So sorry! I decided to update this Sunday instead because, from the number of hits the last chapter received, it seemed that lots of people missed that chapter as it appeared on a different day. That's why I decided I had to update on Sunday, so I could get the updating schedule back on track again. Again though, sorry! If it's any consolation, I made this chapter extra-long with the extra time I had to write it :) Also, I've decided to say a proper thank-you to all of the reviewers so far.
They include: Razcoolzle, XxoO-Light The Sky-oOxX, The Shadow Ice Alchemist, PikaYoshiGirl, NinjaKrabz, Sapphire Drakon, Link PWNs u all!, Hazzarr, Master Assassin Darkstorm, Solo X, Pikachu127, kdsjngtturd, Ultra-Tech 777, Blured, The Great Fairy, doggiefan, guy, ThePrincessofHyrule, Midnight Ghost, AlteaAuroraRia, Bouncefox, The-City-is-alive, Tilt and RaNdOm CaT927!
You make writing this story so much more enjoyable for me, and the concrit you gave me has saved this story from falling into complete epic-failure land, so thanks very much for that too :)
Now on with the finale of 'The Hunt'
Almost an hour had passed, and the two Pokemon had not yet returned. Popo looked up at Red anxiously.
"Do Ivysaur and Charizard normally take this long to...you know, look at stuff?"
The Pokemon trainer frowned. "No."
"The electricity hasn't stopped, we should go," Lucario pointed out. "And I know this goes without saying, but be on your highest guard. In the event that Charizard and Ivysaur have been injured, or even killed-"
Jigglypuff's eyes widened in fright.
"-then Pikachu has grown very, very powerful indeed."
-oOo-
About half an hour later, they arrived on the outside of a small clearing, in which Pikachu seemed to be residing. The fact that most of trees around them were scarred with coal-black patches, and that the leaves had been burnt away, gave the strong impression that Pikachu had been heading in that direction. The thunderbolts also seemed to be sourced from the direct middle of the clearing, and an electric buzz occupied the area nearby.
Everyone stopped and waited at the edge of the large, empty circle, peering out cautiously from behind the scorched tree trunks. The sight that met their eyes was certainly not what they were expecting.
"That...isn't Pikachu," Nana murmured.
"Why has the tracker been leading us this way, then?" Asked Red, nodding to the device that was strapped onto Lucario's wrist. The aura Pokemon's expression hardened.
"The contraption out there is some sort of machine, used to generate powerful electric currents, probably used to simulate thunderstorms."
The large generator-type box sat in middle of the empty space as it continued to fire electricity into the sky at random intervals.
"The tracker probably lead us to it because Pikachu left some of his DNA on it. As for its relevance, or how Pikachu found and activated it, I have no idea what could possibly be going on..."
"Perhaps it wasn't Pikachu who set it up. Maybe there's another force on the virus's side, someone that's helping it to fight us. Someone else could have put this here, to help him!" Popo suggested.
"But what help is it to Pikachu? It isn't particularly dangerous." Nana said.
"Perhaps he needed it for something else, but what?" Sighed Lucario.
"A distraction, maybe? It certainly distracted us," Red pointed out.
"But why? Unless he was planning on attacking someone more important and wanted us out of the way...unless-" Lucario jerked as realisation hit him. "-unless he was planning on attacking the base!"
"We have to go back, now!" Red gasped, about to turn. Instead, he collapsed as a bolt of electricity struck him directly in the chest. A figure appeared on the other side of the clearing, brandishing some sort of remote control. Lucario didn't quite have time to scrutinize the form, or tend to Red, as he was struck almost immediately afterwards. Jigglypuff squealed, shell-shocked, as the figure jerked on the controls again, causing the machine to fire another thunderbolt at her.
"Go, Squirtle!"
A pokeball was hurled from behind her, landing about a metre ahead of her and forming into Squirtle, who took the force of the impact. She had no time to contemplate this as she was bundled out of the way by one of the Ice Climbers. Popo looked over his shoulder as he ran, finally catching a glimpse of the figure.
It appeared to be an alloy. It was tall, but with a thick build and a blue-tinted steel frame. From what Popo could see, there was only one distinguishable difference between this alloy and a normal one; it had a kind of glowing visor in the area in which its eyes would have been if it were a human, and that visor displayed a distinguishable pair of eyes that could only have brought back the worst feeling of nostalgia in Popo's stomach.
"Tabuu..." He breathed.
"Come on!" Snapped Nana, whisking him from his split-second trance. Before he could blink, he noticed yet another fork of lightning heading at him. This time, they had no chance to run before it struck them, hurling the Ice Climbers and Jigglypuff to the ground.
Lucario and Red were back on their feet again, groaning slightly from the pain. Apparently, the machine wasn't as highly powered as Lucario had first thought, and the blows both of them had taken weren't that deadly. Still, a few more hits would probably be enough to knock someone unconscious. They would have to act fast.
