Chapter 2 of War of the Weirds starts right now, folks. Oh, and Nintendo Nut1, you might recognize quite a few of the moments from your story, Brother Squadron...
NN1: Didn't I tell you I don't mind?
No.
NN1: T.T NO ONE LOVES ME!
Link: (trying to be nice) It's okay. I don't think you're too bad...
NN1: Oh, thank you, Link! I feel so...HAPPY! (glomps Link)
Link: AAH!
Pichu: Now, about Brother Squadron, he has the entire story saved to his computer. It'd be kinda hard not for him to copy the whole thing.
SHADDUP! Here's the story...now excuse me while I 'chastise' Pichu.
Pichu: DON'T HURT ME! (sobs)
NN1: Sucks to be Pichu. (eating chocolate)
Link: Yep.
Responses:
Anters: Ah, that's quite alright. Most of the time, I don't have enough time to update because of homework.
Anyway, I do think the plot is quite good. Quoting GunpowderWizard, it's quite fun to see an innocent little prank go horribly wrong. Also, I'm planning a story for each Smasher, so each of them will get some spotlight. Pretty neat, huh?
Also, you are right-I am planning a sequel to my Amazing Race story. I have several people that want another race like that...oh well. At times like this, all you can do is keep writing. Okay, then...ttyl!
Kirbstar: Glad to see you're enjoying this story...I know I am. And all the young ones will be connected to the 'alien invasion' in some way, shape, or form.
Also, adding Mewtwo was funny! You'll see why in a future chapter.
Lightpaladin: Oh, it's quite all right. I don't think I'll have this done by Halloween...
Link: You got that right.
NN1: Shush! (turns Link into a wolf)
Wolf Link: T.T Not funny. (Nintendo Nut1 squeezes him) X.X
Polska: You like Green Day? Trust me, there's enough Green Day songs in this story that it'll make you faint.
RoyalFanatic: Oh! What's the big secret? I won't tell a soul... ;)
Also, characters from two of your favorite games (Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and Tales of Symphonia) will appear! Isn't that great?
GunpowderWizard: Ah...this is going to turn into hell for our little pranksters, I can assure you of that...heh heh heh...
Pichu: (gulp)
And no, I don't have an MSN Messenger account, although I want one so bad!
Nintendo Nut1: We'll see if I can put in some more Marth and Roy, alright? And I've been planning this story for six months, so I should think it'll be good.
razzkat: And a Happy Halloween to you, too.
Opus Triumphant: Thanks! And thank you for being my first reviewer! Anyway, I love the fact that you have taken the time to read this. If you're going to review all the chapters, then check for me if I've written it well, alright?
All right, then. Let's punch in and get to work.
"Must be something they're hiding,
Must be reasons that no one will dare to tell.
Must be something inside me;
But I don't think so anymore...
It's hurting again now,
And I don't need friends when I have foes like you...
It's hurting again now,
It's killing me to be here all alone...
Go away; it's all the same...
There's more for me..."
Chapter 2: A Long Way Down
The Merrimac Dam, Grand Metropolis
"How long is Andrew going to make us stay here!" one of the soldiers complained. "We have lives, too, you know!"
"Aah, shut up, Johnson. We've only been here for five minutes." Another soldier scolded.
"Really? I thought it was six..." As a chilling wind blew across the length of the dam and leaves danced around the soldiers, Jairus Cavanaugh stared into the night sky as he smoked. A serenade of blues and blacks greeted the general, as he stared into the night sky and watched the stars dance across the sky, carefree in their movements. The elder general sighed and drove his cigarette butt into the concrete of the wall he was lying upon. He sighed pensively; his only comfort left in this world was the night sky, left after that apocalypse had destroyed Earth and borne it again as Nintendo.
His personal reverie was interrupted by the sound of a car horn. Irritated by the noise and bright lights, Jairus jumped off onto the road and nearly decked the nearest soldier in his sights. "Who the hell is this?"
"Don't know. Guy says he's looking for the aliens." Jairus raised his eyebrows and strolled languidly up to the minivan, where Link and another soldier were yelling angrily at each other. Sighing in exasperation, he shoved the guy aside.
"Who is this I am talking to?"
