Chapter 29
The Vault
They all gathered near the vault. They were close enough that they could see the front of the vault. At the bottom, newcomer clones were doing various things to keep the vault open. Sonic was on a sort of treadmill running as fast as he could. Wario was on something similar for his motorcycle. A Lucas was firing lightning into a small hole on the side. Toon Link was putting bombs in a small thing in the ground. Snake simply set a box onto a pad.
On a level about two hundred feet above the newcomers, The Melee fighters were also doing things. Marth continually stabbed at a small target. Bowser was breathing fire. The ice climbers shot cool blasts out of their hands.
Several hundred more feet, the original smashers were using their skills to keep the vault open. Mario and Luigi were constantly firing fireballs. Link was throwing his boomerang to spin a sort of wheel. Donkey Kong slapped his hands down on a pad. Captain Falcon continually Falcon punched a small target.
The vault itself was a large white structure. The back lacked steps and was completely smooth. The different stations that smashers had to be at to unlock the vault were all near the front. Up top, there was a large hole that allowed subspace bugs to escape. There was a large tube attached to the hole that seemed to take the bugs somewhere else.
Samus pointed to a rock some distance off. "You can confront Tabuu there if he comes," she said to Sonic. Sonic nodded and dashed off toward where she pointed. The rest of the group went to the back of the vault.
They all looked up the side to see the top hundreds of feet above them. "How do we get up there?" Fox asked. "We didn't bring any ships to use to fly up there.
"Pit, Meta Knight, R.O.B. Ridley, and Charizard all fly up there," Olimar said. "Anyone else can try to get that high if they can find an inconspicuous way up. They can take a few small guys as well, like me, Louie, and one of the kids. The fourth will have to carry something long enough that it can be carried up."
"Anyone have rope?" Falco said.
Krystal, Link, Toon Link, Young Link, and the ice climbers all pulled out a thing of rope. "This isn't going to be enough," Krystal said.
"Me and Olimar can help," Louie said. He found a clear space and he started plucking pikmin out of the ground. Olimar also did it until they had about a hundred pikmin. They had all the pikmin hold on to the end of the rope.
The rope and added pikmin were put into Charizards hands. Ridley took Mr. Game & Watch up to the top Pit grabbed Olimar and three pikmin. Meta Knight grabbed Louie and a few pikmin. R.O.B. carried both of the ice climbers to the top. Kirby and Jigglypuff were able to float up. Lucario wall clung to the side and eventually made his way up. Link turned into a wolf and jumped onto really tall rocks that were near the vault top with Midna's help. Link made it just a little after the fliers and their passengers did. The clones still hadn't noticed the smashers. Kirby and Jigglypuff made it up and Lucario soon joined them. Charizard looked down and threw the rope over the side of the vault
They started letting others climb up the rope. Diddy Kong was the first one. He quickly climbed to the top. Toon Link went next. He was followed by Ike, who was followed by Red, then Pichu, then Mario. Luigi was about to go until Bowser shoved him aside and began climbing. Ike had to help Charizard immediately. A few of the pikmin squeeked as they were stretched to their limit. A moan suddenly came from one of the pikmin. It let go and turned into a ghost. Bowser screamed as he fell and hit the ground hard. When Bowser landed, even the smashers on the vault's top felt the ground shake.
The vault snapped shut. They could hear people walking over. Ike rushed around the side and stabbed a Mario. The others quickly rushed to help, but the smashers that were up were already to strong. The other 11 originals were killed, ending with Ness being thrown off the top. Link looked down and could see all the clones staring back up at him. Replacement clones suddenly flooded the stairs in an attempt to get up.
Olimar ran over to R.O.B. "Give me a lift down, and then start carrying others up here." R.O.B. nodded and brought Olimar to the ground. R.O.B. then grabbed Pikachu and flew back up. Olimar started plucking pikmin.
A few Sonic clones rushed around to the back. One of them shouted, "There's more back here." They then all rushed forward. They were quickly cut down by Young Link, Marth, and Issac. More rushed around the side. Bowser jumped over the others and slammed down onto the clones. The four star fox people went to the other side as clones started coming from there. Fox kicked one into the air. Falco jumped up and slammed the clone into others.
Up top, dozens of Yoshis rolled up the stairs in an attempt to get past. Meta Knight charged down like a drill and scattered them. He quickly moved back as an Ike tried to kill him. Link fired an arrow and killed the Ike. He grabbed a bomb arrow next and fired it where several Captain Falcon's had gathered together. Link grabbed another arrow, but wasn't able to fire when another arrow zoomed past his head. Link looked at the bomb arrow he was holding and threw it down the stairs.
A few Sonics tried dashing up the stairs, but only one made it up. The others tripped and caused others to fall. Mario, Squirtle, Kirby, and Pikachu jumped straight into the pile. They eliminated clones as they fell over others. They soon ran all the way back up to avoid going too far. Louie grabbed ten pikmin and threw them onto the top of the pile. Ness and Lucas, who had recently been brought up, used PK flash and PK freeze on the ones closest to the top.
