CHAPTER TWENTY
Failure
It wasn't long before Saya saw the shape of the cursed forest start to creep up over the horizon. Unlike before where she had collapsed from exhaustion after five minutes of non-stop running, she had barely broken a sweat here. Perhaps that was because of the difference of emotion. Before, she had been distraught. Now, she was determined and angry. The second she saw any of those four monsters, she would make sure that every single one of them got a good taste of her fist in their smug faces.
As she approached the forest very begrudgingly, she heard a familiar hiss behind her.
"Aw, look who's here."
Saya ducked just in time to prevent Juri's foot from plowing into the back of her head and rolled forward as the foot came down again.
"I'm not here to fight, Juri." Saya growled. "I just want Lucas back."
"Lucas…Lucas…oh, that little blond-haired kid that Hades brought back. Yeah, he's dead."
"Very funny. You got your laugh, so now tell me where he is."
She heard a small gust of wind and she turned to find the remaining three demons smirking at her.
"Not to worry, dear girl." Ghirahim chuckled. "He's right here."
The barrier holding Lucas levitated into view, and needless to say, he was nothing short of stunned that Saya had actually been stupid enough to come after him.
"What are you doing here?!" he cried. "Run! It's a trap!"
"No, not necessarily." replied Jedah. "She came of her volition and most certainly must have suspected this outcome."
"Yeah." said Saya. "I did."
"Then have you come to surrender your power to someone who can put it to good use?"
"No."
Ghirahim frowned and generated a blade.
"You may not realize, little Kusanagi, but we've gotten sick and tired of chasing you all over the damned place! If you do not surrender your power this instant…"
"What?" Saya spat. "You kill me?"
"Of course not. You're too valuable for such a thing and it would have no effect on you, anyway. No. If you do not surrender your power this instant…"
Hades lowered Lucas and Ghirahim pointed the blade terribly close to the defenseless boy.
"We will kill him and make you clean up the mess."
"You wouldn't do that!"
"Haven't we gone over this already? I am a demon. Slitting a human child's throat isn't going to mean a damn thing to AAAGH!"
Ghirahim had actually seemed ready to finish Lucas off right then and there if Saya pushed him one step too far, but it seemed that the arrow of light that came shooting into his chest didn't agree with him. Following the trail the arrow left in its wake, Saya's spirits were lifted when she saw her abandoned comrades approaching, Link with his bow ready to fire again.
"Wouldn't miss this for the world, sweetheart." Dante Alpha said with Rebellion anchored on his shoulder before sneering at Jedah. "Evening, Dohma. Still throwing your political tantrums, huh?"
"If that is what you would prefer to call them, Son of Sparda." Jedah shot back nonchalantly. "I see Miss Aensland has not accompanied you."
Saya looked at Dante with a look of dismay, but before she could open her mouth, Pit spoke.
"Sorry, Saya. Kat and the other Dante are long gone by now…and everything you and Lucas said to Morrigan made her fly off, too.
Jedah shrugged.
"I suppose it is only natural of her to do so. An oppourtunity for her to do something responsible comes and she just avoids it."
"Honestly, Pitty." said Hades. "I thought you'd know her better than anyone else."
"Good God, Hades…"
Chun-Li gritted her teeth the second she saw Juri, who took one look at her and smirked.
"Hey there, kitten. You miss me already?"
"A little more than you think."
"Aw, how cute. You've got your 'I'm gonna arrest you' face on. Not that it means anything to me since you don't really have much of a chance to fight us off."
Ness scoffed.
"Get real, lady! There's seventeen of us and only four of you! So yeah, go ahead and spout that 'you will not stop us' crap! It ain't gonna do you any ooooooh my God…."
Ness' sentence trailed off and everyone's jaws dropped when they saw a man approaching them. A very tall dark-skinned man with flaming red hair, garbed in a suit of black armour with a cape trailing behind him. The very air around the man made their skin crawl, and it only became worse when the man sneered and spoke.
"No, boy. As it turns out, you cannot stop them because they have already succeeded."
"You!" Link growled.
"Good God, THAT'S Ganondorf?!" Krystal sputtered.
Ganondorf smiled, amused that he was able to intimidate this group of so-called heroes just by staring them down. Of course, by the end of it, they'd have more to fear than the way he looked at them. He had power to back up his look, and they were about to witness it firsthand.
"We meet again, 'Hero of Twilight'." he muttered, glaring down at Link. "You were certainly a formidable adversary, but of course you know that not even your ancestor could properly defeat me."
Link said nothing. He simply put his bow away and brandished his sword and shield, watching Ganondorf closely for any signs of preparation for attacking.
"Which of you is Saya Kusanagi?" the evil man said suddenly.
