Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Twelve: Those naughty shadow people, when will they learn?

The Smashers walked through the door, expecting another large room and a difficult battle. Instead they were met with a long winding staircase. It led up perhaps twenty feet to a closed door, just like the ones before it.

"I guess we're going up," Bario said, "Come on!"
The Smashers resolutely walked up the stairs and entered the door at the top. It led to an identical chamber as the one where they fought the massive monsters…but there were no great beasts in this one. Rather there were several strange looking people…

There were about…seventeen people in the room. They all looked slightly similar to Link…but there was something wrong with them. Twelve of them were identical to each other, they were a dark grayish black color, clothes and skin, but they looked like Link otherwise, with similar swords and shields. The other four were stranger. One was wearing green clothes, but they were a brighter green than Link's and his skin had a greenish tint. The same was true for one that was red, one that was blue and one that was purple.

The final person was also shaped like Link. This one was completely black, almost like a silhouette. But he was standing in that mysterious light that illuminated the rooms and it revealed no more of him. His sword and shield were also pure black and an aura of malice radiated from this one, like none of the others. Actually he wasn't all black. His eyes glowed an eerie red…

"Huh. These guys are really different then what I was expecting," Diddy commented.

"Yeah, they don't look that bad," Raichu agreed.

"Heh, looks like they have a Link fetish. Hmph, after what we've taken on before these guys should be cake!" Falco said.

"You idiot!" Bario snapped, with a surprising burst of anger. The Smashers looked at him in surprise, or at least most of them did. They noticed that Bario was shaking and looked very nervous. Link was quivering with rage as he stared at the strange people.

"What? What'd I say?" Falco asked in confusion.

"Sorry…just you have no idea what you're up against," Bario said.

At his words, the strange people seemed to smile…although if they did, it wasn't a pleasant one.

"Well, why don't you explain it to us then?" Raichu asked, trying to stay calm, although Bario's attitude was starting to freak him out. The Link people gave Bario a mocking nod, as if they were agreeing with Raichu.

"I hate these guys…," Bario growled, "They're all different…but the same basic thing. Evil clones of Link. The grayish ones are Shadow Links, weak versions of Link that have some of his sword and shield abilities, like his spin attack and bombs. They are pretty weak, but can overwhelm one of you if they surround you. They were originally from an evil object called the Dark Mirror. That was destroyed some time ago, so I'm not sure how Ganondorf managed to get some of them here," Bario informed.

As he said this the twelve Shadow Links raised their arms into the air and seemed to be proud of what Bario was saying as they nodded their heads. The other five evil Links clapped.

"I so very hate them," Bario said with venom in his voice, "The other ones are more dangerous. The Green Link has all the abilities of the Shadow Links, except he's stronger, faster, doesn't use bombs and instead uses an attack called the Pegasus Dash."
"Pegasus Dash?" Raichu asked.

"Where he holds his sword in front of him and using magic shoes dashes forward at a high speed, hoping to impale his target. Fortunately he can only go in a straight line with that move, but it is surprisingly fast."

Green Link proudly waved his golden blade around. The Smashers noticed that the other colored Link's also had gold swords and large shields that covered most of their front.

"Yes, the gold just means it is a powerful blade, and the shields are Mirror Shields. They will deflect magical projectiles and make it very difficult to attack one from the front," Bario said. The Links seemed content to lie back and let Bario tell everyone how "great" they were, as they made no motion to attack.
"Red Link can do everything the Green Link can, but can also use an attack similar to the Spin Attack, however it lasts for a while and it essentially turns him into a bladed cyclone for a bit. The Blue Link can do everything Red Link can, but can also leap into the air and crash down with his sword, trying to skewer someone. Even if he misses, the impact can temporarily stun someone near by. Purple Link can do all of the abilities of Blue and can shoot fireballs from his sword. He is far stronger and faster than the others. Occasionally when things get tough Green, Red, Blue and Purple Link can go invisible using an item called the Magic Cape. It will only last for a few seconds, plus you can see their shadow, but they can sneak up on you with that. They were originally evil incarnations of another person who went by the name of Link, many years ago, born when he used a magic sword called the Four Sword. Ganondorf must have somehow released them from their prison inside that blade," Bario told them.

