The Day the Universes Collided
Chapter Fifteen
Outside Microsoft Fortress
Game Realm
Time: 2250 hours
"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap...." Elfin murmured, eyes wide as he watched the battle go on before him. Link gripped his sword and trembled angrily. He had tried to go in to help, but Maverick suddenly shrieked in a mix of pain and rage as a blade hit his shoulder and then lashed back with the twin Master Swords with such a fury that it forced him to fall back and rethink his plans.
"Will you stop saying that?!" Waker demanded of the agent. Elfin shook his head quickly, gaze never straying from the duel.
"C-can't! That's what I'm gonna do if this keeps up!" he stammered. Waker cocked his head in confusion. "Crapcrapcrapcrap!" Link glanced back at him and rolled his eyes, then hurried cautiously over to the Allstar twins still covering Aftermath Link. The two were in extreme pain, nearly unconscious from the blood loss and still they clung to the little elf beneath them, defending him.
" Allstar! Dark Link! What can I do to help you?! You could be dying right now!" Link cried. Allstar looked up at him from over his shoulder, eyes half closed and face pale.
"N-nothing c-can b-be done. Until M-maverick stops Zzzita, we w-won't leave Little L-link." he struggled to say as Aftermath Link cried softly, his little face stained with tears and blood from his mentors. Link looked down at them sorrowfully and turned back to watch the battle, still thinking through his options of helping Maverick or the twins behind him.
Maverick weaved about, slashing and hacking with the two legendary swords, screaming intelligibly. Wild-eyed and covered in blood and oil, he pressed on, only shrieking louder when he was hit by a blade. Whether he cared that he was being stabbed and cut, no one knew. Whether he even knew he was being hit as badly as Zita was, only Maverick knew. And he was too deep in memories and rage to speak. Elfin sank to his knees and sat back hard, seemingly in trauma.
"They're going to die, both of them." he whispered, "They're berserkers and evenly matched in their madness." Waker looked at him in horror. "This is a fight to the death, and no one will win it."
"Can't you contact Zero and ask for help?! Don't just sit there!" Waker shouted angrily. Elfin blinked and pulled out the laptop, opening it and clicking on a shortcut to Zero's computer in the other dimension. The Watcher's face appeared on the screen, looking grim.
"I wondered when you'd finally call. I'm watching everything from here." he said quietly.
"Is there anything you can do? Anything we can do? We can't let Maverick die helping this world!" Waker pleaded over Elfin's shoulder. Zero thought about it for a moment.
"There is something. The reason for Maverick's way of life is very simple, even if it is complex looking. He rejected the part of himself that is Link through and through." he said slowly, "As long as he doesn't accept that he is still a Link, even though he is Maverick, he will not come through any of his battles with a respect for life. Why else does he not care about life in general? Because he rejected the part of him that wants to protect life, to not fail in his duty to protect life."
"Links don't lose." Elfin said flatly, "Is that it? The inner voice in all of us that tells us that Links never fail?" Zero nodded.
"That voice in each of you is what urges you on to fight for a better life for others. Each mission and quest a Link gets spurs the voice, 'Don't fail. Don't lose.' Not just a warning, it's a promise to oneself." he added.
"Maverick ignores it. Why?" Waker asked himself.
"You may find out soon enough, if he survives this battle. Just help him remember who and what he is. He's a Link, he's a hero, and heroes, Links, don't fail." Zero replied. Waker closed his eyes halfway and Elfin blinked, seeing a mirror image of the true Link overlapping the Hero of Winds.
"I failed in my duties. Explain that, Watcher." the voice of another, older Link spoke through Waker's mouth.
"Ah, Link, I wondered when you'd awaken again. How's everything in the afterlife?" Zero asked and coughed lightly, "Ah well, you didn't fail. Not really. Your ultimate mission was to produce a son that would continue your bloodline until Waker here was born to carry on your destiny and fulfill his own. Your murder was a most unfortunate accident due to my absence. I'm afraid that was my fault. I was hoping you'd grow old and die in Hyrule after living out the rest of your life in peace."
"War or peace, death by battle is still a far better way to die than just allowing my body to shrivel and waste away. Even if my murder allowed Ganondorf to be free, I refuse to change that past, or allow Waker to do so. The duties I meant was in that to Malon." Link growled through Waker's body.
