Chapter 92: Something Right

My god, they'd actually done it. The cave was right there, right there before their eyes. They'd done it. Shulk corrected himself, we've done it. "It looks exactly like the picture we saw in that newspaper." He looked through the binoculars again. "Hasn't changed a bit."

"I know." Gunner said. "You know, out of all the disgusting, dilapidating things I've seen on this journey, this is the most beautiful thing I've seen so far."

"'Cause it hasn't been destroyed and there are no corpses anywhere?"

"Yeah."

The two resumed looking at the cave as they walked back to the tram. Shulk was lighter, this whole pressure of finding their "last possible salvation" has come to fruition. All the times they had to ration their food to the size of peanuts to save up their resource, all the cold nights they had to endure, all the monsters they'd put down… It was worth it, he hoped. For the last time, he hoped.

"So what's the plan when we get inside the cave?" Gunner asked.

Shulk looked back at the cave, then to Gunner. "If I had to guess… probably doing the same thing we do all the time."

"And that is?"

"Making it up as we go." Shulk admitted, eyeing the wreck of the tram with regret. "Let's be honest, that's what we'd been doing all this time."

"Yeah, I guess."

Gunner turned her head around to the Hom. She gave a slight smile as she kicked the snow. "But it worked for us so far. Part of me wonders if fate is guiding us along for the ride." Her whole body is facing him now. "With how much of the world is in need right now, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Make that 'worlds.'" Shulk clarified.

"There are so many people in danger and they'd don't even know about it." Gunner sighed, she made no attempt to hide the disappointment. "If only we can somehow reach these universes, we could have gained more help in defeating the Hands."

"It's a shame indeed." Shulk lamented. "So many universes out there and we're still stuck with this one."

"Gives you a sense of isolation doesn't it. Good thing the WOT is always expanding, I imagine with a system like that it would prevent anyone from getting bore-" Her voice went silent, her lips curled into a terrifying amalgamation of fear and confusion. "No..."

No? Shulk turned around and saw a black mass overcome the small hill on the horizon. He got chills. "Oh god no." Shulk took his binoculars and looked through. Snarling deermen. It was a herd but much larger than the one they encountered in the farm or the mall. It was the size of a football field. An entire football field!

"How did they… find..." Gunner struggled to choke the words out so the Hom did it for her.

"The crash. It was loud. We made so much noise and they heard." Shulk back away a dozen steps. "Oh god." He said, then his running feet spoke for everything else.


"Seriously?" The fitness trainer scowled at the small bag of food that was found in relative ease in the snow. "This is all we have left?"

"If you're speaking of supplies, we have plenty." Sword replied. "If you're speaking of how many of them we can actually use, just this one."

Most of them were standing by the wreckage discussing their new discoveries in the snowy desert. Nothing too peculiar, and nothing that would indicate where the cave was. But that wasn't most upsetting, what was is that all their stuff was no better than trash, and no one was more ticked off-

"Son of a bitch! SON OF A BITCH!" Brawler screeched as he kicked over a piece of scrap in the snow.

-than Brawler.

"We had all that stuff and… it's just… gone!" He threw his hands in the air and brought them down to his scalp. The fighter was tempted to pull out his hair. "The guns, the food, whatever useful s*it we had- pissed away in the wind."

"It's not a huge loss, guys." Comforted Villager. "We don't starve, plus we have plenty of abilities and skills to pull from each other. We're not totally screwed."

"You think it could be worse?" Little Mac commented.

"Anything can happen at a drop of a hat, the best thing you can do is plan things out as they come." Said Robin. "Although, I admit our situation could've been better. I suppose in the meantime we should wait for Gunner and Shulk."

"You want to wait on the guy that caused this mess in the first place?" Brawler folded his arms, the contempt was immeasurable. "I thought you were being serious for a moment there."

Sword got a headache. "Sword."

"Don't you start! Have you already forgotten that we have a front row seat in the sky? Away from the cold and all the potential freaks running around? Are you seriously going to be… chill about that. I know I'm certainly not. Soon enough we're going to turn into ice cubes!"

"It'll be a long time before that happens." Greninja said. "But our warmth problem should be solved if we find that cave."

