We're almost at the big four-oh!
Updated Sif's location from the Sacred Realm to the Mysterious Dimension.
I unfortunately had to scrap my ideas with Medusa and Dr. Eggman, given that the story is already complex enough as it is.
Here's the first chapter of the new decade!
Join Super Smash Prose, a Discord for Smash writers to share ideas and have a good time! (code is gDK48ua)
Matthew shot a Thunderhead towards Metal Gear EXCELSUS, but missed due to the Metal Gear digging itself a partial crater to low-profile the attack, which in turn allowed Bayonetta to score a three-kick combo into an uppercut from Madama Butterfly.
Wolf, having snatched Fox's sniper rifle out of the latter's hands, growled, "Get in close, McCloud, I can take it from here," before kneeling and taking a shot at the cockpit, which he managed to hit, but not damage, causing him to curse.
Snake, holding his rocket launcher, began running towards the Metal Gear with the intent of scaling it, though not before he caught a glance at Wolf, causing him to ask Otacon, "Hey Hal, did you ever think we'd see Sniper Wolf again?"
"Wha- oh, very funny, David."
"Come on, you have to admit that it would've been a missed opportunity if I didn't make that joke."
"I suppose... anyways, I think that either Raiden's initial method or just sheer firepower will be enough to take this thing down if Bayonetta can't finish it off. Just make sure to use the flare grenades wisely if it comes down to that."
"Got it, Hal." Snake then deactivated the Codec and fired another rocket before using his Cypher to get onto one of the Metal Gear's legs, where he saw Greninja and Raiden fighting off a hand that was rapidly switching between that and its sword form.
EXCELSUS fired its plasma cannon right at Matthew, who hurriedly used Chasm in an attempt to block the hit. The Venus Djinni absorbed much of the damage the attack would've done, but the force of the beam was still akin to being hit by a truck, and the Adept was blasted over the edge of the cliff and into a nearby forest that was littered with dead trees.
Pit watched as Matthew flew out of sight with an utterly dumbfounded look present on his face until the sound of Joker snapping his fingers to cast Eigaon brought him back to the action. Equipping the Upperdash Arm, Pit reflected a plasma burst back at the Metal Gear before using his Guardian Orbitars to reflect another, managing to leave a good mark on one of the robot's six legs. After that, he used the Power of Flight that Viridi's Spirit had granted him in order to get in close, where he saw Bayonetta breakdancing in order to dodge a swipe from one of the Metal Gear's two hands. Pulling out the Aquarius Blade, Pit slammed it into the Metal Gear's other blade arm as hard as he could.
Seeing frost run along the blade gave Pit hope, but that hope was just was as quickly dashed when the mecha shattered it almost instantaneously before switching the sword back into a hand and palming the angel right into the ground. The hand made another bid at Bayonetta, but she dodged in the nick of time, activating Witch Time as she did so.
In the slowed time, the Umbra Witch looked all around her to take in her surroundings. Greninja and Raiden were fighting the other hand, the Ninja Pokémon distracting the blade so that Raiden could sever the appendage. Below her, she saw Snake running towards one of the Metal Gear's legs, presumably to scale it. With a mildly interested exclamation, Bayonetta went to town on the arm she was facing, punching it clean off with rapid-fire Wicked Weaves. Time began to flow normally after that, and Bayonetta dodged a burst of plasma just as the EXCELSUS swatted Raiden away and slapped Greninja right off its leg, lunging for its arm in an attempt to reattach it. Bayonetta noticed, and yelled, "Teloc vovim!" while directing Love is Blue at the severed arm. The Umbra Witch's hair began to leave her body, leaving her naked as her hair began to form the conduit that allowed her to summon the demons of Inferno.
A dark portal began to materialize underneath the arm, and Scolopendra, the Eradicator of Paradise, erupted from said portal, squeezing the Metal Gear's arm in between its colossal body and crushing it into pieces that were beyond the regenerative capabilities of the arm's nanomachines. The demon then receded back into the portal, returning to its residence of Frejentonta, and Bayonetta's hair formed back into her clothes.
The Metal Gear let out a ferocious screech and attempted to fry the Umbra Witch with another plasma blast, which managed to hit its mark due to Bayonetta being just a hair too close to the laser, and Snake watched as Bayonetta was blasted towards the edge of the cliff.
Gritting his teeth, Snake began scaling the Metal Gear with a determined expression, ducking underneath plasma blasts as he got up to its main body. The pilot saw Snake approaching, and they focused both of the plasma cannons onto the mercenary, dead set on obliterating him.
Snake rolled out of the way just as the cannons fired, and the resulting blast ended up blowing off one of the Metal Gear's own legs. The ground suddenly got dark around him, and Snake looked up to see that the remaining hand was hovering right above him, preparing to crush him. Snake rolled away once again, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Mega Man and Fox climbing up one of the Metal Gear's five remaining legs. Determined to provide a distraction, Snake chucked a C4 right at the cockpit, fully aware of the fact that the explosion wouldn't damage the cockpit. Clicking the detonator, Snake saw that the explosion had not even scratched the front screen of the cockpit, but he had a gut feeling that the pilot's wrath was more or less focused on him.
Quickly arming a landmine, the mercenary tossed it down at his feet before rolling a grenade onto it and running away just as the grenade exploded with the landmine. Looking back at his handiwork, Snake saw that the explosion had left a dent in the robot, but not one of significance.
Mega Man, Greninja, Raiden, and Fox all got onto the robot, and pulled out their best weapons; the Metal Blades, two water kunai, a HF blade, and nothing respectively, before looking up at the cockpit with steely resolve.
Noticing that EXCELSUS' remaining arm had changed back into a sword, Raiden zipped away in a flash, determined to sever the arm.
