The Power of a Voice
Chapter 5: Capture the Flag
*3rd Person POV*
[Insert Music: "Megalovania" from: Undertale]
The Smashers fought against their Subspace counterparts, swords clashing, shots colliding, and fists attacking. Lucario then turned his attention to Arla.
"Lay low as much as you can. We can't have them getting to the Smash Bracelet," he said through his telepathy. Arla nodded and hid, but she stayed close enough to the battle in case she needed to jump in.
Mario and Luigi threw fireballs with ferocity and flare. Sonic ran faster than the naked eye attacking unseen. Ganondorf shot dark magic which knocked back the copies surrounding him. Wolf used his claws to swipe at the enemies. Pit and Meta Knight flew to the skies to take down their copies as well as attack from above and down onto the clones on the ground. Zelda shot out Din's Fire and destroyed another group of copies. Lucas and Ness worked together and combined their PK moves to create stronger attacks. Snake, Fox, Falco, and Samus were on different ledges firing down at more clones.
When most of the Subspace Army's copies were destroyed, they turned into Shadow Bugs and scattered. Everyone thought they were gone, until another wave of Shadow Bugs appeared and turned into both Smasher clones and Primids. As long as Shadow Bugs were around, the Subspace Army continued to replenish its ranks.
After fighting wave after wave, the Smashers started to become exhausted. DeDeDe's hammer swings were slowing down. Red's Pokemon were getting tired, so he had them retract back into their Pokemon Balls. Link kept having to use his shield more to block the oncoming attacks. Arla was able to jump in a couple times to assist, but she had to retreat immediately afterwards to not get caught. Everyone was in a pickle at this point.
"These things just don't quit," Wario said as he knocked down two more Primids.
"At this rate we'll be overrun," Ness added, using PK Thunder.
"We have to end this quick somehow," Toon Link said slashing more counterparts.
"We're going to have to call upon our Final Smashes. Let's do it," Marth said. Everyone nodded and began to summon their Smash Balls, but Akidan had other plans.
"Oh no you don't. That would be cheating," she said. She took out a small device. Holding it like a wand, she held it up, and electric pulses came out of it. Once it reached the Smashers, they all felt a painful shock throughout their bodies and they collapsed to the ground.
[Music Ends]
"Wh-What d-did you d-do?!" Falcon struggled to say as they all slowly stood up. They tried to summon their Smash Balls again, but no avail. They looked at each other in confusion.
"My Smash Ball! I can't summon it!" Ike said in disbelief.
"Me neither. What's going on?" Falco said.
"What have you done?" Lucario said to Akidan. All heads turned to her for answers.
"I was really saving it for a more special occasion, but I guess this will do. I nullified your Smash powers, so there won't be any last resort for you guys," Akidan said with a wicked smile. "Now, we'll take the kid." The remainder of the Subspace Army all rushed to where Arla was hiding.
The Smashers tried to assist her but they were still slightly paralysed from the nullifier. With every movement, they felt a shock struggling to move. From their disadvantage, half of the Subspace Army surrounded them with guns pointed at the group to restrain them.
"Don't be expecting a rescue anytime soon," Akidan said to Arla. Unlike the rest of the Smashers, Arla wasn't weakened from the shock since she didn't develop a Final Smash yet. Arla began to act as she used her grapple to get onto higher ground. She took out her katana and charged forward. With her agility, she dodged every attempt to capture her as well as blocked attack with her blade. When she saw her blade turn faintly purple, she began to use her sword even more to catch more attacks. Akidan noticed this.
"What are you up to?" she thought. Then everyone saw the katana glowing the color purple like a heartbeat. Akidan finally figured out what was going on and moved out of the way.
*Arla's POV*
"Ok. It's ready!" I thought as I looked at my blade. I remembered my battle with Captain Falcon. I pulled off that special attack I didn't know I had, so I decided to use the same thing with the Subspace Army. With one swing, I struck my katana to the ground, and it generated a massive electric pulse that took out the entire Subspace Army. I watched as the Primids and clones all turned to Shadow Bugs, and the Shadow Bugs disintegrated into black mist.
"So your sword can absorb attacks. Interesting." I saw Akidan come straight at me with a golden blade in hand. I used my grapple to get out of the way in time. When I saw the blade though, I started to get a huge sense of deja vu. It felt like I saw that blade before.
