Clash of the Smashers
Chapter Twenty-Two: Those things…have no wings, so perhaps they can not sing, because they are ING!
Finding themselves in another slowly moving elevator…a slowly moving downwards elevator, the Smashers talk…they talk about something they should have discussed long ago. Interestingly enough, the normally taciturn Samus, who had become more and more outgoing, started the conversation.
"I just don't understand. The SA-X I can almost understand being back, what with the possibility of one escaping, but the Metroid Queen was one of a kind, and I killed not only her, but all Metroids…period. Well, except for one…but I just can't understand how they're back."
Link looked at her, with a raised eyebrow.
"Well Samus, they're not the only enemies back. Most of the ones we fought in Hyrule were either killed by me, or one of my ancestors. I honestly am quite unsure how they came back…Ganondorf is strong, but I can't imagine him being powerful enough to make all of them obey him at once."
Bario looked around at everyone, as they all muttered and nodded. As the elevator neared the bottom, he began to speak.
"Well isn't it obvious?" he asked, slightly confused that no one knew.
"Isn't WHAT obvious?" Link snapped.
Bario looked taken aback at his tone, but recovered quickly.
"Its obvious to me that there is a third party involved here, and I think we've seen enough evidence to know that it is Master and Crazy Hand. Seemingly they are recruiting these villains, and I would guess they are trying to create an army of some sort, although they are trying to kill us first. I guess that the villains aren't very good at working together, or perhaps the Hands haven't had enough time to organize them. Either way, it would explain why we only fight small groups at a time, although the first reason would explain these "arenas" we have to keep going through, since they arrange themselves by seniority or power, and want to weaken us up before they fight us."
The Smashers stared at Bario for a minute, processing what he said, before Samus broke the silence.
"I agree. I'm not sure if that's exactly what's happening…but I'll bet its close. I do want to know where the other people from the Smash Tournaments are though…
"I'm not sure. As we know, Peach and Luigi left on some kind of mission, Yoshi…well, we know what happened to him," Bario said.
"Yeah, and good riddance," Falco muttered, before being stomped…HARD on his foot by Diddy.
"Show some respect!"
"Ow!"
"But so far, the only person we KNOW is missing is…Zelda, and Ganondorf may have taken her. The rest just may be at their respective homes. I see no reason to worry…at least not yet.
Link didn't look happy at having Zelda missing not be a cause to worry, but before that could be addressed, the elevator came to a stop, and the door opened. With one last glance at each other, the Smashers steeled themselves, and readied their weapons.
Entering the room at first, they didn't see anything. They assumed it was because the room was darker than the elevator; it was taking time for their eyes to adjust. However, after thirty seconds, with the darkness staying just as dark…they realized that the room itself was completely black. They also slowly began to realize that there was something else there. Something big…
As the Smashers were thinking about reentering the, if not well-lit, the at least LIT elevator, the door closed, and even that limited light vanished…and that's when the freezing burning sensation hit.
It took them all a moment to realize it, but once they did, they couldn't stop. It was painful, but slight…but once they noticed it, it seemed to grow in strength, and soon most of them were on their knees…except for Samus, who had dealt with this pain before.
"What…going…ow…" Falco said.
Samus noticed a glowing white object slightly to their left, and fired a Power Beam at it. Immediately the area lit up as a bubble of light emanated from what appeared to be some kind of glowing crystal that Samus hit. Immediately the burning freezing sensation vanished, and in fact, they were gradually feeling stronger in this small bubble.
Samus looked around, and shot more of the Light Crystals…slowly revealing the massive chamber, and the SOMETHING in the middle, when she looked up…and fired a Charge Shot right at something on the ceiling. Immediately the entire room was lit up, and the Smashers gasped and took a step back, except for Samus.
"I knew it," she said, as she aimed at the thing in front of them
It was large, and looked to have two distinct parts. The bottom part was thick and blackish, reaching up for about ten-fifteen feet, and the second part, which was about the same size, if not slightly thicker had a dark red circular mark on it, which looked almost like an eye. Sticking out of the top part were four long, thick barbed tentacles. The whole thing was either black, or a very dark color…and it just oozed malice.