Mega Man threw his Metal Blades at the cockpit before jumping onto the portion of the robot which housed the cockpit and jamming a Wheel Cutter in there. Holding onto the blade, Rock was lifted up to the top of the cockpit, which, upon reaching, he began to try to break into with the Acid Barrier.
Greninja leapt up to the cockpit's glass cover and began prying at it with one of his water kunai. When that didn't work, he growled in frustration before jamming the shuriken on his back into the robot and dragging it down, leaving a massive gash near the cockpit.
Fox and Snake were working together on the robot's main body, with the former kicking the latter's explosives towards EXCELSUS' remaining arm to help out Raiden.
Bayonetta flew back into the fight with Crow Within and quickly yelled, "Argedco!" just as Raiden sliced off the Metal Gear's arm. Her hair created another conduit, and upon looking back at the others, she shouted, "Get off!" Once everyone had jumped off, Labolas, the Destroyer of Fates, used one of its three heads to rip off a chunk of Metal Gear EXCELSUS' body off. As the pilot swiveled what remained of the mecha's body to face the source of the attack, Labolas fully emerged from the portal and tore the robot to shreds using all three of its heads, leaving the pieces aside as it could not consume inorganic matter.
Everyone watched as the demon receded back into Inferno, its teeth stained with oil. Wolf, still using the scope on the sniper rifle to survey the wreckage, let out a startled yelp upon seeing the pieces begin to gather in one location, and Fox, Snake, and Raiden ran over to Wolf to see what was going on.
Above the Smashers (and Raiden), the harsh sunlight intensified.
Snarling, Raiden was about to leap towards the remains of the Metal Gear, only for a roaring wave of fire from above to touch down on the assorted pieces, making him quickly change his mind.
Snake watched as the flames, bolstered by the intense sunlight, melted what remained of the Metal Gear into a pool of metal.
Up above, Mewtwo watched the Smashers with disdain, with them and the humongous robot he had just melted having disturbed its relative peace. Sitting down on a floating piece of rubble, Mewtwo used Future Sight, where it saw itself being brought down by the Incineroar that resided with the group below him. Softly growling, Mewtwo's eyes glowed blue as it used Rain Dance, and the harsh sunlight was cancelled out by a torrential downpour.
Mewtwo then concentrated its psychic powers on the stinging winds that the rainstorm had brought along, and it concentrated them into a single destructive funnel of wind.
The Genetic Pokémon then unleashed Hurricane, and down below, Snake and the others could only watch as the ripping winds got closer...
Matthew watched as the Metal Gear and the others gradually got further and further before they completely disappeared from his line of sight. Looking down, he saw that he was above a metal building of some sort, but he sailed over that too before falling into a forest.
Landing on his back, Matthew let out a grunt of pain as his momentum carried him into a tree, and he collapsed on the floor, thoroughly knocked out.
Later, when he came to, Matthew stood up and took a look around, noticing that the forest he was in was eerily reminiscent of the Tanglewood back home. Picking up a stick and using a small burst of Fire Bomb, Matthew made himself a makeshift torch and continued navigating his way through the woods. Eventually, he found that the ground was becoming more and more littered with battered shields, shattered swords embedded into the ground, and crumpled helmets stained with blood, possibly that of their wearers. The trail continued until he reached a spiky fence, and he pushed the gate open before walking in out of sheer curiosity.
There was a lone grave in the distance, surrounded by weapons and armor, and as Matthew walked towards the headstone, he saw that it was covered in dirt, grime, and foliage, prompting him to clean it off out of respect. Once he had lifted the last branch, he got a good look at what the grave said; a simple "Knight Artorias."
Matthew immediately withdrew his hand in horror, and on his back, the greatsword that had belonged to Artorias began to vibrate, causing a black aura to pool at the Adept's feet as Matthew unsheathed the sword from its scabbard. Staring at it long and hard, he was about to put it back at the knight's grave until he heard a voice say, "Human..."
Looking around wildly, Matthew stood up and pulled out the Sol Blade until he heard the voice say, "My Soul resides inside the cursed blade that thou bear... and yes, that tombstone bears my name."
"Y-you're inside the sword?" Matthew sheathed the Sol Blade and waited for an answer.
"Indeed I am. I see that thou would to return my sword to my grave, yet that is not what I would to happen... being left as a prop to remember... I bequeath my sword to thou, human, to use for the good of thy world... as mine is as good as dead."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Alas, I see that the forest up ahead is tainted by the Abyss... thou must owe my covenant in order to walk through the Abyss as I once did."
"Do you know where I can find it?"
"If my hunch is correct... Sif should be guarding it."
"Who's Sif?"
A howl sounded throughout the woods, and Matthew's grip on the greatsword tightened as he saw a humongous grey wolf bound through the woods, wearing a ring on its ear.
"Sif... it's been so long..."
The wolf bounded over and pounced on Matthew before inching her face ever so closely to Matthew as a soft snarl built up in her throat. Just as she was about to maul him, however, she noticed that the Adept was holding Artorias' greatsword, causing her to get off him and wait for him to get up.
"Master?" Sif stared at the sword in the teenager's hand with a longing look in her eyes, before continuing, "Is that really thou?" Taking a look at Matthew, she snarled, "Art thou the one who killed him?"
Tears prickling in his eyes, Matthew responded, "I only did it to end his suffering."
"He's right, Sif. Out of everyone we were close to, thou were the only one whom knew the truth of my fate besides that warrior. And when we were both resurrected, a band of travelers that this human belonged to managed to see what I had become after running into Manus at Oolacile..." Getting back on track, Artorias said, "Yet anyways, the human needs my covenant to traverse the Abyss-corrupted woods. May thou relinquish it to the traveler?"
