No place for regrets
"What took you so long?" Robert asked when he saw us running.
"I expected you guys to be farther ahead" I replied. We met them after running for 45 seconds, like if they didn't leave us at all.
"Well" Link said laughing "you know this and this..."
"You were listening" Maquiel knew she was right and so did I.
"Maybe we overheard a little" Melanie said and giggled.
"Oh! Damn it!" I said.
"Why don't you kiss already?" Robert asked.
"Say what?!" we both shouted.
"It's so obvious that you like each other, you should do it already"
"Shut it!" we both said.
"I just say, you're just perfect for each other. I dislike you both and you both of you dislike me, isn't that a sign?"
"Maybe a bruise in your face will be a good sign in our future"
Yeah, he was the same as ever, the typical Robert we both used to hate, but I must admit that I felt an immense feeling of gratitude for him... that's what I hated the most, feeling that I was in debt with him, how could I let myself fall that low? We would have a tough time, despite everyone knew that we tried to act normally. It was hard for me, but I tried to do my best, I didn't want to worry Melanie more than what she already was before. So I made my best to keep smiling, but the truth is that inside I felt the urge to scream. I was good at containing though, and I knew it wouldn't help... maybe it would make me feel better, but there was another choice for that. I stopped and I raised my fist and hit Robert.
"What was that for?" he asked rubbing his face.
"Medical reasons, it made me feels better. Also you deserve it for implying that... well, you know"
"I don't hit you back, because I'm not in the mood, but believe me Matthew, tomorrow you're a dead man"
"That's right! We need a re-match"
"This reminds me that you haven't left the dojo yet. You have to do it when we get back"
"What about a double or nothing bet?"
"Fine, but you'll get no sympathy from me"
Those words remind me something. Ike. He was still there, in fact, I didn't know how many smashers could have been taking down in the whole process, and I still hadn't caught up with the whole group. So asking everyone I knew that the smashers that were turned into trophy in the whole process of the getting here were Meta Knight, Kirby, Mewtwo, a fake Pikachu and Roy. Snake was still out there somewhere. Would they reach us? We would have to advance and see.
"Matthew!" Melanie shouted suddenly "I forgot to tell you! I found the diary"
"Where was it?" I asked.
"You didn't see it, but after Roy disappeared the diary just suddenly came back to me... like, if it just appeared out of nowhere"
"Well, that's good" I said, thinking of something "maybe we should stop and read it, to find out how to destroy the subspace"
Everybody nodded and we sat in the platform. Melanie handed me the diary and I started to check every page looking for something about the subspace. I stopped for a second to check something about Wolf's description, but there was nothing really important there, so I decided to look in deep after. It took me a good while to find what I wanted. There was a section that described the subspace, but he didn't name it like that. He named it the ''Purple dimension''. "Now, that's creative dad" I thought with sarcasm, rolling my eyes. I gave it a quick reading, but there was more than nothing descriptions about the surroundings, the great maze and how the doors were connected one to another. "If we just read this thing before, we would saved so much time! I was careless coming here without any research" Melanie would freak out when she found out when she could have saved a lot of time with this. I finally found something worth reading. If the subspace were to be on our planet, it should have in the heart of it an orb that allow the doors exist, it would be a floating orb spreading both blue and black aura. If we destroyed it, the subspace would be finally destroyed from inside, and everything swallowed by it would return to its original position. There was only one trouble, where was the heart of the subspace? The diary wasn't that specific, there were many subspaces possible and thus, the hearts would always be at random positions. I sighed and informed it to everyone. At one side they seemed to be relief for finally knowing how to take this thing down, and on the other side, the new of keep our journey was something they didn't like, we got enough of the subspace for one day.
We stood up and continued with the travel, but I needed to know something. I started walking near Link and Melanie.
"Link, why did Ash decide to help us? He told me, along with Peach that would help me out once. Well, he did while fighting Sonic, so why now?"
