Smash Games 2: CROSSROADS | Super Smash Bros.

19 - The Crossroads

Zelda

"Who was that?" Zelda asked nervously.

Kirby hefted his gun into the air. "Hunters," he growled.

"Hunters?" Samus repeated, lifting her Paralyzer to firing height.

The Pink Puff nodded. "Those people that've been chasin' us like deer in the woods," he said. "They turn us into trophies and bring us back here for points."

"How do you know all of that, Polka Dot?" Falco asked tensely.

"Later," Samus snapped. "Let's deal with this now."

"What do you propose we do?" Zelda asked. "Should we negotiate with these...Hunters?"

"Like fun we will!" Kirby shifted and began firing towards the entrance of the armory. Samus and Falco followed suit, pouring rounds into the entrance's threshold, making sparks fly as metal pounded into metal. Shouting could be heard under all the gunfire - whoever had been speaking earlier was in obvious retreat.

"Let's go, people!" Kirby cried as he began to move forward. Again, Samus and Falco followed, walking confidently now that their path was being covered by gunfire. Not sure of what else to do, Zelda moved after them, hand on her sword, wincing as the ratta-tat-tat of semi-automatic fire filled her ears. Meta Knight and Pikachu moved alongside her, and Donkey Kong and Bowser Jr. brought up the rear.

The lead stopped firing as they crossed through the threshold of the armory. Zelda could see why as she came up behind them.

It had begun to rain again during their rendezvous in the armory, but she could clearly see through the drizzle, to where the courtyard was abruptly filled with bodies, both flesh and mechanical. Zelda didn't bother trying to count how many ROBs stood before them - there were many. They each wielded what looked like cattle prods, sparking more than usual thanks to the growing downpour.

At the front stood four non-ROB figures - a young boy wearing blue armor, a small, squat little man wearing a spacesuit, a boy with shaggy blonde hair and a strange red sword, and another teenage boy wearing a thick purple coat. His hood was pulled up, but now he reached up and pulled it down, revealing a pale face with high cheekbones, almond-shaped, golden eyes, and white spiky hair.

Samus hissed, and the boy smiled.

"Hello, Samus," he called out to her. "My shoulder is just fine, thank you. How's Pit? I do hope my lightning didn't hurt him all that much."

"Do you know him?" Zelda accused Samus.

"Not in the way you're implicating," Samus snapped. "His name is Robin. He...hurt Pit. Real bad. He would've killed him, but I managed to shoot him before he could."

"And I commend you for doing so," Robin said, giving Samus a dangerous smile that made shivers run down Zelda's arms. "Not many things can stop me, not when I'm in the mood for destruction." He bowed. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm called Robin, but you may call me Grima."

Grima? For some reason, the name scared Zelda more than the boy's smile.

"Imagine our surprise when we checked our locators and saw that you lot were right on top of us," Grima said, still grinning. "But I'm quite glad you're here. Some of us haven't been getting very many trophies, you see. This little crossroads will provide us with the opportunity to earn some points towards our freedom."

A line of ROBs moved forward, brandishing their cattle prods. Kirby, Samus, and Falco lifted their guns, but Pikachu leapt in front of them. "Pikachu!" he shouted, releasing a stream of electricity towards the robots. The falling rain intensified the power of the shockwave, engulfing the ROBs in a flood of sparks that charred them down to their wiring. They collapsed into the wet grass, smoking husks of metal.

Pikachu glanced around threateningly. The ROBs looked at each other and slowly began to back up. The shaggy haired boy, the little man, the robot boy looked at each other with uncertainty. Grima just grinned.

"Very impressive," he said. "Pikachu, was it?"

Pikachu stepped forward challengingly, and Grima freed his gloves from his pockets.

"Brave," the boy noted. "But out of your league." He lifted his hand to the sky, and they all glanced up, as if expecting something to come down from the storm clouds.

Indeed, something was building above their heads - the storm clouds began to glow gold, and looked to be on the verge of releasing something.

Pikachu looked over his shoulder. "Pika pi!" Take cover!

A massive rod of electricity tore down from the thunderheads above, striking the battlefield with a power akin to a nuclear strike. Light engulfed everything, and the shock wave threw Zelda backwards. Electricity bit into her bare skin, making her scream, and a hammer of thunder nearly blew her eardrums.

The light faded - Zelda's vision was blurred, and she was displeased to find that she'd been thrown up against the armory wall, knocking her head in the process. When her vision cleared, she was stunned to find that most of the ROBs had been disintegrated - nothing but scraps of metal and dust left behind of most. The buildings surrounded them were singed from the electrical strike, and the smell of burnt grass and singed dirt filled the air. Zelda's own body was covered in electrical burns, as were those of her comrades as they struggled to their feet. The Hunters that had stood beside Grima were also smoking, their clothes reduced to singed rags.

Grima himself stood before Pikachu, perfectly unharmed. The Pokémon, on the other hand, resembled the ROBs - his fur was now more black than yellow, and he struggled weakly to his paws. It was a wonder he wasn't a trophy yet.

"Pikachu!" Samus cried - the end of her ponytail was missing, singed off from Grima's electrical attack.

Grima snickered. "This one's mine, boys," he said over his shoulder to his companions. "You can have the others." His palm was twitching, glowing with electricity. He was charging up another attack.

Zelda glanced down at Pikachu, a ball of black fur barely on his feet. He would never survive another attack, not if it was as powerful as the last.

"Pikachu!" Samus yelled again, moving forward. Zelda grabbed her arm and pushed her backwards towards Falco before running to the Pokémon, just as Grima launched his next attack.

"Z!" Falco shouted.

She thrust her arms out, summoning the power of Nayru, feeling it flow from within her, towards the tips of her fingers. A crystal-like shield spread out from her palms, eclipsing the entire attack and sending it back towards Grima. The boy's white eyebrows arched slightly in surprise as he dodged, thrusting his head back and letting the attack strike the wall of the log cabin behind him. He then straightened, his mouth tipping downward as he contemplated Zelda and her shield.

"Interesting," he muttered.

Zelda positioned herself in front of Pikachu and glanced over her shoulder. "Go!" she shouted. "Find Palutena! I'll handle this."

Kirby and Meta Knight moved immediately, crossing the scorched battlefield of ROB corpses, quickly followed by Bowser Jr. and Donkey Kong. A few of the remaining ROBs tried to block them, but they easily knocked them aside. Falco tugged at Samus's arm, but the woman glared at Zelda before she moved.

"Don't let him die!" she shouted at her before dashing after the rest of her comrades. Zelda nodded at her back before turning back to Grima. The boy's comrades were running after Zelda's, leaving Grima, Zelda, and Pikachu alone on the battlefield.

"So brave." The boy cracked his knuckles, his smile returning. "This should be fun," he said before launching into another attack.