A/N: Ok, so there's something I wanted to mention before this chapter goes out. I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but I've had this fic idea for a very long time. So long in fact that what is posted today is the evolution of an idea that I got from Brawl Era fanfic. When the decision was made to have a magic-less universe, the only characters that were supposed to have been affected were Zelda and Ganondorf, maybe Peach depending on how you interpret her attacks.
Long story short, when Bayonetta was announced at the end of Smash 4, it was a bolt from the blue. Here's this character who I've never even heard of before that is a "demon witch" and heavily relies on magic. Who, if I'm going to add every single character to my fic like the original idea for this fic entailed, needs to be put in somehow. In a magic free futuristic universe.
The Bayonetta you're about to see is the best I could do considering that I've got over 100 characters here and considering the fact that she wasn't planned to be the main character of a story act. I'll be honest, I was going to cut Bayonetta for quite some time, but my friend Raeror helped me come up with the following solution. I'm really trying to nail her personality since her fighting style and powers got completely gutted and reworked for Echoes. Just a heads up and thank you for bearing with me, Bayonetta has been a planning thorn in my side for literal years at this point.
Act 11: Chrom
Chapter 4: Black Ice
Behind enemy lines….
Captain N holstered his pistols as Dr. Mario, a guy who looked strikingly like Luigi if he were a bandit and a chick who looked a lot like Peach in a nurse outfit walked up to them. He drew his two beam swords from his belt and activated them with a flourish. Next to him, Duke dropped low to the ground, growling, while Hunt flapped his wings and quacked defiantly.
Shulk just adjusted his grip on the Monado, his stance remaining resolute.
"You'd be wise to just surrender," said Dr. Mario. "Especially after that stunt you pulled on my camp. I might kill you less painfully."
"Yeah, I don't think so," said Captain N.
"Your loss then," said the doctor, pulling a syringe out of his coat. Mr. L took a fighting stance, while Nurse Peach drew a bonesaw and held it at the ready.
Captain N dropped into a fighting stance, his beam swords at the ready.
For a moment, nobody moved. Suddenly, Shulk let out a cry and lunged for Mr. L with the Monado. Captain N quickly followed him, rushing for Dr. Mario with a fast slash.
The doctor rolled away from Captain N's strike, but was unable to outpace Duke, who jumped up and bit down on his arm, as Hunt quickly attacked his face, pecking and flapping furiously.
Captain N caught the glint of metal and sidestepped Nurse Peach's bonesaw just in time, before quickly taking a guard stance. She glared at him, eyes cold and piercing, as she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a syringe.
"Don't worry, this will only sting for a moment," she said icily.
"Sure…." said Captain N. His head whipped around as he heard a whimper from Duke as the dog was tossed aside by Dr. Mario. The doctor's hand shot out, but missed Hunt, who flapped to the side just in time to avoid him.
"Stupid bird!"
"Duke! Hunt! Get the nurse! I've got the doc!" shouted Captain N.
Duke got his paws underneath him and growled as he approached Nurse Peach. Hunt quickly disengaged and turned to face the doctor's assistant.
"Well, assistants vs assistants seems like a fair fight, but doctor vs random hobo seems like an easy victory for me," said Dr. Mario drawing a bone saw of his own. "You won't stand a chance to my superiority!"
"Random hobo? What are you…. Listen, you're the one who lives out of a lab probably! And anyway, when's the last time you haven't had economy ramen noodles for dinner that weren't stored next to severed heads in your fridge? Like seriously dude, you're really creepy!" said Captain N.
"Creepy? How dare you! If anybody is creepy, it's that overweight plumber, not me!"
"Bro, you know the minute Mario hears that, he's gonna kick your butt," said Captain N.
"Good, I have unfinished business with that fraud," said Dr. Mario.
"Did you ever start your business?" asked Captain N. "I've never heard of you. Like…what are you, his long-lost cousin or something?"
"That's none of your business!" snapped Dr. Mario. "Now, die already snooping hobo!"
Dr. Mario lunged for Captain N, who swing his sword, blocking the strike from the bone saw.
"Hey, who are you calling a hobo!"
"You, hobo," sneered Dr. Mario.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I own a very nice house, a sports car, and a top-of-the-line motorcycle!" said Captain N as the two fenced back and forth. "And that's ignoring my other assets!"
"I don't care, you look like a hobo, you smell like a hobo, you are a hobo!"
Captain N rolled his eyes and continued to battle in silence. He parried a thrust before attempting a counter with his other sword, only to miss as his opponent rolled out of range. Dr. Mario scowled as he quickly pulled out a strange-looking gun. It was shaped like a pistol but instead of a standard barrel, it had a large, clear cylindrical barrel. A second cylindrical container jutted out of the side. Captain N squinted through the glass of the cylindrical barrel. Were those needles?
He quickly dove aside as Dr. Mario began to shoot the needles. They launched with a hiss as Captain N continued to evade the shots. That had to be compressed air, probably from that container on the side. Captain N holstered one of his beam swords and drew one of his blaster pistols.
He dove to the side in dramatic fashion and lined up a shot, firing just before he hit the ground.
