Chapter 54: Time is Running Out! Fight Against the Rocket Executives!


"Get outta way!" Mario said to the Team Rocket executives. "We don't-a have time to fight-a you!"

"The music player that will play the music is on this floor!" said Shum.

"And it's over there!" Cart pointed to a large machine behind them.

"Then we must destroy it at once!" said Meta-Knight.

"Never will you be able to succeed! Under the Mask of Ice's orders, we will kill you right here!" said Shum.

"We have confidence that we will defeat you! Get ready to die!" said Cart, and then he threw out two Pokeballs. "Kill them, Houndoom and Magcargo!"

"They're yours, Persian and Slowking!" Shum threw out her Pokeballs too.

"Looks like we have no choice now," said MK, getting into fighting stance.

"I'll go over to the machine and give it a good busting!" said Sonic. "With my speed, it should end in a blink of an eye!"

"Stop him with Barrier, Slowking!" commanded Shum.

The Slowking lifted up its arms and they began to glow, and a barrier appeared in front of Sonic and he crashed into it very hard.

CRAAASH!!

"Ouch! What the?!" cried Sonic as he took several steps back and rubbed his nose.

"Persian, use Pay Day!"

The red dot on the Persian's forehead gave off a golden glimmer and several golden coins shot forward at a really fast speed. It pelted the Smashers and hit them really hard, leaving behind bruises. "Ouch! It hurts!" cried Peach.

"And to think money can be this dangerous!" cried Pichu.

"Magcargo, burn them down with Flamethrower!" commanded Cart. The Magcargo opened its mouth and a blast of fire came out.

The Smashers quickly rolled away to avoid the fire, but Yoshi got his tail on fire and ran around madly. "YEOW! FIRE!! IT BURNS!!" He quickly ran to a nearby water cooler and used it to douse off the fire on his tail. "Phew, thanks goodness for water…"

"That-a duz eet!" said Mario angrily. He ran towards the villains at a fast speed and the Houndoom pounced forward to attack him. Mario stepped to the side and threw a punch, but the Houndoom spun around fast and smacked him using its tail to flinch him and then it headbutted Mario in the stomach hard and knocked him backwards. "Oof!" After Mario fell, the Houndoom jumped at him with its mouth wide open to take a bite, but MK quickly flew in front of Mario with his sword ready.

As MK swung his sword, the Houndoom shut its jaws and gripped onto the sword hard and MK struggled to pull his sword back, but the Houndoom gathered its strength and threw him across the room. "YAAA!!"

"I won't let you get me again!" shouted Sonic as he ran towards the machine once again, and this time he tried jumping over the villains.

However, the Slowking looked up and glared at Sonic with angry-looking eyes, and the eyes flashed in bright blue light and Sonic was suddenly frozen in midair! "What the?! Hey! What's happening?!"

The Slowking pointed its finger onto the floor and Sonic came slamming down face first onto the floor really hard.

SLAM!!

"Ow…"

"Crush them all with Rock Slide!" Cart said to his Magcargo. The rocky shell on Magcargo's back broke down into pieces and each piece hovered into the air for a short while before shooting forward like comets.

"Whoa! Watch out!" gasped Yoshi, and then a rock flew into his mouth. Another rock came flying at him, but Riolu jumped in front and threw a punch that shattered the rock. "Whoa, you're strong…"

Peach got out an umbrella and held it open in front of her in hope of trying to use it as a shield, but the rocks were too powerful and they shot through the umbrella and smacked her in the stomach hard. "OOF!!"

MK swung his sword while flying around madly and cut the rocks down with ease. While the rocks were still being thrown, Magcargo breathed fire at the rocks and turned them into fireballs! "Watch out!" cried MK as he tried even harder to eliminate them.

"I'll handle this!" said Yoshi. He ran to the water cooler and lifted up the water bottle and gulped down every single drop into his mouth as fast as he can. After swallowing the whole bottle, his body was really fat, and he said to Mario, "Mario! Jump on my back as hard as you can!"

"Okey dokey!" said Mario. He ran to Yoshi and stomped on his back hard, and this caused Yoshi to squirt out a powerful stream of water that doused all the fireballs, and the water continued flying into Magcargo, causing it to reel back and squirm in pain.

MK used this opportunity to swing his sword at the weakened Magcargo and slashed it, and the Magcargo was cut badly and fell to the floor and seemingly melted. "How dare you?!" growled Cart angrily as he called back his Magcargo. "Houndoom, use Fire Blast and burn them down!"

