Clash of the Smashers
Chapter Thirty-Three: Birds and Blades make a most interesting combination…
Somewhere in the Lylat System…
Space. Impossibly vast no matter what dimension you're in. Seemingly empty, there is a surprisingly large amount of objects and items stashed away in space, planets, stars…more planets…and other planetoid…things. Oh! And ships! There are indeed several ships flying through space right now…perhaps they should be called…spaceships! Ha! What a clever name. Speaking of ships in space…spaceships, one was flying through it right now.
It was large, gray and looked vaguely beat up, like it was used as some kind of platform for intense combat for nine years. It featured a long pointed bridge, and gradually sloped and widened towards the back, revealing four spread out "wings" and a powerful engine. Beneath the bridge, and connected to the area by the engine were several large powerful guns, and right above those was some kind of hangar entrance. This then was the Great Fox.
The inside of the Great Fox was considerably better furnished than the outside, but maintained a simple gray color scheme, with the necessary shiny switches and buttons that all spaceships must have.
Not surprisingly, Fox McCloud was piloting the Great Fox, and helping him out were members of the Star Fox crew, of which Falco is a member of.
Fox was an anthropomorphic fox, and it is a trait shared by all members of the Star Fox universe: They are bipedal animals, with human-like characteristics. Fox was clad in a green vest, with combat boots and pants, a look that was basically identical to that of Falco and the other members of this team. Fox was also carrying similar versions of the weapons that Falco had taken with him.
The oldest member of the team, Peppy Hare, was busy sleeping in a corner of the bridge, his most noticeable aspect being that he had the head of a rabbit. Weird.
The most useless member of the team, which is saying a lot, since Peppy doesn't do much, Slippy Toad possessed a squat…toad like, body and an annoyingly high-pitched voice. Slippy was tinkering around with a large machine that Fox and Falco had placed on the right side of the bridge for the sole purpose of keeping the toad busy.
The newest member, Krystal, was a blue fox…vixen…girl…person, clad in a blue suit that managed to reveal considerably more than you'd suspect. Krystal was not really getting a lot done either as she was standing quite close to Fox, who was attempting to focus on his mission.
The final remaining member, R.O.B. was controlling the navigation. ROB was replacing his replacement, ROB 64, a more advanced robot that unfortunately suffered a tinkering session from Slippy and was currently in the process of exploding in the cargo hold of the ship, a process that had been going on for several days.
R.O.B. was a simple looking robot, mostly white, but his arm-pincher things were red, and his treads that he used to maneuver were black as was the front of his rectangular head. His large round eyes made him seem friendly, which was interesting considering he was incapable of actual emotion.
"Krystal, any new information from the General?" Fox asked, nudging her a bit towards the communication center of the control panel.
"What? Oh…no," she said, having been temporarily stunned by Fox's…foxiness, which is a description usually applied towards females, but considering Fox was a fox, it probably didn't detract from his masculinity.
"Alright, well if what he said before is still correct, Andross is attacking Corneria, so R.O.B., set us for there."
R.O.B. made a beeping noise and started tapping buttons.
Fox turned the yoke, and the Great Fox, having finished destroying a pack of Andross's thugs, turned towards Corneria. It was about to shoot forward, when an explosion occurred down by the engines, and the Great Fox tilted greatly to the left.
"What the heck?" Fox shouted, turning the controls hard to compensate.
"What was that?" Krystal shouted back.
"I don't know, check the screens to see what hit us!" Fox told her.
"The explosion was internal," Slippy said, sticking his head out of the machinery he was destroying.
"What? How can you tell?" Fox asked, turning away from the controls for a second to look at the toad.
"Because that flashing light over there means an internal explosion by the hangers," Slippy calmly said, before literally diving back into his hunk of worthless metal.
"Hmph. Even though you're useless, you still have some use," Fox, ignoring the fact that his statement was illogical.
"So what now?" Krystal asked.
"I guess I investigate to try and see what the problem is," Fox said.
"Oh. Be careful," Krystal said.
"Why? Is your limited psychic power giving you a warning?" Fox asked.
"Huh? Oh…no…I mean yes! Danger is near! Beware!"
"You know, sometimes you sound like some kind of food product that predicts ones fortune," Fox said with a grin, "Well, after I leave, lock down this area until I come back, who knows what could have happened."
As if to punctuate his statement, a loud banging was heard, closer to the bridge.
"Bye!" Fox said, pulling out his gun.
"Bye…" Krystal said, doing her best to be worried.
As Fox walked towards the door, Peppy woke up and grabbed Fox's hand as he walked past.
