Chapter 21: Master and Commander
"Heroes of Nintendo and Smash Planet…once again, your faith has rewarded you with victory…"
Pit wasn't sure whether he was in some kind of light-headed trance or if he was dreaming, but the blinding white background made it difficult for him to distinguish Lady Palutena's figure other than from her striking emerald-green hair. The other seven heroes—Mario, Toon Link, Tetra, Roy, Red, Banjo, and Rocketman—floated beside him in this empty void. Were they dead?
Then Palutena's soft, lilting voice came again, echoing from all directions as if they were standing in the middle of a vast cavern. "The true gods of This World have always yearned to bestow their blessings upon the valiant races of men and mortals—but only when the time is right, and only when our aid is asked for. Sometimes, as with your endeavors against Nightmare, we do not involve ourselves because it is your destiny to fight those battles alone. But today…Pit, chief of my guard…you and the rest of your friends have proved that miracles shall never cease so long as there are those who are worthy of them."
Her divine aura and commensurate beauty left Pit speechless several times over. She smiled at him. "Now, go; rejoice in your triumphs with your friends; you have all earned this time of happiness, and there will come a time when you memories together will prove valuable beyond all mortal measure. Farewell…"
Palutena's figure was overtaken by a glorious, heavenly whiteness, and Pit's consciousness drifted away.
"Mama mía…"
Mario's vision was blurred at the edges as his eyes flickered open only to behold whiteness once more. Were they still with Pit's Skyworld goddess? If so, then what was that steady beeping sound?
He sat up drowsily and took in his surroundings. He was, in fact, in a hospital bed, the room around him almost completely whitewashed and filled with sophisticated medical technology. Mario inspected himself and found no bandages or physical injuries; then again, their confrontation with L.O.G. had been as much psychological as it had been physical. His brain felt as if it had been wrung like a wet rag, but otherwise he felt more or less normal, if a bit woozy.
"Bro! You're awake!"
Luigi had just entered the room and, seeing Mario sitting up in bed, bounded over and embraced him joyfully, laughing with relief. April followed the tall plumber into the room as well.
"What a-happened?" Mario's mind, as squashed as it was, was flooded with numerous concerns. "Is the Citadel destroyed? Are the rest of the leaders a-gone?"
"Everything's fine, Mario," April said, gently pulling Luigi out of his rather asphyxiating bear hug. "We're in one of the Citadel's hospitals right now. The LOGosphere is completely gone, and when it was destroyed, all the council members appeared back in the Grand Courtroom. Except…" Her reassuring smile faded somewhat. "Well, you'd better come and see…if you're feeling up to it."
Luigi helped his brother stagger to his feet, and together they hobbled out of the room and down an equally whitewashed hallway brimming with Edenese nurses and doctors and even a few gecko-like Keepers wandering around here and there. Thankfully, Mario had only to walk into the room next door, finding Princess Peach, Perry, and Meta Knight beside a bed in which resided a very familiar bespectacled professor.
Gadd looked like he'd aged fifteen years since Mario had last seen him; his head was more wrinkled and speckled with liver spots, his tuft of white hair thinner than before. Suddenly, Mario felt relatively well compared to the man before him, and he knelt down on his own and put a hand on the aged scientist's.
"What a-happened?"
"L.O.G.'s Deletion took a toll on all of us," Meta Knight said. "Some more than others. Those of us who are young have been able to make a full recovery, but some of the more advanced in age…" He seemed hesitant to go on, which was a red flag considering how rarely Meta Knight ever hesitated about anything.
"I'll get by, lads," Gadd croaked, squeezing Mario's hand and attempting a smile that came out as more of a grimace than anything else. "Don't you all go worrying about me. Others're ailing as much or worse—Theodore…Master Jiggywiggy…and…"
"Toadsworth didn't make it, Mario," Peach said, and it was then that Mario noticed her eyes were raw from crying, her hair not as well kept as usual. In her hands, Perry looked equally troubled in his own way.
It was like a Giga Bowser punch to the gut. Mario couldn't believe it. Toadsworth—the Mushroom Kingdom's royal advisor and caretaker for countless decades, who had cared for Mario, Luigi, and Peach since they were infants, who had given Perry a new home—could he really be gone?
"I'm…so sorry…to all of you," Gadd said. "I feel a great deal of responsibility for allowing Toadsworth to embark on The King's Krystal, a voyage that my scientist's side convinced me was perhaps more necessary than it actually was. It is a burden I will have to bear the rest of my days." He shakily reached up and, to everyone's shock, removed his swirly glasses, revealing small squinty eyes underneath. He fixed Mario with an uncharacteristically serious look.
