Physics Week 5
Sephiroth vs All
Snake and Isabelle's room
"NOOO, MY SEMINAR!"
Snake shot up in bed to start his morning. This wasn't the first time since Isabelle became his roommate either. Whether it was the night he'd caught her laughing entirely too hard at Sonic's joke on a late-night communicator call, or the night he'd heard her curse a Japanese law book within her quest to help Goro Akechi, doing it with such hatred it was probably enough to invoke a demon, being awoken by the perpetually busy secretary wasn't uncommon for the light-sleeping Soldier of Fortune. But this was the first time he had heard heartbreak in the dog's bubbly voice.
"Huh, what's wrong?" asked the groggy military man.
He didn't get a response from the main suite of the room, where Isabelle was fretting to herself. The lack of a response caused Snake to instinctually grab his communicator. Hopefully, the Smash Bros' information network yielded some answers. First, he saw the cancelations from The Belmonts, both with variations of "having to prepare to face the unholy demon," in lew of the planned seminar. Jak and Daxter's cancelation was two paragraphs long, the first bemoaning having to sit through a "borin' as all get out seminar after the new trainin' sesh". The second was a much more formal cancelation, likely from Jak. Chun-Li and Master Chief's cancelations were almost identical in nature, formal and regretful as if written from a press statement.
Unsurprising, from two enforcers of the law, mused Snake.
Snake's bemusement ended when he saw Ridley's e-mail. His a was crass, misspelling-rich, albeit short diatribe about how he would be "too tired after taking the One-Winged Angel Down a peg."
"Oh no," Snake gasped aloud.
The e-mail under Ridley's was from ROB, the subject reading, "All-hands training session,"
Snake tapped the e-mail open with an uncharacteristically shaky finger. Cloud and Snake had made it a habit of getting together for a morning coffee ever since their meeting at the beginning of last week. The ultra-serious, yet reverent tone Cloud spoke of his enemy with, especially when he described bearing witness to the solar system being destroyed, was bone-chilling, even for a man as combat-experienced as Solid Snake. So now, he read the e-mail, his dread being confirmed.
"After breakfast today, we will host an all-hands training session, under the new All-Star Mode ruleset, the 'one' participant being Sephiroth versus all of us, per Sephiroth's request. Please be available after breakfast"
Snake bolted out of bed, changing into gear with such speed and vigor that he was briefly reminded of the incidents in which drill sergeants had awoken him at an ungodly hour in boot camp. With his personal favorite sneaking suit, the black Octo Camo, on, he made his way to the main suite, where the normally well postured Isabelle was sprawled out in one of the easy chairs, her cheeks puffy from crying, her eyes vacant, her mind too preoccupied to even look at him as he entered.
"All that planning we did," muttered Isabelle once she noticed he was there.
"I know,"
"I slaved over the Nookpoint."
"It was a good PowerPoint….uh…Nookpoint, " Snake agreed.
"You slaved over your part too."
"Trust me, Isabelle, being in the military means you spend your days preparing for eventualities that will never come to pass."
Silence hung in the air, mostly from Snake struck by the momentary disbelief that he'd complimented someone's PowerPoint, before one-third of Les Infantiles Terribles found his words, "But crying about it will only distract you from our next mission."
"I know. The only thing I can do is make that pretty boy pay."
Snake banished a donkey's laugh back to the bowls of his throat, allowing himself to crack a grin.
"That's the spirit," the soldier encouraged his secretarial mentee.
Finally, Isabelle turned to look at him, "Mister Snake?"
"Yes Isabelle?" he said, long since passed trying to quell the 'Mister Snake' nonsense.
"Do…do you think the other Smashers will look down on me if I start the morning off with some Vacation Juice?"
Snake shrugged, "I've had vodka for breakfast a few times. Sometimes it's the only thing that hits."
Isabelle smirked, her eyes full of devilish determination now, "I assume some of that was from when you roomed with Sonic,"
"That's classified information Miss Isabelle," Snake snapped, his posture suddenly rigid
Isabelle giggled, "Look at you, being a little diplomat. Perhaps I'm rubbing off on you after all."
Snake let a chuckle escape him, "I should hope not. So, Vacation Juice, and then we head out?"
"Yep," she said, barely getting the words out.
Outside the sub-basement entrance: after breakfast
"You will report to the Northern Crater auditorium when your name is called. You will sit to the right of the Smasher called before you upon entering the auditorium."
