Act 9: Murphy

Chapter 4: Forest Navel


Murphy stood tall as most of the Smashers and several Mii Force soldiers waited in the central courtyard. He glanced around. There was one notable absentee. Where was Alph?

Suddenly, the door of Alph's ship opened, and the Pikmin Captain hopped out with a large squad of Pikmin following behind.

"Sorry for the delay, I wanted to bring some specialty Pikmin with us today," he said.

Murphy noted several pink Pikmin with wings and rock like Pikmin in the mass of miniature walking plants. It seemed like Alph had been busy.

"That's all right, Alph, you're not holding us up. All right, is everybody here? Let's do a headcount!" said Mario.

"Luigi?"

"Here!"

"Daisy?"

"Ready to rumble!"

"Yoshi?"

"Here!"

"DK?"

"Fresh as a bannana!"

"Bowser?"

Bowser cracked his knuckles loudly.

"K Rool?"

"I'm here."

"Murphy?"

"Present."

"Carrie?"

"Here!"

"Alph?"

There was a chorus of Pikmin cheers.

"We're ready!"

"Then let's-a go!"

With that, Mario stepped onto one of the many floating platforms that were waiting in front of them. The other Smashers followed suit, and Murphy stepped onboard one of them with a group of Mii Force soldiers. Amongst them were Carrie and Wario.

Murphy gripped the railing tightly as the flying platforms took off. He was glad to be going with Carrie, even if he wasn't sure what he thought about Wario.

Carrie walked up and stood next to Murphy. The two stood in silence as the group of floating platforms cleared the top of the castle and sailed over the open plains and forests of Wuhu Island.

Murphy swallowed hard. He and Carrie were standing somewhat away from the rest of the soldiers. Should he say something? Should he not?

As he pondered, Bowser's words came back to him. "All the other crap means nothing. It's just you, focusing on what matters, and that's protecting your family, your friends, and everybody and everything you care about."

Murphy closed his eyes, and began to focus. He began thinking of his family, friends and Wuhu Town, as he felt his determination rise. However, as he continued to focus, Carrie interrupted his thoughts.

"You ready for this?" she asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," replied Murphy, opening his eyes.

"Fair enough."

Carrie nodded with a smile. Murphy grinned and nodded back. They'd always have each other's backs. It's what they had always done. Hopefully they'd keep doing it after he'd sorted out whatever what going on with Carrie.

They flew towards the mountain in silence for some time.

Suddenly, Yoshi pointed over the edge of his floating platform. "Hey! Aren't those Subspace Troops over there?"

Murphy looked over to where Yoshi was pointing. Murphy saw a large contingent of Primids marching across a meadow clearing in the middle of the forest below them. In the masses of purple, Murphy could see Sephiroth's hair blowing in the breeze, a stark contrast to the purplish Primids surrounding him.

"Land us here!" shouted Mario over the wind. "We need to stop Sephiroth before he attacks the castle! Let's end this here and now!"

Murphy deployed a loaf of Fightness Bread as they descended towards the Subspace Forces. Sephiroth burst out of the front and took a fighting stance. Murphy glanced over to Mario, who was already brandishing his Septic Annihilator.

"Mii Force! Let's take to the air! Use your Wii Fit Boards!" shouted Matt.

Murphy glanced at the Subspace forces and noticed a lot of airborne enemies. His fellow Smashers would likely have no issues on the ground. He'd be of more use in the air. As the platforms lowered to the ground, the Mii Force soldiers began pulling out their Wii Fit Boards. Murphy quickly deployed his, as Carrie followed suit next to him.

As soon as his board deployed, Murphy turned it on and pulled out a loaf of Fightness Bread. He glanced over at Carrie, who had just hopped onto her board, and rolled her eyes at him.

"What?"

"I'm just glad you're smacking the bad guys with that stuff instead of trying to feed it to us."

Murphy winced on the inside and hoped it didn't show on his face.

Regaining enough composure to fake some bravado, he said, "Hey, I made Fitness Bread taste good!"

"Yeah, but it took you years to get there."

"….that's fair."

"Either way, I'm glad it worked out."

"Yeah, me too. Let's make this one work out too, yeah?"

"Let's do it!"

And with that, Murphy quickly kicked his Wii Fit Board into gear and soared off through the air.


