Toon Link gulped as he saw Captain Falcon take a step forward towards the big mass of dark energy. For someone who was so quick to jump into the rescue bandwagon, Toon Link suddenly felt a wave of regret. What lied ahead of him and his group was the portal to one of the most twisted and despair-inducing places they had ever gone to, so it was only natural that just looking at the massive lump of energy made a cold bead of sweat fall from his forehead.
How Captain Falcon could calmly walk towards it like it wasn't even there was beyond the young Hylian's comprehension. Maybe it was him trying to keep up his macho pose, but who was him to judge?
It was too late to turn around at that point, so Toon Link gathered all the courage he had and followed his fellow Smashers into Subspace. The group consisted of him, Captain Falcon, Fox, Charizard, Wii Fit Trainer, Donkey Kong, Sonic, Mega Man and, surprisingly enough for everyone there, Princess Peach. Toon Link had never seen the princess with such determination in her eyes.
Once he stepped in, a heavy feeling of despair overtook him, swallowing him whole as he made contact with the gateway between the two universes. The boy closed his eyes and concentrated solely on walking and breathing, trying to tune out the overwhelming sensation of depression that attacked him from all sides.
Whenever that transition took seconds or minutes, he stopped and slowly opened his eyes only when he felt his spirit lighter and that it was safe to breathe normally. A sigh of relief escaped from him as the Prism Tower, illuminating the artificial starry night sky, came into his camp of vision. It almost made him forget where exactly he was.
He looked at the empty bleachers that stood at just a little further away from the stage. They once were filed with people, or Miis, as the residents of Smashville were called, who paid to see their favorite fighters compete live. But since the incident from last tournament, live watching was strictly forbidden. Toon Link wondered if Master Hand suspected something like Subspace returning would happen again at the time. Miis couldn't survive inside of Subspace, and the ones who were caught up in it before couldn't survive being there for more than one hour.
Fox signalized for his group to follow him and opened up the orange door that stood at the far left of the stage. Those five seconds of peace were great while they lasted. One by one, they left the stage and found themselves in the sea of darkness.
"Okay, so let's recap the plan," said Fox, making everyone's attention turn to him. "We separate into three groups of three and gather as many Smashers as we can find. We search for about two hours and then meet here at the Prism Tower stage, no matter if we have found someone or not."
"(And once we find everyone, we go rip Tabuu to shreds and get out of this place!)" Charizard added.
"How are we going to find our way back?" Wii Fit Trainer asked. "There is nothing in this place that can serve as a reference point."
"We leave a trail so we can find our way," Fox said showing off three bags he brought with him. "We use this to create a path back."
"That sounds really lame," Sonic complained.
"We don't have another option, Sonic, Deal with it," Fox replied in an irritated tone.
The Smashers divided into three groups, just like Fox had said. Toon Link ended up grouping with Donkey Kong and Sonic. Fox grouped with Captain Falcon and Wii Fit Trainer, while Charizard, Peach and Mega Man formed the last trio. After everything was set, they went on separate ways.
Toon Link followed Sonic and Donkey Kong around for some time, being careful to no forget to drop a few pebbles on the floor every once in a while. The cold and hard ground soil had some shiny lining on them, which served as one of the light sources of that desolated place, so all Toon Link had to do was to put some pebble near the lines that they would create some sort of visible path. Not the most visible one, but enough to orient them. All he had to do was pay close attention, and they might get back to the stage safe.
As soon as the other two groups were completely out of their camp of vision, Toon Link, Sonic and Donkey Kong found themselves suffering an ambush from a bunch of Spaaks and Feyeshes that descended from the skies. It happened all so fast, that Toon Link wondered how they couldn't have seen them coming.
"What? So they don't even let us walk around for a while before attacking us?" Sonic asked sarcastically. "Why do they always have to be so rude?"
Toon Link tiredly put the bag of pebbles on the floor and unsheathed his sword. He went with the rescue group expecting to go through a couple of battles against Subspace creatures; there was no doubt about it, yet he did not expect them to happen that early. What a timed coincidence that they decided to appear right after the Smashers separated.
"Yeah, I'll show you!" Sonic shouted as he jumped into the air and tackled the closest Fisheye to him.
Toon Link furrowed his thick eyebrows as the Spaaks and Feyeshes went after Donkey Kong and rushed to help him. He would not let another friend suffer what Ness had to go through.
