I remind you that the Failures ARE NOT Hollows. The concept is similar, but they are not the same beings. The Failures can be seen by everyone while Hollows can only be seen by certain people, especially those with 'sixth sense'.
Chapter 22
Storm the Enemy Base! Let's Split Up and Take Them On!
Master Hand was leading the pack of strong Smashers through the desert terrain, heading for Smelton's hideout that is somewhere in Area 51. "Everyone got Holy Weapons?" MH asked, turning back to look at his army.
"No," Snake replied.
"Okay, not all of you have it, but I'm sure you all can hold up to your enemies whether or not you have them."
"Shouldn't we be heading for the buildings over there?" Link asked, pointing to the barriers and buildings to their side.
"Well, yeah… But those are owned by the government," MH said. "I'm starting to think that Smelton couldn't have been referring to that place, but is near that place."
"If he does work for the government, things would be hard," Captain Falcon said. "Even if we are no longer on the wanted list, barging into places like that can still spell trouble for us."
"True, so I think we should look around this place first before coming to a conclusion. Perhaps Smelton built his base under the ground or it's hidden from our sights."
As they continued to walk, some of them felt a slight rumbling underneath their feet. "You felt something?" Kirby asked.
"I smell something…" Yoshi stated.
"I sense the aura of a living being…" Lucario said.
"I think it's safe to assume that all of us sensed something already…" MH said. "Be on your guards."
Everyone got into defensive stance, and Samus scanned around the place using some special visor. She looked at the ground and then said, "It's underneath us!"
"Where?" Wario asked, looking down. Suddenly, the whole place shook and the sand was tossed around like waves in the sea, and then it erupted and a large centipede-like creature rose out into the air—Type C.
"Whoa! What is that?!" Falco gasped.
"Probably some monster made by Smelton," Ike said.
"Then let's get it clobbered up!" Bowser said.
All those with projectile weapons fired up at the giant centipede as it soared around in air. After making a couple of circles in air and enduring some shots, it dove back down towards them again, and the Smashers all got out of the way to avoid getting hit. The centipede hit the ground headfirst and sank back into the sand, and the Smashers looked around with awareness in fear that it might pop up underneath one of them. "Be careful! Don't let it get you when it comes up!" Fox said.
Samus looked through the ground using x-ray visors and saw Type C's movement down there. "It's heading in that direction!" she said, and she ran in the direction that the centipede went and everyone followed her.
As Samus took the lead, she suddenly disappeared into thin air, much to everyone's surprise. "What the?!" DK gasped.
"She disappeared!" Diddy said in shock.
Then something even stranger occurred; Samus's suddenly stepped back out from thin air, but only her upper body could be seen. "What are you standing there for? C'mon in! There's a base there!"
"Where? I don't see anything!" Dedede said. "Don't lie to the king!"
"Can't you see? Look!" Samus suddenly disappeared into thin air again, once again surprising everyone.
"What the heck?!" Falco gasped.
"Wait a minute…" MH went forward and disappeared into the same place as Samus.
"Now Master Hand is gone!" Pichu gasped. "What is happening here?!"
Then MH came back out and said, "Hey, I get it now! Just step forward and you'll see!"
"Well, let's just move on and see what this is about," CF said, and following his advice, everyone stepped forward and they all disappeared one by one into thin air.
After everyone 'disappeared' through the air, they saw a large base before them on the other side. "Whoa! That thing just popped up in front of us all of a sudden!" Red gasped.
"How did this happen?!" Pikachu wondered.
"You don't get it yet?" MH asked. "It's simple…"
"I got it now!" Fox said. "It's an invisible barrier!"
"Invincible barrel?" DK asked.
"There is a barrier around this base that when viewed from the outside, you cannot see anything through it, and so it makes it look like when someone stepped into it, they disappear! That was the reason Samus seemingly disappeared and we cannot see the base. But once in there, we can see the base and things outside."
"That explains that!" CF said.
"I don't understand, but in summary, it's something that can make things disappear, right?" Diddy asked.
"You can put it that way… Sort of…" Fox said.
Samus looked at the ground with her x-ray visor again. "The giant centipede is gone…"
"As long-a as eet won't-a bother uz, eetz fine," Mario said.
"You know, that centipede seemed to have led us into this place…" Red said.
"Yeah, that's what I thought too…" Roy said.
"The enemy just wants us to come here so they can kill us fast," Ganondorf said.