"Don't think your done with me yet," Akidan said as she got into a battle stance. Then a arrow barely missed over Akidan's head. We turned to where it originated which was from Link's bow, and behind him was the rest of the Smashers back at full strength. I looked back toward Akidan to see her fists clenched, shaking with anger.
"Don't you people ever know when to stay down!" she said in frustration.
"Nope, we're all kinds of stubborn," Link said.
"Well I have one more trick up my sleeve." She then grabbed the device from before, and we all expected her to do that shock effect again. But this time, she pressed a different button on the device and raised it up high again. It generated a light blue shield dome around me and Akidan before the Smashers could reach us.
"Dang it!" I thought. I saw them trying to break through the shield, but it kept deflecting their attacks. Akidan must've taken a lot of time to form this much backup to her plans.
"Now there will be no more interruptions," Akidan said as she stood ready with sword in hand. I did the same thing, and we took our advance.
[Insert Music: "The Undying" by: Nyx the Shield]
She knocked me in the head with the handle on her sword. I recovered to attack her back with my fans only for her to use her blade to swing them back to me. My metal fans bounced between us a couple of times until I caught one and used my grapple to catch the other one to attack back like a whip. I got her a couple of times, but then she grabbed my grapple and pulled me towards her which led to a punch in my gut. I was winded out. I landed a few feet back, and she pulled me towards her again. This time I launched a side kick to her leg, then punched her head the second she dropped. After she recovered, she rushed at me with her sword in front, and I came at her with the same approach and we clashed swords multiple times. We got out of that standstill once I moved my body away from the next attack and reacted with me kneeing Akidan in the gut.
We looked at each other and saw the bruises we made for the other. I looked at my sword again to see it purple again. It was strong enough for a sword beam, but not strong enough to create a powerful pulse. I still decided to use it now because I wanted to end the fight quick before I tire myself out. I raised my sword high in the air, ready to drop it to the ground. That is until I saw another hand grab the handle.
"Not this time," Akidan said, trying to pull the sword out of my grip, but I held it tightly. It was now a tug of war to see who will finish the other off. Then, we kicked each other in the chest. That made us both drop the sword, and a small, but still painful, wave of energy was released from it and hit us both. We both fell back a couple of feet from the sword looking tired. Once we stood up again, we looked at the sword and ran to grab it. I reached out, but as I was about to scoop it up, Akidan tackled me to the ground. She was on my back with her arms restraining mine. I tried to struggle out of her grasp, but I stopped and stared with wide eyes when I saw her blade raised over me.
I opened my hand, reaching out to my sword only a yard away from me, but it was too far away. I then twisted my body to backhand her off of me. Instead of a fist though, it was another sword. She was pushed back to the other side of the dome. Once I stood up I looked at my hand again. There was a sword in my hand that looked exactly like Falchion, Marth's sword. It was transparent, but it felt like the real thing. Then I gained another idea. I thought of Pit's bow, and suddenly, Falchion shapeshifted into just that. I remembered how Pit fired his bow, and I did the same thing as I fired multiple Light Arrows to Akidan. She saw them and moved out of the way just in time for the arrows to hit the dome, not creating any damage.
"You unlocked the Smash Bracelet's powers?!" Akidan said in surprise and anger. I looked down at the bracelet, and she was right. The bracelet was emitting a faint silver glow. With that, I used Zelda's magic to heal myself, and I was back at full power.
"Here I come Akidan!" I exclaimed in thought with a smirk.
[Change Music: "Last Surprise" from: Persona 5]
I used Sonic's speed to rush at Akidan, grabbing my katana in the process. Then, I slashed her a couple of times. She regained control of herself and threw her blade, but I summoned Fox's reflector and the blade bounced off back to her. She caught it, but looked a bit distracted. I used that to my advantage and sang Jigglypuff's song to make her feel sleepy. Akidan stumbled. I came at her with a flaming fist.
"FALCON PUNCH!" I yelled in thought. I uppercut her high in the sky. "I've always wanted to say that!" Then, I used Zelda's teleportation to appear above her before she went too high and brought down my sword hard, using Peach's floating ability to descend down slowly.
[Music Ends]
While she was down and out, I turned my attacks back to the Smashers still trying to break the barrier. I ran to where they're at and saw Lucario closing his eyes. He was trying to communicate with me.
