Chapter 36: The Final Battles Part 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur, Zelda, or Metroid. Although that only appeared once, I still think it needs to be mentioned. glares at lawyers
Julia: So I heard something today.
Kenshin: What?
Yusei: You should know already.
Kenshin: ...Nope.
Yusei: ...Well I don't either. What is it?
Julia: Well apparently, TCM was planning to have Link pair up with Sophitia and Cassandra in the beginning.
Kenshin and Yusei: EH?
Dante: Normally I wouldn't be appalled because most of the women in SC are smokin' hot, but Sophitia is married to Rothion! How was he gonna get through that?
Julia: Well he did die after Soul Calibur 4, and he was gonna kill him off sometime later, but something must have changed his mind.
TCM: Need I remind you that this story is a remodel of the original A Love Forged that was pretty much a ripoff of another story? I had to change the entire story; completely rework the damn thing. Now, no more wasting time. Start the story!
Link and the others appear just outside of the Ostreinburg. The evil energy surrounding the city could be clearly felt by the three sensitive warriors in the group. Siegfried immediately draws Soul Calibur and prepares for battle. Taki spots the castle up ahead. "Look, that's the same castle we fought Soul Edge in before."
"Siegfried, I know you think that it may be good to use our full strength-" Link says to Siegfried, looking back at him. "-but let's save our strength until we reach Inferno. We can't afford to get tired in the middle of battle."
"Agreed." Siegfried nods and faces the castle. "I was about to suggest the same thing."
Before they could begin their assault, a mass of darkness erupts before the castle. Rising up from it are a large group of monsters, even bigger than any other group than before; Stalfos, Lizardmen, Dinolfos, Wolfos, and Dodongos. Yun-Seong says, "Looks like we got company."
Before he could rush into battle, Talim grabs him by the arm and says, "Wait! You can't just rush into battle like that! You'll get yourself killed!"
"People always say that, but I'm still around!" Yun-Seong says to her.
"These are just for stalling. He must be preparing for something," Link says as he draws his shield and sword.
"Still, we can't waste time on them," Siegfried says, preparing to call forth his armor.
The monsters all charge at our heroes, and more seem to rise up from the dark mass in the ground. Before they could make it past a yard, a fireball hits the ground, incinerating the advance group. Looking around, our heroes try to search out where it came from.
"About time you guys showed up," a voice speaks. Just east of the battlefield stands a man Link and company haven't seen in days; Spawn.
"Spawn!" Link shouts out.
"I'm here to finally finish what I came here for, and I even brought some tools to side with," Spawn says before he slides his left hand over to the side, as if revealing something. Standing behind him are a large group of soldiers. A man in white armor walks up to Spawn next to Tira. Behind them is Yoshimitsu, his arm repaired with a brand new one.
"Master Spawn, we're all gathered for war!" Tira says with a joyful tone. "Hey, it's them!"
"So, we meet again," Yoshimitsu says as he eyes Link, Cassandra and Maxi. Part of him wants to apologize for that time he was possessed, but he can wait until later.
"I know... Well, let's get started. Girardot, those are the enemy," Spawn says to the armored man.
"Very well," he replies, and sends his men into battle. He raises his weapon and heads towards the battlefield, while Spawn tightens his gloves. Tira grabs her circle blade and Yoshimitsu draws his new blade Zantetsuken.
"...Okay..." Taki mumbles with confusion.
"I guess they're with us," Link says before he rushes to the battlefield.
"Link, wait!" Siegfried calls out to him. Cassandra chases after Link, running past Siegfried. Soon the others head into battle, brandishing their weapons.
"The trap is set," Inferno says as he watches the battle from his castle. He turns to Shura and says, "Tell Bongo Bongo and Twinrova to get in place. We need to split them up, keep that Hylian away from as many of his friends as possible."
"Will that work?" Shura asks him, drawing her first katana. She then raises it over her mouth, crossing her face.
