Chapter Twenty-Six: Break Away
~*Afternoon of the Second Day*~
In the dimness, Bowser could barely see the hanging cage from across the room, much less the shape of the trophified Princess Zelda imprisoned within.
The floor creaked against his weight slightly as he strode over to the cage to make sure he'd done the lock properly. Just as his claws brushed the lock, a nagging beeping broke his concentration. He jerked his paw away and snarled at the radio communicator on the adjacent bench, before stomping over to answer the call.
"Minister, I would really appreciate it if I could mute this thing," the King Koopa grumbled into the radio.
"Would you put a muzzle on your guard dog?"
"O-Oh! Ganondorf!" Bowser broke into an exaggerated coughing fit.
The Dark Lord on the other end of the line grunted audibly. "Project Trump?"
Bowser, having gotten carried away, gagged and spluttered after Ganondorf spoke. Eventually, he cleared his throat and replied, "Yes, I'm nearly ready to go."
"What are you doing, anyway?" Ganondorf asked, slightly amused. "It wouldn't have taken that long for you to drop off the princess at the Halberd, would it?"
Bowser rumbled lowly before stating flatly, "The prisoner escaped last night."
"...You'd better not be fooling around."
"I'm serious!" Bowser exclaimed. "The Primids caused a complete riot and I had trouble getting anywhere.
"I've sent some parties to hunt him down, so don't think I've been lazing around moping the past few hours."
"What made up those parties?"
Bowser hesitantly said, "... Mites."
"Mi-" Ganondorf sighed.
"B-But they're nimble and unnoticeable! They move about discretely enough that the locals won't notice anything fishy. You also have to consider the lack of onboard resources."
"And you expect them to not have noticed the pockets of Subspace we've been planting in every corner of their small world?"
Bowser opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, dumbfounded for a moment.
"Never mind. He's not Master Hand's top priority." Ganondorf paused, then continued, "You informed the Hand of this, did you not?"
Silence.
"Argh... Just rendevous as soon as possible." Ganondorf then cut the transmission before Bowser could utter a word.
The King Koopa contemplated crushing the radio in his bare paw out of frustration, then dismissing the thought. He walked over to the imprisoned princess and rattled the cage lightly. His paw moved over to the lock and pulled. When it didn't budge, he exhaled heavily, grateful that he hadn't needed to do the extra job.
He looked up at the caged princess once more, his crimson eyes meeting her unnaturally metallic ones. Gripping the radio in his other paw, he exited the room.
*.*.*.*.*
None of them knew what to expect as they crashed through the door. Metal framework cracked and splintered concrete of the surrounding walls exploded around them and flooded into the room on the other side. The smooth floor beneath them was some assurance as they blindly put on the brakes, steeling themselves as the wreckage and the racket settled.
Pikachu bristled itself in case of an attack, standing on the tips of its electrified paws. Samus raised her arm cannon. The Lylatians kept their reflectors at hand and the primates crouched low, wary and alert.
The room was revealed to the group of six. The same vinyl floor below them, and a network of metal and plastic pipes above. As eyes followed the metal plating of the walls, an open doorway provided an exit at a back corner of the room. Directly in front of them, spherical machines stood in several rows, accompanied by a squad of robots standing in the same meticulous formation.
In the centre of it all stood the Ancient Minister, emerald cloak and all.
He fixed his eyes on the intruders. Six pairs of eyes stared back, still armed and ready to retaliate.
Pikachu's cheeks sparked as the Minister's focus flitted from one of its allies to the next.
Fox fingered with his blaster, keeping a tense eye on the robots positioned behind their commander.
"No more of this warmongering," the Ancient Minister whirred softly, turning his gaze to the floor. He shook his head slowly and his pointed green headdress bowed gently.
The six loosened up slightly and they lowered their weapons.
"I never wanted this." The Ancient Minister looked up shamefully, barely managing to look anyone in the eyes. "Four of you I have never seen, but I know that you all fight on the opposite side that I have been bound to. The one that I've seen several others, who you may not know, fight for."
Samus and Pikachu looked at each other, then back at the Minister.
"That same fiery passion to defend this world from the foreign and malign unites you six along the nine others I have encountered over the past two days."
"...Others?" Samus inquired tightly. She peered at the robot before her. His likening them to people she had never met made her edgy. What was his role in the recent chaos? How did he acquire his knowledge?
"They crossed paths with me and ventured dangerously close to the weapons I planted at those times and places, though that was not their fault." The Minister glared at the dormant Subspace Bombs behind him. "As a leader, I should have never have conceded to this. I should have been stronger and risen earlier against my superiors, the ones who now threaten this realm."
His gaze seemed to harden as he raised his head, his headdress straightening itself.
