Post by bobsnicket on Jan 10, 2009 18:43:04 GMT -5
Chapter 17: Final Destination
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{5} The Great Fox
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84 Corneria.mp3
The Great Fox continued to fly across the darkened sky, firing lasers left and right at masses of Wire Frames on the sloping plain below. Although the huge numbers of fighting individuals on the purple land, surging with activity and clashing noises, was nearly indistinguishable in the night as far as who was on what side, Peppy’s radar was able to track where clots of enemies were gathered away from the Alliance without him undertaking the impossible task of actually searching the ground with his own eyes. He expertly steered the craft while sending coordinates to the automatic laser turret mechanism on where to concentrate fire. For him, and many others, this was the battle of his lifetime, and nothing else mattered than doing all within his power. For the most part, he even remained oblivious to what was going on atop the Great Fox, except for heavy hits upon his hull, which he took to be enemy fire from below.
Illogically keeping up with the moving aircraft, Master and Crazy Hand materialized, once again, at either end of the stage. The view of the Great Fox’s surface ranged from nose to stern, and Master Hand was directly above the ship’s main guns while Crazy Hand was behind the wings, down near the flaming engines. In the background, night had fallen upon the Battlefields, the war prolonging itself indefinitely. The sky was a pure black-violet, and the multitudinous flecks of sparkling white stars dotted the sky, twinkling as if they were watching the battle intently.
In sequence from left to right, beginning a few yards distant from Master Hand and concluding at the top of the Great Fox on the fin-like protrusion which represented the swift tail of a fox, the next batch of Smashers appeared in quick succession. Mario and Luigi were bent down on one knee and then rose up to face their enemy, intending to reap full restitution for the death of Vivian. No longer bothering to adjust their color-coded caps or wipe their mustaches, the immortalized Mario Bros. stood side by side, ready to overcome the final obstacle of their long journeys. Mario’s eyes were kindled with red flames which were trained fixedly upon Master Hand. The man in green gasped and jumped in surprise at the precariousness of their mobile battleground, never being one for heights. Trembling steadily, he turned back to join in his brother’s glaring, hoping he could finally overcome his fears.
Donkey Kong, paying no heed to the distractions to the pilot his actions might cause, pounded his watermelon fists several times on the metal surface, almost denting it with strength he wasn’t fully aware of. The primate’s red tie fluttered in the chilling wind, his fur rippling in the breeze and keeping him warm. He would show these oversized gloves what he had come all the way from the Shroom Bar to accomplish.
Comrade pilots Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi alighted onto the peak of the aircraft, their confidence bolstered by the familiarity of the stage. Both taking out their blasters and peering over the edge of the peak, they spotted Crazy Hand below. Fox was determined to do all he could to protect Krystal, Slippy, and even Wolf from being forced to submit to such a vile, bizarre enemy. Falco, on the other hand, was motivated to fight with maximum performance in order to prove his skill as an individual and—hopefully—prevent the Great Fox from being damaged too severely in the process. But still, the generally independent falcon knew that he would also have to cooperate with Fox and the other three Smashers if they were to prevail.
Even less of a delay than before preceded the onrush of airborne combat. The constant action of war seemed to somehow speed things up, increasing their sense of urgency. Time might not be strictly limited, but just about everything else was.
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85 Starfox 64 Remix.mp3
In a blur of blue feathers, Falco sprung upward into the sky and then came surging back down into Crazy Hand, firing blue lasers from his dual blasters as he descended. He followed up by landing a hard kick onto the top of the hand’s wrist, not waiting for Fox or anyone else. He was a loyal teammate when it came to missions, although he couldn’t help but be a loner at heart.
Fox sighed. “Same old Falco.” The leader of team Star Fox followed after his friend. Jumping shortly over the top of the peak, he halted in midair as he caused waves of flames arrayed like a comet to appear around him, and then, after a moment of holding in energy, released the fury of Fire Fox upon Crazy Hand’s fingers.