Sly Cooper had bid Bentley and Murray goodbye relatively recently in the grand scheme of things. Even still, it felt like a lifetime ago. The goodbye also felt strangely final. Maybe it wasn't so strange given the challenge the ninety-nine faced in this one versus all affair. The master thief added his memories of breakfast to his growing pile of musings. He had seen prisoners on death row eat a meal with less dread. And the droning, repeated instructions of ROB didn't necessarily dissuade the "lead to the gallows" feeling
Whelp, if I'm gonna get my ass handed to me, why not hang out in the company of friends
The group, which contained himself, Jak, Daxter, Ratchet, and Clank, Dante, and Vergil, having contained Jin and Yoshimitsu until their names were called, all stood in stony silence. Yoshimitsu had been as dramatic as ever, but with that gone, the microscopic bit of levity this whole day had had was gone too. Even the resident goofs, Dante and Sans, who could normally be heard cracking jokes from across any room, were silent today. The only one of the six not content to contemplate the inevitable was Daxter. He stood atop Jak's shoulders, jogging in place like a child who needed to go to the bathroom.
"I'm tellin' ya, not knowin' what this order was about is gonna kill me."
"Not using the time to come up with a battle plan will kill ya faster," shrugged Sly.
"Precursors above I hate when you're right."
Sly's eyes, which habitually darted towards the slightest hint of movement, caught Jak's eyebrows sharply raising. Perhaps the green-haired rebel had expected a joke out of his companion?
Dunno why. Daxter's a goof, but he isn't a fool, observed the raccoon to himself.
His ears twitched as he heard the sound of a rubber boot grinding into the linoleum floor. Sly's looked to the source of the noise. Toon Link stood a few paces away from the PlayStation All-Stars' makeshift semi-circle looking down at the floor, a forlorn looked etched onto his face.
"Hey, Toon?" Sly asked
The boy looked up meekly, "Yes Mister Cooper?"
Bashfully, Sly rubbed the back of his head, "Mister Cooper was my father's name, call me Sly. But uh… we were wonderin', what the heck is with this order we're getting called in?"
"Oh! Our theological order?" Toon Link chirped, his eyes brightening as if he had the answer to a particularly difficult question in school.
"Theological?" balked Daxter, "Like, somethin' to do with gods?"
"Why, yes Daxter, that is typically the definition of the word…" Clank began to explain
Simultaneously as they had many times before at the All-Stars Hotel, Jak and Ratchet jumped in simultaneously with a quick, yet stern, "Let him talk Clank,"
The robot froze mid-word, looking downcast at the floor as Toon Link continued, "Yes. Apparently, there's an order in which we belong that only ever made sense to the Hands and whatever gods they answer to. I heard Miss Palutena explain it last tournament, something about a 'release'" he said, using air quotes around the last word.
"What the hell does that mean?" Dante asked no one in particular.
"Perhaps whenever these gods became aware of us?" offered Clank.
"That makes as most sense as anything, but the word 'release' doesn't work contextually," Vergil pondered, his forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"Sly Cooper and Krystal, you're next," the disembodied voice of ROB announced.
Sly began a light jog to the enormous stairwell, getting to the threshold at the same time as his new blue vulpine companion. Bowing dramatically, and extending his free arm forward the thief beckoned, "After you,"
Krystal huffed, blowing past him as she began her trek down the stairs,
"Hey look," called Sly after her, "I'm sorry, you just remind me of my girl back home and..."
"I don't care," the voice of Krystal echoed from somewhere within the flights of stairs.
Huh, charming, thought the heir to the Cooper legacy with a sarcastic eye roll.
Sly peered down the steps.
Hmm, he thought, What if I...?
Vaulting over the railing Sly felt the wind whistle around him, trying not to be bewildered by the rooms flashing by him. Luckily, after dropping several floors, he saw Krystal's visage, which stood out like a sore thumb in the sterile stairwell. Holding out the hook end of his cane, it snagged the railing of the stairwell. Krystal gasped in shock at the sudden clang. Sly flipped upward, pirouetting in the air, landing in front of her, "Let's try this again," he said, "After you," bowing and gesturing much as he had earlier.
Krystal stared at him, wide-eyed for the briefest of seconds, before snapping back to her usual scowl, "Lunatic," was all she uttered as she brushed past him, into the training hall, going deep into it until he found the door labeled "Northern Crater," Entering the all-white room, and going up the elevator once it had deposited Krystal, he found himself in the auditorium. Instead of the usual tiered, lecture hell seating Sly had witnessed while training with his All-Stars Battle Royale friends earlier in the week, the room had been organized into one long bench. Sly winced at the image.
"The only difference between this and booking bench in a police station is the absence of that coffee and donut smell," mused Sly to no one in particular.