Much to his and Matthew's surprise, Sif shook her head, replying, "I swore to guard thy covenant to my dying breath." However, she turned her head to Matthew and said, "Human, if thou would to progress any further, thou must defeat me in single combat, and then I shall relinquish the covenant of my master, as thou will have proven thyself worthy of traversing the Abyss." Reaching for a particularly large sword that was embedded by her master's grave, Sif unearthed it and wielded it in her mouth, flicking the hilt so that the blade was be jutting out on the left just like her late master, causing a dumbfounded Matthew to stare in shock.
Matthew apprehensively reached for the Sol Blade, but Artorias said, "Wait." Matthew pulled his hand away from his back and looked at the sword that was in his other hand as the knight continued, "I would prefer if thou were to use my sword, human... if she is to die, then I would rather it be my blade that reunites our souls."
His voice showing hints of wavering, Matthew asked, "I-is there really no other way I can get the covenant? I have to kill her?"
"I be afraid so, human..."
Sif attacked first by lunging forwards and swiping the greatsword in a sideways arc, forcing Matthew to leap out of the way before attempting to strike back with a swing from the Abyss-tainted greatsword of Artorias. Sif bounded back, and, having switched to the Slayer class, Matthew used Wild Growth, a tangle of vines erupting from the ground in order to shackle the canine's legs in place. Seeing an opportunity, Matthew charged at Sif and slashed at her hind legs before retreating.
Breaking free of the foliage, Sif bounded over to Matthew and centered the sword in her mouth before doing two circular slashes that the Adept blocked using a recharged Chasm. However, just as the Djinni's power faded, Sif struck and leapt away, giving Matthew no chance to counterattack while also clutching at a slash wound on his right arm. Using Cure Well to seal up the wound, Matthew built up a surge of Psynergy in his left foot and stomped the ground, causing a crack that glowed with a golden light to race across the ground towards Sif, who was caught off guard by the eruption of Grand Gaia, which pushed her towards the Abyss-tainted woods.
Matthew watched in surprise as Sif appeared to be staggered, and he looked down at himself in marvel of the results of his Psynergy training with Sveta during the events of the Grave Eclipse. Spreading the Psynergy to the rest of his body, a reinvigorated Matthew leapt at Sif and struck her with a hard swing aimed at her neck, which only barely managed to scratch through her tough hide, and Sif did two side to side slashes, one of which Matthew blocked with his shield, while the other managed to leave a deep cut on his left leg, causing him to cry out in pain and fall to a knee.
Artorias' voice came from the sword once more, asking, "Human, art thou okay?"
Through pained gasps, Matthew managed to say, "Yes, I am," before rising to his feet and, upon switching to the Protector class, channeled another burst of Psynergy through his good leg, which manifested itself in the form of a Nettle. The spiky briars erupted from the ground and stabbed themselves in Sif's hind legs, causing her to yelp in pain, almost dropping the sword from her mouth as she did so.
Matthew felt a pang of guilt in his chest as he watched Sif stumble away from the thorns, her legs bleeding profusely. However, the wolf righted herself and swung the sword back to its original position while snarling at Matthew in defiance, not planning to relinquish the covenant peacefully.
His resolve hardening, Matthew was determined to take the covenant if it meant saving his friends, and he pointed the corrupted greatsword at Sif, who bared her teeth and let out a low growl in turn. Sif then leapt forwards and slammed the sword down onto the ground with killing intent, however, Matthew had rolled away, albeit in a staggered fashion, from the slow attack before sliding underneath her and thrusting upwards with his sword, causing Sif to let out another yelp as the blade penetrated her softer underbelly.
Getting out from underneath, the Adept took a good look at Sif, who was bleeding from her hind legs and chest, yet she still appeared to be unwavered, and, after another snarl, she flung the sword from out of her mouth, aiming for Matthew's head. The teenager ducked underneath the blade, but as he prepared to charge Sif, she tepidly stepped backwards, and Matthew's attack barely missed her... while the flung greatsword boomeranged back and left another cut in the Adept's already damaged leg, causing Matthew to yell in pain once again as the blood flowing down his leg became a constant stream of the stuff.
Catching the sword in her mouth once again, Sif did an upward slash with the greatsword, pushing Matthew back towards where her master's grave was.
Matthew helped himself up by using Artorias' greatsword, and his eyes began to rapidly flash between gold and purple due to his frustration having given way to pure rage and adrenaline, the bloody stream that was pouring down his leg no longer concerning him. Letting out a ferocious scream, Matthew swept his free hand outward, summoning three Sol Djinn and three Umbra Djinn to his side. Upon snapping his fingers, the six Djinn went to work, either bolstering the Adept's power or simply doing damage to Sif.
Sif tried to fight back, but the blinding glares of light accompanied with the murky darkness of the poison cloud that some of the Umbra Djinn had exuded simultaneously crippled her. Then the Adept landed a single, hard slash across the scruff on her neck with all the strength he had, and once the assault stopped, the dog limped forward out of the toxic haze, the ferocious flurry of attacks having sapped much of her strength. Letting out a pitiful whine, Sif swung the sword once, which didn't even reach Matthew, and when she swung the blade a second time, she yelped as she fell over, the greatsword falling out of her mouth at the same time.
Though the pain was unbearable, what with the combination of her hind legs being slashed and the poison slowly killing her from the inside, Sif attempted to right herself, to little success.
At the same time, Matthew calmed down from his rage-fueled assault, and, upon getting a good look at Sif, his emotions immediately switched to horror and remorse once he saw what he had done to Sif in his fury. Limping over, Matthew's shaky grip on the Abyssal Greatsword tightened as he limped closer to where Sif was lying. As he approached, Matthew heard Sif groan, "Well done, human... thou hast proven thyself worthy of the Covenant of Artorias. The only thing thou hast left to try is finish the job... I only wish to see my master again."