As can be imagined, the diabolical counterpart was not at all happy with two animals attacking him from above. Keeping his fingertips in the same spot, he swiftly tilted his wrist counterclockwise, moving like the hand of a clock, and slammed the two pilots into the side of the peak. This was followed up by backing a couple dozen yards behind the Great Fox’s engines, and then rushing back as a fist, punching at the side of the peak repeatedly. Sometimes either or both of the Star Fox members were caught in the smashing, and others they were still too out of control from a previous hit, bouncing up from the surface, to recover from the assault. It was not a pleasant experience for Fox and Falco.
Luigi leapt on top of Mario’s shoulders, and with Mario gripping his brother’s feet and Luigi holding his arms out like he was playing airplane, they jumped in unison and spun rapidly, colliding against Master Hand like a whirling top. Donkey Kong, behind them, was busy swinging his arm in a circle, gathering strength. The hand laughed even through the damage, and with a light motion, drew back and flicked Luigi clean off Mario’s shoulders. The younger brother cried out as only Luigi could as he careened over towards the other end of the craft, soaring higher as he went. Still spinning with his arms out like a helicopter, he then began descending gradually, controlling his movement in an attempt to land fixedly on the ship’s peak. The world was a rotating blur before his eyes; he could hardly see where he was going.
However, Master Hand had found it appropriate to, atop a legendary gunship such as the Great Fox, unleash some firepower of his own. Mario hadn’t the time to rebalance himself after the dizzying experience before he was blown away past Donkey Kong by a Bullet Bill-esque missile (minus the face). A number of additional missiles sped through the air in a spread-out formation toward the green helicopter.
“Mama mia!” Luigi, used to being in the air from several of his adventures, nevertheless was alarmed by the incoming unfriendly objects. These kinds of things always seemed to happen to him. Tilting the path of his spinning descent hard to the left, he just barely was able to land on top of the uppermost missile. His brown shoes kicked off of it, sending it off course and propelling himself higher into the air. While most of the missiles continued on to explode harmlessly in midair when their duration was spent, the last two, pink in color, tilted around almost intelligently to seek him out.
Taking a huge risk, Luigi decidedly veered back towards them, and then flung from his extended fingertips many small green fireballs, which fanned out all around, hoping that he would hit his targets before they hit theirs.
The results were divided. One of the homing missiles was destroyed by the barrage of green fireballs, exploding harmlessly, but the other one came sneakily from below, bursting upon contact with Luigi’s feet.
“Umph!” Luigi’s front was blackened, the ends of his mustache singed from the blast, but he fortunately suffered no further, lasting damage. His helicopter float ceased as he dropped straight down to near Mario’s position, a felled flyer.
www.imeem.com/prower/music/IVlQQk8s/diddy_kong_racing_wizpig_race/
Now it was Donkey Kong’s turn. The ape propelled himself on his balled fists at Master Hand, kicking with his nimble feet. The hand backed away, however, causing the kick to meet nothing but more air, and then lunged forward, grabbing the monkey.
That was a mistake.
DK to Master Hand was like grabbing an apple. The beast seethed and pushed at all sides as he was squeezed once, and then twice. And with a ferocious, bird-scattering bellow, his beefy arms wrenched the huge white fingers apart, and forced the monkey free of his opponent’s grip.
This came as such a surprise to the incredulous Master Hand that DK was then able to lock his vast hands around two of the white fingers, and then pulled them away from each other with all the muscle-power his thick arms could provide. A definite crack could be heard, and Master Hand actually screamed in pain as his fingers seemed to be dislocated or something of that sort. With another loud snap, he cracked it back into place, and flung the Kong away with a furious swish.
But Donkey Kong held on.
Clinging onto the index finger like it was a thrashing anaconda (which he had experience with), the primate inched his way along the glove until he reached the end of the finger. Then, holding onto it with only his knees, he brought up both fists and pounded them down with tremendous force.
