Super Smash Brothers: Guardians Arise!

by PitFTW

An old enemy returns, this time ripping the souls of the Smashers away from their bodies. By taking possession of them, he hopes to take over the Smash World. 100 years later, the Smashers must turn to humans for help. But some just can't get along...

23. The Rescue

The Rescue

Happy early Single Awareness Day! And while I'm at it, happy early birthday to Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf (21st of February) and happy early birthday to me! (22nd of February)

Check out mine and Foxpilot's contest! Details on my profile and I have a story advertising it!

... Shameless advertising FTW!

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah, I don't own it! Blah, blah, blah...

WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF CHILDHOOD RAPING-NESS! NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO WISH TO THINK OF BATMAN AS AWESOME!

... Cookie to anyone who gets that reference up there.

---

His blood froze in his veins…

His Smashball fell to the floor…

All time stopped…

A cold sweat broke out on MS' forehead as the horrible news was given. It had been only a few minutes since Cam, bloodied and weakened, had burst through the door. It had only been three since Xavier- with the help of the stronger guardians- carried him off into the makeshift infirmary. It had only been about two minutes since the guardians were finally calmed after panic broke out among them.

It had only been about ten since Green and the others were kidnapped…

"We need to form groups as quickly as possible," Master Hand called out over the many whisperings that had broken among the guardians. MS, being Mario's guardian, was brought to the front to await orders. Though he was never one to ever truly wish to be in the leader position, this was different.

His best friend had been captured.

It was on.

Heather, who was standing to his right, cleared her throat. "All I can really say about this enemy is that she is very, very dangerous… it is vital that the people we choose to go along with us know that they risk an untimely death."

Master Hand nodded gravelly. "Indeed, Heather… those of you who wish to go, please raise your hands. Remember that you are risking your life by going on this mission. This mission shall take you to the very core of Tabuu's evil itself… the Smash Mansion. It will be crawling with Primids, you will run into your Smashers' bodies while in there and it is very, very likely that many of you will not make it out alive…" his voice broke at those last few words. "You may not live to see the final battle…"

MS saw a shadow shift beside him out of the corner of his eye. Wrath, Meta Knight's guardian, pushed through the crowd and strode forward. MS felt a surge of distrust at the sight of Tabuu's foster son. After all, he was raised from childhood by the Subspace Lord himself. There was no guarantee that the young boy was on their side.

"MS… we must trust him," Mario spoke up suddenly. MS felt a small surge of annoyance as the plumber read his thoughts. "We don't have a choice… he is a guardian, after all."

"He's also Tabuu's kid," MS hissed under his breath. "Master Hand himself said that the only reason anyone that was neither guardian nor hand could ever pass the new barrier he put up was if someone betrayed us and let them in…" his face darkened as he continued to gaze at Wrath. "And who better than Tabuu's own son to be his spy?"

"MS, I know you don't trust him…" Mario murmured sadly. "I know you are finding it hard to handle the fact that Green may die tonight… but-"

"If that bastard," MS spat, "Really was the one that decided to let Green get kidnapped…" a burning hot fire ignited in the very back of his throat. "I'm going to fuck him up so bad that-"

"Sh! Listen…"

"… What holds the Smasher weapons, Master Hand," Wrath was saying. "If we are able to break into the mansion- which shouldn't be a problem if we just disable the security systems properly- then we should also have a group to go visit the armory. I know for a fact that though the weapons are all powerful in themselves, Tabuu believes they are not powerful enough. That is why he has Ike store Ragnell in there, Meta Knight store Galaxia, Link store his Gale Boomerang… he has practically all of the Smasher weapons stuck in there while they wield weapons made of Subspace…" MS noted that his voice turned grave as he continued. "Those weapons… they're powerful enough to rip your soul from your very body… they are made of exactly the same strange energy Tabuu had used long ago to deprive our Smashers of their souls… if we can just grab the original weapons… the weapons originally blessed by the gods and goddesses of the known universes… we might stand a chance…"

MS frowned at this new piece of news. Though it was well known that many of the Smashers were no longer wielding their original weapons, it was commonly thought that they had been destroyed. But if they were still here in this world… if they were still untouched…

"Aly, Eric, Mars… we'll have to use your planes as transportation," Master Hand told the three pilots. All three of them nodded before running outside to warm up their fighter jets. It was absolutely vital that all three of them were in top shape before takeoff. MS now turned his attention to Master Hand, who was picking from among the guardians who wished to go.

"Teal, since I know for a fact you would never let Heather out of your sight on a mission like this, you will go. Traca, Golfer, Wrath… you three have spent most of your lifetime growing up within the halls of the mansion. As long as you three don't try to kill each other, you may go. Ridere, Kage… you two will be needed to disable the security systems…"

"Master Hand, please let me come as well!" Nask spoke up. MS was taken aback by how set her features were. This was a strange determination that was rare among humans these days. "I can be of use!"

Master Hand hesitated. "I… I don't know, Nask… I mean, you're-"

"Let her go," MS said firmly, fixing Master Hand with a look. "She really is a great fighter and she hasn't had much exercise out in the field yet."

Master Hand sighed. "Very well, MS… Mah and Beeh, you both shall go as well… Rinku, Cimar, you two are to lead the weapons group. I want you both to make sure that at least one of you two, if not both, makes it out of there alive. I don't want Link trying to throw himself in the way of Zelda and vice versa. I had enough of that with Peach and Mario…"

Both Hylians saluted. MS felt a small pang of jealousy at the thought of them being chosen over him. After all, was he not the guardian of Mario, leader of the Smashers? Was he not the number one choice to be chosen to lead a mission?

In time, others were chosen as well. When it was finally broken down into two groups, the rescue mission led by Heather and the weapons mission led by the Hylians, the members walked out. Chosen for the weapons group were Kage, Fyre, Traca, Golfer, Nao, Crystal, and Wrath. For the rescue group, Teal, Ridere, Nask, Chester, Pikana, Mah, and Beeh had been chosen. All were chosen for some quality they possessed, whether it was knowledge of the layout of the Smash Mansion or fighting skill.

MS watched as the two groups went outside, anger burning like a bright flame in his heart. He could feel Mario shift slightly as his emotions flooded through him and this only served to anger him more. He was the guardian of Mario. He was to be a leader of the guardians, just like how Mario was once leader of the Smashers.

What was the point if he couldn't even lead?

"MS…"

Still seething, MS whirled and found himself face to face with the giant hand. "Yeah?" his anger had made him snappish.

Master Hand sighed sadly, as if he were able to sense MS' feelings about the chosen groups. Being the embodiment of creation, MS wouldn't have been surprised if he did. "I know you are angry… I know you want nothing more than to go help the others save Green… but MS, by allowing you to do so, I would be putting you in the greatest danger imaginable, even greater danger than any of the guardians that are going right now can ever face…"

MS soon realized that his words were true and his reasons… reasonable. But the betrayal, the anger he felt at not being chosen for the rescue mission overcame his reason. He wanted to go and no one, not even a giant hand, could stop him. "Oh yeah? Well, if you cared so much, why didn't you freaking choose me, then?"

Master Hand sighed sadly. "Because, MS… you are the guardian of Mario… you are the guardian of one of the greatest Smashers and the leader of them all… by placing yourself in danger so close to the day of the final battle, you may ruin our plans if Tabuu ever gets his hands on you…"

MS felt the fire within him build to breaking point. "OH YEAH? THEN IF YOU FUCKING CARED SO MUCH, WHY DON'T YOU GO BREAK OUT THE REST OF THE GUARDIANS? WHY DON'T YOU JUST LET ME GO? WHY DON'T YOU LET MILES GO? IF THOSE OTHER GUYS CAN HANDLE THEMSELVES, THEN I CAN HANDLE MYSELF! GREEN CAN BE DYING FOR ALL I KNOW AND YOU'RE JUST MAKING ME STAND HERE AND WAIT WHILE OTHER PEOPLE GO RISK THEIR LIVES TO SAVE HIM AND THE OTHERS!"

"MS-" Mario warned. The plumber hated to see his guardian shouting at Master Hand in this way. If Master Hand ever lost his temper- which was rare, but possible- then it would be all over for both him and MS.

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING, MARIO!" MS screamed. "IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW, YOUR OWN BROTHER IS IN DANGER! AND YOU'RE JUST WILLING TO TAKE THIS HAND'S SHIT AND STAY HOME?"

"MS… MS, please calm down," Master Hand whispered. "Please, calm down and hear me out!"

MS could feel the bewildered eyes of the other guardians boring into him at this point. But whether or not he cared, he didn't know. His best friend, his brother, was in danger. And here was Master Hand floating in front of him and telling him that there was no way in the world he would be allowed to save Green.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. Glancing at this hand, he recognized it as Miles'. Miles was once a knight before he had been held in the former Mushroom Kingdom's castle and broken out by a joint effort of Green and MS. Like most of the fantasy image of knights, chivalry had been everything to Miles. And frankly, it still was.

"MS…" he said quietly. "I know… I want to go save Green too… and so does Sonic… but think of who we are, MS… we're the guardians of Sonic and Mario… we're among the most powerful Smashers… if Tabuu ever finds out that we're running around in his palace, he'll stop at nothing to get us. And do you know what happens next?"

"I take a shit to save the game?" MS said hollowly. The corners of Miles' mouth twitched slightly at that.

"No… he'll torture us, MS. He'll torture us until we're nothing like our former selves. He'll torture us in so many ways worse than he is torturing Green and JB and the others right now. He's going to torture us to the point where death would be our only saving grace…"

MS still didn't understand. He wanted so badly to simply run out of there, to find his own way to the mansion to save Green. But still, something- probably Mario- held him back.

Was the whole world against him today?

"But Green…" MS whispered. "Green's done everything for us and we're just-"

This was when Mario chose to add his own part. "MS, what would Green say if you should die by going? What would he think if you died, but never came to see him one last time? What would he say…" Mario took a deep breath. "What would he say if the person that has been like a brother to him for years on end… ruined the one chance we had to defeat Tabuu once and for all…?"

MS felt a dead weight in his stomach. "… He would… he would say…" he became aware that he had been clenching his fists the entire time. He unclenched them now. "He would say that… that if he could go back in time… if he could go back in time, he would do anything to prevent me from going…"

Master Hand and Miles smiled slightly at his words. With a snap of the giant hand's fingers, a pair of red beam katanas appeared in front of Mario's guardian. They looked well balanced and powerful, just the right size- and probably weight- for MS. For a moment, he was tempted to grab them, but Master Hand's voice stopped him.