"Arla. Are you alright?" he asked with his telepathy.
"Yeah, she's knocked out for now. Can't you guys use you Final Smashes to break this barrier down?"
"We can't. While we are able to move again, our Final Smashes are still being restrained." I looked back to see the device Akidan had laying beside her, but it was broken into pieces, likely from the last electric pulse my katana released.
"But the device is destroyed. How is the barrier still up and your powers still not working?"
"ROB analyzed the device before it broke. He said that it was a spell that it released, but we don't know when it'll wear off."
"But I'm not affected. What if I did a Final Smash?"
"You don't have a Final Smash yet."
"True. But I might be able to use one of your Final Smashes."
"You sure the Smash Bracelet can produce that much energy to create one."
"Only one way to find out. You guys did say it has ALL of your powers, maybe Final Smashes as well. Here it goes, stand back."
Lucario stood a couple of steps back, and everyone else followed his lead. I closed my eyes trying to think of a Final Smash that might be powerful enough to break the barrier. I didn't see many of the Smashers Final Smashes, so that limited my options. Then, I remembered Lucario's Aurastorm that I used when playing the ds game. A rainbow aura surrounded me. I stuck my hands out preparing to attack.
"AURASTORM!" I shouted in thought. A massive blast came out and went for the barrier. The barrier shook, and soon, the blast went through, shattering the dome. "It worked!" I thought with happiness.
*3rd Person POV*
Everyone was astonished at what Arla did. Then, Arla walked towards them with an exhausted look on her face. But after a couple of steps, she suddenly collapsed.
"Arla!" Peach said as the princess rushed to Arla's aid. Peach laid Arla's head on her lap. Zelda then sat down to check on her. "Will she be alright?" Peach said, worried. Zelda casted her magic over her body to check for severe injuries.
"Arla isn't too hurt. She's just exhausted for using a Final Smash for the first time," Zelda responded. Peach sighed in relief.
"I was really hoping her to have some fun today. That was a bust." Then everyone heard grunting noises. They all turned to Akidan getting back up. Everyone had their weapons and fists ready.
"Are you KIDDING ME?! After ALL of that planning?" she said obviously pissed off.
"Arla sure did a number on you," Pit said with a hint of laughter. "What are you gonna do abou-" he didn't finish his statement as he was punched it the gut by Ganondorf.
"Shut it angel. We're not getting jinxed by you again." Pit immediately shut up afterwards.
"This ain't over," Akidan muttered as she disappeared into a portal. The second she left, the citizens of Smashville became unfrozen and looked around in confusion then to the Smashers.
"What happened?" asked one of the citizens.
"Basically, more bad news and Subspace crud happened," Sonic replied.
"Master Hand will explain everything to you later once we report back to him. For now we have to return to the Smash Mansion to recuperate," Mario explained. After that, the Smashers left with DK carrying Arla, who was still unconscious.
"Who's the newcomer?" one person asked referring to Arla.
"Is she an assassin or a ninja?" another person asked.
"Maybe she's both. That would be so cool!" a kid commented.
"So the Smashers invited an assassin-ninja type fighter? They're really creating diversity in the roster. This ought to be an interesting scoop," a reporter said from within the crowd and walked off.
*Later at night in the Smash Mansion, Arla's POV*
"Man I feel sore." I thought as I opened my eyes. I found myself in the infirmary again and conveniently on the same bed as the last time I was here. I saw a couple of bandages on the biggest scratches I had. "Some fight I had. What happened?" Then I heard a knock on the door and Peach entered with a plate in her hand with a small cup and a teapot.
"Hello Arla. I made you some tea to help you feel better." She set the plate down and poured some tea into the cup and gave it to me. I lightly blew on it then took a sip. I never liked tea, but I still drank it to not be rude. I involuntarily stuck my tongue out in disgust. Peach saw this and looked at me. I then wrote down in my notebook.
"Sorry for being rude like that. I don't like tea that much." I looked down in embarrassment.
"That's fine. What do you like to drink?" I looked at her taken aback a bit. That was the first time someone asked for my preference.
"Coffee."
"Oh, just like Snake."
"I didn't know Snake liked coffee."
