CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Big Things Come in Small Packages
The group Tetra led was already growing heavily concerned for the city, and that feeling of dread turned to panic when they saw exactly what they feared they would see. Moblins. Everywhere. Ransacking the entire city. People were screaming and running away as fast as they could, and the Moblins were running after them.
"Ganondorf…you're a sick-a man." Mario growled.
"Alright, team!" Tetra shouted, drawing her knife. "Let's get in there and cook some bacon!"
"Eh?"
"…y'know, 'cause they're pigs?"
"Ooooookaaaay…"
Putting Tetra's odd joke behind them, the group ran into the city and began attacking the Moblins in any way they could. Mario pummeling them with his hammer, Samus blasting them with missiles and Power Beam shots, Tetra slashing with her knife and displaying some brilliant athletic skills to go along with it, Amaterasu slashing away with Celestial Brush strokes and generating large and exaggerated bombs, Ness launching lightning bolts and balls of fire, Mewtwo seizing several Moblins telekinetically and throwing them about like rag dolls, and Morrigan doing what she did best: being a giant nuisance.
"Over here!" she called to a nearby Moblin.
The Moblin raised his staff and slashed downward, Morrigan strafing to the side instantly.
"Nope! Over here!"
The Moblin swung madly and still didn't hit the succubus as she darted all about. As she hoped and expected, he tuckered himself out in a matter of seconds.
"Time for bed." she whispered menacingly.
She rushed forward with her Shadow Blade attack and dealt him the finishing blow. He fell lifeless.
"Now sleep forever."
"Morrigan!" Ness shouted. "Behind you!"
Morrigan didn't need to look behind her to cast a nonchalant Soul Fist at her potential attacker, but nevertheless gave Ness a smile of gratitude.
"Ah, if only you were older, honey."
"Umm…no."
"Aww, why not?"
"One: I'm already kinda taken, and two: don't succubi have some kinda poison in their kiss or something?"
"Something like that. And you're taken already? Who's the lucky girl?"
"Not what you should be focusing on because HEADS UP!"
While the others occupied themselves with making a stand against the horde of pig-men, Samus and Mewtwo started blasting their way through them, working their way toward the innocent bystanders, some of whom ran screaming away, some of whom grabbed whatever they could to fight off the monsters approaching them. They were overpowered very quickly, though the bounty hunter and Psychic Pokémon rushing to their aid rendered their attackers motionless in seconds.
"Quickly!" Mewtwo shouted. "It isn't safe here! Run!"
They obeyed him and ran away as fast as they could. In the heat of the moment, one child hadn't watched where she was going and ended up tripping and falling flat on her face. She stared in terror as a Moblin quickly approached her and still screamed with the armour-clad Samus blasted him away, thinking she was some sort of monster.
"No, no." Samus said softly. "Don't be scared. It's just a helmet."
Samus swiped her finger across her helmet and it vanished, calming the girl at the sight of a human face. That calm went away in an instant when she spotted a terrible sight over Samus' shoulder, however.
"MOM!" she cried.
The girl's mother had been pinned against a wall and was set to be impaled when Mewtwo telekinetically hauled her Moblin attacker off of the ground, gripping his neck and proceeding to choke him.
"You are an abomination…" the Pokémon growled. "You and every beast like you."
He slammed the Moblin against the ground several times and then against a street lamp before finally throwing him away like garbage. Morrigan pulled Ness out of the reach of the nearest Moblin's attack and repulsed another with a Soul Fist, while Tetra performed a quick series of stabs on her opponent and Mario threw a series of fireballs and used his hammer to homerun the Moblin that made the unfortunate mistake of getting too close.
"Porcine freaks just-a keep on coming!" Mario growled as he swung again. "Man, I hope-a everyone got away okay."
"Looks like it." replied Tetra, ducking under the attack of another Moblin and finishing him off with a roundhouse kick to his head. "The last thing we need is for innocent civilians to get involved in our business."
There rang out a haughty laugh as a certain someone descended into view. Someone that made just about all of them furious upon seeing him.
"Yes indeed." said Jedah. "Let the weak and cowardly run away as they will."
"Dohma, you bastard!" Samus shouted. "How can you be so sick-minded?!"
"Simple, really. Like this."
He dropped down like a bolt of lightning and slammed his fist into the ground with such force that it tossed the heroes off their feet, save for Morrigan who chose that time to lift off the ground with an amused grin on her face. Jedah grunted in return.
"A pleasure to see you again, Morrigan Aensland. Except…oh, wait. Right. It's not."