"Look, my name is Link, okay?" Link explained in a cool manner. "I'm just looking for my friends, who dressed up as aliens for Halloween. They're being mistaken for the real thing!"
"Yeah!" Pichu added. "It was all a prank-mmph!" Link quickly clasped a hand over Pichu's mouth. He let it go after a few seconds as Jairus' eyebrows shot up in confusion.
"Don't tell him that, you idiot!" Link whispered nastily to Pichu. "We don't exactly know how we are going to handle this, but we sure as hell don't need the military on our heels!"
"Look, we haven't seen any aliens so far." Jairus answered.
"Oh, are you sure?" Link asked a little too quickly. "They're really noticeable and ugly and gross, and..."
"We haven't seen any."
"Are you sure you haven't?"
"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Jairus growled threateningly. His face shifted closer to Link's, and you could hear his ragged breathing. Link "Do I look stupid to you?"
"N...no..."
"Good." Jairus growled. He was about to let him pass when something opposite of the dam caught his eye. His eyes widened as he recognized them as the 'aliens' that Andrew had warned them about, followed by an angry mob of Smashers. Grabbing the Dragunov sniper rifle strung onto his back, he looked through the scope and adjusted it as necessary, aimed it at Lloyd's head and got ready to pull the trigger. Link noticed, however, and lightly rammed the general with the minivan's bumper. Lloyd's eyes widened as a bullet whizzed by his ear, followed by the loud BANG of the Dragunov seconds later. "You idiot! I-!"
"You nearly killed my friends!" Pichu shouted from the back of the car in protest as aliens and Smashers alike ran by them. Jairus stared on and growled, stomping his foot into the dam roadway, but unfazed, he pulled out a P99 and shot at the aliens.
"What the hell are you doing?" Zelda growled. "You're going to kill them!"
"I'm the one who should be asking you that!" Jairus retorted hotly. "You nearly ran us down!"
"Get out of here!" a voice yelled. It belonged to the same soldier that was arguing with Link, and he was holding a mean-looking rocket launcher in his hands. Link and the others had enough sense to scramble out of the car just as the soldier pulled the trigger. As they ducked behind a nearby wall, the missile struck the car and exploded, sending a shower of debris all over the dam roadway. The steel fireball of Link's car flew upward and fell, striking a piece of the nearby tourist center and sending it crashing to the bottom.
"Johnson!" Jairus protested. "I told you not to fire!"
Johnson protested. "Man, Jairus! I never get to shoot anybody!"
"Calm down..." Jairus said, moving his arms as to calm the trigger-happy soldier down. "We have plenty of stops to make tonight. You'll have your chance of shooting someone later tonight." The wording and his tone of voice didn't produce the desired result, because all Johnson did was sulk. But at least he shut up. "Thank you!"
Meanwhile, Link, Zelda, Ness and Pichu realized suddenly that, for the time being, no one was watching them. They slid quietly behind a concrete wall and crouched down, eyeing the road to the other side of the Merrimac Dam. Two more walls and a concrete tower would provide some concealment, but they would have to cross an open stretch of road to reach the other side itself. They shrugged and began moving.
They weren't even halfway to their goal when Johnson noticed them again. "AHA! TAKE THIS!"
"NO!" Jairus screamed. It was too late, however, and Jairus watched in horror as Johnson pulled the trigger on the rocket launcher again. Link and Zelda narrowly dodged the rocket and jumped onto the building below the dam's edge, but Ness and Pichu was less than lucky. They were hurled across the dam onto the roadway and simultaneously knocked out by stray concrete. Johnson was about to fire the rocket launcher again, but Jairus lowered the barrel and pointed it at the ground. "Johnson, you idiot!"
"Fine, then!" Johnson threw the launcher to the ground and sulked like a child that didn't get his way. "Don't give me a gun, then!"
"Not that!" Jairus pointed behind the soldier to the portion of the dam nearest the Grand Metropolis. "The way you're aiming, you're going to destroy the dam!"
"Oh, come on! It's not like we're standing on the-oh, crap..." Oh, crap, indeed. A large, ominous crack had formed in the asphalt of the roadway, concrete and metal falling into the reservoir and the bottom of the dam itself. As the tourist center crumbled and fell into the river far below, Johnson screamed like a girl, "What do we do now?"
