Angelo ducked as an energy blast zoomed over his head. He continued running down the hall, gasping as he almost ran into a wall. He ran down the hallway on the right, aiming his arm cannon behind him and firing a couple Missiles. The hunter ran around the corner and jumped, avoiding the Missiles and opening up their sword. Angelo stopped running and switched his arm cannon for his sword, lunging forward and slashing at his opponent. The hunter blocked the strike and kicked at Angelo's stomach, who jumped back and tried to slice their leg. They withdrew their leg and slashed again.
It went on. They started trading blows once more, but it was clear that the hunter was slightly better at swordplay. Angelo kept losing ground, but he would occasionally force the hunter back.
He turned around and ran through the doors behind him, which led back to the grand hall of the Mansion, and switched his sword for his arm cannon. He jumped over the railing and activated the thruster, slowing his fall and landing on the first floor. He dashed under the balcony and down the hall. He heard the thump! of the hunter landing on the floor behind him.
As he dashed into the cafeteria, he quickly turned around and fired his arm cannon above the doors he just passed through. The ceiling above them immediately crumpled and collapsed, blocking the hunter from reaching Angelo.
"Thanks for showing me that trick," he said as he turned and ran.
As he entered another one of the rest areas, he quickly looked around for places to hide. Somewhere simple, because surely his hunter wouldn't expect him to hide somewhere so bad.
He picked a couch and jumped over it. He sat down and hid behind it, breathing heavily as he held on tightly to his sword.
Safe…Think I'll be safe here…for now, he thought to himself.
He still had no idea if the other Fighters were still in the Pokémon dimension or not, looking for him to no avail. All he knew was that he was on his own against an opponent he couldn't beat.
What do I do? he thought to himself. Where can I go?
He cautiously peeked over the top of the couch, checking for the hunter. They were nowhere to be seen.
Angelo didn't take any comfort in that, had a bad habit of sneaking up on him when he was least expecting it.
He tried to think of a plan to get out of this situation. He couldn't think of anywhere to go that would be safe. He'd tried the Minecraft dimension, the Dreamland dimension, and the Mushroom Kingdom dimension without much success. The hunter had chased him down with disturbing accuracy and determination.
Now he was trapped, and he had nowhere to run.
An idea came to him, then. What if he–
Suddenly, the couch was split in half by a mechanical sword.
Angelo yelped and jumped away, coming face-to-face with the hunter.
The hunter didn't even look winded. Their posture spoke of patient triumph, like they knew that this was exactly how it was going to end up.
Angelo shouted and lunged forward. He was tired of running away. He was tired of being scared. And he was tired of feeling helpless. This hunter had killed two of his friends, and he wasn't going to let it slide anymore. One way or another, he was going to end this.
He slashed at the hunter with his sword. They effortlessly blocked the strike with their weapon and held their ground in the sword hold.
"WHO!?" Angelo cried. "Who are you!? Why are you trying so hard to end me!?"
It was then that the hunter spoke.
"I know your every freaking move. Any action you might take, all of your possible strategies, even your so-called mix-ups. I know all this, because I know how you think, Angelo."
The words filled him with dread. That voice…
Then the hunter reached up and pressed a button on the side of his helmet, for the voice was undeniably male. The visor opened up. Then the entire helmet dropped away, revealing the hunter's face to Angelo.
He gasped.
It was him.
Angelo was staring…at his own face.
Angelo's brain could not process the sight in front of him. It was exactly the same face that looked back at him whenever he looked in the mirror…and yet it wasn't. The fire in his eyes spoke of more battles than Angelo had ever seen. They looked to be the same age, with the same features, but Angelo knew that anyone would be able to tell them apart. This Angelo, the hunter, didn't seem to have the other Angelo's cheerful mood and sense of humor.
"How!?" Angelo shouted, pushing forward with this sword. "How is this possible! Who are you!?"
The hunter laughed. "I'm you. And yet, I'm…not actually you. I'm you from a different universe."
Angelo almost dropped his sword. "Another…universe?"
The hunter Angelo nodded. "It was a few years ago that I discovered other universes outside of my own. I found out that there were others like me because they were me. And I found that...mildly unacceptable. There's only room in all of existence for one of me. So…I went on a mission. I won't stop until every other iteration of me is dead."
He pushed back. "I've faced hundreds, thousands of Angelos like you. They all met the same fate."
Angelo started panting. This couldn't be real. If this Angelo was anything like him, he wouldn't find the idea of other Angelos out there unacceptable. Surely, he–
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking," the hunter said. "Remember? I'm you. In my universe, I wasn't as soft as you were. I didn't waste my breath on jokes. I used all my time to battle and train, to get better with the sword."
Angelo swallowed. That sounded more like him.
The hunter Angelo pushed back even more, forcing the Mii Fighter Angelo down to one knee.
"Nothing you did surprised me," he said. "I saw your every move before it happened. The Ghast, the tree, fleeing to the Mushroom Kingdom. I don't need to see the future."
Angelo took a shaky breath. So all of that…for nothing? he thought to himself.
The hunter Angelo grunted. "Although…one thing you did caught me slightly off-guard."
He swept his leg, tripping up the Mii Fighter Angelo and causing him to land on his rear end. Before he could recover–
SHING!
He met the same fate as Samus Aran.
As the darkness slowly started consuming his vision, he saw the hunter Angelo kneel down and look him in the eye.
"You were the first Angelo to run. All the others tried to fight back the moment they saw me."
And that was the last thing Angelo heard.
The hunter Angelo scoffed as he pulled his sword out of the other Angelo's body.
Another Angelo down… he thought to himself. Gotta admit…It was kinda fun to have a little manhunt.
His task done, the hunter Angelo pressed a button on the armor on his forearm. A holographic map came to life above his arm. Through here, he could see every universe as easily as if he were choosing a stage to fight on.
So I liked Samus in this universe? he thought to himself as he scrolled through the various universes he hadn't visited yet. Shame. She seemed like a nice person.
A small hologram of one of his still-alive iterations appeared to him then. He was laying on the floor, somewhere outside. A girl with blond hair and an orange tee-shirt was standing over him, holding a shield. That Angelo seemed relieved, like he'd barely survived something.
The hunter Angelo scoffed. "Please. Give me a real challenge."
He swiped that hologram away. Another one appeared in its place. This time, he was walking down a sidewalk with some other girl. She had dark pink hair and was wearing what looked like a school uniform.
The hunter Angelo laughed. "I'd be surprised if he didn't get himself killed with her. She's crazy."
He swiped the hologram away again. When another one appeared, he grinned. This Angelo looked like he was a Fighter.
In the hologram, this Angelo was talking to Zelda. The Hylian looked heartbroken by something he said. Finally, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the other Fighter.
The hunter Angelo nodded. "Oh, yeah, this'll be fun."
He activated his energy sword, and used the advanced technology on his armor as well as the sword itself to pierce the boundary between universes.
He picked up his helmet and put it back on his head. Through the visor, he could see the portal in front of him, slowly enlarging and producing an increasingly clearer picture of the other side.
"Ready or not," he said, "here I come."
Happy Halloween!
Thank you so much for reading, and remember to Stay Epic, Gamers.