Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Darkness of the Hunter

Back in the jungle…

Donkey Kong started the battle, immediately charging for Ganondorf. Ganondorf merely grinned and jumped over the simple attack…but quicker than he would have thought possible Donkey's arm shot out and grabbed Ganondorf's leg. With a roar of rage Donkey hurled Ganondorf into a palm tree hard enough to make the tree crack.

Ganondorf dropped to the ground with a loud thud, but before Donkey could attack again, Ganondorf dashed forward and planted his fist into the ape's stomach, sending him flying.
D.K. grabbed onto a tree trunk an instant before hitting another tree and used his momentum to swing around and fly back at Ganondorf, feet-first. Ganondorf side-stepped and tried to kick at Donkey as he hit the ground, but the big ape was already moving away.
The two stared at each other warily, before charging again. Ganondorf's fist became enshrouded in purple flame and he punched at Donkey faster than before, but Donkey's arm had a longer reach and his punch connected solidly with Ganondorf's face, knocking the shocked warlock off his feet.

Ganondorf was tougher than he looked though, and considering he looked pretty tough, that was rather impressive. As soon as he hit the ground he rolled and swung a massive booted foot sideways that slammed into the giant ape, knocking him down as well.

Donkey attempted to repeat Ganondorf's move, but the Gerudo was already flipping onto his feet and leaping into the air. Donkey Kong flipped back to his feet, but not quite as gracefully…just in time for Ganondorf's purple, flaming leg to slam into his chest, knocking the big monkey into a tree where he fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Ganondorf smirked and started to walk towards the motionless monkey.

"That ape was far easier than I thought he'd be…he must have been slacking since the last tournament."
However Ganondorf soon regretted those words when Donkey Kong sprang up and with a look of fury spun rapidly around like a top, with his large arms outstretched, right towards Ganondorf. The evil Gerudo wasn't expecting it and was brutally slammed multiple times before escaping the primate tornado.

Ganondorf recovered quickly, and a series of dark magic balls flew at Donkey. He dodged most, but one skimmed past his leg, causing him to trip. Ganondorf snap-kicked Donkey in the side, but the ape rolled with the blow and slammed his massive palms into the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked Ganondorf back.

Ganondorf growled and created more magic balls, but D.K. yanked out what looked like a hollow log and slammed Ganondorf in the chin with it before shooting three coconuts from the log that flew into the Gerudo's face. Ganondorf cried out in shock and pain, but jumped over the subsequent coconuts.

Donkey Kong grinned and started to track Ganondorf, firing often, but he dodged the shots fired and responded with some more of his magic balls, forcing Donkey Kong to dive for cover.

When Donkey Kong attempted to hit Ganondorf again, the Gerudo had moved faster than Donkey had anticipated and kicked the coconut gun out of his hands. Irritated Donkey dealt Ganondorf a might back-hand and then started whirling his massive arm around.

Seeing a chance to end this Ganondorf shook off the pain he was feeling and focused his energy into his fist. It began to glow a sinister purple, and with a mighty yell he thrust his arm forward…at the same time as Donkey unleashed his punch.

Both fists connected and the force behind each one would have been enough to crush the skull of any normal being…but these beings didn't even seem to notice. Both pushed with all of their strength, and Donkey Kong's monkey muscles seemed able to match Ganondorf's dark magic powered ones, with neither seemingly able to overpower the other…until Ganondorf gathered his mystical strength as well as his physical.

The purple flames on Ganondorf's fist flared up, and went from being merely a harmless show…to being extremely painful. Donkey could feel the flames burning his flesh, and Ganondorf started to push him back. Donkey attempted to strike with his other hand…but he was too late.

With a loud grunt of effort Ganondorf shoved forward and a blast of mystical energy slammed into the ape, sending him crashing to the ground. Donkey started to get up as Ganondorf walked towards him, but unfortunately a swift kick from the Gerudo's booted foot sent the primate tumbling into consciousness.

With a self-satisfied smirk Ganondorf punched the air in front of him, the purple flames opening up a portal. With a casual disregard for the well-being of the ape, Ganondorf grabbed him by the leg and threw him in.

"That was a fun waste of time…" Ganondorf muttered, before following his unconscious foe.

Someone had seen the whole fight however…and they weren't happy…

In the depths of Zebes…

Events for Samus and the rest of the Smashers were not going very well. The planet they were on, Zebes, had been infested with a wide variety of dangerous creatures…ones that Samus had killed in the past. One of the most dangerous creatures, Metroid Prime, had fallen to the skills and teamwork of the Smashers…but now it was taking a new form.

The new form did not look anything like the original alien armored spider, nor did it look like the six-tentacled Metroid that it became after its armor was destroyed. No…it looked nothing like its original forms now…unfortunately, the form it was taking was all too familiar…even to those who had never seen this creature before.

The reason for that was because, in a sense, the other Smashers HAD seen this form before…because the shape Metroid Prime was taking, was that of Samus's.