Though his arms felt like lead, Matthew, looking to be on the verge of breaking down, raised the corrupted greatsword above his head and stabbed it as hard as he could into Sif's neck, averting his gaze as the wolf's spasms from the poison that coursed through her veins coupled with the blade that was buried in her neck brought her a swift death, her body dissolving into dust.
When Matthew looked back, he saw that a ring, Sif's Soul, and a Spirit Orb which housed Sif's likeness were all that was left of the great grey wolf. Watching the Spirit Orb float into his knapsack, Matthew picked up the covenant and the sword before slipping the former onto the ring finger on his right hand—the one on his left already had his engagement ring from Sveta—and walking over to Artorias' headstone. The Adept stared at it for roughly fifteen seconds before collapsing to his knees and breaking down into a sobbing mess, the realization of what he had just done having hit him like a boulder.
Sveta's Spirit issued soothing words from within, telling her boyfriend that he had done what was necessary, while Artorias and Sif's Souls quietly watched the boy cry with sympathy. In the midst of it, Artorias asked, "Sif, doth thou know what that luminous orb is supposed to be?"
I do not, master, yet I take solace in the fact that our Souls are reunited once more... for all time."
When he had finished, Matthew stood up and walked towards the dark, murky forest ahead, the memories of his two journeys across Weyard haunting him as he got closer.
"Sveta... all of you... I am so sorry... for everything."
"Don't worry about me, lad... just help your friends... and give this to Eoleo, d'you hear me? It's the last thing he'll have to remind him of Chaucha..."
"You foolish boy! Even if you save Sveta, I'll sacrifice your father to the Mars Lighthouse and finally, FINALLY, achieve the godhood I have been denied for three decades! So, what will your decision be, Matthew?"
Matthew took his first steps into the forest, and the darkness that covered the forest immediately began to lick at his boots while also attempting to coil itself around his body. However, the Covenant of Artorias prevented the Abyss that tainted the woods from outright consuming him, so Matthew continued traveling through the forest, cutting down trees that blocked his path with an emotionless look present on his face. Monsters such as skeletons and zombies emerged from all parts of the forest, but the Adept cut them down rather easily.
Eventually, Matthew ran into a pulsating dark red bramble towards the end of the forest. With a bored sigh, he attempted to cut it apart with the Sol Blade, but as soon as the blade touched the thorns, they lashed out at Matthew's legs and bound them to the ground, while also doing the same to his sword arm. The Adept's stoic mask slowly began to crumble as an eyeball snaked its way out of the thorns and glared directly at him.
Dharkon's seed flashed purple, and he began the process of mentally breaking the Adept...
What Matthew saw next was a purple haze, and his head began to burn with unbearable pain. When the smoke cleared, he found himself staring at the globe of energy that radiated from the Mars Lighthouse. However, unlike his previous time there, he saw that all of his friends except Amiti were dead, and that seven of the eight Warriors of Vale were in critical condition.
His father was at Alex's mercy, the Mercury Adept holding a knife and pointing it at his father's chest. After a bout of grandstanding that Matthew had already heard before, Alex, his striking turquoise eyes boring a hole through Matthew, cruelly smirked before driving his knife into Isaac and tossing him into the well.
Matthew let out an anguished scream as Alex began to glow with a golden light, and he collapsed to the ground in grief as next to him, Amiti worriedly glanced up at his father.
Alex laughed maniacally as he began to levitate off the ground, the golden aura surrounding him getting brighter.
"You don't realize how much it pleases me to see you at my mercy, Matthew... and you, Amiti, my son..." Alex spat the words out with such distaste that Amiti actually flinched, and he continued, "You are my biggest regret."
Hearing Amiti's shaky breathing, an utterly defeated Matthew looked up to see that Alex was preparing to unleash some kind of attack.
"I've waited too long for this moment! CRUEL RUIN!"
Matthew could only watch as a beam of light slammed into him and Amiti...
As Dharkon released his restraints, he watched Matthew collapse to the ground on all fours, his breathing being racked with quiet sobs. Coiling himself like a snake, Dharkon mused to himself, "This kid is a pretty powerful warrior... but his mental fortitude is weak. It took only one vision to break his spirit... do I want someone like that on my side? OF COURSE! But his allies will obviously suspect something if they see that he's possessed..."
Jabbing a sharp end of himself into Matthew's back, Dharkon coiled himself around the Adept's upper body as his eye glowed red...
Daisy kicked her crown at one zombie and hit another one with an elbow strike before tossing it over her shoulder with a judo toss, the zombie crumbling into an assortment of flesh and gore once it hit the ground. Watching as her crown ricocheted off a statue and towards her, Daisy caught it before putting it back on her head.
Isaac prepared to unleash the Titan Blade on Death, only for someone to blindside him and leave a stinging cut on his face. As Isaac looked around for his attacker, he caught a glimpse of a hooked blade just before getting struck again. Wiping some of the blood off his face, Isaac erected a wall of earth all around himself and waited for his assailant to strike once more. Upon hearing a loud sound and a grunt of pain come from behind him, Isaac waved his hand, causing the earth to disintegrate into mud.
As Isaac turned around, he saw a masked man who had a pair of tubes connecting the mask to a metallic chestpiece, and was wielding a pair of hookswords. The man pointed one of his hookswords at Isaac and rasped, "What brings you here?"
Much to Isaac's concern, the man's skin was marked with grisly burn scars in addition to being a sickly grey color, and he silently shook his head, not having an answer to the revenant's question.