"What else do you do when something's collapsing underneath you as you speak?" The dam gave off a large GROAN as it shook underneath all of them. "Retreat!"
"Aye-aye!" The sound of screeching tires and the smell of burning rubber echoed through the air as several soldiers rushed down a mountain path next to the dam in Humvees down to a train far below them, at the edge of the intake tower. Link and Zelda stared out below to the train, but suddenly, Johnson came back with the rocket launcher a third time to hit the two.
"So that's where we need to go..." Zelda turned around, and saw the barrel of Johnson's launcher trained at them. "Link! Look out!" Realizing that another explosion was heading their way, Link grabbed Zelda in his arms and leapt off the side of the building as another BOOM echoed throughout the canyon. Fumbling with the Hookshot and only seconds until they began falling, Link finally shot it at the top of the building's wall, acting as a rappel device and letting them hang from the building safely.
More explosions went off, and both Link and Zelda watched as fire, burning barrels and charred debris were pitched over the roof and down to yet another building below them, striking fatal blows to the soldiers below them. Glass daggers shearing their arms and flames licking at their bodies, Link and Zelda lowered themselves to the ground before collapsing in exhaustion. "Did we both make it out alive?"
"I think so..." Zelda answered, gingerly touching her wounds and reeling in pain.
"Here..." Link had tossed her a red potion from his knapsack while downing another one himself. "You'll need it."
"Thanks..." After consuming the medicine, she tossed the empty bottle at Link and asked, "Now what do we do?"
"We get off this thing before it bursts." He grabbed a Desert Eagle pistol and its holster from a fallen soldier, along with 4 clips of ammo from the other soldiers. He also grabbed a P99 and its holster, along with 5 clips of ammo, and tossed them to the Hylian princess. "Damn...it looks like we'll have to fight the military to get them back. I think you'll need to use this if we're going to have a chance against these guys..."
"What?" Zelda shrieked in terror. "I don't even like the Ray Guns in the Mansion, and I have to use this?"
"I'm sorry..." Link sighed ruefully as he prepared for Zelda's reaction. "You have to." As she sobbed into his shoulder, he held the princess close in his arms, to protect her as a father protects his child. "I really don't want you to use this weapon, either. But if we are to survive and rescue our friends, it's the only chance to ensure our survival. Will you do this?"
Zelda choked and nodded.
Link's face broke out into a grand smile. "You know what...I'll help you train as we go along in this journey, all right? Also, I am well aware that you are dabbling in the healing arts..."
"You are?" Zelda choked.
"Yes...can you use all your skills to keep us alive?"
"Of course!" She let herself be swept away in Link's hug, all her fears and worries seemingly floating away like feathers in the wind.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the canyon, Johnson and another soldier were hoisting their new captives into the bullet train. Amidst the explosions echoing from the dam, the astonished 'ooh's that were breathed from soldiers watching the fiery spectacle, and the grunts of strong men carrying various boxes of guns and food onto the train, Jairus Cavanaugh was coolly staring into the comforting night sky, the small trail of smoke from his cigarette languidly floating up and into the sky.
"Um, sir?" The eldest general turned to see Johnson standing there, with a clipboard in his hands. "I...apologize for earlier..."
"Look at what your trigger-happy desires have created." Jairus nodded in the direction of the hydroelectric monstrosity, as fiery hunks of metal and crumbling debris rained into the river near the docks they were standing on. "I hope you're happy."
"Sorry, sir..." After a few tense moments between the duo, he stated, "But the military's bullet train is ready for safe and speedy evacuation, sir."
"Do we look anywhere near ready, Johnson?" Jairus motioned towards the boxes of food and supplies being carried onto the bullet train. "We'll wait until all the supplies are boarded onto the train before we make our departure."
"But, sir—!"
"DID I STUTTER?" Jairus yelled angrily at Johnson, who was using the clipboard in his hands to hide his face. "I don't care if the dam bursts by the time we get our supplies aboard! We will not move until my word. Do I have your support?"
"It goes without saying, sir..."
"Good. Now leave my presence at once." Jairus resumed staring up into the sky while blowing out a puff of smoke from his cigarette, and Johnson had no choice but to follow the general's orders as he went his way.