The Smashers were starting to look slightly worried, after all this was a bit more than they were expecting…but it couldn't be any more difficult than anything else they've faced right? Diddy and Raichu were slightly confused…another Link? Something to ask him about later…

"The last one…is the worst. He has all of Link's abilities and items, Boomerang, bow and arrows, bombs, plus he's amazingly skilled. He fought Link's of different times and was always a vicious foe. Our Link has battled him twice. Once, on a mission to stop Ganondorf, and again when he tracked Link down at the Smash tournaments. He has no name, but I believe a fitting title for this…creature is Dark Shadow Link,"
Before Bario's words finished echoing Dark Shadow Link nodded his head and the twelve Shadow Links charged forward. The Smashers were slightly surprised by the brazen assault, but quickly recovered and prepared to destroy the Shadow Link's and their foolhardy attack.

"Fire!" Bario commanded.

Acting like one unit the Smashers with projectile abilities attacked. Missiles, arrows, fireballs, shockballs, laser shots and peanuts all flew at the Link's. They blocked several of the weaker attacks with their small shields, but attacks like Samus's missiles managed to blow through the shields and Raichu's attacks traveled through the dark gray metal and zapped them. Once their defense was down the other Smashers targeted the stunned Link's. It didn't take much to destroy one, and when one was destroyed it vanished into a puff of black particles that flew quickly away to the north end of the room…by the time the Shadow Link's managed to reach the Smashers, there were only seven left…but by then they could fight back.

They immediately lit seven bombs and threw them at Link and Samus. Before either could react the Shadow Link's all charged up a spin attack and swung. Meta, Kirby and Falco were all struck by the attack and sent flying to the western wall. Samus and Link dashed away from the bombs, which exploded harmlessly behind them, but then three Shadow Link's threw bombs at Diddy, who wasn't expecting the attack. They all hit him in the face. He recovered fast and activated his jetpack, right before the bombs exploded. He was kicked high in the air because of the blast and landed roughly on the ground.

However that moment was when Mario and Bario struck. Coming from opposite sides, Mario first threw four fireballs. They vaporized one Shadow Link and as another brought its sword up Mario slammed it with is hammer, crushing it. The two Link's turned into black particles and flew away…

Bario was dueling with two of the other Shadow Link's. They both struck him at the same time, one high, one low. Bario parried the high strike and, using some impressive agility leaped onto the other's sword. His weight caused the Shadow Link to lose his grip and almost fall over. Bario gracefully jumped off the falling sword and landed behind the two Shadow Link's that he then skewered in the back, causing them to disintegrate as well.

The remaining three Shadow Link's looked determined and began some crazy bomb-throwing action. They formed a triangle and launched bombs like mad at the Smashers. They ducked and dodged, but Meta, Diddy, and Falco were all hit directly, and the rest suffered damage from chips of the exploding ground hitting them.

"Why don't they run out?!" Falco yelled to Bario as he ducked another bomb.

"I don't know! They must be using magic!" he responded while rolling.

"You know what?! Forget dodging!" Falco said. He stopped running away from the bombs…and ran towards the Shadow Link's. Seeing him charging toward certain doom the three Shadow Link's smiled and all threw a bomb at him. Falco grinned, stopped…and turned on his Reflector.

The bombs hit his blue hexagonal force field, causing it to flash white…and sent the bombs plummeting back at nearly twice the speed they were going. The Shadow Link's were unable to dodge their own bombs which exploded as soon as they hit the Shadow Link's. They burst into black particles and flew away. Bario and the Smashers saw the particles fly…right into Dark Shadow Link!
"NO!" Bario yelled, "Crap, he's trying to get us to kill the weaker ones so he can power himself up! We have to kill him!"
The Smashers nodded, but then had to dodge a fireball flung from Purple Link's sword. Green Link then came rushing through with his Pegasus Dash, not stabbing anyone but smacking Meta with his shield. Green Link, with Meta stuck to his shield moved rapidly through the chamber until Green Link slammed Meta into one of the walls.
Bario growled as Red released his Hurricane Spin Attack, moving around like a blood-red buzz saw. He tried to evade the attack, but he got nicked in the side, drawing blood but not severely injuring him. Bario tripped from the blow and fell to the ground. Red stopped spinning and prepared to unleash the killing blow to Bario, who was trying to get up, when Bario's arm flashed. Red parried the sword just in time to prevent himself from being all…stabbed and stuff, but by then Bario was up and angry.

