Chapter 12
"Come on, guys" Bowser complained playfully, teasing the finalists for being so weak. "You call yourselves Smashers?! This disappoints me."
Certain finalists had no response and gave him cold stares. They, as a result, teamed up and blitzed the Koopa King for vengeance. He held on for a couple of attacks, but after Samus angrily held on Bowser, Meta Knight, Rosalina, and Greninja dealt Smash attacks, resulting a loss of a stock for Bowser. He respawned with a support beam under him as his body was flashing white slowly.
"You think we're weak now?" Samus mocked the turtle, preparing for another series of excruciating pain from the bounty hunter herself.
"We'll see" Bowser responded calmly, targeting the same fighters who ganged up on him.
As Bowser travelled downwards, Samus flipped over and kicked him towards the ground so he'll be stuck in the ground. However, he performed his Whirling Fortress to attack the bounty hunter and to prevent such pummel. The spin made him vulnerable for an attack, which Meta Knight swooped in and executed a spinning slash that involved using his body. Greninja hopped in and slashed his water katana in the air almost simultaneously, but Bowser leaped over the Pokémon, making Greninja hit the Star Warrior. The Koopa King then performed his powerful Bowser Bomb, sending the ninja at a very short distance. He jumped and grabbed the Pokémon in mid-air, leaped up higher in the air and abruptly body-slammed him towards the third girder of the first-level beams. Another higher elevated knockback was the result of the attack. Right before King Koopa went for another Flying Slam, an orange, plasma-like object contacted Bowser, causing him to be stunned for a brief stint. A second 180 flip and double stomp forced Bowser to be buried in the ground.
"You're mine" Samus softly and dauntingly said as she prepared for a powerful double kick from her jet boots.
"Oh, damn" Bowser cursed as he closed his eyes for an expected blow to the face.
Before Samus could kick the living hell out of Bowser, Sonic furtively was behind the bounty hunter and charged up his powerful punch. It hit her back and sent her above the turtle. Bowser jumped out to shoot scorching flames that came from his mouth at the hedgehog. Sonic evaded to escape the fire and used his homing attack to retaliate.
"I'm going to kill you, hedgehog!" Samus hollered infuriatingly as she shifted her new target to Sonic for ruining an opportunity of winning or having an early lead.
"Oh, snap" Sonic reacted as he took a step back. "Time to bail!" He ran off as a strategy to tire her out and to confuse her at the same time.
"You're not getting away from me!" The bounty hunter chased Sonic down as fast as she could. She was obviously unable to keep up with the hedgehog's speed and stopped moving for a quick breath.
"You're too slow" Sonic taunted to provoke another angry response from Samus.
The bounty hunter growled, gritting her teeth to hopefully restrain her anger. Unfortunately, she couldn't hold it in any longer. "That tears it! You're going to be ripped into fucking shreds!" Samus cursed and screamed as she randomly shot her gun everywhere, just trying to luckily hit Sonic. She didn't necessarily hit the hedgehog as her target; instead, the paralyzer struck Palutena who was about to combo against Sheik. The Sheikah retaliated with her combo of an upper straight kick and downswing kick rotating her leg upwards, inverted upper spiral kicks, a fast downward positioned kick, and ending it with two successive forward kicks. It sent the goddess a considerable amount of distance away from Sheik.
"No! Lady Palutena, please fight back! Don't lose!" Pit yelled, sounding worried if his goddess were to become eighth place. He stood up having his hands wrapped up on his hair, close enough to be ripped off from his scalp.
Simultaneously, Lucina stood up as well, but this time had her hands covering her mouth. She said aloud, "Oh, no!" The bluenette spoke again but quietly, "Palutena, get back on the stage for me. Do your best to win it all."
The white angel looked back and saw the swordswoman cheering for his goddess. He was bewildered and upset that someone he never got along with rooted for someone he cared about. "Why are you supporting my Lady Palutena?!"
"I'm da-I mean supporting Palutena because she and I are friends" Lucina responded, deceiving Pit just to hide the secret relationship with the greenette.
"How can you and Lady Palutena be friends if you almost killed her?!" Pit argued impolitely against the bluenette.
"It was an honest accident" the swordswoman countered, feeling a bit frightened if the argument could escalate into a more violent physical altercation.
"I don't believe it! You're just an unoriginal-" was all the white angel said to attack Lucina's person before he was interrupted.
"Okay, I've had enough of this!" Robin shouted intolerantly, standing up in order to talk assertively.
