Author's Notes: Whoa...4000+ hits?! That's incredible, and we're only about two-thirds done with the story. You guys rock! ...now if only I'd get more reviews...
Anyway, this is where the action and the excitement really picks up. Of course, this chapter begins the part of the Subspace adventure inside Subspace. Again, things from that part of the adventure mode have been tweaked, but what you'll really notice is that I made some major changes to the plot. You'll find out why, but I think that will be a few chapters from now. Actually, there are two or three changes in this chapter, so you'll get an early treat.
So, enjoy, and don't forget to review!
Captain Falcon: FALCON says that Captain Black Knight doesn't own Smash Bros. or the characters. Especially not FALCON! Yes!
CBK: -_-' -sigh-
Chapter 25: The Beginning of the End
The coalition of thirty-five fighters stood at the entrance to Subspace. I figured that some Smashers were missing, but that didn't seem like a big deal at the moment. Anyway, some Smashers gripped their weapons, while others clenched their fists, while the rest of us simply glowered into the darkness. My friends didn't really know what to think or how to react.
"Uh…how exactly are we supposed to walk on this…stuff?" Kitty awkwardly asked, lightly poking the 'floor' with her toe. I simply facepalmed.
"Way to ruin the epic moment, Kitty," I muttered, annoyed by the fact that she did such a thing.
"I suppose we tread on the lit-up parts of the floor and avoid the other areas," Red suggested.
"Alright then, what are we waiting for? Let's move," Samus interjected. With one step I took the lead, and then the great march to the enemy finally began.
Treading through the Subspace environment wasn't too bad. It just created a dreadful feeling that loomed over everyone's heads. Some – Lucas and Pikachu in particular – were even becoming paranoid, reacting to every possible sound that they heard. Along the way we had to fight various Subspace enemies, but fortunately we no longer had to deal with hostile R.O.B. troops.
After what seemed like three hours we advanced to another area of Subspace, and, lo and behold, we managed to find Bowser and Ganondorf. Rather than charge the two villains right away, we decided to spy on them from afar. Everyone gathered on an upper ledge to quietly observe the actions of the two villains down below.
Bowser and Ganondorf returned from the recently destroyed Subspace Gunship. As Bowser stomped along, Ganondorf lagged behind, allowing the Koopa to get ahead of him. When the timing was right, Ganondorf whipped out a Dark Cannon and charged it. Bowser was too dense to realize what was going on or what Ganondorf was about to do to him. The Gerudo fired, and BAM! Bowser fell to the floor as a cold, gray trophy. Ganondorf then proceeded to unceremoniously kick Bowser off to the side where it would be shunned for a while.
Ganondorf walked over to another part of the floor and looked up into the dark 'sky'. He raised his arms and presented himself to no one in particular. Seconds later a giant object slowly came into view in front of the King of Evil. Everyone got a good look at it and saw the easily recognizable white-gloved hand.
"Master H—" Link hissed before I tightly covered his mouth with my hand.
"Stay quiet, or they'll hear us," I whispered to him. He obeyed, and so I released him. We continued to observe the scene before us, and fortunately neither Ganondorf nor Master Hand became aware of our presence.
"Ah, Ganondorf, I see you have returned," the booming voice of Master Hand spoke. "Where is Bowser?" Ganondorf looked a bit uneasy at the question.
"I'm not sure," Ganondorf lied. "However, I am still here to humbly serve you." He then bowed slightly to the hand.
"Well, I have some news for you," Master Hand replied. "I'm afraid that I no longer have any need of your services." Ganondorf gasped and looked up at the hand in disgust.
"That can't be. Why are you dismissing me?"
"The answer is simple. I have gathered enough parts of the world to rule it from Subspace, and now I can freely enter the other world and dominate it as well. Therefore, you are no longer of any use to me." Ganondorf was pissed now. He jumped towards the floating hand and brought his fist back, ready to punch him. Master Hand, however, saw it coming and slapped Ganondorf into the ground with a loud thud. After that Ganondorf was nothing more than a still trophy.
Oh my God, I can't believe that Master Hand would do that to Ganondorf, I thought, utterly surprised at what just happened. Right then I knew that we had to do something about Master Hand.
"Hmm, that fool honestly believed that he could surpass me, and look what happened as a consequence," Master Hand muttered, although his voice sounded a bit different than it normally did. "That ought to set an example to the rest of the Smashers and anyone else who tries to get in my way."
"MASTER HAND!" I shouted out while standing up. The floating hand turned its attention towards me upon hearing my voice through the darkness.
