Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Fifty-One: The Showdown

"You're Kidar?" Link said, more surprised than he would have thought, "But after all that…and now…no warning…what?"

Bario…or Kidar, as he appeared to be now, merely nodded his head sagely.

"Wait…what does that even mean?" Samus asked, "So you're Kidar…does that mean you're the cause of our nightmares?"
Kidar winced a bit at that and raised a hand as angry looks appeared in the other's eyes.

"Yes…but I assure you, I had a good reason!"

"And what reason would that be?" Raichu asked, hurt that someone he considered a friend caused such emotional pain to him.

"It was-"

"You'll have to save it for another time boy," a familiar voice said.

The Smashers turned, startled and shocked as Ganondorf casually stepped out of a portal near the edge of the stage.

"Resistance is futile," Mewtwo said, stepping out of another one on the other side of the Smashers.

"Yeah, I don't know what M.C. wanted with Brawlio but it doesn't matter now," Bowser said with glee stepping out of a third and final portal, forming a loose triangle around the Smashers.

"We'll talk about this later," Meta said, raising his sword.

"He's right," Link said, "It's interesting Bar-I mean Kidar, how something always shows up at the last second, preventing you from explaining…anything."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kidar said innocently, drawing both blades, "Form a circle around the crystal…we don't want them to get it."
"As if you could stop us!" Ganondorf said, laughing slightly.

"You should be considerably weakened after battling Mister Cranium," Mewtwo said, "It should be a simple task for us to defeat you."
"Ha!" Diddy said, "Looks like you guys didn't do your research!"

Those words sparked a puzzled look in Bowser's eye, a look that was quite at home in that particular spot.

"What's that mean?"

"It means we're completely fresh and ready for a fight with you guys," Samus said, gun pointed at Bowser, "Compared to Cranium you guys shouldn't stand a chance."
"What?" Mewtwo said, startled, "This is impossible! The closeness of your overall power to M.C.'s should have prevented you all from even surviving. At the very least when we saw the last part of the battle Link was down, practically dead!"

"Guess you left before the final act," Link said cockily, sword hefted to one shoulder, "Cause I feel fine."

Ganondorf frowned at Link and folded his massive arms across his chest.

"I know you're tough…but you're not invincible. You had a hole right through your stomach. I can't even imagine you being able to stand, let alone fight. What is this?"

"Guess you didn't pay attention to the pink dust at our last fight Ganondorf," Raichu said, "It shows up after we kill a baddy and heals us…and Cranium had plenty to heal us with."

"Is this true Ganondorf?" Mewtwo demanded.

"I didn't…I can't…HOW?!" Ganondorf demanded, furious.

"I didn't sign up for this!" Bowser said, backing away from the Smashers, "Fighting them now would be suicide…come on Ganondorf! They killed Cranium! What chance do we have?"
Ganondorf fumed silently to himself for a moment while the Smashers basked in the feeling of them terrorizing their opponents for once…but the moment didn't last long.

"We can do this!" Ganondorf said, face taut with concentration, "All we need…is to get that crystal first!"
"What?" Kidar said, "No!"

The violet haired swordsman sheathed the blade in his right hand and spun around reaching for the crystal…but his hand suddenly stopped.

"Ganondorf…if you have anything planned, do it now," Mewtwo said, straining to hold Kidar.

"Gotcha," Ganondorf said with a grin, a dark aura surrounding his fists.

"No!" Raichu shouted, running towards Mewtwo, but the psychic raised a hand and held him back.

Ganondorf then charged forward. Samus fired multiple missiles at him, but he raised his hand and they exploded mere inches in front of him as he continued to move. Link ran forward to meet him, and Falco moved to help but Mewtwo managed to grab the bird with his mental powers and trap him in place.

"Bowser! Hurry, I can't hold the three of them for long," Mewtwo said, his voice sounding more strained than before.

Bowser didn't even respond, he was already moving, Diddy, Mario and Kirby ran towards him, while Meta flew towards Ganondorf, just over Link's head.

Link reached Ganondorf before the others reached Bowser and he kept his charge going by using a mighty horizontal slash that should have ripped Ganondorf open. Instead Ganondorf caught the blade with his armored…arms, and with a deft twist of his body backhanded Link before punching Meta in the mask as he dove down. Both swordsmen went down and before they could get up, Ganondorf was charging past them, shooting off a ball of energy at Samus.

Bowser ran forward, more like a tank than a creature. Diddy reached him first and leapt up, smacking Bowser's face with both fists and his tail. The turtle king moved his head with the blow, lessening their impact and then smacked Diddy down with a claw slap. Mario jumped forward, fire jumping from his hands but Bowser charged through the flame, knocking Mario aside. Kirby hesitated then, a moment too long as flames erupted from Bowser's mouth, sending the pink puffball flying, scorched silly.

Ganondorf rolled under another missile and dived for Samus. She side-stepped and clocked him in the side of the head with her arm cannon, but he ignored the blow. His left hand shot out and grabbed her by the midsection, and demonstrating some rather impressive strength he threw her at Link who was just starting to get up. The pair fell over in a tangle of bodies.

Ganondorf reached for the crystal, grinning at an immobile Kidar, who strained and made a strangled noise of rage.

"Looks like it's going to be over for you soon," Ganondorf said, grabbing the crystal and pulling it slowly out. Bowser reached them, but spun and threw out a few balls of flame to keep his pursuers back before turning around again. The crystal did not slide out of the platform as easily as it had when M.C. was retrieving it. Rather than slipping through like water, it was inching out as if trapped in mud. Ganondorf strained and Bowser watched hungrily, but shooting off enough flames to keep the others back for the few seconds it took for Ganondorf to heave the partially revealed crystal out of its prison.

As Ganondorf chucked the crystal to a practically drooling Bowser a sharp cold pain flashed, originating from his hand. Looking at it he saw a blade raise again as Kidar sluggishly fought the control from Mewtwo to do more than a mere scrape. Ganondorf kicked the man down as Bowser started to absorb the crystal, lightning flaring up from both him and the red ruby, one bolt, seemingly by chance, striking out and knocking a charging Mario down.

Ganondorf turned angrily towards Mewtwo, clutching his bleeding hand.