"I'm angry!" he said.

Blue Link and Purple Link were watching Green pull away from the wall, and then duck a swing from the not very injured Meta. Green sliced then and Meta parried. Meta then used the force from Green's swing to be pushed against the wall. Green grinned, thinking he had Meta trapped when Meta suddenly yelled.

"Tasty chickens are in the fridge!"

The loudness and randomness of the yell surprised Green and he took a step back. At that moment Meta flew up into the air and made a diving slash at Green who barely blocked it. Meta may be tougher than he looks…

Blue looked at Purple who nodded. Nodding back Blue suddenly leapt into the air so fast he seemed to vanish. Diddy and Raichu who were watching Purple and Blue, curious as to why, after Purple's initial attack, they weren't doing anything. When Blue vanished they let out a surprised yelp. Soon however they noticed a rapidly enlarging shadow over them. They looked up just as Mario tackled them, barely avoiding Blue's sword slam that would have cut right through Diddy and Raichu.

Mario quickly flipped to his feet as Blue glared at him, as if he was angry for preventing his kill. Diddy and Raichu were stunned, as they were just saved from a rather painful death by Mario. Mario pulled out his hammer just as Blue swung. Mario slammed his sword with his hammer and shot a fireball at Blue. Blue used his shield to reflect it, but Mario ducked and attacked Blue's shield with his hammer. Blue's shield held strong, but he was being inexorably knocked back. He tried to stab at Mario again, but Mario countered by slamming into the sword with such force that Blue lost his grip on it. Mario then smashed Blue's shield, and Blue lost his balance, falling to the floor.

Mario was about to deal the finishing blow when a fireball from Purple sent him sprawling. Blue quickly got to his feet and grabbed his sword. Mario twisted around and glared at Purple, who had sneaked up behind him. Purple smirked as Blue joined by his side. Mario got to his feet and prepared to attack when he saw something behind Purple that made him pause. Raichu with his hands up, and something forming above him. Quickly Mario realized that he'd have to distract the Link's while Raichu did whatever the heck he was doing, as it would probably be good.

Link and Samus had gone over to Meta who was trying to break through Green Link's defenses. Link grabbed a bomb and threw it at Green Link, but he used his Pegasus Dash to escape the explosion. Samus fired four Power Beam shots at Green but he used his shields mirror like capabilities and reflected them back, one heading towards Meta, another at Link and the remaining two flew straight towards Samus. Meta used his sword to deflect the energy ball and Link used his shield. Samus fired two Power Beam shots at her own attack in order to prevent it from hitting her.
Green Link growled and prepared to fight, when Diddy called over to Meta, Samus and Link.

"Hey! Try and get back over here with us! We've got an idea!"
Deciding the Link's would be easier to defeat together Link, Samus and Meta broke off their attack and joined up with Mario and Diddy who were about to face off against Blue and Purple. Green stared at the three in confusion before joining up with Blue and Purple. Dark Shadow Link watched all the proceedings with a strangely satisfied grin…

Kirby and Falco were trying to help Bario with Red Link, but Bario and Red were locked in vicious combat. Bario was considerably faster and more skilled, but Red's shield was providing him adequate cover. Seeing an opening Falco shot off a laser at Red. It hit him in the back of the head, distracting him. Bario tried to do a double slash, from both sides but Red then did his Hurricane Spin Attack. Bario, Falco and Kirby all leaped out of the range and tried to evade the deadly assault. Right about then they heard Diddy's call and joined with the other Smashers, leaving Red rather upset. Then Red saw the other Link's and joined his comrades.

By the time both groups were together eight of the Smashers were standing between the Link's and Raichu who was pulsating with electricity. When the Link's saw him they realized something very bad would happen if they let him do whatever he was trying to do. So as one they all did a Pegasus Dash. Kirby pulled out his Cutter and made a shockwave, stopping Green and Red. Blue and Purple kept coming until Samus and Link fired several bombs in their path. They stopped to avoid the explosion. Green tried to dash again but Meta flew forward and sliced at Green. Green blocked the attack, but was sent flying backwards from the unexpected assault.

Purple seemed to send an unspoken message to Blue and Red and together they all unleashed a Hurricane Spin. Link, Samus and Diddy all fired attacks at Purple, eventually breaking through his attack and stunning him. Falco jumped in front of Blue and just before the attack hit he activated his Reflector, stunning Blue long enough for Falco to kick him in the face, knocking him into Green. Mario used his cape against Red, sending him spinning back towards Purple. Red managed to stop the attack but he still rammed into Purple reasonably hard.