Daisy vaulted over the edge of the platform as it landed, following Mario and Luigi. Both plumbers were already shooting fireballs into the charging ranks of Primids. Daisy grabbed her golf club and rushed up to join them.

Raising her club, she landed a satisfying thwack to the face of one of the Primids, before smashing another over the head. Suddenly a jet of fire shot out nearby. Daisy glanced over to see Bowser stomping up, slashing Primids down with both claws.

"Come and get some!" shouted Bowser.

Daisy caught something bright out of the corner of her eye and turned to block the blade of a Sword Primid.

"Not fast enough!" she said, as she shoved the Primid's guard aside, and clobbered him over the head.

Suddenly, a dozen green fireballs shot out in front of Daisy. She took a defensive stance as Luigi rushed up next to her.

"So, how's it going, babe? How's saving the world with the Mario Bros so far?"

"Just peachy," said Daisy as she took another swing at an unfortunate Primid.

Luigi just chuckled and drew his Septic Annihilator.

Daisy quickly dealt with another group of Primids with her golf club, before spotting Mario and Bowser fighting several Giant Primids. Daisy quickly holstered her golf club and deployed her tennis racket, along with a few tennis balls. Stashing two into her fanny pack, she tossed the last one into the air, and served it with tremendous force. The ball whizzed through the air and struck one of the Giant Primids in the chest, exploding into greyish goo. The goo quicky expanded over the Giant Primid's torso and solidified, restricted its movements. The Giant Primid stumbled around, before falling to the ground.

Daisy grabbed the second and served it at another one of the Giant Primids. It struck the Primid in the leg, and exploded with a sonic pulse, blasting its legs into Subspace particles. As Daisy watched Bowser finish off the Giant Primid he was previously fighting, and rush over to finish off the downed Giant Primid, claws bared, she reached for the last one. She served it straight into the last Primid's shoulder. The ball exploded into a fiery blast, knocking it a step back. She holstered her tennis racket on her back and drew her golf club, but Luigi beat her to the punch and fired several blasts from his Septic Annihilator, taking it down. She turned to the first Giant Primid, but saw Mario finishing it off with a fiery punch.

Luigi turned to her with a grin. "Hey! Not bad!"

"You know these chumps are no match for me!" said Daisy confidently.

"Luigi! Daisy! We got more of them!" shouted Mario.

Daisy looked up to see a large mass of Primids assembling in front of them. The two rushed up to form a line with Mario and Bowser.

"Hah! More of them?" grinned Bowser.

"Let's get them!" shouted Mario.

As the others lunged for the Primids, Daisy grinned. Yeah, she should totally have started going on adventures with the Mario Bros a long time ago.


Alph gulped as the other Smashers and Mii Force soldiers charged into the battle. This was it. He'd done his preparations, and he'd read Captain Olimar's battle notes and strategies. It was now time to put them to use. Alph looked down at his hands. They were shaking. Alph clenched his fists. He couldn't back down now.

Alph straightened his back, and quickly blew his whistle sharply twice as a number of Primids began shuffling towards him, and the pikmin quickly formed into color coded columns. He then blew his whistle three times, and the column of Blue Pikmin moved to the front while the others moved to the back.

Alph quickly began slinging his pikmin left and right, covering the incoming Primids with angry Blue Pikmin. He quickly noticed a spurt of fire from the side and sharply blew his whistle once, causing his contingent of Red Pikmin to come up front, as the remaining Blue Pikmin returned to the backlines.

He began hurling Red Pikmin at the advancing Fire Primids. The fireproof Pikmin quickly landed and began attacking their opponents. Alph caught a mass of blue out of the corner of his eye as his Blue Pikmin returned, having defeated their opponents.

Suddenly, something shot out of the sky and struck Alph. His muscles seized up painfully for a moment and he collapsed to the ground. His Pikmin quickly swarmed around him defensively as he picked himself up. Alph glared upwards and saw several Spaaks floating towards him. He sharply blew his whistle seven times, and immediately his Flying Pikmen arrayed in formation. Alph blew his whistle for almost a second and pointed at the Spaaks. The Flying Pikmen immediately took to the air and began swarming the Spaaks quickly.

Alph blew his whistle twice, and quickly began hurling the Yellow Pikmin as best he could in the air as they arrayed themselves in formation behind him. His heart soared as some of the Yellow Pikmin hit their mark. The Pikmin quickly overwhelmed the Spaaks, before returning to the rank and file.