"The cold is the least of our problems." Retorted Brawler. "Are we sure this cave is even safe? Those deermen spawned from the cave, there could be thousands in there for all we know. If the way back home is indeed in there, those things could make or break our entire journey."

"Are you being doubtful of this plan now?" Rosalina asked. "You agreed this plan-"

"I know that, you don't need to remind me every second." The fist-fighter sighed and sat down on a small rock. "Look all I'm trying to say is that we can't afford to lollygagging. We need our eye on the ball. If someone, any of us screws up like Shulk, it could end everything."

'So that's why he's so angry at Shulk.' Sword thought. "We're not so careless, Brawler. Maybe a bit over-the-top, but not careless. But just because you do everything right doesn't it'll go right. The best we can do is to keep a level head and carry on."

The Mii blinked a couple of times before slumping his head in bitter exhaustion. "I know that, but you can only carry on for so long without getting nothing done."

Sword frowned. "Yeah." He didn't like to admit it, but the group was running on fumes. Well, even more than that. More like the fume's fumes. This tundra was nor meant to be hospitable for long periods of time, they did their best but the coldness was slowly winning day by day. He can see it in his friends already; the baggy eyes, the apathy, the doubts. He felt terrible that they had to suffer through this like he has, but at the same time, he was kind of glad.

He was glad that he wasn't alone in all this like on those floating islands. They'd been through hell but they would have never made it through the lake of fire if they didn't watch each other's backs. The pain they endured was only rivaled by the memories they crafted together. In the end, if this cave was really a foolish hope spot, and they were doomed to walk these fields together. At least he can be in the company of the people he could trust. It's better to go down together than anything else.

The swordsman was taken from his wholesome morbid thoughts when the sounds of shouting and rushing footsteps came to his left. "Hey! There they are!" Said Villager. The mayor pointed to Shulk and Gunner who were frantically sprinting at them, occasionally missing their footing in the snow tripping, before getting their posture right again.

"Wow, they must be really excited to see us. Just look at those smiles." Spoke Little Mac.

"Mac… I don't think they're smiling." Replied Rosalina.

The two entered their little and nearly buckled from the pain warming up in their knees. Shulk was vocalizing something but the straining of his lungs made that difficult. Swords didn't need to see their expressions to know that something bad was going to be rearing their ugly heads. He spoke. "Shulk? Gunner? Are you okay?"

"Did you find the cave?" Asked the android.

"Deer… coming now." Shulk warned through harsh intakes of breath.

Wii Fit stopped shivering and looked the kid straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry, what?!"

Gunner snapped her head up. "There are a bunch of deermen coming this way. We need to move."

Brawler innately jumped up from his rock and went to Gunner. "How many are there? Can we take them on?" Gunner shook her head. Brawler pressed. "Crap, how many are there? Fifty? A hundred?"

"We couldn't see all of them." Answered Shulk. "If I had to guess… maybe a thousand at least? I don't know, but they're searching for food." Shulk clarified "Us. They must have heard the crash. They'll be here soon."

Brawler balled both of his fists, nearly on the breaking point of beating him into the ground. "Dammit Shulk, you just doomed us all!"

"We're not in danger, save your fury on the actual enemy." Greninja ordered. "Can we climb up the mountain so they'll pass through?"

"I don't know, the mountains look pretty steep. Those things can spot us pretty good up there considering there are hardly any hiding places up there." Sword observed. "We could bury ourselves but those things have a great sense of smell, we'll be sitting ducks if we're restrained in the ground with those things digging us up."

"We can go into the cave." Gunner said. "We can hide pretty well in there as long as we don't make any noises and keep quiet."

Sword lit up. "You guys found the cave?!"

"Just before we came back. It's in that direction, it's somewhat far but if we leave now and run like hell, we'll make it before the herd."

"I don't like this." Said Lucina. "Going up close and personal with a little strategy is too risky. Why not run away from this area from now and come back later when they're gone?"

"There's nothing around besides these two mountains, Lucina. Even if we get far away it'll only take one of them to spot us and it's over. They are faster than us, and twice as ferocious. They don't just give up."

