The True Master of the Smash Bros. part 10
"The Strength of a Smasher,"
The remaining Smashers quickly scurried off the Halberd and toward the rubble of the Smash Castle. They simply couldn't believe such a happening could happen. The tall towers lay toppled, two of them landing on the center piece of the actual castle. The castle's roof caved in and was falling apart from all angles. The fountain smashed to pieces, the garden grounds scorched, and crushed as if trampled on. To the members of Sonic Universe this made no sense. It's true that they were the most capable of handling the Original 12, but that did not mean they were the most skilled. There were plenty of Smashers here who could defend the castle in their absence, so what the heck could've happened. They decided to leave the 12 on the Halberd since that was one headache they would deal with later. The main portion of the castle was greatly crushed, but it was built so strong that it still stood. However, one wrong move could bring the whole thing down.
"We gotta figure out what happened here," Sonic said kicking a stone.
"Our best bet would be investigating the inner parts of the castle," Meta Knight suggested with his sword pointed.
"Why there?"
"I'm betting those two towers that fell was no mere coincidence, or accident,"
"I agree," Wolf stated staring over at the source of the fallen towers. He raised his hands to size up the portions that fell. "The towers fell from the same place at the same height, that's impossible unless they were slashed at the same time,"
"This doesn't make sense, what could've happened?" Pit said running a hand through his hair as he looks around.
"Let's look into the rubble and see if we can find anyone," Lucas suggested. Everyone decided that would be a good idea, but the procedure would be difficult.
"Who here can drill through rock?" Lucario asked.
"HEDGEHOGS ARE KNOWN AS A BURROWING SPECIES," R.O.B stated.
"Thank you R.O.B," Sonic said with a slight glare.
"But the building could come down if we dig in the wrong place. I'd hate to see the whole place come down around us," Zelda stated. Sonic studied the debris carefully trying to find a careful point of entry. Making his struggle obvious he turned his head toward R.O.B. The robot scanned the rubble to try and find the strongest point of entry.
"MIGHT I SUGGEST THERE," R.O.B pointed toward the very front of the rubble. Sonic nods then rushes forward with a spin attack as he starts digging through the debris and creating a makeshift path. They all simple waited for a moment until Sonic seemingly broke through.
"Alright I'm through, can anyone see if they can widen it a bit," Sonic called from the other side.
"Maybe one or two of my bombs might do it?" Toon Link suggested.
"Stand aside," Gannondorf stated as he stepped up. He gathered intense dark energy into his fist then with a vicious look in his eyes he punched forward. This one punch cleared out a straight path that didn't affect the integrity of the debris, but also made an opening big enough to fit even Bowser.
"Great work Gannon," Zelda complemented to which he just huffed at. Zelda simply took that as a thank you as she quickly hurries inside. Soon, the others follow her all desperate to see the extent of the damage. Once inside they see Sonic buried under a ton of rubble thanks to Gannondorf's lack of a warning. Lucas and Lucario moved to help him as the others simply looked around. Upon observing things, they all realized they were in one of the castle's many halls.
"I think…this hall lead to the common room," Snake muttered in thought.
"PULLING UP MAP OF CASTLE….VERIFYING LOCATION…THIS WOULD BE THE WEST WING, CLOSEST TO THE MAIN ENTRANCE,"
"Wow, you just never stop being handy do you," Pit said patting the robot on the head.
"I suggest we split off into groups and have a look around. First we'll check out the foyer all together, than we'll spread out from there since the foyer connects with just about everything in the castle. R.O.B, we need you to stay in the foyer since you're the only one who can successfully map out this place," Snake said.
"Alright, let's do that then, quickly, we must find survivors so we can find out what happened," Meta Knight stated leading the way.
"I thought you were leader of this team?" Wolf questioned looking at Sonic who just got out the rubble.