The man laughed, his respirator making a small wheeze as he did so, saying, "I hope you come up with an answer before I tear your guts out," before rushing at Isaac and blitzing him, causing the Adept to spin around from the sheer speed of the blow.
As Isaac struggled to regain his bearings, the revenant leaned on one of his swords and asked, "So what's your name, kid?" before dashing away from a burst of Growth Psynergy that was shot out from Isaac's hand.
"Isaac."
"Isaac, huh?" Throwing a buzzsaw at the Adept, who narrowly dodged, the revenant continued, "Name's Kabal. Former Black Dragon." As Isaac stared in confusion, Kabal continued, "One of the most feared crime syndicates in Earthrealm?"
"Earthrealm?"
"Ah, so you don't come from my world... never mind, then." Kabal charged again, swinging his hookswords at Isaac's neck with the intention of decapitating him, but Isaac barely blocked the strike, with the blades only leaving a tiny pair of notches in his neck. Pushing Kabal back with a blast of Gaia, Isaac then placed his free hand on the ground and channeled Wild Growth, the vines snaking over to the ex-Black Dragon and coiling around his ankles.
Kabal quickly cut the vines and sprinted away from the tangle of plant growth, before shooting a blast of gas from his mask towards the Adept, who switched to the Master class and used Gale to disperse it. Switching to the War Adept class immediately after, Isaac jammed the Gaia Blade into the ground, casting Grand Gaia. The ensuing eruption of rocks and Venus Psynergy threw Kabal backwards, and upon standing up, he cricked his neck before throwing a pair of buzzsaws at Isaac, who barely dodged the first one, but got clipped on his left arm by the second, distracting him long enough for Kabal to dash in and slash one of his hookswords along the side of the Adept's face, leaving a deep gash that tore through the skin and exposed Isaac's grit teeth. The Adept clutched at his head with his left hand, and upon taking it off, he saw that it was stained with blood that was dripping in a constant stream from his face.
Ike, having used both Ragnell and Alondite like a pair of shears to decapitate a revenant of a woman who wielded a pair of razor-sharp fans, saw what had happened to Isaac. As he attempted to run over to the Adept to help, he was accosted by a revenant that resembled a shaman. The shaman raised his weapons, a pair of tomahawks, and threw them at Ike, who blocked them by swinging his blessed blades in front of himself.
Meanwhile, Isaac, having used Cure to fix some of the damage (though there was still a hole torn into his face), unleashed the Titan Blade, but Kabal dodged the Psynergetic construct by dashing away. Twirling his hookswords, Kabal snarled beneath his mask before charging at Isaac and popping him up with a ferocious uppercut. As the Adept flew through the air, Kabal snagged his shin with one of his hookswords before slamming him onto the ground, and as Isaac bounced off the floor, Kabal hit him with a one-two punch combo before waiting for the Adept to rise again.
As Isaac stood up, having busted a few ribs from the impact, Kabal swung his hookswords over his head and buried the blade ends into the back of Isaac's shoulders, and tugged the swords with such force that their ends jutted out from the other side. As the Adept cried in pain, Kabal hoisted him up and slammed him into the ground using the swords.
Looking to his left, Kabal saw that the kid's sword was lying on the ground, and he kicked it aside before raising his hookswords to land the killing blow.
However, at the last second, Isaac used Halt, stopping Kabal before he could decapitate him. Using Cure on his shoulders to lessen the damage, he unsteadily reached for the Gaia Blade while pulling the Halt Gem out of his pocket and thinking to himself, "At least this thing isn't totally useless..." As he watched, however, he saw that Kabal was slowly beginning to move again, and Isaac stopped using Halt as a result, causing Kabal to slash his swords across the ground, decapitating... absolutely nothing.
Kabal watched as Isaac readied himself once more, rasping, "You're pretty good, kid... but NOT good enough," before flinging a buzzsaw at the Adept's neck.
Isaac ducked, using Wild Growth afterwards, and the vines began snaking towards Kabal. Rasping, Kabal ran two buzzsaws along the ground to cut up some of the vines before jumping up and firing a blast of gas from his mask.
Backstepping away from the gas, Isaac raised several pillars of earth at the area near Kabal's feet before raising a pillar of earth underneath the revenant in an effort to crush him using the ceiling. However, Kabal had managed to slip away just in time, and the pillar of rock smashed through the ceiling. As Isaac looked up at the lowering pillar of earth in order to see if Kabal's crushed remains were there, he felt two sharp jolts of pain in his midsection.
Kabal had buried his hookswords into the Adept's sides, and he rasped, "You've got guts, kid. Too bad I gotta rip 'em outta ya." However, before he could yank the swords out (along with his intestines), Isaac used Blitz, and the Jupiter Djinni electrocuted Kabal, damaging his respirator and forcing him to retreat.
Isaac, his vision beginning to blur as Kabal approached him, noticed that the revenant's breathing had changed to an unsteady wheeze, and he thought to himself, "So he needs that thing on his chest to breathe, huh?" before backing away to where Peach was.
The princess, having just finished her healing magic on Richter, turned to her left to see that Isaac, who had two hooked blades sticking out of his back, was limping backwards in her direction. As Isaac stumbled, she caught him by the arms and hoisted him over to Robin, who had blown the head off of the revenant that she was fighting by burying the Levin Sword in his neck and letting loose with a hellacious discharge. As Peach approached Robin, she saw that the tactician was holding what looked like a pair metal tags on a chain, but she ignored that before tapping Robin on the shoulder and asking, "Can you help me heal him?"
Robin pocketed the tags before saying, "Of course," and looking down at Isaac. Upon evaluating the extent of the damage that had been done, namely that part of the Adept's face had been torn off and that he was losing blood by the second courtesy of the swords that went through his abdomen, she quickly pulled out the strongest healing tome she had, Physic, and began working to heal the worst of his injuries.
