Chapter 2
The Mansion
"65…66…67…68…69…70," Another competition was going on at the mansion, but it had nothing to do with fighting. Mario was keeping track of the scores everyone had. The five smashers were doing five different things. Link was chopping down sticks, Fox was shootings targets, Ike was lifting a ton (literally), Sonic was running 2-mile laps, and Kirby was eating six pound steak. Anyone who got behind was out.
"97…98…99…100," Mario said.
Pit, Olimar, Captain Falcon, and Red were watching from the sides. Ness, Lucas, Nana, Popo, and Toon Link had managed to get closer to the action. "Come on Link!" Toon Link shouted.
Ten minutes passed and the competing smashers began to slow down. "1028…1029…1030, can-a someone (1031) replace me, 1032," Mario said.
Luigi came down. "I-a got you bro. 1037…1038 …1039." Two minutes later someone finally lost. Diddy Kong had gotten bored and "accidentally" dropped a banana on the track. Sonic stepped right on it. Luigi shouted, "Sonic is out, 1124…1125." Soon, Link and Ike were both worn down to the point of losing, (both at the 1251 mark) leaving a showdown between Fox and Kirby.
Kirby grabbed another steak as Fox destroyed another target. They went on for three more minutes, letting Kirby start to learn what it's like to be full, while Fox's gun started to act crazy. "1541…1542…1543…1544…1545…154- WE-A HAVE A WINNER. THE-A WINNER IS-A… KIRBY!"
Fox quickly threw his gun to the side as it explode. He went over to Kirby. "Good job, I didn't think even you could eat that much." Kirby smiled with his eyes rolling acting really dizzy.
Over on the side, a figure stood in the shadow of a column. Wolf smiled as they attempted to carry Kirby away. Donkey Kong and Ike were having difficulties. He was treated slightly better than the three that had helped Tabuu, but people didn't like how he had helped so little when everything was all over. Since he was a villain and didn't help, he was somewhat cast out. He felt that Toon Link, Jigglypuff, and even Sonic should be cast out as much as he was.
He heard some steps on the stairs and turned to see Ganondorf coming up the steps. "Kirby has one crazy stomach. You should have seen how many steaks he ate."
Ganondorf looked distracted. He looked up at Wolf with sadness in his eyes. "I need your help."
Wolf knew that Ganondorf didn't ever joke. He looked up at him. "What is it?"
"The hands are missing. I need someone to come look for them with me."
"Well why don't we just get the others to go as well."
"The others won't trust us. Besides, wouldn't it look like we were heroes if we were able to save the Hands."
Wolf looked at the Kirby, who was starting to turn green. "I'm in."
Ganondorf gave a weak smile. "Then lets go."
Fox was looking at his usual gun, after putting it back together. Usually it didn't freak out so bad that it exploded. He had figured it would have been a showdown between him and Sonic. The door opened and Mario, Luigi, Link, Ike, Sonic, Pikachu, Samus, Falco, Pit, and Red came in. Falco sat down next to Fox. "I heard you lost," he said.
Fox continued to examine his gun. "The first thing that you want to bring up is the fact that I lost. You didn't even care enough to watch the thing."
"You lost to Kirby."
"Yeah but you have to give him credit," Red said. "Kirby has never felt stuffed in his life. Until now."
"Remember the time when Ike challenged Kirby to a pie eating contest," Pit said. "Ike didn't eat for a week preparing for that day, and Kirby still ate five times as many pies as him."
"Everyone has limits," Ike said. "I didn't think it would be so difficult to discover Kirby's. Besides, remember when you challenged everyone to show who the master of the skies was. It didn't take long for Fox's Arwing to shoot you out of the skies."
"That was an unfair competition," Pit said.
"I'll say." Sonic said. "The only fliers are you, Meta Knight, and Charizard."
"Well it wouldn't be fair if you challenged people to a race."
"At least everyone here can run."
"The world's fastest hedgehog thinks a race would be fair," Ike said.
"Master Hand reduced my speed."
"You still are the fastest person here."
"Well at least he-a didn't try to out eat Kirby," Mario said.
Samus smiled as she continued to pet Pikachu. Link smiled as well from his spot. "You know," Link said. "Is there really much of a reason to stick around here."
They all turned to him. "What-a do you mean?" Mario asked."
They all knew that when Link spoke, it was a good idea to listen. "I mean that we all have places that we belong. Mushroom Kingdom may be happy that they don't have to deal with Bowser's army, but the people need their princess and their heroes. Samus can pick up a bounty whenever she feels like it, but Star Fox needs its pilots as well as its leader. Some of us can stay without having to worry about other things, but some of us do need to get going."
They all looked at each other. Samus, Pikachu, and Red were free to do whatever they wanted, but the rest were a part of something that they couldn't leave. Maybe Ike could finish his work, and Star Fox could disband, but Link knew that he had duties in Hyrule and that he might soon be needed.
Luigi turned to look at his brother. "What-a do you think, bro?"
Mario looked at him. "The-a kingdom will need its princess again soon."
Sonic smiled. "And I will need to make sure Tails has been staying out of trouble, as well as giving Eggman some."
Pit looked around the room. "When do you think we should tell the Hands?"
"We should tell them soon so that we can get it over with," Fox said. Link and the others agreed. He hoped that the ones that were staying would do alright. He figured the kids would stay, as well as ROB, Yoshi, Olimar, Mr. Game & Watch, and Ganondorf, which was good for him. He may not like Ganondorf, but he held a part of the Triforce, and anyone who was able to hold a part of the Triforce, deserved respect.
A thought came to his mind that he should have thought about earlier. "Has anyone seen the Hands?" he asked.
Lucario sat on his perch at the top of the mansion. Something was happening. Ganondorf had appeared out of nowhere and a weird aura had come from his chest when his aura first appeared. Recently, he had been unable to detect the auras of the hands as well. He had searched everywhere within his range.
The weirdest part was that he had sensed the Halberd flying around in the skies lately. He knew Meta Knight had no idea where it was, so who could possibly de flying it around now. He could see the Halberd now. It was flying directly above where Wolf and Ganondorf had walked. He suddenly saw Ganondorf warlock punch Wolf. Ganondorf climbed on board the Halberd and flew off with a Wolf trophy.
Lucario examined the deck of the Halberd. He was able to make out the distinct aura of subspace. He knew that he had to warn the others. As he thought so, he felt a blow to the back of his head. He turned to see a subspace clone of Ganondorf after he had charged up his warlock punch.