"I've seen that darkness in him in action; he'll go berserk and destroy his friends once it's unleashed." Inferno states with a grin. "It'll be fine as long as I'm in this castle; the walls are drenched with demonic energy from Soul Edge. At the end of everything I'll scoop up the shards of Soul Edge from their corpses and become complete!"
"Fine, but I get Taki. I want her blood on my blades," she says, licking the sharpened edge of her sword and spitting to the ground.
"Deal." As he says this line Link carves through a Stalfos, releasing Shooting Stardust to destroy its remains. A flash of dark energy is reflected in his eyes for a moment.
"The doorway is free!" Link shouts, pointing up ahead to the passageway. He heads for the opening into the castle, and Cassandra, Siegfried, Maxi and Taki manage to follow after him. As they enter the castle, Taki notices that none of the monsters are preventing them from going inside.
'Why haven't they stopped us?' she thinks.
"Time to move this fight inside!" Mitsurugi chases after them, but a Wolfos grabs him by the back, and tosses him away. The lizard warriors charge at Mitsurugi, but chains wrap around them and pulverizes them into the ground. The chains return to Spawn, who turns his attention to the door. Despite the fact that the army he gathered for this event is doing great, there seems to be more monsters showing up. Some of them are blocking the entrance too.
Inside Link and the others head through the main entrance towards the stairway...Of course there'd be one; it's a castle! Anyway, they stop after three steps up, when Link pauses for a moment.
Cassandra asks, "What's wrong?"
"Gah!" Link grabs his face, or mostly his mouth and nose, and falls to his knees. "That horrible stench is back!"
"What stench?" Taki asks him. Siegfried sniffs the air, and after a while he grabs his face suddenly. Taki does so as well. "Oh god! Now I smell it!"
"That's a horrible smell!" Cassandra picks up the scent as well. Even Maxi couldn't resist. Looking up the stairs he spots a set of brown figures stumbling towards them. "What are those?"
"Redeads!" Link speaks through a muffled mouth. The horrible smelling monsters coming for them are the screeching zombies Redeads. "Don't get too close to them; they're surprisingly fast when you're in reach. And don't look into their eyes, or they'll scream and paralyze you."
"How does that work?" Cassandra asks as she looks into the eyes of the first Redead. It makes a blood curdling scream, and everyone except Cassandra closes their eyes to it. Cassandra's body freezes, her eyes having lost their color and even her breath taken away.
"Cassandra!" Link grabs Cassandra before she could collapse, holding her up in his arms. His next move involves drawing his Hero's Bow and firing a flaming arrow at the nearest zombie. It quickly catches on fire and begins flailing about, until it strikes one of the others. It ignites and soon the flames spread over to the others in a chain reaction.
The fire begins to take out the group quickly, leaving nothing more than an arm left. Link grabs Cassandra and runs past the flaming corpses. "Run!"
"Right!" Siegfried heads after Link with Maxi and Taki behind him. Upon reaching the first level, the floor turns dark purple. "What is this?"
"Link!" Taki calls out. Link looks back at the others, noticing how he's the only one not touching the dark floor. He lays Cassandra down and draws the Clawshot.
"It's sucking us in!" Maxi comments, struggling hard to break out. He grabs hold of Taki's left leg and is drawn deep into the purple ooze. Maxi shouts, "Taki!"
"Maxi!" Taki is sucked inside the ooze, taken away from the others along with Maxi.
Link manages to fire the Clawshot and grab Siegfried before he could sink too. Using all his strength he pulls the armorless warrior out of the ooze onto solid ground. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm cool. Thanks," he says, turning back to Taki and Maxi, who are gone now. "What was that?"
"...I have an idea," Link says in a soft voice. "It could be the phantom Bongo Bongo."
"Bongo Bongo?"
"It's the corpse of a former Sheikah, or something." Link shrugs as he tries to remember its story. "Anyway, it was sealed in a well back in my home world, but Ganondorf brought it back to life. It has the power to turn invisible, but the only weapon I could use to fight back is gone... I think... I haven't gotten the chance to empty this thing out."