Captain N looked up as Dr. Mario walked up to him, pointed the gun at him and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Dr. Mario looked at his gun in confusion. Captain N grinned as the doctor looked in surprise at the gaping hole that had torn itself through his compressed air cannister. He tried pulling the trigger a few times, but still, no needles were shot. Captain N aimed his own pistol, but Dr. Mario was too fast and dove to the side to dodge the shot, reaching into his coat and hurling a smoke bomb at the ground as he did.
Captain N covered his eyes and rolled away from the smoke cloud, before scrambling to his feet. This guy was crazy, who knew what was actually in that smoke. Probably neurotoxins or airborne worms that ate your brains.
Captain N glanced to the side to see Nurse Peach take a swing at Duke with her bonesaw. His faithful companion jumped away as Hunt swooped in for another dive bomb.
A glint out of the corner of his eye returned his attention to Dr. Mario who was rushing at him with his bonesaw again. Captain N took a defensive stance and blocked as he drew his Beam Sword. Dr. Mario lunged at him with a series of stabs, but Captain N was able to block them. Shoving the weapon aside, Captain N landed a kick to the doctor's gut. His hand shot to his holstered blaster, but as he drew it, Dr. Mario reached for something under his coat, and flicked a white sheet at him as he fired the shot. The laser bounced off of the sheet, back in his direction but off to the side.
"Well, you're fast," commented Captain N.
"Of course, I'm fast!" said Dr. Mario. "I'm superior in every way to Mario!"
"Then how come you haven't beaten me yet?" asked Captain N. "Mario would have beaten me by now."
"Because I was merely testing your strength. Now, die!" shouted Dr. Mario.
Captain N raised his blade and prepared for the coming assault.
Some distance to the side…..
Duke snarled as Hunt stood up on his head and quacked menacingly, flapping his wings in a show of intimidation.
The mean nurse in front of them tutted at them and brandished her saw again.
"You're a bad boy!" she snapped.
Lies and slander, that was! Almost every smasher had told Duke that he was a good boy! Other than the two that smelled like garlic. They were mean. Probably because they smelled like garlic. Duke would be mean too if he smelled like garlic. He would probably go crazy from the smell, and Hunt would probably leave him if he smelled that bad.
But everybody else had said that he was a good boy! Clearly, the mean nurse was wrong! Probably because she spent too much time around the mean doc that was trying to stab Captain N with a saw. Which was also mean. Meanness rubbed off on people, didn't it?
Duke snarled at her as Hunt took off and began to fly around her head. As Hunt continued to distract her, Duke readied to pounce.
This crazy lady wasn't gonna hurt Captain N. Duke was going to make sure of it.
A little further away…..
"BACK SLASH!" shouted Shulk, as Mr. L rolled to the side to avoid his attack.
Mr. L landed on his feet and hurled several fireballs back at Shulk, who sidestepped most of the projectiles, and dissipated the rest with the Monado. Mr. L rushed in and began throwing some probing punches, but Shulk took a wide swing with the Monado, forcing Mr. L to back off.
Mr. L raised his fists in a cautious stance, and Shulk took a guard stance, as the two uneasily circled each other.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Shulk.
Mr. L tilted his head in confusion.
"Why are you attacking Begnion? Why are you working with Subspace? Why all of this?"
Mr. L paused for a moment and then slowly shook his head. "They… don't tell me that kind of stuff. I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. I just work for my brother."
"Your brother? That Dr. Mario guy? He's your brother?"
"I…. yeah. And if I don't beat you, he's not gonna give me any dinner. So…. I need to beat you. Sorry."
"Not get any dinner for not winning? That's not very brotherly!" exclaimed Shulk. "Hold on just a second…."
Shulk trailed off as Mr. L rushed at him and hurled a punch, which Shulk blocked with the flat of the Monado. With a shove, Shulk pushed Mr. L back, before landing a shove kick to his chest, sending the clone stumbling back.
"I'm going to tell Mario and Luigi about this. This…. this just isn't right," said Shulk. "They won't take this lying down."
"Why? I'm not their bro…." said Mr. L.
Suddenly a hail of lasers struck the ground in between them, spraying dust and debris through the air, and throwing Shulk sprawling across the grass.
Shulk came to a rolling stop, before getting up slowly and looking around, hearing the roar of the Wolfens as they whizzed past. Shulk glanced up and noticed that three aircraft were fighting the dragon nearly directly above them. But that was a problem for later Shulk, and present Shulk quickly surveyed his surroundings.
The Monado hadn't been knocked too far away from him, so he limped over to it and picked up the weapon, before looking around.
There was a loud roar of an engine, as a Wolfen whizzed through the air above their heads, smoke coming out of the back.
"Well, that's not good," muttered Shulk as the smoke cleared enough to see his opponent.
Mr. L stood on the other side of where the shots had landed, in a ready pose. Almost immediately, he rushed towards Shulk.
Shulk grit his teeth. What was going on behind the scenes there? Something was clearly not night. But for now, he'd have to fight this clone. And try not to kill him. And try not to hurt him too bad. If possible? At least he knew not to activate the Monado's plasma blade for this fight?
In the air…..
Wolf clenched his controls tightly and squeezed the trigger of the cannons. Immediately, the cannons roared to life and began pelting the side of the dragon, still to no avail.