"I thought you could hold them!"
"I could," Mewtwo hissed, a bead of sweat popping out on his head, "I held all of them before…they're different."

"This is great! Great!" Bowser said, the crystal fading into his rippling and expanding body, "It's been too long!"

Mewtwo released his hold on Falco and Raichu, and stopped trying to restrain Kidar. The three stumbled, the ease of movement startling. Link, Samus and Meta climbed to their feet, weapons raised, as did Mario, Kirby and Diddy. The nine Smashers and even Ganondorf and Mewtwo stopped and stared as a laughing Bowser became a beast that only the Evil King Ganon could match…Giga Bowser.

His horns lengthened and curved, snout stretched out and became more wolfish and his tail stretched and became an armored segmented extension of his body. He grew hunched as muscle piled on muscle and as he grew to ten, fifteen, twenty…twenty-five feet his breath leaked out of his massive jaws in a thick fog. He leaned back and roared in sheer primal joy. The demon had been unleashed.

"GWA HA HA HA! Now you will DIE!" Giga roared, stomping towards Mario.

"Stop!" Ganondorf ordered, "We should take this opportunity to talk!"

"WHAT?!" Giga said, small trails of flame leaking out of his mouth, the same color of the fire appearing in Mario's hand.

"This was not part of the plan," Mewtwo said, looking at a crackling Raichu.

"I know," Ganondorf said, grinning at Link and Samus who were holding back, "But perhaps we could reach a more beneficial agreement."

"Don't even think about it Ganondorf," Kidar said, clambering to his feet and yanking out his other sword, "Cranium already tried to make a deal with us."

"Yes but we have information he wasn't willing to share," Ganondorf said slyly.

"What?" Link demanded.

"We know where the other Smashers are being kept."

At those words Kidar's eyes glinted a brighter violet and he stiffened.

"Where?" Kidar asked, his voice unnaturally calm.

"As he said, they're in a prison between dimensions," Ganondorf said.

"Ganondorf…" Mewtwo said angrily, "I don't like where you're going with this."

"Just bear with me," Ganondorf growled, "I don't have to make you happy. The only person whose opinion I ever cared about is dead now, and might I add that I am very grateful to you for that?" Ganondorf said, flashing a big smile at Link and the others.

"Just tell us where the prisoners are," Meta said.

"I will…on one condition. Lay down your arms, and relinquish control of your worlds to us. We'll tell you where your friends are, and even let you go get them…weaponless of course. If you want to try and fight us later you can, but for now…we'll go our separate ways."

"Not happening!" Link said, "Too many of us want you dead. And that's the only way you're leaving here."

"I didn't think you'd agree to it," Ganondorf said, cracking his knuckles, "Oh well, thought I'd give it a try."

"I can sweeten the deal," Giga said, his voice, while booming, was not quite as booming as Mr. Cranium's, "How about we do what Ganondorf said…and I get to eat some of you, like the monkey and Mario."

Diddy looked up at Giga with a burning rage, who merely smiled back like some kind of demented shark.

"That's a worse deal!" Falco said, "No way!"

"So be it," Ganondorf said, sadly shaking his head and the Smashers tensed, sensing violence was about to ensue, "Then I guess it's time to DIE!"

Giga laughed and charged towards Mario. Mewtwo floated a foot to the left to evade a blast of electricity from Raichu and then threw a Shadow Ball at him. Kidar stabbed at Ganondorf…who pulled a massive blade out from the shadows and blocked it before knocking him back with a pulse of dark energy.

Link ran forward as Samus fired a missile that skimmed past the Hylian's ear. Ganondorf batted the missile away like it was nothing and ran towards Link. Meta took to the air, but rather than assisting Link with Ganondorf he flew over their heads, past Giga Bowser who was slashing his massive claws at the frantic Mario, Kirby and Diddy who were trying to avoid his massive swipes. Meta paused briefly at Giga's back, but as if coming to a decision he turned again and flew towards Mewtwo.

Raichu was sent flying past Falco who had his pistol out and was firing at Mewtwo while running at him. Mewtwo deflected a few of the bolts, but Falco's aim with the pistol had gotten surprisingly good and even while moving he was able to keep the shots spread apart, each one flying towards different extremes of Mewtwo's body. Before the psychic could take a more active role in the battle a shot skimmed past his left foot bringing up a wince of pain. Falco took advantage of the distraction and his closeness to try a leaping kick but Mewtwo was faster than he thought and with a thought he grabbed Falco and flung him to the ground.

Mario leapt over the claw and jumped towards Giga Bowser's head, hammer raised but a powerful and fast jet of fire sent Mario skidding back, scorched. Diddy and Kirby attacked with grenades and slashes, but Giga's armored flesh didn't tear easily. Still cackling he curled into his shell and spun around, creating an icy whirlwind that sent Diddy and Kirby flying to either side of Giga, bleeding from cuts from the ice. Diddy leapt up first as Giga uncurled and ran towards him again; just barely avoiding getting hit by one of Samus's deflected missiles.

Link and Ganondorf met, blades clashing for the first time. Ganondorf's massive sword was about twice the size of Link's, a dark brown the color of dried blood with white lining the edges. The tip, rather than ending in a point like Link's and Kidar's was instead a crescent shape, with twin points arcing back towards the handle. Ganondorf wielded it less like a blade and more like a hammer, and he soon had no problem knocking Link's blade aside with a determined push. Samus aimed at Ganondorf but as Link was sent stumbling back she realized that she wouldn't be able to get a shot in with them as close together as they were…so she started to circle around.

Ganondorf eagerly took advantage of his early lead, stomping forward and doing another powerful, overhead slash. Link caught it on his shield, but the force behind it was so great he was almost brought to his knees. Grunting Link jumped back as Ganondorf stepped forward again, using his momentum to throw an extremely powerful and fast blow in a horizontal swipe…which missed completely as Link rolled underneath it, coming up in a slash that slipped through Ganondorf's armor to leave a gash in his stomach. Ganondorf winced at the pain and berated himself internally for his error in throwing so much weight behind the swing. He strained to step back, raising his blade in a defensive posture as Link struck again.

