising member of their odd group. It was the tallest figure and not because it was floating around and not walking like the rest. It had a primarily white feline like body with three fingered hands, a long purple tail, and stoic violet eyes. Its arms are folded across its chest as it follows the other four from behind.

The strange group stopped in front of the warehouse ruins, looking at the mess with confusion and worry. The blue haired girl then turned to the rest of her group, unsure of what to do next.

“Well we’re here, but wow, the mess is worse than I thought. Now I know what Corrin meant by the warehouse was unsalvageable by the end of the incident.”

Her companion turned to the bluette with her hands on her hips.

“What did you expect? None of it was Corrin’s fault anyways. I’ll bet one of the soldiers didn’t trust Corrin and thought the warehouse was for something bad and destroyed it. Most likely that Saizo ninja character. According to Corrin, he’s paranoid and more hotheaded than a Fire Pokemon on a bad day.”

“Well, I think it was the older sisters having a really bad fight, over Corrin no less. They don’t even like each other anyway so they’ve got to be the ones responsible for Corrin being taken away.”

The hidden princes winced at the comments the girls were making about who could’ve been responsible for the incident. While they were not far from the truth, it still made them feel guilty because everything they said was true about Saizo and their older sisters and how they would be the culprits likely responsible for causing the incident. The girls were about to bicker more when a calm male voice chimed in.

“Calm down girls. It’s true that someone was responsible for wrecking the warehouse, but that’s why we came here, to find out what really happened here.”

The girls surprisingly looked at the blue canine, and calmed down at the male voice, who sounded very sensible. Though another more watery or bubbly sounding male’s voice suddenly chimed in, voicing his own thoughts on who could be responsible for the incident, and reigniting the girl’s argument.

“Though since we are on the subject of pointing fingers at people, I think it was the older brothers that wrecked the warehouse. Any fight between those two is going to be even worse than the sisters. They’re always looking like they’re going to rip each other’s throats out every time they see each other.”

The girls groaned as the ninja girl facepalmed, as if he came up with something incredibly ridiculous. Takumi couldn’t help but agree with how Ryoma can be pretty ruthless in battle but the voice was wrong again. The two girls were about to counter the bubbly voice’s argument when a third echoey voice rang out not just through the air but as if through their minds as well.

“As convincing as those guesses are, it wasn’t the Fire Ninja, elder brothers, nor the elder sisters. It was the younger Hoshidian brother.”

Both princes jumped at the voice as the girls, canine, and ninja frog turned to the tall floating feline, who was staring at the wreckage with an unreadable expression. The blue haired girl spoke up her confusion.

“Takumi? What do you mean? What would he gain from getting Corrin in trouble?”

The mentioned prince felt dread from the on spot hypothesis, especially since he couldn’t see who the individual was. The only humans were the two girls, so where was the voice coming from?

The tall feline straightened up from where it was kneeling, before looking at the canine and it seemed to cock its head to the side before nodding and walking over to the wreckage and starting to dig through the rubble, looking for something. Which is even weirder because the stuff that was stored in the warehouse was moved to another building after it got destroyed.

Takumi then looked at the feline…who suddenly whipped its head towards the hiding princes, its eyes glowing a bright blue! The voice echoed through everyone’s mind again as the feline stretched out its hand towards the princes in hiding.

“Let’s bring him and his friend out here so they can tell us themselves.”

Both boys suddenly started glowing and their bodies just as quickly felt like they were in someone’s grip, and they started to float into the air bringing them out into the open. They couldn’t help but struggle fruitlessly as they were brought over to the quintet and placed on their knees, forcing them to look up.

The feline was far more intimidating and rather scary up close, glowering at them like they were incompetent soldiers who had totally messed up on a mission and were awaiting punishment. To their surprise however, the blue haired girl suddenly ran in between the feline and the boys, spreading her arms out wide as if to protect them from the clearly more powerful creature.

“Whoa! Wait! Mewtwo, don’t hurt them! We didn’t come here to fight, we came here looking for a way to help Corrin!”

Takumi blinked at the girl. That was the third time Corrin’s name was used amongst the group. They got to have information about where he was taken since that day and why exactly was it that Corrin was taken only after Takumi had caused the incident. He wanted to voice these questions out when the echoey voice spoke up a third time. Now definitely confirming that the powerful feline was indeed the voice’s owner.

“Calm down, I wanted to make sure neither of them would try and attack us before we get a chance to explain our side of the story.”

The boys stopped glowing and it only took a few seconds to realize that they can move around on their own again. They then heard the ninja girl, ninja frog, and canine approach them, moving slowly so they don’t startle the boys. The canine was actually holding a familiar looking book in its paws. It then released a paw and stretched it out towards the two princes, summoning a ball sized blue flame.

The action just made Takumi feel even more nervous and confused as he finally voiced his thoughts, scrambling to his feet as he did so.

“Explain?! Oh you better start explaining yourselves! Who are you?! WHAT are you?!? How do you know Corrin?! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!?!?”

