| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
August 2nd, 2003Preshow The one and only shop within the fighter's compound was located conveniently near the mansion in which the combatants stayed. The building, although two stories tall, was dwarfed by the magnificent mansion that it shared company with. The buildings were no more than one hundred feet apart, so it was in the grand house's shadow nearly all day long. If it were not for the lights and large neon sign that Tom Nook had erected during his stay, the store would not be noticed at all. The shop was now under new management for the second time, and was renamed twice. It was at first called "Nookington's" but when Resetti took over it became known as "Resetti's Gold Mine". The Mario brothers, the newest owners, could at first not agree on a name. Mario wanted to call it "Super Mario Shop", but Luigi was insistent on calling it "Luigi's Super Fun Shop of Excitement and Thrills". The name could not fit on the sign, so they decided to call it "M-Mart", much to Luigi's dismay. When Fox McCloud walked in at 5:00 AM, he had to shield his eyes. The bright fluorescent lights and the white walls and ceiling were in sharp contrast to the dim morning light. It took his eyes half a minute to adjust to the sudden bombardment on his vision. M-Mart was empty with the exception of two customers and the Mario Brothers behind the counter. The store was normally full of activity, but there were few patrons at such an early hour. When Resetti owned the shop, he would often wait until eleven o' clock in the morning before opening the store. The new business practices of the brothers allowed for those who opted to avoid the crowd to shop early in the morning. Fox was browsing the plasma weapons for something to give him an edge in the upcoming fight, as Ganondorf had suggested, when he heard loud voices from the other side of the room. "I'm a-telling you, we need-a to cut back on-a the expenses!" Luigi was near to loosing his temper with his brother. "You-a need to calm down, Luigi," Mario was apparently un-phased by his counterpart's sudden outburst. Perhaps such arguments had become routine since having taken over the store. "No! I'm-a sick of this! We spend-a hundreds of coins on pasta alone!" Luigi retorted. "Are you-a saying we should-a stop eating pasta?!" "Of course-a not," Luigi was still yelling, "All-a I'm saying is if we-a just had one less meat-a ball-" "One less meat-a ball?!" Mario was shocked. "Who-a ever heard of spaghetti with just-a two meat-a balls?!" "Well that's-a what we're gonna be-a eating from now on!" Luigi was now screaming louder than ever. "That's not-a how it works, brother!" Mario was now frustrated as well. "First-a you eat-a the one meat-a ball, then you eat-a some spaghetti, then you eat-a the second meat-a ball, then what?! Then all-a you have left is the spaghetti! You need-a the third meat-a ball!" Fox was beginning to tire of all the yelling, and he could tell he was not the only patron that felt this way. It was difficult to ignore the raging argument. "Damn stereotypes," Tommy Vercetti mumbled as he placed brass knuckles and a tommy gun in a black bag and walked towards the exit. "I believe you've forgotten to pay for your purchases, Mr. Vercetti," a rather relaxed-looking Auron did not even remove his gaze from the extravagant swords on the wall as he addressed the criminal. Tommy turned the guardian, more than slightly annoyed. "You think you can tell me what to do, old man?!" He reached behind him for the revolver he kept in his belt and aimed the barrel towards the swordsman. Fox instinctively removed his blaster pistol from its holster and ran towards the gangster. "Drop it, punk!" he yelled as he directed the weapon towards Vercetti's head. "This doesn't concern you, rodent," Vercetti kept his gun pointed at Auron. "Rodent?!" Fox tightened this grip on the blaster, "I'll show you!" "Mr. Vercetti," Auron was still not facing his assailant, "wouldn't it be a shame to be kicked out of the tournament over the death of an old man and an animal?" Tommy thought for a moment before lowering his pistol, "Fine, whatever!" He tossed the bag to the ground, "I don't need this crap anyway!" He threw the doors open as he left with such force that it shattered the glass. The Mario brothers had been oblivious to the exchange of threats up until then. "Hey!" Luigi called after him, "Who's-a going to pay for that?" Auron took his eyes off of the razor-sharp katana with diamonds in the hilt for the first time. "You have a match today, correct?" Fox looked at the man and found him to be starting directly into his eyes. Little was known of Auron, expect that he had a reputation for being very intelligent. Most of the time he kept to himself, seemingly lost in thought. The only contestants he conversed with regularly were Tidus and Yuna, both of whom were now gone. At first glance, one would think his mysterious and dangerous appearance would cause him to have a rather imposing presence. However, to those that know him even casually, his presence was more calming than anything. He had an aura of strength as well as kindheartedness. One felt safe around him. "Yeah," replied the pilot, "against Link." "Hmm," Auron turned and