Chapter 9
Division
Pikachu woke up to find himself on Link's lap. Link looked at the others and continued to pet Pikachu. Pikachu got to his feet. Link looked down at Pikachu. "Nice of you to join us," he said.
Pikachu looked around and noticed he was back at the top of the cliffs. "Pika pi pika pika."
"We are trying to come up with a plan," Fox said. "We don't agree on what the next move should be. We have three ideas. Some want to return to Smash Mansion and see what we can find there. Others want to search King Dedede's castle. The final idea is try to retake the Halberd. Oddly enough, Meta Knight opposes this idea."
"We would attract too much attention by going in this big of a group," Meta Knight said. "I still think that splitting up is the best idea."
"We need to stick together," Pit said. "Smash mansion is the best choice if we were to stick together."
"Tabuu will likely have-a set that place up as a trap for-a when we return," Mario said. "If Dedede's brooches are-a really as powerful as-a he says, we will need them."
"I agree with Meta Knight," Link said. "There is a possibility that all of these missions are pointless. It would be best to split up."
"Well, we need to put it to an official vote," Lucario said. "All for the Halberd." Fox raised his hand, but he was the only one. "For going to the smash mansion." Pit and Pikcahu raised their hands (paws). "All those that want to go to Dedede's castle." Mario, Ness, and Kirby raised their hands. "Then I'm guessing we're splitting up since there are four left who haven't voted."
"Actually," Lucas said. "I'm not going to vote."
"So it's a tie between Dedede's castle and splitting up," Ness said.
"Poy po poyo po poy?"
"We let the three not in the tie choose, that's how we decide," Meta Knight.
Fox, Pit, and Pikachu looked at each other. "Can we talk this over?" Fox said. The others agreed and the three huddled together. They whispered for a few moments. Finally they ended their huddle and Fox turned to the others. "We have decided that it would be best to split up."
"Then we need teams," Lucario said. "We also will want to keep it so that Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, and Fox don't all end up on the same team."
"How about this," Pit said. "We have me and Meta Knight go for the Halberd, and…"
"No," Meta Knight said. "I want to retake my ship alone. I have to."
"If they send two smashers that have been taken over by the mist after you, you won't win," Lucario said.
"We are all that-a is left," Mario said. "We-a have to stick together."
"I can do it," Meta Knight said. "You have to trust me."
"Well, we should put that to a vote as well," Pit said.
Mario, Link, Pikachu, Fox, and Ness walked down the road to the Smash Mansion. After the vote had ended, Meta Knight had been successful in convincing enough people that he could take the Halberd and left by himself. The remaining four, Kirby, Lucario, Pit, and Lucas, headed off for King Dedede's castle.
Fox looked at an area they had reached. "We may want to camp here," he said. Link pulled out some ropes and made the best shelter that he could, with the help of Fox. Ness and Mario created a fire while Pikachu went searching for food. After the shelter had been built and food had been gathered, the smashers sat around the flames. "We didn't do well splitting up the five." Ness said. "That isn't that much food,"
"Food-a isn't needed to-a keep us alive," Mario said. "We need it to heal from the injuries we took."
"Either way, it would have been nice to have more food," Fox said.
"It might be better if you are thankful for what you have," Link said. Pikachu walked over between Mario and Link to lie down.
"Look, we are in a really bad position," Fox said. "The more prepared we can be for when we face Tabuu the better. He has an army of twenty four smashers without us and Dedede. It will take more than most of us are probably capable of, and that is not including the primid army."
"We used to be only five," Link said. "Now we have doubled. It's sometimes better to be optimistic than to dwell on what could happen." Link looked at Pikachu and began to pet him. "Why would you want to hurt the hope that remains?"
Pikachu looked at Link. "Pi pika."
Link smiled. "You're welcome."
They woke up early the next morning and headed out. They tried going through the woods at first, but then decided to just take the main trail. Ness and Pikachu were on one side while Link and Mario were on the other side. Fox was in the middle of the group.
