| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
August 4th, 2003Preshow: "A Day on the Greens" Luigi exited M-Mart, the early morning light peeking over the horizon. He put up a sign that said, "Sorry, were-a closed." He returned to the hotel, to find his brother Mario already preparing for the day. Mario had put on his Red-Plaid overalls and cap, and a collared blue shirt for the occasion. Luigi quickly put on his corresponding outfit, with green instead of red though. Luigi asked Mario, "Where's-a Yoshi, and-a Donkey Kong-a?" "Yoshi is-a waiting by the-a exit, and-a Donkey Kong-a is already at-a the course-a." "Alright-a, lets-a go." Luigi and Mario gathered up their clubs and headed down to meet Yoshi by the entrance. The Golf Course had just opened a few days ago. An entrepreneur who had come to watch the tournament had seen an opportunity upon his arrival and had been working arduously to prepare the Golf Course. It had been completed the same day as the first round ended, and had been aptly named "Battle Hills Golf Course". Mostly the customers of Battle Hills were fans, who needed something to do between matches, but even a few warriors had made it out to the course. When the three friends arrived at the golf course they found a surprising amount of their fellow battlers out. Megaman and Zero were on the putting green. Vercetti, Payne, and Snake were at the driving range, DK was there too, but on the other side by himself. Bowser seemed to be teeing off on an early solo round. The trio went over to DK who was smashing golf balls into oblivion with his driver. "Hey-a Donkey Kong, are you-a ready?" Mario asked the enormous ape. Donkey Kong shrugged and went off with them to the Pro Shop. ---- Snake leaned back and swung the five iron forward with all his might, however he straitened his knees and leaned back as he swung so he only managed to hit the top of the ball. It went forward about 30 yards, not getting more than a few feet off the ground. Snake cringed as a laugh came from behind him. "Cram it, Vercetti," Snake shot backwards. Golfing was one of the few things Snake wasn't good at, and he didn't like doing things he wasn't good at. "Aww, come on, doesn't the government teach its secret agents how to play golf," Vercetti sneered, still chuckling at the fuming Snake. "Turn around, I'll show you how its done." Snake turned around to watch, Payne also stopped his swinging to watch Vercetti. Payne had played a few times when he was on the force, so he could at least get the ball off the ground, but neither of them held a candle to the gangster. Vercetti rotated his back, not leaning one way or another and then uncoiled unleashing his 3-Iron into the dimpled face of the golf ball. The golf ball took off and slowly began arching upwards, and falling down to the earth neatly on the 225 yard marker. Vercetti watched the ball land, and then beamed at Snake. Snake looked at the grand canyon sized grin on Vercetti's face, and then went back to his own swinging. He made a solid contact but only got the ball out 120 yards or so. "How does a thug like you learn a sport like this?" Snake asked shaking his head at his own failure. Vercetti thought about it for a moment, upgraded the size of his grin, and said, "Let's just say it comes in handy to know how to swing a golf club in Vice City." "KOS-MOS should see you now, she'd be impressed," Max said knocking a ball into the low 200's with a 5-wood. "Jesus ****ing Christ, she's not here is she?!?!?!?!" Tommy said looking around nervously. The ex-cop and the ex-agent laughed and then returned to their golf. ---- Zero was on the verge of mass murder. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get that stupid little white ball to go in that stupid little black hole. He looked over at his blue companion who was jumping up and down after another successful 20 foot put. He twitched a little, but then cooled his circuits and tried again. Megaman came bounding over to Zero, "Did you see that Zero, I made that put from like 21.3986 feet. At first I thought I had over-calculated the break and I was gonna miss, but then there was another break in the opposite direction, but I had put too much power into it, but it managed to catch and it rolled all the way around the cup and went in!!!!!" Zero looked at Megaman for a few seconds and then said, "I hate you." Megaman grinned at Zero a few seconds and then went back to his own putting. Alright, Zero, one more time Zero thought to himself, repositioning his ball 23.1964 feet from the hole. Alright, lets see, coefficient of kinetic friction between the ball and the grass at .5412, slope of the hill 1.3952 degrees upward, slant of 3.641 degrees to the left, energy lost in collision between the putter and the ball at 2.4300 joules, wind blowing at 4.9801 miles per hour from west, I calculate I need to aim 1.2119 feet to the right of the hole, and exert 35.1028 N of force on the putter. After meticulously calculating the exact trajectory his ball needed to follow. Zero slowly drew back his putter, and with exactly 35.1028 Newtons of force brought the putter through the ball. The ball rolled across the carefully cut grass in the precise way that Zero wanted. It rolled up the hill and began to arc towards the hole. Zero hopes grew and grew as the ball drew closer and closer to the hole. Then, at the last second a strong gust of wind came from the exact opposite side of the hole, and Zero's ball stopped right at the lip. Zero stared over at his ball for a few moments. Another gust of win blew, and a tumble weed rolled across the green, but Zero's ball didn't move. Zero stood there in silence and absolute rage for a minute. Megaman came over and looked at his frozen comrade. He waved his hands in front of Zero's face but no effect. "You...you there Zero?" Megaman asked cautiously. Suddenly Zero pulled out his Z-Buster, charged up a shot and fired it at the hole. The explosion rocked the normally quiet course. The other golfers on the green looked on in terror as Zero stood there pointing his weapon at a 3-foot radius crater where