He finished his questions in a single breath, fully expecting to be scolded or something but it never came. He looked up and stiffened as the canine moved towards him, blue flame still in its paw. It moved the flame around in front of him and Leo while slowly stepping around them both, as if analyzing them. It finally stopped where it started in front of them and turned to its group, speaking in the same sensible male voice that the princes heard before.

“These two must be Corrin’s younger brothers, Takumi and Leo. You sensed that Takumi had been in the warehouse at the time of the incident and that’s how you knew he was connected to it, right Mewtwo?”

The feline nodded. The girls, who had taken a step back from the boys when Takumi started yelling, carefully stepped forward once again, the ninja girl making her voice known.

“Shulk did say that Takumi is connected to Corrin in a way.”

Takumi felt his eye twitch and a hand gently squeezed his shoulder. He looked to see Leo miming deep breathing, prompting Takumi to do the same. He slowly inhaled through his nose and slowly out through his mouth, then made his voice known again. Though he was still feeling pretty annoyed.

“Excuse me? Did you not hear me earlier?! Who? Are? You?”

“I must agree. If you know something about Corrin or why you’re interested in Takumi, then please share it with us before we even think about doing anything else.”

The group looked back at the two princes, impatiently waiting for an explanation, then the ninja girl spoke up.

“Ok, we’ll talk. And it sounds like Corrin didn’t tell you anything so let us explain from the beginning.”

The group started with introductions. The blue haired girl was named Dawn Hikari, and the canine with her was called Lucario, while the ninja was named Serena Takamoto and the ninja frog was called Greninja. The feline was named Mewtwo, and the three creatures were called Pokémon while the girls were referred to as Pokémon Trainers, those who catch and raise Pokémon as part of their daily lives.

Lucario, Greninja, and Mewtwo were named because of their species and unless a Trainer gives a Pokémon a nickname to go by, they are referred to by the names of their species. Dawn and Serena know about Takumi and about other worlds because their partners and Mewtwo are part of the Smash Bros, the same group Corrin was now a part of. The Pokémon may be the fighters, but Dawn, Serena, and a couple others were allowed to live in the Smash Bros world to care for their Pokémon and teach those from other worlds about Pokémon in the case of Pokémon suddenly appearing in different worlds.

Serena honestly thought it was a stretch, but the arrangements did help her not worry so much about her partner if he were to get sick or badly injured. When Leo asked who Mewtwo’s human partner was, Serena had to clarify that he was a wild Pokémon by choice.

“Mewtwo’s kind of a free spirit. He was selected to be a Smash Brother because of his power.”

“That’s just Serena saying that Mewtwo is a wild Pokémon by his own choice and doesn’t have a partner in a nice way. No offense.”

“*chuckle* Thank you Miss Takamoto. And, I’m not offended by your statement, Greninja.”

As for why the group was here, Dawn was hoping that someone from this world would tell them as apparently they were being kept in the dark by the ones in charge of the latest tournament. They had accepted a task to go to Corrin’s home world to clean up the mess but in actuality, they came to find Takumi and figure out what caused Corrin to get banned from his world so suddenly.

All the Smash Bros could travel between worlds and visit each other whenever they wanted to, but recently strict rules were imposed on them to essentially keep the Smashers confined to the main world of Smash. Especially since there was currently an enemy out there with unknown intent.

Takumi simply scoffed and folded his arms over his chest, sporting a sour look on his face. When Dawn sassily asked why, he replied very clearly snippy.

“Why don’t you ask Corrin? He obviously told you about us and our world, so he won’t be so shy about telling you anything else.”

The girls looked to each other and the Pokémon, wordlessly discussing something wrong by the looks on their faces. Finally, Serena took a deep breath, looked both princes square in the eye and answered.

“That’s the whole problem in a nutshell, Takumi. Corrin’s in trouble. Like the kidnapped kind of trouble.”

Both princes looked shocked by this revelation, prompting the group to explain further. A while back, Corrin was abducted by a mysterious enemy who seemed to be trying to bring Corrin, or anyone with special powers down in any way they possibly can, mostly targeting dragons or those with godly power. In fact, the Hands that took Corrin weren’t the real Master Hand and Crazy Hand, but soulless copies created to fool everyone while their master made their move.

Luckily, they’ve had some help with identifying the enemy and know a way to get to where Corrin was taken. Though it took some persuasion, they managed to convince a girl named Rira to help, since she’s familiar with the territory in which Corrin was currently being held. She called it a ‘Labyrinth’, a sort of dream world that the enemy would create to, essentially break the victim’s heart and will and eventually kill them just so a fake can take their place in the real world, one loyal only to the Labyrinth’s creator.

But Rira has the power to unlock the way to these Labyrinths and can give other people access if she wishes, mostly to rescue the person whom the dream world was created for. She usually does these missions alone, but this time was different and the Smashers weren’t going to allow her to rescue Corrin alone.