Link had grabbed Zelda and held her delicate frame close to him as he jumped off the side of the dam once again, using his Hookshot to avoid becoming a splat on the ground. As he continued to rappel down the side of the dam, he came to a platform jutting out the side and stopped for a break. "Hey, Zel...you still alive?"
"Yeah...the last time I checked, I was..." Zelda gasped as more flaming debris fell from above. She then looked at the P99 given to her, and asked nervously, "So, um...how do you fire a gun?"
"What, you haven't used the Ray Guns or the Super Scopes at the Mansion?"
"N...not particularly..."
Link just sighed as he helped her through the process. "Hmm...it looks like all you do is pull the trigger on this one. BANG!" He formed his hand into a gun shape and pulled an invisible trigger. "You try now..."
Zelda steadied herself against Link and aimed the gun into the sky, at a piece of falling debris. Two seconds later, a gunshot echoed throughout the canyon as the piece of debris burst into dust. "Wow...I did it!"
"Hey, Zeke! I think I heard something out there..." The blood drained from Link's face as his heart skipped at least three beats. But he kept a cool look to make sure Zelda didn't panic. The last thing he wanted was a frightened comrade to give away their position. Without warning, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her behind a steel crate situated on the platform big enough to hide the both of them from view.
"Be quiet and stay still..." Link told the anxious princess. "I'll take care of this...you just keep quiet until I say so." He quickly wormed his way up to the doorway, taking great care to not let himself be seen.
"Well, whaddaya want me to do?" another voice screeched.
"For the love of God...take a goddamn look, Zeke! It's not that hard!" As Zeke carefully stepped out, he gazed around the lookout with attentive dark eyes, his hand reaching for the Magnum in his leg holster. As he was about to step back into the dam, he felt a hand cover his mouth and a leg trap his in a chokehold. His eyes widened as he felt a gun barrel touch his head, and fell over to the ground, cranial matter oozing from the hole in his skull. Link carefully stepped into the room, and was greeted with a series of shouts.
"What the hell-? Who are you?"
"Who cares, let's shoot him!" Link quickly rolled behind a crate and ducked as bullets whistled through the empty air where his chest was moments before. Carefully gazing out while the soldiers reloaded, he fired twice and peeked at the soldiers, killed from fatal wounds to the chest. Link glanced around and cracked a bit of a grin.
"That takes care of that..."
"Not quite." Link cringed as the point of a revolver was shoved into the back of his neck. A male of dark skin grinned with crooked teeth, pushing it further on a segment of his vertebrate. "Do you have any last requests?"
"How about letting me go, huh?"
"Why, you imprudent—!" Before he could finish, another gunshot rang out, and Link felt the pressure on his neck lessen. The gunman fell over with a gaping hole in his cranium as his Magnum clattered to the floor beside him. Link was about to swivel his head around to locate the source of the shot when he saw Zelda standing in the doorway, a wisp of smoke floating out from the barrel of her P99.
"Um...are you okay, Link?"
"Yeah...thanks for the help, Zel." The princess giggled a little bit, and then stared at the dead soldier on the floor.
"Not bad for a first shot, huh?"
"I'll say..." Link said, looking at the gun wound. As he did so, he swiped a grenade from the corpse. "A remarkably clean shot through the head."
"Hey, who are...?" Both Hylians felt the color drain from their faces as two soldiers showed up framed in the windows on either side of the room, rappelling equipment strung to their belts.
"Zelda! MOVE!" As bullets whizzed past their fleeing figures, Link had yanked out the grenade's pin with his mouth and tossed it into the room. The soldiers' eyes widened, but they never stood a chance. As Link grabbed Zelda, jumped off the ledge, and launched the Hookshot into the wall, a fiery cloud of smoke erupted from the doorway behind them as the soldiers were incinerated from the blast.
"Sir!" Johnson yelled nervously as the blast echoed throughout the canyon. "I think those two from the roadway are still alive!"
"What!" Jairus yelled. He grabbed a set of binoculars from a crate sitting next to him and glared upward towards the source of the blast, and noticed Link and Zelda traversing the flaming wall of the dam. "How the hell did they survive that?"
"I don't know, sir! What do we do?" Johnson panicked.
