Smash Bros: Big Princess, Bigger Queen Part 10.3

'You want me to take you all to where the Smash Balls are kept?'

Ganondorf's thickset face tightened considerably as a nasty snarl came to grace his lips. He clutched his fists tight before he stepped toward Master Hand to address the glove, not even offering the lightest of attempts to conceal his distaste toward the host's decision of subduing rather than destroying. Ganondorf was a man who had tried many, many, MANY times to conquer and ruin the land he had been born into, but even he was not someone who would overlook decisions fueled primarily by emotion, especially when he felt those decisions were in poor taste. Zant certainly didn't win himself any favors back then for that, and neither would Master Hand here.

"Master Hand, let me tell you something. You cannot deny the danger here any longer! Not for any of us! Your brother is destroying the castle That thing...that monster...can only be destroyed if we combine our Final Smashes together! Nothing less will manage to accomplish it! We don't have the Smash Balls on our person until we enter the ring, so there must be some place in this castle that you store them until the battles begin. Take us there."

Master Hand drew back. He was no doubt intimidated by the Gerudo King's sheer insistence. No one else spoke for a few moments, but most of them could agree, at least in the safe confines of their own minds, that they believed the Smash Balls would ultimately be their safest, greatest asset in taking down Crazy Hand. Finally, Mario moved himself out of the crowd to speak.

"I agree with-a Ganondorf! We need-a the power of the Smash Balls, Master Hand! There's no other option!"

Bowser let out a cheesy snort from the sidelines. "Well, there's something I never thought I'd see, Mario agreeing with Ganondorf. What's going to happen next? I'm going to actually agree with Link on something? Well, if he'd ever speak up..."

Link threw a glare at the koopa but, of course, he said nothing to him about it.

"I also agree. The Smash Balls would be invaluable." Marth noted.

"It'd be a lot more helpful if we could get those 8 out of there to help us first," Fox remarked as he nodded to himself, "But we don't have the time to do that."

Ganondorf continued further. "Master Hand, you're the only one who knows where the Smash Balls are kept, so only you could do this. That's why I'm going to implore that you listen to sensible reason and take us there immediately. We'll leave ROB and that blue robot boy here to handle the situation for now."

Master Hand still said nothing, a pregnant silence lingering too long.

"If your reason for hesitation is more than just because of your care for your brother, but because of your doubt in me, then I cannot blame you. After what I've done during the last tournament, I had betrayed you all. Master Hand, I insist that you do this and heed my words this once! If my plan fails, then lock me away into the Twilight Realm as my punishment, but for now, we must do what we can to save ourselves!"

Princess Zelda frowned. There was nothing here that Ganondorf had said that she'd deem 'wrong' or 'manipulative', which was exactly why she found it suspicious to begin with, because this was, after all, GANONDORF who was trying to sway Master Hand to let them fight. She had never heard the Gerudo King, the King of Evil, the man who had been reincarnated repeatedly in his attempts to become the Hyrule's ruler, speak in such a way. Maybe it had been due to events back in their home dimension, or maybe the betrayal he'd committed and the betrayal he'd suffered during the last Smash had something to do with it. She didn't disagree with Ganondorf, but she wasn't comfortable enough to openly show her support for him.

Fortunately, it seemed she needn't let herself be concerned for long, as Master Hand finally, if not somewhat reluctantly, came to accept the Gerudo King and the others.

'You're right.'

"Of course I am." Ganondorf grumbled under his breath.

'Please, all of you, follow me as best as you can. Be careful, I cannot guarantee my brother may try to go after us if he spots us, so keep your heads low.'

Leading the crowd of present Smashers back inside of the castle, Master Hand took them in the direction of the Smash Balls' storage room. He didn't want his brother to die, not after everything he'd gone through to try and help his sibling, but there was no denying in his mind, what Ganondorf said was right. Their Final Smashes would be their likely key to victory. After all, the Smash Balls had been conceived from Master Hand's own magic, the only power that truly had the might to afflict beings like Crazy Hand and himself. Alone, one Final Smash would not be enough, but for everyone present to combine their Final Smashes...it was a good shot.

