The Power of a Voice
Chapter 9: Subspace Riot
*Fox's POV*
I began to stir awake and looked around. The place was as dark as Subspace, but the floor was white and shiny. I was almost blinded by it. Then, I heard groaning. I saw Meta Knight, Samus, Wolf, and Snake getting up as well. They must've followed me here, but wherever here is, I could tell isn't Subspace.
"Where are we? This doesn't look like Subspace," Samus said.
"Wherever we are doesn't matter right now. Our top priority is finding Arla before she falls to the Subspace Army," Snake said. We headed off into the black plain. Once we got deeper, buildings and streets began to form. People were also around, but they wandered like zombies.
"Hey! Oi! You know what's going on here?" Wolf said as he stood in front of one of them, but they went straight through him.
"This looks like the area I was in at Reality Earth," I stated.
"Do you think this is like Arla's mindscape?" Samus asked.
"This could also be Julia's mindscape, don't forget," Meta Knight said. "Fox, you said that Arla had a lonely life, but that does not mean that Julia had a lonely life."
"Oh yeah, you're right that makes sense why people are here." Suddenly, I was struck in the back with a fireball. I turned around to see Julia without her helmet on. Then, the people disappeared, but the buildings remained. We all got ready to face her.
"You should never have come here," she said with a stern voice with her sword ready.
[Insert Music: "Overwrite" by: Nyx the Shield]
Samus used her plasma whip to grab the sword out of Julia's hands. It worked as Meta Knight caught it. He attempted to activate a sword pulse with it, but nothing happens. Julia smirked.
"Heh, you're just as stupid as the hedgehog. No one knows its secret but me, and I intend to keep it that way," Julia said. She took out two metal fans and threw them at Meta Knight. He dodged the first one, but the second one knocked the sword out of his hands. Wolf slid down and picked it up and sheathed it at his belt.
"Where did you get those fans?" Meta Knight asked.
"Where do you think, from her," she replied referring to Arla.
"Where is she?" Samus said as she was shooting her.
"Like I'd tell." Julia dodged all the shots. "Probably having the time of her painful life." She rushed towards Wolf to get her katana back, but I elbowed her away.
When she landed she looked down and saw a bomb under her. Snake pressed the button to activate it, but Julia rolled away in time. Meta Knight attacked her with his fast swords swings and launched her toward me. I kicked her towards Wolf, he used his own illusion trick to claw her down to the ground. She got up, but she looked content with herself. Then she held up her sword. Wolf saw this and looked down at his belt to find it gone.
"Aren't you the clever thief," Wolf growled. She used a gravity attack to launch his towards Snake who was about to have a turn. He jumped over Wolf as he fell and went hand-to-hand with Julia.
"Fight like a man already," Snake commented.
"Well, I ain't a man am I? I'm a woman," she answered back as she blocked all of Snake's punches and kicks with her sword. As he was about to deliver a kick to her head, Julia froze the ground from under him, making him fall. Samus threw a kick of her own, but Julia got out of the way in time to see the bounty hunter accidentally hit Snake who got back up.
"Sorry," Samus said. Snake gave her a weak thumbs up to show that he was decently fine. Then, they were hit by a pulse attack, which launched them up high. Meta Knight flew up and caught them in time. But he wasn't quick enough to dodge the lightning attack coming up. I threw my reflector towards them, which rebounded the lightning back to Julia, but she took out the metal fans again and stored the electricity. She threw the fans towards them and struck them down. They landed hard on the ground and we all regrouped.
"With that sword, we can't get near her without her letting us or without her releasing sword pulses," Wolf analyzed in annoyance.
"We already tried taking her sword away, but she always finds a way to get it back," I said.
"I might have an idea. Samus with me. Wolf, Meta Knight, Fox, try to distract her. After a few minutes, Meta Knight fly up, you'll figure it out after that," Snake said. We all nodded and split into our two groups.
"What are you up to?" Julia said suspiciously. I used my illusion trick to get to her, but she jumped up at the last second. Wolf also used his illusion trick immediately after but upwards and kicked her down. Then, Meta Knight clashed swords with her quickly. He used his drill attack and threw her to me. I fired myself up and launched to her. She flipped back and landed standing up. She charged up a fire beam at all three of us. Wolf and I rolled out of the way in time while Meta Knight flew up.
