Chapter 29: Rosalina
Roy Koopa charged across the wooden deck of the airship. Villager and Jazz dived out of the way as he barreled past them like a freight train. He turned around and tucked into his shell, spinning toward them at surprising speed. Villager quickly scrambled away from him, making his way up to a higher level. Jazz made it to the opposite end of the boat.
After spinning for a few minutes, Roy stopped and popped out again. "So, yer tryin' to split up on me, are you?"
He pulled out a small purple magic wand and started tossing spells at them. Jazz nimbly somersaulted away from any that came her way, while Villager just ran for it. After dodging a number of them, he caught his toe on an uneven section of the deck and tripped. He rolled over to see a bright spell bouncing straight for his head. Reflexively, he put his hands up to protect his face and caught the spell. The spell feverishly worked against his hands, and he knew he would have to do something quickly. With all of his strength, he held the spell tightly and shifted his hands down towards his trousers, shoving the ball of energy into his pocket. The spell disappeared into the void within, and Villager slumped back, exhausted.
"Well, that's a neat trick," Roy said, tromping toward Villager. "Where'd you learn that one?"
Villager sat up, examining his hands. "I'm, uh, not sure," he said.
"Well, however you did that, it's not going to save your hide."
Roy leapt into the air, coming back down toward Villager with alarming speed. Villager rolled out of the way, just in time for Roy to crash into the wood floor where he had been sitting.
"Are you okay?" Jazz said, running up beside Villager.
"Yeah," Villager said, standing up.
"What happened there with your hands, anyway?"
Villager shrugged. "I've always had pretty tough hands, I guess."
"Yeah, well, it's going to take more than tough hands to prove yourself as a Smash Fighter," Roy said, turning around to face them, "And a heck of a lot more than that to finish me."
Villager and Jazz backed away from him slowly. "Anything fancy in those pockets of yours?" Jazz asked.
Villager quickly dug into his pockets, whipping his hand back out as the spell inside zapped it. "Hmm," he said, "I wonder."
As Roy charged forward, Villager put his hand back into his pocket, wincing as he curled his hand around the spell and flung it back out at the koopaling. The spell struck Roy full on into chest, throwing him backwards and causing him to pulsate slightly.
"Ah, see, now look what you did," Roy moaned.
"I think that could come in handy," Villager said, looking at his hands.
Jazz glanced backwards. "How well do you think that would work for bullet bills?" she said.
Villager followed her gaze to see that the other six airships had caught on to their location and had all changed course to hover around Roy's craft, bullet bill cannons trained on the two.
"Hehehe," Roy said, "Looks like you're in for it now."
Villager and Jazz stood uncertainly as their enemies bore down on them. Ludwig and Bowser Jr. appeared at the bows of their ships.
"Enough of this," Ludwig called down, "You can't hope to win. Surrender now. We do not intend you serious harm. If you're lucky, Lord Bowser might even let you remain as fighters in the new villains' tournament."
Villager and Jazz remained silent, refusing to give a reply.
"Come on, already," Bowser Jr. whined, "You can't beat us. Just give up already."
A faint jingling sound far in the distance went almost unnoticed. A bright blue spot of light shot straight towards the nearest airship from far out in space. The object blew past the ship with enough force to set it off balance and send it crashing into the next ship over. The captains of both craft fell overboard, tumbling together into space.
"What the heck?" Ludwig said in surprise, "Morton! Wendy! What—"
He never got the chance to finish his sentence as a small, clunky, football-shaped ship smashed into the bottom of his craft. A hatch on the small ship opened and thousands of brightly colored plant creatures spilled out, swarming Ludwig's craft and several of the others around it. Ludwig fought as hard as he could against the onslaught, but soon found himself floating off into space as well.
"Abandon ships!" Bowser Jr. shouted to the remaining Koopalings as a gang of Pikmin latched onto his ship as well. "There's too many of them! We'll finish this on the ground!"
After the Pikmin had all dispersed from the small ship, a larger figure dropped out of the hatch, falling to land beside Villager and Jazz. Olimar grinned at the two. "Hey, kids," he said, "How's it going?"
"Olimar?" the two freshmen said in surprise.
"In the flesh," he said, "and I brought a friend of mine to help out." He gestured up to the bright blue object that was currently wreaking havoc with the remaining three airships. "You'll meet her in a moment, but first," he turned his attention to Roy, "I think I'll handle you myself."
Roy snickered. "So, out of all the Smash Fighters down there in the battle, the one who turns up to save the rookies is Veggie Boy. Bring it, shorty!"