"FOX!" Peppy said, looking quite upset.
"What? What is it Peppy?"
"Do a barrel roll!"
"Uh…thanks. Goodbye now," Fox said, before yanking his hand back and quickly exiting the door. Peppy stared at him for a moment before collapsing back into sweet dreamland.
R.O.B. tapped a button and the large metal doors slammed down, protecting the bridge from whatever was attacking the ship, and preventing Fox from making a quick return.
Fox slowly walked through the empty chambers of the Great Fox. It really wasn't as big as it looked from the outside, the majority of the internal space was dedicated to generators and equipment, but there were living quarters for everyone, about the size of small bedrooms, a kitchen, an eating area, an infirmary, several spare rooms, etc. Fox quickly checked each of those rooms, but found nothing, as he expected.
Hearing the banging noises continue, still in the direction of the hangar, Fox climbed into the small elevator the Great Fox has to make traveling between floors easier. Hitting the button for the bottom floor, Fox checked his gun again, and as soon as the doors opened he rolled out, gun aimed at…nothing.
Sighing, Fox lowered his weapon, but looked around the small room he was in carefully. Besides a few pipes there was nothing to hide behind, and the room was well-lit so he could see that there was nothing behind the pipes.
Fox stepped towards the gray door that led to the hangar, and with a trio of quick taps on a nearby number pad, the door slid upwards.
This room had plenty of places to hide. It was easily the largest room in the ship; after all it had to hold the five Arwings the Star Fox crew needed.
Fox looked around, quickly locating the source of the explosion: Peppy's Arwing had gone boom, probably because the old fart hasn't used it in years.
Fox went over to the smoking mess. A spark from the worn control panel had probably gotten to fuel tanks or something stupid like that…Fox paused and put his gun away, not wanting to waste his time with this, but he knew he had to at least check what the problem was.
He turned towards the starry sky outside the large opening the Arwings used to fly out of the ship. The only thing protecting Fox from sucking vacuum was a force field designed to keep the atmosphere in the ship. Fox was glad it was there, but it did have the unfortunate side effect of making the stars kind of fuzzy, marring an otherwise beautiful view.
Sighing again Fox turned to the Arwing…and froze. Looking closely at the damage, it didn't look like the fuel tank exploded…rather it looked like someone had punched it. But that was impossible...who could do that much damage with a punch?
A sudden noise behind Fox caused him to yank out his gun and whirl around…only to see a screw spinning on the ground. Confused Fox stared at it for a second, before a second screw landed near the first.
Catching on Fox looked up…and used a Fox Illusion ability to dash ten feet in an instant…just in time to avoid a metal beam crashing to the ground where he was a second ago. Closely following the beam was a large armored man with green skin, who dropped gracefully from his perch on the ceiling.
"Nice move. You might be a tricky one to bag," the man said with a wry grin.
"Who…wait…Ganondorf?" Fox said, remembering when of his fellow competitors, "What are you doing here?"
"Orders Fox. I was ordered to bring you in."
"Ordered? By who?"
"Don't worry yourself with that, you'll be seeing him soon enough."
"Don't kid yourself, I did better than you in the tournament."
"Surely you haven't forgotten we were equalized there? Here…I have no restrictions," Ganondorf said confidently, a dark purplish glow emanating from his hands.
Fox gulped, but moved his body into a fighting stance.
"You can't do anything, my crew will hear us fighting and come down, and you can't take them all on."
"Well, I probably could…but that isn't necessary," Ganondorf said, before shooting a blast of dark magic from his hand.
Fox ducked, but the magic missile whizzed past him and slammed into a control panel, destroying it, and causing the only door out of the hangar to slam shut.
"I'm not going down without a fight," Fox said.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Ganondorf responded, still grinning.
Fox fired his gun at Ganondorf but the evil king leapt over it and came down with his foot aflame. Fox rolled to the left and came up firing, but Ganondorf ignored the attack and charged forward, hitting Fox with his shoulder and sending the lighter combatant rolling.
Fox leapt to his feet quickly, and with another Fox Illusion managed to dash into Ganondorf hard enough to stun the powerful warrior. Fox took advantage of that to unleash a spinning kick into his face, causing Ganondorf to jerk back, and hit Fox with an open palm charged with dark magic. The blow sent Fox reeling.
Ganondorf wiped his chin, his grin still there but fading.
"Got in a few lucky blows there Fox."
"Let's hope they weren't that lucky."