Mewtwo threw out a psychic shove to push Falco back and he dodged another bolt from the recovered Raichu. Shooting out a blast of disabling energy at the electric mouse he started to laugh, feeling confident in his superiority…and almost died right there as Meta seemed to come out of nowhere, sword aimed at Mewtwo's thin neck. Fortunately, at least for the psychic cat, his psychic powers gave him limited precognitive abilities and by the time the sword was at his neck Mewtwo had slid a few inches away from the strike, leaving Meta's sword hanging in the air.

Before Meta could figure out how he missed, Mewtwo blasted him with a ball of confusing energy that spun him around before releasing him. Dazed he tried to flap towards Mewtwo, but all he ended up doing was falling to the ground under Mewtwo's dismissive gaze.

Raichu struggled to stay conscious after Mewtwo's attack hit, and then he struggled to move. His limbs wobbled and he had a hard time standing, but he forced his way through it and started to charge up his bolt again, staggering towards Mewtwo.

Giga breathed some more massive jets of flame at Mario, when something slammed him below his right eye and exploded, leaving a seared scar and blowing harsh smoke into his eye. Grunting he slammed his lid down and squinted with the other eye as a second object flew into his vision. He managed to turn his head in time to avoid having it hit his eye, but he saw what was throwing them. Diddy!

The little chimp was using his jetpack to fly up to eye-level and was chucking grenades at him. He reached for another one but Giga wasn't having any of that. Using some dark magic to give the already beastly strong beast some more strength he punched out, hitting Diddy with his glowing dark violet hand. The blow was strong enough to short out the jetpack and break Diddy's left arm. Diddy was sent shooting towards the abyss.

Link made several frantic stabs at Ganondorf, hoping to end the battle quickly, but the large sword covered most of his unarmored body and Link was unable to land a decisive blow. Ganondorf grinned, knowing that Link would be unable to keep up the offensive for much longer and was looking forward to taking advantage of that fact. Unfortunately for Ganondorf, Link was no fool and he quickly switched tactics.

Link threw out a far stab, aimed to slice at Ganondorf's arm. Ganondorf easily batted it away but before he could take advantage of the poorly aimed attack Link slammed his shield forward, bashing Ganondorf in the face, bringing some blood from his nose and causing him to take a big step back. Letting himself reveal a small smirk Link stepped forward…just as Ganondorf raised his non-sword encumbered hand and sent Link flying backwards with a burst of energy. Samus tried to blast Ganondorf while Link was away, but he sent a burst of energy her way that sent her to her knees as her suit struggled to stay online.

Link was sent rolling and before he could leap up a second burst of dark magic, lightning this time, kept him pinned while his nerves screamed in agony. Ganondorf stomped over, blasting Link one more time before raising his sword high, point aimed at Link's neck.

"Didn't think I'd finally get a chance to end you here and now…but I had hoped. Say hello to your Goddesses for me."

The sword lowered and the only sound that could be heard was a metallic clang…followed by a sickening thud.

Mewtwo crouched low as Raichu staggered forward, gaining momentum as he moved. Feeling confident in his abilities again Raichu shot off a bolt of electricity at Mewtwo, powerful but predictable. Mewtwo merely smirked and spun it back towards Raichu…who absorbed it and stood up, grinning, and crackling with power. Mewtwo frowned, cursing his foolishness…and Raichu became a blur.

Meta felt bizarre. He didn't know what Mewtwo had done to him, but he was determined not to let it stop him so he determinedly took a step forward…and moved backward. Confused, he looked down towards his feet, and the next thing he saw were the planets whizzing past in the infinite vortex around them. He unfurled his wings and collapsed to the ground…nothing was working. Mewtwo had altered his mind and how it controlled his body. Meta stopped trying to do anything, focusing. The effects were temporary and while Raichu dashed around Mewtwo he could feel them slowly fading…but as he lay motionless he heard a quiet voice in his mind. One that commanded action. He resisted, knowing it would be foolish, but the voice was persistent and seemed to care little for the situation. It became louder and louder. The more he tried to ignore it the more pressing it became until it was a pounding force in his brain. Pain followed, terrible, excruciating pain…and there was only one solution. Giving into the voice Meta flew forward, sword raised.

Raichu smirked to himself as he essentially danced around Mewtwo, his speed far greater than that of the psychic cat. The only thing protecting the cat from the bolts shot his way were his precognitive abilities, but his body was already reacting slower…he wasn't used to combat taking this long. Raichu was confident in his victory…at least until Meta Knight screwed it up.

Crying out in rage and pain Meta shot forward, faster than Raichu even, his sword swinging wildly at Mewtwo. Unfortunately the attack missed, mostly because the yell gave Mewtwo ample warning to teleport out of the way…but Meta didn't stop. He continued forward at a blazing speed…right towards Raichu.

As Diddy plummeted through the air he frantically tried to get his jetpack working again, with his non-broken arm but it refused to activate, and the throbbing his panicked motions caused in his broken one forced him to stop. Before he could end up dead though, Mario leapt up and caught him, rather gently.

Giga frowned at that but before he could respond Kirby's sword strikes to his armored tail brought enough minor discomfort for him to twitch it, sending the puffball rolling across the stage, where he got zapped by one of Raichu's deflected bolts of electricity. Giga opened his mouth in a fiery grin as Mario put Diddy on the ground…before facing his foe.

Link stared at Ganondorf's hate-filled gaze before the sword came down. Determined to go out with his eyes open, displaying the courage he was so famous for, he still ended up closing them in surprise as something blurred across the edge of his vision. Something clanged…and the next thing he knew there was a thud and a small impact that jerked his head up before plopping it back down.

There was a moment of silence. Link heard a hiss of air escaping…from the guttural sound of the hiss, he would guess Ganondorf was exhaling. The exhale was drawn out, and seemed slowed down. Was this dying? It felt…weird. There was no pain and no pressure…but when Link heard voices he began to realize that perhaps he was not dead.

He opened his eyes…to see Kidar facing down Ganondorf. At the corner of his vision he could see Ganondorf's sword at an angle, the crescent blade near his pointy ear. Apparently Kidar had intercepted the attack…and saved Link's life. He wasn't sure who he was angrier at…Ganondorf for trying to kill him, Kidar for saving him…or himself for not being able to save himself.

