OP
GigaRidley
Ouroboros
- Thread Starter
- Thread starter
- #16
Well, the time limit expired...
The original "present" was that I would edit and post up the rest of the chapter yesterday. I'll still finish the whole thing in one post though, because you still posted.
Sooo...
***
He woke up in his room on the gummi ship. Pit was still sleeping on an airbed below. Sora looked outside and saw the golden brown sandy beaches of Destiny Islands. The warm breeze lightly touched his cheek. The cut was still on Sora's right forearm and it burned. He woke Pit up, and started to show him around the Island. Marth and Samus had yet to arrive.
Thunder echoed the dark islands. Gusts of wind shot into their faces as they looked up at the morning sky. It was like it was night, and there was no light to see. Sora casted fire, then Aeroga to create a lamp. There was no way of telling what was going on in the island.
As Sora and Pit looked around in the darkness, Ridley swooped down and landed in front of them. "Well, well, looks like I found you. It's too bad Marth and Samus aren't here; I want to get revenge on them for depriving me of victory. But now that I've found you, at least my thirst for blood will be sated." Ridley opened his wings and prepared to strike. "Such a shame; I was hoping for a challenge."
"Pit, get your arrow ready. I've got an idea!" Sora exclaimed. The keyblade swung at Ridley's head. "Where are they, Ridley?!" Sora asked.
Ridley dodged the Keyblade and rammed into Sora, pushing him back. "Where are who?" he snarled.
"Marth and Samus!" He slashed the keyblade at tremendous force at Ridley. The creature backed away. Pit was firing arrow after arrow at the beast. In the chaos, Ridley sped towards Sora to deliver the finishing blow. Suddenly, Samus’s ship rammed into Ridley and sent him sprawling on the ground. Marth opened the hatch.
"Sora, Pit, get in now!"
"Do you think Ridley is still alive?” Sora asked Marth, as he entered the ship.
Ridley began to stagger up. His head was pounding from being rammed with Samus’s ship.
"No! You won’t get away again! This ends now!" Samus’s ship shot off, away from Destiny Islands.
"After you left,” began Marth, “Samus got her power suit back and we escaped from Nefirus’s army unnoticed. We saw Ridley flying in your direction and knew something bad was going to happen, so we followed him."
"To be honest Marth,” said Sora, “we were pretty scared of Ridley, he was powerful; I thought we were done for. Thank you, Marth."
"Hey, I wasn't scared!" Pit exclaimed. Everyone laughed at this, and for a few short minutes, everything seemed calm.
Ridley got up and sped after Samus’s ship, slowly gaining on it. It’s time you die, he thought furiously.
“No...” Marth looked around. There was bump.
"SKRRRREEEEEEEE!"
Ridley smashed his fist against the top of the ship. Marth looked up. "Ridley! He's after Samus... he just won't give up!”
Ridley let out a loud shriek. There was another bump. Marth turned to Sora and Pit. “Stay here and protect Samus; she's the one he wants. Don't try to stop me. I'm going to settle this with Ridley once and for all.” He turned to Samus and paused. “…Take care of yourself, Samus." Marth jumped out of the ship to the top; he was standing on the ship's roof. Ridley was flying towards him.
"Ridley!!!! I'm not running any more! I won’t let you hurt my friends!"
”SKREEEEEEE!”
Ridley charged at Marth, talons bared for the kill.
OOC: Couldn't help it.
This makes the fight just that much cooler.
Moving on...
IC:
"I hope Marth will prevail…" said Pit back inside.
"He will; don't you worry Pit, good always wins!" replied Sora confidently. Sora looked at Samus. She was very quiet. Suddenly Xemnas appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Sora by the throat!
"Sora!" Pit exclaimed. Pit hit Xemnas with his sabers, and Xemnas let go of him. "I’ll take care of him, Sora!” But Xemnas had already disappeared.
Samus got back up. She could barely stand, but she tried to figure out what was going on. Great. Ridley's back.
Samus shot as many Super Missles as she could at the beast before walking over
to the commander's seat. "Where’s…Marth?”
Xemnas looked upon Nefirus in Subspace. "Ridley's currently fighting Marth on Samus's ship. Also, I think I know where they'll land next if Ridley fails: The Island of the Ancients."
Marth leapt out of the way of Ridley's lunge, but almost lost his footing and slipped.
Marth’s thoughts were running at warp speed as he flipped and slid out of the way of Ridley’s furious barrage.
I've got to be careful; the metallic sheen of Samuses' ship is slippery. Ridley certainly has the advantage in this battle!
Marth had barely raised his sword back up when Ridley swooped around for another blow, knocking Marth off his feet. He winced in pain, but rolled up just in time to avoid Ridley's fireballs, which flew past him and splashed into the sea far below.
"SKREEEE!!!"
Ridley's shriek punctured the air like a knife as he fell onto the ship, tilting its' frame. Not pausing for a moment, Ridley followed up with a rush of claw attacks that Marth only avoided by sliding under the monster. He followed up with a powerful slash to Ridley's back, but once again his blade just bounced off of the leathery hide.
"How many times do you have to try that? I can't be harmed by your puny weapon!"
Ridley swirled around, grazing Marth on the shoulder with his wickedly sharp claws and making the swordsman cry out in pain. Ridley readied another blow, but suddenly staggered and screeched as Samuses' Super Missiles hit him square in the back. Marth used the opportunity to roll out of the way, but Ridley seemed unharmed as he swept back into thew air to continue his vicious assault.
"Just give up! You're no match for me and you know it, Marth! You can't beat me with your 'friends', what makes you think you can do it without them?"
Ridley put an extra hint of derision in the word friends as he sneered.
"Ridley, you could never understand how much the people in this ship mean to me! I won't let them die!"
"I understand plenty... particularly your feelings for Aran... heh... don't worry, she'll die the most painfully. I have other reasons for wanting her death more than yours."
Marth's rage increased at the threatining of Samus.
"You won't get the chance, Ridley! Your last fight is with ME!"
"Keep telling yourself that, boy..."
--MEANWHILE--
Nefirus was spectating the fight through a portal in Subspace. He was thinking hard. “HMM... RIDLEY'S DOING MUCH BETTER THAN I HAD EXPECTED. STILL, IF HE FAILS, I MUST QUICKLY PUT MY PLAN INTO ACTION. HE IS A LOYAL SERVANT, AND A VALUABLE ASSET TO MY MASTER PLAN.” Nefirus straightened up.
--MEANWHILE--
Marth dodged another of Ridleys' aerial attacks.
He's using the same strategy over and over again, but it's working! Eventually, I'll tire, and then Ridley will deliver the finishing blow!
Beads of sweat were already rolling down Marth's face like heavy rain. Ridley turned, and swooped at him again. Marth made a split-second decision and took the attack head on, blocking Ridleys' bite with his sword and grabbing his claw as Ridley swooped off again. Marth clung on for dear life as Ridley writhed in midair, trying to shake him off. If Marth fell, it would be all over. Marth swung up onto Ridleys' back, and knowing that it would be futile to attack his hard skin, he stabbed at Ridleys' soft snout.
"ARRRGGHHH!" Ridley clutched at his face as Marth slashed him repeatedly. Noticing that their struggle had taken them close to the ship once more, Marth slashed both of Ridleys' wings and leapt off of him onto the ship as Ridley fell out of sight behind them. Marth collapsed to his knees, panting heavily. Was it over?
Suddenly, the ship shook as Ridley scrambled back on!
He must have caught the edge of the ship as he fell! But at least he can't use his wings, Marth thought. Ridley then did something completely unexpected. Instead of attacking Marth, he slashed at the ship's hull, poking a hole to where Pit, Sora and Samus were. With a jolt of horror, Marth realized what he was planning to do. "Stay away from my friends!”
Marth leapt at Ridley, but Ridley backhanded him and sent him sprawling to the other edge. Ridley began to advance towards Marth, ready to deliver the finishing blow. "Whether I kill you first or not, it makes no difference to me," Ridley snarled. "You're all going to die tonight anyway."
"No, Ridley. I'll beat you..." Marth tried to struggle up, but his left leg was broken and he collapsed again.
"Don't make me laugh. You can't even penetrate my hard skin; there's no way you can deal enough damage to finish me!"
"No, Ridley... you're wrong."
Ridley roared, his teeth glinting eerily in the dim light. Lightning crashed around them as he raised his arm up to strike. “About what?”
“ABOUT THIS!” Marth summoned all his energy into his blade. He was using his signature technique: Critical Hit. Marth pulled his sword back as it glowed with energy and ran it straight through Ridley's chest, the tip popping out of his back.
Ridleys' expression was a mixture of surprise and annoyance. "That's... not... fair..." Marth pulled his sword out of Ridley as the beast’s lifeless body rolled across the ship and fell off the side, plummeting into the icy waters below.
Marth staggered towards the top half of the ship, but collapsed. Using his critical hit technique had taken a lot of energy out of him. "Please... help..." Marth croaked. He hoped Samus, Sora or Pit heard him before he passed out.
~The Island of the Ancients, Outside~
In the meantime, Bowser arrived on the Island of the Ancients, hoping to find the heroes there. Things had been going better for him lately. His plans had actually been successful. But his face became much less happy when he noticed his least favorite plumber hording off primids. He wouldn’t allow the plumber to disrupt his plans again!
Mario was alone; when Ganondorf had shown up he had decided that it would be better to let Link take care of him. What a coward! Bowser confronted his nemesis. “Bwa ha ha! Mario! Time to die!” The giant dinosaur-like creature got in his shell form, and used his whirling fortress technique to attack Mario. The hero jumped out of the way just in time. Mario had only just finished fighting Shadow Master Hand. He was over tired, and not prepared for another fight.