"Cmon!" snarled Wolf. "The thing can just breathe fire at us and damage our Wolfens, but we can't scratch it?"
"Not with our standard laser cannons, it seems," glowered Leon, before coughing.
"Leon, how's that right engine looking?" asked Wolf.
"Out of commission. I'm not going to be able to maneuver so quickly with only my left engine, and my fuel's tank's been hit," said Leon, as he wheeled around at the dragon. "I'm leaking fuel and fast. We need to kill this thing and quickly."
Wolf glanced out of his cockpit at the dragon, who was trying to breathe fire at Panther. The last member of Star Fox was currently engaged in evasive maneuvers.
"It's on my tail! Blast him!" shouted Panther over the radio. "I can only evade him for so long!"
"Leon, switch to torpedoes," said Wolf, as a plan came together in his mind.
"Torpedoes? Wouldn't homing missiles be better?" asked Leon.
"I'm gonna slow it down for you. Follow me in," said Wolf.
"Copy that, boss," said Leon.
With that, Wolf stepped on the gas and leaned on his controls, wheeling out after the dragon.
"Hurry up!" said Panther. "I don't know who put orange juice in this thing's cereal this morning, but it thinks that I did it!"
"Working on it!" growled Wolf, as he slammed on his thrusters, gaining slowly on the dragon, as it swooped off in hot pursuit. "Do some stuff to get it to turn, will you?"
"All right, but you'd better hurry!" shouted Panther, before quickly looping his fighter up into the air, and plunging down towards the ground.
The dragon began to turn downward, and Wolf grinned.
"Eat this you oversized lizard!"
Immediately Wolf fired a barrage of homing missiles at its wings, followed by a charged shot to its back. The missiles mostly hit their mark, causing the dragon to lose its momentum, and begin to plummet to the ground.
"Leon, now!" shouted Wolf, before rolling hard to the right.
As he rolled, Wolf could see the smoke trails of the torpedoes whizz through the sky.
There was a massive explosion and a horrible, shrieking cry as Wolf righted himself. Slowing his speed and looking around, Wolf quickly spotted the dragon falling out of the sky, before crashing to the ground in a massive heap in between the columns of Primids.
"Well shot," said Panther.
"You doubted my skill?" asked Leon. "I'm almost offended!"
"Panther, how's your fuel looking?" asked Wolf.
"I'm at about a quarter tank, but the dragon clipped one of my wings while we were dogfighting. The damage doesn't look too bad, but it's enough to throw off my maneuvering," said Panther. "I'm also low on explosives from the bombing runs and the dogfight. It was an unusually intelligent beast, though its smarts weren't enough to save it."
"All right. You two get back to base and get your birds repaired. I'll stick around and drop some more bombs on the enemy. I'm not stopping to bail either of you out if you get shot down and surrounded by those Primid things."
Leon snorted. "Fair enough."
Panther just chuckled. "The feeling's mutual. All right, let's get out of here, Leon."
As the two jetted off back towards the city, Wolf began to wheel around and survey the battle below him, trying to identify a target. After a few minutes of inspecting the battlefield, Wolf spotted several Primids frantically setting up a canvas near what looked like some sort of command center. Hadn't Robert mentioned that the portal was set up on something like that?
Regardless, hitting the command center should throw a wrench into their plans.
Wolf began to turn his craft to line up a bombing run, and managed to get off a few shots, before a massive roar rang out behind him. Wolf glanced back to see the dragon soaring into the sky behind him.
"It's not dead!?"
Gritting his teeth, Wolf glanced down at his radar. Panther and Leon were out of his range, and considering the state that their Wolfens were in, they wouldn't likely be very useful in the fight.
It was down to him.
Back on the ground….
Cloud held the Buster Sword in a cautious guard stance, as Robin circled around him, her sword at the ready. On her shoulder was perched a peculiar small creature, and it looked like something was moving around in her hood, but whatever it was seemed to be blocked by her head. Its body was mostly spherical but beyond that it was hard for Cloud to make out.
"What's that? A Pokemon?" asked Cloud.
Robin just smiled. "Yes. A Castform more specifically. Do you know what Castform do?"
Cloud shrugged. "Not exactly a Pokemon master here, you know."
"Hmm hmm. Well, that's unfortunate for you then."
"Eh, I'll figure it out," shrugged Cloud.
"Are you sure?"
"Do I look stupid to you?"
"You're not stupid. Just not as smart as me."
"We'll see about that…." muttered Cloud, as he suddenly swung the Buster Sword, shooting a wind blade. Robin jumped aside and drew her sword.
"Now, Castform! Ice Beam!"
The little creature shot a light bluish beam of ice at Cloud, who sidestepped the attack, and fired off another wind blade.
Following the wind blade, Cloud hefted the Buster Sword and rushed in, as Robin dispelled his wind blade with a slash of her own blade, before assuming a guard stance.
"Climhazzard!" shouted Cloud, as he began the spinning attack.
"Klefki! Reflect!" shouted Robin.
Suddenly, a purplish shield appeared around Robin. The Climhazzard smashed against the shield several times, before the attack ended.
Cloud looked at surprise at Robin, before noticing what looked like a sentient key ring attached around one of the loops of Robin's belt.
"Castform, Thunderbolt!"
