Book of Memories

Chapter 14


The haze around them thickened more and more, not unnoticed by the smashers.

“What is with this haze?” Roy said, straining to look through the foggy darkness, but unable to see further than a few feet ahead.

“We must be getting close,” Ike said, going along cautiously. Snake however, was looking around suspiciously into the fog.

“What’s wrong, Snake?” Ness asked, looking up at Snake as he walked along.

“It feels like something’s watching us,” Snake replied quietly as he looked over his shoulder. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Lucas started to worry.

“Is he right, Lucario?” Roy asked Lucario, whose eyes were closed as he led them on. Lucario stopped for a moment, sensing the aura from different directions.

“I don’t sense anything out of the ordinary,” Lucario said. “None of the aura from any enemies that I can sense.” Snake wasn’t convinced.

“I don’t know,” Snake said. “I could have sworn I saw something moving not too far from us. It seems a little too easy that we’re making our way to Tabuu’s stronghold with such little resistance.”

Link was also looking around wearily, eyes narrowed. He was not about to let another smasher fall victim to the same thing that happened to Zelda. He also sensed the eyes of someone watching their movements. He slowly drew his sword and grabbed his shield as he walked; preparing himself for any potential ambush, but nothing came out at them from the haze.

“Maybe you’re experiencing paranoia from the last ambush we encountered,” Lucario suggested to Snake and Link after hearing the rasp of metal on metal as Link drew his sword. “I don’t sense any foreign aura at all.”

Link relaxed somewhat at the comment. His ear then twitched as he heard something. He faced the direction he heard the sound and raised his shield in time to stop a jab from an attacking primid. He then struck the offending primid with his shield before thrusting into it with the Master Sword. He then kicked it back into the misty haze as it disintegrated. After a moment’s silence, a large group of primids flooded in from the thick haze.

“Dang it,” Snake said as he kicked out at a charging primid. He then yelled to Lucario. “I thought you couldn’t sense their aura!”

“What’s going on?” Lucario asked himself, shocked with disbelief and shame. “How can I not sense their aura signature? Wait a second…” But he was unable to finish his thought as a few primids confronted him. He countered their attacks and launched a few aura spheres at some others. He was barely able to react in time to the attacks as they came from what seemed to be out of nowhere at all.

“How did this happen?” Ike said as he cleaved a pair of primids in two before swinging out some more at the charging group of primids.

“Their aura is identical to Mewtwo’s,” Lucario cried out. “Somehow, their aura is coming from his.”

“What?” Snake said, throwing grenades into the crowd. “How is that possible?”

“I’m not sure,” Lucario said, now back-to-back with Snake he launched another aura sphere. “But something tells me Tabuu might be responsible.”

“I think we need to get to Mewtwo quickly,” Roy said as he slashed at a few primids randomly.

“Kids, get down,” Ike yelled out as some primids came up behind Toon Link, Ness, Pikachu and Lucas. They dropped to the ground instantly as Ike leaped over them, tackling the closest primid and running it through with his sword. He then kicked out at some others from down on top of the first primid.

“Ugh, there’s too many of them,” Lucario growled as he took a punch from a primid before dealing a force palm to it. “And the haze is thicker than before.”

“We need to help them,” Ness said to both Lucas and Toon Link, Pikachu had already run off to confront some of the primids. They nodded in agreement, Lucas’s face lined with determination.

“PK Freeze,” Lucas shouted, a small group of primids freezing from the charged blast. “PK Fire.” The frozen primids shattered upon impact of the flame.

“PK Thunder,” Ness cried, sending a bolt of energy through the crowd. “PK Flash.” The resulting blast of energy sent primids flying left and right.

Toon Link went around ducking between primids and slicing at them before catching a few of them into a spin attack.

“Yeah,” Ness called out. “I think we may actually stand a chance against them.” And seemingly in response, Ness was struck from behind by a primid, knocking him out. The primid then proceeded to drag Ness away.

“Oh no you don’t,” Roy snarled at the primid before cleaving it in two as it burst into flame.

“Everyone, rally together,” Ike called out to the group, picking up Ness’s unconscious body and rushing over to where Link, Snake and Lucario were. The others followed suit. “We’ll stand a better chance united.” He set Ness down in the middle. “Lucas, you take care of him.” Lucas nodded.

“Even with what we’ve got,” said Snake. “It might not be enough.”

