| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
August 1st, 2003Preshow Resetti was conducting buisness as usual in the store. Customers were coming in, making small talk, buying their items, and leaving with a smile. Resetti had been extra nice that day, not even charging on item's less than a dollar, in fact to the untrained eye everything would have looked quite perfect. But to the trained eye, of which there were many at the tournament, the underlying tension could be cut with a knife or a sword. This would be Resetti's last day, not many people doubted it, not even Resetti was confident in his abilities to beat the legendary Megaman. Two quirky plumbers barged into the store. Unlike most customers, the Mario Bros. were just too jolly to pick up on the mole's hidden sadness. "How's it-a going-a, Mr. Resetti?" Mario said reaching across the counter and giving the mole a hearty slap on the shoulder. "It's going," a sullen Resetti replied, attempting to act sadly so the brothers would pick up on it. "Hey, whats-a the matter," Luigi said, noticing that Resetti was acting differently, "You look-a all-a depressed-a." Resetti had been waiting for them to say that, as much as he hated the fact that he had to leave the kind replies of the customers he told it to always made him feel better. "Well, it's just that most likely I won't win my match today," the two brothers attempted to keep a strait face, "and I'm gonna miss working here." "Yeah, so what-a," said Luigi dryly, "You get-a to go-a home to-a all-a your friends-a and have-a wonderful stories to-a tell-a." The mole was taken aback by Luigi's response, he had spent so much time sulking, that he hadn't thought of it that way. People in his world didn't even know who Megaman was so it would be a nice long story. Plus, all the townsfolk are probably sick of Nook forcing his story about Crono down their throats "Yeah, that's a good point," said Resetti sternly, gaining back his confidence and gruff attitude, "But who'll take over the store, someone needs to run it after I'm gone. Where else are the fighters going to get such useful equipment." The two brothers looked at each other for a few moments, shrugged, and said to the mole in unison, "We'll-a do it." Then they simultaneously spun around three times, gave each other a high five with one set of hands, and gave Resetti the double thumbs up with the other. Resetti looked at the two Italians for a second, confused by that seemingly random yet obviously choreographed action. Then a moment or two later he snapped back into his former self and yelled, "Well, until you two do take over the store, you'll have to be customers to stay in here. Now by something or get out!!!!!" There was a moment of silence and then all three broke into a joyous laughter. ---- Bowser cringed at the laughter of the three bite-sized morsels. Grrrrrr, laugh it up now Mario because your time is almost up Bowser thought to himself, You have no chance against him. Which brought him to the reason he came to the shop today. He needed something to help him fulfill his request. It hadn't been an easy one, and Bowser needed an edge. He had seen the fighter he had to take out, and his power had been incredible, Bowser knew he couldn't take him. He had developed one of his trademark, devious schemes, but he didn't think that would be enough. In case the traps fail I need a little extra something to be able to defeat him. "You truly are a coward aren't you," said a voice from behind Bowser. Bowser whirled around to see a black hedgehog, with a disgusted look on his face. "You can't beat your opponent so you seek help from weapon's, your simply pitiful." "Gwahohohoho, coming from Mario's next victim, that sounds kind of funny," Bowser chuckled back at the minuscule hedgehog, continuing his rummaging through the bins in the back of the store. Shadow ignored Bowser's retort, and made one of his own, "I wonder, have you ever, and I mean ever, battled Mario without kidnapping someone he cared about? Even once?" Bowser slowly turned over to Shadow, clearly his comment had gotten to him, but he made no reply only another attack on Shadow, "Since, when did you care about cheating in battle?" "Since, that stupid, fat, ugly, incompetent, weak, fat, ugly, fat moron tried to cheat against me in my match with him," Shadow replied dryly. Bowser broke down into laughter. "What's so funny, turtle." "Gwahahahah, Gohohohoh, you kill me, you're calling him a cheater? Gwahohohoho!!!!" Shadow narrowed his eyes but made no response. "You used the Chaos Emerald and teleported all around him. He didn't stand a prayer against your teleportation, that is cheating. Any time he moves in for an attack, you can appear behind him. How is that any less dirty, than any tactic Wario used. Your such a hypocrite, it's hilarious. Gwahoohohoho!!!" Shadow tried forming a response, but couldn't think of one he simply said, "I am the ultimate life form, you will see that one way or another," and then stormed out of the building. Bowser chuckled and then went back to his rummaging. After a few minutes of unsuccessful foraging, Bowser was ready to call it quits. Until, a blue stone caught his eye in the souvenir stand. It was in the bin that said, "One stone, one dollar." Most people hadn't payed attention to it. Fighters didn't look in the souveneir stand, and the other stones in the bin looked more glamorous to the untrained eye. Bowser reached in and picked it up, his eye's gleamed in his trademark gleam. Then he said outloud, "This......is a Chaos Emerald." He had looked at it closely at it during the Zelda match, and there was no mistaking this. He also felt a great deal of energy inside the emerald. He brought it over to the