As he prepares to check his bag Cassandra's body loosens up. Now no longer stiff, she is able to move her arms and legs, rolling over to her hands and knees. "Huh... What happened?"
"Cassandra, you're awake!" Link says out of happiness, glad that she's okay now. His worry for his friends return though, and he stares at where Bongo Bongo took his friends away. "Let's check the basement."
Before he could head there, Siegfried grabs his left shoulder. "We might not get another chance to reach the top. Let's have faith in them."
"But..." Link turns back to where his friends disappeared. "...Fine."
Elsewhere...
Downstairs underneath Link-tachi, Taki and Maxi land in what appears to be the kitchen area of the castle. Taki, her face having landed on Maxi's chest, immediately rises up from him with a small blush on her face. "You okay?"
"Yeah, thanks," he replies before she holds out a hand to him. He takes it, and pulls himself to his feet. His eyes then scout the area, noting that it's the kitchen. "What's this, the cafeteria?"
"Yeah... It's weird that he would even include this," Taki says as she looks around the place. Taki walks over to the nearest doorway. She checks the entrance, and nods seeing no one around. "I think I see a way up. Let's go!"
"Bwmp?" Taki looks back at Maxi, and sighs seeing he's stuffing his face with food from the fridge. He takes a few seconds to chew before swallowing everything in his mouth, saying, "What?"
"You're gonna stuff your face in this situation? We gotta get to Link and the others!" Taki tells him.
Maxi swallows his meal and says, "Nothing says I should fight on an empty stomach."
"...Pirate..." she complains, walking towards the stairs with a sigh. 'Why do I enjoy spending time with that weirdo?'
"Good day to you, Taki," a voice says. Someone leaps down from above at her. The ninja steps to the side and grabs Rekki-maru before holding her position to face her attacker; Shura. "It's been a while since our last meeting. No hello or anything?"
"Gel-O-Fury! I'd recognize that energy anywhere!" she says to him/her... Let's go with her.
"Like the new body?" she asks her, doing a little spin while showing off every last curve. "I know, it's great. You never feel more evil than when you possess a woman as delicious on the outside as she is evil on the inside."
"Evil?"
"This human didn't struggle at all when I possessed her; she let me do it, just so she could kill as many people as she could!" Shura speaks to her with a cackle. "It's amazing how murderous a bitch like her can be. You have no idea how many people she's killed!"
Taki smiles on the other hand. "Good. I won't feel bad when I kill you then."
"Try it." Shura draws her twin blades and prepares for the fight. Maxi on the other hand can't help but drool over Shura's appearance. What with her clothes showing more curves and nudity than even Taki he can't help but stare.
Flushed with anger, Taki shouts, "HEY! Stop staring at her ass for one minute and go find Link!"
"Huh? Oh right!" Snapping out of it, Maxi heads for the stairs. Before he could he runs into a little trouble, in the form of two Darknuts. "Crap."
"You ain't goin' no where!" The black Darknut Grimm says to the pirate.
"No where but hell!" The dark red Darknut Orz adds.
"Beat it! I ain't got time for you losers!" Maxi says as he leaps at Orz and kicks him in the face. Orz pushes him back, his shield protecting him.
"You ain't strong enough to even dent this armor!" Maxi gets knocked to the side by his club with blunt spikes. He rolls onto his feet and faces the two.
Taki clashes blades with Shura, who begins to force the ninja to jump away from her moves. After her landing Shura goes on the assault, Taki blocking each blow as best as she can. With Rekkimaru she's putting up a fight against Shura's Raijinmaru.
Shura kicks at Taki's face, but she ducks and makes a sweep kick. Shura then stabs at the ninja, who disappears using all her speed. Coming behind her she shouts, "Hinotama no Jutsu!"
