Heroes of Dreamland, Book 3: The World of Nintendo (OLD)

The Heroes Fall

Onboard the Warship Nintendo:

Rose groaned as she clenched the hilt of her sword tighter and continued to fight against the force-field-like invisible wall that Ganondorf was using to try to crush her against the side of the ship. It had been a long, hard fight, and they were all growing fatigued. All but the villains, that is, who seemed to have limitless energy, and unlimited health, as well.

Ganondorf cackled insanely as she neared the ship's railing, barely able to resist any longer. But then, she heard a sharp clanging noise, followed by Ganondorf letting out a roar of anger and spinning around to face his attacker, who was already gone.

"Thanks, Meta Knight. That was a close one," Rose gasped out, able to take deep enough breaths again, now that she didn't have an invisible hard-as-rock wall pressed up against her.

"Hm," he nodded at her once as he flew past, now busy dodging a fireball thrown at him by Bowser.

Kirby had joined them once things had gotten noisy, and currently had the Water Copy Ability (from the ocean,) which he was using to try to shove Bowser overboard, both standing near the entrance to below deck. But Bowser was very strong, and the little Star Warrior was starting to get really tired. It was way past his bedtime, and this battle had been going on for a pretty long time.

"Kirby! Call for the Warp Star!" Meta Knight ordered his small ally as he soared past the pink puffball, deflecting another fireball with Galaxia as he went. Then, he warped out of existence, reappearing behind Bowser and taking a swing at him.

"Kirby can't, poyo. Kirby too sleepy," Kirby yawned back, rubbing his eyes and starting to drift off, in order to heal himself.

"Shotzo," Meta Knight hissed, grabbing the young one and moving him back below deck to where he'd be safe... for now.

Up near the helm, Mario and Luigi were trying to fight DeDeDe. But with every jump attack they used, he just pounded them back down to the ground with his hammer. He kept chortling at them coolly, making their failure even more annoying and somehow humiliating.

Meanwhile, Ash and Rinda were busy with Giovanni near the bow of the ship. Even though it was two against three, his Pokémon seemed to have unlimited HP, and they didn't have any Potion left, so he was obviously winning.

Geek Toad was flying around the ship, having his dragon blow fire at the villains whenever it was safe, which wasn't often. "You guys think you could give me more openings?" he called out, sounding irritated.

"Yeah, as soon as these guys quit trying to kill us!" Rose shrieked back, angry, and yet, terrified at the same time. With a squeak, she jumped out of the way of a shot Master Hand fired at her. He was occupied with doing the same thing Geek Toad was, only doing so for the other side. And he, apparently, was finding a lot more 'openings' than the toadstool-man was.

"Just a little more, Blastoise!" Ash pleaded as his last Pokémon fell to the floor and closed its eyes, too weak to go on.

"Blastoise," it moaned piteously, then fainted.

"No! Pachirisu!" Rinda simultaneously screamed, barely catching the Pokémon before it fell into the watery depths, having been hit by a Fury Swipes attack from Giovanni's Persian. "Return!" she ordered the now-fainted Pokémon, feeling so sad for it, and a bit guilty. All of the other heroes and non-heroes were actually fighting, but she and Ash were forcing the creatures to do it for them.

"I'm out of Pokémon," Ash murmured to Rinda nervously, turning away from Giovanni and toward her, a frightened expression on his face.

"Same here. I'm surprised I managed to hang on so long, when I had fewer Pokémon than you," she replied with a weak smile. It was over, might as well just go with the flow and be happy, right?