An idea can fell the biggest of beasts, and can break the hearts of the strongest.

An idea can stick, and, like a parasite, suck one's life away.

Someone once had a thought.

And this thought shall lead to the tragedies of many.

Many believe that Master Hand truly holds all the power in the Smash Bros universe. It's only a few who know the man behind the strings… and they suffer the most.

"Please, don't do this to him! He doesn't deserve this!" Bowser begged to the man. He knew there was no way to convince this monster, but it was worth a shot. After all, this entire mess could've been prevented if someone had just helped him earlier...

Unfortunately, no one truly understood Bowser, or his motives He was rather used to it, so he had to do everything to defend himself and his children. As hard as he tries to care for his kids, they still ended up in a cage, Junior held captive by the man and his knife.

"Bowser, I'm afraid that he's going to die if you fail to carry out this plan. I need a few smashers dead. Either that, or you can take the more dangerous option, much like my two other idiotic servants." He held the knife closer to Junior's neck.

Bowser hesitated. There was no purpose in taking that option. If he died from his mission, then his kids will be left to the care of him. And if Bowser failed the mission, then he'll be forced to watch the kids die. With this in mind, Bowser reluctantly set off to kill his first target. Since his boss oh-so-graciously handed him a list, Bowser started with the one at the top of the list: Link.

"I can't believe you convinced me to help you with this. Whatever you're paying me is gonna be a good sum of money." Dark Pit set down a large crate of items. The Smash tournament has already ended for the day, and items needed to be placed back in storage. Pit was on duty for that cleanup job.

"Sorry, Pittoo... this place just gives off some bad vibes. Plus, this would've been done with twice the time if not for your help!" The light angel grinned with hopes that maybe Dark Pit would quit complaining. Sure, barrels and crates are heavy, but would it hurt him to keep his mouth shut for five minutes?

"That's not my name, asshole! How many times does it take to get it through your thick head?"

"But it's such a cute nickname!"

"It's demeaning is what it really is!"

The two went back and forth in their argument, and soon enough nothing was getting done.

But those eerie vibes mentioned before were not from nothing. Hiding behind the Dragoon parts were Wario and Ganondorf.

"Should I shoot now?"

Wario rolled his eyes. "In a moment..."

Ganondorf aimed his pistol. It was not a deadly gun by any matter, but it did have a special purpose. Too bad not even the wielder knew what this weapon would bring. He was simply assigned a mission, and that was to shoot the angels.

Wario took out a cigar and a lighter, resulting in a silent groan from the evil king. "Wario, we're in hiding and you're smoking? Now?"

"Yeah. Why-a not? We'll end up victorious." Wario took a puff of his cigar and finally focused on the mission at hand.

"Let's mess with their emotions. Shoot the original Pit, and watch what power that gun holds." Wario knew exactly was this gun was meant to do. Back in the days of Brawl, events involving the subspace emissary occurred. Of course, Wario assisted Master Hand in turning a few characters into lifeless trophies, but that meant nothing compared to what was about to go down here.

Pit and Dark Pit's argument grew heated. In fact, Dark Pit was trying to hold back a lot of mixed emotions as he spoke, doing a poor job at that.

"You never take a moment to consider how I feel! Every time they look at me, they say 'Oh look it's the clone!' or 'Wait, you're not Pit, you're just a carbon copy!' You don't seem to get it! I'm that other Pit that no one really likes here! I'm sick of being your shadow!"

"I know I don't understand how it feels... but I care! I'm only trying to-"

Wario took out his cigar. "Shoot."

A shot rang in the storage room, and Pit froze. There was no bullet, nor was there an injury, yet the angel was definitely shot.

Pit collapsed on the floor, leaving his twin panicked and confused.

"Pit? Pit!" Dark Pit quickly dashed towards Pit's body, shaking him repeatedly. "Wake up, you idiot! It was just a gunshot! Get up!" Despite his harsh words, Dark Pit was genuinely concerned, already choked up.

He took Pit's arm and tried to pull him up. "Ngh… Why do you have to eat so much?."