They walked down for a few hours when Fox held up his hand. "Stop," he said.
"What-a is it?" Mario said.
Fox turned his head to the side. After a few seconds, Fox's eyes grew wide. He did the splits, knocking the other four smashers to the sides of the trail. Link and Mario looked up to see five arrows from subspace cannons shoot down the trail, one of which collided with Fox.
Mario and Link quickly got up and ran toward Fox's trophy. Mario dashed ahead of Link, but stopped when a mist entered the trophy. Link caught up to Mario as Fox's trophy began to glow. Fox got himself off the ground. He pulled out his blaster and began to fire at Link and Mario. Link jumped forward, pulled out his shield, and blocked the bullets Fox was firing.
Mario turned around. He grabbed Link and dived to the side. Five more arrows flew through the air. Link and Mario looked up the road to see Ganondorf, Wolf, and Wario carrying a dark cannon and Bowser carrying two. Fox aimed the blaster at Mario and Link, but was stopped by Pikachu's skull bash.
The villains charged up some more shots. Ness used PK thunder and PK fire to destroy two of the cannons, one of Bowser's, as well as Ganondorf's. Link fired an arrow into Bowser's other cannon. Wolf and Wario fired at Ness and Link. They both jumped over the arrows. Ness used PK fire to destroy Wario's and Link used another arrow to destroy Wolf's. "Everyone split up and head into the woods!" Link said.
Mario and Pikachu stopped fighting Fox and ran into the woods. Pikachu dashed through the trees trying to make a complicated path to follow. As he jumped through a small gap between some trees, Wario went flying over him. Wario crashed into a branch as he jumped off his motorcycle. He turned to Pikachu, but he looked serious. He was missing the large annoying smile that he usually had. This just made Pikachu more nervous as they began to fight.
Link landed on a fallen tree and flipped off as Ganondorf came crashing down. "You know I beat you all the time," Link said.
Link tried to slash him, but Ganondorf rolled out of the way. "You do realize I'm desperate to stay alive," Ganondorf said.
"I am as well, so desperation is as much your enemy as you ally." Link threw a few bombs at a tree, sending it falling to the ground.
Ganondorf dived out of the way and smashed the branch Link was standing on. Link fell down the tree he was standing on. "Tabuu wants you, and I am gonna make sure I deliver."
As Ganondorf tried to smash Link, Link threw a bomb up Ganondorf's shirt. Link rolled away from where Ganondorf came crashing down. Ganondorf reached into his shirt, but Link smashed him. Ganondorf rolled across the ground until the bomb went off, sending him even further off.
Ness ran through the woods, ducking under branches and climbing over fallen trees. Ness looked behind him and halted to a stop. He didn't see any of the villains coming. He didn't hear any either. Ness looked around for a minute, but still nobody came. Ness thought about this and then realized. They were going for the ones that hadn't been captured yet.
Pikachu started backing up as he looked at Wario's belly. It had slowly began to expand out as the fight continued. Pikachu lifted up Wario's bike and threw it at him. Wario jumped over the bike, but Pikachu ran under him and called down lightning. As Wario fell to the ground, Pikachu started to climb the tree branches.
Wario got to his feet and looked up at Pikachu who was about twenty feet above the ground. Wario began to climb the tree after Pikachu. Pikachu continued to get farther above Wario. He looked down and watched as Wario unleashed his powerful fart, breaking the branch Pikachu was on. Pikachu landed onto the ground and rolled away as Wario came crashing down. Once Wario had landed, Pikachu began fighting Wario again.
Behind the fighting, Bowser came out from the trees. Pikachu and Wario hadn't noticed his arrival yet. Bowser grabbed the new dark cannon that he had brought with him and got it into a position it could fire. He aimed it and, as it got ready to fire, he heard someone shout from high above the ground. "PK STARSTORM!"
