Author's Note: I've been BAD, not updating this, but the final exams in school and preparation for the end of the year and a new job have bogged me down. Hopefully this will cheer you all up and make up for my absence. I certainly want to go back to weekly updates. :)
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ernest Trillium mumbled under his breath, head swimming in and out of a fog of consciousness as he struggled to stand, only to slump back down to the ground on his four spiked legs-
...four...spiked...legs?
His eyes widened in horror as he stared down at himself. Clawed hands...dark body with a larger snout than before and eyes that seemed far, far sharper than they'd originally been...no ears, no TAIL, what on-
Now he was fully aware of where he was...Emperor Percival Tachyon stood behind a cell wall, poor "Ernie" locked away inside his ship as the Cragmite smiled devilishly at Ernest, rubbing his clawed hands together. "Oh, you are QUITE the beauty." He whispered. "Just LOOK at you. Absolutely amazing. Your DNA was quickly overwritten, your mind will be fully Cragmite in a few minutes."
"You...you tied me-you...you..." Ernest whimpered out, shivering madly as he scampered away from Tachyon, his entire body shaking with horror. "What did you put into me?" He screamed out at the Cragmite, banging one fist on the stony wall behind him. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"
"My own special DNA cocktail. A form of "eugenics", if you will." Tachyon mused calmly, tapping his claw tips together. "Your body's been altered, it's genetic code overwritten by a highly-adaptive strain of a unique virus I developed, with myself and those I inject as carriers. Your mind will follow soon, your will becoming that...of a Cragmite's. My ultimate revenge against your kind." He told Ernest, poking the cell wall and then laughing uproariously as Ernest fell to the ground, panting heavily, wracked with convulsions as the change began to fully overtake him.
"R-Ratchet-wi-will s-stop-you-as...as h-he d-did b-before, he-he sh-shall av-avenge us!" Ernest managed to get out, struggling to stay still as Tachyon waved a claw in the air, going "tsk-tsk-tsk" as he did so, shaking his head back and forth.
"Oh no, no, no, child. Nobody is coming to help you or your species. He doesn't even know I'm still alive." Tachyon's fanged grin spread wide across his face. "And by the time I'm finished...there won't be any of his kind left for him to fight for."
Ernest died with a scream...
And with that, the Cragmite known as Nestor was born as Tachyon laughed and laughed and laughed, his laughter echoing through the dark halls of his ship, Angela Cross closing her eyes and covering her face in her room, unable to bear the shame...unwilling to look at the loss of another of her kind.
"Forgive me." She thought quietly. "...please...forgive me, Ratchet."
Laughing, Tachyon made his way out of the cell block, heading for Angela's room, hearing...
...soft, quiet crying. He poked his head in ever-so-slightly, his yellowish eyes widening as he hesitated before slowly moving back, returning to his own quarters and lying down in his own bed, looking across the way at a small photograph he'd gotten framed, placed by his nightstand lamp...a photograph of him decades ago, a lifetime ago, with young Percival Tachyon situated with his foster parents.
Soft, quiet crying...
"Have you nothing to say, then?" Tachyon spoke calmly as he steepled his gloved, clawed hands, sitting in his massive moving throne. It carefully maneuvered two powerful clawed arms high, small plasma cannons forming in the center "palms" as his many troops, having essentially torn down the home she'd been hiding in, stepped aside. His mother was defenseless now, with Kaden far, far away, and unable to help her.
She'd been silently crying, head bowed, lying on bended knee...no longer pregnant, Tachyon had discovered. In fact, that was one of the reasons why he was here. His eyes narrowed as he spoke more loudly. "Tell me where he is. You don't need to tell me where the Dimensionator is. I know my father has it. No, no, I'd like to meet my brother, Mother dear. Just tell me where he is, and I'll allow you to live. Don't make me slay you." He insisted, waving a hand in the air. "...DON'T."
Her head slowly raised up, tear-stained, furry cheeks with wet trails sliding down from her reddened eyes. "...so you can m-murder him the-the way you've murdered everyone else in this neighborhood?" She wanted to know, the acrid smell of burning flesh and torn limb hanging in the air. Not every Lombax had escaped in time...not every one. And not her, certainly.
"If you're worried I'll kill him, don't be." Tachyon crooned. "I've far grander plans for him."
"...I can't tell you. And I won't." Carrara, wife of Kaden insisted, closing her eyes and hanging her head low.