His attempt at a joke was met with silence. Pulling at the back of his shirt collar uncomfortably, Sly proceeded down the bench. Game and Watch was at the start, muttering something about "Whooping that polygonal little boy," Pacman sat next to him, vibrantly humming some sort of prog-rock tune. Wario and Dedede looked plain embarrassed as Meta-Knight bore a hole into them. Porky was in a similar situation with seatmate Ness, the only difference being Ritcher trying to keep in boyish sniggers, his hand over his mouth. Cloud wrestled with what appeared to be a sentient pink blob of goo as it slithered through his spiking hair, happily cooing the entire way Cortana floated next to Master Chief, verbally blazing through what sounded like statistics faster than the quick-witted Sly could comprehend. Beyond that, everyone else sat in silence. The silence that had struck him the most, however, was Bowser Junior and the Koopalings as he found his open seat between Larry, the lowest on the Koopaling pecking order, and Krystal. Normally loud, verbose, and moving in a way that Ken had once called "Gracie Train-ing" everywhere, it was odd to see them so reserved and quiet. Sly took his seat. His gaze snapped to Krystal, who was unusually relaxed, her posture in a leisurely recline, her hands rested firmly on the back of her head.
"So…uh…what do ya think the big deal is? Why does this schmuck get a special training session against everyone?"
"Well, I can't imagine Sephiroth is someone you say no to and walk away," Krystal state flatly without turning to look at him
"True, but is it worth it if it puts everyone in this kinda mood," replied the thief, gesturing vaguely to the increasingly grimmer room.
Krystal chuckled haughtily, "You don't think Sephiroth feeds off this kind of misery? He killed everyone in the guy with the big sword's hometown,"
Sly's eyes went wide, "He what? "
Krystal smirked, "You heard me, or as you as daft as McCloud?"
"Hey, I'm the one who has to sit through your dribble lady. Next, you're going to tell me he blew up a planet or some-"
"Solar system," Krystal corrected him.
An unexpected exhaled stream of air escaped Sly's lungs, manifesting in what sounded like a moan from the world's oldest man. He scanned Krystal's facial features. Nothing on her deadpan facial expression indicated to her she was lying. As the realization set in, the background noise drifted away, the increasing number of Smashers whose theological date came after his own passed Sly with no notice. The only thing that managed to break him out of his stupor was the voice of ROB.
"As everyone has assembled, let me be the first to welcome you to All-Star Mode. In this training exercise, Smashers will appear on stage after one is eliminated in the order in which you are seated upon the bench. In years past, we have sent Smashers into the arena in groups of eight. However, per Sephiroth's request, the numbers per group will be randomized. Some of you may be working in groups of four, and et cetera. You will be healed after you are eliminated, and, in the extremely unlikely event Sephiroth is able to work his way through the entire roster, the order will loop again. Please be ready to..."
"HAH! Like you'll need anyone more than me! I'll whip that polygonal pretty boy six ways from Sunday," Game and Watch crowed so loudly that Sly could hear him from half a 100-person bench away.
"Alright," Mario said dryly, "Game and Watch goes in with no backup, we see what happens."
"Young man, it'll be SMASH EDUCATION."
"If you say so. ROB, give Sephiroth his cue,"
"Affirmative," barked the robot.
All-Star Smash
Stage: Northern Crater (Battlefield ver.)
Music: One-Winged Angel (Advent Children ver.
GO!
Game and Watch disappeared from the auditorium, lazily drifting down onto the right-most platform. Sephiroth stood in the middle of the arena, completely unphased.
"YOUNG MAN! YOU AND YOUR POLYGONS! IN MY DAY, WE DIDN'T HAVE FANCY GEOGRAPHICAL, CINEMATIC ATTACKS! IN MY DAY, EACH FRAME OF ANIMATION WAS SEPARATE! IT'S NONSENSE LIKE YOUR SUPERNOVAS AND QTE'S, WHATEVER THOSE ARE, THAT'S MADE THE YOUTH OF TODAY SOFT, DUMB, and LAZY!"
"Heartless Angel," Sephiroth dryly huffed, not even making eye contact with the two-dimensional man.
Mister Game and Watch: 999 percent
In a flash, Mister Game and Watch went from the minimum amount of damage to the maximum The cranky frame of animation was struck silent, drawing in a feeble, shocked gasp for breath, sinking to his knees, yowling in pain as he clutched what approximated as his chest.
The audience in the auditorium gasped, the only sounds in the room being the laughter of the sadistic villains among them, and the droning of ROB, who was repeating the phrase, "Searching," over and over again.
"He didn't even hit 'em. He just said the magic words," balked Bowser, who struggled to find his breath.
Meanwhile, on the Northern Crater, Sephiroth picked up the two-dimensional old man by the throat. With the ease of a hookshot in basketball, Sephiroth tossed his defenseless opponent into the air for the KO.