Meanwhile, the confrontation between the robots and the monster raged on atop the castle's roof. Megaman and ROB jumped away from one another just as the Swarm's clawed hand came swooping down. It collided against the empty space of rooftop where the two machines had stood less than a second ago, dislodging more than a handful of tiles as Crazy Hand sluggishly pulled away, intending to give it yet another try. Megaman, as soon as he readjusted his footing, turned his buster back onto the creature and punctured it with a powerful charged shot, blowing away two fingers as well as the particles of the Swarm that had formed them in the process. Crazy Hand howled. Even louder did he scream when one of ROB's laser beams left a pocket-sized, smoldering hole in the hand's wrist. The hand itself crumbled away to regroup with the rest of the Swarm.

Another clawed hand swung in at Megaman from his right, but he still caught sight of it from the tiniest corner of his vision. Megaman summoned, of all things, a spinning shield constructed from leaf-shaped projectiles. Despite having the underwhelming appearance of resembling a ring of floating foliage, these 'leaves' were not actually leaves at all, but in fact were designed from the same metal that made up the razor blade discs Megaman had thrown earlier. As soon as the fingers of the clawed hand drew close to the shield, they were forced to pull themselves away in an abrupt panic. The leaves had sliced off the tips of the claws and now they had been left useless once more. Seeing the second hand struggle with a retreat, Megaman gave it a little push by hurling the entire shield, cutting into more of the Swarm. While not as strong as his buster, Megaman's secondary attacks had been beefed up considerably over the years, even during his times of inactivity, to allow considerable harm to his opponent Crazy Hand.

Crazy Hand was seething with rage. Oh, he had been preoccupied with his tumultuous hatred since the day his own brother had locked him deep below the earth, but now that he had achieved freedom, already absorbed one of the Smashers who had defied him, and was even getting close to taking the rest of them at one time, there were still these few precious, vacuous fools who dared to oppose his wrath. Crazy Hand had changed his mind on killing, even though both Tabuu and Master Core saw it an appropriate response to the injustice done to them. In fact, Crazy Hand intended to suck them all back into Subspace to power him forever, and there were still 48 more to go. Still, he didn't think Megaman deserved to be given such a gracious end, when their past history was put into perspective. Neither did ROB. Having to still waste time fighting them off rather than going after the Smashers displeased Crazy Hand immensely.

The Swarm, taking in and sharing its master's agitation, began to ripple and pulse, bubbling over like a pot of water atop a white flame. A few violent spasms and the cloud of particles began to reshape itself. It was taking on another form. The Swarm broke itself apart, splitting into several clumps. Those clumps then started to shift into their intended forms, that of giant sabres. Five of them in all hovered above the blue bomber. Then, they flew in for the kill.

Megaman took a leap back to avoid the first blade as it thrust itself into the rooftop tiles at his feet. It didn't take much for him to quickly notice the second sword was already coming in for his head. Megaman ducked under it to escape, but a third blade was intending to ram him through from behind. The blue robot saw it from the briefest of peeks over his shoulder, but that was all he needed. Megaman fired a small tornado into the air above him to knock away a fourth sabre, and he jumped over the oncoming third blade, spreading his legs out so it would pass harmlessly underneath him. However, that was when the fifth sabre showed itself, coming in at Megaman from his right, while another sabre came at his left. Megaman summoned another shield of leaves to protect himself, but the two sabres cut through the defenses. They did it with such minimal effort that it actually managed to leave the robot momentarily stunned. The sabres were fast enough to make it through after all, and now, he would pay dearly for the miscalculation.

Megaman was struck, knocked into one of the castle towers. Leaving a deep imprint of himself into the damaged wall, the blue guardian dropped down to see the five blades had surrounded him on all sides.