gestured toward the opposite wall, "Some of the projectile weapons over there may interest you. They can be equipped with armor-piercing rounds." "Why would I need-" "Your opponent," Auron cut him off, "carries a shield, does he not?" The look of recognition on the fox's face was quickly replaced with confusion, "Why are you helping me like this?" "You're the underdog. I'd like to level the playing field a bit." Fox did not know whether to feel grateful or offended at this comment. He simply remained silent and moved towards the weapons Auron had shown him. With this and what Ganondorf taught me, I may have a chance. The Battle Link was back where he wanted to be. He entered the arena to the cheers of the crowd. He didn't know if the crowd was hoping for a fair fight, or another bout of carnage. The cheers grew louder as he entered the middle of the arena and took his spot. The accolades of the crowd reminded him of all he had accomplished, and filled him with pride. It was almost enough to make up for the fact that Zelda was no longer among the ones cheering for him. She only saw herself as Sheik now, and had lost herself in the power of the chaos emerald. Link had spent the night before chatting with some of the skilled sword fighters, Crono and Cloud. He was able to bear them a measure of respect, made easier by the fact that he wouldn't need to fight them before the end of the tournament. Fox though... he was another story. Fox was just another animal. He hated to say it, but the fight between Fox and Pikachu had seemed pointless. Two animals trying to battle. All it would have taken was a few blows from a skilled fighter like himself, and it would have all been over for both of them. He had just gotten lucky twice in a row it seemed. Two of the easiest opponents in the tournament lining up to be beaten. But he couldn't let himself get soft. Ganondorf was only a round away. Link gritted his teeth as he thought of the vile warlock. He'd use any chance to get an edge over me. I can't let him see me be weak. Link intended to fight each fight as though it was his last. Whatever happened to his opponents was their fault, not his. It was their choice to fight him. Cloud had beaten Fox easily last round. Link intended to show that he could do the same. Fox began to enter the arena after the applause for Link had died down. He received his share of cheering, but nowhere near the level of Link's. He doesn't belong here, Link thought. Fox was always staring up into the sky, liked he wished he was up there himself. The best thing Link could do for him would be to make this fast. The furry animal had a few weapons strapped to his belt and held a quarter staff in his right hand. He's kidding himself if he thinks that stick will last long against the Master Sword. Link unsheathed his legendary blade and raised it in front of his face. He spoke to Fox softly enough so that the crowd couldn't hear him. "If you want to give up at any point, just say so. No need to let this get out of hand." Fox shook his head, but nodded a little after. Good, thought Link. Now why can't they all just make it easy on me and give up right away? Link looked into Fox's light green eyes. Both fighters nodded. They brandished their weapons and charged at each other. Link was coming at Fox full on. Fox swung his staff forward and met the flat of the blade. He tilted his staff to one side to deflect the blow, and seized the opportunity to strike Link in the chest. The swordfighter stumbled back, and began charging at Fox again. Fox ducked down, and felt the Master Sword swish above his head. He jabbed Link in the ribs, and jumped backwards to avoid the inevitable counterattack. The Hyrulian's sword clanged into the ground where Fox had just stood. Fox smiled to himself, beads of sweat trickling down his furry brow. If I can keep anticipating him, I can do this. Ganondorf was right, he can be beaten. Fox ran forward at Link, whacking him in the side with his staff, and leaped back immediately. Link's sword sliced through air again. Link growled at him. He was clearly getting frustrated. That's right, keep getting angry. You're easier to predict that way. Link spun in a circle with his sword, releasing a red flame in its wake. A circle of magical energy poured out from the blade's path and knocked Fox over. Fox jumped back to his feet and saw a boomerang being thrown at him. He ducked under the whirling object and laughed at Link. All too easy... The spinning projectile hit the side of his head coming back. Fox was momentarily dazed. Link leapt forward and slashed at his side. Fox fought back the pain, and did a backflip, dashing away from Link. A close quarters fight isn't going to benefit me in the long run... I've got to try something else. ---- Link was getting more and more frustrated. The fox was annoyingly hard to hit, and on top of that, he kept running away. This should already be over. He's doing far too well against me. It's like he already knows my moves. Link gritted his teeth. Fox was leaning on his staff, pretending to be bored with Link's efforts. Well if that's the way he want it... Link pulled out his ice rod and pointed it in Fox's direction. Fox aimed his staff at Link and began spewing fireballs at him before