Ghirahim wordlessly pointed to Saya, who nearly fainted when she made eye contact with Ganondorf. This was what Jedah wanted her power to go toward. Making this already powerful and frightening man even more powerful and frightening. She wanted no part of that and the very thought of it made her want to turn around and run away as fast as she could.
But she didn't get the chance. Ganondorf closed the distance between them in a single second and struck her hard across the face. The sheer power in his fist overwhelmed her, feeling almost like it had shattered every bone in her body on contact. Even with her immortality lingering on her, Saya was both surprised and relieved that the strike hadn't killed her instantly.
Lucas let out a cry of rage the second Saya had been struck and hit the ground, and summoning all his power, he unleashed it in a concentrated blast and shattered the barrier around him, knocking Juri and Ghirahim away from him with a blast of PK Thunder and rushing to Saya's side. He blocked Ganondorf from coming any closer to her, but Ganondorf himself simply smirked.
"You have courage, boy. For that, I suppose I must commend you. Is it love or rejection of a higher power that compels you, though?"
"Love. I'm not afraid to admit it…and by higher power, I guess you mean you're a god."
Ganondorf scoffed and raised his hand to show the back of it, the Triforce of Power glowing prominently and emitting an audible hum.
"No. Not yet." he said monotonously, laughing as Lucas' anger flared up. "Go on, then. Protect her if you must. I have a score to settle with another ally of yours, anyway."
As Ganondorf raised his head, Link sank into a fighting stance with Takamaru stepping forward and drawing his own blade.
"And for striking someone dear to me, I have a score to settle with you, as well." the samurai growled.
"Two against one? Excellent. More trivial entertainment."
Takamaru and Link made the first move, swinging their blades with all their might though only succeeding in having them telekinetically repulsed. Ganondorf raised his foot and slammed it down, jostling the two and sending them airborne as he followed them upward and generated blasts of dark energy from his hands. The two planted their feet together and pushed off each other, easily dodging the attack and landing right side up.
"Now!" Link shouted. "Let's take them down here!"
Their remaining allies attacked the four remaining adversaries, all more prepared to fight than ever. Chun-Li, Amaterasu and Samus went after Juri. Pit, Dante, Trish, and Krystal went after Hades who sized himself up to properly face them. Marth, Felicia, and Pikachu went after Ghirahim who meshed his two blades together into one massive buster sword. Ness, Ike, ROB, and Mewtwo went after Jedah just as he slit his chest open and let the blood pour out. Said blood formed into a strange clone of him that immediately turned to face Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi.
This left Lucas to tend to Saya's wound, his fingers stinging somewhat when he felt the dark energy from Ganondorf's attack lingering on her cheek. He had hit her even harder than he'd thought, but what set Lucas off was the fact that he had hit her at all.
"Ammy was right…he's an inhuman beast."
That inhuman beast was having a much easier time fighting Link and Takamaru than the two would have thought. He batted away Takamaru's blade with ease, though dodged Link's Master Sword like it was the plague. To him, it may as well have been. Being impaled on it twice in his life was nothing short of loathsome to him.
His vengeance was partially satisfied when Link attacked and missed him, giving the dark lord the chance to seize his throat and yank him into the air before slamming him down again.
"I still find it almost insulting that mere children are attempting to prevent my rule."
"Then keep feeling insulted." Link spat, his words choked by Ganondorf's grip.
With a loud battle cry, Takamaru struck the evil man in the back of the head with his fist as hard as he could, sending him toppling over and releasing his grip on Link.
"Close call. Thanks."
"No time for lying down on the job."
"Heads up!"
Ganondorf came shooting back toward them with his fist raised. The two rolled out of the way just in time for the fist to come crashing into the earth, shaking it considerably and inadvertently disrupting Juri's balance. This gave Chun-Li enough time to kick her into the air, where Samus jumped up and seized with her Grapple Beam before throwing her back to the ground where Amaterasu struck her with a slash from the Celestial Brush.
The four attacking Hades weren't having as easy of a time at first, the dark god frequently launching Dante and Trish into the air while Pit and Krystal were swift enough to glide and strafe respectively around his attacks. Hades wheeled around and raised his hand to attack Pit.
"Hey!" Pit shouted, cocking his head to the side. "Check it out!"
"No, I don't think I will. A good try, though."
"No, seriously."
Hades still didn't fall for it, but it turned out that he should have: Krystal had telekinetically launched Dante into the air, and Dante was now flying toward Hades at lightning speed.
"DONKEY PUNCH, MOTHERF*CKER!" he shouted as his fist plowed into the back of Hades' head.