Green and Red, already, severely damaged struggled to get up but Blue and Purple seemed to be fine as they glared at the Smashers with blazing eyes. No one noticed a black cloud building up above the fighters…except for Dark Shadow Link who watched with wary interest…

Purple and Blue both appeared to vanish. Expecting them to come crashing down from above the Smashers didn't notice when they appeared in front of Link and slashed twice. He barely blocked the attack with his shield and struck, but by then they had jumped out of his range.

"What was that?!" Falco demanded.

"I guess they used their Magic Capes. They can't attack when they have those on, but they can perform sneak attacks…," Bario said.

At that time Blue and Purple vanished again. Not sure what to expect the Smashers warily glanced around, but even so Diddy and Kirby barely dodged the two's jump attacks. While the Link's tried to pull their swords out of the ground, Mario and Kirby slammed them with their hammers, sending them flying into Green and Red who had just managed to get back up.
Before either group could follow through with anything a crack of thunder boomed through the room. All the fighters looked up as they saw a massive black thundercloud, practically spewing electricity…and it was right over the Link's. Their eyes grew wide, but they had no chance to escape as a massive blast of lightning flew down from the cloud and zapped all of the evil Link's. In the next split second six more equally powerful bolts zapped down. After the impressive light show the cloud dissipated and all that was left of the Link's were black particles…that flew off and were absorbed into Dark Shadow Link.

Diddy looked over at Raichu, who appeared slightly drained but fine.

"Hey, that was awesome! I didn't know you could do that…," Diddy trailed off looking at Raichu who seemed puzzled, "Are you okay?"
"What? Oh…yeah I'm fine. Fine," he repeated, seeming slightly confused.

"Is something-" Diddy started to say before Bario interrupted.

"Talk later, kill villain now," He said gesturing to Dark Shadow Link who was walking slowly towards them, dark energy literally oozing from him. The air around him was warped and twisted. He stopped about twenty feet from the Smashers and grinned, or at least he appeared to grin. He was entirely black, so it was difficult to read his facial expressions.
"Raichu…can you fight?" Bario asked. Raichu nodded and moved up to join the Smashers.

Dark Shadow Link raised his sword above his head. The Smashers tensed, expecting a horrible attack. What they weren't expecting was Dark Shadow Link to plunge his black sword into the ground. Shadow oozed from the impact point. Eventually it split into eight shadow puddles. The Smashers stared with confusion…and a hint of fear as the puddles moved to within six feet of each Smasher…except for Link.

"What are these-YAAARGH!" Falco yelled in shock and surprise as a black…something oozed up from the puddle. It was an action repeated by the other seven puddles.

Emerging from each of the puddles was a black shadowy version of all the Smashers. Except for Link, as his Dark self was standing in front of him, silently laughing at his handiwork.

"Well, I have to say. I was expecting him to do a lot with all the power…but not this," Bario said as he stared at his Dark self. Something all the Shadow Smashers seemed to have in common was flaming red eyes…and a pure black complexion.

"What now?" Falco asked, just as his double suddenly pulled out a pure black laser pistol and fired a red laser at Falco. Falco ducked…and the battle was on.

Each Smasher moved off from each other in order to battle their evil double alone, except for Diddy and Raichu, who stuck together. The only words that were exchanged were Bario's advice just before he and Dark Bario engaged in battle.

"Alright, I have a feeling these guys should be capable of some of your basic moves, so be careful-YAH!" he yelled as Dark Bario struck.

Raichu was battling alongside Diddy against their alternates. Diddy's seemed capable of firing peanuts and using powerful tail moves and Raichu's could shoot electric balls and use some basic electrical attacks. Raichu ducked a peanut shot from Dark Diddy and used an electrical spark to zap him. Dark Diddy seemed stunned, but that thought was wiped from Raichu's mind as Dark Diddy's tail whipped by and slammed Raichu in the face, knocking him down and rolling him. Diddy, who was avoiding being shocked by Dark Raichu cried out in fear for his friend…and in that moment he was zapped and kicked by Dark Raichu. The two evil creatures advanced menacingly on the two fallen heroes.