Master Hand brought his fingers together, and ignited a rocket-like jet of flame from his wrist, which launched both him and the monkey into the sky.
Keeping up with the Great Fox below, Master Hand wrangled with Donkey Kong, as much a duel of strength as it had been against Ganondorf—except they were moving. Master Hand spun around, executed flips and sudden jerks, but the stubborn ape would simply not relinquish his hold.
Staggering onto the back of the hand’s wrist, Donkey Kong crouched on the rocket-driven surface like a professional surfer (he had taken a few tips from Funky during the summer occasionally). Drawing out his Coconut Gun, DK fired several rounds of the exotic fruit at his “surfboard,” each of which clanged hard into the hand and then broke and fell away, the pieces often landing on some unfortunate fighter far below. He stowed his gun away, and then, with a grunt, sprung daringly upward, almost losing his ground during his jump before he came hurtling back down with a heavy Simian Slam.
Master Hand dropped several feet, and then, fed up with this ridiculous caper, determined to end it. He sped up alarmingly, pressing far ahead of the Great Fox’s path. DK, either ignorant of his doom or committed to defying his enemy to the very end, continued to pound upon the hand until the two of them vanished beyond the left side, and a white splash signified the monkey’s defeat.
The Mario Bros, weakened from being scorched, had helped each other stagger to uprightness, and looking up at Master Hand versus Donkey Kong, saw there was nothing they could do to help.
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86 Fox's Song.mp3
Fox finally succeeded in using his Reflector to rebuke Crazy Hand’s constant pounding and earn him and his fellow pilot a brief respite. Falco, enraged by the humiliation of being flung about like a rag doll, drew out an enormous, bright red rocket launcher, so big he had to hold it over his shoulder and bend his knees to support its weight.
Fox gaped at him. “Where’d you get that?” he cried.
Falco grinned. “I was saving it.” And with that, he shot six large red rockets out of its barrel at Crazy Hand, each explosion provoking a maddened scream with an increasingly higher decibel measure. The kickback of each shot caused the bird to slide back a couple feet. After the gun was empty, Falco casually tossed it over the edge of the Great Fox, and pretended to wipe his wings together. “So when are we going to begin the real fight?”
“Operation Reflex Triangle,” said Fox as Crazy Hand came at them again angrily.
Both Star Fox members drew their blasters, the pair having memorized a number of strategic team procedures since the days of Melee. Fox then aimed a shot at a spot above the space between them, which reverberated off the Reflector Falco had tossed up to that very spot. The red strip of concentrated heat angled down toward Falco, who used a second Reflector to cause it to bounce back to the one he had thrown. Fox reflected the same laser yet again, only now, the thrown Reflector having returned like a boomerang to Falco’s hand, the laser proceeded to zoom into Crazy Hand, causing several times more damage than a normal shot due to being reflected four times.
The teammates repeated this process for about a minute, the laser and thrown Reflector traveling at such a high speed that the cooperative move was difficult to follow with the eye. Crazy Hand was held back by the constant stream of highly charged laser strips coming at him. Some he avoided, but most met their mark. The engines blazed from over the nearby edge, illuminative in the night air.
“Yah!”
From above, Mario and Luigi brought their fists down upon Crazy Hand, and then dropped to the ship’s surface. Allowing Operation Reflex Triangle to continue, the Mario Bros. further wore away at their superlative opponent with punches, kicks, and head bonks. Crazy Hand screamed in fury and agony, battering them away with reckless swipes and punches, all of which the experienced Smashers were able to avoid, especially with four ganging up on one.
Mario began to realize even further why Master Hand’s function for the Smash Ball was so significant; had they been able to take the Hands on as the Original 25 together, they would have had the advantage.
