14shiffna: I think I mentioned at the beginning of the Brothers at Arms segment that this was based on the Justice League rewrite video series by Nando v Movies. It does give away some of the big twists that I may have used in this story, but I think my story is different enough to have a few surprises on its own, and his story is much better than mine anyway. There's nothing wrong with favoritism, it's just that I wouldn't be able to cram Pit (or Dark Pit) into the story. With all that said, have some action for a change!
One by one, everyone entered the main room slowly, weapons drawn at the ready. Above their heads, the lights still blared down, giving the metal walls a shiny white shimmer. Scattered about the room, the crates were still stacked high, and at the center, the gemstone sat on its perch. The bars of energy surrounding it fizzed and crackled, sparks flying off it into the spotlight hanging overhead, just the same as it had been before.
There was no one else there. The bunker was completely empty.
A few uncertain glances were exchanged between them. No one seemed to know what to think, already on edge from all the tension between them.
"I should have known it would be a false alarm," Fox grumbled, sliding his blaster back into its holster.
Samus growled back. "The system says the doors have been breached. This is no false alarm."
"Well, does it show anything on the cameras?"
Samus paused. She turned away momentarily, and a scrolling sound echoed through the chamber as she checked the cameras.
There was a moment of silence.
"There's nothing," she said at last.
Fox waved dismissively as if that explained everything, and Samus straightened her shoulders, obviously feeling patronized.
"It's not hard to hack security cameras," she hissed. "The Space Pirates probably have them on a loop."
Something clattered to the floor. It was distant, a very small and insignificant sound in the empty chamber, but its echo carried across the room. That shut everyone up very quickly.
Another clatter. One of the lights trembled, and the shadows flickered, like ripples in a pond. Fox took a step forward.
I've been through things like this before. I need to stay calm, he kept telling himself. His fingers wrapped around the hilt, shaking just a little bit. He slowly drew it out, but it almost fell from his grip, and he cursed. He tried to steady his aim, hissing when the barrel of his blaster continued to tremble.
It was then that he realized he had spent too long out of action.
A low crash sounded over a wall of crates, and from behind Pikachu, Jigglypuff let out a squeak. Everyone glanced at each other, and a silent agreement passed between them; the first since they set foot in the bunker.
Fox took a step forward, and his finger flicked the trigger, ready to fire at a moment's notice. When the warehouse remained silent, one step led to another.
Then a sound, a faint ringing, came from the left. In an instant, Fox's blaster snapped on to the source, and he fired.
An explosion of yellow shards hit the floor, giving off a metallic glimmer in the light.
A bell. That's all it was. Fox looked down and found one of his metal feet tugging on a tripwire, almost invisible against the floor.
It was one of Pikachu's traps.
"Hey kid, your sword's glowing. What's that mean?" Mario said.
All eyes turned to Link, and, as Mario had noticed, his sword was giving off a faint white gleam.
"Oh, this?" he said, a bit confused as to what the big deal was. "The Master Sword glows whenever dark magic is close." He frowned, before he added, "That probably means something is here."
Then, there was a crash. Several crates tumbled to the ground, splattering in a mess of wood and scrap metal. Everyone looked back to the other end of the bunker.
In the place of a few of the crates, a giant blob hovered over the ground. Formless and shifting, it pulsed with an unnatural light. No piece of it seemed content to stay in one place, rising out, before sinking back into the ever-changing slime. Its appearance defied definition, and its constant undulating was almost hypnotic, snaring the attention of any who gazed upon it and never letting it go.
No one seemed sure of what to do. Donkey Kong and Yoshi shuffled their feet, anticipating an order to strike, while Mario watched it with narrowed eyes. Link had his bow out, but the arrow was slack against the wood, and he looked unsure. Jigglypuff hid further behind Pikachu, who was crouched low as angry sparks shot out of his red cheeks.
Samus was the only one who held any sort of certainty, standing straight, calm and collected, with her arm cannon pointed straight ahead.