"Mario…I will live…but I'm afraid it is time for me to step down. I am too feeble to be of much help anymore; the Smash Brothers must go on without me. Meta Knight will now take charge of our worldwide brotherhood. And you…" He coughed and gave Mario's hand another gentle squeeze. "…will be his second."
If it hadn't been for all the other craziness going on, Mario might have actually reacted with surprise. But now, it just seemed as if one surprise piled upon another with diminishing returns. But at least this particular surprise wasn't a strictly negative one.
"Okay, professor."
Before Master Chief's trial took place, it had become immediately clear to those in New Alexandria that efficient modes of transportation needed to be established in Microsoft to complement the portals in Nintendo and the Chaos Emeralds in Sony. Professor E. Gadd had thought ahead, however, and had brought the technology necessary to set up more of his Wire Frame Pod-based portals throughout Smash Planet. Small parties had been dispatched to every region of Microsoft, Sony, and the Islands in order to establish these arches whose thresholds resembled purple aluminum foil. That was how the trial council had teleported to the Citadel, and it was also how thousands of Microsians, Sonians, Atarians, Islanders, and Nintendonians teleported to the designated location for the war's-end celebration.
Princess Éclair and the Chestnut King hosted the event in White Chocolate Castle at the center of the Waffle Kingdom's matrix of tiny islands. Since the Copyright Wars, the sugary ramparts had been rebuilt, the blueberry and raspberry muffin towers restored in all their glucose-saturated glory. Giant glowing jawbreakers lit both the castle's interior and grounds, providing ample space for the guests to amass and mingle for a spectacular night of sweet celebrations.
Had they come during the day, the visitors might have been able to make out the small cottages of Plumpbelly Village to the north; the racetracks of Circuit Break Island to the northeast; the canopies of Grumble Forest to the east; the ruins of Hatesong Tower to the south; and the steep slopes of Rumblebump Volcano to the west. But as it was, the darkness kept all focus on the Wafflites' capital, with the exception of some of the Plumpbelly villagers who had decorated their homes with colorful Mike & Ike light strands like so many frosted gingerbread houses.
The introductory speech was given by Princess Éclair, whose sweet, accented voice projected from the White Chocolate Castle's highest balcony down to the mixed crowds below.
"Our people are proud to welcome you all here as friends," she said, her voice amplified by the malt ball microphone in her hand, the handle made of black licorice. "Our worlds have long struggled to accept each other's differences…but beginning today, we hope those same diversities that once divided us will blend to make life sweeter for all. Enjoy the festivities!"
Cheering and applause. Then, Meta Knight took the stage. People all over Smash Planet were already getting used to seeing his face (or his mask, in any case). But this time, he was not alone, and he was not here just to give a speech.
"The near-catastrophe in Eden Prime proved that corruption can be found where we least expect it," he said, his yellow eyes burning through the night. "And even within each of us, there is a corruptible element that those who wish to destroy us may seek to draw upon. Thus, when those corruptions are discovered and overcome…that, my friends, is an occasion worth celebrating. People of Microsoft, behold your leader. He has acknowledged his errors and made restitution by single-handedly ending this war. Receive him! Honor him!"
The Master Chief stepped forward to the edge of the balcony and looked out at the almost unanimously approving crowds of Microsians, applauding his return. How could this be? He didn't deserve it…but Microsoft deserved better, so that was what he would give them. He tentatively took the microphone from Meta Knight.
"I'm humbled to stand before you. I will waste no time making apologies that solve nothing or asking forgiveness I don't deserve. All you need to know…is that from this day forward, the rifts that have been driven between us will begin to heal, and one day, perhaps, I will be able to look you in the eye and say I have paid my debt to society. Until then, there is work for us to do: bridges to build; trade and travel to facilitate. Our newly opened borders will bring a prosperity Wizpig's enforced empire never could have achieved. To that vision, I dedicate my life."
Master Chief in turn handed the microphone to Banjo, who had been chosen to represent the islands and territories of RareWare. Kazooie was conspicuously missing from his backpack—not because she hadn't returned from L.O.G.'s digital Recycle Bin, but because the bear knew in advance that the words "Kazooie" and "diplomacy" did not belong in the same sentence.
He gulped. "Well, I'm not gonna say this'll be easy for any of us; I'm not the brightest Jiggy in the puzzle, if you know what I mean. But what I think the New RareWare will have to offer is somethin' different from what RareWare used to be. We'll still fight for excellence and for independence and all that…but it'll be an excellence shared with everyone instead of being exclusive; It'll be an independence built not on isolation but on doin' right by each other. No witch, pig, or killer computer'll ever tear apart the jigsaw pieces that hold our worlds together."
