Clash of the Smashers

by Lord Drash

An adventure like no other! Ten...nine heroes band together to stop Master Hand from combining forces with the villains from multiple worlds, and starting a third and final tournament...But can the heroes themselves be trusted? FINALLY COMPLETE!

50. Final Destination Match

Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Fifty: Final Destination Match

Headquarters…

Mewtwo flew out of the portal, wheezing slightly. Both Bowser and Ganondorf glanced at him, nursing their respective wounds before turning back towards the screen which was showing Master and Crazy Hand floating towards the Smashers on Final Destination.

"Looks like you survived," Ganondorf said.

"It was closer than I had expected," Mewtwo growled, "They're stronger than before."
"See! I told you!" Bowser said, pointing at Ganondorf.

"I didn't say I didn't believe you, I just told you to shut up."
"Fine," Bowser said, pouting slightly.

"It seems like M.C. has revealed himself finally," Mewtwo said, gesturing at the screen.

"Not quite," Ganondorf said, "He's still using the Hands to test them, but he will be forced to come out soon."
"He doesn't know we escaped before they killed us, does he?" Bowser asked worriedly.

"I doubt it. He seems focused on the nine, especially on the swordsman," Mewtwo said.

"I don't get it," Bowser said, "Why is that Blargio guy so important to him?"
"If we knew that, we might have known enough to stand against M.C. before," Ganondorf said, "As it is now, this is our best bet."

There was a crashing noise in the room where the prisoners were being held, followed by a whoop of excruciating manliness.

"What was that?" Mewtwo asked.

"Guess the cages didn't hold," Ganondorf said, grinning, "Don't worry about it."

He raised his hand and shot off a small bolt of dark energy at the door leading to the prison, fusing the lock.

"Will that hold?" Bowser asked.

"For as long as we're here at least. Now quiet…the battle is beginning," Ganondorf said, turning back to the screen.

The Prison…

"Falcon Punch!"
"Falcon! Cut it out!" Fox yelled.

"FALCON PAUNCH!"

The front quarter of the cage shattered.

"YESZ!"

"What did I just…what?!"

Everyone stared at Falcon, who was looking quite pleased with himself. With an arrogant air he strutted out of the cage, grinning at the others.

"Falcon!" Luigi said, the first one to gather his wits enough to speak, "You…you did it!"

"Told you!" Falcon said gleefully, "Now to escape!" Falcon ran towards the door.

"Hey wait!" Roy shouted, "You can't leave us here!"
"PIKA!"

Game & Watch stuck his hand through the bars and rang his bell, trying to get Falcon's attention.

Falcon reached the door…just as the energy ball hit it. He tried opening it, and then punching it, but after a minute he realized he wasn't going to open it by himself. Turning back he smiled sheepishly.

"I uh…was definitely coming back."
"Sure, sure," Zelda said, shaking her head, "Just help us get out."
"Ah!" Marth said, eyes wide in shock.

"What?" Luigi asked.

"Look at Game & Watch!" he said, pointing at the 2-D fighter.

They turned to him.

"What about…oh!" Fox said.

G&W stared at them, confused.

"Your hand!" Peach said.

Game and Watch looked down…and jerked his hand back out of the bars. He stared at it for a second before sticking it back through the slats. Nothing happened to it.
"The field's gone," Fox said.

G&W hesitantly stepped between the bars and ended up on the other side, nothing stopping him.

"Donkey happy! Free soon!"
"This is great!" Luigi said, "Now it'll only be a matter of time before we all get out of these things!"

"So what?" Ness asked, "The door is still closed, and even if we get past that we don't know what else is out there. We're probably trapped here forever."
"Shut up," Marth said harshly, drawing his blade, "Everyone else…start smashing your cages."

Final Destination…

The Hands circled the Smashers, and the Smashers formed a circle, each one aiming their weapons at the Hands.

"Is this it? Are these the last guys?" Link asked, "Because if this is our final battle…I'm not impressed."

"That voice wasn't Master Hand Link," Samus said, "Something's up."
"Someone's missing," Bario stated.

"What? Who?" Falco asked.

"If we beat these guys…we'll find out."

The Hands attacked first: They jerked far back, towards the edge of the stage…and then came flying back in a clapping motion. The Smashers were ready though, and they dived off in different directions, four of them ending up on one side of the hands and five on the other.

"Fire!" Bario said at the same time as Link.

The Smashers opened fire, hitting the Hands multiple times as they got their bearings back from their missed attack. The Hands reacted faster than expected, flying off to the edges of the stage, opposite each other. The Smashers attempted to keep their projectiles flying, but the Hands slowly rotated near the edge, tracing a giant circle and several of the attacks missed at that range.