Well, not entirely. The form had a similar body shape, although the armor was an eerie dark blue, and the shoulder pads looked like porous blue sponges. The feet of this…Dark Samus were humanoid, and clawed toes were visible, and its arm ended in clawed fingers. The visor was considerably narrower, and glowed with an inner light. Other than these strange differences, the being before them looked very much like Samus…arm cannon and all.

This Dark Samus aimed her cannon at Samus, but did not move beyond that. Samus repeated the gesture…and after a moment, waved at the others to back off.

"What?" Link asked, quite confused.

"This thing absorbed one of my old suits and some of my DNA…it's very powerful, and I don't want you guys to get in the way!" Samus shouted.

"Hey! Are you saying we suck?" Falco asked angrily.

"No! I just...feel that I have to do this…I have to finish this thing off," Samus said, but despite her pleading tone, only Bario seemed to understand.

"Fine. If that's what you think…but if you look like you're going to lose, we're jumping in."
"You can't be serious! We have to help!" Link shouted at Bario.

"No!" Raichu yelled, "She does need to do this by herself…I get that."

Diddy nodded, and the two of them, plus Bario, Meta and Mario backed away, until they were well away from Samus and her dark doppelganger. Falco and Kirby seemed conflicted, but eventually followed the majority.

"Samus! You can't expect me to just…abandon you!" Link said.

"I can take care of myself! Just…stay out of this!" Samus yelled.

"But…" Link started, before Dark Samus slowly turned to look at him. The creature's invisible gaze seemed to pierce Link, and with a shudder he nodded his head at Samus and turned and walked to the others…and the battle began.

Dark Samus struck first, firing blue balls of Phazon from her cannon as soon as Link joined the other Smashers. Samus side-stepped and responded with her own Power Beam balls. Dark Samus evaded those just as easily as Samus avoided her attacks.

Dark Samus moved fairly quickly…although part of that may have been that she floated a few inches off the ground. She glided quickly around Samus, firing balls of Phazon. Samus, while incapable of floating, could move quite fast anyways and managed to dodge most of the attacks.

The two continued this back and forth shooting, neither able to really do any damage, and eventually they upgraded to missiles. Both Samus and Dark Samus started shooting their slightly homing missiles at each other, and although they couldn't fire them as fast, because of their tracking capabilities both of them ended up taking some hits.

The battle appeared pretty even, and the Smashers didn't know whether to root for Samus, or just jump in. Dark Samus didn't seem to like the way the battle was going and started to charge her beam. Samus responded by charging hers, but Dark Samus fired first, shooting out literally dozens of Phazon balls in a scatter shot. Samus was hit by a few, as they were so spread out it was impossible to dodge…but because they were spread out, she didn't take a lot of damage. Samus then responded by shooting a Super Missile that slammed into Dark Samus's chest, knocking her back.

Dark Samus seemed to let out a deep growl, but no sound actually came forth from the radioactive being. She leapt into the air, and stayed there, floating about seven feet in the air, and her arm cannon seemed to glow a bright yellow. Samus's eyes widened and she dived to the right, just as Dark Samus fired a Super Missile. The attack missed, but the explosion sent Samus rolling.
Samus continued the roll as she saw Dark Samus fire a second Super Missile, and then sprang up, switching to her Ice Beam and began shooting that beam at her dark nemesis. The ice balls seemed to hurt more than the Power Beam shots did, and Dark Samus soon created a bright blue sphere around herself, which dissipated the attacks.

Dark Samus then curled herself up inside her sphere and it tightened around her. Samus just barely managed to dive away from Dark Samus as she crashed into the ground where Samus had been standing, creating a massive crater. The sphere Dark Samus had been using for protection vanished, and she uncurled herself and stood up.

They stared at each other, neither moving nor attacking for twenty seconds…as if gauging each other. After twenty seconds, they both nodded as if understanding something, and then they charged at each other.
Dark Samus's floating ability gave her a high kick, and it would have hit Samus in the chest if Samus hadn't anticipated it and side-stepped. Dark Samus tried to correct her move, but the momentum carried her too far, and before she could attack again, Samus slammed Dark Samus over the head with her arm cannon.

The only reaction Dark Samus seemed to show to that was that she dropped to the ground. Samus thrust her cannon out again, but rather than hitting Dark Samus with it, who was already moving to dodge, she swept it in front of her, shooting small bursts of flames out that hit Dark Samus.

Dark Samus again took the blow, but didn't really seem hurt, and then dashed forward, slamming Samus in the stomach with her shoulder. Samus let out a low grunt of pain, and then hit the floor. A brutal kick from one of Dark Samus's clawed feet left deep scores on Samus's torso section of armor, and she rolled away, desperately trying to avoid continued pain. Unfortunately Samus rolled right into a missile from Dark Samus.

The missile hit right in the side of her helmet. She immediately stopped moving and lay still. A strangled gasp came from Link, and he started to move forward, but a hand from Bario stayed him.
Triumphantly, but cautiously, Dark Samus slowly approached Samus, cannon aimed to finish her off…but a sudden sweeping kick from Samus knocked her dark self down, and Samus followed that up with four Ice Beam shots as she leapt to her feet.

