Post by bobsnicket on Jan 17, 2009 15:58:11 GMT -5
Chapter 17: Final Destination
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{6}The Return of the Trophies
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213 Melee Battlefield 2.mp3
The scene had returned to where Master Hand had initially addressed the Original 25: the purple metal platform, kept aloft by the shining black sphere beneath it. The same beautiful, climactic space view sparkled in the background and all about them. This place was location-less, in a space between spaces, similar even to the space in the Dimension Conflux, but restricted to black and purple streaks and shades. It would come to be known thereafter as Final Destination. And yet, somewhere within those stars, one got the impression that a heavenly, otherworldly force was watching with bated breath, praying for the victory of the righteous—possibly among them being the Seven Star Spirits, them and all the other minor stars sending their spiritual strength and waiting to see what the fate of their universe would be.
It was impossible to tell if Master or Crazy Hand, as they reappeared here, noticed this distant presence; either circumstance, however, did not affect what was at stake, and who would leave with everything. Although they did not don Adversary Analyzers like the Smashers, they were very much aware of how much life force remained within themselves, and were now all but finished with toying with their victims; Master Hand was impatient, anxious to see to the completion of his plan. No mercy would be shown—nor lack of effort.
And then—the last of the Original 25 who had not been consumed by the unforgiving void. Showing no outward trepidation, they were nevertheless mindful of how much pressure was laid on their shoulders. If they couldn’t end it here, no one ever would. Each hero recognized as well the galactic crowd interspersed throughout the Nintendo Universe, waiting for the last stand of the individuals representing everything they hoped and dreamed for: freedom, safety, security, and above all, genuine, long-lasting peace in their beloved world. But, contrasting this, the spreading darkness of Master Hand’s evil will seemed to be visibly engulfing the galaxies in slow, seductive masses of purple fog which signified the impending reign of a morbid age, irrevocably consuming the familiar, blessed world they knew. From the looks of it, Master Hand would be giving no second chances.
Pikachu sparked with energy, so fed up with being rendered unable to help his friends that he looked like he was ready to let loose several thunderstorms’ worth of electricity upon his captor. Princess Peach, sharing a similar sentiment, but slightly more vengeful, struggled to control her unstable emotions; thinking of everything her people, her friends, her heroes had been put through in her absence, all because of a tyrant wanting to build a trophy collection, infused her with a royal fury which could not have been matched by any male—including Crazy Hand. She was not overly fond of repetitions of her vulnerable past. They had picked the wrong princess to capture this time.
On the opposite end, the left, facing he whom Master Hand called “Lefty,” Captain Falcon made his appearance. Like Pikachu and Peach, he had so much energy bottled up from his immobile imprisonment that he was aching to unleash it upon the ones responsible. Only he had a more…practical way of doing so, involving plenty of physical contact. Beside him, the fellow bounty hunter Samus Aran stood erect, already aiming her arm cannon at Crazy Hand as she faded in. The fourth one to suffer from existing as a trophy for months, the chosen of the Chozo, above everything else, Samus resented all the action she’d already missed, and fully intended to make up for it within the next few minutes with some good old technological magic. From behind the visor of her Power Suit, the aspiring woman felt ready for just about anything. Master Hand wanted a show? She would most certainly give him one.
It almost made sense why the Hands had decided to leave their former captives for last.
Finally, undaunted by any change in scenery or setting due to his diverse experience, Dr. Mario materialized in the center of the stage, apparently being given the choice of which enemy to take on first. He had hoped to have been given the opportunity to fight alongside his identical duplicate, but vaguely he knew the main reason he had been singled out. Still, there was no time to dwell on such things, for he had a final showdown to finish—a war to win. Knowing his two-dimensional home was not exempt from the bounds of Master Hand’s influence were the Alliance to fail, the only hero with a PhD considered his options. Finding a good battle strategy wouldn’t hurt their chances.
Master Hand still had over 200 hit points remaining, making that a difficult foe to finish—especially with another one not allowing anyone to rest from behind. But Crazy Hand…he had only 76 points of stamina left. That was a foreseeable goal to strive towards even during a multi-opponent battle, even more so if they were to work together. And if they could narrow down the fight to a single adversary…
…they might just have a chance. Even with the dauntingly large amount of health they would have to deplete once that goal was reached. It was going to be close.
The doctor pondered briefly on this, with as little time as one had when a match was commencing, and then made up his mind.
“Everyone! Direct all your attacks at Crazy a-Hand!”
And so it began.