At the same time, Peach noticed that Robin had suffered her own fair share of injuries from her fight, the tatters in her coat exposing numerous bruises and gunshot wounds that certainly weren't there when she had first attacked them under Dharkon's influence. Readying her healing magic once again, she went to work on the tactician's wounds.
Luigi jumped away from Death's scythe and ended up falling onto the floor, as he had been holding onto the curtain before he jumped away. Quickly righting himself, the younger Mario brother used the Poltergust G-00's plunger to latch onto a suit of armor, and with all his strength, he flung it at the Grim Reaper, who was preoccupied with the almost indestructible Wario, shooting a bolt of electricity at the ballistic suit of metal to supercharge it.
With a single gesture, Death obliterated the suit of armor with a pillar of dark magic before knocking Wario out of his path, his wrath having focused on the two Belmonts that stood before him, given how their bloodline was eternally fated to do battle with his master, compared to an annoyingly evasive pair of what appeared to be lowly plumbers.
Looking at Richter, Simon asked, "You've battled against Dracula?"
"Indeed."
"Tell me more once we slay the reaper."
Richter nodded, and flung his Cross at Death, who vanished beneath the floor. As the two Belmonts stared in confusion, the floor suddenly began to rumble, and Death erupted from underneath the ground, his body having reassembled into the skeleton of a prehistoric beast. Letting out a ferocious roar—scaring Luigi out of his wits at the same time—Death began chasing after the vampire hunters, with the younger Mario brother also joining them in fleeing.
As Pikachu, wearing a dragon costume, roasted yet another zombie with Flamethrower, he heard a nearby commotion going on to his right. Turning around, he saw that Luigi and the two vampire hunters were being pursued by a skeletal Tyrantrum, which caused him to do a double take. Spinning on his tail to remove the dragon costume, Pikachu, holding onto his Light Ball, began charging up for a Volt Tackle, and once he had gathered enough electricity, the Mouse Pokémon broke out into a sprint, running along the walls and jumping over hordes of zombies while Villager watched in awe.
Pikachu then rammed into the skeletal Despot Pokémon's tail as hard as he could, causing it to turn around and roar right at him, though Pikachu did not flinch at all, instead letting his cheeks spark in challenge.
Meanwhile, Isaac, having become slightly more coherent thanks to Robin's healing, mumbled, "The swords..."
Robin looked down at the Adept's stomach area, and after wincing, she said, "I doubt we're going to be able to remove those without inflicting serious damage onto yourself, unfortunately, so your best bet for now is to leave them in." Looking up, she saw that the masked figure that Isaac had been fighting earlier was steadily approaching them, his breathing coming out as a ghastly rattle.
"Electricity is his weakness..."
Robin took heed to the Adept's advice, and waved off Peach's healing with, "I can take care of myself later." In her hand, an arc of electricity raced across her Bronze Sword, transforming it into the Levin Sword. As her jagged blade began crackling with electricity, Robin pulled out her Arcfire tome and waited for the revenant to get closer, while behind her, Peach began healing the Adept.
Yoshi limped over, having allowed Eight to ride on his back after the two of them were launched into the statue earlier. Gently shaking Eight off of his back, Yoshi took a seat next to Peach, who was having difficulty in removing the swords that were embedded in Isaac's chest.
Pikachu's battle with the skeletal Tyrantrum that Death had morphed into was going very poorly, as aside from a single Iron Tail that merely fractured part of its ribcage, Death had controlled the entire fight, preventing Pikachu from accessing his bag of tricks by kicking him whenever he appeared to start spinning and generally snuffing out any attempts at an attack with Dragon Claw and Dragon Tail. Knocking Pikachu aside, Death saw that the Belmonts were backed into a corner, the two of them holding their Vampire Killers with grim determination etched onto their faces.
Opening his jaw, Death prepared to end the Belmont legacy in one fell swoop, but something stretched across the room and wired his jaw shut. Looking down, he saw that it was a whip made out of bones that were glowing orange, and the weapon's wielder forced him down on the ground with a hard pull.
Simon and Richter, once the dust cleared up, looked to their left to get a glance at their savior. Said person turned out to be a girl with dark blue hair, and she flicked her whip, causing it to link back together into a sword.
Spinning the Sword of the Creator in her hand, Byleth watched as it changed into Areadbhar, and she pointed the lance at the slowly reassembling skeleton, who ended up changing into the skeleton of a prehistoric bird which then proceeded to let out a ear-splitting screech.
As Mario and company walked up the stairs of Shroob Castle's main tower, they noticed that it was getting progressively darker, to the point where Bowser was forced to spit out a few bursts of fire in order for everyone else to even see three feet in front of themselves. Just as they reached the start of another flight of stairs, however, Marth heard the sound of something creaking, and he hurriedly gestured to Bowser to shoot a fireball in the direction that the sound had come from.
Though he was confused, Bowser obliged, and when he shot a burst of fire in the direction Marth had told him to shoot in, the flames revealed a pipe that had its grate opened up. Mario lit a fireball in his hand in order to get a closer look, but a sloshing sound from within the pipes caused the others to stop cold.
After a moment of absolute silence, a vivid green liquid splashed out of that pipe along with several others below it. Instantly recognizing the substance, Mario commanded, "Run upstairs! NOW!"
Everyone began to hurriedly make their way up the stairs, the green sludge beginning to rise up at an alarmingly fast rate. Arvus blasted his way up several flights of stairs with Kaswoosh and Jigglypuff floated all the way up to the top, while everyone else was forced to climb the stairs the normal way.