Arching out their fingers the Hands shot off five thin blue lasers each from their fingertips. Wiggling the appendages caused the beams to move along the platform in an erratic pattern and the Smashers were forced to dodge the beams. Falco and Mario were hit by them and they seared a small part of their clothing and flesh but were otherwise surprisingly weak.

After about eight seconds the attack stopped…apparently the Hands couldn't keep it up. Immediately after they stopped dodging the Smashers pummeled the Hands with more projectiles, but the Hands seemed indifferent, unleashing another attack. Master Hand floated towards the Smashers, palm facing forward and Crazy Hand flew towards it as a fist. The attack fortunately didn't squish any Smashers in between the Hands like they were hoping, but Samus and Kirby were hit glancing blows by Crazy Hand and had to struggle to get back on their feet.

The Hands pulled back from each other and shook rapidly…apparently slamming into each other like that hurt. The Smashers took advantage of their distraction by hitting them with several more attacks, Link switching over to Bomb Arrows and Diddy tossing out a few orange grenades.

Surprisingly after those attacks hit there were secondary explosions from each of the Hands and they flew back, writhing, a deep groan echoing. Still twitching they tumbled off the edges and towards oblivion.

"What? Is that it?" Diddy asked, confused.

"I don't believe it," Falco said, stepping forward, "I'm going to go look."

Falco started to walk towards the edge, but Bario jerked his arm in front of Falco's chest, stopping him suddenly.

"Believe me, you're going to want to stay here."
"Why?"

"Trust me."

Bario's tone was final, and his face was tenser than it had ever been before. Gulping Falco nodded and stepped back, loading his machine gun with his last clip. Samus decided now would be a good time to store up a charge shot, so she began to power up her laser.

"I'm not going to ask how you know there's more to come," Link said.

"Thank you," Bario said quickly.

"But!" Link responded harshly, "After this, you have a lot of explaining to do!"
"I'm looking forward to it," Bario said, grinning slightly.

Samus finished charging her laser…just as that terribly familiar voice laughed again…and that's when things got hairy.

The Hands shot up from the edge, and so did several other things, but they were flying overhead far too fast to be easily identifiable. The laughing continued and the Smashers tried to remain calm, but the massive indiscernible objects hurtling over them were quite disconcerting. Soon however the objects started to slow, and two dark ones slammed into the ground near the edge, causing all of the Smashers to turn towards them.

They were shoes. Big black dress shoes, very shiny with dark laces and a gaping blackness in the space where the feet should have entered the shoes. Each shoe was about the size of one of the Hands, and as soon as the shoes were visible the Smashers started to suspect.

The second thing that positioned itself over the shoes was harder to make out, but after the shock wore off they saw it was essentially a male torso with no arms or legs, garbed in a black suit with a white tie. The size of this thing was staggering…it was proportional to the size of a torso to its hand, and since the hands were several times larger than the Smashers…yeah, truly a monster to behold.

The Hands floated into place then, situating themselves as if there were arms in between them and the torso, just like the torso was positioned as if there were legs. The behemoth towered over the Smashers, and all of them were quite able to guess what the final thing would be.

Their guesses were correct, but that didn't stop them from being horrified by it when it finally appeared.

It floated up from behind the torso, having remained hidden beneath the stage. The Smashers caught a glimpse of it as it rose, between the feet and the bottom of the body. All they were sure of seeing at that point was something beyond description…and yet by describing it they could attempt to escape some of the horror.

The first part that was clearly visible as it began to rise over the body was a large glossy black top hat, and beneath the rather bizarre headgear was a head. This head was enormous, just like the rest of this insane creature, but it had a certain…alive-ness to it that the rest of it lacked. All of the "pieces" seemed like tools, but this head was clearly sentient and malevolent.

Its skin was a pasty gray and while the scalp was hairless, the head had a thick white beard that trailed beneath it. Large square white teeth were visible in its hideous grin and its startlingly empty and pupil-less bloodshot eyes burned with a fierce ancient hunger. Rounding out this impossibly evil and sickening creature was a monocle of crystal clear glass over the left eye, which when combined with the rest of the overall ensemble gave the being a feeling of attempting to conceal his brutality and evil behind a veneer of high class.

"Hello everybody," he said in that booming yet familiar voice, "It is a pleasure to see all of you at last."

"What is this?" Samus demanded, "What in Zebes is this thing?"

"This is the Mastermind behind the Hands," Bario said quietly, "The fiend that directs the tournaments from the shadows.

"Wait," Falco said, attempting to mask his fear behind bravado, "If this is the rest of the body for Master and Crazy Hand…then is that Sane Foot and Servant Foot?"