Meta's Dark self was confused. Meta wasn't following the patterns or styles that he used to have. Master Hand created all the Dark versions of heroes, or at least he had villains in that particular world do it for him. Necessary, was a basic knowledge of the hero's capabilities and styles that was then imbued into the Dark self. Ganondorf's creation, Dark Shadow Link is an old Dark self, kept alive by Ganondorf's powerful magic, and after every battle with a Link Dark Shadow Link became smarter and tougher…even if he lost. Shadow Meta (Not to be confused with Dark Meta, another evil creature) was trying to anticipate Meta-Knights moves, but not only were they very different (it was almost like he was a completely different person) but his continuous random ramblings severely unnerved Shadow Meta. Meta's personality seemed to have completely changed as well…

Mario was angry. He had a large amount of pride, and a creature using his moves and proclaiming itself as a version of him made him angry. It was bad enough that Bowser Jr. impersonated him as Shadow Mario on that island vacation a few months back, but this Dark Mario was even worse! Mario slammed Dark Mario with his hammer, but Dark Mario deflected it with an identical, albeit black hammer and then fired a red-orange fireball. Mario smacked it with his hammer and it vanished. He punched at Dark Mario but he jumped over the attack, and came down trying to kick Mario in the face, but Mario grabbed his leg, dropping his hammer. Mario used his classic swing throw, where he spun Dark Mario around rapidly before letting go, with extreme force. Dark Mario however merely rolled upon hitting the ground and sprung up, apparently avoiding injury. This guy might be a little difficult…

Samus opened up with a missile barrage at Shadow Samus (Not to be confused with Dark Samus, one of Samus's arch-nemeses). Shadow Samus countered by rapidly strafing around Samus and firing multiple Power Beam shots. Samus went into her Morph Ball form and used her Boost Ball ability, where she charges up energy and then releases it, enabling her already speedy ball to shoot forward at a high speed, excellent for ramming. Shadow Samus jumped over the speeding ball and fired several missiles at her, but Samus was traveling to fast to be hit. Samus unrolled fifteen feet away from Shadow Samus and both stared at each other warily, noting that neither had managed to cause any damage…

Kirby was struggling against Dark Kirby. Kirby took the initiative by sucking him up and then tried to absorb an ability from him…but he already had the same moves than Dark Kirby. So Kirby spit Dark Kirby out, who promptly did the same thing to Kirby. After Kirby was spat out they both tried to use the Cutter on each other but the attacks canceled each other out. So they then tried to smack each other with their hammers…but those attacks canceled out as well. There was only one thing left to do. They both turned into rocks.

Bario was irritated. His Dark self was successfully parrying every strike he dealt. True, he was doing the same to him but still! Annoying! Bario tried to sweep at Dark Bario's legs with one blade, and then he swiped higher with the second anticipating Dark Bario to jump over the first strike. However Dark Bario had already correctly guessed what Bario was doing and back-flipped out of harm's way. He then charged up a dark purple energy ball which he threw at Bario. Bario sliced at it with his swords, causing the ball to dissipate. Bario then spared a glance at the other Smashers, as if he was worried that one of them might have seen. Seeing no one watching Bario focused his attention back on Dark Bario.

"Oh you are SO going down! Super Stab!" Bario yelled, a strange light pulsating on the edge of his blade for a second…a dark purple light. What Bario missed in his cursory sweep of the arena was Mario, who always watched his surroundings. Mario with a calculating look in his eyes as he battled his Dark self…

Falco ducked as Dark Falco flew over his head using Falco's favorite move, Fire Falco.
"Agh! Don't use my abilities!" Falco yelled as he Falco Phantasmed right after Dark Falco landed on the ground. Falco slammed into him at incredible speed, and then while Dark Falco was trying to recover Falco used his Fire Falco and blazed through Dark Falco, causing massive damage. Dark Falco struggled to get up and Falco, panting hard as those moves were quite draining still managed to walk over and turn on his Reflector, zapping his evil self. He then pulled out his pistol and fired three shots. Dark Falco turned it back though by activating his Reflector and having Falco's shots rebound and slam him in the chest. Dark Falco staggered to his feet, favoring one arm.

"So…still got some fight left in you eh?" Falco asked tiredly. Dark Falco nodded, and at the same time they charged for each other.