"We don't have the time for this!" Sword unsheathe his blade and stared out to the approaching brown over the horizon. "This is not up for debate. We all need to get to that cave now before it's too late! Come on! We're running out of time!"

Some were very unpleasant with going straight to the cave, such as Rosalina and Mac, but the majority was scared of the idea of losing their last chance home, the wind was blowing in Sword's direction. Everyone was in this together, to split up at this point would be a detriment for everyone involved.


Reaching the cave was much harder as they expected. Not because they didn't know where to go or how far it was, but the snow they were treading on was slippery or caved in too easily - why they wouldn't kill for a dog sled right now.

"This feels so wrong, I feel so naked out here." Little Mac gritted though his teeth as he did his best to jog up to the front.

"It is pretty cold out here." Sword said.

"No, not that. I mean, do you see the size of that thing?" Little Mac jabbed his gloves to the sea of brown that was coming down the hill. "Gunner wasn't kidding in saying the horde was huge. Do you think we can really take them on?"

"Don't know and frankly I don't want to." Brawler shivered. It appeared he was becoming more sensitive to the cold than he thought. "I just want to get to the cave already. I just about reach my limits for today. I don't want another catastrophe, god knows we had too many of those already."

"We should be reaching Old Cave soon." Shulk warned. "So when we get down there and actually find a way to get back to World of Trophies, what should our next plan be? I reckon we should find any landmarks so we can pinpoint our way to Smash Mansion."

"Assuming if it's straightforward as you said." Wii Fit said.

"I don't think it'll be that easy, but I'm certain we can do it. We've been through hell once, we can do it again." Shulk smiled. "My visions, the purpose of our arrival, this cave has to be the answer to our woes. Whatever happens, happens. But I believe we're on the path of getting home."

Gunner smiled back. "Yeah, I think so too."

"Hey, we're finally here." Villager was amazed, as if he found a cold pond amidst the blazing heat of a harsh desert. The cave was exactly as they saw it, with the exception that there was a mineral leading from the entrance to further down the hole. All that was left was a slightly steep uphill terrain, and they'll be on their way.

At least there weren't any surprise deermen hiding behind a door this time.

"Finally. We can inside now. Hurry, we don't have much time." Brawler was first to climb the small hill. He took several steps before being taken off course by how slippery the sleet was. The lack of friction forced him to fall and slide down on his stomach. "Of course. Why do I keep forgetting that everything has to be a challenge?"

"Can't we double jump?" Wii Fit suggested. "Maybe even our recoveries to reach the top?"

"Do you think me and the newest Newcomers can even accomplish those feats?" Shulk questioned. "I mean we've been practicing but-" A horrendous shriek disrupted their conversion, what came next was a symphony of screams and snarls. Shulk quickly held onto his binoculars and looked out to the hill again; one long deermen had spotted and pointed to their direction. The whole herd knew they were here, they're compromised.

"No! We were so close!" Gunner exclaimed. "They're so fast."

"Okay, we need to get in that cave, Now!" Brawler ordered, he took a couple of steps back then ran at the hill. He mastered his double jump just like they were taught by Marth and reached nearly half of the steep climb. He fell on his stomach and slid down again, but his descent stopped. The fist-fighter looked back and saw that his foot was standing on a small piece of rock embedded in the snow. Looking around, he saw more of those rocks all over the hill. That's when it hit him, they can use this.

"You see that?" Brawler gestured, proving that the hill is not invincible.

The rest got the message; Wii Fit, Robin, Mega Man, Villager, Greninja and Rosalina made it to the top with a mixture of balloons, hulu-hoops and magical spells. The rest were not so fortunate: The recoveries of Gunner, Sword, Shulk, Lucina and especially Little Mac failed to reach to top successfully in their single attempt and were forced to latch onto the nearby rocks.

Shulk, Lucina and Sword were lucky to find footing to stay on the hill. Brawler kept jumping to other rocks with similar success. Gunner was the closest to the top but sadly missed the rock and slammed into the snow. Greninja dived down from the edge and grabbed onto her shirt. She was pulled up with grace and was sat down besides the frog. Little Mac had the worst of it, he failed to grab any footing and slid down the hill in an embarrassing defeat. He would have blushed if his life wasn't at stake.