Then, to Dark Pit's surprise, Pit took hold of his arm... and broke it in one clean snap. Dark Pit barely had time to scream in pain as he was pulled to the ground and pinned down. With time to process what just happened, Dark Pit noticed something strange about Pit.

There was no emotion in his eyes, nor was there a playful smile. There was only a blank expression. A blank expression that held no mercy within.

This was no longer Pit.

Ganondorf laughed. "Mind control? Boss thinks of everything!"

Pit turned his attention away from his injured twin and noticed the laugh, standing up. Dark Pit remained on the ground, in a daze.

Ganondorf stopped laughing when he felt a light arrow fly right past his face. Wario dropped his cigar. "Ganon, run!"

The two villains attempted an escape, but Pit quickly shot the light arrows into their knees. The arrows cut straight through, and both men collapsed. Dark pit was given enough time to arm himself with his staff to stop Pit, but not enough time to land a hit. The light angel shot at Dark Pit, cutting off his left wing. Dark Pit hissed in pain and began to run. Pit didn't chase after him, but instead seemed to be... thinking. He turned away and allowed Dark Pit to escape.

The villains, on the other hand, were shot again. This time, the arrows cut through their hearts. Pit kept that same emotionless expression, turned around, and left them to bleed as he pursued his twin.

Said twin was dashing through the halls, which held the fighter dorm rooms. These were put in place by Master Hand when things were too chaotic from characters coming and going through portals to return to their own games. All the of dorm rooms were lined up through the hallway, the injured angel stopping at a certain one. Dark Pit used his good arm to frantically pound his fist into Palutena's dorm room.

She opened the door, angry and tired. "Pittoo, you'd better have a good reason for th-" She paused at the sight of him.

"Wh... What happened?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, you need to stop Pit. Knock him out, or… or something!"

Palutena wondered why, but took Dark Pit's panicked tone to heart and headed out of her room. Viridi, sitting in a corner of the dorm room, looked up from her phone and followed Palutena to watch this fight go down. She also kind of wanted to watch Pit take a good beat-down, but that may just be a dream only aided by the non-lethal regular fighting that occurs in the Smash Bros universe.

Pit was already terrorizing others in the hallway. Little Mac was struggling to stand up. From his injuries, the goddess could tell that Pit used his bow on him. Lucina was also injured, leaning against the wall. From the hole in the wall above her head and her bruises, it was easy to tell she was thrown rather than shot. Dark Pit was a little impressed that she managed to get close to Pit.

The goddesses both heard distant screaming. When they followed the noise, they witnessed Pit attempting to kill none other than Kirby. The adorable little puffball was on the verge of tears as Pit grabbed him and lifted the blade of his bow.

Palutena used the power of flight on Pit, causing his wings to move out of his control. He let go of Kirby and tried to escape Palutena's powers. The goddess pulled Pit back by his wings, slamming him against a wall and keeping him there. When Pit realized there was no use struggling, he quickly connected the halves of the bow and rapidly shot arrows. Palutena quickly summoned a reflect barrier looked back at Viridi.

"Go get Jigglypuff! I have an idea. We just need to get her to sing."

The goddess of nature made no hesitation to run over to the Pokemon day care. They lost their rights to a dorm room ever since Charizard and Lucario burned it down while arguing over who gets what dog bed.

Viridi barged in as the Pokemon were all watching TV, excluding Jigglypuff, who was asleep. The goddess sighed. "Jigglypuff, we need your help."

The Pokemon ignored her.

"You need to sing."

Jigglypuff woke up and bounded over to Viridi excitedly. "Puff?"

Viridi had no clue what the Pokemon asked, but made an assumption. "Yes, but we just need you to come with me." The other Pokemon curiously watched the two run off through the hallway.

Palutena was barely holding out. This version of Pit was not only violent, but also persistent. A wave of relief welled up within her when Viridi returned with the Jigglypuff.

"Cover your ears, Viridi... Jigglypuff, use sing!"

