I, A, and I, B, solemnly swear to never, ever, ever, ever, again to take this long to write a chapter. Oh, and all the characters in this story belong to Nintendo except the ones not in Super Smash Bros.
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Brianna's POV
A pounding head alerted me to reality. A groan passed through my lips.
"Thank goodness, Brianna. You're awake," Elaine said in a labored voice.
"Ugh..," My hand went up to my head. "Where are we?"
"I don't know," Elaine admitted, a little out of breath.
"Brianna?" she asked when I had fallen silent.
"Yeah?" I replied, my eyes wondering across the underground passageway we rested in. A dim light lit the tunnel and rock created an unbreakable boundary all around us. Seeping in from the bottom of the walls was a clear liquid that I was willing to bet was water.
"Can you please get off of me?" That got my attention. I looked down; Elaine was directly underneath me and below her was everyone but Grace.
"Oh..," I chuckled nervously. "Sorry." I attempted to move into a position that I could jump from, but I was met with protests from below as the huge pile of my closest companions began to wobble.
"Sorry!" I blurted out hurriedly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to h-" My apology fell upon deaf ears as everyone's focus transferred to something that was happening above me. I lifted my still aching head to look at a dark circle beginning to widen in the rocky ceiling. Swirling colors suddenly splashed upon the giant hole sending mixed shades of light dancing down the dark cave. A dull, echoing scream sounded, steadily getting louder. The next thing I knew, Grace was lying on top of me, my breath had left my body in a sharp huff, and the pile below me started to shudder and sway.
"No! No, no, no!" Kaelani yelled as she flung her arms out to counter the tipping our new arrival sent us into. Soon, everyone had their arms flopping about and we began to resemble a rather large centipede.
"NOO!" she screamed as crashes of pain, splashes of water, and cries of surprise echoed throughout the cavern.
As we all sat up, dripping wet, our eyes turned to glare at Grace.
"Hey guys," she said jokingly as she stood up and tried to wring the water out of her sandy blonde hair. "Miss me?"
Although still mad at her, I found myself laughing as I rose to my feet.
"Ah!" I heard to my right. I quickly whipped my head around, cape flying, hand on the hilt of my sword only to find that Elaine, Claire, and Amber had gotten into a huge water fight.
"Hahaha! No, stop!" Amber shouted as Elaine and Claire quickly formed an alliance and began pelting her with handfuls of clear liquid.
"Come on guys!" I said tiredly and angrily as Kaelani and Grace joined in on the battle. "Stop! We have work to do, we need to get out o-" I froze as water splashed onto my face, skillfully directed there by Grace.
"Oh, it's on!" I shouted as I scooped up my own handful and began attacking and laughing along with my friends. Claire soon took up pursuit behind me and as I turned around, ready to attack, her foot slipped and a loud, "blah!" caused everyone to freeze. Laughter suddenly bursted out of five of us as Claire's face had turned as red as a tomato and she was trying to help herself up. Sadly, before finding a solid purchase on the ground, Claire slipped again which caused tears to stream down my companions faces only adding to the water on the ground. I held out my hand to my fallen friend and she took it hesitantly.
"Sorry, Claire," I said to her, "but you should have seen your face." Proudly, I managed to keep my composure as her eyes narrowed.
"Umm… guys?" Amber called out.
"What?" Claire asked, still staring at me.
"I think the water is rising," she said, a slightly scared tone creeping into her voice.
"What?" I said. "That's crazy." I walked over to where she was kneeling and looked suspiciously at the bottom of the wall. "Oh my gosh," I whispered as I saw, slowly, but surely, water lap gently into the already huge amount.
"Is it just me," Elaine asked, "or is it time to run?" I looked at her, then at my friends, and realized that they were all waiting for me to tell them what to do.
"Ok." I stated, looking each of my companions in the eye. "Run." As fast as lightning I sprinted towards the end of the tunnel where a pinprick of light was barely noticeable. Feet splashing through water met my ears as my friends followed close behind.