"You never cease to entertain me, do you, Jedah? I mean, making a separate world and sucking me, Felicia, and a whole other gang of night children into it was one thing, but this? Conquest of the human world? Genius…except, oh wait! It's not."
Jedah grunted and nonchalantly cracked his knuckles.
"I suppose you deserve some credit for actually taking responsibility for your actions for once. That said, it certainly doesn't seem to change Saya's opinion of you."
"Saya's opinion of me doesn't matter to anyone."
"No one but you. Come now. You take any insult to heart, and don't honestly say that you haven't one. Sparda's son was a much beloved companion, if I remember properly."
The mention of Dante was all that was necessary to spark a hint of anger in Morrigan, and once he saw it, Jedah laughed.
"You are just too easy, child. It seems that you have the exact opposite nature of a true succubus. Many men can resist you, but you can't resist any man."
"Really, now? Then tell me."
Without warning, she shifted her wing into a blade and lunged.
"Why can I resist you?!"
Jedah effortlessly blocked it a suddenly spurted blade of his blood. They engaged in a dance of slashes and stabs, both making a considerable effort to try and utterly mutilate each other. Morrigan was certainly angry enough to do it and feel no remorse afterwards, but she instead felt remorse for even engaging him at all when the blade suddenly wrapped itself around her arm, its acidity forcing her to start struggling and sucking in pained breaths.
She broke free in a matter of seconds and continued to attack while her allies were preoccupied below, steadily realizing that more Moblins were coming over the horizon. More than they could handle by the looks of it.
Nearby, there was another group of the muscular and admittedly foul-smelling pig-men as they terrorized more innocent people. At least, they were trying while two lightweight scrappers punched and kicked and did whatever they could to hold their opponents back. One was an American boy spiky black hair and was garbed in green track pants, a black muscle shirt, and green sparring gloves, while the other was a Japanese boy with spiky brown hair, a blue leather jacket and pants, and red sparring gloves. The latter also seemed capable of launching blasts of energy form his hands, but y'know…that's not important or anything.
The two fought as hard as they could before they were eventually vaulted right into the fray of the larger group of (dare I say it) freedom fighters.
"Ah, dammit!" the Japanese boy growled. "It's a nice day outside, I get off school earlier, and then this crap happens!"
"Not what I had in mind when Doc mentioned a relaxing vacation in the Orient…" grumbled the American boy in a New York-style accent before he noticed the larger group. "Oh, hey. You guys fightin' these suckers, too?"
"Uhh…yeah." said Ness. "Where the heck did you guys come from?"
"Whoa, watch out, bud!"
The American boy rushed forward just as a Moblin came sneaking up behind Ness, dealing a heavy uppercut that knocked the porcine beast high into the air with an audible crack.
"Eat it, sucker!" he yelled as he landed.
"Nice-a punch." said Mario. "Who're you?"
"Mackenzie Schroeder. My buds call me Little Mac…rightfully so because before you say it, yeah. I'm a little on the short side."
"And your-a friend?"
"Heads up!"
Another Moblin appeared and the Japanese boy ran forward, slamming his fists together.
"GUTS BULLET!" he bellowed, launching forth a sphere of blue energy.
The sphere collided with the Moblin and the boy skidded to a halt with a contented sigh before looking at Mario with a determined grin.
"Batsu Ichimonji at your service." the boy called before looking over at Jedah and Morrigan fighting. He jerked his thumb at the former. "Who's Mr. Creepshow here?"
"Pardon me?!" Jedah spat.
"Yeah, I'm talkin' about you, pal? What's your deal? Off to a Halloween party or somethin'?"
Jedah gritted his teeth and lunged at the boy with his blood blade ready.
"You will know the meaning of pain, you little punk!"
Batsu smirked and shifted to the side just as Jedah was about to strike. The blade missed by a long shot, and once Jedah was fully aware he had left himself wide open, Batsu delivered a single brutal punch to the side of his head.
"A little punk? Jeez, what are you? My dad?"
Morrigan breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to be free from Jedah's stinging grasp and quickly entertained at Batsu's cockiness and strength. Then there was Mac who punched at the approaching Moblins so quickly that they had almost no time to react. Upon being sized from behind, he made an effort to get free by punching his Moblin captor in the face repeatedly and was thankfully assisted in the perfect form when Samus wrenched him free with her Grapple Beam.
"Thanks, lady…" said Mac, stepping back a bit to get a good look at the bounty hunter towering over him. "I'm not sure if you're self-conscious about this or anything, but damn, are you tall!"
"Well, damn, are you short." Samus replied, raising her hand to the top of her head and then lightly placing it on top of Mac's. "I'm honestly shocked you can pack such a punch."
