Chapter 38: A Cross In The Road
Samus landed her gunship at the entrance of a mountain. "We're here," she said. Mario gave out a breath. "Is anybody else scared, or is it just me?" Mario asked. "Totally you," Donkey Kong said with a fearful gulp. "Come on. It's just another cave we gotta go in. Which determines the fate of the universe but hey, no pressure," Fox said. "Oh?" Kirby questioned. Link nodded. "Yoshi is scared," Yoshi said. "Pika Pi," Pikachu said with worry.
Everyone exited the gunship and began making their way towards the cave. "Well well, look who finally arrived." "What was that?" Fox asked. From the cave Bowser, King K. Rool, and Wolf came out. Everyone raised their weapons. "Nuh uh uh. I wouldn't do that if I were you, Star Fox," Wolf said. "And why not? Can't you see we outnumber? And if you bring out more of those Primids we'll deal with those easily," Fox said. Mewtwo came out of a portal. "As requested," he said. "AH!" Luigi yelled as Bowser grabbed him. "Luigi!" Mario yelled. "Let me go!" Diddy Kong yelled as K. Rool grabbed him. "You better let him go, Lizard Lips!" Donkey Kong yelled with his nostrils flaming. Falco came out of a portal. Wolf blasted him with a shadow cannon and turned him into a trophy to reawaken him as normal. "Wait, what the?" Falco questioned. "Don't move," Wolf said as he pointed his blaster at him. "Wolf! What the heck is going on here? Fox?" Falco asked. "Pichu! Pi!" Pichu yelled. "Let me go!" King Dedede yelled. "Poyo!" Kirby yelled. "Pika!" Pikachu yelled as electricity came from his cheeks. Ridley flew in and grabbed King Dedede. Samus clenched her open fist. Ganondorf appeared through a portal. "Let us go! Let everyone go!" Zelda yelled. "No, but you'll be with me Princess," Ganondorf said as he grabbed Zelda. Link wanted to charge in and held the Master Sword in his hand. The villains all suddenly pressed forward with hurting the others. "One move, and they'll be destroyed in an instant," Bowser said. "You knew we'd be here," Samus said. "At least one of you figured it out," Wolf said. "The task is simple. Give us the crosses and perhaps your friends will survive to see the birth of a new universe," Ganondorf said. "Don't do it Mari-!" Luigi yelled. "Shut up!" Bowser yelled as he clenched his fist tighter and began crushing Luigi. "Wait! We'll-" Mario said as he clenched his fist, "We'll do it." "I guess we don't have much of a choice," Fox said as he lowered his blaster. Everyone put away their arms.
The eight entered the caves first followed by the villains and their hostages, except for Ridley who kept watch outside. "This is why you let us take Donkey Kong easily," Mario said as his voice echoed through the walls. "I see he is intuitive," Ganondorf said. "Trust me. I went against it! You're lucky the vote outweighed my interest," King K. Rool complained. "Yeah. Luck is what I'd call it," Mario said, sarcastically. "Tell me, what is the point of all this?" Fox asked, "The violence? The conquering?" "That's for us to know, Star Fox," Wolf said.
They all arrived at a gate. It looked ancient. Images were embedded onto the gate. Eight warriors with their hands facing outward. "This is as far as we were able to get. We figured that we needed the eight to get farther," Mewtwo said. "Of course you did," Samus said. "Pika," Pikachu said. "Now you best figure out how to open it! For your friends' sake!" Bowser yelled. "Link, don't!" Zelda yelled. Link looked at her, his eyes saying he had no choice for her sake. "Now now. Patience. Either way, with the Subspace Bombs active, they know they do not have long," Ganondorf said. "Yeah yeah. We got it," Mario said. The Eight all went up into the gate. "You best hurry. Your time will run out soon," Mewtwo said. "Pika," Pikachu said, annoyed. "Ugh! I'll just punch this thing!" Donkey Kong yelled. "Of course you will, Banana Brains," King K. Rool said. Donkey Kong punched the gate but his palm got stuck on it. "Oh come on!" Donkey Kong yelled. Link tried to get Donkey Kong out but he accidentally slapped him and Link grabbed the gate to catch himself but his palm also got stuck on it. Samus looked up and saw that two out of eight lights lit up. "What if?" she asked. Samus put her palm on the gate and another light lit up. "It reacts when we touch it?" Mario asked. "I think so. Let's try," Fox said. Mario and Fox placed their palms on the gate. Pikachu, Kirby, and Yoshi did the same. The gate shook as it let everyone go. The gate opened sideways and revealed a passage. "Well, looks like that did it," Mario said. Ganondorf pushed Mario in. "Keep moving," Ganondorf said. Mario shrugged his head and everyone went inside.