Shura brings her hands together and releases a blast of spiritual energy, which counters the fireball. Taki draws shuriken and through them at Shura, who deflects them with a swipe of her sword. Taki takes this time to dash at Shura, who draws her other sword Fujinmaru. Taki grabs Mekkimaru and locks her arms and blades around Shura's left arm, before kicking her in the face. This causes the woman to lose control over her sword Fujinmaru and drop it.
"Damn you!" Shura speaks as she wields her sword with both hands.
"Rising Dragon of the Zodiac!" Maxi lands a powerful kick to Orz's face, causing him to fall back as his helmet shatters.
"Why you!" Grimm comes in from behind with a blunt two handed sword, but Maxi ducks underneath and sweep kicks him to the ground. The pirate then runs over him to put more space between him and these two powerhouses. Orz tosses his weapon at Maxi, his club striking him in the back. Maxi hits the fridge, and the sound of his back cracking could be heard.
Orz grabs Maxi by the head and turns him around, pushing the injured pirate to the fridge. He then shoves his weapon into his stomach, causing the pirate to cry out in pain.
Taki's ears pick up his wails, and so she quickly turns to see Maxi in trouble. 'Maxi!'
Before she could go help him Shura stands in her way, having picked up Fujinmaru. "Not so fast!"
"Get out of my way!" Taki shouts at her.
"You seem to care allot about that guy..." Shura says as she holds her weapon in front of the ninja. As Taki grits her teeth angrily, Shura laughs. "Oh, isn't this sweet? Taki has found a little friend! Wouldn't it suck if your little boy-toy died in front of you?"
"You must be mistaken... Maxi is just my fellow teammate, nothing more or less," Taki says to her, regaining her composure. A small blush appears on her face as she lies, something Shura picks up.
Maxi grabs hold of the weapon crushing his organs and pushes back with all his strength. Gritting his teeth he growls as he musters his strength, and finds himself free in a matter of seconds. Even Orz is shocked, saying, "What?"
Sheathing Mekkimaru, Taki jumps back a few feet and charges at Shura. The busty villain crosses her swords in a scissors position, and thrusts towards Taki to bisect her. Taki leaps towards Shura, lifting her body horizontally over her blades and only getting scratches on her outfit over her breasts. Taki drops Rekkimaru and grabs hold of her wrists, pulling her lower half over in the air and slamming into a sitting position on Shura's shoulders.
Having gripped her hands and face, Taki pulls apart, forcing Shura to drop her swords and struggle. 'It smells down here! Doesn't she clean this suit or atleast her area?"
Shura, having no other idea of what to do, runs towards the sink and dives for it. Taki manages to release her arms and flip behind her at the last second, letting her take some of the damage. The crash causes Shura to cry out in pain, but Taki still pulls down on Shura's head by the leglock. She grabs hold of her legs and forces Shura down on the sink, bashing her head on the faucet.
'This better work!' Shura releases spiritual energy, causing an explosion that devastates the whole sink area. Water shoots out from the pipes within the smokecloud. Taki and Shura rise up from the ground, facing eachother. The explosion has also torn off parts of their clothing, leaving a huge amount of cleavage visible on Taki's suit along with her left pant leg and her entire midsection front and back. Shura's clothes are also slashed apart, leaving her entire upper body free of any article of clothing and exposing her breasts.
"This is starting to get annoying," Shura says to her.
Taki reaches behind her and grabs Mekkimaru, but Shura manages to reach for her arm and force Taki to draw too quickly. Mekkimaru flies from her hands and stabs into the wall. "No more of your silly tricks or acrobatics, Taki. I don't need a sword to kill you!"
"Neither do I!" Taki raises her free hand to slug Shura in the face, who flicks the ninja square in the nose. As she does she releases a bit of spiritual energy, giving a sickening crunch to her face and making her bleed.
"You're weak," she says, looking down at her face. Taki punches Shura square in the nose, causing blood to rain down on her cleavage.
"Give up!" Orz says to Maxi, who manages to save his organs.
"Hey, check it out!" Grimm says, tapping Orz on the shoulder and pointing to the girls.
