Sorry everyone, life decided to slap me across the face a few times.
Roy: As in she's such a procrastinator, that she hasn't been working on her school prjects and the such!
Marth: And she's been staying up late, thus recieving an A in sleep deprivation!
Link: This is a lesson learned folks! Don't drink and drive!
Roy: ... uh.. Link? We aren't talking about alcoholism.
Link: I know. Still a good moment to share that with the world however. She did learn that that funny icyhot stuff is not a fun thing to put on one's shins at the same time, not matter how sore!
Hm, good one, Link. That was the strangest feeling in the world.
Marth: Anyways, for our Reviewers!
Roy: Twilight BladerJulz, the authoress would like to say thanks for the review and the comments! She is indeed attempting to stylize the last few chapters after Subspace Emissary, just because she started foaming at the mouth when she saw all the videos for it on YouTube.
Marth: For RoyalKenya, the authoress thanks you too! She likes all the Marth/Sammy-ness as well (why else would she pair us together?) And she's had fun making our relationship all "Ohz Noez, don't die!" and stuff like that. Thanks for the reviews!
Link: For RoyalFanatic, the authoress would like to say Hello there! And Thanks for the reviews! Here's the update!
Captain Falcon: The Authoress does not own us. If she did, it would be certain that Marth and Roy would still be in Brawl.
Young Link: Onward to Chapter 12!
Chapter 12: Commencement: It Begins
Meanwhile, three other groups and the leader of the fourth floated through the huge, yellow clouds, hidden from their enemies, yet unable to see what their probes couldn't pick up. Team Two was waiting upon Team Four, who were awaiting the enemy's appearance. Nothing could be done until that happened. Meanwhile, Team Three were trying to keep a close eye on the battle at hand in the stadium. However, with the clouds drifting about this task was proving to be getting harder and harder as time passed.
Fox, in his Arwing, kept his eyes on his screen, keeping an eye out for any differences in air pressure, sound waves, anything he could monitor. So far, everything was quiet. Fox then looked to another screen, where his team, Team 5, was retrieving what looked like a large pile of bananas. In all truths, those bananas held secret bombs inside each of them; the banana outer layer was a mere disguise for these strange devices.
Team 5's mission was to retrieve these bananas from their jungle like surroundings from a hideout where they had been hidden. None other than Cranky Kong, who had shone a wonderful skill in bomb making recently, and Barnes, a man from Hyrule, had made the banana shaped objects of destruction. Master Hand planned to use the bananas on the enemies if today's plans did not go as well as planned. So far, the plan was going great; Team 5 was having no interference of any sort, so they had little to fear other than when they would try to take the strange fruit-look-alikes out of the makeshift hut. But this did not serve to calm the nerves of four of the five smashers involved.
DK watched his young nephew look about warily, expecting the jungle around them to jump up and attack them at any moment. Likewise, Pichu and Pikachu had their soft velvety fur on end (though this was not easy to tell from the naked eye), sparks crackling from both of their cheeks. Pichu would often shock himself with all the nervous energy, and would emit strange chirping sounds as he did so, only serving to startle the others.
Yoshi meanwhile, was carefully stacking the banana bombs onto a cart. So far, he wasn't too worried about sudden attacks, but this was possibly only because he was being kept busy by stacking the bananas onto the strange cart. Two small Bullet Bill canons were connected to the back, and the cart was steered using a large joystick-like stick. Eventually, Diddy calmed down enough to help, Pikachu joining him as soon as the older mouse settled down enough to keep the static from setting off the bombs. Due to his nervous uncontrollable self-shocking, Pichu wasn't allowed near the cart and its explosive contents. Little did they know, they were moments away from disaster…
Back in the arena, the smash battle was well underway. Kirby had inhaled the red plumber almost immediately and soon sprouted a red hat to match Mario's. Mario was spat out, racking in a few damage points. He ignored the Kirby slobber and shot a fireball at the little pink Mario-fied puff. "Let's-a go!" Mario called to the puffball, drawing an arm back, focusing his energy in his fist. However, he was forced to pull up his special round shield as Kirby returned the fireball with a quick flip of the cape he had received from eating Mario.
Mario blocked the fireball, watching as it puffed out of existence on his red-tinted shield, which was gradually growing smaller. Releasing the shield before it could break and leave him in a dangerously dizzy state, Mario charged his body up with fiery energy not unlike that of Roy's, and was soon flying through the air like a torpedo, sending the pink puff flying off the arena.