"So, looks like you have some fight in you," Ganondorf said to Kidar while lifting his sword, "At least more than elf-boy here."

At that Link rolled away from Ganondorf and leapt to his feet, sword and shield completely ready.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that!"
"You're welcome," Kidar said, a bit hurt that Link ignored him.

"I don't need your help," Link said harshly, "I can take care of Ganondorf on my own."

"Boy, you need a lot of help…too bad no one here can give it to you."

Several meters away Samus had managed to get control of her suit and was moving into position to open fire again as Link and Kidar spread themselves out around Ganondorf, to make their coming attack more difficult to block…but before Samus could attempt to join in Kidar called out to her.

"Samus! Go help the others with Giga Bowser…your talents are wasted here."

"I'm through taking orders from you!" Samus responded angrily, "I don't know what your problem is…but after the way you lied to us-"

"Samus!" Link cut in, "He's right. Go, fight Giga…we got this."

Samus looked at Link in shock but he wasn't looking back…his full attention was on Ganondorf. Hurt, but willing to bend to their logic and more importantly, to Link, she ran off towards Giga Bowser.

Ganondorf grinned at the both of them.

"Well, this should be interesting…I've been wanting to test your sword skills," he said, looking at Kidar.

"This test will be quick then!" Kidar said, charging forward, one blade stabbing forward towards his armored chest, the other slashing towards his legs. At the same time Link charged forward, his sword raised in an overhead slash. The attack was designed to trap Ganondorf between at least one of the three different strikes, something that should have been entirely possible considering how slow he moved and how heavy his sword was…but something happened they did not expect.

With a quick and violent maneuver Ganondorf placed both hands on the hilt of the sword…and dug his fingers into it. A sudden ripping motion and the sword was split in two long narrow halves that he used to quickly and effectively parry all three strikes before unleashing two more. Link and Kidar blocked them, noticing that the halves were shifting and curving to form white curved blades, as long, if not longer than the crescent-head sword but far thinner and lighter. Ganondorf stepped back from Link and Kidar, swords raised in a defensive position.

"Well…haven't seen you do that before," Link said.

"Something I've been working on," Ganondorf responded.

Kidar didn't say anything, but he gave Ganondorf an odd look…almost one of understanding. And then…the three attacked.

Meta sword opened up a trio of painful gashes on Raichu's stomach, his blood staining the yellow sword. Fortunately they weren't very deep and Meta stopped immediately after that…although it was too late for an enraged Raichu, who blasted him ten feet away with an electrical bolt he had been planning to hit Mewtwo with.

Meta was pinned to the stage temporarily and Raichu gave him a harsh glare.

"What the hell is your problem?!"

Meta shook off the effects of the bolt faster than Raichu would have expected, although the jerky movement of his standing revealed it had hurt a lot.

"I am sorry. I was…compelled to attack."

"I don't care…if you're going to be an idiot about this, than just stay out of my way!"

Mewtwo was smiling as the two fought amongst each other, and he was so preoccupied that he almost got hit by Falco's wing. But again, he sensed it coming and moved to avoid the strike…that was just building momentum for the snap kick that knocked Mewtwo to the ground.

Mario didn't hate Bowser, not like Diddy hated him for "killing" Dixie, the monkey who apparently is still alive somehow. He didn't hate Bowser like Raichu hated Mewtwo for destroying his home and killing his fiancée, he didn't hate Bowser like Link hated Ganondorf for countless reasons. Not that he didn't have reason to…Mario had been battling Bowser for various reasons for near a quarter of a century now, and after all that…Mario realized that Bowser isn't really that evil. He'd like to be, he likes to pretend to be a big bad guy but he's really more of a buffoon, a softy at heart. He's even helped Mario on several occasions, and if he did kill Dixie, that would be by far his most heinous action…but he didn't even seem to have done that right.

If Bowser was truly a threat, Mario had the power years ago to truly finish him off…but to be honest, he kind of liked the dastardly turtle and if he had his way he would let him survive this encounter as well. Only problem was that he wasn't facing Bowser. He was facing Giga Bowser.

Oh yes, there is a difference, one that Mario could both tell from now, and from the knowledge he had gained since the previous tournament. The incredible power from the crystal gives Bowser a bloodlust he can't control, and the addicting feeling of the power makes him come back for more. Mario never actually faced Giga Bowser, the form takes a lot of energy to maintain and Master Hand…or actually Mr. Cranium, couldn't keep Bowser at the last tournament after Mario threatened the turtle…so here was his chance to see Bowser at his best, to see his nemesis as an actual threat…who now must die before his uncontrollable form consumes him completely.

Mario charged at Giga. The monster belched out an expected stream of fire that Mario leaped over, heading for Giga's head. Giga grabbed at Mario, but the plumber jumped on and then off the first hand, firing firebombs the whole time at Giga's head, his one eye still shut from Diddy's explosion…and jumped right into Giga's second hand which grabbed him tight.

Giga grinned maliciously and tried to squeeze, but Mario pushing back the claws that held him and his beastly strength was enough to prevent himself from being crushed. Startled Giga moved his second hand towards Mario's head, when a Super Missile from the approaching Samus caught him in the side. At the same time Mario started releasing fire from his hands and Samus shot off several more missiles.

Anxious to avoid increasing pain, Giga tossed Mario in the air. The red-shirted hero was surprised at first but reacted quickly, spinning around to face Giga as he leaned down, using his shell to protect himself from Samus's brutal assault. Mario pumped firebombs towards his head, but they didn't seem to incite a reaction…until Giga lurched up, catching Mario with his spiky shell.

Most of the spikes missed, although a few sliced at him as he fell, opening up deep wounds…but the major injury was the massive spike protruding from his left hand. Mario had no time to extricate himself though, as an electrical charge passed through the spikes and into him, one powerful enough to send him flying off Giga and to the ground, several dozen feet away. Motionless…

Ganondorf's speed and skill with the twin blades was amazing. Countless times he blocked and parried attacks effortlessly, and when Link or Kidar attempted to retaliate he skillfully dodged, his great size belying his speed. His counter attacks were fast and vicious and it wasn't long into the fight before all three were bleeding from multiple wounds of varying severity.