"This…Thing...is Emperor Ing," Samus explained as the others readied their weapons, "Get ready for a tough battle…"
Emperor Ing let out a frighteningly loud roar, but rather then him attacking, several small dark puddles formed around him. They coalesced to form eleven black creatures that looked like balls on top of short stalks that were about two-three feet tall.
"Inglets!" Samus said, firing Power Beam shots at them.
It didn't take many shots to kill them, and taking the hint the other Smashers started firing too, killing all of them…or so they thought. After firing and killing most of the seemingly defenseless Inglets…more black puddles began to form into them.
"That's…not good," Samus said.
"Agreement," Bario said.
The new Inglets quivered…and started firing black balls at the Smashers. The balls were small, but painful, and they rapidly started spreading out around the arena, continuing to fire at the Inglets…only to have more appear.
"This isn't working!" Diddy yelled.
"Gee, you think!" Falco responded.
"Focus on the Emperor! Hit the tentacles!" Samus yelled, firing several missiles at the tentacles.
The missiles connected, and the tentacles flashed for a second, before whipping around like crazy, extending and retracting, and soon all of the Smashers were hugging the walls to avoid the tentacles…which kept them still long enough for the Inglets to start pelting them.
Link and Mario, who were standing near each other, killed the nearby Inglets, and then started firing fireballs and arrows at the tentacles. The four tentacles pulled themselves high into the air, and clung to each other. A large glowing mass appeared between the tentacles.
"I'm going to take that as a hint…to RUN!" Raichu yelled, as all of the Smashers broke away from the walls and dashed away from the tentacles…just as they unleashed a massive black ball that slammed into the ground where Link and Mario were standing, with enough force to shake the entire chamber.
Link realized that this beast was going to take some extra stopping power, so he pulled out his Bow, and notched one of his seemingly infinite supply of arrows, (They're not infinite, he's got fifty, but it gets restocked every pink dust thing, just like Samus only has 250 missiles…heh…only…that also gets restocked.) and called out to Mario.
"Hey! Do that fire thing again!"
"Okeydokey!"
Catching on instantly, Mario shot a small fireball at the arrow, setting the specially treated metal ablaze. Link wasn't sure how it worked…he thought there was oil or something on the tip…but it didn't matter. He fired the Fire Arrow, and penetrated one of the four tentacles, briefly setting it on fire.
Emperor Ing screamed and shook it wildly, putting the fire out, before lashing at Link and Mario, who either rolled or back-flipped out of the way. Link growled, and decided to try something he hasn't done yet.
He pulled out a bomb from his refilling sack and flicked the fuse with his index finger, lighting it. He then quickly skewered the soft center of the bomb with the arrow, knowing that it was the other sections that caused it to explode. Taking careful aim, and kicking an Inglet away…he fired at the tentacle that he already had attacked.
The Bomb Arrow hit straight and true, penetrating the tentacle at the same time a fully charged shot from Samus's Power Beam hit it. Seconds later, the bomb exploded, causing Emperor Ing to let out an annoyed shriek and retract it into his main body mass.
It didn't seem like he was happy, and the light seemed to be bothering him too. It's hard to understand…but he seemed to hunch over a bit, despite him being a large mostly shapeless mass. Adding to his discomfort was the constant attacks the Smashers were leveling at his tentacles, and even though he still had three out…that wouldn't last long…
The Smashers were staying well out of the range of his tentacles, the Inglets were essentially harmless, and now, with only three tentacles, he apparently couldn't use his energy attack anymore. The fight looked like an easy win…until a patch of air near a tentacle started to shimmer, sort of like when steam hits the air, and it wavers, only more so.
The Emperor stuck a tentacle through the circular disturbance…and the tentacle vanished! It appeared, a moment later, through a second disturbance by the Smashers, managing to smack Kirby before Samus shot it, causing it to go back.
"Oh yeah…he can create mini-portals…" Samus said.
"Oh now you mention it!" Falco shouted, pelting the Emperor with laser shots.
