Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Brothers, or any of the characters included in the franchise. That all belongs to Nintendo and Hal Laboratories, Inc., neither of which I work for. I'm simply a poor college student on break who had a nugget of an idea and decided to see what came of it. Additionally, I own nothing I took from other video games. None of it's mine, I just took it and threw it all together, I promise.
Warning: Mild gore, again, no excessive bleeding.
Chapter 2: E
"You know, I wonder about everyone else in the tournament," Raz said to Astor the next day, in which neither of them had any fights. This was odd, though they supposed that, since they were new to the tournament and all, it was bound to be unfamiliar.
"What, do you mean how they do and how they move through the tournament?" Astor asked, and Raz nodded. Astor tapped his chin, and then said, "I suppose they fight each other just like we do. Or maybe they went through preliminaries to get to the places they're at right now."
"Preliminaries would make sense," Raz agreed. "But then, why didn't we go through those?"
"I'd imagine it'd be because we showed up the day before the tournament started. From what I understand, there are a good 30 or 35 fighters in this tournament besides us. That's bound to take more time than just one day."
"Hamon!" Astor and Raz looked at each other, eyebrows raised, then turned as one to see who'd called their surname. Walking up to them was a lanky man dressed in blue overalls, a green shirt, white gloves, and brown boots. His cap was also green and had an L in a white circle on the front.
"Can we help you?" Astor asked the man.
"You'd like to think you could, right?" the man demanded. "I'm going to tell you this now: I don't like you. At all."
Astor raised an eyebrow, but it was Raz who responded. "That doesn't seem very fair, since neither of us know you and have never met you before. I didn't think you were allowed to just… judge us like that."
"I am Luigi King," Luigi King replied authoritatively. "I've been here since the very first tournament! I'd think that that would command some respect. Furthermore, it makes me very entitled to judge you."
"On what grounds?" Raz demanded. Luigi blinked.
"On the grounds that I have seniority over you, and the perspective and good judgment that comes with experience. I've watched you fight, and I don't think you two are good fighters."
"Because we're new?" Astor asked.
"Precisely." Luigi nodded, as though surprised it had taken the two Hamons this long to figure it out.
"Well then," Astor said, looking to Raz, who shrugged. "I guess we'll have to show you differently. I look forward to fighting you."
"Ha, good luck even getting to me," Luigi scoffed. "I'm in Tier C, you two are in Tier E. You probably won't make it past the tier you're in now."
"Is there a tier list we can look at to see who we're supposed to be up against?" Astor asked, and Luigi smirked.
"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't," he replied with a shrug. "I suppose you'll just have to look for yourselves." With that, he turned on his heel and walked away. Raz stepped forward, perhaps to call after Luigi, but Astor grabbed his forearm.
"Don't bother," Astor said at Raz's questioning look. "He isn't even worth it. Obviously, he's used to being on top, even if he never got past Tier C. He's an old fighter, so he gets to be a jerk to other, newer fighters. I'm pretty sure he acts like that toward everyone else as well, except the other fighters that have been here as long as he's been."
"So he's basically one of those better-than-thou types, even though he isn't actually that good a fighter himself," Raz said, and Astor nodded, smiling dryly. "Tier C… isn't that only two tiers above ours?"
"Apparently, two tiers make all the difference."
"I think we should try to talk to the other fighters," Astor said as he and Raz made their way through the manor. "See what we're up against. Not to mention that it wouldn't be a bad idea to make some friends, so that people like Luigi don't stay rooted in dislike."
Raz's upper lip curled. "I don't really see the point," he refuted. "If people don't like me or us, then that's that. Trying to make them like us would be a waste of time, wouldn't it? We're here to find our creator to make up for whatever we failed at, even though he said we hadn't failed."
"Who's to say that some of these other fighters wouldn't be an immense help in achieving that end?" Astor shot back. "Just because there are two of us doesn't mean it should have to be the two of us alone. Besides, these people seem to think we're at fault for those disappearances, remember? It'd probably make it easier to prove ourselves innocent if we had people on our side."
Raz waved a hand. "Whatever, Astor. If it's what you want, then we'll play nice with the other Smashers."
"Smashers?"
"Well, yeah. I figure it's a good name for the fighters in the Super Smash Brothers tournament," Raz replied with a shrug. Astor reciprocated the shrug, and they made their way toward what the voice that announced their battles – leading them to call him the Announcer – had told them was the lounge where fighters could engage in recreational activities in between matches.
They walked in to find a man dressed like Luigi, except his shirt and cap were red, and his cap had an M on it instead of an L. Also in the room was a girl in a flowing pink dress, a girl with pointed ears like Link's in a pale lavender dress, and a huge ape in a red tie. They were sitting around a circular glass table, looking completely at ease.
The ape was the first to notice the Hamons' entrance, and pointed it out to the others, all of whom turned and stood to face them. Raz and Astor watched them warily, and the four "Smashers" watched them silently.
Finally, the girl with the pointed ears said, "You're the Hamon brothers, right?" Astor and Raz nodded, and the girl moved forward, holding out her hand. "Zelda Hylia," she said, and Astor grasped her hand, gently kissing the back. He didn't know why he did it, it just seemed like something he should do, something she seemed to expect in her appearance and manner. To his surprise, she giggled and blushed lightly, before moving onto Raz. He did the same thing, but Zelda didn't giggle, she simply smiled and said, "It's a pleasure to meet the two of you."