Dark Samus shuddered from the impact…and then vanished. Startled Samus looked wildly around…only to get hit in the back by a Phazon ball. Samus stumbled forward, and then spun around and fired three missiles in different directions…but none of them connected.

Samus cursed, remembering that when Dark Samus performed this irritating little stunt earlier Samus had a visor capable of tracking her…only problem was that the only visor Samus had was the old Echo Visor…which should ALSO be able to track her invisible foe! Samus cursed her own stupidity and flicked it on, just as Dark Samus narrowly missed with another attack.

The Echo Visor turned the world that Samus viewed into a mixture of black and white. Things moving created vibrations…or echoes, and those vibrations were visible as white ripples. Scanning the area allowed Samus to spot her foe quickly, and hit her in the face with an Ice Beam shot.

Dark Samus immediately became visible, and Samus switched off her Echo Visor so she could see normally. Dark Samus and Samus started charging their beams, and at the same second released…Samus shot her Ice Spreader and Dark Samus fired a thick blue laser beam of pure Phazon. The beam shattered the wall of ice and continued, albeit weakened, until it hit Samus. She flew back, but as she hit the ground she started charging again.

Dark Samus fired some more scatter shots, but Samus tried to ignore them…and fired five missiles at once. They homed in on Dark Samus, but the evil fiend raised a blue shield of Phazon that deflected the attacks and sent them tumbling harmlessly into the ceiling.

Dark Samus then went into her Morph Ball form, and activating her form of the Boost Ball, flew at Samus. Samus leapt over the attack and switched to the Power Beam, hoping the faster shots could hit Dark Samus as she bounced off a wall and rolled back. Samus side-stepped and fired numerous shots, but only a few connected.

When Dark Samus came back Samus side-stepped again, but her foe changed direction impossibly quickly and slammed into Samus's legs, forcing her to her knees. Unrolling Dark Samus then unleashed a high kick that caught Samus under the chin and knocked her to the ground. Dark Samus then prepared to attack again…when Samus's Super Missile slammed into her chest.

Dark Samus flew back, stunned and hurt as she hadn't even noticed Samus was charging. She took a step forward, preparing to attack again, but suddenly collapsed. Dark Samus writhed on the ground in apparent pain.

"What's happening?" Link yelled to Samus.

"Dark Samus is powered by Phazon…when she takes a lot of damage it becomes unstable, and she either dies or…"

Samus was abruptly cut off as Dark Samus leapt to her feet…looking a little bit different. The armor appeared to be more transparent, and a skeletal face looked through the now clear helmet. Strangely, the nucleus from the core form of Metroid Prime was visible in the head of this slightly changed Dark Samus.

"Mutates…" Samus said, finishing her sentence.

Dark Samus seemed to shimmer, and then she was moving obscenely fast. Samus tried to track her, but Dark Samus's slightly new form seemed to give her considerably more speed. Samus was pummeled repeatedly by Phazon blasts, before she even had the option to defend.

Samus shot several missiles at Dark Samus, but the ones that got close enough were deflected by a Phazon shield and Samus was forced to avoid her own attacks. Samus then started firing Power Beam shots, knowing that though they were weak, they were her only attacks that were fast enough to hit Dark Samus. Unfortunately, although they did connect…a few times…Dark Samus seemed to mostly ignore the attacks, as she dashed forward again and sent Samus flying with a well-placed kick.

Samus staggered up, and Link moved forward, sword raised. Bario didn't stop him…Bario took half a step forward as well, but a call from Samus stopped the both of them.

"No! I can take care of this by myself! Stay out of it!"
Link started to respond, but Samus rolled into her Morph Ball form and sped towards her foe. Dark Samus attempted to move out of the way, but Samus activated the Boost portion of her ball form and shot forward, clipping Dark Samus…and leaving behind several Morph Ball bombs.

Dark Samus didn't notice as she was trying to track Samus, but when the bombs exploded Dark Samus was knocked back, with small tendrils of smoke leaking out of her person. Slightly angered Dark Samus turned back…just in time to shoot a powerful Phazon blast at Samus an inch before she Boosted into Dark Samus again.
In the smaller and more streamlined form of the Morph Ball Samus skidded pretty far from the blow, and popped out of the form in a daze. Before Dark Samus could take advantage of the dazed Samus however, the Power Bomb Samus managed to drop before being hit exploded, and the resulting explosion sent Dark Samus flying.
Samus managed to get her bearings back around the same time as Dark Samus managed to get up from the surprise attack. Samus fired some missiles at Dark Samus, but her nemesis created a large sphere of Phazon energy around herself, and the missiles exploded far before they reached Dark Samus.

Dark Samus than released a series of blue Phazon blasts from the sphere that arced up and flew at Samus. She dodged them and they created dangerous puddles on the ground. Dark Samus repeated the attack…and Samus remembered what she did last this happened.

