Ryu
Threat Level: 3
Ryu is a powerful martial artist with an enigmatic past. In terms of his history, the oldest record that I could find seems to be his entrance into the first Street Fighter tournament as a young man. Ryu, along with his longtime friend Ken is also known for having defeated M Bison, the leader of the criminal organization Shadloo, as well as his lieutenants in hand to hand combat, as well as the feared renegade martial artist Akuma. Ryu was purportedly trained by the legendary martial artist Goken, and uses a mixture of the Shotokan and Ansatsuken styles of karate. Regardless of his background, Ryu is the embodiment of a powerful and disciplined martial artist, a warrior with a will of iron and a fist of steel.
As part of his martial arts training, Ryu appears to have learned to utilize a form of energy manipulation. While Ryu has referred to this as Ki Manipulation, it's unclear exactly what form of energy is being manipulated. What isn't questionable is its effectiveness, and Ryu uses this ability to power attacks such as the Shoyuken, the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, and the legendary Hadoken. I also want to emphasize Ryu's skill in regular hand to hand combat here, what he lacks in powerful techniques, weaponry, armor, or special abilities, Ryu more than makes up in with raw skill and enough training for at least a dozen lifetimes.
While Ryu is a formidable opponent, he has his limitations. As mentioned earlier, Ryu lacks any weapons, armor, or powerful special abilities, and has few techniques that could be considered to be very powerful. This is a martial artist that gets through fights purely on his martial arts skill by itself, he's that good of a fighter, and it would be unwise for anybody with the exception of an equally powerful martial artist to challenge him in a bout of fisticuffs. Additionally, as a martial artist who fights with his bare hands, I want to mention that Ryu's range is limited as well. With all of this in mind, it would be advisable to bring ranged attacks and weapons of any description against him. Just recall that one part of Ryu's training is footwork, and he can and will close the distance if allowed, so make sure that these are weapons that you're very comfortable with using. Verbal taunts of any kind are likely to be highly ineffectual against his martial arts trained mindset, so save your breath and just focus on fighting him to your best ability. Ryu is a very straightforward fighter and you're going to have to exploit his weaknesses in a straightforward manner, it boils down to that.
Ken Masters of New Rourke City
Threat Level: 3
Ken Masters is a longtime friend of Ryu who has been with him through thick and thin. While it appears that Ryu is the superior martial artist, Ken is only a hair behind him, making him a very threatening opponent.
Ken appears to have trained alongside Ryu as a child under the same master, and as such, the two have been friends and rivals for a very long time. Their fighting styles are nearly identical, as both use a mixture of Shotokan and Ansatsuken styles of karate, and neither has any power or technique that the other doesn't. As I've already covered this in Ryu's profile, I want to focus on some of what separates Ken from his friend here, since Ryu has the personality of a steel sword – tough and no nonsense, but nothing all that interesting.
Ken is differentiated from his friend Ryu first through his much more laid back and bombastic personality. This makes Ken significantly more aggressive than Ryu, who has a much more tempered approach. Ken is also somewhat more flexible in his mindset and has been known to be less straightforward in his approach than Ryu. Despite these differences, none of them have stopped Ken from being a reliable ally to Ryu during their battles against the Shadloo and Akuma. One thing that I want to mention is that Ken comes from the Masters family, which runs Masters Corp, a corporation that owns several hotel chains. Ownership of the company has been passed from parent to child for several generations in the Masters family. Ken was no exception to this, and sits as the current Owner and CEO of Masters Corp. Unfortunately, there's little to say here, as Ken is more of a par for the course businessman when compared to other family members. Ken is competent and clearly knows what he's doing, but the company's growth has been more slow and steady rather than explosive and unprecedented. This is all to say that Ken has quite a few soft skills and is more than just a plain martial artist, but is not some next level businessman at the same time.
To defeat Ken, pretty much anything that works against Ryu should work against Ken, as the two have such a similar fighting style. Ken may be somewhat more vulnerable to verbal taunts than Ryu, but I wouldn't count on it being horribly effective either. Honestly, the two are nearly identical, so while a master martial artist may be able to discern more differences than I have, I don't know how consequential those differences will be practically speaking.
Captain N
Threat Level: 3
Captain N of the Kingdom of Ferina, more commonly known as "Video Game Land" for its high concentration of video game studios, is everything that one would expect of a hometown hero. Having come from unknown but clearly humble beginnings, Captain N came from seemingly nowhere and saved the realm from a number of villains, who were unjustly attempting to usurp the king. N received his rank from his military service after his exploits, in which he served as the captain of the royal guard for some time.