The brothers introduced themselves, and the red-shirted man held out a hand to them, introducing himself as Mario King. The ape introduced himself as Donkey Kong, and the girl in the pink dress said that they could just call her Peach.
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," Astor said, and Raz nodded.
"Likewise," Mario replied. "I must say, you two made quite short work of Tier F. I was impressed."
Astor gave a half-smile, but Raz said, "Your brother Luigi was distinctly less impressed."
Mario sighed. "Luigi's been like that since the last tournament, even to Zelda and Peach here. He feels that he's entitled to be treated like royalty, though where we're from, we're simply plumbers. Plumbers who are extremely good at fighting, but plumbers nonetheless. He just doesn't like that, even though he's been in every tournament since the beginning like DK and I have, he's never made it to the top. He doesn't quite realize that just because he's a better fighter than most of the Mushroom Kingdom and has more experience fighting in the tournament, doesn't mean he's the best Smasher."
"So you do call yourselves Smashers?" Raz asked, and Mario nodded.
"It makes sense, given that this is the Super Smash Brothers tournament," he replied with a laugh, and Raz looked at Astor smugly. Astor rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored his brother. "Anyway, I'm sorry for how Luigi acted," Mario continued. Astor and Raz both looked at him, surprised. "Regardless of where you come from, how you fight, or what happened to Falcon, Purin, Ganondorf, and Link, you should be treated with the same respect that we all are."
"Thank you, Mario," Astor said. "I… we both really appreciate that."
Mario smiled and nodded, then said, almost as an afterthought, "Speaking of which, I wonder if you know anything about the disappeared Smashers."
"Nothing at all," Raz replied. "The only thing we noticed was that, with Falcon and Purin, at least, the way they left the fight arena was different than the way they appeared. I didn't see Link leave at all, since I left before him, and Astor said that he doesn't remember how Ganondorf left."
"I guess it would be more accurate to say I don't remember how he arrived," Astor said suddenly. "I remember that he left inside of a snake/dragon thing, but I don't remember how he got there."
Zelda frowned, and said, "You don't know anything at all about where they could've been taken?"
"No, but judging from your questions and Falcon telling us we were going to 'pay for what we did to Link and Ganondorf,' they haven't been seen," Astor responded.
"Right," Zelda said, nodding. "I haven't seen Link or Ganondorf, and neither has Sheik or Toony. And…" she held up her hand, and the design of triangles appeared on the back of her hand like it had Link's.
"That showed up on Link's hand when we were fighting," Raz said. "We also saw it on the front of the manor."
"It's the symbol of us Hylias, as well as our cousin family, the Gerudos," Zelda said. "It's the Triforce. An ancient artifact that the goddesses bestowed upon Hyrule in a time lost to history. Ganondorf, Link, and I are connected in that we each have one piece of it, and since Toony is an alternate-dimensional version of Link, and Sheik and I are two who live as one, they're connected to the Triforce as well. But the sections that belong to Link and Ganondorf, those of Courage and Power… They've faded. I don't know what that means, but I have a good idea, and it's nothing pleasant." She paused.
"It also means that you two, since you're the ones who contributed to their disappearance, have to be the ones to find them. The Triforce has to be restored to its original integrity, or things that are not at all agreeable will begin to happen. That much is certain."
"But I don't know where they went," Raz replied.
"It's kind of hard to find them because of that little snag," Astor added.
Zelda rolled her eyes, which seemed extremely unbecoming, though neither Astor nor Raz could quite figure out why. "I'll help you try to figure it out, you know," she said. "I'm sure that, being the crown princess of Hyrule as well as the possessor of the Triforce of Wisdom, I can find a way to track them down."
So she's a queen-to-be, Astor mused. He said aloud, "Your assistance is much appreciated, Your Highness. I'm sure we'll think of something."
"Oh, there's no need for titles here," Zelda said, waving a hand. "I simply mentioned my lineage because, in Hyrule, all members of the royal family are trained in the arcane arts. My own training, plus the knowledge provided me by the Triforce of Wisdom, should be enough with your efforts to find them, as well as Falcon and Purin."
Astor and Raz made their way to their room late that night, having spent the rest of the day exchanging stories with Mario, DK, Peach, and Zelda. "That was fun," Raz commented as they flopped into their beds.
"Aren't you glad I said that we should try and make friends?" Astor commented, laughing when Raz sent a rude hand gesture by way of response. "Come on, you know you liked talking with them," Astor said, and Raz sighed.
"Fine, Astor, yeah, I don't regret spending all day with them. But you know," Raz said, pretending to contemplate something. "I could've sworn that you were awfully sweet on Zelda. She is a princess; there's a lot to be said for royalty, you know."
"Shut up," Astor replied, scowling. "Don't say things like that about her."
Raz raised his hands defensively. "Alright, alright, I was just saying. She also seemed to be rather caught up in you," he added, a smirk on his face.
