*wipes forehead* phew...it's finally done. It took me all day to finish this...so sorry if there are loads of typos, but I'm kinda running out of time, so I can't do a thorough spelling and grammar check on it.
Thank you so so so much to all of the amazing and awesome reviewers, who happen to be: AlteaAuroraRia, Doggiefan, MinervaScribendi (thanks for the reviews, you're too kind!), RaNdOm CaT927, Seth Morningstar (creepy song, melikes! And in case you didn't get my reply, which you probably did, I'm happy to do a Oneshot request ;)), Kurdave125, Axel Harribel, Razcoolzle, Painted Teacups, The Great Fairy (thanks so much for all of your reviews! :D), Sorceress of Shadows (thanks very much! Sorry it made you sad, though! I love TL too :)), incirimatt (thanks for the review!) and Poketrainer (yep, there was definitely too much blood in the chapter, I have to agree with you XD).
Now here's the chapter already...
Tabuu looms over the sleeping swordsman, fists crackling. His claw-like fingers retract, energy sparking between them as they move, before he jams them into the man's shoulder. Quickly, he draws them out again and steps back into the shadows, in case the man wakes up as a result.
He watches Link jerk and thrash for a while, asleep and yet wary of the pain. After a minute his frame slumps, and Tabuu moves in to inspect him. The colour is slowly draining from his face, sweat beads hang on his brow and his breathing is fast. Tabuu's sharp fingers take up the man's wrist and press down. Link's heartbeat pulses rapidly against them, uneven and too quick.
He checks Link's temperature to find that it also is far above what it should be, and yet the swordsman shivers. It's almost as if he's suffering from a severe fever, an illness.
The smashers...is Tabuu's life force some sort of disease to them?
He decides that he will wait and witness the answer with his own eyes. Sighting the blanket at the foot of the bed, he snatches it up and tosses it over the swordsman. He then proceeds towards the door. As he flicks the light switch on the wall beside it, a fiery spark bursts from beneath his fingers. He cackles quietly to himself (although the sound seems to erupt from another place, farther away) and closes the door behind him.
Nobody will notice a thing.
-oOo-
Tabuu raised his gaze from the floor and fired it at the five before him. "And then, that was when I returned the next morning to find him gone. A couple of hours afterwards, there was commotion around the kitchen, and I watched in the background as those hands dragged him away. It was when I visited him in your quaint little prison that I realised that my life force had taken influence over him. Well, more than taken influence, I suppose. It had moulded him into a version of myself; different and yet the absolute same. The same desires, the same knowledge, he'd even taken on some of my own abilities."
"You were hiding in the mansion, all of that time?" Lucario said, astonishment ringing clear in his voice.
The alloy's eyes flickered and narrowed. "Not hiding, waiting. Waiting for my chance. You see, the swordsman and I had a discussion through the bars of the cell you'd thrown him into. He told me everything I needed to know about the effects of my life force on him, and I informed him of my new plan. He was to spread my gift to the rest, the thirty five legends of the Smash universe, until I had each and every one of you at my feet."
"But only a couple were infected before we escaped to the base..." Pit murmured.
"That was no problem. I sent them after you, without a doubt in my mind that they would track you down. Meanwhile, I remained here, creating this," Tabuu strode past them towards the machine. The metallic clatter of his claws on its surface prompted them to turn, which revealed him to be tapping calmly at the keys on the control panel.
"But according the the owners of the mansion, this room doesn't exist," Marth said.
Without turning, the alloy replied dismissively to him. "I created this room. I'd sensed a power source on the other side of the wall, and broken through to reach it."
"Hence the crack in the wall," muttered Meta Knight.
"Yes, that was how I first entered. I found a disused generator in here, and used it as the base for my machine," Tabuu said, eyes glued to the control pad but sharp fingers gesturing to the contraption before him. "Later I built a more refined entrance on the other side, and used much of the left over building materials and electronic devices in the basement room to forge the energy recyclers."
"But...what was all that for?" Pit asked.
"Well..." Tabuu turned back to them. "Converting all thirty five of you into my servants wasn't the only part of the plan. I want to be free of this body and it's limitations. Once again, I wish to be a king."
"You wish to revert to your former self..." Meta Knight said.
"And this machine will allow me to do that. It will draw in energy, combine it into a single stream, and feed it into me. My life force will outgrow this pathetic frame and I shall return to my real self; the god that could send the smashers into eternal sleep with one movement!"