Captain N is a versatile and unpredictable fighter that comes to battle well-armed. N's most frequently seen weapons are his pair of beam swords. These appear to have been modified to have interlocking hilts, so that the weapons can be attached at the hilt to become a staff-sword hybrid. They also have been modified to allow for adjustment of the beam intensity and length of the blade on the fly. However, Captain N is not limited to swordplay, and brings twin blaster pistols, a super scope, and a compliment of explosives and gadgets, including motion sensor mines, gooey bombs and even Smart Bombs. It's also said that Captain N uses a baseball bat as his backup weapon, though he's very infrequently seen using it. Captain N has never displayed any individual powers or other unusual abilities, but despite this, the good captain can trade blows with the best of them due to his adaptably and tricky combat style allowing him to keep up with far stronger opponents, speaking to his skill as a quick thinker with quick reflexes. Lastly, Captain N is notorious for setting up traps on the fly with his explosive gadgets, making him a very dangerous opponent if he's allowed even just a few minutes to set up.
The most unique thing about Captain N is that he brings his pet dog and pet duck to battle with him. They form an odd trio, but they are well coordinated. The duck and dog are surprisingly strong, able to defeat moderately powerful opponents on their own, and hold their own for some time against stronger opponents. They don't appear to have any individual powers or have the ability to speak, but they do say that a dog is a man's best friend. Second to his duck or something? I don't know, this analogy is falling apart really quickly. Either way, don't underestimate the dog or the duck, both can bite and bite hard.
To defeat Captain N, I think that raw power is the best option, preferably paired with strong armor. While Captain N is not the most powerful by himself, the ever-changing length and intensity of his blades, his good range, and his ability to wear down even the strongest opponents with explosives and other traps makes him more dangerous the longer a fight goes on. As such, it seems best to attempt to brute force your way through his guard before he can pull any funny business. If you are unable to do so, and Captain N has had even a few minutes to set up, proceed with caution, and do your best to detonate his explosives before you enter their blast radius if you have the opportunity. Lastly, while the dog and duck are strong, threatening them could cause Captain N to lose focus on the fight at hand. N has never been pictured without the two, so it's safe to assume that their bond runs deep and could be exploited.
Act 10: Snake
Chapter 5: Solar Raid
Pit clenched his bow tightly as he, Roy, Simon, and Richter sprang up from the brush and rushed into the camp, the Miis rushing behind them.
As they ran, a nearby patrol of Primids quickly turned and began rushing towards them. Pit twisted his bow, splitting it into blades, and rushed headlong at the Primids. Roy quickly followed suit, and the Belmonts fell slightly behind, pulling their throwing axes. Two of them sailed over their heads, striking down two of the Primids, before Roy and Pit plowed into the rest of the patrol, swiftly dispatching them with a quick flurry of slashes, hardly slowing their pace as they tore into the camp.
Quickly, they came up to where the tents were placed. Each Smasher split off from the group and went to one of the tents, followed by a few dozen Miis. Pit threw open the tent flaps, but there was nobody and nothing inside.
"Clear!"
"Clear" shouted Roy.
"Tis clear!" said Simon.
"All clear here!" shouted Richter.
"Team 4! What's your status?
"Contact! It's an ambush! We need backup now!" shouted Ike through the radio.
"Team 3, Team 1, what's your status?"
"Ready to move as needed," said Packrat grimly.
"Continuing overwatch. Still don't see much," said Snake.
"Be on standby, we're moving in to support Team 4!" shouted Roy into the communicator, before turning to the other members of his team. "Come on! Let's go!"
Roy took off towards the sounds of conflict ahead, and Pit, the Belmonts and the Miis took off after him.
The group rushed across the campsite, quickly coming across Game and Watch and Pac Man backing up, fighting eight Giant Fiery Blowhogs. Game and Watch had already transformed into his Killer Kraken form, while Pac Man hung back and hurled various objects from a distance to slow down the advance of the Blowhogs.
"Simon! Richter! Go back them up! Pit, Miis! You're with me!" shouted Roy.
"Aye!" shouted Richter. The two peeled off, heralding their arrival to the fight with a hail of firebombs and throwing axes.
Pit gripped his bow tightly as he continued on into the fight with Roy. To his left, he could see Cloud fighting three Giant Spotty Bulborbs alone, cloaked in a golden aura as he unleashed an Omnislash against them, pivoting to hit all three of them with different slashes of the techniqe. To his right, some distance off, Ryu managed to land a powerful Shoryuken to the maw of another Giant Spotty Bulborb, before rolling quickly out of the range of a Giant Fiery Blowhog's fire breath.