"Oh, in that case, you didn't fail. She was saved because she carried your child, so the Goddesses helped her escape and let her live quite comfortably in a new land." Zero cleared up.
"Then my soul is at peace with the knowledge. I thank you, Watcher." Link murmured and the image overlap faded. Waker looked drained and collapsed beside Elfin.
"Waker!" he cried.
"Never mind him! He'll be fine! Hurry! Help Maverick realize that he's still a Link!" Zero shouted. Elfin closed the laptop and jumped to his feet.
"Maverick!" he shrieked.
The captain folded both swords down and spun, slicing into Zita with both Master Swords in his Master Field Attack. Blood ran like rivers from his shoulders and side, but still he fought on. Once he heard someone shout his name, but he ignored it. He had nothing to live for, and all to die for. He would fight this monstrosity and prove that he, like everything he had known, would be destroyed and forgotten.
"What is that fool thinking?" Link murmured, watching Elfin yelling maniacally at the dueling berserkers. He perked an ear and looked back at Allstar, who shifted and coughed, a splatter of scarlet landing on his arm. "Allstar? How are you and Dark Link holding up?"
"My insurance is going to skyrocket after this." Allstar said in a whisper, "But to hell with their interest, Aftermath Link is more important. I can't let him die."
"What about Maverick?" Link asked, kneeling next to him and removing Allstar's hat to use as padding to stop the bleeding.
"He's still a Link, why else would he be with us on this Programmer-forsaken quest?" Allstar breathed, gazing into his twin's face, Dark Link had closed his eyes and gone limp, but whether he was still alive remained unknown. "Links...don't...fail. I won't fail Nintendo or myself.... Maverick can't fail himself or his friends, whoever they may be. He still has loved ones. If Aftermath became Maverick, I'd still love him and protect him." Allstar murmured and nuzzled the little elf who still sniffled and sobbed quietly.
"Links don't fail. Links never lose." Link murmured and nodded, resuming his watch.
"Maverick! You're still a Link! You can't deny who you are anymore! You've got to accept it! You were born a Link and that is how you will act for life!" Elfin shouted as Maverick pressed closer to Zita, slashing and whirling the blades of the Master Swords to create spinning disks of death, "You're a Link! No matter what you do to yourself to change it, deep down, you're a Link at heart!"
Maverick heard his name again, faintly. The clashing of blades and the scent of blood, the sounds of screams from himself and Zita nearly drowned it out. But he also heard another name, one that he very distantly knew as his own.
"You're a Link! You'll always be Link! Advance Link! Don't let the madness destroy you! You're stronger than that! You're better than that!" Elfin continued to yell.
"Urgh, tell him to shut up, I want to sleep." Dark Link grumbled and Link immediately switched the soaked hat over to stop up his wound, "Ow! That hurts!"
"Dark Link...hold on...." Allstar murmured faintly. Dark Link glanced at him and smiled weakly.
"You hold on. If you die, we both die, remember? We're still connected, whatever happens to you is copied to me, but if I die, I die alone and you'll remain alive." he whispered.
"You're a Link, Maverick! You hear me?! A Link! You're Advance Link! Don't deny it anymore!" Elfin shrieked louder.
Maverick heard the name again as he slashed off one of Zita's arms. Did that cop just call him 'Link'? Why? Didn't he just get through telling them all he wasn't Link? No time for thoughts. Zita recovered quickly and began dancing all around him, blades flashing and speeding around him. A new cut opened on his arm. The painted Angel's Armor he wore worked furiously to close the deadly wounds, ignoring the minor ones until after the work was completed.
"Links don't fail! That's why you work so hard to be good at what you do! You know you're a Link and Links never lose!" Elfin yelled at him.
Maverick gasped and leaped back from Zita to get a bit of breathing room. In the depths of his maddened mind, he clearly heard Elfin's voice and the message he cried out.
"Links...never...fail?" he murmured and blinked. Was that why he refused to accept defeat? Why he pressed on despite the odds and the pain? Why he continued to search the stars for a way to restore those who were stolen from him? Gritting his teeth, Maverick leaped at Zita again.
