Hey guys! I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow so I thought I should upload one more chapter before I leave. Please enjoy chapter eight!
Chapter Eight
The crowd had cheered like mad after witnessing the first few rounds of the tournament and their cheers haven't gotten any quieter on the fourth day. Samus had to admit, each of the fighters were impressive. They had their own strengths, knew how to deal with their own weaknesses, and are slowly learning those of their opponents. She was watching the last round of the day, Olimar vs Diddy Kong, and both contestants were going against each other with all they had.
"Go, Diddy!" A few seats down from her sat Donkey Kong. He had just won a few days ago against Pit after grabbing the angel when he flew too close and holding him in a headlock before knocking him out cold.
"Diddy Kong's got this," Red mused beside the giant ape. The pokemon trainer had been taken out magnificently by Captain Falcon yesterday but he seemed to have finally gotten over the shock of the defeat. He was now laughing and betting on wins with the others that had already fought.
"Oh! Look over there!" Wario pointed at the sky and Samus let out a small gasp. Appearing out of nowhere and floating above the fighters was a smash ball, a rare item that granted the power for a Smasher to use their greatest move. Obtaining it could well mean a victory.
Diddy Kong noticed it first. Quickly dodging Olimar's attack, he jumped into the air and managed to land a punch on the smash ball. Now, it needed two more hits to break. The crowd roared in excitement when Diddy Kong managed to land an attack a second time. Then, all of a sudden, the smash ball veered left towards where Olimar was waiting. The short captain threw a red pikmin at it and it was hit square on.
Diddy Kong's jaws dropped. "No way!" he cried.
Samus blinked. She's never witnessed Olimar's strongest attack before. As she watched intently, a space ship materialized in front of him and the captain quickly climbed in with his pikmins. It blasted off into the air just as the roar of a monster echoed through the stadium.
The jaws of the Smashers beside her dropped open. Even Samus had to stare in shock as a wave of red round creatures with snail-like eyes invaded the stadium and began stampeding all over the place. Diddy Kong was helplessly trapped in the mob and his damage intake on the big screen drastically increased. Thankfully, the assault didn't last more than a couple of seconds and the monsters quickly disappeared off the stadium.
Diddy Kong lay on the ground, dazed, for a few seconds before trying to stand up.
"Diddy, watch out!" Donkey suddenly yelled, pointing to the sky. Samus looked up to see Olimar's rocket ship come crashing down from the sky. It landed at the centre of the stadium, close to Diddy Kong. Well, more like crash landed. To everyone's surprise, an explosion erupted from where the ship touched down and blew Diddy Kong away, out of the stadium.
Master Hand's voice appeared, booming across the arena. "And the winner is… Captain Olimar!"
The crowd erupted into cheers as the little captain stepped out of the spaceship with his pikmin companions and waved to the audience. Diddy Kong rematerialized back above the arena on a portal. He and Olimar shook hands and walked off the stage waving as the applause continued.
"Olimar's pretty tough!" Red breathed.
"So that's what his final smash is," Pit said. "This is the first time he used it. At least now we know what to expect."
Samus dipped her head in agreement and clapped softly as she watched the fighters exit the stage. They were indeed strong but after witnessing the battle, she learned some important information about their fighting styles.
Samus had already won her fight against Yoshi two days ago but she knew that in order to continue winning in the tourney, she had to observe her future opponents' fighting styles as thoroughly as possible to gain the advantage. Not everyone revealed what they were capable of during training.
Olimar's victory wrapped up the first part of the tournament. Samus couldn't wait for round two.
When Samus opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was Red standing at her right and Lucario to her left. Pikachu brushed past her leg and took a few tentative steps forward as if testing if the world they were standing in was real.
Samus saw Red's eyes widen in awe as he took in the sight around them. The pokemons were all silent too. They stared at the empty space surrounding them without a word as the wind whistled past.
They were standing back on the old sky arena, the place that had held so many memorable fights so long ago. The once beloved arena seemed to have been abandoned. For how long, Samus wasn't sure. She looked up to the large screen that Master Hand had appeared on when he first spoke to them. The glass was cracked and the screen was pitch black. Debris and cobwebs littered the floor. The place that once held so many festivities now felt eerie and hollow.
Jigglypuff finally spoke. "We're… back?" Her voice sounded tiny, breaking the silence of the huge arena. She turned around to meet their eyes. "We're actually back in Smash Kingdom…"
Red, who had taken his pokemon out for them to take a look around, gave her a small pat on the head. "Yes, we're back," he said. His voice was firm with certainty but his eyes were grim.
