Okay guys. Time for the second battle…
Dante and Roy rematerialized at Final Destination. Dante seemed to be quite calm and cool, while Roy was visibly humiliated. He didn't think it possible that someone could be so…lucky.
"Wow…that guy's strong," said Luigi, watching Roy as he slowly walked back to the group, who were still in front of the area where the battle was. Roy sat next to Link.
"He was so…damn…lucky." For some reason, Roy couldn't stop looking at his own hands.
Link patted Roy's back in comfort, but said nothing, as did the rest of the group. About 2 minutes later, Master Hand returned to start the next battle.
"Roy…for shame…" the huge hand said, giving Roy a huge thumbs-down. "Dante moves on to the next round."
"Really? So that's how tournaments go?" Dante said scathingly as he sat in the corner.
There was silence for several seconds.
"…I'll let that remark go," Master Hand finally said.
Dante scoffed.
"The next battle is…Baby Mario…"
The Mario of the past jumped up, cheered, and gave Baby Luigi a high-five.
"Versus…Pichu."
Pichu quickly rose. He extended his short paw towards Baby Mario.
"Good luck," he said. Baby Mario shook Pichu's paw and smiled.
"You too!" he responded. Pichu smiled in return, and the two walked to the center of the platform.
"The randomly selected stage was Hailfire Peaks. Are you two ready to fight?"
The two kids nodded in unison, with a "grown-up" confidence.
"Good."
Master Hand snapped and the two fighters disappeared. The large group shifted their focus to the large screen.
"I hope he'll be alright," Peach said, her voice brimming with worry.
"He'll be fine!" Mario proudly exclaimed. "He's a Mario, and Marios always pull through!"
(In case you haven't played Banjo-Tooie, Hailfire Peaks is a combination of a fire zone, with a volcano and a fire dragon named Chilli Billi, and an ice zone, with a glacier and an ice dragon named Chilly Willy. Pichu and Baby Mario were transported to the Icy Side, which consists of a large platform covered with ice and 3 smaller platforms, in Battlefield fashion, covered with snow. The platforms hover above the top of the mountain where Willy dwells, right above the ice-cold water. Get it? Good. Back to the battle.)
Baby Mario and Pichu appeared on their respective platforms: Baby Mario on the left platform, Pichu on the right. Baby Mario shivered. The coldness up there was no joke.
"Ready?"
The two nodded, and they landed in the snow.
"GO!"
Baby Mario shivered again. The freezing cold was accompanied by a chilly breeze. But he had to focus on the fight. He looked straight ahead, at Pichu. But Pichu wasn't there.
"Hey! Where'd he go?" Baby Mario looked up. Pichu was diving towards him head-first, spinning and emitting small amounts of electricity. Baby Mario quickly sidestep dodged, and Pichu landed on his head. With this opportunity, the baby Italian started punching him repeatedly, causing minor yet consistent damage. He started laughing as he punched.
"This is fun!" he exclaimed, now ignoring the cold.
Pichu jumped back, ran towards Baby Mario, and tackled him. Baby Mario fell onto the main platform, which was incredibly slippery. He immediately jumped back up to the platform above him.
Pichu did a double-jump towards Baby Mario, this time doing a forward somersault. Baby Mario retaliated with a hard, standing, spinning uppercut. Pichu was knocked up slightly, then hit by the same attack, then grabbed and flung over the baby's head. Pichu easily recovered, but was now at about 43 percent damage. Baby Mario awaited his return. As Pichu landed in front of him, Pichu spun quickly on the ground, catching Baby Mario with his kick and sending him flying to the right. Baby Mario backflipped back onto the stage, onto the main icy platform. Pichu followed him and tried to hit him with a quick Skull Bash, but missed by a few inches. As he landed in front of Baby Mario on his side, he was hit by a hard spinning slide kick and was almost KO'd.
Pichu now hung onto the edge of the slippery stage for one of his dear lives.
"I got you!" Baby Mario exclaimed as he walked toward the dangling rodent, trying not to fall. Pichu waited for his chance to attack. But just as Baby Mario was about to reach him, the stage began shaking.
"Uh-oh..." Baby Mario said.
The sound of rushing water could be heard. Something was coming out of the water.
"Oh, great. Now what?" Pichu said, still hanging on.
A loud roar was heard, and a blue-and-white dragon in the background was doing the roaring. His tongue was green and forked, and he looked irritated. The two fighters stared at him, wondering what he would do next. The dragon quickly inhaled and quickly shot a large ball of ice at Baby Mario.
He was frozen solid, and had taken moderate damage. (He was now at 41 percent.)
"Oh, fine." Pichu jumped back onto the stage and approached the frozen baby, who had a look of pain on his face. Pichu hit him with a hard headbutt (Upward Smash) knocking him up, and while he was airborne, he jumped up at hit him with another one of his somersaults. Baby Mario's frozen self lost a life. Pichu silently cheered.
Baby Mario was resurrected at the top platform. He had no clue what had happened.
"Hey! How da heck did I get up here?"
Pichu jumped up to Baby Mario's level.
"That dragon froze you, and I knocked you out."
"Oh."
Baby Mario then emitted a quick, loud cry that both hurt and temporarily stunned Pichu. With this opportunity, Baby Mario KO'd Pichu with another one of his spinning slide kicks. Baby Mario noticed that a flower slightly taller than himself had landed behind him. He picked it up and observed it.
"Wonder what this does..?"
Pichu was resurrected and immediately went after Baby Mario, trying to put his temporary invincibility to use. But since Baby Mario dodged all of his attacks, it was for naught. When that was over, Baby Mario hit Pichu with the flower repeatedly. As he hit, a flower sprouted on Pichu's head and grew in size with each impact. Pichu tried to shake it off, but Baby Mario's continuous punches hindered him. Suddenly, the ice dragon roared again and he moved closer to the platform.
"Not again..." Baby Mario said, stopping his attack to watch.
Chilly Willy stuck out his forked tongue and swept the top platform. Pichu and Baby Mario jumped over it, but it quickly came back and knocked them both far to the left. They flew at pretty much the same speed on the same trajectory; now it was a simple matter of who would KO who first.
Pichu was able to KO Baby Mario with a quick somersault. He was resurrected for the final time.
"Oh, man!" Baby Mario whined as Pichu used Agility to get back on the stage. When he made it, he grabbed the capsule he landed behind and tried to pelt Baby Mario in the face with it. But Baby Mario caught it and threw it at Pichu. The capsule revealed a Screw Attack.
"What's that?" Baby Mario asked himself.
Pichu jumped back onto the left snow-covered platform, where the Screw Attack had landed, and picked it up. He jumped towards Baby Mario, flipping quickly and covered with electricity. He caught him in both the first and second jumps, and hit him with the ball right after, knocking him up further. Pichu quickly landed and used Thunder on the airborne infant.
Baby Mario was shocked repeatedly and almost KO'd.
Pichu repeated.
Almost there.
One more time...
Baby Mario was screaming, flying into the background. Pichu sighed in relief as the announcer spoke.
"Game!"
That took a while...but that was fun.
