Subspace 2
The Halberd bounced, rocking through the asteroids of Subspace. "Come on, Kirby," King Dedede said. "I thought you said this was your Halberd?"
"Meta-Knight was the one who said that," Kirby said. "It's hard to fly this thing steady when there's so many asteroids."
The ship jolted, a thundering crack smashing into the back of it. "You could at least avoid driving into asteroids we've already passed," King Dedede said.
Captain Falcon looked at the radar screen. "I don't think that was an asteroid."
Cannonballs fired out of the crocodile's mouth of the fortress. The only thing protecting the Halberd was the same asteroids that were such a nuisance to manoeuvre around. The back of the Halberd exploded as a cannonball smashed it open. The Smashers inside screamed as they grabbed hold of what parts of the ship they could. King Dedede went tumbling like a bowling ball. "Argh! Help me!"
Bandana Dee jumped from the wall he was holding, aiding Dedede in no way whatsoever as he tumbled after him into outer space.
King laughed, aiming his cannon at the inside of the Halberd. Footsteps pattered behind him, arrogant footsteps that were not even trying to sneak up on him. Link stood there, the master sword hanging low in his hand. snarled as he stared him down. "Ganondorf warned me about you."
"I knew he would," Link said. "It's the one he didn't warn you about you should worry about."
"Huh?"
Shulk poked the Monado through his bloated belly. fell down, defeated.
"We should take control of this fortress," Link said. "Do you think you can fly this thing?"
"I guess," Shulk replied. "Where are we flying to?"
"The big boss dwells here in Subspace. Somewhere he'll hide amongst the sta…"
King leapt up and sliced Shulk across the face. He darted across the room, smacking his head against the wall and becoming a trophy. 's eyes bulged with anger as he stared down at Link. "It is the one who is dead that you should worry about." He raised his claw as he shadowed over Link like the behemoth he was. The fortress turned sideways, and was sucked out of a hole into Subspace.
Link went falling after him, exiting the wound a giant asteroid had blown into the vessel. He pulled out his paraglider, trying to drift his way towards the Halberd. Almost there. 's crown flew through space and cracked him on the head. He let go of his paraglider, catching the edge of the Halberd by his fingertips.
Samus reached out her plasma whip. "Here. Hold this."
"Yah!" Link yelled as an electric current surged through his body. Samus whipped her weapon back, sending him through the air. She held out a hand and caught him by his.
Kirby turned to Captain Falcon. "Take control of the ship." Captain Falcon obliged, grabbing the steering wheel as Kirby flew towards the hole in the back of the Halberd. Kirby puffed in one almighty breath, beckoning forward an asteroid that wedged the hole in the back of the Halberd shut.
"You're-a both cowards. You made me run away!"
"We saved your behind," Falco said. "A thank you would be nice."
"Thank you?" Mario shouted. "For what? Letting evil win?"
"We didn't let it win," Fox said. "We tried. We just gave up."
"Pika, Pika!"
Falco pulled out his gun. "Better not to take any chances."
"What's-a wrong with you?" Mario shouted.
"We don't know what this creature is. Better to get rid of it before we find out too late."
"No!" Mario set Falco ablaze with a fireball. The bird screamed, cooking beneath the flames as the stench of meat rose through the air.
"What did you do that for?" Fox yelled.
"He was-a going to kill that creature."
"The only one who killed anyone is you."
"Pika." Pikachu smiled, scratching his ear with his leg.
Mario and Fox's tension died down. Falco burned into a trophy. Fox shook his head. "We better make it through this."
"Pika." Pikachu rushed towards the silver lights glinting ahead on the cosmic road. He weaved in and out of trophies lying on the ground.
Mario's eyes widened. "I know him! That's Waluigi! Wait, I know all of these people." A line of trophies of those who regularly visited the Mushroom Kingdom led to two cages.
The creatures inside sat up when they saw Mario approach. "Yoshi!" The dinosaur looked somewhat haggard.
"What has-a happened?"
Donkey Kong rattled the cage. "We were taken from my island by a giant hand. Then he handed us over to a crazy giant hand. He's been playing with us one by one, beating our bodies down until we become trophies, then reviving us only to fulfil his sick fantasies." Donkey Kong rattled the cage some more. "You've got to get us out of here."
"We should move on before whoever locked these up comes back," Fox said.