"Samus," Pikachu said, his ears flicking in confusion. "What do we do now?"
Samus hesitated, looking around. She could see the town, or what was left of it, in the distance. A huge portion of it was enveloped in dark material. Subspace. The evil entity Tabuu had tried to use to swallow up the world.
Pikachu also noticed it. "The subspace is still there," Pikachu said. "From the looks of it, Tabuu is still sealed in it by Master Hand."
Samus nodded. "We need to get to the castle. Find someone, anyone, and find out what happened ever since we left."
The others nodded in agreement and headed for the exit.
"How will we get down to the ground?" Lucario asked. When they used to hold tournaments, Master Hand had jokingly told all the Smashers they had to find their own way up to get to the floating stadium. Some lucky contestants that had some method of flying easily made it. Samus herself had always asked Fox if she could hitch a ride on top his arwing and the pilot had never said no.
"Don't worry, I'll ask Charizard to make a few trips and get us down," Red said, bringing out the fire pokemon. "Samus, you and Pikachu can go first."
"I can float down myself," Jigglypuff said. "See you guys in a bit."
After everyone safely made it to the ground, they began the long walk back to the town through the plains.
"It's so empty here," Pikachu whispered. A sudden rustle of leaves caused him to jump, accidently shocking the pokemon trainer who was beside him.
"It's alright, Pikachu," Samus said. "It's only the wind."
"Where are all the people of this world?" Jigglypuff asked.
"I'm assuming they just moved far away from this town." Lucario narrowed his eyes and stared ahead. "We're getting closer to the subspace. It's just beyond that hill."
"Hey!" Red motioned for them to stop with his hands. "Primids up ahead!"
Samus and Lucario ducked down but Pikachu and Jigglypuff ran ahead. They caught the three primids by surprise and took them out with a quick tail whip and tackle move.
"Not so fast, you guys," Red said running up to them. "We don't want to attract attention."
"There's more coming," Lucario said.
The group quickly ducked behind some trees and watched as another group of primids walked past them.
"How many of them are there?" Samus whispered.
Lucario's eyes glowed. "About five."
"There's probably a lot more by the subspace," Jigglypuff replied. "I think they're patrolling this area."
"Then we need to somehow find a way to Smash Mansion without attracting their attention," said Pikachu.
Samus nodded. "They're gone. Let's get a move on. Head for the forest."
The group ran as quickly and stealthily as they could with Pikachu, being the smallest, at the front, in case anymore primids appeared behind the hills. The tall grass also hid them away from the primids' eyes as they reached the cover of the trees.
"It'll take longer to get to the town through the forest but at least they can't see us in here," Red said as they all visibly relaxed.
"Let's keep moving then," said Lucario.
As they walked past the huge dome of subspace, Pikachu growled. "I don't like how it's still here," he said, glaring at the black entity in the distance.
"Tabuu's still inside," Jigglypuff murmured. "That's got to be why there's so many primids here."
"We'll deal with them later," Samus said. "I want to see if the mansion is still there."
"The town's over here." Red frowned they approached the town.
There was nothing left of it but bits of wood and cement. Some old buildings remained standing but were left in terrible shape. After checking for enemies, they cautiously approached the town.
"I can't sense any humans here," Lucario said quietly.
Red kicked away some dirt as they walked down a cement sidewalk. Some parts of the road still existed. Other parts that had been blown off had grass and weeds growing over the craters. The group didn't say anything and instead trained their eyes on the ahead, looking for the enemy.
Smash Mansion was just on the outskirts of town, quite some ways away from the subspace. Samus gladly walked in the direction opposite to where the primids were and hoped that there were none in the streets. She spoke too soon.
A group of primids came out of a building ahead of them and spotted them. Screeching, they charged. At once, Red had Blastoise out and the primids were blown away by a blast of water from its cannons before they could do anything.
"Shit, the others might've heard them," Red whispered.
"Let's run," Jigglypuff cried.
The small group forgot about being cautious and instead sprinted in the direction of the mansion. As they climbed up a small hill, they saw it.
"It's there!" Jigglypuff gasped. "Smash Mansion's still there!"