"...activate the flaming barrier." With that, Jairus sprinted through the mess of soldiers hurriedly packing supplies into the bullet train, and skidded to a stop in front of a junction box on the side of the dam. Swinging the door open, he pounded the large red button inside, and grinned when flames sprouted up from the edge of the dam. "That'll stop them in their tracks."
"And if it doesn't?" Johnson asked worriedly.
"Don't be so anxious." Jairus sneered. "We'll be long gone by the time they get past it."
"Uh-oh...these flames may present a bit of a problem." Link stated after nearly landing in them rappelling down the side of the dam. Zelda wasn't as lucky as part of her dress was charred.
"Maybe there's an emergency shutoff switch somewhere?" Zelda asked. Link just stared at the princess, who just gave a shrug. "Just suggesting." Link just sighed and stepped into the bombed-out doorway behind them, and nearly gagged.
Small pillars of crumbling debris began to form on the floor. Guards were lying every which way, killed from the blast, and the wooden rafters had fallen and lying on the side, splintered and ablaze. On the other side of the room was a fuel line that lay intact, running alongside the wall and up to the edge, where the flames were shooting out. "Well, it looks like you're right. Come on..."
As they made their way through the room towards the fuel line, they had to quickly roll as parts of the ceiling above them began falling to the floor, evaporating in a shower of dust. Amazingly, they made it through the fiery gauntlet and onto the small ledge next to the dam and followed the gas line up to a large tank sitting on the ledge. Because it was too big to hop over, Link and Zelda slinked over to the opening past the tank, near a switch embedded into the wall.
Several soldiers burst out of a door on the other side of the gap, wielding pistols and Magnums. As bullets tore by their quivering forms, Zelda squeaked as a bullet came very close to splitting her head open like an overripe melon. She screamed and slid down the wall in panic, inadvertently flipping the switch in the process.
Steam ruptured forth from the grate underneath the Hylians' would-be executioners, scalding and stunning them for only a few moments. But they were long enough for Link and Zelda to take out all the soldiers with some well-directed lead to the skull. They slumped over, dead, as Link cautiously tiptoed over to the gas tank, motioning for Zelda to follow as soon as the coast was clear.
"Here's the source of the flames..." Link said.
As Zelda spun the circular red valve to the left, she said "This should shut off the barrier." And lo and behold, the flames on the edge of the dam shuddered, spluttered and died away, retreating into the pipe on its edge.
"SIR!" Johnson had panicked yet again, and ran up to Jairus, who was overseeing the supply line, disobeying his superior's order not to be anxious. "The flaming barrier is down!"
"Didn't I tell you not to be anxious?" Jairus growled at the sergeant. "I've already sent up a unit to stop them. Even if they breach our final line of defense, we'll be long gone by then."
"I should hope so..." Johnson stated as the soldiers around him hoisted the last of the supplies onto the train. He looked over to the windows, where Ness and Pichu were pounding on them in a vain attempt to escape. "Otherwise we'll have problems with those two."
"It took you that long to notice?" Jairus muttered incredulously. He just shook his head in exasperation and continued chewing on a cigarette. "Whatever. Just do as I say, and stop panicking." At that point Johnson wisely shut his mouth for the time being.
"Phew...that was tiring." Link said, wiping sweat off his brow and glancing around his surroundings. "We better leave now."
"Yeah...Link, look out!" Before Link could ask what was going on, Zelda had shoved Link past the gas tank and into the alcove in the side of the wall. Just as they did so, a large BOOM echoed throughout the canyon as the gas tank nearby was swallowed in a white ball of flame. The fire carried into the barrier pipe and into four more gas pipes running down the side, causing more explosions and sealing the dam's fate. Zelda carefully stuck her head out and saw a mean-looking guard with an AT-420 rocket launcher in his hands. "Oh, crap..."
"What is it, Zel?"
"There's a guy with a rocket launcher outside..."
"Great...hold on...I have an idea." Link had started talking in a barely audible tone to Zelda by the ear, and when he pulled away she shook her head in disbelief.
"You want me to WHAT!"
"Come on, Zel. It's not going to be that bad..."