"Go then," Mario said. "You go all by yourself, ignoring every danger in Subspace. One day, you might be the only one left standing against all the enemies, and you'll have no friends to help you because you were not there to help them survive."
"WAHAHAHA!" Crazy Hand emerged from the distant space.
Fox grunted. "Fine. I'll stay and fight. But if I die here I'll be very annoyed."
Crazy Hand floated in the air, constantly wiggling his fingers. He dragged them across, ripping a hole in space and creating a blackhole. Mario, Pikachu and Fox lifted off the ground, yelling as they were sucked towards the hole. Just before they were swept into the eye of the hole, space recovered. A Smash Ball appeared from where the blackhole had been.
Down below, Crazy Hand was twitching, buried beneath the wreckage of the Halberd. Kirby devoured both cages that held Yoshi and Donkey Kong in place. He spat them out, and the two animals were free.
"Hey, my friend," Sonic said, stroking Yoshi on the head. "Are you alright?" Samus laughed as Yoshi nuzzled his head on Sonic.
"I can be good with animals too," Captain Falcon muttered under his breath. "Hey, my friend," he said, stroking Donkey Kong's head. The ape's eyes popped out of their sockets. "Are you alright?" Donkey Kong punched him in the face, sending him flying.
Crazy Hand burst forth from beneath the Halberd. "WAHAHAHA!" He shot lasers from each of his fingers, aiming them around the ground.
Sonic weaved in and out of the beams, pulling each fighter to safety. He wagged his finger. "You're too slow."
"Stupid hedgehog," Captain Falcon said, still clambering to his feet after the mighty smack from Donkey Kong. Crazy Hand caught Sonic in his arrogance, pushing his weight down upon him. Falcon instinctively dashed forward, placing himself beneath Crazy Hand and trying to aid Sonic in lifting him up.
"Hold him still," Samus shouted. She whipped the stray Smash Ball open and radiated in fluorescent colours. She let loose on Crazy Hand, sparking with electrical attacks that even Falcon and Sonic could never be quick enough to avoid. Crazy Hand fell to the ground, letting roll the two trophies that were now Captain Falcon and Sonic. Samus emerged back in her suit. Link, Kirby, Fox, Mario, Pikachu, Donkey Kong and Yoshi each jumped on Crazy Hand, striking him and making him stay down for good.
Samus put her hand on Captain Falcon's heart, but he would not revive. "Too late for that," Link said, looking up at the blue storm in the distance, the lights reflecting in his eyes. "There are no more second chances. Their future now relies on us. Our fate will soon be decided."
Ganondorf dismounted Ridley as they came to the edge of the path in space. He hanged back and narrowed his eyes at Ridley, letting him move ahead of him. He held his arm up to strike, when a memory flashed across his eyes. Suddenly, Ridley was Bowser walking along. Shockwaves ran through Ganondorf. He had been here before. He lifted his eyes to see a limp Master Hand held in place by golden chains that led to fiery red and blue lights above. The thing in the space let go of the chains and let Master Hand drop to the ground. Then the thing said, "You've seen this before, haven't you?"
Ridley roared in Ganondorf's face and bolted through him like a bullet.
Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Samus, Kirby, Pikachu and Fox watched as Ridley ripped Ganondorf's throat out. They turned to see the blue one in the sky, and it wasn't just Link whose memory was suddenly riddled with awful images. The blue one above spread out his wings. "Finally, you all remember."
"It is you," Link said, he like everybody else remembering the original Subspace invasion, remembering all the suffering that had been inflicted upon the world.
"Yes, it is I. Tabuu." He swept out his wings, blasting out three red bubbles. The Smashers fell to the ground upon impact. He turned himself into a sharp arrow and shot forward, narrowly avoiding the Smashers. As he floated back in place, Fox jetted behind him, charging himself in flames and firing up and colliding with Tabuu. Tabuu shocked him with an array of volatile purple sparks, and Fox turned into a trophy.
"Yoshi!" The dinosaur rolled himself up into an egg, bouncing along the ground and jumping above Tabuu. He broke out his egg, swivelled himself round and pounded Tabuu's head with a Yoshi Bomb. Tabuu scowled as he felt the back of his neck. He swivelled a blade in his hands and shot it straight through Yoshi, turning him into a trophy.