"Give her a break!" Link said, preparing another Bomb Arrow, although those things were awkward to shoot, he figured they were the best weapon he had now...unless…no. He didn't want to use that yet…
Link fired and hit another tentacle, but that just seemed to incite the villainous monarch.
The Smashers had to speed up a bit as Emperor Ing started shoving all three of his tentacles through the mini-portals, but now that they were expecting it, Bario managed to spin around and cut one off, followed by Meta and Link each severing his weakened tentacles.
Surprised and startled by how his attack backfired, the Emperor retracted what was left his tentacles towards himself…and began to shake.
"Is he dying?" Diddy asked Samus.
"No…this fight is long from over," she said, words that did not reassure anyone.
The top half of the Emperor started to retract into the lower half, revealing what was underneath…and it was not a good thing. A large light colored circular object sat perched on the black lower stalk, and it was about as ten feet higher than that. It looked almost like an eye, with clear half-domes on either side, leaving only a small portion of the inner…thing…exposed.
Emperor Ing turned his new eye on the Smashers, and they quivered as his full malice was made clear.
"Guys…get ready to MOVE!" Samus said, dashing away from the Emperor's gaze. The others looked at her in confusion, before a red glowing light appeared in front of the eye. Their own eyes widening with realization, they followed Samus's example, diving or running out of the way.
And good thing they did, because a thick red laser blasted forth from the eye, charring the dark ground where the Smashers stood. The laser was about a foot in diameter, and amazingly enough, didn't vanish after the attack. Angry at the Smashers for avoiding his attack, the evil monarch turned his gaze, sweeping his deadly beam across the ground, dealing decent damage to Mario, Link and Kirby, the three that were slow enough to get hit by its power.
Those three were sent flying back into the walls, Kirby destroying an Inglet with his speed, the parts of their bodies that got hit, smoking. Link let out a groan of pain, while Kirby yelped…but Mario just grunted, and looked at the Emperor, with fire burning in his eyes. And that fire started to travel down to his hand, which was grasping his hammer…
The laser dimmed out and vanished shortly after, but as the Emperor turned his eye to the other Smashers, it didn't take a genius to realize he was preparing to fire again. So they struck first.
Diddy, Meta, Samus, Raichu, Falco all fired their long distance attacks at the Emperor's eye, while Bario kept the Inglets at bay. The attacks were strong, but unfortunately most of them hit the clear half-domes on either side, which deflected the attacks easily. Several did slip through, and the Emperor was looking angry…well at least as angry as a giant deformed evil alien leader can look. But while the Smashers kept up their relentless assault, he started charging his laser beam again…
Samus noticed at the last second, and called to the attacking Smashers to break off. They tried, but the laser beam came out full force, slamming hard into Samus, and then sweeping through and hitting everyone with at least a grazing blow, with the exception of Bario, who managed to dive under the attack.
The Smashers all lay on the ground groaning, with the exception of Bario, who immediately ran to Samus, and put his hand over her chest. With them only inches above her armor, a light purple light emanated from them, similar to the light he used on Falco, only this one was brighter, and actually started to spread from his hands to her.
Kirby and Link were trying to get up, just as Mario leapt high in the air, his hammerhead blazing with an orange-red fire. He landed on one of the clear half-domes and somehow managed to keep his footing on that long enough to slam his hammer down into the central mass, lighting it on fire as the flames traveled down his hammer and onto the Emperor.
The Emperor spun his head…dome…thing, so fast that Mario was sent brutally flying into a wall. The Emperor shrieked, and started to retract its upper, flaming body into itself, actually expanding slightly. Soon his entire body was completely covered by the lower dark mass, that had expanded until it was about twice its original size, and quickly hardened into a seemingly impenetrable armor. The armor did have several large protrusions, that looked like they could be shattered, and there were enough of them that they could destabilize the entire cocoon thing. The only question was…can any of them muster up the strength to do it?
Samus leapt up, almost knocking Bario away.
"Whoa! Chill!" he said.
"What?! My suit? It was way more damaged…it said…how…?" Samus said, clearly shocked.
"Don't worry about it, Samus…I just helped a little bit."