"So I must ask you..." The Minister's mechanical eyelids slid shut for a long moment. He felt anxious energy rush through his circuits, but he eventually opened his eyes again. "I fear it might be too late for my redemption...
"But I wish to contribute my strength to yours."
Before his audience could dwell on the matter, and Falco or Samus could protest, a mass of red light suddenly burst to life to the six's right. It hung in mid air like a ghost, the image of a heavily-built humanoid cut off at about knee height staring first at the Minister, then at the others.
At the sight of him, the Minister's robots proceeded towards the bombs. Their leader, however, swerved in front of them defiantly. The robots exchanged looks, surprised by their leader's actions.
"I see how it is," the holographic man sneered, having drawn the Minister's attention completely. The ribbons trailing from the latter's headdress quivered violently. Whether out of fear or fury, the six could not tell just yet.
"What are you doing here?" the Ancient Minister spat at the hologram.
"Your job." The man raised a large hand, then pressed the button of a small device in his grip.
The robots behind the Ancient Minister roared to life in simultaneous whirrs, eyes flashing the same red as the holographic man. One by one they turned around to face the supply of metal cylinders behind them.
"Halt!" the Minister commanded, watching hopelessly as several robots began unloading the bombs and scattering them around the room, completely under the influence of the hologram. "Ganondorf, you can't do this!"
"I already have." The holographic Ganondorf nodded his head to the several robots who had already plugged themselves into the bombs and thus triggered the countdown. At the sight, he began cackling in success, his voice rising as more and more the robots surrendered themselves to his will.
"Stop it!" the Minister screamed in vain, cringing away from Ganondorf and the sound of his terrible laughter, dearly hoping that the sound of his own raging circuits would drown the Dark Lord out.
The six looked on motionlessly at the sight of the hulking Ganondorf, the shrinking Minister and the countless robots and their machines, utterly astonished. Diddy Kong had clambered onto his uncle's shoulders and was clinging there, spooked. Pikachu had flattened itself against the floor.
Without warning, the Ancient Minister straightened and raced over to the robot underlings. He slammed himself into them, trying desperately to deter them from the Subspace Bombs.
Ganondorf noticed his efforts and said, "So, you want to do this the hard way?" He activated the device again, watching as a group of previously unresponsive robots shuddered with energy. The Ancient Minister noticed them surrounding him and looked on disbelievingly at his former followers, only noticing the red glow of their eyes once they began showering him with lasers.
"Please..." the Minister begged one final time as the searing lasers burned into him and incapacitated his ability to see. The heat from the laser fire set his cloak aflame, engulfing his figure.
The six stared in horror at the fireball before them. The Ancient Minister's eyes shone through even the ferocity of the fire, making it appear he was made of the fire that licked at his metal hide.
Those same eyes glinted a piercing blue for a split second before he twirled around at breakneck speed, shedding his flaming coat as dirty ash and blackened fragments of fabric. This was it. He stopped, shamelessly revealing his true form to the six. The primates' eyes widened and Falco went slightly slack-jawed when the familiar form of a robot stood before them. Physically no different to the others.
"Begone, Ganon," the Ancient Minister thundered, relieved of the fire's heat and equipped with the much more welcome inner heat of anger and rebellion. "I will go no further."
"I knew you would turn to the enemy, you robot rubbish," Ganondorf scathed in response. "You will regret this. You may have stopped yourself, but you have not stopped the forces of Subspace. You will never stop me."
The holographic Dark Lord pressed the button one more time, then disappeared without another word. The remaining robots joined in the process of detonating the Subspace Bombs.
The Ancient Minister, not completely spent, glanced over his shoulder at the six before having more attempts at disabling the bombs and saving his brethren. He flitted from one robot to the next, searching frantically for a weak point where they had attached themselves to the bombs. But he already knew. There were no weaker parts of the machines, therefore brute force was the only hope, if any at all.
Falco, taking the Minister's hint, called to the rest of them, "Try to help him wreck these things!"
Samus stared at one of the nearby bombs, noticing the red timer almost down one minute. "We've about two minutes left. What do you expect us to do in that time?"
An echoing clang sounded from a distance as a robot's disembodied arm was thrown to the floor and landed at Samus's feet.
"Let's have a shot while we still have some time," Donkey Kong hollered as he wrenched another arm away from the bomb, albeit with significant difficulty.
Falco nudged past Fox as he sent a barrage of blaster shots at the robot at the other end of the bomb. No visible effect. Grunting in frustration, he charged over and gave the appendage a hard kick. The move had barely any effect.
"Fox, get over here!" the avian snapped.
Before the vulpine could answer, the Minister swerved over to the group.
"At this rate, the bombs will go off before we disable them all," he said urgently, his head bowing a little. "Let's get out while we can."
