Chapter Sixteen: The Real Beast
"Mario and the others are around this corner," said Purple Fox, running ahead of Purple Kirby, Purple Pikachu, Yoshi, and DK.
"Good, because I need to rest," said DK, turning around the corner to see Mario, Luigi, Ness, and Kirby.
"DK! Yoshi! Looked out for the Polygons!" cried Mario, preparing to fight them.
"Wait, they're our friends," said DK, waving Mario off.
"Okay, we found them, now we need to find Fox, Pikachu, Link, and Samus," said Luigi.
"Don't forget Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon," said Ness, looking at Purple Fox. "You can lead us to them, right?"
"Yes, I can, but only if my master approves."
"Yoshi?" asked DK.
"Yooo!" he said, looking at Purple Fox.
"Okay, with that in mind, why don't you also find Master Hand," suggested Ness.
"Why do you want to find him?" asked Mario.
"If we just leave him, he'll just recapture us. I believe we have to beat him to really beat him."
"That's suicide!" yelled Luigi, walking away from Ness. As he did, he ran into Fox, Samus, and Captain Falcon as they came running around the same corner as DK, Yoshi, and Purple Fox, Pikachu, and Kirby. The evil Kirby wasn't with them anymore. He had snuck off somewhere while they weren't looking.
"Ah!" called Luigi, being dog-piled by the three. As he and the others were helped up, he walked farther away from Ness.
"Okay, what did we miss?" asked Fox, looking at Luigi.
"I suggested we fight Master Hand to end this once and for all. He got mad about it and stormed off. Then you ran him over," said Ness, glaring over at Luigi.
"Well, I find it a very good idea. Now, lets go find the others and then find Master Hand," said Mario. Luigi looked at him as if he was betrayed.
"What? Look, you wanted to go on an adventure, and here you are. What's your problem? This is like Bowser, only smarter and stronger."
"Smarter, maybe. Stronger, unbelievably. We are going to die if we fight him. The chances of winning are slim to none. The same with the odds of getting out."
"What do you mean?"
"There is only one exit, and it is guarded by my clone. That clone is a hundred time stronger than Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Ness combined. Master Hand is even more powerful. What makes you think he can be defeated, now?"
"What are our chances?"
"One million to one!"
"Then we still have one chance."
"Didn't I see that in a movie once?" muttered Ness.
"Whatever, psycho psychic. I wanted to go on the next adventure with you, Mario, but not to be killed trying to save the world," yelled Luigi, as he started to go red under the collar.
"Look, brother, if there is a chance to win, then we got a shot at winning. Don't be so negative," said Mario.
"Don't be so negative? Then why don't you open your eyes and stop being naïve. When the time comes, you and all your friends are going to die here. I'm not going to be one of them, though."
"Brother, I..."
"No, I will not listen any longer. I'm going to take my chances with my clone, not my old master. Good bye, brother, and hopefully I'll see you again. The chances of that are the same as winning, however." Luigi finished the sentence and walked the way he had been going earlier. Mario stepped forward to go after his brother, but then he stopped.
"Brother, you said you wanted to go on an adventure. Well, this whole thing is an adventure. No matter what you do now, it'll be part of it. So you don't want to be on this adventure, anymore? Then just stand in front of your clone and let him mutilate you. It doesn't matter how you die or live now! We are in this adventure, and that is that."
Luigi paused for a moment, then walked on. Mario thought that would make him come back.
"Don't worry about him, Mario, Purple Fox can keep track of him. Let's find Pikachu, Link and Jigglypuff, right now," said Ness, not 'seeing' them walk around the corner.
"We are here," said Link, standing on his legs.
"Link, you're all right!" cried Mario.
"Yeah! When we fought Jigglypuff, the world somehow revitalized me. Of course, it was my world."
"That only leaves one last world. Master Hand's."
"Jiggly!" yelped the balloon Pokémon.
"We have to go up one floor and all we have to find is a door marked 'Master Hand,'" said Purple Fox, pointing the opposite way that Luigi went.
