Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Twenty-Six: Robots and Psychics…What a world we live in!

Luigi was cold. He had woken up in some kind of cage, about ten feet square, and soon realized that he was not alone.

"Hello?" he called out, hoping for an answer. He got one.

"Mario?!" a feminine voice called back from the cage next to his.

Luigi jumped and ran to edge of his cage, trying to peer through…the lighting made it difficult to see in the cages, although the center aisle was stunningly bright.

"Princess? Is that you?" Luigi asked.

"Luigi…is Mario with you?"
"What? No…he's protecting your castle," Luigi said, feeling a tiny stab of jealousy at the fact that Peach's first thoughts were of Mario.

"Oh…where are we?" Peach asked back, trying to see Luigi…the cages seemed to be made out of some kind of metal grating, with holes so small they prevented any mingling of the prisoners.

"I don't know-" Luigi started to say, before a despairing laugh reached his ears. It seemed to come from a cage across from him.

"H-hello?" Luigi asked cautiously, trying to peer into the cage.

"You'll never get out…" the person across from them said, their voice despairing…and young.

"Who is that…Ness?" Peach said.

"Yes…it's me…Ness. Ah ha ha!" Ness said, hints of madness evident in his voice.

"What's wrong with you?" Luigi asked.

"You two…only showed up a day or so ago…but I've been here for weeks. Ah! The things they do to you…they make you see…they make you THINK…" Ness said, before devolving into giggling.

"Ness? Ness!" Luigi said, trying to get his attention.

"Don't bother. That wimps been like that since I got here a week ago," a deep bass voice said, next to Ness.

"Captain Falcon?" Peach asked.

"Yeah. Popo, Nana, Zelda, Marth and Roy are here as well." Falco said, and as each person's name was called, they said hi, in varying degrees of emotion.

"Ness has been here the longest," Marth said, his voice coming from farther down the prison, "A month or so."

Peach thought of the face that matched the voice, and recalled the blue-haired, handsome, if vaguely effeminate master swordsman.

"What's going on? Is this all the work of Bowser?" Luigi asked.

"No. Ganondorf and the Hands are in on this too." Zelda said.

"We think that Master Hand is trying to create a third tournament." Roy said.

"Another tournament? But why?" Peach asked.

"We don't know do we? We never know…and we're all going to DIE!" Ness shouted before collapsing into despondent sobs.

"SHUT UP!" Falcon said, kicking the side of the cage where Ness was leaning on, and causing the baseball-capped short boy to fall to the floor, where he lay curled up crying and moaning.

"Should we do something?" Luigi asked.

"Nah," Marth said, "That guy is just annoying. You just have to ignore him."
"That's not what I meant," Luigi started to say, when the one and only door to the chamber slammed open, and Ganondorf stomped in, carrying three small creatures…one looked vaguely like Kirby, round, pink and small arms and legs, but had larger eyes. The other two looked like Raichu, only smaller, yellow and one had a much larger head in comparison to its body.

"Is that…Jigglypuff, Pikachu and Pichu?!" Zelda asked in shock as Ganondorf tossed each of them in separate empty cages.

"Yes Princess," Ganondorf growled, "Crazy Hand just brought them in. Soon, the games will begin."
"Ganondorf! You have gone too far," Peach said to him.

"Get us out of here!" Luigi shouted.

"SILENCE!" Ganondorf roared, the sheer power of his voice knocking everyone to the back of their prisons, "And stay quiet, or your food will consist of what we cleaned out from the last occupants of those cages!"

Feeling that their prisoners were suitably cowed, Ganondorf stomped back to the door, and slammed it close, anger emanating from him like a wave. Just as he did so, Bowser popped back through the portal in the center of the room.

"Hey! Ganondorf! Man, you missed it! Those Toads were going like CRAZY! And nothing tastes better than terrified charbroiled…hey…what's wrong?" Bowser said, noticing the angry look on Ganondorf's face.

Ganondorf turned his eyes to Bowser, who was still chewing…something, and answered in a low, furious voice.

"Crazy Hand came in with Mewtwo's prisoners. I brought them to the cages, and M.C. called back Crazy Hand, told me Mewtwo is paying a visit to our friends…and gave us an ultimatum."
"Us?" Bowser asked.

"Yes, US! M.C. is still furious with you for having Yoshi killed, and he's mad at me for not capturing more," Ganondorf said, quaking with rage.

"Hey! I wasn't able to control that! It was my minion's fault, not mine!" Bowser indignantly said.

