Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Sixteen: The Mask Attacks

Following their successful, but brutal battle against Onox and Veran, the Smashers quickly ran up the stairs and through the door, into a room unlike the others previous…

The room was the same general size and color and style of the previous room, large, drab, gray and dungeony. What made it different was two fold. First, instead of being a large rectangular room, it was actually in the shape of a pentagon, with the door they came in facing the point, and on the left side of that point was the door to the next area…locked of course.

The second difference was the masks. There were five, although only four were immediately visible to the Smashers. Each one was midway up each of the walls. They were strange masks, definitely not something most people would see in a mask shop, or carried by say…a happy mask salesman…or are they? No. No they're not. Maybe…

One of the masks had war paint on and seemed to be of the kind warriors would wear into battle. A second looked vaguely like a metallic goats head, but larger and more intimidating. The third was shaped sort of like a fish, a fish with a very pointed snout and massive teeth. The fourth and final visible mask was that of a three-eyed centipede.
Upon seeing the masks Link and Bario stiffened. Raichu looked curiously at them.

"Bario? What's up? They're just masks, admittedly creepy masks, but masks nonetheless." Raichu said.

"What?! Oh, yeah, you're not from this world. Those are the Remains Masks, the leftovers from four very powerful creatures that Link killed…in a separate dimension?"

Bario looked at Link, wondering if he'd help him explain the masks. But despite his "outburst" in the last room, Link seemed content to examine his sword.

"Right…separate dimensions," Falco said, "but so what? They're just masks, they can't hurt us-"

As if an ironic answer to his uninformed statement the four masks floated down from their perches on the wall…and started shooting white balls at the Smashers.

"Why did you say that?! You always say things like that!" Diddy yelled as he avoided a blast.

"I'm sorry!" Falco said as he dodged an attack and then snap-kicked the insect mask, which used to be a creature known as Twinmold. The mask shuddered and exploded after the single attack.

"Well that's good to know!" Bario said as he sliced and killed the fish mask, formerly known as Gyorg. "They're weak! One good attack should finish them!"

Samus attempted to avoid the energy blast that the goat mask/Goht shot at her, but the warrior/Odolwa mask hit her by surprise. The attack was weak, but the shock of it knocked her down. The mask moved over her and looked like it was going to attack again when Mario jumped over her head and slammed the Odolwa mask with his hammer, sending it flying into the Goht mask and taking both of them out.
Mario then extended a hand to Samus and helped lift her up. She was about to say thanks, but something in his eyes, the way he seemed like he wasn't really paying attention, caused her not to say anything.
The Smashers grouped near the middle of the room, and several of them were wondering why the door was not opening.
"Bario…what was the big deal with those wimpy masks? They were NOT worth your reaction when we came here." Raichu said.

"Them?" Bario scoffed, "No…they're not why I was startled and worried."

"Then what was?" Diddy asked, sensing bad news.

"That." Bario said, pointing to the wall above the door they entered, the only wall they couldn't see upon their first look in the room. A loud shrill laugh echoed through the room as the Smashers spun around…to see a fifth mask.

It was immediately apparent that this mask was different from the others as it detached itself from the wall and floated downwards. First it was heart-shaped and surrounded by spikes. Second it had large disturbing eyes and third it had a vibrant and technicolor color scheme with colors ranging from purple to yellow. The final difference was its size. It was initially the size of a normal face covering mask, but as it floated down it grew until it was easily as tall as an adult male human, and a good deal thicker.

"Bario…what it is that…?" Falco said as he and the other Smashers backed away slowly.

"Majora's Mask." Link replied as the mask lowered itself until it was flat on the floor with its "face" up. Several long dark red strands extended from the back of the mask.

Before the rest of the Smashers could comment on Link actually talking, the mask shot off like a buzz saw, the spikes spinning and the longer strands whirling, straight at the group of Smashers.

They scattered, but Kirby got grazed by a strand and started bleeding. He did however manage to escape from any more damage. The mask stopped spinning for a second…before slicing again, this time at Link.