The leaders of Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the Islands then proceeded to symbolically shake hands: Meta Knight with Master Chief; Banjo with Solid Snake; and then with every other possible combination between the four of them. Even as Snake took Master Chief's hand, he could already feel a sense of brotherhood that had replaced the master-servant relationship of the past. And it felt…good. And Snake was pretty sure the Spartan felt the same.
At the front gate of White Chocolate Castle, other Smash Brothers and All-Stars and Sentinels did likewise, congratulating each other on the peace they had achieved together, making connections and laughing and reminiscing. Perhaps most noticeably, Mario and Marcus Fenix greeted each other as equals, discussing Sera and the Mushroom Kingdom, and precipitating many such conversations among the other guests.
With that, the excitement below was joined with excitement above. A coordinated effort between Bomberman, Pacman, and Rocketman now culminated in a dazzling fireworks display, the exploding pixels speckling the black sky as if everyone was on Atari Island, the loud booms shaking the ground beneath their feet. The crowd oohed as two Centipedes streaked over the castle, dropping clusters of luminous sparkles behind them. And then, Bomberman's grand finale: a huge red bomb that burst and filled virtually the entire heavens with the image of the Smash Symbol, which they now knew was composed of the four major land masses of their planet. What exactly the symbol meant, however, still seemed to be shrouded in mystery. For now, the sense of unity it represented would suffice.
Marth and Roy had just parted from Princess Nyna after discussing Gotoh's transformation into his Divine Dragon form. The mage had not returned to them, which meant Gotoh might never go back to his human incarnation, and his school of magic would need a new leader. Nyna and Marth had been bouncing names of a few potential candidates off each other, while Roy had just stood there, lacking the in-depth knowledge of Akanaeia the others had.
But as the two swordsmen wandered through the castle, admiring the beauty of Princess Éclair's throne room (which was composed mainly of chocolate truffle gilded with golden foil along the walls and over the raspberry cream-filled throne), a word came to Roy's mind that he had never heard before, and yet it sounded strangely familiar to him.
"Hey, Marth," he said, "have you ever heard the name 'Elibe?'"
"'Elibe'…" Marth thought hard, then shook his head. "Never. What is it?"
"That's the thing," Roy said. "I don't know…something in my brain's just pulled this name out of nowhere, almost like it's from a forgotten past."
"Well," Marth said, "you were there when L.O.G. described his Memory Paradoxes. Perhaps the memory loss he caused has begun to break down."
"Maybe…" Then something else occurred to the boy. "Do you think I'm the only one, or are others starting to remember weird things, too?"
"You sound like you have someone specific in mind."
"Link…I mean, we set off on The King's Krystal, and then one day he wakes up looking like a cartoon, and he starts having weird memories about things he's never done. I think they're connected."
Marth was impressed by his younger friend's astuteness. "I believe you may be right, my friend…but only time will tell how much This World will change because of it."
Roy hesitated, almost afraid to ask his next question. "Marth…what if I don't belong in Akanaeia? I mean, you all accept me and treat me like one of your own, but I have no history with anyone there. Could we…somehow be from different worlds?"
At that, Marth stopped and put a hand on Roy's shoulder, fixing him with a sharp look of his striking blue eyes.
"Roy, you will always be one of us. A Smasher…an Akanaeian…and a brother. You may not remember where you originally hail from, but at least remember that."
Roy smiled gratefully, and nodded, and they walked on.
Yoshi yelped as a baby Yoshi licked a cookie out of his hands and slurped it shamelessly, following up with an impressive belch. But he couldn't be angry while his tribe, all around him enjoying the buffet tables inside the castle, laughed and chattered with each other in their native Yoshi tongue. In fact, considering how relatively close the Waffle Kingdom was to Yoshi's Island (not to mention its edibility), it astounded him that they didn't come here more often.
He eagerly swallowed a cluster of grapes a fraction of a second before the same baby Yoshi could do the same, causing another eruption of laughter. He smiled and closed his eyes with satisfaction.
An image suddenly flashed through his mind. A dream? A fantasy? A memory? A premonition?
The Yoshi tribe were gathered at the coast of their island, watching in horror as it drifted further and further away from the Mushroom Kingdom. They could hear distant screams. A shimmering wall of blackness curved across the sky, the watery veil sloping down into the ground many miles to the north and also to the west, appearing to mold the landscape like a sentient fault line, like the stitches around a quilt square tugging and pulling against each other. And slowly, the dark veil began to fade…
"Yoshi?"
A pink Yoshi shook him awake, a look of concern on her face and a large melon in her hand. She offered it to him, but he gently pushed it away.
