Hack: Gotta apologize for the late update… Been busy with tons of school, including a very evil teacher that all of my school friends know of… Damn idiot. Well, to be honest there's another big reason behind my late update: procrastination and laziness. Yeah, I'm one of those many people who procrastinate like crazy (and still manage to get decent grades…)

Regardless, I won't be able to update weekly anymore, at least for the duration of the next month due to the approaching exams and stuff. Even with Christmas break, I'd spend every day either hanging out with my friends and family or studying.

This chapter isn't that great either, at least in my eyes. You can easily notice that I rushed through it a bit to get it over with, because to be completely honest I wasn't interested in typing these minor fights. Buuuuuuuuut keep in mind that I'll never leave this story dead; it'll only be dead once I finish it.

With all excuses aside, enjoy (hopefully) this chapter!


Chapter 53: Insanity

He's a master of ice and illusions… This is a test of whether I can break through someone's defenses or not using my new abilities. How do I break through his defenses and find his weaknesses?

Hopefully my training will have paid off…

Jigglypuff jumped several feet to avoid an icy breath sweeping across the entire floor. She held her hands out and cried, "Flamethrower!"

FOOM

The stream of fire shot through the air, aimed at the Crystal King. Three ice crystals immediately surrounded him and created a spherical barrier of energy. The flamethrower attack was instantly reflected back at Jigglypuff, who dodged her own deflected attack with a roll.

"You think fire will finish me off that quickly?" said the Crystal King. "I'm afraid you're wrong there, my friend!"

Jigglypuff whirled around in midair then cried, "Thunder!" Several bolts of lightning fell from the ceiling, repeatedly zapping the Crystal King. However, the barrier blocked every attack, keeping him unharmed!

"Nope, your attacks won't hurt me with this barrier on!" cried the Crystal King. "Now time for me to show you some tricks!"

The Crystal King suddenly split into three Crystal Kings! All of them looked vaguely transparent, as if nobody can physically touch him.

"Only one of us is the real one! And even if you do find me…" he smirked with his invisible face. "Can you even touch me?"

"Don't worry, I can!" Jigglypuff replied confidently. She jumped up to one of the illusions and immediately used a pound attack on it, but as a fake, it instantly disappeared!

Suddenly, Jigglypuff's body became encased in ice! While Jigglypuff attacked one fake illusion, the two others attacked her with a super mega ice breath!

"Ha! I don't know why Grodus was worried about you fools…" The two Crystal Kings turned around when suddenly, several wheels of fire were spun at them!

"Flame Wheel!"

Jigglypuff instantly thawed herself as fireballs flew around her with her new fire ability, forming several wheels and continuously spinning towards the Crystal Kings. Unfortunately, the miniscule ice crystal continuously deflected them, though they all missed Jigglypuff.

Flame Wheel is noticeably weaker than Flamethrower, but it has more range and allows me to thaw myself… Like I just did… Jigglypuff thought to herself.

Jigglypuff immediately threw another powerful pound attack at the closer Crystal King, which was another illusion! Expecting an assault from the real deal from behind, she jumped.

Unfortunately, her enemy was expecting this. The illusionist aimed his mouth upward as he predicted Jigglypuff's evasion path and shot a lightning bolt… Or rather, a bolt of ice! Jigglypuff was frozen again in midair, soon falling to the ground painfully. She immediately used Flame Wheel again to thaw herself, shivering from the freezing attacks.

"S-s-s-s-oooo c-colddd…" Jigglypuff shivered. She found herself before three Crystal Kings again, all about to use their mega ice breath again.

Responding quickly, Jigglypuff cried, "Mirror Coat!"

The ice breath struck her again, freezing her. However, a beam of light shot through her body and struck all three Crystal Kings, destroying two of them. Supposedly, this attack returns the damage doubled.

But the real Crystal King didn't even flinch!

Jigglypuff broke out using Flame Wheel for the third time, shivering again. "How… d-d-did you…"

"I am a master of ice! I cannot be hurt by my own element, even you should know that! And what about fire? I have my crystal slaves who will block for me, making my main weakness a resistance!"

"…Main weakness, you said?"

Jigglypuff instantly dashed up to the Crystal King and threw a Mega Kick at him. However, there was one thing she forgot.

The Crystal King was a ghost, who cannot be harmed by fighting abilities.

Jigglypuff kicked through the ghostly cloak, yet did not harm the king at all! She whirled around to find herself rolling to the side, dodging ice breath after ice breath.

