Aftershock
Disclaimer: I don't own Smash Bros, if I did I wouldn't waste any time writing fanfictions about my creation. I'd just make it happen.
Chapter 3-The Substitute
"What could you possibly want with us?" Ness asked the giant hand, stepping out from the crowd of other smashers.
"Your help," Crazy Hand stated.
"We know that, help with what?" Ness shouted back.
"The only reason I haven't killed you boy is that I'm trying to recruit warriors that are actually useful in a fight against evil, and slaughtering you wouldn't really help my cause," Crazy Hand said.
Ness looked as if he was about to say something but then he stopped, and retreated back into the crowd.
"And now, with no further interruptions, I would like to tell you that I am being hunted as we speak," Crazy Hand let out.
The smashers all gasped and looked at one another, each muttering about what that could mean.
"No, it has nothing to do with Tabuu, Olimar," Crazy Hand said, "And yes, I did read your mind."
The smashers again began talking about this. Mario looked up at Crazy Hand angrily.
"Tell us a-everything, we don't have a-time for your games," Mario shouted.
"Very well, Mario," Crazy Hand said, "I, Crazy Hand, am the younger brother of Master Hand. We were very good friends up until the point when Master discovered dark matter."
"Dark Matter?" Link said.
"Yes, dark matter is an evil substance that Master discovered when he was searching for The Shrouded One," Crazy explained, "It can power many things directly through its energy, its like electricity, but actually solid."
"Who is the Shrouded One?" Ike asked.
"A mysterious entity that controls an underground army of soldiers that have time and time again saved the world from apocalyptic threats. Master wanted to find and join them, but he stumbled upon dark matter as he told me. He never told me how exactly, but that's unimportant. Master Hand began experimenting with the dark matter and eventually became corrupt," Master Hand explained.
"Master was then targeted by the Shrouded One's army, they saw the dark matter as an threat to the world. They attacked him at his lab and in the battle, certain chemicals were mixed together. They created a….portal of sorts."
"A portal?" Snake interrupted, "Like Subspace?"
"Exactly Snake," Crazy said, "The portal was Subspace, and in the confusion, Master Hand escaped into Subspace. The attackers followed him, only to be slaughtered by a mysterious entity. The entity was named Tabuu."
"A-hah, so I was partially right!" said Olimar.
"Partly," Crazy stated, "Master Hand surrendered, as he did not want to be killed by Tabuu. In return for his life, Tabuu trained Master and said that if Master created a great army, and killed the heroes Mario and Link, then he could make Master immortal."
All the smashers looked at one another and then at Mario and Link. Mario looked shocked, but Link seemed used to this kind of thing. He shrugged it off but inside he was both curious and scared to know why.
"Why do they want Mario and Link?" Red asked.
"I believe that Tabuu thought you two were the only things standing in his way of dominating the mortal world. He was obviously wrong, as all of you banded together to defeat him," Crazy said.
"But what happened to Master?" Marth questioned.
"He was struck down by Tabuu when Tabuu had decided he was useless. I assume Ganondorf and Bowser were betrayed as well," Crazy explained.
"But how does that-a-tie in with you?" Mario asked.
"I was in hiding for awhile, for my brother was becoming increasingly violent. Then, I had enough. I joined the Shrouded One's army against my brother. I worked behind the scenes as a spy," said Crazy.
"Wait how did you spy on anyone, you're a giant hand!" Ness proclaimed.
"Well you little ass if you must know," Crazy said.
Then the giant hand glowed with white light, and a transformation began. After about thirty seconds, the light faded and the giant hand had become a human. He was about an inch or so taller than Ike, and had sliver-white hair, and striking red eyes, he was wearing some tattered black clothes and a red cape that wove like a scarf around his mouth. All the smashers dropped the jaws.
Eirika and Sheik faced the Red Mage, ready to strike at any time. Red Mage laughed and raised his finger up to face level. The finger crackled with fire as he turned it towards Sheik. He fired off his attack, which was easily evaded by Sheik's teleportation technique. Eirika ran at Red Mage, sword drawn, and slashed at him. The Red Mage jumped back and sent out a wave of ice.
Eirika conjured a defensive spell just in time to counter as Sheik appeared behind Red Mage. Sheik used her grapple to wrap him up and bring him in.
"Who are you and what do you want with us?" Sheik yelled.
Red Mage exploded and sent Sheik flying backwards and onto the ground, badly injured. Eirika turned around, but it was too late. Red Mage was behind her already, and he struck her with a thunder bolt.
"Ha, weaklings. Did you like my clone ability?" Red Mage cackled, "Now time to finish you."
He lifted up a boulder with his magic and set it on fire. With a smirk, he sent it flying towards the injured females.
"Damn," Pit said as he closed his eyes.
He opened them, only to find that the boulder had been sliced in two pieces, right down the middle. Standing before him was a red clad ninja.
"Well Ninja, looks like you found me. I was just having some fun," Red Mage laughed.
"The Shrouded One's been looking for ya Red. It was dumb of you run away. And when he finds out one of his best recruits was running from him just to come and play these sadistic games, he's not gonna be happy at all brother," Ninja stated.
"Just cause I do this time to time doesn't mean anything, I'm still one of his best men," Red Mage yelled.
Red Mage ripped off his left sleeve to reveal a tattoo that said was a number '6'. Pit wondered what this could mean. Ninja just smirked.
"Doesn't mean anything Red, he could replace you at any moment. I could kill you now if I wanted to, but the Shrouded One's going to need all the help he can get if he wants to stop Master Hand now," Ninja said.