Halfway there I noticed that the water level had elevated from my ankles to above my knee. Dread filled my stomach as I realized that the water was simply coming in too fast and that we might not make it. NO! I told myself. Don't think like that. Everything and everyone will be fine. I pushed my legs to go faster. We have to make it.
"Almost there, almost there," I found myself repeating under my breath as I swam through the now stomach level water. My cape pulled against my neck, but I had much bigger problems to worry about then an uncomfortable chocking sensation. We were about 30 feet from the entrance. I looked back at my friends to see that they were right behind me: all with determined looks on their faces. Suddenly, horror seeped into everyone's features.
"Brianna!" Claire called out. "Behind you!" Shoving the water away from me, I turned around and saw the huge hole that led to the outside world. We were almost the end, what's so terrifying about that? But then I noticed the thing they were concerned and scared about; a giant wave was beginning to form at the opening and immediately I knew that this was going to be a race between us and a monstrous tidal wave of doom. No exaggeration.
"Come on!" I shouted, pushing myself through the water, too slow for my liking; the water was almost chest high now. "We can do this!"
Pants met my encouragement and some belonged to me. We were all getting tired. "No!" I screamed. "We will not let this beat us."
"That's right! You can do it!" Meta Knight's dark voice echoed in my head causing me to momentarily freeze but then continue with my task. "You have more power than you know. You can make it." I fixed my eyes ahead and poured all of my energy into pushing forward. Hopefully, the others were getting a pep talk too.
Foamy, clear-ish blue liquid was up to my armpits, but still I was pressing onward. Only 15 feet remained and only three feet was left between the top of this cavern and the surface of these "innocent" rippling waves. Still getting bigger, the opening in front of us threatened to be flooded, but instead the high tide was building, wanting to let us near the end but then yank us away from our dreams, hopes, and the lives we want to live.
Water quickly found its way into the cave creating more claustrophobia than liked. No longer was anyone running, it was too late for that; our feet had been lifted off the rocky ground and, with only one foot remaining between the top and still ten feet laying in between us and the exit, our demise seemed certain.
Stop, Brianna. Stop. You need to quit thinking negatively.
Fine! I yelled inwardly, then shut up and let me swim! To my surprise, the annoying voice in my head stopped talking. My blurred, wet eyes refocused and I saw that only a couple of strokes of the arm would allow me to be free of this horrible situation.
"Ah ha!" I shouted as my hand grasped the rock on the outside of the cave. I pulled myself out and gasped as I fell onto my back. The sun beeted down on me and I felt like staying on that tough surface forever.
"Bri-" splash "-an-" splash "na!" I heard faintly through the roaring of the water. My friends! I felt like shooting myself right there for practically forgetting about them. I was safe, but they were still fighting for survival.
"Kaelani!" I called to my nearest friend. "Grab my hand!" she stretched forward, but I couldn't reach her.
"I-" her head disappeared underneath the water's surface. I watched anxiously as she resurfaced a couple of seconds later. "can't."
"Come on!" I yelled to her, outraged. "You can't give up, keep going!" No way would I let her abandon hope that easily! I had known her since fifth grade! I wasn't going to let her give up now. She kicked forward and soon I found that she had fallen into my reach. I grabbed her arm with both hands and pulled her onto the rocky ledge. Soon afterwards, Amber was pulled up.
"Thanks," she said after coughing out all of the water that had found its way into her lungs. I nodded, turned away from her, and looked into the cave once again. Elaine, Claire, and Grace were all close to each other and were only three feet from the shore. Relief flooded through me as I realized they were going to make it, but, of course, I was immediately proven otherwise. The wave that had been waiting in the back ground was moving and had finally decided to start surging forward. If my friends didn't get out soon, they were sure to die.
"Grab hands!" I called out to them, hoping they could hear. Evidently they could because they all linked arms and continued to thrash through the water. Elaine, who was in the beginning of the group, started kicking furiously, but, to my horror, she disappeared underneath the waves. The tunnel was full.
Franticly, I pushed my hands into the water hoping that she would reach out and grab me.