"But shouldn't also be afraid that we can foil their plans?" Pikachu asked.
"Some people are just arrogant enough to think they can eliminate us with ease that they would do this. Don't think too much into this."
"Okay, the base is just ahead, so let's go!" MH said, and they marched towards the massive base before them.
The Smashers approached the large open door in front of the base, and they also noticed that there are entrances on other walls too. There were at least three entrances counting the one they were in front of currently.
"Hmmm… There's one door here…" MH said, and then he looked to the left and saw another entrance on a further part of the base. "Another there…" And then he glanced to the third entrance on the far right side of the base. "And another there…"
"Should we split up?" Marth asked.
"That's what I'm thinking… This place is so big and it might take forever to find our goal if we huddle together all the time. We might as well split up."
"How do we divide ourselves then?" Snake asked.
"We better discuss about this."
-
Some time passed and they finally came up with three groups.
Group 1: Dedede, Meta-Knight, Roy, Ike, Yoshi, Lucario, Mewtwo, Ganondorf, ROB, Bowser, Wario
Group 2: Master Hand, Sonic, Mario, Snake, Marth, Toon Link, Link, Captain Falcon, Samus, Wolf, Pit
Group 3: DK, Diddy, Kirby, Pikachu, Pichu, Ness, Lucas, Red, Young Link, Fox, Falco
"Okay, now that things have been decided," MH said, "Please be careful out there and make it through this alive."
"Don't worry," CF said. "We've been through these stuffs several times and this one will be no different."
"Good luck then! Let's meet each other again soon!"
And so, Group 1 headed for the entrance before them, Group 2 went for the entrance towards the left side, while Group 3 went for the one on the right.
-
Group 1 stepped into the base and found themselves staring across a hallway. "Be careful, there is bound to be traps all over the place," Dedede said. "Therefore I will allow the bravest person to stand in front of me and lead the way."
"Just so you can get yourself out of danger, right?" Roy asked.
The group went through the hallway and there were no signs of danger at all, and they eventually came to another room that had seven different passages before them. "Great, more forks on the road…" Bowser said.
"Looks like we'll have to split up again," Ike said.
Lucario looked at each of the passages and said, "I do not feel any presence in any of them."
"I don't smell anything either," Yoshi added. "Looks like all of them are safe."
"But we must not let our guards down," Mewtwo warned them. "The enemies may very well be hiding their presences and may strike at moments unnoticed. We should be careful."
"Okay then, let's start picking our paths!" Roy said.
After a while of deciding, Bowser and Wario took the leftmost passage, ROB took the second from the left, Roy and Ike took the third from the left, Dedede and MK took the center one, Ganondorf took the third from the right, Yoshi and Lucario took the second from the right, and Mewtwo took the rightmost one.
-
Team 3 was still walking through the desert to reach the entrance that was visible before them, and the distant was about the length of an Olympic coliseum. Ness took his hat and wiped his forehead, saying, "Boy, it sure is hot here…"
"We're in the desert after all…" Kirby said, looking hot and tired.
Suddenly, they all felt the sand underneath them rumbling. "Uh oh… I have a bad feeling about this…" Fox said.
Then at this moment, the sand erupted and Type C rose up into the air again. "It's that giant centipede again!" Pikachu gasped.
The giant centipede dove down once again and attempted to crush them, but they all got away in time and the centipede sank into the sand.
"Dammit! He got away again!" Falco said, but then he felt the sand underneath him rising.
"It's coming out from there!" Fox shouted to him.
"Dang!" Falco quickly jumped away in time just as Type C's head rose out and snapped its mandibles before sinking back down again.
DK and Diddy looked around with awareness, and then the sand underneath rose. "It's below us!" Diddy gasped. The Kongs ran off in time and Type C once again failed to bite its target, but instead of pulling head back into the sand, it flew up into the air.
"Good! Time to shoot you down!" Falco said, pointing his Atomic Gun at the centipede. He fired a series of powerful shots at the skin of the centipede and each shot left behind a medium-sized explosion. The centipede also let loose a screeching sound upon being shot, and then it swooped down at him and tried to bite him. Falco rolled away and dodged the attack and the centipede swooped back up again.
As Type C was moving back into the sky, YL quickly jumped onto its body and rode on its back and was carried up along. "Hey! I want to ride too!" Diddy shouted.