"Let's go!" said Mario, pursuing Purple Fox. The rest followed at their leisure, Jigglypuff in back, sulking.
Half an hour passed before they reach the door. 'Master Hand' was, indeed, on the door.
"Anyone who doesn't want to fight, please leave," said Mario, looking at the whole group. Purple Fox, Purple Pikachu, and Purple Kirby looked at each other.
"Well, we would fight with you, but it is obvious that your are stronger than us and that Master Hand is, in fact, stronger than you. Get the picture?" said Purple Fox. Mario patted him on the back and smiled.
"Hey, you're not the ones with the death wish, so you don't have to fight. If we beat him, all of the effects will go away and you three will be free. You are under Yoshi's control? So you will still be under his control. Be right back!"
With this, Mario, DK, Link, Samus, Captain Falcon, Ness, Kirby, Yoshi, Fox, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff entered the room. This would decide who would be the toughest person on this world.
"Hello!" called Mario, looking around. The whole gang was there, except for Yoshi's Polygon Team, Luigi, and Metal Mario. They were on a very large, blackish stage. Around the stage was nothing but darkness. Mario could still see, though. Something to do with Master Hand's power? He didn't know. It didn't really matter.
"Hello!" called Mario again.
"Shut up you abnormal beast!" called some one from nowhere. At the same time, the stage started to shake furiously.
"What the heck is going on?" said Samus, standing firmly like nothing was happening.
"You wench! You and your friends have defeated my minions easily, but now, my time has come for you to bow down to me. Prepare to fight!" A giant, white glove came out of the darkness and landed in front of the group.
"What the?" said Fox, looking at the hand in amazement.
"Who were you expecting? Glover?"
"Well, we thought you'd be more of a...person," said Samus, sadly.
"Well, have a little taste of my power!" With that, he pulled back two off his fingers and his thumb. The two fingers still extended touched the ground and started moving towards Samus. In surprise, Samus just stood there in awe. In a flash, the index finger shot out, knocking Samus into the air. Then, in another flash, she was slapped into the darkness. With nothing to stop her, she kept on going, falling forever.
"She'll live once I'm down with the rest of you," said Master Hand, 'looking' at them.
"Well, maybe I should explain a few things. You see, my name is Maxwell Hauteur, and I am eight-years-old. I live in a small town not even on the map. I collected your action figures, and I used you to fight each other. I love Samus Aran, so I made it for her to win the tournament. I had another thought in mind, though. I wanted to defeat you all personally. Especially you, Mario! You are the best-known character in all of the gaming world."
"What are you talking about?" asked Mario, looking at Master Hand, incredulously. Master Hand shook a thumb at Mario, mocking him in that funny manner.
"You are just a character in a game. In fact, you are in more games than your friends. Including your brother. Your adventures are all games played by gamers that love you, or, at least like the game. Even now, this is just a game in my mind. You are all my pawns, and I'm about to put you all in checkmate. So die!" With that, Master Hand pulled himself back and then came swinging right at the gang. They all jumped, except for DK. He was hit and fell just like Samus.
"Two down, ten to go. Who wants a taste of drill?" called Master Hand, starting to spin. He went up into the darkness and then came down on Yoshi and Link.
"Aaaah!" screamed Link, as he was tossed out of the spin, landing hard on the stage. Yoshi wasn't so lucky. He followed DK. Mario then took a shot, firing his fireball. It hit Master Hand, but it didn't have an effect.
"Do you think your pety attacks will work on me in this specail world? Well, I forgot to tell you, so now you know. Ha!" he called, just before slapping Link and Pikachu off the stage. He then started to have spasms and set on fire.
"That doesn't look too good!" called Captain Falcon, trying to dodge the flames. He was set on fire and he fell down, screaming, paralyzed in pain. Master Hand flew off the stage and into the darkness. Mario didn't see him come from the side. Master Hand hit Captain Falcon, sending him off into the darkness.