"And the Terrible Torso?" Diddy asked, gulping nervously while saying it, the mockery rather diminished behind his quavering voice.

"AH HA HA HA HA!" the being laughed, the sound so loud it almost pushed the Smashers back, "Servant Foot! Terrible Torso! Never had I heard such hilarity! It was worth keeping you alive just to hear that! AH HA HA HA HA!"

As he laughed he threw his head back, and clasped his Hands around his belly, an ordinary gesture made disturbing by his lack of connecting body parts.

"Glad we amused you," Link growled, "Feel like introducing yourself?"

The being seemed to lean forward then, the laugh stopping quickly, his eyes piercing Link and causing the courageous swordsman to step back nervously…not even Ganondorf at the height of his power ever exuded this much malice and power.

"Introduce myself? Do you expect a song and dance from me?"
He laughed again, but now the undercurrent of evil tainted the humor, and it was obvious he was mocking the Smashers.

"Do you have a name? Or should we just call you the Hostile Head?" Samus asked, gulping nervously.

"I do have a name," the creature said coldly, "But to speak it here would have untold consequences on your pitiful plane of existence…you may call me Mr. Cranium."

"M.C." Diddy said nervously, "Now we know…who the…boss is."

Mr. Cranium looked at them like a young boy looking at the ants he was magnifying, and when he spoke again his words chilled the Smashers.

"I have your companions from the previous tournament. They fought back and now suffer in imprisonment. You may share in their fate, but I would much prefer it if you joined me willingly."

He spoke to all of them, but his gaze rested on Bario. Not noticing, Link frowned, and then his eyes widened in shock.

"Sweet Farore…I know you!"

"You do?" Mr. Cranium said in mock surprise, "That's fantastic!"

"You know him?" Diddy asked in shock.

"He's the Announcer!"
There was a moment of silent shock, but it was quickly dissipated by Samus.

"The Announcer? What do…OH!"

"What are you talking about?" Raichu asked, but Falco was catching on as well.

"He's…he's the one who…no? Really?" Falco said in half-belief.

"I don't get it…what's going on?" Diddy asked.

"He's the one who announced the fights, counted down, stated our names, our victories and our losses," Samus said in a stunned tone, "I just…can't believe this monster was the one watching us the entire time."

"Of course I was watching you," Mr. Cranium said, his floating body parts moving around slowly in ways normally attached parts couldn't, "The tournaments were run and designed by me, for me."

"Why?" Link asked, "Why did you start the tournaments?"

"Was it some kind of sick source of amusement for you?"Raichu demanded, starting to get mad that his friends were dragged into a tournament by this monster.

"I'll admit entertainment played a part…but don't call it sick. You all volunteered for the tournaments, had a good time…and you wouldn't be here now, together if it wasn't for them."

"So? You gathered together the heroes of more than a dozen different worlds to watch them fight…for fun?" Samus asked.

"Ah...close, close," Mr. Cranium said, wagging a finger and smiling slightly, "You almost had it…'The heroes of more than a dozen different worlds.'"

The others stared at M.C. in confusion, although Bario still bore a look of fury and violet licked the edges of his body.

"Oh…you don't get it, do you?" M.C. said.

"Get what?" Diddy asked.

"What better way to find out who would best fill the ranks of your army than by holding a contest for the greatest warriors to duke it out?"

"You're kidding!" Samus said, "We would never join your army!"

Several of the others gave affirmations of agreement.

"Don't be so quick to decide…do you even know what I want you for?"

"We do not," Meta Knight answered coolly, an odd note of anger evident near the edges of his words, "Please…inform us."

"It's quite simple actually. I want you to join my army of minions, so that I may extend my reach across every universe," M.C. stated grandly, but at the yells of anger and disagreement he frowned at them and continued, "Of course I shall grant you control over your respective worlds. I was going to split it between you, the "Heroes" and your adversaries, but since you killed all of them that makes it rather easier for me."

"Killed all of them? We didn't kill all of them," Falco said, puzzled, "Bowser, Ganondorf and Mewtwo escaped."
"What?!" M.C. yelled, his foul breath blasting across the Smashers, "Those cowards…how dare they run. After this is finished, I will take care of them."

"But what of our enemies? Why…how, are so many that were defeated forever back?" Link asked, confused anger in his tone.

"I am the most powerful being ever to exist. The how is simple: I possess the power needed to resurrect mighty beings that have fallen in battle. It's easy really…their souls cry out for a second chance already, so all I really have to do is give them back their body. As for the why, well it's obvious. More minions to fill my army! Like you all will soon be!"

"SILENCE!" Bario commanded, finally speaking, his sword pointed at M.C., "Now tell us, where are you keeping the other Smashers?"