Pit came to a stop as Roy did, and his jaw dropped in shock as he Palutena, Ike, Ken, Shulk and Little Mac facing down dozens of monsters, coming from the area with all of the stasis tubes. Over some hidden speakers played a message on loop.
"Hey Smashers! Its Robin. I really don't appreciate you messing with my plans or my allies. Consider this your fair warning. Ta-ta for now!"
Roy quickly raised his radio. "Team 1, Team 3, move in as fast as you can, its looking pretty bad! We're surrounded by those monsters! We need back up NOW!"
On the hillside…..
"I don't like the sound of that," said Corrinne, as Snake quickly absorbed his Sniper Rifle back into his IDD.
"So much for a quick raid," said Snake.
Suddenly, their radio crackled to life again. "Team 3 to Team 1, are we waiting for you?"
"Yeah, give us two seconds," said Corrine, as she uncorked her water bottle, quickly shaping the water into a platform, before freezing it. Snake quickly stepped aboard, as did Corrinne, who proceeded to quickly moved the platform through the air and down to where Packrat, Skylark, Captain N, Duck and Hunt were readying for an assault. As they flew over to where the others were, Snake quickly deployed his rocket launcher and assault rifle and slung both on his back.
Packrat was completely surrounded by a holographic projection of a golem like set of armor that was deploying around him. Skylark had just finished deploying her arm cannon, while Captain N, Duke and Hunt anxiously kept an eye on their surroundings.
As they landed, Packrat's mech armor finished deploying, a heavily armored suit with a backpack-esque device with thrusters coming out of the bottom mounted on the back. The right forearm of the mech was encircled with four arm cannons, and the left had a heavy Arwing cannon mounted to the outside, a multiple rocket launcher mounted to the underside, and two different projector devices mounted to the top and inside of the arm.
Packrat popped open the front of the mech, causing the head piece to retract to show his face.
"I'll leave a defensive line here," said Packrat as they dismounted from the platform. "Retreat here if you get overwhelmed, the guns will help you. Try to stay out of their direct line of fire. Skylark, will you stay here and hold a backline for me?"
"Sure thing," said Skylark. "Hit me up if you get hurt!"
"Right. I might just try to not get hurt, but if that doesn't work, I'll take you up on that," said Captain N.
Packrat nodded. "You can also gimme a shout if you need help, just remember that the Iron Foot is a modified Magma Diver, so it isn't the fastest maneuvering thing in the world, all right?"
"That's great, now come on!" shouted Corrinne, as she waved her hand, and the ice immediately turned back into water, drenching the ground. Corrinne drew her sword. "Miis! Ready for action! Everybody! Move, move, move!"
Snake drew his pistol as Corrinne pulled out a Smash Ball, and crushed it in her hand, engulfing her in a rainbow aura, before she took off at a mad dash.
Packrat slammed the helmet of the mech shut, and activated the thrusters of the Iron Foot, taking off from the ground in a leaping fashion to catch up with the others with surprising speed.
Snake and Captain N turned to each other, and with a nod, they followed suit.
It was a mad dash over the riverbank and across the camp. Snake whipped his head around, surveying the area, seeing dozens and dozens of monsters scattered across the battlefield.
"Uh, I don't like the look of this," said Captain N, as the two came to a running stop.
"Me neither," said Snake.
"Over there!" said Captain N. "The guys need help! Cover me!"
Snake looked to where Captain N was pointing and saw Shulk and Little Mac fighting back to back against several Giant Fiery Blowhogs and Spotty Bulborbs.
Captain N quickly deployed several motion sensor mines, and set them up to form a line in between Snake and himself and the monsters in front of them.
"I'm gonna draw some of them off towards us," said Captain N. "You ready?"
"One minute," said Snake, who quickly reached for a brick of C4 and his detonator and readied his rocket launcher. Probably wasn't gonna be enough for all of them, but then again, there wasn't the time. Looked like they'd be improvising for this one.
"Hurry!" said Captain N, with a worried look on his face.
"All right, ready," grumbled Snake. While he didn't like being rushed, he couldn't really fault Captain N. He'd been riding with those guys for longer than they'd been part of the Smashers.
Captain N pulled a Smart Bomb out of his pocket and said, "All right, fire in the hole!"
And with that, he chucked the bomb.
It sailed through the air and impacted the ground with a large explosion behind the closest monsters, catching some of them in the blast zone. Almost immediately, four of them turned around and began walking towards Snake and Captain N, followed by several others.
Snake quickly fired his Rocket Launcher, hitting a Giant Spotty Bulborb in the face with a rocket.
"Wait! Don't shoot more rockets! They're about to hit the mines, don't blow them up before they hit the mines!" shouted Captain N with a second Smart Bomb in his hand.