"According to reports, that "minion" was a time-displaced you from the past, so M.C. is considering you solely responsible for his death." Ganondorf hissed.

"Oh," Bowser said, abashed.

"But he does say your efforts in capturing Ness, the Ice Climbers, and more recently Peach and Luigi, which, when added with Yoshi's death, and Mario's little absence, makes The Mushroom Kingdom, completely defenseless, and you acted accordingly."
"Really?" Bowser said, quite excited.

"Oh yes," Ganondorf said, with Bowser completely missing the sarcasm, "It's great. M.C. is quite pleased with you almost single-handedly handing him the Mushroom Kingdom, which is the world he wanted the most. I on the other hand, having only given him Zelda and Falcon am not held in such favor."
"What of Mewtwo?" Bowser asked.

"Mewtwo has so far captured five, which is more than either of us and his success in the Pokemon world is also…pleasing." Ganondorf spat out.

Bowser started to notice something in Ganondorf's tone, and phrased his next question cautiously.

"What does that mean for us?"

"It means, my friend," Ganondorf said with a twisted smile, "That we have been appointed to round up the last few stragglers. Fox, Game & Watch and D.K. are wanted…NOW."
"Now?!" Bowser asked, shocked, "But we saved those for last because of how difficult they'd be to get!"
"Yes, I know! But M.C. wants them NOW, while Mewtwo starts fortifying our defenses, and visits the 'Heroes'."
"What about K-"

"And Andross, yes I know, apparently M.C. doesn't care about them. He wants US to do it. I am going after D.K. and Fox. You get the honor of G & W." Ganondorf said, walking past Bowser, who stared at Ganondorf in shock.

"But…I hate that guy!" Bowser stammered, as Ganondorf stepped in front of the portal.

"Don't we all?" Ganondorf laughed, "Kong Island!"

Ganondorf stepped into the portal as it changed to a green color. Bowser was most unhappy.

"This is going to suck!"

In Ridley's Den…

Falco and Kirby quickly panicked upon hearing the haggard breathing of a badly beaten Space Dragon. In a fit of…braveness, the two ran as fast as possible away from the noise…before smashing headlong into a rock-solid wall, that they couldn't see thanks to the darkness of the room.

"Agh! Oh no!" Falco hissed, before he and Kirby spun around…to see nothing.

Well, that's not true. An eerie blue glow, emanating from what looked like radioactive rocks around the walls, floor and ceiling of the room provided a dim illumination for the massive chamber. It just wasn't a lot of illumination and it took the two a while for their eyes to adjust.

Once their eyes did adjust though, they could see Ridley, lying on the ground away from them as various Space Pirates ran around him, causing bright lights to flare up around him.

"What are they doing?" Falco asked, as he and Kirby snuck under a small rock outcropping to stay out of sight. If Kirby answered Falco's question, Falco didn't notice or care.

The only thing they could clearly make out was that the Pirates were also putting the blue rocks by Ridley, but what they did with them was impossible to make out.

"I hope the others get here soon," Falco moaned quietly, not having a good time.

Ridley spread his wings and shrieked, as whatever it was that was being done to him seemed to hurt…hurt very bad…

Back to the Heroes…

The seven remaining Smasher traveled down the elevator. Although they were physically feeling much better, thanks to the awakening of Meta and Raichu, and the healing from Mother Brain was greatly appreciated…emotions were high.

Most of the others had caught at least part of Link's and Bario's conversation, and knew that things were building up…and that it looked like Link would be the one to spark the flames that split them up. On the entire trip down, the group was separated, in more ways than one.

Mario stayed aloof, and despite his heroicness, he still radiated an aura that made it clear that while he would be polite about it…he would end any conversation started.

Bario, the mysterious swordsman, with the interesting name stayed near Meta, who rocked back and forth, for once not flying.

Diddy and Raichu huddled together, with Diddy clarifying what Raichu missed while he was unconscious. Both kept their voices low, as if afraid to shatter the small semblance of peace the group had built.

Link seethed quietly, surreptitiously glancing at Bario, and going over the facts in his head, trying to see what he could see…that the others couldn't.

And Samus…Samus seemed to be working with her suit equipment, and her quick and jerky movements indicated that she was quite anxious.

But before anyone could even think of saying anything to try and patch up the rift growing between them, the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"Come on guys…" Bario said, still taking his role as unofficial leader quite seriously.