Violet energy curled around the sword and emanated from his body, and the fire in his voice was just as hot. Startled by this the others looked at Bario, then back at M.C. who was glaring at Bario.

"You dare speak to me that way?" he declared angrily, "After you join my forces that will have to change."
"Answer the question!" Bario said again.

"They're out of reach!" M.C. said, furious that the Smashers were not immediately bending to his will, "They're trapped in a nexus between dimensions, and you will never find them…unless you work for me."
"I doubt that," Bario said with a slight grin, "Guys…we don't need to hear this anymore. Get him."

"Get him? Are you crazy! We need him to tell us where the others are!" Link said, "If he doesn't tell us, we might never find them!"

"I said GET HIM!" Bario yelled, shooting a massive beam of dark energy at Mr. Cranium from the sword.

Quicker than expected Master Hand jerked in front of the attack, but the force was higher than originally thought and the Hand went flying past the area where the neck would be, scorched and smoking.

"It's a fight you want, eh? I thought you learned your lesson last time boy," Mister Cranium said to Bario, "No matter. The result will be the same…only this time you're all going to be staying with me!"

"What is he talking-" Samus started to say, before Crazy Hand fired six missiles at the Smashers.

They dodged, but the explosive backlash sent several of them tumbling. With a deep and low laugh Mister Cranium stepped forward, the singed Master Hand returning to his side. He raised both Hands, firing off the lasers again. The Smashers dodged and twisted around the attacks, and Samus managed to find an opening. She combined her charged shot with several missiles to create a Super Missile that crashed into the Terrible Torso.
Mr. Cranium grunted and stopped attacking. The Smashers paused, a few panting slightly. Before it could start up again, Link turned angrily towards Bario.

"What are you, stupid? We could have gotten more information out of him!"
"Any words that came from that mouth are tainted…whatever he tells us will only serve him, not us."

"Harsh words," Mr. Cranium said, "But not as harsh as the ones you used to say. It saddens me to see you continue to resist."
There was a long pause, and Bario continued to glare at Mr. Cranium.

"Do you two know each other?" Raichu asked.

Startled, Bario looked at Raichu, but Mr. Cranium was the first to respond.

"Oh yes…we go way back. Perhaps we could share some of our history with the others?"
"NO!" Bario said, raising the hand without the sword, a glowing ball forming in it.

"Then the battle must continue," Mr. Cranium said, with far too much glee.

Instead of an attack coming from the Hands however, his shoes opened up the assault. The front part of the shoes slid back and from the opening came a missile, one from each shoe.

These were not like the missiles that came from the Hands when they formed the gun position…no, these were huge. Each missile was about twice the size of Samus, and although they were mostly orange, bright streaks of red cut across them. They also appeared to be homing, since they immediately targeted a Smasher.

One flew towards Bario, the second towards Falco. They were slow but steady and when Bario released the ball of energy at the one flying at him, it slammed into it, knocking the missile slightly off course. It started to correct itself, but he hit it again, it crashed into the ground…and exploded.

The explosion was massive, far bigger than Bario thought it would be, and he, Samus and Kirby were all knocked back by the blast wave as it seared a dent into the stage.

Seeing what happened there, Falco was reluctant to make his missile explode so he dashed away a bit…but the missile followed persistently. Realizing he would get only one chance at this he grabbed his Reflector, turned it on and kicked it towards the missile. They met and for a second it seemed the missile might overpower the Reflector…but it managed to turn the missile away before retracting on the string it was attached to back to Falco's belt.

The missile was undaunted though and even as the Reflector returned it started to make a long slow turn. Cursing Falco aimed his machine gun at it when a bolt of lightning struck it from the side, sizzling out its circuitry and causing it to drop, apparently harmless, to the ground. Falco turned towards his rescuer.

"Thanks Raichu!"
"No problem!"

Before Mr. Cranium could unleash another attack, Mario jumped over to the missile and hefted it up. With a grunt of effort he spun around quickly and then launched the missile at Mr. Cranium. Immediately after throwing the missile he fired off a firebomb behind it. The pair traveled extremely fast and M.C. didn't have a chance of avoiding it.

The missile slammed into M.C.'s cheek, the firebomb hitting at nearly the same moment, causing the seemingly fried missile to explode, hiding M.C.'s face in smoke and even some pale blue blood. He let out a low scream of pain, but before any of the others could capitalize on this, things turned really ugly.

Both feet stomped the ground, causing large pointy black spikes to pop out around the rubber soles, forming a spike line all the way around both shoes. The Hands both began punching and jabbing at the Smashers ferociously, and the suit on the torso billowed threateningly.

