Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Forty-Nine: Psychic Peril

There were easily over a dozen crystals, some smaller than Diddy and others twice as large as Samus. They were a steely gray color, fainter than that of the platform itself and they blended in slightly with the fog. They were perfectly round except for the top, which tapered into a point. They each tore off the sides of Battlefield and immediately flew at the Smashers.

The crystals were easily avoided though and with a few deft hops, dives and rolls they all shattered harmlessly onto the platform. Clearly it was an attack that relied on the element of surprise, but the distinctive tearing noise they made ruined any chance of that happening. The question was…who unleashed the attack?

That question was answered soon enough when Mewtwo stepped out of a portal on the lower right platform. He glared at them, arms folded.

"You?!" Raichu exclaimed, electricity forming around his head.

"Great, first Ganondorf and Bowser…now you," Falco said, "You guys ever think about taking us on all at once or would that take too much work?"

"We considered it, but decided you weren't worth the effort," Mewtwo said, his mental "voice" expressing the sneer his face could not.

"How dare you show yourself!" Raichu shrieked, a small bolt of uncontrolled electricity slipping out and striking the ground near Samus, who stepped back.

"Calm down! You can't beat him when you let him control you like that!" Samus chastened.

"Yes Raichu, control your emotions…like me," Mewtwo said.

Of course hearing that didn't make Raichu desire to calm down anymore then he wanted to poke his eyes out. If anything his anger increased, and more bolts of lightning started to flicker around him. Realizing that waiting would do them no good, Bario took charge.

"Guys…attack!"
Before his mouth was even open Raichu was practically flying through the air towards Mewtwo, a bolt of electricity shooting off even faster at Mewtwo. The psychic cat-thing teleported to the second raised platform behind the Smashers and Raichu's attack missed. Raichu spun around after landing on the platform Mewtwo had stood on, his aura of yellowish-blue electricity not faded in the least.

"You'll have to be a lot faster than that to hit me," Mewtwo said, "But maybe you'll have an easier time hitting these guys."

At his words a portal appeared on the top platform and lots of creatures piled out of it. The first batch had about a dozen in them and were an odd group. They were purple in color and blocky in shape, although each shape was different. Their mannerism was familiar to the Smashers and these "Polygons" quickly surrounded them.

They made no threatening action as several more creatures came out of the portal, eight Wireframes, four male and two female, the distinctive creatures that were shaped like humans but appeared to be made entirely out of wires. Six of the Wireframes joined the Polygons, and two jumped over to Mewtwo.

The final things out of the portal were things the Smashers had not seen before. There were four distinct types, a round green one that moved and looked vaguely like Kirby, a yellow one that was like Mario, a blue feminine one that made Link think of Zelda and a tall red one that brought Captain Falcon to mind. They appeared to be made of some kind of shiny metal and rivets of bright color lined their bodies. They had bright balls of energy located in their heads and spiky protrusions at parts of their bodies…head, shoulders, legs. Eight of these Alloys joined the Polygons and Wireframes around the Smashers while four more, one of each type, joined Mewtwo on his platform. Their portal vanished after the last Alloy left.

Raichu remained the only one not surrounded and in fact Mewtwo seemed to be almost mocking him by ignoring his presence. Angered Raichu jumped off his platform and went around the wide circle surrounding his friends.

"Raichu!" Diddy said, peanut popgun aimed at a Polygon that reminded him of Yoshi.

"He's not listening to us…he's too emotional," Bario said, the closest thing to actual anger that any of the Smashers had heard before present in his voice.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Falco demanded, loading his machine gun.

"They're waiting for an order," Meta said.

"Well, let's not wait…attack!" Link said, charging forward, boomerang already flying.

The boomerang clocked a Male Wireframe in the face, and Link's subsequent sword swipe chopped it in half. Link spun with the blow to slice the arm off a short Polygon and grabbed his boomerang out of the air, switching it out for his shield.

The others exploded into action as soon as Link leapt out. Samus and Falco lay down cover fire while the rest of the Smashers joined Link in hand to hand combat.

