All of the Smashers were nervous and excited at the same time. A whole new tournament was beginning, and they were each worried about waving goodbye to a close friend or having to say goodbye themselves. Fox had previously had to wave goodbye to Falco, but he was keeping his fingers crossed that Princess Krystal would be joining the group. Donkey Kong was happy that Diddy Kong had arrived at Smash Mansion, and Mario was hoping that Luigi would be able to stay with him, Peach, Bowser and Yoshi.

Many of the Smashers had been reluctant to leave. Marth and Roy left early in the morning, to avoid waking the others, and Young Link had tried to do the same to avoid a sad farewell from his older self, but Peach caught him sneaking out of bed holding the letter informing him that unfortunately, he wouldn't be returning. Both Link and Zelda assured him that he would be allowed to visit Most of the farewells were sad, like that one, but the arrivals of new competitors lifted everyone's spirits. Some, like Lucas, were simply welcomed politely, whereas when Sonic walked through the door, the cheers made it sound like a volcano had erupted.

Dr Mario, Falco, Mewtwo, Pichu, Mr Game & Watch, Young Link, Marth, and Roy had all left the mansion, but many more characters had arrived, such as Wario, Pit, Sonic, and Snake.

The great hall was filled with activity as the characters nervously lined up. Master Hand had gathered them to tell them that there was one newcomer, and one confirmation that a veteran would be staying. As the chatter of the characters slowed down, Master Hand cleared his throat (if he has one) and began to speak.

"This next newcomer comes from the world of Pokemon… please give a big hand to, LUCARIO!" The hall broke out a round of applause as a psychic Pokemon entered the hall and smiled. He opened his mouth to thank the Smashers for such a warm welcome, but Master Hand had already started talking again, and nobody dared to interrupt him.

"Of course, I also have news that one of our veteran fighters will also be appearing in our next tournament. That character is…"

Ness crossed his fingers, Ganondorf held his breath, Captain Falcon looked like he was praying, and Luigi started to sweat and shake.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Master Hand, as the aforementioned four sighed, and the rest of the Smashers applauded. Jigglypuff had already fallen asleep standing up, so Pikachu had to nudge her and inform her that she was still in.

The ripple of applause finished and the Smashers walked back to their respective rooms, while Master Hand went back to his office and started writing things down. It wasn't long before Crazy Hand popped out, and asked in a childish voice,

"Whatcha doing?"

Master Hand sighed and replied, "I'm sorting out the finances, Crazy. With all these newcomers, I have to sort out some space…"

Master Hand let out a disgruntled moan as he added up some more numbers.

"What's wrooooong?" asked Crazy Hand.

"King Dedede is arriving tomorrow with Olimar, and we really don't have enough room. I'm going to have to let another two of the Smashers go. I hate this part of my job…"

Master Hand swooped out of his room and went to find the two unlucky Smashers who would be leaving. He dove into Ganondorf's room first, to break the news to the King of Evil that he would not be returning.

Crazy Hand went too and waited outside the room until his brother was done.

"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! I AM TO BE FEARED! HOW CAN I NOT RETURN TO FIGHT AGAIN?"

Crazy Hand could guess that Master Hand was nearly done, and soon enough, Master Hand floated through the door and continued down the corridor to another Smasher's room. Master Hand had a bruise on one of his fingers from Ganondorf's rage, but this didn't stop Crazy Hand from stupidly asking, "How did he take it?"

Master Hand sighed and knocked on the door of the second Smasher to be eliminated that day. A young boy opened the door, and immediately his mouth dropped in fear.

"What is it Master Hand?"

Master Hand replied solemnly and slowly, "I'm afraid we have more newcomers arriving tomorrow, so we need to make more room… I hope you understand, Ness."

Ness sat on his bed, but raised his head and bared a weak smile.

"Oh well. I've had a good run, and these tournaments were really fun. Thanks for inviting me in the first place, Mr, I mean, Master Hand."