When he flew high enough he looked at a certain direction and nodded. I was distracted by what he was looking at that I didn't see Julia coming at me as she kicked me high into the air. Meta Knight was able to catch me in the air.
"Lure her into the ring," Meta Knight whispered. He pointed to what he was looking at. I saw Snake pointing at a wide circle of bombs he secretly planted. I nodded as Meta Knight dropped me.
I saw Wolf fending off against Julia's barrage of sword swings. He had his arms up in an X shape, sliding back with every hit. He was close to the ring as I came in. I jumped up to throw a kick to her head. Wolf saw this and quickly ducked. Julia was confused as she turned around. Once I kicked her, she stumbled backward and tripped on Wolf, who remained in his crouched position. She fell directly in the ring. We all jumped back towards Snake. As Julia got back up, Snake activated the bombs, but instead of explosions smoke came out, blinding her.
"Samus now!" Snake exclaimed. I saw her on one of the building ledges with her Power Suit on as well as a rainbow aura around her.
"ZERO LASER!" Samus yelled as she fired. A huge laser hit Julia hard and flung her to a wall. Once the attack stopped, Julia fell to the ground knocked out.
[Music Ends]
Samus jumped down, and we all gave each other a high five, even Wolf. Never thought I'd do that, but I was too exhausted to care.
"That should do the trick," Samus said while breathing heavily.
"You think that snapped her out?" I asked.
"Only one way to find out," Meta Knight said as he pointed to the knight as she slowly got up. We all got ready just in case. When I saw her eyes, they were dark brown again. She looked at us surprised and scooted back to the wall she crashed into.
"Smash Brothers?! What are you doing here?! What am I doing here?!" she said panicking. She looked around confused, and then she gripped her head and looked down. "And what am I wearing?!"
"Are you back to your senses?" Wolf questioned.
"If you mean me doing what I don't remember doing then yes. Just give me a sec," she said. I held my hand out to help her up, and she obliged.
"Now, what do you remember?" I asked calmly.
"I remember you, Sonic, Mario, and Lucario leaving with Arla. I went back to homework for a bit until my parents got home to explain everything. Then, there was a knock at my door. When I answered, it was Arla, but she was injured all over. I took her back inside and laid her on the couch. I went to get medicine, but once I turned around, I saw her standing in front of me with a creepy smile. Then… she knocked me out." Her eyes widen. "Why would she do that?"
"That person you took in was Arla's look alike, Akidan. You were fooled by her," Meta Knight explained.
"Akidan? Isn't that my last name spelled backward?"
"I know right? Glad to see I'm not the only observant person here!" Wolf said. The rest of us glared at him.
'"Anyway, anything else you remember?" Snake asked, ignoring Wolf's comment.
"Well, I did remember waking up in a purple bubble, and I saw someone with a black robe with a hood draped over them. They told me about how Arla 'betrayed' me, or how she'd rather be with you guys over me. They offered me a place in their ranks, but I refused since I knew what they said were lies. Next thing I knew was that I felt a lot of pain as electricity was produced in the bubble, and I blacked out."
"That must be when Akidan took control of you and turned you into Senka," Meta Knight said.
"Senka, that's an odd name."
"Arla can't wait to see you again," Samus added.
"Arla, is she fine?"
"We don't know. She was taken by the Subspace Army. We appeared here when we jumped through Akidan's portal," I explained.
"Where is Akidan anyway? I thought she would likely be here with you," Wolf said.
"Oh, I'm here." We all heard Akidan's voice and looked around to try and find her. Then, our bodies started to fade away.
"What the hell?!" Snake said as he began to disappear like the rest of us. The last thing I saw was the buildings and my allies fading away until everything went black.
*3rd Person POV*
As the Smashers woke up, they began to look around to see they were all in Subspace. They tried to get up but couldn't. They looked down and found themselves strapped onto metal tables with metal cuffs restraining their wrists and ankles.