“You never know until you try,” Ike responded. But even he knew their situation was next to bleak; they were near exhaustion, terribly outnumbered, and without ideal vision range. The primids streamed in, each fallen one being replaced by another, the cycle seemed endless.

Slowly, but surely, their attacks became slowed as exhaustion took its toll. They were soon taking more attacks than they could give as the primid army overwhelmed them. Link was the first to fall, then Roy, Lucas, Pikachu, Snake, and Lucario. They were all carried off along with Ness, Ike unable to save them.

“Rrrrraaaaaaaahh,” Ike yelled out furiously as he used what was left of his strength to lash out at a few more primids. He was then unable to react as he took a punch to the side of the face, everything fading to black as he fell.

……………

When Ike came to, he saw himself to be in what appeared to be a narrow, tall passageway. The only light came down from two different holes in the ceiling of the passage. He sat up, sore, and saw that the passage forked off in some different directions. He looked behind him and saw what appeared to be a heavy, wooden platform on the floor that stood at least a foot tall and filled the space behind him quite well. Above the platform was one of the holes that light was coming in from. He then noticed that the ceiling must have been over ten feet above him. He then stood up slowly, using the bricked wall closest to him for support. He could have easily spanned both arms out and touched both walls. As he looked around some more after standing, he heard a chilling cold laugh from above him. He looked up to the other hole ahead of him further down the passageway and saw that there was a grating over it.

“It appears you’re awake now,” he heard an icy voice say. He knew right away who it was.

“Tabuu,” Ike said darkly, acknowledging the being in the room above.

“Did you enjoy my welcoming party?” Tabuu said, “I hope they weren’t too rough on you.” Ike snorted. “You know you could have easily spared yourself all this trouble and pain.”

“Any amount of physical pain can never compare to the pain of a guilty conscience,” Ike said. “I came here to help a friend, and I’m not leaving until that help has been provided.” Tabuu was silent for a moment before giving a muted chuckle.

“Oh, you’re free to go,” Tabuu said. “You can leave that prison quite soon if you want to.” Ike was immediately suspicious; he knew there was a catch to this. “That prison will soon fill up with water, and you can just ride that platform all the way up to the hole above you. However, if you aren’t on the platform by the time it reaches the top, the platform will seal you in there, making it your own watery grave.”

“What, that’s it?” Ike scoffed. “Just sit on a platform until it reaches the top?”

“As simple as that if you’re willing to save yourself,” Tabuu responded. “However, I don’t think you’d want to leave your ‘friends’ in here to experience such a fate.” Ike felt a chill run down his spine. “I doubt you can get them all to the platform as well as yourself in time to make it out of there. So you can either try to save them all while letting yourself drown, or you can decide who you will leave behind. Whichever you choose, time’s running out.” With that, running water could be heard flowing in the room above. Seconds later, water started running into the prison through the grating.

“Crap,” Ike growled to himself as he charged forward to find the others. He saw his sword leaning against one of the walls and picked it up, thinking he may need it. His hunch was confirmed when he rounded a corner and saw Link, unconscious, shackled to the wall. Ike broke the chain holding him with two swings of his sword. “Link, wake up, can you hear me?” Link was unresponsive.

“Oh, and another thing,” Ike heard Tabuu’s voice say over the sound of the rushing water. “None of your friends will be able to help you find the others. By the time they wake up, it will be too late for that.”

Ike cursed under his breath as he picked Link up and placed him over one of his shoulders like a sack of flour, he then proceeded to run back towards where he came from. He reached the platform and placed Link on it. Ike noticed that the water was already at a depth of nearly half of the platform’s height. He then ran off to find anyone else. He saw that there were several passages that branched off from the one he was in now. He came to the branch he got Link from, and swung his sword, putting a large scratch spanning up and down along the wall. Now he’ll know that he’s already been down that way. He then came to another passage and saw Roy sitting up against the wall with his wrists held fast to the wall by a shackle. Ike was unable to cut the strange metal that held him in place, so he grabbed at a relatively loose part and pulled as hard as he could. After a moment of constant pulling, the shackle finally relented and burst open. Roy then slouched over into the water, which was now nearly up to the top of Ike’s boots.