"You're just self absorbed. All that you really want is to feel more powerful than us!" Pit growled. Tabuu's eyes suddenly pierced his, there was a soft click, and the angel gasped. Tears of pain started to pour down his face as he fell back onto the table, shaking.
Marth stared desperately at the alloy. "Stop it!"
"Not likely. He deserves it, after all," Tabuu stated coldly, ignoring the angel's weak whimpers of agony.
"What are you doing to him?" Lucario exclaimed.
"I am simply removing a small portion of the energy in his body. He will learn not to speak unless his words are what I wish to hear."
Ness, having remained silent throughout the time they had spent in Tabuu's presence, shot a fierce glare at the alloy. "Stop hurting him!"
There was a second click. The psychic was soon on his back, in the same state as Pit. Tabuu towered over him. "I would not recommend that you shoot your petty demands at me. Especially not because I have control over whether you live or die."
"But you said yourself: we will all be dead before the night is over. What does it matter, if our time comes to an end earlier rather than later?" Meta Knight put forward boldly. The alloy regarded him silently for a while before he replied.
"I understand your point," he finally said. "The machine will be ready in all but half an hour, and that will mark your death. However, I would not imagine that you wish to feel more pain than is necessary before you go; the process is painful enough in itself."
"What process?" Marth said quietly.
"The process in which the energy recyclers you are wired to remove every last scrap of energy from your beings and feed it through the wires into the machine, where it will be relayed into me."
Marth felt cold all of a sudden. "So that's what we're here for. Our lives in exchange for your freedom..."
Tabuu nodded. "The most worthy sacrifice of all time! You should all feel privileged."
"So you will only need the energy from five of us to resurrect yourself...?" Lucario questioned.
"Oh no. I will need a lot more. I have the energy of my servants at my disposal as well. The infected do not need the energy in their bodies, just as they do not need half of the blood in their veins, to remain alive. I am certain that their contribution will be enough to bring about my resurrection."
"What about when you've taken our energy? What happens then?" Marth said nervously, fearful of the answer and yet faintly intrigued to know what Tabuu's next move would be.
"When you are dead, I will have my servants infect you. We will depart to the forest and find those who were killed in battle, and they will be infected likewise. Then...then my plan will be fulfilled. All thirty five of you...lead by someone with limitless power. My everlasting vision is finally about to become reality."
Marth smiled grimly. Meta Knight's expression remained unseen through the jagged crack in his mask, but his eyes were dull, weakly radiating his misery. Lucario's sympathetic gaze brushed Pit and Ness, and then pinned itself to a spot on the table in front of him. He didn't look up from there.
"I presume this means that there will be no more questions," Tabuu said curtly. He didn't receive a reply. "Good. I will take my leave, and return again when your time is up."
When he had left, Lucario addressed the others softly. "At least he is not aware of Master Hand and Crazy Hand. As long as they stay out of his way, perhaps they might live."
"Perhaps..." Meta Knight repeated sadly.
-oOo-
Crazy Hand was presently hovering in front of the main desk in the laboratory, concentrating on his latest experiment: a half-hearted attempt to create an exploding pineapple. He'd found it in the kitchen upstairs, and, now convinced that no smasher would return alive to actually partake in eating it, had decided to perform experiments on it instead. This was chiefly to take his mind off the fact that his brother had been gone almost an hour, and to divert his attention from the entire situation: the infected, the losses, and the dark atmosphere that was ever lingering about the place.
He caught his mind wandering from his experiment and snatched his attention back again. However, in a couple of minutes, he lost heart once more and knocked the pineapple off the desk in a fit of frustration. It hit the ground with an unnaturally loud thump, which lead him to realise that the sound hadn't been wholly contributed by the impact. Something else had made a noise.
Before he could move, there was a second sound, the creak of a door being flung open. Panicked, he bolted out into the hallway in time to catch the doors of the elevator rapidly opening in front of him. It wasn't long before the person inside was revealed.
"It's you!" Crazy Hand exclaimed, before rushing forward to greet his brother. "Thank goodness..."
"No sign of Lucas, before you ask..." Master informed him stoically. "But it's good to be back in the warm."
"You sound tired."
"I am. Aren't you?"
Crazy Hand paused. "I...don't know."