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253 Not So Final Destination.mp3
Both Hands fired up a crossfire of blue lasers from each of their fingers, overlapping each other and, as they moved around, making themselves almost as hard to dodge as rain. Samus curled herself into her Morph Ball form, and rolled about, bouncing occasionally to avoid the lasers, and maneuvered her way slowly towards Crazy Hand. Captain Falcon dived and rolled perpendicularly from the danger zone, and then ran athletically around and in between the wider-spread beams to get at Crazy Hand as well. Dr. Mario cringed as a laser singed his left arm, and, similar to Falcon, flipped his way to near the edge of the platform, and attempted to toss Megavitamins at the enormous left hand during the constant hazardous motion. Most of the bouncing pills were incinerated by the interlacing lasers, but a couple found their mark. Pikachu turned into a blur as he made use of Agility to whiz through the lasers and end up behind Crazy Hand. Peach, apart from the others, jumped purposely in front of Master Hand’s beams and held up her loyal servant Toad, whose spores counteracted one or more of the beams again and again, making it easier for the rest to focus on their target.
“Piiiii….kaaaaaa….CHUUUUUUUUUU!!!” A tremendous bolt of lightning spawned from the sky and struck down onto Pikachu, shocking Crazy Hand along the way. Both Hand and mouse flashed black and white skeletally, and the former screamed, as he always did, and terminated his lasers. Before Pikachu could regain control after taking in the last of the lightning, he was jabbed at by a giant white finger and sent over the edge. While he recovered, Captain Falcon came at Crazy Hand with a knee raised in the move often labeled the “Knee of Death.” Crazy Hand was too quick, however, and rolled over in the air, evading the F-Zero participant entirely. He balled into a fist and pounded upon the man like an uncontrollable hammer.
Simultaneously, Dr. Mario and Pikachu came from either side and attacked Crazy Hand as he struck the ground, the doctor kicking from a sideward position, and the Pokemon bashing headfirst, sending several small jolts of electricity into his opponent. Samus, no longer hindered by all but a few of the beams, expanded out of the Morph Ball and triggering her flamethrower at Crazy Hand’s knuckles, the fire licking along the rubbery white material.
Crazy Hand went berserk, writhing on the ground, twisting and jerking around in order to throw off all his challengers. Captain Falcon was able to crawl away in the meantime, holding his nearly destroyed helmet in pain, but very much glad he had it. Dr. Mario stood back up and glanced through his contacts at the enemy’s health count.
“Only 27 hit-a-points left! Keep a-going!”
Master Hand made an end to his own lasers, and faced the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom individually. Light and surprisingly quick, Peach whisked around her captor, out-maneuvering Master Hand’s wide-ranged attacks and striking with fierce little slaps, kicks (which were difficult in a dress), and occasional swings of her golf club, tennis racket, and frying pan. Her hair flailed about her shoulders, her pink dress swishing with delayed movement, her heart pounding faster than during any previous capture by Bowser.
But she shrieked as she felt the enormous white fingers wrap around her body and compress her into Master Hand’s steely grip. She pounded her slender arms on the index finger like the girl in King Kong, but helplessly.
Master Hand laughed. “Ha ha ha! Look at it this way, princess…Mario will never have to rescue you again!”
At almost the same instant, coincidentally, Crazy Hand had gotten ahold of Pikachu in an even tighter grip than Master Hand’s. The Pokemon squealed bleakly, his pitch ascending then descending. “Pikaaa…”
“Mama mia!” Dr. Mario cried as he saw the two hands, particularly Master Hand, chuck their cargo over the edge, down towards the ever-stretching space. Feeling just as protective over the princess as his other self, he raced over to the drop-off and watched hopelessly as Peach descended. He was caught off-guard, however, when the princess opened out her carnation parasol and floated slowly downward toward the endless abyss, waiting with eyes clenched tight for the passage into the void.
Samus, closer to Peach and thinking fast, suddenly cast herself off the side of the stage, tilted head-first like a skydiver, and flung her grapple beam at the damsel in distress. The luminous, sparkling extension wrapped around both the handle of the umbrella and Peach’s delicate hands, and with a strained tug, Samus cast her catch back over the edge of the platform. She then made a close call in recovering herself by spinning upward in a Screw Attack, ending barely close enough to grip the metallic edge and pull herself back up with a heave.
Pikachu, on the other hand (no pun intended), was not so lucky.
Dr. Mario leapt at Master Hand and performed a Dr. Mario Tornado, whirling against the glorified glove in a rapid succession of blows. Similarly, Falcon, finally out of his cranial discombobulation, pounced swiftly onto Crazy Hand’s equivalent of a back and delivered quick sequential punches, bringing his target extremely close to defeat, and accompanying each hit with a chant of masculine effort.
But on the very brink of destruction, with all save three hit points depleted, Crazy Hand bumped the driver off of him like an angry bull, and then rose to a height unreachable by the Smashers. In an outburst of unheard-of proportions, even for a maniac like him, Crazy Hand unleashed a barrage of multiple chaotic bombardments at once. Purple explosives, lasers, and missiles: all of these things began raining upon Samus, Falcon, and Peach, while Dr. Mario continued to duel Master Hand off to the side. All three suffered unaffordable damage from this onrush of projectiles, gravity working against them, the attacks moving too quickly to easily avoid.