"Yeah, exactly" Pit's doppelganger added in, copying and agreeing with the female tactician.
"You're not in this conversation" Pit said to make Robin back down.
"Well, I am now" she replied. What provoked Robin was where Pit was using a euphemism for the term "clone" since that was viewed as extremely negative. "You need to get over the fact that Lucina stabbing Palutena was not a premeditated plan to murder. There was proof that it was a technical error. I mean come on, you saw that report. Accept it and move on" she added to her argument.
"Say whatever you say, but I don't want Lady Palutena to associate with Lucina" Pit repudiated, clenching his fists.
"Hey, punk" Dark Pit came in, disliking the thought of his doppelganger being inconsiderate against Robin and Lucina. "You don't talk like that to Robin."
"Yeah, do you know why you're defending her?" Pit asked, pressuring the black angel to back down or have his secret revealed.
"Don't you dare say it" Dark Pit urged the white angel to not reveal about his secret towards Robin. He had his right hand in a form of a fist and presented to Pit for intimidation. "I'll seriously beat the living hell out of you."
"Robin" he directly spoke to the female tactician, ignoring the black angel's demands. "Dark Pit's defending you because-"
Dark Pit tackled Pit and started threatening his doppelganger with physical punches and death threats. The two were eventually separated by the people, who sat next to them such as Link, Mario and Fox. They held the two opposite color winged and personality angels until they agreed to not kill each other.
"Thank you for standing by me like that, Robin" Lucina said, thanking her friend for support.
"No problem, Lucy, I got your back" the female tactician replied, smiling for her friend. "Well, we're missing out on a great match, so shall watch?"
"I agree. Let's resume watching the game" Lucina supported Robin as she sat down on her seat.
"Yeah, with your girlfriend in it" Robin joked again, causing the bluenette to blush on the thought of possibly being Palutena's girlfriend.
Returning into the match, all finalists had damage percentages over 85, which wasn't a major problem due to the reduced knockback ratio. Before the awkward confrontation between Pit and Lucina, the damage percent was nearly over 65. Looking away from the big screen for just a small second led to missing out on many possible impressive combos, lucky misses, and unfortunate unintentional attacks from others.
Palutena struggled against Sheik as the masked fighter was faster and more adept than the goddess. She had the most damage taken out of all finalists, having a percentage damage of 106 while seven other Smashers only had an average of 85. It looked like Palutena had the biggest detriment due to her injury a few weeks back, but she didn't let that prevent her from taking an opportunity to have a chance of victory.
"Autoreticle" she said as three bright blue spheres were shot from her staff. It hit Greninja, giving her an opportunity to conduct her chain of attacks. She precisely attacked the Pokémon with her shield as she dashed towards him. He was sent back considerably far, so the goddess jumped towards him but turned back for a surprise. She used her shield again to hit Greninja behind herself. She leaped the second time in the air in order to kick her opponent in the form of an arc below her. The meteor smash sent the Pokémon straight down, giving hope to the goddess that she calculated the distance and timing accurately for elimination. Unfortunately, Greninja landed right on the ledge of the stage with his head out of the stage. It was almost under the ledge of Big Battlefield, which made him scared for moment since he was on the brink to a loss. Palutena then was in front of him and fully charged up her Smash attack, a forward swing of her ethereal wings. When she released her attack to presumably end it all, Greninja positioned himself in a defensive stance, causing the goddess to inadvertently walk into the Pokémon's trap. He then retaliated with a flying kick, sending the greenette almost upwards. Greninja swiftly leaped over her and stomped on the goddess with both of his feet; she plummeted downwards and impacted her back on the edge of the stage. It arched backwards, reacting from the effect of the fall and landing. Palutena struggled to stand up; giving that she had both hands on her staff and pulled herself with all of her strength, the goddess was easily feeling weak and exhausted. Her attention was lacking since she focused mostly on getting back on her feet. Suddenly, she was grabbed by Greninja who showed no mercy against her. He threw her backwards and performed a series of combos consisting of a cape smuck, which his tongue surrounding his neck motioned upwards, a front hook kick, a ninja pose that emitted a veil of water, a slash of his aqua katana in the air, a triple kick with each one executed at different angles, a quick sweep kick, and a double stomp to set up his finishing blow to win against Palutena.
"Sorry, but I got a match to win" Greninja said as he watched the goddess struggle tremendously. He had a water katana on his right hand, preparing for his strongest attack to eliminate Palutena from the match.