"There katanas, MS, were given to me long ago by an old friend of mine… you might know him as your mentor," Master Hand made the katanas float closer to Mario's guardian. "He told me to give them to you when you are ready and worthy enough to receive them." MS found himself staring right at his middle finger. "Do you believe that you are ready to receive them?"

MS looked from Master Hand, to Miles' grinning face, to the katanas, then back. There were so many things he wanted to say and do that he just simply couldn't. Here were the katanas, floating there unaided, just ready for him to take. They would make him stronger, with no need to rely on Mario's fireballs and the Mario Tornado any longer. He could finally have something that Green would never have…

And yet…

"Master Hand… I'm not ready for them," MS said. Miles looked surprised while Mario cocked his eyebrow in confusion. "I know those are really nice… and I know it's an honor to get offered them… but what happened earlier… I've shown myself that I'm not ready for such powerful weapons yet… if I should ever lose my temper again and I have those things in my hands… I… I don't know what will happen…"

Master Hand smiled at him and nodded. "Well done… Guardian of Mario…"

The red katanas floated into MS' hands.

---

BOOM!

"GOD DAMN IT, ALY!"

Aly laughed. "Sorry, Mars! But you should've seen those coming!"

"IT'S THE FREAKING MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! I CAN BARELY SEE MY OWN HAND IN FRONT OF MY FACE!"

"Then blame Eric! He's the one that put the big red button where my fist can easily accidentally push it!"

"Hey!"

Aly chuckled and put her radio back down. It was times like these when she could finally forget about her problems. Ever since she and the two boys had been given their pilots' licenses, it had been nothing but drama, drama, drama!

"Don't you think those two are… acting funny?" Fox as uncertainly as the plane ripped its way through the night sky. Aly took her eyes off the skyline to roll them for a moment before refocusing her attention back on the "road". They had been flying for only about ten minutes already, but to her, it had been hours.

Aly was never the type of person to be in a good mood when she was unceremoniously kicked out of bed to go to some kind of meeting. Nor was she the type of person to actually willingly put her life in danger in the middle of the night to rescue a bunch of guardians. But here she was sitting in her plane, waiting for the huge black silhouette of the Smash Mansion to appear over the horizon.

Can she go back to bed now?

"They'll be fine, Fox," she said firmly as the plane shook slightly over some air turbulence. "This is a rescue mission thing, not a social party."

"Yes," Fox admitted. "But even though this isn't really a party, those two are being… being a lot quieter than usual…as in yeah, they're quiet, but they don't act this way normally, and-"

Aly rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed that her "intense concentration" was being interrupted by the vulpine. "I get it, Fox. Alright, I'll check on them, but if they're acting fine to me, there isn't anything I'm going to do about it."

"Fine, fine…" Fox sighed.

Aly put her plane on autopilot and turned around. The guardians currently on her plane seemed fine enough. Rinku and Cimar were arguing, as usual, over one thing or another. Pikana was deep in conversation with Chester, something about prehistoric Pokemon and what happened in the years between Pikana's admittance to the asylum and her breakout. Teal was cackling to himself and rubbing his hands together mischievously. As far as Aly could tell, everything was normal around here. She turned back to her controls…

Wait a minute…

Beeh and Mah were on opposite sides of the plane. They didn't seem to be mad at each other, but more… reminiscent. They were both staring out the windows on each side of the Arwing. They were both trying their best not to look at each other. At times, though, one would give in and shoot a quick glance at the girl across from her, but not allow her to see this glance. All in all, this wasn't really the normal thing. In fact, Aly had never really seen these two so close to each other before…

Aly frowned. "I see what you're talking about now, Fox…"

"Weird, isn't it?" Fox asked. "Those two are usually… well, they're usually doing something… but not this. And it's just the way they're acting now… it's like…" he struggled to find the right word.

"It's like they've lost something…" Aly said quietly. "They've lost something… but they don't know how to get it back…"

"Well… according to Yoshi, the only thing Mah's lost that means a lot to her is her dad and her little sister…" Fox told her. "And even then, that was years ago… you would expect they'd be… you know, dead by now…"

Aly shrugged. "Tabuu thought the same thing about the humans that escaped in a makeshift Arwing…" she smirked. "Look where I am now. I'm alive and healthy, baby!" she threw up her arms and hit a switch. Her rocket launchers activated again and something exploded nearby.

She hoped it was Eric.

"Um… excuse me?"

Aly looked to her right and saw Beeh standing there. The little girl seemed shy in her presence. As per usual, there was a little White Pikmin sitting on the girl's shoulder. The Pikmin stared at Aly with large red eyes that sent a chill down her spine. She could never get used to those things.

"Your radio's been ringing for a while already," Beeh said, pointing to it. Indeed it was. Aly smiled a bit and picked it up, sighing as she heard Mars cussing on the other end.

"ALY, WHAT THE FUCK?"

"It was an accident, Mars!" Eric intervened. By the sound of things, he was extremely tired as well. "Geez! I'll fix your paint job tomorrow…"

"You better," Mars said darkly. "Or I'll… I'll dump oil on your ice cream!"

"NOEZ! NOT THE ICE CREAM!"

Again, Aly found herself chuckling. When these two were around, it was as if all the world's problems could actually be solved. There were times when, maybe, beating Tabuu once and for all wasn't completely impossible…

"They argue a lot," Beeh observed. Her expression was rather wistful. "Are they brothers?"

Aly snorted. "Brothers? Them? Trust me, sister, if they were brothers, they'd be dead from the moment of their birth. Those two- the three of us, really- can't help but get at each others' throats 24/7. It's just how we roll," she looked at the radio. "Alright, what is it you two?"

"We're heading towards some serious air turbulence," Eric reported. "We can try to find a way to avoid it, but we might run out of gas by the time we get to the mansion. And we only really have just enough to get there and back."

"Also… YOU RUINED MY PAINT JOB!" Mars shouted.

"We're going to that air turbulence then!" Aly said cheerfully. "Hope everyone brought barf buckets!"

Both young men on the other end groaned. Aly rolled her eyes and put the radio down. Beeh's expression turned even more wistful as Mars and Eric started arguing over something on the other end.

"Is there something wrong?" Aly asked casually. She turned off the autopilot and took the wheel. As good as a technician Eric was, his autopilot didn't know how to plow through air turbulence.

Beeh sighed. "I guess… it's just that… hearing those two argue like that makes me kind of sad…"

Aly rolled her eyes. "Alright, one, no angst on my plane. If you wanna go cry your eyes out, go onto Eric's plane."

Beeh's expression fell. "I was just… I mean… sorry…"

"Aly!" Fox sounded annoyed.

"Two, don't listen to Fox. He's no fun."

Beeh's expression lifted and a giggle escaped her. "Okay…"

"Three, what's up?"

Beeh sat down on a nearby box. "Well… I was just kind of sad over… over how even those two fight a lot, they're still friends…"

Aly snorted. "Friends? Well, if they're friends then I must be chopped liver! Those two can barely stand to be in the same room let alone have a decent conversation!"

"But they're lucky," Beeh pointed out. "A lot of us slaves grew up without… without anyone… anytime we made new friends, Tabuu's people would always come and take them away…" Aly detected a hint of fear in her voice. Frowning, the pilot turned on the autopilot function of the plane before turning around to face Beeh.

"Take them away…?"

"There was always this room where I came from…" Beeh explained. "Anytime a slave would get in trouble, they would take them to that room…" her voice trailed off.

"And then?" Aly prompted. She had heard rumors and whisperings of these rooms before. It was during one of her first missions with Eric and Mars, the one where she discovered how hard it was at times to work alone…

"They were never seen again…" Beeh whispered. "Dad was taken there so long ago… he tried to lead a rebellion against Team Rocket, but they weren't strong enough. Team Rocket had Pokemon with them… and they had nothing but pipes and stones… one by one, they were taken to The Room and never came out…" Aly saw her eyes shift in Mah's direction as she said this. There was a strange expression behind them, one of wistful reminiscence and… longing?

"So… what does this have to do with Mah?" Fox asked. Aly repeated his question.

"She… it's just that… Mah looks so much like Dad," Beeh admitted. "There are these features of her face… I can see Dad in them…" she sighed. "Before Dad disappeared, he told me that there was still someone in the family that was still alive over here in Smashville. But he didn't have any time to say who that person was or what he or she looked like before the Team Rocket Grunts dragged him off…"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Fox asked Aly. The female pilot only frowned at his remark. Though it was true that there could be a connection between Mah and Beeh's story, the chances of that were pretty slim. In this world of cruelty and hate, Tabuu could've done absolutely anything to the person Beeh's father had told her about…

Even have that person executed…

"Aly, I know you don't want to raise false hopes in her," Fox said. "But this could be the one chance she has at knowing… you know this mission is life threatening. If she dies today without ever knowing if Mah is the missing link to her or not, how will her spirit ever rest?"

"Fox… we need to wait," Aly muttered. "If we raise false hopes in her now and she actually survives tonight, she won't be able to fight properly later on…"

"… I'm sitting right here, you know," Beeh remarked. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly. "I'm not stupid, you know."

Aly sweatdropped. "Uh… listen-"

"Hey Boss, ya there?" Eric asked over the radio. Thankful for the interruption, Aly picked up her speaker.

"What is it?"

"We're closing in on the SmashMansion," Eric reported. "And air turbulence is starting to lessen around here."

"If we can somehow make a non-crash landing with these pieces of crap Eric built, then we should be fine breaking in," Mars yawned.

"Hey!"

"Let's face it, Eric… everything you touch turns out to be crap!"

Aly laughed in spite of herself. "It's true, Eric! Don't deny it!"

"I feel so underappreciated…"

Aly rolled her eyes. "Shut up, you two, and get ready for landing!" she addressed the guardians in the back of her plane. "Hold onto your underwear! This is gonna be a bumpy ride!"

---

He had absolutely no memory at all of what happened. One moment, he was going down to check on his precious car. It was supposed to be a very quick walk, just step outside the summit of the base and back. It was supposed to be quick and easy…

But that didn't mean it was safe.

The next thing he had known, he felt the sharp edge of a silver blade at his throat. When he tried to Falcon Kick his attacker, he received a sword hilt to the head. As his world went black, he had caught a glimpse of the tall, curvy body of a woman. But aside from that, his memories were extremely fuzzy. However, one thing was clear at the moment…

He was in pain.

He was being ripped to shreds.

His every joint and every limb shrieked for release.

Blood flowed freely from huge gashes all over his body. These gashes were in places that would cause the most pain, but not kill him. In fact, death would be a blessing to him now.

He had just been sent to Hell.

"Joe…?"

That voice pierced the darkness all around him. For a moment, he could see a tiny, flickering light in front of him. But this light soon faded back into the darkness and once again, he was utterly alone.