As Mario rounded a corner, having volunteered to stay at the back to make sure there were no stragglers, part of the ground crumbled and he lost his balance, falling into the rising liquid... but Bowser quickly caught his hand and growled, "Not on my watch, I'm going to be the one that defeats you, not those alien freaks." Pulling him back up, Bowser continued his sprint up the stairs, and Mario followed, the toxic substance having caught up to where Mario had stumbled.
Once everyone got to where Arvus and Jigglypuff were waiting, Arvus pointed his sword towards the ceiling, saying, "There's a trapdoor somewhere, Jigglypuff heard something creak when she landed here..."
Cracking his knuckles, Bowser stepped to the front, retreated into his shell, and performed a terrific leap while spinning at the same time, managing to find and shred the trapdoor that led to the next level of the tower. Climbing up, Bowser yelled, "Come on!"
Once Jigglypuff and Lucas had gotten through, Arvus grabbed Marth by the waist and jumped off the platform, ignoring the frantic protests of the Hero King as he used Kaswoosh to shoot the two of them up through the hole in the ceiling. Lucario used Extreme Speed to fly through the hole with relatively little effort, and Terry jumped off before using Crack Shoot to propel himself towards the hole, followed by a Rising Tackle. While he ultimately fell short, Bowser and Lucario grabbed his legs and hauled him into the second level, leaving Mario alone to stare at the rising Vim.
Fixing his cap onto his head, Mario jumped off, did a Spin Attack with the help of the Luma residing in his cap, followed by him throwing Cappy outwards and bouncing off him to make it through the hole. As Cappy returned to his head, Mario looked around the new level to take in its surroundings.
It was yet another massive staircase, although it was rather well-lit in comparison to the previous one, and there appeared to be no immediately apparent traps or contraptions.
Looking down into the hole, Terry asked, "Why is it still rising?"
Alarmed, Mario ran over to where Terry was and looked down the hole. Indeed, the Vim was still climbing up to their level, and that was enough for Mario to urgently tell everyone to run up the stairs again.
While Jigglypuff and Lucario were taking different approaches to climbing, with the former simply floating her way to the top and the latter latching onto walls periodically to catch a breather after several bouts of Extreme Speed, everyone else was running up the stairs just as the flow of Vim reached the floor of the second level. However, upon rounding a corner, Marth stepped on a tile that sunk into the ground the moment he laid his foot on it. Up above, Lucario made an alarmed noise as the wall he was resting on suddenly jutted out, while Lucas was pushed off the staircase entirely by a random part of the wall that suddenly pushed itself out, with only a last-minute save from Terry preventing him from falling into the toxic substance.
As Mario and Bowser looked around, they saw that the walls were slowly closing in, and, after exchanging worried glances, Mario tossed a Super Bell into Bowser's hands before taking out a Cape Feather for himself. Looking at Arvus, Lucas, Marth, and Terry, Mario said, "Get to-a the top quickly! You'll get-a crushed if you don't!" gesturing towards the incoming walls for emphasis. At that, Mario took off while Bowser transformed into Meowser and began bounding up a wall.
Arvus looked at where the four of them were currently standing, and after looking up, he said to the others, "Follow me!" before running to a part of the stairs that didn't have anything hanging over their heads.
As Marth, Terry, and Lucas ran over to Arvus, Marth asked, "What's your plan?"
"We jump."
"WHAT?!"
"Are you insane?"
"This'll work, trust me!" Clearing his throat, Arvus explained, "When we jump, make sure that you're holding onto a part of my body."
"But why-"
"No questions!"
Below them, the green liquid was rising fast while the walls were beginning to move inwards at a quicker rate. Sheathing his sword, Arvus scooped up Lucas in his sword arm while Marth and Terry each took hold of one of his shoulders, and he yelled, "Here we GO!" jumping off the stairs while Marth, Terry, and Lucas screamed in panic. Just before they hit the sludge, however, Arvus used Zoom, and he along with the other three rocketed towards the ceiling... which he promptly hit his head on.
Terry and Arvus fell onto a waiting Lucario, who, in spite of initially stumbling from the sudden weight on his back, managed to right himself and gently set them on the ground. Marth, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, and fell straight towards the rising sludge.
However, Lucas, grabbing onto the ledge where the others save for Mario and Bowser were waiting, extended his Rope Snake so that Marth could take hold. The hero king snagged the serpent just before his boots touched the rising liquid, while to his sides, Mario and Bowser were almost done with their respective climbs to the top.
Up above, Terry grabbed onto Lucas' hand and pulled as hard as he could, with Lucario lending an assist. Lucas and Marth spilled over the edge, Lucas panting from exhaustion while Marth slowly patted the kid's shoulder before affectionately ruffling his hair as thanks.
Bowser leapt up onto the platform, ripping the Super Bell off his spiked collar as he landed, while Mario cracked the ground a little when landing after his final wall jump. Looking at the door in front of them, Bowser punched it open, revealing the throne room of Princess Shroob. Letting out steam from his nostrils, Bowser looked at Mario, who had the same steely look of determination in his eyes, and the two of them led the others into the throne room.
The bullet ricocheted inside Smithy's head casing before flying out of the entry point, but Geno noticed that something was shimmering within Smithy's head, causing him to fire an explosive round at Smithy in an attempt to expose what was inside.