Without a moment of delay, Cloud dove to the side, narrowly dodging the electrical attack, before taking a cautious guard stance.
Cloud took a few steps back cautiously putting a little more distance in between him and Robin when suddenly, his back foot slipped. Cloud glanced back, and saw a patch of ice had formed, where the Castform had used its ice move earlier.
Cloud glanced back at Robin, who smirked at him.
This tactician lady wasn't a pushover. Great. Adjusting his grip, Cloud grit his teeth and stared down his opponent. No easy days on the battlefield, after all.
Some distance away….
"Hadoken!"
The monster in front of Ryu grunted and took a step back but seemed otherwise to be unharmed.
"Slowking! Use Flamtherower!"
Ryu rolled out of the range of the flames, before cautiously awaiting the Pokemon to stop attacking.
From behind her Pokemon, Sham grinned dangerously.
"Now! Hydro Pump!"
Ryu tensed as the Pokemon took a breath and dove to the side into a roll as it sprayed a powerful stream of highly pressurized water just over his head.
Keeping his momentum, Ryu landed on his feet and closed the distance, hurling a powerful punch at the Slowking.
"Reflect!" shouted Sham.
Ryu managed to land a punch before the Pokemon could react, followed by a knee strike, but it recovered and blocked his follow up heavy kick with a wall of psionic energy.
Shifting his stance, Ryu raised his leg and landed another powerful side kick to the shield. The Pokemon grit its teeth as if it was straining against his strike. Time to pressure it further.
"Tatsumaki Senpu!"
The first several strikes hit the shield, but the fifth or sixth broke it, and Ryu managed to land the final kick of the technique to the Slowbro's face. The Pokemon staggered back, glaring at him.
Suddenly, Ryu caught something out of the corner of his eye, flying through the air, and caught it. The object exploded into smoke, and Ryu chucked what was left of the smoke bomb away before it could cloud the area any further.
Returning his gaze to his opponent, as the smoke cleared, Ryu saw a completely different Pokemon standing in front of Sham, a humanoid creature that appeared to be miming a wall in the air in front of it.
"You're quite strong to beat Slowking with just martial arts!"
"I was trained by the best!" stated Ryu.
"So was I," said Sham. "Now, you will fall! Mr. Mime! Dazzling Gleam!"
Before Ryu could react, he was blasted with a brilliant and sparking blast of pink energy, throwing him back.
Ryu scrambled to his feet, but Sham shouted, "Psycho Cut!"
Ryu looked up and saw the Mr. Mime slashing the air with its hands, shooting crescents of purple energy at him.
Swiftly sidestepping the attacks, Ryu shifted his stance.
"Hadoken!"
"Use Barrier!"
The Mr. Mime projected another purplish shield in front of it, blocking the Hadoken. However, Ryu wasted no time in rushing in, launching himself into a flying kick.
The shield cracked, but it didn't break.
Ryu landed on his feet and began to pummel the shield with strong punches and kicks.
"Starmie! Use Hydro Pump!"
Ryu looked up to see Sham release a new creature, this one resembling a starfish with a gem at its core.
Before he could react, the starfish Pokemon blasted him with a torrent of water. Ryu managed to block the stream with his arms, straining against the attack with all his might just to stay on his feet.
"Starmie! Use Thunderbolt!"
Ryu looked up in shock, but suddenly, a green and black blur whizzed in from the side and slammed the Pokemon with a powerful strike.
"Slowbro!" shouted Sham as she hurled a Pokeball in between herself and the new assailant.
"Ryu! You all right?" asked Little Mac as he stared down the Pokemon.
"I'm fine! Thanks for the save!" said Ryu. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Mac! Watch out!"
Mac's head whipped back and he managed to block the ice covered hand of the Slowbro, before shoving it aside with his arm and retaliating with a punch of his own.
Ryu glanced over to see Ken duking it out with an angry looking panda Pokemon and a bipedal pokemon covered with sharp blades like armor. The opposing Pokemon trainer…. Carl was it?
"Gah!" grunted Little Mac, as he took a blast of water to the face.
Ryu's attention snapped back to the fight at hand.
It was no time to get distracted.
Near the forest's edge….
Snake dove and rolled to the side as Bayonetta's hair shot out and smashed into the ground where he was standing. Snake kept running, drawing his pistol as Bayonetta began shooting at him with her pistols. Bullets whizzing past him, Snake fired off some shots in return as he fished for a grenade.
Snake chucked the grenade at Bayonetta, but she kicked it out of the air, sending it flying into the air, some distance away, where it exploded harmlessly in the air.
Bayonetta struck a stance, and her long ponytail suddenly extended and shot towards Snake.
Snake jumped to the side, as Bayonetta's hair retracted, and he jumped as the returning hair swept low on its way back, threatening to trip him up. Bayonetta rushed in, and the two engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
It only took Snake a few exchanges of strikes to realize that he was up against an experienced martial artist. Most wouldn't be able to keep up with her flamboyant style. But Snake hadn't spent years learning his father's legendary CQC style for nothing.