Ghirahim slashed again and again, only succeeding in having each attack blocked or parried by Marth's elegant movements and leaving himself wide open to Felicia's claws and Pikachu's lightning strikes. They could see him start to get more and more enraged the longer he went without striking one of them until he was eventually swinging at them like a maniac.
"Die, damn you! DIE!"
"Nah." Felicia said mockingly. "I think you'd be better off dead…and trust me: that's probably the first time I've ever said that to someone, let alone meant it. Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!"
Pikachu plowed into Ghirahim with a lightning-charged tackle and sent the demon flying right as Ike unleashed his Aether attack on Jedah. Jedah himself easily blocked the blow and splashed a wave of blood at Ness and Mewtwo, while ROB continuously strafed to the side and fired lasers from his eyes. The Jedah clone was not quite as swift or intelligent as its creator, with Mario and Luigi easily overpowering it with a series of hammer swings and fireballs respectively. When it stumbled backward, Peach used her frying pan to bat an egg Yoshi had tossed to her right against its head before she blasted forward and slammed into it with her hindquarters.
"Pardon me," said Jedah with a raised brow. "But did you honestly just kill my clone…with your behind?"
"Yes." Peach said with a rather girly giggle. "Everyone's dying to get a piece of that."
Mario and Luigi could do nothing more than stare at each other for a few seconds in total confusion and nervousness. Meanwhile, the real Jedah dodged a shot of PK Thunder from Ness and seized the boy's throat. The second Saya saw Ness in danger with Jedah's acid-like blood about to curl around him, all her energy suddenly returned to her and her eyes widened before her brow furrowed in rage.
"Leave him alone, you monster!" she cried as she wrenched herself to her feet and ran headlong at the demon lord.
"Saya, no!" Lucas cried.
She didn't listen. She reared her fist back in hopes that she'd be able to unleash the same power punch she'd used before, but Jedah had seen it coming and caught her fist in mid-air without so much as looking over his shoulder.
"I suppose that is enough playing around for now. Hades? If you please."
"With pleasure, my good man." Hades replied before snapping his fingers.
It hadn't occurred to Saya's allies until now that the five villains had grouped them into one confined spot, and as Hades snapped his fingers, a barrier enclosed them in that spot with no means of escape. It was bad enough with this terrible situation giving them the feeling of helplessness and failure, but the evildoers were far from finished. Ganondorf triumphantly strolled toward Saya and smiled.
"Such a lovely little girl." he said, gently gripping her chin. "A pity you and your friends could not have cooperated."
Saya shook her head violently the second he touched her. She felt the malevolent power within him yet again and felt the chill of his skin. She wanted him away from her right now, and she felt like she could spend days in bed and still be disturbed by what was going on.
"You're the one who punched me right in the face…" she spat.
"Hm. In any case, Jedah, I believe you said you had something to show her."
Jedah smiled evilly at the still-struggling Saya. He felt that she wanted to break loose from his grip and run to help her friends, and he savoured every second that she was helpless to do so. Perhaps, however, it was time for a little exposition. Just for her to suffer a little more.
She nearly broke free, though Ghirahim and Juri were quick to hold her back. Just as well. Jedah felt the need to step in front of Saya to properly articulate to her.
"And now we reach the end of our little game. It seems that you have lost, dear Saya, though you've earned a consolation prize: the right to know that your speculations of falling into a trap this entire time were 100% accurate."
"What are you going to do to them?"
Hades groaned in disgust.
"You know, he was about to tell you, child. Interrupting someone in the middle of their monologue is not appreciated at all."
"Thank you, Hades." Jedah grunted before turning his attention back to the girl. "Marth, Ike, Takamaru, Samus, Krystal, Link, Mario, Luigi, just about every ally of yours that you have here. What do they have in common? Travelling through time or space to arrive here and now. How could such a thing happen?"
"We get it, ya bozo." Dante drawled. "You're an omnipotent demon with the ability to warp time and space to your liking. No need to shove it down our throats until we puke."
"So you brought some fifteen people in from some other world or time to fight against you and your cronies." said Chun-Li. "What kind of sense does that make?!"
Jedah smirked. Clearly he knew something they didn't (besides everything), and this something was about to ruin them.
"Saya's power is special in that when she is at her most powerful, she is also at her most vulnerable. Her full power is unleashed when she is consumed by rage…like that day that two of her closest friends were nearly murdered by a group of ronin trying to plunder her hometown. Yet another affliction of the curse of Yami, as a matter of fact. That power…it could kill a god with barely any effort. You can well imagine what it would do to a human being. In these moments of pure unchained rage, that is when the power can also be taken from her. She has no defenses to stop it from being extracted."