Honestly though, it wasn't very challenging. The creatures were persistent, but rather weak and flimsy. They had little more than basic punches and kicks and the Smashers had little trouble tearing them apart. Meta managed to skewer a blue Alloy with a single attack and Diddy's guitar caused them to fall apart after a strike or two. This was almost too easy…

Raichu leaped onto the platform. Immediately Mewtwo's six guards jerked towards him. Raichu casually fired off a bolt at the Male Wireframe…a bolt that was about 2 inches in diameter and a brilliant blue-white. It slammed into its chest and the creature jittered a bit…but then recovered and stepped forward. Surprised, Raichu prepared to leap out of the way, but an order from Mewtwo halted them both.

"Leave him. Take care of the rest," Mewtwo said, fixing an appraising eye on Raichu.

His six minions nodded and jumped off to join their losing companions, while Raichu started building up some more electricity.

"Still determined to kill me I take it?" Mewtwo asked.

"You betcha," Raichu growled shooting off a bolt of lightning at Mewtwo.

Mewtwo sighed and raised his hand to deflect it…and his eyes widened in shock after he realized that the attack was far more powerful than he originally anticipated. It slowed when he applied some mental pressure, but it was still continuing towards him. Frantically he pushed harder with his mind, managing to curve the bolt just past him, allowing it to flow harmlessly into the void…and that was when Raichu slammed into Mewtwo's stomach with his Skull Bash ability which allowed the mouse to charge up energy and fly off like a small missile.

Mewtwo was sent back towards the edge of the platform, but Raichu wasn't done yet. Grabbing tightly with his claws he sent several thousand volts of electricity into Mewtwo. A faint pained shriek came from Mewtwo, but he managed to exert enough mental effort to pry the mouse off of him.

Starting to regain control of the situation, Mewtwo held Raichu motionless in front of him, a malicious grin forming again.

"Isn't this familiar?" Mewtwo gloated.

"Painfully familiar," Raichu growled, charging up some electricy.

"Shh…stop," Mewtwo said, "Don't you want to hear about your fiancée?"
"What?" Raichu said, his stored electricity fading abruptly.

"Yes, I know quite a bit about your lovely little friend," Mewtwo purred.

"Why'd you even mention her?" Raichu demanded, as sparks started to fly, "Do you get some kind of sick pleasure from my pain?"
"Yes, actually," Mewtwo said matter-of-factly, "But what if I told you I could end that pain?"

"What by killing me?" Raichu asked sarcastically, his tail whipping in anger.

"By not killing her."

When the four Alloys and two Wireframes joined the battle, the Smashers were on the verge of victory. All but three Wireframes had been killed, two females and one male were all that stood and they had taken some damage already. One Polygon still survived, the one based off of Donkey Kong. It had a little bit more durability than its companions and its long reach made approaching it a little difficult. Two original Alloys were alive, a green one and a Captain Falcon one.

Out of the original 26 enemies, only seven remained. So when six more joined in the combatants didn't really care…until those six started to change the outcome of the battle.

The Smashers first noticed a problem when Mario slammed his hammer into a Male Wireframe…and it grunted. Startled he backed off, trying to determine why it didn't shatter like the others. The creature took advantage of that to kick Mario, a seemingly glancing blow…that crashed into him with the force of an iron log and sent him skidding towards the edge.

"We got a problem," Diddy said as Kirby was hit by a similar attack.

"Center!" Bario said, after he managed to land the killing blow on the last Polygon and then moved towards the center of the stage.

The Smashers stopped their individual dueling with their opponents and dashed towards the center, forming a loose circle that proceeded to launch projectiles at the enemies.

The remaining "Weak" enemies were destroyed in the first salvo, but the "Cruel" ones survived easily and powered through the fire being focused at them. Smoking and charred they still had plenty of strength left to send the Smashers scattering. Most were able to duck or roll out of the way and five of the Cruel minions split off to chase a Smasher, but the Female Wireframe managed to shoulder-ram the slower Samus.

Samus found out that the attack was far stronger than she thought it would be…the force of the blow knocked her over twenty feet in the air and she would have plummeted into the abyss if she didn't shoot out her Grappling Hook and latch onto the edge. Angrily she crawled back up to the stage…just as the Female Wireframe kicked at her.