"Right," said Snake as he loaded another rocket, and held the weapon at the ready. As he did, the mines went off with a tremendous explosion.
The smoke cleared to reveal that the combined explosion had taken down three of the monsters, but their fellows merely walked past them, and they continued advancing on them.
Ears still ringing, Snake raised his rocket launcher and fired a rocket straight at one of the monsters. The explosion blasted the monster back, and seemingly stunning it. Captain N chucked his Smart Bomb at a Fiery Blowhog, blasting it backwards.
Snake slung his launcher onto his back as the monsters suddenly began to charge and quickly drew his assault rifle and opened fire, as Captain N drew his pistols and began shooting.
Snake emptied over half of his clip into a Fiery Blowhog, before turning his fire to help Captain N take out a Spotty Bulborb.
As the remaining monsters began to close in, Snake heard Captain N ignite his Beam Swords next to him.
"Don't rush! Back up!" said Snake, as he fished his C4 out of his pocket.
"Better hurry!" said Captain N as he started stepping away.
Suddenly, there was a sudden quacking and barking from behind them.
"Snake! Behind!" shouted Captain N.
Snake turned his head quickly and saw two monsters coming up from behind.
"I'll get them! Just slow down the ones in front, all right?" shouted Captain N. "Gimme enough time to take these guys out!"
"Got it," growled Snake, as he pitched the brick of C4 at one of the Spotty Bulborbs and detonated it midair.
"Now!"
Snake glared through the smoke, warily watching as the remaining monsters continued to move forward, now more slowly and cautiously. Behind him, Captain N activated his Beam Swords, and Snake drew his pistol and knife, before assuming a CQC stance.
This was gonna be a rough one.
"VAMPIRE'S BANE!" bellowed Simon as he unleashed a powerful, full body swing of his whip, slashing the Fiery Blowhog in front of him deeply.
Simon retracted his whip, as the monster in front of him collapsed. He, along with Richter, Pac Man and Mr. Game and Watch had been pushed back quite some distance across the camp, but the large number of monster bodies that lay strewn across the field of battle spoke for itself.
Simon glanced behind him and noticed that they were nearing the riverbed.
"My friends!" shouted Simon as he pulled and hurled an axe at the monster Pac Man was fighting. "We are nearing Packrat's sentry gun arrangement! We should avoid stumbling into their line of fire!"
"Sentry guns?" asked G&W. "Finally, some good news! How far behind?"
"The riverbank is not far behind us!" said Richter. "T'would not be poggers if we kept retreating backwards much farther!"
"Pac, you go with Richter to the right!" said Mr. Game and Watch as he caught the blazing spray of the Fiery Blowhog in front of him in his bucket. "Simon, you come with me to the left, we'll lead them straight into the sentry nest from the sides and keep out of the line of fire at the same time!"
"Sounds good to me!" said Pac Man, kicking a fire hydrant at a Spotty Bulborb, stunning it. "On your go!"
With a grunt, Mr. Game and Watch tossed the contents of his bucket back at the Fiery Blowhog, and followed it up with a smack with a torch.
"Now!" shouted Game and Watch.
Simon hurled one more axe, before turning to follow Mr. Game and Watch. The two dashed towards the riverbank as quickly as they could. Before he knew it, Simon was pushing through the branches of a very large bush in his way and nearly tripping over the riverbank. With catlike reflexes, Simon leapt over the riverbank, and landed in the riverbed. Looking around, he found himself some distance downstream from where the sentry guns were located. Game and Watch burst out of the brush a moment later and landed heavily.
"We're down stream! Let's get to the other side, and then go up stream to get in the sentry's range!" shouted Mr. Game and Watch.
Simon looked back, as he heard a huge cracking noise, and narrowly dodged a branch that had been sent flying, as the monsters crashed through the brush behind them.
Without a moment of hesitation, Simon took off at a full sprint after Mr. Game and Watch across the riverbed and scrambled up the side of the riverbank with some effort. But there was no time to waste, as Simon could hear the roars and stomping behind him. Pivoting quickly on his heel, Simon whipped around and slung a firebomb at the monsters, landing it square in the middle of the riverbed and laying a pool of fire in between Simon and the monsters. The Belmont family had been using firebombs for generations, and their homemade recipe caused the fire to burn for some time after the bomb had exploded. According to Grandfather Julius, it was made to help against werewolves. Hopefully, it would work just as well for slowing down giant monsters.
Simon took off again, across the gravelly riverbank, changing course only to circumvent bushes and trees, as he could hear the crashing of the monsters behind him through the brush.
Suddenly, there was a loud beeping noise, which was immediately followed by the sound of gunfire. Simon threw himself to the ground, but quickly realized that the lasers were not flying directly over him.
