Dark Dawn chapter 4: Taint
Mewtwo awoke in a panic. He was floating in a large container and completely submerged in green liquid; an alarm was blaring somewhere nearby. His arm moved without his consent and launched a ball of dark energy at the tank holding him. The material shattered and Mewtwo was dumped to the ground, along with the remainder of the liquid. He destroyed the alarm shortly thereafter.
Once he made sure that Dusk was nowhere in the vicinity, Mewtwo realized where he was and nearly panicked again in a rush of painful memories.
"The laboratory! No, wait…there is no cloning equipment here."
He looked around again, taking stock of the various beds and medical supplies.
"It's an infirmary, but who's?" Suddenly, Mewtwo remembered something. "No! I'm alive! That means Dusk is-"
"Hey!" called a shrill voice, interrupting Mewtwo's thoughts. "Dr. M- Whoa! What happened in here!?"
At that moment Mewtwo realized that he recognized the body on the floor. He knelt down to examine it as a large green frog, presumably the voice from earlier, did the same. He felt no pulse.
"Dr. Mario," hemurmured. He looked up at the frog and noticed the fear in his eyes.
"What's going on?" he asked. The frog jumped at his voice, but answered.
"The ship is crashing! Come on, quick!"
The pair hastily exited the infirmary, coming to a long hallway. The frog continued to speak, as if talking would ease his fear.
"I'm Slippy, and you're currently aboard the Great Fox, Fox's ship." He paused for a moment. "You're Mewtwo, right? The one from that tournament?"
"Correct," Mewtwo answered as a large tremor rocked the ship.
"I always wanted to go to a tournament like that, but as a spectator, not a fighter."
"Slippy," Mewtwo began.
"I was never really good at close combat," Slippy continued.
"Slippy." Mewtwo repeated, a little more forcefully.
"Not like Fox or Falco, those guys are real-"
"SLIPPY!" Mewtwo shouted. Slippy jumped, and a startled shriek escaped his throat.
"Please continue with the explanation"
"Right, sorry," Slippy said before continuing. "Anyway, we, the Smashers, I mean, were all heading back to report on the battle when Roy came out of the infirmary and just attacked us. He took out the controls of ship."
"That does not sound like Roy," Mewtwo observed, "He is a kind hearted man, and unfamiliar with technology."
"It's not hard to disable something when you shove a sword through it," Slippy said dryly.
"His sword?" Mewtwo asked, "Would he not have received an electrical discharge?"
"I thought so, too, but that was no ordinary sword; looked like it was made of shadows or something. I think I heard Zelda say something about 'twilight'."
"Either way," Slippy continued, "after that he just melted through the floor and disappeared. It was creepy; but then, you didn't see his eyes." Slippy shivered.
"What about them?" Mewtwo asked, piecing his thoughts together.
"They were gray," Slippy answered, "and didn't blink; like he didn't even need them"
Mewtwo stopped, the pieces falling into place. "Dusk," he said angrily.
"What?" Slippy asked, coming to a stop as well. After a moment he flicked a webbed finger forward, "Uh, we're almost there," he said.
"Yes, I'm coming," Mewtwo murmured.
--
"…The detour continues," said Dr. Mario as his body went limp, falling to the floor. The screen went blank a few seconds later, as did the faces of those in room. Many exchanged nervous glances.
"Uh," started Mario, "what happened to Roy?"
"Never mind that!" yelled Falco, "What the hell happened to you?"
"For the last time, Falco, we're two different people. No relation, but I still can't believe what happened to him…"
"Hey," Peppy cut in, "we're still crashing, here, guys. You need to get to the docking bay with everyone else."
The two stopped immediately, beginning to exit the room, when Fox spoke up.
"Peppy, you go with them; I'll take over the Great Fox."
"But the controls are fried," Peppy said, "There's nothing you can do."
"Even so," Fox responded, "I've got try. I think I can minimize the damage; or at least maximize the destruction to our enemies."
Peppy nodded and began to leave. He stopped at the door and looked at Fox.
"Alright," he sighed, "You know what to do."
"I don't think the Great Fox can actually do a barrel roll, Peppy," Fox replied, grinning.
Peppy sighed again. "Just like your father." He left.
When they reached the docking bay, most of the Smashers had already fled, presumably in Samus's ship. Link and his younger counterpart, however, had attached themselves to the wings of the purple fox's ship by use of two chains, each connected to a gauntlet worn on their wrists. Ganondorf and Bowser seemed to have jumped into the darkness, and Zelda was nowhere in sight.
"Krystal!" shouted Falco towards the purple fox, who glanced up at her name.
"What is it, Falco?" she asked, somewhat annoyed.
"Fox is staying behind; he said not to wait for him."
Krystal sighed and looked pained for a moment, but then said, "Fine, if that is his decision, then so be it." She lifted off the ground, pulling Link and Young Link with her as the ship flew out into the night.
Falco turned to Mario, "Okay, you're with me. Get up on my ship and try not to fall off.
Mario silently obeyed, jumping over four meters and landing softly on the wing of the ship. He then gave a small bow. Not to be outdone, Falco leapt into the cockpit, spinning in the air a few times before touching down on the padded interior.
Peppy had already taken off and, instead of landing; he flicked on his lights and opened fire on the dark army below. He was careful not to hit any of his ground-bound allies, who were doing very well on their own but were showing obvious signs of fatigue; except for the ones who had stayed on board the Great Fox 'just in case'.