Suddenly, something swooped in from behind him. Megaman felt a pair of 'hands' clamp themselves onto his waist and lift him several inches off of the ground. One of the sabres swung in to attack, only for it to miss the boy as he was sped away. At the very least, the tower he had been standing in front of crumbled to a heap, for it had been sliced clean through.

ROB utilized the power of jet streams from his Robo Burner to almost literally fly himself across the rooftop's vast expanse, still clinging onto the much smaller Megaman as the five sabres gave chase. In accordance to the anti-Crazy Hand programming, the robot was allowed to disengage the limiters placed upon his body so that he could fight with his full potential. Unlike the other Smashers who had been magically inhibited, ROB had been done so through software so that it could be easily reversed if Crazy Hand ever managed to break free. The sabres came plummeting down, but ROB deftly swerved about to avoid every oncoming attack, some of them dodged so narrowly that it could have shaved a few years off of ROB's life, had he had a life to begin with. In his current state, ROB was only about to run, not fight back, but that was exactly why he had picked up Megaman in the first place. Keeping his head turned so that he could see where he was going, ROB held the blue bomber out in front of him as the Swarm's blades flew in close.

Megaman released a frantic stream of bullets from his buster as he moved about at top speed. He blasted away one of the swords, shattering it into a cloud of particles. The ruined clump of the Swarm gathered itself into one of the remaining sabres, which prompted it to grow larger in size. Megaman released a grappling bomb onto another sabre that tried to go after ROB from above. When the bomb erupted, the sword crumbled, and it too collected its remains into one of the other swords to increase its size. ROB brushed the flames of his Robo Burner against the roof tiles, sending up a spray of clay material into the air to try and distract the sabres.

Suddenly, one of the swords let loose some kind of projectile. ROB attempted to outrun it, but the projectile was moving almost as fast as he was, and it steadily grew closer. As soon as the projectile came close enough, it decided to burst. The resulting explosion was too much for ROB, and he lost his grip on Megaman as the two robots were sent hurtling into the skies. The remaining three sabres immediately went for Megaman. While he was caught tumbling in mid-air like this, seemingly defenseless, they hoped it would be the simplest of tasks to slice him apart. Megaman, however, did not intend to go out in any such manner. Megaman had a few special techniques that were best suited for an aerial assault, in fact.

The blue bomber's buster arm literally opened up and produced a sword coated in flames. Two of the sabres that had already come close enough were blown away into piles of ashes as soon as the scorching sword passed through them. The last sabre began to absorb what remained of its comrades, so that it would inflate in size yet again. However, Megaman had decided to bring a swift end to it, for as soon as he landed on his feet, he took the flaming blade from his own hand and launched it with a mighty swing of his arm. Like a trained Olympic athlete, Megaman's aim was true; he watched as the fiery blade of his tore through the center of the final sabre, burning away its bindings.

Having been defeated again, the humiliated Swarm retreated with a pained screech. The flaming sword disappeared somewhere into the forests afar, but the blue bomber decided it wouldn't be prudent for him to go after it just now. Not until after the enemy was defeated.

The Swarm regrouped and began to writhe about as its master, or rather masters, silently contemplated over which form to take next. Unfortunately for both Megaman and ROB, the fight had only just begun. Crazy Hand was far from defeated, even after the wounds he had suffered. There was a lot of fight left in a monster who had over six years to contemplate his revenge. He was going to make sure these two robots, along with his brother and every single Smasher here, would inevitably suffer the brunt of that intense, deep-seated hatred.

Captain Falcon teetered as he raised himself back up onto his legs. His head was pounding from inside the red dome of his helmet. He provided balance for himself by holding onto the wall with his hand. The heat and the smoke continued to linger, making it rather difficult to see far in front of him. His ears were ringing. He could have removed his helmet and gotten some fresh air, but he didn't wish to reveal his face to anyone, not Palutena and not even Shulk. He had no idea if either of them would suddenly come popping out through the smoke at any moment.