Simon glanced back and saw nothing but scrubby trees and bushes. However, he could hear roars of pain from the monsters as the sentry guns kept shooting. Scrambling to his feet, Simon kept a low profile as he made his way along the riverside, as the guns kept firing.
In short order, he came to where the sentry nest was located, and saw Skylark, Pac Man, Game and Watch, Richter, and a couple dozen Miis standing behind the guns, which were firing down the riverbed at the monsters which had congregated there. With no delay, Simon jogged over to where the other Smashers were standing, taking care to go around the sentry guns instead of just walking through the line.
"Here he is!" said Pac Man.
"Ah, thou art getting slow in thine old age, Uncle Simon!" joked Richter heartily.
Simon rolled his eyes as Skylark cleared her throat.
"We should help the guns take out the monsters. Packrat's gonna get mad if he loses any more sentry guns on this mission."
"Aye!" shouted Richter, as he reached for an axe off of his belt.
"Let 'em have it!" growled Game and Watch.
Simon turned and reached for a firebomb of his own. This was where the monsters would stop. They would go no further.
Back in the camp….
Ike fired off of a wind blade, cleaving the fire breath of a Fiery Blowhog in two, and quickly slashing it across the face. While it didn't do much, it at least temporarily stopped the beast from spewing any more fire. Ike quickly followed it up by rushing up and hefting Ragnell over his head, bringing it down a moment later in a heavy two handed slash, cleaving through the monster's skull, and bringing it down.
Ike took a moment to catch his breath. The monsters just kept coming. In the chaotic melee, he'd been separated from the others, and while he could see a dome of light some distance off, probably made by Palutena, he had no idea where anybody else was.
What Ike did know was that he'd already burned through two of his three Smash Balls. And while he'd been able to take down four monsters with the first and five with the second, the fatigue from using so many Smash Balls all at once was starting to catch up with him.
An explosion went off nearby, and Ike glanced over to see a massive mech suit firing a huge cannon mounted to one of its arms. It extended its arm for a moment, before a dozen puffs of smoke went off from its massive backpack. A moment later, a dozen explosions erupted in the faces of a trio of monsters. Was that a back mounted mortar launcher?
"Hey! Ike! Can you watch my back here? This thing doesn't turn very quickly!" shouted Packrat over the radio.
"Packrat! Is that you in the robot?" asked Ike.
"That's me! It's Iron Foot time!"
"Gotcha. Yeah, I've got your back!" said Ike.
"Thanks!" shouted Packrat, as he, and began shooting with the four arm cannons on his arm.
Ike backed up to Packrat, his sword in a defensive guard stance and taking the opportunity to catch his breath.
From his post, Ike could hear the high-pitched shots of the mech's arm cannons, the whoosh of the rockets, the thunk of the mortar launcher, and the heavy report of the Arwing cannon.
"Turning!" shouted Packrat over the radio.
Ike glanced behind him to see the Iron Foot slowly pivot on one foot to face more of the monsters.
Eyeing a trio of Spotty Bulborbs coming up behind Packrat, Ike raised his sword. It was time to get back to fighting.
Ike quickly slashed his blade through the air, firing off a wind blade that staggered one of the Fiery Blowhogs, before drawing his sword back and facing his stance towards one of the other monsters.
"Quick Draw!"
The Fiery Blowhog roared in pain, and attempted to breathe fire at Ike, but the swordsman jumped nimbly to the side, and readied his sword.
"Aether!"
As Ike jumped backwards after performing the jumping slash, he felt a massive slam to his side and was sent sprawling some distance away.
Crawling to his feet, Ike glanced up to see the third monster, a Spotty Bulborb roaring at him and preparing to charge again. Ike glanced down and felt a tinge of panic as he noticed that Ragnell was nowhere in sight.
Whipping his head around, and drawing his Short Axe from his belt, Ike hurled it at the Spotty Bulborb. The axe landed just to the side of its nose, causing it to stop its charge.
Ike caught the glimpse of fire out of the corner of his eye and rolled away as fire washed over the place where he'd been lying a moment ago.
Scrambling to his feet, Ike glanced around, eventually spotting Ragnell lying in the dirt. As the Fiery Blowhog prepared to blast another geyser of fire, Ike grit his teeth and rushed up to it and kicked it in the face. The monster squealed, and sprayed fire wildly from its trunk, which Ike ducked to narrowly avoid.
As the monster stopped spraying fire, Ike glanced back and located Ragnell again, before kicking the monster again in the snout and made a mad dash for his sword.
