Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Three: Break Time!

The Smashers were victorious against the evil Kings, and they headed to the center of the castle courtyard to rest for a bit. As soon as they were all there (Except for Meta-Knight, as he was still unconscious) Yoshi looked at everyone with a big smile on his face. He kept this up for about twenty seconds until Falco snapped.

"WHAT? Why are you so happy?" he demanded.

"Oh no reason," Yoshi said, "Just that I defeated King Boo…all by myself…and I used my ultimate attack…the Yoshi Boom, that no one thought existed…and-"

"Shut up," Samus said.

Yoshi shut up. Mario looked at everyone and for once was still. He wasn't shouting out his catch-phrases and it looked like he was sizing everyone up. He had a shrewd look in his eye. Bario glanced around at the Smashers and noticed Diddy off to the side looking at the sky with a very defeated expression on his face. Bario walked over, his features showing concern.

"Hey…Diddy? You okay?"

Diddy jumped, surprised that Bario was there…but then went back to being depressed.

"Hey Bario…no. I'm not okay."

"Why? What's wrong?"
"I…I…don't want to talk about it. I should just go."
"What do you mean go? Don't go! We need you! Or at least I need you," Bario told him.

Diddy looked at Bario with a glimmer of thanks in his expression…but it was buried beneath his depression.

"You don't need me. I'm useless! I couldn't stop Goomboss and I couldn't…I couldn't save her!" he shouted in a brief second of anger.

"Wait…what do you mean…couldn't stop Goomboss?" Bario asked.

"I used my tail technique…my best move…and he just laughed it off. If that's all I can do than there is no point in me trying to take on Giga Bowser later…," Diddy said.

"Wait…you used your tail…your TAIL on Goomboss?"
"Yeah…"

"Well no wonder it didn't work! Goomba's have a special skin that lets them resist most blunt attacks or at least ones that don't squish them, and obviously the Goomba King would have that ability as well," Bario said.

"You mean…I'm not pathetic?" Diddy asked hopefully.
"Of course not…hey what did you mean by 'couldn't save her'?" Bario inquired.

"Oh…that…well, a few weeks ago I was on Kong Island with Dixie, my girlfriend, and we were just…being together. But I heard a rumbling so we left to investigate. Right outside our house was this massive lizard, who Donkey Kong later told me was Giga Bowser-,"

At the mention of Giga Bowser Bario winced. Diddy paused and looked at him.

"Oh…uh, I've heard of Giga Bowser before…and I know what he is capable of but please, go on," Bario said.

Diddy cleared his throat and started again.

"Giga Bowser roared at us and said something about Master Hand and then he attacked us. Dixie and I ran into the jungle. We got separated and after a while I came back to our tree house. Giga, burned it to the ground and killed Wrinkly Kong, but she somehow came back as a ghost, I'm not sure how that happened…but Dixie was gone, and I think Giga grabbed her. I don't know if he killed her or not…but I don't think her chances are good. I'm sorry for babbling on…but I really needed to tell someone."

Bario looked very understanding and patted Diddy's back.

"I'm sorry for your loss…and that is pretty bad. But don't worry! I can't speak for everyone, but I know I will help you defeat Giga!"
Diddy smiled at Bario, and then looked excited as a thought came to him.

"Hey…Bario you know a lot about enemies…what can you tell me about Giga Bowser?"
Bario looked a little surprised by the request, but then answered.

"Well, Giga Bowser is an incredibly powerful creature. He's known as Master Hand's Right Arm; since Master Hand IS the Right Hand, and Crazy Hand is the Left Hand…it's complicated. Anyways, Giga Bowser has several elemental attacks, and is fond of working with Mewtwo, another villain who works for Master Hand, and Ganondorf, a character who Link has done battle with multiple times in the past. Most have obviously made a connection between him and Bowser…but Bowser repeatedly denies being Giga Bowser…but really…how much can you trust that Princess-napping lizard?"

Diddy's eyes were wide after hearing all this.

"How…how do you know so much Bario?"

"I have very good resources of information," Bario said and it looked like he wasn't going to elaborate.

Diddy sighed.

"Well thanks, Bario, for your advice…but I think I should be alone now…"

"If that's what you want…but I think you should talk to Raichu, I have a feeling you two have more in common than you know," Bario said.