Link raised his shield up, and although he was sent flying, the mask bounced back and up off the floor. Bario leapt forward, and as the mask tried to get on the floor again, he stabbed it in its apparently vulnerable underside.
The mask screeched and flew away from Bario. It raised itself high into the air, facing the Smashers as its strands waved around it.

"Bario, I'm not sure what this thing is…but I don't like it!" Falco said as he shot several pistol shots at the mask, only to have them bounce off the hard surface…and fly back at him.

He dodged, and Diddy shot a few peanuts, only to have them break harmlessly on the mask. Majora's Mask started extending its strands into a sun-like shape…

"Guys! Get ready to move! That thing is going to start blasting!" Bario yelled. The Smashers nodded and tensed…although Link shot Bario a look of intense and suspicious puzzlement.
Samus fired a few missiles, but not surprisingly they too, appeared to cause no damage to the seemingly invulnerable mask. The mask then fired an immensely powerful blast from its front. The red and orange beam boiled the floor as the mask tracked a path toward Meta and Samus. They rolled to avoid the beam, but Meta got skimmed and part of his mask burned, sizzling his face. He let out a grunt, but otherwise didn't react.

The beam considered a bit more, but faded quickly. Despite the incredible power of the attack it dispersed rapidly. However while the mask tried to charge the attack up again it was struck by three arrows in the back. Clearly Link had battled this creature before, and so he knew what to expect. The mask screeched and spun around, apparently deciding to forgo charging its beam and just saw through Link…at least until Samus took advantage of its dropped guard and fired two missiles at its back…at the same time Mario fired five fireballs.

All of the attacks connected, and the mask screeched again, louder, and floated to the ground, although positioned now so no attack could be made. It stopped several feet above the floor…and began to quiver.

"Bario…is it dead?" Diddy asked.

Link shook his head, but Bario answered.

"No…if I'm correct, get ready for a thoroughly strange experience."
"Strange?" Falco asked, but before he was answered, the mask did something that demanded his full undivided attention.

It grew two large long legs. They were thin, but muscled, and looked purplish and bruised. They were accompanied by two similarly long arms and a thick eye on a stalk. The new creature let out a high-pitched childish sound…and then started moon-walking across the floor.

"Majora's Incarnation." Bario said, before Link threw his boomerang.

The dancing creature was hit a glancing blow, but that didn't seem to matter as it stopped dancing and dashed forward at a speed so high, a blurry after-image was left in its wake. It slammed into Link, and despite the seeming frailty of the creature it kept moving long after Link slammed into one of the walls.

"Whoa! What was that-" Falco managed to get out before he too, was slammed.

Raichu shot off several electric balls at the rapidly moving creature but Majora's Incarnation didn't so much dodge them, as move so fast it was impossible to hit. It stopped in front of Raichu and moved its arms speedily, firing off at least a dozen white energy balls, similar to the ones the Remains Masks fired. Each one connected, and Raichu was very much down…for the count.

However while Majora's Incarnation was busy attacking Raichu, Meta Knight flew forward and slashed the front of the creature, despite his burned face, and judging from the loud screech, the mask was no longer impervious…just really fast.
The Incarnation fell to the ground and Meta slashed it a few times. The chance to attack was brief, and only Mario and Link were able to get in some weak attacks before it rose up and started doing the can-can around the room.

"Is this thing insane?!" Falco yelled as he clambered to his feet.

"Yes," Bario said as he avoided running into the Incarnation, "Yes it is."

Kirby tried to attack it, but despite its crazy dancing, it was still incredibly fast. It wasn't until it started doing some kind of Russian dance that it was in the same spot long enough for Samus to smack it with a missile. It fell to the ground and the Smashers quickly pummeled the crap out of it. It squealed and threw them away and then dashed to the far side of the room from them…and began to change…again.

Its legs thickened and became even more thickly muscled. It grew a demonic head with small eyes and short horns, although the main mask maintained its status as center of the body, and the new head did look rather small. However the most obvious change was the arms growing…and growing…and growing. They seemed to stop somewhere around the twenty foot length, but it was hard to tell as he kept moving his whip-like arms around.

"What the hell is that?!" Falco asked.

Link opened his mouth to speak, but Bario beat him to the punch.