His brother tutted and moved past him into the laboratory, where he dropped the small device that he had been clutching onto the desk. "I used that heat sensor to try and get a trace of him, but nothing came up, and- wait a second, is that a pineapple?"
"I was bored...and I felt lonely, so I tried to make it explode."
The commentator released a sigh of regret. "Again, I'm really sorry, Crazy-"
"It's OK; I'm not lonely now that you're back again!" His brother chirped.
"I'm not just sorry about that. I'm sorry about all the times I shouted and frightened you...I honestly didn't mean it. You must understand how stressed I am...I...I want everything to be fine but it isn't...I'm about to lose everything...and it's my fault..."
"Don't worry, I know about all that. I feel bad too. I thought that when this all started, there might be a happy ending, but I'm not so sure now..."
"And what's worse, is that we can't do anything to help. If Lucas were about, the heat sensor would have picked him up. He...must be dead..."
Crazy Hand wilted. "Don't say that! We don't know it for sure, so why should we just decide that it's true?"
"I don't know...I just don't know, Crazy. Maybe he is alive. We'll just have to wait and see."
"Just like we always do," muttered Crazy Hand, uncertain of whether the wait would pay off this time around.
-oOo-
Lucas woke up choking; spitting out the coppery liquid that had entered his mouth during his unconsciousness. Once he was sure that every last droplet of the bitter substance was gone, he scrambled from the scarlet puddle he had been lying in, cringing at the warm sensation of his blood-drenched clothes clinging to him.
Now sitting on the cool stone of the courtyard, he recalled what he had seen before he had fainted. The remembrance was sinister, of Wolf, Fox, Falco, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong and Red; all lifeless or, in Wolf's case, heading for death. However, when he looked up at the space they had previously occupied, he was shocked to find them gone completely.
The door leading back into the mansion before him was open, and through it a blood trail wound, beginning at the pillars against which Fox, Falco and Wolf had been leaning. He soon realised that the six smashers must have been infected, and had awoken not long after he had collapsed. During his mental absence they had left the courtyard and re-entered the mansion through the door, but why?
Lucas didn't plan on finding out. Instead he was consumed by his hysterical gut feeling to escape the mansion as quickly as possible. However, when he struggled to his feet, hindered by the weight of his logged clothing, he sighted something on the ground a couple of feet ahead. It lay directly in the path of the blood-trail, shimmering in the moonlight.
He reluctantly headed for it, following crimson trail staining the flagstones in order the reach the fragment. When he picked it up he found that it was cool in his soaked palms, and was a sort of semi-circle shape, like a halved orb...
Orb.
Lucas almost jumped when the realisation hit him; that this was the Apocalypse Orb, the artefact that Ness had been talking to him about, twelve days before the assault was due to begin. The conversation played itself out in his head, and a pang of sadness shuddered through him at the sound of his friend's voice:
"There are two groups; one is going to the ground floor to cover for the other team."
"What are the other team doing, then?"
"My team? We're going down into the basement to get the second half of the Apocalypse Orb."
"What's that?"
"It's this transparent orb, looks like it's made of glass, and...wait, I think Pit's calling me...um, it's basically like a smash ball, but more powerful..."
Lucas watched Ness' image utter a rushed farewell to him and sprint off. He found himself calling his friend's name out loud, asking him to return and stay with him, but the memory quickly faded, leaving him in the empty courtyard will the stench of blood and the icy breeze as his only company.
He stared down at the shining semi-sphere in his hands for a while, emptiness and exhaustion numbing his insides. It wasn't long before a sense of duty began to grow in him, with each second that he continued to look at the Apocalypse Orb. He couldn't leave without at least checking to see if the other half of it was in the safe; he couldn't run away without first having a go at helping his friends.
He turned to face the opposite side of the courtyard, and, tucking the orb fragment carefully in his pocket, set off back the way he had come, recalling the set of directions to the basement that Ness had given him.
-oOo-
"How long do you think it's been now?" Marth muttered into the darkness. He heard Lucario grunt thoughtfully.
"By my judgement, I would say that the time we were given has already passed," the Pokemon's reply eventually came, offering the prince no comfort.
"Just great," he sighed, words quivering. He no longer had the strength to suppress the fear in his voice.