Diddy took a look at Raichu, who was also standing a bit to the side of the main group, he had a smile on but it seemed forced…like he was putting it on for show. There seemed to be a deep underlying sadness just beneath the surface. The rest of the Smashers were either lying on the ground or examining their equipment. Bario shrugged, headed back to the group and went over to Mario. Diddy…after a moment of thought got up and walked over to Raichu. Raichu watched him come over.

"Hey Diddy…what's up?"

"Not much…just coming over to say hi…and to talk to you," Diddy said.

Raichu looked a little surprised by this but seemed willing to hear Diddy out.

"Talk about what?"
"Well…looking at how you act it seems like you are suffering from a loss…and a recent one. I thought you might want to speak to someone about it. I know how you feel."

At Diddy's words Raichu stiffened.
"And what makes you think that you can understand how I feel? What makes anyone think they know how it feels to lose someone close to you?!"

"Raichu! Chill! The reason I said that is because…I lost someone too."

Raichu stopped in mid-rant and looked at Diddy in shock.

"Maybe it'll be easier if I just tell you."

Raichu listens as Diddy explains how he lost Dixie. Near the end, the part where he couldn't find her he broke down and cried, as telling the story twice seemed to drain him. Raichu sympathetically patted his back, which makes it the second time someone had done so in five minutes. After he was done Raichu apologized for his overreaction.

"I really am sorry for yelling at you…it's just I'm sick of people pretending they know what it's like to lose someone you care about…someone you're really close to."
"Well I told you what happened to Dixie…you tell me what happened to you," Diddy said.

"Well…she was more than a girlfriend. I think the correct word would be fiancé…but Pokemon don't get married…they just mate for life. Or at least my kind does. We were in the small village we lived in, just her and me and our families and friends."

We were outside when a swarm of…well, I don't know what they were. They looked like humans but they appeared too be made out of like…wires. Really strange. We tried to stop them and they weren't that hard to kill, a few electric attacks and they went down. But there were so many…soon after they arrived the rest of the people in our village came out, mostly Pikachu's but there were a few baby Pichu's and one or two Raichu families. When they came out the tide started to turn in our favor…until he came."

Mewtwo. The most powerful creature I know…he came, leading more powerful versions of these wire people and they wiped us out. I saw him personally kill her…I tried to stop him but he knocked me to the ground with his psychic powers. He said something about obeying orders before he left and took his army with him. Soon after that I passed out."

When I woke up I found that the village was in ruins and lots of the villagers were dead. Pikachu and Pichu from the Smash tournaments went off to find Mewtwo right before I came here…in fact they are the ones who told me to come to the castle. I vowed to find and kill Mewtwo and I volunteered to guard the castle because I hoped some of the Smashers could help me. Pikachu and Pichu were supposed to find Mewtwo and let me know, so we could take him down…but I wanted to get some help first. All I have left of her…is this. She gave it to me a few days before she died."

As Raichu finished his story he pulled out a shiny pendant from around his neck (his fur keeps it mostly hidden), about the size of a baby's fist. There is a strange symbol that looked like a lightning bolt on it.

"I keep it with me to help me remember her," Raichu said.

"Wow…that's awful. I'll tell you what though…I'll help you kill Mewtwo," Diddy said.

"And I'll help you destroy Giga Bowser," Raichu told him.

The two fighters clasped hands on a friendship borne from pain. They then decided to join the rest of the Smashers as there seemed to be some kind of argument going on between Yoshi and Falco.

"Yoshi…I don't freaking care about your stupid attack!" Falco yelled.

"You will…when I totally PAWN you in the next Smash tournament!"
"Dude…you're an idiot. And what does Pawn mean anyways?"
"Oh you're such a noob," Yoshi said, "Pawn…like Pawnage…you know?"
"Do you mean OWNAGE? Like Owned? Or Powned?" Falco asked.

"Well…uh…Shut up!" Yoshi cleverly said.
Bario decided to get them to stop.

"Hey! Quit arguing! We were just attacked…and I don't think the Kings were working alone! They were under orders to attack us."
"Who? Who do you think they were working for?" Diddy asked.

"Well…who is the big bad around here that doesn't have a fondness for Smashers or Mario in particular?" Bario asked.

