Chakra Wizard
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Chapter 19 - Jump n' Hammer
The night passed quickly and the sun emerged from behind the mountains of the Smash realm for the third time throughout this tournament. Once again, the matches of the day found their numbers cut in two, as only eight still fought to be the realm's greatest brawler. There were those among them that were expected to make it this far, while there were also a few brawlers that managed to surprise everyone with their progress. It seems, however, that the veteran fighters have managed to stand their ground this year, as the six of them that remain are faced with only two newcomers who threaten to take the championship for themselves. The question on everybody's mind now was if Diddy Kong and Ike could manage to proceed through to the semi-finals, or even to the finals themselves, or would the tournament once again come down to two who have been there since the beginning?
While Zelda, Peach, and Marth finished breakfast with their former comrades before returning to the balcony, most of those brawlers who had already been defeated made their way to the stands beneath it. At this point in the competition, it seemed the remaining matches have managed to spark the interests of even the most arrogant brawlers at the Smash. The only ones who stayed within the colliseum walls, aside from the remaining contenders, were Luigi, Yoshi, Kirby, and King Dedede. The latter three stayed behind to enjoy the free food waiting in the mess hall, while the former chose to stay with his brother for the time being. Mario would later prove rather grateful for this token of kindness from his younger sibling. At this point in the tournament, it seemed that everyone still in it would need some encouragement in order to make it through the day.
For the first time in this entire contest, Mario found himself in the training room, being assisted by his twin brother Luigi. Samus and Link were also biding their time there, the former testing the accuracy of her arm cannon in the shooting range, while the latter was trying his luck at the Target Test, attempting to think of more creative methods of destroying each panel in the fastest time possible. And the mustached plumber was attempting to build on what he was already the best at: jumping. While Luigi continuously raised the bar (in quite a literal manner), Mario bested each of his previous attempts one after the other, while his brother stood by, sensing that something was troubling him.
"Way to go, bro! That's-a eight feet without the mid-air jump and fifteen-a with it! Now, do you think-a we can move on to something else?"
His brother simply shook his head and ran up to the bar, which was recently raised again, and successfully jumped it, bringing his single-jump record up to nine feet, though he still seemed unsatisfied. Having nearly grown tired of this undying, though also unnecessary, perserverance, Luigi jumped in front of him as he ran back to the starting point to make another attempt.
"Bro, what's the point of this? There's no need for you to work-a so hard?"
Mario stood there looking up at him for a moment, before taking his hat off and scratching the back of his head in frustration. Luigi was right, in every sense of the word. The tension had gotten to his head and caused him to doubt his own skills, despite all his past accomplishments. He placed his cap back on and lowered it over his face, making Luigi aware of the shame he now felt. Always behind his older brother, he put his hand on his shoulder to offer him some comfort.
"It's okay, bro. There's-a nothing to worry about. Everyone still a-here is just as a-nervous as you are."
Lifting his head again, Mario smiled and put his own hand on Luigi's shoulder, nodding his head to ensure him that he was alright now. In truth, he felt as confident as he ever did.
"Hey, you've always a-been there for me, Mario. I'm just-a returning the favor."
As they turned to leave and find something more worthwhile to do, Peach's voice echoed through the walls of the colliseum, instantly catching the attention of the two plumbers.
"Welcome..."
Even this short pause after her first spoken word of the day caused the overall volume of the colliseum to increase.
"...to the third day of the Super Smash Tournament!"
In comparison to the previous round of applause, the colliseum practically exploded into cheer. The audience seemed well-aware that they were in for an exciting and rather surprising day, surely more than any other day yet in this competition.
"I speak for myself, my friends Princess Zelda,..."
She took a quick moment to look back at the person who just recently began joining them in the balcony.
"...Prince Marth,...and the all of the spectular brawlers that have taken part in this tournament when I say that we're grateful that you were able to join us on this field of battle today. As we promised, yet another surprise twist will be added to the matches today, all in accordance to your most popular choices."
The cheering continued as a new question simultaneously emerged in the minds of the audience members.
"What will it be today?"
"Now then, if you don't mind...and I'm sure you don't, we'll go ahead and begin the first match of the day. These two have been here ever since the beginning, legendary icons for their respective genders. Let's see whether or not they've lost their edge after all these years!..."
Within the corridors, the brothers continued standing by, waiting for her to finish her announcement, only taking notice of their current situation once again when Samus walked up to Mario and tapped him on the shoulder.
"C'mon, Mario. We might as well get going now."
