Chapter 5: Clash
Clyne jumped dramatically over the onslaught of wireframes and charged at Giga Bowser.
"Oh, you think you can take me, stick boy?" Giga Bowser taunted.
"That was lame." Clyne replied, and swung his staff. The mutant was unable to dodge, being so slow, but barely reacted to the blow. Giga Bowser roared triumphantly.
"Is that it? Here, my turn!"
Giga Bowser roared and headbutted Clyne. Clyne screamed and flew away, but kicked off of a wireframe's back and dove back into battle, sending his staff into Giga Bowser's chest. He grunted, then grinned.
"This could be interesting after all! Take this!"
A stream of fire burst from the turtle lizard's (A/N: I know people say he's a turtle, but turtles don't walk upright or breathe fire. He's some kind of hybrid…a tizard maybe? Or lurtle?) mouth, scorching Clyne while keeping him at a fair distance.
Marth and Roy hacked mercilessly at the wireframes, swinging their swords startlingly fast. Their swordbearing counterpart, Link, was also doing well, and Zelda had transformed into Shiek and was swinging her whip to keep the wireframes at bay. Captain Falcon and Ganondorf, having similar moves, both enjoyed using their charged-up punches to send opponents away aflame. Peach was doing well also, taking out multiple wireframes with her tennis rackets, golf clubs, and frying pans.
"Look out, Mario!" Samus suddenly shouted. Mario ducked just as a huge object flew over his head.
"Whata was that?" Mario gasped. A burst of fanatical laughter soon answered the question.
"Having fun with my friends? I'm sure having fun with yours! Maybe if you win this battle, you'll figure out Giga Bowser's clue, and come get him!"
Crazy Hand then disappeared.
"That wasa odd." Mario remarked, and turned around to fight. He was immediately shocked.
"Oh, no!" Samus shouted.
The wireframes had taken advantage of the distraction by silently KOing half of the army. Now, only Mario, Samus, Marth, Roy, Pikachu, Mewtwo, Link, Luigi, the Ice Climbers, Peach, and Falco remained in the fray.
Even as the remaining heroes surveyed the situation, a new group of wireframes appeared.
"Hmm…this could be problematic." Samus mused.
"Not at all! It is just getting interesting!" Marth shot back, swinging his sword spectacularly. Samus rolled her eyes undetectably.
Clyne groaned after being hit dead on by Giga Bowser's powerful slam. He struggled to his feet and assumed his fighting stance.
"You're still fighting, boy? Why can't you learn that you can't beat me?"
Giga Bowser laughed and jumped at Clyne. Clyne saw his chance immediately, and jumped backward. Giga Bowser landed badly, and took a moment to get up – a moment too long, when fighting Clyne. Clyne erupted forward, swinging his staff wildly and not allowing any recovery. Before Giga Bowser could even begin to try to get up, Clyne had delivered ten blows. As Giga Bowser stood up, Clyne channeled his remaining strength to his arms, waiting for just the right moment. Just before Giga Bowser stood erect, Clyne unleashed the full potential of his might on the unfortunate mutant, sending him flying. Giga Bowser roared in shock.
"You got lucky this time, boy. Just wait until next time!"
Clyne gasped for breath. Having used his last vestiges of energy, he sat immobile for several seconds waiting to recover. Just then, he turned around, and saw that the other smashers were in trouble. He sighed. Guess I'd better help them, he thought.
Falco did a powerful roundhouse kick just in time to prevent a wireframe from hitting him. What am I even doing here? He thought. Fox is the fighter in the group, not me! I should be out with Slippy and Peppy shooting stuff! A wireframe struck him on the back of the head.
"Falco, watch your back!" Link warned politely. Falco grunted and nodded.
"Foolish humans. These wireframes are all too weak." Mewtwo belittled.
"OK then. We'll back off, and you take care of them." Popo sighed, sick of Mewtwo's arrogance.
"Maybe I will." Mewtwo replied, charging up his Shadow Ball. Just after he fired it, a wireframe jumped up right in front of Mewtwo and began a full assault. Mewtwo ducked instinctively to avoid a blow to the head, and the wireframe collapsed. Clyne ran up and caught his staff.
"You helped me." Mewtwo noticed, a little dazed.
"We're all helping each other, Mewtwo. Remember? Team?" Clyne replied softly, and began attacking.
Mewtwo paused to think about it.
"I thinka you finallya gota through toa him, Clyne!" Mario whispered triumphantly.
"Yeah, seems that way." Clyne murmured back.
Pikachu shouted out his catch phrase/battle cry/taunt as he summoned a jolt of thunder to disperse his opponents. As more and more wireframes appeared, Pikachu put his electric reserves to the test, trying to keep up with the assault.
Luigi rocketed forward like a missile, sending a few wireframes flying. He did his Super Jump Punch straight up into the air to send another group ablaze into the distance.
"This isn'ta so hard." He taunted, knifehanding another two away.
Marth agreed. "I was expecting a more challenging battle." He sighed, swinging his sword four times in rapid succession, changing color each time. Then, he leapt into the air and sent a group of frames flying. Roy laughed and said something to Marth in Japanese. Marth snickered.
Mario frowned, but Clyne shook his head. "They're new, Mario. Give them time."
Link was also doing well, with such a dramatically stronger spinning slash move. However, there were just too many wireframes, until suddenly they stopped coming.
"Huh?" Peach stopped her attack mid-swing. "What's going on?"
"I guess Crazy Hand decided we're worthy to go to the next level." Mewtwo replied dryly. "What was Giga Bowser's clue?"
"Go to where it all began…" Samus remembered. "That's pretty ambiguous."
"Well, ita could havea begun ona Master Hand'sa platform…that'sa where we meta for the firsta tournament." Mario suggested.
"Or it could have begun in the shadow dimension." Falco sighed. "Let's hope we find a better answer, though."
The smashers nodded with fervent agreement.
"Anyway, shouldn't we wait for the others to get up?" Popo suggested.
"Good point." Clyne replied. "I'm sure Crazy Hand won't mind waiting."
The smashers laughed and began to ponder the meaning of the clue.
Meanwhile, on Eclipsia, another sort of pondering was taking place.
"Giga Bowser, hmm? Intriguing…maybe this mutant can be put to good use!" Anomaly said to himself.
"Um…sire? Crazy Hand is already controlling Giga Bowser. How can we-"
"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do!" Anomaly roared, and reached out with his huge arm. The questioning shadow was instantly absorbed into Anomaly's body, and the screams disappeared immediately. "Don't disturb me while I'm thinking." Anomaly warned to the other shadows in the proximity, and turned back to watch the video of his enemies that his spies had provided.
"Yes…" Anomaly grinned confidently. "Giga Bowser and Crazy Hand will fit nicely into my plans."
(A/N: Uh oh. Now two groups are gunning for the deadly duo (or something equally as witty). What could become of this? And more importantly…what does Giga Bowser's clue mean? Where should the smashers go next?)