Mario spoke first. "Who are you?" he said.
The thing, whatever it was, didn't respond. It just floated in place, squirming and writhing, folding in on itself, a wet squelching the only sound in the room.
Then the chamber was basked in crimson, giving the appearance of blood on the walls. The shapeless blob took on a bright red glow as if it were going to attack.
"Clear," was the only warning they recover before Samus stepped forward. She pushed Fox to the side and fired off a missile.
It streaked through the air, leaving a thin trail of grey behind. There was a loud bang as it slammed into the blob. Fire bloomed forth from the impact, sending the red thing into a pile of crates.
Once again, the atmosphere became silent. Everyone stared at the pile of crates the thing disappeared behind, as smoke curled out from beneath it. When nothing happened, they began to relax.
Suddenly, something threw the crates into the air. The glowing red blob burst out, whirring loudly. As the glow faded back to white, its flesh pulled back, revealing bright red plates of armor, curled into a large barrel pointing straight at them. The inside of the barrel started pulsing with blue energy. They had just enough time to scatter before it released a gigantic beam of light. Somewhere in the confusion, Jigglypuff ducked behind a wall of crates.
The moment it hit the floor, the beam exploded. The blast sent all crates nearby sprawling to the floor. When the smoke cleared, there was a crater left in its wake.
Link was the first to break for the thing. Seemingly out of nowhere, he pulled out a shield. It was different from the one strapped to his back, with a red rim around a shiny reflective face.
The thing tried to blast him, but the reflective material on his shield redirected it away. Link crossed the distance in a matter of seconds, when, once again, a red glow began to emanate from the inside.
Link's sword came down in a silver blur. The thing swerved to the side, and the blade glanced off its armor. He came up for a second swing, and the thing moved back again. Donkey Kong and Yoshi watched, looking to Mario for directions.
"What are you waiting for, an order?" he said. "Go! Help him!"
Link lunged. The thing slipped to the side. Link growled, and he thrust forward again. Once more, the thing danced out of reach, but it refused to attack. The glow coming from inside it receded just as Link swung wildly at it. The thing's only reply to that was to hit him with a massive burst of energy.
Something exploded against its side, leaving a shower of bright sparkling dust. The thing whirled around to its left. A meaty fist slammed into it before it could lock on to Yoshi, sending it spinning away. The force crammed into it quickly faded, but Donkey Kong rushed it before it could take aim again.
Unfortunately, the thing had other ideas.
The red plates of armor split apart, revealing a blue shield hiding beneath. Donkey Kong's fist crashed into it, but the blow didn't even leave a dent. The rest of the thing's armor disappeared beneath a blue casing made entirely up of shields. Before the ape could try to get away, the thing slammed into him, and he crashed into the ground.
The sound of blaster fire rang through the air. From atop a tower of boxes, Fox fired down onto the thing, letting loose a relentless hail of red lasers. It was on him in an instant, hurtling towards him. Fox leaped to another stack of crates before it could reach him, and the tower he was on moments before caved in from the collision.
He let out another stream of fire. One after another, the bullets pinged harmlessly off the shields.
Instead of throwing itself at him again, the thing changed back into its cannon form. It fired another burst of energy. Fox pressed a button on his wrist, and a shiny blue reflector popped up. The blast hit, but it was deflected.
Just as before, the thing's barrel started giving off a red light. Fox's eyes turned into slits. His feet tensed, and he prepared to leap away.
A second passed. The red glow faded as it did before. The barrage of fire was back in an instant, pelting it with lasers. In return, the thing blasted him with energy. Fox managed to avoid being hit, jumping away at the last second. He tried to turn around to face his attacker, only to find himself tangled in a web of string that had appeared out of nowhere. A jolt of electricity shot up his arm from the wire, stunning him momentarily.
The thing moved in to follow up, but before it could get close, Samus popped out from behind a crate. She fired a missile, and it soared towards it with a whistle. Blue reflectors materialized into existence, identical to the one Fox had used. The missile bounced off them, and, as luck would have it, straight into Donkey Kong as he was about to take a jump.