"I think I can hear commotion outside," Meta Knight stated. The other two fell into silence, just as the door swung open, letting the faded light in the outside hallway stream in. The three who were strong enough to, shielded their eyes, too used to the pitch darkness they had been trapped in for the past half hour. Tabuu entered quickly, and was followed in by all twenty infected smashers. Whilst he strode past the row of tables towards the machine, they assembled themselves in a pack by the door like hungry wolves, ravenous and eager. Guilt wrenched Marth's heart when he saw that the team they had left behind in the courtyard were all present in the infected pack.
"Finally..." Tabuu muttered. Meta Knight, Lucario and Marth watched him stride over to the pad and stand himself in it's centre. His metallic frame was almost as tall as the steel rods that hooked over his head; an ominous sight.
Tabuu addressed the infected smashers. "Proceed!"
They all charged forwards, heading to the machine as well. From there, they each grasped a different part of the vast power cable connected to it, and turned their attention to Tabuu obediently.
Ness and Pit were too weak to feel fear at this point, or comprehend the situation. However, Marth could feel his heart pummelling his chest furiously, and was certain that Meta Knight and Lucario felt the same. They weren't just about to lose their lives, but they were about to grant Tabuu eternal omnipotence. He would destroy all of their worlds, from Altea, to Hyrule, to Dreamland. The citizens would be slaughtered, the monuments torn down, every droplet of hope scattered. They were on the gates of a living hell from which there was no turning back.
This was the end.
"Lend me your power!" Tabuu bellowed. The infected smashers tensed simultaneously and the wire was suddenly swamped in piercing white thunderbolts, which streamed across its surface and into the titanic contraption. As this happened, five loud clicks sounded from beneath each table, and everyone cried out in agony. Marth found himself fighting for breath as his strength drained away, being sapped at a dizzying pace from his body. He glanced at the others with blurred eyes and choked out a sob at the sight of the Ness and Pit. They were already dead.
"No!" The words forced themselves through his hoarse throat and came out as an agonised whisper. "No..."
He felt himself slumping, falling. He collapsed back onto the table as the world's image danced tauntingly before him. The last sound he heard was Tabuu, roaring as the power surged through the steel rods around him and into his frame, setting him and the entire room aglow in blistering white. Then the light snapped out, and his final breath faded off into the emptiness.
-oOo-
Lucas staggered back at the sound of a monstrous roar, reverberating through the floor at his feet. He was at the door leading to the basement floor as it burst through the open space to strike him. He was uncertain of what the sound meant, but knew one thing, that the smashers were in some serious trouble.
Breaking into a run, he flew down the stairway. The ache in his chest resurfaced at the movement, but he was beyond caring. His only intention now was to reach the basement, whether it killed him or not.
The nightmare had stretched on for too long. It was time for it to end.
-oOo-
Tabuu's cry died with the light around him. The infected watched their leader with shock in their dilated pupils. He hadn't changed.
"Need...ugh...more...p-power..." the alloy managed. "Can...c-can you...sense s-someone else? H-he...comes close! Bring him!"
The pack of infected smashers nodded together, understanding that Tabuu was informing them of the new aura that had appeared nearby. Everyone moved out, ignoring the five dead smashers for the moment in order to pursue their leader's new command: to find whoever was roaming the basement floor and deliver them to him.
-oOo-
Lucas kicked the control room's exit door open, having scrambled through the spider-web of wires entangling the space. Once he was through, he ran right, noticing a thick wire snaking alongside him. He came to a sharp halt just before he reached the corridor's T-section, and tried to remember which way the basement was supposed to be. By now his chest was throbbing, and sweat drenched his forehead, bringing upon him a strong urge to rest.
But seconds later, there came a loud scuffling sound from the right side of the T-section. He jumped at this and inched forward, peering around the corner. What he saw was not what he had predicted to see. Instead of a door, there was a large, jagged crack, through which the wire entered and vanished off into the blackness. Lucas' brow furrowed as he strained to see further through the broken wall.
That was when he saw something else; forty pairs of diluted eyes on the other side of the crack, sparkling in the dark as they stared back at him.
He barely had time to yelp before the wall was suddenly blown apart, plaster and brick flying everywhere as the force of the explosion bowled him over. Twenty infected smashers stood as outlines in the clearing dust, looming like storm clouds before the fallen psychic.
A jolt of adrenaline jerked him to his feet again, and sent him soaring in the other direction, with all twenty in viscous pursuit.