“Mama Mia! It’s a Bowser!” When Bowser came out of his shell, Mario ran behind him and grabbed his tail, spinning him. Bowser was flung a safe distance away. He followed the beast, preparing to punch him. He swung his hand, only to have it caught by his enemy.
“Bwa ha ha!” Bowser swung at Mario with his claw, and hit him in the face. Mario was knocked out of Bower’s grip, and fell to the ground. Bowser summoned fire from the depths of his stomach, engulfing Mario in flame. “Getting hot, Mar-ee-oh?” Mario’s hat was on fire, and so he threw it off of him quickly. The plumber was sweating bullets in the heat.
“Oh, no, Bowser! I’m a doing just fine!” His Italian accent grew thicker as he became deeply afraid. “It’s time for you to be a defeated!” Mario was swung at again by Bowser, but this time he ducked. He put his fist right up to the behemoth’s belly before performing the super jump punch, knocking Bowser into the sky. Mario and Bowser fell, clawing at each other all the way down to the ground.
Bowser thrust Mario off of him. “It’s the time I showed you one of my new tricks. Something I saved just for you! The Dark Aura!”
“The what-a?”
“It must have come to me from lingering around all this Subspace. Yes! That’s where it must have come from! I can fell it…some hidden power that decided to give itself to me! Death is coming, Mario. Are you ready for it?” Bowser’s body began to pour out black and purple smoke, just like the primids. So he’s right. His power did come from the Primids. Mario’s thoughts were interrupted by Bowser’s attacks.
The man in red was able to jump just out of range of Bowser’s reach. Just a got to stay a far away from him. Mario shot fireballs out of the palms of his hands, but each time Bowser just diminished the fire with his own hot breath.
“Try this on for size!” After using the cliché line, Bowser swung at Mario again, and he once again dodged the attack. What’s he a mean? The attack a was the same. But, unfortunately for Mario, he was wrong. Bowser had released Subspace from him as he swung, and it hit Mario smack upside the head. Mario was flat on his back, but only for a second. He got back up, and turned around, and ran. Ran. Away from Bowser. It was the first time Mario had ever done so in the entirety of his life.
Mario was relieved when he found a shallow river- knowing it was Bowser’s weakness- and ran across it. But Bowser didn’t plan on letting his prey escape. “Behold- The true power of Subspace!” Bowser shot Subspace blasts at the river. He had put up a wall that had stopped the river from flowing beyond the point that it was at. He walked on the other side of the wall and stared at Mario. But he said nothing. A grin appeared on his face, and Mario shook with fear. There was no stopping Bowser. Bowser lifted his paw, and aimed it at Mario.
“Don’t I get any last a-words?” Mario asked, trying to smile, but failing. His mind was going at a hundred miles an hour. Was there no way to get out of this?
Unless...
“You deserve none.” Bowser let the Subspace flow out of him, and swallow his enemy.
However, as Mario disappeared from view, Bowser could have sworn he saw his nemesis smile…
Bowser dismissed the thought and went to contact Nefirus.
“EXCELLENT JOB, BOWSER,” came Nefirus’s monotonous voice, when Bowser had finally contacted his master and announced his victory. “I NEED YOU TO FIND MASTER HAND. SUBDUE HIM, AND BRING HIM TO ME. I MUST ABSORB HIS POWER; THEN NOT EVEN TABUU WILL POSE ANY THREAT TO ME. ON SECOND THOUGHT, GO AFTER THE FEST OF THE HEROES. YOU WILL BE MORE USEFUL THAT WAY.” Nefirus turned away and opened a subspace portal with a wave of his hand. “NOW, IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I MUST GO. RIDLEY HAS FALLEN IN BATTLE, AND I MUST RETRIEVE HIS BODY.”
Nefirus passed through the portal and found himself at the bottom of the ocean. Though any normal human would drown here, Nefirus was far beyond such mortal concerns. Before him he saw the lifeless body of Ridley, staring towards the surface of the water with dead, blank eyes. With a simple gesture, Nefirus lifted Ridley via telekinesis and opened another portal back to the SmashDome. Nefirus flew through it with Ridley's body. “DON'T LOOK SO SAD, RIDLEY. YOU SHALL SOON LIVE AGAIN.”
~The Island of the Ancients, in Master Hand’s Temple~
Ratchet woke up. "Where... where am I?" He asked to no one in particular. He appeared to be in a small temple, but there was no one there. He spotted an audio recording device on the ground, so he picked it up and pressed play.
"My name is Master Hand." The voice, though it was a recording, boomed across the room. "You have been called to our world, the Smash World, for a specific reason. We are under great threat by two beings known as Tabuu and Nefirus. You and your friend Clank are potentially valuable assets to our army." Upon hearing his name, Clank woke up.
"Where are we?" He asked Ratchet.
"I don't know," Ratchet answered. The recording, which had automatically paused when Clank woke up, started again. Clank decided to listen and ask Ratchet about the start of the recording later. "Please find a ship known as the Gummi Ship. It has some of your allies traveling within it, trying to reach me. Outside, you should find your old ship. The Gummi Ship should stand out; it is the only ship in the sky. Besides, it is brightly colored and does not look aerodynamic, which should tell you what it is when you see it. I have locked the coordinates of the Gummi Ship in your own ship. Bring them to the forest very close to here. And lastly, good luck.” With that, the recording faded out.
"Where are we now?" Clank asked. "I understand our mission, but I don't know where we are."
"We're in a place called SmashWorld. Remember when we were beamed to the Bogon Galaxy? It's something like that. We should go aid those warriors, right?"
"Yes," Clank responded. He and Ratchet hopped in the ship. "I'll turn on the Robotic Operating System," Clank said. He sent a signal out to the ship, and it rose off the ground. Ratchet pulled the thrust drive, and they sped off toward the Gummi Ship.
~High above the Smash World, in Samus’ Ship~
Samus looked and saw Ridley had poked a hole through her ship. I just got this repainted... But then she heard a noise above her and Marth mutter something. She engaged autopilot, and jumped on top of the ship quickly and grabbed Marth. But she couldn't move. She still wasn't strong enough. "Sora!" she tried to yell it, but the words didn't come out very loud. Maybe Nefirus should be stopped before I try to get revenge on Tabuu.
Sora suddenly saw the hole, "Marth's still up there; Pit, you stay here.”
Sora picked the tired out Marth and placed him next to Samus. Pit was looking out the window. "Um, Sora, we might have a problem!" Xemnas and his glowing red lazer-swords were lighting up the dark clouds.
Marth stirred. He tried to get up, but his leg hurt him far too much. "Did I... beat Ridley?" he said to no one in particular.
“I don’t know,” said Pit, trying to stay calm. “But we don’t have time for that. Xemnas is here!”
“Who now?” Marth asked. He had never heard of a “Xemnas” before. Suddenly, he remembered where he heard the name.
"You mean Sora's nemesis? The one who's working... with Nefirus?"
“He's attacking the ship!” yelled Sora; “I'll go up!" He went up and saw a trophy of a white haired man with a long big sword behind his back. Xemnas was flying towards Sora. "You’re mine; I'll turn you into a Heartless!" Xemnas exclaimed. Sora knew that a heartless was someone that would follow Xemnas with no emotion; with no heart.
Marth turned himself to find Samus lying next to him, unconcious. She's even weaker than I thought, she needs more time to recuperate. I hope she's all right. With his undamaged arm, Marth reached over and pulled off Samus's helmet so she could get some fresh air.
"Samus, are you awake? Can you hear me?"
Back on the top of the ship, Xemnas and Sora were fighting. "Xemnas, what have you done with Kairi and Riku? Tell me!" Sora’s normal upbeat attitude had vanished.
"I’m not telling you, Sor-a!" Xemnas was obviously mocking him. Sora's rage increased within and he burst out to Xemnas with furious rage. Xemnas was being pummeled by the Keyblade, as he had been caught off guard by Sora’s swiftness.
~High above the Smash World, in Ratchet’s Ship~
“Where is this ship going? It's moving so fast..." Ratchet veered a sharp right toward the ship.
"At least we're catching up..." Clank pointed out. He was paying attention to the radar, while Ratchet was looking out the ship's front window for any sign of Samus' ship.
"I believe we are approaching it quite quickly," Clank pointed out.
"Yeah, I can see it out the window," Ratchet answered. He sounded annoyed. As they approached the ship, Ratchet decided that they were jumping out of their own and landing on Samus' ship.
"I don't advise this, Ratchet..." Clank said, trying to sound calm, but evidently failing.
"Too bad. We're doing it." Clank sighed, got on Ratchet's back, and braced himself.
"Off we go!" Ratchet yelled. Clank pulled out his thruster pack, ready to use it. In a few seconds, Clank initiated it, floating himself and Ratchet to the ship gently. Ratchet noticed that the ship had a gaping hole in the back. He entered and greeted everyone. "Hello," he said, pausing, expecting to see them all shocked at his abrupt arrival. "I'm Ratchet, and this is Clank. Who are you?"
"Whoever you are help us!" yelled Pit.
Ratchet looked up, shocked that someone would order him around like that. He saw Xemnas, and recognized that he was evil. He took out his Lancer, a machine gun, and his favorite weapon, and pointed it at Xemnas. He took it out and pointed it at Xemnas. "Eat this!" He fired about a score of shots at the villain.
Marth heard the commotion outside. There's a fight going on! He realized. He desperately wanted to join in and help, but his leg was throbbing. Unless he stayed off of it, it might suffer permenant damage. Even if his leg was fine, he had to stay with Samus, She was the most vulnerable of all of them in her present state. "Please, Samus... please wake up."
Xemnas threw Sora back, and ran at him, swing his lazer swords as if Sora hadn’t hurt him at all. One of them hit, and Sora's right forearm throbbed with pain. "Xemnas!" Sora shouted.
Pit flew towards Ratchet. "You okay?"