"Oh, that's because he promised me"
"What did he promise?"
"I made him promise me that he would help me protecting Lady Melanie and princess Zelda, and I in return, would help him getting Pikachu back"
"Where is Pikachu?"
"He is being captive somewhere in Chile. Human's doing" he whispered "They took it some months ago, and he is now a trophy. Ash hasn't been able to get him back and he needs help. So I asked him to come and help me protecting Lady Melanie, and I in return would help him getting Pikachu back"
"Now, that's make sense to me"
It was a good thing to know why he was helping us. I could trust him, after all the deal seemed to be fair enough, and as same as Link could have betrayed us before, he could too, but he didn't.
The road seemed endless; we were clueless about where to go. I even checked the diary again trying to find any clue, but there wasn't any. I started to get impatient, when we heard some footsteps. Someone was coming and we would have to fight back. We all shape shifted and prepared for battle. The footsteps stop sounding and we prepared for the worst. The first thing that happened was that I was pushed backwards at high speed. I didn't know what hit me, but I managed to stop it, somehow. I was now standing still, putting attention to my surrounding. Gabriel drew his blaster, Robert was ready to become an egg, Maquiel was charging her cannon, Melanie was about to make some magic attack, while Link drew his sword and Ash sent out Squirtle.
Gabriel was sent backwards, like if he was kicked. He shot, but the laser didn't seem to hit anything. Our enemy was either fast or he was using a cloaking device. I could think of four possible enemies. Link was about to get hit, but he moved his sword fast and his enemy was stopped. His arm was bleeding and I saw him, he finally stopped. It was Falco, as I suspected it could be.
He was staring at Link, but his eyes were suddenly only focused on Gabriel.
"Is that all you've got Fox? The human you chose is really disappointing"
Falco rushed at high speed against Gabriel, it was a effective tackle. Gabriel was surprised by the attack and he couldn't stop the kick that Falco sent to him. Gabriel immediately used his blaster as soon as he felt and shot, but the reflector protected him. Melanie was running towards him and tried to hit him, but Falco was fast, and he appeared behind her to then punch her. That made both me and Link mad. We head towards him, but only staring at us he was able to hit us in the stomach. I didn't see when it happened; the speed was so high that I wasn't able to read his movement, neither Link. Maquiel shot her charged shot, but it didn't make it, Falco jumped before it could hit him and he made some fast shot to Maquiel. The laser paralyzed her, while Robert jumped forwards to Falco trying to hit him with his tail. Falco took the tail in middle air and he threw him downwards. Then the first hit was made by Ash, Squirtle used waterfall and the flow of water was able to reach Falco, probably he didn't expect it, so I ran as fast as I could and jumped to make an aerial smash. That sent him downright to the floor, but he was able to fall stand and he glared at me. He set himself on fire and jumped towards me. It hurt, the flames burned my body, usually that wasn't the case when I controlled them, but they hit was hard and I felt on the ground while the flames dissipated. Robert used his bomber, trying to land on Falco, but he didn't make it. Our enemy was way too fast, it was like fighting Sonic all the way again. He kicked Robert's face, but that gave Melanie the chance to hit him with din's fire. The impact made to hit his chest, but he seemed fine, just hurt a little and blinded. But being blinded gave Maquiel, Link and Gabriel the chance to make a distant attack. The three of them shot, Maquiel a missile, Link an arrow and Gabriel a laser, still Falco managed to dodge them all. Gabriel didn't give in, he ran towards Falco at high speed and both of them started to exchange kicks, but all of them neutralized. Then Falco found and opening on Gabriel's moves and with his arm he slashed his face. Despite that Gabriel was able to make his fast move, Fox's illusion and he dashed towards Falco. The hit made Falco fall and I threw fireballs. Falco stood up fast and used his reflectors, making my fireballs useless.
"Is that all?" he asked "Well then, I would say game time is over"
