(A/N: I noticed an unfinished sentence in the last chapter. It should read, "The sky was a dark pink, and the ground was greenish.")
Chapter 3: Ambush
Clyne stared as he saw the face of his opponent. It was a face that was very familiar to Clyne.
"You're…me?" Clyne gasped, seeing a perfect duplicate of himself.
"Close," the other Clyne replied, grinning. "See, I am the new leader to this dimension – after you and your friends killed the former leader."
"Who-"
The evil Clyne laughed evilly, extending his right hand dramatically and pointing to it with his left hand. "Crazy Hand," he replied. "And I am Crazy Clyne."
Clyne could only stare in horror.
The pink skies faded away, as the smashers realized that it was only a ruse. Behind the disappearing pink walls that served as a false sky, the smashers saw thousands of green-clad warriors, waiting, rather impatiently, to strike. Behind the warriors was a vast building.
"Lovely," Mace groaned, igniting his light saber.
"Were they actually waiting for us to read the statue before they attacked us?" Falco sighed in disbelief. "What is this, some sort of video game?"
Mario looked around. "They'rea just standinga there," he noticed.
Spiderman rolled his eyes. "Waiting for us to find another clue?"
"Or maybe they were waiting for that!" Young Link shouted, pointing to a hole opening in the ground.
A figure leapt out. He was wearing white and red body armor that looked somewhat like Samus's. He snapped his fingers, and a small line of red light appeared. He hurled it at a warrior, who disappeared in a flash of red. The smashers stared.
"Who are you?" Samus asked.
The figure said nothing, but continued to throw darts of light. Finally, the green warriors attacked. The smashers jumped into action.
Mario swung his cape to spin several around, then spun his legs around in a down-smash. One came up from behind, and Mario had just enough time to turn around, heeding Luigi's warning, before he saw the attacker disappear in a flash of red. The armored figure jumped and flipped away.
Kirby sucked up a warrior and gained a green outfit. He found that the warriors didn't have any special talents to speak of, except an astonishing ability to die from Kirby's smashes and Final Cutters. They did get in a few good punches, though.
Marth and Roy had no problems with the warriors. They could easily plow through a group of them by swinging their swords. Suddenly, Roy was grabbed from behind. Before Marth could help him, the mysterious man jumped in to destroy the warrior, and disappeared again. Roy rubbed his neck sheepishly.
Spiderman also didn't have too much trouble. His spider-sense warned him of any impending punches, and his web attacks could take out long range opponents. He ran over to help DK, who was having trouble dispatching a large group of warriors. The hero arrived just in time to see all of DK's attackers disappear in flashes of red.
Crazy Clyne chuckled. "Your friends are under attack. I don't expect them to lose, but they will be weakened. And they are not prepared for my traps!"
Glaring, Clyne tightened his grip on his staff. "What are you going to do to them?"
"It won't concern you."
Crazy Clyne's staff began to glow a dark purple, and he charged forward. Clyne blocked, and the two started swinging. Clyne could barely keep up with Crazy Clyne's incredible reflexes. He couldn't manage to get past his opponent's guard.
"You seem to be having problems, my boy. Maybe I should lighten up for a while," Crazy Clyne said with a smile. He backed up a bit, then fired a purple beam from his staff. Exhausted, Clyne ducked just in time.
Mace's lightsaber finally felled the last warrior. The smashers gathered together in front of their apparent ally.
"I'll ask you again: who are you?" Samus said sternly.
As if in reply, the figure pressed a button on the helmet. The armor magically disappeared, revealing a beautiful blond woman wearing a tight red outfit.
"Mario!" Peach shouted, watching Mario gaze at the woman.
"My name is Thyra," the woman said. "I'm a friend."
"Good to know," Falcon replied. "What are you doing here? And where is here?"
"I'll explain-" Thyra began, then gasped.
On top of the giant building in the background, the smashers saw a blinding flash. They heard a voice before they could see again.
"Welcome to Eccentrica! Our former ruler, Crazy Hand, met an unfortunate demise at the hands of certain fighters. The new ruler must avenge him! Me! So come and get me! Oh, by the way…I'd come if you ever want to see your friend Clyne again!"
The smashers heard the sickeningly familiar crazy laugh that they thought they had escaped.
(A/N: Will the smashers be able to defeat Crazy Clyne and his array of traps? What has happened to Clyne? And just who is Thyra? Find out in a few days!)