a hole and a ball used to be. Megaman also seemed to be fairly surprised by the outbreak. Zero began to walk off of the course, he had enough golf for one lifetime. Megaman called out for him as he left, "Wait, Zero you can't go!" Zero spun around on Megaman, and with a menacing look he said, "Really, why not?" Megaman looked taken aback by the menacing face Zero was wearing and then quietly said, "You didn't repair your divot." Zero stared at Megaman for a few seconds, and then spun back around and left. Megaman mumbled to himself, "So much for etiquette." ---- The announcement came over the PA, "Next up on the number one tee, is the Mario foursome." Mario got up from watching the series of events involving Zero and the wind, and headed over to the number one tee. The other members of his party were already waiting for them. "Looks-a like-a that it was just a single in-a front of us-a. We shouldn't have-a to wait-a too much-a." Luigi said knowingly, nodding his head with his hands on his hips. "Alright lets-a tee off-a." Mario said gleefully. Donkey Kong was already at the tee box, lining up his shot. Yoshi barked a slur of sounds, that only the two brothers and the ape could comprehend. "Yes-a I do-a have-a match-a today-a," Luigi answered. Yoshi said something again. "I-a did-a plenty of-a practicing-a yesterday-a." Luigi answered again. Once again Yoshi spoke. "Hey don't-a take that tone-a with me, I'm-a Luigi number one. There's-a no way that-a moper-a Squall can-a beat me." Luigi responded. Yoshi looked like he was gonna say something else, but DK was already swinging so the hushed up. Donkey Kong was definitely a power hitter. His hit screamed off the tee and up the hill on the first hole. Mario also powered his up the hill. Luigi and Yoshi were more control oriented and placed there's maybe 220 yards out, but smack in the middle of the fairway. Donkey Kong pursued his ball at the crest of the hill, Mario's ball had gone into the first cut, with Luigi and Yoshi less than 20 yards away from each other, Yoshi being the further. Yoshi addressed his ball. He spun and released shanking his ball into the sandtrap on the side of the green. Luigi wasn't much better. He cut his shot really thin and the ball hugged the ground as it ran over the hill and stopped a solid 50 yards short of the green. Now it was Mario's turn. He stepped up clutching his 4-Iron. He smacked his ball and it ignited in mid air leaving a trail of fire as it found its way to the green. "Nice-a shot," said Luigi. "Nice on," said Donkey Kong. Now it was the Barrel Kings second shot. He put one fist down, in order to support his incredible upper body weight, holding his 6-Iron in his other hand. When you had as much power as Donkey Kong, two hands were a moot point. He smacked his 6-Iron with all his might. The foursome watched in awe the perfect trajectory of DK's shot. As it landed less than 2 feet away from the pin. Donkey Kong jumped up and down in satisfaction. "Excellent-a," said Mario. They all went to the green DK putted out with a birdie. Mario missed his first put and came out with a par. Yoshi was able to get a good enough pitch out of the sand trap, to be able to come out with a par, but Luigi over shot his third one and had to chip out of the rough, coming out of the first hole with a bogey. The next 5 holes went by in a montage like series of events. From Mario's controversial lie on the second hole, to Luigi's excellent chip in on hole six. After five holes, DK was in the lead at three under par. Mario had broke even, and Yoshi and Luigi were tied at 1 over. Then they came to the seventh hole, a par 3. ---- Bowser had just finished his 9 holes. He had decided to only play nine to avoid the blazing sun, in this particularly hot August. Being cold-blooded was a major bummer for the reptile king. The 7th hole came right by the Pro Shop so he saw that dolt Mario, and his cronies chatting it up on the tee box. "Grrr....look at them, having fun in the sun on the day of one of their own matches. It makes me so mad, I just wish......I just wish," an idea ran across Bowser's mind. "I just wish, something horrible would happen to them.....GWAHOHOHOHO!!!!!!!" Bowser ran off to hatch his devious schemes. ---- Luigi stepped up to the tee, his awesome chip in from 60 yards for eagle had given him honors. Luigi looked over at the green, and though he saw someone running off of it. But didn't pay attention to it. He smacked a good one into the rough. Similar results were had by everyone, even DK. So all of them gathered around the green. Mario was the farthest just in the rough beside the green. Upon reaching their balls they noticed several black mounds in the middle of the green. "Hey-a, what are-a those-a?" asked Mario addressing his ball. "Probably just-a some dry spots. Just-a hit-a your ball-a," Luigi said impatiently. Mario shurgged and took a half of a backswing and came through. His ball flew gracefully through the air, and landed daintily on the green, rolled a few feet and came to a stop right on the side of the black mound. They all looked curiously at the mound........... nothing. Mario shrugged and turned around to put his sand wedge away. Suddenly the mound flashed red. The three who were looking started paying more attention. Suddenly, it flashed again........then again, and again, now it was beginning to be red more than black. "Somebody-a set up us-a the bomb-a." Luigi yelled upon realizing what it was. The bob-omb exploded. Launching Mario's ball directly into the back of his skull. Mario collapsed to the ground. DK, Yoshi, and Luigi fell backwards from the force of the blast and were sprinkled with dust. As they all got to their feet, except for Mario who was out cold, and began to survey the green. Half of the green remained intact, save for two black mounds, and the other side was now a scorched black crater. They all slowly got to their feet. "What the hell is going on here!?!?!?!" demanded Donkey Kong. Yoshi pulled a course rule book out of his pocket (yes, he has pockets) and began to study it feverishly. Luigi went over to