Hack: A new chapter is finally up! It took a while for me to plan out how this arc was going to fit in with the entire story, and I have a pretty good idea on what to write for the rest of the arc. Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 38: Andross
Depression fell over Mario as he sat down in a lonely jail cell, separated from his pal Yoshi. Tears rolled down his eyes, his arms and legs completely numb and his face covered in dirt and blood. For the first time in his life, he felt completely inferior, completely weak, completely lifeless. He always felt superior to everyone else all the time, not because he was cocky or self-centered, but he actually was most of the time, except for one particular person.
Luigi… I'm sorry. I should've helped you as much as possible… Now I realize… I'm the weak one…
Mario looked up to the dark ceiling, wiping away his tears of guilt.
One day… When I finally see you again… I'll tell you everything. Everything single detail about your past.
"What are these guys?" asked Captain Falcon. "They look like a step up from those soldiers we faced."
"Aparoids…" explained Fox. "They were insanely strong when my team faced them… I don't see why they're back, heck I don't see why they're on Wolf's side."
"Doesn't mean they'll be very strong at all for us this time!" Falcon cried, releasing a fierce raptor booster attack on the nearest aparoid. The moment his fist made contact with the aparoid, he immediately retracted his fist, holding it in pain.
"FUCK!!!" he cried. "SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!"
BOOM
"OUCH!!!" Falcon cried again as he felt the power of a super missile take him out.
"Oh shit… Sorry," said Samus. "Looks like none of my attacks will work on these aparoids… they just deflect off of them…"
Immediately, the aparoids released fire upon the smashers. Jigglypuff created a quick protect barrier that deflected all of the bullets back to the aparoids, yet the bullets did no harm to them!
"Get back, everyone," said Luigi. "It's time to fight metal with fire." He released a long stream of fire from his right hands, engulfing every single aparoid in his direction crammed in the hall. After the fire disappeared, each and every aparoid melted!
Luigi whirled around, preparing to shoot another beam of fire when he saw hundreds of aparoids sliced into pieces. After a second, all of them exploded.
"What the…" Luigi gasped. The three other smashers around him looked dumbfounded as well, but Fox was missing.
Fox fell out from the ceiling, smirking and wielding his staff. "Anyone miss me?" he asked. "Too bad I ran out of rocket launcher ammo…"
"Did you just… slice all of them with that dingy rod?" asked Falcon, pointing at his staff.
Fox looked at his staff. It has been a while since he released this kind of power again, and fortunately he's starting to release it by instinct.
If only if he had his other weapons in his arsenal with him… The only other weapon he has on his person is his trusty blaster.
"So how are we going to find the Starwolf Team?" asked Jigglypuff. "Should we split?"
Samus shook her head. "No, last time when we split we all almost died. I have an idea, just give me a minute or two."
She placed her right hand on the side of her silver helmet and tapped it. Her eyes seemed to scan every single inch of the area, every angle possible.
"Uh… What are you doing, babe?" asked Falcon. Fortunately for him, Samus was too busy doing what she was.
After two minutes, Samus took her hand off of her head. "I've found it."
"Found what?" asked Luigi.
"I found four humane figures in this mother ship." Samus looked to her left. "That way is the correct direction to find them in this huge ass place."
Immediately, a few aparoids fell out of nowhere to Samus's right. "Yeah, obviously we'd run to the left to avoid those robots," said Fox, without questioning how Samus knew.
All five smashers quickly ran in that direction as aparoids began to appear, releasing fire on them.
"They're coming."
"I know. I felt her X-Ray Visor looking for us. It's clear now that they found the correct path towards us."
"It is smart to tire them out with our battalion of aparoids, as well as our special guest…"
"Ah. You're talking about Andross, right?"
"Yes. But he shall not kill those smashers. We know what would happen to us if he found out that his rival was killed."
"Heck, if Andross goes too far, we will have to execute him."
"Yes… They will be reaching Andross very soon…"
"About now I think."
The five smashers arrived in a large, blank room with absolutely nothing except a sealed metal door at the other end. No windows were present, creating shadows on every single inch of the room. However, light was somehow present in the room.
"They're all behind that door," said Samus, using her X-Ray Visor again.
"I sense something… In this room," said Jigglypuff.
"Really? You do?" asked Falcon. "I can't tell a damn thing."
"Me neither," Fox added.