I'm sorry…Lucina, Palutena thought to herself and closed her eyes, succumbing into defeat. I tried my best to win for you, but I failed. Sorry.
"This ends now!" He shouted as he positioned his weapon and swung it.
"Hah!" A blue anthropomorphic yelled as he threw a punch at Greninja's back, sending him off the stage. As the Pokémon attempted to return to the stage, Sonic rolled back and morphed into a ball. He then spun himself without making his body move forward and charged up a spin attack. When the ninja used his Hydro Pump, he was above the second-level girders, which triggered Sonic to spring into action. The hedgehog attacked Greninja and then returned to his normal form again to spin around for an extra boost. Sonic jumped for another continuing chain of attacks and damage by inverting himself and scissor kicking the ninja; it sent Greninja higher but not to a point where he was at risk of being eliminated through the sky. Sonic landed on his feet again and leaped straight upwards, followed by a more elevated height gain he utilized from his spring. He tricked the new generation Pokémon by attempting to perform another air attack, which did work. Sonic dodged in mid-air and then diagonally kicked him, meteor smashing him towards the edge of the stage where Palutena remained standing. Swiftly, the hedgehog executed his powerful backwards roundhouse kick that sent Greninja flying off the stage. It was some distance between Greninja and the edge of the stage, so he tried to put in his best effort to get back on the stage. Sonic jumped towards him and utilized his homing attack. It pushed back the ninja Pokémon even further than before. The strange thing was that he couldn't jump in the air, so he had to rely and trust his Hydro Pump to get him back on the stage. Unfortunately, he was not close enough to grasp the edge and fell towards the void at the bottom. He was eliminated. He had lost, finishing eighth place. Sonic returned to the stage without any problem. He said with an energetic and arrogant tone, "Piece of cake, too easy."
"Sonic" Palutena said standing up imperfectly due to fatigue, astonished to see Sonic's actions and behavior. "Why did you protect me like that?"
The hedgehog made quick glance at other opponents and saw that they were all busy fighting against each other He made sure that no one would interfere with them during the short conversation. He then responded, "Well, a special someone of yours is watching, and I don't want you to let her down."
"Oh, thank you, mister Sonic. I wish I could repay you somehow" Palutena replied and smiled, feeling better about her troubling situation.
"Hey, no problem, but" Sonic made some suspense at the latter of his response towards the goddess who seemed curious. "I'm only doing this for you and your special one, so don't expect me to save you again."
"Understood" Palutena replied.
"Good. Now go fight this for her" Sonic said before running away towards the opponents.
Palutena mused about what the blue hedgehog said to her moments ago. He mentioned a special someone who was rooting for the goddess and win for her. That pronoun "her" caught the greenette's attention since no one knew about her and Lucina dating. Did Sonic know about the two? He technically did because the swordswoman told him about how she was going to her first date with Palutena. However, she revealed to him that she presumed that the goddess wouldn't continue dating afterwards. Yet, how did he figure out that the two women were still dating? Did Sonic catch a glimpse of the greenette and bluenette hugging, which he interpreted as a romantic pairing between the two? It was all wrapped up in Palutena's mind, boggling around so that nothing important could be found. Just when she was about to doze off a grenade exploded near her. She fell on the ground in order to prevent any more damage taken to her.
Lucina took a deep breath before resting her back on her seat. She closed her eyes for a brief stint as she blew out a huge sigh of relief that her dating partner was still in the game.
"You're glad that your goddess didn't come in last place?" Robin asked to confirm her friend's behavior even though she knew it already.
"Yes, but in actuality, Greninja did not come in last place" Lucina replied, countering Robin's statement about being last place. "He came in eighth place, out of all the fighters in the roster."
"You don't say?" Robin joked. "I wonder why Sonic spared Palutena's life? Is he-" She continued in a serious tone.
"Mister Sonic is not romantically attracted to Palutena" Lucina aggressively said to the female tactician, refusing her speculation about a possible romance between the two. "Only I can be attracted to her, and no one else."
"Aw, that's cute, Lucy. You're now in the phase where no one should be with her but you. You're growing up so fast" Robin said to her friend, pretending to be in tears as if she was Lucina's mother.
"I apologize" Lucina said with guilt. "It's just that the relationship between Palutena and I is developing efficiently and intimately."
"No worries" Robin patted on Lucina's shoulders. "It's all good, girl."