"Bowser…," Raichu said.

Bowser was one several bad guys who came to the Smasher tournaments. Ganondorf and Mewtwo were the other two, and they were vicious violent fighters. Most of their more powerful abilities were taken away for the fights, to make it fairer…but outside the ring they were steered clear of. They were all bad…but Bowser was very fond of getting into fights outside the arena.

That's how Ness and the Ice Climbers dropped out halfway, as they were too badly beaten to continue battling. After that awful night Mario visited Bowser. No one knows what happened but the next day Bowser was gone too. He went back to his castle. After all…there is a reason Mario is the only person Bowser fears.

"That's right," Bario said, "It was probably Bowser. I think that before he realizes that the Kings have failed we should go to his castle and take him down! Otherwise he'll just keep sending his minions at us. There is a warp pipe not to far away from here that according to Mario should take us right outside his castle."
Falco raised his hand.

"We're not in school. Falco you don't have raise your hand. What do you want?" Bario asked.

"Uh…what's a school? Is it edible?" Falco inquired.

"…Never mind. Just ask your question," Bario said.

"Oh…well two things. First…why did we get healed after killing the Kings?"
At that question the other Smashers started saying how they agreed, that was really weird. After a minute of them interrupting each other and arguing about their various theories Bario took the floor again.

"SILENCE!"

There was silence.

"Geez…if we can't get along with one another how are we supposed to beat Bowser? Honestly people. I think a possible reason that we all got healed is because after beings of such power got killed that energy got released and somehow…we absorbed it and that healed us. I have a feeling that will happen to us when we fight other things and I think it might happen if we beat a lot of little enemies as well.

"Uh…thanks for answering my question…but I have another one. What's up with Meta?" Falco asked.

Everyone turned and looked at Meta-Knight. He had stumbled to his feet and was now wandering around mumbling to himself.
"Um…I don't know," Bario said.

Mario jumped over to Meta. They were too far away for their conversation to be heard…but after a second Mario looked very happy and threw Meta over. Meta used his wings and floated safely to the ground. Everyone looked at him as Mario hopped back. Meta-Knight raised one hand into the air and said…

"Cheese is a government conspiracy!"
He then proceeded to giggle maniacally.
"What happened to him?" Raichu asked.

"If I had to say…the blow to the head must have knocked his brains around…although I'm not to sure where his brains ARE," Bario said.

"Pudding is a tasty beverage!" Meta yelled.

"I think he's broken," Yoshi said.

"Well…although he seems pretty random I think he'll still fight, so I can guess he can stay," Bario said.

"You mean we're not going to try and fix him?" Diddy asked.

"I'm no brain surgeon! And if you mean hit him on the head again…well…all that would do is cause more damage. No…I think the best thing to do will be to leave him alone," Bario said.

The other Smashers reluctantly agreed. They decided they had relaxed long enough and went to the warp pipe. It was next to a patch of flowers by the side of Peach's Castle. They all jumped in and were quickly warped near a massive bridge leading to two humongous doors laden with chains and locks…that for the moment appeared to be unlatched.

Bowser's castle loomed high above them, made entirely out of gray stone…however it didn't appear to have multiple floors…rather the way the windows were set up made it appear as though it had one floor with the ceiling fifty feet high. Beneath the bridge was a bubbling pool of lave. The Smashers gulped collectively and began to cross the bridge. Just before they reached the doors Bario cleared his throat.

"Now guys…I have a feeling Bowser will be ready for us…so expect anything when we open that door…"

Mario, Link and Diddy all pushed against the doors. They creaked open revealing darkness…they couldn't see more than a few feet in the room. All the Smashers took a step inside. As soon as they were all in, the door slammed shut, plunging them into blackness. Raichu and Falco spun around to try and open the door…but there was no way to open it from the inside. A high-pitched laughing could be heard as one by one the torches on the wall flickered to life…

(Author's Note: Yes, yes I know. No action whatsoever in this chapter. I'm sorry! I used this chapter to advance the plot…but don't worry it won't happen again. Everything else will be super cool and exciting. Anyways review and let me know how my writing is! This is my first big actiony story and I want to know if I'm doing a good job! REVIEW…please?)