Sorry that I left you guys on a cliff hanger, but I was pressed for time. Without further ado, let's get back to the story.
Chapter 3:For Today's Lesson, Demons
Now that he was in the open, Flair was without a doubt that this was the same man that had tried to kill her last night. "H-how is he still alive!?" she asked Gaiden, who didn't really seem the least bit surprised.
"Depends what you mean by alive. I killed his body, but his soul became a demon. That's what happens to evil souls when the body dies." The man began to chuckle.
"Yeah, I don't know how you know all that but you're right." His face darkened and his body began to glow a sickly green light. "I'm a demon." With that, the man grew by five more feet and his skin became the color of blood. A pair of horns grew from his head and spikes erupted from his joints. A tail lashed behind him, a deadly point on the end. His head was the last thing to change, his eyes turned yellow and his mouth grew large enough to bite her head off with a set of large fangs to complete the vulgar transformation.
Flair was trying to hide behind Gaiden, who still hadn't moved, but was unsuccessful considering their height differences. Gaiden glanced behind him and then focused on the demon. Meeting the demons hungry gaze he held his hand out. "So do you have something for me?" he asked, one finger making a 'come on' gesture.
Flair stared at him. "What do you mean 'have something for you'?" she pointed at the demons teeth. "I think it's pretty freaking obvious that he wants to eat us!"
Gaiden snapped his fingers impatiently, ignoring Flair's outburst. "Hand it over, I know that someone turned you into a demon so quickly because they had use of a messenger."
To Flair's surprise, the demon pulled a folded piece of paper out from behind its back. "In fact, I do. It's a message from someone who knows you." It made no move to hand the paper over. "But they said you can't have it if I kill you." Puffing up its chest and flexing its claws it laughed. "And I'm way stronger now than when I was a human!" It lunged for Gaiden, who disappeared in a flash.
Gaiden stood a good distance behind the demon, the paper in one hand and Flair held over his other shoulder. "Super Smash Brothers Tournament?" he asked, reading the paper. Flair saw the demon start to creep behind him, its mouth agape with a long purple tongue tasting the air. "Gaiden, its coming!" She yelled.
The demon lunged again, heading right for Flair. Without turning around, Gaiden tossed Flair high into the air and drew his sword. Flair's screams became faint as she flew higher. Gaiden swung around and slashed at the demon with his sword, the blade trailing purple and black flames. The burning steel connected with the demons left shoulder and didn't stop. The demon keened in pain, a sound akin to nails scraping on a chalkboard. Its severed arm hit the ground just as Flair fell back to earth and landed in Gaiden's outstretched arm. "Something else you should know about demons, their strength depends on how evil they were in their previous life. You're just a street punk, hardly worth my time, even in your demon form."
Gaiden's eyes began to glow with a purple hue, flames sparking inside. "I think it's time to cut you back down to size!" settling into a crouch, black and purple flames sprang up around him. He pushed off and blasted towards the wounded demon. The flames that danced around his sword grew with greater intensity, completely covering the shiny steel. The sword flew up from below and engulfed the demon. This time the demon was cut completely in half, its halves fading away into smoke as they fell to the ground. Gaiden sheathed his sword, the flames extinguishing as he did so.
Pulling out the paper, he began to read it again.
Dear Son,
I know that you have been growing restless, killing worthless demons that barely test your abilities, but I have found a place that might interest you. I guess you could say that I'm sending you to summer camp, in a sense. I do hope that the other campers will provide a suitable workout for you. I'm sure you appreciate what I'm doing for you, paying your way and all that. By the way, you might want to bring your little girlfriend with you. Who knows what horrible things might happen to her if she's left on her own? Directions and tickets are on the back.
With Royal Salutations,
Dad
Flair leaned over his shoulder to try and read the letter. Gaiden turned it over as she did. Reading the directions on the back, he folded the paper up and stuffed it into his cloak. "Ever heard of the Super Smash Brothers Tournament?" he asked.
Flair's eyes widened. "Who hasn't?" she cried.
Gaiden stared at her. "Me." He said.
She blinked a couple of times, in surprise. "It's only the most watched tournament ever! Fighters from all kind of universes come to one place, the Smash Brothers Mansion, to duke it out for all to see."
She began to count off names on her fingers. "There's Link, Ike, Marth, Snake, Pit, Red, and tons of others!" she yelled, looking excited. Gaiden looked less than enthusiastic.
"Are any of them strong?" he asked her.
Flair nodded vigorously. "They're the strongest fighters ever! Most of them are heroes who have saved their world plenty of times." She grew a little more serious. "Although some of them are also the bad guys who cause all the problems."
Gaiden at last seemed a little interested. "Well, if they're as strong as you say, then I think we should head there now." He began to walk away but stopped, noticing that she wasn't moving. "Well, are you coming or not?"
Flair was dumbstruck. "Are you saying that we are going to the Smash Tournament?"
Gaiden nodded, thinking that she was overreacting. "Yep." He tapped his shoulders. "Hop on."
Even though he'd already given her a ride before, Flair was slightly hesitant about him giving her a piggyback ride. He was a bit short. Sensing her hesitation, Gaiden mistook it for fear. "Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you. It'll just be faster this way."