"Puyo!" Kirby puffed himself up and was soon back on the blue stage. He had lost his Mario-like abilities, so he drew out his thin katana, and with a flick of his round body, hit Mario, sending him back across the arena. Hurrying forward, he punched the plumber with all he could, sending him flying off the arena.
Fortunately for Mario, he managed to catch himself and send himself barreling back towards the stage. He managed to catch the edge, where Kirby again hit him. For the second time however, he managed to make it back to the stage. Mario pulled himself onto the stage, kicking Kirby backwards, giving himself room to recover. Kirby bounced off, then with a kick, went flying back at Mario, katana drawn. Pulling his arm back and focusing energy into his hand, Mario nailed the pink puff squarely in the face with one enlarged fist.
"Puyoooooo!" Kirby was sent flying with no hopes of recovery. The crowd roared.
"GAME! THE WINNER IS… MARIO!" The announcer shouted. Zelda and Peach cheered wildly, quickly forgetting that they were up next. Link and Lucas were standing and applauding for a good smash, and the crowd was going nuts, forgetting also that there was another battle before the final battle for the title of Smasher.
Kirby's trophy reappeared, on its side. Mario tapped the base, and Kirby bounced back up. He looked around confused for a moment, then smiled at Mario.
"Good-a job, Kirby. You're a worthy opponent!" Mario offered his hand.
"You did an awesome job, Mario! I see you've been training." Kirby shook Mario's hand with his own stubby stub of an arm. The two turned as one and waved at the crowd, who just got even louder throughout all the excitement. No one noticed the sky growing dark.
It was Lucas who first noticed something was wrong. His brain was suddenly hit with a painful blast as he began to feel for the source of the disturbance. He fell to the ground, not even feeling the pain as he hit the ground. He began to squirm.
"Yeeuuuh!" Lucas held his head, shouting out in pain. He curled into a fetal position.
"Lucas?" Link looked down at the little blonde boy, who was on the ground quivering and crying out in pain. "Lucas! What's wrong!?"
Mario saw Link disappear to the floor. He blinked, when shouts and screams, both of fear and excitement rent the air. Looking up, he realized the clouds were growing a dark pink color as a giant ship appeared from the thick clouds of space matter.
"Oh no!" Peach cried, pointing to the ship as another hand flew to her mouth.
"We need to get out there!" Zelda's face was contorted. She touched Peach's arm, and the two launched themselves across the gaping abyss between the stage and their sitting place.
Zelda landed on the edge of the arena, disappearing in a spin of sparkles, only to reappear beside Mario, who turned to look, his surprise evident on his face. Zelda didn't take her eyes off the giant ship even once. Peach floated in a moment later, her umbrella carrying her weight all the way from where they had been watching the battle. She landed between Zelda and Kirby, her umbrella disappearing into her dress, a determined look upon her face.
As the ship floated overhead, small purple splotches floated down from a hatch in the ship's hull. They landed, and began to form into strange creatures that closely resembled Sandbag, the sandbag the Smashers used to use in the Homerun Contests. These sandbag creatures had arms and legs, however, and seemed more dangerous than the sandbag could have ever been.
"Mario!" A deep scratchy voice called out abruptly. Mario turned in surprise, only to get a small Bullet Bill to the stomach, sending him flying out into the space matter in the blink of an eye. Before the remaining three could turn to recognize whoever had shot Mario, another creature began to descend from the ship, dropping what seemed to be a bomb of some sorts. It landed with a huge sound upon the soft blue arena. Two little robotic creatures pulled opened the bomb from either side, showing a timer. They had two minutes.
"Mario!" Peach and Zelda finally cried out, their confused thoughts organized as best as possible. They were about to attack his attacker when large thick bars fell down around them, creating a cage of some sort that fused with the field, creating the bottom of the cage. The beast that had captured them lifted the cages and their precious contents. It was a Piranha Plant, a giant one that banged the cages together before roaring at Kirby, who had somehow managed to escape being caught in Peach's cage. Zelda and Peach both cried out in pain as the reverberating cages shook their heads painfully.
"Puyo!" Kirby launched himself at the plant, drawing his Katana. Two arrows embedded themselves into the Piranha Plant's stem. Kirby saw Link put away his bow before the strange sandbag like creatures began to overwhelm him. He still fought them off with ease, sending them into the deep abyss, where they did not return.