Sure enough, Samus could see the mansion in the distance. It still looked the same as how they last left it, with the windows shattered and the front doors broken down but it still stood magnificently high above them as they approached closer. One of the pillars on the front porch was on the verge of collapse. Samus winced, remembering how Duon had set off an explosion in the front of the mansion five years ago to lure them out.
"Be careful," Samus said as they ran inside. She raised her cannon arm as she quickly scanned the great hall before running off.
"Samus, where're you going?" Red called.
"To Master Hand's control room," she replied, climbing up the stairs.
"The control room?" Red jumped over some fallen ceiling lights. "What're you planning to do there?"
"I'll see when I get there. There must be something I can do."
Red and the pokemon followed her up to the second story and past the dormitories. None of them had ever been in Master Hand's control room but they knew where it was. It was the only door they weren't allowed to open but Samus passed by it many times.
"We're here," Samus said, opening the doors.
When she looked inside, Samus expected to see a room full of computers and machines, which she did. What she didn't expect was that they were actually working and being operated by a dozen of primids at the moment. The little robots also looked up in surprise when she threw the door open. They stared for about two seconds before letting out an angry screech and throwing themselves at the door.
Samus backed up instinctively, knocking into Red and pushing him back with her. Pikachu, Lucario, and Jigglypuff jumped into her place, ready to attack the primids.
"Don't hurt the computers!" Samus cried.
Pikachu, who was about to cast a thunderbolt, stopped and instead waited for the primids to come out of the room. As the others finished the soldiers off in the hallway, Samus ran into the control room and glanced around wildly. She quickly took off her power suit and placed it aside before heading for the central computer, and scanning the massive screen. When she got her bearings, her fingers started moving on their own on the keyboard.
"Samus? What're you up to?" Red asked from behind her.
"Trying to figure this out," Samus muttered. She pressed on a file on the computer and it opened. "See this? It shows what world the teleporters are in at the moment. Tabuu's henchmen already know this. Oh!"
"What is it?" asked Lucario. He and all the others were crowding around her, trying to read the monitor.
"They made new teleporters and deactivated the old ones!" Samus gasped. "See this list here? It's the codenames of our teleporters! They've all been shut off!"
"Can the old teleporters be reactivated?" Red asked quickly.
"I don't know… I'll try." Samus typed furiously on the keyboard. "No… shit!"
"Password?" Red squinted, reading off the screen. He gave Samus a blank look which she returned.
"I don't know Master Hand's password," she whispered.
"But how… how could the primids have figured it out?" Jigglypuff exclaimed. "I mean, it's Master Hand's computer!"
"They… they hacked into the system?" Samus was at a loss for words. "How can they… I didn't know primids were capable of processing such complex information!"
"They didn't."
The group whirled around at the voice. Pikachu and Lucario immediately stepped in front, ready to confront. Purple aura encased Lucario's fists and electricity cracked around Pikachu's cheeks.
"I didn't sense an aura…" Lucario whispered. "Be careful, he's strong."
Someone standing outside, partially hidden behind the wall. Samus frowned, trying to make out who it was. The voice didn't sound like someone she knew. She heard Jigglypuff gasp beside her.
"Master Hand?" she cried.
"What?" Red lowered his pokeball. His eyes widened as he got a better look.
Lucario and Pikachu hesitated too. The figure at the door slowly came in and everyone immediately gasped and took a step back.
It was a giant gloved hand.
Hovering slightly off the ground, it floated towards them. For a moment, Samus really thought that their much missed benefactor had survived the last war and was now standing, alive and well, in front of them, but she suddenly realized that something was off. The hand seemed to be twitching every few seconds as it got closer. That was nothing like Master Hand's usual graceful glide.
It spoke. "Master Hand? Did you just call me Master Hand?" Its voice had a hard edge to it, as if it was scoffing.
Samus cursed inwardly. She had taken off her suit to work the computer but now had no time to put it back on. The others crowded protectively around her.
"Who are you?" Red yelled. "If you're not Master Hand, then who are you?"
"Yes, Master Hand," the giant gloved hand mused. "It's been long since I last heard that name."
Pikachu twitched his ears. "You know Master Hand?"
"Well… he is my brother after all."
"What?" Jigglypuff's jaws dropped. "Master Hand… had a brother?"
Red frowned. "Master Hand never told us he had a brother…"
"It was I who wanted it that way. You see, I don't like crowding around people. Too bothersome." The hand began convulsing and the others stepped back. It suddenly returned to normal again and it went on as if nothing happened. "My brother just haaaad to invite all of you to our kingdom, against my advice. I didn't like the idea so I left."