If Master Hand had a mouth, it would have been smiling. He reluctantly handed Ness the official document to show the boy's resignation in the tournament, and left Ness to pack his things.

Master Hand retired to his study for a short nap, while Crazy Hand played hide and seek with the Ice Climbers. When Master Hand woke up a few hours later, he turned on his microphone and sent another announcement through Smash Mansion.

"ATTENTION SMASHERS. PLEASE MEET IN THE GREAT HALL ENTRANCE IN 5 MINUTES TO BID 2 OF OUR VETERAN COMPETITORS FAREWELL."

In 5 minutes time, the hall was filled with the Smashers, most of them wondering who was leaving. Master Hand floated out in front of them, turned to them and said, "Please give a round of applause for one of our greatest veterans, who is sadly leaving, Ness!"

The hall shook with applause as Ness walked to the door with his case, bowed, and waited to hear who else would be leaving.

"And please give a huge cheer, for the King of Evil, who we just couldn't find room to fit in, Ganondorf!"

A smaller round of applause broke out, but Ganondorf was nowhere near as gracious as Ness. He grabbed his case forcefully and stormed to the door, before turning and screaming,

"You will all regret deciding that I need to leave! Each and every one of you!"

Just as he said this, the power went out in the hall, and as it was evening, it was pretty dark. All eyes immediately turned to Ganondorf, who appeared to be just as scared, and muttered, "That wasn't me, I hadn't even figured out my evil plan yet…"

The Smashers stood nervously and silently, until a strange whirring sound came from above them. They all looked up, to see a small rod coming downwards from the ceiling. Before anyone could speak or ask what it was, it glowed for a second, and then shot lightning around the room. Every Smasher was electrocuted, and after 10 seconds of sizzling, the electricity stopped and all the Smashers collapsed loudly on the ground. The rod retracted itself, to be replaced with a drilling sound as a hole appeared in the roof and people came in, disguised under the shadows. Silently, they began to pick up the Smashers and prepare to take them back with them to wherever their hideout was.

A quiet but bold voice echoed through the hall, but nobody apart from the bad guys was conscious enough to hear it.

"Sir?"

Whoever responded had a deeper voice. "What?"

"Should we take Master Hand and Crazy Hand as well?"

"Yes. Leave no-one."

There was some shuffling, before the voice nervously replied,

"That might not be possible, sir."

"And why not?" The boss voice was getting angrier.

"Two of the people have escaped. It looks like out of the two people by the door, one of them had something to repel the lightning. The other one was just lucky to be close enough to the first one that they were protected too."

Whoever was the boss sounded disappointed as they realised the mistake they had made.

"Ness…the Franklin badge can deflect lightning…I should have known. Ness has escaped, and Ganondorf escaped with him."

"What should we do, sir?"

"Nothing. They will not have stayed together, and Ganondorf will only be concerned about his own safety. Ness is too weak to cause us any problems, and if he gets in our way, we can call in on our twin fighters to dispose of him."

As the boss spoke, he looked behind him to see that the 'twin fighters' were already at work, and together they had picked up numerous Smashers to return with.

"Good thinking sir, but we… we have one more problem."

"What is it now?"

"Well, there's not a lot of us, and there's lots of Smashers. We're going to have to leave one of them behind."

The boss wandered in between the unconscious bodies of Smashers, looking for one that could be left behind.

"Who should I leave," he muttered to himself playfully, "Mario? No, too strong… Link? That would be more foolish than Mario… Aha! I think I know who we can leave."

The boss outstretched his arm and pointed to one of the Smashers.

"Leave that one."

The minion wandered up to his boss and let out a quiet laugh.

"Excellent choice, sir."

As quickly as they had arrived, the invaders left, with the bodies of all the Smashers except one. The lone Smasher gave a moan of pain in their sleep, unaware that it was up to them to save the rest of the Smashers from their doom.