The Day the Universes Collided
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nintendo Ruins
Time: Unknown
What the hell is this?! Allstar raged as he glared at the wide area of broken concrete and burned metal. The heroes were still saddened by the loss of their companion and the dreary surroundings made it worse.
Does it matter? Hero's gone. We're as good as slaves. Waker mumbled and sat on a pile of stones. Elfin sighed and looked at him, then turned green and pointed a finger at him.
W-waker! Get off of that! he stammered, That's a gravestone! Waker jumped up and stumbled back away from it. Look what it says on that post-board. 'In loving memory of a great man who let us stay in a home and became our greatest figurehead.' Who could that be?
Take a look at this. There are toys and items scattered here. Dark Link remarked and picked up a soft plush mushroom. Hmm, I think I get the idea. Match the item with the headstone. If we match them all, we'll get access to the next level. Elfin counted the graves.
There are five tombstones. How many items are there? he asked. Dark Link counted them them out and frowned.
Seven. There are seven items. That must mean two of them are wrong and are there to make one of us fail this test. he replied, Allstar and I can tell you which item goes to which grave. For instance, that grave belongs to.... Dark Link suddenly went silent.
To who? Elfin asked. Dark Link tried to speak again and looked startled. His voice was gone!
It belongs to.... Allstar tried to fill in the blank, but his voice suddenly went silent as well. He blinked in surprise and looked at his twin. A few moments passed between them, but they looked as if they were still communicating somehow. Allstar nodded at last and sighed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. He set Maverick down and began writing in the dirt at his feet. We can't tell you what item matches which grave. This is more of Quinta's dirty work. he wrote out.
Well, that bites. Elfin muttered. He knelt by the grave and thought hard, "So, it's a matter of guessing? Hmm, let's try eliminating items. That could make things easier for us." Waker took the mushroom from Dark Link.
"I'll go first and take out one choice!" he declared and placed it on the first grave before anyone could stop him. The grave merely glowed softly. They waited a few seconds, wary of the glow, but nothing happened.
"I guess that was a match." Elfin murmured and walked to the second gravestone. "Let's see. 'In honor of the woman with the strength of a man. May your spirit rise to the stars.'" He looked to the twins for help. They thought together, watching each other, then brightened and motioned to the toys. Elfin sifted through the items and brought up a small spaceship of golden colors.
"Is that it?" Waker asked and the twins nodded eagerly.
"Okay, Quinta! I'm making this choice for Maverick, since he's unable to choose for himself!" Elfin called out, then took a deep breath and placed the ship on the grave. It, too, glowed after a moment. "Okay, who's next?" he said in relief. Allstar slowly let his breath go and went to another grave.
"'My name is my cry, I cry no more. I evolved past that during the battle against the four.'" Waker read aloud. Allstar looked slightly perplexed, then snapped his fingers. He ran to the items left and snatched up a ball painted red and white. Placing it on the grave, he stood back and waited anxiously.
The grave glowed with a soft light. He had passed. Dark Link breathed easily and began to make his own attempt when Elfin held up a hand.
"Hold on. I want to give this a shot. It seems easy enough, but the riddles look like they get harder. I want to get through before I'm stuck with one so tough, you two guys can't help me." he told him and read the next sign aloud. "'Here lies one of royal blood, her kingdom vast and wide. Beware, the one who seeks her out, or you'll find yourself lost in a dreamer's tide.'" Elfin smiled brightly. "And here I thought it was gonna be tough!"
Dark Link looked to Allstar in confusion as the hero murmured the words again to himself, eyes distant in thought. They snapped to alertness and his face paled.
"Yeah, this is it!" Elfin remarked, picking up a pink high-heeled shoe. "That Princess from the games wore pink." Allstar started for him, waving his hands in warning, but the officer had already placed the item down. The grave suddenly sank into the ground. "Wh-what the hell?!" he cried, "But it's her shoe!"
"It's the wrong princess!" Allstar's voice suddenly returned, "Princess Daisy wears yellow! She's the princess of Sarasaland, Mario's Dreamland!"
"You should have said something earlieeeer!" Elfin shrieked as the vortex sucked him in and disappeared with a back-draft that threw the heroes away from it.
"Elfin!" Dark Link yelled and gasped at the new doll that materialized in midair, dropping before them. Waker walked up to it slowly and picked it up.
It was dressed like Link, but wore a small pair of sunglasses on its face and sported a tiny golden badge on the front of its tunic. Waker hugged it and sobbed.
"She got another one of us. Guys, we keep failing tests! We're all going to be slaves!" he cried. Allstar sighed and looked sternly at him.
"No, we are not!" he lectured, "Don't wimp out on us, Waker! Links don't lose! We'll find a way to get them back and stop Quinta from destroying our worlds!" He went back and picked up Maverick, holding the little elf close to him. "Dark Link, you're the last one. Please, don't choose wrong." he added, closing his eyes.
"Since Elfin failed and Waker passed already, Quinta must have decided to give us back our voices." the dark elf remarked, "My clue is this. 'I play to bring the light of life; I play to bring the light of...time....'" The elves looked at him in shock. Dark Link choked and continued, horror making his voice catch in his throat. "'I play to save the lands, human and not; I play to love, and live, and die.'"
"Sick joke to pull on us. I never died when X Spirit destroyed our base...." Allstar whispered hatefully as Dark Link went to the pile of items and picked up a shining blue ocarina.