"Who's next?" asked Master Hand, before contracting all but his index finger. From it, he shot a single bullet. It struck Jigglypuff, making her explode and fly off the stage.
"This is kind of a one-sided battle," said Ness, jumping next to Mario. Ness, Mario, Fox, and Kirby were the only ones left.
"How are we going to defeat him?" asked Fox, starring at the returning hand.
"You aren't going to defeat me!" called Master Hand, Pointing his index finger at them again.
"Uh, oh!" called Ness. Master Hand, then, shot out at them. It hit Fox, knocking him off the stage. Master Hand pulled back and then hit Kirby. The two didn't make it back.
"It's more than one-sided, it's impossible!" called Mario, ducking the slap from the the hand. Ness wasn't there to share a thought anymore. He was off in space, falling.
"It's just you and me, Mario, you and me," called the horrible monster, preparing to attack. Mario started to throw fireballs at him, but it was inevitable to the fact he was going to die. He would face it head on. So, he threw himself at Master Hand, with his leg extended. Master Hand hit. Mario felt his leg go numb, but he knew it was shattered beyond repair. What he didn't know was that his foot dug so deep into Master Hand, that the 'glove' part ripped. Mario saw sparks emitting from the blackness inside the glove.
"Arg!" cried Master Hand, as Mario finally was effected by the force. Mario shot out and into the darkness. He saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. He was nothing.
Luigi saw that his clone wasn't at the exit.
"Grr!" growled Luigi, looking at the door marked 'Exit.' Luigi wanted to escape, but he had Mario blood in him. That made him want to fight for what he wanted or felt for.
"Better go find him," said Luigi, walking off.
"Do you think they beat him?" asked Purple Fox, looking at Purple Pikachu and Purple Kirby. They shrugged their shoulders. Purple Fox sighed. He knew better than to ask them. They were like children. Kirby was more of a baby, though. He couldn't 'see' into Master Hand's world. That was one of many places he couldn't 'see' in the entire complex. He shouldn't have allowed them to go into the room without a heads up about Master Hand's powers. Not just his energy, but his moves. If they were defeated, they would get a second chance. That was what Master Hand had put into the Polygon's program. The second time they fell, they would never return unless Master Hand was truly dead.
"Pika!" called Pikachu, looking past Purple Fox. He turned and saw Luigi.
"Hi, Luigi," said Purple Fox, looking at the Mario brother. He didn't answer. That was when Purple Fox saw that Luigi was wearing a different set of clothes.
"Uh, oh," muttered Purple Fox. The Luigi clone smiled at him, starting to charge at him. He brought his knee up into Purple Fox's stomach, sending him into the wall. Luigi turned around and kicked him in the face. Purple Fox's head was knocked through the wall. Luigi then spun around and looked at Purple Pikachu. He smiled again. Purple Pikachu didn't see or feel the kick to the back of his head. He blacked-out. Luigi then grabbed Purple Kirby and placed his foot on one of his legs. He pulled. Purple Fox jerk at the sight of Purple Kirby being pulled apart. He threw himself forward and out of the hole he was in. He charged at Luigi. He didn't see the punch, but it felt good no longer having to feel pain.
Purple Fox fell, his face caved in. Luigi smiled again, but that was soon gone. He saw the original character walking towards him.
"So, you finally come for a showdown?" asked the clone, snickering at his counterpart.
"Bring it on!" cried Luigi. His foot came around, but it was blocked by the clone's leg. Luigi threw a punch, but it was blocked by the clone's arm. They threw fireballs, which exploded, sending both the Luigis back. Luigi clone did a back flip and landed softly. Luigi slid down the hallway before stopping and getting up.
"You don't even know your own moves?" laughed the clone, running over to Luigi. Luigi was ready for him this time. He was just a little too slow. The clone punched him in the face, sending him backwards. He then ran over and did a sidekick at him. As Luigi landed on the ground, Luigi clone grabbed him and started to spin around and around. With little effort, the clone let Luigi go. The Mario brother went flying into the wall, and with a crashing thud, Luigi backed-out. Luigi clone smiled once again.