"What the hell? Who are you?" Master Hand interrogated. Apparently he could only see me, and the rest of the group was invisible to him. Then again, I was the only one standing, while the others crouched or lied on their stomachs. That was fine by me.
"Do you honestly need to even ask that question?" I retorted, acting as if the hand was incredibly ignorant.
"Ah, you must be the infamous Brooke," he commented after apparently recognizing me. "I heard about you many times, and I've seen you on your endeavors. You certainly don't quit; I'll give you credit for that."
"You've got that right," I replied smugly. "Tell me why you're doing this."
"I thought that you knew that already. I simply feel a need to enforce my superiority, and so I want to completely cover this world and yours in Subspace, so that I can properly rule them both from within the darkness for all eternity."
"So you are trying to take over Earth! Well, I have news for you: you can't have it!"
"Is that what you call your world? Well, says the foolish young woman who thinks she can stop me from carrying out my objective."
"You know what, I will stop you, Master Hand, but I won't do it alone. I brought friends." One by one my friends stood up, revealing themselves to the hand as I did. Master Hand just scoffed.
"I see you found all of your friends. No matter, not even the nine of you can defeat me."
"Who says there are nine of us? If you ask me, I count thirty-five." Upon that comment every Smasher stood up, one right after another, and Master Hand flinched at the sight of the sheer size of our army. I brandished my blade, and anyone else with a weapon also did the same.
"All troops…MOVE OUT!" I shouted – totally stealing Pit's trademark phrase in the process. I leaped from the ledge, and the others followed my lead. The army charged at Master Hand, ready to take him down once and for all. Master Hand, however, looked far too prepared for a situation like this. The army then stopped once everyone noticed his lack of a reaction.
"Well, it looks like I'll have to deal with all of you alone…or do I?" he commented. He then snapped his fingers, and suddenly another sinister laugh echoed through the darkness. This time, the laugh sounded much higher and had a twisted effect on anyone who listened to it. Then out of seemingly nowhere another object slowly came into view. It appeared next to Master Hand as…another hand?
"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned.
"What is it, Brooke?" Renee asked me.
"That's Crazy Hand," I answered, pointing to the new hand.
"Yes, that's me," Crazy Hand announced in his higher-pitched voice. "Did you honestly believe that I wouldn't become involved with Master Hand's plot? He's not the only one who designed these events." Every word that Crazy Hand spoke was beginning to get on my nerves.
"Just shut up and fight us!" I snapped.
"Fine," he sighed. "If you insist. Shall we take them down?"
"With the full force of our power, yes," Master Hand answered. No one hesitated to make the first move. Everyone charged at the two hands and began their assault on them. Link, Marth and I fiercely slashed at Master Hand. Meta Knight and Ike did the same to Crazy Hand. Will used a hammer that he got from Mario and pounded Crazy Hand with it like there was no tomorrow.
The hands weren't about to put up with our attacks without retaliating in some way. They spread out and then clapped together, hoping to flatten some of the fighters in the process. Most of us jumped or dove out of the way, but a few Smashers, like Yoshi, Lucas, and the Ice Climbers, failed to get out the way in time, and so they took some major damage as a result.
Fox, Falco, Pit, Candace, and Jim – Jim had found a Ray Gun earlier – stayed away from the fray and instead opened fire on the hands, using their blasters and arrows to slowly add to the damage that the white gloves were already taking.
Master Hand fought back once again, this time shooting lasers from his fingers. Said lasers were easily dodged, but they grazed Mario and Donkey Kong, causing them to suffer a few minor burns. Crazy Hand formed himself into the shape of a gun and charged a shot. He fired a couple flaming bullets, but Samus successfully stopped them with a charged Power Shot.
Snake took advantage of Master Hand's brief distraction by planting one of his C4 devices onto his little finger. He then backed up, threw several grenades, and then detonated the C4. It and the grenades exploded all at once, dealing quite a bit of damage and leaving Master Hand in a massive explosion.
Captain Falcon and Zelda had fun making Crazy Hand burn like hell. Zelda used Din's Fire again and again on the glove while Captain Falcon unleashed a barrage of Falcon Kicks and the infamous Falcon Punch. Speaking of which…
"FALCON PAUWNCH!" he shouted as he attacked Crazy Hand with his signature move. My Earth-residing friends all cheered and laughed their heads off when they gazed at him doing this. Kitty and Renee, however, paid for their distraction as they were grabbed by each of the hands and crushed within their grasp. Kayla and Lex wasted no time in attacking the floating gloves. As Kayla smacked Master Hand with twin Fans (don't ask me why), Lex shot Crazy Hand with the Super Scope – don't even ask me where they found those items. Both hands failed to maintain their grips on the girls, and so they let go of them. Peach and Red immediately dragged Renee and Kitty away from further harm.