Samus drew back, and seemed to tense up a bit, and when she next spoke, her voice was controlled, but sounded on the verge of shaking.
"I don't need your help…I would have been fine."
Bario looked hurt at the coldness, and Samus almost immediately regretted saying that. With her suit that badly damaged in a combat situation…there's only so much that it could repair. Before she could even think about apologizing, something…unfortunate happened.
There were still several Inglets moving around their Emperor, almost as if they were shielding him, but now, several, larger puddles of black shadow were oozing into the chamber from beneath their master. They quickly rose up into three-dimensional beasts…Warrior Ing.
The Warrior Ing stood about six feet tall, but their body was constantly moving, so it was difficult to determine just how big they were. But they were big. Not Emperor Ing big, but big. They had five pointed, jointed legs, that looked much more like creepy fingers then legs. The fact that the Warrior Ing body looked vaguely like a palm, reinforced the evil black hand image.
The legs and body had several small spikes at various spots, and they had a cluster of red spots near the front/top, that seemed to serve as an eye. Dangling behind them, attached to the body, was a pointy cluster of black hair…things.
The Inglets numbered in the twenties, but these larger creatures only numbered about ten…but it was obvious that any one of them could eliminate scores of Inglets…
Samus looked around the arena. She was easily the most damaged, having taken the brunt of the attack, and the other Smashers were stumbling to their feet, in various state of combat readiness. But now, thanks to whatever Bario did, she appeared almost fully recovered.
When she spotted the giant cocoon that the Emperor had become, she stiffened and called out to the others as the Warrior Ing and Inglets gathered in front of their master.
"Okay…this is going to be bad…I need everybody capable of climbing in some way to come with me and destroy those cracks on the cocoon…everybody else, keep the Ing off us, and watch out for the poison gas."
"Poison gas?" Falco asked, a tinge of fright in his voice.
"GO!" Samus commanded, firing a stream of missiles at the Ing to make them move and then running right at the Emperor.
Catching on, most of the other Smashers unleashed projectile attacks, destroying some Ing, injuring others.
Link shot out his Hookshot, and aimed it for the Emperor. Firing the metal arrow-head shaped device, it flew out and latched onto a spot about fifteen feet up the Emperor. Clutching it tightly, the chain retracted, pulling him to that spot, where he held on to the Hookshot, and looked around for the closest crack in the cocoon.
Samus did the same, using her grappling beam to cover the remaining distance, and to avoid the Warrior Ing's slashing attacks, and the Inglets projectiles. When she reached the Emperor, she quickly rolled into a ball upon hitting him, and using the "Spider Ball" technique she held on.
What the Spider Ball does is exude a magnetic field of sorts that allow Samus to hang on to certain materials and move around. It just so happens, that the Emperor's cocoon was one of those materials.
The third and final member of the Smashers who attempted to attack the cocoon was Diddy. He used his jet pack to fly over to the cocoon, dropped, and used his nimble monkey fingers and toes to clutch onto various grooves in the cocoon. It was covered in them, making it quite easy for the monkey to maintain his grip.
While three climbers maneuvered themselves onto the Emperor, the other six Smashers fought back the Warrior Ing and the weaker Inglets. They destroyed countless Inglets, but the Warriors were sturdy, and very powerful. They had several slashing attacks, made all the more effective with their five limbs. Adding to their power was the skill to turn into a quick-moving shadow puddle, and the ability to create small portals nearby that would shoot damaging white beams at the Smashers.
Still, they were skilled fighters by now, and would have wiped them out soon enough, except for one very large problem. The Emperor was still somehow creating Inglets, and Warrior Ing, that kept the six grounded Smashers from joining Samus, Link and Diddy.
Samus rolled around the outer edge of the Emperor, planting bombs and destroying cracks, while Link carefully used his Hookshot to get to cracks, lay a bomb in a recess in it, then Hookshot away before it exploded, while Diddy did the same with his climbing and Orange Grenades.
