Tuesday, July 7, 1992, 9:55 AM

"Kid?" Kevin walked into Kid Icarus' room. The young archer was sitting on his bed, staring at a picture. Kevin sat on the bed to Kid Icarus' left. "What is that?"

Kid Icarus handed the picture to Kevin. The picture had four people in it. The first was male and had brown eyes and black hair. The person to his left was slightly smaller, female, and had green eyes and orange hair. She was holding an infant that had brown eyes and black hair. In front of the two taller people and to the center was Kid Icarus at six years of age. All four had white wings.

"Is this your family?"

Kid Icarus nodded, then looked away.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked.

"When Wily tried to take control of Videoland on July 2, one-hundred eighteen of my people were killed by Wily and his robots." Kid Icarus' voice cracked. "My mother...was one of those one-hundred eighteen people killed."

Lana walked in the room and sat on the bed to Kid Icarus' right. She put her hand on Kid Icarus' right shoulder. "Kid, I'm sorry."

"It's not your faulticus." Kid Icarus replied. "It's Wily's...and his robots.

"I know what it's like to lose a parent." Lana said. "I've lost both. I have good friends that help me through times like that, and so do you."

Kid smiled. "Thanksicus."

"I think Simon is almost done cooking breakfast." Lana said.

"Good, I'm starved!" Kevin said as he and Lana stood up and headed towards the door.

"Simonius is cooking?" Kid Icarus asked. "I think I'll skip breakfast todayicus!"

Kevin and Lana laughed.

Saturday, October 2, 1993, 11:30 AM

"Kid, catch!" Kevin shouted.

This Saturday was peaceful, and the weather was nice, so the N Team decided to play football. Kevin, Kid Icarus, Lana, Romeo, and Julius played against Rick, Mega Man, Simon, Mike, and Kristen. They weren't playing for points, just for fun.

Kid Icarus was hovering nine feet in the air, near the ten yard line. Kevin was between the ten and twenty yard lines. Kevin threw the ball to Kid Icarus, who then threw it to Lana, who was almost at the goal. She caught the ball and made a touchdown.

"Let's take a break." Rick suggested. "It's kinda hot out here."

"That was fun!" Lana exclaimed, taking off her helmet.

"Great job, Lana!" Kristen hugged the Princess.

"Uh,...thanks." Lana pushed Kristen away.

Everyone headed back to the house, talking about whatever came to their minds.

"Kid!" a strong tenor voice called.

Kid Icarus turned around. A man with black hair, brown eyes, and white wings was running towards him.

"Father!" Kid greeted.

The two hugged. Kid Icarus' father then ruffled the young archer's hair.

"It's been a long time since I've last seen you." Kid Icarus' father said. "You've really grown since then. You look just like your mother did at that age."

Sadness replaced happiness on Kid Icarus' face. "I wish she were still here-icus."

"Me, too, Kid." Kid Icarus' father said, though Kid Icarus didn't think he sounded very sincere.

"Hey, Kid, let's go!" Kevin called.

"Come onicus." Kid Icarus took his father's hand and led him towards the N Team's house. "It's about time I introduced you to my friends."

"Judas Icarus?" Lana, Kid Icarus, and Kid Icarus' father were in the living room, seated on the couch. "It's been ages since I've seen you. I remember during one of the most difficult times of the first war when you fought as one of my most loyal soldiers!"

"Kid was six then. That was the time he ventured into the underworld to defeat Medusa." Judas laughed.

"Kid Icarus defeated Medusa at age six?" Simon had been in the hallway, listening to the conversation. "I didn't even handle a whip until I was twelve!" With that, Kid Icarus laughed.

"I'm sure you two would like to do something alone together." Lana said, standing up.

"I would like to see more of this video world." Judas said.

"I could show you around after lunch." Kid offered.

"I'd better go see if lunch is ready yet." Lana said, walking towards the kitchen, "You know what happens when Romeo and Julius are asked to do something."

Kid Icarus and Simon laughed.