Joe couldn't move, wouldn't move. One movement from him and his joints would all pop right out of their sockets. He had already lost feeling in his left arm long ago. One more move and his right arm would be next.

Death curled like black smoke at his feet, its horrid tendrils licking his exposed and bloodied toes. It seemed to taunt him, sometimes moving forward to finally take his life away, only to retreat back into the darkness of the great void in front of him. It laughed at his every attempt to call it back, cackled as his dry and cracked lips strained with the effort of trying to scream.

"Joe, hold on…" he heard Captain Falcon beg. The racer had been trying everything to prevent the young guardian from succumbing to the madness leaking from every corner of his now broken mind. "Joe, please… do everything you can to hold on… please, hold on…"

"I… c-can't…" his guardian whispered weakly. It hurt him just to breathe. His joints were swollen and raw red. "I n-n-n-need… t-to… w-want…"

"Dying won't solve any of this," Falcon said harshly. "We need to hold onto whatever sanity we have left and hope that the others are on their way…"

A worm of doubt found its way into Joe's stomach. The young man felt the tiny flame of hope begin to flicker and fade. Many years ago, he was alone, just like this. He had worked for himself, raced for himself, and only ever helped himself. His intelligence had put him one step ahead of the Primid racers back then. He had everything he would ever need in this world. He had money, fame, and power. He had the respect of Tabuu himself!

What made him leave?

"Joe, you raced for money alone," Captain Falcon said, reading his thoughts. "That is not a racer's way. True racers do their job, their duty for the thrill. Their passion had been awakened through a bond with a car that no one else has. It is-"

"Joe?"

The voice was pained and choked, just like his. Joe's joints were on fire and as a result, his voice had been reduced to nothing more than a mere whisper. Though this voice was slightly stronger than his at the moment, it was all too evident that pain laced every word.

Captain Falcon's guardian lifted his head, groaning as his joints shrieked with pain. There were no torches in this place, save for a tiny candle in the very center of the room. However long that candle had been burning, it was going to run out of wax soon. But in the light of the dim candle, he was just barely able to make out a figure sitting on a rather strange looking chair.

"G-Green…?"

There was a tiny flicker of movement in the void. From what Joe could tell through, Green had given him a small smile. He had been forced tied to the chair and a large bar pushed his legs into the seat. The tiny candle caught the gleam of spikes all over the chair, running not only on the seat but over the back and the arms as well. The spikes gouged themselves deep into Green's flesh and it was a wonder that through all of that pain, he could still find the courage to smile at him. In the dim light of the room, Joe could just barely make out a few more figures.

He recognized Sam hanging suspended in the air by ropes tied to both his wrists and ankles. Right underneath him, positioned in the extremely painful spot between the anus and the groin, was a small dull pyramid. Every so often, gravity would pull Young Link's guardian down and force his body upon the pyramid, driving the point into that very spot. A cry of pitiful pain was ripped forth from his throat every time that happened.

JB was tied upon a long wooden board, bound by chains on his wrists and ankles. There was a hose of some sort positioned just over his head. Every so often, a gush of water would stream out of it and onto the young man's face. This would cause him to do an immediate and painful gag reflex and the water would shut off for a few more seconds, allowing him to breathe. This was to prevent him from dying, as quite obviously, their captor wanted them alive.

Chi was going through something horrid as well. He was bound completely head to toe on a wooden board, just like JB. There was no way he could move any part of his body, not even his face. Right above him was a lemon, as sour and juicy as could be. His right eye was forced to remain wide open with some kind of tape. A device above him slowly squeezed the citrus and tiny drops of the acid fell upon his eye. This happened so slowly and so painfully, it was a wonder that he was yet to cry out. Joe was pretty sure that his eyes were already raw red from having it above him for so long.

He wasn't alone.

"Wait a minute…" Captain Falcon mumbled. "What the… what the heck are these guys doing here?"

"J-Joe?" Sam's voice squeaked. "Joe? Are you there? Are you alive?" it trembled as he was forced back down once again by gravity onto the point of the pyramid.

"S-Sam…" Joe said weakly, running his tongue over his chapped lips. "How… how long…?"

"About… about an hour…" Green managed to choke out. "Long enough… long enough for her to… poor Drake…"

Joe coughed. "W-Wha-"

"Drake…" Sam said bitterly, crying out as he hit the point. "She's given him the worst punishment out of all of us, Joe!" Joe's face must have showed his confusion as Sam gestured- with his head- over to a tall shadow in the corner of the room. It was so tucked away that Joe didn't see it there before.

An Iron Maiden.

"Oh dear God…" Captain Falcon whispered. Joe felt his stomach flip over in fear and disgust. What kind of horrible, sickening person would do this?

"She's questioning us…" Chi said quietly, speaking up for the first time. "She wants to know how to get past the Guardians Only barrier… Tabuu's planning to lead a surprise attack on the others and she thinks we know how to get past it…"

Joe coughed. "S-She…? Who's-"

"That would be me," a voice behind him remarked. It was a woman's, obviously, and had just the smallest touch of a superior air to it. The light footsteps of a well trained and speedy fighter echoed all around the room as she approached.

Joe was suddenly aware of a scent of some kind near him. It smelled like a desert would smell like: sun-baked and dry. A tall, tanned figure entered the young guardian's vision as this scent grew stronger. Like many Gerudo Cimar and Rinku had described, she was tanned all over with long dark hair caught up in a sweeping ponytail. She was a beauty, true, but one look in her cold black eyes would cause any man to run away in fright.

"Whoa…" Falcon said. "She's hot…"

"Shut up, Falcon," Joe muttered.

Joe couldn't tell if Captain Falcon was drooling or wincing as the woman brought up her hand and gently turned the crank of the rack. It was merely a centimeter she cranked, but it was enough to have Joe's joints threaten to leap right out of their sockets if they were forced to be stretched anymore. This pain, combined with the thought that he may never see the light of day again, caused Joe's eyes to water slightly.

Her mouth curled into a sneer at the sight of his watering eyes. "Now, now, no need to become such a crybaby, little boy…" her long fingers drummed menacingly upon the crank. "Only Princesses are allowed to do such a pathetic thing… not boys and men…"

Through gritted teeth, Joe finally found his voice. "Wh-who… are… y-you…?"

Her voice became sharp as a two- edged sword. "I shall do the talking here, child. Men… they are meant to be seen, not heard."

"I take serious offense to that," Falcon muttered.

Joe remained silent, sweat pouring down his face. He had never been in any more pain than this in his many years of life. But this woman's hard words, her crippling blow to his dignity, it was all too much for him. It took every bit of the willpower he had left to keep him from crying out as her fingers gently turned the crank again, causing the ropes to ever so slightly pull on his joints even more.

"Now listen well, you disgusting swine," the woman hissed. "You are to answer every single one of my questions truthfully and immediately… should you ever choose to lie to me…" her long fingernails slowly tapped on the crank of the Rack. "I assure you that once your joints are ripped out of their sockets, your pain will never end from there…"

"I-I-I'm… n-not… a-afraid… of y-you…" Joe whispered angrily. His voice shook with the effort of holding back his pain. He met her dark, steady gaze with one of his own and for a moment, he could've sworn that he saw just the faintest shadow of doubt behind those pitch black Gerudo eyes.

"Joe, whatever she does, don't give in!" his Smasher urged. Joe could hear the fear in the racer's voice. "You're stronger than that, I know you are! Don't give in!"

"First question," the woman snarled, gripping the crank all the more tighter. "Which Smasher are you the guardian of?"

Joe's breath caught as his joints were stretched once again. "I am Joe, the proud guardian of Captain Douglas Jay Falcon!" he let out a small sigh of relief as the ropes attached to his limbs relaxed were relaxed slightly. It would do the woman no good to rip out his joints now. If he could just simply stay alive long enough…

"Another question," the woman hissed again, her voice piercing through Joe's temporary relief like a sharp knife in his ribs. "What do you know about the barrier that surrounds your precious base?"

"I don't know… who you're talking about…"

With a low growl, the crank was turned even more. A sharp sting stabbed its way through Joe's right shoulder and ran all the way down his spine. He gasped as the shock of this sudden movement of his joints temporarily left him dazed.

"Do not lie to me you spineless worm!" the Gerudo snapped. "How do I penetrate the barrier that surrounds the base?"

"I don't- AGH!"

"JOE!"

"Do you wish to die?" the Gerudo woman hissed. "I assure you, every single one of your joints will be ripped from your body, I shall slowly skin every single part of your body alive with my daggers, and your flesh shall be used to shine every single one of my weapons! I have no need for pathetic swine such as yourself and neither does Tabuu…" her dark eyes flashed angrily. "I find it best if you simply cooperate, Joe…" that name was spat out like it was poison. "Cooperate with me and you shall be rewarded… you shall be given everything you've ever dream of… work with me and Lord Tabuu shall spare your life…"

Joe glared at her defiantly, his own mouth curled into a snarl. Pained though he was, he was not the type of person to simply stand around and allow a person to insult him in this way. Yes, he was afraid. Any sane person would be afraid. But if there was one thing about him, it was that he was as loyal as could be.

He had often said that there was no way they would win. He knew there was no way a group of ragtag teens could ever overpower the very essence of evil itself. Joe summoned up whatever strength and courage he had left, knowing that this could be the very last words he would ever speak.

"Go… fuck… yourself…"

That did it. He watched as her eyes seemed to glow blood red. "WHY YOU LITTLE SWINE! I'LL SKIN YOU ALIVE!" she grabbed onto the crank.

Joe braced himself. This was it. He was going to die here and now. In his mind's eye, he could already see Death coming with his long gray veil. Just one touch and he would be free…

One touch…

Just like that, Death was gone. The pain Joe felt faded to a whisper. There was definitely someone standing in front of him, but it was not the tall, cloaked figure of Death. It was the rather short, all too familiar figure of…

"C-Che-"

"Sh… it's alright Joe… you're safe now…"

---

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die…"

"Shaddup back there! These weapons aren't gonna get themselves, you know!"

"YOU SHADDUP!"

Wrath slammed a hand over Nao's mouth. "Sh…" the guardian of Meta Knight was rather annoyed at the moment. Aside from Nao's constant "I'm gonna die" chants, Rinku and Cimar had both insisted the weapons gathering groups would go through the vents. How the century old vents of the former Smash Mansion were able to carry their weight, Wrath would never understand.

"Mmph mm mph!" Nao said against Wrath's hand. Wrath smirked and shook his head. There was no way he was going to let him go to complain again.