"Wait, what happened?" Sonic asked. Wolf simply rolls his eyes as he followed the rest of the group as they walked over to the foyer. Sonic looked to Lucario and Lucas for an explanation but both just shrugged as they took up the rear of the pack. The group walked through the mess and rubble of the remains of the castle. A giant hole was present in the ceiling leading upstairs, cracks in the walls, random pieces of rubble present, and the lack of visibility in the low light. The only bit of light they received was the flickering of the lights, and the peaks of light from the outside, though that didn't much help since it was still so cloudy outside. Bowser did the honor of leading the group by pushing giant pieces of rubble aside. They came to a considerably large piece of rubble blocking their path. Bowser did the honors of heaving the giant piece high enough for everyone to slip through. Once on the other side, Gannon and Snake helped take some of the weight off Bowser so he could slip through as well. Sonic felt a small part of him fill up with pride at the effort of the group working together.
Lucas would've been crushed by a random falling piece of rubble had Wolf not pushed the boy aside and got himself out of the way. Lucas vehemently thanked the pilot who just waved it off as nothing. They noticed one of the towers blocking their path, and since even Bowser was not strong enough to lift the whole thing long enough for everyone to get under it, they voted to through it. Sonic did the honors of puncturing through the stone then burst out the other wall. The hole was widened to accommodate everyone as they helped each other through. Toon did the honors of pulling Lucas, the last one to enter into the tower.
"The damage here is really incredible…" Lucas stated sadly.
"Try, catastrophic, or devastating…" Zelda said quietly.
"There's no use staring at this and feeling sad, only thing we can do is find survivors," Snake stated coldly.
"He's right," Wolf said in agreement.
"You'll have to excuse us since we're not numb enough to not feel the sting of all this," Pit stated sharply.
"Not used to losing are we?"
"Not when the stakes are this high!" Pit exclaimed gesturing to the destruction around them.
"Now, now, let's try and calm down," Meta Knight intervened with a cool and leveled voice. "Some of us must understand that some are not used to losing something that's important to us, and at the same time, we can't simply break down at every piece of rubble we see,"
"You okay kiddo?" Sonic questioned Lucas as he noted the boy's reclusive behavior.
"Yeah…not my first time seeing my home ruined…" Lucas stated rather distantly. Snake and Wolf felt a pang of pity for the boy to experience something like that at his age.
"I'm…I'm sure we'll find someone eventually and they can explain what happened," Snake said trying to sound positive, if not just for the only two kids that were there.
"All this babble is pointless," Gannondorf stated. "Seeing the extent of this damage it's easy to say that whatever is here is buried too deep. I would suggest we simply knock away the extra debris and investigate that way, but the weak hearted may not agree,"
"Yeah, or the intelligent," Snake retorted. "This here is a crime scene, it's best to leave everything the way it was when it happened, that way we can look for clues and find things the perp might have missed,"
"Your secret agent training?" Pit inquired.
"Nah, more like NCIS rubbing off on me,"
"Whatever works I guess," Sonic said as his green eyes looked around. He had an odd feeling all of a sudden, and judging by how on edge everyone suddenly got he wasn't the only one. "I'm guessing I'm not the only who just got uncomfortable, right?" His question was answered with unanimous silence. "Lucario?"
"Right," Lucario responded knowing what was needed of him. He closed his eyes and raised his aura senses. He sensed the aura of his group clear as day, but something was definitely around them. The energy they gave off was odd, and it gave a very eerie and uncomfortable feeling. Everyone stood back to back creating a circle around themselves to prevent being snuck up on. They waited, and waited, but nothing happened. Then suddenly all at once pieces of rubble exploded as if something, or someone, was punching through. These figures appeared before them, five in all.
One was in a ninja outfit, decked a normal stereotypical ninja gi. However, this ninja was glowing a very odd color of greenish, redish, and purple colors. The same could be said for the other figures, but they all were different. One of them a swordsman, with a long broad sword, a mess of spiky hair that spat in every which direction, a one sleeve jacket, with jeans, and boots. The other figure had the appearance of an assassin, with his hood covering half his face, a mess of weapons on his person, and hidden blade under his wrist. Another of the figures looked to be a kid, about maybe Lucas and Toon Link's age, with a baseball cap similar to Ness's a short sleeve shirt, shorts, and shoes. And lastly, a person who looked female was floating above the ground with her fingers fixed in some sort of position as if ready to cast a spell. She has a long scarf that flowed all the way to her waist, a skin tight outfit with six buttons on her torso, three to each side, female heel boots, and her hair was in a bun as she wore a mask over her eyes.