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this..." Sighing, she stepped out into the open, in full view of the heavy weapons guard. Lobbing a shell in her direction, she pulled out a translucent blue crystal and concentrated her energy upon it, whispering chants of Hylian tongue as she did. A blue crystal shield appeared in front of her and bounced the shell back at the unsuspecting guard, blowing him into the dam and sending the rocket launcher at Zelda's feet. She smiled and put away the crystal, letting the blue field of energy dissipate. "You can...come out now, Link."
Link grinned as Zelda tossed the rocket launcher at him. "Man, Zelda; that was cool! I told you it would work!"
"But will I have to do...this...again?" Zelda asked, a little exhausted from having to use Nayru's Love to reflect the rocket. "I think I used...up more energy...than I needed...to use..."
"It's okay...I hope..." Link said, letting the princess fall into his arms. "Hopefully this'll be the only time you have to use that."
"I hope so, too..." Zelda said, leaning upon Link's shoulder as they reentered the dam. However, several soldiers had scrambled out from behind the rubble and starting to fire at the two Hylians. Leaving Zelda behind the wall, Link had rolled past the opening and behind the crate, picking off the soldiers one by one. However, it seemed to him that the soldiers were multiplying like cockroaches.
"There's too many of them!" Link panicked.
"Link...Link!" When Link turned to look at Zelda, she pointed up to the ceiling, which was cracked and crumbled, at then at the AT-420 rocket launcher strapped to his back. Link followed her finger, and grinned in understanding.
"I see...good idea!" While the bullets from the enemies flew above his head, he carefully trained the rocket launcher and aimed it at the most cracked part of the ceiling. Suddenly, the room burst in the sounds of collapsing concrete and the pained shouts of soldiers as the entire ceiling caved in on them, burying them alive and also putting out part of the fire inside the chamber. "That'll shut 'em up for a while."
"I hope so..." Zelda said. With that, Link scooped Zelda up in his arms and jumped off the ledge, using the Hookshot to stay aloft against the wall. Meanwhile, a plume of smoke, fire and ash erupted from the hole behind them, incinerating the room and the soldiers buried inside. Stray concrete flew out into the river below, and one happened to land next to Jairus Cavanaugh's foot.
"They're here..." Johnson stated.
Jairus just looked at him with an air of brooding intensity and of high command. "I can see that, you moron." He shifted his gaze to the group of soldiers hauling the little left into the train, and he saw Ness and Pichu banging their fists on the windows. "All soldiers board the train for emergency evacuation now! Do not sit and haul the supplies any longer! We are pulling out at this minute!"
"Right, sir." While the soldiers, Jairus and Johnson sprinted through a mess of dropped crates and scrambled onto the train, Link and Zelda touched down on a glass canopy that covered a helipad feet above the raging river. Three soldiers touting pistols and an AK-47 sneered dangerously at the two Hylians, pointing the guns at their heads.
"Stop right there, fools!" The leader said, pointing the gun at Link's head. When Link saw Ness and Pichu banging on the window of the nearby train, he quickly glanced around and saw that he and Zelda were standing directly overhead the helipad.
"Sorry, guys...I've got a train to catch." With that, he shot out the glass beneath him. As the other three fell to their deaths, Link landed upright on the helipad, only to fall to the ground moments later because Zelda landed right on top of him. "Um, Zel? Are you okay?"
"Oh...yes, I am. Sorry..." Zelda scrambled off the Hero of Time, saying nothing out of embarrassment. Link turned around and saw that she was blushing so badly he thought her head would overheat. "Don't worry about me...we still have to rescue Ness and Pichu!"
"How are we supposed to do that?" With the train speeding away and the dam collapsing behind them, how would they saw the young ones?
"As the world falls away, and I can't find a reason...
As the world turns to grey...
It's killing me unwillingly, and I am just the same as you..." -World Falls Away, Seether
WOO-HOO! That's chapter 2 for y'all. Hopefully this'll compel you to review! Please?
NN1: Do it or I'll send Eliwood over to your school to create pandemonium!
Hmm...how about the entire Fire Emblem goon squad?
NN1: YAY!
Eliwood, Marth, Roy, Sheeda and Lilina: (weapons ready) Bring it on! (They all run into a school and create pandemonium.)
Link, Zelda and Pichu: O.O
Sigh...such is the way of life, friends. (pulls out a police hat and a whistle and points to the left) All right, people, panic in this direction!
Gamer21