Alright. Now that I've heard SSB4 is in the works, I'm finally going to get off my lazy ass and start writing this again.

Chapter 43:Seperation

The collapsed trio quickly scrambled out of sight as the primids turned their heads almost in unison to look in their direction. Biting back a violent swear, Wolf fumbled through his pocket for a moment before pulling out a small metal sphere and pressing a button on it with his thumb, causing a strange, colorless field to appear around them as a Primid walked around the corner, non-existant eyebrow raised. The Ice Climbers braced themselves, but Wolf silently held a hand in front of them, staring at the seemingly confused primid. The puppet-like creature looked back at it's comrades and shrugged, then walked off and out of their sight. The Ice Climbers blinked in confusion while Wolf let out a quiet sigh, putting the item away.

"Cloaking barrier,"he muttered when the kids gave him confused looks."These things have saved my hide more than once. I don't have a lot of them, so don't be careless."

"Okay,"they nodded.

"So, what do we do now?"Popo asked.

"We need to take them by surprise,"Wolf replied. He glanced up to see more than two dozen icicles hanging above their heads, then he looked back at them."Alright, I've got an idea."He fished through his pocket with his right hand before pulling out a small, gray, and oval sphere."This is a flash grenade. It's used for blinding a room full of opposing forces."

"What're you gonna do with it?"Nana asked.

"First off, look up there,"Wolf jabbed a thumb up, and the two tilted their heads back to see the icicles above them."Do you think you two can get those down without making too much noise?"They looked at each other, then looked at Wolf and nodded."Good. First, I'll throw this grenade around the corner to stun them, then you hit them with those things. Hard. Understood?"Nodding again, the two put their hammers down, then held each other's hands and closed their eyes. An icy blue nimbus appeared around the two, and Wolf visibly shuddered at a sudden drop in temperature, which was saying something, given where they were. The lupine looked up to see the icicles above them vibrating, then silently plucking themselves off the ceiling and slowly descend towards them, becoming parallel to the icy floor. The Ice Climbers opened their eyes, showing that they were glowing a steady blue color in the same shade as the nimbus around them.

"We're ready,"they said in perfect unison, but Wolf noticed something odd about it. True, they had a tendency to speak in unison more often than most, but this time, Wolf noted that even their tone had been exactly the same:confident, determined, yet with a noticeable calm and coolness; almost...authorative? Had Wolf not known any better, he would have thought only one, entirely different person had spoken...

The pilot shook his head, trying not to dwell on it."Okay, on three."He put his back to the wall, clutching the flash grenade in his claws, and the Ice Climbers got close to him, holding each other's hands tightly."One...two...THREE!"He hurled the grenade around the corner with a grunt. Only a second later, there was a blinding flash and multiple cries of alarm."Now!"The Ice Climbers leapt past the corner, their makeshift projectiles following them. Wolf watched in anticipation as the two shot the icicles forward in a powerful and devastating barrage. There were many sounds of crashing and slicing for little more than a second, and then it was silent. Wolf stared at his two young charges as their icy nimbus disappeared, and they turned their heads to look at him, smiling cheerfully. Raising an eyebrow, Wolf walked past the corner to inspect the damage, and was shocked to find that no primids remained, as well as seeing that every machine had at least one icy spear lodged in it.

"Holy freakin' cow..."he said, stunned.

"How'd we do, Wolf?"the kids asked.

"Did you kids even miss a single shot?"Wolf asked incredulously.

"I don't think so,"Nana said, looking around.

"I think some of those hit more than one,"Popo remarked."Does that give us bonus points?"Nana giggled at his joke, but Wolf just rubbed his head, not knowing what to think at the moment.

XXXX

Andrew's jaw dropped as he watched a replay of his soldiers and equipment all getting skewered with what appeared to be spears of ice. After a moment, he recomposed himself, his shock replacing itself with anger.

"Those kids are stronger than I gave them credit for..."he mused, rubbing his chin in thought."Maybe it's time to move on to phase two..."

XXXX

"23,"Wolf said, then he calmly activated his reflector to...well, reflect a large energy ball fired at him, destroying the scope primid who shot at him."Make that 24."

"I got 17!"Popo cheered, knocking another primid's lights out with his hammer.

"Me, too!"Nana chirped, paradoxically freezing a fire primid in a block of ice. Wolf frowned in thought as he blasted the head off of another primid, thinking about how easy this was starting to get. A little too easy, as cliche' as that sounded. He knew how Andrew liked to work; after all, as the monkey's former leader, how could he not?

Andrew preferred to give people a false sense of confidence before lulling them into a trap and hitting them hard. Back when the lupine was more viscious, (being with the Smashers had softened him up some, much to his chagrin) Wolf would always approved of such tactics, but now...the idea just didn't sit right with him anymore. Damn that Master Hand. Why did he have to bring him to that stupid mansion with those stupid bunch of heroes...and the villians he had gained a kinship with...and all the Brawls that had made him stronger than he dared to dream...