"You wanna know another surprise? I'm a professional boxer. I do this kinda stuff for a living."
"Hm…what class?"
"Heavyweight."
It took Samus a moment to process that. Mac couldn't be much taller than five-and-a-half feet tall and wasn't exactly the most muscular seventeen-year old she'd ever seen. The only real indication that he'd even stand a chance in the heavyweight class was his speed and monstrous uppercut, which now that she thought about were very important in not just sport fighting but real fighting as well.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I know, I don't look like it, but I swear I'm not bluffing. I even fought a big-ass gorilla once."
"A gorilla?"
"Yeah. You think that's weird? He was wearing a tie!"
"Great. I'd love to meet him."
"You would, actually. He's a lot of fun. Oh, by the by, watch your back. The Walking Ham's about to take a swing at you."
Samus aimed her cannon over her shoulder and let off one shot to down the approaching target and then proceeded to fire at Jedah who gracefully avoided it as he finally located the one he had come looking for.
"Ah!" he beamed. "You still live to 'protect mankind', Okami Amaterasu!"
Amaterasu let a low growl as she heard this obscene excuse for a leader mention her name. She turned to Jedah with a fiery glare and seemed ready to lunge at any time.
"Jedah Dohma, you are nothing short of a natural abomination." she snarled.
"Yes, I find it very fitting for you to say that. You who happens to be the very reason we are hunting Saya in the first place."
"If you lay one finger on her…"
"I wouldn't worry. I've sent Lilith to have a little fun with her."
Morrigan froze in place.
"What did you say?!" she demanded. "You're still manipulating Lilith to do your dirty work for you?! Ammy's right! You're just absolutely disgusting!"
"She certainly wants no place with you, dear Morrigan." Jedah shot back. "Isn't it you who sees her as nothing but food? I've offered her a purpose outside of being just a part of you. I've offered her life…I've offered her happiness and she has graciously accepted it. She is indeed a fine young woman no thanks to you."
Morrigan growled while Tetra scoffed.
"Yeah, because talking about this demon's missing part or whatever is really gonna deter her from putting her fist in your face. You're so haughty that it hurts."
Jedah sneered at the pirate girl. So this was the resistance's leader? A thirteen-year old pirate girl with little more than a knife for self-defence? It made him want to laugh.
"Haughty? Perhaps, but considering who is on the winning side of this charade, I would not be talking."
"Whatever." Mac mocked. "Haven't you got better things to do that tear up a city?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. Thank you very much for reminding me, Mackenzie Schroeder."
Jedah raised his fingers and snapped them. The remaining Moblins began marching away from the city single-file, marvelling the heroes at how easily Jedah was taking this semi-defeat. There had to be something else at work. He wouldn't just leave so suddenly with this big of a battle going on.
"However, Amaterasu," the demon lord said coldly as he pointed one menacing finger at her. "Do not think the coming battles will be any easier. Your deepest fears and angers will soon come to light in the worst way imaginable…you especially, Ness."
Ness froze in place at the mention of his name and flashed back to the horrible memory not long ago once Jedah smiled maniacally at him and said in a crazed tone "That's right, boy. He is coming back…and he is coming for you."
With that, Jedah was gone and Ness was panting heavily. Mewtwo approached him in an attempt to console him, only or the young boy to let out a yelp and step away.
"What in the world is the matter, Ness?" Mewtwo demanded.
"He's coming back…" Samus repeated as she stroked her chin. "Yes, of course. Giygas."
"Giygas?"
Ness shuddered and looked away from them as Samus took the time to explain.
"Long ago…well, long ago according to the time I'm from, an alien race abducted two human beings from Earth, one of whom raised an orphaned member of the race named Giygas. While they were on the alien race's homeworld, they studied an advancement of theirs known as PSI. The woman who raised Giyagas stayed behind while her husband got away, and the aliens tasked Giygas with ensuring that PSI didn't come to be learned by the entire human race. Though he was reluctant at first, he eventually revolted against his adopted parents and staged an invasion of Earth."
"I see." said Mewtwo. "But Ness…he…"
"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that Ness is reacting like that when he sees you for two closely related reasons. One: I've seen images of Giygas and you actually look a lot like him, and two: I'd say that Ness had some traumatic experience when meeting him so…"
"Stop it!" Ness shouted. "Just forget it, okay? I'm fine!"
Everyone was silent for a moment as Ness' frantic panting started to slow before he closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. He just had to let the thoughts flow out…let himself calm down.
At last, he clapped his hands together and grinned as he opened his eyes.
"Alright, I'm good."
"Oooookaaaaay, let's just pretend that didn't happen." said Tetra before turning to the two boys that had been so kind as to join them in that dire moment. "Thanks for your help, boys. We needed that."