While the Smashers dodged and evaded the Hands, the smoke cleared, revealing M.C's face…and the deeply unpleasant crater on the cheek that oozed blue blood. His gaze was one of terrifying fury, and with a cry of rage that shook everyone to their bones…he unleashed his true wrath.

The six body parts stopped pretending to be a part of a normal body and spread out around the stage, each one targeting a Smasher or two…and each one of those body parts brought new meaning to the word "Really Freakin' weird." Wait...that's not right. The word was pain. Yes, pain.

The feet stomped towards Meta and Samus, shooting off spikes that were replaced by more spikes and the two did their best to avoid being hit by the massive pointy cones. Meta Knight quickly took to the air to evade them, while Samus was reduced to shooting them down with missiles, a tactic that proved surprisingly effective.

The Hands tackled Kirby, Diddy and Raichu, unleashing their typical hand like attacks, poking, drilling, slapping, dropping explosives from their finger tips…normal hand-related techniques. Kirby had some experience fighting the Hands before, so he was able to dodge their attacks relatively easily and land a few blows of his own. The other two spent a lot more time dodging and getting hit by glancing blows, than retaliating…but at least they were holding their own.

Bario quickly ran to meet Mr. Cranium himself, so that left the Terrible Torso with Mario, Link and Falco, all three veteran Smashers, Mario and Link more veteran than Falco. At first it seemed like a relatively simple opponent…the Torso would slam into the ground slowly, attempting to squish them, they would dodge, and retaliate with their projectiles. That tactic however had to be changed…because the Torso's billowing suit was not just there for dramatic effect.

After another failed squishing attempt the Torso took to the air…and the tie jabbed out, stretching surprisingly far before skewering the ground right next to Mario. It retracted, the hole it made already repairing itself.

Of course it did, Final Destination was a self-repairing stage…it would have to be, after all that fighting on it. The question commonly asked and never answered was what gave it the power needed to repair itself so quickly?

It wasn't the first time Link wondered that, but he honestly didn't have time to dwell on it as the tie shot out again, this time at him. He jumped out of the way, and before the tie could retract again he lunged forward and sliced the tip off, the soft cloth of the tie giving way easily. The tie jerked back, and while the Torso made no noise, it managed to imply significant pain…but it still had a few things left in its bag of tricks.

When Bario ran to Mr. Cranium, the head floated down to just a few feet above him, out of reach of his sword. Before Bario could use any of his magic to make the distance irrelevant, the head spoke, his voice in a surprisingly quiet whisper.

"So Bario, you do know that you are the true prize here?"

"I know," Bario growled, "And I don't care."

"You think you and your friends can defeat me?" M.C. said in a mocking tone, "Please."

"I got close by myself once…and I am stronger now."

"You fool…you never had a chance against me. But, since you are so confident in your friend's abilities, let's make things a bit more interesting." Cranium's wound still oozed, but the flow had subsided and it didn't look half as bad as it had at first.

"What do you mean?"

"I've been watching your journey, and I've seen what everyone is capable of…They do fine in little organized groups, individual battles…but let's see what happens when I bend the unspoken rules a bit."

At his last word the Hands suddenly flew forward, flying right over Diddy's head…and slamming Samus hard into the ground. She let out a strangled gasp of surprise, so fixated was she on the shoe that the attack seemed to come out of nowhere.

The Torso's suit suddenly flapped open, the buttons tearing off…and flying around towards the Smashers, sharp as razors. Link barely blocked one with his shield and Raichu had to use his nearly forgotten Quick Attack ability to avoid getting sliced in half by the deadly buttons which buried themselves into the stage before dissipating, like they were never there to begin with.

As Meta Knight flew over the spikes of the shoes, the laces suddenly undid themselves and shot up, jabbing and stabbing at him. He frantically dodged, slicing and shooting energy balls while the shoes fired their spikes at the other Smashers.

"Stop it!" Bario commanded, "Face me!"
"Sorry 'Bario', but I have some Smashers to smash," M.C. said, emphasizing Bario's name before floating out of reach and towards the Smashers. Bario flung a ball of dark energy at M.C., but the fiend didn't even notice.

While the others were busy dealing with the rest of the parts, M.C. went relatively unnoticed…until he fired a blue laser beam from his monocled eye, the monocle catching and focusing the beam until it was incredibly powerful…it pierced the ground next to Diddy, and began to move towards him, clearly intending to slice him in half.

The monkey cartwheeled away, and the laser fizzled out, but M.C. just laughed and fired again and again, a quicker, weaker laser bolt coming out of the other eye, and in just a few moments the Smashers were sporting a dozen small wounds from near misses and glancing hits, and the other body parts were landing their blows as well. Despite all this, Mr. Cranium and his body parts seemed none the weaker than since the beginning of the battle, even the wound on his cheek had all but healed by now. Something had to give.