With the ape no longer a threat, its attention snapped onto Samus again. In a whirl of blue, it changed into its shield form and rushed at her, but Mario grabbed on to it before it could hit. Gloved fingers grasped the edges of one of its shields, and Mario spun around and flung it away.
As the thing halted its flight, a crate knocked over its side. Donkey Kong had thrown it across the room. The thing tried to turn. Mario stopped it, seizing it with his gloved hands. Then, he spun around and chucked it into another pile of crates.
Wood planks flew everywhere. The thing took a minute to steady itself. A yellow blur whizzed by, striking its shields several times with a loud ping. Before the thing could retaliate, the blur streaked over to the nearest crate.
It was Pikachu, with a wire in its mouth. He instantly lit up in a burst of electricity. The energy traveled down the wires, and the thing ignited like a match.
The thing was unfazed. It dislodged its trappings with a spin. Pikachu, on the end of the wire, was dragged along and sent flying to the other side of the room.
Donkey Kong threw another crate at the thing. This time, it managed to bring up its reflectors and redirected the attack to Mario. He batted the crate aside, but the few seconds it bought were enough for the thing to change back into its shield form.
With a single bash, Mario was knocked into a large tower of crates. The tower crumpled over him, burying him in a mound of planks. With him pinned beneath a wooden mountain, the thing moved closer and a red glow slipped out from between the shields.
A pillar of flames rocketed out from beneath. Crates exploded into the air, knocking over a few of the surrounding towers, and Mario stepped through.
Tiny flames licked his overalls, once blue, now dyed a bright red-orange. His sleeves and his hat had become white, and in his gloved hands, a fireball fluttered between his fingers. His lips were turned down in a snarl, and as he pushed himself off the ground, he hurled the fireball at the thing. The reflectors overtook its form, protecting it from the flames.
By the time he reached the ground, Mario already had two more fireballs in his hands. He threw those as well as he started charging forward, and they tore towards it in a spiral of orange. They were halfway there when the thing covered itself in red armor once again. There was a low whir. The cannon heated up and fired. The two fireballs were instantly vaporized as the blast plowed through them. Mario couldn't stop himself in time, and he took the full brunt of the blast. He flew back and crashed into a few crates piled up behind him, down for the count at last.
Another crate threw itself against the thing. Already Donkey Kong had another crate in his hands. With a loud grunt, he swung his arms and let go, turning the crate into a whirling wooden projectile. The box collided with it and fell apart into a mess of charred planks, revealing the thing, completely covered in a think coat of crackling flames, hurtling at the ape with terrifying speed.
Donkey Kong's eyes widened, and he dove to the side. As the giant fireball smashed into the floor, it let out a huge shockwave, catching him as he tried to get away. The searing heat from the impact caused him to stumble, and he was unable to avoid the thing when it came around a second time to hit him.
When Fox entered back onto the scene, finally untangled from the web, he arrived just in time to see Donkey Kong flung into a wall of crates, caving it inwards. The thing glowed red for a few seconds, remaining completely still. The glow faded just as an egg flew from the other side, Yoshi at the end of it. The giant fireball dove through it, burning through the wall the dinosaur had been standing on moments prior. Yoshi fluttered over to another stack. He jumped away again when the fireball destroyed that too.
A missile flew past the thing, blowing up in a shower of splinters beside it. The thing's shields were up in an instant, and it set its sights on Samus, hiding behind a very tall box.
"Not what you expected, eh?" a gruff voice spoke from his left. Fox's blaster snapped on to it, only to drop when he saw Mario limping over to him.
Fox saw a lick of flame stuck on the rim of Mario's cap. When the plumber noticed it as well, he snuffed it out with a pinch.
"I didn't think this would be what we were fighting against," Fox replied.
"Well, I didn't either." Mario chuckled. His laugh turned into a sharp cough, and a grimace crossed his face. "Mama mia, nothing seems to hurt that thing," he said.