"I could say the same thing for DK," Astor responded, and Raz blinked. His mouth worked, but no words came out. After a few minutes of this, Astor burst out laughing. "Okay, so not really DK, but will you stop about Zelda now?" Raz nodded, a scowl on his face now. "Oh, don't act so devastated," Astor teased. "DK's a good guy."
"Astor, he's a primate," Raz said dully. "Our species are not exactly compatible."
"But if they were…?" Astor said, mostly teasing. Raz responded by sending him another rude hand gesture, and Astor laughed. "Good night, Raz," Astor said, and Raz grunted in response. Then, the Announcer's voice appeared.
"Raz Hamon, please prepare for your battle against Samus Aran. Move to the center of the room."
"But I'm tired," Raz grumbled, but following the Announcer's instructions anyway. As soon as he got there, he was gone in a mass of symbols. Astor sighed, not wanting to go to sleep in case he had to fight as well. But the Announcer had left. Astor didn't want to be asleep unless his brother came back, so he got up and left the room, heading for the lounge, where he'd seen a large screen that he'd been told other Smashers could watch current battles on.
He got there to find Zelda, Sheik, and Toony sitting on the couch in front of the screen, watching as Raz appeared, followed by who Astor presumed must be Samus Aran. "Hey," he said quietly, causing Zelda to spin around. When she caught sight of him, she smiled and waved for him to come over and sit down with them.
"Hello, Astor," she said as he seated himself next to her. "We wanted to watch your brother fight, to see if we could get some idea of how to fight him and, by extension, you. You two are bound to have some similarities in fighting, so… we'll see."
Astor shook his head, but did not comment except to say, "Will we fight soon?"
"More than likely," Zelda replied. "I'm in Tier D, Sheik in C with Luigi, and Toony's in Tier B."
Astor looked at Toony, who looked back at him with big, catlike eyes. "That's impressive," Astor said, holding out a hand, which Toony shook. "I look forward to fighting the highest-placed Hylia," he said, and Toony smiled and nodded.
Zelda smiled at the both of them and said, "Yes, we're all very proud of him for doing so well. But, speaking of Hylias, we wanted to show you something." At Astor's questioning look, Zelda and Sheik both held up a hand. Instead of the same section glowing on both of their hands, Sheik's symbol was glowing in a different section. "He's got the Triforce of Power now," Zelda said. "And Toony somehow got Link's Triforce of Courage, despite having his own. So… Link and Ganondorf are… truly gone." She held up her hand again, and the red triangles were gone, the symbol looking normal.
She bit her lip, and Astor instantly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her. Her body shook lightly, and he could hear her soft sobs. The sound of them tugged at his heartstrings. "Ganondorf and I… we were never all that close, but he's still family. And Link…" she shook her head and continued to cry. Sheik laid a hand on the shoulder that he could touch, and Toony grabbed one of her hands. The four of them stayed like that for a while, completely oblivious to the fight that was going on.
"First battle, Tier E. Raz Hamon versus Samus Aran, bounty hunter and wielder of the Chozo Power Suit. Ready… Go!" Samus immediately raised her gun arm and held it in her other hand as a ball of light began forming in front of it. Raz narrowed his eyes and ran toward her. He could see he wasn't going to get there before she could shoot it. The ball looked slightly electrical in nature, so he tapped the Lightning band, and let the electricity jump up and down his arm.
He continued to run, and Samus continued to charge her shot. Suddenly, the ball disappeared, and Samus jumped, flipping once, then jumped again, flipping many more times. She landed behind him and shot a missile at him. As he turned, it picked up speed and, out of reflex, Raz punched it as it came within striking distance.
The missile detonated on impact, and the explosion sent Raz flying over the ground. He quickly moved past the edge of the platform and looked down to see nothing but lava. What is this place?! He tapped the turquoise band on his arm and thrust his arm out, palm spread. A huge burst of wind exploded from his hand, pushing him back up to the platform. He landed and straightened to find himself staring in the barrel of Samus's gun arm.
On instinct, he ducked and kicked upward, knocking Samus off her aim as she discharged her shot. The huge ball shot into the dark, headed straight for a wall of pouring lava. It punched a hole in the lava before it detonated, creating a bubble that burst, raining molten rock and flames down on Raz and Samus. Tapping the Fire band, he punched and kicked at splashes of lava, counteracting the flames with his own. He managed to deflect most of them, and then jumped backward as the last few splashes landed on the ground around him.
At the feel of searing heat behind him, Raz turned around and promptly swore. An enormous wave of lava was heading straight for them, and Samus was already running toward a small cylindrical contraption with two sliding doors. Raz growled and ran after her, tapping the Ice band as he did so. He didn't think he was going to catch her, but he was going to try. He jumped and grabbed the edge, flipping himself over it into a kneeling position.
He jumped onto the highest platform to find the doors closing. He grabbed the top edge and shoved it down, vaulting over it to crouch inside with Samus. He watched the lava flow past outside and wondered why in the world people fought in places like these. He didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until Samus said, "This is where I fought Ridley. It's Norfair. The tournament takes venues from most of the fighters involved. Like the temple where you fought Link; that's in Hyrule, where Link is from."
"Oh… er, thanks," Raz said, and Samus nodded. Suddenly, the lava was gone, the doors were lowering, and the chamber was disappearing. The lava must be gone. Raz and Samus jumped down to opposing platforms, and turned to face each other.