"No, she's right. I'm sure someone's watching us right now," said Luigi.
Samus quickly aimed her arm cannon upwards at the ceiling and fired an Ice Spreader attack. The entire ceiling immediately became frozen except for a large circular spot in the center, which was replaced by an enormous head of a monkey, which easily dwarfed the size of twenty Bowsers put together. It immediately fell down, breaking free of its frozen state. Milliseconds before it landed splat on the ground, the head regained its balance in mid-air, floating. Two brown furry hands appeared, each as big as Bowser (boy I like using Bowser as a part of a simile) and ready to pound anything it wants.
"You can't hide from my thermal visor, oversized monkey," said Samus, pointing her arm cannon at him.
"That's… Andross?" said Fox. "How are you still alive?"
"You idiot!" the head known as Andross yelled. "Another second and you would all be dead!"
"By a cowardly assault," added Falcon.
"My job is to seal you fools all up down here so my… masters…" Andross's face cringed at the word 'masters'. "can dispose of you!"
"Wait, masters?" asked Luigi.
Before Luigi was able to receive his answer, Andross's right floating hand slammed into the ground, creating enormous circular shockwaves traveling across the ground. All five smashers jumped into the air to avoid this shockwave, but Andross expected this.
"Eat this!"
The left hand pointed its fingers at its first target: Samus. The tips of all five fingers opened up and released heat-seeking lasers at her, piercing through every single joint of her armor suit.
"Ugh!"
Samus fell to the ground, her suit collapsing. "You bastard…" she coughed. She tried moving her right arm cannon to aim it at Andross, yet she couldn't budge it an inch. Looking horrified, she tried to move her legs and they were stunned as well.
Fuck! Am I paralyzed? This is crazy!
But by the time Samus thought of this cause, the four other smashers wrecked fiery hell upon Andross. Luigi and Jigglypuff released multiple streams of fire at each of Andross's hands, Fox peppered Andross's back with fireballs fired from his staff, and Captain Falcon let loose a million punches and kicks set on fire onto Andross's face.
By the time the four smashers were finished with their assault, the only thing Andross could say was…
"Ow."
His face fell facedown onto the ground, and his hands stopped levitating. All of the smashers rushed to Samus's help.
"Samus! Are you okay?" Falcon asked, being the fastest.
"I'm all right! Just paralyzed! Don't get hit by his lasers, they paralyze if you didn't notice!"
Fox, Luigi, and Jigglypuff reached Samus's side as well, asking her if she was all right. All of their backs, except for Samus, were facing Andross, who was rising up again. His right hand was pointed at Jigglypuff, about to release lasers again…
"Jigglypuff! Watch out!" Samus cried, being the only one to notice, but it was too late. The lasers struck cleanly, releasing large explosions.
"Gwah ha ha! You're friend should be dead by now! Nobody could survive my laser bombs!" Andross screamed, finally hovering back in the air again.
After the explosions cleared out, Jigglypuff was nowhere to be seen! Samus, Luigi, and Fox were speechless as to what had happened, but two familiar sounds were heard that confirmed their suspicions.
"FALCON PUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!!"
RESTED!!!!
Andross was sent flying away from the smashers and towards the wall, set on fire. Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff had struck him from behind.
Slow-Motion Replay:
"Jigglypuff! Watch out!" Samus cried. One millimeter before the lasers struck Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon appeared next to her, crouching. He grabbed her and sunk into the shadow present on the ground. The moment the lasers struck that spot, Falcon and Jigglypuff emerged from the shadow again, directly behind Andross.
The rest is history.
Should I try out my new combo?
No, it's too risky. Andross is easy shit compared with the Starwolf Team, I think. You can't reveal what combos you're capable of using. You've only used them in the End of Time before.
I'm not sure… But if I save it for whatever bastard's behind that door… I'm not very experienced.
I'd save it. I'm sure that the Ring of Darkness has considered us a threat by now, and is observing each and every one of our moves. We've never revealed our secret speed combo yet, so it should be used when we must…
…I see. So because we don't need it against Andross… I shouldn't use it. Only when I must.
Exactly.
Captain Falcon's confident smile turned into a horizontal line.
Yes, let's use it when I'm by myself.
Or more importantly…
When I have to use it to protect someone from some bitch.
Andross staggered as he regained his balance in the air, almost crashing into the wall.