Kage, who was crawling right behind Wrath, saw this. "Wrath, just let him go. We need to catch up to those two before they start making out or something up ahead!"

"WE'RE-!" the two Hylians stopped themselves just in time. They had to keep their voices down if they were going to be able to have the element of surprise with them should they choose to attack.

Reluctantly, Wrath let go of Nao and allowed him to crawl ahead. "As long as he shuts up and stops complaining…" he kept crawling.

"Wrath, surely there are some kind of security measures taken against these vents," Meta Knight said in disbelief. "Back when we had our bodies, those Smasher kids would sneak through the vents all the time. Master Hand had been forced to install cameras in here…" the Star Warrior had honed his many skills in the years he had spent training back in Dreamland. One thing he had learned was that no place was truly free from enemies. He thought that Tabuu surely would put up something in the vents…

Wrath shrugged. "I don't know about you, MK, but frankly, when you're either a slave or the foster son of the Envoy of all Things Evil, you don't do much sneaking through the vents." he sniffed experimentally. "And phew! Who ate beans last night?"

"Sorry!" Fyre called. Everyone who heard him started laughing.

"Sh!" Cimar hissed suddenly, waving for the group to stop. He was staring intently at a particular grated part of the vent. A tiny sliver of light was slipping through each of the grates. Cimar's and Rinku's long pointed ears twitched slightly as they listened for any sort of sound that indicated what room they were above just now.

"… Wrath…" Rinku murmured, not taking his eyes off the grate. "Wrath, can you tell where we are by looking through here?"

Wrath crawled forward. "I can try… but there's no guarantee I'll be right…" he squeezed in between the two Hylians and stared.

The first thing that struck him was the scent. It was the rather strange smell that came only from burning oil in a lamp. He was suddenly reminded of the day Tabuu had banned all uses of electricity for humans. It had been just days after the major revolt. He remembered quite clearly that Fyre had been prominent among the slaves. He had only been about five back then, but he remembered Fyre's face well.

Did he still remember…?

He remembered that he was the one that thought taking away the precious thing known as electricity from the slaves wasn't enough. Taught by Tabuu to be as evil and sadistic as he was from a young age, he had had the slaves lashed until blood gushed out of the gashes they had received in their back and many of them were tied by their ankles to the ceilings of the Main Hall.

Fyre had been one of the worse ones whipped. He had only been a child back then as well, but the sight of a child slave thinking that he could ever dare outshine his father invoked Wrath's namesake and he was mercilessly punished. It had not been until Wrath had turned about 13 that he realized what he was doing, what his foster father was doing.

Did he still remember…?

"You have much to atone for, Wrath," Meta Knight said.

Wrath grimaced, but nodded. He leaned in farther and concentrated on peculiar little flashes of gold and silver here and there. For a moment, he could've sworn that he was that little boy again, watching as the Primids picked their way through a room lined with precious metals. They were searching for something, to be sure, but at only five years old, he was still too young to truly understand what was going on.

He remembered that the Primids had pulled one particular gold item out of a pile of gems. It had been a beautiful sword, too short for any human to wield. It was razor sharp and flared slightly at the blade, just like-

"Galaxia!" Meta Knight said sharply. Wrath flinched a bit at the Star Warrior's sudden outburst. He knew exactly what "Galaxia" was, but it had been a very long time since he had seen it.

After all, Tabuu considered it a weak weapon compared to ones the Primids forged…

"Wrath, we must get down there immediately," Meta Knight ordered. It was easy to tell that the Star Warrior wanted nothing more than to be reunited with his sword. If he couldn't have his ship and body back at the moment, at least he would be able to fight with a proper weapon in his hand. Though it was true Wrath's sword was perfectly balanced for a boy his age and size, Meta Knight had never truly become used to that particular sword.

"Hold your horses, Pops!" Wrath hissed. Meta Knight's urging was staring to give him a migraine. "If we just jump down there like a bunch of idiots, we'll be chopped up and served to the Primids before you can say 'Dreamland'."

"Got anything, Wrath?" Rinku asked over his shoulder. "It's getting awfully tight in here…"

Wrath nodded. "Yep. The armory should be just under us. If we can just smash this grating away, we'll be able to jump down and-"

"Uh… guys?" Kage asked. "We might not need to smash that grate…"

Wrath looked at her confusedly. "Why wouldn't w- AHHHHHHH!" that was the only sound out of his mouth as the floor cracked beneath him and he fell through the hole it created.

"Wrath! Land on your feet!"

He landed on his face. "Ow… I think I broke my- oomph!"

"Sorry Wrath," Rinku said, getting up. "But you really shouldn't lie there while there are people that are ready to jump down on you in a moment."

"Why you- ARGH!"

Cimar got up and dusted himself off. "Sorry, I was aiming to the right of you. Hope I didn't bruise anything."

"You bruised me dignity if that's- YEOWCH!"

"That's for earlier!" Nao stuck his tongue out at him. Wrath growled in response. Then Fyre and Kage landed on him. Then Golfer and Traca. Crystal used her chains to swing from the vent and narrowly missed Wrath when she landed.

"Get up, Wrath," Meta Knight sighed. "We shall be able to revenge ourselves upon them after we get Galaxia and the other weapons out of here…"

"Well, where do we look first?" Golfer asked. Wrath didn't need to look at him to know that he was currently staring at the mounds of gold lining the walls. "Can I start where all the shiny stuff is?"

"There's shiny stuff everywhere, idiot," Nao rolled his eyes. He started digging around in a pile of gold. "I'm pretty sure if we just grabbed about half of this stuff, we'd have it made!"

"No!" Wrath yanked his hand out of the gold. "We're not here to get rich! We're here to grab our Smashers' weapons and get the Hell out!"

"What's so bad about taking some of this stuff out?" Crystal asked. She was holding and admiring a gold chalice. "If Tabuu's keeping all this stuff around, surely he has no need for it…"

"But that doesn't mean they'll be a chance he might miss it," Cimar reasoned. He put down the sword he had been looking at. "And frankly, I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I'd want to carry home any Shadow Bugs."

Wrath nodded. He remembered the last time he had dared to touch those things. It had been like touching water woven into tiny, parasitic orbs. They had leaped on his fingers, shocking him out of his wits. Before the young boy could even try to shake them off, they had already started attacking his very flesh. He remembered the searing pain of millions upon millions of tiny teeth smashing through his skin cells, ripping through the nerve, the muscle, the vein…

"Wrath…" Meta Knight said quietly, snapping him out of his trance. "You know more about this evil than the others, don't you?"

Wrath moved off into a darkened part of the room and quietly started sifting through some piles of gold. He knew for a fact that Ragnell, the Greil and his son Ike, was in here somewhere. The others had already fanned out to their own respective corners of the room. Fyre and Golfer were on either end of the huge double doors blocking the entrance to the hall, ready to ambush any Subspace denizen that would dare come in. Once assured that no one would overhear him, Wrath finally spoke.

"I… yes…" he whispered miserably. "I know more… a lot more… a lot more than I wish I never learned…"

"Speak then, Wrath," Meta Knight ordered. "Tell me everything you know… what they feed on, why they exist, their weakness…" The Star Warrior needed to get as much information as he could. If Wrath was not mistaken, he knew that somehow, whatever he said today would get passed on to the Smashers. He had to choose his words carefully.

"… The Shadow Bugs…" Wrath took a deep breath. "Where do I begin? They were born from pure greed, fear, and lust… every creature in history has had an evil thought, whether it is the intent to murder another or to simply covet something another has… this greed, this thirst for all things is what gave birth to the very essence of Subspace itself… the Shadow Bugs…"

"We were led to believe the Shadow Bugs were what gave Tabuu his immense power," Meta Knight said sharply. "That if we merely eliminate them, then Tabuu's power will end."

Wrath shook his head. "Trying to kill every single Shadow Bug out there is like trying to beat Chuck Norris in anything. No matter how hard you try, there will always be one creature in one of the known universes that will continue to feed the Shadow Bugs with their greed and lust…" he sighed. "They all have a mind of their own… the evils of the world eventually became so intense and powerful that the Shadow Bugs were able to form a consciousness of their own."

"But how did Tabuu manage to gain this power?" Meta Knight asked. "Out of all the evil beings in this world, the Shadow Bugs chose him to be their master and their vessel of power?"

Wrath grimaced. "Sorry MK, but I don't exactly know why either… all I know is that whatever happened, he was transformed into what he is today… an ultra powerful being with only one weakness on him."

"And that weakness is…?" Meta Knight prompted impatiently. Wrath scowled.

"His weakness is the glowing core at the center of his body. That thing that everyone seems to want to avoid at all costs. Hit the core, destroy it, then you'll have a dead Tabuu…" he shook his head. "But killing Tabuu doesn't mean you'll kill off all those stupid bugs. It might take them a while, but they'll eventually find some other sucker they'll reel in. Evil's like that. Always searching for a new vessel to help it spread…"

"The core on his body…" Meta Knight murmured. Wrath saw the thoughts racing through his head. "If we are able to destroy it-"

"I hope you have something made of pure light, MK," Wrath said bluntly. "That thing's impervious to all forces unless it's exposed to pure, unfiltered light."

"Hm… if that is true, perhaps Zelda will-"

"Uh… guys?" Golfer called from the door. "Might wanna hurry it up?"

"We've got company!" Fyre shouted jumping as the golden double doors began to open up. Using his flame breath, he melted the crack between the doors shut. It worked in that it delayed the Primids trying to break in, but it was obvious that it wouldn't hold for long. "And Bowser says we have about five minutes before those idiots on the other end figure out what a battering ram is!"

The atmosphere in the room, once relaxed, had quickly turned to frantic digging. Wrath felt his fingers start to bleed as he grabbed onto uncut diamonds and other extremely sharp objects with his bare hands and threw them out of his way. Away went a sword, a shield, some jewels, gold coins, a chalice…

"There!"

He saw it. It was an all too familiar blade with a hilt made of obsidian and a blade of gold. Ike had once been so strong he was able to wield this two handed blade with just one hand. But that was a hundred years ago. With a possessed body, the mercenary had long ago thrown away this sword in favor of another that was said to be stronger, faster…

Eviler…

"I've found Galaxia!" Cimar shouted, waving the blade in the air.

Rinku held up a box. "This thing has a bunch of flowers and shrooms in it! MS and Green could use this!" he also held up another sword. It looked like it had a bronze hilt and a blade of gold. A small blue pommel was its only decoration. "This thing's nice… once Link gets his body back, I'm using this!" he grinned. "Sword, I dub thee… The Gamersword!"

"I found Falchion!" Traca waved it in the air.

Nao jumped out of a pile of gold waving a similar looking sword around. "And the Sword of Seals!"

