Post by bobsnicket on Feb 2, 2008 17:30:42 GMT -5
Chapter 10: Shadows and Stars
Meanwhile…
The thirteen occupants of the large impenetrable cell were growing bored and hopeless. The activities of each character were as follows: Falco, Pit, Banjo, and Kazooie were all asleep either on the floor or against the wall. The Rito Postman was talking with Link about recent major events in the Great Sea, including the growth of dozens of new trees across the islands, the expansion of Zunari’s shop, and the attacks of a vicious gigantic 20-eyed Big Octorok. Goombario and Meta Knight were sitting on the stone bench, Meta Knight meditating with his eyes closed, and Goombario staring at the ground thinking glumly about his secret crush Goombella. Nana was pacing back and forth, muttering to herself and shouting sudden curses at Master Hand and the cruel world. Finally, Zelda, Professor E. Gadd, Bottles, and Mario were still watching out the barred window, for although most had lost interest in the room beyond, this room did not remain dormant.
Every now and then Waluigi came down into the room carrying or dragging an unconscious figure to the chair by the machine and transforming it into a rigid trophy. So far, Chunky, Birdo, and Darknut had been victims of the whirring and the blinding white flash and the obvious results. When the first after Samus, Chunky, had been brought down, Mario had attempted to speak with Waluigi.
“Waluigi, what are you a-doing?” he shouted. Waluigi turned to him with a look of utter annoyance.
“Shut up! I’m in it for the money, and I don’t know nothin’! Be quiet or you’ll be next!” After that, Waluigi turned back to his work and ignored all other protests.
Yes, things were looking bad for Mario and his twelve cellmates. And their only five hopes of being rescued were all in the two competitor lobbies, unaware of where the prisoners were. Four of these hopes would soon be dashed.
Back in Lobby #1…
“What is that?” The Shadow Sirens were stunned still as they took in the sight of the lobby around them. It was a pretty typical competitor’s quarters, with several benches, a couple small beds, and a number of lockers each with a Roman numeral from 1-32 on it. In one of the beds the covers were drawn over a small sleeping figure, most likely a fighter weary from its last battle. But the center of attention was, well, in the center.
A large purple mass of floating energy identical to that of the late Shadow Queen’s, but without any particular shape. At the sound of the Shadow Sirens’ arrival, it molded itself into a roughly human shape, the place where the face and eyes would be facing the three intruders.
“My masters do not wish me to reveal that information,” a deep faintly feminine voice boomed. And with that, the purple energy suddenly flew apart and engulfed the Shadow Sirens, unable to drag them belowground, but instead pressurizing them to unconsciousness and trapping their substances in itself. It burped loudly.
Semifinals
Semifinal Match#1: The Shadow Queen vs. Diddy Kong
The crowd had more influence on this match than any other. Most of the congregation was still cheering for Diddy, but no one could see after all the other worthy (and non-worthy) attempts to defeat the Shadow Queen had failed, how Diddy Kong could possibly pull off a victory in this intense situation. But there was one Diddy fan among the crowd who more than cheered for Diddy; she was his girlfriend.
Dixie Kong had left the Kongo Jungle soon after she learned that Diddy had left with his siblings and some other strange characters. Since Diddy was busy, she decided to come and watch the famous Fourside Colosseum Tournament in the city. Imagine her surprise when she sees her beloved companion fighting in the very tournament she had gone to see in his absence and watches as he fights his way admirably to the Semifinals. She was cheering probably louder than anyone else each time Diddy won, but her voice was drowned out by the thousands of other watchers.
Dixie had also witnessed the terrible power of the one who called itself the Shadow Queen, and when this battle was about to commence, she was immensely concerned about Diddy.
As she checked in at the Grande Snifit’s Hotel, Dixie found a strange metal device under the bed in her room, which she soon recognized as a Cloaking device (as well as some crumbs undoubtedly left by some TV-watching bum). She had taken the device with her to the colosseum, not knowing particularly why. But now she had realized what this Cloaking device was meant to be used for.
“Diddy! Here!” Diddy Kong looked up high in the stands and was surprised to see his girlfriend Dixie in the stands, shouting and waving to him, but also pointing at something falling through the air in from of him. As soon as he recognized the Cloaking device, he ran up to it, snatched it, and activated it right before the match began.
The crowd cheered when they saw Diddy’s recent advantage acquisition, and the purple hand began rotating itself left and right, searching for him in vain.
The Cloaking device did not make him completely invisible, instead making him a transparent blurred figure, but with the complexity of the crowd’s number, the Shadow Queen could not locate Diddy’s now-running form.