Mario's unconscious body. "Hey-a, wake up," Luigi said turning him over. He looked at the two black x's that had replaced Mario's eyes. Then with a trememdous slap, he backhanded Mario across the face, sending him rolling into the sand trap. Mario woke up with a groan. "Hey-a, why did you-a hit me?" Mario asked grudgingly. Luigi pointed over at the green, "Oh." Yoshi, cried out in surprise and then barked out a slur of incomprehensible dribble. "Whaddya mean we have to keep playing!!!!" yelled Donkey Kong at Yoshi. Yoshi repeated the same thing he said before, "Well screw that, I'm skipping this hole." "No-a wait, we don't skip holes just-a because-a they're-a difficult. That's-a something-a Wario or-a Bowser would-a do," Mario said, "We-a keep-a playing. Just-a try to avoid-a the black-a mounds." DK grumbled and went to his ball. Mario had to take another shot. The other two bob-ombs were on the other side of the green, so he had some room to drop his shot without detonating them. With careful precision he chipped his ball at the cup. He wanted to hit directly past it as there were no bob-ombs in that direction, but it hit the pin and bounced off to the left, right towards a second bob-omb. The gang held there breath as the ball rolled and stopped less than an inch away from the mound. They all exhaled in unison. Now it was DK's turn, he carefully analyzed his options, and removed his sand wedge. He opened the face of his club so it was almost horizontal. He pulled back in a huge backswing, and arched his swing inward. The ball spun through the air landing slightly past the hole. But then the spin he put on the ball made it roll diagonally backward right into the hole. "Nice-a shot, Donkey Kong," said Luigi, but Donkey Kong was too happy with himself to listen, he was bounding around the rough where he had shot from, slapping his hands on the ground. They were all nodding in approval when DK took his celebration a little too far. From nowhere a barrel appeared and he hurled it at the green. The other three yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" but it was too late the barrel rolled onto the green, and ramped off the first mound and broke over the second. The two mounds began to flash. DK snapped out of celebration and said to Mario, "I think we should skip this hole." Mario responded, "Good-a idea." They all ran off to the next hole, running from the shockwave of the explosion behind them. They arrived at the next hole, and began to inspect everything. "Alright-a guys, someone is-a using-a foul play-a, be-a very, very careful,"Luigi said looking into a pile of rocks suspiciously. They all looked out on the course. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just a bunch of sand traps, but that was nothing unusual. They shrugged and started teeing off. Donkey Kong got honors since he was the only one to sink a shot on the last hole. He leaned back and with a crack of blue lighting his ball whizzed off down the fairway. 300 yards later the ball came to a stop in the dead center of the fairway. The group waited for a few moments, just to make sure nothing exploded. Then DK slowly, as if there were mines under the ground tiptoed back to the cart path. The others had similar luck on the drives, each one making it onto the fairway, except Mario who was in the first cut only. It was time for their second shots, Yoshi was out. He smacked his ball so hard a rainbow followed it to the green, it rolled and came to a stop less than a foot away from the pin. They all looked at the green, once again anticipating an explosion. But, there was nothing. Donkey Kong also made the green, and after a few seconds of silent anticipation they calculated that the green wasn't armed to explode this time. Yoshi spewed out a string of barks, and Luigi responded, "You're-a right-a Yoshi, it-a was probably just-a that-a hole." Mario also made it to the green, but Luigi's faded in the wind, and landed in the middle of the green-side bunker. They all approached the green, having let down their guard, big mistake. Luigi looked at his ball lie, and stepped into the sand trap. He heard a clinking of a chain somewhere, but then it was gone. He looked around suspiciously for a moment or two, and then returned to his ball. He lined it up and took a big dip. A pound of sand flew up in the air along with Luigi's ball and landed on the green, rolling to a stop eight feet from the cup. Yoshi complimented Luigi on his strike and then started preparing his own shot. Luigi grinned in approval of his good out that would allow him to save par, and began to step out of the trap. Suddenly Luigi heard the chain rattle again, he spun around and looked at a wall of sand behind him. The rattling came again, Luigi leaned out to get a better look. He brushed off a top layer of sand to find a large black metal object. Bob-ombs thought Luigi, but it was too big to be a bob-omb. He braced himself and tapped the object. Suddenly a large white eye appeared on the black surface. "CHAIN CHOMP!!!!" squealed Luigi as he tried to run away, but the sand didn't hold and he ended up treading in place. The Chain Chomp rushed out of the sand grabbing the top half of Luigi in its mouth. The others looked over, and rushed to Luigi's assistance DK and Mario each grabbed one of Luigi's legs and began pulling Luigi away from the monster. It was a game of tug-of-war with Luigi as the rope. Both sides were equally matched. Yoshi was the only one not helping. He looked around and saw a small wooden post hanging out of the top of the sand trap. He rushed over and leaped high into the air, and then rocketed down to earth smashing the wooden post. The Chain Chomp released Luigi and began to hop from side to side, and then jumped off over the fence and into the wild. The four friends helped up Luigi, holed out, and moved onto the 9th hole. The four compatriots dragged their tired bodies over to the 9th tee. They sat down for a second and then looked over at the fairway, it was gone. In it's place was a pool of lava the likes of which only they had seen. The '4' on the sign