"Mario," hissed Sephiroth, "You insist on testing my mettle as if I'm some novice. If such foolishness continues, I will break your order one by one. However, if you choose to not insult my intelligence and time, I will play fair with you."
"Alright. Next seven, prepare!" Mario ordered.
With that, he, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Pacman, Little Mac, The Duck Hunt Duo, and the Ice Climbers all disappeared from the auditorium seats, headed to the Northern Crater to face down the One-Winged Angel.
Sephiroth casually skulked under the rightmost platform, swinging his sword an impossibly long arch above him. Pacman, who had attempted to change into his circular, featureless form in order to dive-bomb his opponent, was eliminated as quickly as appeared. A quick flurry of punches from Little Mac and the half Mario Tornado move Mario typically did in the air gave Sephiroth some damage, but the man left into the air, bringing his sword down as he crashed down. The contingent leaped away to avoid
Hmm, thought the One-Winged Angel to himself as he swung his sword horizontally, cleaving Donkey Kong and Mario in the process They know of the Hell's Gate. Even in my absence, Cloud has taught them well.
Sephiroth found that he was idly swinging his sword with no thought, and while it was doing damage (The Duck Hunt Duo and the Ice Climbers had already been eliminated, replaced by the next three opponents, ROB, Piranha Plant, and Peach), he needed to concentrate. Mac leaped into, his fist looking to connect on a horizontal leap.
"Scintilla," called Sephiroth with no emotion in his voice.
Green hexagons appeared before in front of him, forming a wall and blocking the big punch. The wall, now transforming into sharp, needle-like slices of energy, swathed Little Mac. With a yelp, the young Brooklynite collapsed to the floor., Sephiroth thrust Masamune for a downward diagonal blow, hitting Mac and sending him off stage. ROB, who was still incessantly barking about searching, was an easy target for another aggressive horizontal sword thrust, similar to the one that had eliminated the last trio, to be eliminated. With the boxer gone, Bowser joined the fray, The King of the Koopas put his massive arms around Mario and Peach's shoulders, while Piranha Plant obediently joined the huddle. Bill Rizer appeared next. Pressing a button on a detonator, a white capsule flew onto the stage, Rizer shooting it down with his normal pea shooter. A winged circular logo with the letter 'L' appeared from the destroyed capsule. Rizer muttered something intelligible, likely a curse, if what Sephiroth had observed during the man's many smoke breaks outside the Smash Mansion was true and picked up the weapon. Meanwhile, the Mushroom Kingdom Contingent were all rushing him. That simply would not do. Sephiroth opened his hand. The burning embers of the Flare spell materialized in his hand, which grew to the steel melting heat of Megaflare, before manifesting into his best fire spell, Gigaflare. Sephiroth waved the ticking timebomb away as the seemingly innocuous spark ambled towards the four. As the world around them darkened, the spark stopped at the center point of the team's assault. The massive explosion put each of them into the upper hundreds on their damage counters with no effort, sending them flying like missiles to the blast zone. Bill bolted towards him next. Sephiroth attempted another lunging blow, but Bill had it telegraphed, jumping just as the sword was in reach. Landing on the sword itself, Bill ran up it, firing a colorful laser at him. As the lasers connected, Sephiroth withdrew his sword. Bill foresaw this as well, leaping backward. As he touched down, Samus, Ridley, Link, and Zelda, Simon, and Pit appeared. Snapping his fingers, Sephiroth shot a needle of darkness at Bill. When it connected, three orbs began to dance ominously around the soldier. Again, Bill flew an intelligible string of curses, much louder and more frantic this time. As he stumbled back into the group, one of the dancing shadows latched onto Link, and then Zelda. Snapping again, Bill now had five dancing shadows. Snapping again, now Link had five. Sephiroth let the smallest of grins appear on his face.
And to think I'm enjoying myself, the son of Jenova mused.
Link had crouched into a defensive stance, while Zelda stood firm, teeth gritted, poised for the inevitable. Bill, meanwhile, was firing his laser as rapidly as the weapon would allow, speaking an even more deeply nonsensical string of curses.
"Ridley, On my signal! Samus, you provide cover fire" barked Pit.
Sephiroth noticed Ridley briefly glower before nodding. As the two ran towards Sephiroth, the Shadow Flare afflicted trio ran into action. Again, Sephiroth readied Gigaflare. As it had done before, the sky darkened, the ember of destruction floating towards its victims.
"NOW!" Pit bellowed.
