Next chapter! It didn't take too long this time! Yoshiki's plan is revealed in this chapter so plz R&R! You now know that Yoshiki is freaky and wierd and stuffs but his actual plan is even FREAKIER! Well, I hope you think it is.. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own any SSBM characters but I do own Yoshiki Inukai, Takeshi Deguchi and Koji Konda.
Denying defeat failed to surface to mind. They had suffered defeat and they knew it. It was a battle like no other which they had participated in the Smash Mansion, but now it was all about to end with… a single gunshot.
A few seconds of painful silence passed. The five Smashers waited for Yoshiki's triumphant cry of satisfaction penetrate them like the sole bullet in his gun, but it never came. Yoshiki savoured their fear as if he were watching the best part of a film.
"…Well?" Falco's calm voice broke the silence. "You want this to end, don't you? Go ahead!"
"What?!" exclaimed Fox. "Don't-"
"He will fulfil his promise to Master Hand. Once one Smasher is gone, he'll leave,"
"You can't do that!" said Zelda fearfully. "He'll take the rest of the Smashers! If you let him do this, he'll leave but take the rest of us with him!"
"That's right, Zelda," Yoshiki interrupted coolly. "He is, after all, one of the unworthy Smashers. Master Hand didn't know that I was planning to form a superior team of Smashers and kill the rest when he signed that contract."
A look of bewilderment crossed the Smashers faces.
"Contract?" repeated Fox. "What's that about?!"
"It's of no concern to you," Yoshiki replied arrogantly. "…Unworthy Smasher…"
Fox didn't dare to show his fury.
"But… why start this in the first place?" said Samus inquiringly. "You probably earn over a million yen each month! You're the manager of SMASH! News and a TV presenter… Why do you want more fame?"
That was a new approach to the situation which Yoshiki wasn't prepared for. He stared at his gun.
"I…"
"Greed." said Falco simply. "He'll do anything to get his hands on more money… even if it means that he has to kill someone in order to get it,"
Yoshiki growled.
"You're right, Falco," he said angrily. "I killed my parents just so I could inherit their money and fame. I've killed several of my film crew just because they disagreed with my behaviour. My girlfriend met the same fate. Yes, yes, it is all about my greed to succeed. Anyway, that was in the past, and I just told you something that not even the media know about. Plus, shouldn't I get to the killing? The one thing which will bring me more of the fame and money that I deserve?"
"Like I said, go ahead," said Falco casually. "You're starting to get annoying…"
"No! You-"
"Fine!"
Yoshiki roared over Zelda's plea and a bullet tore through the air in the less than a second. The Smashers stared in horror, not sure of who to look at.
Instead of a smile of contentment, Yoshiki's face was blank. The gun shook in his hand.
"Heh… You insisted…" Falco smiled.
The four other Smashers had little time to witness the amazing challenge of the reflexes as Falco quickly activated his reflector to send the bullet back at Yoshiki. It had shot back at Yoshiki's stomach.
"My l-last bullet!" he cried out in anguish. "Y-you… how…"
"No time for that, 'Freaky Shiki'! We're outta here!"
Falco's triumphant call signalled to his friends that now was the time to run back and alert everyone. Without even looking back, the five Smashers escaped the old office and darted back towards their rooms, the sound of their desperate footsteps and heavy breathing resonating throughout the mansion walls like ghostly voices.
"Now what?" said Link.
"Need to warn everyone…Yoshiki's weak… We need to-"
"What?! We've woken up security!"
Samus pointed just over Fox's head at the lumbering, fatigued guards racing down the corridor, katana in hand. The thundering of feet was not just in front of them; it was also behind. They were trapped…
Samus charged her cannon and fired a blast of energy at the security, knocking several backwards at least two feet. However this wasn't enough to deter them. Eventually, they stopped, blocking off the corridor on both sides.