I waited.
Nothing happened.
My friends must be dead.
"AH!" I shouted as Elaine's hand made contact with mine at the exact same time the wave of doom rushed forward in full force. I felt arms wrap around me to keep me from falling in and saw that Amber and Kaelani were trying to help me fight the current as it sprayed over everything, completely burying the entrance to the cave.
Elaine's head suddenly appeared above water and, with the help of my companions, soon she was standing next to us, coughing, but still pulling at the person who was latched onto her hand. Claire and Grace followed suit.
After collapsing on the ground, we all stared at the sky and murmured our thanks to one another. We had truly dodged a bullet, a big wet one at that.
Sadness flooded into every crack of the poor pink Star Warrior as he scratched into his bedside wall yet another tally mark. He had started marking the days his friends did not return because he figured that they would be back in no time, but now, with the eighth day passing, all hope of seeing their smiling faces again seemed to be in vain.
Blames and insults once again began bouncing around in his brain:
"You stupid, blushing idiot! Why didn't you help them? You were there the whole time!"
"Your friends are gone because of you! In fact, they might be happy to be gone; they got away from a friend that only slowed them down and created problems!"
"How can you stand to live with yourself?"
Air! I need air! This is too much! Kirby plowed through his front door and sank to the ground at his doorstep. He brought his bare hands up to his face as tears began to pour from his oval, blue eyes.
"Look at you; sitting here crying like a big baby!"
Stop, please.
"What's wrong with you? Are you mentally insane?"
Stop.
"Your friends sure are blessed to have someone like you as a friend they can count on!"
STOP!
Water still ran down the puffball's face as his breath slowly returned to normal. The voice was right; about everything. What kind of friend, when his companions are in trouble, simply sits on his porch crying? Not me.
Shaking, Kirby lifted himself off the ground and stood, waiting for the opportunity to make his friends proud. To his right, past the neighboring houses and behind a giant, black pole, two men were talking. Deciding this might be his chance, the light red ball sprinted towards the pole and peeked around it.
Directly in front of him, Tabuu and Mr. Game and Watch were smiling and giggling like two little girls who had just shared a secret. Desperate to find out this secret, Kirby listened closely.
"Ah..," Tabuu sighed. "Your plan is going to working beautifully!"
"Thank you, my Lord," Mr. Game and Watch, although smiling along with his master, knew that if his plot failed, he was sure to pay a high price.
"When these demon beats attack Dream Land it will be sure to give our 'heroes' a scare!" Tabuu chuckled. "They will soon realize they are in way over their heads!"
"Clever thinking though," GW acknowledged. "Using humans as bodies to travel in and then forcing them to go to different worlds in order to hide them from us. I wouldn't have ever thought of that possibility."
"You didn't," The glowing villain glared, his cheerful attitude ending abruptly. "I did. I was the one who figured out that the six Smashers had inhabited these Earthlings. Don't ever take credit for my actions again."
"Of c-course! I-I meant no disrespe-"
"Enough," Tabuu turned towards a shining, elongated circle in the ground, "Soon, we will see just how strong these little humans are."
Mr. Game and Watch's normal black appearance now looked grayish as he followed after his departing leader.
Kirby stared into the bright circle transfixed. Six girls were lying on their backs on a giant rock, unconscious. Although none looked familiar, recognition blazed in his mind. His friends must have somehow connected with these people. He must be looking at his companions right now! A new look of determination glazed over his eyes as he realized what he had to do.
Red eyes peered out from the shadows. Looking through their window, they followed a small pink dot of light as it ran back and forth between a long, vertical pole and a house. Normally, this figure wouldn't have cared that the little puffball had been running around, but this time was different. He had been watching him all morning and even though the sun had long ago set, still the young creature ran. Back and forth and back and forth. Dark laughter echoed off the walls, a toothy grin suddenly appeared, and he let the curtain he was holding back fall, enclosing him in the comforting feel of nothing.
As the man's feet thudded across the floor, only four words could be heard by a particularly strange fly on the wall, "The time has come."