Tachyon was quiet for what seemed to be a long, long time, and he chewed his lip. "...you really mean that. He means that much to you? And I?...did I mean anything?"
"We LOVED you." She whispered out.
"You tried to." Tachyon admitted. "You truly did. I know you tried. If nothing else...I am grateful for that." He turned his mech away...he had to pay a visit to his father. "...you tried so hard." He trailed off, covering his face with one hand. "...goodbye, mother." He whispered, closing his eyes.
"Tachyon-" Carrara began to say.
"...make it quick." He commanded as one Cragmite grabbed her neck, holding a plasma blaster to her head. "Please."
The shot rang through the air. He flinched.
"..." Tachyon looked back over at the photo, growling and trying to turn away. "Don't...don't think like that. The mission. Nothing matters but...but the mission. Nothing...no one..."
...
...
...
...it was the final day of the F-Zero Grand Prix, a day that had Mr. Zero walking on sunshine as he cheerily greeted the morning, and soon the cameras, with his signature smile. Yes, he was so happily confident this was going to be a ratings bonanza that he hadn't even bothered to double check the energy synthesizer he'd brought with him, comfortably located at the top of his floating commentator's booth. He was too busy looking at a Chinese fortune cookie from some dumplings he'd bought for breakfast.
"Odd." He mumbled as Mother, on the other end of a secret transmission line hidden in his fake eye frowned, steepling her fairly long fingers. "It says "Danger is lurking in your future". Maybe I should cancel that bet I made on those Italians..."
"You listen to a COOKIE?" Mother Brain mused in her subdued, cold-hearted voice, chuckling slightly as she leaned back in her comfortable chair, alit with numerous lights and blinking wires, hovering over the floor in the second floor of the hospital. She didn't think the Cancer Ward was going to mind, everybody in the hospital had been stuck downstairs. No, they wouldn't mind, not anymore than Mr. Zero would notice how she had already transferred control of a certain spectral generator over to herself from his home.
"I really should deal with them." Mother thought to herself as she glanced briefly at the camera feeds showing the dozens trapped below. Mother had been teasing them. Taunting them. Watching them scramble over what little food she provided for them and was now intent on finishing this. That is, once she'd dealt with the intruders, she mused to herself as her fingers flitted over a vaguely spectral control panel that floated before her, generated by her control chair. Yes, just had to take care of some unexpected guests who had located where she was somehow and were planning on informing that pesky Ms. Aran...
"Two flashes...two flashes..." Link murmured as his sword caught the light of the sun outside, flashing back at Alex on a rooftop far away, a parking garage where he was safely out of range of sight from Mother Brain or Mr. Zero. Fox had detected that there was a specially generated electro-magnetic field designed to shut down any technological equipment not specially attuned to a unique energy signature...to the same unique energy signature that was powering the hospital, Mother Brain's chair, and the tea machine she was enjoying at the moment, sipping a nice cup of green tea as she watched her base's defenses activated.
Truth be told, Link was still not totally comfortable around all of this technology. He preferred to use things he could understand, things he could see working in action. Captain Falcon had TRIED to explain how a "walkie-talkie" worked, but he himself had had trouble trying to explain radio waves in a fitting fashion to someone from Link and Zelda's medieval world. So...they'd just gone with "sunlight off of the Master Sword" for a plan.
THUNKA-CLUNK! Now Link and Zelda were in a room with all doors shut, all windows barred and chained up. No sunlight...no lighting within...trapped in what had been a patient ward for burn victims. Flipping on a switch, Mother Brain spoke.
"Do tell me, Hylians." She mused, using the word "Hylian" the way a racist might use the n-word, or an exterminator might use the word "rat". "Why shouldn't I just kill you now?"
"B-because...well...because..." Zelda stuttered nervously.
"LET US OUT!" One of the doctors on the first floor yelled furiously, banging a thick, four-fingered fist on the wall, shouting at the intercom through his rhinoceros-esque muzzle, Link and Zelda overhearing him and others crying out through the floors. They put their considerably long ears to the floor, hearing the doctor and many a patient and nurse joining him in swearing QUITE terribly at Mother, so much so that Link turned red in shame for letting his ears hear such abominable words.
"One moment." Mother Brain spoke to Zelda and Link, frowning darkly as she calmly stepped off her chair and sauntering down to a private elevator, popping down to the first floor as she waved through special glass, holes running up and down this special little thing. She'd had it installed for a very specific occasion. For an occasion just like THIS, truth be told as her specially-built body frowned, waving a finger in the air at her many prisoners.