Despite not being a fully together team at the moment, the Smashers knew they still had a job to do: First and foremost was to find Falco and Kirby…hopefully alive, and second was to put a stop to whatever the villains were doing. They were making decent progress on both of those ventures, but they still had a long way to go.

More important was the pressing concern of whatever resided in the next chamber. It didn't take long for them to find out, because as the Smashers were coming out of the elevator a large quantity of small purplish missiles slammed into the ground around them and exploded.

"What the?" Diddy shouted, leaping away from the explosions and pulling his pistols out on…Ridley?
"What is that?!" Raichu yelled, dashing away from another outpouring of missiles.

"Ridley Robot!" Samus shouted, jumping out of the elevator and firing her own missiles back at the mechanical beast.

Ridley Robot, an awkwardly named creature that looked like an awkward mess of machinery. It was massive, standing twenty feet tall with its body trailing away, reaching thirty or forty feet. It had long, thin looking arms that gave it surprising reach and speed, and possessed a mechanical version of Ridley's snapping head, although it was considerably larger. A large cylinder was placed on its back with a sizable opening, and it was out of that that the missiles were flying.

However while this beast was large and frightening, an interesting aspect about it was that it appeared to be incomplete. Wires and bits of machinery trailed behind the robot, giving it only an upper body, and forcing it to drag itself by its arms to move, an aspect that slowed it down considerably. The final interesting part of the creature was also the only aspect of it that appeared biological. Beneath its glowing green eyes, and positioned snugly on its chest was a container that contained what appeared to be a small fist-sized heart.

The chamber appeared to be nondescript, with nothing save the large side to make it memorable, although since they were attacked immediately, the Smashers had little time to examine it.

"Let me guess," Bario yelled, slashing apart a pair of missiles, "That heart thing is the weak spot?"
"That's right," Samus said, charging up her Power Beam.

"This should be fun," Link said, grinning as he used his shield to block some missiles.

"Fun is not the word I'd use!" Raichu said, as the robot opened its mouth and released several large fireballs that slammed into the arena, splashing some of the Smashers with bits of flame, but missing all of them.

And that's when the Smashers attacked. As Robot Ridley swiped out, catching Bario in the chest, each and every other Smasher present nailed its heart with their ranged attacks.
Mario slammed it with a bunch of his new firebombs, Raichu sent similarly sized, but not nearly as many electric balls, Diddy hit it with his grenades, Meta launched a flurry of his small electric balls, Link used a bomb arrow and Samus smashed it with a Super Missile.

The container around the heart shattered, and although the robot shot out some green lasers from its eyes, the Smashers managed to distract it long enough for Samus to charge up and hit the heart again. The heart was vaporized, and with the destruction of that, the robot fell apart.

There was a brief moment of shock as the seven Smashers processed two things. First, they defeated an enemy in little more than a minute, while taking minimal damage, and second, there was no healing dust.
Before anything else could happen, a swarm of Space Pirates piled out from around various openings around the large, albeit bland chamber. Ignoring the Smashers, the Pirates started grabbing chunks of the robot and taking them back to the openings.

"Hey!" Samus said, firing a missile at one of the Pirates, "Stop whatever you're doing!"
She and the others started to step threateningly towards the Pirates…when a shifting black and purple portal opened up between them and the robot pieces.

An aura of evil washed over the Smashers, and it was clear that whatever was coming through that portal was a being of malice and power on par with Bowser and Ganondorf.

"What the?" Samus said, coming to an abrupt halt as a deep and disturbingly familiar laugh echoed from the portal as the creature traveling between dimensions made its presence known…causing Raichu to stiffen noticeably, as he shifted to all fours and started sparking like crazy.

The reason for this was made abruptly clear as out of the portal stepped a character that was familiar to those that battled in the second tournament. He stood around six feet tall, but floated slightly above the ground, adding a few inches to his height. A long powerful, curved tail whipped behind him, its dark purple coloring sharply contrasting the lighter purple that the rest of his body was, a purple so pale it was nearly white.

He had long thin arms that ended in narrow lengthy fingers…three on each hand. His lower body was built much more powerfully than his upper, with thick legs, like those of a large jumping marsupial. His head sat perched on a narrow neck, and a cylinder of flesh protruded from the back of his head and ended in his upper back, as if to help support his head.
His head was vaguely cat like, with large wide purple eyes that nevertheless seemed malevolently narrowed, and he had the vestiges of ears that stuck up slightly. He was Mewtwo.
A character with a complicated past…namely, he was cloned from another Pokemon, but turned on his creators and killed them all, before escaping from the lab he was "born" in. He was approached by Master Hand after the failure of the first tournament and acted as one of the three "Generals" appointed by the Hands…and although he lost against Pikachu, he is still well known as being very strong.