He was doing it! He could totally fight just like Captain Olimar!

Suddenly, he heard an odd noise behind him. Alph whipped around, and his heart sank as he saw a handful of Shadyas appear behind them. Could he take these guys? Alph quickly glanced around as he noticed that he was in the back lines of the fighting. He was the only one who would be able to do anything about them. Alph grit his teeth. He'd have to do. He sharply blew his whistle once, and quickly began slinging the Red Pikmin assembled behind him. He managed to hurl several Pikmin at two different Shadyas and was aiming to throw another Pikmin at a third, when the remaining three closed the distance and began slashing at him.

Alph dove aside and hit the toggle for his whistle by accident as he landed. He scrambled to his feet as the attacking Pikmin dropped from the enemy Shadiyas, and rushed back towards him. He'd accidentally commanded them to return.

A cold chill of fear rushed through Alph as the Shadiyas closed in. He looked around. What could he do?

Wait. There was only one thing to do.

Alph quickly stood tall and blew his whistle one more time, a long, shrill blast. It was time for a general charge.

The Pikmin cheered, and all together rushed forward. They quickly surged past Alph and swarmed all of the Shadiyas with sheer numbers.

Alph stepped back and took a minute to catch his breath. He winced as he saw several Pikmin being slashed to bits by the Shadyas. He had to get back in there. Alph ran forward and picked up one of the straggler Rock Pikmin, and hurled it with all his might at one of the nearby Shadiyas. It nailed it in its glowing core as it was about to swing its blades and shot straight through. The nearby Pikmin cheered as the monster collapsed into Subspace particles. Alph's heart soared. This was working!

Turning his head, Alph saw a group of Blue, Yellow, and White Pikmin struggling against one of the Shadiyas. He blew his whistle, sharply for nearly a second, and the nearby Pikmin all rallied back into formation.

Alph blew his whistle sharply four times and began throwing Purple Pikmin at the Shadyas. While he missed a couple, most of his throws landed true and in short order, the Shadiya collapsed. He blew his whistle again, and the Pikmin reassembled.

Suddenly, Alph heard a cheer from behind and turned to see his Flying Pikmin floating victoriously over the dissipating Subspace Particles of one of the Shadiyas. He quickly blew his whistle seven times, and pointed at one of the remaining Shadiyas. The Flying Pikmin quickly began swarming the Shadiya, while Alph blew his whistle five times, calling the White Pikmin up front. He hurled them quickly at the last Shadiya, and in short order, the White Pikmin quickly brough their target down.

Alph grinned as all of his Pikmin returned. He'd done it! Now that was a confidence booster right there! An explosion rocked the ground some distance away, and Alph turned to see Mario, Luigi, Daisy and Bowser fighting back to back in a massive swarm of Primids. And with a quick whistle, Alph and his Pikmin rushed off to help them.


Murphy leaned forward on his Wii Fit Board, accelerating out of the way of one of the electric shocks from one of the cloud creatures. A Spaak, if his research was correct. Unfortunately, one had knocked his baguette of Fightness Bread out of his hand earlier, so he was resorting to his Yoga Style for the moment. He turned, and struck a Warrior Pose, ripping his outstretched arm through a Spaak. He glanced up as a shot whizzed near him. Nearby, a Mii Force soldier let out a yell as he fired off a barrage of plasma shots at a group of Spaaks that were ganging up on him, some striking, and others missing. Murphy grit his teeth, and whizzed off to support his ally.

As he got close, Murphy stood tall and began charging his Fitness Energy throughout his body. He struck a Warrior Pose, firing off several projections of his yoga pose. While most of his shots missed, a few hit their mark, taking out a few of the Spaaks.

However, this was enough, as the Spaaks quickly turned to deal with Murphy, leaving them wide open to several powerful laser blasts from the Mii Force soldier.

"Thank you, sir!" said the soldier.

"No problem! Back me up, let's go help those guys out!" said Murphy, pointing to a group of soldiers surrounded by Spaaks and Armights.

"On your six, sir!" said the soldier.

Murphy and the soldier accelerated forward and whizzed through the air towards the surrounded soldiers. As they drew closer, Murphy began charging his loaf of Fightness Bread with Solar Energy.