“I’m fine? Why wouldn’t I be?” Ratchet asked with confusion, not used to people caring so much. “I don't know how much longer we can hold that guy off without this ship failing. It's already in a serious condition,” he continued, looking at the hole Ridley had made. “There are others down below, right? Tell them I'm going to bomb this ship and we're all going into mine. Like I said before, there's no hope of this ship surviving." Ratchet took out his Bouncer and got the trigger ready.
"Wait, Ratchet!" Clank protested. "Don't fire..."
As usual in a battle, Ratchet ignored Clank, and aimed for a spot to fire near Xemnas, and fired. The bouncer shot out a large bomb, which upon explosion, released a score of smaller bombs. When the explosions stopped, Xemnas was lying on the ground, wounded. But Ratchet looked at Pit, and saw he was also lying on the ground. Xemnas had made a direct hit on him.
Samus briefly woke up at the sound of Marth’s words. Looking around, she thought: What the heck is going on? And who are all these people? "Everybody off my ship!" But it was obvious no one heard her. "Marth... what's going on?" She looked over at Marth. "Your face is red. Is something wrong?" Noticing that her helmet was off, she placed it back on her head.
Marth breathed a sigh of relief. Samus was alright! "I think... I think I killed Ridley, but I broke my leg in the process. We're being attacked by more of Nefirus’s forces, but the others are holding them off." Marth touched Samuses' arm. "Are you feeling any better? Can you move?"
“Let's get out of here!” Ratchet yelled. He jumped off the burning and dying ship, pressed a button on his wrist pad, and his own ship appeared under them. He landed safely inside it. He hoped his newly found allies would make it in safe as well.
Sora followed, carrying Pit in. He quickly put his friend on the floor. The ship was about to take off."Pit, Pit, say something!" Sora checked the heart beat. There was nothing. "He's…dead!" he exclaimed. Sora was angry. He banged his fist on his seat repeatedly. Streams of tears ran through his eyes. "Nobody can die! Nobody…can…”
Ratchet turned on the radio transmitter. "Samus... that's your name, right? You'll never survive on that ship. You can take over the controls on my ship if you need to, but that ship won't work anymore. It's burning, it could explode any second, and there are two evil masterminds on board. I'm giving you one more chance to get on my ship. If you don't... it was nice knowing you, even if I never saw you."
Clank turned around and saw Sora leaning over one of his friend's bodies, which he assumed to be asleep. From Clank's view, it looked like Sora was crying. "What has happened, Sora?" The little robot asked.
“Pit, he…he died! From Xemnas! I hope Xemnas dies! I hope he dies painfully!” Sora was beyond anger. It was a side of him no one had seen before. Not wanting anyone else to die, Sora rushed back onto Samus’s ship. “Come on, Samus! Here, let me carry you. You need to see a doctor right away!”
“I'm perfectly...fine, Sora,” mumbled Samus, still in pain. I don't need...a doctor. I just need... to find... Ridley's body...Have to make sure...he's dead." But it was pretty clear to everyone watching her that she wasn't going anywhere. "Kill...Nefirus for me...would you?" Samus wasn't talking to any one in particular. In fact, she was mostly just mumbling to herself. She was becoming delusional again. Samus crashed onto the floor and fell asleep.
“Samus!” Marth struggled up off the floor. His leg was burning horribly, but he didn't care. Samus had to get off the ship! He limped towards the exit.
"I'm getting Samus out of there!"
Xemnas was lying on the ground in pain. He saw Samus and knew that he could get one last kill before he died. He slowly stood up, and limped after her. He raised his laser-blades, and swung. But Sora had seen him coming, and he had rushed out to block the attack. They continued battling, each parrying the others blows, until eventually Sora was hit in the arm. He kept fighting, though he was in pain.
Ratchet saw everything through the screen in front of him. “Marth, I'm bringing my ship near Samus' burning ship, but you're limping. I'm going in with you.” Ratchet steered his ship near Samus' burning ship, and opened the top hatch. He helped Marth get out of it, then jumped onto the other ship. He snuxk up behind Xemnas and struck him hard in the head with his wrench. That outta knock him out, Ratchet thought.
But Xemnas was still conscious, though the blow had certainly made him vulnerable. Sora hit him hard with his keyblade, and Xemnas was knocked out, lying on the floor of the ship, again.
Ratchet turned his attention to Marth. "Hurry! Go find Samus and bring her to my ship! There's no hope for this one! It will explode in five minutes at the very most! And if it doesn’t blow up, then it will simply fall down to the ground!”
"Marth...save yourself...don't...die...trying to...save me...I'm not...worth it."
"I won't stand by watching you die!!! I can't even bear the thought of you dying...Samus."
Marth lifted Samus up, and his leg felt like it was about to burst. Marth stumbled, but didn't drop Samus and started making his way back towards Ratchet's ship.
He can't bear the thought of me dying? This explains a lot. Samus couldn't help but chuckle to herself. She attempted to disguise her laughter with a cough. Samus realized that there was a sort of awkward silence in the air, and so she said "I can walk back my-" But as soon as she let go of Marth, she fell over again. Smooth, Samus. She was the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy, and she couldn't even stand up. She didn't know how to vent her embarrassment, so she just let Marth pick her up again.
Seeing their desperate situation with both of them limping, Ratchet tossed them each a magnetic badge. "Put these on!" He said. "They're tractor beam transmitters. I can use this to pull you to my ship through the air magnetically. Hurry! We don't have much time!"
Marth did as he was asked, and they pulled onto Ratchet’s ship. He staggered inside and laid Samus down. He fell to his knees; his leg was hurting so much.
Meanwhile, Sora entered the ship and broke the silence. But with Pit’s dead body lying on the chair next to him, the atmosphere was still uncomfortable.
Ratchet looked at Pit's dead body and frowned. He considered throwing it off the ship because it was a waste of space, but he rid his head of the evil thought.
Ratchet began to steer toward the Island of the Ancients to meet up with Master Hand. "We need to meet up with him, I promised," Ratchet explained to Sora, who had just gotten off Samus' ship. The Keyblade Bearer had just suggested that they go to Destiny Islands, his homeland. But as Ratchet had said, he needed to meet with this Master Hand.
~Phaaze, Homeworld of Metroid Prime, A.K.A. Dark Samus~
The metroids gathered before their leader, Metroid Prime. Dark Samus, as Metroid Prime was now called, looked up to see Space Pirate ships flying up above her. Phazon, she thought. It was the only thing she ever thought about. It was her life source. It was her power. Dark Samus transformed herself into pure energy with her last bit of power, and became invisible to all creatures’ eyes. She was headed for the Space Pirates. And the Space Pirates were headed for the Smash World.
~High above the Smash World, in Ratchet’s Ship~
Samus was lying peacefully in Ratchet’s ship. Most of the pain had gone, or at least wherever the pain was she was numb. But her joy was short-lived. "Marth...behind...you…" Samus was looking at a being that looked quite like her, but with a slight dark-bluish hue. Dark Samus looked at the helpless two people, and attacked. It launched several missiles at them, and without bothering to see the results, the creature moved on. It was looking for the energy source of the ship. Dark Samus was looking for Phazon, but found none. Whatever was powering this ship would have to do.
Samus had somehow managed to avoid a direct hit from the missiles, but she was caught in the blast. She was so weak she couldn't even turn her head to see if Marth had survived. All she could do was mumble "Ratchet...protect the ship's energy...that's...wha...it's...afer..." And then she fell asleep, again.
Marth staggered as the full barrage of missiles hit his back. The reason Samus hadn't been hit was because Marth had thrown himself in the way to protect her. Marth fell to the ground, unconscious.
Sora went to help Samus and Marth. Dark Samus wasn’t paying much attention to Sora, but finally turned around when he struck her in the back. Marth and Samus were unconscious, Pit was dead, and Ratchet was driving the plane; it was up to him.
But Sora had been wrong: things were not up to him. Palutena, Pit’s former mistress and the goddess of his world, had arrived. She saw Pit’s body, and was astonished. But that had been the reason she had came: for his body. She revived Marth and Samus from there unconsciousness, and left with Pit’s body.
Dark Samus watched her enemies rise. She was annoyed. She started to break through the floor of the ship, looking for energy. But before she did that, she changed her energy type, causing her to become invisible to all else on the ship.
Where did the Metroid Prime go? Samus looked at the floor of the ship. An invisible force was demolishing it. She switched on her dark visor to see Dark Samus was the culprit. Samus fired a Sunbust attack: a technique that composed of a charged up light beam and a super missile. The creature was unable to keep its form, and so it became visible to the others.
Sora saw Dark Samus reappear, and he shot blizzard, an ice attack, at Dark Samus. Dark Samus easily dodged the attack, but Sora didn’t notice. He was in a trance, oblivious to what was going on around him. As the other fighters came to destroy Dark Samus, Palutena’s voice whirled around Sora's head.
"Sora, through you, the others will learn their mission."
“So…Why me?”
“Your keyblade can unlock keyholes.”
“Yeah, but how will that help us?"
“Xemnas has already assisted Nefirus in sealing Subspace itself, so that only beings of Subspace can enter it now. The keyholes of Subspace need to be unlocked so you can defeat Nefirus."
"Where are they?" Sora asked.
“There are five of them, each in its own location. One is in Destiny Islands, in the cave next to the waterfall. One is on the Bridge of Eldin. One is in Norfair. One is in the Subspace Bomb Factory, in the Island of the Ancients. And one is in the Starship Phoenix, Ratchet’s headquarters.
“Good luck to you, Sora. You’ll need it.” Sora suddenly became aware of what was happening. The heroes had driven Dark Samus away. Hopefully she’s dead, thought Sora angrily.
"Okay," said Ratchet to Clank, "We're about on the Island of the Ancients. I need to find Master Hand and talk to him about what the heck is going on." He flew the ship down toward the floating island.