"All right, Raz Hamon," Samus said. "Charge one shot, and whoever's still standing will be the winner of this match."
"Really?" Raz asked, surprised. Samus nodded.
"We won't both be able to dodge the lava forever," she replied, pointing down. Raz looked and started; the lava was directly underneath his feet, making the edges of the platform he was standing on steam and hiss. "Charge your shot," Samus said again, charging her own as she said it. Raz nodded and tapped the Fire and Lightning bands again, willing the electricity and heat into his right fist. As Samus's charge got bigger and bigger, Raz's hand sparked more and more, and got hotter and hotter, until it was glowing red.
Samus's shot winked out of existence before it discharged with an exploding sound. Raz drew his hand back, and then punched it forward, yelling, "Lightning Flame!" The lightning and fire exploded outward from his fist in an unraveling spiral that undulated wider and wider before suddenly collapsing on a point that met Samus's charged shot head-on. The resulting cataclysm engulfed both Raz and Samus in blinding light and deafening sound, making the ground underneath them seem to crumble and fall away. Raz fell to his knees, his eyes practically bleeding tears. He had no way of knowing where Samus was or what had happened. All he could do was wait until the reaction wore itself out.
After what seemed like an eternity, the light dimmed and the sound faded, though Raz wasn't quite sure he'd ever get his hearing entirely back. As the spots faded from his eyes he blinked a couple of times. He still couldn't hear anything, but the ringing in his ears was fading as well.
His sight returned in full before his hearing did, and when it did, he still couldn't hear anything. He looked to where he'd seen Samus standing when she was charging her shot, and saw her lying prone on the ground. Her armor was smoking slightly, and Raz vaguely realized that his clothes were smoking as well. He jumped off of the platform and ran across the ground to get to hers. As he ran, the Announcer said, "Finish! Victor: Raz Hamon."
A purple beam began to shoot down, covering Samus. Raz growled and jumped up on the platform. He picked her up as quickly as he could, and, right as his feet began to leave the ground, the Smash symbols came and illuminated both him and Samus. Raz sighed as he and Samus both disappeared in the light. We're both safe. He looked at her before the light flooded his vision, and noticed that her visor had been broken. Her eyes were slightly open, and from what he could see, they were very pretty.
Astor had been watching the battle since the lava wave, and he grinned when he saw Raz pick up Samus rather than let the beam take her. If he hadn't, she'd have disappeared. Excellent, Raz. Excellent. The more we save, the better. "Who won?" Zelda asked in a small voice muffled by Astor's shoulder.
"Raz did," Astor replied softly. "But get this: he saved Samus. He took her and they both disappeared his way. They'll both be back soon."
Sheik made a "hm" sort of noise, and Toony grinned widely. Zelda gave Astor a sweet smile that he found he really liked.
Soon, they could hear Raz's voice say, "Hey, is anyone up still?"
"In the lounge," Astor called, and Raz walked in, though without Samus. "Where's Samus?"
"I don't know," Raz replied with a shrug. "When I reappeared in my room, she wasn't with me. I guess she's in her own room."
"Thank you for saving her from… whatever's happened to the others," Zelda said, and Raz gave her a genuine smile.
"I didn't want another person to disappear when I could do something about it," he said. "She was leaving before I was. It was just a spontaneous idea."
"It was a good one," Astor said, clasping one of Raz's hands in his own hand. They gripped each other's hands, and Raz nodded. "One that we're going to have to make sure that we do after every fight. We don't want to lose any more Smashers."
"Even Luigi?" Raz said, raising an eyebrow, though his tone implied that he was joking. Astor grinned and tapped his think mock thoughtfully, then smacked his teeth and nodded. Raz gave a melodramatic sigh and said, "Fine… I guess if we have to, we'll save him, too."
"You two are such good people," Zelda said solemnly, then cracked a grin. Toony laughed, and Sheik's posture relaxed slightly; Astor was pretty sure he was smiling.
Astor awoke the next morning to: "Astor Hamon, your battle versus Yoshi will soon commence. Please move to the center of the room." Astor groaned, but did as he was asked, hoping that the transportation would wake him up. As he disappeared, he yawned and rubbed his eyes, feeling his hair and realizing that it was sticking out all over the place.
He rolled his eyes as he landed on one knee, and realized that he was completely dressed, Murasame on his hip. As he straightened, he laid eyes on a green dinosaur, which was definitely not what he was expecting. The dinosaur was staring at him, and finally said, "Purin was one of my best friends. You'd better have a good excuse for killing her."
Astor blinked; he didn't think Purin was dead. "How do you know she's dead?"
"I have my sources," the dinosaur snapped, and Astor got the strange hunch that Luigi was one of his "sources."
"Second battle, Tier E. Astor Hamon versus Tamago Yoshi, dinosaur companion to the King family. Ready… Go!" Instantly, Yoshi jumped and was encased in a green-spotted egg. The egg rolled toward Astor, picking up speed in a manner eerily similar to Purin's attack. Not intending to give Yoshi the chance to do what Purin had, Astor met the egg head-on, bringing Murasame straight down. The force of his strike broke the egg, stunning Yoshi slightly. Astor spun and struck the dinosaur with the flat of his blade.