he even had a chance to begin using the magical artifact. What! How does he know... and why didn't he just use that before? Link began running forward and fired a beam of ice straight at Fox. The two opposite magical forces met each other full on, straining with the effort. Link kept pressing forward. The ice his weapon emitted was melting and dripping water on the stadium floor, but Fox's flames were gradually giving way. Link finally reached Fox and swung his sword horizontally. The staff snapped in a burst of magical light. Link smiled grimly. Good, now that's done with. Fox was running away again. Link reached for his bow. ---- His staff was broken. This was not good. Fox dashed past a flurry of arrows, and felt one nip him in the ear. He reached for his belt and pulled out a plasma gun. He came to a halt and pointed the gun at Link. Another arrow tore through his uniform. Fox squeezed the trigger hard and fired. The ball of energy flew towards Link. The pulsating purple sphere distorted the air around it. It soared onwards toward the Hyrulian Knight, an inexorable force of destruction. Or so Fox thought. Link simply caught the ball of energy on his Mirror Shield and reflected it back at Fox. Fox rolled to one side, but not in time to avoid getting his fur singed. He stayed on the ground and desperately fired off a flurry of shots from his blaster. They all bounced back to bite him, and most of them hit him full on. He winced from the pain. Now I know how Pikachu felt. Fainting was not an option for him however... at least, not yet. ---- Link stood still, hiding behind his shield. If he tries any more stupid tricks, I'll just take him out now. Link saw Fox reaching for another gun, and angled his shield into position. Link heard a crack, and suddenly there was a hole in his shield. He had a gunshot wound in his chest. Not even stopping to think, Link rolled away from the stream of fire. Another bullet went through his arm. Fox paused to reload. The animal was backed up against the arena wall. The competitors were directly above him, clearly enjoying the fight. Arggh. This is my chance... Link quickly ignited and threw a bomb in Fox's direction. It exploded into the side of the wall, and a cloud of smoke obscured the area around Fox. The other contestants began complaining. "Link!" called one voice. "Samus?" replied another. "Chief?" said someone else. "McCloud!" It was a string of non sequiturs. Link moved in on Fox in the midst of the confusion, ignoring the scattered voices from above. His opponent was coughing and looking around confusedly. Link loaded up his hookshot and snatched the gun away from Fox. He let the gun drop onto the arena floor, and crushed it with one boot. Link smiled as he moved in on his foe. Fox's arms dropped to his sides. This was it. He was out of options. Link was approaching him with his blade extended. He stopped a few feet away and addressed Fox. "You fought well. Too well, since you were fighting me. Perhaps you could explain this to me." The Hyrulian stared at him coldly. Fox decided it wasn't worth dancing around the truth. He shrugged. "I had a little advice from Auron..." Link's sword tore at Fox's side. He now had matching sword wounds on both sides. Great. At least he was symmetrical. "Liar. Who else helped you?" Fox spoke quickly, desperate to calm the Hylian down. "Ganondorf... Ganondorf told me how I could fight you." Link rammed the flat of his blade into Fox's head. Fox's ears were ringing from the impact. "I see. Too bad it still wasn't good enough. You only caused yourself more pain. You would have been much better off just giving up." Link began to level his sword at Fox. Fox instinctively reached for his blaster, then realized his mistake. Link's eyes burned. "So you still don't want to give up?" Link kicked Fox and sent him sprawling. He pulled out his sword again and raised it above Fox. Fox pleaded weakly. "Please, no more... I give up... I know you're a good guy, you don't want to do this..." "SHUT UP!" yelled Link. "Did he tell you to say that too?" Link grabbed Fox by the arms and began casting a spell. Fox's eyes grew wide as he tried to squirm away. Link chuckled. "That's right... you know what's coming. You can anticipate it, but you still can do nothing about it." Energy surged through Link's fingers and began to flow outward. "DIN'S FIRE!" A sphere of fire surrounded the two. Intense heat coursed through every part of Fox's body. He felt like he was flying through Lylat's Sun again. When it finally faded, his whole body was singed. His fur had turned black, and he was coughing. His lungs felt like they were still on fire. Link wasn't letting up though. He seemed determined to take everything out on Fox. He swung his sword at Fox again and again. "Do you hear me Ganondorf?" Link screamed. "I'll kill you! You can't stop me any more!" "Link!" A voice called to him from the stands. It was Zelda... or Sheik. He looked up... Sheik seemed to have an incredible sadness in her eyes as she looked down at him. Link followed her gaze. She was staring at his opponent. Fox was lying on the ground, motionless, his fur a black parody of what it had been before. Link suddenly twitched, looking at the still form. He reached over and felt Fox's