"You can't defeat me! It is impossible!" cried the Crystal King.

Jigglypuff fired another Flamethrower attack, but the crystals blocked them again.

"Nuh uh uh! No attacks will breach my servants!" taunted the Crystal King.

Jigglypuff decided to test her opponent's theory. She used a Rock Slide attack, causing an avalanche of rocks to fall on the ghost.

The barrier blocked it.

Jigglypuff immediately followed her assault up with Surf, causing a huge tidal wave to flood the room.

The barrier blocked it.

Jigglypuff ended her assault with a powerful pound attack.

The barrier blocked it.

"What did I tell you?" The Crystal King laughed. "There's no way you can get through! Now it's my turn!"

He used his predictable ice voltage attack again, which Jigglypuff dodged with a flat crouch.

How can I get through his barrier? It seems so impossible, they can block practically everything!

The obvious choice is to destroy those crystals! Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?

But how to destroy them… They're probably durable themselves…

"Flamethrower!"

Jigglypuff aimed a flamethrower attack at one of the crystals and it struck the ice crystal. However, when the smoke cleared away, it didn't seem harmed at all!

"Wha…?" said Jigglypuff.

"My crystals have high resistance, so fire attacks will do nothing, even though it is ice's weakness!" the Crystal King exclaimed, finally freezing Jigglypuff again.

After using Flame Wheel to thaw herself instantly, Jigglypuff thought up of the solution.

If special attacks can't destroy his crystals… I'll have to use physical attacks.

And I know the perfect attack to use that's super effective against ice… I hope my training comes into play here…

Jigglypuff charged her fist with her right hand, gathering energy through it. The Crystal King laughed.

"Just give up! You know you can't win!"

He split into not three, but ten different illusions of himself! All ten of them surrounded Jigglypuff in a circle prepared to use the most powerful ice breath any living being would ever see!

Jigglypuff simply stood her ground, continuously charging her right fist. It was now shining for some reason…

WOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The breath froze every single square inch of the room within the circle of Crystal Kings. After the fog cleared away, there was nothing where Jigglypuff stood before. All there stood was a huge pillar of ice.

"METEOR MASH!"

BOOOOOOOOM

One illusion disappeared with a fist. The nine others turned to look where Jigglypuff was, but half of them were instantly taken out by an Agility-fied Jigglypuff carrying a huge metal fist.

Once the Crystal King found out what was happening, all of his illusions were already taken out. He smirked as he made his ice crystals surround him. Jigglypuff rammed her steel fist into one of the crystal.

The barrier blocked it.

…Or not. The millisecond her fist touched the crystal, all of them broke as if they had an invisible tied bond between them. Jigglypuff smiled at the shocked Crystal King as she cried…

"Flamethrower!"

The first time was the last time the Crystal King felt pain in this fight. The beam of fire melted his icy crown and cloaked, making them disappear into thin air.

"No barrier is indestructible…" explained Jigglypuff. "Everything has a weakness… It may be concealed, but it still may be there…"

She walked through the door behind her, still avoiding the X-Nauts who are scouting the halls for the smashers.


It looked like a staring contest between two groups of three: Fox, Link, and Ganondorf versus Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss. They stood, glaring at each other in the dark room filled with shadows.

Hatred flared from the smashers' eyes, since they could not forgive their opponents for causing Mario and Luigi to almost kill each other.

KA-BANG!

Marilyn, the fat, mute shadow siren raised her hands, causing huge bolts to fall upon the smashers. The three dodged quickly by rolling to the side, preparing to dodge whatever their enemy is about to throw at them.

Beldam released an icy mist of fog, veiling the entire room and preventing anyone from seeing.

Except the Shadow Sirens themselves, of course. Marilyn appeared directly behind Fox from the shadow on the floor, about to smash her powerful fists to crush his body. Fox instinctively rolled forward to dodge it, whirling around to face his opponent.

He whirled around just to see Link slice Marilyn in half with the Great Fairy's Sword! (Remember, this is Young Link)

"One down, two to go!" Link confidently cried as he drew his bow to blindly aim wherever Beldam and Doopliss were hiding. He felt two purple hands grab his legs, but it was too late. Beldam tripped Link, causing him to fall face flat on the floor. Beldam drew her fist back, charging it with the power of ice.

Ganondorf came flying out of nowhere with his leg charged with darkness, kicking through Beldam's face and causing it to explode!

"Take that, old hag!" cried Ganondorf.

The icy mist lifted as the room revealed four smashers.