Yoshi pivoted on one foot and slapped Astor with his tail. Astor hissed at the sting of the tail's tip, but didn't have much time to focus on it, since Yoshi had completed his pivot and headbutted Astor hard in the stomach. Astor flew backward, letting out a whoosh of air as he did so. He flipped himself upright only to find himself staring at a barrage of eggs. What in the world? he thought as he began slashing at the eggs.
Some burst on impact, others exploded with much more force, making Astor flinch and lose his focus, which meant that he got hit with even more of these infernal eggs. Losing his patience, Astor's strokes became wider and wider, catching more and more eggs. This unfortunately meant that his vulnerabilities became wider as well, so he still got hit with more eggs.
Suddenly, he crouched low to the ground, waiting. He snarled, eyes flashing. Murasame glinted, and then he stood, his arm moving as fast as the eggs, his other arm curled in toward himself. Not one of them touched him again. Eventually the barrage stopped, only to be replaced with a much larger egg; Yoshi was doing his rolling egg maneuver again. Astor leaped and went upside down in the air, slicing at the egg in countless different directions.
He landed on the ground, the egg having rolled past him. He curled a lip and snapped, and the egg, which had turned and was rolling back toward him, promptly broke into tiny pieces. Yoshi jumped, but Astor was already in the air above him with Murasame in a reverse grip. He flipped, and shoved his foot downward. His kick collided with Yoshi's head, sending him plummeting back to the ground.
Astor landed a little bit away, eyes glinting. "Come on, Yoshi," he said. "I know you aren't hurt. Yet."
Yoshi jumped out of the hole, landing hard on his feet. His mouth opened, and his tongue shot out before Astor could react. The tip reached him and latched onto… something (Astor didn't know what), and then he was being dragged toward Yoshi's mouth. Just as he was about to get sucked in, Yoshi's head moved, and Astor found himself flying past the dinosaur. Then, he stopped slowly, and could sense Yoshi's head drawing back to bring Astor back.
He got close to Yoshi's head again, then found himself abruptly colliding with the ground. His momentum caused him to fly high into the air. Yoshi dragged him back down, and he crashed and flew up again. He crashed down, and flew up, and crashed down again. Then, he was dragged along the ground and up into the air again as Yoshi jumped.
He didn't know what happened next, but he assumed that Yoshi had swung his head around and finally released Astor… straight into the ground. Astor bounced up slightly, and Yoshi plummeted downward before fluttering his feet against Astor's back and head.
Finally, Yoshi left him alone. Astor's head pounded, and his breathing was heavy. He stood up slowly, and through half-lidded eyes saw Yoshi's tongue headed for him again. This time, however, he caught the tip and pulled Yoshi. True to its nature, his tongue contracted, and Yoshi shot forward to have his face collide with the butt of Murasame's handle.
"Not again," Astor whispered; his eyes were glowing. "One time was enough." He yanked on Yoshi's tongue – he hadn't actually let go of it – and began swing Yoshi around. He spun faster and faster, and Yoshi's tongue extended further and further. Suddenly, Astor swung upward, and Yoshi flew into the air. Astor yanked down, and Yoshi crashed into the ground hard.
Holding Murasame, Astor stepped lightly over to where Yoshi had impacted the ground. He waited for the dust to clear, only to find that Yoshi wasn't there. He heard a groaning above him, and looked up to see Yoshi plummeting toward him. He crouched, swinging his leg around and up. His foot met Yoshi's rump, redirecting the dinosaur to the side. Astor continued to spin along the ground, then jumped into the air, bringing Murasame to bear point-down. He dropped, and Murasame went straight through the crown of Yoshi's head, pinning him to the ground.
Yoshi flailed a couple of times, then was still. "Finish! Victor: Astor Hamon." Astor nodded, then straightened, pulling Murasame out of Yoshi's head, glad that none of the fighters bled. He was pretty sure that if he could bleed, he'd be bleeding everywhere. He bent down and grabbed Yoshi's hand as the Smash symbols began to appear around him. Both he and Yoshi disappeared, leaving the arena they'd fought on to rebuild itself.
Astor reappeared relatively quickly, but what was odd was that he wasn't in the manor, and neither was Yoshi still with him. He was standing on a tree looking across a gap past a yellow building. On the other side of the building was a power line on which was standing a small boy in a cap.
"Third battle, Tier E. Astor Hamon versus Ness Onett, user of PK. Ready… Go!" What?! Astor snarled and jumped onto one of the awnings jutting out in front of the yellow building.
"What is this?" he asked himself, then brought Murasame to bear against Ness's baseball bat. The impact jarred Astor's arm, and he found himself weakening, unable to hold against Ness for long. The boy is half as tall as I am! He jumped backward, using the awning's natural springiness as leverage to jump higher and higher, until he backflipped and landed on a lower roof on the building underneath the tree he'd first been standing on.
"PK Thunder!" Astor looked up to find a small blue-violet ball streaking toward him. He narrowed his eyes, but smacked it away with Murasame. A lick of electricity leaped up the blade. When it reached his arm, it shocked him badly enough to make him drop the sword. He hissed and looked at his arm when the tingle had faded. His flesh was bright red, and it was tender enough that even the passing breeze made it sting.