"You let us out RIGHT now or we'll smash that elevator and strangle you." The doctor growled, shaking his pudgy fist at her.
"I thought that no matter the species, the rule was "first do no harm"?" Mother chuckled darkly, putting a slender hand to her ruby-red mouth. Indeed, she DID look quite the lovely blonde. Almost like a grown-up Samus with much longer, styled hair. Freud would have no doubt had had a field day with her. "Well. You'll have problems of your own to deal with. Too bad all of the gas masks were left on the third floor."
"Gas masks?" One of the patients asked, wheezing slightly as he scratched his secondary head. "Why gas masks?"
"Because of the gas."
"What gas?"
Mother promptly covered her mouth, chuckling slightly as there was a large hissing sound, and gas began to seep out from underneath her, spreading through the elevator and into the room with the assembled poor, unfortunate souls, Link and Zelda banging on the floor above as they heard the pained dying of those below.
"NO!" Link screamed. "I beg of you, STOP!"
"You can't! You CAN'T!" Zelda yelled. "YOU COWARD!"
Mother just laughed as she watched the patients began to wheeze and gasp and hack, falling to the ground like rotten fruit, their bodies turning blackened and sour as she calmly rode the elevator back up, dusting herself off before sitting back in her chair.
"Now...don't tell me you've forgotten. Why shouldn't I just kill YOU right now?"
Link and Zelda lay on the floor, on bended knee, Link digging his fingers deeply into his legs before Zelda spoke up, harshly, coldly. "You would not find it amusing to kill us so quickly. Those poor souls were down there for DAYS before you murdered them, I imagine."
"Oh yes. Weeks, in fact." The sociopathic android informed them, speaking as calmly as if she was talking about a Knicks game.
"You need to be entertained, and just killing us quickly, especially with something like poison gas, wouldn't be fun. Wouldn't be ORIGINAL enough. Wouldn't feel SATISFYING to you until you think we're "broken", I'd wager." Zelda mumbled coldly, glaring hatefully in the direction of the intercom as if it was Mother's face. She hadn't even really seen what Mother looked like, and already she hated this being.
"Very well then, entertain me. Basically...RUN." Mother chuckled, the door to their room promptly swishing open.
And they RAN.
...
...
...
... "We're live at Jack Levin's luxurious estate as the pop star continues to hole himself up. The police have surrounded the home of Mr. Levin in the hopes of talking him down, but he has refused to come out or answer any calls." One intrepid reporter in a yellow jumpsuit explained to a television crew as Nick nervously peeked out from behind some window blinds before turning back to Jack. The former pop star had been getting increasingly cuckoo as the days went on due to a "bad influence" in the form of a false spectral Elvis, sent to him from Mother and . WHY, exactly, was something Nick didn't understand...
Jack was plucking quietly away at a guitar, mumbling to himself as he lay upon his bed. He hadn't responded to anything Nick had said after the youth had explained where the Elvis had really come from.
"Sir, there's...there's a LOT of cops outside." Nick murmured nervously, jabbing a thumb back at the window."...I mean, a LOT, of cops, I mean just, lots and lots of...LOTS."
"..."
"Look, we should get you out of here and into police custody."
"Reckon so, boy, but first don'tcha wanna hear who's 'sponsible for Mr. Levin's misery?" A ghostly image of Elvis inquired, generating right in Mr. Levin's mirror as the two snapped their heads towards the spectral thing. Mother Brain smirked coldly as her hands fluttered over the controls, speaking calmly. "Mr. Zero had been systematically eliminating all the competition to you when you first started, Levin...building you up as his star, but now that he's found a new star, he decided he didn't need you, and thought you should go out at your peak. Using ME."
"Mr. Levin, don't listen to this thing..." Nick insisted quickly. "It's been lying so far..."
"I'm tellin' the truth. Mr. Zero's been behind it all. And you oughta go stop him, cuz he's rigged every other car except the one belongin' to those Italians to explode in a series of "tragic" accidents." The Elvis specter went on. "Yours included. The minute any one of them crosses the halfway mark...BOOM, one after the other...with your car included."
"We gotta go stop him." Nick gulped, Mr. Levin standing up as he moved to the closet, taking out what appeared to be some kind of key for his car. He clicked a button on it as a loud car-door-opening sound echoed through the room. "Guess it's time to save the day. Same old story, same old song." Nick supposed.