"Salutation Strike!"

As Murphy whizzed in, he quickly swung his loaf of Fightness Bread, smacking one of the Spaaks cleanly from behind, cleaving through it, before leaning right, and swinging at several Spaaks as he went. Electric shots whizzed past him, as he plowed straight through the crowd of Armights and smashed a way out to the other side. Murphy quickly turned his Wii Fit Board around to prepare for another rush, and saw the soldier that had been backing him up taking careful, well aimed shots from an elevated position in the air so he could shoot at the enemies from behind, but not put his allies in the line of fire.

The surrounded soldiers seemed to rally, as some of the Spaaks began to turn to face Murphy and the other soldier. Murphy charged in again, and together, the Spaaks and Armights were defeated quickly.

Murphy zoomed up to the other soldiers as they all gathered together in the air.

"We gotta help the guys who were shot down. Looks like some of them took some hard falls. Are you all right going on without us sir?" asked one of the Mii Force Soldiers.

Murphy nodded. "Go and do that, I'll do my best to cover you."

"Much appreciated," said the soldier, as he turned around and began to bark orders.

Murphy turned his Wii Fit Board around on a swivel and scanned the sky. He saw a group of Shadiyas approaching them, and drew a loaf of Fightness Bread, before zooming off to fight them.


"Sun Salutation Barrage!"

Carrie fired a blast of rapid fire Sun Salutations at the Primids in front of her, striking several down. She flared her solar powers again, and struck a Warrior pose.

"Salutation Warrior!"

Solar energy flared from her extended arm, striking down a couple of Primids who were attempting to rush her down.

Carrie took a step back as the Primids around her recoiled. While she'd started the battle off in the air, she'd eventually landed to help DK and K Rool, who seemed to be surrounded by the massive horde of Primids.

She heard a shot go off next to her and glanced to the side to see K Rool standing nearby, firing his blunderbuss with his back turned towards her. She caught a glimpse of a large, hairy hand swinging out of the corner of her eye, and turned the other way to see DK backing up towards her, slapping his hands against the ground, creating massive shockwaves that blasted away any primids that dared to get close.

The three slowly backed up closer and closer to each other until they were fighting back-to-back. The Primids slowed their advance as they all crowded around the Smashers.

"We're surrounded!" said Carrie.

"Tell me something I don't know!" growled K Rool.

DK glanced back as his allies. "We're going to have to act quick. K Rool, you still have that helicopter backpack of yours, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?" asked K Rool.

"And Carrie, you still have your Wii Fit Board?"

"Right here," said Carrie.

"Good. I want you two to fly up and hit them from the air."

K Rool rolled his eyes. "Your hands are gonna be killing you when you're done with that attack."

DK grunted. "I know, I know. Just get in the air all right?"

"What's he going to do?" asked Carrie as she slung her Wii Fit Board off of her back and placed it on the ground, turning it on as she did.

"You'll see," said K Rool. "Try not to get too close. It's like a coconut. Tough on the outside but safe on the inside or something."

"Perhaps my wisdom is starting to rub off on you, K Rool!" said DK cheerfully.

K Rool snorted. "You wish. Let's just get into the air."

Carrie booted up her Wii Fit Board and quickly jetted off, as K Rool deployed a helicopter rotor from his backpack and took off into the air.

On the ground, DK cracked his knuckles and raised his hands.

"KONGO BEAT DOWN!"

DK began slapping the ground with his hands with immense force, causing massive shockwaves around him, blasting the Primids surrounding him away.

"See what I mean?" said K Rool as he reached Carrie's altitude.

"Yeah," said Carrie, her eyes open in shock. "So, uh, what is our part of the plan?"

"Drop behind them and try and attack them from behind. Or drop in the middle. Or just attack from the air if you can. Whatever floats your boat."

"Sure, sounds good. Uh, are DK's hands gonna be ok?"

K Rool shrugged. "Probably, I think? Hasn't seemed to stop him in the past. Though for the record, it's not my fault if he gets arthritis or something from doing that."

"I… uh… all right. Sure."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm gonna get back in it. Do whatever you want, ok?"

And with that, K Rool steered himself over some distance away, before belly flopping into the back of the crowd, crushing several Primids underneath his tremendous girth.