"(Because… they think I have something they are interested in,)" he said bitterly. There was a small, but awkward, pause before he continued. "(They think I-)"
Lucario kept repeating that scene in his mind as he walked with the group of Smashers. It was already established that the Subspace army was after the Original 12, so Pikachu was trying to warn him about that fact. He had outright said it to him during their battle with the Spaaks!
"(Look, I don't know if you have noticed this, but these things are after me.)"
How did Pikachu notice that so quickly? Even Samus, who was also the victim of target attacks, took her time to realize what was going on with the Subspace creatures. Unless Pikachu knew everything beforehand. But that raised all sorts of questions that Lucario couldn't answer.
He wouldn't tell what Pikachu had said to the others. Not yet, as he still needed to figure it out what to make of the situation. So he just kept quietly walking behind his group.
"Palutenaaaa," Nana whined. "Didn't you say you could talk to Pit telepathically? Why don't you do this?"
"I would, if it was possible," Palutena answered bitterly. "You think I didn't try this before? When you guys entered Subspace when Super Smash Bros Brawl happened, I lost contact with him back then. And now I can't talk to him either."
"So, Subspace is kind of a soundproof wall to your telepathic communication?"
"In a way, pretty much."
Nana felt frustrated, but she wouldn't press the issue further, mostly because Palutena seemed genuinely upset about not being able to talk to Pit. She didn't want to sound too whiny and irritate the goddess. Besides, they hadn't been attacked since their battle with the Shaydas, so she was more grateful for that moment of rest than anything.
Now, if only Lucas could calm down as well. He fidgeted his hands nervously and had his eyes glued on his feet. Nana didn't know what to say to make him that could comfort him, so she hoped that being by his side made him feel a little better. It looked like it was working for Samus with Palutena, after all. Samus, while still alert, seemed to be more relaxed and open with Palutena talking to her. Which was great, considering her current situation.
The group had reached the end of a cliff. They all cautiously looked into the abyss ahead of them and saw nothing but darkness. "I guess this is a dead end, then," Palutena commented. She wished she had a rock, so she could throw it and calculate how long the fall would be. The fact that she couldn't see the ground already gave her an idea, though.
They all turned around; however, as soon as they prepared to walk away, a rain of shadow bugs fell from the sky. The five Smashers watched in horror the shadow bugs, as soon as they touched the ground, begun to group and take shape of various enemies. Primids, some carrying swords, while others raised their bare fists, Autolances and even the terrible Greap appeared. To make the situation worse, some Trowlons descended from the skies.
Nana's eyes didn't know where to focus her attention on. From the Primids haunting red eyes, to the Greap's enormous sickle arms, she knew that the upcoming fight would be worse than the one with the Shaydas. She apprehensively tightened the grip on her hammer as the Subspace army approached her group. Nana stepped back, but stopped stiff as she felt her feet touch the very edge of the cliff.
If only they were a few meters away from there…
"We need to get rid of the Greap first," Samus ordered as she prepared her paralyzer gun. "Let's go!"
Palutena nodded and the two women ran towards the Greap, evading the enemies on their way. Lucario ran up to the group of Autolances and dodged the lances they shot, while he charged up Aura Spheres. Lucas stayed put and used his PK Thunder and PK Fire attacks to clear out some of the enemies.
Nana ran towards one of the Primids, ready to hit it with her Squall Hammer attack, but calculated her timing wrong and got hit with a combo of punches and kicks that sent her flying back to where she was, closer to the edge of the cliff.
"Ow…" she whimpered as she prepared to get back to her feet.
Before she had time to react, a Trowlon dived in and used its triangular head to throw Nana into the air. Hurt and confused, the Ice Climber landed like a ragdoll on the creature's flat, carpet-like back. The Trowlon quickly floated up in the air with Nana on its back and headed towards the end of the cliff.
"Hey, hey, heeeey! Put me down!" Nana screamed. She looked down and saw the sea of black mist. "Never mind, never mind! DON'T DROP ME!"
Lucas turned around as he heard his friend's screams. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the Trowlon do a barrel roll and drop Nana into the abyss.
"AAAHHHH!"
"NANA!" the boy shouted.
Without thinking for one second, Lucas jumped of the cliff and dived in to try to save his friend. He could hear the horrified screams from Lucario, Samus and Palutena, but right now, he needed to grab Nana's hand and figure out a way of landing both of them to safety. He stretched his arm as much as he could and managed to catch the desperate girl's hand.