Olimar swung the pikmin rope he made. He threw it as hard as he could and barely missed. He threw it again and the top pikmin was able to grab the pikmin above where the last one had died. Bowser rushed to the rope, but Olimar pushed him back and motioned for Luigi to go. Young Link went than Peach. During this, Olimar made sure Bowser waited. Olimar quickly picked up a pikmin and threw it at a Pit approaching Bowser from behind. Bowser turned and started getting involved in the battle as well. Olimar left the rope and helped out as well.
Titania rode on her horse and cut the head off of a R.O.B. She locked blades with an Ike. Her horse stood up on its hind legs and then fell on top of Ike. Suddenly, a King Dedede smacked Titania and her horse with his hammer cannon fully charged. Titania was launched into the side of the vault. King Dedede was stabbed by Marth. Dr. Mario rushed over to Titania. "Are-a you alright?"
"I'm fine if you can fix me."
"Well I'm-a sorry, but I cannot fix this much damage with what I have. You need to get out of here."
"I can't leave. I need to help."
"You-a already did."
Bowser walked over. "I can get her to a place where they will be temporarily safe." Dr. Mario nodded. Bowser picked Titania and her horse up. Then, he left to find a place where they would be safe until the battle was over.
Tabuu threw Silver up into the air. He didn't know where he would land, he just knew he wasn't getting up. Dr Eggman had ran away by then. One of the Greil Mercenaries, a man named Shinon, fired an arrow straight for Tabuu. Tabuu grabbed the arrow, turned it around, and threw it right back at Shinon. The arrow struck his shoulder. Ike's sister, mist, walked over to Shinon began healing him. Tabuu grabbed a rock and threw it at her. She collapsed on top of Shinnon. Sothe, Micaiah's closest friend, dashed up a rock and grabbed onto Tabuu's back. He stabbed him on the back, but was picked up and slammed into the ground. Ashei grabbed Shinnon's bow and ran for a place with cover. Knuckles jumped in front of Tabuu. As Tabuu focused on him, Shadow jumped up from behind and kicked Tabuu in the back. Tabuu turned and threw Knuckles at Shadow. Shadow ran off before Knuckles hit the ground.
Slippy the Toad dived down and began firing at Tabuu. Tabuu deflected the bullets with his hand. He grabbed one and threw it back at Slippy's wing. Slippy crashed somewhere off in the distance. Ashei temporarily moved out of her cover and fired an arrow. Tabuu grabbed his shoulder as the arrow stopped there. He fired an energy ball that sent Ashei crashing into a wall. Rusl jumped up and swung at Tabuu. Tabuu yanked the sword out of Rusl's hands and stabbed him in the side. Rusl fell onto the ground gasping for air.
Shadow jumped up again and tried to land a kick. Tabuu turned and grabbed Shadow before he could get out of the way. He brought Shadow inches from his face and said, "You never should have come to help Sonic. Now, I'll kill you."
Shadow was suddenly launched out of Tabuu's hands by a powerful gust of wind. Soren was standing on a rock facing Tabuu alone. Tabuu slowly floated toward Soren. Soren grabbed his most powerful wind tome and used it on Tabuu. The winds were powerful enough that all the others were blown away. Dr. Eggman's robot pieces were removed from the area. Tabuu however, seemed to be unaffected by the wind.
Soren used up all the energy he had. He collapsed onto the ground gasping. Tabuu formed a blade and lined it up with Soren's neck. Soren held his hands up, but Tabuu simply kicked them away. Tabuu raised the sword above his head.
"Master Tabuu," A Fox clone said.
"What?" Tabuu said irritably. He made it so the blade disappeared.
"Reports from the Vault say the smashers and a small group of others have attacked the vault and disrupted our process of freeing the subspace bugs."
Tabuu quickly realized he had been tricked. He began rushing off, but he stopped. He pointed to Soren and said, "Kill him."
"Yes master." Tabuu flew off without a second word. Soren reached into his bag and grabbed another tome. Soren saw Fox point the gun at his face. He quickly used wind magic to blast him away. Soren got up and went to where Slippy crashed. He opened the ship and heard Slippy start groaning. Soren helped Slippy out and then grabbed the radio. He started pressing random buttons. He started mumbling to himself, "How do I contact Peppy Hare?"
"You already have," Peppy said through the radio. "What do you need?"
"You know which ones are Captain Falcons and which ones are Donkey Kongs."
"Yes."
"I need you to kill every last clone of either Captain Falcon or Donkey Kong. If you can find more that aren't in this battle, hunt them down no matter what it takes. Don't worry about any that are at the vault. A team was sent to take care of them."
"Understood, I'll get a team on it."
Tabuu rushed towards the vault as fast as he could. It was a good thing that he was nearly as fast as Sonic. He was only a thousand feet away when he heard someone yell, "Hey, how's it going?"
Tabuu looked at a nearby group of rocks and saw Sonic sitting on one of them. "Even you aren't a big enough idiot to try to face me like you are right now."