Li Shiroshi lay on the couch in her living room, exhausted. The past three weeks, the twenty-six-year-old doctor had been working all day and most of the night on something she hoped would benefit the N Team. Michael and Jazz, her robotic "son" and "daughter", had insisted she take a break. Tempo, their robowolf, lay on the floor beside her, licking her right hand, which hung over the couch. Her other hand was relaxed on her stomach.

Michael and Jazz had the same basic designs as Mega Man and Mega Girl. Michael was about six feet tall and had brown eyes and short blond hair under his helmet. His armor was white with gold trim. Jazz was five feet, seven inches, and had blue eyes and black hair that stopped at the middle of her back. Her armor was white with a sky blue trim. Tempo's body, tail, neck, and face looked like those of a real wolf and were silver and white. The legs and paws looked mechanical. The top half of his legs looked like Rush's and were white. The bottom half also looked like Rush's but were silver and five times wider. His paws were huge, white, and each one had four sharp claws that looked like white crystal. His teeth were the same type of material as his claws. He wore a white helmet with silver trim. It had the same shape as Michael's and Jazz's but had holes that his ears popped out of.

"Li?" a rich, beautiful alto voice called from the lab. "You have a call."

"Thanks, Jazz! Be there in a minute!" Li slowly stood up and walked to the lab.

Lana's face was on the screen.

"Hi, Lana! What's up?" Li asked.

"Have you seen Kid Icarus?" Lana asked.

"No, why?" Li asked. "What happened?"

"Something strange is going on around here." Lana replied. "If you see him, follow him. I have this strange feeling." Lana relayed the current events to Gameboy's "mother".

Kid Icarus and his father walked down the last street on the "tour", laughing and joking around. In spite of everything, Kid Icarus had a strange feeling that the man he was talking to wasn't his father, that he was changed somehow.

"This place is just the opposite of Mount Icarus." Judas said.

"It took me a while to adjust to living here-icus." Kid Icarus said. Then he looked up. There was something moving in the distance.

"Wily!" Kid and Judas Icarus both said in unison.

Dr. Wily's spaceship hovered into view. Guts Man, Cuts Man, Metal Man, and Elec Man jumped down and surrounded and overtook the two archers.

Also in the distance, four figures watched the scene. Li, Michael, Jazz, and Tempo followed Wily's spaceship back to the mad scientist's fortress.

Kid Icarus woke up on the cold metal floor of Dr. Wily's dungeon. His lip was bleeding, as was a shallow cut on his left shoulder where one of Metal Man's Metal Blades had struck him. He also had a few bruises on his arms and legs.

"Kid, you okay?" a familiar voice asked. Judas was in the cell to Kid Icarus' right.

"No broken bones." Kid Icarus half-joked. "You?"

"Just a few cuts and bruises." Judas replied. "And one heck of a headache."

Judas had plucked a feather off his right wing and was using it to pick the lock on his cell door. He succeeded and went to work on Kid Icarus' cell.

"Been here before?" Judas asked, only half-joking.

"Not this Skull Castle." Kid Icarus replied. "Dr. Wily just finished building it on September 10th." His cell door opened, and he walked out.

Kid drew his bow, along with a buzzsaw arrow. He and Judas walked down the corridor leading away from the dungeon.

"Excellent!" Dr. Wily exclaimed. "Everything is going exactly as planned!"

"You think this plan of yours will work?" Guts Man asked.

"Of course it will!" Wily exclaimed. "Judas has been working with me since 1991! I didn't give him those thirty coins for a father-son outing, did I?"

"Remember your last mercenary?" Cuts Man asked.

"Pak didn't have that chip planted in his brain." Wily replied. "I can control Judas' actions with the push of a button."

Kid Icarus and his father had taken various corridors and opened several gates. Now, they were in a small corridor. There were gates on both ends. Kid Icarus touched the gate in front of him, and it opened, revealing a large, empty room. Kid Icarus and his father walked into the room.

A small area in the center of the room flickered, and a hologram of Dr. Wily appeared.