had been crossed out, and in crude handwriting a '3' had been written in. A crude message had also been written by hand. "GWAHOHOHO, having a nice relaxing game of golf Mario? WAHAHAHAHA if you can all get your balls in the hole in three strokes, all the lava will disappear, but fat chance you can do that. GWAHAHA, fat chance, I slay me. Signed, Bowser P.S. I forgot to mention if you don't hole out in 3 shots, or don't complete the hole, a bob-omb under the Pro Shop will explode, so don't think about skipping this hole." "That-a no good-a rotten..." Mario started, but then Luigi piped up. "Hey-a Mario, I-a don't see-a the green-a," said the plaid clad plumber said. Mario looked up, but he too couldn't find the green in the sea of lava. Then he looked up, high above the sea of lava, was a contraption he didn't fancy seeing again. It was Bowser's personal transport. A cup, of sorts, for Bowser to sit in, with a demonically evil smiley face painted on it. A green propeller at the bottom of the contraption held it in the air, and it held it 100 feet up in the air. Aboard the contraption was nothing other than the green, with a pin, and a hole. First up was Yoshi. Yoshi stepped up to the tee nervously. He had his Lobe wedge out. He took a large swing and hacked away. The ball soared up into the air, all the friends looked on nervously as the ball appeared to reach its crest. Suddenly they lost sight of the ball as it reached the green. They waited nervously the ball to fall of the other side, but it did not. They all let out a sigh of relief and then it was Donkey Kong's turn. Donkey Kong smirked and pulled out his lobe wedge as well. He knew he had the power to get it up there no problem. He nonchalantly pulled back and fired a shot, much as he expected it landed on the green without a hitch. Luigi was up, he was obviously worried. He wasn't sure he could power the ball up there. He reluctantly stepped up to his ball and fired it up into the air. They all gasped in terror as the ball began to fall, they looked on as it was headed for the direct edge of the green. It landed atop and stopped less than a foot away from the side. After a few seconds wait, they all heaved a great sigh of relief. Mario was up last, he figured if Luigi could do it he could do it. Mario casually pulled back and let it fly, he watched with a smile as his ball flew into the air. He pulled down his club and said, "That-a is-a my trusty-a sand-wedge-a." He looked at the inscrition on the bottom of the head and realized that it didn't say S it said 5. He looked up in horror as his ball hit the propeller and flew into the lava below. The three gasped in horror as the ball fizzled into the lava. They all stared blankly at the frying ball. "Oh-a no," said Luigi, Yoshi said something that was probably agreeing but we'll never know because no one responded to it. "Its alright," said Donkey Kong, "As long as Mario makes his mulligan we're alright." "Fat-a chance," said Mario grimly. "You-a guys should-a hole out-a first, I-a work better under-a pressure." The other three nodded, and began figuring a way how to get up to the top. Luigi snapped his fingers upon figuring out an idea. He ran over to his golf bag and pulled out a green hat, with two white wings on it. He put it on gave his friends the peace sign, and ran towards the lava. He jumped once, then again, and the flipped off and flew into the air. Arching up and landing neatly on top of the green. Yoshi jumped up in the air, but began to fall about half way up. The others gasped in horror, but Yoshi began to peddal his legs to every extent he could and it boosted him the extra distance he needed to get up top. Donkey Kong tossed a vine up to Luigi who tied it to the pin, Donkey Kong began to climb up. Upon his arrival, the three inspected the green that layed before them. It was more or less flat, but they were all on the complete opposite side of the green as the flag, no less than 40 feet away. Luigi was the farthest with a solid 50 feet between him and the hole. "Is it just-a me, or is-a this thing much-a bigger than it-a was-a last time-a?" but neither of the other two atop the green had been there last time so he received no response. Luigi didn't really line up his shot, he just smacked a hard one at the hole. The ball rolled and rolled, and rolled right past the cup. The cup was only 10 feet away from the edge of the green, and they all gasped as Luigi's ball stopped just short of the edge. "Careful, guys," Donkey Kong said, "If any one of us screws up its all over. And judging by how Mario is looking down there we can't give him any reason to be more worried." Yoshi and Luigi nodded. Yoshi addressed his ball. He lined up his shot and fired it for the hole. It stopped around 3 feet short. The others looked appreciatively at each other. And it was Donkey Kongs turn now. The expert golfing monkey, damn near nailed his shot, but had a gimme for par. Luigi took a deep breath, he needed to make this put to save the people in the pro shop. He flinched as he hit the ball, it strove towards the pin, and came to a stop right at the edge of the cup. They all stopped breathing, then suddenly the ball fell into the cup, and they all breathed a deep sigh of relief. Yoshi quickly putted out and then they signaled down to Mario. Alright Mario, it's-a just-a one hole-in-a-one-a, you-a make those all-a the time-a Sweat glistened on Mario's face, part from the heat of the lava part from the pressure of the shot. He held his breath and swung. The next 6 seconds went by in slow motion. 