"You heard the robot," Samus yelled, drawing Falco and DK's attention especially. "We're making a break for it!" She followed the Minister towards the exit, closely followed by Pikachu. Fox grabbed Falco by the arm as they and the primates trailed behind.
The four stragglers nearly bowled into the other three after they ran through the doorway, whom had frozen in their tracks.
"What is–" Falco began, then spotted the abrupt end in the path just in front of them. A large, circular shaft dropped down an immeasurable distance before disappearing into darkness. "Oh."
"Your Arwing!" Fox reminded him quickly.
"Right!" Falco fiddled with his wrist communicator as the others watched on.
"What does that mean?" Samus asked the Lylatians.
"The Arwing's a plane, and we're not turning back."
"What?"
"Does your suit have any sort of magnetising function?" Fox pressed Samus.
"Yes. Why?"
"Keep it on." Fox turned to the Ancient Minister, who had so far remained silent. "You too, if you have it."
"I do." The robot nodded firmly.
"We're taking another jump real soon," Falco said excitedly. "Are you guys ready?"
"Chuuu?!" Pikachu squealed, flatting its ears and tail.
"For real." Falco patted its head.
"This is suicide!" DK cried, looking over the edge of their platform and drawing back again, breathless. Diddy was no less panicked, gripping DK's arm as if for dear life.
"Staying here is suicide, too," the Minister cut in.
"As long as we focus, we should all be fine," Fox declared. He pointed to the Minister. "You and Samus will handle Donkey Kong. Diddy, come with me. Falco, you've got Pikachu. We'll be magnetically pulled towards the Arwing as we pass it, so we won't miss it."
They were all too overwhelmed to respond verbally, so he received six nods of affirmation.
Falco's comm blinked green. "Our ride's down there. Ready?" He poked his head over the edge.
"Ready as we'll ever be," Samus answered on behalf of all of them. She had one of DK's huge hands in one of hers. His other was in the Minister's robotic grip.
Diddy vaulted onto Fox in a piggyback and Pikachu leapt into Falco's arms.
Fox stepped forward and began the countdown, struggling to keep his voice level, "Three... two... one..."
He took a shuddering breath before bellowing,
"JUMP!"
He and Falco dropped off the edge, followed by Samus, DK and the Minister. Terrible weightlessness took effect as they plummeted down the shaft, the air ravaging past like a hurricane. Diddy shut sealed his eyes shut and clung to his mount to the point of nearly suffocating the vulpine. If they missed...
After what felt like an eternity clouded with fear, Falco's Arwing came into view below them, hovering in the centre of the shaft. Fox quickly activated the magnetism of his reflector as they approached the fighter plane.
Diddy clamped his eyes shut as Fox began mentally counting the seconds before contact.
Four, three, two, one...
Fox grabbed one of Diddy's forearms tightly as they passed the Arwing's port side. The duo decelerated as its magnetic field captured them and swung them back up towards its body. Both of them had the wind knocked out of their lungs as they crashed into the side of the fuselage and were pinned there.
"Zero..." Fox groaned aloud, eyes scrunched shut from the pain.
"Holy..." Diddy mumbled, persisting with his iron grip on Fox as he looked down anxiously at the imperceptible darkness below them.
They heard a thump and felt the Arwing vibrate as someone else became attached to the Arwing's starboard exterior. Fox clambered up onto the nearest wing, arms burning from the effort as he heaved himself up along with Diddy.
The duo heard the sound of tentative footsteps to their left.
"You 'kay, guys?" Falco asked them, trying to mask whatever shock and pain he was still harbouring. Pikachu stood huddled next to his feet, keeping an eye on its own unsteady paws on the smooth metal.
"Could be worse," Fox replied through a grimace, then suddenly felt a lot lighter when Diddy climbed off his back and settled next to him. "Are the others on board?"
"There." Diddy pointed out the three that were recovering from the landing in front of the Arwing's cockpit. Upon spotting DK, he began making his way over, but was caught by Fox.
"Stay here," he told Diddy. "You'll need a magnet."
The monkey nodded sadly.
"I'll pilot," Falco informed the two. He opened up the cockpit and jumped inside, then drew the attention of the other three.
"Get onto the other wing!" the avian instructed them, to which they hastily but carefully complied. He pulled Pikachu inside as well, then shut the cockpit windshield and gave them all a thumbs up as he prepared for takeoff.
The Arwing, with its seven passengers– five of them clinging to its wings– shot down the tunnel ahead, towards the world outside.
However, it was not the last thing to enter the passageway.
A/N:
Tune4Toons: I intend to keep on improving :D
The Tyzmila Monolith was an anagram of Tazmily from the EarthBound series. So good job Pokepika's Haunt and EarthBound Cat (and anyone else who thought so) for working it out! :)
Stay tuned, we've still got a ways to go.