Crystal held up a tiny sword. "DK says that this is the Kokiri Sword… but it's kinda small…"

"Sam will simply have to deal with wielding such a weapon," Meta Knight said in answer to Wrath's questioning look. "Just like you'll have to start wielding Galaxia."

"No way Pops!" Wrath spat. "I have a perfectly good sword of my own, thanks!"

Kage held up a small gold chest. "Miles told me to be on the lookout for these things called the Chaos Emeralds. I don't know if he means these things, but I'm taking them anyways." she grinned.

"Uh… guys?" Golfer and Fyre were both pressing their backs against the door, trying to keep it from opening. "They've figured out what a battering ram is used for!"

Wrath grabbed Ragnell and wrenched it out of the gold. He nearly cut off his leg in the process. There was no possible way Cam could ever wield this thing in one hand.

… Right?

"Rinku, quick! Get these things in your pants!" Wrath shouted as he struggled to drag Ragnell along.

"WRATH! Don't you know how wrong that sounds?"

"Stop whining, Rinku," Cimar tossed him Galaxia. "Just put them… just put them wherever Link puts his other stuff!"

"You mean in his pants?" Nao asked cheerfully. He tossed over the Sword of Seals before realizing what was in front of him. "Oh… my… God… IT'S MISTER SATURN!"

"Ugh…" Wrath facepalmed. There was a reason Mr. Saturn had been placed here long ago. And frankly, this had been one of the few things he had agreed with his foster father about as he grew older.

"GUYS?" Fyre shouted. Flames licked his lips as he applied some more to the door. Molten metal began to slowly run down the door, heading right for the two boys. "WE NEED TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE NOW!"

Rinku turned around. "Alright, I'm done! Cimar, get us out of here!"

"Farore's Wind can't teleport all of us at the same time!" Cimar protested. "I was hoping Nao knew how to teleport with Mewtwo's powers!"

"Well… yeah… but don't blame me if you suddenly start spontaneously combusting right in the middle of it!"

"It's the only chance we have, Nao," Fyre snarled. "If we want to make it back alive, we need you to teleport us back to those planes as soon as possible!"

Nao gulped. "B-But… Mewtwo said…"

"Forget what Mewtwo said!" Kage shouted. "Just get us out of here, Nao! We'll take that risk if it means getting the Hell out of here alive!"

Nao took a deep breath. Wrath could see his silver eyes flickering slightly from black to their usual color. Whether Mewtwo was against this idea or not, he couldn't tell.

"… Alright," Nao said quietly. "But if any of you are harmed while we're getting out of here… it's not my fault…"

"That's fine with us," Cimar agreed. "Just get us out of here."

"Gather round, everyone!" Nao held his hands out. "You have to be touching some part of me for this to work. We only have a few seconds to do this!"

Golfer and Fyre both left their posts at the doors. Fyre spewed out another tongue of flame at it for good measure. They each touched a spot on his arm. Cimar and Rinku stood on either side of Nao and touched each of his shoulders. Crystal, Traca, and Kage touched each of his hands and his right shoulder respectively. Wrath was farthest out from the group, unsure of this situation. He felt rather awkward at the thought of having to teleport, seeing that he had heard several stories about people losing body parts and stuff like that.

"Wrath, come on!" Kage shouted as Nao began to glow. "Those Primids are gonna break in any second now!"

BOOM!

The doors rocked dangerously on their hinges. Wrath looked from them to Nao's glowing form, still hesitant, still scared. He felt Meta Knight flutter slightly in his mind. The Star Warrior couldn't decide if he should allow Wrath to stay so he could prove his worth in battle or flee before things got too messy.

"Wrath, is Meta Knight holding you back or something?" Rinku demanded. "Come on, man! We need you to get out of here! You're holding Ragnell!"

Wrath suddenly became aware that he was indeed holding Ragnell. The blessed sword glowed slightly in his hand. If he could just learn to lift it, perhaps…

"WRATH! GET OVER HERE!"

The doors weren't going to hang on their hinges for much longer. Wrath knew that he was strong enough to take on any number of Primids. It had been an awful long time since he had been in a proper fight. None of the guardians really believed him when he said that he could probably take down a small army of Primids. If he put his money where his mouth was now…

"WRATH!"

BAM!

Dust filled the room, clogging up Wrath's throat and nostrils. Coughing, the young man staggered backwards just in time to avoid a rain of bullets from a Primid gun. He could feel the heat of the raw energy radiating off Nao upon him now. Before he could react, someone reached out and grabbed his arm.

The wind started to blow.

The room started to spin.

Faster and faster…

Until everything was still.

Absolutely still.

---

"Pikana, gimme a hand here," Chester tugged at the ropes binding Joe to the board. "We need to get him out… and fast!"

Pikana frowned as she studied the ropes with a critical eye. They were rather weak for torture ropes, the kind you would find at any hardware store. True, they were tied in intricate knots that no human hand could ever get untied within an hour, but a good amount of gnawing on them should've done the trick. Then again though, those ropes were covered in grime…

"No way, I'm not touching those," Pikana shook her head. "Find some other Chu that can gnaw through those things!"

"Pikana…" Chester groaned. "Come on… we need to get these guys outta here and fast!"

"Have Nask get him out!" Pikana crossed her arms. "She has that… sharp stick thingy…"

"Sorry, bit busy over here," Nask apologized. She and Ridere were currently trying to untie Sam from the ceiling. Pikana found it a bit odd that anyone would try to torture someone by tying them from the ceiling.

Although, she had to admit that the pyramid was a nice touch.

"Pikana, can't you just Chainy those ropes?" Pikachu asked. It was easy to tell that the little mouse Pokemon wasn't at all comfortable with standing around in the dungeons. For a moment, a memory flashed by. "Seriously, I really wanna get outta here… Pichu might wet himself again!"

Pikana smirked. "Excellent idea, Pikachu!" she grinned evilly and pulled out the infamous diamond tipped chainsaw and revved it. "FEAR ME AND MAH CHAINY!"

Joe and Chester jumped. Well, Chester jumped. Joe only managed a wince.

"I am not letting that thing near him!" Chester snapped. "And… and turn it off!"

Pikana scowled. "How else do you think I'll be able to cut through tho-"she could practically feel a light bulb lighting up in her head.

She had an idea.

"Pikana… don't…" Pikachu whispered. The last time anyone had done what Pikana was thinking, the world nearly imploded. It was all through the efforts of the Smashers that it didn't. "There's gotta be another way! Don't!"

"It must be done, Pikachu…" Pikana reached into the pocket of her hoodie. "It must be done…"

Chester stepped back. "I don't like that look you're giving me, Pikana… put the chainsaw down…"

Pikana realized that she was still holding said chainsaw. Much to Chester's and Joe's obvious relief, she turned it off and put it away. Now she pulled something else out of her hoodie. It was a little black rectangular object with a familiar bat insignia on it.

"PIKANA, PUT THAT THING AWAY!"

"NEVER, PIKACHU!" his guardian cackled, waving it in the air. "LOOK HERE YOU FOOLISH MORTALS! FEAST YOUR EYES UPON THIS!" she grinned. "I never leave home without it!"

Every guardian in the room froze, eyes widened. Beeh stopped trying to break Green out of the chair. Teal stopped trying to get JB to stop ranting to himself. Mah stopped picking the lock on Chi's chains. Ridere and Nask both froze as well. Nask's Naginata cut through the ropes holding Sam, causing Young Link's guardian to fall flat on the pyramid that was still underneath him before falling to the floor.

Silence.

"I-Is th-th-that..." Green whispered.

"It can't be…" Chester shook his head. "I thought… we thought…"

"I thought those were destroyed!" Mah gaped. "Those things aren't supposed exist anymore!"

"What is it?" Beeh looked confused.

Teal shook his head. "It's the bane of all existence… one of the most evil things in all the known worlds…"

Nask was trembling. "It's… it's…"

"… A bat credit card…" Ridere blinked. Then his hands balled up into fists as he started trembling. "A bat… credit… card…? They had the balls to give one of the greatest superheroes of all time a bat credit card…?"

"Ridere…" Nask put a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, Ridere…"

Pikana grinned evilly. This was going exactly as planned. Now all she had to do was tick him off a bit more. She took a stepped closer, waving the bat credit card in front of Ridere's face.

"You like it, don't you Ridere?" she laughed. "I know you like it… I know I got ya crazy… feel the insanity, Ridere… ACCEPT THE INSANITY! KEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Pikana, you're insane!" Pikachu bit his ghostly nails in fear. "This won't help us escape! It'll just kill us all!"

Ridere kept twitching. "Does not compute… does not compute… does not compute…"

Pikana grinned. This was really entertaining. "C'mon Ridere… help us get outta here…"

"P-Pikana, put it away," Teal pleaded quietly. Like the rest of the guardians in the room, he didn't want the world imploding again. "P-Put it away… we can find another way to get these things off of them… and Ridere, calm down…"

Ridere took a deep breath. "…RAPE MY CHILDHOOD WILL YOU?" he pulled out Snake's bazooka. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! GRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" Pikana shouted, ducking just in time to dodge a flying piece of wood. Numerous colors danced before the little Pokemon's eyes as the bat credit card rage continued to coarse through her fellow guardian's veins. She kept an extra tight hold on the credit card in particular.

After all, you never know when it might come in handy again.

"Pikana, this is going too far!" Pikachu shouted. "You're going to massacre the whole mansion at this rate!"

"THAT'S THE POINT, PIKA- KUN! YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!"

BOOM!

Pikana felt a searing heat on her back as something hard and heavy landed near it. From the smell of it, it was a chain of some sort. Ridere must have already broken Chi free. Despite the thrill she felt at knowing she had caused a possible massacre of the entire Smash Mansion, including Tabuu, she couldn't help but feel scared as well. What if this went all wrong? What if she had pushed Snake's guardian too far? What if…

BAM!

"So dark… so d-dark… so- FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" that was Drake's voice. None of the others were able to figure out where he was when they came in. Pikana's smirk widened. It was a job well done.

BOOM!

A searing pain shot through Pikana's little yellow tail almost right after that explosion. She let out a cry that was lost to the never ending chaos the dungeon had become. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was completely surrounded by a puddle of a dark red substance.

Her blood.

"PIKANA!" Chester crawled over to her, carefully avoiding the pieces of concrete falling from the ceiling. Pikana's keen ears could already hear running footsteps as Subspace denizens- and possibly Smashers- ran to investigate the noise. Through the smoke that Ridere was kicking up, she could see the tall figure of Nask doing everything to catch the boy and calm him down. Mah was standing protectively over Beeh, an egg ready in her hand in case Ridere got too close to them.

