The Power of a Voice

Chapter 8: Family vs. Friendship

*Sonic's POV*

I was following Arla just like Fox asked me to. I hid behind a tree as I saw her land. We figured that she wouldn't believe it. She just sat there on her knees. She must be thinking about something. I waited a few minutes to see if she would move, but not even an inch.

I was about to talk to her until I saw something in the sky. What the heck? There were two huge shadows in the sky. From the shape they looked like robots of some sort, that can't be good. When dealing with a robot, based on experience, it's never a good sign. They came falling down fast, really fast. I got a closer look, and I knew who they were. It was Galleom and Duon.

"Crap!" I thought. They were about to land directly on Arla. How can she not notice them? I came out of my hiding place.

"Arla, get out of the way!" She heard my call and was about to use her grapple again. But Galleom landed right in front of her. The wind from the impact blew her high in the air. I jumped up and caught her in time.

"You alright?" She nodded. She gently got out of my grasp and got ready for battle, and I did the same. I trashed robots before, so this should be a cinch for me. Arla though was a different story. She never fought something this big.

"You think you can manage?" She gave me another nod. We were about to fight until we saw a dark portal, and Senka and Akidan walked out. Akidan had her robe off. Arla was right, Akidan looks exactly like her but with bruises and scratches for some reason. This just got a lot harder.

"Alright change of plans. Arla, get those two, I'll deal with the bots." She looked at me with an uncertain look. "Don't worry, I've trashed tin cans before. I'll be able to help you in a blink of an eye," I said with a confident smile. Arla nodded once again and went to do her task.

"Ok you bucket of bolts, let's dance!"

[Insert Music: "Heartache" from: Undertale]

I started off with a spin dash towards Duon, but he punched me with those drill hands of his and knocked me back. He turned around and fired missiles. I kept running to dodge them. Then, I heard my com beep. All Smashers were supposed to have one. I answered and Lucario was on the screen.

"Sonic, did you find her yet?" Lucario asked.

"Yeah, but we got a problem. The Subspace Army ambushed us. We'll buy you some time, but not long. We headed North from the Mansion. Senka and Akidan are here too, and they're giving us a real workout. Woah! Woah!" I saw a purple pulse coming at me, and it knocked me back. It scrambled my com as well, I won't be using that for a while.

I looked over to Arla. She was still fending off both of them well, but I don't know how long that will last. Gotta finish this soon. I turned my attention back to my battle. I saw a shadow looming over me, and it was Galleom trying to stomp on me. I moved out of the way in time and threw a couple of punches and kicks towards them.

More missiles were coming at me. I ran, but the missiles chased me down. I saw Galleom right in front of me with his fist back preparing to punch me. I went sharp to the left, and the missiles that chased me hit Galleom's fist, his arm blown off in the process.

That gave me an idea. I ran in front of Duon on his arm. He stared for a second, then I taunted at him several times. I could tell he got pissed off as he raced after me. I stopped right in front of Galleom. He raised his fist to squish me, yet I smirked as I jumped in the air. From the corner of my eye, I saw Duon with his drills spinning. I used my spring to jump higher and saw Duon's drill hand right through Galleom's center. Galleom shut down and fell over, thank god. One less robot I have to deal with.

I landed next to Arla. We were back to back with each other staring at our enemies. I decided to mix it up.

"Trade!" We both jumped to our new targets. Arla dealt with Duon while I fought Senka and Akidan.

"Wanna dance?" I said jokingly.

"You're not our type," Akidan said as Senka released a lightning blast from her sword.

I jumped to the side and spin dashed to Akidan. She blocked me with the sword. I jumped back and saw Senka preparing another sword pulse.

"Not this time!" I yelled as I rushed to the knight. I kicked the sword out of her hands and grabbed it. "Let's see what this sword can do." I tried activating the pulse move Senka uses, but nothing happens.

"Come on, work! Activate! Uh, abracadabra?" I tried making it glow, but nothing. The two ladies stared for a moment at my stupidity and began to laugh.

"You don't know the secret, do you? This is rich," Senka said. Her voice did sound like Julia's. She was about to deliver a kick, but I blocked her with her own sword. Akidan came at me with her sword, and we clashed multiple times. Good thing I remembered how to use a sword back in the storybook world. Senka then jumped in and was about to punch me. She missed me by a quill. I reacted with an uppercut that knocked off her helmet.

"Julia?!" I said in surprise. Senka is Julia. She has her same face, but her eyes weren't dark brown like the last time I saw her. Instead, she had dull gray eyes.

"Who?" She asked calmly. It must be the typical brainwashing trick.

[Music Ends]

I was so surprised by this discovery that I didn't notice Arla getting thrown towards me. We were both knocked down to the floor. Senka grabbed her sword and jumped back to Akidan. Duon had both his missile launching hands aimed at us one foot away. We were stuck. I knew that if we moved, even with my speed, Duon missiles will hit us head-on. I don't think Arla has the power to turn into a trophy yet, so she could die if Duon strikes this close. Then, Akidan began to clap.

"Well that was a fine show," she said laughing. I looked over to Arla to see her surprised look with tears in her eyes. I showed her a sympathetic look then glared back at Akidan who was still proud of our defeat. "Now, the bracelet." She stuck her hand out.

"You knew Arla would react this way," I said, continuing to glare at her.