"Mario and the others are around this corner," said Purple Fox, running ahead of Purple Kirby, Purple Pikachu, Yoshi, and DK.
"Good, because I need to rest," said DK, turning around the corner to see Mario, Luigi, Ness, and Kirby.
"DK! Yoshi! Looked out for the Polygons!" cried Mario, preparing to fight them.
"Wait, they're our friends," said DK, waving Mario off.
"Okay, we found them, now we need to find Fox, Pikachu, Link, and Samus," said Luigi.
"Don't forget Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon," said Ness, looking at Purple Fox. "You can lead us to them, right?"
"Yes, I can, but only if my master approves."
"Yoshi?" asked DK.
"Yooo!" he said, looking at Purple Fox.
"Okay, with that in mind, why don't you also find Master Hand," suggested Ness.
"Why do you want to find him?" asked Mario.
"If we just leave him, he'll just recapture us. I believe we have to beat him to really beat him."
"That's suicide!" yelled Luigi, walking away from Ness. As he did, he ran into Fox, Samus, and Captain Falcon as they came running around the same corner as DK, Yoshi, and Purple Fox, Pikachu, and Kirby. The evil Kirby wasn't with them anymore. He had snuck off somewhere while they weren't looking.
"Ah!" called Luigi, being dog-piled by the three. As he and the others were helped up, he walked farther away from Ness.
"Okay, what did we miss?" asked Fox, looking at Luigi.
"I suggested we fight Master Hand to end this once and for all. He got mad about it and stormed off. Then you ran him over," said Ness, glaring over at Luigi.
"Well, I find it a very good idea. Now, lets go find the others and then find Master Hand," said Mario. Luigi looked at him as if he was betrayed.
"What? Look, you wanted to go on an adventure, and here you are. What's your problem? This is like Bowser, only smarter and stronger."
"Smarter, maybe. Stronger, unbelievably. We are going to die if we fight him. The chances of winning are slim to none. The same with the odds of getting out."
"What do you mean?"
"There is only one exit, and it is guarded by my clone. That clone is a hundred time stronger than Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Ness combined. Master Hand is even more powerful. What makes you think he can be defeated, now?"
"What are our chances?"
"One million to one!"
"Then we still have one chance."
"Didn't I see that in a movie once?" muttered Ness.
"Whatever, psycho psychic. I wanted to go on the next adventure with you, Mario, but not to be killed trying to save the world," yelled Luigi, as he started to go red under the collar.
"Look, brother, if there is a chance to win, then we got a shot at winning. Don't be so negative," said Mario.
"Don't be so negative? Then why don't you open your eyes and stop being naïve. When the time comes, you and all your friends are going to die here. I'm not going to be one of them, though."
"Brother, I..."
"No, I will not listen any longer. I'm going to take my chances with my clone, not my old master. Good bye, brother, and hopefully I'll see you again. The chances of that are the same as winning, however." Luigi finished the sentence and walked the way he had been going earlier. Mario stepped forward to go after his brother, but then he stopped.
"Brother, you said you wanted to go on an adventure. Well, this whole thing is an adventure. No matter what you do now, it'll be part of it. So you don't want to be on this adventure, anymore? Then just stand in front of your clone and let him mutilate you. It doesn't matter how you die or live now! We are in this adventure, and that is that."
Luigi paused for a moment, then walked on. Mario thought that would make him come back.
"Don't worry about him, Mario, Purple Fox can keep track of him. Let's find Pikachu, Link and Jigglypuff, right now," said Ness, not 'seeing' them walk around the corner.
"We are here," said Link, standing on his legs.
"Link, you're all right!" cried Mario.
"Yeah! When we fought Jigglypuff, the world somehow revitalized me. Of course, it was my world."
"That only leaves one last world. Master Hand's."
"Jiggly!" yelped the balloon Pokémon.
"We have to go up one floor and all we have to find is a door marked 'Master Hand,'" said Purple Fox, pointing the opposite way that Luigi went.