"Who the heck are you guys?" Sonic questioned, to which he got no response.
"Who cares, destroyed or not, this is still our house, and their trespassing," Bowser growled.
"Fair enough reason to beat them silly," Meta Knight said wittingly as he unsheathed Galaxia. Since there are five targets, and twelve Smashers, naturally they had to double up. Meta Knight, Toon Link, and Pit took the swordsman. Sheik, Sonic, and Lucario were on the ninja. Snake, Wolf, and R.O.B took on the assassin. Lucas took on the kid with back up from Bowser, which left the sorceress to Gannondorf.
All five mysterious fighters got ready as they took on their opponents head on and without resent. Sheik charged in with a hook kick toward the ninja, who dodged with ease by leaning his torso out of the way. "Who are you?" she demanded. However, her response was a few shuriken being launched at her. She pulled out the dagger on her back then quickly deflected each one accordingly.
"Well that was rude," Sonic commented as he charged in with a sliding tackle that tripped the ninja up. Lucario landed a powerful blow with a well delivered double kick into the ninja's back.
"I don't think we'll get a lot of talk out of them," Wolf growled as he jerked his torso to the side to avoid a knife being thrown at him. Wolf quickly whipped out his gun to deflect the next blade with his bayonet then fired a plasma shot at the assassin. The person moved swiftly out of the way, but inadvertently getting in R.O.B's path who was charging forward with rocket boosters blazing. The assassin skillfully stepped to the side as he placed his hands on R.O.B and deflected him into another direction i.e. toward Snake. Snake was charging forward but upon seeing the robot come at him, performed a tuck and roll under it and getting closer to the assassin. Snake performed a fast leg sweep, but the assassin was light on his feet enough to jump over it.
"He's good…" Snake muttered. The assassin sharply turned around with a knife in his hand to potential stab Wolf in the chest, however the pilot was quicker as he caught his wrist. Wolf gave a sharp twist then rammed his knee into the assassin's gut.
"But not good enough," Wolf finished slamming his elbow into the man's head.
"Hmmm…." Meta Knight mused as he, Toon, and Pit exchanged blows with the swordsman. He noticed that this person was very well trained. He clearly outmatched Pit and Toon, but not by that much. He also doesn't seem a very flexible fighter. His swordplay is quite good, but beyond that he shows no other abilities. He's either holding back, or this is all he can do. However, judging from the way swings, and the desperate attempts to separate them it seemed his second thought was more likely. Toon rolled around to his backside to deliver an upward slash. The man didn't see it coming as he showed signs of pain. Pit pummeled the fellow with a taste of his angel ring as he spins his bow in one hand. With the opponent properly peppered, Meta Knight decided he would deliver the final blow. He leaped out at the swordsman who was barely able to raise his swords as Meta Knight's volley of powerful sword swings weakened him.
"These guys…aren't that tough," Lucas said surprised as he sent a roundhouse into the boy's cheek. Lucas pulled back his hands then pushed them out to unleash a PK Fire that knocked the creature away and toward Bowser. Bowser brought his fist down in hammer swinging motion as he slammed the boy's face into the concrete.
"Not tough?" Bowser huffed. "These guys are straight up wimps, they couldn't have been what trashed the castle,"
"I am inclined to agree," Gannodorf said back handing a shard of ice that was launched at him by the sorceress. The sorceress conjured up a blade and dived toward Gannondorf with the weapon pointed forward. Gannondorf caught the blade in his hand then shattered it in his grip and he responded by grabbing her face and sent a force fed amount of his tainted magic into her face. This made her collapse to the ground in a heap. "Quite pathetic honestly,"
"Then what's the point of this fight then?" Pit wondered aloud as he notched an arrow and let it fly. He directed the arrow so it swerved around his teammates and nailed their opposition directly in the chest.
"Good question," Sonic agreed as he pulled the ninja's mask over his eyes to allow Sheik a chance to deck him with a hook kick. While in the air Lucario slammed the ninja into the ground and then placed his paw in the ninja face as aura gathered around it. He closed his eyes as he tried to read his aura.
"This person, doesn't even have a consciousness, and his aura is so strange…similar to-," Lucario was cut off as suddenly a bunch of creatures suddenly surround the group. The mysterious figures suddenly knocked the smashers to the side as they made way for the other creatures. "Primids!"