"What's going on?" Meta Knight said as he tried to get out of his cuffs. "Weren't we just in that other world?"
"It was all a simulation." The Smashers turned to see Akidan again. Behind her was Arla on her knees, blindfolded, struggling with the handcuffs on her ankles and wrists behind her back. "You were here all along ever since I knocked you out."
"Wait, what?" the Smashers asked in unison.
"You don't remember? He did tell me that knockout gas did have some side effects. Oh well," Akidan said. "When you came through my portal, my boss found out and used that knockout gas."
"Who's your boss?" Fox said glaring at her.
"That would be me." Everyone turned to see a blue man with rainbow wings, Tabuu.
"YOU!" the Smashers shouted.
"Surprise! Ha! Ha! Ha!" he laughed.
"You were supposed to be dead!" Samus exclaimed.
"Well, I'm still technically dead and restrained in this place," the Smashers looked at him confused. "In fact, I was dead when we first met. I couldn't escape this place in my condition, so instead of trying to get out. I would bring the world in."
"So you used the Subspace Bombs to gather different landmarks of the Smash World and bring them here. Thus, creating the Great Maze," Snake clarified.
"Precisely, but you assholes, of course, ruined my plans. So instead, I'll go back to my first plan, getting out."
"Well, it didn't work before. What makes you think you can escape now?" Wolf challenged.
"Simple, using hosts. It almost worked when I had Master Hand under my control, but his power wasn't enough with all the Subspace Bombs he produced."
"He produced the bombs?!" Fox asked surprised.
"Yep, but it cost him a lot of power. So, I couldn't escape with what he had, but I know what can." He pointed straight to Arla.
"The Smash Bracelet."
"You bet. MH said it has the ability to travel through worlds," Akidan explained.
"And with such power, I can be real again and cross into the Smash World and more!" Tabuu finished triumphantly.
"We won't let you take it, and you can't have it," Samus said.
"But I can have a host." He looked at Arla, and the Smashers knew what would happen as they once again tried to get out of their restraints.
"We won't let you take her!" Fox yelled.
"I beg to differ. Akidan just dispose of them properly this time. Not with some mind simulation."
"Fine, I was just having fun," Akidan replied. Tabuu disappeared, leaving Akidan with the captive Smashers. "Oh well, let's get this over with. Your trophy forms can't save you. Tabuu made sure that no one can revert to a trophy." She summoned a golden blade, ready to kill them on the spot.
"Wow, I'm hurt. You forgot all about me," a sarcastic voice was heard. Akidan turned around to get hit in the head with the handle of a sword, knocking her out. The Smashers looked to see Julia with the sword she was provided, and her armor was off. Julia wore a black vest with a gray T-shirt under it, navy torn shorts that went to her knees, black tennis shoes with gray straps, and one black fingerless glove on her right hand with a thick black bracelet with silver linings on her left wrist. The scabbard of the copy katana was on her back.
"What took you so long?" Wolf said as he glared.
"Did you want me to get caught by Tabuu. Anyway, let's get moving." Julia walked towards the console that controlled their cuffs. She hit the release button and the metal cuffs on the table as well as Arla's handcuffs were opened. The Smashers got off the metal tables, and Arla removed her blindfold. When Arla saw her sister in her normal clothing, she smiled and ran to her, hugging her tightly.
"I must have missed a lot, haven't I?" Julia asked as she hugged Arla back. "Arla never reacts like this, or at all in fact."
"Yeah, you did miss some stuff. Let's get out of here before Sleeping Beauty wakes up," Snake said referring to Akidan. As they left, Snake remembered something. "Oh, and Arla. I believe this is yours." He took out Arla's notebook and handed it to her. She bowed to say thanks, and they joined the others. Once they left, Akidan began to stir.
"Twice. I've been knocked out TWICE!" she yelled in frustration. She turned to the empty tables with no one on them. "Tabuu's gonna kill me," she muttered as she raced after them.
Once the Smashers got far away enough into a quiet area, they tried to figure out a way to get out of Subspace.
"Akidan opened a portal to get into Subspace, so we might need a portal to get us out," Meta Knight explained.
"How? Isn't Akidan the only one that can use portals?" Julia asked.
