.::Chapter Twenty::.
Everything was in place.
He watched from his palace in Subspace as his minions hastily got ready for his coming. "So close," he whispered. "So close." He leaned forward, reached out to the world he could see through the rip. He was jolted back by some invisible force. He curled his lip in a sneer. But it didn't matter. He would be free from his prison, and he would take his revenge out on the World. He could already feel the energy flowing through him, through the gap, widening the rip between Subspace and the World.
"Tabuu."
His name was spoken softly, weakly. He looked down to find that, much to his disgust, one of his many puppets talking to him. He yanked on the string, and the boy hanging on the other end stifled a scream of pain.
"Your purpose is drawing to an end, Ness. Save your breath. There is nothing that you say that save you from your fate." Tabuu turned around, paused, then turned back. "Your friends. You want to save them, don't you? Especially that blonde one. Interesting." He rolled in two other strings, smiling cruelly to himself.
The boy drew a sharp ragged breath when he saw who the other two puppets were. "Let them go."
"That sounds like a command. Is it?"
"... Please." It was a faltering whisper, a pleading cry. Tabuu let them sink back into the darkness.
"The fun is just beginning. You are all bound to die, anyway. What is the point of prolonging their suffering?" Tabuu faced the rip again. "Your time is up. The Golden Age is coming. This faulty world of yours will be renewed into the Utopia it once was, before you... monstrosities came. And I will leave this wasteland to regain my rightful place in the World..."
A shudder ran through the crystal Subspace walls of the palace. The rip widened, light beginning to spill in.
"Soon," Tabuu whispered. "Soon..."
The castle was strange and crystalline, twisting up toward the sky in awkward and mind-bending poses. It absorbed light and gave it off its own twisted version of it in shades of purple and blue. It rested in a large valley, its frame snaking in and out of the hills like roots. Areas where those roots touched were withered to a dead brown. Nothing lived where the roots laid. And there was no doubt that this castle was not of this world.
The gate sitting on top of this beautiful and demented castle stuck out like a sore thumb. It seemed clumsily built out of stone and mortar; it was sloppily erected in the shape of a half-crescent moon and it looked as though it might fall down any minute. Compared to the sinister resplendence of the tower, it seemed like someone had just dumped a bag of boulders on the top, hastily arranged it, and then left.
Wolf saw all this and more as he stood at the the uppermost tower. He looked around him, seeing the dead sky, the dead surroundings, unsmiling.
"Progress is good," a monotone voice behind him said. Wolf turned around to see the possessed Sonic hunched over a crystal cube. "We have captured two more Smashers. That brings the total to ten. More than enough to power the Gate. The Halberd is above us, but that shall be taken care of fairly quickly."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Wolf said sarcastically.
"Your payment shall come soon."
"Right. I'll be busting out of here then before you blow this dump up."
Sonic turned around. "And where will you be going?"
"Around," Wolf said dismissively. "It doesn't really matter."
"You are a good subject, Wolf O'Donnell. I could make you a general of my army."
Wolf snorted. "Over what? There'll be nothing left for me to pick at, Tabuu."
"The Universe shall be next," Sonic replied.
Wolf cocked an eyebrow. "Good luck with that..." He stiffened. "What the hell is that?"
A huge dust cloud was emerging over the horizon. Wolf took out his pocket binoculars and peered through them. "Damn," he said at last.
Sonic jumped to his feet. "It looks like the Smashers are coming to us. Lead out the fighters, Wolf. We'll give them the welcome they deserve."
The valley was quiet.
And they came, softly at first, and then louder and louder until their footsteps were a deafening roar. They spilled into the valley like a river: Pokemon, Koopas, Yoshies, and so many other creatures that it boggled the mind. Their war cry rang through the air like a discordant melody as they charged toward the gates. There was a flash of blue and red, and a single Yoshi charged out of the ranks, leading the way. Falcon was riding on this Yoshi, and he waved his blaster to spur the troops on, shouting, "Go! Go!"
But their heroic charge was stopped short as a giant wall of fire sprang up in front of them. The army fell back in surprise. Falcon reigned in his frightened steed and frowned.