A moment later, and the blade was back in his hand. Whipping about on his heel, Ike quickly fired off a series of wind blades at the two Fiery Blowhogs and the Spotty Bulborb, staggering them as they began to charge.
The Blowhog seemed still stunned from the kick to the snout, so Ike turned to the Bulborb, and drew back his sword.
"Quick Draw!"
The monster squealed and headbutted Ike backward, but he was prepared for it this time, and managed to keep his hand on his sword and his feet beneath him, even though he was thrown back several paces.
Ike lunged back in with a swift pommel strike, before hefting his sword above his head, and bringing it down in a single, powerful stroke.
"Cleaving Slash!"
Shifting his gaze to the Fiery Blowhogs, Ike raised his sword to fight the recovering monster, when a series of explosions hit the sides of the Blowhogs. The monsters tried to turn and attack, but Packrat stomped into view, firing the Arwing Cannon, the arm cannons, and the rocket launcher all at the same time. It was only a matter of seconds before the withering barrage brought down the already damaged monsters.
Ike went to retrieve his Short Axe as Packrat lumbered towards him.
"Thanks for watching my back, but if you need a hand, just give a shout, all right?" said Packrat. "Teamwork goes both ways, yeah?"
Ike nodded with a grin. "Yeah."
Packrat slowly turned himself around and gave a thumbs up as he did so.
"All right, it looks like Palutena and Pit have gotten themselves cornered, and I have no idea where anybody else went. Let's help Pit and Palutena for now and figure out what's going on!"
"Sounds good to me!" said Ike.
And with that, the two launched back into the fray.
Some distance away…..
"Ken! Over here!"
Ken glanced to his side and noticed Captain N and Snake rushing up behind him.
However, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to catch a charging Spotty Bulborb. Ken grunted as he was pushed back, his heels digging into the dusty ground.
For a moment, the martial artist and monster shoved against each other in a contest of strength, straining with all their might.
Then, with a blur of red and a flash of light, Captain N rushed up and ignited his beam sword's blades into the side of the monster. The monster shrieked in pain, and recoiled, allowing Ken to land a swift kick to the monster's nose, seemingly stunning it.
Captain N followed it up with a large, semicircular slash with his blades, bringing the monster down. Behind him and Duke and Hunt stood alert, watching their backs.
Ken took a moment to look around. Some distance away, Ryu, Little Mac, Shulk, and Cloud were fighting their own individual battles against multiple monsters. They'd loosely been able to keep together, but they'd been pushed so far back that he'd lost sight of the rest of the Smashers amid the foliage.
"Come on! We need to help out everybody else with the monsters and then get out of here!" shouted Captain N.
"Is it just us?" asked Ken, panting heavily.
"Yeah," said Snake. "Already took a look around with the thermal camera, we're the only ones around. Let's clean up the rest and link up the others."
"Only about a dozen or so left." said Captain N. "Snake and I have been trying to catch up to you guys, but we've been picking off all the stragglers that you left behind!"
"And leaving us to do the hard work! Thanks a lot!" grumbled Ken. "I've had to use all three of my Smash Balls, and I'm pretty sure all of the others have too!"
"Hey, at least we haven't left tons of monsters roaming all over the countryside. C'mon, let's finish this off!" said Snake, as he took the lull in the action to reload his pistol.
"So, how are we gonna do this?" asked Ken as he caught his breath.
"I think Cloud's looking the most tired. He's got the highest kill count, but he's getting tired swinging around that paddle sword of his. We then go help Shulk, and then Little Mac and Ryu from there," said Captain N.
Ken shrugged. "Sure, as good a plan as any."
"All right! Let's get them!"
Snake sighed as Captain N rushed off, tailed by Duke and Hunt.
"Yeah, that's N for you. C'mon, before he gets himself into more trouble, yeah?" said Ken.
"Sure."
And with that, the two rushed off after Captain N.
Back in the clearing…..
Palutena panted as she focused on keeping the light dome around her standing. It wasn't a great situation, being surrounded by monsters as they were. But Pit was on the outside, taking down the monsters one by one. Just as he had done with Medusa and her armies. And hopefully the other Smashers wouldn't be too far behind. But for now, she was drawing the monsters aggression. Holding the tide captive with a nice shiny dome of light to hit while the others picked them off. It wasn't a glamorous job, but it would hopefully keep her fellow Smashers from getting completely overrun.
It wasn't as if she hadn't done her best to out offense the horde. As one of the most powerful Smashers, Palutena was one of the best suited to wield the power of a Smash Ball and withstand the recoil of using so much power all at once. For this reason, she was one of only a handful of Smashers equipped with five Smash Balls. And so far, she'd used four of them. And boy was Palutena paying for it.