Fortunately for the good guys, it gave in their favor. During the battle something was niggling at the back of Link's mind, having started when Bario launched the initial attack, and in between his blocking and dodging he worked at it. Seeing the bolts firing from the maniacal head's eyes suddenly caused something to click in his head. An old ability of his, one he hadn't used in years due to how it caused him to tap into powers he wasn't entirely comfortable with…but now he realized it was probably his best bet.

Rolling and dodging he managed to slip around the back of M.C., avoiding the majority of the flak and buying himself the time he needed to concentrate. Fortunately for him, Bario charged forward at around the same time, slicing at the closer body parts and firing off balls of energy, so that, combined with the others doing their part, prevented Mister Cranium from noticing his temporary disappearance.

He kneeled, focusing on his piece of his Triforce, he brought it out of its "dormant" state, the state where he mostly used it to increase his physical abilities slightly, and give him vague "readings" of people and into an "active state." Moving the piece into a more active state, the state that Ganondorf usually had his, allowed Link to use it for more powerful offensive measures. He tried this before and didn't like it; the feeling of using something so powerful was deeply unnerving.

He felt the slight burning sensation on the back of his hand as the Triforce symbol there lit up, indicating that it was being used. Focusing on the Triforce of Courage he could feel the energy gathering. Directing it towards his sword, the Master Sword, it took a second or two for it feel complete. Gulping slightly, Link stood up, the blade glowing in the grim lighting of Final Destination…and Link called out to Mister Cranium.

"Hey Fathead! What's wrong? Scared of me?"

Startled and confused by the words, M.C. slowly turned around, his lasers stopping for a second. As soon as he saw Link he frowned and started charging his monocle powered eye laser…and that was when Link stabbed his sword forward, a multi-colored beam of energy shooting out.

The beam crashed into the center of the monocle, too fast for M.C. to evade and powerful enough to shatter the glass, shards of which flew into his eye. Letting out a deep screech of pain he slammed his eye shut, digging the shards in deeper…but not before a piece of the laser skimmed out.

It wasn't aimed at Link, which probably saved his life…the attack he just used significantly weakened him and he almost toppled. It took all of his strength to hold onto his sword…and when the laser hit it caused him to lose even that. It tore through his skin and scraped along the side of his pelvis. He let out a faint pained noise before collapsing, a smoking hole in his side.

"LINK!" Samus yelled in horror, shooting off another Super Missile at one of the feet.

"We don't have time to worry about him, Samus!" Bario said harshly.

"Bario!" Diddy said, leaping over Crazy Hand and pelting it with peanuts.

"He's right," Meta said, evading the Terrible Torso's ramming attacks and retaliating with projectiles and stabs, "We need to concentrate on this!"

"You dare injure me?" M.C. roared at Link, shards of his monocle poking through his lid…from what little of the eye they could see it looked shredded. The beam, the shards and even some of the power from the laser had all rebounded and essentially destroyed the eye…the pain had to be terrible. Yet, with the exception of the initial pained cry, M.C. seemed to find the disfigurement more of an annoyance than anything else…and that frightened the Smashers.

He began to float down towards Link, gnashing his teeth as if intending to tear him in two. Link just groaned a bit and tried to move, but as soon as he strained the muscles in his side he paled and stopped.

"This guy is nuts!" Falco said, firing off the last of his machine gun rounds at M.C.

The bolts did little more than anger the head, but that was enough to cause him to turn away from Link.

"I see now that I was perhaps a bit hasty in my offer," M.C. hissed, "Maybe I should prove to you all why I am the most powerful being in this, and all other universes!"

The five other parts of M.C. floated back, creating a loose wall to prevent any of the Smashers, with the exception of Link who was now apparently forgotten off by the edge, from escaping. With a smooth noise the top of the top hat that M.C. wore slid back. With a terrible grating a massive ball of flame erupted from the gaping hole and shot into the air, seeming to hang there for a few brief seconds before plummeting down.

"SCATTER!" Bario commanded.

The Smashers did, but they didn't get far before the ball crashed into where they had all been standing, the resulting shockwave knocking them all off their feet. Laughing, M.C. shot off another one, which again knocked them down after just getting back up, and scorching the back of Meta and Raichu. As he prepared a third one, Diddy leapt up.

"Stay down…and cover your ears!"

He pulled out his guitar and began strumming on it, hitting the strings in the precise sequence needed to unleash its musical power. The others followed his orders, and M.C. frowned at him.

"No…I know what that does! Stop!"