"That went better than I thought." Wii Fit said as she eyed her struggling comrades down below. "How's the climbing going? Are you having any trouble?"

"You mean more than usual? Nah, I feel miserable as usual." Brawler jumped from several more rocks and success made it with the kings and queens of the hill. "See no sweat." He took a glance down. "Now the rest will have to push through. Keep going at it! If that herd reaches here when you're still down there it's over."

"We know!" Lucina grunted as she managed to latch her fingers onto another rock. "How closer are they?"

"The herd? They're fast but we still have plenty of time. I know you guys can make it!" Villager cheered, then his face grimaced into horror. "Woah, look out!" The boy pointed to his left.

"What is it?" Gunner's eyes followed and grimaced. "Oh no."

Three deerman wandered from around the corner, searching for any more delectable morsels. They became excited seeing them trying to scurry over the hill like frantic children running up the down escalator. They went after the weakest link: Little Mac, who had now noticed the incursion and hastily redoubled his efforts to climb.

Robin reached to top next and saw the minor disaster heading their way. The tactician took out his tomes and began speaking in archaic words, shooting out bolts of lighting. Those with sufficient projectiles followed and delivered an underage at the would-be furry attackers. Most missed or failed to inflict much damage onto them. Robin did however manage to project a powerful stream of lighting into one of the creature's mouth, the bolt shattering the bone behind the tongue. The monster felt to its face, dead. A minor victory for sure, but there were still two more left.

Little Mac tried again but once failed, he saw the deermen in the corner of his vision and knew there was nothing he could do at the moment but fight. They both came simultaneously, claws outstretched and mouths agape. He was able to punch one of them in the eyes and make them fall flat on their ass, but the boxer was left open.

The other deermen picked Little Mac up by the chest. He tried his best to wiggle free without fruition, and then the monster chomped his head, repeatedly. Mac desperately thrashed to get away but his head was deep in, and the monster's vicious teeth were not going to let up.

"MAC! NO!" Gunner screeched. Robin attempted to fire another bolt at the deerman chewing on his friend but was shocked to find that his yellow tomb was out of power reducing it to a mere book. There wasn't enough time for another recharge. He knew it, and so did Sword. The Mii was halfway up but he couldn't stop looking down at Mac. The herd was getting closer, and that thing was keeping him restrained. Sword knew the risks, but he didn't care, no man was going to be left behind on his watch.

Sword let go of the rock and focused his body weight on his backside and feet. He slid down faster than he climbed up, he readied the tip of his blade, and when he neared the bottom, and jumped. The deerman was so engrossed with its meal it didn't notice the Mii spearing through its heart before it was too late. Little Mac pulled out from the snout, juices and salvia drenched his hair.

The other lone deerman got back up for retribution, but was taken down once and for all when Sword stabbed the monster through the brain. Up above, the rest of the Newcomers came to the top, and the fighters saw that the herd was nearing even closer. With the pace they're going, they'd reach the hill in under five minutes.

"Crap, how are we going to get them up here? Little Mac ain't good with climbing?" Wii Fit asked.

"Couldn't we just fight them all?" Said Mega Man.

"We'll be overwhelmed too quickly before that happens." Brawler said.

"We're on a hill, it's slippery."

"You think that'll deter them? These things will lose an arm and a leg for taste of flesh and blood. I'm not going to let Sword and Mac suffer that fate, there's gotta be something that we can do."

"We can pull them up!" Rosalina suggested. "Do we have rope on hand?"

Shulk shook his head. "It went missing in the crash."

"Then perhaps there's something up here we can use." Rosalina said. "This used to be a mine, there has to be equipment around that they left behind!"

Shulk scanned the entrance of the mine and spotted what they needed, A chain coiled around the pole of the sign. He rushed to the chain and untangled it. The length was more than enough to help. He went to the edge and threw one end of the chain down below. Little Mac And Sword turned around to see the final link rest under their feet and looked up to their savoir.