Captain Falcon began making his way along. He kept his hand on the wall. It popped into his hand rather randomly, but it came to mind just at the right moment, like it had been lying in wait for this very specific time. He reached over and pulled out a Heart Container he'd brought with him. He remembered picking it up a few days ago, after paying witness to a rather passionate scene of love between Queen Robin and King Chrom. He'd never told them about the Heart Container, nor had he ever found a need to use it until now. If he cracked open the Heart Container, he could heal himself of his wounds and rejoin the fight at full strength.

However, Captain Falcon wasn't going to do that. He was going to save it to use on another. If anyone was going to need this Heart Container, it was likely going to be Shulk. That young man was far more necessary for winning this battle than he was, ultimately. After all, the Monado had allowed Shulk to break free from Palutena's light beams when the captain could not. Captain Falcon needed to think of what was best for the team.

"If I can only find Monado Boy around here...ha ha ha...ugh..." Captain Falcon ground his teeth. He continued moving onward.

He strained his ears to listen, his hearing finally returning back to him. In the distance, he could catch the sounds of a battle raging on. He didn't know who was fighting who, but he hurried in that direction nonetheless.

Palutena cringed. She felt something heavy lying on top of her. She lifted her head, her vision requiring a few moments to adjust. Even though she was a Goddess of Light, after having cast the explosive spell, she had been struck with a rather impressive migraine and several minor burns. The curse of having to fight on a human level left her suffering human aliments as well, and she really hated that.

Still wondering what the weight on her chest was, she decided to take a peek. She saw that a certain blonde Monado Boy was lying on top of her. A quip crawled its way up onto the tip of her tongue, so Palutena, gracious a deity was she, granted it the wings it needed to fly to its freedom.

"Oh my, Shulk, I know my breasts are large, but I doubt I could ever compare to Lucina's belly! Keep your priorities in order, please!"

Shulk, snapping out of his own stunned state, realized where he was and realized who it was he was sitting on. Gasping out loud, he scampered to climb off of her and get back up onto his feet. He didn't wait long to start hurling out a string of hasty apologies, in hopes he hadn't done something potentially inappropriate with the Goddess. He was especially afraid of what Dunban or Lucina might think if they knew or saw. Considering Dunban was watching from the stands, he likely did see it, at least. That made Shulk's stomach sink.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Ah, f-forgive me, Lady Palutena! I'm very, very sorry for that! I truly meant no harm at all...!" Well, except for the harm he intended to inflict upon her to defeat her, but that was not necessary to bring up right now. It would just complicate the situation.

Palutena shook her head. She brushed herself off as she used her staff to get to a stand.

"Never mind. I've been through much worse back in the day. Medusa had snakes for hair...goodness, that was quite a ride..."

Shulk raised an eyebrow. He was about to ask her what she meant by that, but then he recalled they were in the midst of combat. He had already apologized for his misguided landing on top of her, but that was now the past. He was quick to lift the Monado back into his hands and activate it, the red blade whirring to life as blue light began to emit from its body. Shulk could feel some of his pain receding, no doubt thanks to the power of the mystical sword he wielded in his fingertips, but it still wasn't enough. He would have to finish off Palutena soon if he wished to win.

Palutena's smile, however, was probably the most eerie thing Shulk had ever conceivably seen.

"It looks like we both survived that blast, but that's a good thing, because in the end, it worked out. The captain's gone up and disappeared. I'm hardly as wounded as you are. It looks like this might actually be my game this time, wouldn't you say, Monado Boy?"

Shulk grimaced. He activated the 'Speed' art of the Monado, just in case. He didn't know if he'd be forced to make a run for it sometime soon.

"Father!"

