Chapter 6: Big Problems
Knuckles punched a shadow as hard as he could. "How's it going, Sonic?"
"Not too bad, I guess," Sonic replied, light dashing through a shadow. "I wish these things would let up, though."
"Doesn't seem likely," Falco put in from behind, proceeding to roundhouse a shadow.
Ness swung his bat and hit a shadow squarely on the head. He always felt a thrill whenever he heard the "ping" sound effect that ensured a solid hit.
Young Link grinned as his fire arrow knocked out a shadow. He was still somewhat bitter about his name change, but he wouldn't trade this adventure for anything. Suddenly, a shadow came from behind and punched. Young Link stumbled forward and lost consciousness.
"No!" Ganondorf shouted, rushing over. He cleared the area with a smash, then dragged Young Link's body over next to Commando's. He shot back into the war zone with his Gerudo Dragon, which also sent a few shadows flying.
Mario and Samus mercilessly attacked Master Hand until he recovered and dropped Wolverine. The four of them, of course, found themselves surrounded by shadows. Wolverine wasted no time in charging forward and slashing them to pieces.
Maska's wand shot small fireballs that made short work of the shadows, while Zelda had transformed into Shiek to use her chain. Tails was spin dashing around, keeping shadows out of the way. Suddenly, Maska grunted with satisfaction and cast another spell. A hole appeared in the sky and sucked a large group of shadows in.
"Telekinesis Vortex," he said, answering the unspoken question.
DK's earthquake kept shadows away from him, but left him vulnerable from the rear. Luckily, Pikachu was there to cover him. Meanwhile, Falcon, Gerick, and Juvenor aggressively attacked the shadows until finally, they stopped coming. They raced forward eagerly to see how Clyne, Juvenor, and the doctor were doing.
Dr. Mario sighed as he smashed another shadow. He was getting tired of fighting, but the shadows showed no similar signs. His Doctor Tornado sent his closer opponents flying away, and then his Super Jump Punch hit another one. Suddenly, he heard voices behind him.
"Falcon! DK! Pikachu! Glad you could make it." Clyne greeted cheerfully. "Oh…" he said, seeing the two behind them. "Gerick, and Juvenor," he stopped, not sure whether to thank his pseudofriend or be angry. Finally he made his decision. "Thanks," he muttered.
"Where's Shadow?" Falcon asked.
"Oh, I think they took him. I couldn't really see or get to him in time. They went that way." Clyne reported.
"We'd better go get him." DK remarked.
"Don't tell Sonic," Gerick joked, but no one laughed.
"Hey, Apocalypse!" Wolverine shouted loudly. "I just thought of something."
"Shoot," Apocalypse replied, bashing a shadow.
"According to the real Wolverine's memories, you have the ability to grow really big."
Apocalypse pondered this for a moment. "Could be."
"Well, it might be a good idea to try it out." Wolverine responded dryly.
Apocalypse did, and began growing quickly. Soon, he towered over the buildings, and shadows began jumping onto him and trying to punch him. Apocalypse spun around and swung his arms, trying to get them off. Wolverine, satisfied with his contribution, returned to Master Hand, Mario, and Samus to help fight.
"Two groups have united, sire, and Apocalypse has grown."
"I know! Here, you're in charge. I'm going down there."
"You're-what?"
"I've got to stop Apocalypse! It'll even the odds, at least!"
"But if he…if you-"
"I'm well aware of the risks. But at this rate…" his voice dropped below his standard confident shout at this point, "it doesn't look like we can do this."
Anomaly's assistant was simultaneously shocked, gladdened, and horrified at hearing Anomaly say that. This meant that Anomaly not only realized the situation, but also was giving in to its hopelessness. Without his utter confidence, what chance did they have?
"When you feel the time is right," Anomaly continued, raising his voice again, "Send down the elite."
"Of course, sire."
Anomaly opened a large portal and stepped in silently. The assistant stood still for a while, and then flung his arms up in desperation. How could he replace his emperor?