But now…
Master Hand came to his brother’s aid from an unexpected direction: behind them, perpendicular to the ship, so that if the battle were to be viewed on a screen, it would appear as if he were rushing toward the viewer. Still fueled by his rocket wrist, Master Hand’s fist crashed through the middle of the lower sector of the Great Fox, striking Fox and Mario, who happened to be standing near each other at the moment. Unfortunately, the two heroes were trapped in between the white knuckles, and were carried further over the edge of the Great Fox, and then allowed to drop with no hope of recovery. Two more splashes of whiteness ensued.
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137 - Boss Theme.mp3
”Mario!” Luigi was at a loss of how to function now without his brother to follow.
Operation Reflex Triangle ceased immediately, of course, the last laser veering off into the distance in a random direction. Crazy Hand flicked Luigi into the wall of the peak next to Falco, and Master Hand returned from behind the Great Fox to hover beside his brother menacingly.
The two tyrants laughed. “This amuses me, Lefty. We now find ourselves facing two sidekicks, two less prominent figures in their regions who were never able to amount to the worthiness of the superior hero. I do wonder how they will fare alone, without their front-runners to instruct and guide their every move…”
That got to Falco. “Why, you cheeky...”
But Luigi had placed a gloved hand on the fowl’s shoulder. The traditional housekeeper of the Mario residence now realized what had really held him back from being as much of a star as Mario: himself. They had to have confidence in themselves, but could not afford to face either Master or Crazy Hand alone.
Because that was what Master Hand wanted.
“We a-have to do this together,” Luigi said, having the better control over his emotions than Falco.
Falco looked like he was going to shove past Luigi at first, but then, slowly, his fuming simmered down, and he reigned in his emotions, still passionately provoked against the being who had insulted him, but able to control his actions more wisely. “You’re…right. Let’s do this.”
The two “sidekicks” nodded at one another, and then, as one, confronted the hand-shaped arbiters.
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2. Andross
The Hands employed a certain sadistic form of teamwork of their own, making them a true challenge for the two oft-forgotten heroes to combat against. Falco and Luigi several times were almost overwhelmed by their opponents’ sheer size and the difficulty of dodging their widespread attacks in such an enclosed section of the Great Fox. Synchronized claps, fist crunches, flicks, swipes, and palm poundings were examples of the manner of physical opposition which the Smashers faced. In between these relentless assailments, Falco and Luigi piped in comparably minor strikes of their own: kick-flips, spinning wing clips, and Falco Phantasms from the former; jabs, multidirectional Green Missiles, and fireballs from the latter. However, they did not always get off unscathed from Master Hand and Crazy Hand; both sides took considerable damage during the 2-on-2 match.
The Battlefields continued to scroll by; the progress of the war below was always writhing with motion, and yet actual headway made by the Alliance army was nearly as slow as watching a plant grow. Simply put, little changed.
The fight atop the Great Fox had to culminate eventually, however. The two Smashers’ most effective approach was when Falco used his Reflector to bounce one of Luigi’s green fireballs away and consequentially burn one of the Hands. While Falco was reflecting, he was flattened by an open slap from Crazy Hand before the fireball reached him. Luigi was snatched in one of Master Hand’s death grips in the same instant, and suddenly, it was over.
“So…WEAK…”
“So…pathetic…disappointing…"
Neither Melee participant preferred to think about how they were disposed of after that, instead allowing themselves to drift into the dark subconscious state that awaited them. Only one thought occupied their minds as they fell into the void. Unable to recall what the special contacts on their eyes had last reported on the Hands’ remaining stamina, they worried about the task they had left behind for those to come.
Had they done enough?
MASTER HAND: 202 CRAZY HAND: 76
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Character Locations
FINAL DESTINATION: Original 25, Master Hand, Crazy Hand
[glow=yellow,2,300]Trophy:[/glow] Chunky Kong, Sonic, Wario, Waluigi[glow=gray,2,300]DECEASED:[/glow] The Shadow Hand, Bottles, Orca, 49 Hammer Bro Soldiers, Pigma, Nascour, Darunia, Professor U. Reeka, Epona, Lario, Mauluigi, Panther, Vivian, Fawful
