Chapter 7 - Planet of the Apes
The purpose of the Smash Tournament was always to recognize various worlds for their exceptional warriors and bring them together to decide the greatest amongst them, though while the presence of good fighters at the Smash was obvious enough, the presence of good eaters was not so much. In a few cases, the appetite of a fighter would probably amaze the crowd even more than their fighting skills. This was easily seen in the colliseum's mess hall, where the brawlers were given access to an unlimited supply of foods from their many home worlds. While many brawlers enjoyed tasting the foreign flavors, some were less picky, seen most obvious with Donkey Kong and his young sidekick and best friend Diddy, who spent most of their time sitting in the mess hall with a large pile of bananas as they conversed in their ape language, understood only by those who knew them best. Today in particular, the primary topic was their shared presence at the Smash for the very first time, which Diddy was incredibly excited about.
"Ook ook! Oo oo ack oo ook. Ah ook." ("I can't believe it! You and me here doing what we always do, only instead of being in the jungle, we're at the biggest fighting tournament ever. Who would've thought I'd end up here with you?")
"Oo oo ook. Ack oo ack." ("Well, you earned your spot here, little buddy. Don't think you'll get through me, though.")
The larger ape beat against his chest as he spoke to his smaller companion. Diddy, however, seemed unintimidated and took this as a challenge. Finishing off the small piece of banana in his hand, he jumped onto the table and addressed his long-time friend, pointing at him as he did.
"Eek ah ee oo ack!? ee oo oo. Ack oo ah ah." ("Is that a challenge, DK!? Just you wait. Before this tournament's over, the referee'll be saying my name while I'm standing on top of you.")
Donkey Kong allowed a large smile to form across his face. He couldn't help but admit to himself that he would like to see that happen, though he had no intentions of letting it, at least not that easily. He stood up and held out his hand.
"Ook oo oo. Ah ah." ("It's on, then. Let's see who's top ape.")
He took Diddy's considerably smaller hand into his own and the two smiled at each other before reclaiming their seats and returning to eating their bananas. Just at they were about to shove their first banana into their mouths however, Peach's voice appeared over the speakers.
"Whose ready for the next fight of the day?"
The crowd gave the usual response.
"Well then, let's get on with it, shall we? The next match-up is gonna be...Donkey Kong and Captain Olimar!"
The two paused for a moment, then DK swallowed the banana he was holding in one gulp before grabbing two more and standing up to leave.
"Oo oo oo ack. Ook ook." ("I'll be right back, little buddy. Don't eat 'em all while I'm gone.")
"Oo ah ah ook ook ee aa oo oo ah ook." ("No promises.")
Quickly eating his bananas as he walked through the hallways, Donkey Kong tossed the peels onto the ground before hurrying to the arena. Shortly after reaching his destination, Olimar joined him outside the doorway. Judging by their proportions, the match-up could hardly be called even. The Hocotate resident was among the smallest of all the brawlers, while Donkey Kong was outweighted only by Bowser. But Olimar was far from helpless, especially when considering that he has the one thing that no other brawler does: an army. The Pikmin he managed to befriend while fighting for his life on their home world have given him a small, though incredibly fierce, fighting force of his own, making him just as formidable an opponent as any of the veteran brawlers. It was up to Donkey Kong to figure out just how formidable he was before the match began.
Moments later, light shined through the doors again, and the two brawlers walked to the center stadium, greeted by the cheers of the crowd of loving fans. Shortly afterwards, the cheers died down as the two took their positions and the referee started the match.
"3, 2, 1, GO!"
Captain Olimar was the first to make a move, blowing his whistle immediately after the match began. Seeing that nothing happened, Donkey Kong began to approach him, though he was stopped short when he heard a sound bearing resemblance to that of a helicopter. From outside the colliseum, three strange contraptions fluttered toward the stadium. Upon seeing them land on the arena, Donkey Kong immediately recognized them as the Onions which stored Pikmin. With another blow of his whistle, Olimar summoned hundreds of red, blue, yellow, purple, and white Pikmin from the confines of their respective Onions. Seeing the massive wall that now seperated him and Olimar, Donkey Kong stepped back and attempted to come up with a strategy to dispose of all the Pikmin. Before he had time to think of one, however, Olimar sent a large number of Pikmin to attack him, forcing him into battle.
