Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Four: Battling Babies...or a Baby…yeah…

As the torches flickered to life the Smashers got into fighting stances, preparing for anything that was there. The room was dungeon like, with grey stone and a high ceiling, maybe fifty feet high. The torches slowly revealed what was in the room and the Smashers were a bit surprised…There were about thirty Shy Guys…and there appeared to be something else farther back in the room but the torches had temporarily stopped.

"Oh great…more random enemies. What are these guys?" Falco asked.

"Those are Shy Guys, relatively weak enemies but definitely stronger then Boos, Goombas or Bob-ombs…this could be a little difficult," Bario said.

Shy Guys. They were first met by Mario early in his adventures in a strange dream world called Sub-Con (subconscious) Ever since then they have somehow proliferated into the outside world and they are now quite common. They are short, about three feet tall. They have very small arms and legs, and wear large white masks with circular black holes for eyes and mouths. They have cloaks that cover their entire body, which can be in many different colors, so no one has ever actually seen a Shy Guy's actual self before…hence the name "Shy Guy". While small, they are a bit more prepared for combat then Goombas or Boos.

The thirty Shy Guys were arranged in a thick line…and it looked like they were protecting something…or someone. The high-pitched laugh echoed again as the torches finished lighting up the room…and at the back of the room was…

"Wow Bowser…you shrunk!" Yoshi said.

"I did not shrink!" screamed the strange creature at the back of the room, "I am Baby Bowser!"

Baby Bowser. Apparently the form of Bowser when he was a baby (although he must not be a baby as a baby doesn't have coherent speech or coordinated movements so technically he must be like…a kid. But Baby Bowser sounds better then Little Kid Bowser…so…yeah.) He is about the size of the Shy Guys, but is a little thicker, and is turtle-like with a shell that has several short spikes on the back and light colored skin and dark orange/red hair that was tied in a short ponytail behind him. He has a white neckerchief looking thing tied around his neck. He has short legs and small clawed hands…but he seemed pretty feisty and he looked like he could put up quite a fight.

"Yeah…how is that possible?" Bario asked.

"How is what possible?!" Baby Bowser demanded in his annoyingly high-pitched voice.

"How exactly can you exist now if you're Bowser from a few decades ago?" Bario asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Bowser obviously used some sort of time machine to bring me here so I could fight you!" Baby Bowser said.

All the Smashers stared at Baby Bowser in shock. After a few seconds Meta-Knight broke the silence.

"We should build an army of Kittens!"

"What's wrong with him?!" Baby Bowser asked.

"Apparently the same thing that's wrong with Bowser!" Bario exclaimed.

"What do you mean?!" Baby Bowser angrily asked.

Raichu decided to take this moment to speak.

"If he has a time machine…why doesn't he use it to go back in time and like…kill Mario or stop bad things from happening to him?"
Baby Bowser was at a loss for words.

"Crud! I can't find any good words to say! Uh…um…Attack Shy Guys!"

At his command the Shy Guys wordlessly charged forward.

"Oh shoot! I forgot to get ammo for my peanut guns!" Diddy shouted.
"It's too late for that now! Fight!" Bario told them.

Mario of course was in the front lines as he dashed forward and ducked under a diving Shy Guy. As the creature tried to turn around Mario set it aflame. Three others diverted their attack at the other Smashers to take on Mario…

Meanwhile the other twenty-six Shy Guys suddenly stopped in front of the nine Smashers.

"Uh…what are they doing?" Falco asked.

The Shy Guys raised their hands in unison. There was a twinkle of light and a "bing" sound. They then dashed forward and flipped through the air at the Smashers, three to a Smasher (Except for Kirby, there was only two attacking him) All the Smashers managed to dodge, except for Samus who was hit a glancing blow and Raichu who was knocked to the ground, but not severely harmed. After a second to recover from the acrobatic assault the Smashers attacked!