counter, and payed one dollar. Resetti, hadn't been as observant and didn't recognize it. He seemed a little curious as Bowser hadn't tried to steal it, but shrugged it off as great pricing. Bowser tossed the stone up and swiped out and grabbed it. Speaking of hypocrisy the Koopa King thought to himself as he walked out the door. The Battle This match would be an interesting one. No one expected Mr. Resetti to win, of course. Even Mr. Resetti himself expected that he would lose, and lose big, today. He had already given away the shop he had cared for for 9 days... The Mario Brothers would take care of it now. But he was just a mole. A mole with a pickaxe that he had never used, except, sometimes, the blunt end on a reset-happy villager. He couldn't fight against a fighter that had almost beaten SEPHIROTH. I'm doomed. All I've got is one weapon... Even if I prolong this fight, I have no chance to win. And the audience knew he couldn't win. This wasn't a match that provoked interest because of its unpredictability in who would win. This was a match that interested so many people because they wanted to see where Mega Man stood, how much better, or how much worse, he was from last year. With that in mind, Mega Man was intent on giving the audience quite a show. He knew that Sephiroth, Link, Snake, and a lot of the contest heavy hitters were watching him today, and he wanted to show them that he was a force to be reckoned with. The thought that it was possible for the mole to beat him had never crossed his mind, and he was supremely confident that today would be an easy victory for him. He wasn't here to win...He was here to win impressively. ...I'm glad Zero doesn't know that I'm thinking this. He'd kill me... He's been lecturing me to not be overconfident all month. But how can a mole beat me? One shot. That's all I need. The gong sounded from above the stadium. It was time for the last match of Round 1 to begin. Mega Man inhaled, exhaled, and jumped into the arena. He saw nothing in front of him. His jaw dropped. It wasn't that he had expected the mole to just stand there and be hit by the Mega Buster...Well, he didn't know what the hell the mole was going to do, to be honest. I should have investigated that...But where is the little guy? Has he run away? Mr. Resetti had not run away. As soon as the gong sounded, he had started a small, but sure, tunnel, that he hoped would lead him to Mega Man's feet. His digging skills were very good from all the years of digging to reset-happy villagers' houses... And within a minute, he was at the feet of the clueless Mega Man. To be honest, he was amazed that it had worked so well thus far. Mega Man felt the earth move under him. He looked up at Zero, and saw his friend frantically gesturing to a point in the arena. Confused, Mega Man followed Zero's finger...And he saw a tiny bump in the ground, as if something...Or someone...Was under it. Crap. It's a tunnel. Mega Man started running, as fast as he could. He knew that if he stood in on place for too long, Mr. Resetti would dig up, hit him, and knock him down by hitting his legs. It would hurt Mega Man quite a bit to know that a mole had gotten first strike on him during a match. And it would leave quite a bad impression on the audience, who were all expecting a rout. Mega Man barely jumped out of the way before the mole's emergence from the tunnel. If he had been just a second slower, the mole would have knocked him straight over, and everyone would have seen whether the pickaxe could do any damage. Mega Man was skeptical on that front, though. He didn't think that a poorly made pickaxe could hack through his armor. As Mega Man suspected, the pickaxe was harmless to robots, so the point was moot. Resetti had checked in the training center, and he knew that it couldn't hurt a fly, much less a robot. He was just prolonging the match. But he'd be damned if he didn't try. He wanted a good story to tell back home in Animal Forest... And if he gave up, what could he say? What would Nook say? Resetti formed another tunnel, intent on making it work this time. But this time, Mega Man knew what he was doing. He had seen every inch of Resetti's plan already, and he knew the perfect counter. The Blue Bomber quickly located the spot where Resetti's 2nd tunnel had began, and saw the tiny hole in the ground. He smiled. C'mon... Did the mole really think constant tunneling could work? Well, if he does... I can stop that thought. Mega Man readied his blaster, and fired a Fire Wave into the tunnel. Resetti was still digging at the time, trying to get a bearing on where Mega Man was. Suddenly, he felt an odd tempature change in the tunnel. Was it getting hotter down here, or was it just him? He only barely was able to dig upwards in time. As soon as he had made an exit to his tunnel, and jumped out of it, the fire wave that Mega Man had fired roared out of the tunnel behind him. This mole doesn't want to quit... But as Mega Man readied his Mega Buster, he knew that the mole was finished now. If he tunneled, Mega'd Fire Wave him. If he didn't, he'd just fire the Mega Buster. And with the mole just trying to catch his breath, he was an easy target. Mega Man checked his gauge, and he saw that the Mega Buster was fully charged. Good night, mole. Resetti had stayed in one place, thanking the fates for letting him out of that tunnel, far too long. Suddenly, he felt a wave of energy hit his back, and pain swept over his body. One shot from the Mega Buster. That was all Mega Man had needed. He dropped into an unconscious state... And Resetti was finished. The inevitable had occurred, Resetti had lost, and the final 32 had been decided. Mega Man had advanced. And it didn't look like he'd lost any of