"Let's go!" said Mario, pursuing Purple Fox. The rest followed at their leisure, Jigglypuff in back, sulking.
Half an hour passed before they reach the door. 'Master Hand' was, indeed, on the door.
"Anyone who doesn't want to fight, please leave," said Mario, looking at the whole group. Purple Fox, Purple Pikachu, and Purple Kirby looked at each other.
"Well, we would fight with you, but it is obvious that your are stronger than us and that Master Hand is, in fact, stronger than you. Get the picture?" said Purple Fox. Mario patted him on the back and smiled.
"Hey, you're not the ones with the death wish, so you don't have to fight. If we beat him, all of the effects will go away and you three will be free. You are under Yoshi's control? So you will still be under his control. Be right back!"
With this, Mario, DK, Link, Samus, Captain Falcon, Ness, Kirby, Yoshi, Fox, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff entered the room. This would decide who would be the toughest person on this world.
"Hello!" called Mario, looking around. The whole gang was there, except for Yoshi's Polygon Team, Luigi, and Metal Mario. They were on a very large, blackish stage. Around the stage was nothing but darkness. Mario could still see, though. Something to do with Master Hand's power? He didn't know. It didn't really matter.
"Hello!" called Mario again.
"Shut up you abnormal beast!" called some one from nowhere. At the same time, the stage started to shake furiously.
"What the heck is going on?" said Samus, standing firmly like nothing was happening.
"You wench! You and your friends have defeated my minions easily, but now, my time has come for you to bow down to me. Prepare to fight!" A giant, white glove came out of the darkness and landed in front of the group.
"What the?" said Fox, looking at the hand in amazement.
"Who were you expecting? Glover?"
"Well, we thought you'd be more of a...person," said Samus, sadly.
"Well, have a little taste of my power!" With that, he pulled back two off his fingers and his thumb. The two fingers still extended touched the ground and started moving towards Samus. In surprise, Samus just stood there in awe. In a flash, the index finger shot out, knocking Samus into the air. Then, in another flash, she was slapped into the darkness. With nothing to stop her, she kept on going, falling forever.
"She'll live once I'm down with the rest of you," said Master Hand, 'looking' at them.
"Well, maybe I should explain a few things. You see, my name is Maxwell Hauteur, and I am eight-years-old. I live in a small town not even on the map. I collected your action figures, and I used you to fight each other. I love Samus Aran, so I made it for her to win the tournament. I had another thought in mind, though. I wanted to defeat you all personally. Especially you, Mario! You are the best-known character in all of the gaming world."
"What are you talking about?" asked Mario, looking at Master Hand, incredulously. Master Hand shook a thumb at Mario, mocking him in that funny manner.
"You are just a character in a game. In fact, you are in more games than your friends. Including your brother. Your adventures are all games played by gamers that love you, or, at least like the game. Even now, this is just a game in my mind. You are all my pawns, and I'm about to put you all in checkmate. So die!" With that, Master Hand pulled himself back and then came swinging right at the gang. They all jumped, except for DK. He was hit and fell just like Samus.
"Two down, ten to go. Who wants a taste of drill?" called Master Hand, starting to spin. He went up into the darkness and then came down on Yoshi and Link.
"Aaaah!" screamed Link, as he was tossed out of the spin, landing hard on the stage. Yoshi wasn't so lucky. He followed DK. Mario then took a shot, firing his fireball. It hit Master Hand, but it didn't have an effect.
"Do you think your pety attacks will work on me in this specail world? Well, I forgot to tell you, so now you know. Ha!" he called, just before slapping Link and Pikachu off the stage. He then started to have spasms and set on fire.
"That doesn't look too good!" called Captain Falcon, trying to dodge the flames. He was set on fire and he fell down, screaming, paralyzed in pain. Master Hand flew off the stage and into the darkness. Mario didn't see him come from the side. Master Hand hit Captain Falcon, sending him off into the darkness.
"Who's next?" asked Master Hand, before contracting all but his index finger. From it, he shot a single bullet. It struck Jigglypuff, making her explode and fly off the stage.