"Nice to see you again, Judas." the hologram snickered. "Nice to see you kept your part of the bargain."

"What?" Kid Icarus glared at his father.

"I don't know what your talking about, Wily." Judas replied angrily.

"Oh, I think you do." Dr. Wily pushed a button on the remote control he was holding.

Judas screamed in pain, then lunged at Kid Icarus. The young archer dodged. Judas then shot an arrow at Kid Icarus, which he easily dodged.

"Father, what are you doing?!" Kid Icarus asked.

"Foolish human!" Wily sneered. "Your father has been working for me since Mother Brain was imprisoned. In fact, he led the attack on Mount Icarus that killed one-hundred eighteen people." The holograph of Wily laughed evilly, then disappeared.

"I knew there was something strange about you!" Kid Icarus said, dodging another arrow.

Judas laughed, then disappeared in a flash of light.

Kid Icarus heard a low groaning sound. He looked to his left. The wall was moving towards him. It had already passed the gate he'd come through, blocking it.

"Gee-whizicus!" the young archer exclaimed.

The wall was moving faster and faster.

"Kid! Over here!" a familiar soprano voice called from Kid Icarus' right.

He looked to see Li Shiroshi. She had blasted a hole in the wall that a normal-sized person could easily stand straight in and was now motioning for him to hurry. He did so, just barely making it through the hole in time.

"That was close." a tenor voice said. Michael, followed by Jazz and Tempo, joined Li and Kid Icarus in the small corridor.

"How did you find me?" Kid Icarus asked.

"Tempo followed your scent." Li Shiroshi replied.

Tempo walked over to Kid Icarus and sniffed his shoulder, which was still bleeding. Tempo was a little taller than the archer.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Li said.

Kid Icarus, Li, and the robots went down the corridor that Li had come from.

"No, I'm afraid I haven't seen Kid Icarus anywhere." Dr. Right said sadly.

Lana was in the Communications room. She had called Dr. Right, hoping he had seen the young archer.

"Thanks, anyway, Dr. Right." Lana said, disappointed. "Let me know if you do see him, okay?"

Dr. Right nodded, and ended the transmission.

"Any luck?" Kevin asked, walking into the room.

Lana shook her head. "Dr. Right hasn't seen him. Dr. Shiroshi isn't home. None of us have seen him anywhere either. I don't know where else to look."

"I'm sure he's fine." Kevin placed his right arm around Lana, and the two kissed.

The party had been traveling through lifts, corridors, platforms, and gates for what seemed like hours.

"Li, watch outicus!" Kid Icarus yelled suddenly.

Li ducked as a laser beam sliced through the air she had occupied a split-second before. "Son of a - " She got cut off by more fire, which she dodged.

Li stared firing at the army of robots ahead. Michael and Jazz started attacking the robots with their plasma cannons. Tempo used his teeth, claws, and size to bring down and shred robot after robot. Some of Kid Icarus' arrows damaged the robots. Before long, all that was left was junk metal.

"Wily needs to work on his robots' durability," Li said, "or get better metal, or both."

The group moved through the next corridor.

"How did she get in here?" Dr. Wily watched in horror as most of his robots were turned into heaps of scrap metal.

"Kid's friends are obviously more clever than you think." Judas said.

"I want her dead now!!!" Wily screamed. "She's ruining my plans!!!"

"The rest of the robots and I will take care of Dr. Shiroshi and her robots. What shall we do with Kid?" Judas asked.

"Let him escape." Wily grinned. "I have...plans for him!"

Judas nodded and left the room to gather the rest of Dr. Wily's robots. Wily was sure he saw regret in Judas' eyes.

"Going somewhere?" Judas stood in the group's path, along with Guts Man, Cuts Man, and Elec Man. "We have direct orders to destroy you."

"Father, listen to yourself!" Kid Icarus said. "You're becoming more like Wily every minute-icus!"

Judas once again attacked without responding. He and Kid Icarus fired various types of arrows at each other and dodged each other's shots while Li, Michael, and Jazz fired at the robots. Tempo also contributed to the fight, shredding the robots with his teeth and claws. It wasn't long before the robots were destroyed.