However, his blades were notably thinner and lighter than his one sword had been and not a whole lot of force could be put behind them, especially since he could only devote one arm to each. His speed, while great still couldn't match that of the three swords and shield from his opponent at every turn and his power advantage was lessened with these blades. Slowly, but surely they were beating him down.

However as they battled and Ganondorf was driven ever further into a defensive posture, forced to make less and less overt attacks he realized something. Much like himself, Link was no master swordsman. They used brute force and special abilities, reflexes and reactions…and maybe a little bit of Triforce magic, although even Ganondorf wasn't entirely sure how those worked…but the point was he and Link had little technique, little actual skill with the sword. Kidar on the other hand…did.

He wielded his twin blades expertly, and it was his assaults Ganondorf found himself devoting more time to avoid. Link's strikes were slow and predictable, but Kidar's, while not as powerful, were more precise and far harder to even spot coming. Ganondorf found that by positioning himself well, Link's less precise strikes would get in Kidar's way, forcing both of them to watch for the other and making Kidar more preoccupied with his ally…who wasn't really taking great pains to avoid skewering him. Soon Kidar blocked one of Ganondorf's rare attacks and then jumped back to avoid Link's wide swing.

After Kidar didn't jump back into the fray, Link jumped back as well, and the three stared at each other, panting slightly.

"This isn't working…we don't fight well together," Kidar said matter-of-factly.

"I agree," Link said, "You should leave."
"What?!"

"You're getting in my way and you're not needed."

"Are…are you sure about this?" Kidar asked, resignedly.

"Yes! Go help the others fight Giga Bowser, or Mewtwo, but leave me with him!"

"As…as you wish."

Kidar paused for several seconds, as if hoping Link would change his mind, but when the tunic-wearing swordsman turned back towards Ganondorf, Kidar nodded and ran towards a different battle.

This was better than Ganondorf could have hoped! The dangerous one, the mage or warrior or whatever Kidar was, was leaving, leaving Ganondorf with an old, familiar and predictable foe. As the two began to circle each other Ganondorf shoved the two blades back together, and they twisted into a new sword.

This one was similar to Link's in style and shape, although it had a flowery and ornate hilt. Additionally it was substantially larger and longer by half compared to Link's Master Sword. Most disturbing though was the brilliant glow from the sword, giving it an oddly holy feeling…although mixed with the purifying light was Ganondorf's dark taint, contaminating the once blessed blade.
At Link's questioning gaze, Ganondorf grinned wider, his teeth glinting in the light from the sword as he gave it a sweeping flourish.

"This sword will be used in an attempt to kill me…but like most of those plans, it will backfire and I shall use the sword to kill those who tried to kill me."

"Will be used to try and kill you?" Link asked, questioning the strange tense.

"An alternate time line mayhaps," Ganondorf said, brushing aside the question, "I'm not sure myself…but you have more pressing things to attend to!"

And with nary a word more…Ganondorf charged.

Falco didn't have long to rejoice about his temporary victory. As soon as Mewtwo hit the ground he vanished, and the bolts Falco had shot off burned into the ground where the psychic had hit. He spun around at the sound of displaced air, but a powerful psychic shove knocked him down…and a second, more precise one shattered the bones in his gun hand, causing him to scream in pain and drop the pistol.

Before Mewtwo could blast Falco again, this time in a more vulnerable spot, a powerful blast of dark magic flew over Mewtwo, neutralizing his attack and leaving a chilling sensation. Frightened for the first time in a long while, Mewtwo spun to meet the attacker, focusing again to try and regain his psychic hold. The attacker shot forth a ball of energy, but Mewtwo reacted quickly enough to bat it away.

"So…Kidar," Mewtwo said to the swordsman, who had his swords sheathed, "You do have some power. I knew there had to be more to you than what we had seen…the amount of interest M.C. demonstrated in you was unprecedented."

"There's even more than you know," Kidar said, glaring at Mewtwo while bits of black lightning flickered around his clenched fists.

Suddenly Meta Knight and Raichu both attacked Mewtwo, hoping to hit him while he was distracted. Raichu's attack was a simple bolt of lightning, that Mewtwo deflected with scarcely a thought, while Meta flew low to the side, sword drawn back. Mewtwo halted him with a gesture and continuing his momentum, looped him around until he slammed into the moaning Falco. Applying more psychic effort he shoved the squirming duo roughly along the ground until they crashed into the fleeing Raichu, sending the three careening into a painful pile.

"Now that those peons are out of the way…let's do this," Mewtwo said, eager to test his abilities against a magic-user, brushing aside his earlier fear at seeing how Kidar had done nothing to stop him from casually assaulting his companions.

"You're going to regret challenging me," Kidar warned, raising a hand.

"One of us is at least," Mewtwo said, jerking his hands forward and shooting off dozens of shadow balls at Kidar…the battle was on.

Diddy tried to move, but his injured arm flopped uselessly at his side, bringing forth a hiss of pain. Mario was lying still on the other side of Giga, and Diddy could see Ganondorf and Link fighting near one corner and winced in sympathetic pain as his friend got tossed around in the other corner. Samus and Kirby were keeping up the pressure on Giga Bowser, but while his attacks were slow, they were absurdly strong, as both Diddy and Mario could attest to. Considering the fact that even Samus's missiles barely even drew a blink and it was obvious it was only a matter of time until either her or the puffball made a fatal mistake.

Diddy felt useless. He finally had his chance to avenge Dixie, although the continued implications that she was alive made him unsure if avenging her was the right thing to do…no! Bowser, Giga Bowser, whatever he's called had to die anyways, and this was the best time and chance to do it. Only problem was he was lying beaten on the ground, while his enemy still tore apart his friends. The only thing preventing Diddy from sinking deeper into a self-pitying depression was the knowledge that Mario had been beaten as well, so it wasn't so bad…

Yet, in the corner of his vision Diddy saw something move. Looking in shock he saw Mario clamber to his feet, bleeding profusely from his hand and from the scores of smaller wounds…yet the fire in his eyes was undimmed, and it was obvious as he stomped towards Giga, flames growing around his hands, he was not giving up.