He bolted into the basement room and slammed the door behind him, which was only ripped from its hinges seconds later. By the time he reached the pile of disused items, crates and boxes, the infected were flinging projectiles and weapons alike with deadly precision.
He realised that whether the safe was behind the pile or not, his only option was to climb. He dived left to avoid one of Snake's grenades before jumping at the pile. A brief round of gunshot followed him up as he desperately clambered over box and crate, tipping the contents down on his pursuers. The final shot struck his shoulder, and he almost let himself fall as the stinging sensation rippled through his upper body.
Grimacing, he forced his arm out and continued to pull himself up. Smoke was beginning to rise underneath him as he neared the top, and when he spared a second to peer down, he saw that fire was streaming from Bowser's mouth and eating away at the cardboard below. What was worse, was that he had sighted several of the infected climbing up after him, faces cast in shadow due to light of the flames behind them.
When Lucas was finally at the peak of the hill, smoke arose in thick billows and suffocated him, causing the muscles in his chest to clench and his lungs to burn. Tears dripped from his stinging eyes as he slid down the other side of the mountain, towards the safe.
He rubbed his eyes with a grimy hand as he reached the bottom, allowing him to find the metal square set into the wall. He staggered to it, trying to work out in his foggy mind what he was even supposed to be doing. The room's amber glow was reflected brightly on the safe's surface, dazzling him as he struggled the order his thoughts.
The heat was immense, his lungs and chest were on fire, and his shoulder was stinging furiously. Yet, there was something cold resting against his leg. He delved a hand into his pocket and found it to be the orb fragment, cool against the palm of his hand. That was all he needed to remember his task.
He gripped the safe's handle, praying silently that Ness' team had already entered the combination, and tugged on it. To his partial disbelief, it actually swung open, revealing the second half of the orb inside.
"Aether!"
The cry slashed Lucas' elation. He whirled around and saw Ike, holding Ragnell's thick, golden blade above his head. The mercenary leapt from the top of the pile and dropped towards him, slashing downwards with his broadsword as he went.
Lucas only just snatched the orb fragment from the safe in time to roll aside, landing him on his back. Ike ran at the psychic and raised Ragnell once more, about to ram the sword into Lucas' heart when the boy suddenly jammed both pieces of the orb together, causing a power eruption that hurled the mercenary away.
-oOo-
Lucas reopened his eyes to find that the pain from his injuries had gone. Time appeared to have slowed because he could see that Ike' s heavily-built frame was toppling backwards, but not nearly at the speed it should have been. He rose to his feet, feeling strangely light, as if gravity's hold on him had weakened a little. He looked down at his hands, but the orb he had been holding was gone.
What came across to him as more surprising than that, was the fact that they were outlined by a gentle white glow. He studied his arms, then his legs and body to find that they were all emanating a pearl light.
The entire situation didn't even frighten him; on the contrary, calm trickled through him like a spring, so much so that he felt he could have gone to sleep amongst the flames and the infected, had he still been tired.
A gut feeling arose within him, guiding him forward. Effortlessly, he climbed to the top of the pile once more, to look down upon the scene below. The heated air rippled slowly, the smoke continued to rise and the flames inched up the pile, endlessly eating away at its base.
He looked into the eyes of the infected, moving sluggishly towards him, and saw something that shocked him. There was guilt, endless remorse for what they had done, pooling in them. Perhaps...there still was a part of their real selves inside of their infected minds?
If that was the case, then Lucas knew that the best thing he could do for them was to set them free. Let them rest in the peace that they had deserved so long ago, so that they no longer needed to be tormented by the horrors of their actions.
Like a dam bursting, power erupted inside him, and began to flow through his veins. He thought of Ness and Pit, and how they had supported him in his darkest hours, he remembered Toon Link betraying him on the edge of death, he summoned his hatred for the virus and the nightmare it had forced everyone through. He felt himself get stronger and stronger, until the energy inside him felt as if it was trying to escape from his body, and that he could no longer contain it.
With one last glance at his former friends and companions, he finally released the power of the Apocalypse Orb, with words resounding through the entire mansion:
"PK…THUNDER!"
4,400 words. No wonder it took me a while. Anyways, sorry if it was a bit dull at the start, and rushed too, but I hope you still liked it :)
Until chapter twenty two: Risen