"Majora's Wrath! Watch out for its…arms!"
Wrath flung its arms out like the whips they appeared to be. They were longer than they initially appeared as they were able to stretch out considerably, allowing the creature to smack Samus, and Diddy to the ground with large stinging welts, and some severe bruises.

It squealed again and prepared to have a second wave of attacks when Mario hit it in the face with a fireball. Wrath screamed, more in anger than anything else, and using its massive legs, leaped to the far side of the room.
"This thing is fast…we'll need to get close, so his arms get accurately hit us!" Bario said, realizing that now called for strategy, "Samus, you and Diddy are injured but mobile," he said, seeing them get up, "So cover for us, and guard Raichu! The rest of us…let's go kill an evil mask!"

The Smashers nodded, seemingly not having a problem obeying Bario, as he was quite charismatic, and his plan seemed sound. Samus and Diddy aimed with their respective weapons while the other Smashers…CHARGED!

Majora's Wrath flung out its arms, knocking back Falco and Meta, but Bario and Link managed to get close enough to stab it several times and Mario and Kirby smacked it hard with their hammers. Wrath prepared to jump away, but as soon as it moved away from the cover of the attacking Smashers Samus and Diddy pelted it with peanuts and missiles. And because they were to far away to effectively retaliate, Wrath had to use plan B.

It yanked one of its whip arms back and Falco tried to jump out of the way, but Wrath grabbed him with his other arm, and tightened. Falco let out a brief yell of pain, before the air was forced from his body. He tried to activate his Reflector, his Fire Falco, anything, but he was unable to move enough.
"Falco!" Bario yelled as he tried to slash the arm, but Wrath smacked him away, ignoring the other attacks and threw Falco at Samus and Diddy. They tried to move away, they really did, but the attack was too sudden, too swift, and they were too injured to avoid it. All three fell to the ground hard near the wounded Raichu, and with no one covering it, Majora's Wrath leapt away from the five remaining attackers.
They tried to follow it, avoiding its whipping arms, but Kirby got smacked, and fell behind. Meta however, managed to fly over Wrath and proceeded to slash at his head. Wrath screamed and leaped away again, and flung its arms out in a crazy pattern, as Link, Mario and Bario all tried to avoid them long enough to hurt it. However Wrath squealed again and snapped its whips on the ground…creating large spiked spinning tops.

"Well, that's not good." Bario said as rolled to avoid the new weapons.
Wrath's tops seemed to home in on the Smashers, so they had to watch out for not only his whip arms, but the tops as well. Mario leaped and rolled, and generally made a very impressive acrobatic showing…until Wrath smacked him down by Link. Meta was flying over, slashing at the tops, and they were focusing on him and Bario.

Link fired off three arrows, but Wrath didn't seem to notice or care, and Mario shot off two fireballs, but they were too slow and Wrath managed to bat them away. They seemed to be at a standstill…until Mario and Link got an idea at the same time.

Link held out an arrow, and Mario looked at him and nodded. Mario set the arrow aflame, creating a fire arrow, and Link fired it at Wrath. The arrow penetrated one of its whip arms and THAT Majora's Wrath felt. Link and Mario created three more which they shot at Wrath and while it was distracted, Bario took this opportunity to dash forward, avoiding its flailing but un-aimed arms and skidding past a spiked top to jump forward and stab…an arm that sent him flying back. Wrath seemed almost to giggle and prepared to attack, now that those flaming arrows had stopped…wait, then where was…?!

Wrath didn't have a chance to move as Link, who had run up while Wrath was focused on Bario leapt forward and stabbed him in the head. Link's Master Sword entered through one side of Majora's Wrath's head, and exited through the other side. Wrath let out one high-pitched yell…before exploding into dust, with the tops accompanying him.
The healing dust spread throughout the room, restoring all the injured back to their normal selves and even fixing Meta's charred mask. Raichu gained consciousness just as the door opened.

"Uh…I'm going to take a wild guess and say…we won?"
"Yes, we did, but it was not easy," Samus said.

Realizing that there really wasn't anything else to say they turned to leave…as Link glared daggers at Bario. Bario turned around, only to see Link putting his bow on his back, and checking his apparently limitless supply of arrows. Bario shrugged, and together they left.