Lucina ducked her head and stepped away as Chrom's blade swung overhead. Its wide sweep passed harmlessly over her. However, the bluenette needed to keep moving, because her father's Falchion did not wait to come after her.

"I-I'm sorry, Lucina, but you know I still love you!" the young king insisted as he continued to try and attack his future daughter. Robin moved in from behind him, leaping to the side so she could fire a Thoron blast over his shoulder guard, nearly striking Lucina in the process. However, mostly by the act of sheer luck, Lucina was so preoccupied with having to avoid her father's blows that she managed to evade Robin's attack at the same time. However, that was still just by barely. It was hard for her to even wrap her mind around the situation right now. It had been more than enough for her to combat one skilled parent, but now she was being forced to tackle two by herself. Was this really the power of her Mother's Final Smash? Lucina actually came to wish it had been a super-charged Thoron beam instead.

Robin laughed. "Don't worry, Lucina, it'll all be over soon! Even I'm surprised by Final Smash brings Chrom into the fray! Don't you think that's great? Now you can show both of us just how much you've improved since we've come here before we win!"

"Mother, this isn't the time!" Lucina side-stepped to avoid another of Chrom's oncoming strikes, "I didn't want to fight Father! I only wanted to fight you!"

"Sorry, Lucina, but that's the way this Final Smash works!"

Chrom stopped moving and looked back at his wife. "Robin, I-I'm not entirely comfortable with this turn of events...I was whisked out of my seat without any warning at all..."

"Sorry, my preciously sweet honey bun, but this is just how things are. I trust you enough, I believe in you enough, I LOVE you enough that I'd want nothing more than my most powerful attack in all of Smash to be having you by my side!" Robin pat him on the back. "I know you don't want to fight Lucina, but I believe in you."

"You...you believe in me? For what?" Chrom cried.

"For everything! Now let's go!"

"For everything? W-What does that even mean?"

"Go and get her, Chrom! You can do it!"

"Lucina, I'm...!" Chrom started to shout.

Lucina gravely nodded. "I understand, Father!"

Chrom was not feeling the same amount of enthrallment as his wife to put things lightly. He raised his blade high above as he steeled himself, preparing to bring it straight down upon Lucina's head. The bluenette princess moved her own sword in position to try and block the blow, but she didn't know how much good it would do her. She didn't think she had the physical strength needed to handle her Father's attacks. Even though he had lost against Captain Falcon before, Chrom was still a very strong man. He was someone who didn't display his strength openly very often, but when he did, he did it to prove his talent as a leader for the armies that devotedly followed him into battle. Not to forget either, he was still her Father, whom Lucina adored most in the entire world. On a subconscious level, she could not help but want to go easy on him. In fact, while she didn't know it, Chrom was having the same exact issue. He feared harming his daughter, so his blade came down slower than usual. Slow enough for Lucina to think up of a counter.

Out of her eye's corner, she could see Robin already preparing another Thoron spell. She was going to try and strike Lucina with it while her attention was driven away by Chrom. Very clever.

Lucina hated to do such a thing to her precious Father, but she needed to get away. She thrust herself forward. Chrom was rather easily knocked aside as his daughter barreled into him with her big belly. He hadn't stood a chance, it was like a pile of bricks was thrown into his chest and left him breathless. Robin released the Thoron spell just a half-second too late. The electrified beam. flew past without landing a scratch on its intended target, although Lucina did look back to see the edge of her cape had been lightly singed. She sighed in relief over managing to avoid it.

"I can't believe you'd hit your own father, young lady!" Robin proclaimed, although it didn't keep her from hesitating to prepare another spell in her tome.

Lucina, being freed from the distraction that her Father had been meant to be, began to charge straight at her Mother. There was something sacrilegious about it all, attacking her own parents, the ones she'd loved so much that she defied space and time to go back and save them from a terrible future. However, that was then and this is now, where the plump princess did not intend to lose. A surge of adrenaline pumping through her veins gave her the push she needed. She swung at Robin, but this time going for her tome instead, managing to knock it out of the mage's hands with the tip of her blade. Because Chrom had been knocked away and the Thoron spell had missed, it had left Robin open for attack.