Samus started charging up her arm cannon. Pointing it at the Phazon blasts coming from the sphere, the small vacuum like capabilities of the charging dragged the beams in, combing the Phazon temporarily with the Power Beam. After absorbing the attacks, Samus aimed and fired a massive blue and yellowish orange roiling beam of energy that penetrated the shield and slammed into Dark Samus, sending her flying until she hit the ground and skidded to a stop by the opposite wall.

Samus aimed carefully at Dark Samus, panting slightly from the fight, but she knew that Dark Samus didn't have much left in her. It was essentially over. At least, that's what Samus thought until Dark Samus's hand clawed the side of the wall…the wall that was covered in Phazon.

Samus fired a missile, realizing too late what was happening, but Dark Samus managed to erect a shield. Gathering the Phazon from the wall, she stuck out her arm cannon and blue Phazon lightning shot from it and her other hand as she began to absorb all the Phazon in the room.

"Damn! KILL HER!" Samus yells to the others, firing missiles like crazy.

"Finally!" Link said, as the others began shooting their own projectiles.

Unfortunately Dark Samus used the power she was drawing in from the Phazon to increase the strength of the shield. When the Smashers continued attacking, Dark Samus widened the shield, turning it into a powerful Phazon blast that sent all of the Smashers to the ground.

As they struggled to get up Dark Samus finished absorbing the Phazon. Her form had changed again. It was much more streamlined and organic looking, with the visor and suit becoming a darker blue. It was also opaque again, hiding her actual physical features. Phazon lightning crackled around her, like she could barely contain her power. Basically, she looked a lot deadlier.

The Smashers managed to stand up and array themselves around Dark Samus, and she looked at them with contempt. Gathering the Phazon energy, Dark Samus created another large sphere of Phazon around herself…and shot straight up, plowing through the ceiling and creating an absolutely massive hole.

The Smashers stared at the hole in the ceiling for several seconds in shock, before they moved beneath it. They gazed up…and up…and up. The hole seemed to create a tunnel all the way up to the top of the planet. They could see the glimpse of an orange-ish sky, with a tinge of blue. The top was not as far up as would have been expected…the last elevator had been leading up, and during the whole battle with Prime the Smashers had been traveling up…but the top of the planet was far too high for even Meta or Mario to fly up, let alone the rest. To further their impossible situation the Phazon that Dark Samus had absorbed was creeping back into the chamber. Things looked very bad.

"Samus…what's going on?" Raichu asked.

"Just as I suspected…the planet has become infected with Phazon. Soon the entire planet will be a radioactive mass that will spread to other planets, until the whole galaxy is composed of this radioactive junk…and Dark Samus will rule it all. Clearly she expects us to die here."

"Won't we?" Diddy asked, "What can we do?"
"There is one thing…" Samus said, hitting a button on her suit.

"What are you doing?" Falco asked.

"Wait for it," Samus said.

Several seconds passed. Samus stopped any questions the others might have with a raise of her hand. Shortly before they got REALLY nervous, a series of loud explosions drew their attention to the hole. They quickly took a startled leap back as something seemed to be coming down. Worried that it was Dark Samus, several of the Smashers raised their weapons.

"Don't fire! It's my ship!" Samus yelled, as indeed, her ship came into view from the tunnel that it had widened with its explosives. Apparently she had used her suit to call it down.

Samus's ship was certainly impressive. It was reasonably large, and had a sleek style and shape, with the top half of the ship an orange similar to the orange of Samus's suit, and the bottom half a black that contrasted sharply with the orange. Combined with the way the viewport of the ship was shaped liked the visor of Samus's helmet, the ship looked very much like a stretched out, streamlined version of her helmet.

The ship came to a gentle floating stop in front of the Smashers and extended a hatchway. Samus headed towards, but stopped when the others didn't follow.

"What's wrong now?" Samus asked impatiently.

"I…don't like that," Link answered nervously.

"You never see a spaceship before? Where you from man, the Middle Ages?" Falco asked.

"You've been to where I live! Hyrule! The most advanced thing we have there is bombs!" Link answered angrily.

"Link! Don't worry about it! You'll be far safer in the ship than out of it!" Samus told him.

"That's not saying a lot," Link said, looking at the encroaching Phazon.

"Samus…what do you plan to do?" Bario asked.

"I plan on getting us in this thing, flying out of here, and killing Dark Samus. If memory serves, killing her will stop the spread of Phazon…or possibly make the planet explode."
"Oh." Bario said. "Sounds good to me!"
Nodding the others followed Samus in the ship, with various degrees of reluctance. Once in Samus immediately got to a chair located by the viewport and hit several buttons arranged in a complicated manner on a large control panel. The hatch retracted.

The others tried to spread out, but it was obvious the ship was designed for one person. The inside of the ship was a clean sterile gray, but in the aft section of the ship, past the small cockpit was what looked like a cargo bay, where a bed and other housing necessities were located, and that was where most of the Smashers gathered, since it was the least cramped area.

