Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry for not updating. More Hunger Games- now I'm finished with the series- but, more importantly, I got very sick out of nowhere. But I think I'm better now... perhaps... so without further ado, Chapter 8!
Chapter 6
30 Smashers remaining…
Wolf and Falco, still paralyzed, watched as the moment he appeared, the blue-haired creature fell to his knees in exhaustion, gasping frantically.
"Well, that was smart," one with blonde hair, the only female in the group, said. "That was so smart, Ace. Not only did you let the fox get away, you're exhausted. How long will it take you to get your power back?"
Glaring at her, Ace growled, "I told you not to call me that. And I'll be fine soon- plus, if that Fox keeps wondering around outside for too long, he'll get sick too."
The other male, with blue skin and blue hair slightly darker than Ace's, just shook his head. "Ace, M, you're both wrong. We have to show these people that we're serious- letting the fox escape and his fate be unknown is a bad idea. Ace, you, especially should know that underestimating people is a bad idea."
"Like you're one to talk!"
The trio started arguing, completely ignoring Falco and Wolf- they didn't notice that the two animals could now move.
When Wolf made a small gesture to indicate attacking them, Falco shook his head. When Ace and M began shouting at each other, he took the opportunity and said quietly, "We should call our arwings out here to cause a distraction. If we can get these guys to leave for a second, then we can hide and attack later. We can't fight them now."
Wolf made a low, disgusted noise but nodding grudgingly, not happy to just sit here and do nothing- he'd rather be kicking Ace's ass. But Falco was right; attacking these creatures again would be a huge mistake, especially seeing how well their first attempt had worked out.
He and Falco both called their arwings and ordered them to fly out to wherever the hell they were- they were outside somewhere, in a small clearing of trees that none of them recognized. Of course, that wasn't saying very much, since none of them had explored much of this world, before today.
Ike stood at the helm of the Halberd, his arms crossed, braced against the warm, powerful wind blowing in his face, dust particles landing in his dark hair.
With this sickness spreading, people had all tried to stick close to each other- no one wanted a repeat of what Ash had gone through; falling off the Halberd into oblivion. If Pikachu and Captain Falcon hadn't been there, Ash would probably be dead right now.
He, on the other hand, had decided to leave so he could be by himself. Firstly, because staying in a room full of people who may or may not be infected with a deadly, contagious illness wasn't wise… but also because he was worried about others besides himself.
Roy had fallen sick only a day after Ness and now, Ness was, in all likelihood, dying. Roy would be next. Then only he and Marth would be left from Akaneia. And at the rate people were getting sick, he and Marth wouldn't last much longer.
The obvious solution was that they had to spread out. The more people that got sick, the more rapidly whatever this was spread. However, if they separated, then it wouldn't matter that the disease was contagious. They would still have the danger of getting it from the environment, where it had originally come from, but at least they couldn't catch it from each other. But no one wanted to mention the obvious solution because of the fact that if someone got sick after the Smashers separated, they would pass out, all alone in the wilderness.
With a heavy sigh, Ike got down on one knee, peering over the edge of the ship and watching as the ground rushed past below. Down below could be those elemental warriors, the cause of the disease, the only predators in this unknown, unexplored world. They could be on the earth below, just waiting for a chance to strike.
Ike's paranoia was more than just aimless worrying, for at that moment, the ship shattered, a pillar of fire rocketing up through the middle. Ike whirled around and gave a shout of alarm, running forward even as the quick blast of flames disappeared, leaving the ship destroyed. Both halves began to fall towards the ground, picking up speed rapidly and breaking into smaller pieces as the force of gravity became too much for the ship. Ike gave a panicked shout, but nothing could be heard over the screaming air as the ship plummeted to the ground.
When the floor he was standing on broke apart and revealed that his section of the ship was falling straight on the edge of a lake, he didn't give it a second thought; Ike just dived off in the direction of the water. No sense in staying on the ship and either crashing to his death on dry land or getting trapped in the wreckage of the Halberd if it crashed in the lake.
Ike entered the frigid water with and automatically gasped as the cold surrounded him, breathing in water and only causing him to fight to make it the surface harder. He broke through the water just as part of the Halberd crashed into the lake, creating a powerful wave that pushed him to the shore.
Coughing violently and crawling forward on his hands and knees, Ike collapsed as soon as he was on dry land, coughing water out of his throat and trying to force himself to stop shaking. He heard a huge crash from some distance away and knew another part of the ship had landed, but it was so far away Ike had no reason to expect to ever find it.
