11. Pain
This is mildly embarrassing, Samus thought as Mario dashed down into the hamlet, holding her prone body like it was a duffel bag. For someone so large, the fat man ran with alarming speed, and they had reached the outskirts of the town within minutes.
Passersby gave Mario and Samus odd looks; small children pointed at her precarious position. She did not struggle, simply looking around for something to cut the binds with, but Mario refused to slow down.
The reason why was soon apparent: a burst of lightning from the direction they'd come. The people on the street began to murmur, as it was a fairly clear day, but soon enough a spiky-haired youth, running even faster than Mario and brandishing a sword, appeared on the horizon.
Mario smiled. "How does it-a feel, Samus? To be... the prize-a to be won?"
Samus said nothing. Mario laid her down on a nearby curb and pulled a large blue shell out of his pocket. He chucked it in the distance, and the shell, like a magnet to metal, latched onto Crono's oncoming path. The swordsman jumped over the shell, but it quickly rebounded, pursuing him doggedly. By now people had stopped what they were doing to watch; clearly nothing like this had ever happened in this quiet town before.
Crono had arrived on the street sooner than Samus had thought possible, but Mario was ready for him, and the plumber shoved a large flower into his mouth. He raised his hands and suddenly torrents of flame came spilling out, covering the street and everyone who happened to be present.
"Stop it!" Samus yelled, but Mario paid her no heed; Crono simply leaped over the flames and brought his sword down on Mario's head. The fat man blocked it with another shell, this one green, which he then threw, squarely connecting with Crono's leg. The boy fell to the ground, his sword clattering on the pavement, barely dodging the still-charging blue shell, which burst through the flames unscathed.
From the ground Crono shot a small burst of lightning at Mario; this time the fat man jumped into the air, landing on the boy's damaged leg with a crunch. People screamed in the background; several buildings had also caught on fire.
Now Samus began to struggle against the bonds. She wriggled her way over to the nearest burning structure and waited tentatively for them to snap. Mario didn't seem to notice, staring at Crono's pained face with glee.
"It's a shame," the fat man said. "You-a could have really been somebody. I always thought you had-a great potential... oh well."
The bonds began to loosen... Samus kept watching Mario, hoping he didn't notice... there were still screams all around them...
The blue shell came resting back to its owner; Mario scooped it up like it was a toy and put it back in his overalls. "The Mercenaries..." he muttered to Crono. "You really think-a they are anything compared to what we used to be?"
Just a little more...
Crono tried to struggle, but Mario's stance on his leg was too much, and the boy's head fell to the ground with a grimace.
"You feel pain, don't you?" Mario said softly. "But... which kind?"
A loud snapping noise and Samus was on her feet; she grabbed the Rainbow from the ground and in a split-second had closed the gap; she drew the sword down, trying to cut Mario's stomach, but the plumber had seen or heard her, and he dodged the blow, instantly shooting a jet of flame at her direction. Samus narrowly sidestepped the fires, but Mario had pulled a hammer from his overalls, and he swung it with such strength at the Rainbow that Samus felt that the sword might shatter from the blow.
The fat man spun in a circle, twirling the hammer as he did so, striking at Samus multiple times; the Hunter parried each strike with Crono's Rainbow, more resilient than she would have given it credit for. Mario then shot more flames, these ones much smaller and rapider than the larger bursts; Samus dashed around them as the fireballs bounced on the ground, slicing viciously at Mario's head, but the plumber ducked just in the nick of time.
The hairs on the back of Samus's head began to stand up – she glanced at Crono, whose arms were raised,charging his most potent spell – without thinking she grabbed the green shell from the ground and hurled it at Crono's face. The shell connected with a nasty crunch, and the boy fell back to the ground, the electricity around him still lingering.
In the ensuing space, Mario had closed the gap and punched Samus's stomach; a loud crack and an outburst of pain told her that a rib or two was broken. The fat man jumped high, apparently going for the same leg-breaking move he pulled on Crono -
Then there was a flash of light, and Mario cried out, and the Master Sword flew forward, as if summoned by an invisible hand, landing squarely at Samus's feet.