"He says it's a way to 'not die in the worst possible case'," she quoted. "Come on let's meet up with the rest. Many of them are worried about you." She reached out her hand, and I grabbed it so she can help me up. I stumbled a bit, still being sore from the fight. Peach grabbed my arm and put it over her shoulders to help me walk. It took a while with me limping, but we managed to get to the living room. We saw the Smashers watching the latest news of what happened to Smashville.
"We are live with Master Hand as he explains the recent event that happened to Smashville this afternoon." The camera then turns to see several reporters surrounding Master Hand who left the mansion to meet with the people.
"Before I explain the specifics, yes, the Subspace Army has returned. We are here to stop it when necessary. The thing they're after is a creation I created that was suppose to aid the Smashers. Sadly, it had its flaws and is now officially stuck onto the newcomer, Arla Nadika," Master Hand explained.
"You mean that assassin-ninja lady that defeated the leader of the attack?" a reporter questioned.
"Yes, her. Wait, assassin-ninja?"
"Yeah, many people who witnessed the event unfrozen said that they saw a girl defeat the person in the black coat who commanded the army. From the looks of her attire, they argued that she looked like an assassin or a ninja, so they claimed her to be both due to her intimidating look."
"Claim her as you want, as long as it's nothing insulting. But yes, the 'assassin-ninja' was the turning point of the battle, thanks to her harnessing the power of the Smash Bracelet." Then other witnesses began to comment on the event.
"It was crazy. When I saw her with that katana of hers, I thought she was a ninja. She was just as quiet as one to. I wouldn't want to get near her to get on her bad side," someone said astonished.
"I thought with her glare, she looked like she wanted to outright kill the leader. Luckily she didn't see me or I would've wet my pants," another one laughed out.
"Man I bet the Smashers would be creeped out by her-" The TV was turned off by Samus. Everyone looked towards me as I struggled not to cry. It's hard enough when people say that behind my back at school. But here in the Smash World crosses a line.
"Ignore them Arla, they always criticize us even when they don't mean to. You get used to it," Mario said trying to cheer me up. But I didn't listen.
"What criticism? They only stated what they saw," Toon Link said. Sonic, Mario, Fox, Lucario sent a glare to him. Everyone was confused except for the Ice Climbers. Even though Nana and Popo had a small interaction with me, they knew what I was thinking about.
"Uh oh," they whispered in unison. I didn't write anything down nor did I communicate with movements. I got out of Peach's grasp and stood up on my own, though it still hurt on my legs.
"Arla don't, you still haven't recovered. That'll only make it-" Peach didn't finish as I limped out of the room. I limped all the way to my bedroom, silently crying when doing so.
"No one will want to see me for who I really am," I thought in despair, as I entered through the door not wanting to come out for a long time.
*Lucario's POV*
I can tell she was upset by everyone's comments. I looked towards Sonic, Mario, and Fox to see them with the same reactions to her leaving. We all had nasty comments by the critics, but Arla was given the same comments almost throughout her entire life. I checked her aura before she left.
"No emotion, again. Her entire aura feels as cold as ice and as hard as stone," I thought. Throughout her stay in the mansion, I could tell that her aura was growing warmer with every interaction she had with us. I felt a flame that was mixed with all sorts of emotions, slowly growing. But the critics shriveled away that flame again back to cold stone.
"What was that about. It was just the regular critics saying their assumptions about us again," Falcon said.
"Well, have you ever had the same false assumptions told about you throughout your life, and you couldn't do anything to prove them wrong?" Fox said and everyone shook their head. "Well that's exactly Arla's problem right there."
"What do you mean by that?" Zelda asked. The four of us looked at each other.
"Should we tell them? I mean it's not exactly our place to tell," Sonic said being cautious about revealing any personal stuff.
"At this point they deserve to know," Mario said. He looked at me and nodded. I nodded back and turned to the crowd.
"During Arla's first night here, Sonic, Mario, Fox, and I got a chance to know her more. Back at her school, people talked behind her back about the same stuff those witnesses talked about. How she looked intimidating, scary, and unapproachable. Even when she was one of the best at both academics and athleticism, they saw her as one to only focus on her own activities when she was the total opposite of their claims. She couldn't speak up prove them wrong no matter how much she tried. Eventually, she accepted her loneliness, which is why she has a hard time opening to others," I explained.
"Oh dear, how sad," Zelda stated.
"So what'll happen now?" Samus asked as she and the rest of us looked back to the entrance where Arla left.