The parts started to move forward, but the star-shaped shockwave was already bursting out of the guitar, knocking the pieces back. M.C. floated down as the wave was moving at a slight angle, trying to avoid it but he couldn't entirely…it slammed into his top hat, slicing it in half and knocking it off his head. He growled as his shiny bald pate was revealed to the world and the pieces rolled off of Final Destination and into the abyss.

Diddy's guitar started to smoke, and after a quick glance at it, Diddy put it away and pulled out his single gun, the other seven Smashers standing up.

M.C. looked furious, but undeterred and with an evil grin he opened his mouth wide…and his teeth flew out. Yes. Twenty plus of his large square white teeth shot out his mouth like missiles and flew at the Smashers. The unorthodox attack startled them but throughout the adventure they were getting used to expecting the unexpected, so they reacted rather quickly, dodging and shooting them out of the sky. When the teeth hit something they exploded, sending pointy shrapnel flying all over the place.

While the Smashers evaded the attack, M.C.'s teeth grew back, and flashed a dark smirk at them.

"Fine…if you continue to resist then I shall have to start exercising deadly force."
"Start?" Samus yelled in shock, "What do you call what happened to Link?"
"What?" Mr. Cranium said, looking at Link, "He's alive…for now."

He jerked his head towards the Smashers and the body parts started to move forward…

"STOP!"

The pieces halted, M.C. listening to the one person he really cared about…Bario.

"Yes?"

"I'm willing to talk…if you're willing to not kill them."

"That is preferable…what do you have to say?"
"Not here!" Bario said, looking at the others, "Over there!"

M.C. looked where Bario gestured, near the edge opposite Link and a good distance away from the others.

"Still trying to keep some secrets eh?" M.C. said.

Bario just started walking towards the area he pointed out ignoring the response. M.C. moved his Hands and Torso in a gesture implying a shrug. The pieces moved slightly closer to the Smashers and M.C. floated towards Bario…while Samus gave Bario's back a rather suspicious look.

"What's going on here?" Falco said, throwing away his now useless machine gun and pulling out his trusty pistol, "Why is he talking to him?"

"Which him do you mean?" Raichu asked.

"Either one…it shouldn't be happening," Samus said, the cold tone in her voice startling the others, "I think I'm starting to see what Link was talking about…Bario is way too familiar with that monster. If we all survive this, he's got a lot of explaining to do."

"So, decided to retract your erroneous ways?" M.C. asked once they were out of earshot.

"Perhaps I am…but you can't have me be what you want."

"What, do you want partnership? Because that's not going to happen. I, and only I will rule."

"I don't want to work with you," Bario said, spitting out the word with like it was a poison, "But I do think some kind of agreement can be reached."
"The only agreement I'll make is your complete subservience. Anything else will end in a very painful death for you…and with you gone it will be easy for me to capture the others. My ultimate plan for them will take longer without you…but it will be done. Already I hear some of the captured Smashers are breaking, and I haven't even done anything to them!"
"You can't seriously expect to conquer any world, let alone all of them with thirty fighters, no matter how strong," Bario said angrily, "What you propose is madness and wrong."
"You're not one to lecture me on right and wrong," Mister Cranium said, "But you are right. I had more, but you and your friends certainly stopped that…but do you really believe I only have minions in seven worlds? I have been busy…you'd be amazed how many deceased villains are just dying for the chance to get revenge on their murderers."
Bario paled at this.

"How many…how many worlds?"
"Oh…I'd say about six more or so…my memory is fading after all this time. After all, I remember you having a different name…perhaps I am confused. Should I ask your new friends if they know it?"

"Don't you dare!" Bario said, pointing his sword at M.C.

"So you do care for them…my you have changed. Well, this is getting us nowhere. Do you have anything more to add or shall I just kill you all and be done with it?"

"I'll serve you," Bario said, lowering the sword and drawing an excited smile from M.C., "On one condition."

The smile faltered, "What is it?"

"Tell me where you are keeping the other Smashers."

"Not until you submit."
"You know that once I do I can't go back!"

"Yes, that's why if you promise to serve me, as you are meant to, I shall tell you…most of my secrets."

Bario shook his head, fist tightening around the blade.

"I refuse to serve you, or anyone. If you won't tell me willingly…then I'll force it out of you!"

He charged forward, attempting to stab M.C. but the beard whipped into life, the hairs wrapping around his arms and pinning them to his side.

"You'll regret doing that…now you won't even get the pleasure of your own free will!"

"Bario!" Diddy said, seeing him get tied up.

"I do not care what he may have done or about his past with that head…we must help him," Meta said.

"Agreed," said Samus, "After this…he can tell us everything."

They started to move towards the struggling Bario, but at their motion the pieces of Mister Cranium moved forward, the Hand's flexing, the Feet twitching and the Torso…existing…it doesn't really move much.