The Hunter didn't have time to register what had just happened; she simply ran with it, chucking aside the Rainbow and scooping up Link's former blade. At once she felt herself infused with new energy and life. Mario slowly got to his feet, a gash across his stomach; he shot forth more flames, but Samus knew instinctively what to do, blocking them with the Master Sword; the fireballs dissipated upon contact with the blade, and the sword itself caught on fire; she swung it, and a cascade of flame shot at the fat man himself, who barely ducked the blast.
Recovering quickly, Mario then drew the blue shell, hurling it at Samus. She smiled, and in an instant cleaved the projectile weapon in two with her blade.
The dust and smoke from the earlier flames were settling; Samus could see firefighters and medical personnel tending to the wounded. Mario looked as well, and in the blink of an eye he backflipped away. Samus swung the Master Sword and beams of energy came pouring out after her foe; his heavy footfalls told her none connected. She ran through the smoke, past the wounded and confused, in pursuit of the fat man.
Mario was already a few blocks away; the area was roped off from the rest of the hamlet, presumably due to the earlier burst of fire. He smiled as Samus approached.
"Isn't this just like-a the dingoes, Samus? Isn't this just destroying whatever-a gets in your way?"
Samus scowled. "You don't get to talk to me about morality, you sick bastard. How many innocents did you slaughter in the Mushroom Kingdom? How may more will die today?"
"I'm-a no guiltier or more innocent than-a you, Hunter. Just-a know this: I feel no pain."
Then he switched his hat out for a green one. Samus swore under her breath; she'd only seen him do this once, and the end result wasn't pretty. Mario's entire body turned a metallic gray, and his voice was strangely echoed, as if he were speaking in a cavern.
"Here we goooooo!"
The fat man charged at Samus; she shot beams of light at him from the Master Sword, but they simply bounced off. She narrowly dodged a metal punch and kick that she knew would have connected with all the force of a speeding truck, and brought the Master Sword around to connect with his leg. Unsurprisingly, the end result was that it, too, ricocheted off with a clang.
Mario reached out his hands to grab Samus, but she backed away, quickly calculating her odds of survival. Nothing she did would work... but there still had to be a way...
"Let's-a go!" Mario charged at her again like a bull, spreading his fists like a lariat; Samus only narrowly ducked out of the way of the blows before an idea struck her.
She ran away from the fat man, back in the direction of their initial encounter, this time down a back alley where they would be no people. A steady clanking behind her indicated that Mario was in pursuit, slowed slightly from the metal cap. She reached her target: where Mario had fought Crono.
Though the boy's body was gone, the hairs on her body stood up again. Mario charged blindly forward as she raised the Master Sword; amazingly, it began to absorb the electric charges around her, and she shot them in a burst at the oncoming plumber, who squealed as the metal conducted the blast. His green cap flying off, Mario fell to the ground, burned and singed.
The Hunter walked over, panting audibly. She looked down at Mario and felt a hot flash of anger, kicking the plumber in his stomach wound.
"You asked me," she said, "which 'R' I felt: relief or regret. And though my time as a warrior isn't over yet, I will say that right now the only 'R' I feel is regret. Regret that I couldn't make you suffer more."
"Y-You..." Mario gasped. "You got it... right..."
"I would ask why you did the things you did, but I know that there's no rhyme or reason to sociopaths like yourself. You deserve everything you got, and more."
Mario smiled. "When I-a killed all-a the Mushroom Retainers... they all knew the truth... what really happened... I... couldn't-a let them live... just like you can't-a let me live... because I've-a seen the real you..."
"Enough." Samus raised the Master Sword. "You've hurt enough people today."
"Will you help any of them... in your-a infinite generosity, Samus? Will you... use your powers to... heal the good... instead of punishing the wicked?"
"You know the answer to that as well as I do," Samus said.
"Then I know which pain... which pain you have, after all..."
She sliced downward, and the blade cut through Mario's neck, decapitating him.
There is an area of the world known as the Northern Crater, a large, circular hole in the planet itself. The Crater does not see any visitors, for there is much fear and legend surrounding it, and the area is rather inhospitable for travelers. Still, this did not deter one man, who stood towards the center of the crater, staring at a figure encased in an icy tomb.
"Your time has come again, brother," Cloud Strife said.