Mario noticed that he was essentially alone with the three Shy Guys. There were no Smashers within 15 feet of him…so he decided to utilize one of his more powerful attacks. The Mario Tornado! He stuck his arms out as the Shy Guys tried to tackle him and he started spinning very fast. The Shy Guys were caught by his rapidly spinning arms and were brutally knocked around, but the force of the spinning Mario was so great that they were actually stuck to him! Eventually a small whirlwind was created and Mario stopped, causing the Shy Guys to be flung in the air. They came crashing down hard. One was quite obviously dead what with the weird angle the head was at…but the other two seemed to have been cushioned a bit by their deceased buddy and it looked like they had some fight left…Mario hefted his hammer…

Bario ducked a Shy Guy attack and stabbed it while Yoshi and Kirby were doing a good job of consuming their enemies and Falco dashed around, attacking a Shy Guy quickly and then using his Falco Phantasm to escape before it retaliated. Bario also noticed Meta-Knight fighting quite well as he repeatedly was stabbing his three foes and parrying their attacks. That was about all Bario could see before the two Shy Guys attacking him did another mindless charge.

Baby Bowser looked worried as the Smashers seemed able to handle his army quite easily…but he planned for that and he had something quite special up his sleeve, just in case…and he thought to himself if five more Shy Guys die…then he would use his secret weapon.

Mario smacked a Shy Guy into a wall, incapacitating it and then as the other dived for him he grabbed it and threw it at one attacking Bario. Mario then dived into the main fray in order to assist the Smashers. Link used his Hookshot to grab a Shy Guy that was trying to sneak up on him and then he stabbed it. Samus used her charge shots to blow away the enemies and Diddy wielded his tail with impressive accuracy and power. Raichu moved around the not so speedy Shy Guys and blasted them with electricity. Soon there were only twenty Shy Guys left, and the ones that were left didn't look to great.

Baby Bowser decided that if he was going to use his secret weapon it would be now…or never. He pulled a long yellow wand with a shiny crystal in it. He called to his Shy Guys.

"Halt! Back up!"

The fighting stopped as the Smashers, in surprise, let the Shy Guys get about ten feet away from them, in a large cluster. The Smashers looked at Baby Bowser in confusion…was he letting them go? Then Mario saw the wand. He tried to get to Baby Bowser, but he only took a step before Baby Bowser let loose a fine green mist from the wand which traveled to the Smashers, encircled them…and they began to shrink…

"Gwa ha ha!" Baby Bowser cackled, "I borrowed this from my head Magikoopa, Kamek! He taught me how to use this spell…and it will be the end of you!"
"What the heck is happening?!" Falco demanded.

"We're shrinking," Bario said in a small voice.
"OH NOOOOOOOOOO!" Mario cried.

After a few seconds the Smashers were only a few inches tall…depending on their original height. They shrunk to a twelfth of their base size, meaning if they were six feet tall before…now they are six INCHES tall. The Shy Guys towered over them and even the stoic Link looked afraid. The massive dungeon like room was big before…but now…it was unbelievably vast. They could barely see Baby Bowser.

"Well guys…it was great but I think this might be it…," Bario said. He seemed quite bitter as if he had more planned with his life then to die as a six inch tall person by being crushed by a Shy Guy.
Mario however seemed to have no desire to die and he shot off several fireballs at the Shy Guys. Although the size of sparks, that's all it takes to light something on fire and soon two Shy Guys were running around burning up. The eighteen Shy Guys not on fire avoided their flammable comrades and moved to crush the small fighters. The Smashers dodged and attacked but their attacks were way too ineffective and the Shy Guys easily batted them around. Kirby took off…

"Darn it Kirby! Don't be a coward!" Falco yelled as Kirby ran to opposite end of the room…towards Baby Bowser. It looked like it might take him a while to get there…

A Shy Guy then fell over as Diddy hit it from behind causing the strange creature to lose its balance…and it fell.
Diddy called out to the other Smashers "Hey! They have really bad balance! If you can knock them down…we can take them out!"