Lucina resumed watching the match, attempting to calm down even after the scare of Palutena nearly losing to Greninja.
"GOLAAAAZO!" Bowser hilariously shouted yet maintained his serious expression as he dealt his double horizontal kick against Rosalina and her Luma, sending her past the stage and into the void. He flexed his body again to taunt people who detested him and to bring cheers from his fans.
"BOWWOW! BOWWOW! BOWWOW! BOWWOW!" His fans chanted louder as their hands pounded in the air rhythmically as his nickname had two syllables.
Bowser currently led the match with eight knockouts due to his Final Smash that gave him a large advantage earlier in the game. Two down, six more fighters remained in the championship round until one was last standing. Each finalist was facing a single opponent like a one-on-one battle: Meta Knight vs Samus, Sonic vs Sheik, and Palutena vs Bowser. When the audience, encompassing the Smashers in the mansion, saw who was fighting whom, they all shifted their attention towards King Koopa and the goddess. They knew that the greenette didn't have a good chance against Bowser since he was still energetic in the match while Palutena wasn't equally as much. Her muscles began feeling exhausted with her fitness being lower than all other finalists. The last thing she wanted to lose to was Bowser. She evaded and escaped many offensive moves of the plumber's nemesis, just to drain his energy away before counter-attacking. Initially, it succeeded and progressed significantly as it frustrated the Koopa King, causing him to exert more power than before. After minutes of dodging though, Bowser comprehended the defensive strategy Palutena conducted, so he tried to manipulate her by mimicking her tactic. Whenever Palutena dodged, Bowser copied it, mocking her lack of aggressiveness and status of a Smasher. Now she became irritated by Bowser's foolery, and fell for his trap. She struck forward with her ethereal wings, and the Koopa King escaped the glowing wings by jumping over the goddess. He flipped himself over with the spikes on his shell facing towards Palutena and plummeted downwards quickly. The goddess got hit and was sent upwards. Bowser leaped towards her for a claw attack, but Palutena dropkicked the turtle to prevent herself from being stuck in a combo chain. The greenette swiftly landed on the closest place where she can contact the ground and recover, which was the right side of the second-level girders. She did so and smashed Bowser with her blue, round shield behind herself. Palutena attempted to spin her staff and herself as her halo shone completely. However, the Koopa King was hit only four times, keeping himself safe from a potential elimination. The goddess jumped towards him again for more aerial attacks, but Bowser grabbed her in mid-air and flew up high and dove straight downwards on the highest girder. The knockback sent the greenette high in altitude, which Bowser took the opportunity to seal the deal.
"Not a chance" Palutena said loudly as she swept her foot in an arc, causing a meteor smash on Bowser. He fell on the first-level girders on his stomach.
"AAHH!" He screamed in pain as he covered the area with his hands. "The pain is real!"
The greenette landed in front of him with the perfect chance to defeat the underdog but saw Bowser in agony. She couldn't stand that she engendered actual pain towards a villain that she barely knew yet disliked. Sympathy and guilt took over Palutena's conscious and emotions, forcing her to hold her staff and shield next to her.
A split kick was executed by a blue hedgehog, sending a Sheikah horizontally off the stage. As she tried reach the ledge, Sonic charged up another spin dash. When he heard a disappearing and reappearing noise, he made his move and released his fully prepared Spin Dash. It hit Sheik when she landed right on the edge of the stage. Sonic swiftly turned back and forth to continue the damage chain, ending with Sheik in front of him. The masked fighter grabbed him but missed; the hedgehog, in response, held Sheik's torso and punted her upwards, sending her up high in the air. Sonic jumped and spun himself for a horizontal knockback. He immediately landed the closest ground near him and jumped again. He was over the Sheikah, who strangely couldn't move her muscles at all, and executed a dangerous, risky move that could end up him losing. Sonic kicked below himself, propelling a speedy diagonal spike that connected with his opponent perfectly. It was a meteor smash, and it drove her slantwise downwards with Sonic towards the void. The hedgehog cancelled his move by utilizing his spring jump as he watched Sheik crash into the void and dissipated with a blue flash appearing nearly in front of him. He had won.
"NO!" Samus screamed in echo as she was sent up in the air by Meta Knight's Shuttle Loop that was far enough for the bounty to not return to the stage. A small but discern bright light twinkled in front of the finalists, the audience, and the Smashers at the mansion. It signaled a loss for Samus, which she despised, especially since it was against the one who ruined her chances to win the tournament in the Brawl edition. Some felt sympathetic for her since she trained strenuously and rigorously for months but to only end up nearly throwing it all away for nothing.