Fox used his Fire Fox to rid himself of some shadows, then fired his laser repeatedly. Although the shadows didn't seem affected, Fox ran over and eagerly punched them, sending them flying.
Suddenly, a huge portal appeared above him. All over the place, everyone stopped fighting to see what was happening.
A huge black hand appeared out of the portal, then a foot. Soon, the entire height of the emperor of the shadows blocked out the sun ominously, but didn't cast a shadow.
"Anomaly? Here?" Master Hand gasped.
"This could be a problem." Clyne muttered, realizing that Apocalypse was completely oblivious to the new arrival.
Apocalypse growled as shadows crawled persistently onto his face. He raised his powerful arm and hit himself in the face to rid himself of them.
"Oh, did you need help with that?" a voice behind Apocalyse asked evilly.
Apocalypse turned around instinctively to meet a huge fist heading for his head.
"No!" Balendin shouted as the huge blue figure of Apocalypse began toppling toward the ground, threatening to crush thousands of action figures and shadows.
"Get out of the way!" Sonic raced over to the impending crash zone and frantically pushed some of the slower fighters away. Just in time, he emerged from under the shadow of Apocalypse, and the ground shook from the impact.
No longer able to concentrate only on the gargantuans, Clyne and the others were forced to return to resume fighting the shadows.
"Gerick," Clyne panted, "Go on forward and see if you can find out what happened to Shadow. Take Juvenor and Pikachu with you."
"Pika!" the rodent shouted, and the three of them left.
"Meanwhile…" Clyne continued, grinning, "We get the fun job!"
DK swung his huge fist, taking out a group of shadows. Falcon's kick devastated another group, and Clyne cut through the opposition like a knife through butter.
The shadows kept coming, though. DK sighed, swinging his arm tiredly to relieve it from aching.
"One of these days," Maska groaned, "These shadows will stop coming."
This elicited a half-hearted laugh from Link and Zelda, while Tails was too far away to hear. The four fighters seemed to be making progress in their shadow-slaying, but they were hardly finished.
"Yeah, well," Link replied to Maska, "There can't be an unlimited number, can there?"
Maska, the powerful wizard, stared dryly at Link in reply. To accentuate his point, Maska summoned a powerful fireball and hurled it at a shadow.
"Magic?" Link asked. Maska shrugged.
"It's a possibility."
"You think magic is maintaining their numbers?" Zelda asked.
"What else could be? Look at how fast we're killing them!"
"Or else there are just a whole lot of them." Link put in.
Maska shook his head. "I recognize magic when I see it."
"Face it, Apocalypse," Anomaly laughed. "You've lost. You can't beat me."
Apocalypse groaned on the ground and tried to ignore his taunting opponent.
"Give up!" continued Anomaly. "You and your dimension don't stand a chance! You might as well surrender now and avoid the death toll."
"Never!" Apocalypse shouted, swinging his legs and tripping Anomaly. The giant shadow stumbled forward, and Apocalypse got up and punched him in the stomach. Anomaly collapsed.
Anomaly's assistant watched from Eclipsia. "That does it," he thought.
He turned to the patient elite shadows. "Go." He ordered. The large group of warriors entered different portals, appearing in different battles. Anomaly's assistant sighed, alone at last in Eclipsia. He began to laugh evilly, looking at the vast emptiness that had been filled with eager shadows for so long. Now that the elite had arrived, the odds would be reduced greatly for the smashers, and the dimension would be won. Fortunately, Anomaly did not know about the assistant's capabilities.
"We've got company!" Mewtwo groaned, looking up.
"I don'ta believe it." Mario moaned.
Falling out of an airborne portal was none other than the huge mutant, Giga Bowser.
(A/N: You may be wondering why none of the smashers have died yet, if this is a war. Well, don't worry, that will soon be amended. And no complaining about who'll get killed! It will be random.)