The Smashers attacked with more ferocity as they heard this new information, however the only attacks that really seemed to be doing any damage was Mario's fireballs and Raichu's electric shocks as he jumped from Shy Guy to Shy Guy shocking it repeatedly before jumping to the next. Even that attack wasn't that effective as his shocks were noticeably weaker.
Baby Bowser was quite upset. Although he had successfully shrunken the Smashers they were still fighting hard and fourteen Shy Guys were all that remained. He decided to use the other technique that Kamek had taught him. He focused on the wand and a big ball of energy shot out at what he hoped was a Smasher. It was hard to see, as they were so tiny!

The ball landed and exploded right on a Smasher, killing three Shy Guys and blowing everyone else several feet away. The other Smashers shakily got to their miniature feet…however one Smasher would never rise to his feet again.

"What was that?!" Diddy yelled to Bario.

"I have no idea! But whatever it was…it was big, and I would check to see if everyone is okay…but there is Shy Guy coming right for us!" Bario shouted as he and Diddy dodged the attacking Shy Guy.

Baby Bowser smiled as he saw the damage his blast did. So what if he took out some Shy Guys? That attack was way more useful then any of them! He was going to use it again when he was hit by something pretty hard in the foot. He yelped in pain and surprise and looked around for what hit him. Suddenly he felt something stab him in the tail. He spun around, quite frightened but saw nothing…but he heard a strange noise and looked down…

Meta-Knight flew over the wild swings of a Shy Guy and sliced the mask it wore in two. Suddenly the fighting ceased as everyone, Shy Guy and Smasher watched as the mask slowly fell…finally revealing what is hidden behind a Shy Guy's mask…the thing behind it was…another mask. Exactly the same. Completely identical. No discernible difference whatsoever.

"Weirdo's," Falco said.

The fighting quickly started back up, as they realized how very strange these Shy Guys were.

Baby Bowser looked down…and saw that the thing that had attacked him was…the three inch tall Kirby.

"Grr…small scum! Die!" Baby Bowser said as he swung his wand down hard at Kirby. Kirby rolled out of the way and the wand slammed into the ground…shattering the crystal.

"Whoops," Baby Bowser said with a tinge of embarrassment.

The Smashers were surrounded with a green glow as they grew back to their original size. The Shy Guys started to try to run, but the newly resized Smashers quickly caught up to them and in their own ways, annihilated them. However as the last Shy Guy fell, Bario noticed something that wasn't good…

"No!" Baby Bowser screeched in dismay, "My master plan! Ruined! DIE YOU STUPID PINK THING!"

Baby Bowser let loose a blast of fire at Kirby. Kirby was caught off guard and was unable to block or avoid it and was hurt quite bad. He pulled out his Cutter and slammed it into the ground creating a tall blue shockwave that slammed into Baby Bowser, causing him to be damaged. That did not deter his wrath though as he slid into his shell and spun at Kirby. Kirby tried to smack him with his hammer but was to slow and was whacked several feet from the force of Baby Bowser's blow. As Kirby flew through the air Baby Bowser shot another fireball at him, causing even more damage. Kirby suddenly turned into a rock and fell straight down to the ground.

"Huh? What kind of strange move is that?" Baby Bowser wondered as he walked closer to the rock that was Kirby.

As soon as he was right next to the rock Kirby morphed back into himself and caught Baby Bowser in a flurry of punches, finishing it off with a massive kick that knocked him into one of the chamber's walls.

"Grr…I will not lose to a creature the color of cotton candy! I shall reveal…my final weapon!" Baby Bowser yelled as he pulled out a…hammer?!
Yes. Baby Bowser held a black hammer aloft. It was smaller then Kirby's (About the size of Mario's, which is two feet long, compared to Kirby's four foot one) but it looked metallic, like Mario's and might stand a chance against Kirby's thick wooden hammer. Kirby drew his and with a remarkable strength lifted it over his head and charged for Baby Bowser. Baby Bowser raised his up and met Kirby's. The two hammers made a loud clunk sound as they impacted. Both combatants glared at each other as they pushed on the hammers trying to overpower one another. Baby Bowser grinned at Kirby.