"Nana, call upon one of those orange condors!" he pleaded as he brought her closer to him.
"B-But that attack works only on t-the battlefield!" she stuttered in fear.
"Okay, let me try something then… I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do…"
Lucas hoped it would work, or else, the two would make a very unpleasant contact with the already visible ground below them. And he'd better time it right, as the two were just a few dozens of feet away from the floor. He waited a couple of seconds, brought her closer to him in a hug and put his plan into action. "PK THUNDER!" he shouted.
Nana's entire body paralyzed as electricity surrounded her friend's body. She couldn't even make out what he was trying to do, it was like her rationality has also paralyzed with the shock. A ball of electric energy was shot, made a half-moon turn and hit the two from below. Nana could feel her body painfully being trusted upwards in reaction to the impact, before she started to fall again. They both landed on the ground and, while painful, they didn't hit hard enough to cause any serious injuries.
"Ouch… Sorry about that, Nana. It was the only thing I could think of," Lucas apologized, still holding her in his arms. "You alright?"
"I'll live," she said, still sore from the thunder attack and the fall. "Is that what you feel every time you recovered back to the stage in a battle?"
"No, I never got hurt with my own PK Thunder," he explained. "That's why I said I was sorry. In the end, I only ended up hurting you."
"Like I said, I'll live," she said with a cocky smile. "I've got a lot of problems right now, but one lousy PK Thunder isn't one of them."
Lucas let go of her and got up with sore muscles. He then helped Nana getting up, as he could still see the remaining pain on her face. The two young Smashers looked around them for a bit, not quite sure about what to do. The battle cries from Samus, Palutena and Lucario could be heard from above, but a thick dark fog not far above them covered whatever vision they could have from the battle between them and the Subspace army.
"Hey, guys! We are okay, Lucas saved us both!" Nana shouted towards the sky. "How are things going up there?"
From above, the three fighters we're in quite the distress and couldn't hear very well. Lucario was the only one who could figure it out that it was Nana the one who was talking. "I have just heard Nana's voice. It seems they have landed and are fine," he said while dodging an Autolance.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Palutena sighed in relief.
She saw one of the Primids charging up at a very tired Samus with a beam sword, and quickly got in the way. The beam sword hit her stomach and made her flinch, but gave enough time for Samus to punch and kick the Primid away from them.
"Stop using yourself as a shield!" Samus scolded. To see Palutena hurt herself at the cost of trying to protect her was beyond distressing for the bounty huntress.
"I'll live," Palutena gave out a sheepish smile, trying to cover up the pain she felt in her stomach. "Lucario, talk to Nana and Lucas and tell them to not worry about us."
The Pokémon nodded and turned his attention to the abyss. "Lucas, Nana, we will handle the enemies here. Try to find your way back, if possible. If not, go search for other Smashers and tell them about our situation!" he ordered. With that dark mist separating the two groups, he hoped his message had reached her ears and mind.
Thankfully, it did. He heard the Ice Climber agree with him and then went back to fighting off the Trowlons and Autolances.
"Guess it's just us now," Nana said bitterly. She picked up her wooden hammer that landed not far away from them from the ground, grateful that it was still in one piece.
The two friends walked near the stone wall by their side, as it was the only indication they were near Samus, Palutena and Lucario. But how long it was and how much it would take them to find a way upwards was another story. Nana wished one of those Trowlons descended from the skies and picked them up, but that was asking too much.
They walked in complete and utter silence, both not sure about what to say. They weren't worried about what might happen to them, but about what could happen to Samus, Palutena and Lucario, Especially Samus, if their theory was correct. In fact, maybe it was because of that theory that both felt a little safer, even if they were still inside Subspace.
In that brief moment of peace, Lucas wanted to take the opportunity to ask Nana about what she wanted to say back then. He would be lying to himself if he said that he wanted to know the answer solely because he was worried. Part of it was because of morbid curiosity, but that was a detail he would never tell her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Lucas, stop being so worried about me," Nana said. "I'm not even in pain anymore. Your PK Thunder-"
"I mean, about what we were talking, before Palutena interrupted us."
"Oh… that, right."
Nana looked away and became silent. She was so certain about talking with him before, yet now that she had plenty of time to think about it, she had no idea how to explain her problems to Lucas. How could she explain that she might be physically and emotionally dependent on her brother? Lucas wouldn't understand, and quite possibly think she was going nuts. She would think that too, if it wasn't happening to her.