"And then what? Plea bargain? Community service? Nah. Same old song...with a new beat." Jack murmured, going to the window and pushing it open, Nick following after as he strapped his guitar to his back, looking down at the crowd of people below.
"Hello? Sir, do you have something to say?" The reporter from before asked, the chief of police standing by.
"He's giving himself up RIGHT after this, we promise." Nick insisted, waving his hands defensively before him.
"After what?" The chief inquired, frowning darkly.
"A mop." Jack spoke up.
"A mop?" Nick asked, suddenly hearing the whine of Jack Levin's car engine as people raced out of the way and he realized what Jack was up to, leaping through the air with Jack as the spiky-haired racer burst into song, sliding into his opened cockpit.
"A MOP-BOP-A-LOO-BOP, A LOO-BOP-BOP!" Levin laughed, the car spiraling out of the driveway, heading for the F-Zero Grand prix.
Mario and Luigi rolled down the windows of their car, looking over in the direction of Captain Falcon as he looked over at them, smiling slyly, "Racer E" pulling up beside him and the Logosian on the far end of Mario and Luigi. "It's all in place. Just like we planned. And make it look good."
"I'm a beet nervous about dees...plan of yours. Am not so comfortable with-" Mario began to say.
"I'll come through." Fox insisted as he and Samus sat in the garage with Alex standing nearby, putting a hand on each of their shoulders.
"WE'LL come through." Alex insisted, nodding firmly as the machine located to their right hummed to life, live wires sparkling through the air as it let out a strange, whispering buzz.
"My finest work!" Jigglypuff cackled, putting down the goggles she'd been wearing over her head as Pikachu and Yoshi moved the final generator into place to power her ingenious device. "Ooh, I've OUTDONE myself this time!"
"Yes, it's fully ready, and I'll make sure it stays running even if it KILLS me." Alex insisted.
"I'm not worried about eet killing YOU, I'm worried about it keeling US!" Luigi groaned, biting on his glove and chewing it for a few moments before a hovering series of lights floated before their brilliantly luminescent track. Remembering just where they were, all four of them looked down below the shimmering white racetrack at the dazzlingly sparkling city. True, they knew the streets were kinda dirty, some alleys were filled to the brim with trash and there was still that...odd smell...
But looking down at the city below from just a little high up, with the clouds as their mountainside? Now everything seemed...sort of beautiful.
"THIS is what I like the most." Captain Falcon admitted as his voice, that lame, would-be Clint-Eastwood impersonation becoming ever-so-slightly softer. "These few moments I just get to stop...and just look around. That's all I really need from a race. Not the rush. Not the money. Not the fame. Just...to look around. That's it."
"...I...know what you mean." Mario admitted as the signal came for them to go, and for a brief moment, he wasn't among the clouds but back in the Mushroom Kingdom, the familiar smell of grass and flowers filling his nostrils, smiling clouds overhead as he looked over a land of content and peace. For a little while, just for a few instants, he and Luigi had felt with Captain Falcon that shared feeling of being just fine with the world.
The Logosian quietly sighed as he and Erin just tightened their grip on the wheel...gunned the engine...and tried not to think about home.
...
...
...
...Link and Zelda raced through the hallways, sweat pouring from their brow. They weren't afraid...they'd just been running like mad and their chests felt as if they were aflame. Panting heavily, they ducked down a nearby corridor, only to shrink away from it at the sight of an enormous HOLE situated in the center of the hallway, with a rotating fan situated in the center.
"Oh, by the way, you should know I'm in control of every inch of his facility and I've added a few...personal touches of my own. A woman's touch is SO important to making a proper deathtrap, you know." Mother mused as they backed away quickly from the hole, racing down the other end of the hallway. "Let's see...what to do next?" She mused, a series of paintings on the walls changing to show her face and body in provocative posing.
"You talk far too much!" Link yelled at the paintings as they all simultaneously frowned.
"Well. In THAT case!" She snapped, snapping her fingers.
THA-THUNK. A wall separated him and Zelda, the two now trapped on opposite ends. Link angrily banged on the wall before getting an idea, calling out to Zelda from the other end. "Zelda, I am coming through, STAND BACK!" He shouted, taking out a bomb from his thankfully enchanted bomb bag, privately saying a prayer to the Goddesses as he set it down on the ground by the wall. Running back away from it as it lit itself up and began to sizzle-
PFFFSSSSSHHHH. The sprinkler system designed to put out fires soaked through Link's clothes as he angrily spat out some water, letting out a "PMFH" as the bomb harmlessly fizzled out. He sighed and took his sword from out of its sheathe, raising it high. "TALLY-HO!" He roared, leaping at the wall and slashing and slicing away.