Red sprinted to Nana, Popo and Jigglypuff's aid whilst Lucario dashed in the opposite direction, firing aura spheres at the machine as he went. The first one erupted, but dealt no damage upon contact, as did the rest. Even worse, it seemed the machine was about to retaliate.
Lucario was ready this time, flipping backwards and grabbing hold of a thin tree trunk as the attack shot beneath him, narrowly missing its target. He then pushed off hard, sending him several metres into the air, and just as he saw another electricity bolt forming from the metallic box's surface, he activated his final smash.
A deadly column of blue aura streamed from his paws, directed perfectly at the electric generator. The alloy-type figure darted off as the machine exploded violently, shaking the ground and sending a ring of excess energy outwards.
Lucario dropped back to the ground as his mid-air attack ended, finding that Red, Popo, Nana and Jigglypuff were all waiting for him below.
"Not dangerous, my ass!" Popo grumbled, glaring at his partner. Nana huffed.
"How was I expected to know it was a killing machine?"
"Squirtle's not in a terrible condition, but I've called him back to rest. I've looked around a bit for Charizard and Ivysaur. There's no sign of them," Red sighed, changing the subject. "And who was that person controlling the machine? Did anyone get a proper look at them?"
"I did! It was so weird, they kinda reminded me-" Popo started, being cut off by Lucario.
"We can discuss this later. We need to get back to the base."
"What about R.O.B. and Wario?" Nana asked.
"They can wait."
-oOo-
Marth blocked out the exhaustion and pain, ignored the images of Bowser, Ganondorf, Snake and Sonic lying in pools of their own blood, focused carefully on his next swing, before letting it go. Ike was ridiculously fast, and unbelievably powerful. He and Link had quickly slain the others at a single slip in their concentration. At least their deaths had not been completely in vain, as, at the peak of the battle, they had managed to take Link's life as their own were taken only moments later. Only the prince of Altea and Ike remained; how, Marth wasn't sure. Several skin-deep cuts ran across his torso in almost every direction, most caused by last-minute dodges and careless mistakes.
Ragnell and Falchion clashed, and Marth's arms began to shake with the force Ike was driving behind his sword. Marth was about to try and move, when his opponent did instead. Ike tossed his weapon skyward. Marth stood for a few moments, momentarily stunned by the sight of the blade, spinning slowly into the air...
Ike moved with it, leaping up and catching it with both hands, shocking Marth from his stupor. He hurled himself sideways as Ike brought the weapon down with him, narrowly missing his opponent's head as he landed. Instead Ragnell collided with the ground, sending a shockwave of energy outwards that reflected the mercenary's strength.
However, the blade would not leave it's place as Ike tugged it. It was stuck. The mercenary frowned, before pulling harder. Ragnell only just came free before Marth was upon him again. Adrenaline was surging through the prince's body with the knowledge that he had caught his foe off-guard. Marth slashed left, right, diagonally in what seemed to be almost one motion, Ike's final desperate block leaving his midriff open. Falchion was plunged forward into the gap, the mercenary twisted his body to escape being pierced, and his defence fell completely as he tried to keep his balance.
Mind and heart racing, Marth set a roundhouse kick into Ike's torso, toppling him. He ran forward as Ike fell, raising Falchion high above his head as he loomed above his former friend. All he had to do was bring his sword down...
Marth heard his own heartbeat pounding in his ears, tasted the coppery blood in his mouth, felt the icy wind bite at his skin and send his cape flying over his shoulders, saw the look on Ike's face of hurt and hate and sadness, but did not stop. If there was anything that the real Ike would have wanted, it would have been for Marth to deliver this finishing blow to him and stop the virus...
But the prince faltered.
He could hear rapid footsteps approaching, of which seemed to belong to several people. Four smashers appeared in his line of sight, not for away, and all sprinting towards him at high speed. They would reach him before he could finish Ike off, and more importantly, he had no way of telling whether they were infected or not.
Cursing his luck, he turned to run. Ike's hand suddenly snatched his cape, dragging him back. In the few seconds that Marth had been distracted, his opponent had recovered.
Marth stumbled, and Ike moved his hand from the prince's cape, to his wrist, placing an iron grip on it and twisting it behind Marth's back. Ike's golden blade was then pressed into his throat.
"Goodbye, Marth Lowell..."
Shuddering with fearful anticipation, the prince closed his eyes. As Ragnell was pushed agonisingly slowly into his throat, he heard voices over his shoulder, whether real or not, he couldn't tell. All he knew was that the weapon's blade was cutting deeper and deeper into his skin...
"Hya!" A voice, lined with a thick Italian accent, rang out behind him. Ike's grip suddenly vanished as he was dealt a sharp kick to the head. Marth moved to the side as Ike fell forward, and saw his saviour standing over Ike's unconscious body.
"Mario?"
The plumber surged forward, snatching Marth's wrist again and pulling him away. "Come on, we're-a in danger!"
"Wait, what danger?"
A needle whizzed through the empty space where Marth had been standing a second ago, answering his question. He tugged himself free of the plumber's grasp and started to run alongside him.
"You're in a different group, there should be six of you. Where are the others?"