Fox hummed in agreement. A brief silence passed between them.
"So?"
Fox glanced at Mario. "So?" he said, confused.
"Got any attack strategies for us, brilliant leader?" Mario replied. "You wanted to be in charge. Now, what are we supposed to do?"
This time, Fox growled. His tail flicked in annoyance, but he didn't comment. "It keeps changing its tactics too fast to keep up with. Maybe once we get a good look at what it can and can't do, I can tell you."
"Good luck with that," the plumber scoffed. "This thing's got more shapes than a geometry book. By the time we figure all that out, we'll be dead."
Fox wanted to argue, but he found himself agreeing with that point. "Alright then. If the gemstone we're protecting really has some kind of magic power behind it, we could try to use that power to destroy... whatever this is. That good enough for you?"
They were interrupted by a red shape crashing into the wall over their heads. Another explosion rang out from the other side. The thing was distracted, it seemed. In a split-second decision, Fox decided to go for the gemstone.
He broke into the space cleared out from the fight just as Link deflected a beam of energy with his mirror shield. As Link lowered his shield to hit back, the thing's red armor curled up, transforming it into a giant white sphere. Like most of the thing's other attempts to attack, it swung itself at him. He leaped back with his shield held facing it, but instead of crashing into the ground, its path arched up and struck his shield dead-center. The force behind the strike was powerful enough to send him out of the clearing again, but the thing barely had a moment to itself before Pikachu returned, sending bolts of lightning through the air. The thing split open as Pikachu darted across the floor, and a grapple resembling a tongue shot out, missing the electric mouse by inches.
Fox ignored the chaos going on behind him, crossing to the center of the room in seconds. The container the gemstone was held in had been left untouched. Fox thought that a little convenient, but he didn't have time to think about things like that. He pressed a button at the base of the perch, and the barriers around it fizzled out of existence.
Reaching inside, Fox grabbed the gemstone and spun around to face the thing. The scene before him was none different to the one he had seen moments before; the thing was still trying to grab Pikachu, flailing its grapple about in an attempt to snare him. Acting on a whim, he held out the gemstone before him, pointing it straight at the thing.
He expected a beam of magical energy to shoot out, piercing right through the thing's shell, leaving a smoldering hole in its wake. He expected some grand display of mystical power to burst forth and solve all their problems. He expected something, anything to happen.
To his disappointment, nothing happened.
As he tried to figure out what was wrong, Samus stumbled out from behind a burning heap of wood. Her armor was dented in multiple places. Her helmet was cracked, and she was slightly slumped over, low on energy. Despite that, she tried to fight on, holding her cannon in her free hand as she discharged yet another missile. As it had done before, the thing changed into its reflector form. The missile bounced off like it was made of rubber; a fruitless effort. What was different this time was that Pikachu saw this coming, and rolled under the reflected missile, turning the motion into an attack as he launched a thunderbolt right out of it.
White goo splattered on the floor. The bolt had run over the thing's top, and a piece of it had torn off. Even Pikachu seemed surprised, freezing in place to nervously eye the quivering gel on the ground. The thing brought up its shield form, but that didn't seem to erase the damage. One of its shields was missing half its face.
This new chip in its armor seemed to enrage it. If the thing had held the upper hand before, now it seemed intent on destroying them. The shields quickly disappeared; a moment of weakness, apparently. The cannon was brought back to the forefront, and it let loose a stream of destruction, obliterating a number of crates as it swept overhead.
Burning scraps of wood rained down on Fox, and he cursed as he moved to avoid being hit. Seeing no other option, he rushed the thing as it continued its rampage. It came within reach in a few short strides. He swung at it, intent on striking it with the gemstone.
Crack!
The sound of the impact echoed through the chamber. Time stopped. Everything else slowed to a crawl. The thing remained still for the longest time. Fox dared hope that the gemstone had done something. Maybe its magic had frozen the thing in place.
Then, the gemstone broke.