The Houndoom shot out a large burst of fire in the form of a Chinese character. Mario quickly spun his Fire Rod in front of him very fast, and the spinning of the rod served as a shield and absorbed the fire into itself. This caused the rod to glow brightly and release steam. "Fire Gun!" The front end of the rod stretched forward at a really fast speed and smashed the Houndoom's face really hard and knocked it out.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!

"What the?! Nooo!! My Pokemon are down! This cannot be!!" gasped Cart.

"I'll avenge for you!" said Shum. "Persian! Thunderbolt!" The Persian growled loudly and the red spot on its forehead emitted electricity and fired a bolt towards them.

"Pichu!" Pichu fired his own thunderbolt and both the beams struck each other in midair and both Pokemon struggled with their own beams and tried to overcome each other. "I must succeed!!" While he was still using this move, Pichu ran forward and leaped at the Persian and rammed it hard in the face using his Crash Helmet.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!

Combined with the electricity around Pichu's body, the Persian was hit very hard and it passed out. Pichu hopped back to his original position and laughed, "Ha! How'd you like that?"

"Darn it! This shouldn't be happening!" cursed Shum.

"Eetz our victory!" said Mario.

"Not yet! Slowking, use Psychic!"

The Slowking's eye glowed brightly and everyone was frozen still and unable to move. "Dammit! It's this trick again!" said Sonic.

"That's not fair!" shouted Yoshi.

While the Smashers were still frozen, the Slowking gathered a dark energy ball within his hands. "Blast them down with Shadow Ball!" said Shum.

"Oh no!" cried Mario. "We cannot-a move!"

"You're dead now! Victory is ours!" said Cart.

Just when the Slowking was about to fire the energy ball, another energy ball shot in from the staircase and came in contact with the Slowking's energy ball, causing an explosion.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!

The explosion was so strong that the Slowking was blasted backwards and passed out. "What the?!" gasped both the executives.

Everyone was finally able to move again, and they turned around and saw Ganondorf coming up the stairs. "You guys really can't do anything with me, do you?" he said.

"Thanks for helping us!" said Peach.

"Where's Falcon?" asked MK.

"He needs a bit of rest after taking too many hits from the previous battle," replied Ganondorf.

"Is the enemy that strong?"

"Not really; we just underestimated one of them and was caught off guard."

"Dammit! This shouldn't be happening! We should be winning!" said Cart angrily.

"But it's too late! The music is beginning!" said Shum.

"Oh no!" gasped Mario.

The machine behind them began to start up, and an eerie orchestrated music started playing. "What's this odd music…?" asked Yoshi.

"Sounds like something Bach would compose," said Ganondorf.

Peach looked down at Pichu and noticed that his eyes are staring into the blankness or something like that. "Pichu, are you all right?"

"Must kill…" muttered Pichu, and then he turned around and stared at his comrades with eyes that look like he's possessed.

"Oh no! Pichu is possessed!" gasped Yoshi. He turned to look at Riolu and saw him with the same sort of eyes! "Riolu too!"

-

Outside, the trainers' Pokemon are all acting strange too. The Pokemon are all glaring at their trainers angrily. "Saur! What are you doing?! Why aren't you listening to me?!" said Red.

"Charizard! Listen to me at once!" said Green.

"They're not listening to us anymore!" gasped Blue.

"Must kill…" murmured Pikachu. "Must kill…"

-

"Hey! Snap out of this at once!" Ganondorf shouted to Pichu.

"Die!" said Pichu in a demonic voice, and then he jumped at Ganondorf and tried to bite him, but Ganondorf threw a punch into Pichu and sent him flying across the room and he crashed right into the music machine and destroyed it.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!

"WHAT?!" gasped the executives.

Riolu immediately returned to normal and looked around in confusion. "Riolu is back to normal!" exclaimed Yoshi.

"Praise of the Lord!" said Peach happily.

Pichu crawled out of the remains of the machine and asked, "What have I been doing…?"

"No!! Everything is ruined!" cried Shum. "This shouldn't be happening!"

-

Outside, the Pokemon have all returned to normal. "Huh? What happened just now?" asked Pikachu.

"They're back to normal again…" said Yellow.

"That means the Smashers turned off the music in time!" said Red with joy. "Thanks goodness!"

-

"This shouldn't be happening!" said Cart. "The boss will not be pleased to know this!"

"Give up!" said Mario.

"Get ready to meet your maker!" said Ganondorf.

"So, what have I missed out?" asked Captain Falcon as he walked up into this room.

"Falcon! You're all right!" said Peach happily.

"I just need a little rest, that's all. Okay, what do we have here?"

"We were successful in halting the music," explained MK. "All that's left are these two goons standing in our way to the Mask of Ice."