"You big dragon. You better let me go," King Dedede said. "I do not serve you. You have no power over me," Ridley said. "I am a king!" King Dedede yelled. King Dedede's pocket began shaking. "What do you have?" Ridley asked. "Vengeance!" Bandana Dee yelled as she jumped out of Dedede's pocket and poked Ridley in the eye. Ridley screeched loudly as he dropped King Dedede. "Bandana Dee!" King Dedede exclaimed. "Don't worry your majesty. I just so happened to sneak into your pocket," Bandana Dee said. Ridley roared loudly. Ridley moved his tail towards them. "AH!" King Dedede yelled as he used his hammer to block Ridley's tail. Bandana Dee spun his spear like a propeller and flew up. She rapidly slapped Ridley in the face. King Dedede jumped up and smacked Ridley in the chest and launched him a bit back. King Dedede and Bandana Dee ran into Samus' Gunship. "Do you know how to pilot this?" Bandana Dee asked. "I'm a king. It should be intuitive," King Dedede said. The Gunship began rising. "Let's go!" King Dedede yelled as he put it on full throttle. They went too fast. "AH!" King Dedede and Bandana Dee screamed. Ridley screeched and began flapping his wings and chased them.
Inside the cave, they arrived at two pedestals. The pedestals held what looked like the Cross of the Light and the Cross of the Dark. "Go get them," Ganondorf said. "Okay. Okay," Fox said. "Better make it quick, Star Fox," Wolf said. The Eight went towards the crosses until a barrier that appeared prevented them. A barrier closed around everyone. "What is this?! This better not be a trick!" Bowser yelled. A voice began talking, "Eight Warriors. One Battle. Twas fought eons ago. The Eight Warriors fought this battle against the forces of the Lord of the Light and the Embodiment of Chaos and Darkness." The Crosses began blinking and illuminating. "To reclaim the Cross of the Light and the Cross of the Dark the battle from long ago must be won once more." "I'm sorry. What?" Mario asked.
The entire room around began to shift as if reality was shifting itself. Suddenly everyone was put on top of a floating platform. Before them across the horizon was only light on one side and darkness on the other. Radiant wings began coming forth from the light side while chaotic tentacles came from the darkness. In the center of the wings contained a sentient orb of light and in the center of the tentacles was an eye. Galeem and Dharkon came into existence once more.
"I do wish you the best of luck, for while this simulation does not represent the true power of these beings, you can still very much die." "That's very reassuring," Mario said. Dharkon launched its tentacles onto the platform. "AH!' Yoshi yelled as he jumped away. Samus shot at Galeem's wings but they weren't doing any damage to them. Bowser tried setting fire to Dharkon's tentacles but they did no damage. Donkey Kong swung on Dharkon's tentacles but Dharkon only swung him back to the platform. "Hey! Voice from nowhere! Can you tell us how to stop this thing?" Fox asked. The voice said nothing. "Tell us now!" Wolf yelled as he shot into the sky. "Great idea," Fox said "This is your fault, Star Fox!" Wolf yelled.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Mario yelled as he jumped up and smacked Galeem in his orb, causing some damage. "Whoa, it's the middle. That's where they're vulnerable," Mario said. King K. Rool shot a cannonball at Dharkon's eye. "The plumber is right," King K. Rool said. Link launched himself and slashed Galeem's orb. Samus began aiming at Dharkon's eye. Ganondorf shot a beam and hit Galeem. Dharkon's tentacles hit Ganondorf aside as Galeem's wings hit Mario aside. "Listen, we're gonna have to work together if we're going to live," Mario said. Ganondorf reluctantly agreed. "I hate this," Wolf said. "You and I both," Fox said. They both started shooting at Galeem with their blasters. Mewtwo threw Pikachu in the air. "Pika! Chu!" Pikachu screamed as he used Thunderbolt. Mewtwo used his psychic powers to move the electricity around, affecting Galeem and Dharkon.