He and Ridley flew high just as Gigaflare exploded outward. Bill and Link were hit with it, sent flying, and eliminated just as Shadow Flare kicked in. Yet, among the chaos, Zelda stood completely unharmed the remains of a black and purple knight's armor in shambles around her.
"Impossible," breathed Sephiroth.
Zelda smirked, "The Goddesses have once again protected me. You, on the hand..."
"GUARDIAAAAAAAAAAAAN ORBITARRRS!"
"Wha-?"
Sephiroth felt two things. First, he felt the piercing of his chest, as if by a blade. He looked up, to see that Ridley's tail had penetrated his chest. Next, Sephiroth was struck in the head by Pit's Orbitars. His vision blurred, and sound became an endless ringing, coupled with bursts of pain as he was peppered with Samus' missiles and beam blasts. Quickly casting Flare, he heard Ridley shriek in pain. As the cobwebs faded away, he saw Ridley had removed his tail, covering his eyes, screaming in pain. Pit, meanwhile, had begun to fire a volley of arrows, which Sephiroth absorbed with quick casts of Scintilla. Hearing what sounded like a smoke bomb, Sephiroth looked up to the source of the noise, he saw a blue-clothed ninja, who he could sense was Zelda in some sort of disguise, launched downward at him, throwing a chain at him in the process. Sephiroth instinctively blocked the chain with his sword, which wrapped around the end of Masamune, Sephiroth felt the chain tighten. Zelda, or whoever she called herself in this form, hadn't anticipated that and had tensed. Swinging his body in a circle, and the sword with it sent Zelda on a collision course with Ridley, who collapsed upon collision. Pit had erected two shields of some holy, magical nature, holding each out at his sides. Colliding with Zelda made the shields crack, and another go-round broke them entirely. As Sephiroth was preparing the third revolution, he felt another chain wrap itself around Masamune. This one was made of sterner stuff than Zelda's. He looked in the direction of the chain to see Simon on the other end, with Palutena at his side.
How long have they been there? he wondered.
" SHIEK! PULL! NOW! YOUR HOLINESS, ANGEL BOY!, FIRE!
It was then Sephiroth was struck with an odd series of sensations. Firstly, having to play a two versus one game of tug of war with his sword was something he was not used to. The second was a heavy aura being felt over his entire body. Like he was being watched, like he was being…aimed at?
"Auto-reticle!" cried Palutena
Blue bolts of energy, Pit's Arrow's of Light, much less Samus' volley, which he had been tanking for quite a while now, was entirely too much. With all his strength, Sephiroth picked up his weighed down sword, lifting both Simon, and Sheik who was able to find her way to the ground, off their feet. Ridley, who Sephiroth had forgotten about, joined in attempting to weigh down the sword. He was feral, snarling and screaming as the metal half of his face was now melted into slag.
"Nobody, does this to me, especially not you, pretty boy," seethed Ridley, "When I get to you, I will tear you limb from limb and feast upon your corpse. I will-"
With one, mighty heave, Sephiroth threw all three of them into the air, jumping after them. Simon threw a cross into the air, which Sephiroth sliced apart with his self-taught Octoslash technique.
"Mother of God," Simon gasped, his eyes wide with horror.
"You'll do well to refer her to by her name, Jenova," the silver-haired warrior said with a smirk.
Using another Octoslash, this time with the intent of carving up Simon, Ridley, and Sheik, the 8 slashes connected with the two, sending them to the blast zone. Using the control a competitor in the Smash arena has over their fall, Sephiroth grabbed the ledge, pulling himself up. He briefly observed the situation, magic staff, magical bow, and arm cannon threateningly pointed at him from across the stage.
"Oh no you don't," growled Sephiroth.
Charging as fast he could muster across the stage. He was suddenly stopped by someone blocking his airway. The former SOLDIER thrashed, but his mystery attacker refused to break the grip , bringing him closer to the three ranged experts Amidst all the thrashing, he felt himself being deprived of air. This wasn't a simple hold, he was being choked, and whoever was doing it reeked of cigarettes. Whoever it was, had placed an explosive on his back as well
"SNAKE NOW!" Palutena ordered,
Sephiroth sighed.
"THERE!" shouted Snake, clicking the detonator.
Sephiroth felt the explosive force meant to level a building tear at his back. He also felt the release of his black wing popping out.
To this, his opponents recoiled. The first to speak was Palutena, who simply shouted, "Oh no,"
"Oh yes," Sephiroth snarled, a wicked smile on his face now.
Swinging his sword as hard as he could, Sephiroth connected with Palutena, sending her to the blast zone.
As Snake combat rolled away, likely to set up a projectile, Ryu and Ken appeared, and, judging by the way their bodies were poised, they looked to uppercut him.