"Yep, cool right?" She walked up to Arla to drag her away. I couldn't make any sudden movements or else Duon will shoot. Arla pulled out her sword to get out of her grip, but Akidan punched her, knocking her out. Her sword fell in front of me in reach, but I couldn't act yet. I need to stall.

"What's the point of dragging Julia into all this?" I asked hoping she would answer.

"I've been watching this kid for a while. I've noticed how you all warmed up her little heart. Maybe so much that she forgot all about her old life as well as her old friends." Akidan replied.

"But, Arla told us she didn't have any friends."

"She had one, right here." Akidan was referring to Senka, or Julia. Makes sense I guess. "Her sorrow of Arla 'abandoning' her grew, and I'm helping her get her revenge."

"That's a lie. Julia promised not to tell and Arla trusts her a lot. Meta Knight also told me that she gave Arla her sword despite it breaking their family tradition. She helped Arla the best she could. That proves their friendship."

"Perhaps, but in her heart was a slight bit of jealousy. To add to that fire, I added a tiny lie. 'Arla forgot all about you.' 'Do you really think she cares for you?'" I looked over to Julia. I could've sworn her eyes changed color for a second. I turned back to Akidan, telling me the lies she told Julia. She held Arla in her arms.

"What are you gonna do to her once you get the bracelet off her?" My glare changed to a worried face.

"Who said I was gonna take it off?" If they aren't taking it off, then they likely want Arla to join the Subspace Army.

"Yeah right. Arla would never join you creeps." Akidan only gave me a devilish smile. Then, she opened a portal. "Let's go." Julia nodded with a straight face. They were about to make their leave.

"Sonic!" We all looked up to see an Arwing. About time. It shot at Duon, knocking it back a few meters. The pilot ejected from their seat and landed. It was Falco.

"You should've told us how far you went. It took us half an hour to find you guys." Falco said while keeping an eye on Akidan. I must've lost track of the distance. I got back up and grabbed Arla's katana.

*3rd Person POV*

The rest of the Smashers arrived at the scene. Akidan growled in annoyance and glanced at Julia. She used a lightning attack and aimed at Galleom. The shot repaired the dead robot and revived it. Now both Galleom and Duon were ready to fight. Everyone saw Julia with her helmet off.

"So that's Arla's sister. I can see the resemblance," Pit said. They saw Arla knocked out in Akidan's arms, and she was about to make her leave.

"Oh no you don't," Fox said as he raced towards them, but Julia blocked his path and he stopped. "Come on Julia snap out of it! I don't want to fight you like this."

"Stop calling me that! My name is Senka!" she yelled out, frustrated. Lucario noticed the gray eyes and turned to Sonic.

"Brainwashed?"

"Pretty much," Sonic deadpanned. Julia left through the portal with Akidan.

"You're not getting away on my watch," Fox said as he jumped into the portal along with Samus, Wolf, Meta Knight, and Snake. It closed and the Smashers were left to face the two bosses.

[Insert Music: "Hopes and Dreams" from: Undertale]

Duon began to launch missiles once again. Kirby inhaled them and shot it back towards the machine. Duon the turned around and used his drill hands, but Ike and Marth blocked his attack. Diddy flew up with his rockets and fired several peanut shots. Then, a shadow loomed over them, and they see Galleom ready to stomp on then again. Ganondorf and Falcon punched him off course before he landed, and Bowser uppercutted Galleom in the place he was gonna land.

Galleom regained his composure and used his weight and his arms to create an earthquake. It knocked them back, but Pit flew down and took apart his bow. He gave the gray bot a few scratches with his blade. Then Duon came and punched him away. Link came into the scene next. He held his shield up, and he launched Mario up who jumped on his shield. Mario's fist was covered in flames and threw a fire punch at Duon.

Olimar commanded his Pikmin to attack Duon while Red summoned his Pokemon to attack Galleom. While the two robots were distracted, Sonic held Arla's blade with Lucario launching Aura Spheres at it.

"You sure this will work?" Lucario asked while still firing at the blade.

"If Arla can do it, so can we. It works somewhat differently then Julia's," Sonic replied.

"How so?"

"I grabbed Julia's sword when we fought. I tried to do what she did, but it didn't work for me. We can figure that out later, but for now, we'll do it the old fashion way." Soon the sword glowed a bright purple once again. "Okay, let's do it to it." They both rushed into the fight.

Eventually, the boss robot shook off the Pokemon and Pikmin. Pikachu was about to launch a thunder attack until Luigi stopped him.

"Pikachu don't. Senka revived Galleom with her lightning attack. Your attacks might make them stronger," Luigi explained.

"Pika pi," the little mouse said with a disappointing tone. He agreed and laid low in the fight. Then, both of them saw Sonic and Lucario running up with Arla's katana.

"Get out of the way!" Lucario yelled. Everyone saw the bright glow from Arla's katana and jumped out of it's reach.

"Here we go!" Sonic exclaimed as he collided the sword with the two bots. Another pulse came out and short-circuited the two robots, rendering them dead. They turned into Shadow Bugs and fled. "Wow! That felt intense!"

[Music Ends]

"So, what do we do now?" Zelda asked.

"We have no choice but to wait. Samus, Fox, Wolf, Meta Knight, and Snake went to wherever Senka and Akidan went. It's up to them to get Arla back," Link said. They returned to the Smash Mansion waiting for what will happen next.