pulse. Still alive... good. Link fought back any feelings of guilt. "It's his own fault..." Link muttered. "Ganondorf wanted to use him to get to me. I can't be so careless anymore." The whole crowd was silent for once. Link raised his hands in a victory pose above Fox's battered body. The applause slowly began, and gradually filled the stadium again. Sheik had leaned back into her seat. She seemed like a distant statue once again. Link determinedly walked out of the arena. He would leave Fox to the medical ward. This just showed how far Ganondorf was willing to go. He wouldn't come this close to failing again. Fox had barely hurt him, but even that was too much. He had held back too much, a mistake he couldn't afford to make twice. Aftermath Ganondorf was furious. "I gave that animal a chance. I spent all month teaching him the ways to fight Link... And he got blown away." In his angry pacing, however, Ganondorf had not noticed that he was not the only one standing here. "Uwehehehehehe!!!" Kefka Palazzo, by far the most insane character in the entire contest, was walking toward Ganondorf, after Kefka had apparently been in for another round of incinerating random things in the training center. Kefka didn't have any sort of training routine, during the day... He just took whatever opportunity he could to fry random things. Boxes, moving targets, simulator robots, Tingle... Whatever he saw that was fair game, he sent out a bolt of lightning at it. He was enjoying himself. "Tsk, tsk, Ganondorf. If you want to get something done right... You've just gotta do it yourself. Unless, of course, you're scared of the Master Sword..." Kefka once again laughed, that infuriating laugh that everyone in the contest had grown to HATE. He wasn't very popular among the contest's members... But he didn't really care. He wasn't here to make friends. He was here to engage in meaningless violence. And if he could put down a few people that had such high opinions of themselves... It was an added bonus. Kefka, like some of the others, was having fun at this contest... But he was having it in his own, evil, sadistic way. Ganondorf's eyes hardened, as he advanced on Kefka. "...Do I look like I'm afraid of anything, clown?" "Do I look like I'm afraid of anything either? Of course I don't! But I'm also completely fearless. Maybe everything looks the opposite of how it seems..." Kefka paused, smiling widely at the dark king. "So I guess you're a coward." Ganondorf had to use every bit of self restraint in his body to stop himself from unleashing the most powerful spell he knew on Kefka. Like most people of Ganondorf's temperment... The Gerudo had a terrible temper. And it was really hurting him, having to avoid hurting anyone outside his matches. You'll get what's coming to you, clown. And I hope that it's from me. ---- Link was wrestling with some of his thoughts, after the match. He prided himself on his manner, even in winning. He believed that he wasn't a person to gloat, or overdo it when he won. But... In the past two matches, he had left his opponents mangled and shredded. A monkey, that didn't know any better. And a fox, who was only trying to win. He was growing worried by this sudden feeling inside of him... This greed, this want for power. Kaepora said, early on in this tourney, that I reminded him of... Ganondorf. ...Does he have reason to believe that? Link had been dwelling on far too many things, of late. Ganondorf, his archrival, only a fight away from him. Kaepora's chastisement on his mental and physical well being and prowess. And... Especially, what had happened to Zelda. She had retreated, back to the Sheik personality that he knew so well. She had once been such a peaceful person, a calming influence... Without her, he had started to be prone to outbursts, to meaningless violence, like what he had done to Fox McCloud. ...Without her, he wasn't himself. Both of them had came to the tournament as the nicest people that can be. Now... Things had changed. ---- Elsewhere "Chief, you sure about this? It sounds like a bad idea to me." The man known as Master Chief shook his head. "I told you before: no, I'm not sure about this, and yes, it is a bad idea. But I'm not about to go back on a deal, even with someone like Vercetti, even for something like this." The soldier could have sworn he could hear the AI sigh. "Well, just stating for the record that I don't like this. At all." Master Chief shrugged, his green armor glistening in the fluorescent lights of the hallway. "Makes two of us. But I can't do it alone, Cortana. Which is where you come in. I'm a soldier, not a computer programmer...but I'm willing to bet that there isn't a code you can't crack, not a program you can't change. How long were the specs on how long it would take an AI program like you to re-construct a similarly powerful AI from scratch?" Sounding slightly mollified, the visual representation of Cortana displayed on the soldier's helmet's visor shrugged. "About half an hour...I said I'd do it, Chief. But again, I don't like it." The Master Chief stopped in front of one of the doors leading out of the hallway. "You and me both..." with that, he rapped on the wood of the door. "KOS-MOS, are you in here?" To Be Continued... Next Entry Back |