"Nice going, Falcon and Jigglypuff!" cried Luigi, giving a wink. It was most certainly the worst time for him to celebrate, as he didn't notice the two enormous hands surrounding his sides.
SPLAT!
Luigi was sandwiched between Andross's hands, feeling the pressure threatening to flatten him into a pancake. He felt his skull about to fall apart into pieces when he felt something grab his right wrist.
ZING!
Samus used the last of her strength and pulled Luigi out from Andross's grasp with her grappling beam moments before Luigi could have been killed. Taking Luigi's place, Fox stood between the two hands, holding his staff up horizontally. Unnoticeably, Andross used his final bit of strength to crush whatever was between his hands.
"ARGH!!!"
Fox jumped out of the way at the exact second Andross's hands crashed together. However, he left his staff there, which impaled both gargantuan hands directly in the center. Nothing could describe the agonizing pain that Andross was experiencing, as the staff coincidentally struck the main nerve system in his hands, making them completely immobile and useless now.
Blood spurted out everywhere as Fox yanked his staff out from Andross's palms with a disgusting squelching noise. No more sound was heard from Andross, though. Why?
BAM!
Luigi spiked Andross into the ground with a well placed one-hit drill kick. He fell to the ground, wavedashed towards the recovering head, and threw his fist up into the air, knocking him back into the air slightly. Luigi jumped up again and used his famous karate-ish slap, sending Andross into the wall. He was knocked off of the wall and back towards Luigi, who used another drill kick to knock him back to the ground.
But Andross had one more trick up his sleeve. The moment Luigi fell towards him to continue his combo, Andross opened his mouth into a wide circle, mimicking a black hole.
"What the hell??" Luigi screamed as he felt himself being sucked into Andross. But before he could react, he fell inside Andross's mouth. After a second, Captain Falcon angrily gave Andross a powerful fire punch, knocking Luigi out of Andross.
"Luigi! You okay?" Falcon cried, but it was no use. Luigi was knocked out, just like that.
Andross smirked. "You're next!"
He opened his mouth and Falcon felt the same effects as Luigi, being sucked in. Falcon quickly began to run as fast as possible, attempting to overpower the black hole. The other smashers would laugh at the sight if it wasn't a serious fight; it looked like Falcon was running in place.
Suddenly, Captain Falcon was given a huge burst of speed. He easily outran the black hole, and Andross looked completely lost in what had happened.
Simple. A quick baton pass by Jigglypuff allowed her to pass on the effects of Agility to Captain Falcon.
Unfortunately for Andross, he didn't have the time to ponder about it, let alone close his mouth. Jigglypuff appeared in his range and looked like she was running towards the black hole.
It's time to see if this new move works…
"Sludge Bomb!"
Using the move that Mewtwo had used to poison Pikachu, a purple liquid-like ball appeared before Jigglypuff and was immediately sucked by Andross into his body.
The moment the poisonous bomb entered Andross, he immediately felt the effects. He closed his mouth, blood leaking out from his nose and eyes.
"Wha? What jus append to meh? Wai can I spek cowectly?" Andross asked, before a sudden burst of pain entered his mouth.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!! MAH TONG! WHA DI YU DO?"
After another minute of thrashing around in pain, Andross exploded, sending blood flying everywhere. All five smashers (Samus and Luigi now conscious) were splattered by Andross's blood, surprised by the effects of poison.
"Whoa… Go Jigglypuff…" said Falcon. "If Pikachu got poisoned any longer back then, I'd hate to see his body explode…"
Luigi nodded. "Well I'm sure being attacked mentally by Psychic is a lot worse than being poisoned."
All five smashers looked at the lone door. For them, Andross seemed to be a simple warm-up. Fox walked up to the door and turned the knob, revealing nothing but darkness.
"Are you sure this is the right direction?" he asked.
Samus nodded. "It's some sort of dimension, but I can see them… I can tell where they are. Don't worry about me."
Don't worry about me? Right…
"Come on, you slowpokes!" Luigi cried. "Captain Falcon already jumped in! Let's go!"
The four remaining smashers nodded as they followed Luigi into the blank darkness. They were all immediately separated by an unknown force into separate directions.
Four of the five smashers found themselves isolated inside a dark room, accompanied by one person.
"…Who are you?" asked Luigi.
