Chapter 7: The End and the Beginning
A large, trophy-like Bowser lands in front of me on the platform. What's going on here? I don't like the looks of this.
Suddenly, I hear an odd, evil laugh. That doesn't sound like Master Hand…
Before I can ponder further, the trophy is struck by lightning! It starts to crack open and…change.
The face shrinks, the body grows, and the trophy cracks open. The mutant's eyes glow menacingly.
Damn it. What is Master Hand thinking?
Bowser (I'm not sure what it is, but I'm calling it Bowser) flashes red and breaths fire on me. This fire is much more painful than regular Bowser's, but I fight my way through it and smash him. Bowser doesn't even seem to notice, and he grabs me. Hmm. This could be bad.
He throws me forward, then jumps up and slams on me. Ouch. I'm almost paralyzed in agony at this point, but I grab Bowser. I weakly toss him away, and run up to jump-punch him. Bowser doesn't like that idea, though, and slashes at me with his huge claws. I fly away, already being knocked off of the platform, and Super Jump Punch him on my way up. Bowser spins around in his shell, with me on top of the spikes. I fly into the air, and Bowser sort of jumps up, sending me farther up. I barely make it down, and punch Bowser to the ground. Just then, an item appears. Oh…this might not be too bad. I desperately run over to the party ball, and toss it at Bowser with all my might. Bowser actually falls off the stage, as the party ball starts flashing orange and playing music. When it opens, four Bob-ombs come out. This could work really well. Bowser climbs onto the platform and…Boom! Game over-
No, wait. Bowser got back up. That's ridiculous. He climbs up and headbutts me with all his might. That's it…I'm done for. Down to one life.
As I come down invincible, I smash him. As he flies away, I charge my up-smash, and just make it. I jump and flip kick, but Bowser slams down on me. I down smash from that position, and Bowser flies a fair distance. I stand by the edge and charge up my smash.
Bowser jumps, spins, spins some more, lands right next to me-
I release my smash just in time! Bowser flies away, and explodes! Hallelujah. How the hell did I do that?
More appropriately, what the hell did I just do? What was that thing?
I hear the crazy evil laugh again, and spin around trying to find its source. Seeing nothing, I wait for Master Hand to appear, and to explain what just happened.
"Congratulations, Mario." I finally hear, and turn around angrily.
"What was that?" I almost hiss, I'm so angry.
"To be honest, I have no idea."
"WHAT?"
"But I will explain everything else, once the others get here."
"Others? Didn't I beat them all?"
"Not exactly."
Oh boy…I can't wait to hear this.
"Ah, here they are. How was your training?"
Training? How come everyone knows what's going on except me?
"Sorry, Mario. Allow me to fill you in."
"Thata would be nice." Is it just me, or does Master Hand not sound as evil anymore?
"Well, first of all, I obviously didn't die in the toy dimension. At the last second, I teleported away to the closest dimension. That turned out to be a bad idea, because that dimension is apparently ruled by a huge shadow monster, who ordered his minions to corrupt me and make me evil again. Apparently, he had done the same to Mistress and Ob."
Whoa. So they weren't really evil after all?
"So anyway, I managed to escape their corruption, but I had already organized a tournament to destroy you. At the last minute, I switched all of the others with alternate versions who didn't know you, and sent the real smashers off to train. It was too late to stop the tournament altogether though."
"I guess thata makes sense. Buta wait…what werea they training fora?"
"The war, Mario." Samus answers this time. "The war with the shadows."
Oh, lovely. Sounds like fun.
Before I can reply, I hear the same evil laughter that I heard when the mutant Bowser appeared and died.
"So thata wasn'ta you after alla!" I state. "But-"
Suddenly, another Master Hand appears! It is slightly off colored and surrounded by sparkles, but it looks the same.
"Whoa." Link remarks.
"Ha ha ha! Did you like my Giga Bowser, Mario! You'll be seeing him again! Ha ha ha!"
"Who are you?" Master Hand shouts authoritatively.
"Don't you recognize me, M.H.? I'm your interdimensional counterpart! Call me-"
Somehow, I hear a drumroll in the background. It must have something to do with this weirdo.
"Crazy Hand!"
With more maniacal laughter, Crazy Hand disappears.
"Well. That was odd." Fox remarks.
"No kidding." Zelda agrees.
"So, you'vea all beena training?" I choose to ignore the intruding appendage.
"Yeah, we were just fighting battles against each other in various places. It was fun." One of the Ice Climbers replied.
No wonder none of them were talking to me.
"So whata now?" I ask.
"Well, we should pick the real you up."
"Huh?"
"You're just the toy dimension version, like last time. When I change you back to a regular toy, the real Mario will get your memories. The other smashers are all real, though."
"Oh…so I'lla go back witha John? Is hea here?"
"Yes, he and his friends were the crowd again."
"I didn'ta even noticea them."
The others sort of laughed. I guess I was just too used to it.
"Anyway, after that, we'll go to other people's dimensions. Some of them have ideas of friends they want to bring into the war."
"Wella, wait. What abouta Crazy Hand?" I ask, trying desperately not to enter a war. "We can'ta just ignorea him anda Giga Bowser."
"Hmm, you're right." Master Hand stops to think.
"We'll just have to do both. Mistress, Ob, and Juvenor were all killed because of these shadows. We need to avenge them." Fox points out gravely.
"Yeah!" Falcon agrees. Grinning, he added, "Besides, how hard could another Master Hand be?"
"Hey!" Master Hand shouts. We all laugh.
"Well, Mario, you can go back with John now." Master Hand shouts. "Let the war begin!"
(A/N: Like I said, this isn't much of an ending (hence the chapter title). So, wait a few days, and my 5th fic will continue where this left off. Also, the part where the others are training serves to explain most of Classic Mode, and even some of the more sensible events! )