"Alright…this is going to be close," Samus warned the others, yanking back on a lever and flicking some switches. Responding to her commands the ship lifted off the ground a little more and pointed itself at the hole. Several of the Smashers seemed nervous, but Falco, who had considerable experience piloting advanced spacecraft was watching intensely, not the tunnel that Samus was piloting the ship up, but the way her hands moved across the dashboard, and seeing what switches did what.

Link of course was absolutely terrified, and had to look away, while Diddy and Raichu stuck close. Meta babbled incoherently, and Kirby seemed slightly paler. Mario, with his many experiences didn't seem too nervous about the flight, but was fingering his cape. Bario for some reason had his eyes closed and was muttering under his breath.

It didn't take long for Samus's powerful ship to get out of the tunnel, and with the exception of a slight bump against the side it was a smooth ride, and once the ship was out, Samus straightened it out so they could get a look at the planet. Perhaps it would have been better if she hadn't done that.

The terrain was frighteningly familiar to Samus. The chamber they were in must have been one of the cleaner areas, as nearly the entire planet was a poisonous blue. Phazon coated Zebes, and massive blue tentacles waved around. As the Smashers watched, several of them crowding forward in shock at the terrible scene, they saw the Phazon move like a living creature and cover portions of untouched ground.

"This is bad…I had no idea it got this bad…" Samus said in shock.

"What do we do?" inquired Diddy.

"Same thing…find Dark Samus and kill her," Samus said, starting to fly over the dangerous planet surface, carefully avoiding the tentacles.

"Where'd she go?" Raichu asked.

"I think she's supervising the infection of the planet, so she'll probably be right where the largest part of untouched planet is, which is right…here!" Samus said, using a complicated scanner that apparently only she and maybe Falco could understand.

She turned towards that area, and Link brought up a pressing question.

"Samus…my incredible fear of this flying deathtrap aside, how are we supposed to fight Dark Samus…we can't go on the surface of the planet…can we?"
"It's not a deathtrap!" Samus said, hurt.

"Sorry…but seriously…what are we going to do?"
"Well, this ship does have some weapons systems…but it's not really designed for pitched combat against something as small as Dark Samus…and you're right. Even my suit can't protect me very well against Phazon…if any of us landed on the actual planet we'd die."
That seemed to sober the Smashers up a bit, and they were quiet for a while as they tried to figure out the conundrum. And that was when Falco brought up an even bigger concern.

"Can't Dark Samus absorb Phazon?" he asked. At Samus's slow nod, he continued, "Then can't she absorb the Phazon…on this ENTIRE planet?"
The others seemed taken aback…that would seem to give Dark Samus unlimited power…but Samus quickly dispelled those fears.

"No. She can't draw on too much or she'll become too unstable. She's mostly made of Phazon now, but too much could cause her to mutate into a formless and harmless blob. The amount she absorbed down in the chamber was close, and probably almost pushed her to her limits. She's probably using some now to increase her speed. I doubt she could really utilize any more. She is beatable."
"More so now," Bario said, opening his eyes and hands. A purple sphere seemed to come out of his hands and go through everyone and out of the ship, where it formed into the shape of the ship, conforming to about six feet in every direction.

"Bario? What did you do?" Link asked angrily.

"I created a small energy field around the ship. I've spent enough time around Phazon to understand it a bit and this field should reduce Phazon based damage. It's not perfect, but it should help."
"T-thanks," Samus said, slightly surprised.

"Yes, thanks," Link snapped, "But still! How are we supposed to fight Dark Samus, when we can't even touch the ground!"
"Well that depends…Samus…do you still want to try and take on Dark Samus alone?" Bario asked.

"I'm no fool," Samus responded, narrowly avoiding a tentacle, "I beat her and she changed the rules…so I'm going to accept your help. Why, any ideas?"
"Well…there are two of us who don't technically have to touch the ground," Bario said…before turning to…

"Meta-Knight!" Diddy said in surprise.

"And Mario!" Raichu yelled in shock.

"Of course!" Falco said.

At his name Meta snapped to attention, his sword held to his…head/body in a type of salute.

"Ylim Afg Nok!" He said cheerfully.

"It's a me-a, Mario!" Mario stated heroically, clipping his cape on.

"Well…that solves that problem," Samus said, "But that still leaves seven of us on this ship, with a very powerful and small target running around out there…unless," Samus trailed off before spinning around in her chair and locking gazes with Falco.

"W-what?" He asked, startled.

"Can you pilot this ship?!" Samus asked.

"What? M-me?" Falco stammered.

"Yes you! Can you pilot my ship?"
"Well…it's bigger than my Arwings…but," Falco stopped talking and examined the controls.

"Can you or not?" Samus asked impatiently.

"Yes. Your ship is more advanced than the ones we use, but the controls are the same pretty much."
"Excellent," Samus said before getting out of the chair and walking to a tube by the side of the cargo bay.

"Samus? Where are you going?" Link asked.

"Agh! No one's piloting!" Raichu yelled, dashing towards the control panel before they plummeted to the ground and died.