The un-exhausted fighters included a helmeted man in a purple bodysuit who was shouting and punching his way through creature after creature with flaming fists, and two small pink blobs, one of which inhaled one of the creatures and took on it's appearance, slashing through more of them with newly acquired claws; the other pink ball pounded them with it's small fists, rolling into entire groups of creatures and tossing them out of it's way.
A short distance away, riding atop a small green and white spotted dinosaur, was a woman in an elegant pink dress; she appeared to be of royalty but, like the others, it didn't stop her from fighting. She smashed a frying pan into the face of one creature while her mount tossed exploding eggs into another.
Roy stood in the center of the chaos, silently dueling with Marth as countless battles raged around them. They traded blows with furious speed, ducking and weaving through the night. When Marth seemed to gain the upper hand, Roy jumped backwards to allow his minions to take his place. They were quickly slain. Marth flicked black blood from his sword and pointed it at his opponent.
"Roy is a better fighter than this," he spat, "what have you done with him?"
"I gave him a choice," was the only response, "he chose incorrectly, the fool."
Roy's head whipped upward, gray eyes meeting Marth's own. He laughed.
"But you're right. Roy is a far better swordsman than I."
Roy's hand shot to his chest, glowing with black fire. He fell to his knees, gasping and coughing in pain, and clutched his heart. Marth ran over to Roy, concern evident on his face. He knelt down to examine his friend when a sword flashed into his field of vision. Marth effortlessly knocked the blade from Roy's fingers as the red haired swordsman collapsed again, his eyes darkening to their normal blue color.
Shadows began to stir, and rose from the ground in a whisper. They left Roy's now unmoving body and flew to the sky, speaking in a voice that seemed to come from all directions.
"Roy will make a fine general for the army, his experience will be useful."
The floating shadows then darted together, forming a vague shape in the air. It was humanoid, lacking any definitive features, including eyes. The shade raised what looked like its arm, slashed the air in front of it with a claw and said, "Come to me, servants!"
At that moment, time seemed to slow as many things happened at once.
First, all of the dark creatures stopped attacking and retreated into the shadows, many leaving themselves open to attack by the Smashers; second, a blurry dark blue shape flashed through the battlefield, knocking aside any that stood in the way, and coming to rest below the shadow; and lastly, Roy sat up suddenly and knocked Marth away with a backhanded blow to the chest, sending him flying with strength he did not possess before. Roy then stood and took his place next to the menacing blue creature, which was still only a blur despite its eerie stillness.
Marth rose to his feet, a fierce determination in his eyes, and looked around. Behind him stood an army, and before him stood a trio of monsters, one of his greatest friends among them. When his gaze met Roy's, he noticed something that had escaped his attention before; something that rattled his being to the very core: Roy was crying. Sudden understanding flooded over Marth's face.
Two soft thumps alerted Marth to the Link's presence as they landed on either side of him, swords and shields drawn; a slightly louder thud announced that Mario had taken up a position behind them. Marth chanced a look upward. A pair of blue-white ships hovered above the small group, not coming closer but unwilling to abandon them.
"Surrounded," was all Marth managed to say before the blurred creature let loose a bestial howl and charged forward with Roy. At least, Roy charged forward. The blue creature just disappeared while Link met Roy head-on, matching him blow for blow.
"Where…?" Marth wondered when he heard a sharp gasp and a cry of pain behind him. He turned to find Mario lying on the ground at the creature's feet. It had finally stopped vibrating.
White lines streaked through its dark blue fur, most prevalent on the quills that ran down its back. Golden rings adorned its wrists and ankles. The creature's eyes had no pupils, but that did nothing to lessen the hatred in the glare directed at Mario. It raised its fists again and began to pound the man into ground with unchecked ferocity; arms moving so quickly that they could not be seen. When the creature stopped to raise a hand in preparation of the final blow, Mario spoke.
"S-Sonic, that you?"
The creature hesitated a moment, then lifted its arm again.
A high-pitched battle cry broke Marth from his trance as Young Link dashed forward, fearlessly swinging his sword in wide arcs at the enemy. There was a blur as Sonic turned and whipped a fist backward, colliding with air when the child ducked and swiped at his back. The sword connected, slicing through flesh with some difficulty. Sonic ignored the attack and punched again, this time making contact with the shield Young Link raised in defense. The blow shattered the wooden shield and sent Young Link sailing through the air. Sonic turned back to Mario.
The shadow, which had not moved throughout the altercation, suddenly shouted.
"Wait! The boy is tainted! Capture him!"
--
Young Link used the momentum of his fall to turn it into a roll, coming up with his bow drawn and aimed directly at Sonic. His target vanished right as he fired, then pain exploded from the back of his head.
As the child fell to the ground, he thought he heard a voice so pure and angelic that he knew he had died. A light opened from the skies, enveloping his body, and then a winged figure appeared. The figure's expression showed fury, and Young Link wondered what he had done anger it. The voice rang out again and the child suddenly knew with absolute certainty that everything would be alright, but for who he wasn't so sure.
"ALL TROOPS MOVE OUT!"
--
Author's note: If you don't know who that is I am obligated to hate you. Don't take it personally. However, I am sure that my reviewers (all 4 of you) know what just happened.
Shin Furevindo: Yeah, that was pretty much my intention. I can't guarantee all of them will die, though.
Bustman: This one is long overdue. Thank you for your consistent reviews of all my chapters. You're a pretty good writer yourself.