Saya remembered that day all too well. She felt her anger peak the second Hitomi and Susumu had been threatened by those abominations that called themselves "warriors", and with it came a surge of power. On that day, she did something that she regretted for the rest of her life. That had been the same day that Saya's father had that conversation with her about keeping her power hidden. Next to the night her parents died, it was just about the worst day of her life.
"However," Jedah continued. "That power is of no proper use to you since you have no way of controlling it. If it were in the hands of someone that could…that person would rule not just their own world, but every world that exists beyond it."
"A-are you going to make me kill them?!" Saya stammered.
Jedah let out a laugh. A maniacal laugh that Saya had every thought to rip off of his face right at that second, and in the moments that followed, she wished she had.
"No. I will be glad to take care of that myself."
"…no…please don't."
"Begging will gain you nothing. Lord Ganondorf will have your power whether you or your friends like it or not."
With that, Jedah stepped toward the defenseless group and began reciting an incantation in some foreign language.
"Ammy!" Ness shouted. "DO SOMETHING!"
"I am trying!" Amaterasu shouted back. "It's that man…Ganondorf! I do not know how, but he is suppressing my power!"
"Damn it…alright, Luke! We're gonna have to take this into our own hands! The second he casts his, we cast ours!"
Saya tried to break free, but it was all for naught. She saw Ganondorf, standing there and watching the scene play out with a sickening grin on his face. What kind of man was he? What right did he have to do things like this?
"LET ME GO!" she shouted.
"Shut up!" Juri growled, firmly grasping the back of Saya's neck. "I know this ain't gonna do a thing to you, but you've caused way too much trouble for us as it is. Try to get free again, and I am gonna beat you to a bloody pulp."
"THEN START BEATING!"
She slammed her elbow into Ghirahim's stomach and brought her fist straight up into Juri's throat. They both released her, only for Ganondorf to seize her by the throat and haul her off the ground. The dark power flowed into her again, and she felt colder than she'd ever felt before. It felt like he was going to kill her with his stare.
"I am afraid I cannot let you interfere. Now, take a good look in silence as your friends' lives come to an end."
"But…I…" she choked.
"But nothing. You will be in the afterlife with them soon enough. Why not suffer just one last time?"
Jedah's eyes flash and he stretched out his hand just as a black haze appeared over the group.
"Your souls are mine!"
The haze descended at lightning speed, and Lucas and Ness flushed as much energy as they could muster into one last ditch effort to defend themselves and their allies.
"PK MAGNET OMEGA!"
They cast their spell, generating a massive translucent shield around the group just as the haze touched down. When they made contact, the wind picked up and ran across the earth, blowing everything around as though the entire area were encased in a tornado. Accompanying it were two sounds: a strange droning sound, and the grunts and pained screams of Lucas and Ness as they tried as hard as they could to keep the looming death away from them and their allies.
Through the chaos, Saya could see her allies, each of them looking as panicked as anyone would be, but what caught her eye was Marth. He had dropped his sword and was breathing heavily before his body started freezing up. Worst still was that the colour of his clothes and skin was being sucked away very quickly.
The haze had struck him and was turning him lifeless.
"STOP!" Saya screamed. "You're killing them!"
"That's the idea, kid." Hades chuckled. "Didn't Jedah tell you that already?"
Ness and Lucas tried as hard as they could, but as they watched more and more of their allies fall and felt their knees begin to buckle under the intense pressure, they began losing hope. What if their defeat was really inevitable? What if they couldn't stop Ganondorf…and in Luca's thoughts, what if he couldn't save Saya…what if he couldn't fulfill her wish to go home with him?
"We can't give up…we have to keep trying…" he panted.
One by one they kept falling. Ike was the next to go, followed by Chun-Li, Trish, Peach, Yoshi. Even Pit and Dante. Ness and Lucas let out one final conjoined cry as the droning increased to an ear-splitting frequency and light enveloped the entire area like a nuclear explosion. The wind rushed fiercely again…
…and all was finally quiet.
The light faded and Ganondorf tossed Saya forward, and to her relief, many of her allies were still standing and the barrier had dissipated. But that was mixed with a hint of horror when she saw the horrible toll the haze had taken: those that had fallen were now little more than statues, all fixed in positions of shock and pain. Samus' suit shot off spark after spark until it finally fell apart and the fragile human inside fell to her knees, Krystal and Mewtwo clutched their heads as though the haze had been a direct attack to their brains, and the ones still standing just looked absolutely exhausted all-around.
Worst of all, however, were Ness and Lucas. They stood for a few brief moments before slumping over and collapsing onto the dirt motionless. Just like in her nightmare, but they weren't strangers anymore. They were her friends. People she'd known for a great deal of time now, and…they had fallen. Ness and Lucas certainly weren't dead, just too exhausted to keep fighting, but the others…
"I suppose my power was just too much for them to take." Jedah chuckled. "Granted, this is not quite the result I was looking for."