Easy fix, Sephiroth thought.
He poised himself as if he was going to swing his sword in an upward arch. Three flying uppercuts, Ryu's, Ken', and Pit's Guardian Orbitars, all connected. Yet Sephiroth did not flinch as all three flew into the air from the momentum of their attack.
"WHAT?" Pit shouted in shock.
Sephiroth let a chuckle escape his lips as he swung his sword, knocking all three into the blast zone. Suddenly, Sephiroth felt himself being pulled towards Samus, who reigned punches down with her non-cannon hand as soon as Sephiroth was in range. All Sephiroth had to do was tease summoning Flare for Samus to break the grab and leap away. Sephiroth was free now, swinging his sword as Samus, eliminating her. He felt his neck get grabbed again. Anticipating it this time, he grabbed Snake's wrists, throwing them off of him and onto the ground below. Now grabbing for Snake's throat. Using his superior strength, Sephiroth brought Snake to his feet as the legendary mercenary fruitlessly thrashed against the choke.
"Stand down soldier," threatened Sephiroth, "Your dog won't understand why you never came home after all."
"You," Snake wheezed, now an unhealthy shade of red, "You leave Isabelle out of this you son of a…"
"You don't understand soldier. I am a god, I will destroy the routes that connect those who oppose me to the soil of sanity. ..."
Sephiroth applied more pressure to the choke, sending Snake to his knees in a coughing fit, "…and they will kneel before me all the same continued Sephiroth.
He booted Snake in the chest, releasing the choke Snake took quick, deep breaths, to regain his composure, but Sephiroth struck him in the chest with the blunt end of his sword, sending Snake to the blast zone as had happened to so many others.
As he had with the Street Fighters, he positioned himself underneath where the new fighters would appear, and swung his sword in the now dreaded arch, taking out Erdrick, Daisy, and Marth before they even had the chance to breathe in his presence.
Now, Doctor Mario and Captain Falcon were before him, an Octoslash disposed of them as quickly as they had appeared. Megaman and Ryu Hayabusa appeared atop the platform that Sephiroth found himself under. A quick upward slice eliminated them both. Yoshi, Chun-Li, and Sonic were the next group. Sephiroth swung into another volley for the Octoslash. Yoshi and Sonic rolled into the blow, believing the Egg Roll and Spin Dash respectively could negate it. Chun-Li also came in with a flurry of kicks, hoping to parry each sword blow with one of her legendary kicks. However, these beliefs were erroneous, and they were overpowered in seconds, launched horizontally, and fodder for a Gigaflare, that eliminated all three of them. As Sephiroth reset his stance from the immensity of casting Gigaflare, he felt himself being sucked in, by something, losing his footing, and suddenly being in a void of nothingness.
"Alright fellas, you remembuh the plan?" came the voice of Dedede from somewhere outside the void.
Sephiroth felt an aggressive wind pulling him inward. Whatever he was inside was breathing. As the voice of whatever was powerful enough to imprison to mighty Sephiroth spoke out, the void rumbled like an earthquake.
"Yeah! Just do the Goulashflare thingy while you charge up your hammer!"
"That's Gigaflare ya idjit!" snapped Dedede
"It takes-a some chargin' though-a, and I'll-a hold 'em down," bellowed a third voice, Wario.
"You get to chew on him like bubblegum!" whined Kirby, "Why can't the scary man be my bubblegum?"
"Not the time Kirbeh!" shouted Dedede.
"Quit yer yappin, and let's do it!" Wario demanded.
Without warning, he felt himself being upchucked, spiraling into Wario's waiting maw. Wario attempted to crunch down, but Sephiroth held the top of his jaw open, wriggling free, leaping into the air. It was only now that he managed to survey the situation. Kirby, wearing a hairpiece no doubt meant to resemble his gorgeous silver locks, had cast Gigaflare unto nothing, while Dedede, gritted in pain from the electricity from his hammer as the engine within it pulsated violently, swung his hammer at the air, likely to stop the pain. Pointing his sword downward, he launched to the ground, the enormous sword piercing Kirby, the impact of the blow also knocking King Dedede and Wario asunder. Sephiroth thrust his sword at the downward diagonal, the force of which was enough to eliminate Kirby and Dedede. Wario attempted to run him down with his motorcycle, but a clean swipe of the sword was enough to eliminate Wario. Fox and Falco were up next, each immediately eliminated by Octoslash. Meta-Knight came next, but the disparity in sword sizes knocked the Galaxia out of his hand with ease and allowed Sephiroth to send yet another Smasher to the blast zone with yet another simple swipe. Ness, Ritcher, Porky, and Diddy Kong appeared next. Porky immediately let himself drop down to the blast zone. Diddy and Ness took so long to set up their most powerful attacks, a fully charged Rocketbarrell boost, and a PK Missile respectively, that Sephiroth had the time to set up a Gigaflare, which allowed the chimp and psychic boy to meet their untimely ends. Ritcher appeared next. Unlike Simon, he came in swinging.