Ratchet looked out the side window and saw Samus' burning ship crash land into the ground far behind them. Grimly, he hoped Xemnas was still on board.
A few moments later, he landed in a meadow in the forest. He and Clank got out, expecting all of the others to follow him. Immediately, he saw Master Hand, Black Knight and Link. They had moved toward the location when they saw Ratchet's ship overhead. Ganondorf had long since fled to Subspace.
"Hello, Ratchet and Clank. It is time for me to grant you and your friends your first, and hopefully only, mission," Master Hand began. "My original plan to destroy Subspace was foiled when I was possessed by Tabuu a year ago. The time is dire now. Let me tell you of my plans." Master Hand paused, a moment to let his words thus far sink in.
"Over one million years ago, when the Smash World was created, I hid four relics of power. They were given to me by other deities from other worlds. They secrete the power to destroy Subspace itself, if used together. The relics come from four worlds called Hyrule, Mushroom Kingdom, PokeWorld and Pop Star. They are the four largest worlds in our galaxy, Nintendo. With permission from the gods of these worlds, I took their most prized artifacts and hid them here. They are heavily guarded by monsters that I placed there, but I am sure that they have turned into Primids, Heartless and Nobodies by the likes of Nefirus and Tabuu.
"The four relics are the Triforce, from Link’s world, the Ultimate Grand Star, from Mario’s world, the Master Ball, from the world of the Pokemon, and the Star Rod, from Kirby’s world, Pop Star. They are hidden in the four corners of Smash: The Mountains, the sky, the forest, and the desert. I will come with you to find them, for it is of great importance that we recover them and save our world- and ultimately the universe- from the horror that is Subspace." Master Hand stopped talking there, and let the knowledge sink in among the others.
While everyone thought about what Master Hand had said, Sora told Link and the others what had happened on the ship with Palutena.
“So why was Palutena there?” asked Link gleefully.
"Um Link, we need to tell you something, was Pit a friend of yours?" asked Sora.
"Yes, I know Pit very well! We were friends and allies a year ago! Do you know him?" Link was still cheerful; he didn’t understand that Sora was trying to be serious.
"Um.... he was fighting with us.... but a guy called Xemnas killed him while we were fighting…" Sora began to cry again. Streams of tears flowed through his usually jolly cheeks. “But Pit told me something while we were fighting with Dark Samus."
“Oh... wow, he died... I- I'm really sorry Sora...” Link looked down at the ground. “Do you have his body?” He asked. “We should really hold a funeral for such a brave warrior.”
It was getting dark. Master Hand, not having heard the conversation between Link and Sora, announced that they should set up camp for the night. That meadow was one of the only really safe places the heroes could stay without the fear, risk, and threat of enemy attacks. "Does anybody have any camping equipment?" He asked, realizing that he didn't have anything with him.
"Lucky for you, I do," answered Ratchet. He opened up the back of his ship and took out about ten sleeping bags. "Always be prepared," he chuckled. He laid them down throughout the meadow. Darkness was approaching quickly, and Ratchet realized that he was one sleeping bag short. "Um..." he started.
"It is fine. I do not need a sleeping bag," Master Hand said, as if reading Ratchet's thoughts. Ratchet shrugged, and sat down for a moment to clear his thoughts. He probably should have known, anyways.
Sora thought I'll tell them tommorow morning about the 5 keyholes. Sora saw the team together in a big circle with the campfire the size of sora's keyblade. He lied on his navy blue sleeping bag, looking at the night sky. Thoughts were running through Sora's head. “Is the universe going to be safe? What are they going to do with Riku and Kairi? Was Xemnas dead?”
Suddenly Sora saw a shooting star in the dark night sky. It shone as bright as the moon. "I wish Pit was alive again.” He looked at the star pass by, and stared sadly at the night sky. He closed his eyes and went into a deep sleep.
Marth stirred from his unconcious state and found himself looking up at the stars. He recognized where he was; the Island of the Ancients. The last thing Marth remembered was throwing himself in the way of Dark Samuses' missiles.
Wait, Master Hand is here... I need to tell him what I heard whil I was in the SmashDome!
He sat up, and winced. His back and leg were still tender from his previous battles. He saw Master Hand floating across from him behind a campfire.
"Master Hand... It's good to see you again. I have important news I've been anxious to tell you. News about Nefirus..."
Master Hand turned to Marth. "News, Marth? On Nefirus? Please, tell me. We must know about our enemy if we expect to defeat him. Did you see him? How was the ride back and where is Samus's ship?" This caught Ratchet's attention. He blushed and backed away nervously, deciding to let Marth tell Master Hand the fate of Samus's ship.
“I... I think I killed Ridley. As for Samuses' ship... it was destroyed. I don't exactly know how, I wasn't able to participate in the events at that point.” Marth turned his head towards the stars and thought for a moment. “About Nefirus... yes, I saw him... I spent a week trapped in his hideout. While I was there, I heard him say something shocking to Xemnas over his communications screen." Marth turned back towards Master Hand and paused. “You'll think this is crazy, but trust me... this is real.”
“Nefirus IS Tabuu. ...Well, not exactly. You weren’t awake to remember this, but during our final fight with Tabuu during the events of last year, his Off Waves from his wings turned us all into trophies. To stop this from happening again, Sonic blasted his wings off, weakening him. Those shards of Tabuu eventually formed into Nefirus." Marth paused once again.
"He wants to absorb you and Tabuu to become complete once again and become even more powerful than he was as the original Tabuu. I didn't hear much of this, but a being known as "HyperTabuu" was mentioned. This could very well be his true form. We must prevent him from accomplishing this!"
Master Hand stopped moving, shocked. "So there are two Tabuus, but they're enemies? Frankly, I think it should stay that way. It seems there is a ransom on me now... I must evade being destroyed, or absorbed by Nefirus or Tabuu at the very least. As for this ‘HyperTabuu’, I was aware of his existence. But not that they could get to this form by absorbing me. It simply hadn’t crossed my mind. But that’s enough of this talk for now. You should get some rest.”
“As we all should.” Marth headed for his sleeping bag and lay down, trying to get some rest.
Sora saw Kairi and Riku standing on the ground in font of him. "Kairi, Riku!" He was so exited to see his friends! Where had they been? How had they gotten here? Sora didn’t care. He went up them and gave them a big hug. But to his dismay, they dissolved, and the dark night got darker. Everything was fading, but it didn’t fade all the way. It slowly cleared up, and Sora looked on with horror. He could see his own body lying on the floor next to Black Knight.
The Black Knight stood there, until he turned around and looked right back at Sora, and began to laugh. He was holding the golden keyblade up, and the words "For my friends!" glimmered in devil red. "No!” Sora yelled. But it was too late; the Black Knight was already standing beside Master Hand. He cut the deity with the red keyblade, and Master Hand fell; blood flowing from the white glove.
Sora woke up, with sweat flowing down his body and wet back. A great shiver grew across his spine. He tried to fall asleep again, but he was too afraid. Too afraid of the knight.
Marth was having trouble falling asleep as well, as the others began to quiet down. Scanning his eyes along the line of those sleeping, he remembered that Pit was gone. Dead. Trying to avoid thinking about it, his gaze fell on a sleeping Samus. Marth realized with a rush of embarrassment what he had said to her on her ship.
“I can't even bear the thought of you dying, Samus…”I'm such an idiot! I shouldn't have said anything. Samus probably thinks I'm an fool. Even though Master Hand didn't appear to be moving, Marth had the uncomfortable feeling that he could read his thoughts. He buried his head under his sleeping bag and tried to hide his face in shame.
Sora was still thinking about his dream. He wanted to trust the Back Knight, but he needed reassurance. “Marth, can I talk to you?”
Marth turned to face Sora. “What is it, Sora? You can tell me anything.”
"Um it's about.... Kairi… I miss her. You see, she's my girlfriend, and I'm scared that she might be dead. Please, Marth, tell me that's she's going to be okay?" Sora was thinking of Riku dying as well.
Marth paused for a second. “I'm sorry Sora, but I can't tell you for certain that she's not dead. No one can be sure. But what I can tell you is, if she's even a bit like you, she'll be fine.”
"Thanks Marth. That's what I needed; I had a nightmare you see. And um... Marth, I saw the expression on your face, and yes I think you're a good couple... good night, Marth." As Sora walked away, Marth blushed. He hadn’t thought anyone knew about him and Samus. He tried not to think about it as he fell asleep…
----------------------------------------------------------
END OF CHAPTER TWO
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CHAPTER THREE: DARK MOTIVES-- Sneak Preview!
With their goals now known, the heroes begin the quest for the Relics and the Keyholes! First stop: Destiny Islands once again! However, they've got company! Will the heroes be able to face off against a new, more powerful enemy than ever before-- King DeDeDe?!? Also, the Black Knight struggles to keep his double-agent role a secret! This is where things get interesting!
.............................................
Master Hand turned to everyone else. "Though Nefirus cannot get through the barrier I have set up, it would be unwise to remain here. We all must get in Ratchet's ship so we can escape to a safer place," he announced.
Master Hand turned to Kairi, while observing Nefirus's attempts to get in through the force field he had created. "If Nefirus is out there," he began, "then there is little hope he is alive right now," he finished sadly. Then he turned to Ratchet. "Do you have anything that can get us out of here quickly?" He asked.
Ratchet nodded. "I'll go get it," he said. He walked over to his ship and took out a chunk of machinery.
Clank was unpleasantly surprised. "Oh no!" He exclaimed. "Not the Gravimetric Warp Drive?" He asked.
Ratchet kept installing it in the ship.
"The untested Gravimetric Warp Drive?"
Ratchet merely nodded his head.
"The one you built from Blargian scrap metal?"
"You coming?" Ratchet asked.
Clank shook his head, looking futile. "We are doomed," he said grimly.
Ratchet turned to Master Hand. "Tell everyone to get in my ship. I'll get us far away," he said through gritted teeth.