Diddy began by jabbing the hand with quick jabs and kicks, but they seemed to have no affect, and put him in extreme danger of being found. So Diddy reverted to using his last ten orange grenades in quick succession. Each exploded at contact with the hand’s form, making the Shadow Queen flinch and pull back its hand, giving low cries of pain.
But the tenth orange was caught in midair by the hand, somehow not setting off, and was hurled back at the spot where Diddy was still crouching after launching the grenades. Diddy cried out in agony as the orange blew up and sent him soaring (still almost invisibly) into the wall, then slid down onto the ground and remained motionless.
Dixie called out tearfully to Diddy for him to get back up.
“The Shadow Queen--” Wario began, but at that moment the flickering primate leaped to his feet and charged at the unsuspecting purple hand. Without his jetpack and guitar (the guitar was broken along with his jetpack in Diddy’s previous match), and no peanuts or orange grenades remaining, Diddy really had no choice other than forfeit than to attack the Shadow Queen directly. It had to have a weak spot. It just had to.
But Diddy was not the one destined to find it. As Diddy did a cartwheel and jumped over the hand to do a ground pound, the Shadow Queen caught him mid-leap in its powerful grip.
Diddy, knowing what the Shadow Queen had done to previous opponents, expected to be dragged belowground and off to some dark abyss. But instead, the hand just slammed the chimp hard on the other side of the ground, leaving Sonic as the last remaining hope.
Semifinal Match#2: The Shadow vs. Sonic
Sonic was highly disconcerted by the lack of friends remaining in this tournament. Both of his opponents had the word Shadow in the name, which couldn’t possibly be a good thing. He hoped to win this tournament and gain the weapon that could defeat Master Hand that Luigi had wanted. But now that he was alone in this endeavor, he would have to rely on his own will, endurance, and wit to leave this colosseum victorious.
But nothing could prepare him for the shock he experienced when he entered the arena and saw his opponent.
The Shadow. His cloak hade been destroyed, so nothing shielded his true identity from the eyes of him and the crowd. Luigi had seen the silhouette of Sonic as his defeat was nigh, but in reality, he was, of course, not Sonic. His real name was not The Shadow. It was simply Shadow.
Shadow, Sonic’s strong but unstable friend. He had the exact outline of Sonic, but had black fur with red streaks, and white boots. His eyes were lit with a fiery spark that signaled intense trials and suffering, as well as a deep energy that he kept at bay within himself. Sonic, however, did not notice this spark at first.
Sonic had believed him to still be stuck in the Microsoft World, but evidently he had been among one of the escapees who had come after he himself had. He had been here the entire time, knowing Sonic for who he was, but not the other way around. Why would he conceal himself like this?
Now remember that unlike you, Sonic had no idea that The Shadow, now known as Shadow, was in cohorts with Master Hand, and still planned to help carry out Master Hand’s world invasion.
“Shadow! What are you doing here? How long has it been since you escaped the Microsoft World? Why have you remained in hiding for so long? It’s so good to see you!” Even though they were supposed to be fighting, Sonic couldn’t help but smile as he recognized his old friend.
Shadow, however, retained an impassive frown, and walked toward Sonic until they were in reasonable conversation distance.
“Sonic. I must admit I didn’t expect you to come here; I suppose the allure of the false grand prize must have been too strong for you to resist.”
Sonic blinked in astonishment. “Fake? Do you mean there is no weapon of great power to be given to the winner?”
Shadow’s expression remained indifferent to the tone of the discussion. “Correct. It was a rumor started to lure competitors into the tournament. Same with the 1,000 coin reward, as it happens.”
“But you knew all this? What is going on, my old friend?”
And for the first time, a small sad smile appeared on Shadow’s face “Why, I thought you would have guessed the truth by now, my dear friend.”
At this, the two hedgehogs began circling around each other. The mood became a notch less friendly. “What truth?”
The crowd patiently watched Sonic and Shadow talk to each other; those few who could hear what was being said were listening with rapt attention.
”I, along with the entire organization staff of this tournament and many others, am in service to the mighty Master Hand. He sent us to bring fighters into the tournament, as many as possible from the Original 25, and add the finalists as well as any of the Original 25 to his collection. Well…actually now for some reason he wants all the competitors. But there it is.”
This bite of information was too much for Sonic to swallow. He did not bother asking what the Original 25 were. “What? Shadow, you must be joking! Master Hand plans to conquer the entire world, and subject it to his evil forces. Tell me you’re just getting me psyched up for the fight.”