The intensity of the bout only increased as Snake blocked a furious barrage of punches, only to have his roundhouse kick hit air, spinning around just in time to sidestep an axe kick. The second that Bayonetta's foot hit the ground, it shot back up, forcing Snake to step back to avoid a front kick, before he lunged forward with a heavy punch, narrowly missing Bayonetta as she leaned back out of the way. Snake stumbled forward and leapt forward into a roll to dodge whatever his opponent wanted to throw at him.
Regaining his feet at turning around, Snake assumed his combat stance, as Bayonetta rushed back at him. Dodging a spinning kick, Snake caught Bayonetta's arm as she threw another punch, and twisted it behind her, before putting her in a hold.
Bayonetta twisted and squirmed, trying to wrench her way free.
"You're…. pretty good…." she said. "But I'm not out of options yet!"
Suddenly, Bayonetta's hair sprang to life and smashed straight into Snake's face, causing him to lose his grip. Snake staggered back, coughing and sputtering, before being slapped heavily in the gut with the extended ponytail.
Snake looked up to see the prehensile ponytail shoot towards him like a viper striking at its prey. Without a second thought, Snake rolled to the side, and upon regaining his footing, rushed at Bayonetta, trying to close the distance.
It was all for naught, as Bayonetta quickly blasted him square in the chest with her ponytail to offset his momentum and rushed in for a flurry of blows of her own.
The first few strikes hit Snake square in the face, but he quickly recovered, and managed to start blocking her hits. After a few more blocked punches and kicks, Bayonetta backed off. Evidently, she'd learned from the last exchange of blows. All with that smug smile on her face.
Snake grumbled under his breath. This was a losing fight. It didn't matter if he could beat her in a hand-to-hand exchange or if he could match her in a gunfight, her hair attacks were going to do him in. Snake needed to change strategies and needed to do it quick.
A plan quickly formed in his mind, and Snake reached for his grenade belt. With a quick motion, Snake pulled the pin and chucked the grenade at Bayonetta. It hit the ground and rolled a little, as Bayonetta quickly bounded away, as it exploded into a large plume of smoke.
It was all the distraction that Snake needed, and he sprinted straight for the woods. If he was going to try and force a shootout, more cover was going to help him. Snake slid next to a large tree and put his back to it, drawing his knife and holding his pistol at the ready. Had she seen where he went?
There was a tense silence, as Snake waited, listening for any movement.
Snake could hear the din of combat, and the shouts and attacks of his fellow Smashers and his opponents. But his ears also picked up the noise he was looking for. The clack of high heels.
Wait. High heels. Not boots. Not shoes. Specifically high heels. This lady came to a battlefield wearing high heels.
Snake glanced at the forest underbrush around his feet. This could be turned to his advantage.
"Don't pretend like I didn't see you go into the woods!" called Bayonetta. "If you don't come out and fight me, I'm going to go and attack your friends! You wouldn't want me to kill them now, would you?"
Snake grit his teeth and readied his pistol. The fight wasn't over yet. But, in the forest, he stood a better chance, where she couldn't move so freely. He'd have to draw her into the forest somehow. Time to take his chances.
And with that, Snake jumped out from behind the tree, ready to fight again.
On Hill C….
Marth surveyed the line as the Subspace forces pressed up the hillside against the second barricade. The slope of the hill was making their advance even more difficult than it had been for the first barricade, and the Fire Primids that had so quickly made short work of the first barricade were now struggling to get close enough under the heavy hail of arrows, hand axes and javelins from the defenders now that they knew what to prioritize.
Thankfully it wasn't just the Fire Primids that were having difficulties. The Armanks from earlier were moving extremely slowly up the hill, and some started sliding down due to patches of broken up earth, and without them, the main bulk of Primids were heavily exposed to the projectiles of the defenders. Furthermore, the clouds of Spaaks and Armights from earlier had been nearly eradicated, having nearly no support from the ground forces against the Wolfens.
Marth grit his teeth. The plan was working so far. But Robin wasn't known for sitting on her hands. Hopefully Snake and the other's diversion was going well. Keeping a tactician of that caliber fighting a battle on two fronts was going to help their odds significantly.
A captain ran up to him. "Sir, the men are starting to worry again about that dragon in the sky. Is something going to be done about it?"
Marth stared out at the dragon that was swooping around in the sky, fighting a tiny metal object. "They're not alone. I'm going to connect with Chrom. Can you take over frontline command for me while I do so?"
"Of course, sir," said the captain.
On Hill B….
Chrom's radio crackled to life.
"Chrom, that dragon's back in the air," said Marth.
"Yeah, I saw," said Chrom. "Robert's busy at the bridge, they're attacking him there. I'll contact Wolf directly and see what's up, I thought they had it beat earlier. How is your line holding?"
"We're doing all right, but the dragon's causing morale to tank," said Marth.
"Noted. I'm on it," said Chrom, before cutting the connection. Switching channels on his communicator, Chrom flipped through the channels before activating another one.
"Chrom to Star Wolf, do you copy?"
"I copy, but I'm kinda busy!" growled Wolf quickly.
"What's your status up there?" asked Chrom.
"The dragon got back up and it's a 1 vs 1 dogfight," said Wolf.
"Aren't there three of you?" asked Chrom. "Where are your teammates?"
"Their Wolfens were damaged in the first fight, I sent them back to base. I hate to ask, but can you spare me any backup? I'm gonna need some extra firepower here!" said Wolf.