At last, the mushroom princess created a narrow space of shelter by holding the brave Toad above her, whose constant releasing of spores kept her and the other two who joined her safe. They looked up at Crazy Hand’s craziest revolt yet, and after sharing frantic, questioning looks, realized how to overcome it.
Princess Peach, without a word, handed the brave, willing Toad to Captain Falcon, reached into the metal ground, and illogically plucked out a melon-sized turnip with a confused, swirly-eyed face. Samus aimed straight upward and shot a thick, slow-moving missile which began to ascend nearer to Crazy Hand. However, they knew that a missile would have no chance of penetrating the constant downpour of unfriendliness, and so had chosen the turnip as the ideal vessel, its magical properties making it resilient enough to withstand such pressure. So, Peach carefully tossed the dazed turnip at an angle so it was directly above Samus’s missile as it came back down. The force of the missile’s explosion launched the vegetable up, through the lasers, bombs, and explosives, and, with a dramatic pop, it bounced into Crazy Hand, ending his rampage of terror.
Acting like the turnip had been the sting of a fatal insect, Crazy Hand screamed louder and more hatefully than ever as the truck-sized figure was engulfed in a number of explosions, which rendered him shapeless until, with a burst of pearly violet fireworks, he was dissolved into nothing.
“RAAAAAAAAARGHHH!!!”
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214 Melee Final Destination 1.mp3
The brother, finding his counterpart to be no more, yelled in outrage, and sweeping Dr. Mario aside, catapulted himself at Princess Peach, Crazy Hand’s conqueror. The poor girl didn’t have a chance; in a blur of white, Master Hand flashed past Samus and Falcon, and forced her out of the battlefield, sending her spitefully into the void.
Then, slowly turning around, he gradually floated back to confront the three survivors, for the first recorded time looking as angry as his companion.
“This ends NOW!”
The hand dive-bombed in a fell twisting swoop, passing closely over the ducking Smashers’ heads, and flipping back around to face them again on the other side.
Falcon grinned crookedly. “He’s only got ‘hundred fifty-one left! We can beat ‘im!”
“You two distract him; I’ll deliver some real damage,” said Samus.
*screw-up sound*
Both the other Smashers stood with mouths agape, staring in befuddlement at the Power-Suited woman.
“You a-know that’s the first thing you’ve a-said the whole story,” Dr. Mario remarked, raising an eyebrow.
Samus did not reply, eyes still fixed on Master Hand, so the two males glanced at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and turned their attention back to the showdown.
Side by side, Captain Falcon and Dr. Mario ran forward, and then jumped up to meet Master Hand in combat. While they danced acrobatically around their final enemy in climactic battle, Samus powered up her Charge Shot, the ball growing into an atom-like sphere of blue-white energy.
Dr. Mario groaned as he was swatted down by the giant wrist. Even the speedy Falcon was having trouble remaining unscathed while keeping Master Hand’s attention diverted.
Just a little longer, guys… Samus thought.
One more second…then another…and…done! Her energy-based weapon was fully charged. Without hesitating, she let the sucker loose, the life-sized ball colliding into Master Hand critically just as he was about to flick the disturbingly tight-suited man off the stage.
The white hand turned briefly electric blue as the energy coursed unpleasantly through him. Kindled into fury yet again, Master Hand turned away from the other two, and came zooming at the bounty hunter the same way he had at Peach. Only this time, she was prepared.
Samus forced her heavy suit upward in a bounding jump, and then, with precise timing, smashed back down as Master Hand passed under, jamming her metal fist into her foe with a clang. Then, as her ride predictably began spinning and whatnot in order to dislodge her, she cleverly reverted to Morph Ball form, in which she could not only keep up with Master Hand’s movements, but also eject several yellow-red-flashing bombs, which exploded immediately upon impact with the hand.
Dr. Mario and Captain Falcon came eagerly to assist the assault on the floating monstrosity, pitching in with Megavitamins, coin-yielding Super Jump Punches, Falcon Kicks (with vocalization), and another Knee of Death, this one actually hitting its target with a flinching thud.
Master Hand, without his counterpart to aid him, could not adequately regain control over the situation. He had had it. The whiteness of the voluminous glove glowed brighter and brighter, until it was almost painful to look at, and then, after a moment in which everything seemed to freeze in place, all heck broke loose.
“I…WILL…NOT…LOSE!!!”
An unavoidable transparent sphere of some undefined force spread out rapidly from around Master Hand, raging against the last remaining Smashers. All three of them were pushed far out, too far away to recover: Falcon and Dr. Mario to the right end, past the edge of the platform, and Samus, vertically, until she vanished and spiraled into the distance, twinkling as if she were joining them—if one hadn’t known any better.