King Dedede was wildly controlling Samus' Gunship as Ridley chased them. "I thought this was intuitive!" King Dedede yelled. "Don't worry your majesty! You're doing great!" Bandana Dee yelled. Ridley screeched and sent out a beam. "Whoa! Move!" Bandana Dee yelled as she moved the throttle and they dodged Ridley's beam. "Aren't there any weapons here?" King Dedede asked. "Press random buttons?" Bandana Dee asked. "Yes," King Dedede said. "AH!" they yelled as they wildly pressed the control panel. "Come on! Please do something!" King Dedede yelled. Samus' Gunship was wildly shooting lasers and shooting Ridley, all of which were missing. A red light illuminated the panel saying there were no more weapons left. "Welp. We're going to die," King Dedede said. Ridley grabbed the Gunship and screeched. "AH!" King Dedede and Bandana Dee yelled as they hugged each other.
Galeem shot out darts of light while Dharkon shot out darts of darkness. Link blocked the darts. "AH!" Ganondorf yelled as he sent a beam. "Take this!" King K. Rool yelled as he kicked Dharkon's eye in the air. Dharkon launched a beam from his eye and it smacked K. Rool right into his golden stomach. "AH!" King K. Rool yelped. "Oh no! Only I can beat up Lizard Lips! Well Diddy too," Donkey Kong said. Donkey Kong launched himself at Dharkon and punched him multiple times in the eye. Bowser roared as he scratched Galeem's core. "HEE YAH!" Mario yelled as his fist was covered in fire and he punched Galeem's core. "Plong!" Yoshi grabbed Galeem's core and separated it from its wings. "AH!" Mewtwo yelled he brought down Dharkon's eye from its tentacles. "HA!" Link yelled as he sliced Dharkon's eye. "AHHHH!" Ganondorf yelled as he embedded his sword with his dark magic and sliced Galeem's core.
Galeem and Dharkon began exploding and they moved around the environment. A bright blue light engulfed everyone and they had returned to the moment they were standing right before they faced the simulation. "Congratulations. You have faced the challenge of the light and dark. Now reclaim your prize heroes." Mario, Link, Kirby and Yoshi grabbed the Cross of the Light. Donkey Kong, Samus, Fox, and Pikachu grabbed the Cross of the Dark. "There we go," Mario said. "Heavier than we realized, huh," Fox said. The villains had their weapons pointed at the heroes' friends. "Now, give it," Ganondorf demanded. "Don't do it Mario!" Luigi yelled. Bowser began crushing Luigi more. "AH!" he yelped.
"AHHHHH!" King Dedede and Bandana Dee yelled as the Gunship was grabbed by Ridley. "You will die!" Ridley yelled. "AH!" Bandana Dee yelled as she poked Ridley in the eye with the sharp end of her spear. Ridley screeched loudly in pain. Ridley began flying through the land back towards the cave. "AHHH!" Bandana Dee and King Dedede screamed.