He possesses astonishing psychic powers...which he used to attack his original world after his return from the tournament. He used the personal army of Master Hand, the Wire Frames, and led an assault on Raichu's home town. He chose that town specifically because he was under the misimpression that Pikachu, his defeater, was residing there. When he found out that he was not, he destroyed the village, killing Raichu's fiancé personally in a cold rage.

He let the Wire Frames have essential free reign over the lands while he destroyed town after town…before finally finding Pikachu and his friends. He caught them by surprise, and with increased strength bestowed upon him from the Hands, defeated them easily, and brought them to Crazy Hand. After that he entered a portal and came…to Zebes.

"Mewtwo!" Raichu shrieked, before shooting off a large bolt of lightning at him, before he even finished exiting the portal.

Mewtwo merely smiled and waved his hand…causing the lighting to curve before it hit him and slam into Link, knocking him over. Mewtwo chuckled a bit as he finished exiting the portal.

"That was amusing. I do enjoy it when my enemies take care of themselves," he declared, although no sound came from his closed mouth, with the exception of his laugh. He communicated directly into their minds.

Raichu stopped sparking as he stared at Link in shock.

"Agh! Link! I'm sorry!"
"Don't worry about it," Link growled, standing up, "It wasn't your FAULT!" he shouted, jumping forward and slashing at Mewtwo at the same time Samus fired a missile at him.

Both attacks missed. The missile came within an inch of Link's nose, startling him, but not stopping him. By the time either attack got close enough to hit, Mewtwo had vanished. The Smashers spent a moment looking around wildly, when Mewtwo's voice echoed out behind them, causing them to spin around.

"Come now? This is the mighty team that has conquered the evils of the Mushroom Kingdom? Destroyed the terrors of Hyrule?" Mewtwo mocked, "I will have to have a talk with Bowser and Ganondorf. The way they were blabbering on about you, I thought you were actually worth noticing."
"Mewtwo! SHUT UP!" Raichu said, starting to spark again.

"Raichu! Don't do it! He'll just deflect it again!" Diddy said.

"Hmm…the tiny monkey is smart. You'll do well to listen to him," Mewtwo said.

"Why you-" Diddy started to say, angry at the insult, when a cry from Meta stopped him.

"Destruction of the Kitty King!" he screamed, flying at Mewtwo, slashing his sword wildly and shooting energy balls off like crazy.

Mewtwo raised his arm and created an invisible psychic shield, which the balls bounced harmlessly off of, and then when the masked knight got close enough to strike Mewtwo grabbed and flung him into a wall at a high speed using telekinesis.

"Oh, you guys are too pathetic," Mewtwo said, laughing again, his deep voice reverberating in their skulls.

"Oh shut up," Samus said, "Link, Mario and I were in the tournament with you and we all got farther than you ever did."
Mewtwo growled, and a slight anger clouded his voice.

"That is irrelevant. You never battled me, and I am far stronger now."

"Seriously, Mewtwo…why are you here? It can't just be to fight us and get back at us for doing better than you in the tournament?" Link said.

There was a brief pause as Mewtwo didn't respond. The Smashers stared, astonished that that was the reason.

"Oh man…is that really why you're here?" Diddy asked, shocked at the pettiness.

"Actually," Mewtwo said with a grin, "That's not why I'm here. I'm just here to test you a bit, and let you know that the Hands are watching you. At any time they could come right here and destroy you…but for now, they are too busy. So, I had some time and I came to put you in place. Your battles thus far have been far too easy." Mewtwo said, with his arms crossed.

"Easy?" Bario said, annoyed, "We'll show you easy those battles were! Attack!" he commanded.

Mario, Diddy, Bario and Raichu charged forward. Link and Samus paused for a second…before joining them in the charge.

Mewtwo laughed and sent off a stream of purple-black Shadow Balls, smaller than Mario's fireballs…but there were a lot of them, and they hit like physical blows. While the Smashers paused to dodge the attacks, Mewtwo grabbed and flung them away like he did with Meta, cackling the whole time…except for Raichu who was grabbed and held in place by Mewtwo's psychic force.