Wait, four?

Two Foxes were looking at each other confused, but knowing that one of them is Doopliss in disguise.

"You have GOT to be kidding me… That definitely isn't me," said the first Fox.

"Come on, that's obviously Doopliss. It's so obvious, damn it!"

Link and Ganondorf stared at the pair confused when two pairs of dark hands emerging from the dark ground tripped them again!

"We can't be destroyed by physical contact," said Beldam, smirking.

"Oooog…" groaned Marilyn, though she sounded oddly satisfied.

"Get him, Doopliss!" cried Beldam, pinning Link to the ground.

The two Foxes immediately dashed at each other, sending fists and kicks flying at each other, while successfully dodging every attack.

One Fox drew his staff and thrusted it at the other Fox, who sidestepped it.

"Oh ho! If you can do that…" said the weaponless Fox. "Then I can do this!"

"Bad idea, you just revealed that you're Doopliss…" said Fox.

Doopliss, disguised as Fox, smiled. "So? It doesn't matter, your friends are there to watch you die. But if you can use your staff…"

Doopliss held his own fake staff behind him, charging it with energy. Fox widened his eyes.

No… He can't…

"Grodus told me about it, and I don't need any training at all to use this guy's full potential. LEVEL FOUR: ZERO FO-"

Doopliss was cut off by a laser from Fox's blaster. He had failed to use whatever that new ability was.

"Don't… If you do… you'll die at you're body's rate…" said Fox. "And you'll kill everyone without control."

Fox pinned Doopliss to the ground with his right foot, his staff aimed at Doopliss's throat. "You're dead now," he finished as his hand began shoot his staff forward to kill Doopliss.

Suddenly, Doopliss transformed. Not into Link, not into Ganondorf, not into Luigi, Captain Falcon, Samus, or Jigglypuff, but he transformed…

Into Falco…

Fox's staff stopped the moment it barely touched the feathery skin on Doopliss's neck. Sweat immediately dripped down his back.

"How do you like it? My disguise is perfect!" Doopliss grinned as he used Falco's voice to talk with. Taking advantage of Fox's stunned expression and vulnerability, Doopliss kicked Fox off of himself, causing Fox to fall on his back on the floor.

"Fox!!!" Link and Ganondorf cried.

Doopliss immediately dashed to the stunned Fox and used his popular one-hit drill kick to pound Fox into the ground. He immediately followed up with a reflector attack, knocking Fox slightly into the air. He followed up with a short hopped drill kick attack to send Fox into the ground.

Falco's shine infinite…

That image immediately played through Fox's mind; it was the only thing he could only see. He didn't even know he was being beaten by a shine combo. The image of him aiming his staff down at Falco's throat… Right before his suicide…

Fox's knees were on top of Falco's chest, pointing the sharp end of his staff at Falco's neck.

"Looks like I win again," said Fox, smirking.

"You idiot…" replied Falco.

"You idiot, what the hell are you fucking doing, Fox? GET A DAMN HOLD OF YOURSELF!!!!" someone yelled. "THIS IS NOT THE DAMN FOX WE KNOW!!!"

Ganondorf yelled at the top of his lungs, and Fox's mind finally set itself back into place. He already forgot about Link and Ganondorf…

No… I don't want to lose them either…

A new determination flared through Fox's heart.

You seriously think that you're going to destroy me with Falco's body?

"Don't you dare fucking befoul Falco…" Fox muttered. When Doopliss started his eleventh reflector, Fox immediately somehow turned on his fixed reflector, striking Doopliss at the same time Doopliss hit him.

KA-BAM!

Like a gun shot cracking through silence, both Fox and Doopliss were sent flying in opposite directions from the powerful impact of two reflector attacks.

"If you're going to befoul Falco and try to hurt any of my friends… YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!!!" Fox screamed at the top of his lungs, charging at Doopliss with newfound speed, running almost as fast as Captain Falcon.

"Ganondorf!" Link cried, still trapped by Beldam's hands. "We have to get out of here somehow!"

"Right… I know how darkness works… They usually can't be destroyed by physical might, but light should do the work," replied Ganondorf.

"How about this?" Link's hand suddenly turned into fire, burning Beldam's right hand. "Din's Fire!"

"AHHHHH!!!!" Beldam cried in pain, as she was a master of ice, naturally being weak to fire.

"That works too," said Ganondorf. Both of his hands charged with light energy orbs and instantly released them at Marilyn's arms, burning them.