Her arms, legs and back ached as if she had a fever, and she could feel her mental acuity decreasing in sharpness. Oh, she'd cut gaping swathes in the ranks of the Firey Blowhogs and Spotty Bulborbs. But not only did they just keep coming, they also were absolute damage sponges. Which was why she was currently on the defensive.
Every single hit. Palutena could feel every single one, reverberating through shield, costing her every ounce of concentration. But Palutena was not here just to be a pretty, glowing thing to look at. Oh no. Not if she had any say in it. Not if she had just the slightest moment. And maybe a moment to pop her last Smash Ball.
There was a lull in the number of hits her shield was taking, and she cracked an eye open, and launched a spike of light out of the shield, gouging a Bulborb in the leg. It howled in pain, before staggering back. Pit would have no issue finishing it off. Wherever he was right now.
The hits to the shield continued as before, and Palutena grit her teeth. Where were the others? Roy and Corrinne had both come in with a blaze of powerful attacks, and had disappeared while Palutena had been focusing on the monsters in front of her. Ike had to be around somewhere, he'd been fighting close to her for some time. Pit was in the air, but that was all she could say for certain.
Suddenly, there was a series of explosions in the background, followed by a marked decrease in the amount of hits her barrier was taking. Needing less concentration to keep the barrier up, Palutena opened her eyes, and saw Pit some distance away, finishing off a monster by thrusting both of his blades into its side, Ike grappling with another, and a mech that likely belonged to Packrat blasting a barrage of heavy artillery.
A small smirk graced Palutena's lips. Oh, she could work with this. Finally, the others were getting through.
Palutena turned around, facing the other side of her dome of light.
"Wall of Spikes!"
Immediately, a large number of spikes erupted from all sides of the dome that were not facing Pit and the other Smashers. Against the monsters who were headbutting the wall, the spikes quickly found their marks.
The resulting howls of pain were cacophonous, but it was well worth the ringing ears. And at any rate, she'd been on the defensive long enough. Now that she'd gotten the monsters off of her back, it was time to lay out a little pain while she had a lull in the action.
"Spike Barrage!" shouted Palutena, firing the spikes out of the dome. The light spikes quickly found their marks, causing another earsplitting roar of pain.
Palutena rubbed her ears. Time to start dealing with the noise pollution.
"Pillar of Light!"
One down.
"Dazzling Purge!"
One more down and a second that looked seriously injured. Though the rest of the monsters were definitely recovering at this point.
"Pillar of Light!"
One more down before the rest resumed their attack.
Palutena winced as she felt the staccato crashes resume their smashing into her shield and closed her eyes in concentration again. But their numbers were thinning. She could literally feel it.
Suddenly, a large series of explosions rocked the ground in near her shield, and she cracked an eye open to see a handful of monsters collapsing, amid a hail of explosions.
Ike abruptly ran into view, sword swinging.
"Aether!"
Palutena grinned as Packrat's mech stomped into view, firing an intense barrage of lasers and explosives.
As Pit swooped in overhead firing arrows like a machine gun, Palutena cracked a grin. The tide had turned. And boy was she ready to stop playing defense.
Palutena reached to her belt and grabbed her last Smash Ball, and crushed it, letting the surge of power and energy wash over her with a brilliant rainbow aura for one last time for the battle.
Time to wrap things up.
"Pillar of Light!"
Snake panted heavily as the last monster fell with a roar. The other Smashers around him let out a tired cheer. Suddenly, he heard a beep from his radio. Quickly, he picked up.
"Snake here, what's up?"
"Snake? Oh thank goodness, we haven't been able to contact any of you! Is everything all right?"
"Chrom? What's going on?"
"We noticed that Roy's radio was offline and that nobody else was picking up. We've been trying to call all of you, but nobody has been picking up."
"We got ambushed and separated by those giant monsters that we fought earlier. I'm with Ryu, Ken, Shulk, Little Mac, Captain N and Cloud here. Dunno where the others are though."
"We're all right," said Skylark suddenly over the radio. "I've got Pac Man, Game and Watch, Simon and Richter here with me!"
The radio crackled again. "This is Packrat. Palutena, Pit and Ike are here with me. Roy came in with us, so I'd think he'd be somewhere nearby. We'll take a look around for him."
"Say, where's Corrinne?" asked Shulk. "Is she accounted for?"
"Not with us," said Skylark.
"Not with us either. Hopefully, she's with Roy," said Chrom "It looks like her radio is offline too."
"Maybe they got pushed back? My GPS shows that we got pushed back almost a mile over the course of the fight," said Snake.
"We could try searching for them," said Palutena. "There are a lot of us here, we could canvas a wide search area."