After a few blocked strikes nearly stumbled the winded One-Winged One, Sephiroth cast shadow flare. When King K Rool appeared, shoving Ritcher aside in order to close the distance on him, allowing a Shadow Flare to latch onto him, Sephiroth called upon Shadow Flare not once, but twice, so that each of the two competitors had five Shadow Flares orbiting them. K Rool connected a punch just as the Shadow Flares closed in. While the dark energy eliminated Ritcher, King K Rool was able to close back in on the stage with his Propellerpack. As he had done so many times today, Sephiroth struck with a mighty swing of his sword…only for it to clang against the golden armor that was his belly.
The Kremling King let forth a cocky belly laugh, "How do you like that, you emotionally disturbed peasant?"
Sephiroth smirked, "I do actually. I've been craving a unique challenge all day."
Suddenly, Yoshimitsu appeared, leaping into Sephiroth, and the two clashed swords. Just as he heard King K Rool galloping towards him on all fours, he felt the force of the king's armor crushing into his side. Luckily, as he was mid sword swing against Yoshimitsu, the armor he possessed while preparing a particularly strong sword swing allowed him to tank the blow. Grabbing Yoshimitsu first and K Rool next, he closed his eyes. Because of his time as the watchman of the Smash Mansion, he became accustomed to being able to hear sounds no one else could if he concentrated. One of these was the sound of when a teleporter was being used. Due to the nature of having to transport matter, he could also hear where a teleporter was going to drop its payload. Throwing out a Gigaflare, the ultra-powerful attack exploded just as Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Red's Charizard, and Team Chaotix appeared, sending all of them away into the blast zone. Sephiroth snapped his gaze to Yoshimitsu and K. Rool, firing a Flare at Yoshimitsu, who was KOed. King K Rool had enough presence of mind to roll out of the way, rising to his feet, and striking a sumo wrestler's stance, beckoning the former general forward with brutish grunts. Sephiroth connected with another swing, unable to crack the bell armor. From nowhere, King K. Rool produced a musket, whipping on a pirate hat in the same motion. The armored king fired the musket, as a slow metal ball ambled through the air. Sephiroth combat rolled away, easily dodging. Storing the pirate hat away, K Rool ripped his crown off his head, whipping it to the side. Sephiroth barely dodged it as the apparently barbed crown grazed his cheek, drawing blood. K Rool roared with fury, galloping once again on all fours. Sephiroth charged Flare, then Megaflare. The blue flam connected with the golden-armored king just as he leaped to his feet, preparing to do the bellyflop that had ambushed Sephiroth early. The sounds of armor breaking and mechanical components powering down to the failure echoed in the air as the crocodile tumbled slightly in the air, before landing. Sephiroth couldn't help but grin devilishly as he charged Megaflare
Whatever that armor is, it's biomechanical. His internals and whatever powers the armor are interconnected. Pathetic. No machine can compensate for an opponent with raw talent such as I, he thought.
Flicking Gigaflare away like one might banish a piece of flint to the unforgiving world. Sephiroth watched with a glimmer in his eye as the inferno exploded upon K Rool, KOing him. Sephiroth let a chuckle escape him. If the list he'd been given of the "theological" order of the Smashers, his next victim was the one he was looking forward to the most.
Sure enough, Cloud appeared, having substituted his usual one-armed trench coat look for a SOLDIER's purple uniform, his classic Buster Sword swung lazily over his shoulder.
"Decided to go with the classic look today, did we Cloud?"
The blond man sneered, "I've been training. My Omnislash is just as powerful as Version 5 was back at Edge."
Sephiroth chuckled, "How wonderful for you, I look forward to testing your mettle against you. Will the bear and bird be joining us, or the pretty boy devil, in the leather pants,"
"Pot meet kettle," spat Cloud.
Again, he chuckled, "Touché, but you didn't answer my question. I haven't come all this way just to be disappointed when your friends cheap shot me from behind, have I?"
"No, I asked that I be dropped in alone."
"Excellent," Sephiroth snarled.
As he and his mortal enemy began to circle one another, Sephiroth looked out at the background. The moment the Lifestream appeared to expel Meteor before it obliterated Gaia. He wasn't sure how many times the scene had looped, but still, he found himself sighing with joy, "You know," Sephiroth began, "It's fitting that this is the scene.."
