Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Forty-Seven: At least they don't have a giant building

The explosion from Andross's death throes was powerful enough to rock the Great Fox, and it sent the other five ships tumbling through space, severely damaged. Amazingly, even Falco's and Samus's damaged ships survived and they all spent the next hour or two limping back, and then trying to figure out how they would fit all the ships in the Great Fox.

Rob, stepping away from his piloting for a bit came upon the rather clever solution of taking apart Slippy's and Peppy's (destroyed) Arwings, and using their pieces to repair the ships, which also provided just enough room for them all to fit in the hangar. Pretty soon all of the Smashers, and their four companions were in the mess again, which was now rather packed. Rob was quite busy fixing ships, a task he was having a rather good time with.

"So Wolf, what will you guys be doing after Rob fixes your ships?" Falco asked.

"You make it sound like a quick job," Wolf growled, "It'll take him at least three days. Considering how damaged your ship was I have no idea how you managed to survive that explosion. Ours were barely hit and they were still almost destroyed."
"Yeah me neither," Falco said, "But the blast wave seemed to kind of slide past my ship at the last second…"
"Same with us," Samus said, "I thought maybe my shields kicked in, but they're completely fried now…so yeah…"

"So what will you be doing then?" Krystal asked, sidling up towards Wolf, a hungry gleam in her eye.

Wolf gave her an annoyed glance before pushing her away.

"Back off girl, Panther's the one who's interested."
"Then I'm not," Krystal huffed, turning away from Panther who had taken an excited step forward.

"To answer your questions though, I think we'll be staying on the Great Fox…at least until Fox gets back," Wolf said to Falco, folding his arms over his chest.

"Why?" Falco asked, surprised to see Wolf thinking about staying.

"Apparently our last base was destroyed. When Fox gets back, we'll figure things out," Wolf said, referring to Andross's last comments.

"Great, glad that's all taken care of," Link said, "Now if you don't mind I think it's time to finish this thing."
"What? Oh…right, portal," Bario said, "Is there anything anyone wants to do?"

Surprisingly no one said anything, and with a shrug Bario started making the portal, while the other eight tensed up for what was sure to be the final battles. Krystal was still ignoring Panther, and Wolf and Leon were discovering the magic of the food stores.

After a quick glance to make sure no one changed their mind, Bario shot his hand forward, creating a portal for everyone under comparatively calm circumstances…considering the last time he took everyone somewhere a planet was exploding. The familiar vaguely purple portal appeared in the doorway, and without another moment they all jumped through, the last thing they heard was Panther's pained yelp after touching Krystal's shoulder and meeting a swift elbow in his…cat-parts.

The Smashing Realm…

The portal dumped the Smashers out on what appeared to be a bridge made out of logs over a river. The logs were thick and long, and the overall bridge was about 60 feet long and 25 feet wide. In between the logs was a thick rubbery substance that was apparently holding the logs together. The river banks were what appeared to be typical beach material, although a faint haze made them marginally blurry.

The river was moving very fast, and was only a few feet below the bridge. It was impossible to see how deep it was because the speed of the churning water made it a frothing white, while sharp rocks littered the river.

"Is this the right place?" Falco asked.

"It should be…it looks really strange though," Bario said.

Bario looked at Meta Knight. The masked warrior nodded and flapped over to one of the ends of the bridge, coming back to the ground to touch it. A quick poke confirmed that the bridge had some kind of force-field around the ends. Curious, Diddy poked his hands off the side of the bridge and discovered that there was no field to protect them from falling into the water.

"This doesn't seem like anything," Raichu said, confused.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? Is this even the right world?" Link asked.

"Yes!" Samus said, surprisingly quickly, "He managed to open a portal right next to my ship, I'm sure he could get us to a world easily enough!"

"Actually, it's not that easy," Bario said, and seeing the intrigued looks from the others he elaborated, "The Smashing Realm isn't a naturally occurring world, it's a created one. Master Hand and his cronies built a series of areas, for lack of a better term, that are loosely connected to each other. It doesn't really follow any sort of normal rules and is entirely unpredictable. I can get us in, but getting us directly to Master Hand and the others…that's a lot harder."