8 different eye's followed the ball as it rose into the air. The ball rose above the edge of the green and began to crest down. The ball landed on the green and bounced once in the air, it traveled a few feet and then met the ground again. This time the ball didn't leave it rolled, pretty much online to the hole, amazing since Mario wasn't able to see the pin. It rolled just to the right of the cup, but it rolled in. The ball still had force so it curled around the outside of the cup. Once, twice, and then fell in. The three that could see the shot erupted in cheer. Mario sighed and watched as the lava drained into a small warp portal in the center of the now obvious fairway. The three friends jumped down to join Mario and watched as Bowser's cup flew off into the air. Bowser looked on from a bush, "Curse you Mario," Bowser said aloud. "I'll get you, Mario, or maybe someone else will," Bowser said his frown turning upside down. "Nice shot, Mario," DK said. "Thanks," said Mario. "Onto the-a back-a nine?" he asked. "No-a way, I've-a had enough-a golf. I'm-a gonna go have-a nice-a relaxing-a battle," Luigi said shaking his head. They all laughed and headed for the exit. Battle: "Fated Children" The gunblade truly is an amazing weapon. Few have knowledge of its mechanics, and even less have the skill to wield the off-balance weapon. In fact only two students in Balamb Garden committed the years of training required to master the weapon. Surely this fact contributed in some small part to the rivalry between Squall and Seifer, however it was most likely due mostly to their conflicting personalities. They would often use these weapons against one another in mock battle while they were training in the Garden. These clashes were always a fearful experience for Squall, for the gunblade is more deadly a weapon than any normal sword. Built into the hilt of a gunblade was a firearm, the type depending on the swordsman. Most opted to use some form of pistol grip. Squall preferred a revolver. Contrary to what one would think, the gunblade is a modular weapon. It can be outfitted to actually fire a projectile, but a swordsman such as Squall had little use for a ranged weapon. Squall instead used a design that utilized high-explosive rounds. In this particular version of gunblade, no metal slug is propelled out of the barrel. Instead the explosion created by the round is routed through porting in the lower part of the blade. When the weapon becomes imbedded in flesh, the trigger is pulled and the fire causes further damage to the victim. It is not often one survives such a critical hit. When Squall, with his weapon perched upon his shoulder, entered the half-destroyed stadium to polite applause, he looked around to discover that his opponent had yet to arrive. He had nothing to do but wait around and think until the match started. It was of no concern to him, as thinking had become a common past time for the warrior. Squall was for the most part alone in this tournament. True, he spent much of his time alongside Cloud and Aeris, but they rarely spoke. The SeeD preferred to stay inside his own head, where he felt the safest. Still, he appreciated the polite company, and his comrades seemed to understand this, as they never asked him to leave or questioned his mood on the occasion they did speak. However, Squall's attitude on loneliness was still radically different than it was before he met Rinoa. He was once convinced that reliance on others was to be considered a weakness, and that he was strongest on his own. He had been proven wrong through his ordeal alongside his friends. He now understood the value of companions. Still, away from the light-hearted Rinoa and the reckless yet often humorous Zell, Squall knew he had only himself to rely on once again. This was a point of concern for Squall. It was not a question of skill in Squall's mind. His opponent was a simple plumber, who lacked the decade of training Squall had at the garden. The variable the worried the SeeD was a far more powerful force: fate. The power of fate was relatively new to Squall. For much of his life he had little patience for concepts like pre-destiny. The philosophy that one is in control of one's own self made far more sense at the time. However, when the five children of the orphanage reunited to fulfill their duties as SeeDs and defeat the sorceress, Squall's philosophy underwent a radical change. Squall knew he, along with his friends, were meant to defeat the Sorceress from birth. The garden was created with this as its sole purpose. The events in the chronology of that handful of people all played a part in leading to the climatic battle with Ultimecia. It was their purpose in life. Squall was burdened with the responsibility to prevent the destruction of time and space. He survived long enough to achieve this at the age of seventeen. The only reason he was kept alive as to serve his duty to the universe. Now he was finished, and had no more purpose. Now fate was uncertain. The world had nothing to lose by the death of Squall, which could come about any day in a contest such as this. Squall was a tool of fate that had already been used. Fate could decide to throw him away just as she would a broken wrench, a spent bullet casing, or an obsolete game console. She decides to let Squall live or die on a whim, regardless of what he believes he has to live for, regardless of his desire to see Irvine and Selphie again, regardless of his plans for the future. This bites, Squall thought as his opponent finally entered the arena to tremendous applause. However, when the crowd caught sight of the green hero the applause quickly died down and was replaced with confused murmuring. The plumber was clad in very odd, slightly tacky plaid green clothing, but that was not what was most striking about his appearance. Luigi looked like he had gone to hell and back. His plaid clothing was disheveled and torn, bruised skin visible through the many holes in his clothing. His sweat-soaked hair and mustache were plastered to his blackened, soot covered face and the only visible skin was raw and bleeding. The plumber looked up at the crowd and gave a brave smile. "It's-a me, a-Luigi!" he called. This was met with even greater applause than before. Squall, however, was not taking in any of this, for he was still lost in thought. ...and what if I have some unseen purpose, yet to manifest itself, Squall mused. After all, it is possible for a being to be fated to serve the universe multiple times throughout one's life...No, that's ridiculous. I was burdened with a great responsibility. Fate would ask no more