Mac winked.
"No problem. It's what we live for."
"That goes double for me." said Batsu with a cocky grin. "Anything else you need, just ask…provided it involves kickin' ass."
Tetra laughed as did Amaterasu and Morrigan.
"Having some more cute boys wouldn't be half-bad, would it, ladies?" Morrigan chuckled.
Batsu raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
"What my demonic companion means," added Tetra. "Is that we'd really appreciate your help if you're willing to offer it. That 'Mr. Creepshow' as Batsu described him…which is actually a good name for him. You oughta keep that. Anyway, he's the leader of this big evil army we're trying to take down."
"Lemme guess: global conquest."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"You'd think every once in a while they'd just want a lot of money or some hot chicks or something. What's he gonna do with a whole planet?"
Mac shrugged.
"I dunno. Wipe his ass with it? It looked dirty."
Even Mewtwo and Samus had to stifle their laughter.
"In any case," said Amaterasu. "Will you boys help us?"
Batsu and Mac looked at each other with grins and furrowed brows and nodded before looking at the army and both giving a thumbs-up and a conjoined shout.
"YOU GOT IT!"
"Goddammit, AxeHero! Another obscure character?!"
What are you talking about? Mac's in Smash Bros. now! He's not...oh, you mean Batsu! Okay, my bad.
Batsu is from the Rival Schools series of fighting games which...yeah. Fighting games. Capcom. Has. Never. Made. One. Of. Those. Before. But this one is actually different. How? Simple: it has a 3-D playing field kind of like Soulcalibur and Tekken. The reason why you've probably never heard of it is because the first game was only on the PS1 and the second game was only on the Dreamcast. None of them ever made it to Nintendo consoles, but Batsu did appear as a playable character in the Wii-exclusive Tatsunoko versus Capcom.
In fact, there's a lot of obscure characters in that game. I mean, you have the Tatsunoko side which I never heard of until playing the game, and then there's Soki from Onimusha, Alex from Street Fighter III, and the giant mech PTX-40A from Lost Planet.
Yeah, Xbox One fanboys. Titanfall's not as revolutionary as you think. Lost Planet did the whole mech combat thing long before that. I'm sure Titanfall's a good game, but...just watch it when talking about "revolution" in gaming, that's all.
SOUNDTRACK SO FAR
Saya, Ness, and Lucas- "Pollyanna" from Earthbound (SSBM)
Marth to the rescue- "Together We Ride" from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (SSBM)
X and Zero versus Kirby and Meta Knight- "Meta Knight's Revenge" from Kirby Super Star (SSBB)
Link versus Morrigan- Morrigan's theme from Marvel versus Capcom 3
Link versus Dante- "Never Surrender" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Krystal and Trish versus the Moblin horde- "Lock and Load" from Devil May Cry 1
Krystal versus Mewtwo- "Poké Floats" from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Saya versus Ghirahim- Ghirahim's battle theme from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Frank versus Ghirahim- "On a Mission" from Dead Rising
Courthouse caving in- "No Redemption" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Samus escapes- Metroid Prime main theme
Chun-Li versus Samus- Chun-Li's theme from Street Fighter IV
Standoff on Mount Fuji- "Douchuumen" from The Mysterious Murasame Castle (go on Youtube and look for a version by a group called ysk1210)
Saya and Lucas- "Love" from Mother 3
"LET'S ROCK!"- "Devils Never Cry" from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
The Devil Trigger- "How Old is Your Soul?" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Ryu and Ken versus Juri- Ryu's theme from Street Fighter IV
Jedah's assault on the airship- Airship theme from Super Mario Bros. 3 (SSBB)
S.I.N. versus B.S.A.A.- "Ride on Sea" from Resident Evil: Revelations (or Biohazard: Revelations if you live in Japan)
Ike to the rescue- "Eternal Bond" from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Saya's sorrow- "Kinder Days" from Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (known as Successor of the Skies in Europe and Australia)
An army of twenty-one- Main menu theme from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Dante versus Dante- "Empty" from DmC: Devil May Cry
Saya's rage- Tabuu's theme from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Tetra's pirates- "The Great Sea" from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Lagiacrus- "Sea and Land Tremble" from Monster Hunter 3
The Ancient Mother- "Shenandoah" from Endless Ocean
Vergil versus Lilith- "Super Ultra Violet" from Devil May Cry 1
Moblin attack on Tokyo- "Taiyo High School Rooftop" from Rival Schools: United by Fate
Mac and Batsu to the rescue- "Minor Circuit" from Punch-Out! Wii