Mario nodded his head, enticing her to do the same before putting her helmet on and heading toward the arena. Mario took a quick moment to say good-bye to Luigi before following her.
"Go show her why they call you 'Super Mario', bro."
Smiling and nodding his head one more time, Mario hugged his brother before running after Samus.
Outside, the crowd was impatiently waiting for the first two brawlers of the day to appear through the doors of the colliseum. In the next moment, they were on their feet as the doors opened up to present two of the most beloved figures of their generation. The cheers continued until the two took their positions on the stadium, at which point silence befell the colliseum and the referee began the day's first match.
"3, 2, 1,..."
As with yesterday, he paused for ever so brief a moment to push a button on a small device attached to his belt, afterwhich he finished his countdown.
"...GO!"
Both Samus and Mario stood by for a moment, looking around the stadium for any form of change to occur. To their surprise, they saw nothing out of the ordinary. Confused, they decided that time would eventually reveal the new twist and simply began the match, starting with Samus charging her arm cannon to its fullest. Mario, on the other hand, quickly jumped onto the highest platform and began chucking fireballs in her direction. Running underneath the closest platform to avoid them, Samus questioned whether or not to attack him from below.
"He might not see it coming...no, of course he will! He's got too much experience to let such a tactic go unpunished. What can...what the heck is that?"
She lost track of her thoughts when she noticed a small object spontaneously appear in between the two lower platforms. Moving out ever so slowly, she got close enough to recognize what it was instantly.
"A...cloaking device? It's an item!"
Filled with more confidence than before, she quickly picked it up, rendering her completely invisible. With Mario still unaware that items were now a factor in this match, she took this golden opportunity to leap onto the highest platform with Mario. Being that her sound effects could still be heard, Mario quickly turned around, only to see that nobody was there...or so it seemed. Confused, he thought about it for a moment before turning back around. Feeling almost victorious, Samus immediately released her Charge Shot, only for Mario to turn around and sweep a large, yellow cape in front of him, causing the large ball of energy to reverse directions and send a surprised Samus flying off the platform.
"...He-he knew!? How is that possible!? Urgh, I should've known that he was brighter than that!"
Receiving a good twenty-two points of damage from her own attack, Samus got up and looked around for any food items that might be lying around to negate those points. Sure enough, a Maxim Tomato appeared on the opposite of the stadium, which Mario also took notice of. Despite having taken no damage as of yet, Samus knew that he would still probably pick it up just to prevent her from doing so, prompting her to charge her arm cannon one more time, should she be forced to guard it. Once it was completed, she burst into a dash for the item, though Mario was also in hot pursuit, and his closer proximity to it gave him a clear advantage.
After a moment, it became clear to her that he was going to make it to the item first and held up her arm cannon to blast Mario, should he attempt to grab it. But, before she could release the shot, she noticed another item appear on the platform above Mario,...and a very peculiar item at that. Not wanting to make him suspicious, Samus continued her sprint towards the Maxim Tomato. As soon as she was close enough to counterattack upon grabbing the item, Mario quickly picked it up, causing it to vanish and transfer its energy to him, though it had no effect, due to his perfect health. To his surprise, however, Samus paid this no thought, but rather jumped on top of the platform above him. Realizing that she must have seen another item, Mario used his Super Jump Punch to leap up in an attempt to attack Samus, who had escaped to safety atop the highest platform. Now that he was in range, Samus quickly threw the item at him, inflicting minor damage and causing the small, red and white ball to open upon touching the ground.
In a flash of light, a small flower-like Pokémon emerged from the Poké ball, announcing its name as it did.
"Bellossom!"
Before he could make a move, Mario instantly began to feel drowsy and, within a few seconds, was already fast asleep. Taking a short moment to look around for any recently spawned items, Samus jumped down beside the resting Mario, Bellossom's powers having no effect on her, and unleashing her Charge Shot, sending him flying off the stage, although now wide awake. Once he returned to the stadium, Mario immediately looked up at his opponent, who had just finished charging her arm cannon yet again, and smiled, eager to continue this ferocious battle of wit.
Looking around for a useful item, Mario quickly ended this fruitless search with the decision to use his own battle prowess to bring this match into his favor. Already having a strategy in place, he wasted no time in putting it into action, breaking into a dash in Samus's direction. Knowing it better to keep him distant from her, Samus sent a small array of homing missiles after Mario before retreating to the opposite end of the arena. Narrowly avoiding each one and causing them to explode on themselves, he continued his advance, only to be hit broadside by one of Samus's Super Missiles. Brushing off the relatively minor damage, Mario continued his dash toward Samus. Confused as to why he was so persistent, Samus decided to meet his challenge head-on.