of me. I'm dispensable. I could very well fall before this plumber. How I wish Rinoa were here! She would know how to cheer me up. She would know how to make me happy. Why is it that one person can be so content and another restless with questions? Whatever...it does me no good to dwell on this. I am here and this is the reality. I must grit my teeth and- THWAK! "ARGHH!!!" Squall yelped in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his left leg. Something had struck his shin with a loud crack and left him momentarily unable to stand. "What the hell was that?!" Squall demanded as he waited for the throbbing pain to subside. "It's-a called a turtle shell!" Luigi gloated with a confident smirk. His fists were placed on his hips and he stuck his battered chest out. He titled his head up as if to look down upon Squall, but it did little, as Luigi was considerably shorter than the swordsman. "And there are-a plenty more where that a-came from!" Squall rose to his feet, ignoring the slight pain as he put pressure on his injured shin. He brought his gunblade up and elevated the tip to Luigi's eye-level. The odd balance and weight of the weapon world normally make such a motion a difficult task, but the warrior had grown so accustomed to it that it required little effort. A small smile was barely visible underneath Luigi's slightly burnt mustache. "So, you're-a finally a-ready to fight, huh?" He crossed his arms. Squall made the first move. He leaned forward has he made a running charge toward his opponent, quickly closing the fifty feet that separated them. As he did so he twirled his blade once in order to gain momentum for a downward vertical slice. Moments before impact Luigi leaped high into the air, momentarily eclipsing the sun from Squall and landing on this other side. The SeeD had been prepared for such an evasion and performed a 180-degree spin the moment he felt his blade strike the dirt. He brought his weapon up to his torso and assumed a defensive position. He prepared to dodge the inevitable counter-attack. It never came. Instead Squall found himself to be looking upon a thoroughly exhausted Luigi. He was resting his hands on his knees and was gasping for air. "That..." he managed to breathe, "took a lot outta me...I was-a all a-Bowser's fault!" Squall allowed him to catch his breath for a moment. Maybe fate decided to give me a break today. "Hey-a, brother!" Mario had apparently just arrived to see his sibling's match. "Use-a the mushrooms!" "Oh yeah!" Luigi slapped himself on the forehead. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three mushrooms, each of which was easily the size of his head. "This-a should be enough," he said before shoving them into his mouth. Nearly instantaneously every part of Luigi's body expanded, and within a few seconds, a ten-foot-tall plumber was standing before Squall. He took a moment to examine his own hands with satisfaction before looking down on the 5'8" SeeD. I've faced worse. Squall barely had time to roll out of the way of a well placed kick that looked like it could have torn off his torso. He had just recovered from the roll when he had to jump backwards to avoid a downward punch. Squall looked up at Luigi's large face. He was smiling ear to ear. Apparently he was enjoying this. Squall brought his blade up to strike at his opponent's exposed side when he was swatted to the side by Luigi's other hand. The Italian's gloved hand struck Squall with the force of a gigantic war club and knocked him to the ground. The mercenary was too dizzy and disoriented to feel very much pain from the blow. He staggered to his feet and tried to shake off the spinning sensation only to be struck again with the same hand. The dizziness worsened and he now had a throbbing pain in his skull as his face hit the ground. The taste of dirt was accompanied by that of blood. This time it was a moment before Squall could summon the strength to rise. His fatigued arms shook as they struggled to support the weight of his body. He had only pushed himself up a few inches when Luigi placed his foot on Squall's back and forced him down again. It was painful for the swordsman to even attempt to get up. Squall searched for other options. He discovered he has dropped his gunblade and it now lies out of his reach. He knew he had only magic. He conjured up what mental stamina he had left to perform a last-ditch spell. He closed his eyes and mumbled a few words. Within moments bright flames began dancing up Luigi's pant leg. It took a moment for the plumber to realize his plaid clothing was now ablaze. He looked down and his eyes widened at the sight of the vibrant flames. "MAMA-MIA!" Luigi jumped five feet into the air and began running around in circles. He rapidly struck his leg with his hands in a futile attempt to extinguish the flames. Squall took this opportunity to roll onto his back and return oxygen to his lungs. It was a full three minutes of commotion, which Bowser and Kefka found highly amusing, before Luigi finally decided that the only coarse of action was to suffer the indignity of removing his trousers. The two villains found the sight of the hero's boxers absolutely hilarious, and could not contain themselves. "HAHAHAHA!!! HE HAS LITTLE HEARTS ON THEM!!!" Bowser was rolling on the floor in tears. His large shell was crushing the toes of those around his. "Hehehehehahahaha!! He actually wears undergarments!" Luckily Bowser did not hear Kefka's comment, although others around him did. Crono, who was stuck next to the clown due to lack of seating, began to slowly inch away from the lunatic. By this time Squall had risen to his feet and performed a cure spell on himself. It did not relieve the pain, but it gave him much needed energy. He recovered his weapon and prepared to face his pant-less foe, who had reverted to normal size. Luigi was now defenseless. Squall knew this and charged at him with his weapon ready to strike. The nude hero looked around frantically. All of his items were burned in the blaze. All except his fire flowers. Before the mercenary could deliver a slice, Luigi