"This is kind of a one-sided battle," said Ness, jumping next to Mario. Ness, Mario, Fox, and Kirby were the only ones left.
"How are we going to defeat him?" asked Fox, starring at the returning hand.
"You aren't going to defeat me!" called Master Hand, Pointing his index finger at them again.
"Uh, oh!" called Ness. Master Hand, then, shot out at them. It hit Fox, knocking him off the stage. Master Hand pulled back and then hit Kirby. The two didn't make it back.
"It's more than one-sided, it's impossible!" called Mario, ducking the slap from the the hand. Ness wasn't there to share a thought anymore. He was off in space, falling.
"It's just you and me, Mario, you and me," called the horrible monster, preparing to attack. Mario started to throw fireballs at him, but it was inevitable to the fact he was going to die. He would face it head on. So, he threw himself at Master Hand, with his leg extended. Master Hand hit. Mario felt his leg go numb, but he knew it was shattered beyond repair. What he didn't know was that his foot dug so deep into Master Hand, that the 'glove' part ripped. Mario saw sparks emitting from the blackness inside the glove.
"Arg!" cried Master Hand, as Mario finally was effected by the force. Mario shot out and into the darkness. He saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. He was nothing.
Luigi saw that his clone wasn't at the exit.
"Grr!" growled Luigi, looking at the door marked 'Exit.' Luigi wanted to escape, but he had Mario blood in him. That made him want to fight for what he wanted or felt for.
"Better go find him," said Luigi, walking off.
"Do you think they beat him?" asked Purple Fox, looking at Purple Pikachu and Purple Kirby. They shrugged their shoulders. Purple Fox sighed. He knew better than to ask them. They were like children. Kirby was more of a baby, though. He couldn't 'see' into Master Hand's world. That was one of many places he couldn't 'see' in the entire complex. He shouldn't have allowed them to go into the room without a heads up about Master Hand's powers. Not just his energy, but his moves. If they were defeated, they would get a second chance. That was what Master Hand had put into the Polygon's program. The second time they fell, they would never return unless Master Hand was truly dead.
"Pika!" called Pikachu, looking past Purple Fox. He turned and saw Luigi.
"Hi, Luigi," said Purple Fox, looking at the Mario brother. He didn't answer. That was when Purple Fox saw that Luigi was wearing a different set of clothes.
"Uh, oh," muttered Purple Fox. The Luigi clone smiled at him, starting to charge at him. He brought his knee up into Purple Fox's stomach, sending him into the wall. Luigi turned around and kicked him in the face. Purple Fox's head was knocked through the wall. Luigi then spun around and looked at Purple Pikachu. He smiled again. Purple Pikachu didn't see or feel the kick to the back of his head. He blacked-out. Luigi then grabbed Purple Kirby and placed his foot on one of his legs. He pulled. Purple Fox jerk at the sight of Purple Kirby being pulled apart. He threw himself forward and out of the hole he was in. He charged at Luigi. He didn't see the punch, but it felt good no longer having to feel pain.
Purple Fox fell, his face caved in. Luigi smiled again, but that was soon gone. He saw the original character walking towards him.
"So, you finally come for a showdown?" asked the clone, snickering at his counterpart.
"Bring it on!" cried Luigi. His foot came around, but it was blocked by the clone's leg. Luigi threw a punch, but it was blocked by the clone's arm. They threw fireballs, which exploded, sending both the Luigis back. Luigi clone did a back flip and landed softly. Luigi slid down the hallway before stopping and getting up.
"You don't even know your own moves?" laughed the clone, running over to Luigi. Luigi was ready for him this time. He was just a little too slow. The clone punched him in the face, sending him backwards. He then ran over and did a sidekick at him. As Luigi landed on the ground, Luigi clone grabbed him and started to spin around and around. With little effort, the clone let Luigi go. The Mario brother went flying into the wall, and with a crashing thud, Luigi backed-out. Luigi clone smiled once again.