"I am Elle Maverick! Captain of the Elfin Phoenix! But I am also Allstar Advance Link of the Game Boy Color and Advance!" he howled and lashed out with the swords at the remaining three arms Zita possessed. "And Links...!" Slash! One arm came off! "Don't!" Shing! Another arm came away as Zita screeched mechanically. "Fail!" Maverick finished, slicing off the last arm before twirling the Master Swords and driving them both into Zita's belly. The doll shook madly, then fell limp. Maverick kicked it off of his swords and looked back at the stunned group, a strange expression on his face. He looked as if he longed for something. Suddenly, he sighed and closed his eyes, sinking to the grass from exhaustion and blood loss.
Allstar's earring began to speak again, the two way microphone reactivated.
"Allstar Link! The Hunters all just self destructed! You did it!" NES Link exclaimed. Link called into the ring.
"Sir! Allstar and Dark Link are hurt really bad! And Maverick is injured gravelly as well! We need help!" he cried.
"I'm going to open a portal in front of you to our medical bay! Get them in there as fast as you can! Thank you for your help! Nintendo owes its continued existence to you heroes!" NES Link declared as a blue warp bloomed open near them. Link and Elfin struggled to heft up Allstar and Dark Link while Waker, who recovered in time to see Zita's end, picked up Maverick with Aftermath's help. They hurried into the portal, leaving behind the bloodied battlefield.
**********
Nintendo Medical Bay
Nintendo Home Base
Game Realm
Time: 2430 hours
N64 Dr. Mario wiped his hands off and sighed as he looked up at the three capsules. Each one held a Link, each working furiously to repair and regenerate the heroes, from healing scars and wounds to pumping fresh blood into them.
"Well, that's that. They should be done in about an hour. I tried to repair the scars on that kid's face, but nothing's working." he remarked. Aftermath Link walked up to his alternate counterpart and placed a hand on the glass.
"Because he wants the scars." he said quietly. He turned to the stunned group. "He wants to keep the scars on his face to be different, but also to remember what happened. He wants to be reminded of his losses and to remind others of them. So it doesn't happen again. That's why he redid his own program to say that the scars are part of his flawlessness." he explained.
"Then they're permanent? His Nintendo must not like that one bit." Dr. Mario muttered as the other Links sat back in plastic chairs, waiting for the capsules to drain of liquid, a sign that they were done with healing.
"He doesn't care what Nintendo thinks. And they tolerate it but only because he allowed them to clone him to create Neo Advance Link." Aftermath Link replied.
"How the heck do you know all this?" Elfin muttered. The little elf grinned slightly.
"He's an alternate me, right? I linked our minds together on that pod and tried to talk to him about what was going on. That's why he yelled at me. We're still linked. He's just telling me his life story." he answered, "Censored, of course, but I get the gist of it."
The pod containing Maverick drained and the little elf dropped to the bottom of the tube, wires and tubes, pulling away from him as he gasped for air, his first chance to breathe since reactivating the program that prevented him from inhaling the regeneration liquid and relied on oxygen brought in through the tubes to survive. Dr. Mario looked a bit surprised.
"What? I heal fast." Maverick grumbled as he stood up, naked, from the tube's base as the glass containment lifted up and away, "In my world, either you heal fast, or you never heal again."
"Get some clothes on him, please?" Link asked, wincing, "I mean, it just seems wrong to see a younger version of all of us just standing there naked as the day he was born." Elfin leaned back in his chair as Glitter, his fairy, sat on his head, giggling her head off.
"You think that's bad, my fairy here's going gaga over the fact that she can see Allstar and Dark Link butt naked too." he growled, "Glitter, shut up. Go play with that other fairy over there."
"Navi?!" Link exclaimed in surprise as the blue ball of light flew past them and up to Dr. Mario.
"Is he gonna be okay?! Is he?! Hey! Listen! Is my partner gonna be all right?!" Navi yelled as Dr. Mario blinked.
"I said give him an hour to heal, Navi." the plumber turned doctor replied flatly.
"Navi! Is that really you?! Did you come here when you left me?" Link called out and Navi turned to him.
"Huh? Who're you? You must have me mistaken for another Navi. I'm N64 Navi, partner to Allstar Link. And I'm not supposed to reveal why I left him at the end of the game. It's supposed to be there for you Players to wonder about." she replied, "Of course, that spawns a lot of FanFics about my whereabouts and Link's adventures finding me and all, but what can I do? Nintendo doesn't regulate FanFics."