When Takumi inquired as to how the enemy would kill their victims, Dawn admitted that there were a lot of technical details that couldn’t be explained right away. But to put it simply, the enemy would feed lies to their victims or point out their flaws in such a negative manner that it would break the person’s psyche and cause them to feel massive amounts of despair that summons a demonic version of themselves who embodies the lies and the despair of the victim. The monstrous copy would then kill the victim and amass enough power to escape into the real world and take the victim’s place just to lure more victims into more Labyrinths.

Takumi and Leo felt angry and disgusted that this unknown enemy would just toy with people they abduct just to kill them by the end of it, all for some sadistic pleasure. Leo asked how Takumi factors into rescuing Corrin. Lucario and Mewtwo explained that one of the Smashers, a young man named Shulk, can more or less have visions of the future.

Though he saw the incident happening, the Smashers failed to react in time to prevent Corrin’s kidnapping. They do have his weapon, the Yato blade, which can help guide Rira to Corrin’s location in the Labyrinth since it was a personal item Corrin had carried around with him. Of course, Shulk also saw Takumi in the visions about Corrin as well, meaning he would be instrumental in ensuring Corrin gets out alive…

Or, as Greninja sarcastically added, become the cause of Corrin’s death.

“When do we leave?”

This surprised the group as they were expecting a different response. More questions, utter indifference, or even outright denial of everything they’ve been told. But Takumi wanted to go back with them? The Hoshidan prince further spoke.

“It was my fault that Corrin got in trouble in the first place. I shouldn’t have broken into that warehouse in the first place and now Corrin could die because of my mistake that he’s paying the price for. Even before this, I never even wanted anything to do with Corrin and now, if I don’t do something he’s going to die at the hands of a murderer! I have to set the record straight, so I’ll go back with you!”

Lucario could see that the aftermath of the incident weighed heavily on Takumi for a long time and he now regrets what happened because he saw someone else pay the price for his actions. Dawn does ask about how Takumi could’ve caused the destruction in the first place. He took a deep breath and explained.

“W-Well, I was suspicious about how secretive Corrin had been about the warehouse, so I picked the lock and went inside along with my sister Sakura. We found a lot of these weird items stored in boxes and this book which was like an inventory log for everything stored in there. The building itself however wasn’t stable because one of the boxes fell off the top shelf and broke apart. Inside were these large red mushrooms that had eyes on them.”

Lucario then opened the book he carried, one that Takumi now identified as the same inventory log from before and turned the book around to show the ‘Super Mushroom’ page to the entire group.

“You mean this mushroom?”

“Y-Yes! There were at least six of them, but one of them landed on my head and I started to glow and feel really strange. The next thing I knew, I grew! Like five feet in height grew! I told Sakura to get out of the house as two more mushrooms touched me and made me grow bigger! Then the last three mushrooms, well mutated for lack of a better term, touched me at the same time, and I grew so much I destroyed the building! By the time I could finally process what happened to me, Corrin was already being dragged away by those Hands and could do nothing but watch it happen!”

Takumi finally caught his breath, panting as he let out his confession in a single breath. Leo was at his side again, gently rubbing circles in between his shoulder blades as he tried to soothe Takumi. The girls though had a blank look of surprise on their faces before chuckling awkwardly.

“Hehe…I guess we’re both wrong when we were guessing about what happened.”

“Yeah, it’s was a shock when it happened to our Pokémon when they started fighting in their matches that’s for sure.”

“Eh, it’s not that bad.”

Everyone looked confused as they turned to Greninja, who shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Sure it’s a surprise when it happens, but you get used to it after a while.”

“We’re getting off topic now.”

Lucario refocused everyone on the situation, then turned to Takumi with a serious look.

“Prince Takumi, there will no doubt be far, far more strange, confusing, and unusual sights, people, and things that will be very different from everything you’ve ever known. And this mission to rescue your half sibling will be dangerous and rely on tactics you would never have considered before to ensure everyone makes it out alive. Knowing all of this, do you still want to go?”

Takumi took a deep breath and looked the Aura Pokémon in the eye. Before he could say anything, Leo spoke up to everyone’s surprise.

“We do.”

Everyone turned to Leo, including Takumi.

“Leo?”

“You really expect me to stay behind and wonder whether you’ll come back home or not? I’m coming with you.”

Takumi smiled. A month or so ago, he wouldn’t dream of him being being friends with a Nohrian, let alone of Nohr’s royals. But now, he was happy that Leo was his friend. He gently took Leo’s hand and turned back to Lucario with a determined look.

“We’re in.”

The Aura Pokémon smiled, as did the girls. Mewtwo looked impressed surprisingly. And Greninja shrugged with a smile.

“Eh, the more the merrier as they say. Plus, he’s smart enough to figure out dimensional travel spells so he would’ve followed us anyway.”

The group chuckled, with Leo wondering if it supposed to be a compliment. The girls and the Pokémon then surround the princes in a circle as Mewtwo prepared to warp them all back to the Smash Brothers world. Dawn gently tooked Leo’s free hand as Serena did the same thing with Takumi.

“So we don’t get separated.”