"Now this makes more sense," Sonic said regaining his composure as the Primids began moving toward them. The group knew that a full scale battle in such a hazardous area would be their own undoing.
"We never found any survivors!" Sheik exclaimed.
"Then leave it to me," Lucario stated. "Though they may be trophies at this point I should be able to still detect their auras since they are still technically alive,"
"Go for it Lu, we'll keep these guys busy," Sonic said giving his friend a thumbs up. Lucario nods then forces his way out the crowd, with the provided cover from the others. Bowser sunk his claws into Primid after Primid launching shadowbugs everywhich direction.
"I guess we gotta save Game again," Pit said slashing away and let his blades fly but wary of his allies. Meta Knight was in complete stride with the angel to have greater effect on the growing number of enemies. Pit quickly ducked down to perform a leg sweep on a primid behind him then sharply turned to shoot an arrow in their face thus dispelling as they continued fighting.
"Why do we have to save Game?" Sonic asked vaulting over a thick crowd that tried to overtake him.
"Mr. Game & Watch is the source of these Shadowbugs. They can also be created endlessly from his body to take just about any shape. If these things are back then that must mean Game & Watch is in trouble again. Of course that may or may not be the case since his grip on good and evil is pretty loose," Snake exclaimed with an elbow throw into another Primid's face.
"Well these guys are pretty tiresome at the very least," Sonic muttered annoyed as he side stepped a charged up hook punch. Sonic turned his head completely ignoring the Primid that just swung at him to Lucas. Lucas was slowly getting overrun since he was seen as the weakest link. Sonic quickly dusted off his opponents with a quick spin dash. "You alright buddy?"
"These guys won't let up and this place is starting to come down," Lucas stated winded. To illustrate his point he pointed to where a crowd of Primids were thrown against walls disrupting the integrity of the rubble. This battle, although they were winning the actual fight, it invetible would not matter if the whole place came down on them. If they were trophified then no one would be able to save anyone.
"Team Blast?" Sonic asked. Lucas smiled up at the hedgehog then nods. Sonic curled up into a ball then launched himself forward. Sonic began running around Lucas who threw forward numerous PK Fires thus turning Sonic into a flaming spinning fireball. Lucas charged his bat with electrical energy then took a batter stance. Sonic launched himself at Lucas who winded up then swung with all his might. The cracking sound that followed was sharp it sounded like lightning. Sonic was launched through the crowd charged with flames and lightning. Sonic was an unstoppable force that forced his way out of the rubble entirely.
"Surprise exit!" Pit called as he waved his arm toward the exit. Team Sonic Universe didn't hesitate to head toward the exit. Pit's sharp eyes scanned the rubble to find a crucial point of it so if that one portion was disturbed the whole thing. Upon spotting this support beam he notched an arrow then let it fly. In one swift motion the stationary area caved in on the Primids as the angel backed off. It turned out they were much higher up then he anticipated. Upon getting outside he noticed that the Primids inside were only but a warm up, now different variations were outside. Some with swords, boomerangs, and scopes with each more dangerous than the last.
"This is just great…" he groaned.
The eleven heroes didn't stop their battle though. A few tried to even commandeer the Halberd, but none of them were having that. The last thing they needed was the Original 12 added to the insanity, be they on their side or not. Zelda casts Nayru's Love to deflect oncoming objects or energy attacks back at their senders all at one time, which took out a considerable amount of the crowd. Snake struck with a flat palm strike into a Primids stomach launching it into a crowd. Unbeknownst to them at the time he had stuck C4 on it's chest. Of course it knew after the explosion that followed the crowd knew of the trick. Toon slashed a Primid horizontally as Lucas behind him held his hand out to shoot out a burst of flames from his palm. Bowser used his monstrous strength to swing his arms around to knock Primids in random directions. It was wise to stay out of both his way and Gannon's for fear they may strike with indifference. Wolf seemed more on the level seeing as he wasn't monstrously powerful so he had to rely on others a bit. Despite his selfish nature he could operate well on a team.