Ganondorf dived forward, foot extended and covered in purple flame, but Fox sidestepped it and snapped a high kick as Ganondorf recovered. Ganondorf took the blow, and tried to respond with one of his own, but Fox dodged and dealt a flurry a minor punches and kicks that sent Ganondorf back.
Ganondorf leapt over Fox and slammed both feet down, catching Fox in the back and sending him sprawling. Fox kicked out his legs as he got up, but Ganondorf merely hopped over those and smacked Fox with another open palm.
Fox rolled again, and got up, a little slower this time and panting.
"Getting tired?"
"Not yet," Fox said, leaping back and firing several lasers from his gun.
Growling Ganondorf charged forward, hoping to hit Fox with another shoulder ram and doing his best to ignore the minor pain he was suffering from the pistol. Fox leapt over the expected ram however and charged up and unleashed a powerful Fire Fox attack, which utilized an interesting bit of jet technology to shroud Fox in a flame like cocoon before shooting him off in a direction he chose, which in this case was the direction Ganondorf happened to be in.
The attack slammed into his chest and sent him sliding back a ways, actually forcing him to his knees. Fox leapt back off Ganondorf and faced him cautiously, gun raised.
Ganondorf slowly stood, and stared Fox in the face.
"You are good, but I should end this sooner, rather than later."
"You seem pretty confident," Fox said, seeming a bit more cocky now than he was a few moments ago.
"This fight is over," Ganondorf said, charging up another dark magic ball.
Fox fired a pistol shot, but Ganondorf launched his attack which blew through Fox's weak laser and slammed into his chest where it knocked him flat on his back.
Before Fox could get up, Ganondorf dealt a hard kick into his ribs, and sent him rolling. Fox tried to get up, but as he was starting to stand, Ganondorf dashed forward, grabbed Fox's head and sent a pulse of dark magic through it before slamming him back into the ground.
"Done Fox?"
Fox looked up at Ganondorf, clearly beaten and exhausted.
"Not yet," he said, before aiming and firing his gun…and the bolt missed Ganondorf completely.
"You missed Fox…wait," Ganondorf stopped, "You weren't aiming for me were you?"
Fox nodded. Ganondorf spun around to see that Fox's shot had fried another control panel, and it didn't take long to realize what this one controlled.
With a slight crackle, the field protecting the hangar from the depths of space disappeared, and an enormous force started to yank out everything that wasn't attached as the hangar depressurized. Fox slowly started to slide towards death as he scrabbled to hold on to grooves in the floor. Fortunately for him, air was still being pumped into the hangar, but pretty soon he'd be sucking vacuum so that wouldn't matter.
"You fool, I am far heavier than you. What did you hope to accomplish?" Ganondorf laughed, while standing completely upright and seemingly unfazed by the whole ordeal.
"This," Fox said, as the largest thing not nailed, screwed or magnetized down in the hangar slammed into Ganondorf's face: The metal beam he tried to knock Fox out with earlier.
With a low grunt of surprise Ganondorf lost his grip on the floor and went tumbling out the right side of the hangar. Fox tried to grab onto one of the strapped down Arwings, aware that he was about to die shortly, although if what he had found out about Ganondorf was true, his life was worth it to kill Ganondorf.
He lost his grip on the Arwing and followed Ganondorf to his doom …or at least that's what he thought until a muscular armored arm grabbed his leg with nearly enough force to break it as he flew out the hangar.
"What?" Fox managed to get out with his last breath.
Ganondorf had grabbed onto the side of the hangar with one hand, and was using his other to prevent Fox from tumbling off into space. He was rapidly running out of air though, and with a quick gesture he created a portal around himself and the barely conscious Fox, taking the two of them to where the captured Smashers were trapped…and leaving the remainder of the Star Fox crew clueless about what had just happened…
On K. Rool's Ship…
The Smashers were backing away as the dark mass on the top of the crow's nest slowly moved out and looked down at them. This was shortly followed by a quiet splash as something came out of the water behind them. While this was happening Falco was pondering what exactly had brought him to this point and time.
He was here because he volunteered to help guard Peach's Castle. He volunteered because Fox couldn't, as Fox had to stay because Andross had been acting up. But why exactly would Falco think that Bowser would be more pressing than Andross? Couldn't he assume that everyone else could worry about themselves, and he would worry about his problems?
No. He couldn't. He used to, but after failing to solve his problems by himself, he slowly learned that he needed help. And the best way to get help was to help others. While Falco knew that the villains were bad news, and the fact that Master Hand had somehow organized them could spell doom for everyone, he couldn't stop thinking about how much he really enjoyed being in the thick of things, getting his feathers dirty.