"How do you know that?" Link asked.

"Not really an issue right now. I don't think we're alone…" Bario said, pointing towards Meta Knight who had been walking back.

Jumping up in between Meta and the rest of the Smashers came two bizarre creatures that had apparently been hiding beneath the bridge, clutching to the logs. They were not very big, each one was identical in size and shape and their size was about that of Diddy's. The strange thing was they were perfect copies of Donkey Kong…except a lot smaller. Proportionally they seemed even smaller, since Donkey Kong's limbs didn't really seem to fit these creatures.

"What the heck are those?" Diddy said, horrified to see these creatures impersonating his friend.

"I've seen them before," Samus said, "They're nothing, just something spawned by Master Hand. We'll take care of them quickly."

"Oh really?" A familiar said from behind the Smashers.

Spinning around they saw Ganondorf, standing only a few feet behind them, the vestiges of the portal he had used to reach them vanishing already.

"YOU!" Link cried, jumping forward with his sword.

Ganondorf raised his armored hand, catching the blade with his forearm and then delivered a brutal backhand with his other hand that sent Link's head snapping back. He tried to step forward, but a powerful kick sent Link tumbling off the bridge. Link managed to get his Hookshot out, and fired it off, the point digging into the water-softened wood and dragging a gasping Link back on before he could be swept away by the current.

Before anyone could attempt to attack Ganondorf again, a pained shriek echoed from the other side of the bridge. Spinning around again they saw Meta chopping one of the DK's in half and as the second one punched at him Meta sidestepped before slicing its head off. Both vanished in a puff of dust.

"That was faster than hoped," Ganondorf growled, raising his hand.

Spinning back, an action they were getting rather tired of the Smashers readied their weapons. Samus was the first to fire; her missile was harmlessly deflected by the grinning Ganondorf. Before the others could attack Link leapt up in front of them, sword and shield ready.

"Leave him! He's mine!"

"Link!" Samus said angrily.

"Oh I wouldn't be too upset Samus…you're going to be a little busy yourself," Ganondorf said.

With a terrible roar a massive brown beast tore out of the river and slammed onto the bridge behind the Smashers. All of them except Link turned; his attention was fixed on his foe.

The beast was a dripping wet Donkey Kong, although this one was huge…he easily towered over all of the Smashers.

"Uh…open fire?" Bario said.

They did.

"It's time to finish this Ganondorf," Link said, stepping towards him.

"Oh no Link. Not at all."

"What?" Link stopped, confused.

"This is but a hint of what's to come. Think of it like…a warm-up. We'll have our brief little scuffle and then I'll escape and you'll chase…but you will not catch me."

"We'll see about that!" Link shouted, charging forward again.

Giant Donkey Kong recoiled initially at the flurry of attacks being thrown at him, but after a few seconds he let out a cry of rage and swept one of his massive hands at his attacks, sending them all scattering and Falco and Mario almost into the river.

Both managed to grab onto to the bridge in time and Mario leapt up, firing firebombs into Giant DK's face, blinding him for a second. Bario ran up and slashed at his legs, causing him to stumble, bleeding from the wounds. Raichu shot some bolts of lightning at him, while Kirby kicked and punched…but Giant DK retaliated by grabbing Samus and throwing her off the bridge and then landing a brutal punch on Meta Knight who had been slicing at his arms.

Ganondorf smirked and prepared to dodge Link's predictable attack again…but the swordsman surprised him, thrusting out with his shield instead of the sword. Ganondorf knocked it aside, but the sword came slipping past his guard, opening a cut on his side. Ganondorf dropped to the ground, hoping to sweep Link's legs out from under him but Link jumped over the sweep and then stabbed downwards, an attack which Ganondorf barely dodged.

Link tried to stab again, but Ganondorf's foot shot out again, catching Link in the side of his leg. A few inches lower and he would have shattered Link's knee, but as it was he sent Link falling to the ground with a groan of pain. Ganondorf clambered to his feet.

"Give up Link. You don't stand a chance."