Both goddesses covered their ears as Jigglypuff eagerly sung. Pit was about to fire another arrow, but then he grew drowsy. The bow slipped out of his hand, and soon enough the light angel was out cold. Palutena deactivated the power of flight and watched Pit collapse on the ground. She was a little cautious to approach him, but then Dark Pit finally said something after his lengthy silence.

"Don't worry about that. Pit is a really deep sleeper."

With this in mind, Palutena wondered what Dark Pit did to discover that, but that was a question for another time. She picked up Pit as Viridi and Dark Pit assisted with gathering the other casualties.

The walk to the infirmary seemed like forever.

Luckily, the innocents in the hallway were not severely injured. In fact, Dark Pit even has potential for full recovery... except when it comes to his wings.

The infirmary was similar to a compact hospital. There were beds lined up throughout a large room, each divided by light blue curtains. The others injured by Pit occupied most of the hospital beds, leaving a certain doctor exhausted. Good thing he had some assistance from Mew and Isabelle.

Dr. Mario walked into Dark Pit's section. "Ok, so your arm should recover in two months as long as you keep the cast on. As for Pit, Palutena filled me in on what happened. He's restrained just in case he wakes up soon. Jeff is currently running a few tests from the DNA and x-rays we collected. If you wish to see him, now would be the best time."

Dark Pit silently followed the doctor into a separate room. As said before, Pit was restrained by his wrists and ankles, still asleep.

"I don't know what happened, but he definitely seems different. It's not like Pit to just assault others without reason. Yet, everyone else I've helped all have injuries caused by that bow of his. It has some really unique cuts..."

The light arrow was meant to cut through flesh and bone without too much bloodshed. Palutena didn't want Pit to get his robes dirty when she designed his weapon.

"Was anyone else hurt by him?" Dr. Mario asked. Dark Pit thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered the two deaths that occurred in the storage room.

"Well-"

"I have the rest results!" Jeff came rushing in holding a bundle of papers. Most smashers found Jeff's age and size misleading, but the boy has a vast knowledge of science. Not only does he run tests on special cases, but he also repairs Megaman and R.O.B. when they get injured outside of battle.

"Ah. What's wrong with him?" Dr. Mario seemed to completely forget about his previous question.

"Do you wanna hear the good news first, the bad news, or the terrible news?" Before anyone could answer, Jeff already started. "Actually, I'll say the bad news first. Pit is infected with some sort of parasite. It's eating away at his brain and taking control."

Dark Pit felt a little sick to his stomach, but stayed quiet as Jeff continued.

"Good news is, he's not entirely possessed, so there's room for recovery."

That sick feeling was starting to fade away.

"The terrible news is... Well, we need to find a cure to this very soon, otherwise Pit won't come back and we'll have to put him down."

It was no longer fading away.

"We can't do that; if Pit dies, so does his clone." Dr. Mario tried not to look at Dark Pit as he spoke.

"Well, we'll have to cage him forever if that happens to be the case… Oh, one more thing!" Jeff pushed up his glasses before shuffling through the papers. "We checked all over to see where these came from. Turns out there's a large concentration of them in the brain's frontal lobe, which is most likely where they started the infestation. These parasites seem to cause uncontrollable aggression and poor vision in their host."

This was too much for Dark Pit to take in. Palutena seemed to notice this. "Pittoo, it's getting late. Maybe you should rest."

The goddess was quite surprised when Dark Pit made no effort to protest his name as he headed back towards his dorm room.

The night was much scarier without his annoying flightless roommate to keep him company.

Dark Pit unfortunately got a noisy awakening after his rough night's sleep. He had incomprehensible nightmares with little to no memory of them. There was a blue flame... screaming... a feeling of suffocation...

After all, the twin angels even had the same dreams. Dark Pit didn't bother figuring out what Pit was dreaming about.

The dark angel reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and followed the commotion outside his dorm room. It seemed like the whole smash crowd was at the end of the hallway near the storage room. Dark Pit glared in that direction before turning around, wanting nothing to do with it.

Then he remembered.