She was hurt and was beyond stressed. Babbling about nonsensical things would only stress her more and add another issue to the pile. She sure didn't need that.
"I don't feel like talking now," she mumbled, still avoiding eye contact. "Besides, you shouldn't worry."
"You said you think there's something wrong with you, and now you're trying to avoid talking about it," he said. "I'm asking this because I'm your friend and I do worry. I can see you're tired, and it's not just because we have been fighting without taking a break."
"I'm not avoiding anything!" she protested.
"Then what are you doing?"
"I…" she paused and tried to find the right words. "I want to talk to you, but I don't know how to explain the problem. Just let me think better, and I promise I'll tell you everything, okay?"
"You promise? This isn't some cheap excuse to not talk?"
"I promise," she said giving him a light punch on his shoulder. "You know I can count on you."
Her words seemed sincere enough, so Lucas nodded with his head and let go of the topic for the moment.
They continued walking, hoping that would take them anywhere. However, something in the distance, at the opposite direction, caught Lucas' attention. There was group of Primids marching very close to one another in the distance. But what really caught his attention was the sight of Link's trophy being carried by them, like he was some hunting prize.
Lucas quickly tapped Nana's shoulder and pointed at the Primids' direction. The girl's dark eyes widened as she too saw the scene happening a couple dozens of feet away from them.
"We need to save him!" she whispered.
"B-But what about Samus, Palutena and Lucario?" he asked, also whispering. It was better that the Primids didn't notice them there, so their voices would have to remain low.
"They, at least, have each other and are still alive… I hope," she gulped. "But if Link's like this, then I'm pretty sure his partner is also in trouble."
Lucas let out a nervous nod. "Alright, let's go help him, then…" he said, still a little uncertain. He felt extremely guilty for abandoning Samus and the others, but Nana was right. Link, at that moment, needed their help more than anything.
Nana and Lucas walked as fast and as silently as they could, not wanting to lose the element of surprise. Nana's grip on her hammer tightened and Lucas fingers were sparking with energy as he readied his deadly PK Alpha Love attack. But as they got closer, something made the Primids stop, all of them at the same time. They stopped as well, not sure what to make of that.
Their eyes grew wide as they saw a purple door surrounded by a blue glow materialize right in front of the Primids. It was grander than the doors they usually found in the maze of captured worlds that they had explored before. They held their breaths as it slowly opened, revealing only a swirling vortex from the inside.
"Let's go before it closes," Nana said as she took Lucas' hand.
"Wait, you're not seriously thinking…" Lucas couldn't finish his sentence and got pulled by the determined Ice Climber.
Lucas felt hesitant and scared. He wanted to help Link, and possibly any other Smasher that stood at the other side of that door. But what if Tabuu was there on the other side? He couldn't help but shiver at the thought of Tabuu staring down at them with his hollow and cold eyes.
He couldn't help but feel that Nana was dragging them both to their doom.
"Why, this is getting way too easy," Tabuu thought in delight as the Primids displayed the captured trophy of Captain Falcon to him. He pointed at Yoshi's trophy, and the Primids obediently placed the trophy by its side.
He couldn't believe in his luck. One thing was capturing the Smashers inside his domains. The other was trying to fight them in their realm. To have the Smashers walk right into the place where they were at disadvantage was just too much for the lord of Subspace. How much stupider they could get?
He went back into staring at the endless void ahead of him and clouds displaying various scenes occurring begun to form. Being an omniscient entity had its perks. It was very easy to keep track of the Smashers when they were inside his realm.
The huntress seemed to be at her limit. The ape still had the fight going strong, but Tabuu knew even him would have problems keeping up with that may enemies. He let out a sneer as he saw the ape's hedgehog friend get shot by one of the Primids. Served the asshole hedgehog that broke his wings right.
With fewer fighters at the outside world, maybe it was time to send out more of his troops to try and capture the remaining targets. The ones inside of Subspace didn't require much effort, apparently. After all, in a few seconds he would have the blonde Hylian warrior in his hands. Not only him, but two other guests as well.
He would get a hold on those two and keep them for a while. They might be useful.
No Popo and Ness for this chapter, sorry. This one ended up short, but I promise the next one is going to be big. I want to focus the next chapter on them and their group, so I didn't want to try and squish their scenes into this chapter.
Also, I really fear for the Ice Climbers situation in this new game. At least I'm sure Ness will be in. =/