OOC: He he he he...
The original "present" was that I would edit and post up the rest of the chapter yesterday. I'll still finish the whole thing in one post though, because you still posted.
Sooo...
***
He woke up in his room on the gummi ship. Pit was still sleeping on an airbed below. Sora looked outside and saw the golden brown sandy beaches of Destiny Islands. The warm breeze lightly touched his cheek. The cut was still on Sora's right forearm and it burned. He woke Pit up, and started to show him around the Island. Marth and Samus had yet to arrive.
Thunder echoed the dark islands. Gusts of wind shot into their faces as they looked up at the morning sky. It was like it was night, and there was no light to see. Sora casted fire, then Aeroga to create a lamp. There was no way of telling what was going on in the island.
As Sora and Pit looked around in the darkness, Ridley swooped down and landed in front of them. "Well, well, looks like I found you. It's too bad Marth and Samus aren't here; I want to get revenge on them for depriving me of victory. But now that I've found you, at least my thirst for blood will be sated." Ridley opened his wings and prepared to strike. "Such a shame; I was hoping for a challenge."
"Pit, get your arrow ready. I've got an idea!" Sora exclaimed. The keyblade swung at Ridley's head. "Where are they, Ridley?!" Sora asked.
Ridley dodged the Keyblade and rammed into Sora, pushing him back. "Where are who?" he snarled.
"Marth and Samus!" He slashed the keyblade at tremendous force at Ridley. The creature backed away. Pit was firing arrow after arrow at the beast. In the chaos, Ridley sped towards Sora to deliver the finishing blow. Suddenly, Samus’s ship rammed into Ridley and sent him sprawling on the ground. Marth opened the hatch.
"Sora, Pit, get in now!"
"Do you think Ridley is still alive?” Sora asked Marth, as he entered the ship.
Ridley began to stagger up. His head was pounding from being rammed with Samus’s ship.
"No! You won’t get away again! This ends now!" Samus’s ship shot off, away from Destiny Islands.
"After you left,” began Marth, “Samus got her power suit back and we escaped from Nefirus’s army unnoticed. We saw Ridley flying in your direction and knew something bad was going to happen, so we followed him."
"To be honest Marth,” said Sora, “we were pretty scared of Ridley, he was powerful; I thought we were done for. Thank you, Marth."
"Hey, I wasn't scared!" Pit exclaimed. Everyone laughed at this, and for a few short minutes, everything seemed calm.
Ridley got up and sped after Samus’s ship, slowly gaining on it. It’s time you die, he thought furiously.
“No...” Marth looked around. There was bump.
"SKRRRREEEEEEEE!"
Ridley smashed his fist against the top of the ship. Marth looked up. "Ridley! He's after Samus... he just won't give up!”
Ridley let out a loud shriek. There was another bump. Marth turned to Sora and Pit. “Stay here and protect Samus; she's the one he wants. Don't try to stop me. I'm going to settle this with Ridley once and for all.” He turned to Samus and paused. “…Take care of yourself, Samus." Marth jumped out of the ship to the top; he was standing on the ship's roof. Ridley was flying towards him.
"Ridley!!!! I'm not running any more! I won’t let you hurt my friends!"
”SKREEEEEEE!”
Ridley charged at Marth, talons bared for the kill.
OOC: Couldn't help it.
This makes the fight just that much cooler.
Moving on...
IC:
"I hope Marth will prevail…" said Pit back inside.
"He will; don't you worry Pit, good always wins!" replied Sora confidently. Sora looked at Samus. She was very quiet. Suddenly Xemnas appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Sora by the throat!
"Sora!" Pit exclaimed. Pit hit Xemnas with his sabers, and Xemnas let go of him. "I’ll take care of him, Sora!” But Xemnas had already disappeared.
Samus got back up. She could barely stand, but she tried to figure out what was going on. Great. Ridley's back.
Samus shot as many Super Missles as she could at the beast before walking over
to the commander's seat. "Where’s…Marth?”
Xemnas looked upon Nefirus in Subspace. "Ridley's currently fighting Marth on Samus's ship. Also, I think I know where they'll land next if Ridley fails: The Island of the Ancients."
Marth leapt out of the way of Ridley's lunge, but almost lost his footing and slipped.
Marth’s thoughts were running at warp speed as he flipped and slid out of the way of Ridley’s furious barrage.
I've got to be careful; the metallic sheen of Samuses' ship is slippery. Ridley certainly has the advantage in this battle!
Marth had barely raised his sword back up when Ridley swooped around for another blow, knocking Marth off his feet. He winced in pain, but rolled up just in time to avoid Ridley's fireballs, which flew past him and splashed into the sea far below.
"SKREEEE!!!"
Ridley's shriek punctured the air like a knife as he fell onto the ship, tilting its' frame. Not pausing for a moment, Ridley followed up with a rush of claw attacks that Marth only avoided by sliding under the monster. He followed up with a powerful slash to Ridley's back, but once again his blade just bounced off of the leathery hide.
"How many times do you have to try that? I can't be harmed by your puny weapon!"
Ridley swirled around, grazing Marth on the shoulder with his wickedly sharp claws and making the swordsman cry out in pain. Ridley readied another blow, but suddenly staggered and screeched as Samuses' Super Missiles hit him square in the back. Marth used the opportunity to roll out of the way, but Ridley seemed unharmed as he swept back into thew air to continue his vicious assault.
"Just give up! You're no match for me and you know it, Marth! You can't beat me with your 'friends', what makes you think you can do it without them?"
Ridley put an extra hint of derision in the word friends as he sneered.
"Ridley, you could never understand how much the people in this ship mean to me! I won't let them die!"
"I understand plenty... particularly your feelings for Aran... heh... don't worry, she'll die the most painfully. I have other reasons for wanting her death more than yours."
Marth's rage increased at the threatining of Samus.
"You won't get the chance, Ridley! Your last fight is with ME!"
"Keep telling yourself that, boy..."
--MEANWHILE--
Nefirus was spectating the fight through a portal in Subspace. He was thinking hard. “HMM... RIDLEY'S DOING MUCH BETTER THAN I HAD EXPECTED. STILL, IF HE FAILS, I MUST QUICKLY PUT MY PLAN INTO ACTION. HE IS A LOYAL SERVANT, AND A VALUABLE ASSET TO MY MASTER PLAN.” Nefirus straightened up.
--MEANWHILE--
Marth dodged another of Ridleys' aerial attacks.
He's using the same strategy over and over again, but it's working! Eventually, I'll tire, and then Ridley will deliver the finishing blow!
Beads of sweat were already rolling down Marth's face like heavy rain. Ridley turned, and swooped at him again. Marth made a split-second decision and took the attack head on, blocking Ridleys' bite with his sword and grabbing his claw as Ridley swooped off again. Marth clung on for dear life as Ridley writhed in midair, trying to shake him off. If Marth fell, it would be all over. Marth swung up onto Ridleys' back, and knowing that it would be futile to attack his hard skin, he stabbed at Ridleys' soft snout.
"ARRRGGHHH!" Ridley clutched at his face as Marth slashed him repeatedly. Noticing that their struggle had taken them close to the ship once more, Marth slashed both of Ridleys' wings and leapt off of him onto the ship as Ridley fell out of sight behind them. Marth collapsed to his knees, panting heavily. Was it over?
Suddenly, the ship shook as Ridley scrambled back on!
He must have caught the edge of the ship as he fell! But at least he can't use his wings, Marth thought. Ridley then did something completely unexpected. Instead of attacking Marth, he slashed at the ship's hull, poking a hole to where Pit, Sora and Samus were. With a jolt of horror, Marth realized what he was planning to do. "Stay away from my friends!”
Marth leapt at Ridley, but Ridley backhanded him and sent him sprawling to the other edge. Ridley began to advance towards Marth, ready to deliver the finishing blow. "Whether I kill you first or not, it makes no difference to me," Ridley snarled. "You're all going to die tonight anyway."
"No, Ridley. I'll beat you..." Marth tried to struggle up, but his left leg was broken and he collapsed again.
"Don't make me laugh. You can't even penetrate my hard skin; there's no way you can deal enough damage to finish me!"
"No, Ridley... you're wrong."
Ridley roared, his teeth glinting eerily in the dim light. Lightning crashed around them as he raised his arm up to strike. “About what?”
“ABOUT THIS!” Marth summoned all his energy into his blade. He was using his signature technique: Critical Hit. Marth pulled his sword back as it glowed with energy and ran it straight through Ridley's chest, the tip popping out of his back.
Ridleys' expression was a mixture of surprise and annoyance. "That's... not... fair..." Marth pulled his sword out of Ridley as the beast’s lifeless body rolled across the ship and fell off the side, plummeting into the icy waters below.
Marth staggered towards the top half of the ship, but collapsed. Using his critical hit technique had taken a lot of energy out of him. "Please... help..." Marth croaked. He hoped Samus, Sora or Pit heard him before he passed out.
~The Island of the Ancients, Outside~
In the meantime, Bowser arrived on the Island of the Ancients, hoping to find the heroes there. Things had been going better for him lately. His plans had actually been successful. But his face became much less happy when he noticed his least favorite plumber hording off primids. He wouldn’t allow the plumber to disrupt his plans again!
Mario was alone; when Ganondorf had shown up he had decided that it would be better to let Link take care of him. What a coward! Bowser confronted his nemesis. “Bwa ha ha! Mario! Time to die!” The giant dinosaur-like creature got in his shell form, and used his whirling fortress technique to attack Mario. The hero jumped out of the way just in time. Mario had only just finished fighting Shadow Master Hand. He was over tired, and not prepared for another fight.
“Mama Mia! It’s a Bowser!” When Bowser came out of his shell, Mario ran behind him and grabbed his tail, spinning him. Bowser was flung a safe distance away. He followed the beast, preparing to punch him. He swung his hand, only to have it caught by his enemy.