"So, he wants to joust for a moment, does he? Alright, he'll get what he desires."
Beginning her own advance on her opponent, Samus kept this charade going as the two closed in on each other. Just before they were both in arm's reach, however, she stopped in a near instantaneous motion and held up her arm cannon, releasing her stored Charge Shot once she was certain that Mario didn't have enough time to avoid it. Unfortunately, contrary to her expectations, the plumber activated his shield just in time to absorb the attack, which, although quite powerful, was not nearly enough to break the large, red orb. The moment the energy from the attack dispersed, the shield vanished and Mario rolled past Samus, grabbing onto her legs in the process. Once on his feet again, he tightened his grip on her ankles and began spinning her around, repeating this two or three more times before releasing her, sending her flying off the stage.
With Samus and Mario's damage counters reading thirty-four and thirty-two respectively, this match was all but even as the former jumped back onto the arena. However, without her strongest attack fully charged and ready to use, the former was forced to defend herself against the latter's superior hand-to-hand abilities, which was Mario's intention when he attempted to advance on her. The remainder of the battle was rather drawn out, but as the end drew near, Mario found himself with another twenty-five points added to his damage counter, while Samus had received an additional thirty-nine. At this point, any strong attack would be more than enough to send either of them soaring past one of the Blast Lines. It was only a matter of who would land the first hit.
As the match drew to a close, Samus found herself being pushed to the edge, both physically and literally, as Mario continued to dominate the match. The few items that had appeared in this time were all empty containers and food items and both brawlers were sincerely hoping for one that could be used offensively to appear. Before Samus could be pushed any further, she got her wish, while Mario was, thankfully, facing away from the newly emerged item.
"Is that...another Poké ball! Yes! Now, I just need to..."
Using her Power Suit's incredible flexibility to her advantage, Samus easily rolled beneath Mario's legs and made for the item, which she claimed just in time as Mario figured out what was happening.
"Now, please be a good one."
As she threw the Poké ball to the ground, a flash of light brought forth a large bird-like Pokémon of numerous colors.
"Ho-oh! Now THAT'S a good Pokémon!"
Shortly after emerging from the Poké ball, it took to the sky and reappeared in front of the stadium, unfolding its wings to unleash its attack, Sacred Fire. Sensing the eminent danger, Mario ran to the edge of the arena and the center of the stage became engulfed in an enormous pillar of flames. For the next fifteen seconds, this great display of power carried on, meanwhile, Mario noticed an item had appeared within the fire,...an item with a shape that was all too familiar to the plumber.
Timing it perfectly, Mario jumped in the tower of fire just as Ho-oh flew off and it began to subside, emerging from it hardly scathed. Unable to see past the flames, Samus could only look on in shock as Mario reappeared, swinging his most well-known weapon of all: the Hammer.
"No! That's not fair! Oh man, if I get hit by that, I'm done!"
Keeping this thought in her mind, Samus began jumping around the stadium in an effort to keep away from Mario and his new weapon, but, although Mario's movements were significantly limited by holding the hammer, he eventually managed to land a hit on Samus, which, at her current damage count, made for an quick end to this long match as she flew above the upper Blast Line.
"Game! The winner is...Mario!"
The crowd's cheers were probably heard for hundreds of miles around as they stood up from their seats, greatly pleased with the match and the performances of the brawlers who took part in it, as were their spectating peers. Luigi himself was ecstatic for his brother's victory.
"Yahoo! Way to go, bro! Way to go! You sure showed her!"
It was almost annoying to those sitting around him. Above them, Marth and the princesses were sharing their own opinions on the match.
"I think they both did a fantastic job. I'm sure the audience couldn't have been more pleased with it."
"Yes, indeed. It was quite enjoyable. I feel some remorse for Samus, but I know that she's sure to take the loss better than most. Your thoughts, Peach?"
Princess Toadstool couldn't help but giggle at the question.
"I think you know them well, Zelda. But yes, Samus did a splendid job. It was very exciting."
"Hopefully, the next three matches will prove to be just as exhilarating."
The princesses nodded in agreement to Marth's comment as they looked back to the arena, at which point Samus had returned to it. As she walked off of the hoverboard, Mario made his way over to her in hopes that neither of them bore any hard feelings. As expected, Samus was far too mature to bear a grudge and held out her hand for Mario to take in his own. Leaving everything out on the arena, as was traditional at the Smash,...at least for most brawlers, the two returned inside to inform the remaining competitors of the new addition to the matches.