Rata-tat-a-tat-a-tat... rata-tat-a-tat-a-tat... Drums were steadily beating from the castle, and soft, purple spheres dropped from the sky. They piled up on the ground and rose up as monsters, twitching like broken toys. Before long, an army of Primids were formed, armed and ready to kill.
"ATTACK!" Falcon shouted.
The army didn't need to be told twice. The troops dived at their nearest enemy, teeth and claws and weapons bared. Bodies fell right and left, and Falcon was among all this chaos, kicking, punching, and blasting any Primids that dared to come near him.
Falcon turned around to blast off another Primid's head. As he was about to turn his steed around, he was suddenly kicked off. Falcon managed to land on his feet. He looked up to find his attacker when another well-placed kick hit him in the ribs. The bounty hunter was sent flying.
"Hello, Falcon," a mocking voice said. Falcon slowly got up to his feet to see Sonic standing in front of him. "How valiant of you to lead an army here to stop me. But you're too late." Sonic was suddenly by Falcon's side with a flurry of punches. Falcon braced himself against the blows, backing up. He bumped against Sonic and found himself thrown onto the ground. Sonic stood over him, smirking. "You're just too slow."
"We'll see about that," Falcon said.
"Mothership, this is Runner One. I'm over the enemy base."
Fox leaned on the dashboard, pressing a hand against his headset. "Copy that, Runner One. Don't go too low. We don't want you blasted out of the sky."
"Roger."
Meta Knight was standing by the bipedal mammal's side, and shot his companion a dark look. "Sending Falco down there is a bad idea."
"You think?" Fox adjusted some knobs and dials. "The idiot wouldn't give up until he had it his way." Fox sighed. "He'll be all right. We've done reconnaissance tons of times."
"I'm not worried about him," Meta Knight said bluntly. "I'm worried about Falco giving away our location. The element of surprise is the only advantage we have right now."
Fox looked down at Meta Knight. "It sounds like you don't trust him."
Meta Knight pulled his cloak closer to him. "It's a bad idea," he repeated.
"Mothership, this is Runner Two." R.O.B.'s robotic voice crackled cheerily over the radio. "I'm in position."
"Mothership, this is Runner Three... I'm in position as well." Olimar sounded glum as he echoed R.O.B.'s answer.
Fox leaned against the dashboard. "Good. All Runners should remain in their current formation. Don't get too close. Do a quick sweep of the area and report back immediately. Is that clear?"
"Roger."
"Affirmative."
"Okay."
Meta Knight stared at the hologram map projected from the dashboard. "No enemy fighters in sight. Nothing but a few birds." He narrowed his eyes. "This is too easy."
"How?"
"We come here, undetected. If this was Tabuu's base, wouldn't it be heavily guarded?"
Fox's tail twitched. "Maybe they weren't expecting an aerial attack." Unlikely, considering that Tabuu had managed to thwart their plans so far. He stared at the floating blue hologram, watching the green arrows move slowly across the landscape. Meta Knight was right. This was too easy.
"Mothership? This is Oli-- I mean, Runner Three."
Fox pressed a button to project another hologram of Olimar's cockpit, from the Hocotanian's perspective. "Copy that. What is it?"
"I thought I saw something fly by. Something big."
"Runner Two confirms this," R.O.B. chimed in.
Fox tapped his headset. "Runner One, come in. Runners Two and Three reported a large unidentified flying object cruising past them. Do you see it?"
White noise answered him. Fox tapped his headset. "Runner One, respond."
"You should have restrained him," Meta Knight said simply.
"Hey, do a favor for me: shut up," Fox snapped back. "Falco, do you read me? Respond!"
The ship suddenly jerked forward. Fox gave a shout of surprise and almost fell face-first into the dashboard. Meta Knight was shouting orders at his crew, gesturing with his sword. "We have company," he said grimly.
"Who?"
A big red dot appeared on the hologram, circling their position. Fox looked up, just in time to see a indigo blur streak past them. The Halberd rocked wildly back and forth.
Meta Knight clung to a nearby railing to prevent himself from falling over. "All cannons, prepare to fire!" he ordered. The Waddle Dees and knights above deck scurried to obey their captain's command.
