"Yawn… hello everyone."

Silence.

"Ah… when the Random Annoying Person left, I was at first slightly freaked out. But now…"

"Hi everyone! Ha ha ha!"

"…I feel perfectly fine."

"Great! Looks like you seem set to be annoyed again!"

"Sigh… I should have known that this peace could not last."

"Nope! No way!"

"…He's got even more energy than before, folks…"

From Ayane the Game Master:

Daww... it's so short!

I agree with the narrator-person. The enemy growing larger when you think it's done for? Yeah, they're in trouble...!

My Reply:

Yes, last chapter was quite short. But this one should be somewhat longer.

I've been planning this boss battle for a while now. I'm glad I can finally write it down.

Thank you for your review.

From GigaNerd17:

Cool plot idea! This is the first time I've ever seen a Nintendo MMORPG. *subscribes*

I'm not going to throw an OC at you, but there's a few questions I'd like to ask:

1. Why did you limit your starting worlds to Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule & Kanto? I can understand that some areas would be higher-leveled (EG: the Lylat System, Planet Zebes, etc.), but what about areas such as Dreamland or Eagleland? They don't seem to be any more dangerous than Hyrule.

2. You introduce Link, Lucario, and Lucas during the tutorial, and then you bumb out the Mother franchise? :(

3. Will the Replay Token make a return?

Thanks for considering these questions. Keep on writing!
--GigaNerd17

My Reply:

I limited myself to those three worlds for good reason. One, it would be too complicated to have access to hundreds of worlds at once, as that would just cause confusion. Make people work to get to places. Two, those are three of the most popular game-worlds the Nintendo has ever made. It will be possible to get from one area of a world to another, such as from the Mushroom Kingdom to the Beanbean Kingdom, or from Kanto to Johto. The further you stay from the beginning area, the harder the battles are. This holds true for all worlds in the game. For example, the most dangerous place in Eagleland would obviously be much harsher than the starting point in Corneria.

Lucas will make a comeback, but not for ages yet. I have a few complex ideas in that area, and it will be a long time before we see him again.

Yes, the Replay Token will return. However, it won't just be considered an awesome weapon. Prepare to see some major muck-ups with this item later on!

Thank you for your review.

From Jolteon Master:

Cool. Can't wait for the end of that battle. Keeping up with an alter ego can be tedious and I don't blame you for sending Random Guy away for a while. So Zelda does nothing? Think about it. Writing the end for my story has me driving me insane. A sequal? I hadn't even thought about it, hm. Keep Writing!!

My Reply:

Thanks. I know, it's keeping the Annoying Random Person in check.

Zelda will do nothing for now. But she is planned to take part in later battles.

Yes, thinking of the perfect ending for a story can drive you crazy. I enjoyed the end of Curse or Fate, and I'm waiting to see what Hope will look like in later chapters.

Thank you for your review.

"Alright, people, let the next chapter commence!"

The Annoying Random Person piped up. "Yay! Hooray for Boss Battles!"

"Why me…"

Last Game Standing

Chapter Nine: Dark Link Duel

************************************************************************

Link pointed his sword at the giant shadow clone. "Guys! I know how to take it out! All we need to do is to defeat it with a Final Smash!"

Cenn immediately saw through this strategy. "But to do that, we need a Smash Ball."

Link held out the aforesaid sphere in the palm of his hand. "I've got one right here. Now, all we have to do is…"

Impatient for the battle to begin, the Giant Dark Link drew the Dark Master Sword, and knocked the Smash Ball out of Link's reach. Freed from Link's capture, the ball floated around, moving this way and that way.

"Quickly!" Link exclaimed. "Grab that Smash Ball! When you have it, it's power will be redirected towards me, and then I'll activate my Final Smash to take that thing down!"

The cutscene ended, and the four readied themselves for battle.

"Why can't we use the Smash Ball?" Bryonel complained as Cenn began to run after it.

"Because," Ryan stated, "We may not have the necessary Final Smash to take it down."

"Maybe in Cenn's case," Bryonel decided, "But I don't think that it's fair to stop us from seeing our Final Smashes as well."

"Maybe…" Ryan began, but he was cut short when the Giant Dark Link hacked away at them which his sword.

"Great. A boss that we can't hit, yet it can hit us." Bryonel groaned.

"Stop slacking off and get to work!" Cenn complained, casting Cure on Bryonel.

"Thanks." Bryonel said, before dodging a second blow from the monster. "For all this thing's massive size, it isn't very fast."