Link readied his sword and shield. Dark Shadow Link glared mockingly at Link. Amazing how he can accomplish that considering the only part of his face that has any features is his eyes. Dark Shadow Link pulled out a pitch black bow and fired an identically colored arrow at Link. Link merely blocked it with his shield. Dark Shadow Link, seemingly unperturbed pulled out a black boomerang which he threw at Link. Link ducked and watched the boomerang, to make sure it didn't hit him in the back of the head. What he didn't see was the bomb thrown by Dark Shadow Link. He didn't even notice it until he heard the sizzling of the fuse. Looking down in surprise he kicked it harmlessly away. He looked back at his foe, only to be smacked by the now returning boomerang. Temporarily losing his focus, Dark Shadow Link dashed forward and stabbed at Link, who either by skill or luck blocked it with his shield. Link recovered and tried to make a counter stab but it was parried by his evil self. Dark Shadow Link and Link struck at each other then, and their swords met with a resounding clash that somehow was louder than all the other sounds in the battlefield. Their swords locked, they glared at each other, faces inches away. Bright blue eyes radiated anger at his enemy, anger for his evil, who he worked for and everything he stood for. Bright red eyes radiated cool, calm dispassionate malice. It wasn't like he hated Link for anything he's done…rather he hated him for existing, irrational as that may sound. Finally they broke free, deaf to everything around them except for each other's heavy breathing and blind to all but their trembling foe. They raised their swords…

Diddy and Raichu got up, spared a glance in the other's direction and nodded. They remembered why they were here. They were fighting to rescue family and to stop those who would cause the innocents harm. They were here to defeat evil, and maybe become stronger for it. As one they moved, Raichu ducking under Dark Diddy's peanuts and Diddy using his jetpack to fly over the shockball thrown at him. As Diddy came down Raichu dashed forward and touched the tip of his lightning-bolt to Dark Diddy's head. Dark Diddy's red eyes grew wide as Raichu shot several thousand volts of electricity through his superconductor tail and almost instantaneously fried Dark Diddy. The evil monkey exploded into nothing. Dark Raichu's eyes twitched as his attention was focused on the defeat of his comrade, so he didn't notice Diddy use his jetpack to fly over Dark Raichu's head. He pulled out his peanut pistol and fired shot after shot at Dark Raichu as he plummeted down. The evil mouse was distracted and when Diddy landed solidly on his head he fell to the ground. He tried to summon some electricity, but Diddy clubbed him with his tail three times, before wrapping it around Dark Raichu and throwing the rather light mouse hard into a wall. Like Dark Diddy he exploded, signifying his defeat.

Shadow Meta frantically blocked Meta-Knights attacks. In desperation he struck the air in front of him in an X pattern, hoping to break through Meta's offensive onslaught. Meta however leapt into the air, his wings spreading wide.

"Eckert! You are an ECKERT!" Meta claimed.

Shadow Meta growled and took into the air, and their battle continued…only in three dimensions, not two. Shadow Meta stabbed forward at rapid speed, but Meta just lowered his altitude, confusing Shadow Meta and then struck at his enemy's feet. Shadow Meta blocked it with his sword and struck down. His attack was parried and with a deft twist of Meta's arm, Shadow Meta lost his blade. He looked at Meta, black hand's raised, confusion and terror emanating from his eyes. He hoped that Meta, being a hero, would deal out mercy. He soon found out he was wrong about that as well, as he was stabbed through where his heart would have been. Shadow Meta exploded and Meta-Knight slowly floated to the ground.

Mario deflected a hammer swing from his duplicate and then followed it up with a cape swing as Dark Mario struck again. Being forcefully spun around he looked where he thought Mario would be in confusion. Hearing something, he wheeled about, only to get a faceful of fireball. As he tried to stop the pain Mario dragged his double into a Mario Tornado. Dark Mario was battered brutally by Mario's spinning arms. As the attack stopped Mario grabbed Dark Mario and threw him in the air. Before Dark Mario could recover, Mario used his Super Jump Punch (The attack used on Bowser). The attack created temporary gold coins that appeared whenever Mario smacked his foe. Mario grabbed them all and on the way down from the attack he threw all the coins at Dark Mario. Although they vanished on contact, the nine gold coins caused severe damage. Dark Mario tried to stand and fight…but Mario finished him with a hammer swing.