He turned his attention to the other Smashers, shooting out a fast, razor sharp whip dazzling with sparks. Samus and Link each shot out their plasma whip and hookshot, fighting against Tabuu as he forced forward. Donkey Kong launched Mario above Tabuu's head who scourged him with fireball after fireball. Donkey Kong himself wound up a punch whilst Pikachu looked to the heavens and struck Tabuu with a shocking dose of electricity. Tabuu lost control of his whip. Donkey Kong jumped forward, punching Tabuu right in the gut. Kirby floated above Tabuu, spotting dead Master Hand as he did so. He used all his energy to transform into the shape of Master Hand and crashed down on Tabuu's head with a mighty punch.
Tabuu's blue body flashed with fluorescent colours of yellow and green. Ridley screamed as he was sucked towards him, a darkness that was like the Master Fortress shredding his scales until his was but a black dragon head. Tabuu cast the dragon head beneath him and fired a blinding beam from its mouth that shot straight through Donkey Kong and Samus, leaving no trace of either, nor Ridley. Tabuu disappeared for a moment, only to reappear as a giant head. Link, Kirby, Pikachu and Mario each surrounded themselves in a protective bubble, expecting laser beams to soon come firing out of Tabuu's eyes. Instead, his mouth disintegrated, his nose went up in flames, his forehead went down in a frenzy of volatile sparks. All that was left was his eyes, then one eye, which was plunged behind a black hole and replaced by a giant, maddened, red veined eye that threatened to burn a hole through them all.
"How fitting. My four favourite toys will be the last ones to fall. It is almost like it is fate."
"What are you?" Link said.
"I am Master Eye. I have watched over your world for almost two decades. For nineteen years, you have all given me great joy, playing with your souls." He blinked, ripping open a hole in the space and revealing the massive background of trophies floating behind him. The Smashers gasped at the colossal collection of bodies, many friends they had only recently departed with. In fact, Samus, Donkey Kong, Yoshi and Fox all stood at the centre of the collection. "But I have decided I have grown bored with your lives. Now, I will destroy your world and replace you with new toys. Or should I say, new tools to keep everybody in line." He cast an image in his pupil of a world populated by Miis governed by a hierarchy of Wii Leaders, their lives dictated by Wii Bosses, their brief moment of rest spent being criticised by Wii Trainers. "It is time your world grew up," the Master Eye said. "I have known you all for so long. It would be a shame to throw you four away like trash, just like I have done with the rest of you. How about you go out on an intimate note, feeling the love of my stare as I show you all what hurts you the most?"
The four's eyes blazed in fire as Master Eye stared into the centre of their souls. Pikachu screamed in agony, burning himself in his own electric waves as he was returned to the laboratory where he was experimented on and tortured. Link quickly turned into a madman as he was swept through the same three day cycle inside his head which always ended with the moon crash landing on him no matter what he did. Kirby was sucked into the nightmare he had when he had eaten a deadly, infected monster and all the sickness that ran through his body never ending. Perhaps most painful of all, Mario was brought back to the dark period of his life he tried to keep secret, when he had been a Dr performing false medical practices on Goombas he had captured for the benefit of his own health. Nobody but he and Master Eye knew this, but his experiments on them had been how he had found out so many secrets of the Mushroom Kingdom, like how Fire Flowers and mushrooms worked, and how he gained the formula to ensure he beat Bowser every time. Slowly, a layer of stone was fossilising over the four Smashers.
Somebody moved in beside the fighters. Master Eye flicked his view to the side. "You? I forgot about you. Not to worry. You'll face the same fate as everybody else." But as Master Eye looked over the motorbike and into the pits of its owner, he found there was nothing inside his soul that tormented him. Wario turned around and farted.
The Smashers gasped on the ground. Master Eye cried a waterfall of tears as his surface began to glaze over with pink. Four Smash Balls fell out of his iris. Mario, Link, Pikachu and Kirby each smashed one up, radiating in a luminous glow. "Pikachu!" Pikachu turned into a giant electric bolt, storming into Master Eye and sizzling him with a blazing current that sent shock waves through the veins of his eye.
Kirby pulled out the Ultra Sword, whipping up a frenzy as he sliced the surface of the eye, leaving behind dizzying rainbow lights in its pupil as it bled. Link summoned the Triforce as he attacked the eye with an onslaught of sword strikes, causing the tears of blood to monsoon down his surface.
"Oh yeah!" Mario shouted as he unleashed a tornado of fire, burning through the cuts on the inside of the eye and incinerating Master Eye until he was nothing but a white orb. Master Eye's eyelid shut, and Subspace disappeared.