"Then get to work!" Cenn shouted at his two compainions. Nearby, Link was attempting to distract the creature, without much success.

"I don't think it knows what the Smash Ball is!" He yelled. "As long as you can take it out before he takes us out, we should make it!"

The giant Link turned around, and bashed Ryan, cutting off about half his health in one go.

"Cenn, a little help here…" Ryan muttered.

"Sure." The animation for Cure appeared again, as Ryan was restored to full health again.

The monsterous copy of Link had finally figured out just how important Cenn was to the mission. With one, deadly swing of his blade, he swiftly cleaved Cenn. Surprised by this, Cenn tried to get up, but to no avail. As Ryan rushed to his aid, the Giant Dark Link pulled out a bomb.

"No… not explosives as well!" Ryan yelled, as the deadly explosive dropped through the false Link's hands, and into the area occupying Ryan and Cenn. Ryan cried out as his health nearly dropped to zero. From Cenn however, there was nothing, as a seemingly lifeless heap fell to the ground, feeble and useless.

"No! Cenn! If only I have been faster…"

Bryonel came to his aid. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. But Cenn, he's been defeated."

"I'm sure that he's fine.

"But, even if he did survive the attack, he wouldn't have any more than a couple of Health Points left!"

"Guys…"

"I'm sure that nothing has happened to him. He'll be fine."

"Guys…"

"Okay. Let's get back to fighting for now. For Cenn's sake…"

"GUYS!"

"Huh? Oh, it's you, Cenn…" Ryan did a double take. "CENN?!"

The White Mage stood triumphant. "Thanks for the compliments, guys, but I think that I'll be okay."

"But, how? You looked like you were about to die!"

"Cure... Duh!"

"Oh…"

"And by the way," Cenn continued, hoisting up his wooden cane. "I think I've just solved our giant problem too." He whacked the staff into the Smash Ball. The ball shattered, and passed into Cenn for a split second, before continuing on to Link, who activated it's powers.

"Dark clone of myself, your time is at an end… TRIFORCE SLASH!"

The arena became dark, as Link slashed his foe with the Master Sword. His enemy, incased within the Triforce, was unable to move. Upon the final cut, Link hacked his way through his enemy, defeating his doppelganger, once and for all.

"I think that settles things here," he stated, as though nothing had happened. "Shall we report to Princess Zelda?"

"So," Zelda pondered. "You stopped the fiend from making any more attacks?"

"Yes," Link replied. "The castle is safe."

"Very good," Zelda decided.

"With your leave, Princess Zelda, I would like to attend to the Faron Woods. They have been overrun with Twilight."

"Very well." Zelda decided. "I wish you and your compainions luck in your upcoming trials."

She turned to exit, but then stopped. "I have forgotten something. As a reward for quelling the beast, I shall award you each a Journey Point. You may use it to enter new Gates, or to further your exploration of lands that you have already visited."

Everyone in your Party received 1 Journey Point!

"However," Zelda continued, "It takes at least three Journey Points to open another Gate, so spend them wisely."

The princess turned, and exited the Throne Room.

************************************************************************

"Well, my friends, shall we continue on to Faron Woods?" Link asked.

Bryonel interrupted. "But Link, how are we supposed to get through that wall of Twilight?"

"Hmm… good question." The Hero of Time mused. "Fortunately, I have a friend who will help us enter the woods. You'll meet her when we get there."

So the four heroes set out. But while they walked, Cenn dropped back to talk with Ryan.

"Hey," he whispered. "Ryan, I need to talk to you."

"What is it?" He asked.

"Have you noticed how Link at first acted like a cardboard cut out of a character, but now he's speaking more intelligibly? I'm starting to think that he's not an NPC at all!"

"Chill out, Cenn. I'm sure it's just the programming. Come on, we'd better get to Faron."

"And that's another thing that freaking me out. You and Bryonel are acting as though this game is real! Remember when I was nearly wiped out by that bomb? You two were acting as if I was really dead! And now you say that we have to get to Faron, when you know perfectly well that this is an RPG like any other. And no matter the RPG, you should be able to take as long as you want getting from one place to the other."

"Okay, okay, I get your point. This game just messes with your head a bit. It's proberbly nothing."

But as they wandered back to Link and Bryonel, blissfully unaware of what was coming.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Yay! Another boss battle, though the main characters didn't do nearly as much fighting as they did last time.

Please review!