"What the heck is going on?!" Red burst into the room, struggling to keep his footing. The Pokemon Trainer stumbled in, struggling to keep his balance.
"We're being attacked," Fox said. "We don't know who yet, but..."
"Fox! Meta Knight!" Olimar's panicked voice came in. "There's a dragon out here!"
"Ridley," R.O.B. added gravely. "My sensors pick up several enemy fighters coming our way."
Fox slammed his fist down. "Wolf," he spat. He began to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Meta Knight demanded.
"The hanger bay. I'll take care of the fighters. You worry about Ridley," Fox said. "I'll worry about myself."
"Hey, you aren't going out there alone!" Red exclaimed. "I'm coming along; I can ride on Charizard."
"Then I shall come along too," a smooth voice said. Mewtwo drifted down from the ceiling and landed beside them. "The rest of us can stay here."
"No! You can't go without me!" Toon Link dropped down from a balcony, swinging his sword around.
A chilling screech and several rounds of cannon fire were heard. The Halberd shuddered again under another blow.
Meta Knight, thoroughly annoyed by the amount of people jumping out of nowhere, said sternly, "No more than three. We can't afford to lose any Smashers. And don't argue with my judgment," he added when Toon Link was about to complain. "Ridley and the fighters will tear this ship apart the longer we talk about this. The Halberd is not invincible. Now go."
The newly assembled company began to leave. Mewtwo glanced back at Toon Link and said, "Don't get yourself into trouble."
"Like that'll ever happen," Toon Link grumbled. Mewtwo smiled and floated away.
"Captain!" a Waddle Dee called. "We lost several cannons on the port side!"
"Use the gas," Meta Knight replied. He looked at the hologram map. There were several red arrows appearing now. They were desperately outnumbered. But then again, that never bothered them.
Hopefully.
There was a resounding hiss, and the world outside the window was covered in a dense, thick white smoke.
"I can't see anything," Toon Link said quietly.
"Let's hope that they can't see as well," Meta Knight replied.
R.O.B. easily navigated through the smoke-filled atmosphere. Smoke did not affect his visual sensors; that was one of the perks of being robotic. He quickly opened up a readout. Strange, Falco's Arwing was stationary, in direct range of the enemy fighters. "Runner Three, this is Runner Two," R.O.B. said. "Check on Runner One, will you? He's not moving."
No answer.
R.O.B. blinked. "Runner Two? Olimar?"
Again, no answer. Not even the hiss of static. R.O.B. checked his readouts again. Olimar's ship was stationary as well. Very strange.
"Radio communications are down," R.O.B. noted to himself. "I'll have to check on them myself."
As he turned his ship, though, it heaved violently. A million warnings and errors flooded into R.O.B.'s processors. He had been hit.
And he was going down.
Could he get the ship to fly again? Not likely. He would have to eject, straight into enemy fire. R.O.B. braced himself as the ship began to rattle. He was losing parts. In a few seconds, his ship was going to become scrap metal.
R.O.B. looked up and fired his laser. The glass melted away like butter. Mentally steeling himself, R.O.B. jumped out.
The sharp change of atmosphere made the robot's sensors to wildly fluctuate for a brief second. Everything soon steadied out, though, and R.O.B. regained his regular readings. He fired up his Robo Burner and evened out his flight level. His burning ship disappeared from sight.
R.O.B. looked around him. That was strange. There was no sign of Olimar and Falco's ship, though his readouts told him that they shouldn't be too far away. Was something messing with his signals?
It was best to head back to the Halberd. R.O.B. began to fly toward the general direction of the battleship.
He never got there.
A long, whip-like tail slammed him back. R.O.B.'s world spun wildly as he struggled to regain focus. What had hit him? What was happening? He tried to turn his Robo Burner back on, but his sensors were frazzled. They refused to answer. He tried again. It had to turn on! It had to turn on! It had to--!
R.O.B. plummeted down to the earth like a stone.
A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! ^ ^ Just a short chapter this time. Don't worry, the next chapter will be when things really start to heat up! (And will be mega-long, good Lord xD)