"Of course not, you nincompoop." Hades said with a roll of his eyes. "The girl must not have cared about any one of them."
That was nothing short of a lie. Saya was devastated that eight of her allies were now nothing but lifeless husks, and her anger and despair was very near to peaking. It was close, but not close enough.
"You…" Takamaru growled. "You unbelievable son of a bitch! I'll have your head!"
The samurai lunged at Jedah with his sword raised high, only to have his blow heavily deflected and leave him defenseless in a crouching state as Hades rushed forward, his fist looking ready to propel him into orbit with how much energy was packed into it. Takamaru was ready to take the blow when he was shoved out of the way, his saviour taking the blow in his place. Most shocking wasn't that the selfless act itself, but who had committed it.
"LUIGI!" Mario cried.
The younger Mario brother hadn't thought twice about rushing in to save his ally, but sadly took the full-force of the blow and went shooting up into the air. This would have been bad enough, but then came the kicker: he didn't come back down. Just his cap floating gently on the wind, touching down in front of his devastated brother. Mario fell to his knees and clutched the cap the second he could reach it, and from what Saya and her allies could see, tears were starting to fall from his eyes. His faithful steed, his true love, and now his little brother…wiped away in the blink of an eye.
Link and ROB certainly wouldn't have any of it. The two rushed toward Ganondorf, though not before helping Takamaru to his feet. The samurai charged along with them, and all three attacked violently and quickly with the full intention of absolutely murdering their opponent…
…just as he struck Link down with a single blow to the head, kicked Takamaru back to the ground, and seized ROB's head in one hand.
"And what purpose do you have serving Saya?" the evil lord demanded.
"It is for personal reasons." ROB replied, again not showing any emotion despite the fact that his vital functions were in danger of being shut down.
Takamaru stood and made one last swing at Ganondorf, the blade only succeeding in being locked and removed from his hand. Ganondorf slammed Takamaru against the ground and took a firm hold on the blade, raising it high.
"Then you may both be martyrs. Sacrifices for a true ruler of this world and all beyond it."
At last, he clenched his hand, steadily but surely breaking ROB's head into pieces, but worst of all was the single stab he made, impaling Takamaru on his own blade.
Saya thought she didn't have the power to speak anymore after the atrocity she had already seen, but seeing her friends being brutally murdered…seeing a boy who loved her as though he were her brother being killed right in front of her…it summoned up one terrible sound. A scream of anguish. There were no words that could perfectly describe how she felt at that moment.
It seemed Ganondorf was merciful enough to not finish Takamaru off instantly, for he kicked the samurai forward into a roll after drawing back the blade. Takamaru came to a stop at her feet, and she knelt down with her entire body trembling, lacking any idea of what to do or say as he simply looked weakly up into her eyes and smiled.
"I suppose…they were right when they say that only the good die young…" he wheezed, his life quickly starting to leave him.
"Maru-kun…you can't die! You just can't!"
"If it's for you…it's worth it…agh…"
He sucked in a breath as the bleeding wound started to get worse. Saya seized his hand and pressed it to her cheek. His warmth was starting to fade away…HE was starting to fade away. One of her closest friends was dying and she could do nothing to stop it.
"You have to keep fighting, Saya. I know that…this will be enough to trigger you…don't try to hold it back. You have to beat them…not for me, but…for everyone…"
"No. Not without you."
"It's too late for me…don't be afraid. My death doesn't mean the end."
The tears were starting to fall, and this time they came like torrential rain. He was right. His death didn't mean the end, but it may as well have. She had memories of him for the past few hundred years, and for a while she had thought they were just that. She of course hadn't seen Takamaru die of natural causes all those years ago since she had run away after everyone had seen her second and larger "ultraburst" as she called it. Now she was here and watching him die…and all those moments she'd spent with him were about to become simple memories once again.
"Do it, Saya…let your rage out. Blow them all straight to hell, and don't let anyone stand in your way."
"…do you wish I stayed?"
"Of course…if I had gotten the chance…I would have…asked you to marry me."
"Oh, God…I'm such an idiot."
"Don't blame yourself. Don't get mad, either…"
His voice became rattled and strained until it was barely a whisper, and at last…
"Get…..even…."
He let his head drop and let his eyes slide closed…and Saya felt his heart slow to a stop….
"Maru-kun…good-bye…."
The sobs came fast and loud and she buried her face in his chest. Her weakened allies watched on in pity, but that pity turned to dread as Ghirahim and Juri approached her with enraged expressions on their faces.