Well, thankfully, the wall was cut through in a few moments, but Link failed to notice the smirking expressions on the painting's faces as the wall came down and a stunned Zelda looked up at Link.
"Zelda, what is the matter?" Link asked, kneeling by her and lifting her up.
"You-you were behind there for HOURS." She whispered. "Some...some trick of the villainess is doing this, I'm certain of it...she is interfering with time, fooling with us..."
"Hours? I...this IS serious. Stay close, I INSIST." He told her gently, taking her hands in his and nodding at her as they made their way down another hallway.
Unfortunately this touching moment didn't last long. An enormous fan suddenly sprung up from one side of the wall, aimed squarely at Zelda, blowing her with a mighty blast into another room as Link yelled in horror and denial, ripping through the fan with the Master Sword. "Curse you!" He yelled. "A thousand plagues upon you!"
He turned to the room, slicing at the walls to cut them down and let his beloved-
Wrinkled...crow's-feet-afflicted, white-haired Zelda of Hyrule out...
"...Zelda?" He managed to gasp out, kneeling by her and holding her cheek as his voice cracked, Zelda slowly opening aged eyes. "What...what in the Goddesses name?"
"L-Liiiink?" Zelda rattled out. "You left me." She muttered, eyes widening. "How could you do that? How could you leave me?"
"Zelda, I didn't mean to-" Link begged tearfully.
"200 years I was waiting for you and you didn't come!" Zelda cried out, banging her frail fists on his chest as he stood up, horrified at what she had become, WAS becoming, snarling and spitting at him, rising on frail bones, voice barely recognizable in it's furious grief.
Link held his hands up, a dark chill rising through his body. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
"She comes for me at night...she comes and she hurts me, she HURTS me..." Zelda muttered out, eyes scanning the hall as she staggered towards him. "They hurt me over and over and OVER AND OVER..."
"Zelda-" Link whispered, reaching out and taking her shoulder before she screamed at him, racing towards him as he spiraled backwards, gasping in horror as she lunged.
"HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO MEEEEE?" She bellowed out before she fell down a dark deep hole that ripped open beneath her, Link screaming out in denial as he reached out with one gloved hand.
"Zelda, no! NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
...
...
...
...Nick and Mr. Levin raced through the streets, Levin grinning maniacally as he pointed at a series of buildings far off in the distance. "Tell me what you see."
"...rooftops?" Nick suggested, shrugging slightly as Levin made a quick turn into the fast lane, the roaring sirens of cop cars beginning to catch up to them.
"Connect the dots, tell me whatcha get." Levin insisted, pointing again as one driver angrily swore in Galvan at them, shaking powerful, tiny fists.
"...uhhh...a...hill or ramp?" Nick guessed.
"DING-DING-DING!" Levin laughed, snapping his fingers as his car shot through a red light, breaking yet ANOTHER traffic violation. "So hold onto your underwear, this baby's got all the options!"
"Meaning WHAT?" Nick yelled out over the roar of the engines, plugging his ears with his fingers.
"Meaning we're going up, up and AWAAAAAY!" Levin yelled back, flipping a switch on his dashboard as a series of wings shot out from the sides of the car, a jet engine roaring to life in the back as his ship, riding up a hill, shot through the air, landing on a rooftop and heading for another.
"You're crazy! You're insane! You are SO COOOOOOL!" Nick cackled, punching the air above him with both hands as they bounced from roof to roof, the trail of the final race growing brighter and brighter as they got closer and closer to it and to Mr. Zero's floating commentary booth. "This is better than the "Superman: Ride of Steel" at Six Flags! G-FORCE, G-FORCE, G-FORCE, G-FORCE!"
Meanwhile, Link had found a series of stairs and had raced down to the first floor, moving through darkened corridors as the hum of an air conditioner added an eerie white noise to an otherwise silent nightmare. He nervously stepped through the halls, smelling something. An odor...a very strong one of-
Blood? And...death...
The Redead had had a smell. Like meat mushed together, left out to rot in the sun and then hung in a butcher's shop. This smelled like them...only far, far stronger.