"You left?" Pikachu inquired. "For how long?"
"Well, when I came back…" The hand gestured to the outside. "… all this had already happened."
Lucario relaxed slightly. "What's your name?"
"Crazy Hand."
Samus couldn't help thinking how suitable it was for him.
Crazy Hand continued. "So you're these… Smashers… that Master Hand had recruited? Why have you come back here?"
"It's because we're trying to stop Tabuu, of course!" Jigglypuff cried. "Wait, a minute, you've been here all this time? Why aren't you trying to stop his army? They're going to bring him back and you're letting the primids come in and out of this room as they please?"
Crazy Hand gave a sharp spasm as if he was shrugging. "None of my business."
Samus stepped forward. "When you were still outside, you told us that they didn't hack into the computer. Then how did they manage to control the teleporters?"
Crazy Hand cackled. "I gave them the password."
Samus felt her heart fall like a brick. Red's face paled and Pikachu made a small disbelieving noise.
"Why would you do that?" Lucario asked, his eyes glowing dangerously. "Do you know what they are trying to do to this world?"
Crazy Hand shrugged. "Really none of my business. I just felt like it at the time, so I did it. It's gotten sooo boring here. I figured some excitement was needed to brighten up this dull place."
Jigglypuff took a deep breath. "What's wrong with you?" she cried, bouncing up to him. Red had to grab her and pulled her back. "Don't you care what happens to this world that your brother loved?"
"He was a fool," Crazy Hand said. "I told him all that he was doing was useless but he didn't listen. Persistence is a common trait among fools."
Jigglypuff's eyes brimmed with angry tears. "How can you say that?" she yelled. "Master Hand… he gave his life for Smash Kingdom! Everything he did… it was for Smash Kingdom!"
"Don't forget, even though he had true intentions, none of his plans succeeded," Crazy Hand said darkly. He suddenly turned back to the door. "Oh? Seems like things are going to get interesting."
Lucario's eyes widened. "Do you guys feel it?" he whispered. "The floor's trembling."
Pikachu ran outside and looked out the window. His ears flattened down against his head. "Guys!" he yelled. "Guys, there's something coming!"
Sure enough, as she reached the window, Samus could see that far off in the distance, the ground appeared to be moving like a wave. "Those are primids…" She tried to keep the shock out of her voice. "At least a thousand…"
"Wh… what do we do?" Jigglypuff asked fearfully. The others were all staring, too shock to answer her. The army of enemy soldiers were approaching fast. "They must've seen the mess we made back in town."
Samus gulped. It was now or never.
"Can you four do something for me?" Samus asked, trying to calm her heart. "Keep them out of the mansion for five minutes. Five minutes is all I ask."
"Samus? What're you going to do?" Pikachu asked.
"I have to try to hack into the computer. At least try."
"Or you can just ask me," Crazy Hand smirked from behind them.
Samus calmly looked over to where he was, leaning against the doorway, watching them panic with amusement.
"And if I did, Mister Crazy Hand, would you really tell me?" she asked.
Crazy Hand didn't answer.
"I thought so. Five minutes, guys."
"Got it," Red yelled, already running down the stairs with Lucario and Jigglypuff.
"Good luck, Samus," Pikachu said, sprinting after them.
Samus immediately headed back into the computer room, her mind already going over everything that she remembered from Master Hand. She tried other ways of accessing his computer files but everything required a password. She attempted to guess every password she could think of, but in the end, it was futile, like she expected. Master Hand's password could've been a long string of numbers for all she knew.
Master Hand's super computer was slightly different than the ones back in her world but Samus knew enough to try out a few things. She rebooted the computer, opened its safe mode, and continued on quickly, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Oh, you're trying to hack into it?" Crazy Hand observed from beside her. "It's not going to work, you know. My brother wouldn't allow things like that to happen."
As if to prove him right, a pop up denied her access. Samus growled in frustration.
Crazy Hand was now outside at the window and he felt the need to keep her up to date with what was happening outside. "Ooh the primids are almost here. Your friends went out to meet them. I think they're trying to distract them and lead them away. Wow the small one took out five at once with its lightning! And is that a fire dragon? That guy's got some dangerous pets."
Samus chewed on her lips as she tried to concentrate, her breathing growing more and more heavy as she grew more and more distracted.
"Oh nope… it seems their plan failed. The primids are running this way after all, even though they're causing quite a ruckus."