Kirby swiped his sword quickly at the Piranha plant, cutting at its stem, which began to weaken. The Piranha Plant hit the tiny puff with Peach's cage, sending him flying painfully across the arena. Kirby got back up, stifling a painful cry as a large bruise made itself apparent on his round head. He re-attacked with gusto, his katana slashing deep gashes into the Piranha Plant's thick stem. Each slash weakened it further, and by now, Kirby had learned to evade the oncoming cages that the Princesses were stuck in. Eventually, the plant fell, its stem cut, dropping the cages. Peach screamed as her cage broke open, and she fell out, her dress tearing. Landing on the ground, she caught her breath, her head aching painfully. Pushing herself up, she blinked as Kirby sat down, exhausted. She blinked, and saw a familiar short, fat man hobble onto the stage, dropping a giant gun on the ground with a huge CLANG, and aiming for Zelda, who's dress and possibly leg were stuck under her cage.
"Wahahaha!" Wario cackled. He charged the gun.
"Zelda!" Kirby and Peach cried. Link looked up in alarm before Lucas managed to stand, transporting himself and Link out of there and to safety.
The gun shot, a black pointer arrow extending from the gun and piercing Zelda in the heart. This managed to free her from her captured position, throwing her into the air. Her body fell to the ground, stiff as a board. Wario's strange gun had turned the Hyrulian Princess into a trophy.
Wario picked up the trophy with a cackling laughter. Kirby pulled Peach away, towards the entrance so they could escape. They ran past the bomb, and with a quick glance, their hearts skipped a beat.
Four seconds left.
Four long eternities later, the bomb exploded, but not in flames. A perfect purple-black sphere expanded, turning everything it touched into the strange dark sandbag-like creatures. Kirby managed to summoned a warpstar, and soon the two were flying away as fast as the warpstar would take them, which fortunately, was fast enough to escape the strange darkness. They burst through the cloud cover where they came face to face with the ship that had claimed their friends. Wobbling precariously, they tried to escape, but the ship spotted them immediately, giving chase.
Kirby's warpstar was no match for the huge and fast ship, and soon it knocked the warpstar up onto its top, where the life-saving star blinked out in a ball of flames. Kirby and Peach lay on their backs, catching some much needed breath.
"C-come on, Peach, we need to s-see if we can find th-the other t-team, uh, team f-f-four, right? They sh-should b-be here a-any moment to i-infiltrate." Kirby sobbed. Peach was on her knees, tears running down her face and into the air.
"Mario… Link… Lucas… Zelly… They're all gone Kirby, all gone… and those poor innocent people…!" Peach broke down in a fit of sobs. She clutched the tiny puff, which clutched her back. The cold breeze froze their tears, sending them into the open air.
Finally, after what seemed to be one painful forever, they recollected their thoughts, and Kirby produced the four bags he had devoured for safekeeping. They were never more thankful of his decision to hide the bags in his endless stomach. They pulled out the forgotten headset, and turning it on, Peach contacted the nearest Smasher.
"Peach here, does anyone hear me?" Peach tried not to let her voice crack as thoughts of Mario and the other smashers who were gone ran through her head.
"Peach? Is that you?" a voice responded, crackling a moment due to the headset; Fox.
"Fox! Oh, its horrible, we lost everyone… Kirby and I are the only ones left… I don't know if Link and Lucas are dead, but Zelda was at least captured, if she's still alive and Mario… Oh!" Peach sobbed again.
"Whoa, there, girl, I'm coming. Where are you? Wait, never mind, I've got your sign- Wait, are you on the enemy's ship?" Fox seemed to have found the ship.
"Y-yes, Kirby and I managed to escape, but we ended up on top of the ship." Peach stifled more sobs.
"Alright, I'm coming. Get to the back of the ship, and I'll pick you up. Step quick now!" and the signal was cut.
"Let's go, Peach." Kirby gave her a bag with Mario's share of items as well as her own stuffed in it, including the colorful Smash Ball that had been given to the plumber. Abandoning the other empty sacks, they began to run towards the other end of the ship, jumping over obstacles, slipping and sliding in sometimes-dangerous spots, and climbing onto several flight decks. Finally, they neared the end of the ship, when they heard a grinding noise, and saw flashes of light erupt in small dashes into the sky.
The lasers flew towards a lone Arwing.
"Fox!" Peach gasped. The Arwing barrel rolled to avoid the oncoming lasers, and managed to dodge for the most part. But soon the lasers overwhelmed the small Arwing, and it was hit. This however did not take down the hardy Arwing. However, behind the two frightened smashers, a strange box raised itself from the ship and launched a long tentacle-like claw-shot not unlike Link's own claw-shot. The tentacle flew through the air, slamming into Fox's Arwing, neatly breaking off a wing.