"Stop!" Samus commanded.

Raichu stopped.

"I set it to hover, we're fine. I am going to the top of the ship to help Meta and Mario fight Dark Samus."
"The top? Won't you fall off when Falco gets it moving?" Diddy asked.

"No, I can set my suit to stay magnetically attracted to the ship, I'll be fine."
Samus continued walking towards the tube, which seemed to be a small elevator that led to the top of the ship.

"Samus! How will I get to Dark Samus?" Falco asked, slipping into the command chair.

"No need. We're right above her. Come on Mario and Meta," Samus said, hitting a switch by the tube. It opened up, and it was just big enough for the three to pile in, as long as Meta flapped by the top. Samus hit another button and the tiny elevator carried them quickly to the top.
"Great…this is going to be fun," Falco said, feeling the controls.

"You do know what you're doing right?" Link asked nervously, looking at the control panel.

"On a scale from one to ten…I have no idea. I'm kind of guessing here." Falco said.

"Just think of it as a learning experience," Bario said, trying to maintain calm.

"I would rather skip this part of the lesson," Falco answered nervously.

"Bario…I know this is probably a bad time, but I'd really like to talk to you," Diddy said.
Bario nodded, and the two of them went towards the back of the cargo hold, while Falco looked at them pleadingly.

"Great. There go two people with opposable thumbs."
Kirby cheerfully wandered up.

"What…you want to help?" Falco asked.

"OK!" Kirby answered happily.

"Fine, grab this thing here," Falco said gesturing to a joystick located by a screen that showed the same image as the viewport. The only difference was the targeting reticule on it.

"OK!" Kirby said, grabbing it.

"Oh…you don't have fingers," Falco said, waggling his own feathered digits.
"I do…what do you need them for?" Link asked, swallowing loudly.

"I need you to push those buttons right there," Falco said, pointing to several buttons that were by the joystick.

"What do they do?" Link asked, getting around Kirby.

"They should control this ships guns. Let Kirby aim and you fire."
"Great…" Link said.

"I'll see what I can do for the electrical systems!" Raichu said, before dashing to another part of the ship.

"Uh…yeah, you go do that," Falco muttered, as he grabbed the controls in front of him and shifted the view of the ship slightly, "If Dark Samus is right below us…why isn't she doing anything?"

While Falco was figuring out how to work the ship, Samus, Mario and Meta were on top of the planet. Looking out at the blue wasteland, Mario turned a questioning glance towards Samus. Shrugging, she took a guess as to what he was "asking" her.

"Nope. I have no idea as to how you can breathe here. I also don't know why this amount of Phazon isn't killing you guys, since you're suitless. Something to figure out later."

Mario nodded, and with a skillful jump he leapt off the side of the ship, followed closely by Meta-Knight. Samus walked to the tallest portion of the sloped ship and noticed the difficulty she had walking that short of a distance…since her ship was in motion, it detected her on top and the suit was magnetically, or electrically…or something, attached to the ship.

"So…I'm not going to fall off, but I won't be able to dodge very well either," Samus said, looking around for Dark Samus. The shield Bario created pulsated slightly barely an inch above her head…

Mario and Meta didn't fall very far before Mario stopped in midair, his cape flapping and Meta hovered. They scanned the area below them…but didn't see Dark Samus…

In the cargo bay…

"Bario…can you create another portal?"
"What? To where?"

"To my home…to Kong Island."

"Why? What's there?" Bario questioned.

"Well, my family for one," Diddy said.

"That's not what I meant."
"Well…it's just been a while since I was there. And seeing how Mario's place, Link's Hyrule and this planet Samus knows about have all pretty much gone to hell…I'm kind of worried."

"I see. That does seem like it would be wise to check…"

"Plus, I know if Donkey Kong is there he would want to join us, and having an extra person around has to help right?"
"Diddy, you had me at the you being worried part. I'll help. It will take me a while to find your home though, let alone open a portal to it."

"Oh. Is there any way to speed it up?" Diddy asked.

"Well…it would help if we could do some kind of mental link. That would at least help focus the place in my mind.

"Okay…how is that done?"
"Just relax…" Bario said, before placing his open palm on Diddy's head. A purple light surrounded them as Bario started work on opening a new portal…

Falco meanwhile was just getting the hang of the ship, but if he was reading the sensors in front of him correctly, Dark Samus wasn't beneath them at all. He could pick up Samus on the top of the ship, and even Mario and Meta-Knight who were getting dangerously close to the ground beneath them, approximately a hundred feet below the ship…but no Dark Samus.

"Falco…where is she?" Link asked nervously.

"I don't know! According to this, she's not below us…I'm going to widen the search…" Falco muttered, hitting some buttons.

Raichu wandered over and looked at the many screens in front of Falco.

"Hey…what's that?"
Falco jumped in surprise before turning towards Raichu.

"Agh! Where have you been?"
"Oh, just making sure the electrical systems are operating at peak efficiency. One of the engines was being weird after Samus bumped it against the side of the tunnel coming out. The current wasn't traveling right, so I fixed it."
"Uh…thanks," Falco said.