Everything she was trying wasn't working. Nothing, nothing was working! Samus slammed her hands down on the keyboard.
"Oh no… it seems that little pink creature is losing. She's too far from the others."
Samus almost fell to her knees. They were trembling and she didn't even realize. "Mister Crazy Hand, please…" She said in a small, hoarse voice.
From the tone of Crazy Hand's voice, he seemed please that he got a response. "Yes, what is it?"
"Please quickly leave the mansion."
Instead of receiving a sarcastic reply, Crazy Hand actually hesitated. "What did you say?"
Samus wiped her brow. Her bangs were plastered to her forehead from sweat. She straightened up and took a deep breath, trying to regain her focus. "I will keep working on this, along with the others," she told him. "It's best if you escaped though. I doubt the mansion will hold if the primids are not stopped."
Crazy Hand dropped his teasing tone. "You know you will not succeed," he said. "The primids might kill your friends out there."
"Not yet," Samus whispered fiercely. "As long as we still have time, we will all fight to our last breath. But I don't want you caught up in this, Mister Crazy Hand. You say that you do not care for the kingdom but I do not think that is the case. After all, why did you come back? You came back and you stayed, even though everyone else left. "
Crazy Hand did not say anything.
"Besides, I also don't think Master Hand would want his brother to get hurt," Samus continued. "Master Hand trusted us and I don't want to disappoint him."
"He's dead."
Samus shook her head. "His kingdom still lives. And we, as his chosen ones, will stop at nothing to save it. That's what it means to be a Smasher." She turned to look at Crazy Hand. "You can believe in us, you know. While you still have time, please entrust this to us and leave."
Samus returned to her work after that.
There still must be some way, she thought, as she scanned past pages and pages of information. To her dismay, Master Hand's computer was one of the most complex ones she's ever seen, if not the most. As it dragged on, she was having a harder and harder time keeping the dread from clawing up her stomach.
Samus was used to working under pressure but there was something different about this time. Everyone was relying on her- not just the Smashers outside but also the ones still trapped back in their own world. And she was also hard pressed for time. If she couldn't save her friends outside, if one of them… died…
"Audi famam illius."
Even though her mind was about to explode from trying to block out the panic and focusing on concentration, Samus somehow managed to hear those words. She turned around to see Crazy Hand who had been quiet for some time.
"Pardon?"
Crazy Hand scoffed and headed towards the door. "It was a stupid story we heard a long, long time ago. I took it as what it was- a story. I think it sat a little deeper with my idiot brother though. The spelling is the exact same as the pronunciation." Crazy Hand paused before he left. "I'll take your advice this time, Miss, but you better make sure this mansion still remains in one piece when I come back. I've grown quite fond of it in these last few years. Well then… see ya."
With a quick snap of his fingers, Crazy Hand faded away and disappeared.
Samus finished typing in the password before she could even catch her breath. A flood of relief washed over her when the computer made a beep of approval.
It took two seconds for her to restart the teleporters. She pressed the 'activate' button on the screen and waited. The computer hummed and words appeared on the screen.
Teleporter number one. Activation success.
Samus quickly changed around its setting to allow automatic teleportation to Smash Kingdom and then moved on to the second one. She trembled in excitement as teleporters two, three, and four, all activated in the matter of minutes.
Please, oh please hurry, Samus thought. She wondered how the others were doing outside. They probably couldn't hold out for much longer.
A sudden loud noise came from downstairs and made Samus jump. It sounded like a wall being broken down. She heard Red's voice, loud and frantic.
"Samus, they're upstairs!"
Samus could hear footsteps coming closer. She swore under her breath and took out her paralyzer, aiming it at the door. A primid had just opened it when Pikachu rammed into the robot, sending them both crashing down the hall.
Samus ran to the door. "Pikachu!"
"It's alright Samus, you keep working." Sparks flew from the electric mouse's cheeks. "I won't let anyone enter!"
"Alright, thanks! You just have to hold on for a while longer!"
Samus quickly headed back to the computer. She could hear fights breaking out all over the mansion as the primids finally began breaking past the Smashers.
It seemed to take forever, waiting for the computer to load while hearing loud crashing noises left, right, and below her, but she finally managed to activate the thirty fifth one. Samus gave herself a second to catch her breath before straightening up. Her job here was done.
She still had to help out everyone outside. The bounty hunter quickly put back on her power suit and ran out the door.