his old touch. It just looked like he hadn't prepared. And if anything else had gone wrong...Zero was sure to remind him. He had won, though. That's all that mattered to him at the moment. The Blue Bomber caught Zero's reproachful stare as he went back to his entrance portal. Yeah, yeah, overconfidence and all that... But I won. But it hadn't been as impressive as he had hoped. Aftermath And with that, the first round was finished. Sixty-four contestants had come to the tournament, all with their own reasons for being there. Some fought for glory. Some fought to impress others, and prove their superiority. Some fought because it was fun. Some fought because it was all they knew how to do. And now only thirty-two of them were left. The first round had already seen some brutality from some of the villains. AiAi had been sent home as a mangled shell, and PacMan had been vaporized by one of Kefka's spells. Tidus had lost his renewed chance at existence after being brutally beaten by Ganondorf. Ness had been eaten, but saved, thanks to Aeris... but all the remaining participants still had cause to worry. In just over a month's time, the number of fighters had been cut in half. And the number of fighters would be whittled down again, and again, until there was only one left. No one remembers who came in second place any more than they care about who came in sixty-fourth. It was all about winning the championship. 32 chairs were set out on the lawn. It was just as it was two months ago when they had all arrived... just as if the first round was about to start, and they were all preparing to undergo the same ordeal again. Which in truth, they were-the first round had eliminated the stragglers in the competition-the fighters that were left were all veterans. The competition would only get harder as they progressed. The first round had been semi-predictable, but freestyle combat could never be taken for granted. There had already been several upsets to the seeding given to the fighters. It was if the warriors themselves rebelled against any attempts to rank them in terms of skill. There was only one ranking that mattered... and that was the one that continued tomorrow in the second round. So much had already happened, but there was so much more to come. Link sat in the champion's chair, a little in front of all the others. He was alone. The other contestants had come and gone already... probably too busy with worrying about next round to enjoy lounging around. He should be worrying. He should be training. But he had too much on his mind. After Zelda lost herself in the power of the chaos emerald, it had shaken his core, taken away one of the few supports he had left. "Hey, gloomy green!" Link looked around, wondering who was being addressed. It wasn't until the blue hedgehog started yanking on his shirt that he looked down and realized that it was Sonic, talking to him. "Come on, you moper, there's a party going on. Guess no one thought to invite the big shot. Yoshi's passed out in the punch bowl. Come on, it'll be fun." The animal zipped away before Link could consent or disagree. He must have been pretty preoccupied if he didn't notice that everyone else was out enjoying themselves. Link trotted off to where the fighters were staying. Sure wish I had Epona right now. I don't know what I was thinking bringing Tingle and Kaepora instead. Especially Tingle. Link swung open the doors to the mansion. There were a lot fewer rooms being leased currently. Straining his elf ears, he traced the sounds of the party, going up a flight of stairs and into a lobby. Yoshi was, indeed, passed out in the punch bowl. The dinosaur had his tongue sticking out to one side and a goofy smile on his face. Mario and Luigi were toasting each other and babbling about something. Those two were ridiculous together. A bunch of confetti filled the floor, Tingle was hanging from a balloon on the ceiling, and there was a banner saying "Congratulations to the 32!" Link took in the whole room, amazed that his competitors seemed so at ease for once. Donkey Kong was swinging from a lamp on the ceiling. Sonic was zipping around, Knuckles was trying to talk to Shadow, who was sitting in the corner. The ordinary humans were congregated by themselves, and the robots were grouped together. Bowser and Kefka were parked out in front of the snack table, alternately yelling at and cursing anyone who dared to get something to eat. Link shook his head and smiled. Sephiroth and Zelda were nowhere to be seen... but everyone seemed to be having a good time. "Yeah, this was all Aeris's idea." Cloud Strife was talking to Crono in another part of the room. Link moved in to join them. Cloud acknowledged Link's presence, and continued. "She said we all needed a chance to relax, me in particular. We've all been a little high strung. I say she just wanted to throw some flowers around." Cloud pointed to one of the flower arrangements on the wall. No one had ruined it yet, but it was only a matter of time. Aeris was darting around the room, straightening things, trying to talk to Squall, and keeping tabs on everything. Cloud turned to Link and spoke again. "So, what did you think of the first round?" Link shrugged, and tried to ignore a feeling of guilt. "Too easy here at least." Crono and Cloud both nodded. The three of them stood there for a few seconds... apparently none of them were as gifted verbally as they were with weapons. All three of them spoke up at once. "I like swords." They all laughed, and began talking casually about their weapons, and who they had fought. Link began to relax a little. He wouldn't have to fight anyone here for quite a while, it was good to be among some people like himself. Next Entry Back |