"Come on you weakling, is that the best you got? I will CRUSH YOU!"

Baby Bowser let loose another ball of fire but Kirby was expecting it and inhaled it with his mighty suction powers.

"Wha?!" Baby Bowser said in alarm as he was unaware of that power.

Kirby then let out the ball of fire right at Baby Bowser. He jumped to the side, but was then hit by Kirby's hammer and sent flying again. Baby Bowser barely got to his feet. He took several steps forward and Kirby prepared to hit him in the side with his hammer. In a surprising burst of strength Baby Bowser dashed forward and jumped over Kirby's swing and then threw his hammer down, which although missed Kirby, it did hit Kirby's hammer, causing him to lose his grip on it.
"Heh! Now you're without a weapon!" Baby Bowser said with glee.

Kirby however proved him wrong by pulling out…his Cutter. He stuck it underneath Baby Bowser and shot up in the air, repeatedly stabbing him.

"OW! Stop it you big Meanie!" Baby Bowser pleaded.

Kirby showed no mercy. At the top of Kirby's jump he moved the Cutter from under Baby Bowser to over him and then sliced down, hitting him very hard (For some reason the Cutter is actually rather blunt, so it is more like a pointy club then a sword.) and causing Baby Bowser to be flung into the ground. Kirby wasn't done yet though. As Baby Bowser struggled to get to his feet Kirby slammed into the ground with his Cutter, hitting Baby Bowser at point-blank range with the shockwave. He flew over to the other Smashers as he gave one last groan…and exploded showering them all with healing powers…and stuff. Kirby grabbed his hammer and spun around while saying…

"YAY!"

However Kirby soon noticed that the other Smashers did not share his enthusiasm, as they were all huddled around something lying on the floor. Kirby walked over, curious as to what they were looking at…and when he saw what it was he gasped in surprise and horror.

"Well…he was annoying," Falco said.

"Yeah…but he tried. And he did defeat one of the King's, so at least he wasn't entirely useless," Bario said.

"At least he died in his homeland," Diddy said,"Rather then in a distant world, like most of us are."

"Poor Mario," Raichu said with a tear in his eye.

Mario was lying on the ground…holding Yoshi's blackened body.

"OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"It's okay Mario…it's okay, Geez no wonder he's upset, him and Yoshi have been pals for almost forever," Bario said.

"Yeah…but on the bright side at least now he won't babble on about his 'Ultimate Attack!' Man was that annoying!" Falco said.

"Falco!" Raichu said a little angrily, "Show some respect!"

"No wait…Falco makes a good point, Yoshi WAS annoying," Bario stated.
Yoshi slowly crumbled into dust and Mario stood up with anger in his eyes. The door to the next chamber had been revealed with the defeat of Baby Bowser and Mario ran for it. The rest of the crew soon followed. Diddy however was kind of lagging, as was Meta so Bario stopped.

"Diddy? You okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine…although I feel bad about Yoshi… I feel bad about not being to useful. The things I really wish I had was ammo for my guns-"

As soon as he said that, Meta pulled out a small box.

"Tasty chicken appendix it is!" he said.

"Ah! Meta's got it!" Diddy said in excitement.

Diddy grabbed it and hid it where his guns were.

"What exactly was that?" Bario asked.

"That was not only ammunition for my guns…but also a peanut maker. It MAKES ammunition! It takes a while, but it essentially means I'll never run out! Funky made it for me just before I left."

"Cool…but we really should get going…" Bario said.

Diddy agreed and they went to the door, with Meta following. However what was in the next massive chamber made Baby Bowser look like a walk in the park…