"PK Fire!" Astor ducked under a small orange lightning bolt-like projectile. It hit the wall behind him and a column of fire burst from the top, searing Astor with heat at such a close proximity. This isn't fair, Astor thought as he picked up Murasame and dropped to the ground. He heard a honking noise, and suddenly a car hit him. He flew against a wall and bounced off, landing on the lowest awning. He heard Ness yell, "PK Flash!" He couldn't move, so he waited and hoped that this move wasn't too bad.
He was sorely disappointed. The world flashed green, and Astor yelled out in pain as his body was filled with electricity. He could feel his body flying through the air, but he felt oddly detached. He felt no pain, just an incessant tingling, and the wind flowing along his flesh, which felt oddly stretched. When he moved his head to look, his skin looked untouched, but it still held that uncomfortable stretched feeling.
His body hit the ground after falling past the collapsed awnings, and he found himself suddenly reattached to it. He felt pain. Lots and lots of pain. On top of that infuriating tingling sensation. He groaned, and could taste blood in his mouth. He could smell his singed and burnt hair, and could barely bend his fingers, his nerves and muscles felt so numb and pain-filled.
Suddenly, everything went dark. Astor wondered if he was beginning to go blind, but no; he could see Ness in front of him, glowing with a rainbow light. He wondered what was making Ness glow like that, when Ness raised his hands to the sky and yelled, "PK Starstorm!"
Blinding light filled Astor's vision, and he waited to see whether he would survive this onslaught that he presumed to be Ness's Final Smash.
No." Raz appeared in front of his brother's body, and he looked up into the ensuing attack fearlessly. He tapped the Fire band on his arm, and willed the heat to become stronger and stronger. When it felt like his arm would explode, he said calmly, "Firestorm." He shot out a hand, and a huge fireball exploded from his palm, hitting one of the falling stars and neutralizing it.
He shot out more and more fireballs, and the stars kept being canceled out. Finally, the barrage of light stopped, and Raz looked up at the boy who'd intercepted his brother's return to the manor with Yoshi, breathing heavily. "How… dare… you," he said, panting in between each word. "My brother… was weak from his battle with Yoshi, so… you decided to try and beat him for good? To get him to disappear?"
He laughed quietly. Suddenly, his head snapped upward. Right above his head a Smash Ball had appeared. He grinned as he jumped and kicked it hard. It made an odd clinking noise, and Raz punched it. It broke, and he felt himself becoming infused with power. He wasn't exhausted from using his Firestorm – which he hadn't known he could use until he'd needed it – anymore; in fact, he felt like he could take on the world and win. This was enough for him to make this child regret that he'd decided to pick on Astor.
His hands moved in a hard-to-follow pattern, and came to his center, right hand with index and middle fingers extended, left hand with ring and pinky fingers extended, right hand pointed upward, left hand pointed to the right, knuckle of the right thumb nestled in the left pinky joint. "Aerospark," Raz whispered, eyes glowing with rainbow aura.
His clothes whipped around him, caught in an invisible wind, and electricity forked and leaped around him, crackling. He exhaled sharply, and two razor disks of wind sparking with stored electricity white in color formed out of the altered area around him. They flew away from him, crossing over each other in a pincer motion, back and forth, headed for Ness. Ness jumped, and the disks followed him. He stayed away from them for a good while, and the electricity in them crackled more and more loudly.
Raz lost patience and moved his hands in a windmill motion, before slamming his fists together. The disks promptly fused and grew exponentially in size, taking up so much space that Ness was sucked into it. Raz watched without pity as wind tore at him and electricity coursed through him repeatedly. Finally, the Aerospark dissipated, and Ness fell to the ground, motionless. "Maybe next time you'll fight fairly," Raz said, then walked over and picked him up. He walked with Ness back over to where Astor laid still unmoving, and the Announcer said, "Finish! Victor: Raz Hamon." The Smash symbols appeared, and the three of them vanished.
Raz appeared with Astor in their room, and laid him on the bed. He still felt unbelievably angry that the Onett kid had done something like that, trying to fight his brother right after he'd been pounded by Yoshi. He'd been talking with Samus when they'd gone past the lounge and heard Luigi shouting something at the screen.
The two of them had walked in and seen Astor on the screen, but he wasn't fighting a dinosaur. There was some kid chasing him with fire and lightning. When he'd seen Astor get electrocuted by that PK Flash, he'd made up his mind. Almost as though his mind was being read, the Announcer had said, "Raz Hamon, please prepare for your battle against Ness Onett." Raz had cracked his knuckles and glared at Luigi, who had been shouting encouragements for Ness, and then he'd vanished just as Ness had performed his Final Smash.
Raz made his way down to the lounge, where Samus had said she'd be waiting. He walked into the room and saw a blonde ponytail sitting on a couch. After their battle, Samus had said that her Power Suit had stopped working, so she'd taken it off and would take another preliminary, since she was still a competitor in the tournament, not having disappeared. Raz had no idea when she'd fought, but she'd said that she'd made it into Tier B, and would have to remember to fight without her Power Suit more often. She called herself Zero Suit Samus now.
He walked over and sat next to her, and she immediately turned and said, "I saw your fight. That's a scary Final Smash you've got there, that Aerospark. I wouldn't want to have to go up against it."