Li Shiroshi and her 'bots watched the fight between father and son. Kid Icarus had his father cornered. His bow and arrow were at the ready in case Judas decided to try to escape. Instead, he disappeared in a beam of light.

"You okay, Kid?" Li asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Physically, yes. Emotionally, I'm not so sure-icus." Kid Icarus lowered his head. Li Shiroshi got on her knees in front of Kid Icarus and put her right hand on his left shoulder. "Why'd he betray me?"

"I know how you feel. I've been through the same thing." Li said. "Timothy Shiroshi, my dad, would leave home early for work and come back late at night drunk almost every day. He was extremely violent when under the influence. This went on for a year. On March 15, 1984, when I had just turned seventeen, my parents were fighting as usual. My dad killed Heather Shiroshi, my mom, in his rage. He would've killed me, too, if I hadn't run away. The Mirror World Dr. Wily found me. He taught me all I know about robotics. That was before I found out about your Dr. Right and my evil opposite." Li shrugged. "Anyway, we need to get back to the rest of the N Team. I'm sure they're worried about you."

"I guess you're right, Li." Kid Icarus said.

Li stood up, and the party walked outside. Li opened a warp, and she, Kid Icarus, and her 'bots walked through.

"Kid! You're back!"

Li and Kid Icarus had just arrived at the N Team's house. Li's 'bots decided to go back to their house. Now Kid Icarus and Li were in the living room.

Lana knelt down to hug Kid Icarus, then stood up and faced Li. "Thank you! I'm glad we have such good friends."

Li blushed a little. "You did the same for me." The roboticist / fighter looked around. "Where's Gameboy?"

"He, Simon, Mega Man, and Romeo went to Castlevania shortly after Kid Icarus disappeared." Lana replied. "He'll be here in three days."

Li nodded. "Just so he doesn't get into too much trouble."

Lana laughed. "You sound like Kevin's mother."

"Gameboy is my son in a way." Li said.

"Why are we all standing up?" Lana sat down one one end of the couch.

Li sat on the other. Kid Icarus took the seat between the two women.

"What all happened? Where's Judas?" Lana asked.

Kid Icarus and Li told Lana the recent events.

"Judas is working for Dr. Wily?!" Lana asked. "That's terrible!"

"I don't think he's doing it willingly." Kid Icarus said. "Right before he attacked me the first time, he screamed, as if he were shocked. I think Wily is controlling himicus."

Lana looked for a way to change the subject. "We'll discuss it more when everyone's here. In the meantime, who wants video chip cookies?"

Friday, October 8, 1993, 10:00 PM

Kid Icarus was in the Communications room. Mega Man had called him in, saying that someone wanted to talk with him.

"This is Kid Icarus." he said. "Who am I talking to?"

The viewscreen turned on to reveal Dr. Wily and Judas.

"Wily! What do you wanticus?"

"I'd be a little more polite if I were you." Wily replied. He called to two of his robots. They came into view with a small child. The child had brown eyes, black hair, and white wings. "Micah's life depends on your performance."

"In what?" Kid Icarus didn't try to hide the suspicion and anger in his voice. Micah was his five-year-old brother.

"We challenge you to an all-out battle in the Mount Icarus coliseum." Dr. Wily replied. "You and Judas will fight each other using only the weapons and armor the gladiators use when they fight in the arena. Should you decide not to show up, the pipsqueak here faces a slow and rather unpleasent death."

"That's nutsicus!" Kid Icarus exclaimed.

Wily grinned evily. "What will it be, Kid Idiot?"

Kid Icarus glared at the screen. "You win, Wily. But no tricks!"

"Of course not!" Dr. Wily promised, though he didn't sound too sincere. "You will be ready to fight at noon Saturday,...or else!" the mad scientist let out a sinister laugh, then ended the transmission.

Kid Icarus left the room and headed for his room. He needed to think this over...

TO BE CONTINUED...