Carrie zoomed some distance away on her Wii Fit Board, charging a Sun Salutation as she went, when suddenly, an electric shot whizzed past her. She whipped her head back to see a large group of Spaaks gathering behind her. Quickly she shot off her Sun Salutation, striking down one of them as the others continued to barrage her with a storm of electric shots. Carrie did her best to dodge, but eventually one of the shots struck her Wii Fit Board and she began plummeting to the ground.

In a moment of panic, Carrie flared her solar energy around her in a makeshift kind of armor, which ate some of the impact when it came a few moments later.

Carrie grit her teeth as her body screamed in pain, and pulled herself to her feet, as a few shots struck the ground near her. She looked up to see the Spaaks drawing closer.

With some effort, Carrie stood tall, charging solar energy in her core as she did.

"Sun Salutation Barrage!"

It was a wilder spray of Sun Salutations then Carrie would have liked, but a fair number of them found their mark, taking out some of the Spaaks attacking her.

Carrie shook her still-ringing head. Just she'd been shot down didn't mean she was out. She needed to focus.

Carrie took a split second to close her eyes and take a deep breath. She opened her eyes again and began taking stock of her surroundings. There were four Spaaks left in the sky. She'd landed several meters behind the circle of Primids. She could see the shockwaves emanating from DK's ground slapping above the crowd and saw a group of Primids fly into the air somewhere else in the crowd, most likely K Rool's doing. A few of the Primids near her were turning around, but they wouldn't be a problem for the moment. Probably.

Carrie glared up at the few remaining Spaaks and began to gather her solar energy yet again. She struck several yoga poses as she shot out projections of those poses from her body. The larger projectiles had their intended effect, landing the attacks more easily, and taking out the Spaaks.

Carrie glanced around as more Primids began to shuffle towards her. She quickly spotted her Wii Fit Board. It was smoking and sparking. That settled it. No more aerial fights for her today.

Turning back to the oncoming Primids, Carrie stood tall and took another deep breath, before dropping into her opening combat stance. Even if she couldn't be in the air, she could definitely still make a difference on the ground.

"Salutation Warrior!"


Yoshi grit his teeth and hurled another egg at the primids in front of him, striking yet another down. These things were endless!

Yoshi jumped in the air as several Primids tried to rush him at once and executed a swift Yoshi bomb, sending them flying.

Yoshi glanced to the side to see DK and K Rool fighting some distance away from him, fists and claws swinging. Somewhere behind Yoshi, he heard an enormous fart, and caught a whiff of some atrocious smelling flatulence. He wasn't much of a health guru, and he certainly wasn't a doctor, but Yoshi was pretty certain that Wario needed to go on some sort of detox diet and fast. That could NOT be healthy.

Yoshi quickly popped a piece of fruit into his mouth and began spitting juice at high velocity at the Primids, knocking down several of the ones advancing towards him. Suddenly, Yoshi heard a voice from the side.

"Stop! I'll handle this one."

Yoshi turned around to see Sephiroth walking towards him, sword drawn as the Primids backed off. A chill ran down his spine and he took a step back.

Quickly, Yoshi began deploying various powerups from his IDD, and backing up slowly. He wasn't gonna be able to run away in this situation, but maybe he could buy enough time to eat some of his powerups. Sephiroth smirked as he walked forward, twirling his sword casually. Yoshi grit his teeth. What was he, some kind of pushover? He'd been a founding member of the Smashers and he'd been fighting alongside the Mario Bros for even longer than that. No, Yoshi was not going down without a fight. He quickly downed a Bulb Fruit, a Dash Pepper, and a papaya in quick succession as they materialized in his hands.

As Yoshi downed the papaya, he stopped, and clenched his fists. He glared at Sephiroth, eyes blazing with determination.

The two stared at each other in silence for a moment.

"You think I'm some sort of pushover?" demanded Yoshi.

"I have a reach advantage, and I'm stronger than you. Yes, I consider you to be a pushover. For me at any rate. I'm eliminating you now so that you do not interfere when I attack your stronger friends."

"It's not going to be that easy," said Yoshi.

"Then prove it," said Sephiroth, before taking a guard stance.

Yoshi dropped into a fighting stance, as the powerups took effect and his skin turned an orangish gold color.

"I intend to."

Yoshi dashed off at tremendous speed towards Sephiroth, and quickly ducked under the wide sweep of his sword, before closing the distance to land a powerful headbutt to the chest. Sephiroth grunted and retaliated with a swift pommel strike to the face.

