Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Brothers: Melee, its characters, or anything related.
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The Hand That Wields It
Chapter 1 – Marth is Stranded
By Pelican (Pelican_13@Yahoo.com)
04/13/2002
Marth and Roy were awaiting their two-on-two fight with Mario and Luigi at Peach's Castle. Marth and Roy were on the left side of the castle, practicing with their swords, while Mario and Luigi stood on the right side, working to prefect their punches and kicks.
"Are you guys ready to start?" an unseen announcer asked.
Mario gave a thumbs up in the direction of the camera crews in front of the castle. Marth and Roy took their stances.
"Alright then," the same announcer said, "This is a two-on-two team battle, medium item appearance, one stock."
Luigi cracked his wrists, which each wore a white glove, and nodded to Mario. Marth tightened his grip on his sword, the Falchion.
"GO!"
All four fighters jumped towards the middle of the arena. Marth and Mario met first, above the highest tower of the castle. Before Mario was even able to reach a fist to his opponent, Marth slashed his sword forward, striking Mario and knocking him backwards. Marth fell to the roof below. After jumping once in mid-air, Roy and Luigi neared each other, still airborne. Luigi never had a chance to get close to Roy as Roy slashed his sword forward and got a hit on Luigi.
Mario and Luigi stood to their feet on the right side of the castle while Marth and Roy watched from above on the tower.
"Hey Mario," Luigi called, "those swords are-a really long. How will we attack them?"
"I don't-a know," Mario replied.
Marth and Roy both jumped down towards Mario and Luigi, ready to strike another blow with their swords. They used the same airborne attacks as before, again knocking the two brothers backwards. Mario and Luigi stood on the right edge of the castle while Marth and Roy stood before them.
"I've got an idea," Luigi announced and used his Green Missile technique. He blasted himself forward but Roy anticipated the attack and used a forward smash attack. He slashed his sword vertically forward and connected hard on Luigi's head. Luigi sailed through the air and off the right side of the castle. He had no chance of making it back to the castle walls. His stock was eliminated.
Mario curled his right hand into a fist. His white glove began to turn red. He punched forward and opened his first, releasing a ball of fire directed toward Marth and Roy. Roy was closest to Mario and simply but up his shield to avoid taking damage. Marth sprung into action and charged forward. He swiped his sword forward and got a nice hit in on Mario, who was knocked a couple of feet into the air and landed back on the edge of the castle. Roy began to charge his Flare Blade attack while Marth took another shot at Mario. This time Mario managed to engage his shield, but the force of the sword pushed him backwards and he nearly fell of the side. He grabbed the edge, pulled himself up, and rolled past Marth. Roy had his Flare Blade nearly fully charged when he saw Mario roll into range. He released it with a yell and effectively knocked Mario of the edge.
"GAME!" an unknown voice announced.
With a zap of energy all four superstars found themselves on their feet in a completely white room. Each was standing on a metal transporter disc.
"That-a wasn't fair!" Luigi announced.
"I agree!" Mario added, "Those swords are too long. We can't get close enough to attack!"
Roy turned to Marth, "See? Even they know I have a big sword… now only if I could get Samus to agree."
Marth covered his face using his free hand with embarrassment, "They weren't talking about that sword."
Elsewhere existed a room with several couches and a closed circuit TV from which the Melee stars could watch the matches. Bowser was sitting on the floor to one side watching the screen, which now was just a shot of Peach's Castle. Fox, Falco, and Ganondorf occupied the couch most centered toward the TV.
"That just didn't seem right," Falco announced to the group.
"I agree," Bowser responded, "I don't like Mario or Luigi but those swords just aren't fair."
"Here they come," Falco informed. The group turned their attention toward the door. It opened and Mario and Luigi entered.
"Oh, it's you," Bowser said.
Mario mumbled something incoherently and took a seat on one of the chairs. Luigi also found himself a seat on the other side of the room.
The door had been left open and shortly later Marth and Roy entered. Roy raised his hands above his head.
"Give it up!" Roy said, attempting to get some praise and recognition for beating the more famous characters.
"Doth thou use-eth a sword of metal because thou hasth none of flesh?" Falco asked, cracking fun at the sword users. Marth and Roy did not return Falco's sarcasm.
"Don't be so blasé," Fox joined the conversation, "You guys seriously wouldn't stand a chance without your swords."
"And you seriously don't stand a chance when we have our swords," Marth returned.
Falco had been chuckling to himself after his joke. He grabbed a pad of paper from the table in front of the couch and began to write something down. "None of flesh," he said to himself as he finished his sentence.
Roy unsheathed his sword, the Sword of Seals, and slashed it forward at Falco vertically. His sword cut the paper into two equal halves. Roy returned his sword to his sheath and left the room. Marth soon after followed.
Marth caught up to Roy walking down a hallway and walked side by side with him.
"Was that really necessary?" Marth asked.
"I thought it was," Roy replied still focusing forward, "His joke wasn't even funny."
"Does this have anything to do with Samus?" Marth inquired.
"No," Roy quickly replied, "Uh, I've got to go." Roy turned down another hallway and walked off. Marth shook his head and smiled, then continued down his hallway.
Marth soon arrived at his desired destination. He pushed open a door and entered one of the many rooms of the melee complex. Inside he found it to be another teleporter room, completely white with four metallic discs. He redirected his attention and noticed a rather short man sitting behind the console that controls the teleporters. He was reading a newspaper and Marth was able to make out the cover, 'Mushroom Times'.
"Excuse me," Marth said, trying to get the man's attention.
The man lowered his newspaper to see Marth. He had black eyes and looked like he was very tired, as his eyes were half closed.
"Altea," Marth ordered as he stepped on a metal disc.
"Huh?" the man replied, "Oh yeah, right." He yawned once and began punching buttons on his console. He pushed down one more button and white light began to raise from the surface of the transporter. In a flash of white light the disc was in a new location. The disc disappeared and Marth fell to his feet. He surveyed his surroundings. He was on a dirt path through a forest. He could tell we wasn't in Altea by the trees. They were little more than trunks each with a bundle of green leaves atop them. He tried to see down the road. One direction seemed to lead to a small building, although Marth couldn't make much out of it from this distance. He decided to walk in that direction and try to find where he was. There was a noticeable lack of marker signs and any intelligent life.
After a few minutes of walking, Marth looked up to the sky. He noticed it was indeed growing darker and still he hadn't arrived at his destination. He could see the strange building more clearly now, it looked like it had been built below a tree. Although he could see no one occupying the building he did make out the glow of a fire beneath the tree outside. He began to walk on until the darkness finally set in. He found a stone rock, about twice the height of him, and leaned against it for the night. He couldn't see the building he was walking towards, or the trees for that matter, because of the lack of light. He rested his sword on the ground a few feet from him and tried to fall asleep.
