I missed Sunday, so 2 chapters in a day!
One more chapter to follow.
Samus felt herself falling, but saw nothing around her but black. She saw no sign of light, but there was no darkness. Despite everything around her, she could still clearly see her arms in front of her without any help from her visors. The room was black, but not dark.
She could feel her body going down, but there was no wind going past her. She looked down and saw a platform quickly approaching her. Rather, she was approaching the platform. Samus braced herself for an abrupt landing, but suddenly felt her descent slow. She was gracefully lowered onto the platform until she felt her gravity return to her stance.
She looked where she stood. The platform was roughly the same length as Final Destination, but was an eerily translucent puddle of colors. There were shades of purple, green, and blue floating around melodiously, yet the platform was still solid ground. The platform itself reminded Samus of Tabuu. The edges seemed to simply fade away until they were black.
The entire room seemed to be in a stagnant state. Time was passing, but had no power.
"Welcome to my residence."
Samus looked around, but couldn't see Tabuu anywhere. His voice just came from out of the black. "Forgive me, but I can't feel the warmth." She scoffed.
"You've done well." Tabuu said.
"That couldn't sound more forced if you tried. You didn't care who got here, you just wanted someone, didn't you? I haven't done well with fighting, I just did well with finally getting here and ending you're boredom."
Tabuu slowly began to fade into visibility at the end of the stage opposite Samus. He still floated slightly off the ground and kept himself hunched over, using his arms to seemingly hug himself. For a being of near omnipotent power, he kept himself looking frail. "You're venture here is no longer important. The unchangeable fact remains that you have come. Surely our surroundings ring familiar?"
Samus looked around. "How could they? There's nothing here."
Tabuu slightly lowered his head, as if nodding. "Of course. Something has been omitted this time."
Then a faint red glow appeared above Samus. Above her was the counter reading: 1 fighter remaining. Her eyes grew in realization. "It was this room…"
"Yes. You are an anomaly I hadn't thought to prepare for." Tabuu droned. "My power greatly surpasses yours. This is indisputable. However, I am not all powerful as you all suspected. My abilities lie here in this room."
"What are you talking about?" Samus yelled.
"In order to give myself any ability in your Mansion, it had to be rerouted through this location. The energy here greatly surpasses anywhere else."
"Where are we?" She asked.
"In the space between spaces. This is Subspace." Tabuu began. "The moments between seconds, the space between atoms, the energy that never dies. These are what makeup Subspace. I made my Residence here long ago. As long as the energy here never dies, neither shall I."
"So why is this place important to the Mansion?"
"You are familiar with the process I use. It is similar to the Chozo technology of your Energy Tanks. I am able to store enough energy to use elsewhere, and when I become weakened, I may come here to restore what is lacking.
"I was able to transport you and the other combatants to Final Destination without use of the Transporters in the Mansion. Transporting beings other than myself is a rather taxing task. In order to ensure I could take you all the way there, I sent you here first. The split second you entered here allowed me to take power through you and send you the rest of the way."
"So every time somebody was sent into battle, they were brought here?" Samus asked.
"For an imperceptible time, yes."
"Imperceptible? How was I able to see it then?" Samus spat.
Tabuu did something Samus hadn't expected. He ever so slightly changed expression. His eyebrows scrunched down and a slight frown appeared on his face. Such a small trace of expression was incredibly unnerving coming from something so calm. "That is what I was referring to. You were an anomaly I hadn't prepared for. It lies in your Power Suit."
Samus looked down at herself, then back at Tabuu.
"Your Power Suit has its own Gravity Feature. When your environment changes, the Feature activates, allowing you to move as you would normally. Be it slowing down in water or being quickly sucked into space, your suit will allow you to move without change.
"While I was still, for the most part, able to overcome that, the Power Suit still resisted me. For the one second I left you here, it was able to slow down to a level which allowed you to see this place. The teleportation was too fast for the Gravity Feature to make a difference, but that one lag allowed you to see something you should not have."
Samus shook her head. "I have a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Yes. It seems you do." Tabuu said, rising into the air. "Because of that, and because you began talking about this place with the others I had no choice. You had to be the one to come here. Once you saw this room, you made the tournament pointless. So when I say well done, I am not commending your fighting nor your affect on me." Something began sprouting from Tabuu's back. "I am angrily referring your ability to CONSTANTLY UPSET THE STATUS QUO!"
Tabuu's voice boomed around the Subspace, echoing maliciously in Samus's head. With his final yell, he curled up even further, then burst out, spreading out all of his extremities and having a set of gigantic wings shooting out from his back.
"SAMUS ARAN." Tabuu's voice wasn't yelling but had such power that Samus couldn't help but begin to sweat. "YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED ON K-2L. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN DESTROYED ON THE BOTTLE SHIP. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED BY MOTHER BRAIN. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN THE BABY METROID. EVERYTHING YOU ENCOUNTER CHANGES WITH YOUR PRESENCE. EVEN I WAS SUSCEPTIBLE TO YOU. THIS ROOM IS SACRED GROUND. ONLY THOSE WORTHY SEE WHAT YOU HAVE YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE SEEN. WHILE IN THIS ROOM I HAVE NO WEAKNESS. I AM GOD."