Yoshi rolled back, his face stinging, and spat a stream of juice at Sephiroth, who merely raised his sword, and held his sword so that it sliced the stream of juice in half, while walking towards Yoshi.

Yoshi quickly stopped spitting juice, and cloaked himself with a hardlight egg, before rushing at Sephiroth.

"Golden Egg Roll!"

Sephiroth blocked the hardlight egg with his sword and the two pushed against each other as hard as they could.

Yoshi grit his teeth as he dug his heels in. He was losing this contest of strength. He'd have to act fast.

Yoshi suddenly dispersed the hardlight egg and hit the deck, just in time for Sephiroth to stumble forward. He caught a nearby rock on the ground with his tongue and spat it straight at Sephiroth's face, before jumping to his feet and landing a series of rapid fire punches and kicks to his stunned opponent.

Sephiroth eventually managed to catch one of Yoshi's punches, and shifted his momentum to the side, causing Yoshi to stumble forward in turn. Yoshi quickly pulled himself into an egg and rolled away some distance to avoid the follow up strike.

Yoshi turned quickly and zipped straight back at Sephiroth, and ran circles around him, chucking hardlight eggs at him as he went. Sephiroth slashed the eggs apart, though he maintained a defensive posture, trying to pinpoint Yoshi's location in the glowing orange blur surrounding him.

Suddenly, Sephiroth lunged with his sword, and Yoshi ducked and pulled himself into a hardlight egg as his momentum carried him forward. He rolled about a dozen meters away, before popping out and turning just in time to see Sephiroth leap at him through the air, sword ready to strike.

A spike of panic rushed through Yoshi, and he quickly covered himself with another hardlight egg. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth, waiting for impact.

Yoshi heard a heavy thud, but his egg didn't take any damage. He looked up and saw DK land next to him, cracking his knuckles.

"You doing all right there?" he asked.

"More or less. Glad to have some backup though."

"So, your friends have begun to help you. It's not going to save any of you though," said Sephiroth, as he regained his feet some distance away, rubbing his side.

"You're a tough one," said DK. "It takes a sturdy opponent to take my Giant Punch straight on and still keep fighting."

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't strong. Though, it would appear that I underestimated your power. I will not make the same mistake any longer," intoned Sephiroth.

"And I wouldn't be here if I hadn't picked up my game either! You think we got here just by sitting on our butts, pretty boy?" snapped K Rool, causing Yoshi to jump. How had K Rool of all people snuck up next to him?

A slight smile appeared on Sephiroth's face. "Then let us put your confidence to the test, shall we?"

"Oh, it's on now," growled K Rool, dropping into a fighting stance, readying his claws.

Yoshi followed suit, as DK said, "They say that any opponent is like a coconut. Enough pressure, and you'll crack. The only question is how much. I wonder how much it will take to crack you?"

"More than you can muster, ape," said Sephiroth.

DK just grinned. "Bold words. Let's see if you can back them."

"Sun Salutation!"

Sephiroth whirled on his heel to slice the incoming golden orb in half. Behind Sephiroth, Carrie stood tall, charging another Sun Salutation. But before Sephiroth could do anything else, K Rool rushed at Sephiroth, and immediately was forced to jump over Sephiroth's sword, swinging his claws wildly as he sailed through the air, but only managed to hit hair before coming to a rolling stop.

Yoshi took the opportunity to spit a mighty blast of juice at Sephiroth, staggering the swordsman as DK rushed in and slammed his fist into the swordsman's jaw. As Sephiroth staggered backwards from the force of the hit, DK continued his assault.

"Spinning Kong!"

As DK began slowing down, Carrie rushed up, her arms already glowing with solar energy.

"Warrior Strike!"

Before Sephiroth could recover from Carrie's attack, K Rool lunged in with a well-placed shoulder bash, slamming him some distance away from the other Smashers.

Yoshi quickly dashed at Sephiroth, and landed a flying kick to the face, before landing, turning on his heel and launching himself at Sephiroth again.

"Golden Egg Roll!"

Yoshi's roll was abruptly stopped. He looked up to see Sephiroth stopping his egg with his hand.

"No. Not yet!" growled Sephiroth. "I will not be defeated yet!"