"Yoshi," he replied, which meant something along the lines of "I'm okay…just a bad dream…"
On the opposite balcony at the southern end of White Chocolate Castle, Samus let her hair fall around her armored shoulders, her helmet on the ground beside her. She watched as the stars reflected what little light they had on the ruins of Hatesong Tower, the place where Kameo had lost her sister, Kalus. One of many sacrificed lives that had begun with Cortana and had ended with Captain Falcon. For the first time in her life, she wondered what happened to a person after death. Was there an afterlife? Or just nothingness? Could Falcon be conscious of her standing there at this very moment, thinking about him?
"You all right, Aran?"
Jody Summer approached her from behind and joined her at the dark chocolate rail. Samus didn't look over, and thus failed to notice that Jody's expression was as pained as her own, or that there was a round object pressed close to her chest, her dark brown hair waving slightly in the gentle tropical breeze.
"I'm fine."
Jody looked over at her even though Samus refused to make eye contact. The corner of her mouth lifted in a slight smirk. "You know, for a girl, you're one hell of a fighter."
That took Samus back to a time in Fourside City, when she and others had just barely survived a perilous chase on the F-Zero Mute City racetrack in which Jody's good friend, Dr. Robert Stewart, had been killed. Samus remembered well how distant the pilot had acted afterward, and she now realized she must be coming off in a very similar way herself after what happened on the frigate. But she didn't crack a smile.
"Yeah, well, it wasn't good enough, was it?"
"Good enough?" Jody tilted her head incredulously. "Without you, Master Chief never would have turned on Wizpig; you saved us all."
Samus's eyes were fixed on the starry horizon. "Not all of us."
Jody paused for a moment. "I've got something to show you."
Curiosity finally pried the bounty hunter's eyes away from the seascape, and she looked down to behold the object in Jody Summer's hands—and gasped.
It was Captain Falcon's helmet, its scarlet paint and golden falcon crest scorched and battered, but still intact. The white eye slits that she had always seen behind the dark visor, however, were gone. Forever. She hesitantly took it from Jody, feeling its nearly indestructible material and wishing its wearer had been just as indestructible.
"He was my brother, you know."
That caused Samus to freeze, and her gaze jerked up to meet the racer's.
"And you never told him?"
Jody's pained expression, Samus realized, also included an element of cloudiness, resembling that of someone who had just awoken from a decade-long sleep.
"I…didn't know," she said, leaning her body further across the rail with her arms folded. "Not until after L.O.G. was gone. I guess it was one of the memories he took from me."
"I'm sorry." Samus didn't know what else to say.
Jody shook her head and nodded toward the helmet. "You knew him better than I did. You should keep it to remember him by."
"No." Samus pushed Captain Falcon's helmet back into Jody's arms. "He would've wanted you to have it. You're his flesh and blood. You're his legacy."
"His legacy?" Jody wasn't sure how to take that.
"He told me once that 'Captain Falcon' wasn't his actual name; it's a title, passed down from his predecessor. I would take that title myself, but…" She picked up her helmet and began making her way back toward the castle's interior. "I've already got one."
Jody watched Samus leave, dumbfounded, then looked down at the helmet. It looked just about her size.
"Snake."
Solid Snake paused on the wafer cookie staircase and found himself face to face with Master Chief. He noticed the Spartan hadn't called him "soldier."
"Chief," he said.
The amber visor somehow seemed to emanate something akin to respect. "I've been meaning to discuss something with you."
They began ascending the winding staircase together, the steps cycling through vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry wafers. "Have at it, then," Snake said. He still wasn't quite sure how he felt about the Microsian leader—even after defending him in court.
"You must know," Master Chief said. "That night on Shadow Moses…I offer no excuse for killing your friend Meryl Silverburgh. Except this: My weapon was supposed to be set to a nonlethal setting. As were those of my comrades. I now suspect L.O.G. must have remotely switched all of our guns to kill without our noticing."
Snake raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"
If the FOXHOUND spy wasn't mistaken, the Chief's shoulders actually slumped.
"It seemed a poor way to announce an accidental murder. But now that you know I have accepted full responsibility for my crimes, I felt it appropriate for you to be informed that Meryl's true killer has been brought to justice."
They reached the top of the stairs, from which Snake was planning to head toward the balconies in search of a particular someone, while Master Chief was about to go off in another direction. Snake laughed gruffly.
"You know, I'm thinking this new world order will yet have hope of succeeding." He spotted an orange space suit passing through a dark chocolate arch near the balcony. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"
"Say no more, soldier," Master Chief said, already slipping back into his militaristic (though now benign) character. He went his own way as Snake approached his target.
"Samus," he said, offering his arm. "Care to take a walk?"