He turned the corner, immediately regretting it as his blue eyes widened in horror at the sight before him. Written on the walls with the only thing left to her were the words "Hate you" and "Want to die" over and over. Frantic, desperate, insane scribbling from a woman...
That was nothing more than a long-blackened corpse, what little flesh left flaking off of bones darker than charcoal. Had it not been for the clothes, there would have been no indication that at one point this being had ever been Princess Zelda, the heir to the throne of Hyrule. The smell was positively overpowering, putrid and sickening, so strong it almost made Link vomit.
But it didn't. It just made him scream. And oh, did he scream as he collapsed to the floor, cradling Zelda's dead body, weeping openly. "No, no, no, nooo, noooooo." He managed to get out through his tears, falling to the floor and banging uselessly on the ground with his fists. "Zelda. ZELDA. I'm sorry, I'm SO, SO sorry..." He whimpered.
"Link?" Zelda whispered, nervously speaking as she stepped into the hallway, eyes widening at the thing he'd been was cradling. "What is that?"
Link's head snapped up and he whipped it in the direction of Zelda, glancing back at the thing, then at her before rushing to Zelda and embracing her so tightly she almost felt suffocated. "Thank the Goddeses, thank the Goddesses, it's you, it's YOU, and you're so beautiful, have I ever told you that?" He blubbered out, breathing in her sweet scent, not wanting to ever let go.
"Oh, I AM having fun." Mother's voice echoed out over the intercom as the body slowly faded away. "So much amazing technology to use. What to do with you next?" She mused, chuckling before breaking out into full cackling, Zelda and Link racing off, grasping each other's hands tightly.
Meanwhile, Nick was texting on his cell phone as Erin glanced down at her own, quickly picking it up as she and the other racers entered a long stretch. They'd been looping around the town for quite some time, but now they were almost there at their destination. Samus had made certain of this.
"Look...out...your right...window?" She mumbled, glancing out to the right, eyes bugging at the sight of Nick waving from a car that was essentially leapfrogging from roof to roof. "Oh...my...GOD!" She gasped. "What the?"
"This is AAAAWESOME!" Nick yelled as Mr. Levin pointed at the color commentary booth, which they were rapidly approaching. Mr. Zero was realizing that for some reason, the track for the last race hadn't quite made all the necessary turns.
"They turned RIGHT at the last intersection above main, it should have been straight...am I gonna hafta get out the damn map!" Mr. Zero mumbled, reaching into his chest and tossing out tequila glasses, several little watches and doohickeys, a small Tamagotchi...there it was, the map for the last race. They hadn't passed the halfway mark STILL? What was wrong with them?
"Wise men say only fools rush in." Mr. Levin mused as he gunned the engine, aiming squarely for Mr. Zero's commentary booth as Nick gripped the seat tightly. "CALL ME A FOOL."
"Call us BOTH fools." Nick decided, unbuckling his seatbelt as Levin's car leaped from a final rooftop, Mr. Zero's eyes widening at the sight of an enormous race car streaking through the air towards him.
"Oh bollocks-"
The entire commentary booth was practically SHATTERED as Nick, gripping the top half of Mr. Zero and the whole of Mr. Levin, leaped onto Erin's car, patting the roof as she held a thumbs up at him. The Logosian started laughing so hard that he almost lost control of the car as Erin giggled. "BRILLIANT!".
"BLOODY brilliant, and you're almost there!" Alex added, Fox readying the teleportal as their pre-programmed racetrack suddenly wound DOWN, aiming squarely at the second floor of one particular hospital.
Mother Brain whipped her head out the window, eyes widening as Fox flipped a switch. "Teleportal station ACTIVATED!"
"And HEEEERE WEEEE GOOOOO!" Samus laughed giddily, pulling down a lever as Mario, Luigi, Erin, Captain Falcon and all the remotely organic beings on or IN the cars were immediately transported back to the garage, Link and Zelda rushing out of the doors to the first floor of the hospital as Mother Brain was struck with Big Blue, the car slamming squarely into her chest. Her mouth opened, a bloody swear managing to get past her lips...
Almost, anyway.
In an instant the sabotaged cars promptly exploded, in a blazing burst of bright golden-white energy as Link and Zelda hid from behind several trees nearby, onlookers watching in amazement as the second floor, and immediately after via aftershocks, the HOSPITAL was practically knocked down like a giant "Jenga" game turned sour.
