A

A/N (which I assume means author's note. If it doesn't usually, that's what it means here): I really suggest that you read my other two fics before this one. At least three of the characters will have been introduced in those fics, and it might get a little confusing. Yes, I know my first one is long and the html marks are annoying, but it will really help you to understand this fic. Thanks!

A Mysterious Story

by Ryan Myers

0: Prologue – Fifteen years ago

Master was not happy. All of his friends and allies had been killed by the brutal space pirates of the area. He was the only living enforcer aboard their ship, and he was the galaxy's last chance of stopping the pirates. However, he tried to avoid thinking about that as he wandered around the labyrinth that the pirates called a ship. Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him.

"Intruder! Who are-"

The young pirate never got to finish his sentence, because Master spun around and fired three missiles out of his index finger. The pirate moaned and collapsed.

"Gotta be more careful." He muttered to himself, and continued.

He wandered around for a while, knocking out the occasional pirate, and eventually found himself at the end of a long corridor. He was standing in front of a huge, ornate door, and he heard official-sounding voices on the other side. Quietly trying to decide what to do, he leaned against the door to listen better. All of a sudden, the door swung open!

Master lost his balance and stumbled into the room, where two pirates grabbed Master by the arms and held him firmly. Master's index finger started glowing, but a large, decorated pirate that must be the leader stood up.

"Oh, no, you don't, Master." The pirate leader laughed. "I know what that glove of yours can do." The pirate reached into his pocket and pulled out a large knife with a flourish. "Now let's see how you do without it."

The pirate lowered the blade. Master winced in pain but said nothing. Being of a race that had no blood, the gloved hand fell to the floor still completely white. The pirate laughed triumphantly, and his flunkies joined in. Master just stared at them helplessly.

"Now, Master, I thought you might enjoy watching this." The pirate leered, pressing a button on a control panel behind him, which activated a viewscreen.

"The Ally!" Master recognized the ship immediately. "That's a peaceful ship trying to meet and befriend new species!"

"Not anymore." The leader replied arrogantly, reaching for a large red button.

"NO!" Master shouted. A rush of adrenaline surged through his muscles, giving him enough strength to break free of the lackeys' grip. He rushed forward to stop the leader, but a pirate pulled out a gun and fired.

Master felt his soul leaving him as he tried to resist fainting from the pain. He knew that once he fainted, he wouldn't be waking up. Knowing his race's unique physiology, he wondered how his death would work out. In his death throes, he noticed his glove start to move.

Master's last thought was, "My soul is going to be in a glove?"

Master woke up, flexing his fingers. Wait a minute, that was all he had!

"Oh, right." Master sighed. "Well, I might as well make the most of it." Suddenly he noticed the leader's finger hovering over the launch button again. He rocketed forward and punched the leader in the back.

"What?" the leader whirled around angrily. "Who dares-what in the…"

The glove was hovering in front of him. The pirate glanced at the glove, then the corpse, then the glove, then…

"Oh, I forgot to mention that." Master grinned. Well, actually, he didn't grin, but it sounded like he did. "When someone of my race dies, their soul goes into the nearest object, which happened to be my hand. Or me. Or…"

The leader stood there, dazed.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I won't let you destroy the Ally." Master floated around to the control panel. "Ah, here we go."

The leader reached forward too late as Master pushed the other red button. Immediately, a computerized voice announced calmly, "Please evacuate. This ship will self destruct in ten minutes."

The pirates ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to find an escape pod. Master made a fist of himself and raced over to the window, smashing it open. Master was quite relieved that his current shape did not limit his ability to breathe in a vacuum. The pirates, however, could not say the same, and fainted within moments.

"Please evacuate. This ship will self destruct in one minute."

Master flew back to his home planet as the computer continued counting down.

"Now self destructing. Have a nice day."

Master made a thumbs-up sign as he saw and felt the explosion. "Mission accomplished." He remarked, staring at himself as best he could. "But at what cost?"

1: Conflict – Nine years ago

"Master, this will be too traumatic for our child." Mistress pointed out sadly. "Don't you realize how much he will be teased in school for having a glove as a father?"

"Well, he can just say that his father was Master, the famed pirate fighter." Master replied jokingly.

"Oh, please. You did that four years ago, which was two years after we had our son. No one even remembers that. And if they did, it's still funny to have a glove as a parent."

Master sighed and nodded. "Well, what do you suggest?"

Mistress stared at him, sighing. She started to say something, then changed her mind. Master caught her implication, however.

"You want me to leave." Master guessed. "You want to raise our child by yourself so he's not teased."

Mistress frowned and shrugged her shoulders. She turned away sadly and stood perfectly still for a while. Finally, she turned around.