"Brother, please, I don't ever want to hear you use the Ocarina of Time to play a death song." he said softly, placing it on the grave and watching it light up.
"Oh, that's so sad. Only one more came to play with me? You guys are starting to slip up. Better hurry through my puzzles, I'm starting to get bored again, and you know what happens when I get bored...." Quinta taunted as a circle of light appeared in the area.
"Level Three, cleared by four heroes. Access permitted to Level Four." the second voice announced. The group entered the light as Waker tucked the doll into his Delivery Bag.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Center City Park
Planet of Powers
Time: Unknown
"Have you tried using the codes on him?" Dark Link asked as they stood in the park, surrounded by five cages. Within each cage was an Entity or set of Entities, all begging for them to hurry up and free them. Allstar blinked and looked at his brother, disregarding the voices for the moment.
"You mean, the shutdown codes? On Maverick?" he asked blankly.
"Yeah. If he still has all of the Nintendo Backup System in his head, he's got to have his old codes too." Dark Link answered, "Maybe that's why he hasn't woken up. Quinta triggered the codes in his head." Waker studied the cages warily as Allstar shrugged.
"I'll give it a shot." he murmured and looked down at his charge, "Maverick! Mocimaf Atlantis!" The little elf suddenly arced and gasped for air, struggling. "Whoa! Hold it! Maverick! It's me!" The captain stilled and looked around wildly for a few seconds, then finally calmed and put a hand to his head.
"Miyamoto, how long did it take for you morons to figure out what had happened to me?!" he snapped at Allstar and shook his head, "Ugh, never mind. Sorry. I'm just really pissed that we're not home yet." He was set down and took the time to take in the number of heroes. "What the hell? Three? Where the hell are the other two?!" he demanded to know.
"They failed Quinta's tests and are with him now." Waker said sadly, "This is going to make it harder for us to fight him in the end."
"Well, we'll figure out a strategy when we get there. In the meantime, what's up with this picture?" Allstar pointed out, waving his hand around at the cages. The group scanned the area quickly.
"There are two sets of Nintendo Twins, and the X Spirit is here at the same time as the X Twins." Dark Link noticed in shock, "It's a reverse of the last puzzle!"
"We have to release the right Entities. Obviously, Sega and Sony are each one of a kind. Waker, pick one to release." Maverick ordered. Waker nodded and walked up to the cage with Sony Song. After working the lock with a key that was set on the grass before it, he was able to open the door and set her free. The tall, graceful woman stepped out and vanished, an illusion to the group. Waker jumped back, armed raised defensively, but nothing appeared to take him away.
"You take the other one, Dark. I'll be fine." Allstar remarked, pushing his twin towards Sega Sprite's cage. He looked back at him worriedly. "Dude, I know the other Entities are mixed, but I can hold my own when it comes to buddying up with them. Remember, we had to find them ourselves when it came time to rebuild Nintendo in our world." the blonde elf pointed out, "So do it!"
"You better not fail." Dark Link mumbled as he opened the sprite's cage. She flitted out and vanished. "There, that leaves the two of you. Good luck, guys."
"Remember, this puzzle is modeled after my universe. The Entities to release are the ones that belong to it." Maverick told Allstar and headed for the Nintendo Twins, "I'll handle these sets. I know them far better. The X variant is obvious when you think about it."
"You took your sweet time getting here." the first Tendo griped as his sister went to the bars and smiled at him in joy. "Nin, get away from him. I still don't see why you like him so much. He ran away from his destiny, 'member?"
"Let me see your hands, Tendo." Maverick ordered. The boy raised and eyebrow, but lifted them both for his scrutiny. "Good." With that, Maverick went to the second set and opened its door, setting the other set of Nintendo Twins free.
"What?! How did you know that they were the fakes?! They sounded and acted just like the Twins from your universe!" Waker cried. Maverick stepped from the empty cage and grinned at him.
"Tendo wears a small silver ring around his right pinky finger. Sega had given it to him as a Christmas present and he's never been seen without it since." he remarked, "The first set didn't have Tendo wearing the ring." The group yelled suddenly as Allstar cried in anger.
"They tricked me!" he yelled as the vortex within the cage pulled him into it, "They told me they would attack the worlds in the strongest form they had! I thought they meant as X Spirit! I thought the X Twins were the weaker of the two forms!"
"Brother!" Dark Link yelled and grabbed his hand, forming a chain with the other elves as they pulled together.
"Dammit, Allstar! Of course not!" Maverick shouted, digging in his heels. Allstar was half-gone in the vortex, "The X Twins are actually stronger than X Spirit! They are opposites of the Nintendo Twins! They were weaker when they were united as a single Entity, and became two separate beings to become stronger!"
"Sucks to be me then! Dark Link! Keep going in my place!" Allstar called out with a laugh and let go of his twin's hand, vanishing into the light.
"NOOO!" Dark Link wailed in anguish as a third doll dropped before him, a medal hanging around the plush Link's neck, the Super Smash Brothers Tournament Champion's medal.
"You guys don't get it, do you? You can't win against me! But keep playing anyway. This is getting fun!" Quinta went on with a laugh as the second voice announced their ability to progress.
"And then there were three." Waker murmured as he picked up the doll and gave it to the dark elf.
"That doesn't help." Maverick grumbled as he stepped into the open portal. Dark Link hugged the doll and followed, head bowed in grief.