Calmly leaving the garage and making their way over to the destroyed hospital, the Logosian tended to Link and Zelda's wounds from exploded shrapnel and launched glass. Luckily they'd been far away enough to avoid serious injury.
"Don't worry, I'm a registered nurse." He insisted as he finished the touches on the wound to Zelda's cheek. "Or, at least I WAS back on Logos."
"But where is Mother Brain?" Pikachu murmured as they glanced around at the wreckage, police cars driving up to the scene, FINALLY arriving to do something. "She is not going to rise from the wreckage, half woman, half-machine with flesh sloughing off, is she?"
"THAT'S an unpleasant image." Yoshi shuddered, shaking his head. "PLEASE tell me she's dead, Ms. Aran!" He asked Samus.
"Well...judging from the contents of the air, the proximity of the explosion and exactly where she was when the cars landed..." Samus murmured, typing into her wrist computer on her plasma buster, frowning behind her visor. "...she was atomized and redistributed."
"Uh, what, perchance, does that mean?" Link inquired, scratching his dust-covered hair, his cap slightly cut.
"You're breathing her." Jigglypuff snorted.
"BLUURGGH!" This time Link DID vomit as the Logosian began to laugh hysterically, Samus quietly chuckling and Pikachu wiping his fur off with his paws, gagging and hacking in disgust. Nick, meanwhile, was quiet...standing by Mr. Levin...
Who had become cold in his grip.
"...please wake up." Nick whispered quietly, gently holding Mr. Levin's body as he nervously shook his head back and forth, feeling the piece of razor-sharp intestinal tract that had shot through Jack's heart in the explosion that had blown the commentary booth apart and cut Mr. Zero in half. "No, NO, come on, wake up. Briiiiing...meeee...toooo...liiiife..." He sang out quietly, waiting, waiting...
Nothing.
"...it's not working." He spoke more loudly, his brimming-with-tears eyes turning to the others as they looked in his direction, suddenly seeing Mr. Levin's state. The crowd of onlookers gasped as Nick stepped back from the body, the police examining it thoroughly as Nick held his hands over his mouth. "Why isn't it...why is...this can't...not...WHY?"
"...maybe he was done." Pikachu suggested softly. "...maybe there was no more reason for him to stay here. He'd done what he'd wanted."
"He went out at a peak nobody'll ever reach." Erin spoke softly. "...like Jimmy Dean..."
"Lived and died behind the wheel..." Nick croaked out, covering his face as Mr. Zero hacked out a laugh, being loaded into a police car's trunk since he could now easily fit in most overhead storage bins.
"He'll betray you, you know." The cyborg laughed at them.
"Are you still TALKING?" Samus growled at the scum that had dared to ally himself with the destroyer of worlds."
"Your friend "Percival"!" Mr. Zero went on, grinning broadly. "He'll become even worse than me, he IS worse than me."
"Worse than Mr. "I Killed My Own Father"? I don't THINK so!" Nick yelled back at him, angrily lunging at Mr. Zero, becoming restrained by the police and pushed back. The desire to feed this thing it's own tongue was rising in him, a burning hot fire that wouldn't quell easily.
"And why NOT? He left me for his sick love of racing! And when he did, I swore to own the sport, ALL of it! Every last drop!" Mr. Zero hissed back.
Mario shook his head as he folded his arms. "Are there no-a therapists upon thees planet?" He questioned.
"There NEVER are." Yoshi sniggered as the police closed the trunk on the car, letting Mr. Zero rant alone as Nick chewed into his fist, looking back at Mr. Levin as they carried him away on a stretcher.
"...I'm sorry about Mr. Levin." Erin spoke gently, putting one hand on his shoulder as Nick slowly sank to his knees.
"...I did it again." Nick thought to himself. "Another person I failed to save."
...
...
...
... "I must say, I've NEVER seen more well-behaved Cragmites." Fox admitted as he and the rest of the gang were led back onto Tachyon's ship, a portal shimmering wide, ready to take them to their next stop. Or at least, several of them, anyhow, the ones that wouldn't look too out-of-place. There was another portal to it's right that would take the others back to the mansion.
"Oh, no thank you, really, I've had quite enough tea." Zelda insisted, one Cragmite lowering the plate of tea and crumpets as Alex munched on a burger himself, looking over in Nick's direction as he shook Tachyon's hand.