"Right then! Let's get the work done fast and get to the main point!" said CF as he cracked his fist.

"We're not letting you do whatever you want! The fight hasn't ended yet!" said Cart. He got out a gun from underneath his shirt and began firing at them, but the Smashers were able to avoid the bullets with ease.

"Watch out!" cried Peach.

Riolu hopped off Yoshi's back and ran up to Cart at a fast speed and crawled up his leg. "Hey! What's this?!" he cried as he tried to shake off Riolu. Riolu climbed onto his face and began pummeling him over and over.

POW WHACK SMACK!!

Cart finally fell over with several bruises on his face and even his mask is cracked. "What the?! How dare you?!" gasped Shum. Before she could do anything, Riolu jumped at her and delivered an uppercut into her chin and sent her spinning in midair before crashing back onto the floor face first.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!

Riolu landed onto the floor and did a pose while cheering in triumph. "Nice going, Riolu!" said Yoshi.

"That little tyke sure has power!" said CF. "I'm starting to like him!"

"And he's so adorable too!" said Peach.

"Never imagined someone small like him to be this powerful," said Ganondorf.

"Are you underestimating me or what?" Pichu asked him.

"Yes."

"Hey! I'm not that weak!"

"Okay, let's get moving upwards again!" said CF. "The final battle is awaiting us up there!"

-

Up on the roof, the Mask of Ice was looking down from the side at the battle between Palkia and the trainers. This was when the Smashers climbed onto the roof. "Hey you!" shouted CF.

Mask of Ice turned around and looked at them, and said, "I see that you made it this far. You even put a stop to my plans too. There is something to be said about you people!"

"Thanks for the compliment, but your time is over, freak!" said CF.

"I knew you were coming for me, but I do not intend to stay here any longer."

"You're not getting away, mister!" said Sonic.

"Yeah! We're beating you up no matter what!" said Yoshi.

"You better get ready because I'm coming!" said CF as he got into fighting stance.

"Try me!" Then ice came out from underneath the Mask of Ice's cloak and it began to travel across the rooftop, freezing up the floor. The ice went underneath the Smashers' feet and trapped them.

"What the?! My legs are frozen!" gasped Sonic.

"Mamamia!" cried Mario.

"Ice powers?!" gasped MK.

"You are now all powerless before me!" said the Mask of Ice.

"You think something like this can stop me?" asked CF. "Hiya!" He released a fiery aura around his body and it melted the ice, allowing him to move again. This surprised the Mask of Ice and CF leaped at him and grabbed his cloak. "Falcon Dive!" And explosion occurred and blasted the Mask of Ice backwards, and CF flew back and landed on his feet. "How'd you like?"

The explosion burned off the Mask of Ice's cloak, as well as his mask, and his true form was revealed to everyone. "What the?! It's you?!" gasped CF.

"I believe we met before, young man," said the Mask of Ice, whose real identity is none other than Mahogany gym leader—Pryce!

"Hey! It's that old man who gave us the wrong directions!" said Sonic. "He's the Mask of Ice?!"

"I should've known it was you when you used ice as your weapon! But how are you able to do that without the help of your Pokemon?" asked CF.

"The answer lies in this specially made wheelchair of mine!" replied Pryce. "This is not an ordinary wheelchair; it is built with the power of ice. So long as I am sitting on it, I can control the power of ice freely! Even without my Pokemon, I can still win in combats!"

"Very interesting! Bring it on!"

"I told you that I do not intend to stay here any longer. If you want to continue the battle, then meet me at the peak of Mt. Silver!"

"You're not running anywhere!"

Then several ices appeared around Pryce's wheelchair and they formed a large ice bird in the likeliness of the legendary Articuno. The ice bird flapped its wings, and despite being made of ice and really heavy, it took off into the air! "Meet me at Mt. Silver if you have what it takes! I'll be waiting!"

"Dammit! Don't run!" CF ran towards the ice bird, but it has already taken off high into the air and is out of reach.

Pryce looked down at Palkia and shouted to it, "That's enough! We're leaving!"

The Palkia heard his voice and reached its hand into air besides it, and then as if it is opening a door, it tore open a hole in the air and walked into another dimension, and then closed the 'door'.

"It just disappeared!" gasped Gold.

"We let him got away…" said Red.

The other Smashers saw everything from the rooftop. "They got away…" said Peach.

"At least the crisis here is solved," said CF. "We're going after him and settle this altogether!"


TO BE CONTINUED

The Mask of Ice's identity shouldn't be that surprising to people who are familiar with the manga.

This chapter may be short, but it's really just a setup for the real action coming up the next few chapters. Hope you wait for it!