"C-Chester…" Pikana whispered. Her vision was starting to swim from the blood loss. "Chester, I-"

Chester nodded gravely. "I know, Pikana…" he looked at the rather large piece of concrete pinning her tail to the floor. "We'll need to get this thing off as soon as possible… Teal can take a look at that tail-"

"Chester, need some help moving that?" Green was next to Pikana in a second. By the looks of things, he alone of the captured guardians still had most of his wits on him. The others, while still more or less sane, were definitely in no condition to walk properly let alone fight or move a giant piece of concrete.

BAM!

The next thing Pikana knew, Green was sent flying to the nearest wall. He slid down, completely unconscious. In spite of herself, the little Pokemon started to tremble. Pikachu was right. She had gone too far…

"Urgh… come on… come on… move you stupid rock…"

Pikana looked up. Chester was doing everything he could to push the concrete off of her. In spite of her fear, she smiled. Even when he was going to die (sort of), he could still pull through.

"BAT CREDIT CARD! BAT CREDIT CARD! BAT CREDIT CA-" Ridere fell down with a thump! Nask stood over him, smiling sheepishly. The butt of her Naginata was still being held in the air.

Teal came out from where he had taken cover under the Iron Maiden and surveyed the damage. Pikana could tell that he definitely didn't like what he saw. He had told her before the planes took off that as a Healer, he would have to look after the person that was wounded the most. From the looks of things, Drake, JB, and Sam were beyond physical help. Green and Chi still had their wits about them. Well, Green was unconscious, but that was another story. That left only Pikana, slowly paling as her blood seeped away from her.

Pikana winced as Teal's hands started patting her down to check for any serious injuries. Of course, the efforts of Chester to roll the stone off of her finally worked. There was a small wound in her tail, but it didn't look too serious, considering the blood she already lost because of it.

"We'll need to bandage this and then get everyone else back to the planes," Teal pronounced. "C'mon guys, we have to get outta here before-"

WOO! WOO! WOO!

Red lights started flashing all around them. The sound seemed to rip through the walls, so loud that it caused their very eardrums to tremble in pain. Pikana, whose ears were most sensitive out of the group's, used her tiny paws to try to cover them.

"Oh shit…" Chester whispered. "Alright, let's get outta here!"

"There's only one way out!" Nask called from the other end of the room, trying to wake up Ridere. "And that's through the vents!"

"There's no way all of us will be able to crawl through those things!" Chi crossed his arms. "I mean… those things are cheap!"

That was when Pikana noticed a gleam in Chester's eye. The undead teen had fascinated her for a while, since he claimed to be over a hundred years old. Though it was true that he probably just used that time to hide out and train in Halloween Town, there was always the slightest chance that he had witnessed something amazing!

… Like the fall of the Smashers, perhaps?

Chester searched around the wall, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "There should be some kind of switch around here somewhere… the kid Smashers used to use it to get away from the older ones when they were in trouble…"

"Wait, what?" Pikachu asked. "I didn't know there was something down here!"

Chester touched on particularly dark and moldy stoned and grinned. "Found it!" he pushed it in.

Almost immediately, the room began to shake. Small pebbles fell from the ceiling. Tiny cracks began to appear all around that particular stone, forming a shape that looked a lot like a rectangle. Unconsciously, Pikana fingered Bazookie's tiny tube in her pocket, fearing for a moment that the roof might just collapse on top of them.

And then it happened. The rectangle of bricks swung aside, revealing a long, dark tunnel. A strange and musty scent wafted from it and in the dim light, it seemed to glow a dank green. Up above, Pikana could hear the footsteps of Tabuu's henchmen coming closer to their location…

"C'mon, let's get out of here," Nask ordered as she dragged Ridere forward. "I don't want to be fighting Primids now…"

"Yeah, with half of us either too hurt to fight or just psychologically unable to," Teal agreed as he attempted to slap Green awake.

Chester nodded. "Alright, is everyone at least able to walk?"

Mah came over dragging Sam by the ear. "Ugh! He smells like he's been dunked in a toilet or something!"

"I have!" Sam sniffed. "Eight times! All of them after Wario went in them!"

"C'mon Drake, c'mon JB," Chi said encouragingly. "We're almost outta here…"

"WAKE UP, GREEN!" Beeh threw several Pikmin at his head. The little creatures proceeded to biting Green on the nose until he finally woke up.

BAM!

The wooden door rocked dangerously on its hinges. Pikana couldn't help but roll her eyes. Haven't these Primids heard of a doorknob? Why were they using a battering ram?

"Pikana, come on!"

The others had already gone into the tunnel. Chester had stayed behind to make sure everyone got through. It was strange the way the shadows danced on his eyes. One moment, it looked like the Chester Pikana had come to know: compassionate and caring. At other times, he looked… different.

His eyes would flash a bright, dangerous red. The gentle curve of his mouth would transform into a battle hardened line. His face, usually glowing in the light of his caring heart, would become cold, pinched, and cruel. But always, the very next second, he was Chester again…

"Is there anything wrong, Pikana?" Chester asked. He looked worried for her.

Pikana shook her head and started running through the tunnel on all fours, accompanied by Chester. Behind them, the tunnel closed in on itself again, as if by magic. Pikana later realized that Chester simply pushed the stone door closed. By the time any Primids could get into the dungeons, the only thing they would find were a bunch of empty Medieval torture devices.

And probably one pissed off Gerudo.

"Man, even I didn't know we had one of those," Pikachu muttered thoughtfully. "Just think of all the pantry raids I've missed…"

"Chester, how'd you know it was there?" Pikana asked as she ran. Though it was well known that the Smash Mansion had a "secret" passageway or two, Tabuu had long sealed them. There was no way he was going to allow a single slave to escape, especially after Psyche successfully did so long ago.

Chester smiled sadly as he ran. "… Have you heard of my hometown, Halloween Town?"

Pikana frowned. Her mother used to tell her stories of that place. But after a couple years in the asylum, the stories had long faded away into nothing more but distant memories. "Well… sorta?"

Chester grinned. "There's no 'sorta' when it comes to Halloween Town. You either know it, or you don't."

"I think Master Hand used to talk about forming an alliance with that place or something…" Pikachu said uncertainly. Being a Pokemon, he never really got involved in all the diplomatic stuff.

"It was once a prospering world," Chester continued, his expression wistful. "Jack Skellington was ready to sign an alliance treaty with Smashville and everything. I was about twenty years old back then, so I was still a toddler…"

Pikana tripped at that bit of news. "A kid at twenty?"

Chester shrugged. "Hey, I can't die naturally, can I? Anyways… That was a few years after Jack managed to take down Oogie Boogie and all that stuff. I was there at the front of the crowd when Jack dipped his quill into the inkwell and got ready to sign the piece of paper that would practically guarantee safety in Halloween Town for at least the next hundred years or so."

"And you guys were sure that the Smashers would live that long?" Pikana raised an eyebrow.

Chester shrugged. "I didn't really get it back then, either, but according to Mom, Smashers could be replaced. And, really, Master Hand is the entity of creation. Both he and Crazy Hand are supposed to be a lot older than what they let on."

"So what happened?" Pikana asked. "What happened next?"

Chester's voice was bitter as he spoke. "Oogie Boogie returned, that's what… Jack defeated him years ago, ripping apart that sack of bugs like he was paper. Everyone in Halloween Town thought that he was finally dead… of course, soulless creatures like him almost never stay dead long enough to suit everyone else's liking…" he sighed. "The first thing Boogie did was unleash all of these… ghost things on us. No matter how much the law enforcement attacked them, they would always regenerate faster than we could kill them. And their scream… their screams were horrible. In Halloween Town, we were used to screams, but those ones…"

"They were screams of resentment," Pikachu finished, forming an idea of what particular Subspace denizens they were. "One part sadness and one part madness… they reflected all the pent up resentment for the world that many mortals have and they are actually the very symbol of a mind gone awry."

"The Floows?" Pikana whispered. She remembered how they used to float around in her asylum room on particularly dark nights. They would torment her with their screams, increasing all the madness and the hate she had bottled up for years.

"Is that what they're called?" Chester remarked. "Well… yes, he unleashed these… Floows… many Halloween Town denizens were killed that night… many more were taken as prisoners…" he shook his head. "I was one of them… Jack was another…"

The air in the tunnel suddenly thickened at his words. Pikana found herself struggling for air.

"We were taken to Oogie Boogie's old hideout," Chester whispered. "One by one, we were brought in and tortured, right in front of Jack. He couldn't do a thing to save us. Some went mad… others died. As the youngest, I was the last to be brought out. Jack could only watch as Oogie Boogie… he did this to me…" he held up his skeletal arm as he ran. Pikana's sharp eyes were able to pick out strange little marks all over it, as if it had been carved into by a knife.

Pikana gasped. "Why would he do that?"

Chester smiled sadly. "I used to strive to be like Jack… well, Oogie Boogie saw doing this as a way to help me fulfill my dreams…" his voice was extremely bitter. "The next thing I knew, I felt nothing but pain… I wanted to die, Pikana… to be truly dead. Just so I could forget all of that."

"But how'd you get outta there? If Boogie wanted to skin you alive so bad, why did he only do your arm?"

"How else, Pikana?" Chester asked. "I was saved. In a last ditch effort, Jack was able to disassemble himself just so that he could save me. I watched him myself… he just leaped out of his bonds and grabbed onto Boogie. Oogie Boogie was caught by surprise, of course, so there was this struggle. All the while, Jack kept yelling at someone to take me and head to Smashville as quickly as possible. I don't know who… but someone grabbed me off the torturing plank and dragged me outside. I was taken to a tree where the tunnel to Smashville was already opened. But before I could get so much as a glance from my savior… they were gone. I had been shoved through the tunnel and the entrance sealed…"

"The guy just ditched him?" Pikachu asked. "That's not very nice…"

"So… you just came here?" Pikana asked.

Chester nodded. "Yes… I did the only thing I could do at that time. I walked. I just walked on and on… I didn't need to eat or anything, which is good, but I have to admit that I would've killed for maybe a good cheeseburger or something while I was down here… I eventually surfaced in Smashville, at the very end of this tunnel, in fact… just in time to see Mario, Link, Pikachu, Kirby, Ike, Marth, Fox, and Falco appear from the Smash Mansion and get into some planes. I didn't really understand what was going on at the time, but I was able to follow them by looking up at the trails of smoke those jets left in the skies…" his voice broke. "And I witnessed it… the whole thing. I could only stand in the shadows helplessly and watch as the Smashers fought a battle that it was obvious they'd never win. I later learned that they were only looking for some fellow Smashers that had gone missing a while before, but just standing there, young as I was, and unable to help-"

"YO! CHESTER! PIKANA!" Chi's voice echoed around the tunnel. "C'MON, GUYS! LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!"