Peach and Kirby yelped in shock and fear as the Arwing flew straight at them, out of control and smoking. It bounced off the flight deck, leaving several holes and scrapes, and sent both princess and pink puff flying off the ship into thin air. Peach screamed like she had never screamed before, Kirby panicking himself. Both forgot about their defensive recovery techniques or the warpstar summoner.
Fortunately, as they cleared the cloud cover, a transporter appeared, several anxious faces appearing as the back opened. Matching the two falling figures in their free fall, the transporter had opened its hatch to capture the falling smashers. With a quick reminded, Kirby managed to puff himself into the transporter where Jigglypuff showered him in worried kisses, but Zero-Samus had to use her grapple beam to get Peach, who threw herself into the arms of Mario's younger brother. Soon, the two lost smashers, the remaining part of Team One, were rescued.
None of the Smashers noticed a falling Arwing nose-diving towards a deep lake.
Things were not going well at all. DK smashed a Hammer Bro and send a Winged Goomba flying into the sky. He then took off in a mad dash through the jungle.
The grounded members of Team 5 had been surprise attacked; Pikachu and Pichu had been turned into strange statue like things by a strange Koopa that very closely resembled Bowser, Diddy was nowhere to be seen, and Yoshi was unusually still on the floor, eyes wide in shock. Green-blue goop seemed to be 'bleeding' from a deep wound in his neck where a Koopa had slashed at the poor peaceful green dinosaur.
A Koopa had stolen the cart, the Bullet Bill cannons being controlled by a rather smart Goomba. As DK crashed out of the jungle and onto the edge of a cliff that impeded his path with a roar, he looked down to the bottom where the cart was racing away as fast as it could go. The Goomba controlling the cannons jumped up in alarm before launching three bullet bills at DK.
All smashers, at one point in their lives, learned the dangers of Bullet Bills, no matter the size, with little thanks to Princess Peach's castle, where a Bullet Bill would and could be seen drilling into the side of the castle, only to blow up moments later in disastrous results for any who stood nearby. This Bullet Bill that they all were familiar with was large and slow, however. The three coming at DK were small and fast, and almost seemed eager to blow something up.
Just as DK threw his arms up in defense, another figure sprinted, jumped off DK's huge back, and with several matrix-style flips, shot two peanuts out of peanut pop-guns at two of the Bullet Bills. Diddy watched in satisfaction as they blew up, leaving one left. It sped at them, but once again, Diddy's peanut gun foiled its plans of destruction. The peanut hit the Bullet Bill, causing it to land behind DK, still amazingly in one piece. Diddy landed at DK's side, where they got ready to charge the cart that was moving away with twin stances that screamed cool. The Bullet Bill finally blew up, and DK and Diddy were off, after the Banana Cart. However, this was easier said than done, as the cart was already well ahead of them, and between Diddy and Donkey Kong, neither of them were very fast.
This problem was quickly solved as Donkey Kong pulled forth a strange object from his pack; the strange device had several animals on it. Diddy followed Donkey Kong's idea by pulling out a similar device with a monkey grin. They both pressed a Rhinoceros picture on the device, summoning twin rhinoceros that were similar to their friend, Rambo the Rhinoceros.
"Yeehaw!" Diddy jumped on the Rhino, and was soon speeding off at a speed that would allow him to easily catch up to the cart. Donkey Kong was right behind him with a larger Rhino, roaring in delight at the speeds they traveled at. Together, they sped after the cart, the solid horns of the rhinos knocking any obstacles aside with practiced ease.
Soon, the trail split in two different directions. Diddy and Donkey Kong blinked at each other.
"Diddy, left, Donkey Kong, right." Donkey Kong stated, pointing in each direction as he stated them.
"Alright big D, see you in a bit!" with a flourishing wave, Diddy disappeared to the left, into the jungle. Donkey Kong continued to race down the road, unknowingly straight into a trap.
Diddy's rhino soon could not go any further, as the jungle got thicker, already recovering from whatever had caused it to create a trail. Turning the device that summoned the rhino off, Diddy resorted to swinging through the trees, just as easily keeping up with the trail.
After several minutes of hardcore swinging, he emerged from the trees at a wide, placid lake; a dead end. But he soon saw just what had caused the damage.
Hanging over the edge of the lake was an Arwing, still smoking from its crash landing. The left wing was missing, and a small fire burned from where the engine was located.
"Oh no, Fox!" Diddy started for the Arwing, freezing when a roar distracted him. Looking to the lake, Diddy's jaw dropped as a large dragon-like poke'mon emerged from the lake, its body long and lithe, with two clawed 'hands' and lots of tiny sharp teeth.