That's why he signed up for the Star Fox job in the first place. He was a good pilot, there were bad guys, and he really wanted to lay the smackdown on some people. Now his primary reason was because he wanted there to be peace, but he knew that even if there was peace he would still crave action. After all…that's why he came to the Melee tournament.
Besides, he figured if he helped these guys take out their worst enemies, maybe they'd help him and Fox finish Andross off once and for all. One could hope…
A sudden shriek from above put a halt to Falco's pondering as the creature took flight, revealing that the beast residing in the crow's nest was in fact, a crow. Or Krow, as it happened to be named. It was very large, about the size of Gnawty, and had a bald vulture-like head topped with a black pirate hat, with a skull and crossbones emblazoned it.
Other than the size, head and hat, Krow looked very much like a typical oversized pirate vulture bird thing, with wings, talons and a pointy beak. The only other thing of note was the large eggs that had been completely hidden by Krow that were stashed away in the Krow's nest.
The Smashers aimed their weapons as Krow flew overhead, but Samus, Link and Falco turned around to face the thing that was floating up out of the ocean.
Thing was accurate as what was floating to face the Smashers wasn't exactly the creature…it was a massive sword. It was about 8 feet long, and was curved like a scimitar. Its hilt was composed of a skull and crossbones insignia, only it was actually made out of a skull and bones. The end of the hilt had a large glowing green jewel.
"Kleever and Krow!" Diddy said in surprise.
"You know these guys?" Falco asked.
"Yeah, I beat them a long time ago."
"Anything interesting we should know?" Bario asked, as Kleever floated around the Smashers and Krow flapped around its eggs.
"Just watch out for fireballs and eggs," Diddy said, while pulling out his peanut popguns.
"Fireballs? From the Krow?" Falco asked.
His question was answered when Kleever swiped the air in front of itself, shooting out a light orange ball of fire. It was about the size of Mario's firebomb's, but a lighter color, and considerably slower. Diddy dodged it with ease and it fizzled harmlessly against the deck of the ship.
Diddy fired a few peanuts at Kleever but they bounced harmlessly off its hard metal body. Link and Mario fired their attacks, and they seemed to cause a bit more damage, but Kleever glowed red and sliced at Link, who tried to block the massive floating sword with his shield, but ended up careening to the deck.
Falco pulled out his gun, only to have a massive egg crash to the ground next to him. It split open, revealing itself to be empty.
"Agh! Eggs!" Falco said, turning to Krow who was picking up another egg in its talons.
"I told you!" Diddy said, dodging a wild swing from Kleever.
Krow was about to drop the egg when Falco began shooting at it. Krow screeched and tried to avoid the attacks, but the egg slowed it down. Seeing no other option Krow dropped the egg where it barely missed Bario, who was firing magic balls at Kleever.
Kleever was glowing red constantly and firing fireballs and sword swings like crazy, narrowly missing Samus who was sorely missing her Power Suit. Meanwhile Krow was missing with his eggs as Kirby missed reaching the oversized bird with a flurry of punches. Lots of missing was going on.
Kleever shuddered from a bomb arrow from Link, followed by an orange grenade from Diddy. It shot forward, scraping Diddy, but missing, and that's when Raichu hit it with a small bolt of lightning.
The lightning quickly coursed through Kleever's metal body, and in seconds it exploded.
A particularly painful slice from the flying Meta-Knight caused Krow to dive headfirst into the mast, knocking off the remaining eggs. Diddy and Kirby were both hit hard to fall to the deck of the ship, but the others managed to avoid them.
Krow flapped wildly, attempting to stay aloft, but Samus fired a whip of energy from her gun that latched onto the weakened Krow and dragged him down low enough for her to kick the bird in the face. It shrieked and flapped off the side of the boat, where it collapsed into the water.
It tried to stay afloat, but its birdly body was not designed for swimming, and Krow quickly sank.
"Well that was a surprisingly quick fight," Falco said.
At that moment a transparent creepy version of Krow exploded out of the water and shrieked at the Smashers.
"What the? Some kind of ghost?" Link said, quite surprised.
"What's going on?" Diddy asked, trying to get the large egg off himself.
Before the battle could begin again, a bright green parrot flew from the direction of the jungle and began firing large yellow eggs from its mouth. Krow shrieked again, and flapped off farther into the ocean, chased by the squawking parrot.
"That was weird." Raichu said.
"What happened?" Diddy said, after Kirby helped him up.
Before his question could be answered, the sound of several whirling blades could be heard as a massive vehicle flew towards them…