Pikana suddenly found herself behind Chester as the undead teen picked up speed. Indeed, there was a bright light up ahead that grew in brightness and potency the closer they got to the exit. She could feel the lukewarm gray light on her fur, smell the ashy mixture in the air…

A pair of hands reached into the tunnel and picked her up by the waist. Her instincts caused her to release a stream of electricity that coursed through the veins of the person holding her. Rinku cried out and dropped her on the ground, waving his hands in the air.

"Goddess dammit, Pikana! You could've burnt my hands off!"

Pikana grinned. "Sorry Rinku, but if you touch this Chu, you get it!" she looked around. From the looks of things, everyone made it out more or less okay. The tortured ones were currently being tended to by Teal and Mars, but that was beside the point. Everyone else was scattered around the area, either telling the others what had happened on their respective adventures or looking at the weapons the other group had managed to steal.

"We don't have long until those Primids finally figure out we're out here," Crystal said, putting down the Sword of Seals she had been admiring. "Eric, Aly, Mars-"

"The planes are all ready," Mars yawned. He flipped a coin into the air. "If we're gonna leave, we should leave now. I don't want my paint job getting anymore ruined than it already is."

Teal's head snapped up. "Wait! We can't just leave Heather…"

Pikana frowned. "But if we wait for her, we mind as well just go turn ourselves into Tabuu… I say we leave…" she felt a twinge of guilt as she said this. "It's better if most of us get back up there than none at all…"

Teal looked around at the group. From his expression, Pikana could tell that there was no way he would willingly leave as long as Heather Wolfon was still trapped within the halls of Smash Mansion. But despite his pleading look, every single guardian in the vicinity shook their head. Even Nao, who Pikana knew had travelled with Teal for weeks, shook his head. An eerie silence fell upon the group as the reality of the choice they were making sank in.

"Pikana, we have to go," Pikachu said quietly. "Don't you hear them? They're coming…"

Pikana nodded. "Teal… as much as we want to go in and drag Heather out here… you heard her yourself… she said that if she doesn't come back out by the time we're all done with our missions, that means we should get the Hell out of here as fast as we can…"

Teal's bottom lip quivered slightly at her words. "I… I know… but-"

Eric stepped forward. "If you guys can squeeze into the other two ships, I can stay here and make sure Heather gets back okay."

Pikana frowned at Eric. He had never really struck her to be the type to outright volunteer for something like that. "Are ya sure, Eric? I mean… I had to shock you to wake you up after Master Hand couldn't…"

Eric grinned tiredly. "Well… yeah, it's true that I'd rather be asleep right now, but if this promise can get Teal to go home and get some sleep, who am I to not make it?"

The corners of Teal's mouth twitched slightly. He obviously wasn't in a mood for jokes.

Aly looked at her teammate. "You sure about this, Eric? Are you even sure she's still…" her voice trailed off as she shot a glance at Teal.

"She's still alive," Eric confirmed. His eyes flashed amber for a second. "Lucario and I both agree."

Teal hesitated slightly before stepping forward and clapping Eric on the shoulder. "… Just… I… you…"

Eric laughed. "You're welcome, Teal… and yeah, I'll do everything I can to bring her back safely."

Teal smiled. "I… I'm just worried about-"

"Don't worry about me, alright? But seriously, you guys should go. I can only activate my cloaking device when your radios aren't messing with the signal."

Teal took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright… I trust you…"

Pikana grinned. "Since when have we haven't? C'mon Teal… time to go home…" she slipped her little paw into Teal's. "Don't worry. Heather will be back before you know it!" they both started slowly walking towards the waiting Arwings.

"Pikana…" Teal said quietly. "… How is it that half the time, you somehow remain so-"

"Awesomely crazy?" Pikana gave him a devilish grin. "Would you like lessons? My rates are only a thousand bucks a minute!"

Teal chuckled. "Perhaps… I'll consider it…"

---

She was known by many names. Today, "Witch", "Gerudo", and "Sexist Bitch" were among the ones she had been called. But in truth, there was only one name she would ever go by.

Arenafan Woundvictor.

From what she could gather from the Primids, she could deduce that there was some kind of explosion in the middle of this hallway. From the smell of things, said explosion charred the walls and the floor. But there was something else in the air. It was an icy coldness that pierced her skin and shook her bones raw. She was a woman who was used to the unbearably hot sands of the Gerudo Desert. She had the ability to sense even the smallest bit of ice…

She found the ice, as well as tiny pieces of what was left of a C4 or two as she rounded the corner. Though much of the ice had long been broken up into tiny shards and melted, quite of few particularly large and sharp shards had pierced some passerby Primids. They were now pinned against the wall, these Primids, the Shadow Bugs oozing out of them like so much blood.

Pathetic.

Arenafan's great yellow eyes swept the area, checking every nook and cranny around her. She didn't want to be ambushed, after all. She definitely didn't want to end up like those Primids.

After all, men were stupid enough to fall in battle. Women were the ones that would always pull through.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary- other than the ice and the impaled Primids- Arenafan turned to run for reinforcements. If there were guardians in the mansion, then…

"Hello, Arenafan."

She knew that voice. It was the voice of a certain young woman whom she had not seen in years. The last time they had come face to face, they crossed blades. After all these years, the Gerudo thought her to be dead. Despite her slight shock in finding her former opponent still alive, Arenafan's blood was set alight in anticipation. Finally, they could finish the battle they had begun so many years ago…

"Heather Wolfon," she growled, turning slowly to face the Scion of Rage. Heather had appeared from nowhere, a trick that the Gerudos had mastered as well. "You have no idea how… ecstatic I am to see you alive."

Heather's great orange eyes narrowed. "As am I… Arenafan…"

Arenafan noticed that Heather's hand never moved from the hilt of her sword. Instinctively, her own hand dropped to the curved Gerudo blade buckled at her waist. Any second from now, it would have to be used.

And this time, only one of them would escape alive.

"I remember our first battle," Arenafan whispered, her long fingers curling on the hilt of her sword. "Your swordswomanship was unlike any other… no man had ever withstood my blade like you did…"

"And you, Arenafan…" Heather murmured. Arenafan sensed the tiniest bit of rage creeping into her voice. Black Heather must have broken through Heather's control recently. "And you, Arenafan Woundvictor… you are the last of the Gerudo women."

Arenafan smiled tightly. "Ah… yes. It was you and your accursed sister, was it not, that was sent on that mission to wipe out my race?"

Heather's eyes narrowed. "Yes…"

Arenafan's smirk widened. "And wasn't it during our little spar that you lost-"

Heather flashed her metal limbs. "That is correct…"

For a moment, Arenafan noticed a small flash of gray behind Heather's eyes. She wondered what that was about. She had heard, of course, that when guardians were feeling particularly angry, their Smasher would show through for a moment. Since Arenafan hadn't seen Heather in years, she simply assumed that the Wolfon was dead. However, it just so happened that she was here, when Tabuu was most obsessed over looking for those guardians…

Could it be…?

"I can only ask, Heather," Arenafan said lightly, keeping an ever wary hand on her curved Gerudo blade. "How did you survive? I believe we left you for dead after I managed to stab you to a bloody pulp…"

Heather's eyes darkened and for a moment, Arenafan froze in anticipation of Black Heather breaking through the Wolfon's mantle of control. However, whether she was going to allow Blackther out or not, Heather managed to keep any form of anger she had within her from showing. Arenafan relaxed slightly when the Wolfon spoke, assured that Blackther won't be making an appearance soon.

"… I was dying…" Heater whispered, her voice husky and dark. From the tone of her voice, she wasn't exactly planning to attack any time soon. Though Arenafan normally would have simply slit her throat wide open by now, that would have been dishonorable. She relaxed her grip on her sword. "I remember how I simply laid there… watching as blood pooled all around me… I knew… no… I thought that I was to join my sister…"

Arenafan frowned. If Heather had lost that much blood, there was no way she could've survived. Though she was slightly stronger than most humans or Hylians, she was still a mortal being.

She should've died….

"But then…" there was a slight flash in Heather's eyes as her tone lifted just a little. "He saved me… Renegade, my master, saved me… it was the first time I met him... the first time I spoke to him… he took me to the village automail mechanic where these," she gestured to her metal limbs. "Were forged for me."

Arenafan frowned slightly. She had heard of the Renegade before, but it was only some small, obscure details. She knew that he had once been Heather's master and that he had died a while ago, but that was it.

"So, Miss Wolfon…" Arenafan whispered. "It all comes down to this, doesn't it…?"

Heather pursed her lips and nodded. "Indeed, Arenafan… we've begun something long ago… and today, it must be finished…"

Arenafan smirked again at her words. "It shall be an honor, Heather Wolfon, to cross blades with you again…"

Heather nodded. "Yes… and it shall be an honor for me to battle against you once again, Arenafan Woundvictor."

"I assure you, defeating me shall be no easy task," Arenafan crooned. "And once I claim my victory over you, I shall finally know what it is truly like to be the greatest swordswoman in all the known worlds…"

Arenafan watched something flicker behind Heather's eyes as she took in this information. "… At your ready, Arenafan…"

Her fingers curled once again around the hilt of her sword, Heather's doing the same as the women locked eyes. Arenafan's mouth curled into a snarl while Heather's steady gaze never wavered from her face. The Gerudo woman crouched slightly in a fighting stance, knowing that one miscalculated move could ruin her chances of finally defeating the ultimate opponent.

Arenafan knew that this was it. She and Heather both left that spar humiliated and angry years ago. She knew that they both had to be slightly irked, if not enraged, by the fact that neither was able to finish the other off. They had started something years ago…

And today, they were going to finish it.

With a cry loud enough to shake the earth itself, Arenafan leaped forward and brought her blade spinning down towards Heather's neck. At the same time, the Wolfon lifted her own blade just in time to intercept Arenafan's sword with a deafening clang!

Unfazed by the slight shock that traveled up her arm with the unexpected block, Arenafan immediately drove her sword towards the left side of Heather's chest, where she could almost hear the rapid beating of the Wolfon's heart. This time, Heather's metal right arm intercepted her blow, causing the Gerudo woman to leap back.

This time, Heather charged at her. In this battle, Arenafan knew, she had the advantage. She was swifter, much swifter than Heather was. She dodged the blow easily. Though Heather was possessive of powerful psychic abilities, she would never use them in this fight. The battle years ago had been nothing more than a battle of clashing swords.

So it had begun and so it would end.

Clang!