“Bwa ha ha!” Bowser swung at Mario with his claw, and hit him in the face. Mario was knocked out of Bower’s grip, and fell to the ground. Bowser summoned fire from the depths of his stomach, engulfing Mario in flame. “Getting hot, Mar-ee-oh?” Mario’s hat was on fire, and so he threw it off of him quickly. The plumber was sweating bullets in the heat.
“Oh, no, Bowser! I’m a doing just fine!” His Italian accent grew thicker as he became deeply afraid. “It’s time for you to be a defeated!” Mario was swung at again by Bowser, but this time he ducked. He put his fist right up to the behemoth’s belly before performing the super jump punch, knocking Bowser into the sky. Mario and Bowser fell, clawing at each other all the way down to the ground.
Bowser thrust Mario off of him. “It’s the time I showed you one of my new tricks. Something I saved just for you! The Dark Aura!”
“The what-a?”
“It must have come to me from lingering around all this Subspace. Yes! That’s where it must have come from! I can fell it…some hidden power that decided to give itself to me! Death is coming, Mario. Are you ready for it?” Bowser’s body began to pour out black and purple smoke, just like the primids. So he’s right. His power did come from the Primids. Mario’s thoughts were interrupted by Bowser’s attacks.
The man in red was able to jump just out of range of Bowser’s reach. Just a got to stay a far away from him. Mario shot fireballs out of the palms of his hands, but each time Bowser just diminished the fire with his own hot breath.
“Try this on for size!” After using the cliché line, Bowser swung at Mario again, and he once again dodged the attack. What’s he a mean? The attack a was the same. But, unfortunately for Mario, he was wrong. Bowser had released Subspace from him as he swung, and it hit Mario smack upside the head. Mario was flat on his back, but only for a second. He got back up, and turned around, and ran. Ran. Away from Bowser. It was the first time Mario had ever done so in the entirety of his life.
Mario was relieved when he found a shallow river- knowing it was Bowser’s weakness- and ran across it. But Bowser didn’t plan on letting his prey escape. “Behold- The true power of Subspace!” Bowser shot Subspace blasts at the river. He had put up a wall that had stopped the river from flowing beyond the point that it was at. He walked on the other side of the wall and stared at Mario. But he said nothing. A grin appeared on his face, and Mario shook with fear. There was no stopping Bowser. Bowser lifted his paw, and aimed it at Mario.
“Don’t I get any last a-words?” Mario asked, trying to smile, but failing. His mind was going at a hundred miles an hour. Was there no way to get out of this?
Unless...
“You deserve none.” Bowser let the Subspace flow out of him, and swallow his enemy.
However, as Mario disappeared from view, Bowser could have sworn he saw his nemesis smile…
Bowser dismissed the thought and went to contact Nefirus.
“EXCELLENT JOB, BOWSER,” came Nefirus’s monotonous voice, when Bowser had finally contacted his master and announced his victory. “I NEED YOU TO FIND MASTER HAND. SUBDUE HIM, AND BRING HIM TO ME. I MUST ABSORB HIS POWER; THEN NOT EVEN TABUU WILL POSE ANY THREAT TO ME. ON SECOND THOUGHT, GO AFTER THE FEST OF THE HEROES. YOU WILL BE MORE USEFUL THAT WAY.” Nefirus turned away and opened a subspace portal with a wave of his hand. “NOW, IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I MUST GO. RIDLEY HAS FALLEN IN BATTLE, AND I MUST RETRIEVE HIS BODY.”
Nefirus passed through the portal and found himself at the bottom of the ocean. Though any normal human would drown here, Nefirus was far beyond such mortal concerns. Before him he saw the lifeless body of Ridley, staring towards the surface of the water with dead, blank eyes. With a simple gesture, Nefirus lifted Ridley via telekinesis and opened another portal back to the SmashDome. Nefirus flew through it with Ridley's body. “DON'T LOOK SO SAD, RIDLEY. YOU SHALL SOON LIVE AGAIN.”
~The Island of the Ancients, in Master Hand’s Temple~
Ratchet woke up. "Where... where am I?" He asked to no one in particular. He appeared to be in a small temple, but there was no one there. He spotted an audio recording device on the ground, so he picked it up and pressed play.
"My name is Master Hand." The voice, though it was a recording, boomed across the room. "You have been called to our world, the Smash World, for a specific reason. We are under great threat by two beings known as Tabuu and Nefirus. You and your friend Clank are potentially valuable assets to our army." Upon hearing his name, Clank woke up.
"Where are we?" He asked Ratchet.
"I don't know," Ratchet answered. The recording, which had automatically paused when Clank woke up, started again. Clank decided to listen and ask Ratchet about the start of the recording later. "Please find a ship known as the Gummi Ship. It has some of your allies traveling within it, trying to reach me. Outside, you should find your old ship. The Gummi Ship should stand out; it is the only ship in the sky. Besides, it is brightly colored and does not look aerodynamic, which should tell you what it is when you see it. I have locked the coordinates of the Gummi Ship in your own ship. Bring them to the forest very close to here. And lastly, good luck.” With that, the recording faded out.
"Where are we now?" Clank asked. "I understand our mission, but I don't know where we are."
"We're in a place called SmashWorld. Remember when we were beamed to the Bogon Galaxy? It's something like that. We should go aid those warriors, right?"
"Yes," Clank responded. He and Ratchet hopped in the ship. "I'll turn on the Robotic Operating System," Clank said. He sent a signal out to the ship, and it rose off the ground. Ratchet pulled the thrust drive, and they sped off toward the Gummi Ship.
~High above the Smash World, in Samus’ Ship~
Samus looked and saw Ridley had poked a hole through her ship. I just got this repainted... But then she heard a noise above her and Marth mutter something. She engaged autopilot, and jumped on top of the ship quickly and grabbed Marth. But she couldn't move. She still wasn't strong enough. "Sora!" she tried to yell it, but the words didn't come out very loud. Maybe Nefirus should be stopped before I try to get revenge on Tabuu.
Sora suddenly saw the hole, "Marth's still up there; Pit, you stay here.”
Sora picked the tired out Marth and placed him next to Samus. Pit was looking out the window. "Um, Sora, we might have a problem!" Xemnas and his glowing red lazer-swords were lighting up the dark clouds.
Marth stirred. He tried to get up, but his leg hurt him far too much. "Did I... beat Ridley?" he said to no one in particular.
“I don’t know,” said Pit, trying to stay calm. “But we don’t have time for that. Xemnas is here!”
“Who now?” Marth asked. He had never heard of a “Xemnas” before. Suddenly, he remembered where he heard the name.
"You mean Sora's nemesis? The one who's working... with Nefirus?"
“He's attacking the ship!” yelled Sora; “I'll go up!" He went up and saw a trophy of a white haired man with a long big sword behind his back. Xemnas was flying towards Sora. "You’re mine; I'll turn you into a Heartless!" Xemnas exclaimed. Sora knew that a heartless was someone that would follow Xemnas with no emotion; with no heart.
Marth turned himself to find Samus lying next to him, unconcious. She's even weaker than I thought, she needs more time to recuperate. I hope she's all right. With his undamaged arm, Marth reached over and pulled off Samus's helmet so she could get some fresh air.
"Samus, are you awake? Can you hear me?"
Back on the top of the ship, Xemnas and Sora were fighting. "Xemnas, what have you done with Kairi and Riku? Tell me!" Sora’s normal upbeat attitude had vanished.
"I’m not telling you, Sor-a!" Xemnas was obviously mocking him. Sora's rage increased within and he burst out to Xemnas with furious rage. Xemnas was being pummeled by the Keyblade, as he had been caught off guard by Sora’s swiftness.
~High above the Smash World, in Ratchet’s Ship~
“Where is this ship going? It's moving so fast..." Ratchet veered a sharp right toward the ship.
"At least we're catching up..." Clank pointed out. He was paying attention to the radar, while Ratchet was looking out the ship's front window for any sign of Samus' ship.
"I believe we are approaching it quite quickly," Clank pointed out.
"Yeah, I can see it out the window," Ratchet answered. He sounded annoyed. As they approached the ship, Ratchet decided that they were jumping out of their own and landing on Samus' ship.
"I don't advise this, Ratchet..." Clank said, trying to sound calm, but evidently failing.
"Too bad. We're doing it." Clank sighed, got on Ratchet's back, and braced himself.
"Off we go!" Ratchet yelled. Clank pulled out his thruster pack, ready to use it. In a few seconds, Clank initiated it, floating himself and Ratchet to the ship gently. Ratchet noticed that the ship had a gaping hole in the back. He entered and greeted everyone. "Hello," he said, pausing, expecting to see them all shocked at his abrupt arrival. "I'm Ratchet, and this is Clank. Who are you?"
"Whoever you are help us!" yelled Pit.
Ratchet looked up, shocked that someone would order him around like that. He saw Xemnas, and recognized that he was evil. He took out his Lancer, a machine gun, and his favorite weapon, and pointed it at Xemnas. He took it out and pointed it at Xemnas. "Eat this!" He fired about a score of shots at the villain.
Marth heard the commotion outside. There's a fight going on! He realized. He desperately wanted to join in and help, but his leg was throbbing. Unless he stayed off of it, it might suffer permenant damage. Even if his leg was fine, he had to stay with Samus, She was the most vulnerable of all of them in her present state. "Please, Samus... please wake up."
Xemnas threw Sora back, and ran at him, swing his lazer swords as if Sora hadn’t hurt him at all. One of them hit, and Sora's right forearm throbbed with pain. "Xemnas!" Sora shouted.
Pit flew towards Ratchet. "You okay?"