"GUUHHHHH!!!" Marilyn immediately released Ganondorf from her grasp, sinking back into the shadows.

Link and Ganondorf both immediately whirled around to see Fox not being himself at all. It was a horrible sight, to put simply.

Doopliss was against the wall, but he was far from alive. None of his feathers were blue, but they were all red covered in blood. His shirt and pants were colorless if you didn't count red as a color. The staff covered with blood was stuck in the wall and in the fake Falco's head. His beak was completely sliced off, but one thing was clear about Doopliss's face: only fear covered his face aside from blood. Fox stood, glaring at the dead figure against the wall that he brutally tortured and murdered.

…And he laughed like a retarded patient in an asylum…

"Yes… Yes… Just die like that… Ha! DIE!" Fox lifted his blaster and fired it at the carcass's face, creating another fresh burn mark with the blood.

"Fox! What the hell are you…" Link started, but he remembered about the two other opponents still alive and turned to face them.

Both Beldam and Marilyn were as awestruck as Link and Ganondorf. They stared at Fox like he was insane…

And at the moment, he was.

Fox's laughs turned into whispers. "Yes… Yes… Just die like that… Falco's not yours… No way… Fuck no…"

Fox immediately let out a high-pitched ear-splitting scream.

If they were not facing enemies, Link and Ganondorf would help Fox right now, but they couldn't because the two Shadow Sirens finally recognized their enemies' presence.

It was too late, though. Link accurately fired a light arrow through Beldam's heart, dissipating her body into several violet, icy particles.

Beldam groaned as she sunk into the ground to flee from her powerful enemies, but Ganondorf got the better. He was immediately next to the Shadow Siren and swung his enormous sword on her head.

His sword was covered with the power of light.

Like her sister, Beldam was sliced in half before she dissipated into several yellow particles, disappeared and no longer in this world.

"…Not as hard as I thought…" Link sighed. Ganondorf simply grunted in response as they immediately ran towards their friend.

Fox, who was no longer laughing, let out another high pitched scream. "KILL ME NOW!!!"

The staff immediately disappeared from Doopliss's massacred carcass and reappeared in Fox's had. He pointed it at his own throat, about to stab himself.

KA-CHING!

Link let out his boomerang, knocking the staff out of Fox's hands. Fox threw his hand into his chest as if his staff was still there.

"Fox! Get a hold of yourself!" Link cried.

Ganondorf didn't say anything, mostly because he didn't know what to say. He also wasn't best friends with Fox, but most certainly didn't want him to die.

Fox screamed again, taking out his blaster this time.

"Wha… WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING???" Link yelled, firing another arrow to knock Fox's blaster again. He looked to his side to see what Ganondorf was doing, but didn't see him!

Ganondorf let out a powerful punch in the back of Fox's head, knocking him out cold instantly. He grabbed Fox's body and heaved him on his shoulder.

"Ganondorf… You… didn't…"

Ganondorf shook his head. "No, I don't want to kill him. He'd eventually kill himself if we didn't knock him out. I'd say there's something big that happened between him and Falco…"

Link frowned. "It must've been something really big if seeing an image of Falco turned Fox insane… They were best friends, as far as I remembered."

"Inseparable."

"I concur. Falco probably died, but something else must've happened… Maybe Falco was tortured or committed suicide or something, and Fox felt as if it's his fault."

The pair walked out of the door, carrying Fox's unconscious body.

Ganondorf instantly stopped. "What are we going to do about that damn body? It already smells…"

"Just leave it. They'll know not to mess with us… Or even mess with Fox's friend… We've got to find Grodus though, so we can help Mario and Luigi if they need it."


"No, Luigi! I'm not going to let you go fight with me!" Mario scolded.

"Mario…" said Luigi, who was still staggering from their fight with Crump. They both reached a large door, evidently where Grodus was waiting.

"Luigi! I said no! I'm not going to lose you because of me!"

"…What are you talking about?"

"Never mind! You need rest!" Mario forced Luigi back on his back.

"Brother!"

"Look, stay here or I'll fry you," Mario threatened so politely.

"…" Luigi glared up at his older brother. "…I'll listen, but after some time of resting I'm going up there to fight with you. You can't stop me."

"By then I'll be finished. You won't have to fight, trust me," Mario smiled. He turned around and walked through the enormous doors, letting out a loud creaking noise.

Luigi stood up, ignoring the stinging pain through his entire body. "Brother… You know I'm going to follow you right now… I think that's why you even smiled…"

After a minute, Luigi immediately followed through the door…