Strangely this inspired Diddy and he crawled up to a kneeling position. Leaving his broken arm flopping he used his other to pull out his guitar...but after a cursory glance he put it back. It was still recharging from when he used it against M.C. His biggest weapon was worthless...except…he might have one more trick up his sleeve. Diddy reached towards his back…

Link and Ganondorf met with a terrible clanging of swords. They pushed against the other's blade, glaring at each other but Link pulled back, not willing to make it a contest of strength. Ganondorf almost lost his balance, but his new sword wasn't as unwieldy as his first one and so he was able to bring it back in time to block Link's stab. Link didn't stop there, as he unleashed three more strikes from different angles, hoping to press his advantage. Attacking can be wearying though and Ganondorf was able to take control of the match again after Link's fourth attack, by batting it aside and stepping back.

Using his longer reach and longer sword to keep Link back Ganondorf executed a punishing series of horizontal and diagonal slashes. Link at first tried to block with his sword and shield, but the blows were so powerful that they vibrated both painfully and at the risk of losing the feeling in his arms Link was reduced to dodging the attacks.

Ganondorf laughed as he pressed the assault, forcing Link to back up, closer and closer to the platforms edge. He tried to roll underneath one of Ganondorf's horizontal strikes but the Gerudo saw the shift in body weight and blasted the ground in front of Link with a hasty bolt of energy. Cursing Link backed away from the sizzling pool and turned towards Ganondorf, his feet only inches from the edge.

"Any last words Link?" Ganondorf taunted.

"…"

At that Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, "Now's an odd time to be resorting to the slow silent type, boy."

When Link still refused to say anything, and merely glared at Ganondorf the man shrugged and threw out an immensely powerful strike aimed at an angle towards where Link's shoulder met his neck…but Link surprised Ganondorf by raising his shield and catching the full force of a blow hard to enough to crack the seemingly impenetrable shield. Link pushed back with the shield, his arm already growing numb and lunged forward.

Panicked Ganondorf raised an arm to block the Master Sword he was sure Link was aiming at his throat…but after half-a-second of no impact Ganondorf jerked the hand forward and grabbed at Link. The Hylian evaded the initial grab and Ganondorf turned it into a side-swipe that sent Link unfortunately tumbling away from the edge.

Furious Ganondorf turned to Link who was lying on the ground, staring at Ganondorf's feet with a smirk. Confused, Ganondorf looked down…just as the bomb Link planted there exploded.

Ganondorf yelled in pain as the explosion burned some of his exposed skin on his armored legs, and stepped back, covering his face as smoke drifted upwards. He blinked rapidly, trying to see again as the smoke cleared…and saw a glint of light flash towards him. Assuming it was an arrow he raised a hand, focusing some of his power there to block it…and yelled in even more pain as the sword beam scorched his hand.

Stepping back again, but making sure to do it away from the edge Ganondorf stared at Link in shock, his arm holding the sword dangling limply at his side. Link merely grinned and charged at Ganondorf, his sword glowing orange. Ganondorf raised his blade in an attempt to block, but Link stopped well short of Ganondorf and unleashed a familiar spin attack. At first Ganondorf was confused since the attack was performed too far away to be effective…until the ring of magical energy came pouring out from around the spin. Frantically Ganondorf held his sword in front of himself in a defensive posture and concentrated.

Most of the attack was diverted, but enough power came through to do some damage to Ganondorf. Angrily he lowered his sword…and had to raise it again as Link slashed. Now Ganondorf was on the defensive, and as Link's increasingly skillful strikes pushed through his defenses he realized that this time he might lose. Ganondorf managed to shoot off a burst of dark lightning again, but Link blocked it easily with his shield. Still, the attack bought Ganondorf some breathing room…but as Link raised his hand again he saw something rather frightening.

The Triforce piece on the back of Link's hand was glowing a brilliant gold, brighter than anytime Ganondorf had seen before…and as he raised his sword to block he saw his own triangle was getting steadily dimmer…

As Mewtwo flung forth the shadow balls, Kidar created a temporary wall that absorbed the attacks, the translucent violet shield shimmering slightly. Dropping it as quickly as it came, Kidar jerked his left hand forward and shot out a powerful burst of dark energy, in the form of a serpentine strip of lightning.

Mewtwo slid away from the attack, the stench of crackling ozone burning their nostrils, and Kidar shot out his other hand, a ball of energy the color of amethyst blasting out. Mewtwo prepared to dodge when he realized it wasn't aimed at him, rather it was aimed at the ground beneath his floating feet.

The ball exploded into a small portal that immediately began tugging on Mewtwo, but before he could get dragged into it he teleported away. He reappeared eight feet farther to Kidar's right, a grin on his face.

"Come now? A portal? We all saw how you finished off M.C., you won't be getting me in the same way."

"Fine," Kidar growled staring at Mewtwo. He clenched his fist again, closing the portal but otherwise remaining motionless.

"What? Giving up already?" Mewtwo said, vaguely confused…and then he felt an unfamiliar presence in his mind, "No! How dare you!"

Kidar ignored Mewtwo's cries and pressed harder, attempting to override Mewtwo's mind with his own…but the psychic rallied and shoved Kidar out of his mind, although as Kidar panted, he noticed Mewtwo was breathing heavier.

"That…is new," Mewtwo said angrily.

"Maybe not as new as you think," Kidar said, before unleashing another bolt of energy. Mewtwo attempted to deflect it, but realizing how powerful the attack was he chose to dodge, rather than match. As Kidar attempted to turn to face Mewtwo, the cat jabbed his hand forward, freezing Kidar in his psychic power. As Kidar struggled in vain, Mewtwo laughed and started to move forward…and suddenly stopped, as Kidar held him in place as well.

The two glared at each other, both straining to hold the other and to break free. But as they fought against the others power, neither noticed Raichu behind them, glowing a brilliant blue…

Giga Bowser opened his mouth, preparing to swallow Kirby, who had jumped up to hit him in the face, and was now regretting that decision…but before Giga could do so, a familiar voice yelled out.

"Here we go!"

As Giga turned, Mario shot forth the largest Firestorm yet, the twin spurts of fire literally erupting from his hands and expanding until the cyclone of fire they created had a diameter challenging Giga's size. He had no chance of avoiding the attack, and it drilled into him violently, scorching the flesh and causing even the scaled skin to bubble and burn. Giga hissed in agonizing pain, but it was obvious he still had plenty of fight left in him as he turned his deformed and disfigured smoking body towards Mario, who was on his knees from exhaustion.

