Authorial Nerd: I've spent the better part of last week reading stories for "inspiration" and put everything off to Saturday. Fun times. Fun times. Also, because of that pun, I'm going to have to keep an eye on you.
BornToDream03: If we ever go back to a prison ship, egg man will make another appearance.
No matter which way you twisted it, the word 'bank robbery' could never spell out 'subtlety'. Link knew this from experience, having foiled a few back in Hyrule. More often than not, he'd find out about the robbery long before someone told him about it; the screaming crowds kind of gave it away.
Even so, he didn't know what to expect when he slipped through what might have been a wall and into the bank. Pikachu and Jigglypuff, closely followed in his footsteps, looked worried as they stepped over a few loose rocks, and as they pressed on, Pikachu pushed Jigglypuff behind him with his tail.
Link still found his hands shaking as he drew an arrow from his quiver, and slid it onto the taut bowstring. Quietly he cursed his trembling fingers, stepping over a few rocks as he did so.
Behind him, he could hear sparks crackle to life. At least I'll have someone to watch my back, he told himself as he crept forward. He stole a quick glance over his shoulder, and Pikachu gave him a nod.
They stepped around another downed pillar, and their target finally entered their view. Round, stout, dressed in yellow; his picture from the poster hadn't left out much to the imagination.
Link stepped over a piece of fallen debris, drawing the arrow back on his bow when a jagged orange-tipped bolt dropped down to intercept him. He glanced over to his left. Pikachu's angry scowl met his gaze.
Link let out a resigned sigh but didn't question it. As he moved back beneath the deep shadows cast by the overhead sun, it was then that he spotted two other people huddled close to Wario.
He turned to ask Pikachu about them. The electric mouse was already one step ahead of him, flicking through their sheet to search for the new faces.
The first one they found was Waluigi, Wario's tall, scraggly brother. He bore an identical mustache, as well as an identical set of clothes, only colored purple instead of yellow. The sneer on his face looked so similar to Wario's, Link wondered how he could have missed this little detail.
The other was harder to pin down, since even a rather 'unique' face like his would be lost in the sea of colorful and weird forms of the residents of Popstar, but they did manage to find it after a few seconds. Krusha the Kremling kommando, as dangerous as a speeding train and as tough as a house. This was certainly shaping up to be a rather strange bunch of bank robbers.
The three seemed to be locked in a conversation, none of which Link or Pikachu could pick up on. Their words were too hushed to carry on the wind, and Link didn't want to risk giving their positions away by stepping closer.
Sometimes the best action was no action at all. At least, that was what his master always told him.
A minute passed before the robbers finally broke apart. As Wario turned his back to them, Waluigi and Krusha moved deeper into the ruins, shuffling through the rocks scattered across the floor. They were searching for something. That much was obvious.
Link looked for Pikachu, and found him already jumping over half of a pillar. His red cheeks were clear of any sparks, so he probably just wanted to get a closer look. The arrow on his bow lowered, and Link tracked the yellow fur that flashed through the cracks, ready to step in if something happened.
"Well, it's about time you showed up."
Link's blood froze. Pikachu's fur stood on end from under a smashed door, so he had heard it too. The arrow creaked in his fingers as his grip tightened, and his breath rattled in his chest.
"And I'd say it's about time I found you," another voice said. "Took you long enough to show your mug."
All the tension spilled out from Link, and he breathed a sigh of relief. So he hadn't been talking to them. This had been someone else.
"This ain't your style, Wario, and me and my pals want to know what's up. You and your brother ain't never worked with other people before. 'Specially not people like the Space Pirates."
"I'm afraid I haven't a clue what you're talking about."
A second voice entered the conversation. "Don't play dumb. We can see the ship above you."
Link looked up. Sure enough, there was a dark shape hovering in the sky, a black speck against the pearly white clouds. His finger rubbed against the feathered shaft in his grasp, and his eyes flickered around nervously.
"So there is," Wario said at last.
"Yes, there is. And you're not getting on it."
"If you ain't gonna explain yourself in the next few minutes, that is," the first voice cut in.
"What? That's not-"
"There's going to be a change in management," Wario said. "I just happened to be lucky enough to take the ride to the top."
"Yes, but-"
"And who's the guy that told you about this?"
"Someone who called themselves a dark dragon or something. Doesn't matter to me, as long as there's a pot of gold waiting at the end."
"Yeah, I thought so. Wouldn't be you if it weren't for the cash. But, like, you're not gonna halve the population of the galaxy to do it, right?"
"Like I'd say."
"Ooh, real scary. Gotta give you credit, though; you're persistent. Most guys'd probably give up trying to be the big man after the first time. How's it feel to be a special kind of idiot?"
"Now, Mario, I-"
Then something blew up. Link peeked out over the shattered window he was hiding behind, only to get an eyeful of dust, and he slid back down to rub his eyes. He could hear an uproar in the making, and as his vision cleared, he found his eyes drifting to his sword.
"Alright, that's enough of that. You can continue your little therapy session when this man is behind bars," the second voice said through the sound of falling rocks.