"So?"
"So what?"
"What's that?" Raichu asked, pointing vaguely at the screens.

"What?" Falco asked, looking over the scanning one, the target-lock one, the navigational, etc.

"The one that has the small flashing dot on it!" Raichu said, leaning over and tapping a screen.

"Agh! Careful!" Falco said, trying to brush away Raichu's hand, only to get a mild shock, "OW!"
"Sorry!"
Falco cradled his tingling hand and looked at the screen. There was indeed a flashing dot, and according to the numbers and symbols beneath the screen, it represented something right behind the ship.

"What is that…oh…no…Dark Samus!" Falco yelled, yanking the stick in front of him that controlled the direction of the ship…but was too late, as something powerful hit the ship from behind, sending the ship, and its occupants tumbling to the ground.

Mario and Meta were flying beneath the ship, trying to avoid the many tentacles when they heard a loud explosion and spun around…just in time to see the ship falling towards them.

Samus felt the ship pitch forward, but her suit kept her attached to the ship. She could see the ship tumbling towards the ground, but as she turned around, she saw that she would be unable to get back inside in time.

Diddy and Bario flew forward, but the purple light around them stopped them before they hit the wall, and neither opened their eyes, as if they were unaware of what was happening around them…

"Falco!" Raichu and Link yelled at the same time.

"WHAT?" Falco yelled back, yanking hard on the stick in front of him.

"Pull up! Pull up!"
"What do you think I'm trying to do?!"
Mario and Meta-Knight flew out from under the ship, the wash of it falling yanked on them slightly, but they managed to stay airborne…and saw a dark blue object flash past them.

Samus aimed her cannon and fired a missile at Dark Samus as she flew towards the ship, intent on finishing the job. The missile missed, and Dark Samus fired a Phazon shot. Samus ducked, and the purple shield served to weaken the attack, causing it to miss Samus and strike harmlessly into the side of the ship. Clearly the attack that served to knock the ship out of the air was considerably more powerful…

Falco groaned with effort as he pulled back on the stick. The ship started coming out of the dive mere meters above the ground. Falco started to breathe a sigh of relief…until he clipped one of the blue tentacles, sending the ship into a spin.

Mario and Meta followed after the ship, struggling to keep up with its fall, and a missile skimmed past Mario. They saw Dark Samus fire and miss, and then the ship started to pull up, until it hit one of those blue tentacles that sent it into a spin. Dark Samus backed off immediately, attempting to avoid the dangerous ship…and that slow down of speed for Dark Samus was enough to allow Mario and Meta a chance to get close…

Falco managed to get the ship out of the spin, and ignored the shrieks from the other passengers. Pulling the ship up he turned it around once it was well above the planet's surface…and aimed it at Dark Samus.

"Aim carefully you two!" Falco said to Kirby and Link.

Mario hit Dark Samus in the back with a firebomb. She spun around and shot off a Phazon ball at him, but he was already moving out of the way, and Meta managed to throw a handful of energy balls at Dark Samus. Most of them missed, but two managed to connect with her leg and chest.

Dark Samus glided towards Meta, her flying ability clearly better than ever, but Mario dashed up and slammed her in the back with his hammer. She spun around and kicked him in the stomach, and managed to spin back and hit Meta with a Phazon shot before he could hit her with his sword.

Mario recovered nearly instantly though, and a missile that narrowly missed Dark Samus indicated that Samus, and by extension her ship, were closing in on her. Dark Samus fled.

"HEY!" Falco yelled, looking at his viewport.

"What?" Link asked.

"She's running away! After her!"
"Falco…you're the one piloting," Raichu said.

"What? Oh! Yeah!" Falco said, silently berating himself, "Let's hope this button does what I think it does…"

Falco slammed a button by the control stick, and the ship shot forward.

Samus aimed again, hoping to hit Dark Samus with a Super Missile, but the ship jerked forward just as she was firing, and the attack missed. Samus cursed and started charging again.

Mario and Meta flapped after Dark Samus who was trying to get away from the ship, when it flew over their heads…and right on past Dark Samus. Dark Samus instantly stopped and turned to the right, before shooting off in that direction. Mario and Meta turned just as quickly, and continued the chase, firing their projectiles ahead of them.

"You missed her!" Raichu said.

"What?"
"You went to fast and flew right over her!"
"Agh! Cut back our speed! I guess this ship goes way faster than Dark Samus!"
"Where's the speed controls?" Raichu asked.

"They should be right there," Falco answered, pointing to a series of knobs and switches by his feet.

"I'm on it!"

"Do you know how to use-" Falco started to say, before Raichu stuck both of his tiny hands on the controls, and shot multiple bursts of electricity into them. The ship immediately slowed down.

"Never mind," Falco said, twisting the control yoke so hard that the ship turned on its side. Falco pointed the ship at Dark Samus and straightened it out, "Let's try this again."

Samus cursed at the ship jerked again, but at least this time she wasn't firing anything.