But Shadow’s sad smile did not waver. “I’m afraid it is true, Sonic. You see, while some of Master Hand’s methods may be…not preferable, his ideals in the category of world unity are ingenious. Master Hand’s victory is inevitable; his force amounts to not just tens or hundreds of thousands, but millions. And with his army in charge, the Sony and Microsoft Worlds would soon become part of his rule. Things could be like days of old, in the sense that we could once again freely travel between worlds. Sonic, Knuckles and Tails came partway with me when I escaped the Microsoft World two years ago, but were overwhelmed by Microsoft’s force. Once Master Hand is our leader, we can be with all of our friends from the old days. To me, that is worth much more than a few pathetic companions. So what do you say to a nice fair fight, and then we can enjoy a big reunion with everyone together?”
Shadow’s smile was now friendlier, bringing memories to the brain behind Sonic’s watering eyes of countless adventures and misadventures with his friends. For one small, fleeting moment he considered what it would be like to let Master Hand take over and be with all of his old friends again. We could once again freely travel between worlds... But Sonic’s moral center was stronger than his desires, and he knew he could not accept this plan.
“Shadow, what has happened to you? I know you have good intentions, but how could you be so selfish? You’re wrong. Friendship is more valuable than victory. A lifelong friendship, in itself, is the ultimate victory. I think deep down you know that Master Hand could not be trusted to give us that much freedom if he were in control. You have been corrupted by greed and false hope. You must leave this idea behind, seek forgiveness of those you have harmed, and aid me in the quest to defeat Master Hand, not support him.”
At Sonic’s words, Shadow’s smile immediately disappeared into a frown, his eyes now blazing with contempt. “So. You refuse. That is that, then.” Suddenly he leaped forward and kicked Sonic several feet away onto the ground.
Sonic tearfully got up. He did not want to fight Shadow anymore. But with the knowledge he now had, he was obliged to do what must be done.
And so the Nintendo-version Battle of the Heroes commenced. Both hedgehogs were very equally matched. Both moved with great speed and agility. Both took many hits in many areas. But Sonic, driven by mixed despair and determination, came out wearily and grimly victorious, tears streaming from his eyes as he gazed at Shadow’s beaten but stubborn features.
During and After Semifinals
Bowser was still furious. Most of the matches he didn’t care about at all, but the defeat of his eighth son had deeply shaken him. He worried where Jr. was, and if he was safe. In any case, even if he did get an opportunity, it would most likely not be worth asking the Shadow Queen where he was. What he really cared about now was the Shadow Queen’s defeat. He had an extreme dislike for any being that had harmed any of his children, no matter what the circumstances were (Example: Mario). After Diddy and Shadow’s defeat, he was now full-on cheering for Sonic, even though deep down he knew that Sonic did not stand a chance. No matter what strategy, trick, or advantage the Shadow Queen’s opponents had or used, it did not work. How could a blue hedgehog with no extraordinary talent except running and defying gravity possibly find a way to come out victorious this time?
And there was another thing. Before the Semifinals began, the two competitors who had sat near him, Chunky Kong and Bomberman, had been called to the infirmary along with all the other competitors who had joined the stands. This almost certainly confirmed Bowser’s suspicions that something strange was going on. But unfortunately, the audience was still not allowed to do anything other than sit and watch or leave the colosseum completely. Leaving would profit Bowser nothing, as the hallways leading to the lobbies and the infirmary were guarded at every door or entrance (of course, the guards were not a physical problem, but Bowser did not want to cause a ruckus). So he decided that as soon as the tournament ended, he would march down to the hallway and demand to enter the infirmary, with force if needed. This strategy could possibly have partially worked, but it did not turn out to be necessary.
TO BE CONTINUED...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Character Locations
Fourside City (Colosseum): Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Toad, Tiny Kong, Bowser, Sonic, Wario
Fourside City (Infirmary): Yoshi, Roy, Samus, Prince Peasley, Young Link, Donkey Kong, Lanky Kong, Mr. Game and Watch, Popo, Captain Falcon, Luigi, Kirby, Fox, Ganondorf, Waluigi, Bomberman, Diddy Kong, Shadow
Fourside City (Holding Cell): Zelda, Link, Falco, Nana, Goombario, Mario, Bottles, Banjo and Kazooie, Professor E. Gadd, Pit, Metaknight, Rito Postman
: The Shadow Sirens
Trophy: Pikachu, Princess Peach, Samus, Chunky Kong-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