Complicating this seemingly simple task was that when the cracked parts of the cocoon were shattered, this allowed the inner Emperor to send out tentacles and attempt to smack the climbers. Finally, the more cracks that were destroyed, the more that a poisonous purple gas was released from the bottom of the cocoon, that slowly spread around the arena, causing small, but significant damage to all the grounded Smashers.
Fortunately, the climbers, working together, and moving fast, managed to destroy all the cracked parts of the cocoon, completely destabilizing the armor. Before any of the Smashers could respond, the Emperor let out a loud cry in his falling apart cocoon, and sent the entire thing exploding outwards, knocking Link, Samus and Diddy roughly into the ground, and hitting many of the other Smashers and Ing with chunks of cocoon. The force of the explosion also caused the poison gas to dissipate, an occurrence that was very fortunate. What the Emperor had become was not a fortunate occurrence, however.
At first glance, many of the Smashers thought that he had become a very large Warrior Ing. And, on the surface, that's what he looked like. He had the same legs, although in comparison to his body they looked thinner than the Warrior Ing's, he had the same color, and the same spikes sticking out.
What made him very, very different was that there seemed to be a glowing energy ball in him, clearly visible due to the fact that most of his body was divided into two distinct sections, that looked like a mouth. Connecting the sections, were several thick shadow strands, which looked vaguely like teeth further reinforcing the mouth image.
Oh yeah, and then there was the size. He was big. Very big. He stood about twenty feet tall…on average, a size that was difficult to determine, because he kept bobbing up and down on his five spindly legs. He was a truly huge monstrosity.
Samus looked at an enemy she faced once before, and despite her fear at facing this mighty foe again, and the fact that arrayed against them were at least thirty regenerating Ing minions, she knew, with her companions this time, that there was no doubt they could lose.
"That's the Mutated Emperor Ing…and he's about to get his ass whupped," Samus said with a grin that wasn't visible, but could be quite clearly heard.
Unfortunately the Emperor had different plans. Letting out another large roar, the Inglets and Warrior Ing quickly formed up in front of him…as did five new Ing.
They floated in the air, and had the appearance of a red ball with strands of shadow attached to it. They were large, but not huge.
"Hunter Ing…Crud, I don't have a good plan here," Samus said.
"That's okay. I do." Bario told her.
"What?! What is it?" Samus said, while charging up her Power Beam.
"Well, I think that as long as the Emperor survives, these Ing will keep spawning," Bario said.
"Right," Diddy said, getting his weapons ready.
"So, the little Ing are distractions. What we should be going after is the Emperor, and only focus on the minions enough to avoid damage. Samus, how do we hurt this guy?"
"He'll take some damage anywhere, but if we really want to hurt him we have to hit his central glowing ball thing. The only problem is that it's mostly impervious to certain attacks. For example, right now it's kind of orange. That means that my Power Beam, missiles, and similar attacks will hurt it, I think orange is like any solid or explosive object. Only problem is, once he's damaged enough he'll switch its weakness to light or dark, Beams that I don't have now…" Samus said, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.
Bario paused for a second, clearly thinking about something. The Ing were quivering with anticipation, but were apparently waiting for the Smashers to make the first move.
After twenty seconds, Bario smiled and called out some commands.
"Alright! I have a plan. Everyone but…Falco…and Mario, go out and attack the Emperor, destroy the Ing, just cause damage. Absolutely important though, don't attack the energy thing! DO NOT ATTACK IT AT ALL!" Bario said, with a tone of complete seriousness.
"WHAT?! Samus just told you that was his weakness? What, are you suicidal?!" Link screamed.
Bario flashed a look of irritation at Link, but was saved from speaking by Raichu.
"Link, please, we don't have a lot of time. I trust Bario, and I'm sure therest of us do as well. He hasn't steered us wrong yet."
Link looked angry, but didn't seem to be willing to go against the group, as it was obvious from their expressions that they trusted the purple haired swordsman. Only Kirby had a look of suspicion, which looked strange on his large face. Samus, appeared emotionless.
"Thank you Raichu," Bario said, graciously, as the Ing started to slowly inch forward, "I want Falco and Mario to stay here…and well, protect me from attacks. I'm going to try and use some advanced magic to freeze the Emperor's energy core, so that Samus will be able to hit it. I assume Link's bombs, and Diddy's grenades will to in that form, and I hope Meta-Knight might be able to cause some damage with his sword. I think he's the only one who can get even remotely close physically to the core."