Raz smirked and said, "Hopefully, our battle won't go that far. Come to think of it, I didn't get to see your Final Smash."
"Well, when I'm in my Power Suit – and it works – it's a huge beam that I call the Zero Laser. It's shot from my gun arm, and after I use it, my Power Suit literally falls off. I can't use it anymore, and then I fight like this. My Final Smash out of my Power Suit rebuilds my Power Suit. Really, I'm more powerful in my suit, but a better fighter out of it. It's odd, but I think my suit's out of commission for the rest of the tournament, unfortunately."
"That is a pity," Raz said, frowning. "I'd have liked to see your Zero Laser." Samus smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. Raz was surprised, but carefully lifted his arm and placed it on the back of the couch.
Presently, Samus said, "How's Astor?"
"He's sleeping in our room now, so he should be fine," Raz replied, clenching his hands. "I'm so angry that that Ness kid tried something like that."
"It definitely wasn't fair, nor am I entirely sure it's even allowed in the tournament, unless it's a specific endurance event," Samus commented. "I think Luigi may have been in on it."
"That wouldn't surprise me," Raz said, scoffing. "I don't know what that plumber has against my brother and I, but I'm going to deeply enjoy putting him in his place. Astor and I will get to Tier D, and then to Tier C, and one of us will beat him. I swear it. I'm tired of him acting that way."
"He wasn't always like that," Samus replied. "Until the preliminaries for this tournament, actually. He used to be a pretty good guy, like his brother. He certainly was never an elitist like he is right now. I don't know where he's getting it from; he just… one day, a couple of days before you and your brother showed up, actually, he started acting haughty toward most of the other fighters, like Ganondorf, Toony, Zelda, Sheik, Falco, Wolf, Sonic, Lucas, but especially the Ice Climbers Popo and Nana for some reason. I don't know."
"I don't know either, but he's the only one who's been in these things since the beginning who's acting like that, and I intend to knock him down a few pegs," Raz said determinedly.
"I'll help," Samus said, and Raz placed his arm around her shoulders and squeezed lightly.
"Thanks," he said. "I appreciate it." Samus smiled and placed a kiss on his cheek, causing Raz to blink at her, surprised. Her skin reddened slightly, and Raz kissed her cheek. Her blush deepened, and Raz grinned. "I really do appreciate it," he said. "I'm going to get some rest before the tag team battle tomorrow against Mario and Lucas Onett." Samus had shown him the tier list he and Astor had asked Luigi about, and he'd made sure to note who they were fighting.
"Alright," Samus said. "Good luck tomorrow."
Raz nodded and headed for his room, thinking about Samus. I didn't think anything was going to come of fighting her. It looks like I was wrong. He couldn't say that it bothered him too much.
"Final battle, Tier E. Astor Hamon and Raz Hamon versus Mario King, hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, and Lucas Onett, user of PK. Ready… Go!"
Mario launched fireballs at the two Hamons immediately, and Lucas began shooting PK Fire at them. Since the bolts flew straight through the air, they were fairly easy to dodge. The fireballs were fairly easy to avoid as well, since they followed such an erratic trajectory. Raz tapped the Lightning band and began flinging lightning bolts at Mario and Lucas. Mario began spinning around quickly, sucking in the bolts and redirecting them, while Lucas simply absorbed them in an odd spherical field.
Raz and Astor looked at each other and nodded, before Raz tapped the golden band and Astor gripped his forearm. The clock face appeared under them, and they both began to glow with a golden light. The face faded, and they ran forward at speeds nearly impossible to follow. Raz stayed along the ground, surging up to meet them, and Astor leaped into the air, swinging Murasame fast enough to send tiny waves raining down from above.
Mario began running, and Raz found himself mildly impressed that a man of his short stature could run that quickly. Then Mario jumped and brought his fist crashing down to meet Raz, who met it with his own fist. They stayed in suspended action like that for a bit, while Lucas used his odd field and expanded it to consume all of Astor's sword strikes.
Suddenly, Raz was gone, and Mario looked around, wondering where he'd gone. He found out soon enough when countless blows rained down on him from all directions. He couldn't figure out where Raz was, so he flicked his hands and called up his shield. He watched the outside, where the shocks delivered to each shield were landing. He held his hand back and felt fire glowing in his palm. At the right time, he brought his shield down and countered Raz's punch with his charged fireball.
Raz flew backward, and Mario leaped after him, smashing him with his fist again, crying out, "Meteor Strike!" Raz shot into the ground, actually carving a small trench with his body.
Astor, meanwhile, was attempting to dodge Lucas's rope snake, which he kept trying to use to reel Astor within striking distance. Astor ducked, then shot forward, shouldering Lucas in the face. Lucas flew into the air, and then seemed to catch himself on an air pocket, flipping and gaining even more altitude. "PK Thunder!" he said, and Astor ran and launched himself toward the blonde boy, intending to hit him before the ball could hit Astor. However, Lucas directed the ball toward himself, and when it hit him, he surged forward, giving Astor countless tiny shocks on collision.
Astor fell to the ground and twitched slightly, before standing up and laughing. "That was interesting, Lucas," he said as the boy landed facing him. "I don't intend to get hit with that again, but it was interesting."