"Use this, it'll help!" Shulk said, several Newcomers joined him and held the chain as well, making it sturdy enough to support two of the fighter's weights. Between Sword and Little Mac, they didn't need to be told twice. The boxer went up first with the Mii following behind, clinging onto the chain for dear life as they stepped forward up the mountain.

"Are you fine, Mac? You don't look so good." Sword asked the boxer.

Little Mac groaned in mild pain. "Could be better. I got a lot of percentage because of that thing, and I smell like barf now. But I'll live." He turned back for a shy smile. "Thanks."

"What can I say, we Smashers stick together." The Mii was going to continue talking until the howling became too unbearable to ignore. He gave a glance behind, the horde finally reached them. They surrounded the mountain like hungry piranha. They did their best to follow but they ended up slipping down, it was quite amusing how they trampled on each, repeating the same actions over and over again to no fruition. They were truly insane.

"Do these things ever quit?!" Wii Fit generated her massive ball of sun and blasted it to the savage crowd. She and a lot of the others Newcomers that possessed powerful projectiles let hell hath no fury, unleashing all they can to keep them at, if not, at least lessen their advance.

Brawler joined with Shulk and some of the other physical stronger Newcomers to hold onto the chain. The fist-fighter asked the Hom. "Should we try pulling them up?"

"I don't know, they could accidentally slip-" The chain lurched forward, almost taking the Newcomers holding it at bay down below. Brawler and Shulk grunted as they pulled in absolute desperation. Shulk wondered what the problem was and immediately saw it: some of the deermen got wise and climbed up on to links.

More weight was added to the links, and Little Mac and Sword were getting very visibly shaken. They can risk more jumping on their metal rope or this rescue is doomed. Shulk got another idea and shouted to the Mii. "Cut the chain! Your sword! NOW!"

Sword unsheathed his blade and turned around slightly. With all the might he could muster in a single arm, he brought it down the chain several times before a partially rusted segment of the chain broke. The separated portion slid down the hill alongside the other deermen who tried to pull a fast one.

"Help us, pull! They're going to get them if we don't!" Shulk warned. By now, most of the Newcomers atop joined in the effort and continuously reeled in their friends in peril. Little Mac and Sword didn't have to do anything besides letting physics do the work. Gunner and Brawler pulled the two of them up respectively, now all that's left to do is the impending horde of death coming for them.

"My god, look at them!" Wii Fit pointed. The deermen were doing a new strategy. Dogpiling on themselves to add height to the top. For a bunch of mindless savages this was a pretty smart move.

"They're coming too fast for us to take them!" Said Mega Man. "We have to go in the cave!"

"They'll just follow us!" Brawler replied. "If we get corners in there it's over!"

"What if we block the entrance? That way will be safe?"

"And how the hell are we going to do that?"

Shulk looked for any possible options for blocking the entrance, but other than the sign, there wasn't anything remotely useful they could use. Except… he looked at the large boulders of rock sticking out of the cave, then got the second greatest idea of the day. "We'll cause a cave-in!"

"Huh?" Said Rosalina.

"We'll cause a cave-in! If we take the rocks downs it'll block the entrance. We'll be safe."

"How? We don't have any powerful explosives!" Brawler reminded Shulk.

Shulk took out his sword, the beam protruding blazing hot. "Who says we need bombs?"

The deermen were closing in, A minute later and they'll be swarmed. Shulk directed the Newcomers inside, with the Hom standing at the entrance. He slashed and pierced critical sections of the entrance; rocks rumbled, the sound was getting unbearable. With one more powerful thrust, the whole thing came tumbling down.

Shulk jumped out of the way. Within seconds the entrance was reduced to a large pile of rocks and metal rebar. The snarling was muffled as the group of Newcomers dwelled in the darkness.

"Rosalina?"

"I got it." With the help of her wand and Luma, the surrounding area became enlightened enough for them to see. It wasn't the brightness they were hoping for but it was better than going blind.

"Well, at least one thing went well for us today." Shulk said to Brawler.

Brawler looked at the blockage for a moment then back to the Hom. "Yeah… thanks."


Wow that was the longest I ever spent on a chapter. I would have written more but I was uncomfortable with how long I didn't post. We'll be nearing the high point of the act soon enough though. I hope you all enjoyed.