DK and K Rool rushed up to attack, and Carrie shot off a Sun Salutation shot, but Sephiroth swung his sword with his other hand, forcing DK and K Rool to stop abruptly, and dissipating the incoming Sun Salutation.

Yoshi, seeing an opening, dropped his hardlight egg, and cloaked his head in spiky hard light armor.

"SPIKY GOLDEN HEAD SMASH!"

However, before Yoshi could make contact, Sephiroth whipped his sword around to block in the nick of time. The two struggled against each other, before Sephiroth kicked Yoshi in the gut, sending him staggering back.

Yoshi joined his fellow Smashers as they circled around Sephiroth. They could do this. Yoshi glared intently at the villain, as he held his sword in a guard stance, turning to face them as they slowly circled around him.

"Mamma mia, you got started without us!" shouted Mario from behind Yoshi.

Yoshi didn't dare glance behind him, but his heart soared as Mario, Luigi, Daisy and Bowser entered the periphery of his vision.

"You don't got anyplace to run now, edgy man!" cackled Wario as he and Alph dashed up near K Rool.

"Surrender! You're surrounded!" shouted Matt as he and Murphy, accompanied by a number of Mii Force solders ran up, weapons drawn.

Sephiroth looked around himself but said nothing. Suddenly, he stomped on the corner of a nearby Wii Fit Board that was lying on the ground. As the board landed right side up, it reactivated. Sephiroth jumped on it, and quickly zipped off into the sky.

"Hey! Get back here, punk!" bellowed Wario. He reached into his overalls and pulled out a massive clove of garlic, nearly the size of Yoshi's fist, and chucked it into his mouth, swallowing it after only chewing on it for a split second.

"Hold your noses!" shouted Mario suddenly, as Wario transformed into Wario Man with a sudden pulse of light.

Wario jumped into the air, and let out a powerful waft, rocketing off into the sky with a brownish vapor trail behind him in hot pursuit.

Yoshi winced as he tried to hold his breath for long enough for the brown clouds that surrounded them all to dissipate, but he could only hold his breath for so long, and he was forced to gasp in the fumes. Yoshi sank to his knees, coughing.

Suddenly, somebody whizzed off through the smoke on a Wii Fit Board.

"Who's that?" asked Yoshi.

"It's Murphy," said Carrie. "He's going after Wario!"

"Can you go back them?" asked Mario.

"I was shot down earlier, my board is fried," said Carrie.

"Does anybody else have Wii Fit Boards?" asked Mario.

"A lot of ours are fried as well, those Spaaks were shooting a lot of our guys down," said Matt. "And the ones that are still working are mostly out of charge. We wouldn't be able to pursue for very far, even if we had the manpower."

"Then how is Murphy chasing them?"

"Slippy upgraded our Wii Fit Boards," said Carrie. "One of the upgrades was longer battery life."

"And yours is fried," grumbled Mario. "And the big platforms are a lot slower than the Wii Fit Boards, right?"

"That's correct," said Matt.

Mario rubbed his moustache in thought. "Luigi and I can't fly that fast with our Red Star powerups, so I think we're gonna have to pursue on foot. Can anybody track their Smasher ID cards?"

"Already on it!" said Alph, as he stared intently at a device in his hands. "They're heading due west!"

"West? Towards the volcano?" asked Carrie.

"That's right," said Alph.

"Matt, do you need some of us to stay behind to help you take care of your wounded?" asked Mario.

"No, we'll be ok. I've already radioed for reinforcements. They'll be here soon."

Mario nodded and straightened his cap. "All right then! Smashers! We follow Murphy and Wario! Sephiroth isn't getting away yet!"


As I'm sure you'll expect, the next chapter will be the last one of Act 9. Whew, I'm super glad to almost be done with story arc.

As for Act 10, I'm closing in on the end of the rough draft of Ch 4. I ended up taking a nice break long from writing after finishing Act 9, and I'm coming back feeling much better, but unfortunately it took longer then I'd hoped to recharge my writing batteries. I don't think I'll have to take another hiatus since the editing phase tends to be a lot easier for me, and I have bits and pieces from the original Act 9 that got split into Act 9 and Act 10, so its not 100% new content to be written. So I should have everything done in time, but it might be a little close, so I'll let you all know how things stand when I post next chapter.

Either way, I'll see you all next time for the finale of Act 9!