Ignoring the throbbing in his fingers, Ike picked up Roy and carried him off as well, making sure to leave a mark on one of the walls as he came to the main passage. He ran for the platform, nearly tripping as he ran through the torrent of water raining down through the hole in the ceiling. He finally reached the platform and placed Roy on it next to Link. The platform was now floating on the water, but held in the corner by margins in the walls. Ike then ran off to find someone else. He then paused a moment to consider the situation. He then ran to the far end of the passage and came to the last branch. He saw Snake chained to the wall as well by the left ankle. Ike hurried and proceeded to break that chain as well. Unable to carry Snake over a shoulder, Ike slung one of Snake’s arms over his shoulders and proceeded to walk while dragging Snake’s feet through the water that was now past his knees and nearly to his waist. After an excruciatingly long period of wading, he reached the platform with the water above his waist. He proceeded to place Snake on the platform before running off again.

With the water at the depth it was now, Ike’s progress was severely slowed as he waded through the water to another branch he hadn’t been to yet. He reached the end and ducked his head under the water to see a submerged Pikachu. He then broke the smaller chain with a few good yanks on it. He brought Pikachu to the surface and proceeded to carry him through the chest-deep water, eventually reaching the platform again. After placing Pikachu on the platform, Ike removed his cape and proceeded to awkwardly half-walk/half-swim through the water until he came to another passage. He then came to the end and saw Lucario floating just under the surface of the water that now filled more than half of the chamber. After what seemed to be an eternity, Ike was finally able to break Lucario’s chain with using his sword as a lever. Ike was now unable to touch the bottom and keep his head above the water, so he swam with Lucario draped over his shoulders. As he swam through the torrent, Lucario nearly slipped off, but Ike was able to keep him on. He reached the platform, which was now within standing height of the hole. For a small moment, the horrible thought crossed his mind that he could get on and save himself while leaving Ness, Lucas and Toon Link. He shook the thought from his head as he swam off again to find someone else. He eventually brought Ness, then Lucas to the platform, which was a little over a foot away from the hole now. Ike then heard a voice from down in the passage.

“Help!” it was Toon Link. “Someone, please, help!” Ike hesitated at first, struggling within himself against the instinct of self-preservation and his instinct of loyalty to his friends. He was unable to move. “HELP!” Ike then shook his head.

“I’m coming!” Ike called out to Toon Link as he placed his sword on the platform. He swam as fast as he could, despite the burning in his legs from the effort.

“I’m over here!” Toon Link gasped out from two branches down.

“Hang on,” Ike said quietly. “Just a little longer.” He reached the passage at last and dove down into the water. He saw Toon Link frantically trying to escape from a binding of chains as he tried to push himself up to the surface with his feet. Ike then swam over to him and helped loosen the chains enough for him to work his way out of them. They then reached the surface, the tops of their heads not too far from the ceiling. They made it to the main passage. Ike thrust Toon Link out in front of him, giving Toon Link the boost necessary to make it to the platform. “Swim for it,” he gasped before following. Toon Link made it to the platform, and scrambled on before looking back at Ike.

“Hurry Ike, you can make it,” he cried out to Ike. Ike swam as fast as he could, but his arms and legs were so tired, his swimming became sluggish. With how high the platform was now, there was no way for him to make it. He made it to the grating and grabbed onto it with the remaining amount of his will and strength, waiting for the end to come, as he took in what air he could. “Ike, no!!” Roy stirred somewhat.

Toon Link jumped up off the platform and rushed over to the grating and tried to lift it with all his strength. But even with all he had, the grating wouldn’t budge. “Ike, you have to hold on,” he yelled as tears started to issue from his eyes.

“It’s okay Link,” Ike said, disturbingly calm. “My strength is gone. At least I was able to save you all. Please help Mewtwo in my stead. Goodbye, my friend.” Ike’s hand then slipped off from the grating as the water level rose above the bars, and he descended slowly into the depths.

“No, Ike!” Toon Link cried out, eyes streaming. Frantically pulling at the grating to no avail. “Come back Ike! Don’t die! You can’t die!” Toon Link’s yells then turned into sobs as he clutched the grating.

“Stand back,” a voice from behind him said urgently. He turned around and moved out of the way.

……………

Ike slowly descended through the water, his life flashing before his eyes. Every moment of his life was brought to mind. He remembered everything, from his first memories of childhood to the most vivid of moments in his life, and he regretted none of it. As his eyes closed, he could have sworn he heard a loud crash and splash. A hand then gripped his and pulled him upwards.