“I’m fine? Why wouldn’t I be?” Ratchet asked with confusion, not used to people caring so much. “I don't know how much longer we can hold that guy off without this ship failing. It's already in a serious condition,” he continued, looking at the hole Ridley had made. “There are others down below, right? Tell them I'm going to bomb this ship and we're all going into mine. Like I said before, there's no hope of this ship surviving." Ratchet took out his Bouncer and got the trigger ready.
"Wait, Ratchet!" Clank protested. "Don't fire..."
As usual in a battle, Ratchet ignored Clank, and aimed for a spot to fire near Xemnas, and fired. The bouncer shot out a large bomb, which upon explosion, released a score of smaller bombs. When the explosions stopped, Xemnas was lying on the ground, wounded. But Ratchet looked at Pit, and saw he was also lying on the ground. Xemnas had made a direct hit on him.
Samus briefly woke up at the sound of Marth’s words. Looking around, she thought: What the heck is going on? And who are all these people? "Everybody off my ship!" But it was obvious no one heard her. "Marth... what's going on?" She looked over at Marth. "Your face is red. Is something wrong?" Noticing that her helmet was off, she placed it back on her head.
Marth breathed a sigh of relief. Samus was alright! "I think... I think I killed Ridley, but I broke my leg in the process. We're being attacked by more of Nefirus’s forces, but the others are holding them off." Marth touched Samuses' arm. "Are you feeling any better? Can you move?"
“Let's get out of here!” Ratchet yelled. He jumped off the burning and dying ship, pressed a button on his wrist pad, and his own ship appeared under them. He landed safely inside it. He hoped his newly found allies would make it in safe as well.
Sora followed, carrying Pit in. He quickly put his friend on the floor. The ship was about to take off."Pit, Pit, say something!" Sora checked the heart beat. There was nothing. "He's…dead!" he exclaimed. Sora was angry. He banged his fist on his seat repeatedly. Streams of tears ran through his eyes. "Nobody can die! Nobody…can…”
Ratchet turned on the radio transmitter. "Samus... that's your name, right? You'll never survive on that ship. You can take over the controls on my ship if you need to, but that ship won't work anymore. It's burning, it could explode any second, and there are two evil masterminds on board. I'm giving you one more chance to get on my ship. If you don't... it was nice knowing you, even if I never saw you."
Clank turned around and saw Sora leaning over one of his friend's bodies, which he assumed to be asleep. From Clank's view, it looked like Sora was crying. "What has happened, Sora?" The little robot asked.
“Pit, he…he died! From Xemnas! I hope Xemnas dies! I hope he dies painfully!” Sora was beyond anger. It was a side of him no one had seen before. Not wanting anyone else to die, Sora rushed back onto Samus’s ship. “Come on, Samus! Here, let me carry you. You need to see a doctor right away!”
“I'm perfectly...fine, Sora,” mumbled Samus, still in pain. I don't need...a doctor. I just need... to find... Ridley's body...Have to make sure...he's dead." But it was pretty clear to everyone watching her that she wasn't going anywhere. "Kill...Nefirus for me...would you?" Samus wasn't talking to any one in particular. In fact, she was mostly just mumbling to herself. She was becoming delusional again. Samus crashed onto the floor and fell asleep.
“Samus!” Marth struggled up off the floor. His leg was burning horribly, but he didn't care. Samus had to get off the ship! He limped towards the exit.
"I'm getting Samus out of there!"
Xemnas was lying on the ground in pain. He saw Samus and knew that he could get one last kill before he died. He slowly stood up, and limped after her. He raised his laser-blades, and swung. But Sora had seen him coming, and he had rushed out to block the attack. They continued battling, each parrying the others blows, until eventually Sora was hit in the arm. He kept fighting, though he was in pain.
Ratchet saw everything through the screen in front of him. “Marth, I'm bringing my ship near Samus' burning ship, but you're limping. I'm going in with you.” Ratchet steered his ship near Samus' burning ship, and opened the top hatch. He helped Marth get out of it, then jumped onto the other ship. He snuxk up behind Xemnas and struck him hard in the head with his wrench. That outta knock him out, Ratchet thought.
But Xemnas was still conscious, though the blow had certainly made him vulnerable. Sora hit him hard with his keyblade, and Xemnas was knocked out, lying on the floor of the ship, again.
Ratchet turned his attention to Marth. "Hurry! Go find Samus and bring her to my ship! There's no hope for this one! It will explode in five minutes at the very most! And if it doesn’t blow up, then it will simply fall down to the ground!”
"Marth...save yourself...don't...die...trying to...save me...I'm not...worth it."
"I won't stand by watching you die!!! I can't even bear the thought of you dying...Samus."
Marth lifted Samus up, and his leg felt like it was about to burst. Marth stumbled, but didn't drop Samus and started making his way back towards Ratchet's ship.
He can't bear the thought of me dying? This explains a lot. Samus couldn't help but chuckle to herself. She attempted to disguise her laughter with a cough. Samus realized that there was a sort of awkward silence in the air, and so she said "I can walk back my-" But as soon as she let go of Marth, she fell over again. Smooth, Samus. She was the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy, and she couldn't even stand up. She didn't know how to vent her embarrassment, so she just let Marth pick her up again.
Seeing their desperate situation with both of them limping, Ratchet tossed them each a magnetic badge. "Put these on!" He said. "They're tractor beam transmitters. I can use this to pull you to my ship through the air magnetically. Hurry! We don't have much time!"
Marth did as he was asked, and they pulled onto Ratchet’s ship. He staggered inside and laid Samus down. He fell to his knees; his leg was hurting so much.
Meanwhile, Sora entered the ship and broke the silence. But with Pit’s dead body lying on the chair next to him, the atmosphere was still uncomfortable.
Ratchet looked at Pit's dead body and frowned. He considered throwing it off the ship because it was a waste of space, but he rid his head of the evil thought.
Ratchet began to steer toward the Island of the Ancients to meet up with Master Hand. "We need to meet up with him, I promised," Ratchet explained to Sora, who had just gotten off Samus' ship. The Keyblade Bearer had just suggested that they go to Destiny Islands, his homeland. But as Ratchet had said, he needed to meet with this Master Hand.
~Phaaze, Homeworld of Metroid Prime, A.K.A. Dark Samus~
The metroids gathered before their leader, Metroid Prime. Dark Samus, as Metroid Prime was now called, looked up to see Space Pirate ships flying up above her. Phazon, she thought. It was the only thing she ever thought about. It was her life source. It was her power. Dark Samus transformed herself into pure energy with her last bit of power, and became invisible to all creatures’ eyes. She was headed for the Space Pirates. And the Space Pirates were headed for the Smash World.
~High above the Smash World, in Ratchet’s Ship~
Samus was lying peacefully in Ratchet’s ship. Most of the pain had gone, or at least wherever the pain was she was numb. But her joy was short-lived. "Marth...behind...you…" Samus was looking at a being that looked quite like her, but with a slight dark-bluish hue. Dark Samus looked at the helpless two people, and attacked. It launched several missiles at them, and without bothering to see the results, the creature moved on. It was looking for the energy source of the ship. Dark Samus was looking for Phazon, but found none. Whatever was powering this ship would have to do.
Samus had somehow managed to avoid a direct hit from the missiles, but she was caught in the blast. She was so weak she couldn't even turn her head to see if Marth had survived. All she could do was mumble "Ratchet...protect the ship's energy...that's...wha...it's...afer..." And then she fell asleep, again.
Marth staggered as the full barrage of missiles hit his back. The reason Samus hadn't been hit was because Marth had thrown himself in the way to protect her. Marth fell to the ground, unconscious.
Sora went to help Samus and Marth. Dark Samus wasn’t paying much attention to Sora, but finally turned around when he struck her in the back. Marth and Samus were unconscious, Pit was dead, and Ratchet was driving the plane; it was up to him.
But Sora had been wrong: things were not up to him. Palutena, Pit’s former mistress and the goddess of his world, had arrived. She saw Pit’s body, and was astonished. But that had been the reason she had came: for his body. She revived Marth and Samus from there unconsciousness, and left with Pit’s body.
Dark Samus watched her enemies rise. She was annoyed. She started to break through the floor of the ship, looking for energy. But before she did that, she changed her energy type, causing her to become invisible to all else on the ship.
Where did the Metroid Prime go? Samus looked at the floor of the ship. An invisible force was demolishing it. She switched on her dark visor to see Dark Samus was the culprit. Samus fired a Sunbust attack: a technique that composed of a charged up light beam and a super missile. The creature was unable to keep its form, and so it became visible to the others.
Sora saw Dark Samus reappear, and he shot blizzard, an ice attack, at Dark Samus. Dark Samus easily dodged the attack, but Sora didn’t notice. He was in a trance, oblivious to what was going on around him. As the other fighters came to destroy Dark Samus, Palutena’s voice whirled around Sora's head.
"Sora, through you, the others will learn their mission."
“So…Why me?”
“Your keyblade can unlock keyholes.”
“Yeah, but how will that help us?"
“Xemnas has already assisted Nefirus in sealing Subspace itself, so that only beings of Subspace can enter it now. The keyholes of Subspace need to be unlocked so you can defeat Nefirus."
"Where are they?" Sora asked.
“There are five of them, each in its own location. One is in Destiny Islands, in the cave next to the waterfall. One is on the Bridge of Eldin. One is in Norfair. One is in the Subspace Bomb Factory, in the Island of the Ancients. And one is in the Starship Phoenix, Ratchet’s headquarters.
“Good luck to you, Sora. You’ll need it.” Sora suddenly became aware of what was happening. The heroes had driven Dark Samus away. Hopefully she’s dead, thought Sora angrily.
"Okay," said Ratchet to Clank, "We're about on the Island of the Ancients. I need to find Master Hand and talk to him about what the heck is going on." He flew the ship down toward the floating island.
Ratchet looked out the side window and saw Samus' burning ship crash land into the ground far behind them. Grimly, he hoped Xemnas was still on board.