Countless shards scattered out from beneath his palm, tinkling like pieces of glass. Fox barely managed to stay on his feet as he hit the floor. Bits of the gemstone crunched underfoot. Slowly, he rose again, unsure of what had happened.
Some magic artifact, he thought.
Then he remembered where he was. The shadow above him moved, and he dove forward in turn. He felt something brush the fur on the back of his head; the thing, no doubt.
The thing missed Fox by a hair, spinning it its plain, spherical form. It continued with its swing, however, knocking down a few more crates in its path. As luck would have it, with the tower before it now a few crates shorter, it would be impossible to miss the trembling pink ball hiding behind it.
When the fighting first broke out, Jigglypuff had taken refuge behind a stack of crates near the edge. Now, with all the other crates destroyed, she was left to face the thing alone.
Seeing the defenseless Jigglypuff before it, most would have left her alone. The thing, however, seemed to feel no mercy. It reared back for another strike, and Jigglypuff braced herself. Somewhere on the other side, Pikachu let out a distressed squeal.
Just moments before it could land the hit, Mario jumped in. He pushed Jigglypuff out of the way and took the blow himself. With a cry, he flew away, bouncing over the cold floor, and coming to a stop at the end of the room.
He was dazed, disoriented with the world around him. The thing had hit him hard. By the time his vision cleared, the thing was already upon him, looming over for the finishing blow.
The air crackled and popped. Something cracked behind them, and then Pikachu was there. He shot through the air, a missile on his own, and knocked the thing away from Mario with a skull bash.
The thing spun into the air, reeling from the hit. As they slowed, Pikachu attempted to jump away before it could retaliate.
The thing's rounded surface offered no solid place to push his paws off of, and he slipped instead. He stumbled when he hit the ground. Before he could get any further, a grapple shot out of the thing and latched onto his back paw.
He tried to pull away. The thing pulled harder. It dragged him towards a hole in its shell as he struggled. The others moved in to stop it, but in his panic Pikachu let out wave after wave of electricity, preventing any of them from getting close.
The shockwaves washed over the thing, rolling over its smooth spherical form. Each attack seemed to be a fruitless effort. Pikachu only struck harder, letting out bolts of electricity in every direction. The thunderbolts struck the walls, the burning remains of boxes, the lamps hanging above.
The lights began to flicker rapidly. In the dark, the sounds of lightning striking the room and paws scrabbling against the floor was made clearer as Pikachu tried to escape its grasp. No one knew what to do; they could only watch as the thing reeled Pikachu closer to its gaping maw.
Then, the sounds stopped. With one final cry, the thing engulfed Pikachu. A tiny spark slipped out, fluttering in the air before it snuffed out.
Link gave a battle cry and ran at the thing. He swung his sword right down the middle, but the thing floated away. He gave chase, but it was too fast. It zipped away, bobbing over the flaming rubble, and disappeared out the door.
Link whirled back to face the others. "We can't let it get away!" he said, frustration clear in his voice.
"And we won't," Fox replied. "As soon as we-"
Mario cut him off. "Hey kid, your sword's getting real bright. Is that normal?"
Everyone looked down to Link's sword. As Mario had said, it was shining a brilliant white.
"That's weird," Link said. His brows drew down. "That thing is gone now. It shouldn't be getting brighter unless…"
A loud sound resounded through the empty room. The group was instantly on guard. Through the flames, someone emerged from the same doors the thing left through. As they stepped closer, the team caught sight of a familiar yellow cap.
"Mama mia," Wario drawled, clapping slowly. "I really like what you've done with this place, I really do."
I've had to do so many research papers this week, so that kind of killed my drive for writing. Maybe I'll take a break from writing for a few days. Anyway, new things are revealed, old things are brought to light. I really hope I've done this scene justice, but I think it might drag on for too long. This is the longest chapter I've ever done for the story, after all.
The eight Smashers are down to six now, and it just gets worse. I kind of had to leave off with a cliffhanger, since any further and anywhere I cut it off would have made for an awkward stopping place.