And that was when Samus struck.

While Kirby distracted Giga, Samus activated the only ability she had that could take him down, and Mario had given her the time needed to charge it up. Before Giga could kill Mario…Samus devoted all the power in her suit to shooting off another Zero Laser.

The absurdly huge blue-white beam of energy wasn't quite as big as Mario's Firestorm, but it was considerably denser and it piled into Giga Bowser's back with the force of a raging bull. Destroying nerve endings and charring flesh, Giga probably didn't feel much in the way of pain, although it was likely the attack would cripple him…and in fact, it seemed to be the case when the brilliant glare faded and Samus's suit dropped uselessly around here. A massive crater ringed Giga's back, and the majority of his internal organs looked damaged beyond repair…the mere fact that she could see them was testament to how beaten Giga was…yet, whether by his own stubborn will or the power of the mysterious crystal, he still clung to life and stomped towards Mario, determined to end his.

And that was when Diddy unleashed his final assault on the monster he had sworn to destroy.

Link was having the time of his life. He felt better than he had ever felt before, strong, fast, and even prescient to a degree. Whenever Ganondorf threw out a desperate attack, Link was there, blocking it and countering. Link's own wounds seemed to be fading, and with every exchange between the two Ganondorf's got deeper and more debilitating.

Soon Ganondorf was forced to try something different and gathering his rapidly draining energy he leapt several meters away from Link. Glaring at the swordsman, Ganondorf raised his hand, trying to focus his Triforce of Power, and hopefully transform into Ganon…but Link never gave him that chance.

Link wasn't sure how he knew how to do this, and honestly he didn't care. But when he saw Ganondorf focusing his remaining power, Link's hand began to burn, the Triforce on it a blinding gold. Raising his hand so the triangle faced Ganondorf, a thin line of light shot out of it at a blinding speed. Ganondorf didn't even have time to gasp in shock before it hit him…and immediately trapped him between two rotating Triforce shaped fields.

Allowing the power of the Triforce of Courage to guide his motions, Link almost flew across the twenty feet separating him from Ganondorf, and as soon as he reached his imprisoned foe he allowed the Blade of Evil's Bane to control his arm in a blistering series of vicious slashes that literally tore Ganondorf apart, the glowing blade inflicting more damage after each blow on Ganondorf's decidedly evil body.

At last, when Ganondorf could barely cling to life…it ended. Unfortunately for Ganondorf it ended by Link stabbing the sword violently into his chest…his heart.

Abruptly the Triforce symbols faded, and Ganondorf's destroyed body slumped to the ground. He glared at Link one last time, and opened his mouth to say one last disparaging remark…but all that came out was a gasp as his life escaped his body, which then exploded into the familiar pink dust, rejuvenating Link even as the power rush from the Triforce started to fade.

Kidar's and Mewtwo's standoff did not last long. Gathering all the electrical power he could control…and a lot he couldn't, Raichu blasted off what he had hoped to be a massive bolt of lightning…however, he didn't discharge nearly enough of it, so the remaining electricity in his body actually attracted the excess he had fired off and rather than becoming a bolt of lightning it curved back around numerous times, forming a bluish-white sphere around Raichu.

Terrified at first, he soon realized that the sphere wasn't hurting him and as looked out he could see through it, although everything was mired in a bluish haze. Hesitantly stepping forward he soon found himself floating and as his confusion faded he began to move faster, shooting towards Mewtwo with the power that complete and total hatred bestows.

Mewtwo was powerless to avoid the attack, with him and Kidar draining each other, trying to keep the other motionless he didn't have a chance to even see it coming. Raichu slammed into him, the electricity forming the ball immediately flowing into Mewtwo's body…which was not designed to take that kind of punishment. But it wasn't over, as more and more electricity poured out of Raichu, more than even he thought he could control, zapping Mewtwo with thousands upon thousands of volts of electricity…and then continuing upwards.

While the sheer amount of electricity should have been enough to kill off Mewtwo, the fact that Kidar was holding him motionless made it impossible for him to survive. The vibrations were prevented from going past the cellular level, and as Raichu finally ran out of juice Mewtwo had almost literally torn himself apart.

As Raichu looked on Mewtwo began to collapse…before exploding into the pink dust, making him feel both rejuvenated…and curiously morose…

Diddy came flying towards Giga's head, his twin Jetpack Barrels flaming as he set them to max burn. At the last second he flipped a latch with his good hand and fell roughly to the ground, crying out as he landed on his broken arm. The Barrels however, continued forward.

Both slammed into Giga's face, exploding with an impressive force that made Diddy's orange grenades look pathetic. When the explosion cleared, there wasn't much left of Giga's face…but his burning eyes were fixated on Diddy. He took a single monstrous step forward…and then collapsed, his injuries finally catching up with him.

Before he even hit the ground he exploded, the pink dust somehow more powerful than usual, perhaps because of the odd crystal? Instantly it mended Diddy's arms and closed Mario's wounds and made them all feel refreshed, like they just took a relaxing bath, rather than as if they had been fighting for their lives.

With various degrees of excitement the nine Smashers gathered around the center of the stage where the crystal powering the healing properties of Final Destination had once lay.

"I don't believe it," Diddy said, joy ringing his words, "I really did it…I beat Giga Bowser…not by myself of course," he finished, laughing nervously at Samus and Mario, who merely gave him a quick grin apiece.

"And I beat Mewtwo," Raichu grumbled, "So why don't I feel better?"

"It doesn't matter!" Falco said excitedly, "We did it! We finished off every single villain there is! We won!"

The others began to grin wider at his words, but Samus's next ones cut the joy short.

"This isn't exactly the time to be celebrating. Kidar has some explaining to do."
Kidar looked at Samus rather sharply, and she unwillingly took a step back. Something was different about him. Earlier when Link would press Kidar/Bario he would be nervous, and rather embarrassed…you felt kind of bad for him. But now he seemed defiant…and dangerous.