Knowing that large numbers of them would easily overwhelm him, Donkey Kong tried to think of a way to keep some distance between him and the Pikmin while still decreasing their numbers, which he did. As the small beings closed in on him, Donkey Kong began pounding his gigantic hands on the ground, shaking the entire arena and causing most of the Pikmin to fly through the air, killing a large number of them. Seeing that the large ape was as well protected as he was, Olimar blew his whistle again to recall all his Pikmin and give himself time to think of a way to get them in attacking range. All the while, DK was also using this break to his advantage, trying to think of a way to get to Olimar. The latter was the first to think of a strategy.
Olimar sent out a small group of red and purple Pikmin to attempt to attack Donkey Kong again, only for the ape to use the same technique as he did before. As he held them back, however, Olimar began tossing several yellow and white Pikmin onto his back, causing him to swing his arms around in panic to smack them off. This distraction allowed the rest of the Pikmin to jump onto Donkey Kong as well, sending him tumbling helplessly to the ground. Looking for a way to escape defeat, Donkey Kong got up once more and began spinning around, successfully getting most of the Pikmin off of him, the rest of which he grabbed and discarded. Unbeknownst to him, however, Olimar took this time to send the majority of his remaining Pikmin to bring him down.
Seeing the large mob approaching, Donkey Kong ran back to the other end of the arena and waited for the Pikmin to get closer. As they drew in, he used his spinning move again, this time to hover over the Pikmin, leaving a much smaller amount of them between him and Olimar. As he proceeded towards him, however, he realized that his movements were slowing down.
"What's goin' on? I feel like my strength's being drained."
Little did he realize that the poison emitted by the small, white Pikmin was now taking its toll on his muscles.
"Well, whatever those little buggers did, I gotta keep fighting while I can."
Seeing the danger he was now in, Olimar kept a handful of Pikmin by his side and sent the rest of them to attack Donkey Kong head-on. Being the clever little creatures they were though, having anticipated that he may try hovering over them again, they began stacking on top of each other. Unfortunately, Donkey Kong also anticipated this and pummelled his way though the stack of Pikmin. Knowing that a single punch would likely do him in completely and having nowhere else to go, Olimar made a daring attempt and he and his remaining Pikmin jumped off the edge of the arena.
DK stopped as he saw this happen, turning around and looking up to the referee shortly after. Noticing that he wasn't budging, he realized that Olimar was still in play and ran over to the edge of the arena to see that his Pikmin had formed a chain and were holding him up as the purple one at the end held onto the edge. Looking behind him, DK saw that his remaining Pikmin had gathered around him, leaving him completely cornered by the edge of the arena. Olimar had obviously thought this through, though Donkey Kong couldn't help but smirk as he realized that he hadn't thought it all the way through. Taking advantage of the one flaw in Olimar's plan, he grabbed the purple Pikmin that was hanging onto the edge of the arena and tossed him away, sending the rest of the Pikmin in the chain, as well as Olimar, plummeting into the abyss.
The crowd burst into cheer, though some laughter could be heard, as Donkey Kong's victory was confirmed, no matter how many Pikmin remained. The referee hovered down to officially end it.
"Game! The winner is...Donkey Kong!"
A hoverboard appeared moments later carrying Olimar, who was bewildered that, despite having not taken any damage the entire match, he lost due to one small miscalculation. Realizing the shame, and possible embarrassment, that the small captain probably felt, Donkey Kong walked over to him, held out his hand and, despite knowing that he couldn't understand him, gave him a short message of encouragement.
"Ook ook ee ah oo." ("Hey, it did almost work.")
Although he indeed had no means of comprehending his words, Olimar knew he meant well and held out his own hand, which Donkey Kong took into his. As the two motioned to leave the arena, Olimar quickly turned back to his Pikmin, who stood motionless as they awaited orders, and blew his whistle to dismiss them back into their Onions, which proceeded to fly out of the colliseum as the corridor doors closed behind the two brawlers.