"Damn you, it's as simple as just letting it all out!" Juri shouted, grabbing onto Saya's shoulder and heaving her away from her dead friend's body. "Why are you so headstrong, you stupid little…"
Juri had to stop herself from crying out in pain when Saya seized her wrist and squeezed hard. She felt the bones starting to crack and the muscles grind against them, and she felt Saya pressing her vital points for maximum harm.
"You think you know 'very upset'..." Saya seethed, her voice becoming distorted as though there was more than one of her speaking at once. "You have never seen me 'very upset'."
She finally flipped Juri over her shoulder and delivered a blow so powerful that the Korean fighter could have sworn it nearly stopped her heart, though it nearly stopped anyway when she took a good look at Saya.
To say that she had changed had to be the largest understatement of the century. Her eyes shone so brightly that it seemed they were nothing more than two neon blue lights. Her face was twisted in anger, and her hands were contorting violently as she began to raise herself into the air. Her lips parted, showing her teeth gritted hard, and from her teeth flowed the same light from her eyes that began to envelop her whole body and form into bright flashing wings of a creature none had yet seen, her hair and fingernails lengthening considerably to boot.
"What the hell is happening?!" Felicia cried.
"Exactly what Jedah said would happen!" said Amaterasu. "Takamaru's death has forced Saya's anger and despair to its peak! She can't suppress the power anymore!"
At last, she floated before them, transformed and very near unrecognizable before she spoke again.
"I…will…make…you…all…SUFFER!"
Her wings wrapped around her as she curled into a fetal position, a buildup of energy sucking into her and rendering everything silent for a brief moment before she let out a demonic roar and spread her wings to their full span. The energy was released, creating a gigantic blast radius knocking all the villains except Ganondorf flying. Ganondorf himself simply smiled.
"Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Jedah did not lie. This power is fit for a god…no, a TITAN!"
Of course, he and his allies quickly realized that said titan needed to be subdued as quickly as possible, for she was going completely out of control. Saya turned her head toward Ganondorf and shot her hand forward, throwing sparks of electricity in a torrential downpour. He dodged every one, and she came shooting down to the ground, slamming her fist into the earth and shaking it in a radius that could have stretched on for miles. The earth cracked and many pieces of it flew upward, Ganondorf using them as platforms to vault himself higher and higher until he was level with the airborne Saya.
"Is your anger enough to beat me?!"
"Kill…I-I…kill you….KILL YOU!"
"I shall take that as a 'yes'. Not that it matters."
Saya was so furious and out of control that she hardly cared when Ganondorf's fist connected with her face. She had to make him pay for what he did…he had to die, Juri had to die, Jedah had to die…all five of them had to die!
She seized his wrist and threw him back to the ground like a meteor, baring her teeth in anger when she saw him land right-side up. She dove after him, the blade sprouting from her wrist blocked by his foot before she was knocked backward and attacked from behind by Juri, the Korean fighter wrapping her arm around Saya's neck.
"Wings or not, you've caused us way too much trouble as it is!" she growled, the Feng Shui Engine in her eye flashing repeatedly. "I'm gonna send you to the skies to your parents in a box!'
That's what she thought then, but she immediately regretted ever setting foot near Saya when the two made eye contact…and Saya's fingers stabbed like daggers into her eye, puncturing her Feng Shui Engine and utterly destroying it.
For the first time, Saya heard Juri scream bloody murder, and she enjoyed it. This woman had launched the girl straight into a hellish journey that had resulted in her becoming this atrocity again, and seemed to have no sort of redeeming factors whatsoever. If anyone deserved to suffer, it was her…but hearing her scream wasn't as satisfying as she would have hoped. It felt like she was being completely hypocritical, trying to satisfy herself with the suffering of a woman who did the same thing to her.
Then again, her anger ruled her, so what did the suffering of one evil woman mean to her? She threw Juri away and lashed out at the approaching Ghirahim, throwing a golden chain from her finger and latching it onto him.
"Let go of me, you little wench!" he shouted.
"Go straight…to HELL!"
She spun him about like a flail and slammed him against the ground repeatedly before yanking him back toward her and delivering a solid punch to his face.
"Stop fooling around, you idiots!" Jedah bellowed. "We must subdue her and extract the power now!"
The sound of Jedah's voice drew Saya towards him, and her rage flared up even more.
"You…you killed them…this is all your fault…give them back."
"Bah! Fine, then. Come! I'll gladly take you on!"
"GIVE THEM BACK!"
She lunged toward him and Jedah prepared himself for the attack, but Saya remained as unpredictable as ever in this state as her arm morphed into a gigantic cannon, firing a gigantic laser that sapped Jedah's fighting strength instantly and sent an unbearable sting throughout his whole body.
"Hades!" Jedah cried. "What are you doing?! Help me!"
"Well, I just saw that Hell truly does hath no fury like a woman scorned…I think it's time to call it a day."