"You know it's the right thing to do." Mistress pleaded for Master to understand. "You don't want our child being teased, do you?"

Master scowled (well, actually, he didn't scowl, but his voice sounded like he was scowling). "You're kicking me out of the house. For our child. Do you really think that's fair?"

Mistress shrugged again, looking at the child's room sadly. "I don't know what to think, Master."

"I see." Master said sadly, knowing that his wife, as usual, was right. "I'll go then."

"Master…I'm sorry…" Mistress started, but Master was already fading away.

"Goodbye, Master!"

But Master was gone.

2: Confrontation – Two years ago

"Mom, why are we going on vacation again?"

"What? Don't you want to?"

"Well, yes, but it's weird that we go so often."

"All right, we'll stop going."

"No, that's not what I meant. It's just that…"

Mistress stared at her son. "You miss your father, don't you?"

"Well, yes! I mean, you kicked him out-"

"I didn't kick-wait a minute. How do you-"

"I heard the whole thing. I was six years old, but I wasn't stupid. Why did you kick Dad out?"

"I…" Mistress still had trouble talking about that night. "Well, if you heard the whole conversation, you should know."

"Well, it was a stupid reason. I could have stood up for myself. I think you used that as an excuse to get him out of your life."

"How can you say that, you…" Mistress lashed out angrily, screaming at her son. "I…"

Mistress couldn't say any more. She put her head in her hands and wept. Her son stared at her, not knowing what to do.

"Mom?" Mistress looked up, tears staining her face. "I'm sorry. Let's go."

Mistress slowly took her son's hand and they shifted to another dimension.

3. Vacation

"This is a fun dimension, son. Here, the people use toys for battling. It's better than using real people, because toys are tougher and no one cares about them. Also, they can make the fighters look like anyone they want." Mistress announced upon their arrival.

"Cool!" the boy yelled, forgetting their earlier confrontation. "Where do they fight?"

"Over here." His mother replied, motioning to a large table. "Oh, look. It's Kirby versus Samus!"

"Oh, I've heard of them. Are they really going to fight?"

"Of course. Here they go!"

Samus started charging its gun, while Kirby closed in to steal its powers. Samus fired off her gun prematurely, but it stunned Kirby long enough for Samus to screw it. Kirby landed quicklier than Samus and bricked it. Then, Kirby ran over and smashed Samus, and then Final Cuttered.

"Wow, this is really exciting!" the boy shouted.

"Sssssh!" the crowd hushed impatiently. The boy flinched sheepishly.

Samus recovered from Kirby's attack and punched Kirby. Then, it activated its flamethrower and roasted Kirby. Finally, it jumped up, and before Kirby could brick, Samus used its back kick to send Kirby flying up, up…out of the arena.

"This game's winner is Samus!" the greedy announcer reported. "Now, place your bets on the next fight, which will be in a few minutes. Wolverine versus Thor! Thor is favored, but who knows what will happen? Come on over and place your bets!"

"Wolverine and Thor are Marvel characters, and the last two were Nintendo! This place really gets everyone, doesn't it?"

"Of course." Mistress replied. "I'm glad you're having fun and-"

"Arrgh! What's going on?" Mistress turned around to see a huge warehouse behind the small arena, presumably filled with toy fighters. "Kirby and Samus! They're missing!"

"What?" another voice rang out. "How could they be missing!"

"I don't know, but they're gone now!"

"That's not possible! I just put them down!"

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Don't worry about it, son. It's just a little confusion and…"

"The toys are loose!" a third voice shouted frantically. "Everybody hide!"

A huge box of toys had just toppled over, and toys of all kinds were running around out of control.

"Why can't they control-"

"I don't know, they usually can. Something must be going wrong!" Mistress was confused and scared.

Suddenly, a tiny action figure that looked like a young child wearing a very mysterious cloak ran up behind the boy and pulled out a gun. He fired, and hit the boy right in the heart. The boy died immediately.

"NO!" Mistress shouted, but she was killed by a very well-aimed missile from a generic army figure far behind her.

Mistress woke up. "Where are you?"

Her son slowly stood up. "What…what happened?"

Suddenly, Mistress started crying. "You've become the cloaked boy with the gun!"

"And you, mother, you are now a…" he couldn't bring himself to say it, it was even worse than his father's fate. "You're a box."

Mistress's voice was tinged with sadness, but also with hope. "I know. I'll have to leave, now, just like Master. You'll be teased so much if this gets around."

"But, mother, what should I do?"

"You're a big boy. You can take care of yourself. Good luck!"

The box faded away, and after a while, so did the boy.