The awful stench filled Mario's nose. He awoke to the sound and sight of Wario farting in his face.
"Wario!" Peach came from the side, holding healthy food that made Wario run back to his bike. Mario studied the kart he was seated in. "Are you alright, Mario?" Peach asked.
He looked up and down the racing grid spotting the usual suspects, Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi, Donkey Kong. He noted Isabelle and Villager; of course, they were representing the Town since they had agreed to hold the race in front of their spectators. He narrowed his eyes as he spotted the pink ball riding on a star. "Who is-a that?"
Peach laughed. "That's Kirby, silly. You invited him, remember?" Mario held his hurting head, trying to search for some memory of the pink ball. Brief flashes of the creature's face came to him, yet he knew not where from. "I better take my place in my kart. The race will be starting soon." Peach scurried across the road back into her kart. As Lakitu waved the starting flag, Mario kept the gaze on the one Peach called Kirby. The creature seemed innocent enough—a little confused looking if anything. Mario let his worries slide to the back of his mind as he put his foot down on the acceleration peddle.
Zelda took off her Sheik attire now that she had travelled safely across Hyrule. She took Link off the back of her horse, carrying his sleeping body into the Shrine of Resurrection. She had found him in his current state, unable to wake him as if he had already joined the dead. A sense of dread filled her. Was this an omen from Hylia herself? Was the legendary hero pre-emptively being put to rest for the inevitable rise of Ganon? Zelda would not take any chances. She placed Link back into the shrine and shut the stone entrance behind her.
What Zelda, nor any of the world knew, was that Link was not sleeping, but fighting the force of an evil which was not Ganondorf. Link suffered the worst fate of all. He was burdened by Master Eye, still staring into his soul, still forcing him to relive that awful day the moon fell on Termina over and over again. Everybody else in the world could forget the destruction caused by Master Eye so long as Link kept living the same nightmare over and over again. As soon as he gave in and woke up, the horrible cycle of Master Eye would begin again. But why should Link be the one to suffer over and over again? That was because Link was the only one who knew the true identity of Master Eye. When all others had seen a white eye, he had seen the fiery red and yellow eye with the poisonous green iris the eye really was. The eye belonged to a devil that should be feared even more than Ganondorf. Ganondorf was a tyrant who would at least bring peace to all those he killed. The Master Eye was a fearsome deity that would make all suffer in torment in hell.
Link's suspicions were answered every time the angry moon landed on his head. Master Eye opened up its other eye, and all the facial features came into place and so did the creature that brought all of Link's childish fears rising to the surface. Majora's Wrath looked into his soul, punishing him for what he had not let him to do the world. And as he stared into the core of the devil, all he heard was the voice of the Happy Mask Salesman in his head. "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"
But there was hope. A soothing voice entered his nightmares, blinding the terror in a heavenly light. "Link," it said. "Link. Listen to me. I can save you. You must listen to me."
Link struggled to think the words to respond. "What… what must I do."
"It's alright, Link. All you have to do is wake up."
"I… I can't. Master Eye…"
"There is no need to fear Master Eye. You are all strong enough to defeat Master Eye for good. Here is what you must do, Link. Do you remember the first time you defeated Tabuu? Do you remember the cliff you all met at after you had ended the Subspace invasion? First, you must preserve the fallen spirits that still haunt the hallways of Dracula's Castle. Then, you must round up every Smasher, Link, and you must all meet at the cliff you last stood together upon. Only when you are all together can you save the world. Hurry! There isn't much time."
Link listened to the soothing voice inside his head, and finally gave up fighting the nightmare. Little did he know, Master Eye was gone for good. The one plaguing his slumber with terror was not Majora. He had perhaps made the greatest mistake of his life. He would round up the Smashers and would play right into the ruse of the deity who was more dangerous than Tabuu could have ever been. It was time for a new enemy to rise in the world. His name…
Galeem.
The End
Hi All,
Just like to say thanks to anyone who read this and all those who reviewed it. Apologies it couldn't be longer and that it was a bit rushed towards the end, but I wanted to finish this before Smash Ultimate came out. I tried to include every playable character in the story, even if some were only mentioned for a brief moment. I kind of mentioned Piranha Plant in the first chapter with the line 'ghastly plants' (not that it matters. I'm sure the next bizarre DLC character won't be featured anywhere in here). Anyway, thanks for reading.