The castle gardens, lit by bright Twinkie lights and smelling strongly of mint, were just as colorful as the one in the Enchanted Kingdom where Snake had once spied on Samus and Captain Falcon. The resemblance was not lost on either of them as they walked slowly through the minty shrubs.
"What will you do now, Samus Aran?" Snake asked. "Return to bounty hunting, as you did after Nightmare was thwarted?"
Samus shrugged. "Don't know. Last time I did that, the Nintendo World was enveloped in chaos by the Subspace Army just a few months later. I think I'll continue to pick up the odd job, but it's looking more and more like the Smash Brothers will need me here long-term." She examined Snake's scruffy face. "And you're going to be having fun running a continent, I assume."
Snake laughed softly. "You know as well as me that my personal skills wouldn't be able to keep Sony out of war for more than a couple weeks. I'll be around to help things work, but I think Sony's regions will continue to function more like independent states than a single nation. I'll be given charge of about as much responsibility as I can handle: namely, a deserted island."
"Right," Samus said. "So what's the real reason you wanted to talk?"
"I…" Snake was at a sudden loss for words. And it wasn't just because of how beautiful Samus looked to him. "I was wondering, perhaps in vain, if you'll ever be able to forgive me. For what I did to Falcon. He was always the better man…he came back to help me fight Master Chief even after I told him to leave with you. I know he can never be replaced, but I hold out the smallest hope that you'll still accept me as a friend. You deserve better, but it's all I have to offer."
Samus's face remained unreadable. "As usual," she said, "you musclemen fail to see things as they really are. I loved him, Snake…but he wasn't the one who wanted to go back up the frigate to save your butt."
Snake's eyebrows rose. "It was you?"
"I woke up just before he loaded us into an escape pod. I found out what had happened and beat enough sense into him to convince him to come back. So if it's anyone's fault Falcon's dead, it's not yours; not even Master Chief's; it's mine."
Snake put a hand on Samus's shoulder. "He wouldn't see it that way. And neither do I."
Before The King's Krystal and everything that had happened since, Samus would normally have argued Snake into submission. But Captain Falcon had loosened her armor, and now she felt more vulnerable than she ever had. She stepped forward and hugged the rugged All-Star.
"Thank you," she whispered. "You and the Smash Brothers are all I have left now."
Snake resisted the urge to give a cheesy response, but finding nothing better to say after frantically scouring his mind, he relented to an uncharacteristically unsubtle move.
"And you'll always have me. No matter what."
Ness wandered along one of the red velvet chocolate corridors of White Chocolate Castle, admiring the glowing gumdrop lamps and the portraits of the royal line. On his right, the Wafflite princesses appeared more or less like normal humans, though their hairstyles resembled various pastries such as donuts, croissants, conches, and cinnamon rolls. On his left, however, the Chestnut King was just the latest of a long line of strange-looking, beady-eyed monarchs whose heads were based on different nuts: macadamias, almonds, walnuts, and so forth. What a strange tradition—and yet, Ness supposed, from an outsider's perspective, even the culture of his native Onett on planet Earth would seem strange. Strange, but beautiful.
He was about to round the corner when someone came around and accidentally ran into him, both of them stumbling back and crying out in surprise.
Mario readjusted his cap and brushed off his trousers. "My a-bad, Ness. How are you a-doing?"
"Good." Ness found himself subconsciously shoving his hands into his pockets. "Got stuff on your mind, too?"
Mario nodded. "I've been a-thinking about some things L.O.G. said before we destroyed the LOGosphere. He said...he said we're nothing but a-characters in games for children. I wonder what that a-means…"
Ness was as perplexed as his fellow Smasher. He shrugged. "Weird. I mean, I have video games back at home, but none of those characters are the same as any of us. Maybe that's what Nightmare meant when he said he was part of the team that made our worlds—that we're all a part of some giant video game."
Mario considered Ness's thoughts. He didn't understand how a world-shattering concept like this didn't seem to be bothering anyone else as much as it bothered him. If they were only characters in a game…then what real meaning did any of their lives have? Was anything he had done as hero of the Mushroom Kingdom really his own doing, or was it all part of some programmed plan? For some reason, all of these existential possibilities made him feel incredibly insecure and even a little depressed. He decided the only thing for it was to move on for the time being.
"So what about a-you? What's on your a-mind?"
Ness paused as he tried to formulate what he wanted to say into coherent speech. He looked Mario right in the eye, something he didn't do too often with anyone. But for some reason, with Mario he felt comfortable sharing his own insecurities. "We've known each other for some time, haven't we, Mario? I mean, there was the first Smash Tournament, and then the second with the Original 25, and then all the craziness with Nightmare and Tabuu."
Mario chuckled. "Yes, it feels like just a-yesterday that we were in Master Hand's a-Fortress together."