Not to mention the fact that...that he was starting respect Fox, and even that loud-mouth Falco, more. Thanks to spending his time at the Smash Mansion, he had developed an uneasy truce with the two, though that's not to say he always honored it. The three got into fights just as often as the other heroes and their enemies/rivals, if not moreso, and yet they still respected each other's skills, despite Wolf's constant attempts to remind himself why he hated that damn vulpine; and that fucking cave drawing sure as hell hadn't helped! He growled angrily to himself; it was so infuriating!

He was so caught up in his train of thought that he was barely snapped out of it by the Ice Climbers' cries for help.

"WOLF!"

The lupine started, quickly turning his head to see that his young allies were surrounded by at least two dozen primids, looking around fearfully.

"Get away from them!"Wolf snarled, charging forward with his claws bared. However, before he could reach the primids to eviscerate them, a laser blast landed near his feet, causing him to screech to a halt.

An irritating and familiar laugh filled his ears, followed by equally irritating and familiar voice."Why, Wolf, you actually care about those brats? You really have gone soft!"

"Andrew,"Wolf growled, turning his head to see the sentry drones from before, along with his former teammate's face on a screen.

"Hello, Wolf,"the primate chuckled."You're as angry as always. Ever consider doing yoga or something?"

"What the hell do you want now?"Wolf asked irritably, forgetting to censor himself.

"Simple:them,"Andrew replied, pointing at the Ice Climbers, who blinked.

"What?"Wolf asked, understandably confused."Why do you want those two?"

"Because they're crucial to our plan for this world,"Andrew said.

"And that plan is...?"Wolf purposely trailed off.

Andrew rolled his eyes."Like I'm really gonna tell you that? You'd ruin everything!"

"I'm going to ruin it, anyway,"Wolf shot back.

Andrew smirked."You can try..."

Suddenly, a hole opened up in the front of a robot, and a small sphere popped out of it, which landed at Wolf's feet. He looked down at it in surprise, realizing an instant too late what it was.

"Oh, fu-"

The sphere popped open, and a green gas hissed out, blasting Wolf in the face and causing him to stagger backwards, his head suddenly swimming. The pilot groaned as he staggered about drunkenly, the Ice Climbers cries unable to penetrate his ears in his daze. Finally, it became too much for the former criminal, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

XXXX

When Wolf woke up some time later, two things instantly came to mind. One:He was really damn cold. And two:He felt like he had a hangover; a really, really, really bad hangover. The pilot staggered to his feet, looking around in confusion as he rubbed his head and trying to recall what had happened. Eventually, he did.

"Oh, fuck,"he swore angrily, finding that he was alone."Damn it, damn it, DAMMIT!"His two associates (he couldn't really call them friends), as well as the primids and sentry drones, were nowhere to be found. Three different thoughts ran through his head faster than Sonic could run, one after another. For one thing, the other Smashers (i.e:the good guys) were gonna kill him for this! He had been given the responsibility of the Ice Climbers' safety, and he completely blew it! Secondly, and he couldn't believe he was thinking this, were they alright? Grr, if Andrew had hurt those two, he was going to tear that monkey in half! ...Jeez, he really was going soft. The final thought that ran through his mind was...he had no idea where to go. He could probably wander through these ice caves for days and he'd never get out. He realized with a sick feeling in his stomach that without those two kids, he was screwed. He was going to fail the mission, and because of Andrew, of all creatures!

The lupine gnashed his teeth in frustration, knowing nothing short of a miracle could help him now.

And then...

And then...

A miracle occured.

Wolf blinked, feeling a cool breeze wash over him. But, oddly enough, it didn't make him shiver. Rather, it made him feel more...at ease.

"Do you wish to save them?"a whispering voice asked, the sound being carried by the strange breeze to his ears.

Wolf looked around, wondering if the cold was finally getting to him."Who said that?"

"Do you wish to save them?"the voice repeated, still whispering.

"I-Yeah. Yeah, I want to save them,"he answered, not certain what to think anymore.

"Then follow me..."

Suddenly, an icy whirlwind of sorts formed right in front of Wolf, causing him to step back in surprise. After staring at the strange whirlwind for a moment, he realized there was actually someone in it! The figure was tall and humanoid, that much he could make out, but he couldn't see any real details of the strange specter. Without turning away from him, the mysterious entity began to float away, going further into the cave. Instantly realizing this was the one who had spoken to him, Wolf quickly gave chase, the being's whispers filling his ears and telling him some very interesting things...

XXXX

End of Chapter

Well, here's an interesting development...