The white sphere faded away, but it appeared that the two heroes who had been pushed off had no hope of returning.
That is, until Captain Falcon, making a comparatively small sacrifice, suddenly leapt at the doctor mid-fall and grabbed onto him bodily with all limbs, their descent stopping abruptly. “Yeeeesss!” A blast of Falcon-generated flames burnt the doctor, certainly, but the force of the pilot’s gravity-defying stunt was enough to catapult him back to the stage. And with the leverage and space gained by the grab, Captain Falcon was then able to perform a second midair leap, bringing himself just within reaching range of the edge.
The two Smashers stood up with narrowed eyes, glaring at their antagonist, knowing intuitively that the next display of moves would end the match—for better or for worse. They knew this also because their own strength had been severely, almost completely drained by the match, and Master Hand himself, the final hurdle in the way of saving the Nintendo World, had only 25 points of stamina remaining. One for each chosen Smasher…
Falcon gritted his teeth. Dr. Mario panted. The two shared one final look, turned to face the perverse creator, and made their last stand.
It was a blur of movement; neither seemed to be completely aware of what was happening. All they knew was that Dr. Mario had gone below for a slide-tackle, but had somehow been knocked away, too far away. And the captain had brought back his hand in a final gesture.
“FALCON…PUN—“
The man was terminated mid-speech as Master Hand punched him with a mighty, shocking slam. He disappeared beyond the rightmost side in a white splash, vanishing even faster than Dr. Mario…
NO! This can’t happen! the doctor panicked as he tumbled toward the abyss, heart shattered.
The hero reached into his coat, pressed a button, and then all went black.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
The two Smashers stood up with narrowed eyes, glaring at their antagonist, knowing intuitively that the next display of moves would end the match—for better or for worse. They knew this also because their own strength had been severely, almost completely drained by the match, and Master Hand himself, the final hurdle in the way of saving the Nintendo World, had only 25 points of stamina remaining. One for each chosen Smasher…
Falcon gritted his teeth. Dr. Mario panted. The two shared one final look, turned to face the perverse creator, and made their last stand.
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105 Mute City.mp3
WAIT! the doctor’s thoughts screamed at him as they advanced in a blur. You just went through this!
But… His brain clicked in sudden realization. The last thing I remember doing was pressing a button instinctively…the RESET BUTTON, of course! His heart leaped in relief and joy, but then began beating frantically again, for now he had one chance, ONE, to make things end differently. But what did he need to do differently?
There was no time to think. Images flashed by as they reached Master Hand again. But this time, Dr. Mario did not attempt to slide-tackle underneath their nemesis. Instead, doing the first thing that came to his head, he whipped out his white cape and swung it past Master Hand, causing him to completely flip around.
Captain Falcon brought back his fist.
“FALCON…PAAAAUUNCH!!!!!!”
The flaming red falcon joined the captain in delivering the final blow as Master Hand turned around.
Devastated by the titanic hit, the hand spun around several times, and then came to a halt of inexpressible disbelief.
A small explosion blasted against his palm.
“No…” Another blast, followed by several more. “NO…” Like Crazy Hand before him, a multitude of explosions engulfed the tyrant, disfiguring him beyond visibility and recognition.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!”
A cascade of rainbow fireworks burst forth from where Master Hand had once been, the particles disappearing into glittering silver dust.
MASTER HAND: 0 CRAZY HAND: 0
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268 Outro.mp3
All of a sudden, every enemy burst into purple smoke. Every Wire Frame, Space Pirate, even Kraid and Mother Brain, ceased to be present, leaving empty, awkward space behind them before the baffled Alliance warriors. Silence prevailed across the Battlefields and inside the room.
The Original 25 reappeared where they had been before being taken to Final Destination, as confused as the rest. They did not realize what had happened for a number of minutes which seemed like an eternity.
But.
Before anyone could begin cheering.
Before the smallest Goomba could utter a single cry of triumph at their victory.
The walls and ceiling of Master Hand’s Room became transparent, allowing everyone a strange view in and out of the vast quarters.
Complete blackness overcame the entire sky, casting the Nintendo World in an overwhelming darkness. Nothing could be seen; any other light source was negated. It seemed like the world was coming to an end.
And descending where the whole Alliance could see, from the center of the darkness above Master Hand’s Room, a mass of swirling amethyst currents slowly, purposefully, eloquently flowed down, giving off an otherworldly glow which seemed to thrive in the darkness. The rough sphere of undefined substance halted where every single defending Nintendonian had a clear perspective.
Mewtwo frowned, staring at the ominous mass from the east. Mentally expanding the scope of his mind to encompass all of the Alliance, he gave them one brief message.
This…is not over yet.