Opening its mouth, the poke'mon gathered energy in a brilliant blue-white ball, and shot it at the smoking Arwing, where it blew up, nearly blowing Diddy away. Diddy rolled across the ground, where he ended up sitting, bug-eyed, jaw hanging open while twitching in disbelief. He was quickly brought out of his fright into an even more scarier moment as the poke'mon swooped over him, picking him up and carrying him back to the lake, where the poke'mon proceeded to roar at him, its breath horrendous.
However, the poke'mon failed to notice something spring high in the air from the Arwing; with a flash, something hit the Poke'mon's arm, freeing Diddy from its soon-to-be-deadly grasp. The poke'mon roared in pain and anger as Fox landed safely on shore after a speedy Fox Illusion attack. It charged another bright ball and shot it at Fox, who neatly pulled out his reflector in the nick of time, causing the ball of energy to bounce off and hit the poke'mon back.
Diddy pulled himself on shore, soaked thoroughly. With a shocked and relieved cry, he greeted Fox. "Fox!"
"Where's everyone else?" Fox asked, examining the lake with his eye monitor. Surprisingly, it was still in one piece.
"DK went after the Banana Bombs, Pichu and Pikachu were turned into statues, and well… Yoshi…" Diddy looked away. Fox sighed, yet still not taking his focus off the lake.
"We'll retrieve his body later. For now, we have an enemy to fight." Diddy nearly fainted as the angry Poke'mon reemerged from the water, screaming its defiance at the two humanoid creatures who denied it a meal. "Let's fight, Diddy."
DK meanwhile, was fighting with tooth and paw. The Koopa and Goomba were already knocked out, as well as the many others sent to help stop the giant Ape. All in all, the trap the giant ape had sprung had little effect on stopping the raging gorilla. Ever since the night that he had been attacked by Luan with the poisoned knife, DK had trained his body to be at his strongest. And now it came in handy.
Koopas were sent flying to the jungle edges, Goombas into the trees. Hammer Bros threw hammers at the gorilla to no effect. He merely swatted them away before throwing them to the jungle.
Soon, Donkey Kong had smashed the Koopas, Hammer Bros, and Goombas into pulp. Climbing on the cart, he proceeded to return to the spot where he had split with Diddy, only to have a rhino come running, Fox and Diddy riding its back. He hadn't even had to move the hard to control cart.
"Mission accomplished." Donkey Kong roared, beating his hands on his chest in defiance to the Koopas, Goombas, and whoever else wanted to fight him for the Banana Bombs.
"Alright. I'll get Master Hand to send someone to pick us up." Fox sighed, tapping his headset. "I talked to Peach a while ago."
"Yeah? What's the news?" Diddy asked.
"Terrible. She and Kirby were the only ones left." Fox sighed. "And now, we've lost Pikachu, Pichu, and Yoshi. That's seven down. Out of twenty-nine."
Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong were silent as they thought of their lost friends. Donkey Kong was the most upset; he had been a good friend of Yoshi's. "I be back." Donkey Kong summoned an ostrich this time, and was soon out of sight as he raced down the road.
"Where is he going?" Diddy asked no one in particular, a tinge of grief upon his voice. Fox shrugged.
"Master Hand?" Fox called into his headset.
"Fox, is that you? What's your status?"
"Mission complete, requesting pick up. We're about a quarter of a mile away from a lake, in a clearing. There's a road…"
"Alright. How's everyone?"
"Well… We've lost Yoshi for sure. Pichu and Pikachu were turned into statues… My Arwing was destroyed." Fox reported.
There were several colorful curses from Master Hand. "Alright, I'm sending a transporter. Stay there."
Fox and Diddy waited in silence for a while before they heard a squawk. The ostrich was flying towards them, Donkey Kong on its back still. In his great hands was a bundle that flopped limply.
"What's that, DK?" Diddy asked. DK frowned. Fox looked away.
"A friend." was all he said. Diddy stared, wide-eyed at the bundle in DK's hands. The ostrich disappeared into the device, and Team Five was left to wait for their ride.
Just how many more will we lose before it's over? Was all Fox could think to himself.
Well, I'm not too proud of my battle scenes... I need to work on those, I guess.
Ike: Indeed, milady.
Pit: Everyone who doesn't know or hasn't done it yet, you should go vote at the authoress's poll! And/or review, yeah!
Ike: Alas, milady must get off and get some sleep. Read and Review and save me from Pit, please?