"With pleasure," Olimar said. He winked at Villager and Jazz. "Watch and learn, kids."
Olimar reached down to the wooden floor, somehow plucking three fresh Pikmin from it. Roy charged. Villager and Jazz watched in awe as their mentor masterfully dodged all of Roy's attacks, attaching his Pikmin to the bulky koopa and wearing him down. After hopping on Roy's head once to use him as a stepstool to a higher deck, Olimar plucked a large rock-headed Pikmin and nailed Roy between the eyes, knocking the koopaling out cold.
Villager and Jazz looked at each other, and then back at Olimar. "Whoa," Villager said.
Olimar grinned, hopping down from the higher level. He strolled past Roy and was halfway across the deck when a bright pink spell smashed into his helmet and knocked him to the ground.
Wendy O. Koopa, one of the two koopalings thrown off their ships earlier, swam toward the ship as well as she could, brandishing a long pink wand. "No one hurts my brother like that!" she said, pointing her wand at Villager and Jazz. She was about to throw another spell when a small, yellow object smashed into her, sending her reeling away from the ship. A bright, glowing presence behind them made Villager and Jazz turn. Floating in the air behind them was one of the most beautiful women Villager had ever seen. She had fine, glistening skin that glowed slightly while her light blue dress twinkled like the stars in the sky behind her, billowing in an unearthly manner around her feet. Her hair was a soft whitish-blond color, topped by a silvery crown. Her hair hung down, obscuring one eye, but the other gazed at them kindly, the iris a strong, piercing blue.
"Hello, new friends," she said in a tender voice that echoed strangely, "I am Princess Rosalina, mother of the stars."
The small yellow object, now clearly a tiny star-shaped creature, bobbed between Villager and Jazz, hopping into Rosalina's arms. She held it to her lovingly.
"Freshmen," Olimar said, standing up and straightening his helmet, "I'd like you to meet your new classmate, the fourth newcomer to this year's Super Smash Bros. tournament."
Waluigi, Dr. Wright, and Jill, the three heroes in league with the villains, huddled behind a pile of rubble in a vacant corner of the battlefield. Jill held a small trophy obscured by an opaque white dome.
"Okay, stick to King Dedede's plan," Waluigi, the tall, purple-clothed man, reminded his companions. "Dr. Wright, you hide out here and try to reconstruct the destroyed stages as soon as the coast is clear. Jill, take the Infantry and Tanks trophy out to the battlefield and release it when the time is right. I'll get to the secret harbor. Hopefully, Dedede will have sent all of the other assist trophies over with Kapp'n."
"What about the dark smash ball?" Jill, the young girl in the drill machine, asked.
"Ganondorf just utilized it," Waluigi said, "It should take a while for Kamek to regenerate another one. Try to deploy the infantry in between. The Smash Fighters can't afford to lose their help. Try to take out Kamek if you can."
"Got it!" she said.
"Good luck to both of you."
With a nod to his companions, Waluigi turned and hurried out from behind their cover. Ducking low, he ran across the battlefield as quickly as he could. Hopping over the barrier into the Gerudo Valley stage, he sighed to see the smoldering ruin that had once been a remarkable recreation of the iconic setting. He ran up to the edge of the small canyon running through the center, pulling out a pair of large staples.
"Duster, these things had better work," Waluigi muttered to himself. He turned and dropped into the canyon, using the staples to latch himself to the wall. Slowly but surely, he made his way down the crevice until his feet touched the running water of the small underground creek at the bottom.
Letting go of the staples, Waluigi dropped into the shallow waters. Quickly removing the staples and stashing them in his back pocket, he made his way down the canyon and into a dark cave along one wall. The cave went on for a few minutes before opening up on a small alcove that looked out to the ocean. A wooden boardwalk led the way to a small boat and a green reptilian creature in a captain's uniform.
"'Ello, Waluigi," the creature said, "How are things going up there?"
"Not well, Kapp'n," Waluigi replied, "The fighters are falling fast."
"You haven't seen the kid from my town by any chance?"
Waluigi bit his lip. "No, I can't say that I have. Villager, right?"
Kapp'n nodded.
"No, I haven't seen him," Waluigi said apologetically. He turned his attention to the load of assist trophies filling the back of the boat. "They all here?" he asked.
"Yep, all nineteen, barring yourself and your companions, the infantry, Stafy, Andross, Gray Fox, and Kat and Ana."
"Good. We'll need them."