"Guys!" Sonic called with spinning like a wheel and bouncing off a Boomerang Primid. His call went ignored. "Hey guys, seriously-," though he said that everyone continued fighting as if he didn't say anything. "This isn't working!" he finally exclaimed. As he balanced on a Primid's head while dodging a jab of a laser sword, and swing his leg in a horizontal kick to knock away a Boomerang Primid who got bold to try and attack from above.
Though the heroes were doing well in holding their own, the fight was literally pointless, and if they kept pushing their luck they would be over run. The enemies never stop coming and the source was still unknown. Suddenly, Meta Knight unfolds his wings as he shoots up to the sky and then lands on the Halberd. This signaled that he was gonna get their ride ready. Slowly but surely the heroes were beginning to feel all the fighting started to exhaust them. They never fully recovered from the battle with the Originals, and though the difficult level of their opponents was vastly different, the numbers were also vastly different. Sonic revs his feet in a wheel as he runs around rapidly spraying dirt every which direction. Lucas charged up a PK Fire and launched a stream of flames from his palm. Zelda gained an idea witnessing this. She grabbed Lucas attention then gestured her idea. Lucas surprised he would be involved with two Team Blast in one day agreed. Lucas concentrated his strongest PK Fire yet in his palms as the flames grew bigger and bigger. He was taught not to use so much power in the move less he exhaust himself, but he needed a good burst to complement Zelda's Din's Fire. Zelda launched her fireball at Lucas and he caught it in his gathering pot of flames. Bowser suddenly grabbed the boy by the scruff of his shirt. Lucas was so shocked he almost dropped the flaming inferno in his palms.
"Throw it at me," He said simply as he threw the boy high in the air. Lucas flustered, but followed Bowser's orders. Bowser opened his mouth to catch the flaming ball. Bowser swished the fiery meatball in his mouth. When Bowser opened his mouth again a rush of powerful gigantic flames shout out toward the Primids. They were all fried in an instant, even the shadowbugs were burned to a crisp. While the fire was spreading the Halberd began hovering in the air.
"Our ride is ready guys!" Sonic called.
"And the others?" Zelda questioned.
"Present and accounted for," came a telepathic reply. Everyone turned to see Lucario with the remaining smashers rushing out the remains of the castle as they knocked Primid after Primid out of their way.
"Then let's make like Peach's cookies and vanish!" he called leading the way back toward the Halberd. Peach giggled at Sonic's compliment as they all followed suit. Sonic got to the base a walkway jetted out the side of the ship. Sonic quickly gestured for everyone to quickly rush in as fast as they could since the Primids were not letting up. "Geez, they're worst then girl scouts,"
"Least we get cookies from them," Lucario stated as he sharply turned to throw an Aura Sphere then rushed inside.
"Take off Meta Knight we're on!" Sonic called. Following after this Meta Knight obliged to the statement as the Halberd began its accent. Of course, Sonic wasn't actually on yet, but the Primids were simply too close for his liking. Once the ship was out of reach Sonic felt better that everyone was safe. The Halberd's wings shot out the sides, so Sonic leaped up to the lower wing and the top wing before the craft took off at top speed. Sonic was the least bit detoured by the wind as they shot off at high speeds. Sonic turned to watch as the ruins of Smash Castle vanished in the distance.
Upon the Halberd vanishing in the distance the Primids immediately turn into statues, standing stock still. Slowly the pieces of the Castle started to float into the air with a strange energy around them. The five figures from before all stood as they watched the Halberd vanish out of sight.
"Those guys were pretty strong…" the child commented.
"Powerful warriors, but we were forced to only fight at a quarter of our strength since this isn't our realm," the swordsman commented.
"I don't even know if the loss of so many Shadowbugs was worth all this," the ninja commented.
"Remember, they can be infinitely produced, even though the subject is a bit more unwilling this time around," the sorceress stated. "Come, the retaking of the universe begins anew," she led them away toward the ruined Caslte as it began to change and alter. "We must prepare for Master Omni's return,"
A/N: Sorry this is so late. I apologize for the lack of updates in general too. Just been so busy, and tired juggling sports and school is hard! Anyway, this shows the more deeper parts of this story. Also, I could use names for those last five guys there. So if anyone has an idea let me know, cause I'm drawing a blank. Anyway thanks for reading.