"Tomorrow it begins… I w-will… prove to y-you t-that I will rule over the Smash t-tournaments and its c-contestants…"
On cue once again was the chilling voice of Yoshiki rang alarmingly through the hallway, clutching at the wound on his stomach. How he got there so fast was beyond belief…
"Yeah, right!" yelled Falco. "Once everyone hears about you…"
"But they won't. I may be down but I'm not out, especially with these guys," said Yoshiki, his hand outstretched towards the guards in front of him. "Knock them out… Leave the killing to me…"
Many of the guards stepped backward; only the five strongest were left standing close to the Smashers. Unsheathing their katana and unfazed by the continuous fire of blaster shots and energy blasting, they struck the blades down with terrifying force.
All five Smashers sank to the ground, unconscious. The guards backed away. You could still see the terror frozen on Zelda's face.
Yoshiki smiled evilly.
"Everything's ready for tomorrow. It's a shame you won't be able to watch the chaos later this morning…"
"Hey! HEY!"
The words pounded in his head.
"Are you OK?"
A pair of green eyes flickered under their eyelids. A blurry image emerged before him, steadily becoming clearer.
"Finally! Someone's awake!"
The deep voice belonged to a tall man clad in black and grey combat gear. Fox immediately recognised it as Snake.
"Wha-? Who… Ow! My head!"
"Uh…what's all the noise about, eh?"
The grumpy remark belonged to Falco.
"What's going on?"
"It's not good, guys," Snake replied with a sigh. "Marth, Roy, Pit, Metaknight and I are the only ones left. Yoshiki's taken everyone else…"
Link, Zelda and Samus groaned as they woke up. They were surprised to find themselves lying on the carpet.
"Ah! Snake! Yoshiki found us early and he tried to kill us and, and-"
"I know," Snake answered Zelda calmly. "He caused havoc this morning. Most of the Smashers have gone. They've been kidnapped by Yoshiki. If only Koji had filmed it…"
"Speaking of which, where is Koji?" Link asked, rubbing his head.
"Oh, he's in the dining hall making this dramatic drama scene for the media about the missing Smashers and who kidnapped them."
"But wait! We've made a breakthrough people! Some Smashers are still here!"
Koji, his face flushed and astounded, zoomed around the corner with two cameramen following him. He stopped several inches before the fallen Smashers, almost collapsing onto them.
"I can't believe it! They're still here! Could you tell us what happen?"
"No…" replied Fox intoned, speaking slowly as if talking to a small child. "Look, we're in a lot of pain right now…"
"Are you OK? Dr Mario's been taken too, but I'm sure I could sort you out-"
"NO! I mean, er… well, no, Koji. We'll be fine, won't we, Fox?"
Falco nudged Fox with his elbow, nodding his head.
"Er, yeah, we're OK," said Fox discontentedly. Any treatment was good enough in their situation.
Suddenly, heavy footsteps resonated through the hallway again, this time belonging to a blue-haired swordsman, a red-haired swordsman and Metaknight. Pit hastily flew alongside them, bow in hand.
"They're still here!" exclaimed Roy. "Guys! We've made a breakthrough!"
"Breakthrough?!" Koji repeated, his eyes lighting up and his brain seemingly switching to hyper mode. "This is live, guys, tell us the news! Look at the camera!!"
Marth grimaced, frustrated. "Look, Koji, just shut up for a second, OK? This is nothing to do with you!"
Koji backed away, muttering something to the cameramen. To tell the truth, they weren't in the least bit concerned by what was going on.
Meanwhile, Marth approached the Smashers with a piece of crumpled paper.
"Look at this, guys!" he said, crouching down to their level.
"Ah…" Snake nodded his head in understanding.
"What?" said Samus excitedly.
Marth smoothed out the paper on the ground. This is what was written:
僕の秘計はあぶなく見つかるだ。
僕は胡乱けど,の信用を勝つだ。
僕は有るまじきなスマシャーを殺します。
マスターハンドは負けましたも。
明日に始まる。
芳樹
世死期
"…And what's all that about then?" said Falco after Marth read out the Japanese text. "Translation please!"
"OK, in English, this means: My plan was almost discovered. I may look suspicious but I've gained the Smashers trust. I will kill all unworthy Smashers. Master Hand is also defeated. Tomorrow it begins. Yoshiki."