"Hmmm…I vaguely remember you," he stated, cold amusement in his voice, "Let's see what fun I can have with you."

Raichu struggled, but the grip holding him was much too powerful.

"No!" Bario shouted, scrambling to his feet.

"Don't even try," Mewtwo said, blasting him back into the others without even a glance.

"Now…let's see how long you last, little mouse," Mewtwo said, using one hand to keep him floating, and then using the other to shoot off nine small Shadow Balls.

Raichu screamed as the balls slammed into his body, feeling like he was being beaten with an iron club …but Mewtwo held him in place.

"Interesting…still conscious? You are stubborn. Let's see how you like being forcibly propelled into walls, shall we?" Mewtwo said, staring intently at Raichu.

Raichu merely panted heavily, and gave no sign that he heard the malevolent psychic master.

"Stop it!" Diddy shouted, struggling to move as Mewtwo was holding them all in place with seemingly no mental strain.

"The stoic strategy…you think that will be effective, little mouse?" Mewtwo mocked, ignoring Diddy and the others.

Raichu managed to lift his head, which was no small feat, considering he was floating six feet in the air, glared at Mewtwo full in the face with a look of pure hatred. If hatred could be measured on a scale of 1 to 10…Mewtwo would be suffering from a class 2 million level of hatred. Raichu then hauled back and spit at Mewtwo.

The spittle landed at his feet. Mewtwo gazed at it dispassionately for a moment before turning his attention again towards Raichu.

"How rude. What have I done to deserve such treatment from you?" Mewtwo said, genuine puzzlement in his expression.

"What do you mean? DON'T YOU KNOW?!" Raichu roared, furious at the fact that he didn't even realize that he had killed his fiancé.

"Shh," Mewtwo said, raising his finger to his mouth, despite the fact that the only noise that came from his mouth was an evil laugh…"No need to tell me…I'll just rummage through your mind!" he declared, before shooting a blinding flash of light at Raichu.

"A-" Raichu started to say, before Mewtwo locked gazes with him.

Both remained frozen for about fifteen seconds, staring into each other's eyes. The frozen Smashers watched in shock, unable to do anything. After a bit Mewtwo smiled and Raichu started to pant faster.

"Ah…that's right. I killed that little rat. That was fun. It was too bad I missed you, I would have enjoyed going through your mind then, while the memory was still fresh, and make you play it in your head over and over again. Ah well…I can start now. The vividness of the memory is starting to fade. If you're forgetting already…I guess you didn't love her as much as you thought you did. Let's see-" he started to say, before an enraged shriek from Raichu caused him to pause.

Raichu's face was contorted into an expression of pure rage, as he shot lightning bolts and clawed furiously at Mewtwo, although neither touched him.

"I seem to have touched a nerve…this will be fun-AGH!" Mewtwo shrieked as a bowling ball sized firebomb slammed into him from the side, knocking him to the ground and causing Raichu to fall.

"What in the?" Mewtwo said, floating back up…to see Mario standing there, palm still smoking.

"How did you break-" Mewtwo started to say, before projectiles from the other Smashers flew towards him, as Mewtwo had lost his psychic hold on them thanks to Mario, who seemingly broke free of it on his own.

Mewtwo twirled around and appeared by the portal, as Diddy ran over to Raichu, who was struggling to stand.

"What's wrong Mewtwo? Why are you running?" Bario mocked.

"Coward! Come back and fight!" Diddy shouted.

"You fools. My goal never was to beat you…just to keep you distracted," he said, as he stepped into the portal, deflecting some more hastily thrown projectile attacks, "And Samus," he called out as the portal and he vanished, "Check the ceiling."

His laugh echoed again as the portal closed around him.

"What did he mean by 'distracted?'" Link asked.

"Look!" Raichu pointed, at where Robot Ridley's pieces were. Well, not anymore. The Space Pirates had taken everything during the Mewtwo conversation and vanished down their tunnels, leaving only a few rusty pieces of jagged metal.

"No," Samus whispered, before turning her gaze towards the ceiling, "NO!" she shouted, running towards the next door, shooting it open on her way.

"Samus? What's wrong?" Link asked, as Meta and Mario started to follow her.

"Samus," Raichu yelled, as he got to his feet, "What's that blue stuff?"

"No time to explain! Get going!" she shrieked.

Surprised by the intensity of her voice the others ran for the elevator. They were soon in and heading down. Meanwhile…the blue mineral that was growing on the ceiling continued to spread…