"No, Arla can as well," Fox said, as he pointed at her. "MH said that the Smash Bracelet also has the power to travel to any of the other Smashers' worlds. That also means a portal back to the Smash World. Try concentrating to create a portal back to the Smash Mansion." Arla nodded and closed her eyes. After that, a portal was summoned, but it was light blue instead of black. They were about to walk into it until a shot whizzed pass their heads. They turned around to see Akidan holding a gun right at them.
"You ain't going anywhere," she said as she ran towards them.
"Go! Go! Go!" Julia yelled as the four Smashers jumped in first. The two sisters also ran, but Akidan jumped up, preparing to slice Julia, who didn't pay attention to her, with her golden blade. Arla noticed this and pushed Julia out of the way and into the portal.
"Arla!" Julia called before disappearing into the portal.
*Smash Mansion*
The Smashers at the mansion were still trying to find their missing friends. Falco searched over the area with his Arwing, and Red did the same thing while riding on Charizard. They returned inside the mansion, greeted by the rest of the Smashers.
"Any luck?" Marth asked. They both shook their heads. They turned to see Lucario, who was using his aura to locate them, his aura burning around his bright than usual. "What about you Lucario?"
"I got nothing, my apologies," he said in a sad tone.
"Don't be. It's my fault. I should've acted instead of watching as she got taken," Sonic said in despair.
"Quit your sad talk. You did what you could to not get her killed, which means she has a better chance of coming out of this alive," Ganondorf explained.
"Wow, that is THE nicest thing you said to anyone here." Ganondorf simply grunted in response. Then, everyone saw a light blue portal appear.
"That's the power of the Smash Bracelet. They must've found her," Master Hand said. Samus, Meta Knight, Wolf, Snake, Fox, and Julia jumped out of the portal and landed on the ground.
"We did it. We're back!" Fox exclaimed as he got back up looked around, but then he noticed someone missing. "Where's Arla?"
"She was with us when we escaped," Meta Knight stated, looking around as well. Then, Julia quickly got up and ran back to the portal.
"Arla? No! No! No!" she yelled as she ran back and tried to jump into the portal, but her efforts were in vain as it collapsed in on itself and disappeared. Julia landed face first on the ground, and she got back up, staring at where the portal was with wide eyes.
"What happened?" Snake questioned. Julia turned to the Smashers with her head down.
"Akidan happened," she replied.
*Subspace, Arla's POV*
I was able to get Julia to safety, but I instinctively shot my grapple to a direction away from the portal. As long as I got away though, I felt content. When Akidan's blade hit the ground, the impact was so huge that it made the portal collapse in on itself. I was about to fight, reaching back to grab my katana, but it wasn't there.
"I must've dropped it when Akidan knocked me out earlier. Great, I only have my grapple to fight with. I need to get out of here." I tried to conjure up another portal, but Akidan's constant attacks aren't helping me concentrate. So instead, I only thought of a portal that could get me out of here.
"Come on make a portal. Just make a portal. I don't care where at this point, just somewhere safe." I thought desperately. I saw Akidan, and she looked like she was getting ready to slice my head off. I started to panic until a light blue portal appeared under me. I fell straight in, and it immediately closed after that. Akidan saw the portal disappear, and she screamed in frustration of her failure.
*?*
I opened my eyes to find myself free falling, and I hit a bunch of tree branches. I shot my grapple in a random direction, hoping it would grab onto something. It did, but it launched me fast into an opening. My grapple released, and I hit something hard and shiny. My vision blurred as I only saw a green glow. The last thing I saw was six figures approaching me of different colors, and then I blacked out.
A/N: I know. I know. It's weird to have a super short chapter, then a really long one afterward. The ideas just kept flowing for this one. I know how cliche it is to have Tabuu as the main villain again, but having Akidan as the main villain just feels wrong at this point. Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed.
Next time, Arla explores part of one of the Smashers' worlds, and sadly, I think it's the only world I know by heart, sort of. The Subspace Army will be after her once again, but neither the army or the Smashers know where she is yet. Will Akidan grab her in that world first, or will Julia and the Smashers be able to reach her in time?