"Oh." Link replied somewhat glumly as Waker pat his arm comfortingly.
"I'm sure she still thinks about you, wherever she is, Hero." he said with a smile, "You two were good friends, so I bet she's thinking good things about you right now!" Link smiled and nodded, happy with the comforting message.
"So what was Zita's weakness, Aftermath?" Elfin asked the little elf who watched his alternate self redress in another suit of black armor.
"Zita berserked, so did Maverick. A berserker can only be fought by another berserker, but the winner is the one who has a method to his madness. Since Zita had nothing to fight so madly for, it was inevitable that it would lose." he replied and smiled at him, "And, please, call me Advance Link." With that, he left the medical bay, cheerful and pleased with how events turned out.
An hour passed and, as promised, the twin elves were freed from the capsules and quickly dressed in fresh clothes. They had to meet with Allstar Mario after equipping, though, about the mission and the breakout.
"So you're traveling to other worlds to straighten out messes caused by an omnipotent being?" Mario asked after all was said and done. The Links nodded. "Sounds familiar. I'm docking the blonde Links a hundred dollars pay for the rest of the week, but that's all. I could have done worse for the breakout, but since your friend there helped save us all from Limbo, I'll just leave it at that."
"A hundred dollars?!" Allstar wailed, "But...money!!!" Dark Link whacked him over the head, then rubbed his own.
"I thought I told you to quit whining about your bank account! You can earn it all back through Majora's Mask!" he growled. Mario grinned and shook his head.
"I can't believe CD-i Link would do this to us. I guess we never had time to teach him what it's like to be a Nintendo character, about the rules and regulations enforced on us by the Programmers and Players." he sighed. "Oh well. You have my permission to continue your quest. Just maintain contact with us with the beacons. Good luck, all of you."
"Hey, we're Nintendo! Luck is our middle name!" Allstar declared with a grin and a thumb's up. Maverick snorted at that but said nothing. Waker pulled out the IDG but Elfin held out a hand.
"Hey! Hold on! I'm still stumped about the way things work here! Dark Link, you said you'd tell me about the hierarchy here." he demanded, "So what's up with it? Why listen to a fat little plumber?" Allstar scowled.
"Hey, Mario's cool with us, don't call him that, even if it's true." he replied and received another smack from his twin. Dark Link rubbed his head as he explained the status to the police officer.
"In Nintendo, there are levels to each character. The bottom level is Standard, your everyday characters, like Navi over there. A step up from that is Darkstar, like Ganondorf. A Darkstar is a Dark Side's version of a well known character. Every Allstar automatically has their villain, their foe, become a Darkstar. Above Darkstar is King of Darks, and Bowsers are always King of Darks, until N64 King Bowser named me his heir. When he retires, I'll become King of Darks." Dark Link explained.
"I thought you were a Dark Allstar." Link pointed out.
"I'm getting to it. Above King of Darks is Allstar, like my brother and Luigi and Peach. They're the most well known characters, the most popular of their generation. Above Allstar is the ultimate level, Golden Mascot. Only Mario and Luigi can be Golden Mascot, no one else can achieve that rank. They were the ones who made Nintendo what it is, so the title is theirs." Dark Link answered, "Dark Allstar is my title, equal to the Allstars. But I'm a Dark Side character and Allstars are Hero Side titles. So the Nintendo Twins created the title Dark Allstar for me when I proved I had Hero qualities."
"Darkstar and King of Darks are Dark Side titles. And Allstar and Golden Mascot are Hero Side titles. So...Golden Mascot is like King of Nintendo for you people, that's why you obey this guy?" Elfin asked, jerking his thumb at Mario. The twins nodded. "Ah, okay. Weird, but I get ya."
"Anymore questions?" Allstar asked. The heroes shook their heads. "Okay, then. We're ready for the next world!"
"Hold your breath." Maverick grumbled as he placed a hand on Waker's shoulder. The other heroes closed the ring and the IDG flashed, transporting them all to the next dimension and time. Mario sighed and watched the light fade.
"Come back to us soon. Soul Calibur is going to be launching very soon now. We can't afford to let that game freeze." he murmured and left the conference room.