When the beam finally vanished, Jedah looked as ragged as one would expect a demon to look like. Saya's wrist blade generated again, but Ganondorf came to Jedah's aid in an instant and batted the blade away. Saya shrieked in anger yet again and slammed her palm into the ground, sending geysers of energy firing up into the air. When Ganondorf dodged those, she opened her eyes as wide as they would go and let two red beams fire continuously from her eyes, her wings flapping faster and faster until they were going as fast as the blades on a helicopter.
It seemed that no matter what Saya did, Ganondorf batted it away like it was nothing. She was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him and he wasn't tripped up by any of it. Perhaps…he really was invincible.
That deep thought meant nothing to her. She just wanted to make him pay for killing her friend. She delved toward him and the two traded blow after blow, but no matter how hard or how many time Saya struck Ganondorf, it seemed like she hadn't made a single dent. Ganondorf himself, on the other hand, was more than capable of felling her, for one blow was all it had taken to knock her backwards. Saya cried out in rage again, and this cry was all that was necessary to finally cause Lucas to stir awake.
"Mm, wha…" he mumbled before he saw the climactic battle in front of him. "What the hell is going on…is that Saya?!"
"Yes." replied Samus. "She's…turned into something more than human."
Lucas watched Saya and Ganondorf strike each other again and again, neither one seeming to win the battle. Then Lucas set his eyes on the earth before him, seeing that every time a blow struck, the ground cracked and twisted with strange black tendrils creeping out of each tiny fissure.
"All this dark energy…" Lucas breathed. "It's corrupting everything around them!"
With his fist surrounded with violet flames, Ganondorf slammed it into Saya's stomach as the two collided in mid-air, sending her shooting back down to the ground and skidding to a halt at Lucas' feet. She got up right away and was prepared to attack again when Lucas grabbed her hand.
"Saya! You have to stop!"
Saya was motionless for a moment before suddenly spinning around and seizing Lucas' neck. The boy felt his fear kick into high gear as he stared into her furious eyes. It seemed as though her rage was preventing her from recognizing even her friends. They all looked like prey to her."
"S-Saya…please stop…this is just what they want, and this isn't you. Please…come back to me….please…"
"Luuucaaaas…"
Through the rage, Saya finally saw her friend. The one she'd promised to go home with…he would bring her to a new home. He said that he loved her…and she was trying to kill him.
She released him and looked at the ravaged landscape before her, then back at Ganondorf, who was quickly approaching for another attack. She looked back at her allies, all tired and without the strength to keep fighting.
There was only one thing for it. They'd have to settle this conflict another day.
She grabbed Lucas and pulled him into a tight embrace before floating in front of her allies, then turning back to Ganondorf.
"Mark my words…I will be back."
Thus she wrapped her wings around herself and released another banshee-like screech before flapping her wings and letting out another wave of devastating energy, this time accompanied by a blinding light. Ganondorf, Jedah, and the other three villains were forced to shield their eyes as the wind rushed around them. When the light finally ceased, they refocused their vision and were met with a dismaying sight.
Saya and her allies were gone. Only Takamaru's corpse, the eight frozen statues, and the beaten down Link remained.
"No!" Ghirahim growled. "How did they escape now?!"
"It does not matter how." Jedah replied, though sounding just as angry as Ghirahim. "What matters is that we must somehow lure her back here before…"
"No."
Ganondorf had been the one to speak this time. He was stroking his chin and looking as though something had just worked in his favour.
"What do you mean, my lord?" asked Ghirahim.
"We shall not wait for her to come to us again. She may be young, but she is not stupid. She will attempt to accumulate more allies…build up a much larger army. In fact, it is only a matter of time before Princess Zelda opts to join her."
"What do you suggest, then?"
"Careful planning is insufficient now. We will bring her back by force. We already have a significant edge thanks to the six 'Poltergeists' as you called them. My Moblin army will spread out across this land and search for her. They will raze the entire country to the ground if they must."
Jedah's eyes widened and was at a loss for words for a brief moment.
"You mean…invasion?! Are you mad?! Have you any idea how stubborn the human race is?"
"And what do you mean by that, pray tell?"
"I mean a mass rebellion! Humans may be frail compared to us, but they won't go down without a fight!"
"Exactly. They are frail. They may try, but they will kneel before us. Do not tell me that you are giving up hope for conquest already, Jedah."
Jedah sighed. There was no point in arguing. Careful planning had only gotten them so far. It had hindered Saya, but hadn't stopped her.
"Very well. My guess is that she will be heading for Castle Aensland to recruit Sparda's second son."
"And how do you propose we stop her?"
"A great deal of your Moblin army, of course…but I have a rather formidable little friend who is absolutely begging to spill some blood."