Chrom stared up at the small metal speck and the massive dragon in the sky.
"I might have a solution for you. Switch to frequency 494.98….."
On Hill A….
Packrat jumped as his radio abruptly crackled to life.
"Hey, is there a Packrat here?" demanded a gruff voice.
"Yeah, that's me. Who is this?" asked Packrat.
"Wolf. I'm the guy keeping this stupid dragon from roasting you all alive, but I'm a bit short on firepower. Chrom says that you can help me out with this thing?"
Packrat looked up into the sky and surveyed the situation.
"Yeah, I can. That's your fighter in the air, right?" asked Packrat.
"The only one out here!" yelped Wolf as a loud roar echoed through the communicator.
"All right then. How's your fighter looking? You taken much damage?" asked Packrat.
"Not much, but that might change fast!" snapped Wolf.
"Right. I need you to lead it in front of my hill. I'm at the one to the south side, the one with all the sentry guns? You see me?" said Packrat.
"Yeah, I do," said Wolf.
"All right. You get it in front of me, and I'll blast it with my sentry guns."
"I'm not gonna be able to get that low," said Wolf.
"You don't need to. I can manually control my guns. I just need you to get closer to me so I can get a clean shot."
"Copy that. On my way," said Wolf abruptly, before the communication cut.
Packrat quickly looked over the battlefield again. While the others had been pushed back to the second barricades on the other hills, Packrat's first line of sentry guns were still largely intact, though they were all below half of their ammo capacity.
Packrat tapped the side of his helmet, scrolling through a belt of icons on his HUD, before settling on the manual target icon. Selecting the third and farthest back line of sentry guns on the top of the hill, Packrat turned his gaze to the sky as a targeting reticle appeared on his HUD. The third line consisted of about 50% railgun sentry guns and heavy laser cannons, mostly so that he could annihilate any large, bullet sponge types of enemies with his manual fire. It had worked so far against the Armanks, and his front lines of heavy machine gun sentry guns were still active and still shredding the Primid hoardes.
It was time to let that dragon have it.
In the sky…..
Wolf grit his teeth as he jetted through the skies above the battlefield, the dragon in hot pursuit behind him.
The dragon let out a massive plume of fire at him, which Wolf narrowly dodged, swooping low to the ground as the dragon torched the ground behind him. As the plume of fire tapered off, Wolf wheeled around quickly, and slammed on his thrusters before the dragon could get another blast of fire off, making a beeline for the southernmost hill. As he got close, he caught a split-second view of two armored soldiers.
As he passed, there was a massive roar of heavy cannon fire, louder than the front lines of the guns had been by themselves. Wolf glanced behind him to see the dragon eating dozens of heavy lasers to its underbelly, struggling to stay airborne and shrieking violently.
Wolf soared upwards into the sky, before looping around, as the dragon crashed to the ground.
"How's that?" asked Packrat over the comms.
Wolf didn't answer immediately, as he angled his craft downwards.
"Take this, ya freak of nature!"
And with that, Wolf unloaded the last of his missiles and Smart Bombs, accompanied with a hail of lasers.
As Wolf pulled up, Packrat asked, "You think it's dead yet?"
Wolf just grunted. "It better be. I'm not letting this thing get back up again."
"I'll do a scan for life signs," said Packrat. There was a pause, before he said. "It's dead. I wonder if it was the rockets or the smart bombs that did it in?"
"It was my ace dogfighting skills that did it in," said Wolf. "All the same, thanks for the assist."
"Anytime!" said Packrat. "You going for another bombing run or are you going back to base?"
"Going back to base but I'm gonna try and do one more bombing run on the way back to base. Those medieval knights need all the modern firepower help they can get," chuckled Wolf.
Packrat just snorted. "Tell me about it. Listen, you get anymore dragons on your tail, you lead them in front of me, you hear?"
"I hear ya. Anyway, let Prince Fancypants know that I'm the one who saved his golden under-britches from getting soiled, yeah?"
Packrat just chuckled. "You got it!"
"You'd better! Wolf out!"
At the bridge…..
Robert grit his teeth as he clashed blades with Lucina, deftly parrying her counter, before forcing her back a step with a quick feint.
Lucina was by far the best sword wielder that he'd fought in quite some time. As far as swordsmanship went, her basics had been refined to absolute mastery, though some of her more complex maneuverers could use a bit more practice. Still, she was a menacing opponent, and was decidedly more talented as a sword wielder than he'd been in his prime. Not that he was that far past his prime, but Robert still was feeling fatigued from trying to keep up with such a youthful duelist. Thankfully, it seemed that Lucina had not been able to duel with a wide variety of opponents during her training, and he'd been able to switch styles to her detriment twice already. If she wasn't his niece, he'd likely attempted to go for a finishing blow already.
Which was another reason this battle continued to drag on. Next to him, Brynhilde's claws clashed against the blades of the Pit clone, and Eight's shield hissed as it blocked another plasma shot, smoking from the heat of the repeated projectiles that it had blocked.
Lucina took an offensive guard stance, poised to return to the fight as quickly as possible, but Robert raised his hand.
"We don't need to fight, Lucina."
"That's what all you Smashers say!" snapped Lucina. "When you're the ones making the galaxy a worse place!"