The heroes tossed the crosses at the villains. "Okay. Let them go now," Fox said. "As a matter of fact," Wolf said as he grabbed his shadow cannon. Samus tried stepping forward but the heroes' friends were getting hurt when she tried. "You cowards," Samus said. "It is not cowardness to bring proper change to the universe," Ganondorf said. Wolf began charging the shadow cannon. Ridley's loud screech could be heard from the inside cave. Ridley crashed into the mountain and boulders fell on top of him and one also directly went straight through his chest and he turned into a trophy. "He he he!" King Dedede laughed, "We did it!" The mountain began to crumble into the cave. "Oh boy," King Dedede said. The cave around everyone began collapsing. A rock fell and destroyed Wolf's shadow cannon. "AH! Lose the dead weight! We got what we needed!" Ganondorf yelled. Everyone threw the Heroes' friends like trash and the villains disappeared through a portal. "Bro, you okay?" Mario asked. "Yeah, I'm good," Luigi said. Diddy Kong climbed on top of Donkey Kong. Pikachu went towards Pichu. "Good to have you back, Falco," Fox said. "I still have no idea what we are doing," Falco said. Link helped Zelda stand up. "We have to get out of here!" Zelda yelled. "How are we going to do that?" Diddy Kong asked. The cave around them began to fall around them. "Oh?" Kirby questioned. From the cave entrance, Kirby's warpstar had arrived, as if it responded to the group's endangerment. "Hmph," Kirby moaned. Kirby jumped on top of it and directed everyone to do the same. "Are you sure about this?" Fox asked. Kirby nodded. "Okay, I'm not sure how we'll get out of here in ti-" Fox said.
Kirby directed the warp star to go at a fast speed. "AHHHH!" Everyone screamed. Kirby was serious. The cave on top of them had started collapsing. Kirby swiftly dodged the falling rocks. "Poyo!" Kirby yelled. The cave entrance was approaching. "Go! Go! Go! Go!" Everyone yelled. A couple of rocks fell in front of the cave entrance and Kirby broke through. The Gunship opened the door and everyone crashed in. "He he he! Look who saved the day!" King Dedede exclaimed. "Why are there so many scratches?" Samus asked. King Dedede gave a slow chuckle. Samus groaned and reclaimed control.
"Does anyone copy?" Tails asked through the comms. "Tails, what's happening?" Samus asked. "It seems that Mewtwo took some of our friends," Tails said. "Not to worry! We got them!" Yoshi said, excited. "Oh, well in that case we need a quick evacuation," Tails said. "Got you! We'll get there as soon as we can," Samus said. Samus put the gunship at full throttle.
In the battlefield everyone landed their ships. "Come on! Come on!" Peppy yelled as he directed everyone into the Great Fox. "I understand," Eggman said through his comms. "Is it time we made our leave?" Bayonetta asked. "Indeed. But we're leaving a parting gift for our nemeses," Eggman said. The Primids all dissipated along with the corrupted fighters. Eggman, Bayonetta, and the Koopalings disappeared through a portal. "Why did they leave?" Sora asked. Rosalina began using her magic and started creating a staircase from the Comet Observatory towards the ground. "Wait," she said. She began feeling a cold chill down her spine. Cloud was running towards The Halberd when he suddenly had a headache. "AH!" he yelped. "Cloud? Are you okay?" Aerith asked. "You ain't dying on us yet? Are you?" Barret asked. "No," Cloud said. Cloud faced the Comet Observatory. "What's taking that staircase so long Rosalina?" Daisy asked. Rosalina turned around. "No," she said. The slice of a sword was heard all over. "What was that?" Roy asked.
Everyone faced the Comet Observatory as its glowing hue dissipated. "Rosalina? Rosalina!" Peach called out. The Comet Observatory was sliced in half and it fell. From afar everyone saw a small figure. A hooded swordsman with the longest sword stood in front of the sun. "It's the swordsman," the Ice Climbers said. "Waka Waka oh no!" Pac-Man yelled. "Not good," Sheik said as she clenched her needles tightly. The swordsman took off his cloak that had his hood. "Sora, it's-" Donald said. "I know," Sora said as he looked at Cloud. Cloud wielded his sword tight in his hand and he uttered one word, "Sephiroth."