Robin shrieked. Lucina swung again. The white-haired queen didn't have time to retrieve her Levin Sword or even cast a shorter spell to deflect Lucina's oncoming attack. She found herself crashing to the ground and rolling over after being hit.

"R-Robin...!" Chrom cried out after his rotund wife. He started to run for her, but he looked over at his daughter for a moment and grinned. "Y-You did it! Good job!"

Lucina was panting and gasping, having been left short of breath after that exhilarating moment. "Thank you, F-Father...but you should...oof...you should attend to Mother..." she wiped the back of her hand across her drenched forehead.

"Y-Yeah, you're right about that! Robin! Robin!" Chrom exclaimed as he knelt down beside the young, flabby woman. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Robin sat up. She brushed some dust and dirt out of her silver pigtails. She pouted, making her cherubic cheeks puff out. It was cute.

"Chrom...my love...my darling..." she locked eyes with him.

Chrom backed away a little, not liking the look that his wife was now giving him.

"Your daughter beat up your own wife! How could you let that happen?" Robin snapped. She demanded an answer.

"I'm sorry! Please, Gods, forgive me for my lack of talent!" Chrom tried to explain. "I couldn't help it! She...she knocked me down with her stomach...I'm terribly sorry for being unable to protect you..." he hung his head shamefully.

Robin sighed. She reached out and touched her husband's cheek. She stroked it with her thumb. "I love you, Chrom."

"I...I love you too." Chrom told her back.

"You're not unskilled and you're not a fool. So please, let's fight together. Don't think of Lucina as your child right now. Don't hesitate because of who she is. We have to fight like we've done on the battlefield, together, side by side."

Chrom gulped. He glanced over at Lucina, who was still in the process of catching her breath. He loved his daughter. Whether it was the one who slept in her crib back home or the one from the future who fought in the war alongside them, Lucina was Lucina no matter what in Chrom's eyes. He didn't want to harm her. He didn't want to have to fight against her. However, he felt some guilt in admitting this, but he loved Robin even more. It was more than obligation that made him fight with her right now, it was devotion. Of course, if this had been a battle to the death, he'd take this even more seriously, but for a fight like this, he was going to need to fight at his wife's very soft and doughy side.

Chrom took Robin's hand and helped her back onto her feet. He mumbled a quiet apology and Robin smiled and told him that it was alright. Lucina wasn't surprised by this outcome, because she'd expected it from the start.

Still, Chrom did wish that he hadn't been dragged into this battle by Robin's Final Smash in the first place; he had actually begun to accept his role as a Cameo over a Smasher.

"Hey, what's going on over here? This isn't Shulk! I've stumbled upon something big!"

Lucina gasped. She recognized that voice, although she sorely wished she didn't. She whipped around and saw a wounded Captain Falcon standing there. She couldn't believe it. Of all times, the worst possible person to show up had decided to rear his obnoxious head. Then, recalling the strategist that she was currently pitted against, she turned back again to see Robin already preparing another spell in her tome. Chrom was charged at her with his blade poised for attack. Even he was going to follow through with Robin's tactics now.

Lucina braced herself; she wasn't going to worry about Captain Falcon for now. She just hoped he would stay out of her way properly.

"Lucina, look out!" Of course, Captain Falcon jumped out in front of the bluenette. He swung a flaming boot against Chrom's sword, knocking it away. He proceeded to spin and collide his foot against Chrom's chest. The young king found himself lying at Robin's feet rather instantly. He spent a few seconds coughing hard, then he supported himself on his elbows as he tried to stand back up.

"You almost got hit there!" the F-Zero racer shouted over his shoulder.

"Why are you here? I said I wanted to do this myself, don't you remember?" Lucina shouted at him.