"I know that's probably what your mother has told you. Look here, we can't talk in a place like this….."
"I don't want to talk! I want to make the galaxy right! I want to make the galaxy a place where everybody can have a place! You're in the way! Why can't you see that!?"
"Because I'm not in the way of anything!" said Robert.
"You're in my way!" shouted Lucina, rushing at him, blade swinging.
"In the way of what?" asked Robert as he sidestepped her attack, before blocking the follow-up strike.
"Of our march to liberate Begnion!" shouted Lucina as she attempted an overhead slash at Robert.
"Liberate Begnion? From what?" asked Robert as he sidestepped the strike and feinted again to force Lucina back a step.
"From the tyrannical empress that rules over the land with an iron fist! And you're defending her!" shouted Lucina, pointing at Robin.
"Tyrannical empress? Sanaki is one of the best empresses Begnion has ever had! She's made peace with the Laguz nations, helped stabilize Crimea and Daein after the Mad King's War…."
"She overthrew her senate and filled it with her puppets!"
"The senate was corrupt, Lucina! Sanaki restored the senate with officials that weren't completely corrupt!"
"That's what they all say to justify their ends!"
Robert paused, before muttering under his breath, "Robin, what have you been teaching them?"
"What was that?" snapped Lucina.
"I'm just wondering what your mother has been teaching you. As your uncle, I need to be able to…."
"You're no uncle of mine!"
Robert sighed. "This is going nowhere isn't it. All right, listen here…."
"I won't listen to another word! Stop trying to convince me that you're the good guys or something! You're the pawn of a corrupt system and are trying to prop it up! Now die!"
Robert grimaced as he blocked Lucina's salvo of blows, trying to keep his blade in front of him. Where were the reinforcements that were supposed to arrive again?
Shoving Lucina back with a kick to the gut, Robert scanned the side of the hill to see a contingent of Miis locked in combat against the group of Primids, with a silver whip flashing into the air every now and again, somewhere near the front.
Hopefully the Belmont they'd sent would be able to do the job and get some of this pressure off of his team. It wasn't going to be Lucina letting up, that was for sure.
Behind enemy lines….
Captain N jumped back and slashed the air in front of him with both of his Beam Swords, preventing Dr. Mario from getting any closer as he retreated back a few steps.
With one quick motion, Captain N shifted his grip on his left Beam Sword, flipping it into a reverse grip, before attaching the handles together, and twisting the blades with one quick motion to lock the hilts of the blades together.
Captain N spun his now double-bladed Beam Sword like a windmill in threatening fashion.
"I'm not impressed, you know!" shouted Dr. Mario. Suddenly, a device on his hip beeped, and the doctor quickly checked it.
"But what I am impressed with is how quickly the Primids work! Now, you will behold my greatest creations!"
"What are you babbling on about now?" demanded Captain N, pointing one of the ends of his beam sword at Captain N.
Dr. Mario smirked and pointed behind him. "You think you've seen monsters, have you? You haven't seen anything yet, you spineless, incompetent, mush brained fraternity jock! Consider this your hazing into a new era!"
"I'm not…. you know what, just be straight up about it, what have you got now, a bigger monster or something?" grumbled Captain N.
"Bigger monster? Oh no, moth balls for brains, this is no mere 'bigger monster'! That Rathalos you saw earlier was only a taste of what's to come! Even though your friend managed to knock our portal out earlier, our dear tactician thought of that already! Which is why our portal is back up and fully operational! And now, I will show you what a REAL monster looks like! To me, my Sheegoths! Your master beckons!"
Captain N grit his teeth as a series of ghastly howls echoed over the battlefield, and the mass of Primids surrounding where the portal stood began to shift. The tops of eight crystalline spiky backs, each easily the size of a water tower reservoir, were visible over the masses of Primids.
"So that's why the portal was so big!"
"Oh, has it finally clicked in your tiny, quaint little brain?" sneered Dr. Mario. "My finest creations will now win this battle! And you will not live to see the end of the day!"
Dr. Mario threw his hands in the air dramatically, as eight massive bipedal creatures lumbered towards Captain N. They were light blue in color and massive in size, walking on two legs attached to a large body that was mostly a large head, housing a large mouth bristling with savagely large teeth. While it had no arms, it had a number of spiky, crystalline protrusions on its back.
"Peachy! Mr. L! Will you come over here?" said Dr. Mario.
"Duke! Hunt! Here, boys!" shouted Captain N. "Shulk, you're gonna want to see this!"
"I believe our need to keep fighting these hooligans is at an end," said Dr. Mario, as Nurse Peach and Mr. L rushed up to him. "Our monsters, my finest work, will finish the job for us."
Turning to Captain N and Shulk, Dr. Mario said, "Now, you will face my Primal Sheegoths! Behold their splendor! And your doom!"
Shulk looked over the Sheegoths. "Uh, I don't like the looks of those…." he said.
Captain N gave Dr. Mario a sideways look and noticed that he was talking into his communicator as he walked away with his minions.
"If he's telling his friends to back off because the monsters are going to fight us, then we'd better get everybody over here."
As if on cue, Snake's voice crackled over the radio.
"Hey, what's going on? The enemy just pulled back?"