Tabuu's eyes opened and revealed a bright, angry red light.
"AND YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD PEAK INTO THE HEAVENS."
Samus prepared her Arm Cannon.
"EVEN IF YOU WERE TO HAVE LOST IN ONE OF YOUR FIGHTS, I WOULD HAVE INTERVENED. I WANTED YOU HERE. I WANTED TO KILL YOU. YOU OFFER CHAOS IN A UNIVERSE THAT NEEDS ORDER. THAT NEEDS MY ORDER."
Samus charged towards Tabuu. She prepared her Charge Beam and jumped toward him.
With a scream, Tabuu spread out his whole body and sent a ring of energy right at the bounty hunter. Samus felt herself careen down and slide across the platform. So much energy coursed through her body, making her a slave to what was inside of her. She screamed in agony and she couldn't do anything but feel her powerless body lie there. After a few seconds, she felt herself regaining control. She slowly stood up and tried her hardest to keep herself from falling again.
"DO YOU NOW REALIZE WHAT I'M CAPABLE OF?" Tabuu said.
Samus couldn't offer a response. All she could to was pant, trying desperately to catch her breath. Tabuu then began to grow. Samus staggered back as he suddenly became enormous above her. He floated back and lowered himself until his head was level with platform. He opened his eyes again. Instead of a simple bright light, red beams becoming shooting from his eyes, and scanning the platform, Samus sidestepped one, but wasn't able to avoid the other. Samus screamed in agony as it scanned her legs. The beam nearly burned through her Power Suit.
Tabuu shrunk back to his original size, but appeared with what looked like the head of a dragon. Samus looked at it, trying to brace herself for what was to come. She didn't have the energy to dodge, she would have to try to endure. A beam of energy shot out of it, completely enveloping Samus. She simply stood there, no energy to even scream out the pain that was coursing through her.
The beam dissipated. Samus's Power Suit began to dematerialize. She fell to her knees causing her helmet to fall off her head, but prevented herself from falling completely.
"YOU HAVE LOST." Tabuu said. Samus kept breathing. "YOU STOOD NO CHANCE. YOU MUST HAVE REALIZED THIS."
She looked up at him.
"THIS IS WHAT MUST BE DONE. THIS IS GOD'S WILL."
Samus closed her eyes, feeling herself beginning to black out. Then she felt and hand on her shoulder, almost as if to stop her from falling forward. She felt another hand place itself beside the first. Then a third placed itself on her other shoulder. They felt so warm, making Samus open her eyes.
She turned around and saw her Mother, Father, and Adam all there. They were smiling down at her, reassuring her. Samus stood up and faced them. She knew they weren't really there, but the image of them being with her, being there for her, made a smile appear on her face. She felt tears forming in her eyes and trickling down. The three figures kept offering their warm smiles for her. Behind them she saw all of her friend's from the Mansion appear. She saw Peach, Zelda, Link, Pit, Ike, Popo, Nana, Red, and the others. They all smiled at her as well, filling her with encouragement and hope.
They all slowly began to fade away, prompting Samus to walk over and pick up her helmet.
"You know you're wrong, right?" She said, without turning to face Tabuu.
"MY WILL IS RIGHT." Tabuu promptly responded.
"No. If your will was right, I should have died long ago. You're wrong. I don't offer chaos. I just offer something you can't ever give or comprehend." Samus turned around and materialized her Power Suit. "I offer HOPE!"
Tabuu didn't respond.
"And it's not just me! Everybody gives hope! People give hope! We instill it in each other! We make each other worth while! You can't possibly fathom what that means!"
Tabuu watched as Samus slowly began glowing. It was the same radiance that appeared when a Smash Ball had been broken.
"All you can do is calculate! You're looking for order in a universe filled with life! Filled with things that don't follow a set of instructions! We don't stick to a set of rules, even if we're told to! We change because of and for EACH OTHER!"
Samus suddenly began taking in energy from around her. The emanating light began turning pure white and growing around her.
"I used to believe you! I used to believe I meant nothing but chaos! But you're wrong! And the people in my life helped show me that! The people I've always known and the people I meet! They mean the world to me! I've often wondered why I keep myself around! But I know now that it's for the hope the others give me! And the hope I give them!"
Tabuu grew his wings again.
"I finally found What's Been Missing! AND I WON'T LET YOU TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!"
Samus jumped back and aimed her Arm Cannon at Tabuu. Suddenly a huge beam shot from it. It far surpassed her Zero Laser in both size and power. She felt all of the energy from her friends, from the baby Metroid, from her hope surge through her and fire itself into her beam. The brilliant white light travelled straight towards Tabuu. He tried shooting another Power Ring at it, but the Beam broke through it. It encompassed Tabuu. His ordinarily melancholic voice made a blood curdling scream of pain. Samus saw a barrage of lights coming from where he was. He began spinning around and slowly began to dissolve in the pure power coming from Samus.
Samus began to scream, letting all of herself out with the beam. She kept firing until she felt herself drained of all energy.
The beam eventually died down. The little pink circle that was in Tabuu's chest was all that remained. It fell to the ground. Samus walked over to it and took off her helmet. After staring at it for a second, she lifted up her helmet and with all her remaining might, threw it down at the little device and shattered it.
Then Samus blacked out.