His words caused slight gasps of surprise. None of them were aware that Bario could do that.
"I've never done anything like this before," he said, clearly nervous. Apparently Bario didn't know he could do it, "But I think it's possible. It's very advanced, and will leave me immobile, so that why I need Falco and Mario. If this works, it may clinch the fight for us, and…THE ING ARE ATTACKING!" Bario yelled.
The Ing were charging forward. Immediately the six Smashers who weren't sticking around Bario ran forward to meet them, and hopefully keep them away from their de facto leader.
While Falco and Mario kept some of the Inglets at bay with pistol shots and fireballs, Bario closed his eyes, put his hands together…and started to glow with a faint purple light. The magic was starting…but was it going to work in time? Or at all?
The six Smashers met the swarm of Ing with a literal Smash. Link and Meta charge right for a Warrior each, stabbing right through three Inglets, and cut their foes in half. Samus body-slammed two Inglets and a Warrior, then finished off the Warrior Ing with a missile. Diddy, Kirby and Raichu each used their respective skills to kill two Warriors and five Inglets.
Don't misinterpret the situation. Ing, especially Warrior Ing are very powerful. But the Smashers, already powerful fighters before they started journeying had become steadily more skilled, and now something marvelous was happening. They were starting to work as team. The Ing didn't stand a chance. At least, not until the Hunter Ings came in.
They stayed back floating. None of the Ing was trying a possession attack, as if sensing that using it on these strong willed heroes would be worse than pointless…but the Hunter Ing didn't need that. The five Hunter Ing phased slightly out of this dimension, and with their weird crackly static-like bodies flew straight through all but one of the six, Diddy.
The ones that were hit felt extreme pain, and Raichu and Kirby almost fell over. Link and Samus recovered fast, spinning around and throwing a bomb and a missile at the attackers, right when they phased back, destroying the physically weak creatures. Meta tried to slash one, but it phased back out before he hit it.
The one that hit Kirby spun around and extended its four long tentacles to the confused Diddy. They slowly reached him…and as the Hunter phased out, went inside him, causing him large amounts of pain. He squealed, as only an injured monkey can, and Raichu tackled him out of the way of the tentacles. The Hunter Ing phased back in for a second, and that's when Kirby smashed it into Ing dust with his hammer.
Unfortunately more Ing were being spawned…and the Emperor had decided to join in the "fun".
Meanwhile, two Warrior Ing had noticed the three Smashers off to the side, and decided to investigate. Unfortunately for them, Ings usually "investigate" by attempting to kill things.
Falco glanced nervously between Bario and the big fight. He wanted to be in it, helping out, but he knew that this guard duty was crucial. He just wished he knew why Bario picked him, and not someone more capable, like Link, or Samus.
Falco looked again at Bario. Since he started his spell, his position hadn't changed. The purple light was growing stronger, but seemed to be retracting closer inwards.
Falco cleared his throat, and looked at Mario, who was carefully scanning the room, looking for any nearby enemies.
"Hey uh…Mario," Falco started, causing Mario to turn towards him.
Mario may be a nice guy, and a great hero, but his mostly complete silence made it difficult to talk to him. Falco realized that while he may know little about the rest of the Smashers, they hadn't really had much time to chat, no one here really knew anything about Mario, besides the fact that he's risked his life for them countless times.
"Do you uh…um…I mean," Falco said, floundering, despite the fact that Mario's large, bright blue eyes merely showed polite interest, Falco felt desperate to say something…cool…to him.
While Falco usually tried to present himself as arrogant, unshakable and just plain cool, that persona had fallen away after he got over the fact that Fox McCloud, a companion of him, and a strong member in the Smash Tournaments, was simply…better then him. Better at flying, better at fighting, and just…a better person…er…fox. Outside of the Tournaments, Falco wasn't really used to on the ground combat, and he was very tense about it. He, being a bird, liked to fly. Unfortunately, he was a flightless species, and his Arwing, was left back at home. Besides, its not like he could use it here They were freaking underground! He was trying though, and he had shown himself to be skilled, and hoped to one day beat Fox…in something.