Something isn't right, I thought. The hands have been taking so much damage, but they don't seem to be slowing down one bit. Why won't they give up? I watched Olimar throw his Pikmin at Master Hand as Diddy Kong fired peanuts at Crazy Hand, but the two of them were quickly slapped away as a result. Something had to be done to end this, but what could we do?
Off to the side I noticed that Kirby took the time to assemble the Dragoon and that he was almost finished. I also saw something appear above him, and boy, was it a sight to behold – it was none other than a Smash Ball. It appeared right when we needed it the most, as if it was on cue (again).
"Smashers, get that Smash Ball!" I cried as I pointed to the aimlessly floating object. As the Smashers noticed the Smash Ball, the hands also noticed it and tried to stop us from obtaining it. Wordlessly the Smashers decided amongst themselves who had the best Final Smashes, and so those who did have amazing Final Smashes charged after the almighty object to break it open, while the others stalled for time by distracting the hands with various stunning attacks. Meta Knight and Pikachu were especially good at distracting the hands due to their ability to fly and run around at breakneck speeds.
The most qualified Smashers began their assault on the shining ball with as much effectiveness as possible. Mario punched the Smash Ball, but it quickly flew away from him, so he didn't get a chance to attack it again. Snake and Samus shot missiles at the floating ball, but the missiles did little damage. Red sent Charizard to fly towards the ball and burn it, but the flames had little effect. Marth and Ike both swiped at the ball, but they missed. Link threw his boomerang to bring the Smash Ball close to him, and he slashed it. This attack finally put cracks in the ball, but it wasn't enough to break it. Zelda kicked the ball in midair, while Captain Falcon did the same with his knee. Both attacks were strong, but the Smash Ball seemed to be much stronger.
It was Lucario who used Extremespeed to hit the Smash Ball and finally caused it to shatter. As a result the power of the Smash Ball flowed into his body and coursed through his veins. His eyes glowed yellow, and his body emitted an aura of ever-changing colors. The blue Pokémon turned to look at Kirby and me and stared at us.
"Are you ready?" he calmly asked. I turned to look at Kirby, who had just completed the assembly of the Dragoon. He climbed aboard the flying machine and brought it a few feet above the ground.
"Yeah, he's ready," I answered for the puffball. Lucario nodded, and he and Kirby charged at the hands. The attacking Smashers quickly moved out of the way in order to give them some space and to avoid whatever attack they were about to unleash.
Kirby struck first. He flew the Dragoon at a ridiculously high velocity and rammed it directly into Crazy Hand. Crazy Hand then screeched in agony, and the high-pitched scream definitely caused discomfort to our ears as our eardrums rang. The left hand then fell to the ground palm-up, crumpled up into a fist, and then collapsed into a limp state. Lucario saw the opportunity to strike next.
"Watch the power of aura!" he yelled within our minds. He leaped up into the air and raised both of his aura-covered paws. After charging up his aura and with a battle cry he unleashed a mighty Aura Storm attack on Master Hand with as much power as he could muster. The massive beam of aura energy racked up huge amounts of damage onto the hand at an alarming rate. Everyone looked on in awe as Lucario continued his onslaught. When he was finished, the beam dissipated, and Master Hand also fell to the ground. The right hand remained still afterwards.
Lucario slowly floated down onto the ground as the Smash Ball's power left him. Kirby jumped off the disappearing Dragoon and landed next to him.
"That…was…freaking awesome!" Lex cried as she ran over to Lucario and Kirby. Will did the same and high-fived the pink puffball. Lucario simply nodded and gave a small smile in response, which caused Lex to do the same. There was no denying that everyone was impressed by the last two attacks on the hands.
"Guys…" Jess interjected. "I don't think it's over…look!" Everyone turned their attention to Jess as she pointed in the direction of the hands, and they all gasped. Indeed the hands twitched and stirred, and they slowly rose off the ground, but something was off about that. It appeared that the hands were being forcefully lifted from the ground, as if they had strings attached to them.
Speaking of which I just noticed that golden lines began to manifest from the hands – I think they were called Chains of Light. The chains pulled on the hands and controlled them like puppets. If that was the case, then who was the puppeteer?