Ness would have said those were good times, but they weren't, so he didn't. "Anyway, I've been thinking about fear…about how Nightmare was supposed to be the embodiment of fear, but even after we beat him as Nightmare, and then as Tabuu, I've still felt afraid a lot during the last few months. Did you…were you afraid when we fought L.O.G.?"
"Of a-course," Mario said, to Ness's relief. "But not for my-a-self; I was afraid for those I care about. That's what it a-means to be a hero, Ness: to worry more for others than for your-a-self."
"Right. So…" Ness wasn't sure how to put into words his culminating concern. "I think I've started to think like that, too. But…what if our fears never go away, no matter how many times we chase them off? We lost Pikachu, and Diddy, and Captain Falcon, and a lot of others this year; d'you think we're just gonna be slowly picked off by our enemies until we're all gone? Until we're extinct and there's no Nintendo World left to save?"
Something about Ness's words struck Mario deeply. "I don't a-know what the future holds, Ness," he said finally. "I don't a-prophesy like Madame Clairvoya. But our a-world's never gonna go extinct…not as long as I have anything to say about it."
"So then," Fox said, wiping hysterical tears from his eyes as the raucous laughter of the tables around him quelled, "General Scales, he says to me, 'At last I will have my revenge on you, Fox McCloud!' And while his fleet of Space Pirates dogfights the Cornerian Fleet and both Federations off the surface of Sauria, we come to blows. Now, I've gotta hand it to the guy, he's a pretty good fighter for an anthropomorphic dinosaur. If I hadn't had Gandrayda and those Onett kids with me, he would've gotten the better of me for sure."
"Tell them what happened, Fox!" Slippy said, giddy off of sugar-spiked cider, his amphibious body so jittery that he couldn't even hold a strawberry tart in his hand without dropping it.
"Suddenly, I hear this foreign language and a huge pterodactyl swoops over and drops a dino-sized dump right on his head!"
"But that's not even the best part, young'uns!" Peppy added, his aged body not especially good with strong drink either.
Fox continued, "And then…Krystal jumps off the pterodactyl, indigenous style, and blasts Scales with flames; turns out, dino droppings are flammable!" The laughter of the gathered Smashers, space dwellers, and others was now almost impossible to hear over, but a blaster shot into the air by Captain Dash Bowman (who was a bit of a loose cannon himself when inebriated) was enough to allow Fox to finish.
"But that's not enough for my girl Krystal; oh, no—she and Scales go way back, back to when that warmongering raptor tried to harvest Sauria's life force to gain the power of the Krazoa. So she follows up with some more foreign shouts that were probably swear words, and shoots a beam of ice that freezes Scales in solid feces. And finally, she finishes him off for good by jamming her staff right through his center, shattering him like a glass window." Fox wiped strong cider off his mouth. "And sure, the fighting went on for a little longer after that, but with the General gone, things fizzled down pretty quickly and the rest of the pirates either surrendered or fled back to wherever they came from with their tails between their legs."
"Ha, ha…that's hilarious, Fox!" Falco applauded with his wings, though he couldn't help thinking how eerily similar General Scales's demise sounded to that of Professor U. Reeka: the sticky flammable coating; the fire; the freezing; and the shattering. He made a mental note to remember that pattern for any future seemingly unbeatable supervillains.
"So how was your voyage, Falco?" Fox asked. "You have any crazy stories?" Attention suddenly turned to the brash bird.
Through Falco's mind flashed several images: the dozen Big Octos surrounding The King's Krystal; the awkward moment in Strangereal when Lanky Kong accidentally blew up one of their host's ships in the middle of a diplomatic meeting; the chaos on Candy Chateau's crumbling toffee cliffs; the escape from New Alexandria; the showdown with Reeka…
"Oh," Falco said, leaning forward and spreading his wings out on the table. "You have no idea…"
"What's that?" Slippy's already lidless eyes bulged as he pointed behind Fox and Falco to a blinding brightness shining from the steps in front of White Chocolate Castle's front gate. Others were pointing and shouting at the spectacle, although no one could quite make out what it was; it was like trying to read a message written on the sun.
Commander Shepard (who had taken a particular liking to these space travelers) stood and activated his Omni-Tool, and others drew weapons as well, but as they watched, the source of the light eventually became clear.
A few minutes earlier, Link and Zelda were standing together on the castle steps with Toon Link and Tetra. Among the four of them, Captain Tetra was the most confused about what had happened in the LOGosphere, where the Triforces of Courage and Wisdom had shone on the back of Toon Link's and Tetra's hands and summoned the three Hylian goddesses to their aid.