Back to his poorly thought out conversation.
"Uh…do you think Bario can hear us like this?" Falco finished lamely.
Before Mario could respond, he noticed the sneaking Warrior Ing and dashed forward, shooting fireballs and killing both with two strikes of his hammer. He calmly walked back.
"Yes, I can hear you," Bario said, startling Falco into jumping. Bario cracked open one eye.
"And I'm almost done."
The Emperor's new form was a far cry from his previous ones. He nimbly and astonishingly quickly, moved around the field, hitting the Smashers with his legs, and large portals that he opened up around himself, which created powerful white beams of energy. He destroyed several of his own Ing, but he seemed not to care.
The Smashers retaliated, amazed that it was this difficult to hit a target this big. He was just so FAST. They threw bombs, power beam shots, peanuts, electricity, everything. He was definitely taking damage, but since they were extremely carefully avoiding his core, not nearly enough to stop him.
Soon though, the Emperor seemed to notice the three Smashers off to the side, especially the glowing one. Suspicious, he made a few movements towards them, noting how the Smashers seemed intent on keeping him away from that area. Deciding that whatever was going on over would be bad for him, he opened up five portals, and aimed all of the white beams at Bario, sending them off like a stream of death.
Falco and Mario noticed what the Emperor did immediately. With barely a thought they leapt in front of Bario, Falco turning on his reflector, and Mario swinging his magical yellow cape right as the blasts hit. Two bounced off Mario's cape, knocking him to his knees, while three smashed into Falco's Reflector, shattering it, and causing him to fall to the ground, severely stunned from the kickback. All five blasts flew back and penetrated the same section on the Emperor's core.
Stunned by the pain for a second, and extremely surprised, the Emperor didn't move. A fact, which turned into his fatal mistake.
Bario's eyes snapped open, as the purple light formed into a glowing, floating ball in Bario's hand, about the size of a bowling ball. With a grin, he flung it at the Emperor.
The ball hit the core and exploded outwards, spreading out onto the entire core and seemingly holding it in place with thin dark purple strings. The Emperor could move, but seemed to realize that the white beams he used had weakened him, and that he was unable to defend his most vulnerable section. He tried to bring the upper part of his body down like the mouth that it looked like, but the purple strings seemed to have frozen that part of him. He was almost finished.
Samus, seeing that the Emperor was finally frozen called out to the others and started charging her Power Beam. Link reacted instantly. He made a bomb arrow and shot straight at the Emperor. It exploded and the massive Ing shrieked and tried to escape, but Meta had flown up to him, and unleashed a blistering combination of sword strikes. The Emperor spun around…only to be confronted with a jetpack flying Diddy, who threw an Orange Grenade right into the Emperor's core, causing massive damage.
The Emperor spun around one last time, and saw Samus, pointing her fully charged arm cannon at him. Realizing that his second chance for life was gone, he didn't move, and stood there, ready to take the attack that would end his life again. A life that shouldn't have begun in the first place, let alone being brought back to fight again.
Samus examined the information her suit gave her and grinned. Looked like this was going to work.
She fired her shot. But rather than a normal Power Beam, the beam glowed a brighter orange, was five times larger, and actually looked like a combination of Power Beam and missiles. Actually, that's exactly what this "Super Missile" was, a charged Power Beam combined with five missiles to create an extremely powerful attack.
The Super Missile covered the distance in a second, and shredded the weakened Emperor's core before exploding. Before the explosion faded completely, there was another one, actually several, as all the Ing and their Emperor exploded into the now expected healing pink dust.
The Smashers looked at each other for a second, weary smiles on their faces, as the door revealed itself, near Bario. Samus and the others walked towards it, and with a single shot the Smashers entered the now open door, eager to talk, but considerably more eager to leave the room that still stank of the Ing darkness.
There are still plenty of Samus's old enemies left, keen on a long awaited vengeance. This adventure was far from over…