Cloud screamed, flying through the air towards Sephiroth, Buster Sword, and Masamune clashing.
"…That this is the backdrop to when I finally beat you, fair and square," hissed The One-Winged Angel.
"Northern Crater" Auditorium
For the last halfhour, Sly Cooper, as well as the rest of the Smashers, had watched in complete awe as the two matched each other move for move. Clashing swords, occasionally breaking to weave around the odd Cross Slash or Octoslash, the two spent what seemed like an eternity locked in a stalemate, Even Sephiroth's most perplexing attack Shadow Flare, proved no match for Cloud, who was able to weave around the homing magic attack by shifting his body in ways that made even the particularly nimble Sly wince. If the thief didn't know any better, he would've guessed this to be a planned production of some kind. Having been in the heat of battles himself, he knew a blood feud when he saw one, and it wouldn't surprise the raccoon to find pictures of Cloud and Sephiroth with the phrase's definition in the dictionary. Everyone in the auditorium could see it in their motions on the TV projected on the wall of the auditorium, certainly, but their blows possessed such impact they could feel it from the stage below. Cooper had jumped at the first few impacts, not expecting to feel such impact outside of a natural disaster, but now, nearly on the north side of 30 minutes in, Sly could only feel awe.
Now, Sephiroth had sent forth the almighty Gigaflare. Cloud broke from the sword fight as he had many times before, but to the Smashers' collective, gasping shock, he ran towards, it, sliding underneath just as the explosion erupted. He hadn't taken the full impact like the others unfortunate enough to fall to it. Sly could see the spiky-haired man wince, dropping his guard for just a second. Sephiroth's eyes widened in a twisted realization of what was happening. Cloud must've read Sephiroth's face because he scurried up in an attempt to block the oncoming blow. But it was too late, Sephiroth was racing forward to deliver the Octoslash
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. These slashes connected with Cloud's chest with no effort. On the eighth, Sephiroth coiled back, hitting Cloud with a spinning slash not unlike Link. As Cloud's body flipped through the air off the impact, Sephiroth swung his sword like a baseball bat, smacking Cloud offstage and into the blast zone. Sephiroth immediately collapsed onto his hands and knees. The camera made sure to zoom in on his face, which had twisted into a giddy smile, his face vibrating as he quietly chuckled to himself.
"Ditto, go," Mario shouted.
Sly looked over to where Cloud was sitting. The pink pile of goo chirped happily, twisting into the shape of Sephiroth, and disappearing. Sephiroth seemed unphased, still reveling in his victory over Cloud. The fake Sephiroth powered up Gigaflare. Only when the sky darkened did Sephiroth snap to a confused expression, whipping around, only for Gigaflare to explode, knocking out the one in 100 versus 1.
"GAME! NEW RECORD!"
The auditorium erupted in cheers for a brief moment, snapping back to the all too familiar scared silence when the man himself appeared, brushing past everyone and leaving the auditorium.
"Alright, everyone. Dismissed." Mario ordered.
Murmuring amongst themselves, the Smashers filed out one by one, murmuring to themselves, the loudest of which was Cloud, happily telling Ditto he had earned his weight in Pokemon treats, much to the happy chirps of The Transform Pokemon. As Sly ambled out of the room, he found his usual group of friends, Jin, Yoshimitsu, and Master Chief having found them.
"Are you seriously sad about this tall dark 'an emo?" Daxter was saying, "Did you see what he did to the freakin' Pokemon?"
Jin, his expression downcast, nodded, "Yes. I was looking forward to facing off against him.
Master Chief, suddenly spoke, "Not once you hear the analytics Cortana has been running."
Everyone's attention snapped to the Spartan, who continued, "Looking up the analytics of his damage output, no other Smashers have even come close to putting out that must damage,"
"So?" balked Daxter, "Those old dinosaurs ain't got nothin on us new recruits."
"I'm not sure," Ratchet said, "The only thing that took Sephiroth, was something that transformed into him."
"I mean, you have a point. But we can find a workaround. We have to, for the money," Sly said
The group looked around at each other, each gauging their thoughts on the matter.
"The trash rodent speaks the truth," announced Yoshimitsu.
"Hey!" barked Sly.
"Let him finish," huffed Jin.
Yoshimitsu cleared his throat, " We have all defied the odds before. To defy this one, we must train harder,"
"You're right," Jak said with a nod, "Shall we head to the training rooms?"
"Yeah! Let's go show that shampoo hog what we're all about. Let's all head to the Sandover village stage room, just a few doors down," Daxter cheered.
Following Jak and Daxter, the rest of the group headed down a few doors to the Sandover Village room to train.
.