performed a running dive towards the two remaining flowers. He grabbed one and threw it into the air above him. It released its magic and the power of fire became infused with the plumber's body. He jumped up in time to send two balls of flame speeding toward Squall. Squall skidded to a halt and fell backwards in order to dodge the two fireballs. He jumped up and spotted another headed straight for his head. He instinctively brought his blade in attempt to deflect the projectile. It had little effect, the energy simply flowed around the blade, but it did enough to prevent a direct hit to the face. Squall still felt the destructive touch of the fire as it grazed his cheek. Luigi, seeing his attack fail, fired off a huge volley of deadly balls of energy. Dozens of balls of flame soared through the air towards Squall. He managed to deflect the first two, but the fireballs were impacting two quickly for him to react. One after another the flames struck the hero and danced across his body before dissipating. First in the gut, then several times in the chest, the impact of the projectiles caused a pain so unbearable that Squall could no longer see. He blacked out and fell to his knees, but was still able to hear his screams of agony and the laughter of those who enjoyed the carnage. He could barely make out Luigi's frantic apologies. He could not remember falling, but he could feel himself on the ground, his body sprawled out. His breathing was now forced and painful. Every breath of valuable oxygen gained at a price of increasingly diminishing energy. Squall no longer had the stamina to breathe in. The pain slowly lifted from his body. He could no longer hear his strained attempts at breathing. He felt light-headed. He could no longer form coherent thoughts. "Sis..." With a final gasp, his body became rigid and motionless. ---- Luigi was horrified with what he had just done. He had never intended to take life. He was not a villain. He did not find joy in his ability to hurt others. He just wanted to win the match and gain some glory for himself. This was horrible. The announcer had begun to announce Luigi the winner when he was interrupted by a deafening screech. The entire audience looked up for the source of the noise. High in the sky, silhouetted in the bright, midday sun was a humongous bird. It circled the stadium a few times before swooping down and allowing the onlookers to get a better look. The bird was beautiful, covered in elegant red and gold feathers. Its long tail trailed behind it and was nearly the length of the rest of its body. It was covered with the most colorful feathers on its body, arranged in straight lines that moved fluidly up and down as it flapped its wings. The creature glided around the stadium as gracefully as if it were in water instead of air. It angled its enormous red wings downward and dropped altitude so that it was merely fifteen feet above the ground. It hugged the wall of the arena as it did a single lap, allowing the audience to see its deep black eyes up close. It then turned and passed over the still body of Squall Leonheart and released a shower of golden dust above the fallen hero. As soon as the first particle touched his body, Squall awoke with a violent spasm. It took him a moment to recollect what had happened, but he soon realized why he was lying in the middle of an arena. "Phoenix..." he whispered. With a new sense of purpose, he rose to his feet, full of energy and completely unscathed. His picked up his gunblade and junctioned it with the ice element. Fate had given Squall a second chance. His gloved fingers conformed tightly around the sleek handle of his weapon as he prepared for combat once again. Luigi quickly recovered from the shock of killing his opponent and began to fire off another volley of fireballs, although this time more slowly and with more control. Squall was running at full speed towards the plumber, with his weapon raised in front of him. This time he deflected every single projectile. The fireballs now dissipated the moment they touched the gunblade. Lightning-quick reflexes perfected in years of training allowed Squall to snap his blade nearly instantly to protect himself from each fireball. He stopped each orb of energy with such grace and quick movement that he seemed superhuman. All of the swordsmen, even Sephiroth, were impressed with the sudden display of skill. He quickly reached his opponent raised his blade to attack. He brought the weapon down diagonally and caught Luigi between the neck and shoulder. The incredible pain was visible in Luigi's face. The blade sunk a few inches into the plumber's flesh, but the swordsman refrained from pushing it any further. Luigi, his face contorted in pain, looked up directly into Squall's eyes. "Please...don't," the hero pleaded. For a moment Squall's finger tightened on the trigger. The pain of the barrage of fireballs was fresh in his memory. And the killing of this plumber would not be looked down upon after he had done the same to Squall. The warrior's anger swelled but was quickly sedated by a voice of reason. We do not fight to kill. We fight because we have to. There is no sense in meaningless bloodshed; the match is already won. "Surrender," Squall grunted. "Okay! Okay!" The blade was removed and paramedics immediately rushed to Luigi's aid. Aftermath Long after the fight, Mario Mario still remained in his seat. No one was around him, but he was still there, like he had been an hour ago, and two hours ago, and longer. His head just laid in his hands, as he tried to deal with the fact that his brother had lost. The other 28 competitors, and the visitors that had come to see Luigi fight, had all trickled out of the stadium, albeit slowly. Some, like Peach, Donkey Kong, and some of his other Mushroom Kingdom friends, visiting, had stopped by to offer their condolences. "Mario! It's so nice to see you!" Mario looked up, still without a smile on his face, and saw Peach standing there, grinning at seeing him. She was so happy to see him, she seemed not to care that Luigi was gone... "Oh... Peach. Nice