"Go ahead" Bowser said, submitting himself into defeat. "Finish me if you want. You deserve it."
The goddess hesitated as she slowly raised her staff and shield. She was skeptical that the Koopa King just gave up like that. It soon turned into a conflict against her own self because she wanted to finish him off yet it could be some sort of deception. She positioned her weapons away from her person and prepared for a powerful ethereal wing attack. "It's all over, Bowser."
"SIKE!" Bowser swung his legs lowly, anticipating his opponent to strike him forcefully. "What the?!"
Palutena hopped and charged up her Smash attack against the King of Koopas. "You're so foolish for thinking that I fall for your schemes" she said before she delivered her offensive move against Bowser.
A blue flash arose from the left side of the stage, knocking out Bowser from the competition. Gasps immediately were the first response to Palutena's victory over Bowser plus her automatic result in the top three. Then some applauded for her while some were in just disbelief. Nobody expected the goddess to even defeat an opponent, but her angel and swordswoman never lost faith.
"YES!" Pit cheered as he stood up again and punched his fists in the air in exuberance. "I knew Lady Palutena could do it!"
"Would you seriously not embarrass me like that?" His doppelganger replied frustratingly.
"No, I can't" the white angel responded. "I'm just too happy."
"Fantastic" Dark Pit said sarcastically.
Robin took notice of Lucina's silent smile and celebration of Palutena reaching the top three. The swordswoman had her fists close together and they barely touched her chest. She was going to squeal but didn't want to humiliate herself in front of everyone. The female tactician did not make a sound, so she can let her friend enjoy her moment.
"Robin, I knew Palutena would perform outstandingly" spoke Lucina who couldn't hold the excitement inside of her.
"Totally," Robin agreed. "She can relax now since there are only two more opponents for her to beat."
"Definitely" Lucina contently replied. "Lady Palutena will emerge as champion for Super Smash Brothers."
"I…did it" Palutena said as she thought this was an illusion. Now that it wasn't, she felt like she could take on anything. "I reached the top 3. I can't believe this…I'll show everyone what I am capable of."
"Palutena, look out!" Sonic warned vociferously as the goddess was not aware that the Star Warrior was behind her.
"What?" She turned back but not fully around as she was struck by two lightning fast, controlling, and powerful slashes from a Galaxia blade. Palutena was sent back far enough into the void where her body dissipated from the match with a blue flash appearing on the stage and at the screen. She had lost the match despite her persistence throughout this game.
"She may have performed well enough to reach at this point, but she allowed herself to be exposed profoundly without any defense or sharp focus. That is why she lost and why I took a chance in order to retain my title" Meta Knight said as honest as he was. Some interpreted as being egocentric, arrogant, or smart for doing that.
"NOOOO!" Pit cried as he sat down in sadness and slammed his hands on a table. "Lady Palutena! WHY?! THAT'S NOT FAIR! She was so close to winning, but that Meta Knight had to be cheap."
No one else tried to talk to him even his doppelganger.
"Did she…" Lucina failed to complete her sentence, shocked to see her crush lost in a bad way. "No, that can't be. Lady Palutena was-"
"Lucy, I'm so sorry" Robin hugged her friend for comfort. "At least she did her best."
"Lady Palutena did more than that" the bluenette said, correcting Robin's statement.
"Yeah" was the only thing the female tactician said.
Meta Knight went under the first-level girders and turned around to see his last opponent who was standing at the end of the stage. He held his Galaxia tightly and swung it in an upper arc; he remained in the position for the climax for the fight. The blue hedgehog bent his knees slightly, clenched his fists, and positioned himself in a fighting stance with one fist in front while the other was near his chest.
"It comes down to this" the Star Warrior spoke up. "A blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with a running speed equivalent to or faster than the velocity of sound is facing against the warrior with swordsmanship that is faster than sound."
"That's right; let's do this" Sonic said, feeling confident and determined to win the tournament. "Let me show you…what I'm made of."
"Then show me your best, blue hedgehog" Meta Knight replied, not intimidated by Sonic's will to win.
Wind blew the wings and cape of Meta Knight while blowing through Sonic's quills. Their eyes were showing fearlessness as the whole world was silenced by the final two fighters who were steps away into fighting for the title.