Mario jerked his thumb backwards. "Behind us."
Marth looked back to see Luigi, Peach, and Wolf all running a couple of metres back. Then he noticed Sheik, suddenly appearing in one of the trees and flinging at set of needles at them, which were narrowly dodged, before vanishing again and reappearing in another tree further ahead.
"She's-a been playing this game for a while now," Mario panted. "Probably trying to wear us out, so that we're easier to take down."
"I thought there were six in your group. Where are the other two?"
"Captain Falcon was-a hit, and Sheik managed to-a deactivate Samus' Power Suit, I-a don't know how, but I think it-a might have injured her."
"Link managed to deactivate Ike's tracker as well...it seems the virus has some sort of telepathic control over electrical devices."
"If only we had-a known earlier..." Mario said, laughing sadly. "It might have-a saved some lives."
Including Ike's, Marth considered saying, but knew that speaking those words out loud would only make his anguish worse.
-oOo-
As they ran, they found that the trees around them were starting to look as if they were dying, with blackened leaves and peeling wood. Travelling further, the trees only worsened. Now they looked as if they had been badly burnt in some sort of forest fire, or thunderstorm. It wasn't long before they reached a large circular clearing, littered with singed tree-stumps. What looked the like the remains of an electric generator sat in the centre of the clearing.
"I wonder if that broken machine was what was responsible for-a this..." Mario muttered, jogging over to the mass of tangled, broken wires and melted metal, before inspecting it carefully.
Marth stayed back, slightly more cautious than the inquisitive plumber, who was in the midst of picking up a piece of broken wire when the rest of the group dashed into the clearing behind them, all slowing to a halt and taking in their surroundings breathlessly. A couple of seconds later, Sheik joined them, slowly replacing her needles in her inventory and summoning her chain.
"There's nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. This really does make an excellent battle arena."
Luigi leaned over to his brother. "I'm so-a tired. I don't know if I can fight, bro..." he whispered.
"We're all tired," Mario replied, looking doubtful. "But we're gonna have to give-a this all we've got left..."
The smashers moved inwards and formed a group together, waiting as Sheik advanced through the night towards them.
-oOo-
Not long after he had defeated R.O.B. and Wario, Pikachu had reached the base.
The night was almost at its end, and Pikachu had only taken two new victims. His new, twisted mind was almost disappointed with itself. Well, it would have been, if the knowledge that he was about to strike the core of the smasher's rebellion. The base would not provide cover and resistance for them any longer, not once he was inside.
The electric-type Pokemon built up speed as he approached the building, before kicking off with his back legs to send him skywards. He extended his front paws and grasped the bars that covered a large air vent at the back of the base. Pulling himself up, he was about to pry the bars apart, when something bit down hard on his tail.
Hissing, he swung his body left to free himself of the creature that had latched onto it. Squirtle's hold wasn't quite strong enough and he was tossed away, but managed to land on all fours after he fell. Pikachu released his hold on the bars and pounced down towards the water-type Pokemon.
"Squirtle, use water cannon!" Red called, stepping into view from the battle's far right. The Ice Climbers, Lucario and Jigglypuff stood at his side.
A powerful jet of water burst from Squirtle's mouth, aimed at the fast approaching Pikachu, who was knocked off course as the water made contact with his tiny frame. The Ice Climbers and Jigglypuff quickly ran in to join the fray at this point.
Pikachu soon recovered, and was in the process of shaking himself dry when twin mallets struck him hard in the head. Nana and Popo stood before the dazed Pikachu, about to strike again, when Jigglypuff stepped in front of them, shaking her head.
"What is it?" Popo asked, slightly irritated by the interruption. There was a short pause, before Jigglypuff's eyes closed and soft music started to drift gently through the air. As it trickled into Pikachu's ears, he felt it weigh his eyelids down. Slowly but surely, the group watched him fall into sleep's waiting arms.
Noticing this, Lucario walked over to join his group. In his paws he held a tree branch, which he had sharpened with his claws to form a stake. He knelt down before Pikachu's curled-up form and raised his new weapon.
Nana and Popo were suddenly horrified. "What are you doing?"
"Giving him a peaceful death," Lucario replied.
The Ice Climbers ran forward in an attempt to stop him, but Jigglypuff moved in front of them and raised the volume of her voice. The song soon sent both of them to sleep, and Red reached out to catch Nana and Popo as they fell, laying them down carefully. He nodded to Lucario.
"Do it now."
The aura Pokemon closed his eyes, uttering a sad apology under his breath, before plunging the stake down.
:'( I feel bad for Pikachu...
The final battles will happen next chapter (Kirby and Zelda's group), including other events (which I'm going to stop myself from spoiling RIGHT NOW because I know I have the tendency to let bits of info slip sometimes). By the way, I know Popo using the word 'ass' made him sound kinda OOC, but I felt the line had to be said XD
Hope you liked that chapter, and it would be awesome if you guys could tell me what you thought of it, because I have mixed feelings on it, personally...
Until the next chapter: Their Grim Return