"Thank you again for being so considerate to us." Nick insisted again. "It was so nice of you to let us spend the night!" He'd NEEDED some time to himself, and he'd been grateful Tachyon had given him a room to himself. He'd cried himself to sleep last night over Levin...and he'd no doubt be crying for many more nights.
"You're SURE none of you did ANYTHING in the pool besides swim?" Tachyon inquired, looking over in the direction of the more animalistic heroes as Jigglypuff whistled innocently.
"We're positive." Mario spoke up. "Right?" He asked them all as everybody nodded eagerly. "But we should-a theenk up a NAME for ourselves."
"A what?" Fox asked.
"A name. We're like a beeg team now. We should have a name, don'tcha think?" Mario went on, walking back and forth before them all.
"Like a superhero team has a name?" Luigi asked. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I get eet! Well, what WOULD we name ourselves? I meen, all we've really got in-a common is we're good at smashing theengs up!"
"That's not a bad idea!" Mario laughed as Nick's head shot in Mario's direction.
Could it be?
Could it really be?
"We'll be..."
Alex's eyes widened wider...wider...
"The Smashing Pros! Or "Smash Pros", for short-a! Whaddya think?" He asked them all.
"Sounds good to me! Nice ring to it." Yoshi decided.
"Yeah, it's got a nice feel to it." Pikachu admitted.
"A bit...barbaric, "smashing", but...well, "professionals" is a nice touch, I would like you to be thought of as one." Zelda mused, smiling at Link as he humbly blushed.
"I don't mind." Samus told them all.
Nick scratched his head in dumb confusion, Alex pulling his face down with his hands as he let out a deep, inward sigh. Oh, if only they knew.
"Take care, Perry." Nick said, he, Link and Zelda heading into the second portal as Tachyon rolled his eyes.
"EMPER-oh, FORGET it." The Cragmite mumbled, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Fox, Captain Falcon and Yoshi following after the three as Mario, Luigi and Samus entered with Alex and Erin into the new world...
And found themselves in quite a strange new place indeed.
"...um...everyone..." Alex murmured as he blinked his eyes on the leash he was being forced to wear for his disguise, claws slightly scratching at his fur as Samus adjusted the perception filter she was wearing. "...am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"
"...this can't possibly be right." Samus murmured, now wearing a dress as she tilted her head to the side, scratching it as Erin rubbed her chin.
"Thees ees certainly new." Mario admitted, raising his cap ever-so-slightly as Luigi gaped at the sight.
Before their eyes was something seemingly ripped right out of a "Leave it To Beaver" episode. Houses with long, white picket fences, puffy clouds and identical windows and doors. Long roads, mailboxes lined along them all, and everything similar in color and shade...
Because everything around them, be it the sky, the clouds, the paint scheme on the buildings or the people walking around on the sidewalks and into the town some distance away...was all in shades of black, white and grey.
"What's going on?" Luigi asked, looking at himself and the town around them. Even he and his brother and the friends were all the same shades as the town. One kid walked by them, looking them over as he adjusted his baseball cap and smiled.
"You all here for the big game?" He cheerily inquired. "Or maybe the band concert after? It'll be quite the show! Superfun!" He laughed.
"Er...yes, the band concert! We've heard it's...swell. REALLY swell." Erin stuttered nervously, thankful she was dressed conservatively enough.
"Oh, well, I hope I get to see you there, miss...uh..." The kid scratched his head. "...what's your name?"
"Erin. Erin...KNIGHTLY." Erin said quickly, wanting to pick a more normal-sounding name.
"The name's Ness Elliot, ma'am." Ness told her, bowing slightly. "Please to meetcha. Ta-ta!" He called out, waving goodbye and bounding off, walking the dog with his yo-yo.
"...this is really happening, eesn't eet? How?" Mario murmured as Master Hand's voice echoed in their heads.
"This is the change you must bring about. There are two birds with one stone to be brought down. Bring color to the world...and all will be made right."
"How do we do-a THAT?" Luigi asked.
"You need to make Ness open to ideas. Ideas about what it means to truly be a "person". He lives in a 1950's world...and it's time to jolt him out of it before he's in here for too long..." Mater Hand went on. "This, to him, was his escape, the same way Pikachu had an escape."
"He's ten years old! The worst challenge he should have should be learning multiplication tables." Samus mumbled as they made their way into town after Ness. "Just what in his life was so bad...that he felt the need for everything to be like THIS?" Samus wondered.
"That, Ms. Aran...is the right question." Master Hand intoned.