Link, Bario and Meta Knight were packed together, fighting off the Red, Green and Yellow Alloys. Their sword swipes didn't clang off them like they did against the Metal Mario Bros., but they didn't cut through either. The Alloy's were very unyielding and more than once did a sword get stuck, and one of the other two swordsmen had to come to the rescue. Progress was not being made…

Falco and Diddy were trying to fight the Blue Alloy and the Male Wireframe, but their attacks were even less effective. Falco attempted to shoot at the Blue a few times before dashing up and shooting off a powerful snap kick…it was like kicking a wall. It didn't budge and before he could try again it grabbed his leg and threw him up, over and back to the ground, knocking the breath out of him and cracking a rib.

Diddy's peanuts were ineffectual to the Male Wireframe. His speed allowed him to avoid the slow punches and kicks of the creature and in fact he used his alacrity to dive around a punch and slam it in the face with his guitar…which did nothing. The creature grunted before grabbing Diddy and slamming him towards Falco.

"What do mean? Are you just mocking me?" Raichu demanded.

"Oh no," Mewtwo said, wagging a finger, "I'm offering to bring back your loved one."
"That's impossible!" Raichu said, whipping his tail again, "I know what you're capable of, what abilities you have and resurrection is not one of them!"
"Are you sure of that?"

"I am!" Raichu snarled, "You may have some telekinetic and psychic powers, but actual magic is far beyond you!"

"You got me there," Mewtwo said, still grinning, "But I do know someone who is capable of what you wish."

"Who? Your master?"
"I have no master!" Mewtwo growled, true anger flickering in his voice, "But my superior is able to bring back the dead…how else do you think he brought back so many of your companions fallen foes?"

That stopped Raichu. Mewtwo, Ganondorf and Bowser were clearly working for someone, and that someone wasn't Master Hand…and a lot of the other Smashers did say they thought their opponent dead. Was it true? Did this person, whoever he was, have the power to bring back Raichu's fiancée?

"What do you want?" Raichu demanded, knowing nothing was gained without a price.

"Excellent," Mewtwo said, certain that Raichu was now his, "It's very simple. All I want is for you to…help me kill your friends."

"What! Of course I won't do that!" Raichu said.

"Don't be so quick to decide!" Mewtwo warned, "You barely know these people! Don't you consider the life of your fiancée worth the lives of a handful of fighters you met a few days ago?"

There was a long pause and when Raichu finally answered he couldn't look at Mewtwo's face, his eyes were turned towards the ground.

"Yes…I do."

Samus let go of the edge as the Female Wireframe kicked at her, grabbing on with her other hand and shifting to the right a foot or so. The kick missed, and the creature was knocked off balance. Samus leapt up and then Screw Attacked right into the Wireframe, the energy of the attack ripping open multiple wounds. Samus skimmed along the chest and head area of the Wireframe, coming out of the attack in midair behind it. Spinning around Samus landing a powerful kick to its back, forcing the weakened Wireframe to stagger forwards, teetering by the edge. A missile as Samus landed on the ground, and the creature tumbled into the abyss.

Link managed to slice the Red Alloy's left arm off, but the creature retaliated by kicking him in the stomach. Link rolled with the blow, and fighting back the nausea of having his gut kicked he pulled out his bow and fired a bomb arrow at it, while Bario jumped back from the Yellow Alloy, his sword points starting to glow.

Meta flapped in between all three of the creatures, Link's bomb having no discernible effect. They turned to face Meta, limbs raised but he attacked before they could, blade stabbing the ground. It didn't penetrate Battlefield, but it did leave a dent…and a massive orange tornado rose from the dent.

The tornado spread out rapidly, quickly grabbing the Alloys and spinning them brutally into the air, while Meta remained unharmed in the center of the tornado. As quickly as it came it vanished, and the Alloys fell roughly from a height of about twenty feet. Meta flew away from them as they quickly recovered…and Bario ran towards them.