"Excellent. He shall be of great use, then."
"She…and what of Link?"
Ganondorf turned to Link, who was struggling to stand and put a stop to Ganondorf's rampage before it even started. Alas, it was fruitless. Ghriahim parried the Master Sword out of the boy's hand and put him on the ground, ready to slit his throat.
"Hold." said Ganondorf. "…perhaps even he can be of some use."
"You won't get away with this, you bastards!" Link spat.
"Ah, but Link, it would seem we already have."
That was the last thing the Hylian warrior heard before the Great King of Evil pressed down on his vital points and he blacked out.
The explosion from Jedah's haze and Saya's ultraburst could be seen across the whole country. To the innocent civilians, it was a matter of deciding what conclusion wasn't absurd. For Dante Omega, Kat, and Morrigan still going separate ways, all they needed to see was where the explosion had occurred and the conclusion was obvious.
"Oh, shit…"
Little did they know that a fourth figure had been watching the ordeal the entire time. She knew that Link would be able to fight his way out of this situation, so she instead turned her attention to Saya.
"I have to hurry. They won't be far behind me."
With that simple thought, the ninja-like Sheik jumped away into the night just as the sun finally started to rise on the sea. But whether morning was coming or not, one thing was certain.
Coming with the morning was a massive storm.
We in the story-writing business call that "the whole world going to hell".
"Hmm...a translucent blue creature with wings, shoots lasers from the eyes, and has bursts of apocalyptic energy? Fight Tabuu in Brawl much?" Well, yeah. Why does Saya's ultimate form resemble Tabuu? Simple: it's unoriginality at it's finest.
And now for probably the most devastating update imaginable. It was good that I was able to reach this climactic chapter before this, but I'm sorry, guys. I'm done with fanfiction. Following this, I won't be posting anything else on this site ever again. Why? Well, I've realized that I'm not going to get anywhere in my writing career if I keep this crap up. I have better ideas going on in my head than anything I could possibly put here. So, in short, thank you to everyone who has supported me over the time I've spent on this site, and to those people, I issue a heartfelt farewell...
...is what I would probably mean if I wasn't screwing with you guys.
What's actually going on is that I'm feeling a little burnt out. Not because I'm running out of ideas or anything, but because a lot of stuff is coming up. There's a lot of homework and assignments I need to get done for school in this week alone, and there's going to be a lot more considering the end of my school year's coming in less than a few weeks now (because college throws a monkey wrench in the whole schedule). I've taken pride in myself getting up at least one chapter a week for the past few weeks, but I'm going to be taking a brief hiatus for the next two weeks or so.
I know people don't usually like that word, but it's really the best way to describe it. Don't worry: I'm not abandoning fanfiction. It's too much fun for me to do that. I just need a break for a while is all. I'll be back before long and I hope to have much better content to share with you at that time. Later days, folks!
SOUNDTRACK SO FAR
Saya, Ness, and Lucas- "Pollyanna" from Earthbound (SSBM)
Marth to the rescue- "Together We Ride" from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (SSBM)
X and Zero versus Kirby and Meta Knight- "Meta Knight's Revenge" from Kirby Super Star (SSBB)
Link versus Morrigan- Morrigan's theme from Marvel versus Capcom 3
Link versus Dante- "Never Surrender" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Krystal and Trish versus the Moblin horde- "Lock and Load" from Devil May Cry 1
Krystal versus Mewtwo- "Poké Floats" from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Saya versus Ghirahim- Ghirahim's battle theme from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Frank versus Ghirahim- "On a Mission" from Dead Rising
Courthouse caving in- "No Redemption" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Samus escapes- Metroid Prime main theme
Chun-Li versus Samus- Chun-Li's theme from Street Fighter IV
Standoff on Mount Fuji- "Douchuumen" from The Mysterious Murasame Castle (go on Youtube and look for a version by a group called ysk1210)
Saya and Lucas- "Love" from Mother 3
"LET'S ROCK!"- "Devils Never Cry" from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
The Devil Trigger- "How Old is Your Soul?" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Ryu and Ken versus Juri- Ryu's theme from Street Fighter IV
Jedah's assault on the airship- Airship theme from Super Mario Bros. 3 (SSBB)
S.I.N. versus B.S.A.A.- "Ride on Sea" from Resident Evil: Revelations (or Biohazard: Revelations if you live in Japan)
Ike to the rescue- "Eternal Bond" from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Saya's sorrow- "Kinder Days" from Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (known as Successor of the Skies in Europe and Australia)
An army of twenty-one- Main menu theme from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Dante versus Dante- "Empty" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Saya's rage- Tabuu's theme from Super Smash Bros. Brawl