"So what you're saying," Tetra said, her mind inches from imploding, "is that I'm some alternate incarnation of Zelda, like you two Links are separate from each other? How does that make any sense? I've spent my whole life at sea, not waiting on royalty in some fancy court…no offense," she added to Zelda.
"There is no other reason the Triforce of Wisdom would respond to you," Zelda said. "Link's younger self has gained some memories of what the Ritos call the Hero of the Wind, so I expect you'll soon begin to regain your memories as well."
"Are you all right?" Link suddenly asked his younger self.
Toon Link's already bright-colored body had begun to glow with a golden light. He looked down at himself in a panic.
"What's happening?" he yelled.
"What the…" Now Tetra's body, too, was glowing with increasing brightness. And the other Link and Zelda soon joined them, all four shining both in body and the golden triangles radiating on their hands.
And then a voice, one that Toon Link hadn't heard since he and Luigi had almost been killed at the hands of Ganondorf and Bowser on a wrecked Rainbow Ride ship. A deep, resonant voice that had protected him and instructed him and the Gerudo King to work together to find the currently endangered Zelda. The voice of King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule. All he spoke was a single line:
"The Great Convergence has begun…"
Toon Link's body was tingling, as if his particles were made up of millions of tiny fairies who were suddenly uncertain about their present arrangement, restless and anxious to change.
And then, the two Links actually turned into millions of golden particles and met in the center, and Zelda and Tetra did the same. This was the source of the blinding light that gave pause to most everyone outside White Chocolate Castle.
A heavenly ringing sound, like a faint bell tower, vibrated from the golden lights, and then two figures collapsed onto the ground.
Link groaned as his eyes fluttered open, his blurred vision sharpening to reveal a crowd of people leaning over him.
"Link, are you okay?" Nana asked, Popo holding her hand at his side.
"What…happened?" He felt as if he'd been torn out of his body and then forced back inside it.
"You and Zelda and the other two…you sort of merged with each other," Popo said. Then he had a thought. "Are you still the older Link? Or are you the younger Link in the older one's body?"
Link thought, but what came out of his mouth surprised even him. Yet he couldn't deny it; the memories were all there.
"I…think…I'm both."
Beside him, he noticed Zelda on the ground, looking equally stunned. "Are you both Tetra and Zelda?"
Zelda hesitated, then nodded. "Whatever this Great Convergence is that my father mentioned, I think it safe to say that it will change Hyrule, and the legend of the Triforce, forever."
"Red," Quentin said, as the two of them headed toward the northernmost end of the island. "It's time for me to leave."
They came to the shore, which was smothered in darkness apart from the stars and the distant rainbow lights of Plumpbelly Village. The ocean seemed to stretch beyond like a dark, unknowable abyss.
"Why do you have to go?" Red asked. He had just gotten his father back, and he couldn't bear the thought of losing him again so soon.
Quentin drew the Omni Ball and smiled knowingly. "Don't worry, son; I'll be back soon. I'm beginning preparations for Kanto's Rebirth."
"Rebirth?"
His father closed his eyes for a moment, then tossed the Omni Ball. From the capsule emerged a broad blue and ruby red Dragon Pokémon with pendulum-shaped wings and spiky, star-like protrusions coming from its head.
Quentin put a hand on Red's shoulder. "It's time you know. I've told you that the relationship between humans and Pokémon must undergo a great change, and I am the one the Pokémon chose to bring about this change. But the only way for this to happen…is for Kanto to be cleansed. It will be purged of its corrupt structures and businesses that thrive off of the enslaving of Pokémon. Those who survive will rebuild a new world in which Pokémon and humans will be equals, not servants and masters. And you, Red…you will be able to help me give Kanto the fresh start it deserves."
"Those who survive?" It took a long moment before Red, shocked beyond all powers of speech, began to register what his father was implying. "Dad, you don't mean…you're not going to destroy the Pokémon League?"
Quentin smiled grimly. "If only it were so easy. No, I'm afraid the corruption runs far too deep for a surface-level cleansing. Unfortunately, even the common people of Kanto have grown up indoctrinated by the awful practices of their kind. Battles, gyms, beauty contests, auctions, breeding grounds….They must all be purged so that Kanto can truly begin anew. We will protect our family, of course—April; Delia; Gary; Professor Oak…but the rest will never change their ways. It must be an event equal to Noah's Flood, and with similar purpose. Do you understand why this must be done, Red?"
Red now noticed a new darkness in Quentin's wise eyes he hadn't seen before—an uncomfortable glint that forced him to look away. From his own father. He forced a laugh.
"All right, Dad; this is all a joke, right? I guess all those years on your own did a number on your sense of humor, but let's get real. We can't just kill off Kanto and start it over."
But the seriousness of Quentin's expression did not flinch, even for an instant. Red realized he was dead serious, and the boy was horrified.