"I do suppose I owe you all that much," Kidar said, his voice surprisingly absent of warmth, "Now that we have effectively neutralized M.C. and his more prominent minions, there is no need for this charade."

"Charade?" Raichu asked, off put by his friends disturbing tone.

Kidar looked at them all long and hard, his violet eyes almost sizing them up. Shaking his head he grinned slightly and stepped out of the group. They turned to follow him with their eyes as he spoke.

"I would guess none of you buy my story of just happening to end up in Hyrule because I hero-worship Link? Or that I was forced to travel the dimensions, unable to find a home?"

When silence greeted his actions Kidar stopped and spun around, 12 feet from the gathered Smashers.

"Then I guess it's time a lost this ridiculous costume."

There was a flash of violet light that temporarily blinded the others…and when it faded Kidar was garbed in something rather different.

Gone was the red Hylian tunic, the white leggings. In their place was black armor, thick but close enough to the flesh to allow easy movement. The edges of the armor were laced with gold trim, and a magnificent violet cloak fluttered around his back. His swords were gone, and as Kidar folded his gauntleted hands across his chest it was obvious that the others had grossly underestimated him.

Link was the first to speak, but the anger he had normally when talking to Kidar had faded, for confusion…and even a hint of fear.

"Where…where are you from?"

Kidar raised an eyebrow at him but didn't answer the question, so Link repeated it again more forcefully.

"Why Link, you're standing on it."

"What?!"
"I am from this dimension…the Smashing Realm is where I came into being."

There was a long moment while the others attempted to process this. Finally, Falco asked the next question, terrified of the answer, but knowing it would be far worse if he didn't ask.

"What are you?"

"That question's a bit more difficult than Link's," Kidar said, his cool voice causing Kirby and Diddy to shiver slightly, "But I shall explain it in the best way that I can. I was not "born" in the way that you all were…rather, I was created."

"What the hell does that mean?" Samus demanded, "By who?"

"Isn't it obvious? No? Hmph…I would have thought you all would have figured it out by now. I was created by none other than M.C."

There was a longer pause as the others tried to stomach this disturbing piece of news. Raichu opened his mouth, certain that his friend was lying, that it wasn't true…but he closed it without a word, the finality with which Kidar had spoken making it all too obvious it was the truth. This day was rapidly becoming worse.

"How…why?" was all Link managed to get out, as the shocks kept coming.

"The how…well, I wish the how was simple, then perhaps this couldn't have turned into such an ordeal. It took him ten years to make me, from bits of power and out of newly formed matter here, in this nexus," Kidar said, gesturing at the vortex around them, "He stole bits from Ganondorf and Mewtwo, hairs, some of their power. They didn't notice, as he did it gradually. And over the years, I began to take shape.

"My dark magic comes from Ganondorf, although it is considerably more potent than whatever that old fool could conjure, and from Mewtwo I gained the ability to peer into other's minds, although rather than telekinetic powers M.C. altered it to give me something closer to mind-control. My sword skills are loosely based off of both Ganondorf's and you, Link," Kidar said, gesturing at the Hylian, "Although I can proudly say I am far more adept in their usage than either of you.

"Another thing he gave me was precise control over and the ability to create portals, something Cranium could do although since I was designed for it, I am significantly more proficient at it than he was.

"I assume he hoped to give me something from Bowser…perhaps his resilience, or his stubbornness…but there is a limit to how much you can pour into a single vessel, regardless of how powerful it may be…and the power straight from M.C. was more than enough for me to do what I had to."

"So you're some kind of super-soldier, right?" Falco asked, "But why…why would he go to all that effort to make you?"

Kidar laughed slightly at that, but the laugh was harsh and Falco began to wonder just how much trouble they were really in.

"A super-soldier? What a simple title…you people really are amusing. It feels so good to finally tell you all this, pretending to be Bario was so very tiring. With the exception of Mr. Cranium, only one other person ever saw the real me."

"Answer the question!" Link commanded, determined to take control of this unsettling situation.

"As you wish," Kidar said mockingly, "I was created for one reason, and one reason alone…to help M.C. conquer the universes.

"I was to be his right-hand man, and with my skill at opening portals I was key to his plan of using his armies to overrun his enemies. Additionally I was to use my mental abilities to…persuade those who did not wish to willingly join. It was a brilliant plan, and his army as you have seen, is immense."

"But you didn't! You didn't help him! And you killed him! So…you're on our side…right?" Diddy asked hopefully…a hope that was dispelled by Kidar's next words.

"You are right, I didn't help him. M.C. made me perfectly…except for one simple thing. He didn't have a way to control me. Clearly he arrogantly thought his incredible power would be enough to keep me in line, but in some bizarre twist of fate, I, a creature created for the sole purpose of serving…had no desire to serve. Once I realized I was to be essentially his slave, I fought back. Our battle was terrible…but M.C. was strong enough to beat me.

"He could have killed me then and there, but the time and energy he had invested in me was precious, and he doubted he could have kept another creation hidden from some of his more powerful minions. It was pure luck that they never discovered me. So he tried to capture me, and with the last of my strength I created a portal and escaped."

"So…what does that mean? What is your goal?" Samus asked.

"It's simple. I want to rule the universes, and I want you to join me now that our competition has been eliminated."

Link laughed at that, the harsh sound matching Kidar's.

"You've got to be kidding, M.C. made the same offer and we refused. Why would we accept yours?"

Kidar sighed at that, and looked at the others as they tensed and drew their weapons, although several of them looked rather unhappy with the idea of fighting a friend.

"I had hoped that fighting alongside you would have built up trust and camaraderie, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Trust? Everything you told us was a lie!" Samus yelled furiously, a small drop of wetness staining her cheek, "I defended you against all the "crazy" accusations Link made about you, against the unfounded suspicion…and all this time you were manipulating us! We will never help you in any fashion!"

"Fine," Kidar said angrily, "Then I guess I have no choice but to force you to join me."

"Force us? Are you crazy? I don't care how strong you think you are!" Link said cockily, "You're alone, and the eight of us shouldn't have any problems beating you!"

However the surprises weren't done yet…as the biggest one had been saved for last. Out of one of the eight Smashers a voice called out, and what it said chilled the others to the bone.

"He's not alone…I will help him."

It was Mario.