A few moments later, he landed in a meadow in the forest. He and Clank got out, expecting all of the others to follow him. Immediately, he saw Master Hand, Black Knight and Link. They had moved toward the location when they saw Ratchet's ship overhead. Ganondorf had long since fled to Subspace.
"Hello, Ratchet and Clank. It is time for me to grant you and your friends your first, and hopefully only, mission," Master Hand began. "My original plan to destroy Subspace was foiled when I was possessed by Tabuu a year ago. The time is dire now. Let me tell you of my plans." Master Hand paused, a moment to let his words thus far sink in.
"Over one million years ago, when the Smash World was created, I hid four relics of power. They were given to me by other deities from other worlds. They secrete the power to destroy Subspace itself, if used together. The relics come from four worlds called Hyrule, Mushroom Kingdom, PokeWorld and Pop Star. They are the four largest worlds in our galaxy, Nintendo. With permission from the gods of these worlds, I took their most prized artifacts and hid them here. They are heavily guarded by monsters that I placed there, but I am sure that they have turned into Primids, Heartless and Nobodies by the likes of Nefirus and Tabuu.
"The four relics are the Triforce, from Link’s world, the Ultimate Grand Star, from Mario’s world, the Master Ball, from the world of the Pokemon, and the Star Rod, from Kirby’s world, Pop Star. They are hidden in the four corners of Smash: The Mountains, the sky, the forest, and the desert. I will come with you to find them, for it is of great importance that we recover them and save our world- and ultimately the universe- from the horror that is Subspace." Master Hand stopped talking there, and let the knowledge sink in among the others.
While everyone thought about what Master Hand had said, Sora told Link and the others what had happened on the ship with Palutena.
“So why was Palutena there?” asked Link gleefully.
"Um Link, we need to tell you something, was Pit a friend of yours?" asked Sora.
"Yes, I know Pit very well! We were friends and allies a year ago! Do you know him?" Link was still cheerful; he didn’t understand that Sora was trying to be serious.
"Um.... he was fighting with us.... but a guy called Xemnas killed him while we were fighting…" Sora began to cry again. Streams of tears flowed through his usually jolly cheeks. “But Pit told me something while we were fighting with Dark Samus."
“Oh... wow, he died... I- I'm really sorry Sora...” Link looked down at the ground. “Do you have his body?” He asked. “We should really hold a funeral for such a brave warrior.”
It was getting dark. Master Hand, not having heard the conversation between Link and Sora, announced that they should set up camp for the night. That meadow was one of the only really safe places the heroes could stay without the fear, risk, and threat of enemy attacks. "Does anybody have any camping equipment?" He asked, realizing that he didn't have anything with him.
"Lucky for you, I do," answered Ratchet. He opened up the back of his ship and took out about ten sleeping bags. "Always be prepared," he chuckled. He laid them down throughout the meadow. Darkness was approaching quickly, and Ratchet realized that he was one sleeping bag short. "Um..." he started.
"It is fine. I do not need a sleeping bag," Master Hand said, as if reading Ratchet's thoughts. Ratchet shrugged, and sat down for a moment to clear his thoughts. He probably should have known, anyways.
Sora thought I'll tell them tommorow morning about the 5 keyholes. Sora saw the team together in a big circle with the campfire the size of sora's keyblade. He lied on his navy blue sleeping bag, looking at the night sky. Thoughts were running through Sora's head. “Is the universe going to be safe? What are they going to do with Riku and Kairi? Was Xemnas dead?”
Suddenly Sora saw a shooting star in the dark night sky. It shone as bright as the moon. "I wish Pit was alive again.” He looked at the star pass by, and stared sadly at the night sky. He closed his eyes and went into a deep sleep.
Marth stirred from his unconcious state and found himself looking up at the stars. He recognized where he was; the Island of the Ancients. The last thing Marth remembered was throwing himself in the way of Dark Samuses' missiles.
Wait, Master Hand is here... I need to tell him what I heard whil I was in the SmashDome!
He sat up, and winced. His back and leg were still tender from his previous battles. He saw Master Hand floating across from him behind a campfire.
"Master Hand... It's good to see you again. I have important news I've been anxious to tell you. News about Nefirus..."
Master Hand turned to Marth. "News, Marth? On Nefirus? Please, tell me. We must know about our enemy if we expect to defeat him. Did you see him? How was the ride back and where is Samus's ship?" This caught Ratchet's attention. He blushed and backed away nervously, deciding to let Marth tell Master Hand the fate of Samus's ship.
“I... I think I killed Ridley. As for Samuses' ship... it was destroyed. I don't exactly know how, I wasn't able to participate in the events at that point.” Marth turned his head towards the stars and thought for a moment. “About Nefirus... yes, I saw him... I spent a week trapped in his hideout. While I was there, I heard him say something shocking to Xemnas over his communications screen." Marth turned back towards Master Hand and paused. “You'll think this is crazy, but trust me... this is real.”
“Nefirus IS Tabuu. ...Well, not exactly. You weren’t awake to remember this, but during our final fight with Tabuu during the events of last year, his Off Waves from his wings turned us all into trophies. To stop this from happening again, Sonic blasted his wings off, weakening him. Those shards of Tabuu eventually formed into Nefirus." Marth paused once again.
"He wants to absorb you and Tabuu to become complete once again and become even more powerful than he was as the original Tabuu. I didn't hear much of this, but a being known as "HyperTabuu" was mentioned. This could very well be his true form. We must prevent him from accomplishing this!"
Master Hand stopped moving, shocked. "So there are two Tabuus, but they're enemies? Frankly, I think it should stay that way. It seems there is a ransom on me now... I must evade being destroyed, or absorbed by Nefirus or Tabuu at the very least. As for this ‘HyperTabuu’, I was aware of his existence. But not that they could get to this form by absorbing me. It simply hadn’t crossed my mind. But that’s enough of this talk for now. You should get some rest.”
“As we all should.” Marth headed for his sleeping bag and lay down, trying to get some rest.
Sora saw Kairi and Riku standing on the ground in font of him. "Kairi, Riku!" He was so exited to see his friends! Where had they been? How had they gotten here? Sora didn’t care. He went up them and gave them a big hug. But to his dismay, they dissolved, and the dark night got darker. Everything was fading, but it didn’t fade all the way. It slowly cleared up, and Sora looked on with horror. He could see his own body lying on the floor next to Black Knight.
The Black Knight stood there, until he turned around and looked right back at Sora, and began to laugh. He was holding the golden keyblade up, and the words "For my friends!" glimmered in devil red. "No!” Sora yelled. But it was too late; the Black Knight was already standing beside Master Hand. He cut the deity with the red keyblade, and Master Hand fell; blood flowing from the white glove.
Sora woke up, with sweat flowing down his body and wet back. A great shiver grew across his spine. He tried to fall asleep again, but he was too afraid. Too afraid of the knight.
Marth was having trouble falling asleep as well, as the others began to quiet down. Scanning his eyes along the line of those sleeping, he remembered that Pit was gone. Dead. Trying to avoid thinking about it, his gaze fell on a sleeping Samus. Marth realized with a rush of embarrassment what he had said to her on her ship.
“I can't even bear the thought of you dying, Samus…”I'm such an idiot! I shouldn't have said anything. Samus probably thinks I'm an fool. Even though Master Hand didn't appear to be moving, Marth had the uncomfortable feeling that he could read his thoughts. He buried his head under his sleeping bag and tried to hide his face in shame.
Sora was still thinking about his dream. He wanted to trust the Back Knight, but he needed reassurance. “Marth, can I talk to you?”
Marth turned to face Sora. “What is it, Sora? You can tell me anything.”
"Um it's about.... Kairi… I miss her. You see, she's my girlfriend, and I'm scared that she might be dead. Please, Marth, tell me that's she's going to be okay?" Sora was thinking of Riku dying as well.
Marth paused for a second. “I'm sorry Sora, but I can't tell you for certain that she's not dead. No one can be sure. But what I can tell you is, if she's even a bit like you, she'll be fine.”
"Thanks Marth. That's what I needed; I had a nightmare you see. And um... Marth, I saw the expression on your face, and yes I think you're a good couple... good night, Marth." As Sora walked away, Marth blushed. He hadn’t thought anyone knew about him and Samus. He tried not to think about it as he fell asleep…
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END OF CHAPTER TWO
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CHAPTER THREE: DARK MOTIVES-- Sneak Preview!
With their goals now known, the heroes begin the quest for the Relics and the Keyholes! First stop: Destiny Islands once again! However, they've got company! Will the heroes be able to face off against a new, more powerful enemy than ever before-- King DeDeDe?!? Also, the Black Knight struggles to keep his double-agent role a secret! This is where things get interesting!
.............................................
Master Hand turned to everyone else. "Though Nefirus cannot get through the barrier I have set up, it would be unwise to remain here. We all must get in Ratchet's ship so we can escape to a safer place," he announced.
Master Hand turned to Kairi, while observing Nefirus's attempts to get in through the force field he had created. "If Nefirus is out there," he began, "then there is little hope he is alive right now," he finished sadly. Then he turned to Ratchet. "Do you have anything that can get us out of here quickly?" He asked.
Ratchet nodded. "I'll go get it," he said. He walked over to his ship and took out a chunk of machinery.
Clank was unpleasantly surprised. "Oh no!" He exclaimed. "Not the Gravimetric Warp Drive?" He asked.
Ratchet kept installing it in the ship.
"The untested Gravimetric Warp Drive?"
Ratchet merely nodded his head.
"The one you built from Blargian scrap metal?"
"You coming?" Ratchet asked.
Clank shook his head, looking futile. "We are doomed," he said grimly.
Ratchet turned to Master Hand. "Tell everyone to get in my ship. I'll get us far away," he said through gritted teeth.
OOC: He he he he...
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