"Yeah, but...that was when you thought you'd only be fighting your mom, right? I don't know why King Chrom is here, but you're going to need some extra help, I reckon!"

"I...I don't...ugh!"

Lucina groaned. Robin chortled under her breath, finding this far more amusing than her daughter, but she knew things would be tougher from here on out with the captain involved. Chrom coughed again. Bad memories of that defeat back at the arena started to come flooding back to him. This battle was just getting worse and worse. He hoped Robin would have a proper plan for all of this.

"Let's take care of this! Then we can go and help Shulk before he's KOed!" Captain Falcon exclaimed, striking a battle pose.

"I really don't..." Lucina started to say, and then she paused, eyes widening, "Wait, what happened to Shulk?"

Peach and Samus had eaten enough turnips to leave them both feeling relatively stuffed and content. Samus brought her fist up to her mouth and belched into it. Sighing in relief, the morbidly obese bounty hunter leaned back against the wall behind her, letting her full belly splay onto her wide lap. Peach did similar. Neither of them said anything for a short while, since neither of them had anything honestly TO say. They were too full to talk.

That was when they heard a rumbling sound, like an explosion, coming from above. There must have been at least several dozen feet of earth between them and the origin of the noise, yet it sounded so much closer than that.

"...What was that?" Samus asked.

Peach shrugged. She considered having one last turnip, for the heck of it. Glaring at the other woman, Samus shook her head. The Mushroom Princess put on her most expressive pout and looked away dismissively.

Megaman jumped into the air to move himself away in time as Crazy Hand's massive jaws chomped down after him. With the sabres having been defeated and the blue guardian still showing no signs of wear, the Swarm and its master Crazy Hand took on a whole new form. They'd become a beast that was almost literally nothing but a mouth full of teeth with stubby legs and a tail to carry it. Megaman landed and took off along the rooftop. Crazy Hand gave chase, snapping away violently and pointlessly at the air and everything else around him. ROB swooped in from behind, but the monstrous entity graced him with very little attention. To Crazy Hand and the Swarm both, the Robotic Operating Buddy was hardly viewed or treated as any sort of serious threat. Megaman was the bigger priority. Of course, ROB did possess a few attacks capable of seriously wounding the Swarm, but his laser beam required lengthy periods to charge between firing, making it very impractical.

ROB flew in at the Swarm from the side and began rotating his arms at an exceptionally high velocity, hoping to land a strike upon their collision. However, the monster was getting smarter. It sprouted a second head from its back, a smaller one, and tried to ensnare the offending machine with these newly-grown jaws. ROB immediately ended his potential attack and rocketed away to a safe distance once more. However, while he was flying, the robot fired off another beam from his head. It burned away the second head with a single shot, but Crazy Hand continued his pursuit of Megaman regardless.

Megaman stopped running, spun himself around on the heel of his boot, and fired a powerful charged shot from his buster cannon. It struck dead on, blasting away a large chunk of the beast's giant mouth in the process. The Swarm stumbled because it no longer could balance the weight of its disproportionate body, causing it to begin teetering back and forth, dangerously close to outright toppling over. Megaman began charging another shot to finish the job. The Swarm started to dissipate, flying to safety above as it started to reconsider its tactics. The beast form had only been useful for so long, after all.

ROB rolled up next to Megaman's side and offered a nod of acknowledgement to the blue warrior. Megaman nodded back.

Crazy Hand split into two halves, the Swarm uncomfortably jittering about like the world's largest mass of flies. The first half flew toward the pair. Megaman and ROB braced themselves, only to find they simply had to run out of the way when the mass of darkness came crashing down, leaving an enormous hole in the roof in the process. It didn't rise back up again. The second half was already taking on a new shape.