At the same time, Link, Diddy, the Inklings, and Eleven exited their respective Spirit Orbs, each of them holding a Spirit in their hands. Looking towards the last one, they waited for a little bit before Ridley was thrown out of the Spirit Orb, though the fact that he was holding a Spirit in his hands indicated that he had succeeded in his task despite being paralyzed when he had first been sucked in. The other five watched as the Space Pirate unsteadily rose to his feet, but then he whirred his teeth and snapped, "What are you runts looking at?!" before taking flight, firing a Plasma Scream at the same time. The plasma beam ended up incinerating Bowyer, and Ridley followed up by jumping up onto the ceiling and digging his mechanical feet into it so that he could get a better view of the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Donkey Kong smashed Axem Black into the ground with an overhead axehandle, before throwing Axem Pink at Banjo, who used Breegull Bash to launch her into a wall, with Kazooie yelling, "Now that's what I call a home run!" Next to her, R.O.B. let out an unamused beep before firing a laser at Yaridovich's clone.
Sonic and Pichu were tag-teaming the real Yaridovich, who was much too slow to react to the duo's lightning-fast offense, which consisted of a relentless barrage of punches, kicks, and tackles with the occasional blast of electricity from the tiny mouse. As Yaridovich raised his lance among the chaos to unleash another Water Blast, Sonic kicked him in the shins and swiped the weapon before getting out of the blast range of a meaty Thunder from Pichu, which completely fried Yaridovich. Skidding to a stop, Sonic sprinted towards Axem Yellow, who was priming the miniature Breaker Beam towards DK, who was preoccupied with Axem Red. As he approached, Sonic curled up into a ball and slammed into the Breaker Beam with just enough force to push the cannon towards Axem Yellow's head. At the same time, Pichu shot an Electroweb at Axem Yellow, trapping him as the Breaker Beam built up energy.
The beam fired, and when it died down, all that was left of Axem Yellow was a tiny amount of yellow metal. Axem Red noticed, and turned around to look at the remains of his teammate, distracting him from Donkey Kong's incoming fist, which launched him into Kaptain K. Rool's Blunderbuss. The Kremling monarch then fired Axem Red at Smithy's head with such force that Axem Red burst apart, some bits of him functioning as shrapnel that embedded themselves into the weaponmaker's head, causing some cracks to run along it.
Smithy howled in pain, clutching at the side of his damaged head, and Geno opened fire, shooting a burst of stars at Smithy to capitalize on the opportunity. The stars hit the cracks, causing them to grow larger and deeper, but before Geno could finish the job, a large shape dropped down from the ceiling and onto Smithy's shoulders before burying their hands into two particularly deep cracks along his head. As Smithy stumbled closer, Geno saw that the figure in question was Ridley, who was slowly beginning to crack Smithy's head open like an egg.
In his panic, Smithy swung his hammer in an upwards arc behind him and clocked Ridley right in the jaw, but the cyborg's rage numbed him from feeling pain. Letting out one more ferocious roar, Ridley ripped open Smithy's head before jumping off and standing next to Geno, who stared at the former Space Pirate and asked, "What did you just do?!"
Snorting, Ridley snapped back, "What does it look like? I killed him." As Ridley's eyes focused their targeting lasers on the limp body, preparing to obliterate Smithy with a Plasma Scream, the body stood right back up, and Ridley glared at it, unwilling to back down.
Smithy's previous head had merely been a cover for what was underneath; a constantly shifting blob of liquid metal, a crooked jaw, and two blood-red eyes. His eyes smoldering with hatred, Smithy, in an almost demonic voice, roared, "YOU DARE BEST ME?! FOR THAT, YOU SHALL DIE BY MY WEAPONRY!"
Smithy relentlessly smashed his hammer into the floor to the point where it gave way, and he along with everyone else fell into the basement of his factory, a room entirely made up of various replicas of his true head. Twirling his hammer, Smithy's head morphed into an iron maiden that had a hole in its front for his face, and he boomed, "I'll obliterate you ALL as my revenge!" Driving his hammer into the floor again, he taunted, "Bring it, you puny ants!"
Donkey Kong beat his chest in challenge before slamming his fists into the floor and snarling, Red sent out Charizard, who spit out a tiny flicker of fire before roaring, and everyone else stood at the ready for a final showdown with the mechanical despot.
CT Squared = Castle Crush and Toxic Tower. Go play Donkey Kong Country 2 someday.
I always had the idea of Psynergy being capable of being channeled through the body like the Ripple/Hamon from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as a sort of advanced practice of Psynergy, given how Dark Dawn features a brawler among the main characters.
And yes, I'm perfectly aware that Wario ain't a plumber.
Group 1 (Dracula's Castle): Luigi, Ness, Peach, Villager, Rosalina, Simon, Daisy, Isaac, Samus, Wario, Yoshi, Pikachu, Pac-Man, Mr. Game & Watch, Eight, Ike, Ken, Robin, Richter, Byleth
Group 2 (Frantic Factory): Link, Banjo, Ridley, Toon Link, Ryu, Zelda, Inklings (Meggy, Evan), Mii Swordfighter, Red (Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard), Falco, Sonic, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, R.O.B., Pichu, King K. Rool, Luminary, Geno
Group 3 (Mysterious Dimension): Matthew, Joker, Snake, Kirby, Dr. Mario, Cloud, Fox, Greninja, Mega Man, Little Mac, Pit, Piranha Plant, King Dedede, Captain Falcon, Ice Climbers, Wolf, Incineroar, Bayonetta, Solo, Corrin
Group 4 (Shroob Castle): Mario, Bowser, Erdrick/Arvus, Marth, Jigglypuff, Lucas, Terry Bogard, Lucario
Group 5 (Puppet Fighters with known whereabouts): Meta Knight, Young Link, Mewtwo
Apollo Sanctum key pieces: 4/13
Oh, and one more thing; PLEASE don't plagiarize my story. I've worked on my content for well over a year now, and to see anyone steal it and pass it off as their own would be a massive slap in my face. This doesn't just apply to my story, either, don't plagiarize, PERIOD.