"I'm not as weak as you think," Taki tells her before kicking the villain in the face. Shura backs away while grabbing her nose, letting go of Taki. The ninja then grabs hold of Shura's shoulders and knees her in the stomach, before punching her in the face. Shura kicks her in the back of the leg, but even with the spiritual energy enhancing the blows Taki still remains standing. She grabs Shura by the shoulder and forces her against the wall, the water from the pipe pouring down on them.
"Yeah! This is what I'm talking about!" Orz says as he and Grimm check out the girls getting wet. He's not even paying attention to Maxi right now; he's leaning on his weapon to keep him in place. Of course Maxi is also entranced by the beautiful sight in front of him.
"Wish I had a beer," Grimm says, before turning to the fridge. Orz let's Maxi down and opens the fridge, grabbing a jug of alcohol for him and Grimm. Together the three watch the cat fight go on.
Outside...
Xianghua pulls a Wolfos away from Kilik, and stabs it in the eye. "Kilik, I was wondering, what would make a good name?"
"What are you talking about?" he asks her before jabbing a Stalfos in the face.
"For kids. I've been thinking about the name Leixia," she says with a smile before pulling her sword out.
"Can we talk about this later?" he asks her, causing her to pout and frown. 'That's a stupid name.'
With Spawn, he fires a mini Necro Cannon to clear a path inside. The hellspawn walks inside the castle, his cape blowing wildly with a 'hpmh'. Mitsurugi, having cut down a Dinolfos, heads inside after him.
Elsewhere...
Lizardmen gather at the top of the flight of stairs, facing the trio of Link, Siegfried and Cassandra before them. Activating the Triforce and taking out his magic armor, Link charges forward, but gets stopped by Siegfried. "What are you doing?"
"Don't go charging in at full power so quickly. You'll lose control like last time," he whispers to him. Siegfried then raises Soul Calibur and fires an array of diamond spikes at them, cleaning out the first group. "Leave this to me and Cassandra!"
"We got this, Link!" Cassie says as she charges at the lizards, fairing better than she's ever had before. After a few blows have been traded, purple and black ooze gathers underneath them. Cassandra and Siegfried roll out of the way to avoid it, while Link climbs the stairs to reach them. The lizards disappear into the ooze, while up from it rises the Pitch Black Phantom Beast - Bongo Bongo. The entire floor becomes shrouded in darkness, as Bongo Bongo turns invisible.
"Was that Bongo Bongo?" Cassandra asks Link.
"Yeah. Watch for his arms. They're not invisible," Link says as he eyes the two parts of the ghost's body not see through. "Keep the hands busy! I'll flush out the body!"
"Got it!" Siegfried says as he fires diamond spikes at the left hand, drawing it towards him. Cassandra releases a kenatsu at the right hand, forcing it to follow her.
'If I remember correctly, it was in the middle of the two hands... Which means, right there!' Link immediately activates his Triforce, and then the magic armor. With the Kokori's Super Royal Armor on his body Link prepares a kenatsu attack for the phantom.
"Shooting Stardust!" Link swings vertically at the direct center between the right hand and the left. But when he does his face quickly changes back to the mask of the Fierce Deity, which disappears the moment he releases his attack. Shooting Stardust transforms into a spiraling vortex of energy that completely razes everything before it and blows a hole in the castle walls.
Bongo Bongo's body becomes visible for a moment, revealing how Link's attack has completely taken off its head, neck, and pretty much everything but the tail. Link places a hand to his face, remembering that instance where the mask rose in place. 'That power... It just showed up...'
The rest of Bongo Bongo falls to the ground, along with its arms, and phazes into ooze. Cassandra and Siegfried, having seen Link's attack, are shocked to have witnessed just how much power he could muster.
Inside his room Inferno grins proudly, as if he's holding himself back from laughing. 'There we go.'
Julia: And so we come to the final rounds. Next time, Spawn meets Twinrova and Mitsurugi faces Voldo. Inferno's plan plays into action as he forces Link to fight with everything he's got.