The Swarm had become a gigantic open hand. It eerily resembled the form that Crazy Hand had originally owned, so many years ago. The five separate fingers began to stretch, faster and faster, until they were moving rather speedily toward the mechanical duo. Instead of running away, ROB and Megaman remained where they stood. They'd been fighting for almost two hours now. The battle had been going evenly, neither side losing stamina. Even though the two robots hadn't suffered any major damage, neither had Crazy Hand. They wouldn't be able to defeat him by themselves at this rate. Megaman opened both of his hands, producing a pair of electric-powered rods. He thrust them forward, catching the Swarm just as it came down to reach them. A flash of light emitted through the sky, and the air itself seemed to crackle as an explosive, electric burst knocked away the assaulting particles. The Swarm was howling, bellowing in pain as the binds that kept its form connected were burning away. Megaman continued to press on, while ROB flew in to deal the finishing blow. The other robot cut deep into the Swarm as he spun his arms at a lightning-fast speed, scattering about and shredding apart what little of the particles there were. This didn't necessarily hurt it like Megaman's attack did, but with the bindings weakened, ROB was able to disrupt the shape of it and force it to crumble apart to pieces. Everything of the Swarm that still managed to survive pitifully limped its way back to the Master Core once again.

Crazy Hand continued to let out his unintelligible screams. For every pathetic, high-pitched wail he emitted, the former second master came off acting like a petulant child. It was like he was on the verge of throwing a full-blown tantrum all because he was unable to land a few good hits. He could have been bawling right now, but he wouldn't be able to produce the tears. For Megaman, who had passively spent over 6 years watching over this monster in that dark, dark pit, he had come to understand many things about Crazy Hand. While his body required a boot-up phase, his mind was always active, allowing him to oversee the beast at any possible time. Everything he'd learned had been processed and stored into his database.

However, one of the things Megaman didn't know, it was that Crazy Hand and the Swarm had been steadily evolving and growing in strength since he'd been locked away. His shrewdness and penchant for scheming knew no bounds.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Megaman's feet gave way. ROB started to fall as well, but instead of trying to save himself, he wanted to grab Megaman first. However, before ROB could even activate his Robo Burner, a tendril, constructed from the mass of Swarm particles that had crashed through the roof earlier, rose up from the smoke and ensnared him. ROB was not even able to spin his way free; the Swarm had grabbed him by his waist. Crazy Hand had originally thought of ROB as a minor trouble, a matter to deal with after Megaman was destroyed. However, the past few minutes had made him reconsider, and now Crazy Hand wished to get rid of the weakest link first and foremost. Not to mention, least he forget, that this robot had betrayed him before when he had been Tabuu, so this sort of punishment was a long time coming.

The tentacle rose ROB high into the air and brought the android down, head-first, onto the roof tiles. It proceeded to do this to the poor robot several times over, each swing performed with much more force than the last. ROB was unable to do anything as each successive blow inflicted further damage to his body and circuits. Sparks flew, bolts loosened, and metal plating became dented and cracked. ROB could do nothing but take it. A small but growing crack started to crawl across one of its glass eyes. One of his arms became unhinged. Although he had fought so well up until this point, it had taken only this much to begin incapacitating him. ROB hoped his friends would forgive him for his failure. He hoped his fellow ROB, the ones who'd died by Tabuu's hand and ostensibly his own, would forgive him for his failure as well.

Suddenly, the beast found itself cloaked in shadow. Crazy Hand sprouted an eye on the end of the tendril and turned its gaze skyward to find that the sun had been blotted out by three separate, but large, figures.

Giga Bowser, Ganon and Mega Lucario, riding atop Mega Charizard X, all came falling down, their claws and teeth fully bared. This was only the beginning of their assault, but they did not intend to stop until Crazy Hand was well and truly defeated. The Swarm tossed ROB aside, feeling it had done enough to prevent further interruption from the robot for now. Once again, more interruptions decided to appear.

The Swarm began to materialize and reshape itself once more in reaction to the arrival of this new threat.