His morning grogginess disappeared as he quickly made way towards the storage room, pushing past other characters. Once he reached front view, he witnessed the two hands and Mario standing next to what looked like two mangled bodies in a box.

Did Pit try to hide the bodies?

"If no one bothers to come forth and confess their crimes, we will be ending Smash Bros for good. Murder is a very serious offense and it will not be tolerated here!" Mario only dropped his accent when he was completely serious…

Dark Pit didn't want to rat out his twin. He hesitated, but stepped forward to confess.

But Kirby was first. He frantically jumped up and down, attempting to tell the truth. "Pip! Pip!"

Lucina helped translate. "Pit assaulted us after he came from the storage room. He seemed different though..."

Little Mac stayed silent.

Master Hand floated a little closer. "Pit? He's the prime suspect?" When all three victims nodded, the hand became enraged. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that angel! Where is he?!"

Dark Pit slowly stepped forward. "He's in the infirmary… Dr. Mario and Jeff are trying to-"

"Seize the angel!" Master Hand commanded. R.O.B. decided to take the initiative and head towards the infirmary. Palutena shouted from the crowd. "Wait! This isn't Pit's fault! He has no control over his actions!"

"So his body just decided to kill two men and assault various others." Despite his lack of facial features, Master Hand was definitely glaring at her. Palutena wasn't sure what to say back.

"But what about Dark Pit? If Pit dies, he dies!" Viridi protested this time, only triggering a laugh from the hand.

"Clones are expendable! Just like the deceased Pichu, Wolf, and Roy, they can disappear forever and they won't be missed!"

Palutena felt a new level of irrational anger building up inside of her, but she tried to stay civil. "Pit at least deserves a fair trial!"

Master Hand laughed. "We'll have one now! Here's my opening statement: From the evidence shown by our police force, the wounds are caused by Pit's signature light arrow, a weapon which was found on the floor near this very room."

Palutena sent a look to Viridi, wondering why she didn't confiscate Pit's weapons. Master Hand continued.

"The fingerprints found on the aforementioned weapon match with both Pit's and Dark Pit's. Upon further analysis, there was no struggle between the murder victims, yet Dark Pit here has a broken arm and a wing with an injury matching the markings of the light arrow."

The angel, in shame, stared at the floor.

"Finally, the assault victims all testify that Pit was the aggressor. The only other weapon found there was a pistol which had no bullets, nor any fingerprints. The evidence all points in one direction, smashers."

The room was completely silent. Master Hand presented a solid case.

"Now for the verdict-"

"The defense did not get a chance to speak!" Palutena growled out at the hand. Master Hand scoffed.

"What defense? All I see is one desperate woman who can't accept the truth. Now raise your hand, paw, or whatever you may have, if Pit is guilty."

Mario was the first to raise his hand. With him followed Wario's closest friend, Waluigi, who was holding back his anger. Then Luigi reluctantly raised his hand when his brother glared.

Link and Zelda raised their hands. Sheik did so as well. With Sheik followed Greninja, then the other Pokemon. Ness, who was accepted by the Pokemon as their trainer, raised his hand, which called for Lucas to follow. Jeff didn't raise his hand, but he could barely be seen as everyone around him raised their hands.

Soon enough, a verdict was reached. Dark Pit, Palutena, Viridi, Jeff, and Dr. Mario were completely disregarded by Master Hand.

"So it is set in stone. Pit will be sent to Norfair tomorrow morning for his burning. Those who wish to spectate may find their place in the seating platforms above the lava. You may all proceed with fighting out on the battlefields. Lucario and Mewtwo will stay behind to clean up the crime scene."

Everyone cleared out of the room, excluding the aforementioned Pokemon, the goddesses and Dark Pit. Palutena and Viridi weren't quite sure what to do or say anymore, so they stood there, frozen as Master Hand left with Mario. Dark Pit just felt sick to his stomach.

It wasn't just from the thought of he and Pit's upcoming deaths.

It was from a gut feeling that things were going to spiral out of control… and there was no hope of stopping it.

CHAPTER 1 END