"Funny you should ask," said Leon, holding up a thin, long silver sword. "It's nice to meet you, Luigi. The name is Leon, the vice-captain of the Starwolf Team."
Luigi flicked his wrist once, a flash of fire appearing and disappearing above his index finger. "Well you seem like you're going to give me lots of fun right now."
Leon got into a fighting stance. "That's right. All inferior beings shall be disposed of. I am the boss of all of you inferior beings. And all who disagree with our ideas… Shall be exterminated."
"Well guess what? I've got a couple new tricks up my sleeve, a temporary new weapon." He drew something up from his bottom pockets…
"Holy shit! What the hell is that?" Falcon gasped as he faced an enormous robot that looked like a human with a pig's head on it. A sneering voice was discharged from the inside of the head of the robot.
"You like my new invention? I finished building it just yesterday," said Pigma. "It should be damn immune to all of your damn attacks, you whelp!"
"Oh really?" Falcon smirked. "A cocky little bitch, huh?"
"Watch your damn tongue, or you might lose it you panty-freak!"
"Panty-freak? Now you've crossed the line, you runt! Get ready for a fucking beating!"
"Where am I…?" asked Jigglypuff. Suddenly, a black cat stood in an arbitrary blue spotlight.
"He comes out from the shadows mysteriously… The women scream for him… He is the brave one in the ship… He is the black cat… He is the one and only…"
The black panther smiled as he threw a rose into the air. "Panther!"
Jigglypuff looked flabbergasted. He reminds me a bit of James in Kanto…
"Unfortunately I got a little puffball for an enemy, not that beautiful young lady. Even better, if I was teamed up with Krystal we'd be an unstoppable team. But alas, that is not the case. You may be a cute little puffball, yet you are going to be taken down by me."
"You shouldn't underestimate me…"
"I know. You are the one that took out Mewtwo. I should not take you lightly. But it seems that you are the one who is underestimating me…"
His two paws extended into claws with sharp nails…
Samus looked confused as to where she was. Strange… Wasn't that portal all dark and stuff? Yet…
She was standing in a bright white room. At the other end was Wolf O'Donnell, sitting in a comfortable couch.
Something was not right here…
"Samus! It's great to see you!" cried Wolf.
"Cut to the chase, Wolf," Samus coolly replied. "I'm here to kill you off right now." She threatened him by pointing her arm cannon at him.
"Really? Well I am over ten times more powerful than Mewtwo, do you seriously think you have a chance?"
"Yes."
Wolf shook his head. "Well then… I guess I have something to reveal to you about the Endowment of Exigency…"
"Falco? What are you… Why…" Fox gasped.
Falco smiled. "I notice your speechless expression. Let me make it clean and simple. You've taken away what I love in life: dog fighting. Even more, you took away my morality. You rejected my beliefs, no matter how together we were."
"Falco… Why are you with Wolf…"
"Why am I with Wolf?" Falco repeated Fox's question as if it was a joke. "Can't you see? I'd love to be in a team that accepts what I believe in. They realized my potential, as a pilot and as a fighter, and Wolf accepted me immediately."
Fox shook his head. "But I rejected your beliefs… It's all the rules."
"Exactly. It was against your rules. Starwolf's rules are obviously different. I get to do what I believe in. And I just noticed, I started to grow attached to this team.
Why are you so speechless then? You didn't expect to see me with Wolf, right? No wait, you didn't want to see me in your entire life ever again. Well you know you're going to see me, especially at the Smash Mansion."
"But Falco… You're helping the enemy! How could you do that?"
"You were trying to help the enemy too by wanting to save Corneria rather than the entire universe."
That sentence alone shut Fox up.
Falco continued. "It's the same, isn't it? Your selfish desires over the entire universe. It makes perfect sense. Even if the universe was in chaos, you know you wouldn't care about it if Corneria was in more danger."
"No! That's not true!" Fox felt guilt pierce through his heart at that moment.
Did he just lie to Falco and himself just now?
"Believe it, Fox. You know it's true." Falco pointed his blaster up at Fox. "I've always waited for this day, where we'd finally face off outside of the smasher's virtual world. No matter what happens, you better fucking give it your all."
Fox, still speechless, looked at Falco. Understanding the situation, he prepared his three trusty weapons: his staff, blaster, and reflector.
"I understand, Falco. If you want a battle… You got one!"