A piece of the wall clattered to the ground as someone new pushed their way into the ruined bank. "Hey! What are you lot fooling around fo-"
Something squeaked underfoot. Fear grasped at Link when he realized what just happened.
"What's this?" he heard the newcomer say.
Without thinking, Link leapt out and fired. Krusha turned his head, Pikachu struggling within his claws, and saw the arrow heading for him. He blocked the arrow with a stout arm, and it glanced off his thick scaly hide just as Waluigi appeared from behind a door.
"I got the gem!" he said, only for the stray arrow to knock it out of his gloved hands. He tried grasping at it as it fell, but it disappeared between the loose rocks and marble.
Still trapped in Krusha's grip, Pikachu let out a burst of electricity. Pain spiked up the Kremling's arm, and he hurling Pikachu to the floor without a moment of hesitation.
As Pikachu scurried to safety, Link drew his sword, crossing over the rubble in a few seconds. He swung the Master Sword in a downward arc, sending it crashing into the floor as Krusha deflected it with the back of his clawed hand. In return, he received a blow to the stomach that forced him back, keeping his sword between them.
Now that he was fully out in the open, as Link caught his breath he surveyed the scene before him. To his surprise, he found six other people aiming their weapons at the three criminals, and in the middle of fanning out around them. More than he had expected to see.
"Fall back!" Wario snarled, and his two companions drew closer to him, arms raised in defense.
"You're not getting away," Fox said, his blaster trained on Wario. "We have you surrounded. At least one of you is coming with us by the end of this."
There had to be no other options. Link couldn't see any way out, but he still expected the bad guys to fight back. When he saw Wario's lips twist into a smile, he couldn't say he was surprised.
"Of course, you'd say that," Wario said, taking a step back. His two companions stepped back with him.
"But what kind of a villain would I be without a back-up plan?"
And just like that, a thick cloud of smoke submerged the area. Rolling purple whisps unfurled over the rocks, and Link covered his mouth with a hand, holding his breath to avoid inhaling the fog as he stumbled forward.
In his head, he cursed. The smog was perfect to hide the robbers from his line of sight, and no one he'd ever faced had used this trick to get away, so any ideas of how to send it away escaped him.
A spark of electricity snapped in front of his face, and his head jerked back as it whipped past. He forced his eyes to open wider, just in time to avoid another bolt of lightning to the face. As the purple smoke faded away, the electric bolts trashing about became more clear as Pikachu wildly flung attacks left and right.
The whirring of a loud set of engines called his attention to above, and Link looked to the sky to see Wario cackling as he was pulled up by a grappling beam from the ship. He became a tiny yellow dot in the distance before he vanished completely. The ship turned away and blasted into space, leaving a streak of white in the sky.
"What was that about, eh?" Mario yelled, breaking the stunned silence. "I was doin' fine before you went in all guns blazin'!"
"I think you're missing the bigger picture," Fox said. "He was trying to stall. The moment they got what they wanted, they would have split!"
Mario growled. Fox did the same. They stepped towards each other as if trying to impale each other with their glares. Fox's hand fell to his blaster, and Mario's clenched into a fist. Link, just a figure in the background, tried to slip away when the sun was suddenly snuffed out, and everything became dark.
"Guys?" Samus stepped between the arguing pair, breaking them up long enough to see the ground engulfed in black.
As Samus lifted a hand upward, Link's eyes followed it to the heavens. Where there was once a tiny black speck against the blue, now a large ship stared down at them through the visor in the mask at its prow. Four large bat wings unfurled over the ground, claiming complete control over the sky, and Link's jaw fell open in awe as he laid eyes on the massive flying structure, tracing the many cannons that bespeckled the impenetrable steel hull.
"I think we have bigger problems," was the next thing he heard her say.
Say it isn't so, say it isn't so. For once, I actually manage to stick to my dual-upload schedule. It hasn't felt this good to write since... well, two weeks ago. (Huh. Guess I just wasn't feeling it last week)
Anyway, we're finally getting to the really juicy bits of the story. Like the Justice League rewrite this draws so much from, this first part ends with a heist. From now on out, things are going to get serious, and I am actually kind of excited for this. Since my writing skill has improved (I hope), I think I'll be able to pull off raising the steaks (cough) better than all the other times I've done it. If you've got any thoughts about this, feel free to share them with me, or you could pull a pre-chapter 12 Mario and be a silent protagonist while everyone else blabs on and on about the world-ending goobers. Whatever suits you.
Also, something about Mario in this story-in his debut chapter, he doesn't say anything because originally I intended for him to be mostly quiet like he is in the games (aside from "Let's-a go!" and "It's-a me, Mario!"). I know I made Link talk, even though he says less than Mario on a daily basis, but I let him talk because of the Ocarina of Time manga I read a while back that I really liked.
This changed when I realized that A: having Mario not speak would make no sense considering Link's case, and would make chapters like the last one boring to read since half the cast already can't speak, and you can only read through so many no-sided conversations, and B: whenever Mario has a speaking role bigger than his usual one-liners, he has a funny Boston accent, like in the Mario Bros movie or Hotel Mario (is Nintendo trying to hide something from us?), so if you notice him talking like a mobster, that's why. (I did it because it was funny. Can you blame me for that?)