"Yeah! Our opponents bailed on us too!" said Ken over the radio. "Something's gotta be up!"
Shulk quickly activated his radio. "That something is some new oversized monsters by us! I'm activating my location tracker. We need you now!"
Shulk warily raised his weapons as Captain N holstered his Beam Sword in favor of his laser pistols as the Sheegoths stomped towards them. Captain N raised his blasters, and began shooting, but a force field appeared around the spikes on the backs of the Sheegoth he shot at, and sucked his laser bolts into its radius and absorbed them.
"Well, that's just lovely," grumbled Captain N, holstering his pistols.
"I don't suppose the Monado's plasma blade is going to fare much better," said Shulk. "We're gonna have to rely on more blunt force trauma here."
"Speak for yourself!" said Captain N, pulling a Gooey Bomb from his belt and chucking it at the closest Sheegoth. The explosive attached to the monster, and exploded, but it seemed to hardly affect it.
"Well, that puts explosives out the window, doesn't it?" asked Shulk.
"Maybe we need bigger explosives?" said Captain N, as Duke began to whine. "Don't worry buddy. We'll get out of this. I'm not gonna have you fight them."
As the two kept backing up, there was a sudden flurry of movement from the side, and a trio of familiar shouts were heard. One of the monsters to the side growled and four of them turned to face the side.
"Hadoken!"
"Shoryuken!"
"Star Punch!"
Four of the monsters turned and charged off to the side, as the others continued to advance on them.
Suddenly they heard noise from behind them, and Cloud rushed forward past them, and slashed the closest Sheegoth across the face, as a rocket sailed over their heads and crashed into the monster.
Cloud jumped back as the Sheegoth retaliated with a massive blast of icy breath, narrowly avoiding the furthest tips of the breath.
"That didn't do a whole lot. What are these things?"
"Dunno, the doc called them Sheegoths. They seem to be pretty tough."
"I'll say. That slash did nothing," said Cloud with a hint of worry in his voice.
"And there's a bunch of them," said Snake. Switching to his radio, Snake barked, "Ken, Ryu, Little Mac, does anybody copy? How are you faring against the monsters?"
The four of them began to back up as a group, as the monsters began to charge at them.
"Blade Beam!"
The attack didn't even seem to register against the charging Sheegoth, before Captain N was forced to dodge the Sheegoth charging at him.
Activating his beam sword, Captain N rushed up close, and lanced one of the Sheegoths in the side with his Beam Sword.
The monster roared in pain, and lashed out at Captain N, smashing into him with the side of his massive jaw.
Captain N went sprawling, but managed to stop rolling, and quickly scrambled to his feet.
Inspecting the monster, Captain N saw that there was a distinct wound where he'd stabbed the Sheegoth. A hole had been burned through part of the skin but didn't appear to have made it all the way through. How tough was this thing's hide?
Some distance away, Captain N could hear his teammates engaged in combat.
"Climhazzard!"
"Back Slash!"
How on earth were they going to take these things on?
"Hey guys? Guys?" suddenly came Ken's voice over the radio. "Where are you guys?"
"On the field," growled Snake. "Fighting monsters. Where are you?"
"We retreated to the forest. We can hardly damage them," said Ken. "The trees are definitely slowing them down. Maybe if we had any Smash Balls left from yesterday, we could do something, but as is, we're not doing squat!"
There was a pause. "We're going to get killed out here," said Snake. "Everybody retreat to the RV! We need to get out of here. This is a fight we can't win right now! Go! Go!"
Some distance away…..
Robin sighed as she returned to her small command center, a simple arrangement of three folding tables arranged in a half-moon shape with everything she needed for the battle scattered about. That had been more fight than she'd been hoping for today. But at least the plan was still in motion, and they'd stopped a potentially catastrophic attack on their flank. Chrom knew his stuff, she had to admit.
Dr. Mario walked up to her, accompanied by Mr. L, Nurse Peach, Bayonetta, Sham and Carl.
"I'm pleased to report that my monsters have chased away those ruffians. They're in full retreat!" said Dr. Mario.
Robin clenched her fist and smiled. "Excellent! Were you able to kill any of the enemy?"
"I'm afraid they pulled out before my monsters could inflict any casualties. They must have quickly deduced that they were no match for some of my finest creations! Perhaps they have more of a self-preservation instinct then I'd initially thought."
"It won't save them for long," said Robin dismissively. "That was some excellent work today, Doc. Also, Sham, Carl, Bayo, you all were of immense help. Thank you."
"Any time!" said Sham. "We are just glad to have gotten the opportunity to face off against some of the Smashers and get a feel for their power."
"Just happy to get to stretch my legs, darling!" said Bayonetta.
"Of course," said Robin. "Now, with that out of the way, we'll proceed with our original assault plan. Doc, can you get your monsters into position?"
Dr. Mario grinned darkly. "Right away! I wouldn't want to hold up our enemy's defeat any longer!"
"Sham, Carl, Bayonetta, can you watch our flank again, just in case they come back? I doubt they will, but our final assault will be….. high impact, shall we say. I don't want you in the front, getting caught in the crossfire."
"We appreciate the concern. The backlines will be safe with us," said Carl.
"Excellent," said Robin. "Now…. it's time to call back the assault columns….."