YL got out his sword and plunged it into the centipede's body, but the skin was very hard and it didn't do any good. "Whoa! It's like steel!" he thought. "Whoa!" The body of the centipede shook around violently and YL fell off. "YA!!"
"I'll catch you!" DK said, raising his arms, and YL fell into his hand safely. "There!"
"Thanks…"
Type C swooped down at them once again and Falco and Fox fired at the face of the centipede monster rapidly, but then they had to get away before it crashed down on them, and the centipede once again disappeared into the sand.
"Dang! This guy sure likes to run!" Falco said.
"Be careful! He can come out from anywhere!" Fox warned everyone.
Suddenly, the area all around them began to turn slanted. "What the?!" Red gasped.
"Uh? It's a quicksand!" Fox shouted.
The sand around them took the form of a funnel and the sand slid down into the center, and the Smashers panicked and flailed their limbs like crazy to 'swim' up the sliding sand. "Dang! As if facing one giant bug isn't enough!" Falco cursed. "Is this his doing too?!"
Ness looked down and was shocked too see a pair of giant mandibles rising out of the sand. "Eeks! There's something down there!"
"That one is bigger than the centipede's!" Red said. "Does that mean…?"
Then out of another part of the sand, Type C came back out in flew into the air again. "What?! Not the same creature?!" Falco gasped.
"The one down there looks more like a giant antlion!" Fox cried.
"Help!!" Lucas cried.
-
Back at the Final Destination, the other Smashers were sitting and resting on the surface. Peach and Zelda were drinking cool beverages while watching the desert scenery. "It sure is hot here," Peach said while holding an umbrella over herself.
"It's the desert after all," Zelda told her. "But when nighttime comes, it can get really cold."
Olimar was walking around the place with his Pikmins, looking for interesting things. Luigi was sitting at the edge, looking into a pair of binoculars, the Ice Climbers were building a sandcastle, Waluigi was just pacing around, Parry perched on a cactus and looking around, Dr. Mario and G&W were playing chess, and Crazy Hand was taking a snooze on the surface of the FD.
"Your turn," Dr. Mario said to G&W after moving his piece.
"Boy, the sun is preventing me from thinking properly," G&W said. "If only there is someone to provide the shades for me…" And then a shadow loomed over him instantly. "Why thanks!" G&W looked up and saw a giant bird flying above the FD. "Uh?"
"What's that?" Dr. Mario wondered, looking at the giant bird flying in the sky.
"It's a giant vulture!" Olimar said. "I've never seen one the size of that!"
"Whoa… I hope it's not dangerous," Luigi said.
As everyone watched the giant vulture, it suddenly flew down onto the surface of the FD, much to everyone's surprise. It landed in front of G&W and Dr. Mario and the two looked with bewildered eyes at its head, which was actually the head of a frilled lizard.
Yes, it was a giant vulture with the head of a frilled lizard. Strange, eh?
"That's the ugliest vulture I've ever seen…" G&W commented. The vulture/lizard/whatever suddenly screeched and the frills spread out, and then it brought its head down at a fast speed and smashed the chessboard into pieces, and the both of them jumped back in fright.
"WHOA!"
Peach and Zelda moved back in fear too. "Why is it attacking us?!" Peach gasped.
The vulture monster, Type V, flapped its wings and rose into the air while screeching loudly and glared down at the Smashers. "I have every way to believe that it's another one of those crazy monsters related to the Failures…" G&W said.
-
Meanwhile, inside the base…
ROB was moving through a hallway by himself, and he finally came into a rather large and spacious room. He looked and scanned around the place with his camera-like eyes and said, "No dangers detected in this room." And then he looked at the door before him and suddenly moved back a bit. "Sensor indicates life form approaching. Correction: mechanical being approaching."
He continued to look at the door, and suddenly, sharp claws bored through the center of it and tore the door away, and then the mechanical T-Rex was seen standing behind it. The mecha dinosaur stood at least two meters tall and the body was pretty big and bulky, not to mention having massive arms unlike actual T-Rexes. I think I mentioned that in the previous chapter already… There was also a letter V and three I's imprinted on the chest.
The mecha T-Rex looked at ROB and said in a rough voice, "I am the Factoid, the Eighth Failure. You better believe what I said because everything I say is a fact!"
TO BE CONTINUED
Pretty short chapter, but at least it gives you an insight for upcoming fights. I was a bit low on ideas when writing this chapter, but I'll try to make up for it next chapter.