Hands and swords moving almost inhumanly fast, Bario stabbed repeatedly at the creatures, the mystically charged blades stabbing into, what would be for normal creatures, their vulnerable points. As it was the sheer force of the attack on the weakened Alloys was enough to shred them to pieces, releasing a familiar pink dust. Link frowned as Bario stepped back from the defeated beings, recognizing the attack as a greatly stronger "Super Stab", that Bario had used earlier…he was certainly getting more powerful…

Diddy crashed into Falco, damaging his chest even more.

"Could you maybe…not be thrown into me?" Falco winced.

"I'll try," Diddy gasped.

Seeing the Alloy and Wireframe stomping towards them, Diddy and Falco both pulled out grenades and threw them. The explosives knocked the foes back and left a few holes from shrapnel and explosive power, but they managed to stay on their feet.

"Didn't know you had one of those still!" Diddy said.

"I got a few left…and it looks like I'm going to have use them."

Falco was wrong. A blade suddenly seemed to appear in the Male's back and a second later the owner of it was on the back as well, grabbing the blade out. With an excited poyo, Kirby brought both the Cutter and his sword around on opposite ends of the Frame's neck, slicing its head off.

Before the Blue Alloy could do anything, a pair of white-gloved hands suddenly appeared around her midsection and with a grunt of terrible strength, Mario tore it in half. Both creatures exploded into pink dust.

"Thanks," Falco said, and Mario and Kirby both looked at Falco and shrugged, as if to imply it was no big deal…but the light flush on their cheeks showed that both Mario and Kirby were rather pleased with themselves.

"It's not over yet," Diddy said, pointing towards Mewtwo.

"Excellent!" Mewtwo said again, "So you agree?"
"Yes," Raichu said, "I'll help you kill them…for her."

Mewtwo started to release his hold on the mouse, when something flashed across Raichu's mind, a surface thought that was quickly repressed. Overcome by sudden suspicion, Mewtwo started to probe.

"Look me in the eyes and say that."
Raichu slowly raised his head, but before he even saw Mewtwo's face the evil creature let out a gasp of shock.

"You lie! But why?"
Raichu growled, realizing his ploy failed. He answered while gather electricity.

"Her life is worth just as much as any of theirs…but I won't turn on them on the word of her murderer! She wouldn't want that…and I wouldn't let myself!"
"You coward!" Mewtwo said, slapping Raichu physically with a hand ensconced in purple energy. He was using his slight skill in shadow/dark magic to strengthen his abilities.

"I'll show you coward!" Raichu shrieked, shooting off a jagged bolt from his cheeks.

Mewtwo casually deflected it…only to be zapped by the second bolt fired from Raichu's tail. The electricity quickly traveled through Mewtwo…all he managed to say was a single "Impossible," before he lost his concentration and Raichu dropped to the ground.
Raichu started to fire again but Mewtwo jerked his hands forward, expelling a ball of Shadow energy, similar in style to Bario's "Magic Balls" that smacked Raichu off the platform. A quick look around revealed his minions defeated, and before the Smashers could regroup and attack, Mewtwo vanished through a portal, closing it a moment before Raichu jumped back onto the platform.

"Damn!" Raichu said, echoing what others had said in similar situations.

"Don't worry," Bario said, hands glowing, "I'm on it!"

He shouldn't have bothered. With a terrible scraping noise the three floating platforms floated down to the edges of Battlefield, stretching and merging with the larger platform. The Smashers stumbled around as the ground beneath them became almost liquid and the gray fog started to dissipate.

The platforms finished merging, creating one giant squarish-rectangular shape, and as the ground stopped writhing it was revealed to be perfectly smooth. Sharp lines crossed the ground, harmless, but as they traveled they changed the color of the platform to a purple and black hue. The center of the stage seemed to thin and visible beneath the glass-like flooring there was the source of the light earlier…a massive red crystal.

When the fog had finished disappearing the Smashers found themselves on the platform whirling through…something, vague flashes of places and people in the horizon whipping closer but then changing, nothing ever getting to them.

"What is this place?" Raichu demanded, having joined his companions near the center.

Several of them knew the answer, but before they could speak a terrible…and terribly familiar voice spoke.

"This…is your Final Destination."
As the voice laughed a pair of hands floated up from the sides…and moved towards the Smashers.