Still coughing slightly, Ike rolled onto his back and pushed himself up onto his elbows, frowning at the remains of the Halberd floating in the water. He saw several blurry figures struggling to the surface and Ike tried to move forward to help them, but he was still too weak to jump back into the water. Coughing again, Ike dug his sword into the loose sand to force himself to his feet and stumbled towards the lake, trying to see who was in the ocean. It looked like Marth… maybe Squirtile… Dr. Mario…. and Roy.
Roy was still unconscious as he floated slowly towards the top of the lake, and Ike had to fight not to rush into the water and drag the limp body onto dry land- simple physics; Roy would float to the surface and then, when he was stronger, Ike could swim out and pull him to safety. If Ike went out there now, he most likely drown.
Squirtile made it to dry land first. The water pokemon practically flew out of the water, slowing down when he reached the sand. Squirtile crawled over to Ike and jumped into his lap, looking up at him with wide, soulful eyes.
"Hey, Squirtile," Ike said with a small, weak smile and patted his shell affectionately. "Hey, mind doing me a favor and going back into the water to get Roy?"
He didn't have to ask twice. At the mention of going back into the water, Squirtile was already out of Ike's arms and dashing for the lake's shore again as Dr. Mario and Marth finally broke the surface, neither one strong enough to swim very fast, but they were making progress.
Marth made it back first, then Dr. Mario, both soaking wet, coughing up water, and exhausted. "Hey, over here!" Ike called in a hoarse voice. He sat up a little straighter as Dr. Mario collapsed, Marth on his hands and knees beside him. Squirtile was swimming back to shore, carrying a limp Roy behind him. Ike moved slowly to the shore, still coughing slightly, so he could talk with Dr. Mario and Marth.
"Hey," he said, slipping into a sitting position when he was close enough to talk without yelling.
"Ike! What…. what just happened?" Marth asked with a wet cough, clutching his chest painfully and wincing slightly.
He shook his head helplessly. "I'm not sure. I think some of those elemental warriors headed towards the Smash Mansion did… something with fire, maybe? But we don't have much of a chance of finding the others now. The winds were pretty strong and the ship broke up into so many pieces…"
"Squirtile Squirtile!" the pokemon cried as he scampered onto dry land, Roy's cape tied around his neck like a child playing super hero. If Ike hadn't been so worried about Roy, he might have laughed- but not now.
"Come here, guy," he said, beckoning for Squirtile to come over. He untied the cape from the pokemon's neck with one hand and patted him appreciatively on the head with the other, Marth looking over Roy worriedly.
"He looks okay. Well… no worse than before. But I don't want to take any chances. Doc, get over here!" Marth called, glancing up at Dr. Mario, who was still collapsed on his back, breathing hard. "Get over here now!"
Samus coughed, the noise hidden by her suit from the elemental warriors she was tracking. She'd been following these four for over a day now, only stopping when they did to grab a quick, one hour nap. She was exhausted and couldn't help but wonder why they weren't.
"Wait!"
Her head jerked up as the one of the women in the group, with light green hair tied back in a ponytail, raising her hand to stop the group. "It's prediction. I've been paying attention to the other groups out there and I think the original three are up to something."
One of the other girls, with pointed ears, silver hair, and vibrant green eyes nodded vehemently. "I'm getting something too. I think… the other Smashers left the Mansion. They're spread out in about five groups now." The girl with green hair walked over and grasped the girl with silver hair's hands as her emerald eyes lit up. "Ace captured two of the Smashers. He's currently tracking another one."
"Mind Read," the girl with green hair added on, as if translating. "The other things won't be as clear, because she's simply predicting what's going to happen."
The other girl continued speaking in a low monotone. "Forest fires. They're going to be hunting for Smashers. All over forest. All over. All over. All ove-"
"Sev!" the other girl cried out, snapping her out of her trance. "Okay. We need to get over to that forest. Sev, can you track them?"
'Sev' shook her head to clear it, then nodded. "Yes. I know the general direction. If I transform, I'll head in the right direction until I catch their scent."
Samus stared in amazement as Sev fell onto all fours and growled, trembling violently before howling, then transformed into a wolf.
A wolf.
Thankfully, she didn't have time to stare in horror- she passed out right as Sev howled again, tripping over a rock in front of her and tumbling forward onto the path, unconscious. Her nose was bleeding.