"Maybe I should get BACK!" Samus shrieked as she suddenly found herself horizontal, looking straight down at the planet. The ship righted itself quickly…and Samus soon saw Dark Samus.

Dark Samus spun in midair and created large pillars made of Phazon, hoping to trip up Mario and Meta, but the two of them flew around the pillars and kept up their assault.
Falco pulled up when he saw the pillars being created, but despite the maneuver, Kirby managed to get a lock on Dark Samus and Link hit a button, shooting off a rather large missile from the ship.

Mario and Meta ducked under a stream of Phazon, just as a missile, easily three times the size of the ones Samus usually fired shot past and slammed into Dark Samus, sending her plummeting to Zebes.

Before anyone could celebrate, a massive pillar of Phazon shot up…and on it was Dark Samus. She charged up and fired a massive blue laser of Phazon at the ship, which Falco barely managed to avoid, and only the purple shield prevented them from taking any damage from the near miss. Then, as Mario and Meta flew towards her, Dark Samus surrounded herself in a glowing field of Phazon that sent the two falling back.

Dark Samus than suddenly seemed to split…into three Dark Samus's. The three spread out and started charging up something.

"What's going on?" Falco demanded, bringing the ship to a stop, facing the center Dark Samus.

"I don't know!" Link answered.

"Well do something!" Falco yelled.

A gleeful shriek from Kirby indicated a lock on the center Dark Samus, and Link fired.

Mario and Meta managed to get a hold of themselves and turned to face the left Dark Samus. Nodding to each other they flew towards it, Mario smashing with his hammer, and Meta slashing with his blade.

The missile connected solidly with the center Dark Samus, and it exploded…both of them. Blue Phazon fluttered to the ground from the remains of that Dark Samus. Mario and Meta's attack reduced the second one to dust as well.

Seeing that, Samus turned to the last Dark Samus and released her charged attack. The attack this time was something new. Samus not only poured a fully charged Power Beam into it, but also her Ice Beam and all of her missiles. She poured in all the power from every single one of her suit's systems, and the beam shot out of her arm cannon and widened until it was as tall as she was, and considerably wider.

This blue-ish white beam, this "Zero Laser", shot forward and completely plowed through Dark Samus. Dark Samus let out one strangled screech…before being completely vaporized. In the aftermath of the explosion, the blue Phazon that had made up Dark Samus turned a dark purple…and vanished.
Unfortunately the attack had used up all the power in Samus's suit, and it collapsed to the top of the ship, useless. Samus was now suitless, garbed only in a blue skintight jumpsuit. No longer protected by her suit, the Phazon radiation hit Samus hard, and gasping for breath she fell down. Grabbing her suit pieces she threw them into a hole she opened up by hitting several switches on the ceiling of the ship, before falling in that as well.

Inside the ship there was stunned silence. They had managed to witness the destruction of the three Dark Samus's, and were trying to process their victory. But process it did, and soon they were all cheering.

The cheering ended abruptly when Samus's suit fell in the hallway between the cockpit, followed by a gasping Samus.

"Samus?" Link asked, stepping towards her.

Samus struggled to get up, and when she did, she ignored Link and staggered over to Falco.

"We need…to get out…here!"
"What? Why?" Falco asked as Samus pushed him out the chair and squeezed in herself.

"Ow! Hey, you could have just asked!"

"With the source controlling the Phazon dead…the planet is going to explode!" Samus said, turning the ship around, "We have to escape!"
"We can't!" Raichu yelled.

"What? Why not?" Samus demanded.

"Mario and Meta are still out there!"
The planet beneath Mario and Meta was shuddering. Realizing they should get back to the ship they turned around, just as a liquid wall of Phazon shot up, separating them from their only escape.

"Damn!" Samus said as the Phazon appeared from the dying planet, "We can't get to them in time…we'll have to leave!"
"We can't!" Falco said.

"If we go back to save them, we'll all die!" Samus said, pointing the ship towards the sky.

"There must be another way!" Raichu cried.

"There is."

Mario and Meta frantically avoided pillars of Phazon that were becoming more and more rapid. It seemed over for them…until a purple disc appeared in front of them, floating in midair. Without a second thought, the two dived into the portal.

"What? Bario?" Samus said, turning to the new speaker, as he and Diddy came back from the cargo bay.

"I managed to open a portal to Diddy's home. Mario and Meta escaped through it…now we have to."
Link sighed in relief, but then looked suspiciously at Bario. Opening portals was hard work, and Bario, while vaguely tired looking, did not seem like it took as much out of him that it should have.

"I see it!" Samus said, pointing the ship towards the portal.

"Hurry, I can't hold it open for much longer." Bario stated calmly, a hint of a strain creeping into his voice.

Samus nodded and pushed the speed of the ship up. It skimmed past a pillar of Phazon, but continued on unhindered. The ship flew into the portal…just as the planet Zebes exploded from its uncontrolled, unstable Phazon energy, sending a torrent of deadly energy down the portal…after the Smashers…