"No," said Chrom. "Robin is going to be pushing against Sienne. Our scouts spotted a detachment of Subspace forces marching towards us, and I need you back here as soon as possible. I also need you to save as much of your energy as you can, there's a major battle brewing, and I'll need all of you."
"But we can't abandon Roy and Corrinne!" said Pit. "Also, what about Cloudbreak Fort?"
"Robin has a second portal behind you. If you don't move now, you're liable to get cut off. Though you should have done quite a number of the Subspace forces in the area?" asked Chrom.
"No, it was mostly the doc's monsters," said Packrat. "Barely any primids."
There was a pause.
"And you don't know where the rest of the primids are?" asked Chrom.
"No," said Snake. "No intel at all."
Chrom whistled. "That's a dangerous situation. I need you guys out of there."
"We need to fine Roy and Corrine first!" protested Pit.
"I know, but we can't spend too many of our resources trying to find them when the capitol is being threatened." Chrom sighed. "They knew the risks when they signed up with the Smashers and I'm sure that they're both capable of holding out for an extra day or so. But back on topic, how many of the Miis are left?
"None by us," said Snake.
"We've got a couple," said Packrat.
"A couple dozen by us," said Skylark.
"All right. Palutena, do you think you could carry everybody back on a platform?" Chrom asked.
"Normally, yes, but it's been a long fight, and I'm not at full strength at the moment."
"Can you make it back at all?"
"Probably, but it might be hard trying to carry everybody and the Miis, and Shulk's bus on top of that."
"Hey! Fiora's an RV, not a bus!" said Shulk. "Know the difference! But we could drive back separately if that would work better."
"Wait, Shulk has his RV!" said Chrom. "Hold up, wait a second here….."
Snake waited as the sound of pages shuffling could be heard over Chrom's radio.
After a moment, Chrom spoke up. "All right. Shulk, how many people can your RV carry?"
"It can carry the whole gang! But since Terry and Sora are still out with Master Hand, I've got a few seats open," said Shulk.
"All right. So that's Cloud, Ryu, Ken, Captain N, Little Mac, and yourself, right?" asked Chrom.
"That's right!" said Shulk.
"Specifically, how many open seats?" asked Chrom.
"Uh…. four," said Shulk. "But its worth having 1 or 2 seats open in case we end up in a fight! Its easier to move around when we're not at full capacity."
"All right…. Palutena, would carrying 7 less Smashers help?" asked Chrom.
"Probably," said Palutena. "Especially since I don't have to carry Shulk's bus."
"All right, Shulk and friends, how do you feel about this? Palutena carries everybody else back directly back to Sienne, while you guys stick around and see if you can find Roy and Corrinne? I'll give you a call later tonight and get you briefed on the situation. I might have you guys flank behind Robin's army and launch a surprise attack from the rear, so be prepared for that. If not, you'll rendezvous with the rest of us at the location we're going to defend."
"Sure, we can do that, but none of us are really stealth fighters," said Shulk. "A sneak attack might not go as well as planned with just us."
"Let's see…. Snake, can you go with them?" asked Chrom. "It will probably help to have somebody more stealth minded to help them."
"Yeah, I can do that," said Snake.
"Then its settled," said Chrom. "Shulk, Snake and friends, you guys just heard the plan. Palutena, you take everybody else back to Sienne as quickly as you can. Does that work?"
"Fine by me!" said Palutena.
"Sounds good!" said Shulk.
"All right! Smashers, move out!" said Chrom, before the radio connection cut.
There was a pause as everyone began to relax.
Suddenly, Captain N groaned.
"What is it?" asked Ken with concern.
"Palutena ferried us down the mountain on a light platform, right?" said Captain N.
"Yeah, why?" asked Ken.
"That means the RV's still in Cloudbreak Fort, isn't it?"
There was a moment of silence.
"It will be good exercise," offered Ryu.
"Yeah," sighed Captain N. "Good exercise."
"I mean, we still need to look for Roy and Corrinne, right?" asked Little Mac. "Maybe some of us should stay back and see if we can find them."
"I'll go back by myself to get Fiora. I'll meet you in the riverbed," said Shulk.
"It's probably not a good idea to go alone," said Snake.
"I'll go with Shulk," said Ryu. "No time to build stamina like the present."
"All right. Everybody else follow me," said Captain N. "Duke should be able to sniff them out!"
"Well, we'll be off then," said Shulk. "See you later?"
"See you later," said Snake.
As Shulk and Ryu walked off through the brush, Snake sighed, and glanced down at his watch. About 3:00 pm. Still a few hours before darkness fell.
What an awful mission this was turning out to be.