Their swords met once again as Heather went in for another blow. Arenafan swung her own blade around and attempted the famous Back Slice, a move that the legendary Hero of Twilight Link had used many years before. It took years to practice this and her main target was her enemy's weak point: the back of her left leg.

But then something went wrong. Arenafan aimed a slice at the back of Heather's leg, but then the Wolfon suddenly moved, causing the sword to merely graze her cape. Arenafan was caught by surprise for a moment, which allowed Heather to get in a single stabbed. The Gerudo woman only dodged just in time, so the blow only scraped her cheek. The cut wasn't deep, but blood flowed freely.

"HAH!" Arenafan shouted as she whipped around and slammed the hilt of her sword into Heather's stomach. The painful blow seemed to shake the Wolfon right to the bone, allowing Arenafan to smash the sharp blade of her sword right into Heather's left shoulder. She only barely missed her heart as the Wolfon had managed to move in a way that the deadly weapon missed it completely.

Arenafan felt more blood pouring down her shoulder as Heather's sword slammed into her right shoulder. Gritting her teeth through the searing pain, the Gerudo woman yanked her sword out of her foe and went in for the kill. Heather's pommel met her chest, sending her sprawling to the floor.

Then, she saw her chance. The blow Heather had given her had caused her to land facing a couple degrees from the sight of her left leg. Putting all the strength and energy she had left into this final blow, she slammed the tip of her sword into Heather's one weak point.

The Wolfon screamed. It was a scream filled with rage, pain, and all the woe she had bottled up for so long. As Arenafan yanked out her blade, the blood poured from the scarred flesh in torrents. Heather collapsed to her knees, still screaming as tears poured down her face. Her sword was stabbed hilt first into the ground.

Arenafan's adrenaline roared through her veins. This was it! She finally had her chance to take down her greatest foe once and for all. She started crawling, her eyes glowing, her lips curved into a triumphant smile. She slowly got to her knees and aimed her lightning fast blade right at Heather's heart.

BAM!

A shockwave ripped through the area, knocking Arenafan flying off her feet. As she landed on the ground, another shockwave sent her sprawling back. Her eyes widened in surprise. She was never told that Heather had this power!

She watched in rage and hate as the Wolfon slowly got to her feet. With each inch she climbed, Arenafan felt a strange prickling sensation on a part of her body. At first, she brushed it off as it caused her little pain.

But then…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Arenafan's body contorted on itself as she clutched her knees, her arms burning as though she was being slowly roasted alive on a red hot flame. It was as though a thousand razor sharp blades were skinning her alive, a million needles were stabbing themselves into her body. Her bones shrieked, her muscles howled, her nerves were ripped to shreds.

This was pain beyond pain, no sword nor poison in the world could ever dream of bringing this much pain to anyone's body. This was the pain that ever man feared before going to his grave, the kind of pain that even death would not bring any relief.

Before Arenafan's half closed eyes, she could see the Wolfon standing above her, orange eyes flashing in either pity or triumph. Arenafan screamed one more curse into the sky as the millions of needles stabbed their way deeper into her flesh, ripping her nervous system to shreds. She watched through all this pain as Heather closed her eyes.

And then, it happened. It was as if a bomb exploded inside her. She felt her insides shriek and rip at themselves as they burned alive. A searing white hot heat seemed to leek from her eyes and fingernails. Her screams reached breaking point, threatening to shatter the very fabric of the universe with their volume and pain.

She could handle this pain, she told herself. She was a Gerudo woman, the last one alive. She had been the strongest and the most resourceful, that's why she was alive. She was going to break out of this and destroy Heather once and for all. She was going to make the Wolfon feel all of the pain she felt now and more.

And then…

And then…

And then…

---

"C'mon you stupid horse…" he muttered, kicking its flanks. "Faster… FASTER, DAMMIT!"

"It won't do us any good if you abuse this thing!" the blonde girl sitting behind him shouted. Her soft voice was almost lost in the fierce roar of the flames behind them. Already the young man could feel the searing pain on the back of his neck, the one exposed part to the rush of the oncoming fire.

"C'mon you stupid horse… FASTER!"

They had left their base, their home, and their family behind. When the Primids and the Begnion Senators attacked, it was all too evident that they had to leave. The group of rebels that had been their family for so long were scattered across the city. Neither of them had any doubt that every single one of them had stayed to fight…

They fought… while they ran…

"I'm sorry… I should have listened to you… I should have stayed…"

Was it wrong for him to slightly relish the feel of her arms around his waist at this time? Probably, but who cared. In the middle of the battle, it was he that had saved her. She had been the only thing he had thought about right when the battle begun. He didn't care about beating up some Primids. He didn't care about taking revenge on the Senators of Begnion. Heck, he didn't care that he almost died saving her back there.

All that mattered was that she was alive.

The pounding of horse hooves on the earth behind them told the two that they were being pursued. It only took one arrow to sail past his ear for him to know that as long as they had to double up on the thin, not- very- healthy horse, they would be eventually overtaken and captured. He didn't give a damn what happened to him, but the girl…

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and rode on.

"No… no… please… no… not her… anyone but her… ASHUNERA DAMMIT, TAKE ME INSTEAD!"

A blast of fire, followed by more arrows soared overhead. Not only did they have Archers, but they had Mages as well! Despite the odds, he felt a tiny twinge of hope rise up in him. Archers were not nearly as deadly as Snipers or Marksmen. Mages were still inexperienced at magic and thus were nothing compared to the likes of Sages or Archsages. He felt reassurance bubble up within him at these thoughts.

And then…

"No… please…" a searing heat ran down his cheeks. "Please… please…"

Fire. Blood red fire. Fire that was unlike any seen in this world.

It was the fire that not even an Archsage would dare to cast. Legends had said that the spell was so powerful, one missed syllable could doom an entire city. But if the incantation was said right…

The fire was all over her. It merely caught onto the few strands of hair that escaped her Clerics' hood at first, but it spread. It consumed everything. Her hair, her arms, her face, her eyes…

All were being consumed by flames.

"Put it out… Ashunera, Goddess of Dawn, please…. PUT THE DAMN THING OUT!"

Her charred fingers fumbled clumsily for the Restore staff attached to the saddle. Though she was able to touch it, it did her no good.

She was too far gone.

Her flesh curled and shriveled. Her muscles were seared white hot. Every fluid in her body boiled to a horrible degree. And no matter how hard he tried, how desperately he tried to put her out or at least spread the flames onto him as well so he may fall with her…

It was all for naught.

"NO!" he reigned in his horse. He could see the faint lines of their pursuers fading away. Their task had been done.

One of the rebel leaders was dead.

"Cam…"

He felt pain. It was a stab through his heart. It shattered everything he had come to know and love, from his soul to his very mind. She meant the world to him and now…

"I'll get them… I'll kill them all…"

"Cam!"

She burnt to ashes in his arms. Her last words had been nothing more than a croaked whisper. No matter how hard he strained his ears, he could never make them out.

He would never forget that look in her beautiful green eyes…

"I'LL FUCKING HANG THEM BY THEIR TONGUES ON THE HIGHEST TOWER IN TELLIUS!"

"CAM!"

His eyes snapped open.

He wasn't kneeling alone in the middle of a barren field.

He was lying down in a bed in the Smash Base's makeshift infirmary.

There was no girl burning to death in front of him.

It was just a tired and concerned looking Xavier.

The healer yawned. "Geez Cam, keep it down… you woke up half the base…"

Cam took in deep gasps of air. "I… you… wha…?"

Xavier placed two fingers on Cam's wrist. "… Wow, you've got one Hell of a racing pulse… maybe those sedatives I gave you worked too well…" he started digging around in the cupboards nearby, muttering to himself as he opened and closed each of them in turn.

Cam was still confused and slightly groggy from being woken up so abruptly. "Sedatives…? Wha…?"

"Well, you wouldn't get enough sleep if they weren't given to you," Ike pointed out. "So, to give you the proper rest you needed, Xavier gave you a light dose… although…" the mercenary grimaced. "By the looks of things, he should've given you something more or less stronger."

Cam groaned. He was aching all over. Sweat poured down his face in torrents. His pulse was still racing like a jackrabbit. He hadn't had a nightmare this bad in years.

"… She must've meant a lot to you," Ike said quietly. Cam felt him squirm slightly as he struggled to find the right words. "I… your pain…"

Cam scowled. "Like Mia? Yeah… we've both lost something, Ike…" he lifted his hand to his face and touched his cheek, realizing for the first time that his scarf had been taken off. "But unlike you… I hid myself away from everything because of it…"

It had been years since Cam had last exposed his face to the world. Ever since that horrid day, he had worn the red scarf the girl used to keep tied around her waist as a symbol of his atonement of his failure. During those years, his face had not changed much. He still had the hard lines of battle all over his cheeks and the soft lines of emotion that had long been robbed from him. His eyes were still the same old dark brown they always were.

And yet at the same time, he had changed so much…

"You shouldn't hide your face because of… what happened, Cam…" Ike said quietly. "You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened to her."

Cam touched the red scarf sitting by his bedside. Even after all these years, there were still the lightest traces of her golden hair and sweet smelling perfume on the dusty old cloth. "I know… but I… I just can't help it… I-"

"Cam?" Xavier walked up holding a vial of some kind of purple liquid. "I've made some better sedatives this time… I hope… anyways, this should be the dreamless kind. Just… just try not to freak out if you wake up high or something tomorrow, okay?"

Cam managed a small smile, despite the ache he felt at the memories that haunted him. "Thanks Xavier…" he gulped down the purple liquid. It tasted unbearably sour in his mouth, but he managed to swallow it. "Uh… you should get back to bed…"

Xavier frowned. "You sure? Because I really don't mind staying up. If it means that I can help you recover and everything and-"

Cam held up a hand. "Xavier, I've kept you up long enough. Besides, what kind of healer would you be if you were too tired to… heal people in the final battle?" he was starting to feel groggy. It was a struggle just to keep his eyes open.

Xavier sighed. "You aren't gonna budge either way, are you?" without even waiting for Cam to answer, he left. The sound of a door closing quietly off to the side indicated that the healer had gone back to bed.

Cam felt himself sinking deeper into the warm embrace of the waiting darkness. "… What a… night…" he yawned.

"You know… you never told me what her name was…" Ike said quietly. It was evident that the mercenary would never get this information out of his guardian in the morning.

Cam racked his tired brains for the information. "Her name…?"

"The girl," Ike prompted gently. If there was any desperation in his voice, Cam was unable to tell. "The name of the girl in your… dream."

He struggled a bit, but found his voice. "Her name… right… her name… was… N-"

Everything went black.