Shadow Samus and Samus both charged at each other, arm cannons blazing. Each shot fired intercepted another. Shadow Samus expected Samus to jump or roll right before they hit and prepared to aim accordingly. Shadow Samus was not expecting Samus to keep running and tackle her to the ground. Shadow Samus fell roughly and tried to get up but Samus slammed her in the helmet with her arm cannon. She did that two more times before jumping up and pumping six missiles into Shadow Samus. Shadow Samus still barely survived so Samus charged up a Charge Shot and blasted her with that, ending her persistent foe.

Kirby soon found out that his becoming a rock and Dark Kirby becoming a rock wasn't really doing a whole lot in the advancing the battle thing. At the exact same moment Kirby and Dark Kirby changed back to normal and engaged in a vicious hand-to-hand fight. Kirby did a rapid fire punch combo that Dark Kirby blocked, and then he kicked at Kirby using his pointy feet. Kirby jumped over the blow and spun around smacking Dark Kirby with his limbs. Dark Kirby punched at Kirby as soon as he came down, but Kirby grabbed Dark Kirby's hand and threw him to the ground. He then proceeded to jump on him and bash him repeatedly with his pointed feet. Dark Kirby tried to get up…but Kirby turned into a rock over Dark Kirby, effectively finishing the fight.

Bario used a move that hasn't been seen before, his "Super Stab". He stabbed at high speed with his swords over and over. Dark Bario tried to deflect some but the sheer power and speed overrode his defenses and he suffered numerous small cuts. He back-flipped away from the pain causing barrage and Bario stopped, panting heavily. Dark Bario seemed to smirk and he charged up another purple energy ball. Bario growled and threw his swords at Dark Bario. Dark Bario wasn't expecting the attack and the swords sliced right through him. He looked at Bario in the eyes, but the cold glare he got in return wasn't what he was expecting. Dark Bario exploded and Bario calmly walked over to retrieve his blades.

Both Falco and Dark Falco met in midair and, grappling with each other they fell to the ground hard. Falco managed to get on top of Dark Falco and proceeded to bash him the face. Dark Falco managed to get his feet under Falco and kicked, sending him up in the air. Dark Falco prepared to smack him as soon as he came down, but Falco activated his Fire Falco, slamming into Dark Falco. Dark Falco fell to the ground and struggled to get up when Falco jumped over and kicked him in the head. He then pulled out his pistol and fired numerous shots into his foe until he died.
"I really don't like people who copy my moves."

Link and Dark Link were continuing their heated fight. Link and Dark Shadow Link clashed swords again and again. Link slashed, Dark Shadow Link parried. Dark Shadow Link stabbed and Link dodged. Finally they met again, swords pressed hard, apparently at a stalemate when Link raised his pointed Hylian shield and stabbed at Dark Shadow Link with the point. Dark Shadow Link blocked it with his shield but by then Link had the initiative. He sliced with his sword and Dark Shadow Link blocked it, and then Link slammed Dark Shadow Link in the head with his shield. The blow rang throughout the chamber and with a second strike Dark Shadow Link fell to his knees, sword and shield forgotten. Link looked in the eyes of his enemy…looked deep into those blazing eyes and saw. He saw a creature that not only caused trouble for him twice before, but worked for a man who by his very nature was evil. And Link knew. One way or another, his life would forever be altered. He didn't know whether the event that would change his life forever had already happened, or if it would happen soon or even if it was happening now. But it would happen. And so that's how Link dealt the death blow to Dark Shadow Link, the final death blow, because Link knew for some reason or another Ganondorf would not be bringing him back. He stabbed Dark Shadow Link while looking into the hated eyes of his evil self. Link's sword cut through Dark Shadow Link's chest and silently the creature exploded, bathing all the Smashers with pink healing dust. Link stood there, sword in the same position for nearly thirty seconds before snapping to attention and joining the Smashers by the newly unbarred door.

They all seemed slightly tense, as if confronting the very darkness in their hearts was unsettling or something. Several appeared like they wanted to say something, but they gave up before the words left their mouths. Diddy looked at Raichu, thinking about asking Raichu why he was confused about the super lightning attack he did, and they both wanted to ask Bario about the past Link's. However the one thing all the Smashers wanted to do was to get out of this chamber. Maybe then questions could be asked and answered. Bario just nodded in understanding and led them through the door, and whatever challenges Ganondorf might throw at them…