Stars fell to the ground with an exhausted Ness. One of the stars made contact with Bowser's cannon, causing it to explode. Pikachu rolled out of the way of a falling star, and turned to the explosion. Wario was sent flying off from getting hit by multiple stars. Bowser was hit by several stars and staggered to remain keep balanced. When he finally got steady, Pikachu used his skull bash to send him flying off.
Pikachu ran over to Ness to help him up. He grabbed one of Ness's arms and started to tug on it. Ness reached over and put his arm around Pikachu. He looked at Pikachu and smiled. Slowly, Pikachu lifted Ness up and leaned him against the tree.
Before they got a good chance to rest, they heard something rustling in the woods. Ness pushed himself off a tree, and Pikachu got ready to use some electricity. As they were about to start fighting, they saw the person that had been making all the noise had been Link. "Did you have to make so much noise coming over?" Ness said,
"I wanted to make sure I could find somebody." Link said. "I saw the stars falling, and I wanted to make sure that you were all safe." Link looked at both Ness and Pikachu. "Do either of you know where Mario is?" They both shook their heads. Just then, from the distance, they heard someone scream, "Aaaahhh!"
Mario ran by some of the trees until he found one that was taller than the others. He began to climb the tree, so that he would be prepared for when a villain would come for him. He expected that either Bowser or Wario would come for him, maybe even both. Bowser would be excited for a rematch.
As he was thinking about how he planned on fighting Bowser and/or Wario, he heard a shout from behind him say "PK STARSTORM!" Mario turned around and saw Ness floating in the sky. As about a hundred stars began to fall, Ness also fell from where he was. When most of the stars had fallen from the skies, Mario saw Wario shoot up into the air and far away. Not long after Wario shot through the air, Bowser skimmed slightly above the treetops before flying out of sight.
Mario thought about that. His assumption about having to face one of the villains he was familiar with was wrong. It might have been safe to assume he would face Ganondorf, but Ganondorf would never miss a chance to fight Link.
Before he realized what that meant, he was hit by a powerful blaster. Standing on a tree branch not too far away, Wolf got ready to fire again. As Wolf fired at Mario, he jumped to a nearby branch. When he jumped to the next branch, something jumped up and kicked Mario out of the trees. Mario looked up and saw Fox leap from above and land on the ground.
Mario quickly got to his feet, but was knocked over by a powerful kick by Wolf. Mario rolled away from another kick, but was smashed through a tree from one of Fox's kicks. Mario tried pushing himself up and screamed, "Aaaahhh!" He continued to try, but his arms collapsed. He looked up at Wolf and Fox. Fox turned to Wolf. Wolf nodded and Fox finished Mario with one final punch.
Mario began to glow and was quickly replaced with his trophy. Wolf began talking on a communicator, and Fox picked up Mario's trophy. Soon, the Halberd flew above them. A ladder descended, and Fox climbed up the ladder first, followed by Wolf.
From the woods came Link, Pikachu, and Ness. Wolf turned around from the top of the ladder. "We have gained ground," Wolf said. "Now we only have three more to go before we will be able to open the vault. I will return for you Link, as well as Pikachu. In the meantime, I believe I will search this ship for Meta Knight."
The ship flew off with Mario, Fox, and Wolf on board. Link began to run through the woods. "Where are you going!?" Ness shouted.
"I'm going after that ship!" Link shouted back.
"That ship is crawling with primids and misted smashers."
"It also has Meta Knight, Mario, and Fox on it, and Meta Knight won't be able to handle the forces on board by himself anymore. He needs our help."
Link disappeared from sight. Pikachu looked up at Ness before chasing after Link. Ness looked around and then followed the others. He caught up with Link and asked, "What's the plan?"
"The ship is headed towards the mountain where Meta Knight originally boarded the Halberd. Hopefully, it will be close enough that we can board the ship. We have to hurry if we want to reach the mountain before the Halberd."