Master Hand? The smashers had found him dead in Subspace. How could he be alive? Pit looked on as Red Mage prepared to battle Ninja.
"I'm not worthless, I'm not replaceable!" Red Mage shouted as he shot a massive combination attack of fire, ice, and thunder.
Ninja easily dodged the move and threw ninja stars at Red Mage. Red Mage put up a shield and sent multiple fireballs the size of a boulder towards Ninja. Ninja batted them all away and caught the last one. He threw it up into the air and then kicked it back. Red Mage tried to dodge but was struck in the leg. Ninja then shot a massive purple energy wave towards Red Mage.
Red Mage shot a thunderbolt directly at it to counter it. Red Mage pumped more and more energy into the thunderbolt until both attacks exploded in mid-air, causing a massive field of smoke. Red Mage looked around for Ninja and saw him.
Right in front of him, his hand glowing bright white.
Red Mage tried to put up a shield but it was too late, he had been stuck in the face and was flying backwards. He hit the ground hard and tried to stagger to his feet. Ninja walked over to him slowly. Red Mage tried to conjure another fire ball. It grew big, and then disappeared. He was out of mana.
Ninja was right over him now. A blade shot out from Ninja's right armor piece on his arm. He picked up Red Mage by his left hand pinky and then chopped Red Mage's left arm clean off. Red Mage fell to the ground in agonizing pain.
"Now do you understand not to mess with me?" Ninja asked him.
Red Mage looked up at him and stupidly spat in his face. Ninja kicked hard in the gut, and then in the face. He tried to regenerate his arm but he had no mana left. Then, in an instant, he was tied to a tree with chains. One was around his neck. Ninja pulled hard.
"What about now? Huh, punk?" Ninja yelled.
Red Mage had no time to answer, he passed out instantly. Ninja unchained him and put him on his back.
Over on the otherside of the plain, Pit had crawled over to Eirika and Sheik and woken them up. They got to see the end of the battle, no the domination. The girls could not believe the person that had just humiliated them minutes before had lost so brutally.
Then Ninja began walking towards them. All three of the warriors, were still, transfixed by fear. He approached them but did not attack.
"Are any of you affiliated with the Super Smash Brothers?" Ninja asked.
"You don't all have to freak out, I'm just like you. Sort of. Anyway, the reason they want me is to use me as a Substitute," Crazy said.
"A substitute?" Fox said.
"Yes, a Substitute. They can use the dark matter to transmit Master Hand's soul into my body. They can only use me because of certain requirements," Said Crazy.
"What kind of requirements" King Dedede asked.
"I do not know, there are many things I do not know about the dark matter. But I do know one thing, the world is in great danger," Crazy stated, "You see Subspace isn't even a world of its own."
"What does that-a-mean?" Mario questioned.
"It is merely a passageway of sorts, to another world," Crazy Hand said.
"A passageway to where?" Link asked.
"That I do not know. But Master Hand wishes to go there, and possibly conquer it. But he does not know what he is getting into," Crazy Hand sighed.
"What do you mean?" Link said.
"You see the portal was discovered by Ganondorf after the defeat of Tabuu, it appeared when Sonic defeated him," Crazy Hand explained.
"So you mean…..oh god," Sonic said.
"Yes, Tabuu was merely a….door guard."
"Yes," Pit said, "We all are."
"I see, you must take me to wherever it is that you are all staying, immediately," Ninja demanded.
Pit suddenly was very scared. What if he wanted to kill them? But he couldn't refuse, and if he did, he would kill all of them, and find it himself. Saying no would just prolong it, not stop it.
"I need healing before we can go, so do they," Pit said.
"It will use up a lot of my mana, but I shall," Ninja said.
He used a spell and began healing them all one by one.
"What is this, mana?" Zelda asked, having transformed back.
"I don't have time to answer questions like that now, let's go," Ninja snapped.
"Zelda, can you locate them?" Pit asked.
"Yes," She said and she put her hand on her temple, "I can feel Link's energy source that way."
"That's the direction of Marth's castle, you're probably right," Pit said, "But how will we get there?"
"I can do that," Eirika said.
She whistled a distinct tune loudly into the air. Seconds later, a large red dragon came flying through the air and landed near them.
"Good boy Spike," Eirika said.
All four of them, Ninja still carrying Red Mage got on the dragon. She lifted up and Eirika directed it in the way of Marth's castle.
"Where did he come from, er, Spike?" Zelda asked.
"How do you think I got here," Eirika replied.
"If he's just a door guard, then the people inside the realm must be extremely powerful," Metaknight spoke.
Everyone was shocked, Metaknight spoke?
"Yes, and that is precisely why we need to stop him," Crazy stated, "The real reason I have come here, other than to explain the situation is that, I need a team to come with me to his lab, to destroy all of his data. Another team should go to this location," Crazy threw Sonic a map.
"This is where they harvest the dark matter, we need to destroy that plantation. Another group should stay here, for good measure," Crazy stated.
"I'm-a-good with a-staying here oh," Luigi said, stuttering at the thought of danger.
"Yea, me too," Lucas said.
"We'll make the teams and then move out, we don't have anytime to lose," Crazy said.
Afterthought: Ninja is badass. Nuff said. So we got a lot of answers, but there are more to come, and I'm still planning to add more Nintendo and 3rd party characters that weren't in Brawl so watch out.
Next Chapter: Separate Paths! Defeat Master Hand
The smashers separate and go on their missions, while the smashers that stay back get a surprise visit from Pit, Zelda, Eirika, and Ninja.
Please R&R!