Blushing, Flair walked up behind him put her arms around his neck. He picked up her legs and put them around his waist. The fact that she was wearing a skirt and was so close to him didn't seem to have any effect on his features. "Hold on tight." He said.
Flair nodded. "Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" she screamed as Gaiden flew forward. It took them only ten minutes to reach the train that went to the Smash Mansion.
The train looked pretty ordinary for a train that could travel through different worlds. In fact, it was almost boring. Except for its passengers. The conductor had seen plenty of different people, but he was not expecting a short, black haired boy carrying a redheaded girl on his back. "Tickets please?" he asked uncertainly. He'd only made the mistake of judging the people on his train once. This had resulted in him being covered with tiny, plant like beings called pikmin. He'd lost his moustache that day. It still hadn't grown back.
The girl slid of the boys back as he rummaged around in his cloak. Without a word he located them and handed the rainbow colored tickets to the conductor. He scanned the tickets, proving their authenticity, and looked back up to wish them a good day. When he looked up, the girl was the only one standing there. Looking back in the train he barely saw that the boy slip into a booth and slide the door shut. The girl slid pass him and smile apologetically. "Sorry, he does that." She walked up to the booth and, after only a moment's hesitation, entered herself.
Sitting down across from Gaiden, Flair put her hands in her lap. Gaiden had his book out but glanced up at her, feeling her excitement. "If you want to talk about this tournament, go ahead."
She smiled and began to go on and on about the different fighters and stages that were at the tournament. Gaiden pretended to listen for a few seconds then went back to his book. She was still chatting away, not noticing his lack of attention. This continued until they finally made it to Smash Mansion.
The conductor sounded the train whistle as they pulled aside the massive building. "Here we are folks, Smash Mansion."
Gaiden stepped by without a word. Flair followed, again apologizing. "Sorry about him, but it was really a great train ride. Thanks!" the conductor smiled and waved them on. "No thanks necessary."
With that he climbed back into the train, blew the whistle once more, and steamed off. Flair gazed up at the huge structure before them. "Man that thing's huge!" She glanced at Gaiden with a sly grin on her face. "Makes you feel small, doesn't it?"
Gaiden glared at her. "Don't push it."
Walking up to the immense doors, Gaiden looked up at the knocker. It was too far up for him to reach conveniently. Grumbling, he motioned for Flair to do the honors. She leaned down beside him and put a hand to her ear. "What was that?"
Gaiden sighed. "Could you please reach up and use the knocker, I can't reach." Flair laughed as Gaiden's eyes took on a deadly look. Reaching up she could barely grab the knocker. It was obviously made for bigger people. With a heave she pulled it back as far as she could and then let it go. A loud boom accompanied it.
The doors swung inwards and in their place stood, well floated, two giant white hands. One of them seemed kind of twitchy. The regular one swept around, as if performing a bow, and spoke. "Hello, my name in Master Hand and this is my brother Crazy Hand." The twitching hand reached out and grabbed Gaiden's whole arm. "Nice to meet'cha buddy!" it said, swinging Gaiden up and down. Flair suppressed a giggle.
After Crazy Hand set Gaiden back to earth, Master Hand motioned shooed them inside and then closed the massive doors behind them. "Welcome, to the Smash Mansion!" he said, his hand sweeping about. The place was truly immense. On the sides were two staircases that hugged the walls in a slight curve. They met above to become a balcony and Flair could see great hallway behind it. Below the archway was a long table that could easily feed a small city block. Pots of strange flowers were scattered about. More than likely vegetation from different worlds. A huge chandelier hung above the table, swinging to and fro. Looked safe enough.
Gaiden didn't seem interested in the architecture. Tapping Master Hand on the hand he asked "When do I fight?"
Crazy Hand came up behind and patted him on the shoulder, which involved patting almost all of Gaiden. "Woo somebodies ready to go!" Master Hand calmly pushed Crazy Hand off of Gaiden.
"For starters, we are going to simply put you in a one on one match. Just to keep things simple there will be no items except the smash ball."
Flair looked excited but Gaiden looked bored. "Just make sure my opponent is worth my time."
Master Hand gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry, all of our fighters are the best there is."
Gaiden wasn't convinced. "Doubtful."
A roar echoed through the hallway and a large shape jumped from the balcony onto the floor. It looked like a large mutant turtle; with spikes on its back, horns, and red hair. "You think you're too good to be here punk!?" it yelled at Gaiden. "Unfortunately for you, your first fight will be against me! Bowser! Scourge of the Mushroom Kingdom!" He glared down at Gaiden in triumph.
Gaiden calmly met his gaze. "Am I supposed to be intimidated?"
"Keep talking; just wait until the brawl begins!" Bowser growled.
Purple fire flared in Gaiden's eyes and he seemed to grow taller with malice. "I hope your right Bowser! Make sure you don't disappoint me!" Bowser unconsciously took a step backwards. This kid didn't look quite so harmless anymore.
This was kind of a long chapter, but once I got writing I couldn't stop. The next chapter will of course consist of Gaiden's fight against Bowser. Please tell me what you think of the story so far. Later.