to see you a-here..." "So sad with your brother... He'll be okay, right?" "Yes-a... Luigi will recover. But he can't stick around now." "You going to be lonely?" "Yes..." "Oh, then I'd better talk now, I have so much to tell you..." But as much as Mario tried to play along, and talk with them, he wasn't really focused on discussion. Soon, they saw this, and left Mario there, to just sulk. "Goodbye, Mario... See you later this week, your match, remember? Good luck!" I can't-a believe it. My brother's gone. It wasn't like him. Throughout the tournament, he had always had a smiling face. No one ever saw Mario Mario frowning, or unhappy. Mario had been in the final match last year. He had beaten some of the strongest players there were in both this and last year's tourney. And his brother, who was, in many ways, his equal, had already lost. Through his sorrow that his closest friend in the competition was gone, Mario felt other emotions. Worry. He didn't know now, whether the skill that had carried him to the final round of this tournament would still hold strong. This year, it was a much tougher crowd... Mario had been lucky in landing one of the pushover opponents. Sadness. Last year, he had been used to staying on his own, and not having anyone around that he could really talk to. Sure, there was still Donkey Kong, there was still Yoshi, in this year's tourney... But it wasn't like he could talk to them, have the same camaraderie that he had with his brother. And... For the first time ever, Mario felt threatened. Before, he had always maintained his never say die attitude. But in this tournament... He might have met his match. This year, it wasn't amateurs that stood in his path to the trophy. He wouldn't be able to have another easy match. I need-a to find where Luigi slipped-a up. Otherwise, the same thing-a's gonna happen to me. Rising, Mario Mario trudged out of his seat, and headed to the training center. What he needed so much right now was a reassurance of his skill and standing in the tournament... And the only person that ever had given him that was gone. ---- "Squall, that was amazing! That guy you beat was the brother of last year's tournament runner-up, and he fights the same way as his brother! At this rate, you could beat Mario if you ever fought him! Congratulations, son!" "...Whatever." Squall's father, a tall, lanky raven-haired man named Laguna, sighed. "...I was just trying to tell you...that I'm proud of you. I came all this way to see this one match, and it was worth it...to see you win...this is so surreal!" "...Heh. I know." The father and son then embraced in a friendly bear hug, and from a distance, Cloud Strife couldn't help but laugh. It was interesting how, despite how utterly different Squall and his father were, the two just seemed to click together, understand each other's differences. Laguna's demeanor reminded him of Aeris... There was just an energetic, lively aura one felt from standing near either of them. Squall, on the other hand, was an empty wall, cold and foreboding to even his closest friends. Cloud continued to survey the scene, Squall pushing away Laguna after the hug, seeming to mouth off a hastened goodbye. Cloud wondered if Squall's stance on life actually helped him to defeat a person like Luigi. Whereas Luigi spent so much time interacting with friends and family, playing games with Yoshi and Mario, Squall seemed to have little time for anyone...even his father. A man that devotes more time to his swordsmanship than his friends was bound to succeed well on the battlefield. And as for Squall and his father... Well... "Almost surprises me that they haven't come to blows yet." The voice that had almost read Cloud's thoughts came out of nowhere... Or out of the shadows, more aptly. Uh oh... Could it be... Him? At first, scanning the area, Cloud Strife saw nothing... But then, leaning against the stone wall of the stadium, he saw the outline of a human being. By the way his arms silhouetted against the dark wall, though, Cloud could pick out pretty well who he was. "Auron, right?" The old man nodded. "Correct. That's good, your skills of perception aren't lacking." Cloud nodded, but it was only faint. None of the tourney's participants were very fond of the old man... He was a very mysterious figure, and wasn't often seen by most of the competitors. When he showed up, it was usually with advice, or with some choice words for whoever he spoke to. Auron very rarely was in the center of the tournament's gatherings... But he was always around, and he always knew what was going on. Just like in Spira... He knew what went on. And he was always there to advise those who's real stories were being told, here. "...You still haven't spoken with Sephiroth during the tourney, have you." Cloud's face hardened. The son of Jenova wasn't exactly a pleasant subject for Cloud Strife, and just as last year, he hoped that he could get through the tourney without either seeing or fighting Sephiroth. But as less people remained standing... The less possible it was to avoid one certain person. Cloud had seen Sephiroth a few times in the past few days, whether he was walking from place to place, stopping by Nook's shop, or training in the training center. And every time that the two mortal enemies' eyes met, Sephiroth would just smile. Not a large smile, but big enough to disconcert Cloud Strife. Sephiroth still held the power to control him. And somehow, he didn't think that the one winged angel would let him forget it. "Someday, Cloud, you'll have to face these fears of yours. When you bring as many people together as we have here. Things... are bound to happen." Auron had seen many things happen, on his time here. He had seen Zelda and Link go from kind to vicious. He had seen the triforce of power abandon its owner for Magus Zeal. He had seen KOS-MOS reprogrammed into nothing but a toy for Tommy Vercetti. And Auron was the only person in the tournament that knew for a fact about the one thing Sephiroth had been trying to hide. The mental state of Ryu, the street fighter. Next Entry Back |