"Look at the five kanji at the end," murmured Snake. "He's spelt his name with different kanji on the last line… Whilst his real name would stand for something like 'fragrant tree', he's spelt his name in kanji which stands for 'the world or this generation's time of death',"
"That is weird…" said Pit quietly. "But what does he mean by 'Tomorrow it begins.'?"
He looked down at his friends expectantly, but was met by blank and discouraged faces in return. All except for one.
"Wait! Don't you remember?" exclaimed Fox, turning to the other Smashers behind him. "He said that he had his own mansion! He was taking the so-called superior Smashers there and killing all of those who were unworthy! Surely you must… oh…"
Amnesia still lingered deep within his friend's minds, an obstinate fog obscuring last night and early morning's events. All they could do to show their approval was smile.
"You mean that this was planned from day one since Yoshiki got here?" queried Metaknight.
"That's right." said Fox sighing. "But he's not the only one: Master Hand has betrayed us too. He was willing to kill Falco to save himself."
"Master Hand?" Roy repeated.
"Why is this conversation still running?" groaned Metaknight, tapping his small feet. "We could have got to his mansion by now!"
"I agree, but Metaknight had made a good point there; where is his mansion?"
Snake looked around for someone to answer, but no one spoke. He sighed loudly and scanned the paper one last time, checking the front and back. He sighed again.
"Honestly," he said, jabbing his finger on the back of the paper. "It's from his manager diary. Inukai Mansion… oh. OK, it doesn't say anything about the planet."
"Come on," Fox said simply. "We'll just have to ask for directions,"
At this point, Koji ran in front of Fox waving his microphone madly.
"I know where Yoshiki's mansion is! His mansion is in Ibaraki prefecture in Japan but his tournaments are fought on his own planet. The problem is, the only way you can get to the 'Revolution SMASH' planet as he calls it, you need to use the portal in his mansion."
"Now how did I know something like that was gonna happen…" Falco wondered aloud sarcastically. "Looks like we're gonna have to take you with us."
"Woooo!"
"OK, OK, enough of that, we need to get the Smashers back!"
"How are we getting there?" asked Pit, flying ahead of Fox.
"The StarFox ship of course!" the fox replied enthusiastically and sprinting ahead, leaving no time for Link, Zelda and Samus to heave themselves off of the floor.
"That is… I think that's right…"
"No time for that! If you're so unsure about it, you go to Japan and we'll go to his planet," said Fox.
Koji looked around nervously. Marth patted him on the shoulder
"I'll come with you!" he smiled. "You coming, Roy?"
"Yeah!"
"It's settled then," said Snake firmly. "Everyone else will go in Fox's ship."
"OK, let's go!"
The ten Smashers and the now not-so-keen Koji Konda ran through the corridors and into the outside garage; a gargantuan steel dome-like structure. Recently updated and made larger to fit in Metaknight's huge ship, the Battleship Halberd, Fox's ship, along with Samus' was parked in the middle of the garage. There was also a new, smaller vehicle there.
Fox, Falco, Link, Samus, Zelda and Snake boarded the Great Fox whilst Koji, Marth, Roy and his cameramen –strangely inconspicuous to the rest of the group for some reason - boarded Koji's black ship.
Very little was said between them. Koji clambered into his vehicle last.
On board, with no explanation of how long the journey would take, Koji pressed a few buttons on a panel at the front of the ship and hovered a few inches above the ground. Marth and Roy pressed their faces against the window and waved. A few seconds later, the vehicle coughed a cloud of fire and smoke and left.
"We'd better get going," sighed Fox, looking at the new temporary members of his crew. "We're gonna have to take directions later, but apart from that, the journey should be fine."
The eager adventurers nodded their heads.
The Great Fox roared into life. Koji's ship was now just a fading speck in the sky. Suddenly, the enormous grey ship hovered in the air a few inches.
Another button was pressed, and the journey was finally underway…
And so from now on, you'll get to hear from two different perspectives: Fox's team and Koji's team. Oh wait, make that THREE teams! I might add Inukai-san's perspective so we can check up on the rest of the Smashers... Oh well, I'll make it up as I go along XD See ya laterz!
And now (drumroll please) review time! Plz review!