Quentin considered his son's response. "I can see that perhaps I've introduced the final will of the Pokémon a tad too soon, Red. Forgive me for my forwardness; I had thought our experiences in Microsoft would have taught you the need for drastic action in dire circumstances. Forget what I have said; enjoy your celebrations with your friends. We will meet again soon."
Red was speechless in his father's embrace. Quentin turned and mounted the Salamence, which began pounding its wings in preparation for flight.
"I love you, son," he called as he took off and disappeared into the night.
Red just stood there.
Did that just happen?
The worst part was that he wasn't sure what terrified him the most: the revelation that his father planned to kill every human in Kanto, or the haunting thought at the back of his mind that Quentin might be right.
After the party in the Waffle Kingdom, everyone returned to their respective homelands—the Sonians to Sony; the Atarians to Atari; the Islanders to their islands; the Microsians to Microsoft. Some of Nintendo's space travelers left as well, but Samus, Ness, and the Cornerian Fleet remained—at least for the time being—because they knew they were needed. Once again, Nintendo was left to its own, but now trade and travel and communication were open between all the worlds, and that would be a significant change indeed. It was truly a new old world.
And so things went back to normal, and yet not quite normal. Nintendo's population was even sparser than it had been before. And the Smash Brothers were as important as ever in conducting interregional affairs and helping to reconstruct not only their own losses, but those of their neighboring worlds.
Timber's Island, in particular, had been hit hard by the war. Five of its occupants had been lost: Diddy, Taj, Bumper, Conker, and Wizpig (with varying degrees of regret for each). Since Diddy Kong had been one of the leaders among the racers besides Drumstick, another Kong volunteered to fill his place.
Dixie, without her best friend, felt aimless and almost out of place in her native Kongo Jungle. DK and the rest of Dixie's family were sad, but understood her need to find new purpose in fulfilling the destiny Diddy left for her. She thus became the new bridge between Timber's Island and not only the Kongs, but all of Nintendo, and she soon proved herself to possess racing prowess comparable to Diddy before her. She was determined to ensure that the New RareWare never strayed from its idealism toward the ambitions that led its constituents into deep trouble under L.O.G. in the first place. That was how she would honor Diddy's sacrifice.
In the courtyard of Hyrule Castle—the very same through which Young Link had once sneaked past guards to find the child Zelda watching a royal proceeding through a window—Link and Zelda sat on a bench together.
"So you remember all of Tetra's acts of piracy, too?"
Zelda laughed softly. "Of course. I am Tetra, Link. And that's not all; I have a strange recollection of being locked in a tall pyramid with an imposing, scarlet-robed sorcerer called Agahnim…does that sound familiar to you?"
Link thought about it, but shook his head. "I don't think I remember that one yet. But let me ask you this: How would you feel if I was able to turn into a wolf?"
They laughed and snuggled closer. And then, out of nowhere, Link dropped from the bench onto his knee, one hand still grasping Zelda's, the other pulling a small box from his belt.
Zelda blinked in confusion. "Link, what are you—"
The ring was dazzling. Its diamond was shaped just like a miniature version of Nayru's Love, Zelda's signature move. It was almost as if Navi were alive again, shining from the rock, full of hope, full of love.
"Zelda…I can't remember a time when I didn't feel you were a deeply connected part of my life. Even as a Kokiri boy, I felt there was a part of me missing, and you filled it. I don't know why there was a younger me here at the same time; I don't know what the Great Convergence is; and I don't know why I've always felt drawn to you as if we've lived many lives together, as if you're a legend that I've been lucky to be a part of, but one I've never been able to finish.
"But I guess what I'm trying to say is…will you marry me?"
"Yes!"
Princess Peach squealed and reached down and lifted Mario up in her arms, almost choking the life out of him as he still held out the mushroom-shaped ring in his hand. Mario laughed with her, although by the time she let go, his face was legitimately beginning to turn blue.
"Oh, Mario…sorry about that…" Peach stepped back and tried not to die from happiness. But now that it had happened, now that she and her hero were finally going to be married, she wondered with borderline annoyance why it had taken this long. It was almost as if they were breaking some kind of eternal cycle imposed upon them by the Hand of Fate. Her expression sobered.
"I wish Toadsworth were here to see this," she said, clasping her delicate hands together.
" I'm a-sure he's a-very proud of you," Mario said. "You were more of a hero this a-time than me or Luigi. It took the best of diplomats to talk Megaland, Strange-a-real, and even Commander a-Shepard into joining us."
Peach reached down and took Mario's hand. "Speaking of joining," she said with poorly contained excitement, "I have some ideas for our wedding decorations…"
THE END