"I was thinking we can go get a few chili dogs, but you hurt my friends, so that might be a bit awkward."
"Stop stalling. Either let me kill you, or fight me."
"You could pass me by."
"You have been about as much trouble as King Dedede. Why would I pass on an opportunity to kill you?"
"What about the whole trophy thing?"
"I know you have returned to your original strength at the cost of being able to normally die."
"Darn. Well, I guess I'll just have to beat you."
"You can't beat me."
"You never know."
"You don't have the power."
"Really? I think I do." Sonic pulled out the seven chaos emeralds. During the fighting, part of the gold in his fur had chipped off. When he pulled out the chaos emeralds, he became an even brighter gold. The places where paint had chipped off were gone. He had become Super Sonic. "Here! I'll show you!"
Sonic charged forward and punched Tabuu in the face. Tabuu rubbed his cheek, allowing Sonic to land a few more punches.
All the smashers saw the fight begin. They had been able to get the rest of the group to the top of the vault. Little Mac uppercut a Jigglypuff. He then jumped up and punched her so hard, she knocked several dozen other clones over. The real Jigglypuff moved to the front of the stairs and began to sing. The sleeping clones blocked the way up, allowing people with ranged weapons to kill even more. Ganondorf jumped over the sleeping clones and cut up a Link and two Marths. A Diddy Kong jumped into his face and began hitting him. Link pulled him back before a Donkey Kong could grab him. Luigi and Mario both threw fireballs down. Issac dueled a Pit near the top. Pichu also threw small thunderbolts down the stairs
Several minutes passed and the group had taken a few more losses. Young Link, Pichu, Mr. Game & Watch and Louie had all become too hurt to keep fighting. Dr. Mario didn't have stuff to help them either. He was able to help others who had more minor injuries.
Fox suddenly touched his ear. "Hey guys, Peppy Hare says the last two Captain Falcon clones are at the vault." He pointed at two people just below the middle of the stairs. "And they're right there."
Tabuu blocked another kick from Sonic. He punched Sonic in the chest. Sonic rolled across the ground for a few seconds before he blasted off and rammed his head into Tabuu's stomach. Sonic threw Tabuu to the ground. Tabuu got back up and released ten quick energy balls. Sonic avoided every single one. Tabuu then formed a laser and started firing it at Sonic.
As Sonic dodged it, he noticed something odd. Cracks began to form. A bit of white light leaked out of the cracks. Sonic was too distracted to dodge Tabuu's laser. He was hit and shot off somewhere in the distance.
Tabuu breathed heavily. A Marth clone slowly approached Tabuu, "Master Tabuu," he said.
"What?"
"Some R.O.B. clones intercepted a transmission. The transmission said that all Captain Falcon clones were dead except for two at the vault."
"Then, tell me, why is this important?"
"Ships have been leaving the battlefield only to kill that particular type of clone, then leave."
Tabuu thought it over. He wanted to know what made that kind of clone special. It was the only one of its world. It was a clone based on an original smasher. It was based on a dead smasher.
Tabuu's last thought made him realize what the plan was. He turned to the temple and rushed off.
Lucario jumped down and threw an aura sphere and killed one of the remaining two. The other clones seemed to realize they were focusing on Captain Falcon. They used their bodies to shield him as best as they could, but they were being destroyed. Captain Falcon turned and began to run. He rolled out of the way of a streak of bullets. He dodged arrow after arrow. He kicked Meta Knight away and began to run off. He began to run off. No one there was fast enough to catch him. Anyone that could have gotten him from the distance was suddenly attacked by subspace clones.
Except Toon Link. He got himself high enough that he could see above the others. He pulled one arrow out and aimed carefully. He hoped with all his might he would hit and fired. The air shot across the air. Everyone stopped to see whether it would hit or miss. Captain Falcon turned and saw it just before it pierced his back.
The smashers cheered. The subspace clones didn't care to keep fighting. As the celebration was happening, they all became silent quickly. Tabuu was looking at the remaining clones. "He can't be gone." He shot up into the sky. "There has to be one more." He searched everywhere, but he couldn't find one. There would never be another Captain Falcon. They were all gone.
Tabuu shot towards the ground and killed all but one clone. He picked up the remaining clone by the neck, a Lucas. "Which one of them killed the final Captain Falcon?"
Lucas gasped for air as he said, "Toon *cough* Link."
Tabuu crushed the clones neck and dropped it to the ground. He looked around through the assembled group. He saw Toon Link and rushed forward and picked up Toon Link. Toon Link screamed as he was lifted off the ground. Tabuu formed the sword and stabbed Toon Link straight through the chest. Toon Link's face was shocked at first, but he soon closed his eyes.
Tabuu dropped him from where they were in the sky. He landed on the top level of the vault. Dr. Mario rushed over and checked Toon Link. Eventually he shouted down to the others, "Dead!"
"Of course he's dead," Tabuu said as he floated down. He kicked Dr. Mario off of the vault. "But he won't be the last to die."