"We better hope we can get these guys out of the way fast," Raichu said, charging up some electricity.

"Gwa ha ha ha!" M.C. said, tightening his beard, "Do you surrender or should I start tearing off extremities?"

"Er…er," Bario growled, thrashing wildly, but losing ground every second.

M.C. laughed again and turned his gaze away from Bario to see the Smashers throwing out their best at the pieces, Samus shooting off missiles constantly, Diddy throwing out grenades and leaping around the attacks while pelting them with peanuts, Kirby and Meta flying and running around, slicing them up with their blades, Falco utilizing similar tactics as Diddy, dashing and pelting with laser shots, and Mario blasting off firebombs while hammering the kittens out of things. After Mario got smacked hard by the Torso, Raichu loosed a charged lightning bolt at it, strong enough to halt it briefly. M.C. was planning on joining the fight, having already considered Bario beaten. Big mistake.

While Cranium was preoccupied Bario took the opportunity to relax and focus…and just when M.C. was at his most distracted Bario unleashed a massive store of energy, enough to blow away the hair strands holding him and rock M.C. in the air.

"What the?"

Before he could attempt to regain control of Bario the swordsman had both swords out and, powered up by his violet magic, was slicing and dicing at his face. Crying out in true pain, more so then even when his eye was pierced he flew back, out of reach…but it wasn't enough. Bario raised his blades again, shooting off energy, and M.C. knew the time had come.

The Hands made a great sweeping motion, forcing the Smashers out of the center of the stage. The Feet and Torso made several more attacks, shooting off spikes and charging while the Hands floated over the glowing center of Final Destination.

While M.C. frantically dodged the attacks and attempted to retaliate, a large red crystal slowly emerged from the solid center, as if it were water. Sparing a glance over there Bario grimaced.

"No you don't!"

Sheathing his blades he extended his hands forward, expending a large chunk of his power to shoot off a ball of energy that shot past M.C. Relieved that it missed him, Cranium almost missed it turning into a huge portal behind him…but when he felt the powerful tugging and the hissing wind, he knew.

"NOOOOOO!" M.C. said, resisting, the Feet and Torso turning away from the Smashers and towards Bario, but Mario leapt towards them and shot off a Firestorm from the side that sent the vastly weakened pieces tumbling and burning, while the Hands frantically worked to remove the Crystal, but realizing that letting Mr. Cranium get it would be a bad thing, the Smashers were attacking the Hands.

On the other side of the stage the exit portal opened, and M.C. was sucked inexorably into the one behind him.

"Why? Why?" M.C. demanded, straining with all of his considerable might.

"Why what?!" Bario demanded, pushing more power into the sucking vacuum.

"Why have you turned your back on your purpose? Why do you choose to stand with them over me?"
At that Bario laughed, coldly and bitterly.

"Turned my back? You truly are a fool. I still intend to fulfill my destiny…I just don't need you to do it!"

M.C.'s eyes widened.

"You will pay for this!" he yelled as his the top of his head was sucked into the portal.

"I think not."
The top of the cranium emerged from the other portal…and after enough was through Bario closed the portals…slicing Mister Cranium's skull in two.

There was a brief moment of shock throughout the entire area, as everyone could feel the faint rush of a massively evil force fading away. Bario was bent double by the extremely large amount of energy he had expended, but he still had the presence of mind to smile. The head pieces slowly drifted downwards, the faint gray of brain barely visible before the head, and all the other pieces of the body exploded outward into pink dust.

The dust had an immediate rejuvenating effect on everybody. All the injuries and fatigue faded away as M.C's power was used to heal, rather than destroy. Bario stood straight again, vitality restored and it didn't take long for Link to clamber to his feet, the hole in his side vanishing. He grabbed his weapons and walked to the others, relieved that the hole in his side hadn't hit a more vital spot.

Bario shook his head and walked to the others as well, who were all gathered around the crystal that was still half-embedded in the ground. When he reached them Samus was the first to speak, cutting right to business.

"Bario…it looks like all of this is over, and I think it's high time you told us how you know that head…you've been hiding a lot."

There were faint murmurs of agreement, but no one seemed like they wanted to press him too hard. Even Link looked a little hesitant. Bario thought for a second, eyes closed, but seemed to come upon a satisfactory answer.

"You're right. I've been keeping too much hidden from you all, and now, with Mr. Cranium finally dead," Bario said the last part with a pleased smile, "There really isn't a reason to keep those secrets anymore."
"So?" Link pressed, "What are they?"

"Well I'll start with the simplest first, and one you may already have suspected," Bario paused, "You see…I am Kidar."