"Wrong!" Link said, trying to regain control of the fight.

"Zelda knew that. That's why she came with me willingly."
"Don't talk about her…WHAT?" Link screamed.

Ganondorf smiled, knowing that Link was falling for it, even as the "Hero of Time" struggled against the very idea of Zelda doing anything willingly for Ganondorf.

"Oh yes. When I came and she saw my new power, she surrendered herself to me…completely," Ganondorf said, his wry grin implying more than words alone could have expressed.

"YOU LIE!" Link said, trying to stand, but a pulse of energy from Ganondorf knocked him back.

"She's mine now Link. You mean nothing to her…not after she's experienced a man of my power."
"No…not Zelda," Link said, determined to not take what his foe was saying as truth…but the calm assurance that Ganondorf spoke with eroded the man's confidence…until he thought of something.

"What new power? She's never surrendered to you before!"
"The power from M.C. of course," Ganondorf said, not realizing the new note of hope in Link's voice, "Why do you even have to ask?"
"Come on Ganondorf, you expect me to believe that you get a minor power boost and the Princess of Hyrule would submit to you? You got to be joking!"
"How dare you!" Ganondorf yelled, knowing his control of the situation was sliding.

"And why would she obey anyone who obeys someone else…M.C. was it? Pathetic."

The scorn in Link's voice was enough to set Ganondorf off and with terrifying speed and power Ganondorf slammed his foot into Link's ribs brutally several times until he heard a crack. Laughing at his pain-crippled enemy Ganondorf turned his attention to the others.

Giant Donkey Kong roared at the Smashers and slammed a fist down at Raichu, who rolled away. Samus leapt back towards the stage, pelting the ape with missiles while Falco took a step out of the thing's range and started to aim. Kirby had pulled out his Cutter and his sword and was taking over Meta's job of slicing up the Giant. Bario was knocked aside by a massive hand, but it was apparent that their attacks were taking their toll.

Mario was about to leap towards it when Ganondorf slammed his shoulder into the plumber from behind. Diddy quickly spun and fired a few peanuts at Ganondorf, but the armored warrior laughed them off. He took a step forward…and Falco fired his sniper rifle, the laser puncturing the Giant Donkey Kong cleanly through the left eye. It let out a small whimper before exploding into the welcome pink dust.

"What is this?" Ganondorf cried, seeing the unfamiliar dust.

He didn't wait for a response, knowing he wouldn't get one. Charging forward he grabbed Bario by the face and sent a pulse of dark magic through him before flinging him to the ground, but before he could continue his attack Link sliced at Ganondorf from behind.

"GRAAAGH! What?" Ganondorf demanded, turning to see an apparently unharmed Link standing in front of him, "Impossible! You were barely able to breathe!"

"Don't worry about how impossible it is…just DIE!" Link shouted, stabbing his sword forward.
Ganondorf was nowhere close to being beaten. He twisted, allowing the sword to skim past his chest armor before punching Link in the chest hard enough to send him flying back, and he flung out several dark magic balls that forced the Smashers to scatter.
Angrily stomping forward Ganondorf charged his energy into his fist, forming a deep violet aura.

"I don't know how you're moving around like that…but you won't be moving anywhere after this!" Ganondorf yelled at the prone Link, before rearing back…and getting slammed in the back of the head by Mario's double-fisted hammer blow.

The attack was so strong that Ganondorf stumbled and before he could strike back Mario jumped over him and landed a pair of kicks into his chest before yanking out his hammer and swinging it down towards his head

Ganondorf caught the hammer and managed to jerk it away, but Mario let go and Ganondorf was knocked off balance by the sudden weight shift. A trio of flame-powered up punches later and Ganondorf was flying towards the edge of the bridge. The Smashers started to step towards him, but he flung Mario's hammer at them before dropping into the river.

Link was the first to reach the edge, but all that escaped his lips was a strangled no, before he leapt into the river.

The others were shocked by his action…that river could and probably would lead to his death…but when they reached the edge and saw what lay at the bottom they followed suit, all of the Smashers jumping into the portal Ganondorf made to escape.


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