Lucas laughed and said, "We'll see if you get hit again. We'll see." Both smirked at each other, then launched forward. Astor swung Murasame, and Lucas swung… a stick. As they collided with a surprising "Thunk!", Astor laughed again. He was truly enjoying this fight. Lucas looked like he was enjoying it as well, and Astor found that he liked him much better than his brother Ness.
Suddenly, a Smash Ball appeared between them. Lucas and Astor grinned at each other, then smacked it at the same time. Both began to glow with rainbow light, and Lucas acted first. "PK Starstorm!" It began raining stars down on them again, and it was fortunate that Raz's speed enhancement hadn't worn off yet, otherwise they would have been hit hard and probably would have lost. As it was, they were running, jumping, and dodging at amazing speeds, and managed to escape the onslaught relatively unscathed. They were tired after the Hastega wore off, but that was fine. They could fight through fatigue; they'd done it before.
Another Smash Ball appeared, and this time it was Astor and Mario that broke it. Mario's every movement trailed flames, and Astor simply glowed, his hair seeming to sway in a gentle wind. Mario released his Final Smash first, and Raz and Astor barely survived the fiery maelstrom. They were badly burned, but they could still fight. Barely. Lucas and Mario began beating on them, until finally Raz crashed his fists together after tapping the Wind band. The sphere of air pushed Mario and Lucas away long enough for Astor to use his Final Smash.
The stage they were fighting on grew dark as Astor's aura glowed brighter and brighter. Mario began shooting fireballs at Astor, but Raz had tapped the Ice band and was throwing icicles at the fireballs, splitting them. Suddenly, Astor yelled, "Final Heaven!" and pointed Murasame at the sky. The tip shone in the light, and light beams emanated from it, twirling and twisting down and around Astor into the ground. Astor brought Murasame down so that it was pointing across and behind him, then sprinted forward.
All it took was one swing. One swing that hit both Mario and Lucas, and a huge column light erupted from the ground that sent their two opponents skyward.
Raz and Astor high-fived as Mario and Lucas hit the ground and did not move. "That fight went by rather quickly," Astor commented.
"Finish! Victor: Team Hamon," the Announcer boomed.
"Take it for what it is," Raz replied as another Smash Ball appeared in between them. "We're getting better, more powerful. Soon, we'll be at the top, and then we can see about getting in touch with our creator. Until then, though…" They broke the Smash Ball.
"New Final Smash acquired! Astor Hamon: Energy Rain. Raz Hamon: Dragon Fang." The voice faded, and Astor grabbed Lucas, while Raz caught hold of Mario. The four of them vanished, and thus the Hamon brothers ascended another tier.
"They have nerve, those Hamons," the figure said, watching them through the transparent floor. "How dare they try to keep these fighters from receiving the punishment for their failure. No matter, I suppose. The Worm will bring them down soon enough, stop their interfering ways. And if the Worm should fail… I will see to it the Hamon brothers will not be able to keep me from meting out the deserved punishment. And then the Hamons will suffer another version of punishment. I dare them to keep saving these failed fighters. If they fail, then they come to me, and I make them stronger so that they will not fail again. If they are allowed to fail without enduring the proper consequences, how are they to stop failing? They will not, and that is something I will not allow."
A/N: Okay, so I'm a bit late. My apologies. I thought that I could just churn this out, since I've been thinking about it all week. Yeah, not the case; I'm going to have to start writing these chapters earlier to meet my deadline. My apologies as well as to the extreme amount of content, and the effect that the story scenes have on the battle scenes. Even being as brief as possible, this chapter still topped out at over 8,000 words, which extends past the last chapter by 1,500 words minimum. The tiers with less fighters in them will have more detail in the battles, but the ones with more will have less, simply because I don't feel like exhausting myself. Then again, if I spaced out my writing of these chapters better, I wouldn't suffer so much. We'll have to see. Look to the future chapters for a more definitive answer to the questions I pose to myself in these rambling Author's Notes.
Anyway, so, as you can see, there's a lot going on in these chapters, which is why they're so long. I find it much easier this way to get everything out of the way, although, with the way some of the plots in the story are developing, you may see an interlude or two that has no fighting, simply because some of these things won't wait. *shrug* Far be it from me to micromanage my story.
A couple of notes:
I got the name Tamago for Yoshi from a game called Yoshi's Egg, or Tamago no Yoshi. However, because I've done a lot of name-adding and whatnot, I'm trying to keep things as easily recognizable as possible, so Yoshi will go by his surname.
The families I talk about in the chapters are the ways I group the fighters according to what games they come from, and each fighter will have his or her own last name. Again, it's an attempt to keep things easily organized, plus I've always liked the idea of families behind the scenes. Scenes with some of the families are actually coming up in future chapters, trust me.
Since a lot of characters come from the same games but were introduced later, though they have different "surnames", some families are related to other families by, for all intents and purposes, blood or long association, such as the Gerudo and Hylia families, and, to use an example of characters that are going to show up in the next chapters, the McCloud, Lombardi, and O'Donnell families, since they all come from the StarFox series but were introduced into different games, Fox in the N64, Falco in the GCN, and Wolf in the Wii. I'll make a list and post it after the story is finished, but for now, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
With that, review, please. :D
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